I 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 WORCESTER COUNTY 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS, 
 
 1/G3 
 ~3^ 
 
 \V ITH 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 
 
 OF MANY OF ITS 
 
 Pioneers and Prominent Men. 
 
 COMPILED UKUEK THE SUPERVISION OF 
 
 D. HAMILTON H U R D . 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 I L LTJS T R..i^T E ID . 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 J. W. LEWIS & CO. 
 
 1889. 
 
 '■''SHTIgGTO'^ 
 
FiiEss or 
 
 JA8. B. K0UGEK8 PBINTINQ UOMTANy, 
 PHILADELI'IIIA. 
 
 
 Copt/right, 1889, 
 By J. W. LEWIS & CO. 
 
 All Rights Reserved. 
 
^ 
 
 PUBLISHERS' PREFACE. 
 
 In presenting the within History to tiie people of Worcester County tlie 
 Publishers <le-ne to state that when the preparation of the work had been 
 finally c- li-icu upon, an earnest efibrt was made to secure the leading literary 
 talent o: I'l s section of the Commonwealth to prepare the manuscript. The 
 result Avas a gratifying success. Those most familiar with the historic litera- 
 ture of the County were engaged, whose names appear at the head of their 
 respective chaptei's. These gentlemen approached the task with a spirit of 
 impartiality and with a determination to prepare a work which should 
 reflect credit alike upon the County, its citizens and themselves, and the 
 Publishers feel that no eftort has been spared either by Publishers or 
 writers to faithfully present the history of the territor}- embodied herein, from 
 its Indian occupancy to the present proud position it occupies among the 
 counties of the Commonwealth. 
 
 Philadelphia, Febriiaiy 20, 18S9. 
 
 ? 
 
CONTENTS OF VOL. I. 
 
 GKNERAL HISTORV. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 -I4CKSTEK COUNTV 
 
 I CHAPTER 11. 
 i The Rknch and Bar 
 
 TOWN HISTORIES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ,.\N CASTER . 
 
 The Niisliawiiys anil tlieir Home — Kind's Purcliiwe — 
 The Nashaway IMantere— The Town Grant— The Cove- 
 nant — Lantl Allutnients — Death of Sliowauon. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 , iNCASTER — (Continued) 
 
 The First Minister — Arbitration— ('ornniissiunei-s Ap- 
 pointed to iJirect Town Affairs — The First Highways — 
 Nuyes" Survey — Disaffection of the Imlijuis — MonocoV 
 Raid — James Quanapaiig's Fidelity — Tlie Destniction of 
 Lancaster. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 , \NCASTER — (Continued) 
 
 The Resettlement — Frencti and Indian Raids — The Gar- 
 risoQs — New Meeting-Htmse — The Additiomil Grant — 
 Early ;?chool masters — Lovewell's War — Worcester 
 Ooniity Formed — Birth of Harvard, Bullon and Leo- 
 minster — Siet,'es of Carthagena and Lonisbourg — Tlio 
 Conquest of <'anada. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 I I Ci.iNTON — (Continued) 
 
 j Tlie Iricori)oration — Favoring Ausiiices — New Enter- 
 
 prises and Oiangos in tlie Old. 
 
 I CHAPTER X. 
 
 I Ci^iNTON — (Contiuued) 
 
 i6 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 -(Continued) . . 
 
 IV. 
 
 . .NCASTER- 
 
 The Firat Census — Organization for Revolution — Lex- 
 ington Al;irni — Bunker Hill :in(l the Siege of Boston — 
 War Annals — Separation of OUocksett — Shays' Itehel- 
 lion — Bridge Lotteries. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 , \NCA,STER — (Continued) 
 
 Hon. John Sprague — Cotton and Woolen-Mills— The 
 Academy— War of 1812— The Whitings— The Brick 
 Meeting-Honse— Lafayette — The Printing Enterprise — 
 Dr. Nathaniel Thayer— New Churches— Clinton Set Off 
 — Bi -Centennial — Schools — Libraries— Cemeteries. 
 
 25 
 
 31 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 -(Continued) . . 
 
 VI. 
 
 , ^ .VCASTER- 
 
 The Rebellion — The Town's History Printed— The 
 
 Town's Poor— Death of Nathaniel 'Thayer- General 
 Statistics, Etc. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Ll.-*TON 
 
 Prcscott's Mills— Destruction of the Settlement by In- 
 dians—The First Highways— The Garrison Census— 
 The Firet Families. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 C i.i >}TON— (Continued) 
 
 The Revolution— The "Six Nations" — Immigmtion— 
 The Comb-makers— Poignand and Plant— Coining of 
 the Bigelows- The Clinton Company— The Lancaster 
 (iuilt Company— The Bigelow Carpet Company— The 
 Lancaster Mills— Clintonville, its Builders atid its Kntor- 
 priaes. 
 
 40 
 
 46 
 
 50 
 
 Clinton in the Rebellion — Soldiers' Rrister. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 Clinton — (Continued) 
 
 Horatio Nelson Bigelow — Banks— 'I'own Hall — Bigelow 
 Free Libniry — Soldiers' Mununiont — Annals of Manu- 
 facturing Corporations — Tho "Wash-out" of ISTO — 
 Franklin Forbes — Erastus B. Bigelow. 
 
 CH.APTER XII. 
 Clinton — (Continued) 
 
 Schools — Churches —Newspapers — Water Supply — .Sta- 
 tistics, Etc. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 Clinton — (Continued) 
 
 Masonic History. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 SOUTHBOROUGH 
 
 Location and Incorporation — Soil and Surface — Waters 
 — Productions — Agriculture — Manufactures and Me- 
 chanical Industries. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 .SOUTHBOROUGH — (Continued) 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Sturbridge 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 Templeton 
 
 Location — Boundary — Elevation — Streams — Ponds — 
 Soil — Productions — Population — Valuation — Business 
 Affairs of the Present Time. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Templeton — (Contiuued) 
 
 Grant to the Township — The Proprietors — Kaily Settle- 
 ments — Old Houses — Incorporation: Templeton, Phil- 
 lipston — County Relatione — State Relations — Political 
 Parties. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Templeton — (Continued) 
 
 MilUarif Affairs: The Revolution — The Currency — ■ 
 Second War with England — .\ Militio IMnster — 'I'he 
 Civil War— The Sanitary Comniission. 
 
 V 
 
 61 
 
 67 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Tkmi'I.ETOn — (Continued) 
 
 BuxineBs Affiui-8: iMamifactiirfH— Early Mills— At Baltl- 
 winville — l)n Trout Bruok — Al Partridgeville and East 
 Tonipleton — At otter River— Hutfls — Stores— Savii>gs 
 Bank — Roads — "Rail roads. 
 
 CHAPTKR XXI. 
 
 Tkmi"I,KTon — (^Continued) 
 
 1.34 
 
 I'ost-f Utiircs — The Common — (Jemeteries — Soeietiee — 
 Warning Ont — The iireat Load of \V'ood^( 'liaises — 
 Bounties on Wild Ainnials. 
 
 CHAPTKR XXII. 
 TemplKTOX — I Continued I 
 
 Kdiu'aliiniiil A^tiairs : Schools — Private Schools — Public 
 High Schools — Teachers — Graduates — Lihraries — Boyn- 
 ton Public Library. 
 
 CHAPTKR XXIII. 
 TemplKTON — (Continued) 
 
 Et:chtfia»tit:id Afi'airs; The First Church — The Baptist 
 Church — The Triuitarian Church- The liniversalist 
 Church — The Methodist Chnrch — St. SLirtiu's (iiurch 
 — Memorial Church — Ministers. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Tejiplkton — (Continued) 150 
 
 Lawyers— Physicians — Hospitals — Prominent Men. 
 
 CHAPTKR XXV. 
 I'.XIIRIDCK ... . •. 156 
 
 140 
 
 143 
 
 147 
 
 CHAPTKR XX\I. 
 U.XURIDCH — (Coiuiiuied) 
 
 CHAPTKR XXVII. 
 
 r.\BRii)(',E — (Continued) 
 
 CHAP'rKK XX\'III. 
 r.KBRIDC.K — (Coiitiiuied) 
 
 CH.\PTKR XXIX. 
 U.KBRinc.K — (Continued) 
 
 CHAPTKR XXX. 
 
 I'XKKIDC.E — (Continued I 
 
 CHAPTKR XXXI. 
 
 Auburn 
 
 ]6i 
 
 '65 
 169 
 
 173 
 176 
 184 
 
 CHAPTKR XXXII. 
 \UBliRN— (Continued 1 
 
 I.S6 
 
 CHAPTKR XXXIII. 
 Auburn —(Continued I 
 
 i.SS 
 
 CHAPTKR XXXIV. 
 
 .Vuburn — (Continued) 
 
 CHAPTKR XXXV. 
 
 iSHBUUMIAM 
 
 CHAPTKk XXX\I. 
 
 i'lTCHBUKC. 
 
 I>ettcripti\r, 
 
 CHAPTKK XXX\II. 
 FiTCHBiiRC— (Continued I . . 
 
 Early History (1764-I7ir.l). 
 
 T90 
 
 193 
 
 20.S 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 FiTCHBURG — (Continued) 
 
 History from l.SHd to IK72. 
 
 CH.\PTKR XXXIX. 
 
 FiTCHBURG — (Continued) 
 
 History of the City (1873-lSS.S). 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 FiTCHBURG — (Continued) 
 
 Histoi'y during the War of the Keliellion. 
 
 CHAPTKR XKI. 
 FiTCHBURG — (Continued) 
 
 Kcclesiastical History. 
 
 CH.\PTKR XI.II. 
 FiTCHBURG — (Continued) 
 
 Educational History. 
 
 CHAPTER Xl.in. 
 FiTCHBURG — (Continued) ..... 
 
 ]\Iaunlucturin>r. 
 
 CH.\PTKR XLI\'. 
 FiTCHBURG — (Continued) 
 
 24(1 
 
 25'' 
 
 260 
 
 Cominercial History. 
 
 CH.^PTRR XLV. 
 FiTCHBiiRG — (Continued) 
 
 Hotels, Public Buildings and Business Blocks. 
 
 CHAPTKR XtVI. 
 FiTCHBURG — (Continued) 
 
 Cily llepartnu-nts. 
 
 CHAPTER XI.\II. 
 
 FiTCHBURG — (Continued) 
 
 (H-gani/utions and Societies. 
 
 CHAPTER .XLVIII. 
 
 FiTCHBURG — (Continued) 
 
 Professional. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 FiTCHBURG — (Continued) 
 
 Literal^' and Artistic. 
 
 CHAPTKR L. 
 
 FiTCHBURG — (Continued) 
 
 .lonriialisiu in Fitchluirg. 
 
 CHAPTKR LI. 
 FiTCHBURG — (Continued) 
 
 Cemeteries. 
 
 Karre . . . 
 
 CHAPTKR LII. 
 CHAPTKR LIII. 
 
 Wf.bsthr . 
 
 CHAPTKR LI\'. 
 
 Mendon 
 
 Pioneer Life : Mendon the Mother of Towns — (Compar- 
 ative Antiquity — Number of Towns once a Part of 
 Mendon — The First Movement for a New Plantation — 
 The Deed from the Indians -Division of Land— Names 
 of Proprietors — The First Map— Incorporation — The 
 ■lown in lli7S— The Nipmucks' Attack— The Settlers' 
 Keturo 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER LV. 
 
 Mknpon — (Coutiuued) 377 
 
 Territorud and Polititial Changes: The Town's Poverty 
 lifter thf! War— Cliiinia of Ilhode Island Territory— The 
 " \orth i'lircliasi- " — Annexation of "The Farms" — 
 Towns ChiiniMig to be "ChiUlrenof Mendon " — Men- 
 don To-day. 
 
 chaptp:r i.vi. 
 
 .MKxnON — (Continued) 378 
 
 Manii/'irUires : The First Griat-Mill and ?ia\v-Mill — Tlie 
 Snccessive Occnpaiits of tlie Old Grist-Mill Site — ('(tn- 
 tractswith Milleis and Blacksniitlis — Torrey and Wur- 
 fielil Saw-Mills — Factories, Miscellaneons anil Modern. 
 
 CHAPTER LVII. 
 Mrndon — (Continued) 379 
 
 Milltaiij llljilorif : Mention in the French ami Indiiin 
 War— Tlii^ llevolution— Sliays' Kebelliou— War ot' ixIS 
 —The Ueliollion. 
 
 CHAI'TKR I.VIII. 
 Mf.ndox — (Continued) 3.S1 
 
 Ministers ami IMeeting-lloiiaes, 
 
 CHAPTER LXX. 
 
 Pktkrsham 
 
 Locality— Topography— Railway Connections— Histori- 
 cal Resources— Early Settle?nent— l*etitionei-y and Pro- 
 prietors— .Services in the Indian War— Firet Meeting- 
 Settlers — Relations with the Indians— Alarm — Armed 
 Worshippers. 
 
 CHAPTER I.XXI. 
 
 465 
 
 Ecclifsiasticttl Ili-tUif 
 liii'.li to 1818— Tlie Change to linitarianism— The Meet- 
 iug-House of 1820 -I'aBtors to 1888— Tlie North Con- 
 gregational Cliurcii ami Pastoi^— The M'-thoiiists in 
 iMeniinii — Tlie (inakcra. 
 
 CHAPTER LIX. 
 
 Mendon — (Continued) 
 
 KiUu-ali'tnal llbiUny unit Closmg Ih-iimrkf : Earl_v Kei-ords 
 aliJ Tradition t'oiiceriiiiif;; Schools — Notices of the 
 Earliest Teai-hera and Srliool-llouses— School-Dames — 
 Tlie District System — The High School — Some Note- 
 worthy Kveiits ill Mendon's Recent llisfoiy and its I'res- 
 eiit Stains. 
 
 CHAPTKR LX. 
 
 liRRl.lN 
 
 383 
 
 CHAPTKR I.XI. 
 
 Hoi'KnAT.K 
 
 CHAPTKR LXII. 
 
 NORTHBRIUCIC 
 
 The ItpginniiiiiH. 
 
 CHAPTKR i.xrir. 
 
 NoRTHBRlDGK — (Continued). . . . 
 Tlie New Town. 
 
 CHAPTKR I.XI\'. 
 XoR'HBRlDGK — (Continued) .... 
 Tim i.ater History. 
 
 CHAP'PKR I. XV. 
 N'oRTHBRIDCK — (Continued I . . . . 
 
 3S7 
 406 
 
 424 
 42S 
 4,V 
 
 Pi;tkrsh.\m — (Continued) 
 
 Incideiita of tlie Revolution. 
 
 CHAPTER I.XXII. 
 
 Pkter.sham — (Continued) 
 
 shays' Rebellion. 
 
 CHAPTKR I.XXIII. 
 Pf,TERSH.\M — (Continued) 
 
 The Churches. 
 
 CHAPTKR I.XXIV. 
 Pktersh.\m — (Continued) 
 
 Schools — Intliistries — Weallli — Population — College 
 tiradiiates— Congressmen — State Sonatoi-fl — Itepreseuta- 
 tives— Town Officers -Selectmen — Town Clerlis — Town 
 Treasiii-ers— School ('ommittee — Officers, 188S. 
 
 CHAPTKR I,XXV. 
 Pkter.sham — (Continued) 
 
 Itiogntjihical Notes. 
 
 CirAI'TKR I.XXVI. 
 Pktkrsham — (Continued) 
 
 The It'ehellion — Puhiic Spirit. 
 
 467 
 
 470 
 
 472 
 
 476 
 
 479 
 
 484 
 
 CHAPTKR I.XXVII. 
 
 Stkri.inc. 
 
 CHAPTKR I.XXVIIl. 
 
 Brook KiKi.n 
 
 CHAPTKR I.XXIX. 
 
 BROOKKiia.n— (Continued) . 
 
 CHAPTKR I. XXX. 
 
 North P.rookfiki.d 
 
 CHAPTER l.XXXI. 
 
 WK.ST I'.RllOKKIlCI.Il . . 
 
 434 
 
 Hi -giyns Societies. 
 
 CHAI>'1'ER I,X\T. 
 NoRTHBRiDC.R — ( Continued | . . . . 
 
 Schoolfl ami Iiihrary. 
 
 CHAP'I'ER LXVII. 
 
 NliRTHBRIDGE— (ContiiuK-d) . . . . 
 Mmo,, tnre-. 
 
 CHAPTER LXVIII. 
 
 Continued) .... 
 
 CHAPTER I.XIX. 
 
 439 
 
 441 
 
 447 
 
 453 
 
 CIIAI'TER i.xxxir. 
 
 1'axton 
 
 CHAI'TER I.XXXlll. 
 
 Wkst P.ovi.ston 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXIW 
 
 Bi.ackstonk 
 
 CHAP'l'Ek I.X.\X\'. 
 
 Spknckr 
 
 CHAPTKR lAXXNI. 
 
 New Braintri.k 
 
 CHAPTKR LXXXVII. 
 
 Lkick.ster . . 
 
 Settlemeut. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXVIII. 
 Leicester — (Continued) 691 
 
 French and Itovolutimiary Ware. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXIX. 
 
 LKICESTKR — (Continued) 699 
 
 State ( 'onstitution — Sliays' Insurrection — Fine for Nuii- 
 Ilepresenttttiou in tlio General dourt— Slavery in Iit;i- 
 cester — "Instructions" — Jews. 
 
 CHAPTER XC. 
 
 Lrickstkr— (Continued) 701 
 
 lurclexiaxtictit : The First Cliiirch — Friends' Meeting — 
 Greenville Itaptist Cliurch — Second ( 'utigregational 
 Church. 
 
 CHAPTER XCI. 
 
 IvElCESTER — (Continued) 709 
 
 SvUooIa: Fii-st Town Action — Sclioolniasters — Solmol- 
 IlonsfS— Town Fines— Pibtrict System— Amount Itaiseil 
 fur Srhoola— Districts Abolished — Higli Sdiool — Leices- 
 ter Academy — Founding — Buildings — Teachers — Funds 
 — Military — Reorgaui/.ation — I'entennial Anniversary. 
 
 CHAPTER XCII. 
 
 IvKiCESTRR — (Continued) 715 
 
 iiiisiiiess : Card Business — Woolen Manwfucture — Boot 
 and Shoe Business — Tanning and Currying Business — 
 Leicester National and Savings Banks — Miscellaneous 
 Industries. 
 
 CHAPTER XCni. 
 Leicester — (Continued) 723 
 
 The Ciiil Wiir : Sixth Massachusetts Iteginieut — War 
 Meetings — Twenty-fifth Regiment — Fifteenth, Twenty- 
 first, Thirty-fourth, Forty-second— Action of the Town 
 — Other Soldiers — Expenditures — Casualties — Close of 
 the War. 
 
 CHAPTER XCrV. 
 
 TvEiCESTER — (Continued) 728 
 
 31iscdla)iei'ii-s : Individuals and llesidences — Phyaieians 
 — Lawyers — Items of Interest — Burying-Grounds — Post- 
 litliees — Firo Department— Taverns — Libraries — Cherry 
 Valley Flood — Histories- CeU-hrations. 
 
 CHAPTER XCV. 
 Charlton 745 
 
 CHAPTER XCVI. 
 
 LUNENBURC; 760 
 
 Locatittn — Pnuds and Drainage— Original Grants— Set- 
 tlements— Incorporation— rrui)riefary Affairs— Roads — 
 Tlie Town Divided— Personal Notices. 
 
 CHAPTER XCVII. 
 
 IvUNENBURc; — (Continued) 767 
 
 Indian Alarms- The French and Indian Wars— Capture 
 of John Fitch— The Revolution— The War of tin- Re- 
 hulllon. 
 
 CHAPTER XCVIII. 
 
 LcNENBURd — (Continued) 774 
 
 Kcch'siastical History — Schools — The Cunniiigliain 
 Pajiors. 
 
 CHAPTER XCIX. 
 
 Shrewsbury 780 
 
 j'^arly Land (irants. 
 
 CHAPTER C. 
 
 Shrewsbury— (Continued) 7S2 
 
 The Marlborough Men and When Soine of Them Settled. 
 
 CHAPTER CI. 
 SiiRp;wsBURY — t^Coiitinued) 785 
 
 (Jiantof Township— Lay-out of Lots — lucorporation — 
 Origin of the Name of the Town. 
 
 CHAPTER CII. 
 Shrewsbury — (Continued) 787 
 
 The Meoting-IIouse Lot and the Houses that were Built 
 Thereon — Tlie Parish Fund— Its Origin and Growth. 
 
 CHAPTER cm. 
 vShrewsbury — (Continued) 7^9 
 
 The Fiist Parif.ii and Itn Ministers: Gushing, Sumner, 
 IngersoII, Whipple, Geoige Allen, Averell, AVilliams, 
 McGinley, Dyer, Scudder, Frank H. Allen. 
 
 CHAPTER CIV. 
 Shrewsbury — (Continued) ....... 793 
 
 The Second Parish — The Baptist, Univ*^rsalist ami 
 Methodist Societies — The Roman Catholics. 
 
 CHAPTER CV. 
 
 Shrewsbury — (Continued) 796 
 
 The French Wars, the Revolution, the War of 181'2 
 and Ihe JMexican M'ar. 
 
 CHAPTER CVI. 
 Shrew.sburv — (Continued) 79S 
 
 Showiug the Part wliicli .Shrewsbury tiK>k in the Shuys' 
 Rebellion, 
 
 CHAPTER CVII. 
 
 Shrewsbury — (Continued) 800 
 
 The Slaveholders' Robelliou, 
 
 CHAPTER CVIII. 
 Shrewsbury — (Continued) 802 
 
 A^rinilturo — T!ie Stage Businesa-The Tanning and 
 Currying llnsiuess. 
 
 CHAPTER CIX. 
 Shrewsbury— (Continued) 805 
 
 The Medical Profession — Gradnates of Collegi-s— Public 
 P^ducation. 
 
 CHAPTER ex. 
 
 G.\RDNER SlO 
 
 .Situation, Topography, Setlteiiiont, Ineorporation, ete. 
 
 CHAPTER CXI. 
 G.-VRDNER — (Continued) 820 
 
 Town and County Roads— Fifth Massachusetts Turn- 
 pike— Railways. 
 
 CHAPTER CXII. 
 G.\rdner — (Continued) S25 
 
 Industrial Interests. 
 
 CHAPTER CXIII. 
 G.xrdner — (Continued) 84S 
 
 TMucation — Scluiols and Libraries. 
 
 CHAPTER CXIV. 
 
 G.\RiiNER — (Continued) 852 
 
 Religion, Ilovises of Worahip, Parishes, etc. 
 
 CHAPTER CXV. 
 
 (iARDNER — (Continued) . 862 
 
 Relatitins to the State and Nation. 
 
 CHAPTER CXVI. 
 Gardner — (Continued) 
 
 Miscellalietnis Topics. 
 
HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 QENERAL HISTORY. 
 
 CHAPTEK I. 
 WORCESTER COUNTY. 
 
 BY WILLIAM T. DAVIS. 
 
 It 13 not proposed to include in this sketch any 
 msilter wbicli properly belongs to the histories of the 
 towns of which Worcester County is composed. Re- 
 ligion, education, niauulactures and Indian history 
 will all be treated in the sketches of the various towns 
 with who-ie growth and traditions and present condi- 
 tion they are inseparably connected. It is proposed 
 to confine the sketch strictly to an iitvestigatioa of the 
 affairs of the connty proper, its incorporation, its 
 geographical character, its boundaries, its courts, its 
 otiicers and such associations as have the county for 
 both the extent and limit of their operations. 
 
 Worcester County was incorporated by an act which 
 was passed by the General Court, April 2d, and pub- 
 lished April 5, 1731. The text of the act is as follows: 
 
 An Act for erecting, granting and making a County in the Inland 
 piirts of tliis Province, to be ciilk-il tlie County of Worcester, and for es- 
 tabUsiiias Courts of Ju>tice witliin the siime : 
 
 Bo it enacted by His ExceUency the Governor, Council and Representa- 
 tives, in General Court assembled, and by tbe autliority of the same : 
 
 Sect. 1. Tbat the towns and places hereafter named and expressed; 
 That is to say, Worcester, Lancaster, Westboro', Shrewsbury, Soiithhoro', 
 Leicester, Rutland and Lunenburg, all in the County of Slidrllesex ; 
 Mendon, Woodstock, Oxfurd, Sutton (including Hassiuiamisco), Uxbridgo 
 ami the hind lately giaiitod to several petitioners of JledfieUI, all in the 
 County of SnfTulIc; BrooUfieUl in the County of Hampshire and the 
 Sovith town laid out to tbe Narragansett suldiers ; and all other lands 
 lying within said to\vnshi[>s with the inhabitants thereon, shall from and 
 after the lOtb day of July, which will be in tbe year of our Lord, 
 
 seventeen hundred and thirty-one, bo and reiiinia ono intiro and distinct 
 County by the name of Worcester, of whicli Worcester U> be the Connty 
 or shire town ; and the said County to Iiave, use and enjoy all sncli 
 powei-s, privileges and immunities us by law other counties within this 
 Trovincc have and do ehjoy. 
 
 And be it further enacted liy the authority aforesaid : 
 
 Sect, 'J. That there shaU be hehl and kept within tbe snid County of 
 Worcester, yearly, and in every year at the times and places in this Act 
 hereafter exiu-cssed, a Court of General Ses-ioiis of the Peace and an In- 
 ferior Court of Common Pleas, to sit at Worct-^teron the second Tuesdays 
 of May and August, the first Tuesdays of Xovemlier and February 
 yearly, and in every year until this Court shall otherwise order, a Supe- 
 rior Court of Judicature, Court of AB^ize and General Gaol Delivery, to 
 sit on the Wednesday innnediately preceding tiio time by law appointed 
 for the holding of the said Court of Judicatun), Court of Assize and 
 General Gaol Delivery at Springfiekl, within and for the County of 
 Hampshire; and the Justices of the said Court of General Sessions of the 
 Peace, Inferior Court of Common Tleas, Superior Court of Judicature, 
 Court of Assize and General Gaul Delivery, respectively, wlio are or shall 
 be thereunto lawfully commissioned and !ip|iointed, shall have, hoM, use, 
 exercise and enjoy all and singular the powers which are by law already 
 given and granted unto them within any other counties of the Province 
 where a Court of General Sessions of the Peace, Inferior Court of Com- 
 mon Pleas, Superior Court of Judicature, Court of Assize and General 
 Gaol Delivery are already established. Provided, 
 
 Sect. a. That all writs, suits, plaints, processes, appeals, reviews, re- 
 cognizances or any other matters or things which now are, or at any 
 time before the said 10th day of July shall be defending in the law 
 within any part of the said County of Worcester ; and aho aU matters 
 and thinga vhich now are, or at any time before the said luth of July 
 shall be defending before (he Judges of Probate within any part of the 
 said County of Worcester, shall be heard, tryed, proceeded upon and de- 
 termined in the Counties of Suffolk, Middlesex and Hampshire respect- 
 ively, where the same are or shill be returnable or derending, and have 
 or shall have, day or days. Provided, also. 
 
 Sect. 4. That nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to die- 
 annul, defeat, or make void, any deeds or conveyances of lands lying in 
 the said County of Worcester, when the same aro or shall be, before the 
 said liitb of July, recorded in the Register's office of the respective 
 Counties where such lands do now lye ; but that all such deeds or con- 
 veyances, so recorded, shall be held good and valid, as they would have 
 been had not this Act been made. 
 
 i 
 
HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid : 
 
 Sect. 5. Tlirtt the .histices of the Court of General Sessions of the Peace 
 at their first meeting in tlie said County of Woioester, sliall liave full 
 power and authority to appoint some meet jierson w ithin the Baid Cunnty 
 of Worcester to be Ue;;ister of Deeds and Conveyances within the same, 
 who shall bo sworn to the faithful discharge of his trust in the said 
 office, and shall continue to hold and exertiso the same according to the 
 directions of the law, until some person be elected by the freeholders of 
 the Baid County of Worcester (who aro hereby empowered to choose euch 
 person on the first Thursday of September next ensuing, by the methods 
 in the law already prescribed), to take upon him that trust ; and until 
 Buch Register shall be appointed by the stiid Justices and sworu, all 
 deeds and coiiveyancea of land lying within any part of the said County 
 of Worcester, which shall be recorded in the Itegister's office of the re- 
 Bpective counties w here such lands do now lye, shall be held aiul deemed 
 good and valid, to all intents and purposes, as to the recording thereof. 
 
 And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid ; 
 
 Sect. G. That the methods, directions and proceedings by law, provided 
 as well for electing and choosing a Register of Deeds and Conveyances as 
 a County Treasurer, which olficei^ shall be appointed in the Bame man- 
 ner aa ia by law already provided, on the first Thursday of September 
 next, and also for the bringing forward and trying any actions, causes, 
 pleaa or suits, both civil and crindnal, in the sevel-al Counties of this 
 Province and Courts of .Judicature within the same, and choosing of 
 Juries to serve at the Courts of Justice, shall extend and be attended, 
 observed and put in practice within the said County of Worcester and by 
 the Courts of Justice within the same ; any law, usage or custom to the 
 contrary notwithstanding. Provided, always, 
 
 Sect. 7. That the inhabitants of the several towns and places herein 
 before enumerated and set off a distinct County, shall pay their propor- 
 tion to any County rates or taxes alreaily made and granted in the same 
 manner as they would have done had not this Act been made. 
 
 A supplementary act was passed April 12th, and 
 published April 14, 1753, providing " that all the lands 
 within this Province, adjoining to the County of Wor- 
 cester, and not laid to any other County, shall be and 
 hereby are, annexed to the County of Worcester." 
 
 Hassanamisco, mentioned in the above act, was the 
 Indian name of a territory about four miles square, 
 which was reserved by the Sachem, John Wam- 
 pus, when he sold to the English settler.^ the tract of 
 land which afterwards became the town of Sutton. 
 This territory was afterwards also sold and became the 
 town of Grafton. 
 
 The South town, laid out to Narragansett soldiers, 
 also mentioned in the act, was subsequently incor- 
 porated as the town of Westminster. In 1728 and 
 1732 the General Court granted seven townships 
 to eight hundred and forty survivors of the Narragan- 
 sett War and the legal heirs of such as had deceased, 
 assigning one hundred and twenty proprietors to each 
 township, on conditicn that sixty familits be settled 
 in each place with a minister in the space of seven 
 years from the date of the grant, reserving in each 
 one right for the first minister, one for the ministry 
 and one for the school. A meeting of the grantees 
 was held in Boston on the Common, in June, 1732, 
 and dividing themselves into seven classes, drew lots 
 for the townships. The townships were laid out by 
 a committee of the General Court as follows : " Num- 
 ber one was located back of Saco and Scarborough, 
 number two north of Wachusett Hill, number three 
 at Souhegan west, number four at Aiuariscogan, 
 number five at Souhegan east, number six west of 
 number two, and number seven was not located." 
 South town was number two and was sometimes called 
 
 Narragansett number two : number six is now Tem- 
 pleton. 
 
 The name of the city of Worcester, from which the 
 county derived its name, owes its origin to Worcester 
 in England, on the banks of the Severn, built on the 
 site of the castle of Hwiccia, called Hwic-wara-ceaster. 
 The records of Massachusetts colony state that in 
 1GS4, " upon the motion and desire ol' Major-Cvencral 
 Gookin, Capt. Prentice and Capt. Dan Hinchman, 
 the Couit grants their request that their plantation at 
 Quinsigamond be called Worcester and that Capt. 
 Wing be added and appointed one of the Committee 
 there in the room of the deceased and that their town 
 brand mark be ^." The conjecture of Mr. William 
 H. Whitmore that the name was given as a defiance 
 to Charles the Second, who was defeated at Worcester 
 by Cromwell, in 1651, has been endorsed inaqnalified 
 way by Mr. William B. Harding, in his valuable and 
 interesting essay on the origin of the names of towns 
 in Worcester County, published in 1883. Though 
 it is true that at the time Worcester was named, in 
 1B84, the oppressive measures of Charles had rendered 
 him unpopular in the colonies, it is more than proba- 
 ble that the conjecture had its origin in one of those 
 baseless and v;igue traditions which have disturbed 
 the current of history, and that, like a large number 
 of other towns in New England, some emigrant from 
 old England desired to perpetuate the name of the 
 place of his birth in the new. 
 
 Worcester County is the largest county in the Com- 
 monwealth, occupying the central part of the State 
 and extending across its entire breadth from north to 
 south. It has an area of about fifteen hundred 
 square miles, and is drained by the head-waters of 
 Miller's, Chicopee, Quinebaug, Thames, Blackstone, 
 Nashua and other smaller rivers, which furnish power 
 to a large numbtrof wheels of industry. Its suriace 
 is undulating and its soil strong and productive, but 
 its farming interes!s have been somewhat impaired 
 by the advancing and strengthening wave of manu- 
 facturing industry. These interests, however, are by 
 no means small. According to the census of 1880, in 
 a list of the tsvo thousand four hundred and sixty-one 
 counties in the United States, Worcester stands nine- 
 teenth in farm values and tenth in farm products. 
 The determination of the shire-town of the county 
 was not reached without difficulty. Sutton, Lancas- 
 ter, Mendon, Brookfield and Woodstock stood higher 
 than Worcester, both in population and valuation. 
 But the central position cjf Worcester, together with 
 the influence of Joseph Wilder, of L'.incaster, who 
 remonstrated against the administration of justice in 
 that town, settled the question. The first Court of 
 Probate was held in Worcester, July 13, 1731, the 
 first Court of Common Pleas and General Sessions of 
 the Peace the 10th of August, and the Superior Court 
 of Judicature on the 22d of Sepeember in the same 
 year. The judges of the last court present were 
 Benjamin Lynde, chief justice, and Paul Dudley, Ed- 
 
WOaCESTER COUNTY. 
 
 inund Quincy and John Gushing, justices. Paul 
 Dudley, who was a judge from 1718 to 174.5, and chief 
 justice from 174.5 to his deatli, in 1751, was the first 
 lawyer who had ever sat on the bench. 
 
 At the time of the incorporation of the county nine 
 other counties bad been incorporated in what is now 
 the State of Massachusetts, — Essex, Middlesex and 
 Norfolk incorporated May 10, 1G43; Hampshire, May 
 21, 1662; Barnstable, Bristol and Plymouth, June 21, 
 1685; Duke-s County, November 1, 168-3, and Nan- 
 tucket, June 20, 1695. Norfolk County was composed 
 of the towns of Haverhill, Salisbury, Hampton, Exe- 
 ter, Dover and Portsmouth (then called Strawberry 
 Bank). Upon the separation of New Plampihire in 
 1680, the last four towns were included within the 
 limits of that State, and on the -Ith of February, 1680, 
 by an act of tlie court, the other towns were added to 
 Essex County, and Norfolk County ceased to exist. 
 At a later date the present Norfolk County was incor- 
 porated, March 26, 1793, preceded by Berkshire April 
 24, 1761, and followed by Franklin June 24, 1811, and 
 Hampden February 20, 1S12. The towns composing 
 Worcester County at the time of its incorporatiim 
 were incorporated as follows : Brookfield, which had 
 borne the Indian name of Quaboag, was granted to 
 petitioners in Ipswich in 1660 and incorporated Oct. 
 15, 1673, and included in the county of Hampshire 
 by the act incorporating that- county passed May 21, 
 1662; Lancaster, whose Indian name was Nashwash, 
 was incorporated May 18, 1653; Leicester, called 
 Towtaid, granted February 10, 1713, to Colonel Joshua 
 Lamb and others and incorporated in 1721 ; Lunen- 
 burg, the south part of Turkey Hills, August 1, 1728; 
 Mendon, called Qunshapauge, May 15, 1607; Oxford, 
 granted to Gov. Joseph Dudley and others in 1682, 
 May 16, 1683; Rutland, called Nagueag, bought Dec- 
 ember 22, 1686, of Joseph Trask, alias Puagostiou, by 
 Henry Willard and others of Lancaster, and incorpor- 
 ated February 23, 1713; Shrewsbury, December 19 
 1 727 ; Soutliboro', set ofl' I'rom Marlboro', in Middlesex 
 County, July 6, 1727; Sutton, purcha.sed of Sachem 
 John Wampus and incorporated June 21, 1715; Ux- 
 bridge, called Waeuntug, June 27, 1727; Wfstboro', 
 called Chauncey, November ]8, 1717; Worcester, 
 called Quinsigamond, granted to Daniel Gookin and 
 others October 24, 1668, October 15, 1684 ; and Wood- 
 stock. The last-mentioned town was granted by the 
 Colony Court in 1686 to certain inhabitants of Rox- 
 bury, in the State of Massachu-etts, and called New 
 Roxbury. Judge Samuel Sewall says in his diary, 
 under the date of 1690, that on the 18th of March he 
 gave "New Roxbury the name of Woodstock because 
 of its nearness to Oxford for the sake of Queen Eliza- 
 beth and the notable meetings that have been held at 
 the place bearing that name in England." 
 
 The transfer of Woodstock from Massachusetts to 
 Connecticut was owing to a change in the boundary 
 line between those colonies. The first boundary line, 
 known as the " Woodward and Safery line," was run 
 
 in 1642. Previous to 1642 Connecticut had claimed 
 Woodstock under the so-called charter by Robert, 
 Earl of Warwick, dated March 19, 1631. On the 
 13th of July, 1713, an adjustment of the old line was 
 reached, which declared the Woodward and Safery 
 line erroneous, being six or seven miles too far south, 
 and nearly all of Woodstock was found to be within 
 the territory covered by the charter of Connecticut, 
 issued by Charles the Second, April 20, 1652. Under 
 the adjustment of 1713 it was agreed that Woodstock 
 should remain under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts 
 on the condition that Connecticut should receive such 
 a number of acres from the unappropriated lands of 
 Massachusetts as should be equivalent to thut part of 
 the territory which had been found south of the true 
 line. Enfield and Suftield were also found to be 
 south of the line, and as a consideration for these three 
 towns and for some other grants, south of the line, 
 made by Massachusetts to individuals, Connecticut 
 received one hundred and seven thousand seven hun- 
 dred and ninety-three acres of land. But a feeling of 
 dissatisfaction grew up before many years among the 
 inhabitants of Woodstock, chiefly because the taxes 
 in Massachusetts were higher than in Connecticut. 
 They claimed that they had been annexed without 
 their consent, and insisted on being restored to the 
 jurisdiction of Connecticut. In 1748 a memorial, in 
 which Enfield and Suffield joined, was presented to 
 the General Assembly of Connecticut, of which the 
 following is the text. They represented — 
 
 Ttiaf they had, without their consent or even havingbeen consulted iu 
 the mutter, been put under the jurisdiction of Massacluisetts ; that a-s 
 tliey were within the limits of tho royal charter of Connecticut, they 
 liadajustaud legal right to the government and privileges which it 
 conferred, and that they were deprived of their rights by that charter ; 
 that the Legislature had no right to put them under another govern- 
 ment, but tiiat the cliarter required that the same protection, government 
 and privileges sliould be extended to them which were enjoyed by the 
 other inhabitants of the colony. For these reasons they prayed to be 
 taken under tlie colony of Connecticut, and to be admitted to the liberty 
 and privileges of its other inhabitants. 
 
 After several attempts on the part of Connecticut to 
 negotiate with Massachusetts with a view to reconsid- 
 ering theadjustment of 1713, its General Assembly, in 
 October, 1752, accepted Woodstock, Enfield, Suftield, 
 including the town of Somers, which had been taken 
 from Enfield in 1726, and has since held jurisdiction 
 over them. Massacliusetts continued to tax the in- 
 habitants on the disputed territory, but at the close of 
 the Revolution the whole matter was dropped, and she 
 not only lost her towns but one hundred and seven 
 thousand seven hundred and ninety-three acres of 
 land which had been given as the consideration for 
 (heir possession. A more detailed account of the 
 transaction may be found in " Historical Collections," 
 by Holmes Ammiilown, to which the writer is indebted 
 for the few incidents concerning it here related. 
 
 Since the incorporation of the county, in 1731, the 
 following towns have been incorporated within its 
 limits: Ashburnham, granted to Dorchester men 
 who joined the Canada expedition and called Dor- 
 
IV 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS 
 
 Chester Canada, was incorporated February 22, 1705; 
 Athol, called Payguage, or Poqtiaig, March 6, 1702 ; 
 Auburn, incorporated as Ward April 10, 1778, and 
 receiving its present name February 7, 1837 ; Barre, 
 
 33/f, incorporated as Rutland District March 28, 1753, 
 
 incorporated as the town of Hutchinson June 14, 
 
 1774, and receiving its present name in November, 
 
 1776; Berlin, incorporated as District of Berlin 
 
 , • March 1(5, 1784, and as a town February 6, 1812, un- 
 
 «i' der its present name; Blackstone, March 25,1845; 
 Bolton, -June 24, 1738; Boylston, March 1, 1788; 
 Charlton, November 2, 1754; Clinton, March 14, 
 1850; Dana, February IS, 1801; Douglas in 174(5; 
 Dudley, called Chabamikongmum, originally granted 
 to Paul and William Dudley, February 2, 1731, old 
 style ; Fitchbnrg, February 3, 1764, as a town, and as 
 a oily March 8, 1872; Gardner, June 27, 1785; 
 Grafton, called Hassanamisco, April 18, 1735; Hard- 
 wick, bought of the [ndiaus in 1686, by Joshua 
 Lamb and others, of Roxbury, and called Lambs- 
 town, January 10, 1738, old style; Harvard, June 
 29, 1732; Holden, January 9, 1740; Hopedale, 
 April 7, 1886; Hubbardston, June 13, 1767; Leo- 
 minster, June 23, 1740; Milford, called Wopowage, 
 and afterwards Mill River, April 11,1780; Jlillbury, 
 June 11, 1813; New Braintree, called Wenimesset, 
 granted to certain inhabitants of Braintree, and 
 called Braintree Farms, January 31, 1751 ; North- 
 borough, January 24, 1760 ; Northbridge, July 14, 
 1772; North Brookfield, February 28, 1812; Oak- 
 ham, called Rutlands West Wing, incorporated as 
 District of Oakham June 11, 1762; Paxton, Febru- 
 ary 12, 1765; Petersham, granted to John Bennett, 
 Jeremiah Perley and others, called Nitchawog, April 
 20, 1754; Phillipston, incorporated as Gerry Octo- 
 ber 20, 1786, and receiving its present name Febru- 
 ary 5, 1814; Princeton, called Wachusett, April 24, 
 1771; Royalston, called Royalshire, February 17, 
 1765; Southbridge, February 15, 1816; Spencer, 
 April 3, 1753; Sterling, April 25,1781; Sturbridge. 
 settled by Medfield people, and called New Medfield 
 until its incorporation, June 24, 1738; Templeton, 
 called Narragansett No. 6, March 6, 1762 ; Upton^ 
 June 14, 1735; Warren, incorporated as Western 
 January 16, 1741, and under its present name March 
 13, 1834; Webster, March G, 1832; West Boylston, 
 January 30,1808; West Bro..kficld, March 3, 1848; 
 Westminster, called South Town, and laid out to 
 Narragansett soldiers, was incorporated April 26, 
 1770 ; and Winchendon, granted in 1735 to the heirs 
 of Ipswich men who were in the Canada expedition 
 in 1090, and called Ipswich Canada, June 14, 1764. 
 
 According to the essay of William B. Harding, be- 
 fore referred to, Ashburnham derived its name from 
 John Ashburnham, the second Earl of Ashburnham, 
 and Athol from James IMurray, the second Duke of 
 Athol. Both of these towns were named by Gover- 
 uor Bernard. Auburn was first named Ward, after 
 General Artemas Ward, and changed in 1837, in con- 
 
 sequence of its similarity to Ware. Bnrre, first 
 named after Governor Hutchinson, was changed to 
 its present name in 1776, in honor of Colonel Isaac 
 Barre, a friend of the Colonies in Parliament. Ber- 
 lin was named after the German city, and Black- 
 stone took its name from William Blackstone, the 
 first white settler in Boston and an early sttt'er ia 
 Rhode Island. Bolton was named by Governor 
 Belcher, in honor of Charles Powlet, third Duke of 
 Bolton, and Boylston was named after the Boylston 
 family of Boston. The name of Brookfield was sug- 
 gested by the natural features of its territory, and 
 Chariton was named by Governor Bernard, probably 
 in honor of Sir Francis Charltoi), Bart. Clinton 
 took its name from De Witt Clinton, Dana from the 
 Dana family and Douglas was named by Dr. William 
 Douglas, of Boston, who gave the town the sum of 
 five hundred dollars as a school fund and thirty 
 acres of land, with a house and barn, as a considera- 
 tion for the privilege. Dudley was named after 
 Paul and William Dudley ; Fitchburg after John 
 Fitch, one of its active citizens ; Gardner after Col- 
 onel Thomas Gardner, who was killed on Bunker 
 Hill; and Grafton was named by Governor Belcher, 
 in honor of Charles Fits Roy, Duke of Grafton, a 
 grandson of Charles the Second. Hardwick was 
 named by Governor Belcher, for Phillip York, Lord 
 Hardwick, chief justice of the King's bench; Har- 
 vard was named for John Harvard, the founder of 
 Harvard University ; Holden probaljly for Samuel 
 Holden, a dir-ector in the Bank of England ; Hub- 
 bardston for Thomas Hubbard, a Boston merchant ; 
 Lancaster for the old town in England, Leicester for 
 old Leicester and Leominster for the English town of 
 that name. Lunenburg took its name from George 
 the Second, one of whose titles was Duke of Lunen- 
 burg ; Oakham from Oakham in England, Oxford 
 from old Oxford, Paxton from Charles Paxton, one 
 of the commissioners of customs in Boston ; Peters- 
 ham from the English town of that name, Phil- 
 lipston, lirst named after Governor Gerry, from 
 Lieut. -Governor William Phillips; Princeton from 
 Rev. Thomas Prince, the annalist, and Royalston 
 from Colonel Isaac Royal, one of the grantees of the 
 township, who gave the town twenty-five pounds to- 
 wards building a meeting-house. Rutland was 
 named after either the Duke of Rutland or Rutland- 
 shire in England; Shi'ewsbury in honor of Charles, 
 Duke of Shrewsbury, or perhaps after the English 
 town of that name; Spencer after Lieut.-Govcrnor 
 Spencer Phipps; Sterling in honor of Lord Sterling, 
 Sturbridge after Stourbridge in Worcestershire, Tem- 
 pleton after the Temple family, Uxbridge after either 
 the English town, or Henry Paget, Earl of Uxbridge ; 
 Warren alter General Joseph Warren and Webster 
 after the great statesman. Westminster took the 
 name of the London borough of that name, and 
 Winchendon received its name from Governor Ber- 
 nard, who was the eventual heir of the Tyringhams of 
 
WORCESTER COUNTY. 
 
 Upper Winchendon, England. These derivations, 
 as given by Mr. Harding, are interesting, and wortliy, 
 with proper credit to tlieir aullior, to be inserted in 
 this slcetcli. 
 
 Tiie following schedule shows the population of the 
 various towns according to the census of 1885, and 
 their valuations established by Chapter 73 of the 
 Acts of 1880 as the basis of apportionment for State 
 and county ta.\es until the year 1889: 
 
 TOW.V. POPfLATIOX. VALUATION. 
 
 Asliburiiliam 2,058 S989,43a 
 
 Alhol 4,728 2,GI:l,3I3 
 
 Auburu 1,2C3 497,8:J;) 
 
 Burro 2,09.1 1,162,114 
 
 Beilin 81)9 492,100 
 
 Btackstonc 0,43'. 2,343,002 
 
 Bolton 870 617,207 
 
 Bojlston 831 499,8 j4 
 
 BlookftL-W 3,013 1,287,011 
 
 Charlton 1,823 98.',44.i 
 
 Clinton 8,945 6,329,252 
 
 Duli.1 093 203,473 
 
 Douglas 2,2C5 1,034,050 
 
 DmllL-y 2,7)2 903,290 
 
 FUd.burg 15,373 13,011,878 
 
 Gardner 7,283 .3,457,018 
 
 Grartoil 4,498 2,354,744 
 
 Hardwick- 3,145 1,333,253 
 
 Harvard 1,184 1,071.965 
 
 HoldiMi 2,471 1,000,357 
 
 Hubbardston 1,3113 7:l.%259 
 
 Laucaslcr 2,0511 2,875,700 
 
 Leicester 2,923 2,010,872 
 
 Leomiiifilcr 5,297 4,030,835 
 
 Lunenburg l,07l fi36,.52> 
 
 Mendon 915 694,033 
 
 Jlilford (including Uopedalc) 9,343 8,711,201 
 
 Millbnry 4,555 2,184,045 
 
 New Brainti-co ; .558 43',472 
 
 North Broolifield 4,201 1,919,273 
 
 Northborough 1,831 1,19',003 
 
 Nortlibridgo 3,7815 2,900,979 
 
 Oakham 749 313,443 
 
 Oxford 2,355 1,394,450 
 
 Paxton 301 278,030 
 
 Polcreham 1,033 {89,700 
 
 Phillipston 630 274,032 
 
 Princeton 1,038 875,809 
 
 Royalslon 1,153 80.1,311 
 
 Rutland 903 401,099 
 
 Shrewsbury 1,453 1,042,445 
 
 Sonthborough 2,100 1,500,838 
 
 Southbridgc 4,.500 3,331,140 
 
 Spencer. 8,247 4,210,985 
 
 Sterling 1,331 9)2,752 
 
 Sturbridge 1,080 9S4,ns2 
 
 Sutton 3,101 1,28.1,235 
 
 Tenipletou 2,027 1,207,125 
 
 Upton 2,205 883,247 
 
 Uxbridge 2,918 2,000,,577 
 
 Warren 4,0.12 2,.i7.3,7.57 
 
 Webster 0,220 2,e02,.570 
 
 WestbmougU 4,880 1,173,443 
 
 West Boylston, 2,927 841,9'.0 
 
 West Brookflcld 1,747 2,007,027 
 
 Westminster 1,556 803,577 
 
 Winchendon 3,872 2,037,308 
 
 Worcester r,8,389 5S,n43,9llO 
 
 Total 244,039 81.59,997,408 
 
 The various courts referred to in the act of incor- 
 poration were established by the Court of the Prov- 
 
 ince of Massachusetts Bay soon after the union of the 
 Plymouth and Massachusetts Colonies. On the 28th 
 of June, 1692, it was enacted as follows: 
 
 Fora.smucli .as the orderly regulation and well-establishment of Courts 
 of Justice is of great concernment, and the public occjisious with refer* 
 encc to the war and otherwise being so pressing at this season that this 
 Court cannot now conveniently sit longer to advise upon and fully 
 settle the 8;iuie, but to the iateut that justice be not obstructed or de- 
 layed, — 
 
 Be it ordained and enacted, by the Governor, Council and Represen- 
 tatives, convened in General AsscDibly, and it is ordained by the 
 authority of tlie .'same. 
 
 Sf.ct. 1. That on or before the last Tuesday of July next there be a 
 general sessions of the peace held and kept in each respective county 
 within this province, by the Justices of the same county or throe of 
 them at least (the first justice of the qnornm then present to preside) 
 who are hereby empouered to hear and determine all matters relating 
 to the conservation of the peace and whatsoever is by them cognizable 
 according to law, and to grant licenses to such persons within the Bamo 
 county, being firat approved of by the Selectmen of each town, where 
 such persons dwell, whom they shall think fit to be enipluyed as inn- 
 lloldei^ or retailers of w ines or strong liquors. And that a sessions of 
 the peace be successively held and kept as aforesaid within the several 
 cotintics at the same times and placets as the county courts or inferior 
 courts of common pleas arc hereiuafler ap[K)inted to be kept. 
 
 And it is further enacted, by the authority aforesaid : 
 
 Sc'.-r. 2. That the county courts, or inferior courts of common pleas, 
 bo held and kept in each resppclive county by the justices of the same 
 county, or three of them at the least (the first justice of the quorum 
 then present to presitle), at the same times and places they have been 
 formerly kept according to law for the hearing and determining of all 
 civil actions arising or happening within the 8:ime, triable at the com- 
 mon law according to former usage ; the justices for holding and keep- 
 ing of the said court within the county of Suffolk to be purticidarly ap- 
 pointed and commis-^ioned by the Governor with the advice and consent 
 of the council. And that all writs or ntlachmcnts shall issue out of 
 the clerk's office of the .*aid several courts, signed by tl'.o clerk of such 
 court, directed unto the sheriff of the coimty, his under-sheriff or dep- 
 uty. The Juroi-s to serve at said courts to be chosen according to 
 fMrnier custom, by anti of the freeholders and other inhabitants, quali- 
 fied ns is directed in their m:^csties' royal charter. 
 
 This act to continue until other provision be made by the General 
 Court or Assembly. 
 
 This law was disallowed by the Privy Council 
 August 22, 169o. The letter from the Privy Council 
 disallowing the act stated that " whereas Inferior 
 Courts are appointed to be held by the Justices of 
 Peace in each county and the Justices of Peace in 
 the county of Suffolk are to be specially appointed 
 by the Governor with the consent of the council, 
 Whereby the powers of his M.ijesties Charter is en- 
 acted and csiablished into a law and distinction made 
 by the said Act in the manner of appointing Justices 
 for the county of Suffolk and other counties, it hath 
 been thought tit to repeal the said Act." 
 
 On the 25th of November, 1692, an act was passed 
 which provided, among other things, as follows : 
 
 Sf.ct. 1. That all manner of debts, trespasses and other matters not 
 exceeding the value of forty shillings (wheivin the title of land is not 
 concerned) shall and may be heard, tried, adjudged and determined by 
 any of their majesties, justices of the peace of this province within tbo 
 respective conutics where he resi<Ies. . . . 
 
 Si-CT. 4. That there shall be held and kept in each resjiective county 
 within Ibis province, yearly at the times and places hereafter named 
 and expressed, four courts or quarter sessions of the jwace by justices of 
 the Jteace of the same county, who are hereby empowered to hear and 
 determine all matters relating to the conservation 4>f the peace and pun- 
 ishment of offenders and w hatsoever is by them cognizable according to 
 law. , . . 
 
 Sect. 5. That at the limes and places before mentioned there shall 
 
VI 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 be held iiiiil kept iu each respective county iind ishiiids, befuro named, 
 witliin this province an Infeiior Court of Common Pleas by four of tlie 
 Justices of and rceidiu}; witliin tlie tame county and islands rcsjyect 
 ively, to be appointed and coniinlssiuned tliereto, any tljree of whom to 
 bo a quorum, for tlio hearing and determining of all civil actions arising 
 or happening within the same, triable at the common law of what na- 
 ture, kind or quality soever. , . . 
 
 Sect. G. That there shall be a Superior Court of Judicature over this 
 wiiole province, to be held and kept annually at the respective times and 
 places as hereafter mentioned, by one Chief Justice and four other jus- 
 tices, to be appointed and comnii.s8ioned for the same, three of whom to 
 be a quorum ; who shall have cognizance of all pleas, real, personal or 
 mixed, as well iu all pleas of the crown and in all matters relating to 
 the conservation of the peace and punishment of offendersaa in civil 
 causes or actions between party and paity, and between their nuijestiea 
 and any of their gidgects, whether the same do concern the lealtyand 
 relate to any right of freehold and inheritance, or whether the same do 
 concern the personally alal relate to matter of debt, contract, damage or 
 personal injury, and also in all mi.xed actions which may concern both 
 realty and personalty. . . . 
 
 Sect. 14. . . . that either party not resting satisfied with the judg- 
 ment or sentence of any of the said jvidieatories or courts iu personal 
 actions wherein the matter in difference doth exceed the value of three 
 hundred pounds sterling (and no other), may appeal unto their majes- 
 ties in council, such appeal being made in time, and Eecurity given ac- 
 cording to the directions in the charter in that behalf. . . . 
 
 This act was also disallowed by the Privy Council 
 August 22, 1695, and it was stated by the Council that 
 
 Whereas by the Acti divers courts being established by the said Act, 
 it is hereby further provided that if either party not being satisfied with 
 the judgment of any of the said courts in personal actions not exceed- 
 ing three hundred pounds (ami no other), they may appeal to His Ma- 
 jesty iu Council, whicli pioviso not being according to the words of the 
 charter and appeals to the King in council in real actions seeming 
 thereby to be excluded, it hath been thought fit to repeal the said Act. 
 
 On the 19th of June, 1697, another act was passed 
 providing for a Court of General Sessions of the 
 Peace, an Inferior Court of Common Pleas, and a 
 Superior Court of Judicature, Court of Assize and 
 General Gaol Delivery, the tenth section of which 
 provided " that all matters and issues in fact arising 
 or happening in any county or place within this 
 province shall be tried by twelve good and lawful 
 men of the neighborhood, to be chosen in manner 
 following. . . ." 
 
 This act was disallowed by the Privy Council 
 November 24, 1G9S, for the reason that it provided 
 ior the trial of all matters and issues in fact by a jury 
 of twelve men, while the act of Parliament entitled 
 "An Act for Preventing Frauds and Regulating 
 Abuses in the Plantation Trade," provided that all 
 causes relating to the breach of the acts of trade 
 may, at the pleasure of the officer or informer, be 
 tried in the Court of Admiralty to be held in any of 
 His Majesty's plantations respectively where such 
 oifence shall be committed, in which court the 
 nniethod of procedure uader the law is not by trial by 
 
 jury 
 
 On the 16th of June, 1699, still another act was 
 passed establishing a Court of General Sessions of 
 the Peace in each county, " to be held by the Ju.stices 
 of the peace of the same county or so many of them as 
 are or suail be limited in the commission of the peace, 
 who are hereby impowered to hear and determine all 
 matters relating to the conservation of the peace and 
 
 punishment of ofl'enders, and whatsoever is by them 
 cognizable according to law and to give judgment and 
 award execution thereon." 
 
 On the 15th of the same mouth an act was passed 
 establishing an Inferior Court of Common Pleas, 
 which " shall be held and kept in each respective 
 county within this province and at the Island of Nan- 
 tucket within the same, yearly and every year at the 
 times and places in this Act hereafter mentioned, and 
 expressed," " by four substantial persons to be ap- 
 pointed and commissioned as justices of the same court 
 in each county, any three of whom to be a quorum for 
 the holding of said court, who shall have cognisance 
 of all civil actions arising or happening within such 
 county tryable at the common law, of what nature, 
 kind or quality soever." 
 
 On the 26th of the same month an act was passed, 
 establishing a Superior Court of Judicature, Court of 
 Assize and General Gaol Delivery over the province, 
 " to be held and kept annually at the respective times 
 and places mentioned in the act by one Chief Justice 
 and four other Justices to be app linted and commis- 
 sioned for the same, any three of them to be a quorum, 
 who shall have cognizance of all pleas, real, personal 
 or mixed, as well all pleas of the crown and all mat- 
 ters relating to the conservation of the peace and 
 punishment of offenders, as civil causes or actions be- 
 tween party and party, atid between his majesty and 
 any of his subjects, whether the same do concern the 
 realty and relate to any right of freehold and inheri- 
 tance, or whether the same do concern the personalty 
 and relate to matter of debt, contract, damage or per- 
 sonal injury, and also all mixed actions which concern 
 both realty and personalty, brought before them by 
 appeal, review, writ of error or otherwise, as the law 
 directs; and generally all other matters as fully and 
 amply to all intents and purposes whatsoever as the 
 courts of king's bench, common pleas and exchequer 
 within his majesty's kingdom of England have or 
 ought to have." 
 
 These laws were substantially re-enactments of the 
 laws pas.sed in 1692, and disallowed by the Privy 
 Council, and with amendments remained in force dur- 
 ing the existence of the province. Either by the act 
 establishing the General Sessions of the Peace or by 
 special acts afterwards passtd, the jurisdiction of this 
 court took a wide range. Besides its criminal juris- 
 diction it granted licenses to innholders and retailers 
 of liquor; it heard and determined complaints by the 
 Indians; it provided at one time destitute towns with 
 ministers; it determined the amount of county taxes 
 and apportioned the same among the towns ; it had 
 charge of county property and expended its money ; 
 it laid out highways ; it counted the votes for county 
 treasurer and audited his accounts ; it appointed mas- 
 ters of the House of Correction and made rules for the 
 government of the same ; it ordered the erection and 
 repair of prisons and other county buildings, and had 
 the general care of county affairs. 
 
WORCESTER COUNTS. 
 
 Vll 
 
 These province laws concerning the judiciary were, 
 by a gradual and natural process of evolution, the 
 outgrowth of the early laws of the Massachusetts 
 colony. At first the General Court, consisting, until 
 1634, of the Governor, the assistants and freemen and 
 after that date of delegates instead of the whole body 
 of freemen, was held monthly " for the handling, or- 
 dering and despatching of all such business and occur- 
 rences as should from time to time happen touching 
 or concerning said company or plantation," "as well 
 for settling the forms and ceremonies of government 
 and magistracy and for naming and se:tling of all 
 sorts of officers needful for the government and plan- 
 tation," " aa also for imposition of lawful fines, mulcts, 
 imprisonments or other lawful correction according 
 to the course of other corporations in this our realm.'' 
 Next to the General Court was the Court of Assist- 
 ants, which, by a law passed in 1639, was to hold two 
 terms in Boston, and composed of the Governor and 
 Deputy-Governor and assistants, to hear and deter- 
 mine all and only actions of appeal from the inferior 
 courls, all causes of divorce, all capital and criminal 
 causes extending to life, member or banishment. 
 There were also established in 1639 County Courts, 
 which had the same jurisdiction as that covered by 
 the Courts of Common Pleas and Courts of Sessions 
 at a later day. There were also Strangers' Courts 
 established in 1639, or, as they were sometimes called, 
 Merchants' Courts, designed to meet the wants of 
 strangers who were unable to await the ordinary 
 course of justice. In addition to these there were 
 the Military Court, established in 1634; the Court of 
 Chancery, established in 1685; and some lesser courts, 
 such as those of the Magistrates', the Commissioners' 
 of snail causes, and the Selectmen's Court, from 
 which appeals could be taken to the County Courts. 
 
 After the surrender of the charter and the appoint- 
 ment of Joseph Dudley as President, the Governor 
 and Council were made a Court of Record to try 
 civil and criminal matters and authorized to appoint 
 judges of such inferior courts as they might create. 
 The judicial system under President Dudley consisted 
 of a Superior Court and Courts of Pleas and Sessions 
 of the Peace. Under his administration Judges of 
 Probate were first appointed. 
 
 After the arrival of Andros as Governor of New 
 England in 1686 the Governor and Council had full 
 powers of making, interpreting and executing the 
 laws subject to revision by the crown. He issued an 
 order on the day after his arrival, December 20, 1680, 
 continuing all officers then in power in their several 
 places until further orders and directed the judges to 
 administer justice according to the customs of the 
 places in which their courts were held. On the 3d 
 of March, 1687, an "Act for the establishing Couris 
 of Judicature and Public Justice" was passed, under 
 which a system was organized, which led to the judi- 
 cial system adopted under the charter of the United 
 Colonies in 1692. Under this act the jurisdiction of 
 
 justices of the peace was fixed, quarterly sessions 
 were established, the Inferior Court of Common Pleas 
 and the Superior Court of Judicature were created. 
 A Court of Chancery was provided for and a system 
 perfected which was not overthrown on the accession 
 of William and Mary in 1688 and on the deposition 
 of Andro.s, and which was practically continued 
 under the charter of the Province of Massachusetts 
 Bay. 
 
 Of the judges of the Superior Court of Judicature, 
 neither was a native of that part of the Province 
 which was included within the limits of Worcester 
 County. The first session of the Inferior Court of 
 Common Pleas held in Worcester County was held 
 at Worcester August 10, 1731, when Rev. John Pren- 
 tice, of Lancaster, preached a sermon from 2 Chron. 
 19: 6-7 : "And said to the judges. Take heed what ye 
 do: for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord, who 
 is with you in the judgment. Wherefore now let the 
 fear of the Lord be upou you ; take heed and do it: 
 For there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, nor 
 respect of persons, nor taking of gifts." 
 
 The court was composed of John Chandler, of 
 Woodstock, chief justice, who remained in office 
 until his death in 1743; Joseph Wilder, of Lancaster, 
 who continued to serve until 1757; William Ward, 
 of Southboro', who remained on the bench uutil 1745, 
 and Wm. Jennison, of Worcester, who died in 1743. 
 Joseph Dwight served as the successor of John 
 Chandler from 1743 to 1753, and Samuel Willard, of 
 Lancaster, as the successor of Wm. Jennison from 
 1743 to 1753. Nahum Ward, of Shrewsburj', served 
 as the successor of Wm. Ward from 1745 to 1762, 
 and Edward Hartwell, of Lunenburg, as the successor 
 of Joseph Dwight from 1752 to 1762. Jonas Rice, of 
 Worcester, served as the successor of Samuel Willard 
 from 1753 to 1756, and John Chandler, of Worcester, 
 son of the first Judge Chandler, and who had been 
 from the beginning clerk of the court, from 1754 to 
 1762. Thomas Steele, of Leicester, served as the 
 successor oXJjJnas. Rice from 1756 to the Revolution, 
 and Timothy Ruggles, of Hardwick, as the successor 
 of Joseph Wilder from 1757 to the Revolution. 
 Joseph Wilder, son of the first Judge Wilder, served 
 as the successor of Edward Hartwell from 1762 until 
 the Revolution, and Artemas Ward, of Shrewsbury, 
 as the successor of John Chandler, who resigned in 
 February, 1762. The judges appointed for this court 
 after the beginning of the Revolution were Artemas 
 Ward, of Shrewsbury ; Jedediah Foster, of Brook- 
 field ; Moses Gill, of Princeton, and Samuel Baker, 
 of Berlin. They were commissioned October 17, 
 1775, and their first term was held December 5th of 
 the same year. On the 19th of September, 1776, 
 Joseph Dorr, of Ward (now Auburn), was appointed 
 to succeed Jedediah Foster, who had been appointed 
 to the bench of the Superior Court of Judicature, 
 and as thus constituted the Inferior Court of Common 
 Pleas continued until July 3, 1782, when the Court 
 
vni 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 of Common Pleas was established, to be held in each 
 county at apecilicd times and places, with lour judges 
 to be appointed by the Governor from witliin the 
 county. Tliis court waa substantially the same as 
 the Inferior Court of Common Pleas. The judges of 
 the old court were appointed to the new, and no 
 changes occurred until 1795, when Michael Gill, of 
 Princeton, and Elijah Brigbam, of Westboro', suc- 
 ceeded Moaes Gill, who was chosen Lieutenant-Gov- 
 ernor, and Samuel Baker. In 1798 John Sprague, of 
 Lancaster, succeeded Artemas Ward, who resigned, 
 and in 1800 Dwight Foster, of Worcester, succeeded 
 Michael Gill. In 1801 Jonathan Warner succeeded 
 John Sprague, and at a later date Benjamin Hey- 
 ■wood, of Worcester, was appointed, completing the 
 list of judges of this court up to its abolishment, June 
 21, 1811. 
 
 At the above date an act was p.issed providing that 
 the Commonwealth, except Dukes Couniy and the 
 county of Nantucket, should be divided into six cir- 
 cuits as ibilows : the Middle Circuit, consisting of the 
 counties of Suffolk, Essex and Middlesex; the West- 
 ern Circuit, consisting of the counties of Worcester, 
 Hampshire and Berkshire; the Southern Circuit, 
 consisting of the counties of Norfolk, Plymouth, 
 Bristol and Barnstable ; the Eastern Circuit, consist- 
 ing of the counties of York, Cumberland and Ox- 
 ford ; the Second Eastern Circuit, consisting of the 
 counties of Lincoln, Kennebec and Somerset; and 
 the Third Eastern Circuit, consisting of the counties 
 of Hancock and Washington ; and that there shall 
 be held in the several counties, at the times and 
 places now appointed for holding the Courts of Com- 
 mon Pleas, a Circuit Court of Common Pleas, con- 
 sisting of one chief justice and two associate justices, 
 to whom were to be added two sessions ju.stices from 
 each county to sit with the court in their county. 
 
 This court was aboli?hed on the 14th of February, 
 1820, and the Court of Common Pleas established 
 with four justices, one of whom, it was provided by 
 law, should be commissioned chief justice. On the 
 1st of March, 1843, the number of judges was in- 
 creased to five; March 18, 1845, to six ; and May 24, 
 1851, to seven. On the 5th of April, 1859, the court 
 was abolished, and the present Superior Court estab- 
 lished, with ten judges, which number was increased 
 May 19, 1875, to eleven, and to thirteen February 27, 
 1888. 
 
 The judges of the Common Pleas Court, founded 
 in 1820 and terminating in 1859, were Artemas Ward, 
 chief justice, commissioned 1820; John Mason Wil- 
 liams, commissioned as judge in 1820, and chief justice 
 in 1839; Solomon Strong, 1820; Samuel Howe, 1S20; 
 David Cummins, 1828; Charles Henry Warren, 1839; 
 Charles Allen, 1842; Pliny Merrick, 1843 ; Joshua 
 Holyoke Ward, 1844; Emory Washburn, 1844; 
 Luther Stearns Gushing, 1844; Daniel Wells, chief 
 justice, 1845; Harrison Gray Otis Colby, 1845; 
 Charles Edward Forbes, 1847; Edward Mellen, 1847, 
 
 and chief justice, 1854; George Tyler Bigelow, 1848; 
 Jonathan Coggsnell Perkins, 1848; Horatio Bying- 
 ton, 1848; Thomas Ilopkinson, 1848; Ebenczer 
 Rockwood Hoar, 1849; Pliny Merrick, 1850; Henry 
 Walker Bishop, 1851; George Nixon Briggs, 1853; 
 George Partridge Sanger, 1854 ; Henry Morris, 1855 ; 
 and David Aikin, 1856, — the laat five of whom, with 
 Judges Mellen and Perkins, composed the bench at 
 the time of the abolishment of the court. 
 
 The judges of the Superior Court, since its founda- 
 tion, in 1859, have been Charles Allen, commi-saioned 
 chief justice 1859; Julius Rockwell, commissioned 
 1859 ; Otis Phillips Lord, 1859; Marcus Morton, Jr., 
 1859; Seth Ames, 1859, chief justice, 1867; Ezra 
 Wilkinson, 1859 : Henry Vose, 1859; Thomas Rus- 
 sell, 1859; John Phelps Ptitnam, 1859; Lincoln Flagg 
 Brigbam, 1859, chief justice, 1869; Chester Ishain 
 Reed, 1867; Charles Devens, Jr., 1867; Henry Aus- 
 tin Scudder, 1869; Francis Henahaw Dewey, 1869 ; 
 Robert Carter Pitman, 1869; John William Bacon, 
 1871; William Allen, 1872; Peleg Emory Aldrich, 
 1873; Waldo Colburn, 1875; William Sewall Gard- 
 ner, 1875 ; Hamilton Barclay Staples, 1881 ; Marcus 
 Perrin Knowlton, 1881 ; Caleb Blodgett, 1882 ; Al- 
 bert Mason, 1882; Jamea iVIadison Barker, 1882; 
 Charles Perkins Thompson, 1885; John Wilkes 
 Hammond, 1886; Justin Dewey, 1886; Edgar Jay 
 Shenran, 1887; John Lothrop, 1888; James R. Dun- 
 bar, 1888 ; Robert R. Bishop, 1888. 
 
 The Circuit Court of Common Pleaa, founded June 
 21, 1811, had a jurisdiction which was at various 
 times extended and diminished. Its history was 
 closely connected with that of the Court of General 
 Sessions of the Peace. The latter court remained 
 substantially the same during the life of the Prov- 
 ince and up to June 19, 1807, when it was enacted 
 that it should consist of one chief justice, or first 
 justice, and a certain number of associate justices 
 for the several counties, to be appointed by the Gov- 
 ernor with the consent of the Council. These jus- 
 tices were lo act as the General Court of Sessions in 
 the place of the juaticea of the peace. 
 
 On the 19th of June, 1809, the powers and duties 
 of the General Court of Sessions were transferred to 
 the Court of Common Pleaa, and on the 25th of June, 
 1811, it was enacted " that from and after the first 
 day of December next, an act made and passed the 
 19th day of June, 1809, entitled 'An Act to transfer 
 the powers and duties of the Courts of Sessions to the 
 Courts of Common Pleas,' be and the same is hereby 
 repealed, and that all acta and parts of acts relative 
 to the Courts of Sessions, which were in force at the 
 time the act was in force, which is hereby repealed, 
 be and the same are hereby revived from and after the 
 said first day of September next." 
 
 On the 28th of February, 1814, it was enacted that 
 the act of June 25, 1811, " be repealed, except so far 
 as it relates to the Counties of Suffolk, Nantucket 
 and Dukes County, and that all petitions, recogni- 
 
WORCESTER COUNTY. 
 
 zances, warrants, orders, certificates, reports and 
 prnces?e< made to, t:iken for, or continued, or return- 
 able to the Court of Ses-ions in the several counties, 
 except as aforesaid, shall be returnable to, and pro- 
 ceeded in, and determined by the respective Circuit 
 Courts of Common Pleas, which was established 
 June 21, 1811." It was further provided "that from 
 and after the first day of June next, the Circuit 
 Courts of Common Pleas shall have, exerci-'e and 
 perform all powers, authorities and duties which the 
 respective Courts of Se.-sions have, before the passage 
 of this act, exercised and performed, except in the 
 Counties of Suffolk, Nantucket and Dukes County." 
 And it was further provided that the Governor, by 
 and with tlie advice of the Council, be authorized to 
 appoint two persons in each county who shall be 
 session justices of the Circuit Court of Common 
 Pleas, and sit with the justices of said Circuit Court 
 in the administration of the affairs of their county 
 and of all matters within said county of which the 
 Courts of Sessions had cognizance. The affairs of 
 the county were thus administered until February 
 20, 1819, when it was enacted "that from and after 
 the first day of June next an act to transfer the 
 powers and duties of the Courts of Sessions to the 
 Circuit Courts of Common Pleas, passed February 
 28, 1814, be hereby repealed," and it was further 
 provided "that from and after the first day of June 
 next the Courts of Sessions in the several counties 
 shall be held by one chief justice and two associate 
 justices, to be appointed by the Governor, with the 
 advice and consent of the Council, who shall have 
 all the powers, rights and privileges, and be subject 
 to all the duties which are now vested in the Circuit 
 Courts of Common Pleas, relating to the erection 
 and repair of jails and other county buildings, the 
 allowance and settlement of county accounts, the 
 estimate, apportionment and issuing warrants tor 
 assessing county taxes, granting licenses, laying out, 
 altering and discontinuing highways, and appointing 
 committees and ordering juries for that jiurpose." 
 
 The management of county affairs remained in the 
 hands of the Court of Sessions until March 4, 1820, 
 when that part of its duties relating to highways was 
 transferred to a new board of officers denominated 
 " Commissioners of Highways." It was provided by 
 law "that for each county in the Commonwealth, 
 except the Counties of Suffolk and Nantucket, there 
 shall be appointed and commissioned by His Excel- 
 lency the Governor, by and with the advice and con- 
 sent of the Council, to hold their offices for five 
 years, unless removed by the Governor and Council, 
 five commissioners of highways, except in the Coun- 
 ties of Dukes and Barnst.able, in which there shall 
 be ajjpoiuted only three, who shall be inhabitants of 
 such county, one of whom shall be designated as 
 Chairman by his commission." It was further pro- 
 vided that the commissioners should report their 
 doings to the Court of Sessions for record, and that 
 
 said court should draw their warrants on the county 
 treasurer for ihe expenses incurred by the crmmis- 
 sioners in conslructiiig mads laid out by them. 
 
 On the 26th of February, 1828, the act establishing 
 the Courts of Sessions, passed February 20, 1819, and 
 the act in addition thereto, passed February 21, 1820, 
 the act increasing the numbers and extending the 
 powers of the justices of the Courts of Sessions, 
 passed February 6, 1822, and the act in addition to 
 an act directing the method of laying out highways 
 pa>sed March 4, 1826, were repealed. The repealing 
 act provided that " there shall be apijointed and com- 
 missioned by His Excellency, the Governor, by and 
 with the advice and consent of the Council, four per- 
 sons to be county commissioners for each of the 
 counties of Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk and Worcester, 
 and three persons to be county commissioners for 
 each of the other counties of the Commonwealth, 
 except the county of Suffolk," " th.at the clerks of the 
 Courts of Common Pleas within the several counties 
 shall be clerks of said county commissioners," and 
 "that for each of the counties in the Commonwealth 
 except the counties of Suffolk, Middlesex, Essex, 
 Worceter, Norfolk and Nantucket, there shall be 
 appointed and commi^sioned two persons to act as 
 special county commissioners." Under this law Jared 
 Weed, Aaron Tuft-^, William Eaton and Edmund 
 Gushing were appointed in 1828, and served until 
 1832, when James Draper succeeded Aaron Tufts. 
 No further changes occurred in the board until 1835, 
 when, on the 8th of April in that year, a law was 
 passed providing that in every county, exc<-pt Suffolk 
 and Nantucket, the judge of Probate, the register of 
 probate and clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, 
 should be a board of examiners, and that on the first 
 Monday in May, in the year 1835, and on the firot 
 .Alonday in April in every third year thcrealter, the 
 people should cast their votes for three county com- 
 missioners and two special commissioners. Under 
 this law John W. Lincoln, William Crawford and 
 Ebenezer D. Ammidown were chosen in 1835 ; William 
 Crawford, Samuel Taylor and Ebenezer D. Ammi- 
 down, in 1838; AV'illiam Crawford, David Davenport 
 and Charles Thurbcr, in 1841; William Crawford, 
 Jerome Gardner and Joseph Bruce, in 1844; the same 
 in 1847 ; Otis Adams, Bonura Nye and Asaph Wooi), 
 in 1850, and the same in 1853. On the llih of March, 
 1854, it was provided by law that the county com- 
 missioners then in oHice in the several counties, except 
 in Suffolk and Nantucket, shall be divided into three 
 classes, those of the first clat-s holding their offices 
 until the day of the next annual election of Governor, 
 those of the second class until 1855, and those of the 
 third class until the election in 1856, the commis- 
 sioners then in office determining by lot to which 
 class each should belong, and that at each annual 
 election thereafter one commissioner should be chosen 
 for three years. Under the new law the office of 
 commissioner has been filled by Otis Adams, Bonum 
 
HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Nye, Asaph Wood, Zaclock A. Taft, James Allen, 
 Velorus A. Taft, Araory Holman, J. W. Bigelow, 
 William 0. Browu, Henry G. Taft, H. E. Eice, George 
 S. Duell and James H. Barker. 
 
 The Superior Court of Judicature which was finally 
 established June 26, 1699, but which had been in 
 operation since the act of November 25, 1692, which 
 was disallowed by the Privy Council, formed a part of 
 the judicial system of the province until February 
 12, 1781. It has been found difficult by some to draw 
 the line between the death of the Superior Court of 
 Judicature and the birth of the Supreme Judicial 
 Court. An act was passed February 12, 1781, fixing 
 the salaries of the justices of the Supreme Judicial 
 Court, and yet the law establishing that court was not 
 passed until July 3, 1782. Sufficient light is thrown 
 on this discrepancy to explain it by an act passed 
 February 20, 1781, which in its preamble uses the 
 language, " Whereas by the Constitution and Frame 
 of Government of the Commonwealth of Massachu- 
 setts the style and title of the Superior Court of 
 Judicature is now the Supreme Judicial Court of the 
 Commonwealth of Massachusetts," and which in the 
 body of the act uses the further language, " That the 
 Court which hath been or shall be hereafter appointed 
 and commissioned according to the Constitution as 
 the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth, 
 etc." During its existence the judges on its bench 
 were : 
 
 GmimUaioned 
 
 William Stougliton 1092 
 
 Thomas Danfurtli 1602 
 
 Wait Winthrop 1692 
 
 Jolin KicharOa 1602 
 
 Saimiel Sowall lG9i 
 
 Elisha Cooks 1605 
 
 John Walley 1700 
 
 John SaHin 1701 
 
 Isiuic AilUingtou 1702 
 
 John Hatliorne 1702 
 
 John Levei-elt 1702 
 
 Jonatiian Corwin 1708 
 
 Benjamin Lynde 1712 
 
 Nathaniel Thomas 1712 
 
 Addington Daven])ort... 1715 
 
 Paul Dudley 1718 
 
 Edmund Quincy 1718 
 
 John Gushing 1720 
 
 Jonathan Remington 1733 
 
 Richard Saltoustall 17.38 
 
 Commiasii^ned 
 
 Thomas Greaves 1737 
 
 Stephen Sewall 1739 
 
 Nathaniel Hubbard 1745 
 
 Benjamin Lynde 1745 
 
 John Cushing 1747 
 
 Chambers Uussell 1754 
 
 Peter Oliver 1750 
 
 Thomas Hutchiuson 1761 
 
 Edmund Trowbridge 1767 
 
 Foster Ilutchineon J771 
 
 Nathaniel Ropes 1772 
 
 William Cushing 1772 
 
 William Browne 1774 
 
 John Adams 1775 
 
 Nathaniel P. Sargent 1775 
 
 William Keed 1776 
 
 Robert Treat Paine 1775 
 
 Jedediah Foster 1776 
 
 Jainea Snllivaa 1776 
 
 David Sewall 1777 
 
 The chief justices of the court were, William 
 Stougliton, 1692; Isaac Addington, 1702 ; Wait Win- 
 throp, 1708; Samuel Sewall, 1718; Benjamin Lynde, 
 1718; Paul Dudley, 1745; Siephen Sewall, 1752; 
 Thomas Hutchinson, 1761 ; Benjamin Lynde, 1769 ; 
 Peter Oliver, 1772; William Cushing, 1775. 
 
 The Supreme Judicial Court, which superseded the 
 Superior Court of Judicature, was established by law 
 February 20, 1781. It was established with one chief 
 justice and four associate justices, which number was 
 increased to six in 1800, and the State divided into 
 two circuits — the East, including Essex County and 
 Maine, and the West, including the remainder of the 
 
 State except Suffolk County. In 1805 the number of 
 associates was reduced to four, and in 1852 increased 
 tofive. In 1873 the number of associates was increased 
 to six, making the court as since constituted to consist 
 of seven judges, including the chief justice. 
 The judges of the court have been 
 
 Commissioned 
 
 William Cushing 1781 
 
 Nathl. Pcaslee Sargent 1781 
 
 James Sullivan 1781 
 
 David Sewall 1781 
 
 Increase Sumner 1782 
 
 Francis Dana 1785 
 
 Robert Treat Paine 1790 
 
 Nathan Cushing 1790 
 
 Thomas Dawes 1792 
 
 Theophilus Bradbury 1705 
 
 Samuel Sewall 1800 
 
 Simeon Strong 1801 
 
 George Thacber 1801 
 
 Theodore Sedgwick 1802 
 
 Isaac Parker 1806 
 
 Theoihilus Parsons 1800 
 
 Charles Jackson 1813 
 
 Daniel Dewey 1814 
 
 Samuel Putnam 1814 
 
 Samuel Simmer Wilde 1815 
 
 Levi Lincoln 1824 
 
 Marcus Morton 1825 
 
 Lemuel Shaw 1830 
 
 Charles Augustus Dewey 1837 
 
 Samuel Hubbard 1842 
 
 Charles Edward Forbes 1848 
 
 Tliei-on Metealf. 1848 
 
 Commissioned 
 
 Richard Fletcher 1818 
 
 George Tyler Bigelow 1850 
 
 Caleb Gushing 1852 
 
 Beuj. Franklin Thomas 1853 
 
 Pliny Merrick 1853 
 
 Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar 1859 
 
 Reuben Atwater Chapman 186 
 
 Horace Gray 1864 
 
 James Deuison Colt 1865 
 
 Dwight Foster 1860 
 
 John Wells 1866 
 
 James Denisou Colt 1868 
 
 Seth Ames 18(59 
 
 Marcus Morton 1809 
 
 Wm. Crowninsh ield Endicott..l873 
 
 Charles Devens 1873 
 
 Otis Phillips Lord 1875 
 
 Augustus Lord Sonle 1877 
 
 Wolbridgo Abner Field 1881 
 
 Charles Devens 1881 
 
 William Allen 1881 
 
 Charles Allen 18S2 
 
 Waldo Colburn 1882 
 
 Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr 1882 
 
 William Sewall Gardner 1885 
 
 Marcus Perriu Kuowlton 1887 
 
 The chief justices of the court have been William 
 Cushing, 1781; Nathaniel Pcaslee Sargent, 1790; 
 Francis Dana, 1791 ; Theophilus Parsons, 1800 ; Sam- 
 uel Sewall, 1814; Isaac Parker, 1814; Lemuel Shaw, 
 1830 ; George Tyler Bigelow, 1860 ; Reuben Atwater 
 Chapman, 1868 ; Horace Gray, 1873 ; Marcus Mor- 
 ton, 1882. 
 
 The administration of probate affairs up to the 
 accession of President Dudley, in 1685, was in the 
 hands of the County Court ; Dudley assumed probate 
 jurisdiction, but delegated his powers in some of the 
 counties to a judge, appointed by himself. Under 
 the administration of Andros he assumed jurisdiction 
 in the settlement of estates exceeding fifty pounds, 
 while judges of probate had jurisdiction in estates of a 
 lesser amount. The provincial charter gave jurisdic- 
 tion to the Governor and Council in all probate mat- 
 ters, who claimed and exercised the right of delegat- 
 ing it to judges and registers of probate in the several 
 counties. On the 12th of March, 1784, a Probate 
 Court was established by law, of which the judge and 
 register were to be appointed by the Governor, until, 
 under an amendment of the Constitution, ratified by 
 the people May 23, 1855, it was provided by law that 
 in 1856, and every fiftii year thereafter, the register 
 should be chosen by the people for a term of five 
 years. In 1856 a Court of Insolvency was also estab- 
 lished for each ccmnty, with a judge and register, and 
 in 1858 the offices of judge and register of both the 
 Probate and Insolvency Courts were abolished, and 
 
WORCESTER COUNTY. 
 
 XI 
 
 the offices of judge and register of probate and insol- 
 vency were establi-hed. It was also provided that 
 the registers of probate and insolvency should be 
 chosen by the people for a term of five years, in that 
 year and every fifth year thereafter. In 1862 the 
 Probate Court was made a Court of Kecord. 
 
 The judges of probate in Worcester County have 
 been 
 
 Jolin Clmtidler, of Woodstock 1731 to 1740 
 
 Joseph Wilder, of Liiucaster 174() to 1756 
 
 Joliii Cliaiidlcr, of Worcester 1760 to 1702 
 
 John Chiiiidler, Jr.,of Worcester 1702 to 1775 
 
 Jededinh Foster, of BrooUfteld 1775 to 1776 
 
 Artcliiiis Ward, of Shrewsbury 1776 to 1778 
 
 Levi Lincoln, of Worcester 1770 to 1783 
 
 Joseidi Dorr, of Ward (Anburn) 1783 to ISol 
 
 Niitlinuiel Puine of Worcester ISCJI to 1836 
 
 Ira M. Barton, of Worcester 1830 to 1844 
 
 Benj. F. Tiionias, of Worcester 1844 to 1818 
 
 Thomas Kiunicutt, of Worcester 1848 to 1857 
 
 Dwight Foster, of Worcester 1857 to 1858 
 
 Henry Chapin, of Worcester (P. & In.) 1858 to 1878 
 
 Aden Thayer, of Worcester (P. & In.) 1878 to 1888 
 
 Wm. T. Forbes, of Westboro (P. & In.) 1888 
 
 During the short life of the Court of Insolvency 
 the judges were Alexander H. Bullock and W. W. 
 Eice, and the register was John J. Piper. The 
 registers of Probate have been John Chandler, Jr., 
 of Worcester; Timothy Paine, of Worcester; Clarke 
 Chandler, of Worcester; Joseph Wheeler, of Worces- 
 ter ; Theiiphilus Wheeler, Charles G. Prentice, .lohn 
 J. Piper (P. e<c In), Charles E. Stevens (P. & In.) and 
 Frederick W. Southwick (P. & In.). 
 
 During the existence of the Massachusetts Colony 
 the executive officer of the court was called either 
 " beadle " or " marshal," except under Dudley, wlien 
 he was called " provost marshal," and under Andros, 
 when he was called "sheriff." Since the union of the 
 Plymouth and Massachusetts Colonies, and the estab- 
 lishment of the province of Massachusetts Bay, in 
 1692, he has been called " sheriff." Under the prov- 
 ince charter he was appointed by the Governor, and 
 continued to be after the adoption of the Constitution 
 until 1831. On the 17th of March in that year a 
 law was passed providing that the Governor should 
 appoint and commission sheriffs for terms of five 
 years, and giving him power to remove them from 
 office at pleasure. Under the nineteenth article of 
 amendments of the Constitution, ratified by the peo- 
 ple iu 1855, a law was passed in 1856 providing that 
 in that year, and every third year thereafter, a sheriff 
 should be chosen by the people of each county at 
 the annual election. 
 
 The sheriffs of Worcester County have been as 
 follows : 
 
 Appointed 
 
 Daniel Gookin 1731 
 
 Benjamin Flags (^''ce Gookin, deceased) 1743 
 
 John Chandler (rtce Flags, deceased) 1751 
 
 Gardner Chandler (rice C'hundler, made judge) 17ti2 
 
 Simeon Dwisht (under the new order) 1775 
 
 William Greenleaf (vice Dwisht, deceased) 1778 
 
 John Sprasue 1788 
 
 DwigUt Foster {vice Sprague, resigned) 1792 
 
 William Caldwell 1793 
 
 Thomas W. Ward 18115 
 
 Calvin Willard 1824 
 
 John W. Lincoln 1844 
 
 James W. Estabrook 1851 
 
 George W. Richardson 1853 
 
 Choaen 
 
 J. S. C. Knowltou 18i0 
 
 A. B. R. Sprague 1871 
 
 In the colony of Massachusetts the clerks of the 
 courts were appointed by the courts. Under the 
 Province the clerks of the County Courts and of the 
 Superior Court of Judicature, and afterwards of the 
 Supreme Judicial Court, until 1797, were distinct, 
 and the clerk of the two latter courts had his office 
 in Boston. The courts continued to hold the ap- 
 pointment of clerks until 1811, when it was trans- 
 ferred to the Governor and Council. In 1814 it was 
 given to the Supreme Judicial Court, and so re- 
 mained until 1856, when it was provided by law that 
 in that year, and every fifth year thereafter, clerks 
 should be chosen by the people in the several coun- 
 ties. The clerks of the courts in Worcester County 
 have been as follows: 
 
 Appointed 
 
 John Chandler (id) 1731 
 
 Timothy Paine 1751 
 
 Levi Lincoln 1775 
 
 •loseph .\llen .'. 1770 
 
 William Sledman ISIO 
 
 Francis Blake 1814 
 
 Abijah Bigelow 1817 
 
 Joseph G. Kendall 1832 
 
 Charles W. Hartshorn 1848 
 
 Joseph Mason 18.52 
 
 ClioBen 
 
 Joseph Mason 1856 
 
 John A. Dana 1876 
 
 Theodore S. Johnson 1881 
 
 Timothy Paine, the second on the list of clerks, 
 was appointed joint clerk with John Chandler, and 
 continued sole clerk after the promotion of Mr. 
 Chandler to the bench. 
 
 The assistant clerks have been, — 
 
 William A. Smith 1847 to '04 
 
 John A.Dana 1804 to '70 
 
 Wm. T. Harlowe 1876 to — 
 
 During the colonial period and up to 1715 clerks 
 of courts were registers of deeds, but on the 26th of 
 July, in that year, it was provided by law "'that in 
 each county some person having a freehold within 
 said county to the value of at least ten pounds should 
 be chosen by the people of the county register of 
 deeds for the term of five years." This practice con- 
 tinued until 1855, having been confirmed and re- 
 newed by a law of 1781. In 18.55 it was provided 
 that in that year and every third year thereafter a 
 register of deeds should be chosen for the term of 
 three years. The registers of deeds in Worcester 
 County have been : 
 
 chosen 
 
 John Chandler (23) 1731 
 
 Timotliy Paine 1701 
 
 Nathan Baldwin 1775 
 
 Daniel Clapp 1784 
 
 Oliver Fiske 1816 
 
xu 
 
 HISTORY OF WOKCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Artemas Ward 1821 
 
 Alexiiiidcr 11. Wilder 18-10 
 
 Ilaivcy B. Wilder 187:1 
 
 Cliarlca A. Chaso ISTG 
 
 Harvey U. Wilder 1877 
 
 On the 6th of June, 1856, an act was passed provid- 
 ingthatthree terms of the Common Pleas Court should 
 be held annually in the town of Fitchburg, and thus 
 that town became a half-shire. On the 29th of Feb- 
 ruary, 1884, it was enacted by the General Court that 
 Worcester County should be divided into two dis- 
 tricts for the registry of deeds, one of which, includ- 
 ing the city of Fitchburg and the towns of Lunen- 
 burg, Leominster, Westminster and Ashburnham, 
 should be called the Northern District and the other, 
 including the remainder of the county, the Worcester 
 District; the placfs of registry for the two districts 
 being Fitchburg and Worcester. It was also provided 
 that the register then in olhce should continue as the 
 register of the Worcester District, and that the Gover- 
 nor should appoint a register for the Northern District> 
 who should serve until a register was chosen and 
 qualified in his place. On the 15lh of June, 1885, it 
 was provided by law that the County Commissioners 
 should cause copies of deeds to be made in one dis- 
 trict belonging to' the other not exceeding twenty 
 years prior to August 1, 1884. The register at Fitcli- 
 luirg, under the new law, has been and continues to be 
 Charles F. Rockwood. 
 
 It was provided by law by the Court of the Massa- 
 chusetts Colony in 1654, that each county should an- 
 nually choose a treasurer. After the formation of the 
 province this provision was renewed by an act passed 
 in 1C92, and again renewed the 2.3d of March, 1786, 
 and remained in force until 1855, when it was pro- 
 vided that a treasurer should be chosen in each county 
 in that year, and every third year thereafter, for the 
 term of three years. The treasurers of Wore ster 
 County have been Benjamin Houghton, John Chan- 
 dler (2d) and John Chandler (3il) from 1731 to 1775; 
 Nathan Perry, from 1775 to 1790 ; Samuel Allen, from 
 1790 to 1831; Anthony Chase, from 1831 to 1865; 
 Charles A, Chiise, from 1865 to 1876, and Edward A. 
 Brown, from 1876 to date. 
 
 The only courts remaining to be mentioned are the 
 Police and District Courts. .The only Police Courtis 
 that in Fitchburg, of which Thornton K. Ware is 
 justice, and David H. Merriam and Charles !S. Hayden 
 are the special justices. The Police Court of Worces- 
 ter, of which Will. N. Green was justice, no longer 
 exists. There are seven District Courts. The First 
 Northern Worcester Court is held at Athol and Gard- 
 ner, and has jurisdiction in Athol, Gardner, Peters- 
 ham, Phillipston, Royalston, Templeton and Hub- 
 bardston. Its officers are Charles Field, justice; 
 James A. Stiles and Sidney P. Smith, special justices. 
 The First Southern is held at Southbridge and Web- 
 ster, and has jurisdiction in Southbridge, Sturbridge, 
 Charlton, Dudley, Oxford and Webster. Its officers 
 
 are Clark Jillson, justice ; Henry T. Clark and Eli.sha 
 M. Phillips, special justices. The Second Southern 
 Worcester is held at Jilackstone and Uxbridge and 
 has jurisdiction in Blackstonc, Uxbridge, Douglas and 
 Northbridge. Its officers are Arthur A. Putnam, jus- 
 tice; Zadoc A. Taft, and William J. Taft special jus- 
 tices. Tbe Third Southern Worcester is held at Mil- 
 ford, and has jurisdiction in Milford, Mendon and 
 Upton. Its officers are Charles A. Dewey, justice, and 
 James R. Davis and Charles E. Whitney, special jus- 
 tices. The First Eastern Worcester is held at West- 
 borough and Grafton, and has jurisdiction in West- 
 borough, Grafton, Norihborough and Southborough. 
 Its officers are Dexter Newton, justice, and Benjamin 
 
 B. Nourse and Luther K. Leiand, special justices. 
 The Second Eastern Worcester is held at Clinton, and 
 has jurisdiction in Clinton, Berlin, Bolton, Harvard, 
 Luncaster and Sterling. Its officers are Christopher 
 
 C. Stone, justice, and Herbert Parker, special justice. 
 The Central Worcester is held at Worcester, and has 
 jurisdiction in Worcester, Millbury, Sutton, Auburn, 
 Leicester, Paxton, West Boylston, Boylston, Holden 
 and Shrewsbury. Its officers are Samuel Uiley, jus- 
 tice ; George M. Woodward and HoUis W. Cobb, 
 special justices, and Edward T. Raymond, clerk. 
 
 It is not proposed to include in this chapter any 
 allusion to the judges and members of the bar who 
 have illustrated the judicial history of Worcester 
 County. Another chapter will be specially devoted 
 to sketches of their character and lives. Until 1836 
 the bar was divided into two classes, attorneys and 
 barristers, though after 1806, under a rule of court, 
 counselors, were substituted ibr barristers, and in 
 1836 the distinction between ci/unaelors and attor- 
 neys was abolished. The writer will be excused if he 
 repeats in this place substantially what he has writ- 
 ten elsewhere concerning American barristers. 
 ' The term "barrister" is derived from the Latin 
 word barra, signifying " bar," and was applied to 
 those only who were permitted to plead at the bar of 
 the courts. In England, before admission, barristers 
 must have resided three year.s in one of the Inns of 
 Court if a graduate of either Cambridge or Oxford, 
 and five years if not. These Inns of Court were the 
 Inner Temple, the Middle Temple, Lincoln's Inn 
 and Gray's Inn. Before tbe Revolution this rule 
 seems to have so far prevailed here as to require a 
 practice of three years in the Inferior Courts before 
 admission as a barrister. John Adams says in his 
 diary that he became a barrister in 1761, and was 
 directed to provide himself with a gown and bands 
 and a tie-wig, having practiced according to the rules 
 three years in the Inferior Courts. At a later day 
 the term of probation was four years, and at a still 
 later, seven. There are known to have been twenty- 
 five barristers in Massachusetts in 1768 — eleven in 
 SiifTolk County : Richiird Dana, Benjamin Kent, 
 ■lamcj Otis, Jr., Samuel Fitch, William Read, Samue 
 Swift, Benjamin Gridley, Samuel Quincy, Robert 
 
WORCESTEK COUNTY. 
 
 XllI 
 
 Aiichmntyand Andrew Casneaii, of Boston, and John 
 Adams, of Braintree; five in Essex: Daniel Farn- 
 liam and John Lowell, of Newburyport, William 
 Pynchon, of Salem, John Chipnian, of Marblehead, 
 and Nathaniel Peaslee Sargent, of Haverhill ; one in 
 Jliddlcsrx : Jonathan Sewell ; two in Worcester: 
 James Putnam, of Worcester, and Abel Willard, of 
 LaJicaster ; three in Bristol: Saaiuel While, Robert 
 Treat Paine and Daniel Leonard ; two in Plymouth : 
 James Hovey and Pelham Winslow, of Plymouth ; 
 one in Hampshire: John Worthingtoii, of Spring- 
 field, then in that county. Fifteen others were added 
 before the Revolution — Sampson Salter Blowers, of 
 Boston, Moses Bliss and Jonathan Blis?, of Spring- 
 field, Joseph Hawley, of Northampton, Zrphaniah 
 Leonard, of Taunton, Mark Hopkins, of Great Bar- 
 rington, Simton Strong, of Amherst, Daidtl Oliver, 
 of Hardwick, Francis Dana, of Cambridge, Daniel 
 Bliss, of Concord, Joshua Upham, of Brookfield, 
 Shearji\shub Bourne, of Barnstable, Samuel Porter, 
 of Salem, Jeremiah D. Rogers, of Littleton, and 
 Oakcs Angier, of Bridgewater. How many barristers 
 were admitted in Worcester County at later dates the 
 writer has been unable to discover, but it is known 
 that in 1803 Levi Lincoln had been added to the roll. 
 The following entry in the records of the Superior 
 Court of Judicature will throw light on the methods 
 which prevailed concerning the .admission of barris- 
 ters: 
 
 Suffolk SS. Superior Court of Jmlic-iture nt Boston, third Tuesday of 
 Febnuiry, 17S1 ; present— Wiiliain Cufibiiip, Xatliiiniel P. Snrgeant. 
 David Sewall and .lames Sullivan, Justices ; and now at tliis term the 
 following rule is nnide by tile court and ordered to bo entered, viz.: 
 wbeleas learning iind liter.ary accolnplislinients are necessary as well to 
 proniole the Iiappiuess as to preserve the freedom of the people, and the 
 learning of the law when duly encouraged and rightly directed, being as 
 well peculiarly subservient to the great and good purpose aforesaid, as pro- 
 motive of public and privatejnstice ; and the court being atall times ready 
 to bestow peculiar nuirks of approbation nijon the gentlemen of the bar, 
 who, by a close application to the study of the science they profess, by a 
 mode of conduct w hich gives a convictioli of the rectitude of their minds 
 and a faiincss of jiractice that does honor to the profetsion of the law, 
 shall distinguish as men of science, honor and integrity^ Do order that 
 no gentleuuin shall be called to the degree of barrister until he shall 
 merit the same by his conspicuous bearing, ability and honesty; and 
 that the court will, of their own mere motion, call to the bar such per- 
 sons as shall render themselves worthy as aforesaid ; and that the nuin- 
 ner of calling to the bar shall be as follows ; The gentleman who shall 
 boa candidate shall stand within the bar; the Chief Justice, or in his 
 abseneo the Senior Justice, shall, in the name of the court, repeat to 
 him the qualifications necessary for a barrister at law ; shall let bim 
 know that it is a conviction in the mind of the court of his being pos- 
 sessed of those qualitications that induces them to confer the honor upon 
 him ; and shall solemnly charge him so to conduct himself as to be of 
 singular service to his country by exerting bis abilities for the defence 
 of ber constitutional fieedom ; and so to demean himself as to do honor 
 to the court and bar. 
 
 In the act passed July 3, 1782, establishing the Su- 
 preme Judicial Coi'irt, it was provided that the court 
 might and should from time to time make record and 
 establ sh all such rules anil regulations with respect 
 to the adiiiissiim of atturneys ordinarily practicing in 
 said court and the cic.ition of barristers at law. 
 Under the provisions of this act the court adopted 
 the following rule: 
 
 Suffolk, SS. At the Supreme Judicial Court at Boston the last Tuesday 
 of August, 1TS3 ; present — William Cnsbitig, Chief Justice, and Nathaniel 
 I*. Sargeant, David Sewall and Increase Summer, Justices ; ordered that 
 harristel-8 be called to the bar by special writ to be ordered by the Court 
 and to be in the following form : 
 
 CommoniceaUh of Massachusetts. 
 
 To A. B., Esq., of Greeting: We, well knowing your ability, 
 
 learning and integrity, command you that you ai)penr before our Jus- 
 tices of our Supreme Judicial Court next to be holden at in and for 
 
 our County of on the Tuesday of then and there in our 
 
 said court, to take upon you the State and degree of a Barrister at law. 
 
 Uereoffail not. Witness, , Esq . our Chief Justice at Boston, the 
 
 day of in the year of our Lord , and in the year of our 
 
 Independence . By order of the Court. , Clerk. 
 
 Which writ shall bo fairly engraved on parchment and delivered 
 twenty d:iys before the session of the same Court by the Sheriff of the 
 same County to the person to whom directetl, and being pioduced in 
 Court by the Banister and there read by the clerk and proper certificate 
 thereon made, shall be redelivered and kept as a voucher of his being le- 
 gally called to ttie bar ; and the Barristers shall take rank according to 
 the date of their respective writs. 
 
 In 180G the following rule was adopted by the 
 court, which seems to h;ive substituted counselors for 
 barristers : 
 
 Suffolk SS. At the Supreme .ludicial Court nt Boston for the County 
 of SutTolk iind Nantucket, the secolul Tuesday of March, ISDG ; present — 
 Fiancis Dana, chief Justice, Theodore Sedgwick, George Thatcher aiid 
 Isaac Parker, Justices ; oidered : First. No Attorney shalldothe business 
 of a counsellor unless he shall have been made or admitted as such by 
 the Court. Second. All attoriu'ys of this Court who have been admitted 
 three years before the silting of this Court, shall be and hereby are made 
 Counsellois, and are entitled to oil the lights and privileges of such. 
 Third. No Attorney or Ckmnsellor shall hereafter be admitted without 
 a previous examination, etc. 
 
 The rule of the Supreme Judicial Court, adopted in 
 1783, Wiis issued under the provisions of the law of 
 1782 establishing that court, but the rule adopted by 
 the Superior Court of Judicature in 1781 seems 
 to have been made in obedience to no law, but under 
 the general powers of the court. It is not known at 
 precisely what period barristers were introduced into 
 the Provincial courts, but it is probable that until 
 1781 the English custom and methods and qualifica- 
 tions were substantially followed without any rule of 
 court. 
 
 The earliest sessions of the courts were held in the 
 meeting-house in Worcester, which was built in 1719 
 on the Common. This meeting-house stood until 
 17G3. In 1732 it was decided to built a court-house. 
 The land for its site was given by Judge Jennison 
 and it was erected in 1733. The county tax in that 
 year was apportioned as follows: 
 
 £ « d. 
 
 Eutl.ind 7 16 
 
 Westborough 18 2 
 
 Shrewsbury 14 14 
 
 Oxford 14 4 
 
 Sutton 24 10 
 
 Uxbridge 12 8 
 
 Lunenburg 7 IG 
 
 Worcester 22 15 4 
 
 Lancaster C2 16 8 
 
 Mendon 3li 
 
 Woodstock 33 
 
 Brookfield 27 1 4 
 
 Southborough 17 
 
 Leicester 13 19 4 
 
 This court-bouse was situated near the site of the 
 prisent brick court-house near Lincoln Square, and 
 was opened February 8, 1734. It is believed that its 
 dimensions were thirty-six feet by twenty-six. In 
 1751 a new building was erected, forty feet by thirty- 
 six, on the Court Hill, corner of Greeu and Franklin 
 
HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Streets, and is now used as a residence. The corner- 
 stone of the brick building, now in use, was laid Oc- 
 tober 1, 1801, under the direction of a building com- 
 mittee composed of Isaiah Thomas, William Caldwell 
 and Salem Towne. The original building, since en- 
 larged, was fifty and a half feet long and forty-eight 
 and a half feet wide, and was opened September 27, 
 1803, when Chief Justice Robert Treac Paine, of the 
 Supreme Judicial Court, delivered an address. At 
 the February meeting of the County Commissioners 
 in 1842 it wa^j decided to build another court-house, 
 and the granite structure, now chiefly in use, was 
 erected at a cost of one hundred thousand dollars on 
 the site of the house of Isaiah Thomas, which was re- 
 moved to the rear and is still standing. This building, 
 which was originally one hundred and eight feet long 
 and tifty-seven wide, was enlarged in 1878. It was 
 opened September 30, 1845, on which occasion an ad- 
 dress was delivered by Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw. 
 
 With regard to the erection of the first jail ihere 
 seems to be some confusion as to dates. As nearly as 
 can be ascertained, what was called a cage was built 
 before 1732, and in that year the Court of Sessions or- 
 dered that, "in lieu of the prison before appointed, the 
 cage, so-called, already built be removed to the cham- 
 ber of the house of Deacon Daniel Haywood, inn- 
 holder, and be the jail until the chamber be suitably 
 furnished for a jail and then the chamber be the jail 
 for the county and the cage remain as one of the 
 apartments." The inn of Deacon Haywood stood on 
 the site of the present Bay State House. In 1734, no 
 jail having been built, the Court of Sessions hired a 
 part of the house of Judge Jennison for prisoners; 
 very soon after this time, probably in 1734, a jail was 
 built on the west side of Lincoln Street. In 1753 a 
 new jail was built farther down the same street, thirty- 
 eight feet long and twenty-eight wide. In December, 
 1784, the Court of Sessions provided for the erection 
 of a stone jail, sixty-four feet by thirty-two and three 
 stories high, on the south side of Lincoln Square, 
 which was completed September 4, 1788. This build- 
 ing was pronounced by Isaiah Thomas, then the edi- 
 tor of the Spy, as in public opinion the most important 
 stone building in the Commonwealth, next to King's 
 Chapel in Boston. It was built of rough quarry stone 
 from Millstone Hill by John Parks, of Groton, who 
 gained a high reputation by his work. In 1819 a 
 house of correction was built, fifty-three feet by 
 twenty-seven, where the present jail stands on Sum- 
 mer Street. In 1832 it was rebuilt with forty cells, 
 each seven feet by three and a half, and with three 
 rooms for close confinement. In 1835 a part of the 
 building was arranged for a jail, and in 1873 it was 
 altered, remodeled and enlarged to its present dimen- 
 sions. A jail and house of correction were also built 
 in Fitchburg when that town was made a half-shire. 
 
 Under the Constitution of Massachusetts, adopted 
 by a convention of the people at Cambridge, Sept. 1, 
 1779, it was provided that there should be forty districts 
 
 in the State, created by the General Court for Council- 
 ors and Senators, and until the General Court should 
 act in the premises, the several districts, with the num- 
 ber of Councilors and Senators, in each should be as 
 follows: Suffolk county with six ; Essex, six ; Middle- 
 sex, five ; Hampshire, four ; Plymouth, three ; Barn- 
 stable, one ; Bristol, three ; York, two ; Dukes County 
 and Nantucket, one; Worcester, five; Cumberland, 
 one; Lincoln, one, and Berkshire, two. On the 24th, 
 1794, Suffolk was changed to four, Essex to five, 
 Middlesex to four, Hampshire to five, Bristol to two, 
 Plymouth was added to Dukes and Nantucket with 
 three, Bristol was changed to two, Norfolk, which 
 had been incorporated March 26, 1793, received three, 
 and Lincoln was added to Hancock and Washington, 
 which had been incorporated with two. The appor- 
 tionment was again changed June 23, 1802, when the 
 number for Worcester was changed to four; again 
 February 24, 1814, February 15, 181G, and at various 
 other times, which it is unnecessary to recount. By 
 the thirteenth article of amendment of the Constitu- 
 tion, adopted by the Legislature of 1839-40, it was 
 provided that a census of the legal voters of ihe State, 
 May 1, 1840, should be taken, and that on the basis 
 of the census the Senators should be apportioned 
 among the counties by the Governor and Council, 
 with not less than one Senator in each county. By 
 the twenty-second article of amendment adopted by 
 the Legislature of 1856-57, and ratified by the people 
 May 1, 1857, it was provided that a census should 
 be taken and forty Senatorial districts created by the 
 General Court, and that in 1865 and every tenth year 
 thereafter a census should be taken, and a new appor- 
 tionment made. From the time of the adoption of 
 the Constitution up to the time of the creation of 
 Senatorial districts the following persons were chosen 
 Senators to represent Worcester County: Moses Gill, 
 of Princeton, Samuel Baker, of Berlin, Joseph Dorr, 
 of Ward, Israel Nichols, pf Leominster, Jonathan 
 Warner, Jr., of Hardwick, Seth Washburn, of Leices- 
 ter, John Sprague, Abel Wilder, Amos Singleterry, 
 John Fessenden, Joseph Stone, Jonathan Grout, 
 Timothy Bigelow, Salem Towne, Josiah Stearns, 
 Daniel Bigelow, Peter Penneman, Timothy Newell, 
 
 Elijah Brigham, Taft, Hale, Francis Blake, 
 
 Seth Hastings, Solomon Strong, Levi Lincoln, Jr., 
 Moses Smith, Thomas H. Blood, Daniel Waldo, Salem 
 Towne, Jr., Aaron Tufts, Benjamin Adams, Nathaniel 
 Jones, S. P. Gardner, Silas Holman, John Spurr, 
 Oliver Crosby, James Phillips, James Humphrys, 
 Samuel Eastman, Lewis Bigelow, John Shipley, Na- 
 thaniel P. Denny, Joseph G. Kendall, William Eaton, 
 Nathaniel Houghton, William Ci-awford, Jr., Jonas 
 Sibley, B. Taft, Jr., Joseph Bowman, John W. Lin- 
 coln, Joseph Davis, Edward Cushing, Joseph E-tta- 
 brook, Lovell Walker, David Wilder, Samuel Mi.xter, 
 AVilliam S. Hastings, James Draper, Rufus Bullock, 
 Charles Hudson, Ira M. Barton, Samuel Lee, Rejoice 
 Newton, Charles Russell, George A. Tafts, Waldo 
 
WORCESTER COUNTY. 
 
 XV 
 
 Flint, Charles Allen, Linus Child, Ethan A. Green- 
 wood, William Hancock, James G. Carter, Thomas 
 Kinnicutt, Artemas Lee, James Allen, Charles Sibley, 
 Samuel Wood, Jedediah Marcy, Benjamin Estabrook, 
 Nathaniel Wood, Ch. C. P. Hastings, Emory Wash- 
 burn, Alexander De Witt, Solomon Strong, Isaac Da- 
 vis, Ariel Bragg, Daniel Hill, Joseph Stone, John G. 
 Thurston, Stephen Salisbury, Calvin Willard, Jason 
 Gouldiug, George Denny, Nahum F. Bryant, Alfred 
 D. Foster, Alanson Hamilton, John Brooks, Alexander 
 H. Bullock, Ebenezer D. Ammidown, Paul Whitin, 
 Ebenezer Torrey, Pliny Merrick, John Raymond, 
 Amasa Walker, Edward B. Bigelow, Francis Howe, 
 Giles H. Whitney, Moses Wood, Freeman Walker, 
 Elmer Brigham, J. S. C. Kuowlton, Albert Alden, 
 Sullivan Fay, Elisha Murdock, Ivors Phillips, Charles 
 Thurber, Anson Bugbee, Joseph W. Mansur, Joseph 
 Whitman, H. W. Benchley, Albert A. Cook, Edward 
 Denny, Jabez Fisher, Alvan G. Underwood, F. H. 
 Dewey, Velorous Taft, J. F. Hitchcock, George F. 
 Hoar, William Mixtcr, Ohio Whitney, Jr. 
 
 Under the new system of Senatorial districts Wor- 
 cester County was divided into districts by itself, un- 
 connected with other counties until the apportion- 
 ment made on the basis of the census of 1885, and was 
 represented by Worcester County Senators up to and 
 inclusive of the year 188G. During this period the 
 following gentlemen represented the various districts 
 of the county: J. M. Earle, John G. Metcalf, Oliver 
 
 C. Felton, Charles Field, Goldsmith F. Bailey, S. 
 Allen, Dexter F. Parker, Ichabod Washburn, Hartley 
 Williams, E. B. Stoddard, Alvah Crocker, Winslow 
 Battles, William R. Hill, Moses B. Southwick, Wm. 
 Upham, Nathaniel Eddy, Sylvester Dresser, Rufus B. 
 Dodge, Asher Joslin, John D. Cogswell, Emerson 
 JohusoD, Jason Gorham, Freeman Walker, Henry 
 Smith, George Whitney, Charles Adams, Jr., William 
 
 D. Peck, T. E. Glazier, Israel C. Allen, Solon S. Has- 
 tings, Joel Merriam, Abraham M. Bigelaw, John E. 
 Stone, Thomas Rice, Benjamin Boynton, Charles G. 
 Stevens, Hosea Crane, William Eu-sell, Milo Hildretb, 
 Lucius W. Pond, Mesas D. Southwick, Ebeuezer Da- 
 vis, George S. Ball, F. H. Dewey, George M. Rice, 
 Adin Thayer, George F. Thompson, George F. Very, 
 Edward L. Davis, John D. Wheeler, Charles A. 
 Wheelock, J. H. Wood, S. M. Greggs, Jeremiah Get- 
 chell, Aaron C. Mayhew, Luther Hill, Frederick D. 
 Brown, Lucius J. Knowles, George W. Johnson, A. 
 W. Bartholomew, Henry L. Bancroft, Washington 
 Tufts, Emory L. Bates, John G. Mudge, George M. 
 Buttrick, Baxter D. Whitney, N. L. Johnson, Moses 
 L. Ayers, John H. Lockey, Francis B. Fay, Henry C. 
 Greeley, Geurge A. Torrey, Amasa Norcross, C. H. B. 
 Snow, Elisha Brimhall, George 8. Barton, Henry C. 
 Rice, William Knowltou, Ebenezer B. Linde, James 
 W. Stockwell, Alpheus Harding, Charles H. Merriam, 
 Wm. Abbott, Charles T. Crocker, Thomas J. Hastings, 
 Chester C. Corbiu, John M. Moore, Daniel B. lugalls, 
 George W. Johnson, Charles B. Pratt, Charles P. Bar- 
 
 ton, Theodore C. Bates, Edward P. Loring, John D. 
 Washburn, Charles E. Whitin, Charles A. Denny, 
 Thomas P. Root, Martin V. B. Jefterson, Henry S. 
 Nourse, Arthur F. Whitin, William T. Forbes, 
 Charles A. Gleason, Allen L. Joslin. 
 
 Under the census of 1885 anew apportionment was 
 made, under which the Senators for 1S87 were chosen 
 in 1886. Under this apportionment there were four 
 districts confined to the county and one other, in- 
 cluding Athol, Barre, Dana, Gardner, Hardwick, 
 Hubbardston, New Braintree, Oakham, Petersham, 
 Phillipston, Rutland and Templeton in Worcester 
 County, and Amherst, Belchertown, Enfield, Granby, 
 Greenwich, Hadley, Pelham, Prescott, Sjuth Hadley 
 and Warein Hampshire County, and called Worcester 
 and Hampshire District. Lender this apportionment 
 the Senators have been Edwin T. Marble, William T. 
 Forbes, Irving B. Sayles, Harris C. Hartwcll, Charles 
 A. Gleason, Silas M. Wheelock and George P. Ladd. 
 
 The districts as ibrmed under the census of 1885, 
 with a ratio of 11,382 for one Senator, are as follows : 
 
 First Worcester Bisi'ict. — Wards 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 
 of Worcester, with 10,78G legal voters. 
 
 Second Worcester District. — Berlin, Blackstone, Bol- 
 ton, Boylston, Clinton, Grafton, Harvard, Hopedale, 
 Mendon,Milford,Northborough,Northbridge, Shrews- 
 bury, Southborough, Upton, Uxbridge and West- 
 borough, with 11,433 legal voters. 
 
 Third Worcester District. — Auburn, Brookfield, 
 Charlton, Douglas, Dudley, Leicester, Milbury, North 
 Brookfield, Oxford, Paxton, Southbridge, Spencer, 
 Sturbridge, Sutton, Warren, Webster and West Brook- 
 field, with 11,217 legal voters. 
 
 Fourth Worcester District. — Fitchburg, Holden, Lan- 
 caster, Leominster, Lunenburg, Princeton, Sterling, 
 West Boylston, Westminster and Wards 2 and 3 of 
 Worcester, with 12,099 legal voters. 
 
 Worcester and Hampshire District. — Athol, Barre, 
 Dana, Gardner, Hardwick, Hubbardston, New Brain- 
 tree, Oakham, Petersham, Phillipston, Rutland and 
 Teinpleton in Wurcester County, and Amherst, Bel- 
 chertown, Enfield, Granby, Greenwich, Hadley, Pel- 
 ham, Prescott, South Hadley and Ware in Hamp- 
 shire, with 11,127 legal voters. 
 
 This sketch of Worcester County would be incom- 
 plete without some allusion to the various organiza- 
 tions which have the county as the field and boundary 
 of their operations. The Worcester County Musical 
 Association had its origin in a musical convention held 
 in Worcester in 1852. Its officers are, Edward L. 
 Davis, president; William Sumner, vice-president; 
 A. C. Munroe, secretary, and J. E. Benchley, treasurer. 
 The Worcester County Musical School, which has been 
 in existence some years, was organized to furnish in- 
 struction " in piano, organ, singing, violin, flute, 
 guitar, harmony and elocution," with an efficient 
 corps of instructor.-'. Besides the Worcester Agricul- 
 tural Society there are in the county five distinct 
 societies — the Worcester West holding its annual 
 
XVI 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 exhibitions at Barre ; the Worcester Northwest hold- 
 ing its exhibitions at Athol ; the Worcester Nortli at 
 Fitchburg; the Worcester Southeast at Milfortl, and 
 the South Worcester. The Worcester Horticultural 
 Society was formed in 1840. The Worcester County 
 Homoeopathic Medical Society was organized in 186G, 
 and its present nUicers are : E. A. Murdock, of Spencer 
 president ; E. L. Melius, of Worcester, vice-president; 
 Lamson Allen, of Southbridge, recording secretary 
 and treasurer, and John P. Rand, of Monson, corre- 
 sponding secretary. The Worcester County Law- 
 Library Association was organized in 1842, and is 
 composed of the members of the county bar. 
 
 The Worcester County Mechanics' Association was 
 incorporated in 1842. Its ofhcers are: Robert H. 
 Chamberlain, president; Ellery B. Crane, vice-presi- 
 dent, and William A. Smith, clerk and treasurer. 
 
 The Worcester County Retail Grocers' Association 
 was organized in 1881, and its officers are: Samuel A. 
 Pratt, presidenc; C. G. Parker, vice-president; E. E. 
 Putnam, secretary, and James Early, treasurer. 
 
 The Worcester County Society of Engineers was 
 formed in 188U. Its officers are: A. C. Buttrick, 
 president ; Charles A. Allen, vice-president ; A. .T. 
 Marble, secretary, and E. K. Hill, treasurer. 
 
 The Worcester County Stenographers' Association 
 was organized in 1887, and its officers are : Edna L. 
 Taylor, president; F. L. Hutchins, vice-president; 
 George E. Vaughn, secretary, and John F. McDuffie, 
 treasurer. 
 
 The Worcester District Medical Society was organ- 
 ized in 1804. Its officers are : George C. Webber, of 
 Millbury, president; J. Marcus Reed, of Worcester, 
 vice-president ; W. C. Stevens, of Worcester, secre- 
 tary, and S. B. Woodward, of Worcester, treasurer. 
 
 Of county religious associations there are five 
 belonging to the Orthodox Congregatioiialist denomi- 
 nation. The Worcester Central Conference includes 
 the Worcester churches and those of Auburn, Berlin, 
 Boylston, Clinton, liolden, Leicester, Oxford, Paxton, 
 Princeton, Rutland, Shrewsbury, Sterling and West 
 Boylston. 
 
 The Worcester North includes the churches of Ash- 
 burnham, Athol, Gardner, Hubbardston, Petersham, 
 Phillipston, Royalslon, Templeton, Westminster and 
 Wiuchendon, with two churches in Franklin County. 
 
 The Worce-ter South includes the churches of 
 Blackstone, Douglas, Grafton, Millbury, Northbridge, 
 Sutton, Upton, Uxbridge, Webster and Westborough. 
 
 The Brookfield Conference includes the churches 
 of Barre, Brookfield, Charlton, Dana, Dudley, Hard- 
 wick, New Braintree, North Brookfield, Oakham, 
 Suulhbridge, Spencer, Sturbridge, Warren and West 
 Brookfield, with four towns outside the county. The 
 Middlesex Union Conl'ereuce includes the churches 
 of Fitchburg, Harvard, Lancaster, Leominster and 
 Lunenburg, with eleven churches in Middlesex 
 County. 
 
 Of County Baptist Associations there are two — the 
 
 Wachusett, including the churches in Barre, Bolton, 
 Clinton, Fitchburg, Gardner, Harvard, Holden, Leo- 
 minster, Sterling, Templeton, West Boylston, West- 
 minster aud Winchendon,and the Worcester Associa- 
 tion, including the churches of Worcester, Brookfield 
 Grafton, Leicester, Millbury, Northborough, Oxford, 
 Suuthbridge, Sturbridge, Spencer, Uxbridge, Webster 
 and Westborough. 
 
 Of the Methodist denomination there are, strictly 
 speaking, no county organizations. The New Eng- 
 land Conference, extending from the seaboard to the 
 Connecticut Valley, is divided into four districts, 
 which include most of the Methodist Churches in the 
 county. 
 
 Of the Unitarian denomination there is the Worces- 
 ter Conference of Congregational and other Christian 
 societies, which was organized at Worcester Decem- 
 ber 12, 18C6. It includes the churches of Athol, Barre, 
 Berlin, Bolton, Brookfield, Clinton, Fitchburg, Graf- 
 ton, Harvard, Milfbrd, Hubbardston, Lancaster, Lei- 
 cester, Leominster, Mendon, Northborough, Peters- 
 ham, Sterling, Sturbridge, Templeton, Upton, Ux- 
 bridge, Westborough, Winchendon and Worcester. 
 There is also a Ministers' Association belonging to 
 this denomination. 
 
 Of the Episcopal, Universalist and Catholic denomi- 
 nations there are no county organizations, aud 
 sketches of their various churches will be included in 
 the histories of the towns in which they are located. 
 
 The Worcester County Bible Society was organized 
 September 7, 1815, under the name of " The Auxili- 
 ary Bible Society of the County of Worcester," but 
 has been more lately known as the Bible Society of 
 Worcester. 
 
 In closing this sketch a list of the present officers 
 of Worcester County should be added. It is as fol- 
 lows : Judge of Probate and Insolvency, William 
 T. Forbes; Register of Probate and Insolvency, 
 Frederick W. Southwick, of Worcester; Sheiifi', Au- 
 gustus B. R. Sprague, of Worcester; Clerk of the 
 Courts, Theodore S. Johnson, of Worcester ; Treas- 
 urer, Edward O. Brown, of Worcester; Register of 
 Deeds of Worcester District, Harvey B. Wilder, of 
 Worcester ; Register of Deeds of Northern District, 
 Charles F. Rockwood, of Fitchburg. 
 
 County Commissioners : George S. Duell, of Brook- 
 field, ternr expires December 1, 1888 ; William O. 
 Brown, of Fitchburg, term expires December 1, 1889; 
 James H. Barker, of Milford, term expires Decem- 
 ber 1, 1890. 
 
 Special Commissioners: Thomas P. Root, of Barre, 
 term expires December 1,1889; Charles J. Bice, of 
 Winchendon, term expires December 1, 1889. 
 
 Commissioners of Insolvency : Rufus B. Dodge, Jr., 
 of Charlton; David H. Merriam, of Fitchburg ; An- 
 drew J. Bartholomew, of Southbridge; Daniel B. 
 Hubbard, of Grafton. 
 
 Trial Justices: James W. Jenkins, of Barre; 
 George S. Duell, of Brookfield ; Chauncey W. Carter 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 xvu 
 
 and Hamilton Mayo, of Leominster; Cliarles E. 
 Jenks, of Nortli Brookfield; Frank B. Spalter, of 
 Winchendon ; Luther Hill, of Spencer; Horace W. 
 Bu-h, of West Brookfield ; John W. Tyler, of V.'ar- 
 ren, and Henry A. Farwell, of Hubbardstou. 
 
 CHAPTER. II. 
 
 THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 BY CHARI.es F. ALDRICH. 
 
 " It 18 not they who are oftenest on men's lips, who are clothed with 
 a visihle autliority, who bear tlie swoi-d and tiie ensign of State, that 
 culitriliute most to the well-being of a community ; but he, nitUer, wlio 
 sits apart in severe simplicity, and, in the supremacy of iutellectuul and 
 moral strength, adjusts the relation between man and man; and, with 
 an authority mightier than his who wields a sceptre, silently moulds 
 the State, and interprets and disjienses the laws that govern it." — Beo. 
 Alon^iO HUl^ remarl:s on the life of VUny Mnrrick, 
 
 By the act incorporating this county, passed by 
 the General Court of the Province in 1731, provision 
 was made for four annual terms of the Court of Gen- 
 eral Sessions of the Peace, and of the Inferior Court 
 of Common Pleas, and for an annual session of the 
 Superior Court of Judicature, Court of Assize and 
 General Gaol Delivery. 
 
 Thejurisdiction of justices of the peace and of judges 
 of Probate supplemented that of these more formal 
 tribunals, and the whole constituted a system of ju- 
 dicial machinery which served the needs of the 
 community, with but little amendment from 1699 
 until the adoption of the State Constitution. With 
 several changes of title and some amplification to 
 adapt it to the increased business and complexity of 
 interests in the modern highly organized society, its 
 principal features subsist in the system of to-day. 
 
 The Superior Court was composed of a chief and 
 four associate justices. Its jurisdiction covered "all 
 matters of a civil and criminal nature, including ap- 
 peals, reviews and writs of error ... as fully and 
 amply to all intents and purposes whatsoever, as 
 the Courts of King's Bench, Common Pleas and Ex- 
 t^hequer within his Majesty's Kingdom of England." 
 It also possessed very limited equity powers. The 
 home government had always exhibited a jealous 
 disposition to keep the Provincial courts closely 
 hemmed in by the rules of the common law. Ex- 
 cept in cases of the breach of the condition of a 
 bond or a mortgage, when the court might prevent 
 the exaction of the strict forfeiture on payment of 
 proper damages, no part of the great system of 
 equity jurisprudence, which, in England, was then 
 well advanced, was permitted to take root here. 
 This early discouragement has seemed, until very 
 recent years, to prejudice the minds of our law-mak- 
 ers and our courts against the granting or the exer- 
 cise of jurisdiction in equity. 
 
 The judges were appointed by the Governor and 
 his Council, and might, and frequently did, hold va- 
 rious other offices at the same time. Hutchinson, 
 when chief justice, was also Lieutenant-Governor, 
 member of the Council and judge of Probate for Suf- 
 folk. The principle of appointment to judicial 
 office thus established has been ever since adhered to 
 in this Commonwealth, and it is to be hoped that no 
 demand for popular elections will cause a seat upon 
 the bench to be set up as a prize of the caucus. By 
 the provision of the State Constitution the good 
 sense of our judges, and the increase in the number 
 of men competent and willing to perform the duties 
 of the various offices, our courts have, in the main, 
 been presided over by men who held no other public 
 office, and gave all their energies to the labors of 
 their judicial station. It has thus most happily been 
 true of the administration of Massachusetts justice, 
 that it has been singularly free even from the suspi- 
 cion of partisan bias, and has retained the confidence 
 alike of bar and laity. Until the Revolution no res- 
 ident of Worcester County attained the dignity of 
 justice of the Superior Court. 
 
 The Inferior Court of Common Pleas was com- 
 posed in each county of four justices, three of whom 
 constituted a quorum for transacting business. Its 
 jurisdiction covered civil actions of every nature, ac- 
 cording to the course of the common law. From its 
 decision an appeal lay to the Superior Court. 
 
 The Court of General Sessions of the Peace was 
 held at the same times with the Common Pleas by the 
 justices of the peace for the county or such a num- 
 ber of them as were designated from time to time. 
 Its jurisdiction as a judicial tribunal covered only 
 criminal matters, and hence was limited to the trial of 
 oflenses for which the punishment did not extend to 
 death, loss of member, or banishment. The same 
 tribunal had a supervision and control of the admin- 
 istration of the county finances, the laying out of 
 highways, etc., similar to the present powers of County 
 Commissioners. 
 
 Justices of the peace held courts in their various 
 places of residence, and were authorized to hear and 
 decide in a large variety of civil actions where 
 the damage did not exceed forty shillings. When 
 the title to land was concerned, however, the issue 
 was deemed too important for any court of less dig- 
 nity than the Common Pleas. In criminal matters 
 their jurisdiction extended to minor breaches of the 
 peace and disorderly conduct, and they could inflict 
 penalties of small fines, whipping and sitting in the 
 stocks. For offences beyond their jurisdiction they 
 were authorized to bind over persons accused to the 
 higher tribunals. From their decisions appeals lay 
 to the Court of Common Pleas. 
 
 In the Governor and Council was vested jurisdic- 
 tion over the probate of wills, the settlement of the 
 estates of deceased persons, the appointment of guard- 
 ians and the like. It was the custom, however, for 
 
xvni 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 them to appoint substitutes in the various counties, 
 who transacted the ordinary business subject to re- 
 vision on appeal to the Governor and Council. 
 These deputy courts were recognized by several laws 
 of the province, though their establishment was 
 never specially authorized by any act of the General 
 Court. 
 
 Tiie history of the bar of this county is practically 
 covered by the professional activity of four of its 
 members. Joseph Dwight, admitted at the first term 
 of the Court of Common Pleas held in the newly- 
 established county, lived until 1765. John Sprague 
 was admitted to the bar in 1768, and died in 1800. 
 Benjamin Adams admitted in 1792, probably tried 
 causes before Judge Sprague, and as he lived in Ux- 
 bridge until 1837, it is most probable that the late 
 Peter C. Bacon, who was admitted in 1830, knew him 
 personally. 
 
 When Joseph Dwight, in 1731, took the oaths 
 of an attorney and became the only member of the 
 Worcester County bar, there were in the province but 
 few educated lawyers. Benjamin Lynde was chief 
 and Paul Dudley an associate justice of the Superior 
 Court, both of whom were thorough lawyers. Through 
 the influence and learning, especially of Dudley, the 
 forms of pleading were being brought into intelligible 
 shape, and the principles of law were becoming more 
 clearly understood by bench and bar. It was not at 
 all essential, however, that a judge should be a law- 
 yer. Many of those upon the Superior bench had no 
 legal education, and of fourteen judges of the Court 
 of Common Pleas for Worcester County before the 
 Revolution, only three were members of the bar. 
 Dwight was born in Hatfield in 1703, and received 
 his education at Harvard, where he graduated in 
 1722. After his admission to the bar for some years 
 he resided in Brookfield, and was repeatedly elected 
 its Representative to the General Court. 
 
 For one year during his service he held the position 
 of Speaker of the House. In 1743 he was appointed 
 to the bench of the Common Pleas, and retained his 
 commission until about the time of his removal to 
 Stockbridge, in Hampshire County, in 1751 or 1752. 
 There he was interested in the efforts which were 
 being made, under the direction of Jonathan Edwards, 
 to educate the Indians. Judge Dwight was appointed 
 a trustee of the schools, and for a year or more 
 remained closely associated with the learned divine, 
 for whom he always testified the highest regard. He 
 soon left Stockbridge for Great Barrington, and re- 
 sumed judicial functions in the Hampshire County 
 Court until Berkshire was set off, in 1761. For the 
 new county he became chief justice, and so con- 
 tinued till his death, in 1765. With his duties as 
 judge he combined the carrying on of a mercantile 
 business and the functions of an active military leader. 
 He held the rank of brigadier-general, and won the 
 comraend.ation of his superior officers for services 
 against the French. 
 
 A contemporary of his, both at the bar and on the 
 bench, was Nahum Ward, a resident of Shrewsbury, 
 and a judge of the Common Pleas from 1745 to 1762. 
 Not much is recorded of him, though he was in active 
 practice for several years. His son and grandson, 
 each bearing the name of Artemas, filled larger places 
 in the public eye, and each became judge of the same 
 court. 
 
 The only other lawyer on this bench until after the 
 Revolution was Timothy Ruggles, who was born in 
 Rochester, in the county of Plymouth, in 1711, and 
 graduated at Harvard in 1732. He was judge from 
 1757 until the Revolution, and chief justice after 1762. 
 His father, the Rev. Timothy Ruggles, endeavored to 
 turn the future soldier's thoughts to the study of 
 divinity, but it is probable that the combative in- 
 stincts of the son, so strongly developed later in life, 
 inclined him to a more stirring field of exertion. Whtn 
 only twenty-five he represented Rochester in the 
 Assembly. There he was instrumental in procuring 
 the passage of an act to prohibit sheriffs or their 
 deputies from making writs, a useful provision of the 
 public statutes to this' day. As a lawyer he must 
 have been successful, for while still a residentof Plym- 
 outh County, he practiced in other courts, and was 
 often engaged in causes in Worcester County before 
 he removed to Hardwick, about 1753. 
 
 The fame of the soldier, however, generally obscures 
 whatever other reputation its possessor may earn. In 
 " Brigadier Ruggles" the judge was almost forgotten. 
 Like Dwight, he was actively engaged in several 
 military operations, and fairly won his distinction by 
 hard service. In 1755 he was next in command to 
 General Johnson in the battle in which the French, 
 under Dieskau, were badly defeated. Illustrative of 
 the brigadier's blunt manners, they say that when 
 during the day something was going wrong, he con- 
 soled his superior officer with the remark : " General, 
 I hope the damnable blunders you have made this 
 day may be .'■anctified unto you for your spiritual and 
 everlasting good," an expression rather of hope for 
 future improvement than of confidence in the present 
 abilities of his leader, which amore politic subordinate 
 would probably have confined to his own thoughts. 
 
 It was a matter of course that he took an active part 
 in political affairs. Hardwick sent him as its represent- 
 ative to the Assembly for several years, during two of 
 which he was Speaker of the House. He presided over 
 the convention of delegates from eight Colonies, which 
 met in New York, in 1765, to consider the grievances 
 imposed by the home government. His attachment 
 to the old order of things here manifested itself in his 
 refusal to join in the protest of the convention against 
 taxation by Parliament. As his opinions on this sub- 
 ject had been openly expressed, it is a singular evi- 
 dence of the great respect in which he was held that 
 he should have been chosen as a delegate. But 
 neither the consistency of his course nor his dignified 
 character excused him in the eye of the Provincial 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 XIX 
 
 Legislature. In accordance with their vote he was 
 publicly censured by the Speaker, and from that time 
 his separation from the popular cause became more 
 and more apparent. When the discontent finally 
 became a revolution, he abandoned his property, his 
 dignities, and his home, and took up his part with the 
 supporters of the Crown. At this point, of course, 
 his connection with our county affairs ceased. He 
 died in Halifax, in 1798, having lived to see those 
 whom he had called rebels firmly established as citi- 
 zens of an independent State. 
 
 Eleven other judges of the Court of Common Pleas, 
 previous to the Revolution, were taken from various 
 vocations. Th«y were men chosen for general good 
 sense, for the respect in which they were held by 
 their neighbors, and for their integrity of purpose — 
 qualities which, in the scarcity of trained lawyers, 
 certainly entitled them to superintend the adminis- 
 tration of justice. 
 
 John Chandler, of Woodstock, the first chief jus- 
 tice, was also the first judge of Probate. He was a 
 military oflicer of some distinction, and represented 
 his town in the General Court, and was chosen after- 
 wards a member of the Governor's Council. His son, 
 bearing the same name, was born in Woodstock in 
 1693, but removed to Worcester in 1731. He was the 
 first clerk of courts, regisier of probate and register 
 of deeds for the county in those days when one man 
 could discharge the duties of a multiplicity of ofiices. 
 While still holding those offices he was appointed 
 sheriff of the county, and was for several years elected 
 selectman and a Representative to the General Court. 
 Later on he was appointed judge of the Court of 
 Common Pleas and judge of the Probate Court, thus 
 succeeding to the dignities of his father. He died in 
 1763. 
 
 Another father and son who occupied seats on the 
 bench of the County Court were the two Joseph Wil- 
 DEES, of Lancaster. The elder was influential in se- 
 curing to Worcester the distinction of being the 
 county-seat, as he objected to the selection of Lan- 
 caster, lest the morals of its people should be cor- 
 rupted by the sessions of the courts therein. He suc- 
 ceeded the first John Chandler as judge of Probate 
 and held both offices till his death, in 1757. 
 
 His son succeeded the second Chandler in the 
 Common Pleas, was Representative of Lancaster in 
 the General Court for eleven years, and was actively 
 engaged in business operations, in his native town, 
 until his death, in 1773. 
 
 Of most of the other judges little is known. Jonas 
 Rice was, in 1714, the sole inhabitant of Worcester, 
 all others having been driven away by the depreda- 
 tion of the Indians. His firm courage secured to 
 him, in the rebuilt town, the respect of his neighbors 
 and marked him as a man fit for responsibilities. 
 
 Practicing before the court thus composed, beside 
 the three who have been mentioned as elevated to 
 the bench, there were but fourteen lawyers from 1731 
 
 until the Revolution. Joshua Eaton was the first of 
 the profession who settled in Worcester. He was a 
 native of that part of Watertown now Waltham, and 
 was educated at Harvard, where he graduated in 
 1735, in his twenty-first year. He entered upon the 
 study of the law in the office of Edmund Trowbridge, 
 who was then just beginning his professional career, 
 in the course of which, as leader of the bar of the 
 Province and as judge of the Superior Court, he con- 
 tributed, perhaps more than any one man before the 
 Revolution, to the advancement of legal science. 
 Trained under this excellent master, Mr. Eaton 
 seems to have started upon a successful practice. 
 The early desire of his parents had been that he 
 should adopt the clerical profession, and after about 
 six years at the bar, his own feelings turned him in 
 the same direction. He studied for the ministry, 
 gave up a good and increasing practice and adopted 
 his new calling with such zeal and energy as to sub- 
 ject him to the censure of the church, which ap- 
 proved of more moderate ministerial devotion. He 
 soon, however, by a more quiet walk and conversa- 
 tion, commended himself to the church in that part 
 of Leicester now Spencer, and .there was settled, 
 lived for nearly thirty years, and died, in 1772, re- 
 spected and beloved by his peojde. 
 
 A fellow-t')wnsman of Eaton, in Leicester, was 
 Christopher Jacob Lawton, a lawyer who had been 
 admitted in Hampshire County in 1726. He prac- 
 ticed for some years in Springfield and in SufBeld be- 
 fore his removal to Leicester. Except that he had a 
 clientage of only moderate numbers, little is known 
 of his professional attainments, 
 
 Stephen Fessenden was another student of Judge 
 Trowbridge, who opened his oiBce in Worcester 
 about 1743. But he, too, from some unknown cause, 
 does not appear to have long clung to his professional 
 pursuits. 
 
 Perhaps the most learned and able lawyer of this 
 bar previous to the Revolution was James Putnam, 
 who came here in 1749, fresh from his studies with 
 Judge Trowbridge, of whose encouragement and ad- 
 vice he seems to have profited more than those we 
 have mentioned. He was born in Danvers in 1725, 
 and after graduating at Harvard in 1746, betook 
 himself to the law with a zeal and industry that re- 
 sulted in placing him with the leaders of the bar in 
 the Province. Dwight was then the only lawyer re- 
 siding and practicing in the county, but Putnam had 
 to contend with the leaders from other counties, and 
 was proved a worthy opponent. He obtained a large 
 clientage not only at home, but in Hampshire and 
 Middlesex, and rose, by merit, to the position of At- 
 torney-General of the Province. This office he was 
 holding when the Revolution called upon men to 
 choose between King and country. Like most of the 
 other men of prominence and wealth, Putnam stood 
 by the old order, and like them he thereby lost his 
 home. He was rewarded for his loyalty to the Brit- 
 
XX 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 ish government by an appointment to the bench of 
 the Supreme Court of New Brunswick. There he 
 added to his reputation as a sound lawyer, and ac- 
 quired such a name for learning and impartial justice 
 that when a friendly biographer described him as 
 " the best lawyer in North America," the praise did 
 not seem unwarrantably extravagant. He lived un- 
 til after the inauguration of the first President of the 
 United States of America. 
 
 One of the judges of the Common Pleas for ten 
 years was Samuel Willard, of Lancaster. His son, 
 Abel Willaed, bom in that town in 1732, may, from 
 his father's position, have been naturally inclined to 
 the law. After graduating at the university, he 
 studied in Boston, and was admitted to this bar 
 in 1755. In his native town, then a rival of the 
 county-seat for population and business activity, he 
 found ample opportunity for the exercise of his tal- 
 ents. He illustrated the truth, too often forgotten, 
 that modesty, kindliness and aversion to strife are 
 not inconsistent with the successful practice of the 
 law. He performed. the true function of the lawyer 
 in allaying rather than fomenting strife, in endeav- 
 oring to keep his client out of threatened difficulties — 
 methods which in no degree interfered with asserting 
 and maintaining his just rights when litigation could 
 not properly be avoided. In 1770 he formed with 
 John Sprague the earliest law partnership in this 
 county. During the war he too left the country and 
 died in England in 1781. 
 
 Ezra. Taylor, of Southborough, is to be included in. 
 this list of lawyers, though whether he was regularly 
 admitted to the bar is uncertain. He at any rate 
 practiced law in Southborough, from about 1751 until 
 the Revolution, and continued so to do in Maine, 
 where he removed during the progress of the war. 
 
 A pupil of James Putnam was Joshua Atherton, 
 who was born in Harvard in 1737, and graduated at 
 Cambridge in 1762. He began his practice in Peters- 
 ham, but did not long remain in this county. After 
 several changes of domicile, he settled in Amherst, in 
 New Hampshire. There he became a leader at the 
 bar, and Attorney-General of the State after the Revo- 
 lution, and died in 1809. 
 
 In 1765, the same year with Atherton, two other 
 young men began their professional careers in this 
 county. Daniel Bliss was a native of Concord, and 
 a graduate of Harvard in 1760, in his twentieth year. 
 Like Eaton, he was urged towards the ministry by his 
 parents, and somewhat by his own inclination. Some 
 influences turned him aside, and he studied law in the 
 office of Abel Willard. He made Rutland, where he 
 found his wife, the field of his early ventures in busi- 
 ness. About 1772 he returned to his first home in 
 Concord. He gained a good position at the bar, and 
 an enviable reputation as a thorough gentleman, but 
 he did not sympathize with the cause of the colonists 
 against the Crown. Thus he, too, became an exile 
 from the country that he evidently loved, and the 
 
 friends who had honored him. After the war he was 
 appointed a judge in New Brunswick, and fulfilled its 
 duties with credit, as he seems to have discharged all 
 other duties until his death, in 1806. 
 
 Contemporary with Atherton and Bliss was Joshua 
 Upham, of Brookfield. Born in 1741 ; like nearly all 
 the lawyers we have mentioned, he had the advantage 
 of a college education at Harvard. His class-mate 
 and intimate associate was Timothy Pickering, with 
 whom he maintained a friendship that was interrupted,' 
 not broken, by the war. After his graduation, in 1765, 
 he completed his professional studies in two years, 
 and was admitted to the bar a few months later ihan 
 Bliss. In Brookfield he built up an excellent practice, 
 continually increasing until 1776. It then became no 
 longer possible for one who was not heartily with the 
 popular cause to remain, and he removed to Boston, 
 and later to New York. Either from the failure of 
 some business enterprises in which he was engaged, 
 or perhaps, more probably, on account of his Tory 
 predilections, he left the country after the peace and, 
 like Putnam and Bliss, found opportunity for the 
 exercise of his professional acumen on the bench of 
 New Brunswick. In the last year of his life he was 
 occupied in England in perfecting with the home 
 government a reorganization of the judicial system of 
 the British American provinces. This work he lived 
 to complete, but died in London in 1808. 
 
 Two sons of the second Judge John Chandler be- 
 came members of this bar. Rufus was born in 1747, 
 graduated in 1766 and admitted to the bar in 1768. 
 He studied with James Putnam and practiced in 
 Worcester until the laws became silent in the midst 
 of arms. He naturally imbibed the principles of his 
 father and his preceptor, and his name was included 
 with theirs in an act of banishment, passed while the 
 war was still in progress. He had already left the 
 country, and resided till his death, in 1823, in 
 London. 
 
 His brother, Nathaniel, born in 1750, followed 
 closely in his footsteps. After graduating at Harvard 
 in 1768, he took the place of Rufus in Putnam's office, 
 where he studied during the next three years. He 
 chose Petersham for his residence and practice, until 
 at the beginning of the war he took service with the 
 British in New York. Though he thus seems to have 
 taken a much more decided stand against the colonies 
 than his brother, or several others whom we have 
 mentioned, he was able to return to Petersham in 
 1784 and engage in mercantile pursuits. He did not 
 renew the practice of the law, nor long continue in 
 business, but soon came back to Worcester, where he 
 died in 1801. 
 
 Of the lawyers heretofore mentioned, not one 
 remained in practice in this county after the Revolu- 
 tion. Nearly all of them cast in their lot with the 
 supporters of the old regime, and the new condition of 
 affairs left them no place in their wonted sphere. 
 Some of them, as has been shown, found room for 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 XXI 
 
 increased activity and usefulness in the provinces that 
 still remained subject to England. Some found a 
 refuge in the mother country. 
 
 John Sprague forms a connecting link between the 
 bar of the province and that of the independent State. 
 He was born in Koehester, Plymouth County, the 
 birth-place of Timothy Ruggles, in 1740. In the year 
 1765, when Joseph Dwight, the first member of this 
 bar, died, Sprague graduated from Harvard. His first 
 choice was the profession of medicine, but it evidently 
 did not suit his tastes, for after a few months' trial he 
 abandoned it for the law, and commenced studying 
 in James Putnam's office. Like a host of our New 
 England professional men, he taught school while 
 pursuing his studies, a kind of discipline whose bene- 
 fits appear in the acquired patience and facility in I 
 imparting knowledge of those who have tried it suc- 
 cessfully. After his admission to this bar in 1768, he 
 removed to Newport, Rhode Island, and thence to 
 Keene, New Hampshire. Finally he m'ade Lancaster 
 his home, and in a business connection with Abel 
 Willard began a most extensive practice. Thus he 
 continued until it became necessary for him and his 
 partner to decide whether they would become rebels 
 with their countrymen, or cleave to their foreign alle- 
 giance. Willard, as has been seen, chose for the 
 latter. Sprague hesitated, as many a conscientious 
 and thoughtful man must have done. He went so far 
 as to leave Lancaster for Boston before the actual out- 
 break of hostilities. There, however, the advice of 
 friends at home, and his own reflection, induced him 
 to espouse what seemed the weaker cause, and he 
 returned to take his chance with the resisters of 
 oppression. 
 
 The end of the June term, 1774, brought to a 
 close the sessions of the Provincial Court of Common 
 Pleas for this county. During the interval before 
 the opening of the new court, in December, 1775, it may 
 Well be that no one had time or thought for contests so 
 comparatively trivial as those of the forum. But this 
 state of things could not long continue. The every- 
 day affairs of life must receive attention, though the 
 fate of nations is in suspense. The Provincial Gov- 
 ernment commissioned judges, and before them 
 Sprague resumed his practice. 
 
 After the adoption of the Constitution he repre- 
 sented the county in the State Senate for two years, 
 and among his other public services he was one of 
 the few early advocates of the ratification of the 
 Constitution of the United States. Later on he be- 
 came high sheriff of the county. Two years before 
 his death, which occurred in 1800, he was appointed 
 chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas, the first 
 lawyer on that bench after the Revolution. 
 
 Sprague appears to have taken no prominent part 
 in the stirring scenes that were being enacted about 
 him during the war. The name of another judge, 
 whose career lielps us to bridge this interval, is most 
 frequently remembered in connection with his military 
 
 achievements. Artemas Ward was a justice of the 
 Common Pleas both before and after the Revolution. 
 He was born in Shrewsbury and graduated at Harvard 
 in 1748. His father, Nahum Ward, has already been 
 mentioned as one of the earliest in practice in the 
 county. This is the third instance of a son succeed- 
 ing his father on the bench of the Common Pleas 
 of this county before the Revolution. That judicial 
 honors and the capacity worthily to wear them may 
 often be transmitted to descendants seems to be a 
 well-established fact in the history of this Common- 
 wealth. Whether Judge Nahum Ward continued in 
 office until the appointment of his son is not certain, 
 but it is stated by one authority that he died in 1762, 
 which was the year in which Artemas became a judge. 
 The latter had not adopted the profession of his 
 father, but soon after leaving college was actively 
 engaged in public affairs. He represented his native 
 town in the Legislature, and was a member of the 
 Governor's Council in 1774, when the home govern- 
 ment undertook to remove from the electors of the 
 Province the right to choose councillors and to vest 
 their appointment in the Crown. His acceptance of 
 such an appointment by Brigadier Ruggles had 
 been the final act which placed him in a position 
 entirely hostile to the popular cause. The manda- 
 mus councilors, as they were called, were among the 
 latest irritants of an exasperated public sentiment. 
 Before this time, however, Ward had served his ap- 
 prenticeship as a soldier. He was with Abercrombie 
 in the disastrous expedition against Ticonderoga, 
 and in the hardships and defeat of that campaign 
 his firmness and soldierly qualities seem to have been 
 well tested and approved. Soon afterwards we find 
 him a colonel of militia and busily engaged in mat- 
 ters of drill and evolution. All the while, however, 
 he shared in the growing popular discontent and openly 
 avowed his sentiments. So far did he go in publicly 
 stating his opposition to the measures of Parliament 
 that Sir Francis Barnard publicly deprived him of 
 his commission, and when his constituents elected 
 him a member of the Council, did him the honor 
 promptly to veto the choice. 
 
 The first Provincial Congress, of which he was a 
 member, elected him the first of three general officers 
 to whom they committed the charge of the motley 
 assemblage of volunteers which then represented the 
 military power about to engage in strife with Great 
 Britain. When General Ward assumed this com- 
 mand it certainly must have seemed that the result 
 most probable for him was defeat and a rebel's death. 
 He continued as general-in-chief until Washington 
 arrived and took command, when Ward for a time 
 assumed a subordinate position. He soon retired 
 from the service, however, on the plea of ill health. 
 His withdrawal resulted in a breach with Washington 
 which was never healed. 
 
 When the courts were re-opened, in 1775, he was 
 made chief justice of the Common Pleas, and in this 
 
XXll 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 office he continued until two years before his death, 
 which took place in 1800. Soon after the war the bur- 
 den of taxes, necessitated by the great debt contracted 
 during the conflict, the depression of business, so long 
 impaired and interrupted, the sudden release from 
 service of a large number of men who had become 
 almost unfitted for peaceful vocations, combined to 
 produce a feeling of discontent among the people, 
 which in Massachusetts culminated in "Shays's Re- 
 bellion." A principal ground of their complaints 
 was the machinery of justice, which compelled the 
 payment of debts, and courts and lawyers were the 
 objects of the bitterest hatred. They adopted as one 
 method of remedying their grievances the plan of 
 preventing the sessions of the courts. 
 
 In September of 1786, Judge Ward was to preside 
 over the regular session of his court in Worcester. 
 Threats had been freely made that he would not be 
 permitted so to do, and on the morning when, accord- 
 ing to custom, the judges and officers of the court pro- 
 ceeded in a body to the court-house, they found the 
 hill on which it was situated filled with a mob, and 
 the court-house itself with armed men. The judge 
 was too old a soldier to run away from bayonets, and 
 he stoutly pressed on through the throng, and up to 
 face the small body of insurgents who were under 
 the command of an officer, and maintained some ap- 
 pearance of discipline. His entrance to the court- 
 house was prevented, and neither by expostulation or 
 threat was he able to convince the insurgents of the 
 folly and danger of their course. It was impossible 
 to accomplish any useful purpose by carrying his 
 persistence further, and when, on the next day, it 
 was evident that the militia .sympathized rather with 
 the insurgents than with the Government, the attempt 
 to hold court was abandoned. Somewhat similar 
 scenes were enacted in other counties, though we 
 do not re.id of other judges who so resolutely met the 
 law-breakers. The insurrection was rather of a 
 nature to fall to pieces by itself than to require a 
 great show of force, and it was not long before its 
 inherent weakness resulted in its entire collapse. 
 
 Timothy Euggles and Thomas Steele, the associates 
 of Judge Ward on the bench of the Common Pleas 
 just before the Revolution, were loyalists, and by the 
 progress of events became expatriated. When, in 
 1775, the Provisional Government issued its commis- 
 sion to General Ward as chief, Jedediah Foster, 
 Moses Gill and Samuel Baker were named associates. 
 Of the four, not one was a member of the legal pro- 
 fession. 
 
 Mr. Foster was born in Andover, and obtained at 
 Harvard a college education. He early made Brook- 
 field his home, and there was associated in mercantile 
 business with Josepb Dwight, who combined with his 
 professional occupation several other activities. Mr. 
 Foster married the daughter of General Dwight, and 
 three of their direct descendants will hereafter require 
 honorable mention as members of this bar, of whom 
 
 two were promoted to the bench. Although not edu- 
 cated for the bar, it may be supposed that his associa- 
 tion with Judge Dwight gave him some insight into 
 legal principles. At any rate he became sufficiently 
 skilllul as a conveyancer to command a considerable 
 business. His judgment was greatly relied upon by 
 neighbors and residents of other towns. Before he 
 was on the bench he was often appealed to to decide 
 controversies or to give advice on perplexing ques- 
 tions. For these services he made it a practice lo 
 take no fees, a custom by which, perhaps, many a 
 young attorney might speedily build up a tremendous 
 clientage. In Foster's case, however, it was not true 
 that that which costs nothing was worth nothing. 
 His reputation for probity, wisdom and impartiality 
 was wide-spread, and caused his selection for numer- 
 ous positions of trust and responsibility. He was at 
 the same time judge of the Common Pleas and of the 
 Probate Courts, a delegate to the Provincial Congress 
 at Concord and a colonel of the militia. In 1776 he 
 was promoted to the bench of the Superior Court of 
 Judicature, the first Worcester County resident who 
 had that honor. A funeral sermon, preached in 1779 
 by his pastor, Nathan Fiske, testifies to his services to 
 the church, the town and the State. 
 
 Judge Moses Gill lived on a magnificent estate in 
 Princeton, which was described by President Dwight, 
 of Yale College, as more splendid than any other in 
 the interior of the State. These lands were the in- 
 heritance of his wife. His own fortune, accumulated 
 in mercantile pursuits in Charlestown, his native 
 place, had enabled him to improve and maintain an 
 establishment of extensive proportions. He was born 
 in 1733, and lived in the place of his birth until about 
 1767, when he began to spend a portion of each year 
 amid the beauties of the Princeton hills. That town 
 he represented in the General Court, and was suc- 
 cessively State Senator, Councillor and Lieutenant- 
 Governor. From 1775 until his election to the office 
 of Lieutenant-Governor he was an associate justice 
 of the County Court. Both he and his associate, 
 Samuel Baker, of Berlin, were of the original board 
 of trustees of Leicester Academy. To have been in- 
 strumental in establishing an institution which has 
 contributed so largely from among its alumni to the 
 service of the State, and especially to the leadership 
 of the bar of this county, must be counted, perhaps, 
 the greatest of Judge Gill's distinctions. 
 
 Of Samuel Baker little can be added, save that for 
 twenty years, until his death in 1795, he faithfully 
 discharged his judicial duties. During a portion of 
 this time he represented his town of Berlin, and was 
 several years a State Senator. 
 
 When Judge Foster was promoted to the Superior 
 Court, .losEPH Dorr took his place in the lower tribu- 
 nal. His father, bearing the same name, was the pas- 
 tor of the church in Mendon for many years, a man 
 repected for his public spirit as well as for his faith- 
 ful discharge of ministerial duties. The son grad- 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 XXlll 
 
 uated at Harvard in his twenty-second year in the 
 class of 1752. He was never ordained, but he evi- 
 dently had some intontion of adopting his father's 
 profession, for he preached in the pulpit occasionally. 
 He was a most earnest patriot and fully in sympathy 
 with the principles animating the Revolution. He 
 devoted almost the whole of his time for seven years 
 to the public service without any compensation, and 
 was one of those non-combatants who largely aided 
 the success of the cause by efficient moral support at 
 home. In any conflict all cannot be on the lield of 
 action. It is the part of some to foster and preserve 
 the prize of the battle, — the institutions whose exist- 
 ence is at stake. Mr. Dorr was the town clerk and 
 treasurer of Mendon for a number of years. On the 
 records the Declaration of Independence is spread at 
 length in his handwriting, so beautifully legible as 
 to suggest at once the thought that he was not a law- 
 yer. On this bench, however, he presided with dig- 
 nity and acceptance for twenty-tive wars, and was 
 also judge of Probate from 1782 to 1800. During the 
 last years of his life he removed to Brookfield, where 
 he died in 1808. 
 
 The Court of Common Pleas, presided over in this 
 county by the gentlemen of whom we have spoken, 
 survived almost without change the political disturb- 
 ances of the time. Appointed in 1775 by the de facto 
 government, Ward and his associates continued to 
 discharge the same duties after the Declaration of 
 Independence and under the Constitution of the 
 State. 
 
 No mention of this court appears in the Constitu- 
 tion, but in 1782 an act was passed " establishing 
 Courts of Common Pleas." This was in effect a 
 statute declaratory of the law as it was then adminis- 
 tered. The jurisdiction granted was the same; the 
 right of appeal, the power to make rules and the 
 regulation of the business of the court were the same 
 as under the province charter. 
 
 The court was to consist of " Four substantial, dis- 
 creet and learned persons, each of whom to be an in- 
 habitant of the county wherein he shall be ap- 
 pointed,'' and these requirements were well fulfilled 
 by those who were upon the bench in this county 
 when the statute passed. 
 
 In the same year with the act just referred to were 
 passed statutes establishing " a Supreme Judicial 
 Court" and "Courts of General Sessions of the 
 Peace," both of which tribunals had been exercising 
 their functions before either Constitution or statute 
 were adopted. 
 
 In the convention which formed our State Consti- 
 tution, it was decided to simplify the rather cumber- 
 some title of the Provincial Court of last resort. Ac- 
 cordingly, all through the Constitution reference is 
 made to a Supreme Judicial Court, instead of the 
 Superior Court of Judicature, Court of Assize and 
 General Gaol Delivery. Among the early enactments 
 of the first Legislature under the new order of things 
 
 was a statute giving jurisdiction to the Supreme 
 Judicial Court of " all such matters as have hereto- 
 fore happened or that shall hereafter happen, as by 
 particular laws were made cognizable by the late 
 Superior Court of Judicature, etc., etc., unless where 
 the Constitution and frame of Government hath pro- 
 vided otherwise." After this very explicit recogni- 
 tion of its existence, an act establishing a Supreme 
 Judicial Court passed in 1782 seems, to some extent, 
 a work of supererogation. That act provides for one 
 chief and four associate justices, and grants very 
 broadly jurisdiction over all civil actions and all 
 criminal offences. It further authorizes the 
 control and correction of the proceedings of 
 the inferior courts by writ of certiorari and manda- 
 mus. A full bench was to consist of at least three 
 of the judges. From the rulings of one justice at 
 nisi priics exception might be taken to the full bench, 
 which alone had the final decisions of questions of 
 law. Before three judges also were to be decided all 
 capital cases, divorce matters, and probate appeals. 
 
 Courts of General Sessions of the Peace, with juris- 
 diction over minor offeaces and with power to bind 
 over to the proper tribunals persons charged with 
 graver crimes, were provided for by another act of the 
 same year. Of the numerous justices of the peace 
 who exercised jurisdiction in this court it would be 
 impossible to obtain record or to make mention. 
 Some one or more of the Common Pleas Court usually 
 sat with them at the trial of offences. In 1803 the 
 criminal jurisdiction was transferred altogether from 
 the Sessions Court to the Common Pleas Court, leaving 
 to the former the supervision of county finances, the 
 laying out of highways and the like. After several 
 experiments in giving these latter powers also to the 
 Common Pleas, and after the Court of Sessions had 
 been twice abolished and twice revived, in 1827 the 
 act defining the power of county commissioners was 
 passed, and the Sessions Court finally disappeared. 
 Until 1811 the County Court of Common Pleas re- 
 mained the tribunal in which was carried on the 
 great bulk of ordinary litigation. 
 
 Upon the election of Moses Gill to the Lieutenant- 
 Governorship and his consequent resignation of his 
 seat on the bench, the position was offered to Dwight 
 Foster, but was declined. Michael Gill was there- 
 upon appointed. Of him I learn nothing, save that 
 he was probably a nephew of his predecessor ; that 
 he resigned in 1798, and that he was living in 1826. 
 Elijah Brigham took the place left vacant by Judge 
 Baker's death in 1795. He was born in Northborough 
 in 1751 and graduated at Dartmouth College in 1778. 
 The study of divinity at first engaged his attention, 
 but that was soon abandoned for mercantile pursuits. 
 Senator, councillor and member of Congress success- 
 ively, he discharged the duties of each station with 
 propriety, though without leaving a great impress up- 
 on the times. He held the office of judge until the 
 abolition of the County Court in 1811. In 1816, 
 
HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 ■while atlending the session of Congress at Washing- 
 ton, he very suddenly died. 
 
 r>\viGHT Foster accepted an appointment to this 
 hench in 1801. He was a son of the earlier judge, 
 and was born in Brookfield in 1757. His classical 
 studies were pursued at Brown, where he graduated 
 in 1774. After studying his profession he commenced 
 its practice at home. At that time there was no 
 other lawyer within twenty miles of Brookfield. As 
 a consequence he early gained a very great practice, 
 which his own abilities enabled him to keep and in- 
 crease. His health was never robust, so that all 
 through life he was obliged to husband his physical 
 resources. Yet by diligence during his working 
 hours, by a systematic arrangement of hi.s time and 
 by powers of application natural and cultivated, he 
 accomplished an enormous amount of labor. As a 
 conveyancer he was noted for accuracy and neatness, 
 — qualities of whose importance he was no doubt im- 
 pressed by his father, who had been obliged to acquire 
 w hat knowledge he had of that branch without the 
 aid of such an education as the son had enjoyed. It 
 was noted of the latter that he made it a constant 
 practice to rise and be at work early, invariably by 
 candle-light in winter. This discouraging propensity 
 is the only fault recorded of him. 
 
 His father had been chosen as a delegate to the 
 convention for framing the Constitution, but died be- 
 fore the session began. Dwight, then but twenty- 
 two, was chosen to fill the vacancy, — a proof of the 
 confidence which his townsmen already reposed in 
 his sound judgment and discretion. In 1792 he held 
 the office of high sheriff of the county, and was the 
 same year elected to Congress, where he sat for three 
 terras. Later, he was a member of the United States 
 Senate. For ten years he was the Chief Justice of 
 the Common Pleas, succeeding Judge Sprague, and 
 lived until 1823, active until the last. His manners 
 are described as extremely courteous, and he exer- 
 cised a generous hospitality at his country home. 
 
 In the same year with Judge Foster, Benjamin 
 Heywood was elevated to a seat on this bench. He 
 was the son of a Shrewsbury farmer, and had learned 
 and practiced in early life the trade of a carpenter. 
 His strong desire for an education overcame the diffi- 
 culties in his way, and he prepared for college and 
 entered Harvard in 1771. But here hindrances to the 
 pursuit of knowledge still met him. The country 
 was aroused to arms. With the other young men of 
 the institution, he felt the duty of bearing his share 
 in the impending conflict. At the opening of hos- 
 tilities he laid aside his books, followed the retreating 
 British forces after Concord fight, and was soon after 
 regularly commissioned an officer of the Provincial 
 Army. He rose to the rank of captain, and discharged 
 the difficult and responsible duties of regimental 
 paymaster with scruixilous fidelity and accuracy. 
 When, at the close of the war, the Coutinental Con- 
 gress found itself with a great debt, an army whose 
 
 pay was largely in arrears, and an empty treasury, a 
 most serious danger threatened the stability of the 
 independence which had been won. The soldiery 
 were naturally discontented and conscious of ill 
 treatment, and conscious also of their strength as a 
 united body. Captain Heywood was one of those 
 who at this juncture assisted Washington to allay 
 the growing impatience and to persuade the men to 
 disband peaceably, in the hope of justice from the 
 tardy jieople who had profited by their sutferings. 
 When, after peace was finally established, he returned 
 to his native town, he found himself called upon to 
 devote much of hia time to the public. His neigh- 
 bors had learned to appreciate his integrity and the 
 soundness of his judgment. Later, he removed to 
 Worcester, where he cultivated a large farm, portions 
 of which remain in the hands of his descendants to 
 this day. In 1801 he succeeded Judge Dorr, and held 
 office so long as the court existed. He is the last 
 judge of any of the higher courts of this county who 
 was not educated for the legal profession. 
 
 John Sprague, who succeeded Artemas Ward as 
 chief of the Common Pleas, was, as has been 
 said, the only member of the bar before the Revolu- 
 tion who continued for any length of time to practice 
 in the courts under the new establishment. His first 
 competitor was Levi Lincoln, who was admitted 
 to the bar in Hampshire County, and began prac- 
 tice here as soon as the courts were opened in 1775. 
 Joshua Upham had not then abandoned his Brook- 
 field clientage, but remained only a few months 
 longer. Lincoln was the son of Enoch Lincoln, a 
 farmer of Hinghara, and had been apprenticed in 
 youth to a trade. In this employment he evidently 
 found he had no pleasure, and he succeeded, with the 
 assistance of friends who were impressed by his man- 
 ifest desire and aptness for learning and his serious 
 determination to obtain an education, in fitting him- 
 self to enter Harvard College. There he graduated 
 in 1772, in his twenty-fourth year, and began the 
 study of the law in Newburyport. Later, he entered the 
 office of Joseph Hawley, of Northampton, who was 
 then of the highest rank in the profession, as well as 
 in the councils of the patriotic party. His studies 
 were interrupted by the call to arms in April, 1775, 
 but he soon returned to his books, and opened his 
 office in Worcester. At once he was made clerk of 
 the courts, and held the office a little over a year. No 
 doubt the duties interfered too seriously with the 
 great opportunity for professional business whicli lay 
 before him. Those who had been the leaders in every 
 walk in life, judges of the courts, lawyers, men of 
 wealth and cultivation, had in large numbers adhered 
 to the British cause, and were then in self-imposed 
 exile. To a man of Lincoln's superior ability it was 
 inevitable that the people should look for leadership 
 and advice. His powers matured early under the re- 
 sponsibilities which he was thus compelled to assume. 
 He possessed naturally great firmness of purpo.se and 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 XXV 
 
 a sober judgment, and throughout his long career, 
 much of which was passed prominently before the 
 public eye, what he accomplished was largely due to 
 the fact that what, on sufficient reflection, he felt to 
 be his duty, that he unfalteringly strove to do. 
 
 He had none of that long period of weary waiting 
 for clients which serves to some extent to winnow out 
 the wheat from the chafl" of modern aspirants for legal 
 honors. After the long vacation and the cessation 
 of general business natural to the beginning of so tre- 
 mendous a struggle as was then inaugurated, with 
 the first breathing space people realized that their 
 affairs at home still must receive attention. Lincoln 
 at once was overwhelmed with business. In 1779 he 
 was "specially designated to prosecute the claims of 
 government to the large estates of the Refugees, con- 
 fiscated under the Absentee Act." Mr. Willard says 
 of him : " He was without question at the head of the 
 bar from the close of the Revolution till he left our 
 courts, at the commencement of the present century. 
 His professional business far exceeded that of any 
 other member of the bar. He was retained in every 
 case of importance, and for many years constantly 
 attended the courts in Hampshire and Middlesex." 
 His great success shows that he made the best use 
 of his excellent opportunities. He was a most skill- 
 ful advocate before juries, pleasing in his address, 
 popular from his known public spirit, eloquent and 
 keen. It must have been a task most congenial to his 
 ■temperament when, as counsel in the celebrated case 
 involving the liberty of a negro, he was called upon 
 to maintain the equal rights of all men under the laws 
 of his native State. The suit was brought by one 
 Jennison against two of the name of Caldwell, for 
 enticing away a negro slave. Sprague was of counsel 
 for the plaintiff. Lincoln's argument, deduced from 
 the laws of God and nature, from the principles for 
 which the Colonies were even then contending, and 
 from the first article of the Massachusetts Bill of 
 Rights the proposition that in this State at least no 
 man could have the right to say that he was the 
 owner of another. So the court decided, and so, from 
 that day, has been the undisputed law. 
 
 With public duties and honors Lincoln's life was 
 replete. He sat in the convention to frame the Con- 
 stitution of the State, and in the Congress of the Con- 
 federation. He was State Senator, Councillor, Lieu- 
 tenant-Governor. In 1800 he was chosen to represent 
 his district in the Congress of the United States, but 
 had hardly taken his seat when President Jefferson 
 called upon him to enter the Cabinet as Attorney- 
 General. The duties of that station he discharged 
 with ability and faithfulness so marked as to cause 
 Jefferson to accept with the utmost reluctance and 
 with every evidence of regret his resignation, after 
 four years of service. 
 
 In the more limited sphere of his native town he 
 was active for good. In the support of the freedom 
 of religious worship, of common-school education, of 
 
 advancement in the arts and sciences, in support of 
 government against faction and misrule, his voice and 
 influence were ever ready. The latter years of his 
 life he spent in a well-earned retirement, enjoying 
 the delights of literature, which his busy life had 
 only permitted him to sip. In 1820 he died, trans- 
 mitting to a line of descendants, as an especial legacy, 
 which they have never surrendered, his great quality 
 of faithfulness to duty. 
 
 In 1776 Mr. Lincoln was appointed judge of the 
 Probate Court for this county, and held the office for 
 six years. It was not until after the adoption of the 
 State Constitution that a law was passed establishing 
 and defining the jurisdiction of this court. As haa 
 been said, the judges appointed from time to time had 
 been in theory the deputies of the Governor and 
 Council, in whom the jurisdiction really resided. In 
 1783 an act passed providing that an " able and 
 learned person" should be appointed in each county 
 for " taking the probate of wills and granting admin- 
 istration on the estates of persons deceased," for the 
 appointment of" guardians to minors, idiots, and dis- 
 tracted persons," "examining and allowing the ac- 
 counts of executors, administrators, or guardians," and 
 other kindred matters. 
 
 One year after Lincoln, William Stearns, of Lu- 
 nenburg, entered upon a brief career at the bar, 
 which was cut short by his death in 1784. Before he 
 decided upon making the law his profession he had 
 studied divinity and made a beginning in journalism. 
 He was a lovable man, who, even in the short time 
 he lived, made friends of all about him, and left a 
 reputation for kindness of heart, joined with talents, 
 that promised him a successful career. He was asso- 
 ciated with Sprague for the plaintiff in the case of 
 Jennison Jigainst Caldwell, to which reference has 
 been made. 
 
 The next admission was not until 1780. In that 
 year Dvvight Foster, Daniel Bigelow and Edward 
 Bangs took the oath. Bigelow was a Worcester man, 
 born in 1752. After graduation at Harvard he tried 
 his hand at pedagogy for a few months. Then, with 
 Stearns, he carried on a newspaper, which lived about 
 a year, when both its editors betook them to the law. 
 Bigelow settled in Petersham, and there won the con- 
 fidence of the community as a counsellor whose ad- 
 vice it was safe to follow, and as a suitable person to 
 be entrusted with legislative functions. For eight 
 years in House and Senate he represented bis con- 
 stituents with fidelity, and until his death, in 1806, 
 retained the respect which he had fiiirly earned. 
 
 Edward Bangs, a native of Hardwick, was pursu- 
 ing his studies at Harvard when the news spread of the 
 British expedition to Concord, on the 19th of April. 
 He was a member of a company recruited from the 
 undergraduates, which had been drilled in anticipa- 
 tion that their services might be needed in some such 
 emergency. In the irregular warfare of that mem- 
 orable day he bore his part courageously. With true 
 
HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 chivalry he made no waron the defenceless, and saved 
 the life of a wounded enemy whom others were about 
 to put to death. Although the regular course of 
 studies was interrupted by the exciting scenes that 
 followed, he continued to use his books at home, so 
 that when the recitations were resumed he was ready 
 to proceed with his class, and graduated in 1777, at 
 the age of twenty-one. Chief Justice Parsons, then 
 practicing in Newburyport, became his guide through 
 the mazes of the law, his college classmate, Rufus 
 King, being then also his fellow-studeut. After ad- 
 mission to the bar, in 1780, he formed a partnership 
 with Mr. Stearns for practice in Worcester, but after 
 two years concluded to try his fortunes alone. In 
 this he achieved a moderate success, though a biog- 
 rapher, from whom most of the material for these 
 sketches is drawn, says of him that " In his arguments 
 on questions of law ... he conceived the matter well, 
 and was methodical in his arrangement, and made 
 strong points, but was not sufficiently lucid in their 
 enunciation." 
 
 In 1805 he formed a partnership with William E. 
 Geeen, which continued till his elevation to the 
 bench, in 1811. 
 
 For several years he held the office of prosecuting 
 attorney for the county. From the asperities and dry 
 detail of his profession he found relief in the study of 
 the classics, in art, in music and in poetry. He was 
 a great admirer of tlie beauties of nature and a de- 
 voted horticulturist. At one time he tried his hand 
 at editing a newspaper, and was one of the eleven 
 members of this bar who, at different periods of its 
 precarious and stormy existence, endeavored to bear 
 up the ^■Eqis which Francis Blake had intended should 
 throw its protection about the national policy of Mr. 
 Jefferson. 
 
 During the disturbance of 1786 and '87, known as 
 " Shays's Rebellion," he contributed by pen, voice and 
 arm to the upholding of the cause of order and good 
 government. When the rioters gained such numbers 
 and cohesion as to threaten some serious danger to 
 the State, he felt it his duty to enlist. The privations 
 of the campaign in the winter of 1786-87— brief 
 though it was — were a severe strain upon his health, 
 the effects of which were felt through life. 
 
 In 1811 the old system of County Courts was abol- 
 ished, and the State divided into six circuits, for each 
 of which a Court of Common Pleas was established. 
 
 The Western Circuit consisted of Worcester, Hamp- 
 shire and Berkshire Counties. Each court consisted 
 of a chief and two associate justices, any two of whom 
 might hold the court. The jurisdiction was the same 
 as that of the County Courts which were superseded. 
 Mr. Bangs, who was then county attorney, was pro- 
 moted to a seat on the new tribunal, and retained that 
 position till the time of his death, in 1818. 
 
 The predecessor of Judge Bangs, in the office of 
 county attorney, was Nathaniel Paine ; born in Wor- 
 cester ; graduated at Harvard, and through life iden- 
 
 tified with the town of his birth. Hestudied law with 
 John Sprague, in Lancaster, who was then in himself 
 the bar of the county. That year (1775), however, 
 saw Levi Lincoln's entry upon his professional career, 
 and young Paine had before him most excellent ex- 
 amples in his instructor and his young rival. With 
 the exception of the four years immediately following 
 his admission to the bar, in 1781, when he lived in 
 Groton, Mr. Paine spent his life in Worcester. There, 
 one says of him, he " acquired a practice at one time 
 greater in extent, it is believed, especially in the col- 
 lection of debts, than was ever enjoyed by any other 
 professional man in the county." For thirty-five 
 years he discharged the delicite duties of judge 
 of the Probate Court for this county, succeeding 
 Judge Dorr, in 1801. In that court, where the widow 
 and the fatherless, the hapless victim of insanity and 
 the reckless prodigal are brought, in order that the 
 rights, which their own weakness is insufficient to 
 maintain, may be secured to them, it is needful that 
 a man of wide sympathies, of patience and of sound 
 judgment should preside. These qualities Judge Paine 
 possessed, and in his long term of service, which has 
 not its equal for duration in this county, and proba- 
 bly not in the state, they were ripened into the char- 
 acter of a model judge. Some one has observed that, 
 broadly speaking, in the course of a generation, less 
 than Judge Paine's official term, all the property of a 
 county passes through the processes of the Court of 
 Probate. 
 
 In 1817 an act was passed " to regulate the jurisdic- 
 tion and proceedings of the Courts of Probate," by 
 whicli all provisions of previous statutes were codified 
 and the methods of transacting the business of the 
 court established much as they are in vogue at the 
 present time. In 1823 the system of remuneration by 
 fees was abolished, and fixed salaries established for 
 judges and registers. In Worcester County the judge 
 was allowed six hundred dollars, and the register 
 eleven hundred dollars, the latter office, though of less 
 dignity, commanding a greater salary, inasmuch as it 
 occupied more thoroughly the time of the incumbent. 
 Judge Paine was distinguished for courtesy of man- 
 ner, for a habit of observation, a faculty of retaining 
 in his memory what he saw or heard, and great facility 
 in communicating his stores of anecdote thus treas- 
 ured up. He was accordingly a most deliglitful com- 
 panion — one who could entertain^ by his own collo- 
 quial power, or who was ready to add to his acquisi- 
 tion by listening to others. He lived several years 
 after resigning his judicial functions, and died in 1840, 
 at the ripe age of eighty-two. 
 
 One of Levi Lincoln's students who obtained a 
 good standing at the bar was Seth Hastings, of Men- 
 don. He was born in Cambridge, in 1762, and gradu- 
 ated at its university twenty years later. After com- 
 pleting his professional studies, he opened an office 
 in Mendon, and made that town his home till the 
 close of a useful life of just three-score years and 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 XXVll 
 
 ten. He was not a graceful orator, but a well- 
 grounded lawyer, in whom courts and juries recog- 
 nized a man who understood his subject, and rea- 
 soned it out in logical order. He was a member of 
 Congress for three terms and a State Senator later. 
 In 1819 he was made chief justice of the Court of 
 Sessions. Two of his sons adopted his profession, 
 and practiced in this county. 
 
 William Stedman was another Cambridge man 
 who settled in this county. He graduated from Har- 
 vard at nineteen in 1784, and entered the office of 
 Chief Justice Dana to fit himself for practice. Admit- 
 ted in Essex in 1787, he immediately chose Lancaster 
 for his field, and there obtained a considerable practice 
 as a counsellor. He filled the offices successively of 
 member of the Legislature, member of Congress and 
 clerk of the courts. He was well versed in the 
 learning of his profession, and greatly relied upon as 
 a counsellor, but did not obtain eminence as an 
 advocate. In Congress he was a general favorite and 
 one of the wits of the House. His easy, aflTable man- 
 ner, cheerful disposition and ready fund of humor 
 made him popular in every circle. He was a strong 
 supporter of Federalist doctrines. At one time, in 
 retaliation for the imprisonment of some British-born 
 subjects who had become naturalized as American 
 citizens, a party of British oflHcers were arrested in 
 this country. Ten of them were brought by the 
 United States marshal to Worcester for lodgment in 
 the county jail. The affair aroused considerable ex- 
 citement, and earnest protest was made by Francis 
 Blake, Stedman and others against the use of the 
 jail for such a purpose. Lincoln, on the other hand, 
 supported the demand of the marshal, and, after 
 some hot debate, persuaded the sheriff to permit the 
 incarceration of the prisoners. The sympathizers of 
 the latter endeavored to make the confinement as 
 tolerable as possible, and on one occasion gave them 
 an elaborate dinnerparty within the jail. Shortly 
 afterwards the prisoners overpowered their guard, 
 and effected an escape, and suspicion was not unnat- 
 urally directed to their late hosts as connivers at the 
 deliverance. This charge was many years later re- 
 futed by one of the officers themselves, who declared 
 that no assistance was rendered them by any Ameri- 
 cans. Mr. Stedman removed to Newburyport in the 
 latter part of his life, and there died in 1831. 
 
 Pliny Merrick, the elder, was the son of a clergy- 
 man in Wilbraham, and, after graduation from Har- 
 vard, studied divinity, and for some years preached 
 occasional sermons. He had not sufficient health to 
 undertake the constant labors of a settled minister, 
 and felt obliged to try the milder climate of Vir- 
 ginia. There he was employed as a private tutor, 
 and improved his leisure in the study of the law. 
 Whether he thought the exactions of this profession 
 less arduous does not appear; but he returned to 
 Massachusetts, completed his studies, was admitted 
 to the bar in Plymouth County, and announced his 
 
 readiness to receive clients in his native town. From 
 there he removed to Brookfield in 1788, and con- 
 tinued in practice till his death in 1814. He gave 
 evidence of fine talents as an advocate, and had 
 much of that rhetorical skill for which his son, the 
 late Judge Merrick, was distinguished. It has been 
 remarked that an unsuccessful lawyer often made a 
 good clergyman, but that one who left the pulpit for 
 the forum rarely bettered his condition. Mr. Mer- 
 rick seems to have been an exception to this general 
 statement ; for he gained a reputation as a sound 
 lawyer, while of his clerical efforts we learn little. 
 
 A rival of Merrick for the clientage of Brookfield 
 and its vicinity was Jabez Uphasi. He was born in 
 that town about the year 1764. His father was a 
 Revolutionary officer, holding the rank of captain at 
 the close of the war. The son more easily, if less glori- 
 ously, earned the title of major for peaceful service on 
 the staff of a general of militia. He showed his pluck 
 and persistence, however, by earning his way through 
 the collegiate course. His class graduated in 1785, but 
 Upham disagreed with the faculty as to the just 
 rank which should be assigned him at commence- 
 ment, and left the college without the degree for 
 which he had made such exertions. He had, how- 
 ever, the more important acquisition, a mind well 
 trained and restored, and later received the diploma 
 which testified to the fact. After three years of 
 study in the office of Judge Foster he entered the 
 ranks of the profession, and looked about him for a 
 place in which to make essay of his powers. One or 
 two attempts in other towns convinced him that on 
 his native heath he was strongest, and in Brookfield 
 he passed his life, too early closed in 1811. Some 
 years before his death he met with an accident which 
 necessitated the amputation of a leg, an operation 
 from whose effects he never fully recovered. He was 
 twice chosen to a seat in Congress, succeeding Seth 
 Hastings as the representative of the Worcester 
 South District. Although he died at forty-seven, 
 when a lawyer is supposed to be at his best, he had 
 obtained a high position, and is spoken of with great 
 respect by contemporaries and men who knew his 
 reputation. His strength lay in a most painstaking 
 investigation of his case, and a persistence in bring- 
 ing out every point of law or fact on which he relied. 
 Nothing that he thought contributed to the strength 
 of his argument was omitted, even though the pa- 
 tience of his auditors was at times severely tested. 
 Not brilliancy, but unflagging effort was the means 
 of his success. 
 
 Not all the members of this bar have been high 
 examples of what is best in character and attain- 
 ments. Perhaps it is as well to remember by way 
 of warning that in the past, as now, men who have 
 set out with hopes as eager, with ambitions as lofty 
 and with opportunities apparently as favorable as 
 the most successful whom we have called to mind, 
 have fallen in the race or lagged very far behind the 
 
xxvui 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 wisners of the prizes. A very eccentric character 
 was a law3'er in Leominster. Of that town its local 
 historian remarks that it had been most fortunate in 
 the number of members of the bar there resident, 
 and follows this with the inexplicable non-sequitur 
 that for the first half-century of its existence there 
 were no lawyers in the place. 
 
 Whatever subtle meaning may have lain in the 
 writer's mind, one of the lawyers must have furnished • 
 some topic for tea-table gossip in the quiet village. 
 Asa Johnson graduated at Harvard in 1787, at an 
 age when most men are established in life. But his 
 career had theretofore been an exciting one. During 
 the Revolution he had served in the navy of the 
 Confederation, and had come out with quite a hand- 
 some share of prize money. With this he determined 
 to secure an education, and fitted himself for the bar 
 with credit. At one time he acquired a sufficient 
 practice to lay by a competency, and was apparently 
 on the road to a respectable position as a country 
 counsellor. He was thoroughly honest, a good clas- 
 sical scholar and fond of his books. He possessed 
 an active intellect, and is described as an agreeable 
 conversationalist, quick at repartee when he could 
 be drawn into any social intercourse. But he was 
 one of those men in whom the social instinct seems 
 either never to have existed or to gradually disap- 
 pear. His religious views separated him widely 
 from the sympathy of his neighbors in that God- 
 fearing community. He was called an Atheist in 
 the days when a man who doubted the least of the 
 generally received dogmas was looked upon as in 
 serious danger of eternal punishment. Becoming 
 more and more a recluse, and permitting no one to 
 become intimate, with him, the most fanciful stories 
 were told of his methods of life. It is said that he 
 cooked and ate cats, owls and reptiles in his lonely 
 home. His only intercourse with his fellow-men, at 
 length, was at the gaming table, and there he dissi- 
 pated the property he had laid by. In 1820, poor, 
 almost friendless and miserable, he died, an illustra- 
 tion, too often repeated, that man cannot fulfill the 
 aim of his being either to his own satisfaction or 
 with worldly success v/ho lives wholly in and for 
 himself. 
 
 Peentice Mellen, who practiced law in Sterling 
 from 1789 to 1791, deserves a passing notice in these 
 chronicles, from the fact that in later years he be- 
 came chief justice of the highest court of the State of 
 Maine, and in that capacity reflected credit on the 
 State where he was educated, and the bar at which 
 his early impulse in the path of success was received. 
 
 The professional life of Benjamin Adams, cover- 
 ing close on to half a century, is one of those level 
 stretches of beautiful meadow which seems to span 
 the interval between our point of departure and our 
 standing-ground, and to bring nearer to us the lofty 
 hills which we have left, and enable us to compare 
 them with the eminences close at hand. When Ad- 
 
 ams was admitted to the bar, in 1792, John Sprague 
 held the office of high sheriff, but that same year 
 resigned its duties to give his entire attention to his 
 large professional business. A few years later, as 
 chief justice of the Common Pleas, he doubtless in- 
 spired the young advocate with admiration for his 
 learning and dignity. Levi Lincoln was in the full 
 tide of a large and increasing practice, and was 
 already known as the man whose arguments had 
 abolished slavery on Massachusetts soil. The rugged 
 honesty of Artemas Ward secured for him the re- 
 spect on the bench even of the counsel, who appre- 
 ciated their superiority in knowledge of the law to 
 the old general, whose profession was rather of arms 
 than of briefs and writs. 
 
 Born in Mendon in 1764, Mr. Adams received a 
 liberal education at Brown University. He studied 
 law in Uxbridge with Colonel Tyler, who had been a 
 Revolutionary officer and was the first lawyer practic- 
 ing in the south part of the county. Tyler does not 
 seem to have obtained much eminence, or to have 
 long remained in practice. Soon after Adams was 
 admitted to the bar he succeeded to the business of 
 his preceptor, who then disappears from history. 
 Possessed of fair abilities and a steady purpose to 
 make the most of them, he acquired a substantial 
 practice and, what was better, the confidence of his 
 townsmen. On the death of Judge Brigham he was 
 elected to fill the vacant seat in Congress, and by suc- 
 cessive re-elections retained the office until 1823. In 
 that year he was defeated as a candidate by Jonathan 
 Russell, because of a speech made by Adams in favor 
 of the principle of protection. At that time Daniel 
 Webster had not seen the light which afterwards so 
 clearly illuminated his pathway as to cause him to 
 retrace his steps and forswear his logic. The great 
 statesman lent his matchless powers to exposing the 
 fallacies which Adams upheld, in so forcible a manner 
 that neither he nor any one who has come after him 
 has been able to answer the argument, and the result 
 was Adams's defeat. In very truth he was before his 
 time. An ample fortune which he had accumulated 
 he lost by unfortunate investments in manufacturing 
 enterprises, and it may not be an unwarrantable in- 
 ference that his own ill success caused him to feel 
 more deeply the need of some protection by the State, 
 for business that in itself was profitless. 
 
 He is described as a man of peculiarly even tem- 
 perament, who did not suffer prosperity or adversity 
 to throw him from his balance. An upright Christian 
 gentleman, he did the duties that lay near him, use- 
 fully serving his community in whatever way his 
 hand found to do. In a county whose bar boasted be- 
 fore his death of the fame of the second Levi Lincoln, 
 of Charles Allen and of Emory Washburn ; his attain- 
 ments were not of an order to be loudly heralded. 
 None the less they were a distinct contribution to the 
 welfare of his neighborhood. His talents were hon- 
 estly put to their best use, so that it could be said the 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 world was better for his life. In 1837, a few years 
 after the late Peter C. Bacon came to the bar, he died 
 in Uxbridge, where his active life had been spent. 
 
 Of the fame of an orator only one who has listened 
 to the magic of the living voice, and felt his own en- 
 thusiasm aroused beneath the spell of the vivid elo- 
 quence, is fitted to speak with authority. Francis 
 Blake was pre-eminently a master of the art of 
 speech. His other titles to remembrance have been 
 subordinated to this in the minds of those who have 
 spoken and written in his praise. The late Judge 
 Thomas, a critic qualified by his skill in the same art, 
 has said of him: "In theCourt-House . . . he won by 
 his sweetness and commanded by his dignity; where 
 his learning and logic convinced, where his wit and 
 humor convulsed Bench, Bar and Jury; where his 
 passion aroused to indignation or melted into tears; 
 where now his genius, his eloquence and his name 
 even are but a tradition; where the orb has sunk long 
 since below the horizon ; and the eye catches only 
 the last lingering, fading hues of twilight. Such is 
 the history and the fate of forensic eloquence." 
 
 Mr. Blake was the son of a Revolutionary oflicer 
 who lived in Rutland until the boy was five years old 
 when he removed to Hiugham. In that town the 
 Reverend Joseph Thaxter, afterwards a distinguished 
 clergyman, taught the pupils of a grammar-school. 
 Under his excellent instruction Blake made such 
 rapid progress in preparation for college that he en- 
 tered Harvard much the youngest member of his 
 class and graduated in 1789, when only iu his six- 
 teenth year. He was considered one of the brightest 
 and most accomplished scholars of his class; nor do 
 his faculties seem to have been unduly stimulated nor 
 his brain turned by his rapid advancement. He soon 
 began the study of the law in Mr. Sprague's office in 
 Lancaster, and at twenty was admitted to the bar, 
 thoroughly equipped for the race for legal distinction. 
 For a few years he tried the quality of his metal in 
 Rutland, his native village, where he obtained a busi- 
 ness sufficient to warrant his entering a larger field. 
 In 1802 he came to Worcester, and there practiced 
 until, in the year preceding his death, his failing 
 health compelled him to give up his severe labors and 
 assume the less exacting duties of clerk of the courts. 
 At the time that he came to Worcester the contest of 
 parties which had resulted in the defeat of the Feder- 
 alists was still exciting the public mind. Mr. Jeffer- 
 son's policy was fiercely attacked by the opposition, 
 and Blake's ardent temperament impelled him to 
 eagerly support the administration whose success he 
 had desired. The publication of a newspaper called 
 the National ^yis was begun, principally as a result 
 of his efforts, and he undertook the editorial duties. 
 Through a large part of President Jefferson's first 
 term Blake's pen and influence were constantly de- 
 voted to the promulgation and defence of the doctrines 
 of the Republicans, as they were then called. In 
 1804 he retired from the field of journalism, leaving 
 
 the paper to other hands. Under the editorial guid- 
 ance of several different members of the bar it passed 
 through various experiences of the uncertainties of 
 newspaper life until its mission ended. 
 
 For two years Mr. Blake represented the county in 
 the State Senate, but aside from this held no political 
 office. His real triumphs were in the court-room. 
 For his success there it is instructive to learn that he 
 did not depend upon his abundant resources of intel- 
 lectual gifts. 
 
 Mr. Willard says, "It is a wrong impression that 
 Mr. Blake made but slight preparation in his causes. 
 But few could have discovered more investigation, or 
 have given more satisfactory proofs of diligent and 
 thorough study in the management of his causes. . . . 
 His briefs were remarkably full," and showed "that 
 mental effort had been tasked in a degree to which 
 few in full and successful practice are willing or able 
 to submit." 
 
 With powers apparently just developed to their 
 highest value, and the brightest prospect of an hon- 
 orable career, his physical health gave way. In 1817, 
 when only forty-two, he died poor, as is the lot of most 
 great advocates, but rich in friends and reputation. 
 
 One of Mr. Blake's law students and ardent ad- 
 mirers was a Worcester boy, Samuel Brazer, born in 
 1785. At the outset of his career he was placed in 
 the employ of a mercantile house in Boston, where 
 it was intended that he should fit himself to become 
 one of the substantial merchants of that thriving 
 town. He evinced, however, so decided a taste and 
 aptitude for literary pursuits, that he was allowed to 
 enter Leicester Academy to prepare fur college. He 
 had that treacherous facility iu acquiring knowledge 
 from books which often leads its possessor to rely on 
 hasty and superficial attention to his tasks. His 
 ready wit and spirit of mischief led him into seme 
 pranks which resulted in his incurring the displeas- 
 ure of his instructors and the abandonment of his 
 plans for a college course. 
 
 Entering Blake's office, he found himself in the 
 midst of political turmoil, rather than an atmosphere 
 adapted to profound study, such as so volatile a char- 
 acter most required. He entered with zeal into the 
 exciting controversies of the day, contributed to the 
 jEgis, and evidently acquired a taste for politics, 
 which overcame every other interest or ambition. 
 He was by no means unfitted for public life. Numer- 
 ous prose writings and occasional addresses show a 
 considerable ability, and a few ventures in the realms 
 of poetry prove his command of language and active 
 imagination. 
 
 After admission to the bar he began practice in 
 New Salem, but its detail soon became distasteful. 
 He could not reconcile himself to the quiet life of 
 the country lawyer, waiting for clients. He moved 
 to Baltimore, and died there in 1823, without having 
 realized the hopes of his friends or the promise of 
 his youth. 
 
XXX 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 One of the justices of the Supreme Court in the 
 first j'ears of the century was Simeon Strong, who 
 had been distinguished as a lawyer before the Revo- 
 lution, and had continued practice not only in his 
 county of Hampshire, but in our courts after the 
 war. His son, Solomon Strong, adopted his father's 
 profession, and was admitted to the bar in 1800, just 
 before his father was appointed to the bench. He 
 was born in Amherst in 1780, and received his educa- 
 tion at Williams College. Somewhat of a rolling- 
 stone, we find him practicing successively in Eoyal- 
 ston, Athol, Westminster and Leominster. Notwith- 
 standing his apparent instability, he had acquired a 
 competent knowledge of the law and retained a good 
 clientage for many years. Two terms in Congress, 
 besides several in the State Legislature, showed that I 
 he had the confidence and esteem of his constituents, 
 and his qualifications as a lawyer were recognized by 
 his appointment to the bench of the Circuit Court of 
 Common Pleas upon the death of Judge Bangs, in 
 1818. 
 
 By an act of the General Court, which took eff'ect 
 in 1821, the system of Circuit Courts was abolished, 
 and the Court of Common Pleas for the Common- 
 wealth established. By its provisions four justices 
 were to be appointed, any one of whom could hold a 
 session of the court. The terms were to be held at 
 the same times and places as had previously been 
 provided for the Circuit Courts, and the jurisdiction, 
 rules, and methods of procedure of the new court 
 were changed in no essential particular. The act 
 provides " that the chief justice of said Court of 
 Common Pleas shall, during his continuance in office, 
 receive from the treasury of the Commonwealth, in 
 full, for his services, the sura of twenty-one hundred 
 dollars annually," and the associates in like manner 
 the sum of eighteen hundred dollars. All fees there- 
 tofore paid to the justices of the Circuit Courts are 
 directed to be paid into the treasury of the Common- 
 wealth. The change seems, on the whole, to have been 
 principally in the interests of economy, for under the 
 new statute four judges at fixed salaries took the 
 place of ten under the circuit system, who received 
 an uncertain rate of compensation, dependent largely 
 on fees. 
 
 The first chief justice was Artemas Ward, then of 
 Newton, son of the old general and judge. Judge 
 Strong was appointed the senior associate, and for 
 twenty-two years, until his resignation, continued to 
 discharge his judicial functions with dignity and 
 credit. He died in Leominster in 1850. During the 
 last years of his life, after his retirement from the 
 bench, his patience was tried by disease and suffer- 
 ing. His cheerful courage sustained him through it 
 all, and added another to his titles to our respect. 
 
 When in the first year of the present century Levi 
 Lincolu assumed the duties of Attorney-General of 
 the United States he was in command of the most 
 extensive practice in this vicinity, often called into 
 
 adjoining counties, and in the foremost rank of advo- 
 cates in the Commonwealth. During his four years 
 service in Washington he could not have retained 
 the same control of his great clientage as formerly. 
 In 1805 he stated as one of his reasons for resisting 
 the urgent request of President Jefterson that he 
 would remain in the Cabinet, that his duties to his 
 family required his presence at home, and it appears 
 not improbable that he may have been thinking of 
 his son just completing his studies and ready to enter 
 upon a inofessional career, iu the outset of which the 
 father's experience and established business connec- 
 tions would be of infinite value. The son taking up 
 the name, the profession, and the position in the 
 community of his father added, as time went on, new 
 dignities to each. 
 
 Born in Worcester in 1782, his reputation is the 
 peculiar pride of the city in whose growth and wel- 
 fare he always took the profoundest interest, and 
 where he made his home. 
 
 He graduated from Harvard in 1802, and studied 
 law in his father's office, though without the advan- 
 tage of the daily presence and advice of the busy 
 Attorney-General. When he began his practice, 
 however, the senior Lincoln had returned from Wash- 
 ington, and for several years thereafter continued to 
 practice in our courts. The young counsellor needed 
 no outside iuHuence to recommend him to those in 
 search of a sound legal adviser and earnest advocate. 
 He very early made his qual ifications apparen t,and with 
 such rivals as Jabez Upham, Francis Blake and John 
 Davis, the position of leadership at the bar, to which he 
 attained, was not won without many a hard-fought con- 
 test. The power of incessant application and a most 
 determined will were his, and by these he overcame 
 obstacles that sometimes seemed too great for him to 
 cope with. He left the practice of the law at forty- 
 two, and survived all of his cotemporaries in the pro- 
 fession, so that we have uot the testimony of those who 
 had heard him as an advocate. But he told friends 
 of " the overwhelming labor which his successes 
 cost him ; bow he would watch the night out in the 
 study of his cases, and then go in the morning into 
 the court-room, with a throbbing brain, and speak for 
 hours." Efibrts of such a character could only be 
 sustained by vigorous physical health, which to the 
 last years of his life Governor Lincoln possessed. As 
 a result of his careful preparation, he acquired a com- 
 plete mastery of his faculties, so that in the vicissi- 
 tudes of trials he was ready to use to the best advan- 
 tage all his mental resources. He had a great com- 
 mand of language and of admirably clear statemen', 
 which entitled him to be called an eloquent speaker. 
 Certainly he was a most convincing one. His style 
 was not encumbered with rhetorical ornaments, but 
 plain, substantial and direct. When, in the year of 
 his appointment to the bench of the Supreme Court, 
 he gave up business, he had acquired a position at the 
 bar second to none in the Commonwealth, and a 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 competent fortune, which raised him above the need 
 of anxiety during the years which he devoted to the 
 public service. 
 
 His political honors are naturally those which have 
 most prominently been associated with the memory of 
 his name. In 1812 be was a member of the State 
 Senate, add was a strong supporter of the administra- 
 tion in its measures which resulted in the war with 
 Great Britain. The majority in this State were in- 
 tensely opposed to the war, and here at the outset of 
 his career Lincoln exhibited his independence of judg- 
 ment and courage in supporting his convictions. He 
 was rewarded by seeing a strong sentiment built up 
 in favor of sustaining the war after we were engaged. 
 In 1814, as a member of the House of Representa- 
 tives, he protested with vigor against the resolution 
 which resulted in our participation in the famous 
 Hartford Convention. Defeated by a large majority 
 in the General Court, he drew up a protest which was 
 signed by the minority, and widely circulated through 
 the country, bringing its author into national repute. 
 The convention was held, but its action, beyond fur- 
 nishing a text for secessionists' arguments in later 
 years, had no result, and aroused but short-lived 
 interest. 
 
 For several years Mr. Lincoln represented Wor- 
 cester in the Legislature — -always with credit. In 
 1822 he was elected Speaker of the House, in which 
 a majority were of the opposite political party. This 
 is an evidence of that remarkable freedom from par- 
 tisan bias which he displayed on all occasions. Many 
 years afterwards, when a member of Congress, he felt 
 it his duty to reply to an attack which a member of 
 his own party had made upon the President, to whom 
 he was politically opposed, and did it with so much 
 dignity and effect that the supporters of the adminis- 
 tration published his remarks. He would not win l>y 
 any but the fairest means and the most direct argu- 
 ments. 
 
 His promotion was rapid. He left the Legislature 
 for the Lieutenant-Governorship, and while in that 
 office was appointed anassociatejusticeof the Supreme 
 Court. On that bench he remained only a year, but 
 brought to the performance of its duties a learning 
 and a dignified urbanity, which gave evidence that 
 there also he would have added to his reputation, and 
 to that of the court, already distinguished for its high 
 character. In 1825 he received the nomination for 
 the office of Governor of Massachusetts from both 
 political parties. He said that, owing to his judicial 
 position, this was the only way in which he should 
 have considered it proper to accept the nomination. 
 For nine years he held the office by successive re- 
 elections, most of them practically uncontested, and 
 no more faithful or efficient officer has filled the chair. 
 Interested in everything that could contribute to the 
 welfare of the Commonwealth, he imparted a stimulus 
 to internal improvements of all kinds. Canals and 
 railroads, the improvement of agriculture, the up- 
 
 building of manufactures, reforms of the prisons and 
 of hospitals for the insane, the establishment of 
 Normal Schools, all received his energetic attention. 
 
 Declining to accept a tenth term as Governor, he 
 was persuaded to take the seat in Congress left vacant 
 by the election of John Davis to the gubernatorial 
 office. There he remained during four Congresses, 
 and again sought to retire among his friends and his 
 home enjoyments, free from the constant turmoil 
 of public life. 
 
 During the rest of his life this retirement was 
 broken only at intervals. In 1848 Worcester, having 
 received a charter, organized its municipal govern- 
 ment, and called upon him, as its first citizen, to 
 occupy the mayoralty. This duty he cheerfully per- 
 formed for one year. For twenty years thereafter he 
 lived amid its growing population and thriving indus- 
 tries, always interested in every movement of progre,-s, 
 and contributing by his management of his large 
 landed property to rendering it a city of beautiful 
 streets and home-like residences. Much of his time 
 was devoted to the encouragement of agriculture. In 
 his own fine farm and herd of cattle he took infinite 
 delight, and the Worcester Agricultural Society, of 
 which he was president for thirty years, owed much 
 to his constant care. Though eminently a man of 
 aftairs rather than of books, he took a deep and 
 rational interest in scientific and literary investigations. 
 
 The American Antiquarian Society acknowledges 
 its indebtedness for his contributions to its library, 
 and his own share in its proceedings. 
 
 His pastor, the Rev. Alonzo Hill, speaks of him as 
 a deeply religious man, constant in every good word 
 and work for the church and society which his father 
 had been largely instrumental in establishing. Regu- 
 lar in his attendance on public worship, his erect 
 figure was every Sunday to be seen on his way to the 
 church, a mile from his home, until the infirmities of 
 age in the last year of his life prevented. 
 
 One who knew him well says that his great charac- 
 teristic was faithfulness — a thoroughness in whatever 
 matter, large or small, that he undertook. He had 
 an ambition to possess the respect and good-will of 
 the public, but this ambition was subordinate to the 
 determination to deserve that esteem. No consider- 
 ations of present advantage or of personal friendship 
 were sufficient to deter him from the course which 
 seemed to him the proper one. This was well illus- 
 trated when, as Governor, it became necessary for him 
 to appoint a chief justice of the Supreme Court to 
 succeed Judge Parker. Resisting the claims of an 
 intimate friendship, the urgency of influential sup- 
 porters and a natural desire to gratify long-standing 
 expectations, he selected a man whom his judgmenc 
 a-sured him was best qualified for the office. Long 
 afterwards he used to say that the act of his Governor- 
 ship on which he looked back with the most complete 
 satisfaction was the giving to the judicial history of 
 the Commonwealth the services of Lemuel Shaw, and 
 
xxxu 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 every lawyer must sympathize with this self-congratu- 
 lation. 
 
 During the Civil War he was a most earnest sup- 
 porter of tlie government by word and act. Too far 
 advanced in years himself to take the field, his elo- 
 quent words incited others and his steady courage 
 sustained the drooping faith of those who doubted 
 our ultimate triumph. His last public service was to 
 act as one of the electors-at-Iarge, and to cast a ballot 
 for Abraham Lincoln in 1864. A patriot to the core, 
 with a son and grandson in active service, he never 
 felt that he had done enough for his country while 
 there remained any service which in its hour of need 
 he could perform. 
 
 Judge Washburn has well summed up his virtue 
 when he says : " I have little hesitation in saying 
 that I have never known one whose life and character 
 had more of completeness in its composition than 
 his. Among his characteristics were a steadiness of 
 purpose, a quickness in e.xpedients, a judgment cool 
 and well-balanced, discriminating nicely in the selec- 
 tion of agents and the application of means, and withal, 
 a courage that shrunk from no responsibility, and an 
 industry that was alike incessant and unwearied." 
 
 Long may such citizens be found among us, long 
 may we recognize and honor them, and God will sSiVe 
 the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 
 
 In 1868, the year of Governor Lincoln's death, 
 there passed away a life-long friend who had arrived 
 at an equal length of days. Rejoice Newton was a 
 native of Greenfield, and a graduate of Dartmouth Col- 
 lege in 1807. After studying law for three years he 
 was admitted in Hampshire County, and was so for- 
 tunate as to form a partnership with Francis Blake, 
 then at the height of his successful practice in Wor- 
 cester. This connection continued for four years, 
 which must have been full of instruction and inspi- 
 ration to the younger man, while the latter's method- 
 ical habits and calm judgment must have been of 
 service to the brilliant orator. After the dissolution 
 of the partnership the friendly relations were still 
 maintained, as is evinced by letters written by Mr. 
 Blake in the last year of his life. 
 
 For seven years Newton discharged with efficiency 
 the duties of prosecuting attorney for the county. 
 At the end of that time, in 1826, he formed a part- 
 nership with Wm. Lincoln, the scholarly historian, a 
 brother of Governor Lincoln. As a lawyer, he was 
 respected as a safe and careful adviser. In the House 
 and Senate of the State he served usefully several 
 terms. In numerous business enterprises of the city 
 he took an active interest, and his services were in 
 request on boards of directors of financial institu- 
 tions. By attention to business and judicious invest- 
 ments he accumulated a handsome property, and was 
 able to retire from active pursuits and enjoy his books 
 and his farm during the last ten or fifteen years of 
 his life. Like Governor Lincoln, he had a great fond- 
 ness for 
 
 Heath and woodland 
 Tilth and vineyard, Live and horse, and herd. 
 
 His tastes in this respect he was able to gratify, for 
 his broad acres were his only care for many years. 
 One of the beautiful hills which overlooks the city of 
 his adoption still bears his name, and now, annexed 
 to an adjacent park, reminds us that the farms of a 
 few years ago are becoming the city locations of to- 
 day. 
 
 It was remarked of Mr. Newton that, winning or 
 losing in the court-room, his imperturbable temper 
 was never disturbed. Such a command over one's 
 self is invaluable to any man, but to none more than 
 to the advocate, when, in the sharp contests of jury 
 trials, a keen opponent is ready to take advantage of 
 every lapse, and the twelve men are observing as 
 carefully the conduct of the counsel as the statements 
 of the witnesses. 
 
 At the ripe age of eighty-five Mr. Newton com- 
 pletely withdrew from that world whicli had become 
 accustomed to his absence by the strictness of his 
 retirement from active life. The papers of the day, 
 in alluding to his death, spoke of him as one not 
 known to their modern generation. 
 
 This bar has contributed largely from its numbers 
 to the ranks of historical scholars. In the case ©f 
 Isaac Goodwin the taste for investigation of the rec- 
 ords of the past and for literary work was so strong 
 as to make the ordinary business of the lawyer a dis- 
 tasteful drudgery. Born in the town of Plymouth in 
 1786, and pursuing his studies there until he was ad- 
 mitted to the bar, in 1808, it would have been strange 
 if he had not imbibed a love and reverence for the 
 tradition of olden time. He did not receive a colle- 
 giate education, but, after passing through the com- 
 mon schools, entered the office of Joshua Thomas, a 
 distinguished counsellor in his native town. His 
 first office he opened in Boston, but, after a trial of 
 less than a year, sought a less thoroughly occupied 
 field for his unpracticed eflTorts in the town of Ster- 
 ling, in this county. There he undertook such busi- 
 ness as came to him, and found leisure for his favorite 
 studies. His contributions to legal literature were 
 works of considerable value. The first, a treatise on 
 the duties of town officers, was a much-needed guide 
 for the conduct of country selectmen through diffi- 
 culties that not infrequently perplex them. In later 
 years it was the foundation of a larger and more com- 
 plete work on the same subject by Judge Thomas, 
 which for years remained a standard reference book. 
 Whether such compilations do not as often mislead 
 the lay reader who relies on his own interpretation of 
 their language as they assist him may be doubted, 
 but in the hands of the trained student they prove 
 most useful tools. "The New England Sheriff"" was 
 his second venture in this field, and till this day that 
 work is a valued part of a lawyer's library. 
 
 In 1826 he removed to Worcester, where he had al- 
 ready formed strong literary friendships with William 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 lyiucoln and Christopher BaldwiD, the editors of 
 Tlie Woreeater Magazine, and other gentlemen of like 
 tastes. For this periodical he wrote a general history 
 of Worcester County, which continued through sev- 
 eral numbers, and also a history of Sterling. Both 
 these writings gave evidence of painstaking investi- 
 gation, and the earnest desire of the author for im- 
 partial accuracy. His style is not enlivened by 
 many of the graces of diction, but the plain tale is 
 set down with admirably terse exactitude. To state 
 the facts was the aim he set before him, and to do 
 that well is more than ludf the power of the success- 
 ful advocate. 
 
 He was often called upon to deliver addresses of an 
 historical nature. His oration on the one hundred 
 and fiftieth anniversary of the destruction of Lancas- 
 ter by the Indians, was one of the most noteworthy 
 of these. His death occurred in 1832, when in his 
 forty-seventh year. 
 
 For more than twenty years a most prominent fig- 
 ure at all sessions of the higher courts in this coun- 
 ty, adding dignity to every occasion, was that of 
 Sherift' Willard. He was a native of Harvard, born 
 in 1784, and entered the bar in 1809, after a course of 
 study in the office of Richard H. Dana, in Boston. 
 For a short time he practiced in Petersham, but soon 
 removed to Fitchburg. 
 
 In 1824 Governor Lincoln, with his usual sagacity, 
 selected him for the office of high sheriff of the 
 county. His manner of discharging the duties of 
 that position was a model for all who should come 
 after him. Courteous and respectful to all, he in- 
 sisted that the decorum which he observed on public 
 occasions should not be infringed by others. With 
 the instincts of the old-school gentleman, he was 
 most careful in his regard for the etiquette to be 
 maintained in his relations to court and bar. To a 
 greater extent than in our modern haste we are apt 
 to imagine, a respect for forms assists rather than re- 
 tards the proper dispatch of business, and the digni- 
 fied sheriff, Calvin Willaed, ever entered his ear- 
 nest protest against any attempt to override the estab- 
 lished order, on the plea of a more expeditious re- 
 sult. After resigning his office in 1844, he lived in 
 Millbury and Worcester until his death, in the latter 
 city, in 1867. 
 
 For forty years of Worcester's steady growth in all 
 the arts of peace her prosperity was shared by Sam- 
 UEE M. BuRNSiDE. The contrast between the sur- 
 roundings of his birthplace and of his mature life is 
 striking. He was born in 1783, in Northumberland, 
 then a frontier town in New Hampshire. There his 
 father, a typical frontiersman, who had fought in the 
 French and Indian Wars, had established a home in 
 the wilderness, and had maintained his foothold 
 despite rude climate and desolating savage. Through 
 the Revolution he served in military expeditions, 
 and in the intervals cultivated the land which 
 he bad so hardly secured. From .such environ- 
 C 
 
 ments the son went out to the life of a steady law- 
 yer, in a community remarkable for the quiet of 
 its every-day life, where nothing more terrible than 
 the sham battles of training-day disturbed the seren- 
 ity of the inhabitants. He brought with him to his 
 work the same persistent energy which carried the 
 father over difficulties, and placed the son in posses- 
 sion of fortune and reputation. After graduating 
 from Dartmouth in 1805, and a year or two of peda- 
 gogic experience, he entered the office of Artemas 
 Ward, then practicing in Charlestown. Mr. Burn- 
 side says that the practice of Judge Ward was then 
 immense, and that he was so much of the time ab- 
 sent from his office that his students were left much 
 to their own discretion in their course of study. He 
 had, however, an opportunity to draw conveyances 
 and pleadings under the supervision of his preceptor, 
 which was of great value in forming habits of accu- 
 racy and conciseness of expression. In 1810 he was 
 admitted as an attorney in the Supreme Court with- 
 out having, as was the usual rule, been previously 
 sworn at the bar of the Common Pleas. In the same 
 year he came to Worcester, and commenced business 
 with an excellent preparation for success. 
 
 Those who knew him speak of his great industry 
 and his mastery of fundamental principles as the con- 
 spicuous elements of his power. Well read in the 
 learning of his profession, he wisely diversified his 
 pursuits by a continued attention to the classics, and 
 in the latter years of his life, during which he gave 
 up active labors these studies provided a constant 
 source of enjoyment for his well-earned leisure. He 
 died in 1850, but his name is still associated with the 
 business interests of the city, where are the evidences 
 of his prosperous career. 
 
 Edward D. Bangs was the son of Judge Edward 
 Bangs, who has been mentioned. He was born in 
 Worcester in 1790 and studied in his father's office. 
 Admitted to the bar in 1813, he at once formed a 
 partnership with William E. Green, who had been 
 associated with his father previous to the latter's ele- 
 vation to the bench. Though esteemed a good law- 
 yer and careful of the interests committed to him, he 
 never acquired a fondness for professional labors. 
 His mind rather turned towards purely literary in- 
 vestigations, and in his position as Secretary of State, 
 to which he was elected in 1824, he found duties 
 much more fitted to his tastes. He always seemed to 
 take pleasure in assisting the inquiries of others in 
 his department, and spent the happiest years of his 
 life in the Boston State-House. He was elected a 
 member of the Constitutional Convention of 1820, 
 and was associated in the representation of Worces- 
 ter with Levi Lincoln. His youth and modesty pre- 
 vented his taking an active part in the proceedings 
 of that body or of the House of Representatives, 
 where he sat for several years. He succeeded Re- 
 joice Newton in the office of county attorney, but re- 
 signed in a few months to assume the Secretaryship 
 
XXXIV 
 
 HISTUllY OF WORCESTER COUJSfTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 of State. His healtli had become so impaired in 
 1830 as to cause his retirement from ofDce, and he 
 lived but two years longer. He was distinguished 
 for his gentlemanly bearing and invariable courtesy 
 of manners — qualities which he inherited from his 
 father. Like him, also, he was a devoted horticul- 
 turist — a taste which seems naturally associated with 
 gentle breeding. 
 
 Massachusetts was most fortunate in having in her 
 public service, at the same time, two such men as 
 Levi Lincoln and Johx Davis, and that they were 
 trained to command the applause of listening senates 
 in the forensic contests of the Worcester Court-house 
 will always remain the pride and the incentive of the 
 young aspirant for legal honors at our bar. Born in 
 Northborough in 1788, some six years later than Gov- 
 ernor Lincoln, and finding more obstacles to his 
 rapid progress in youth than the son of the Attorney- 
 General. Mr. Davis, through life, pressed close upon 
 the footsteps of his [U'edecessor, and in generous 
 rivalry left it doubtful which should deserve best of 
 the republic. He was descended of a line of sturdy 
 yeomen, the first of whom in this country was Dolor 
 Davis, whose name is found upon the Cambridge 
 records in 1634. His father, Isaac Davis, a respected 
 farmer of Northborough, found it a task sufficiently 
 laborious to force from the reluctant soil a comfort- 
 able living for his large family, and he of them who 
 would secure an education must struggle for it him- 
 self. Until he was nineteen years old John Davis, 
 by his own account, was employed most of his time 
 upon the farm. He, however, found sufficient time 
 for study by himself and in the district schools to fit 
 himself for Leicester Academy, where he made good 
 use of the short time at his disposal, and entered 
 Yale College in 1808. There he graduated in due 
 course with high honors. Francis Blake was, at that 
 time, in the very zenith of his brilliant power, and 
 his reputation attracted to his office the youth emu- 
 lous of his fame. After three years of study with 
 Mr. Blake, Davis was admitted to the bar in 1815. 
 For a few months he tried the worth of his acquire- 
 menbi in Spencer, and no doubt was satisfied that he 
 could bear his part in a more crowded forum, for he 
 soon came back to Worcester and there set up his 
 standard. 
 
 The next year Mr. Blake's failing health compelled 
 him to withdraw from active practice, and Mr. Davis 
 succeeded to his office and his business. Undertak- 
 ing the task of wearing such a mantle and called 
 upon at once to contend with antagonists so formid- 
 :ible as Lincoln, Newton, and Burnside, his powers 
 were put to proof and rajndly developed. In the ten 
 years that elapsed before he entered Congress and 
 Lincoln became a judge he had attained a com- 
 manding position, and hud increased the large client- 
 age which he inherited from Blake. As a lawyer it 
 was said of him that he did not possess a considerable 
 familiarity with reported decisions, but that his well- 
 
 trained judgment and clear perception of the funda- 
 mental principles of law generally brought him to a 
 correct conclusion as to what the law ought to be, 
 and he then proceeded to sustain his position by the 
 arguments which had convinced his own mind, apd 
 by precedents illustrative of the principles which he 
 maintained. Courts learned to know that his argu- 
 ments were based on careful reasoning aud might be 
 relied on to contribute something towards the deci- 
 sion of the issue, even though they might fail to 
 carry complete conviction. Before juries his evident 
 candor, his plain statement of the facts as he viewed 
 them, and entire comprehension of the way in which 
 his array of evidence would impress the mind of the 
 unprejudiced auditor, givehiiua power which pressed 
 strongly towards a favorable verdict. Judge Paine 
 remarked of him that he had more common sense 
 than any three lawyers of his acquaintance, and this 
 saving grace was conspicuous in all his actions and 
 utterances. 
 
 For a year previous to Mr. Lincoln's promotion 
 to the Supreme Court he joined forces with Mr. 
 Davis in practice. Afterwards the firms of Davis & 
 Charles Allen and Davis & Emory Washburn trans- 
 acted a large share of the Inisiness of the county, and 
 proved most formidable allies until 1834, when Gov- 
 ernor Davis finally retired from the courts to give his 
 attention exclusively to public duties. In the dis- 
 charge of these, as was most natural, he won his most 
 wide-spread distinction. 
 
 His political career began with his election to Con- 
 gress in 1824. During his first term he was rather 
 an observer than an active participant in debate, but 
 in 1827 he attracted attention by his earnest advocacy 
 of the so-called American system. From that time 
 onward he was an able champion of the protective 
 tariff" on every occasion, and whatever may be thought 
 of the soundness of his deductions, it is certain that 
 he handled his facts with skill and presented with 
 utmost vigor the now hackneyed arguments which 
 have prevailed with the majority of New Englanders 
 to the present time. His speech in reply to McDuflie, 
 of South Carolina, the leader of the free trade party 
 in the House, was esteemed his most powerful pre- 
 sentation of the ease, and gave him a national repu- 
 tation. 
 
 A declaration made in one of his speeches is re- 
 markable by contrast with what any member of Con- 
 gress at the present day would be able to say on the 
 same subject. In defending his constituents from 
 the charge of self-seeking in their demand for tariff" 
 legislation, he says: " During the seven years I have 
 held a seat on this floor, no one has applied to me to 
 ask any favor of the Executive for him, nor has any 
 one sought my assistance in procuring an appoint- 
 ment of any kind, unless it is to be the deputy of 
 some little village post-office." If our representa- 
 tives could obtain a like exemption from vexatious 
 importunity, their undistracted attention to purely 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 legislative duties might bring forth at least some re- 
 sult. 
 
 In 1833 Governor Lincoln announced that he 
 should not again be a candidate, and the Whig Con- 
 vention, with practical unanimity, selected Mr. 
 Davis as their nominee. He accepted with evident 
 reluctance, feeling that his usefulness in Congress 
 was assured, while the new honor brought with it 
 untried responsibilities. His loss to the service of 
 the whole country was deplored outside of Massa- 
 chusetts, one of the influential journals declaring 
 that he was the right arm of the Massachusetts dele- 
 gation in Congress. 
 
 The Anti-Masonic party, then at the culmination 
 of its strength in this State, had put in nomination 
 John Quincy Adams, and Davis was made to feel it 
 his dut}' to accept the leadership of his party in a 
 dubious conflict, and such it proved to be. In the 
 popular election there was no choice, but in the 
 Legislature Davis received a majority. The difficult 
 task of acceptably filling the chair which his friend 
 Lincoln had so long adorned he accomplished with 
 credit, and was elected for a second term, but re- 
 signed when chosen to fulfill the more congenial du- 
 ties of United States Senator. In that august body, 
 where he sat from 1835 to 1841, and from 1845 
 to 1853, he was cotemporary with the triumvi- 
 rate, Webster, Calhoun and Clay, whose overshad- 
 owing greatness tradition continues to magnify. But 
 reading the plain story of the times, it is evident 
 that Senator Davis was a i)otent factor in moulding 
 legislation, and that his grasp of national questions 
 was in most cases liberal and always strong enough 
 to make itself felt. Not only on the tariff, but ou 
 our commercial relations, the fisheries, financial 
 topics and our intercourse with foreign powers, he 
 made his opinion respected by making his knowledge 
 evident. 
 
 His two terms of service in the Senate were di- 
 vided by two years in the State Governorship and 
 two years of private life. He lived but one year 
 after retiring from the Senate, in 1853, to enjoy that 
 contemplation of a life well spent, which he might 
 so deservedly anticipate. 
 
 Two years after Mr. Davis' admission to the bar 
 there applied to the examiners for this county a tall, 
 slender youth, whose clear-cut profile, close curling 
 locks and keen glance gave to his countenance an 
 almost classic beauty. As his examination pro- 
 ceeded, the questioners became so interested in the 
 thoroughness of the knowledge he displayed, and the 
 aptness of his replies, that for their own gratification 
 they prolonged their inquiries after they were satis- 
 fied of the qualification of the candidate for en- 
 trance to the bar. 
 
 The young man was Charles Allex, then in his 
 twenty-first year. His father, Joseph Allen, was 
 clerk of the courts for this county for thirty-three 
 years, succeeding the elder Levi Lincoln in that ca- 
 
 pacity. He was a fine scholar, and a gentleman of 
 that refined and elegant school of manners often 
 spoken of as old, but by no means obsolete at the 
 present day. Charles Allen was born in Worcester 
 in 1797. Three generations back he counted as his 
 ancestor a sister of Samuel Adams, and the stead- 
 fast independence of that old patriot was clearly re- 
 flected in his kinsman of the later day. After pre- 
 paring for college at Leicester Academy he entered 
 Yale when only fourteen. There he remained only 
 a year, severing his connection tor reasons that were 
 said by his pastor to reveal " the delicateness of his 
 sensibility, but reflected no dishonor upon him." 
 Immediately he entered the office of Mr. Burnside, 
 then in full practice, and so diligently improved his 
 youthful powers as to meet the examination in 1817 
 with the result described. 
 
 For six years he practiced in New Braintree, and 
 a discriminating eulogist says : " When, some twenty- 
 five or thirty years later, I commenced practice in the 
 same community, the reputation he had won there, 
 in those early years, was still spoken at with ad- 
 miration and pride by those who had beeii the clients 
 and friends of the young lawyer, and who had fol- 
 lowed him through all his subsequent and more con- 
 spicuous public career." In 1824 he removed to 
 Worcester, and became associated with John Davis, 
 who, though ten years his senior, had been but two 
 years longer at the bar. He was not a case lawyer 
 nor a reader of many books. Thoroughh' well 
 grounded in leading principles, it was his habit to 
 think out his line of reasoning while pacing his of- 
 fice or walking in the open air. It was said that the 
 definitions of Blackstone were impressed upon his 
 memory almost verbatim, and although he gave to 
 every case most careful preparation, it was rather a 
 process of reflection and logical deduction from es- 
 tablished premises than a resort to the writings or 
 decisions of jurists who had preceded him. His 
 great power lay in cross-examination. In the use of 
 this most dangerous weapon, more fatal to the un- 
 skillful wielder than all the armory of his opponent, 
 he was an adept whose superior, by the testimony of 
 living witnesses, most competent to judge, has not 
 arisen in this Commonwealth from his time to the 
 present. ' Terrible is the word used by one to describe 
 his treatment of a witness whom he believed to be 
 testifying to an untruth, and with merciless direct- 
 ness question would follow question till the best fab- 
 ricated story was exposed. He realized, too, the 
 danger of attempting too much with an adverse wit- 
 ness, and never committed the mistake of strength- 
 ening the direct testimony of his opponent by per- 
 mitting its repetition in reply to cross-questioning. 
 His general rule was never to examine an adverse 
 witness ; the exception he chose carefully and for 
 sufficient reasons. His intellectual processes were 
 rapid, and all his faculties and stores of knowledge 
 ready at any moment for their best service. With a 
 
XXXVl 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 remarkable mastery of the rules of evidence, he was 
 able, in the course of trials, as questions arose, to 
 take up his position and defend it by cogent argu- 
 ment upon the instant. 
 
 His public services included four years in the lower 
 and three in the upper branch of the State Legislature 
 and four years as a Representative in Congress. In 1848 
 he was a delegate to the Whig National Convention. 
 The representatives of Massachusetts voted steadily 
 for Daniel Webster, but the leading candidates were 
 Clay and Taylor. Mr. Allen, though up to that time 
 acting with the Whig party, was a stern Abolitionist 
 in faith and word. Hating slavery as a sin, and 
 convinced that the nomination of General Taylor 
 was a truckling to the power of the slaveholders, up- 
 on the announcement of the vote, he arose in his 
 place, denounced the act in incisive language, and 
 left the hall and the party, to go home and earnestly 
 engage in the formation of the Free-Soil party. 
 
 In 1853 he was a member of the convention called 
 to revise our State Constitution, and there his coun- 
 sels were sought by the leading lawyers of the State 
 who were found in that body. 
 
 But as Judge Allen he was best known and is still 
 remembered in this community. His first judicial 
 appointment was to the Court of Common Pleas in 
 1842. Two years later he, with most of his associates, 
 resigned, in consequence of a legislative spasm of 
 economy, which reduced their already modest sala- 
 ries. In 1858 he was appointed chief justice of the 
 Superior Court for Suffolk County, and in the follow- 
 ing year was fitly chosen to preside over the newly- 
 commissioned Superior Court of the Commonwealth, 
 which was substituted for the old Court of Common 
 Pleas. On this bench he remained until failing 
 powers induced his resignation in 18G7, two years 
 before his death. Twice he was offered promotion to 
 the Supreme Court, and again on the retirement of 
 Chief Justice Shaw, but he preferred to remain 
 where he was. His physical health was not robust, 
 and he hesitated to assume duties that to him might 
 be more laborious. He was admirably fitted to pre- 
 side atnisiprius trials, where the quick grasp of the 
 facts, as they are for the first time presented, the 
 ability readily to conceive and apply the rules of 
 evidence and facility in clear, impromptu statement 
 of the law for the guidance of the jury, are essentials. 
 He was never fond of the patient reading and writing 
 necessary to the preparation of the elaborate opin- 
 ions of the Supreme Court. One of his friends and 
 admirers says of him that he was an indolent man, 
 never making more than just the absolutely neces- 
 sary exertion for his purpose, and ever ready to post- 
 pone, if possible, the undertaking of new eflbrt. His 
 own explanation of this apparent sloth is found in a 
 remark to Judge Foster: " Few know how much phys- 
 ical weakness I have had to contend with through 
 life, and how much has been attributed to indolence 
 in me, that was caused by the necessity of nursing 
 
 my health." He possessed, however, an energy of 
 will that roused his latent powers to a height com- 
 mensurate with any obstacle, as opponents learned to 
 know full well. 
 
 Judge Allen was not a scholar. His reading was 
 confined in its scope, yet his mind seemed to broaden 
 and deepen by its own innate law of growth. The 
 concurrent testimony of those who knew him well, 
 with singular unanimity, dwells upon his intel- 
 lectual strength. " I think . . . for force of intellect 
 he was above any man whom I have known in this 
 commonweath ;" '' No one who has ever lived in this 
 community was his equal in pure intellectual power ;" 
 "He never called any man his intellectual master;" 
 "Among intellectual masters ranked with the very 
 first, not second to Daniel Webster himself," are the 
 expressions of four lawyers, who have had opportu- 
 nity to form correct opinions of the man. 
 
 Though reserved and dignified in manner and little 
 apt to display his feelings, he showed to his chosen 
 friends a kindly nature, ready to share in social inter- 
 course or extend the hospitable hand. Conscientious, 
 independent, reverent of the religious truths in which 
 he firmly believed, fearing his own disapproval and 
 else no mortal man, his was a proud position — as of 
 that 
 
 Promontory of rock 
 That, compassed round with turbtdent sound, 
 
 In middle-ocean meets the surging shock, 
 Tempest buffeted, citadel crowned. 
 
 Mr. Allen's most formidable antagonist before the 
 jury for many years was Plixy Merrick, the son of 
 the gentleman of the same name, of whom we have 
 spoken. He was born in Brookfield in 1794, and 
 graduated from Harvard in the class with the historian 
 Prescott in 1814. He had the advantage of studying 
 his profession in the office of Levi Lincoln, then just 
 entering upon his political career in the State Legis- 
 lature and in the midst of active practice. After his 
 admission to the bar in 1817, Mr. Merrick made sev- 
 eral attempts at settlement before adopting Worcester 
 as his home. For four years he practiced in Taunton, 
 and for a portion of that time was a partner of Gov- 
 ernor Morton. In 1824 he returned to Worcester to 
 undertake the duties of prosecuting attorney for the 
 county. In this capacity he acted until the division 
 of the State into districts under an act of 1832. 
 Governor Lincoln thereupon appointed his former 
 pupil attorney for the Middle District, which con- 
 sisted of Worcester and Norfolk Counties, and he 
 held the otlice until his promotion to the bench in 
 1843. 
 
 During these nearly twenty years of service in 
 conducting cases for the government in the criminal 
 courts his general practice was continually increas- 
 ing. He was on several occasions called into the 
 courts of Vermont, New Hampshire and Rhode Isl- 
 and, where his reputation had become known and 
 valued. 
 
 His arguments are spiiken of as masterpieces of 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 rhetorical skill. His command of language was un- 
 surpassed by any of his cotemporaries, and his elo- 
 quent perorations are still vividly impressed on the 
 recollections of some who have listened to them. 
 With a keen wit and great quickness of apprehension 
 he united an impulsiveness of temperament which 
 sometimes hurried him beyond the positions which he 
 had intended to maintain,but his readiness and his good 
 humor never failed him in these emergencies. Judge 
 Washburn says of him that " it was sometimes difii- 
 cult for an antagonist to determine whether he was 
 the most effectually subdued by his adroitness or his 
 courtesy." 
 
 One of the most conspicuous trials in which he was 
 engaged was that of Professor Webster for the murder 
 of Dr. Parkman. His defence of the prisoner, though 
 somewhat criticised at the time, is now admitted to 
 have been well conducted and a good struggle in a 
 hopeless cause. 
 
 In 1843 Mr. Merrick was appointed a judge of the 
 Court of Common Pleas, and held the office until 
 184S, when he resigned and undertook the presidency 
 of the Worcester and Nashua Railroad. In 1850 he 
 returned to the bench, and after three years was pro- 
 moted to the Supreme Judicial Court. It was appre- 
 hended by many of his associates that the brilliant 
 rhetoric, keen wit and swift mental processes which 
 had formed great part of his strength at the bar 
 would unfit him for the duties of the judge, who must 
 often " halt between two opinions," till he is possessed 
 of all that can be said on either side. 
 
 But as a nisi prius judge he exibited a most accu- 
 rate knowledge of the rules of practice and evidence, 
 which facilitated the progress of trials by avoiding 
 the nece.ssity of long arguments as objections were 
 raised. He was quite apt to form a decided opinion 
 on the merits of the case, and in his charge to the 
 jury to make that opinion manifest with a distinc- 
 ness that the judge of to-day would consider excep- 
 tionable. 
 
 The present theory is that the presiding judge is 
 to be absolutely without sympathies and without 
 opinions on the right or wrong of the controversy, 
 but to state to the jury the rules of law which shall 
 govern them, in any conceivable aspect of the facts, 
 which may impress them as the true one. To so 
 austere a view of the functions of the judge Mr. 
 Merrick was never able to conform himself. His 
 statements of complicated series of facts were always 
 clear and of assistance to a proper understanding of 
 their relative value, but often of their value in the 
 mind of the judge. In the reports of decisions of the 
 Supreme Court, his opinions, especially upon the 
 criminal law of Massachusetts, are held in high re- 
 spect. For ten years his services became more and 
 more valuable, and he was recognized as a worthy 
 associate of Lemuel Shaw, our great chief justice. 
 He was an energetic worker and ready to assume 
 even more than his share of the labors of the benrh. 
 
 In 1856 he removed to Boston, and there resided 
 till his death, in 1867. The last three years of his 
 life were spent in retirement occasioned by disease. 
 Paralysis had suspended the use of some of his limbs. 
 But through it all he sustained his cheerful disposi- 
 tion and powerful will. When his right hand was 
 disabled, he learned to write with his left. Pr6- 
 vented from going abroad, he found in the converse 
 of friends at home the means of keeping his mental 
 faculties in active use. 
 
 Mr. Merrick belonged to the political party which 
 was in the minority in this State, and held few elec- 
 tive offices. He served in both branches of the State 
 Legislature at intervals ; but, aside from that, his 
 whole attention was devoted to his profession. 
 
 Joseph Thayer was an exa;nple, of which the law 
 does not furnish many, of a lawyer who, without 
 inherited property or remarkable legal attainments, 
 acquired, in the course of an honorable and useful 
 career, a handsome competence. He was born in 
 Douglas in 1792, graduated at Brown University in 
 1815, and after studying in the offices of Levi Lin- 
 coln and of Bezaleel Taft, of Uxbridge, he began 
 practice in that town. Without great learning in 
 the law, he possessed good practical judgment, on 
 which he was accustomed to rely, and which others 
 soon learned to respect. His perception of the real 
 gist of a controversy was seldom at fault, though 
 generally arrived at without the aid of labored rea- 
 soning. In financial matters his judgment was re- 
 markably accurate. He became interested in a large 
 number of business enterprises in his community. 
 Both the Blackstone Canal and its successor, the 
 Providence and Worcester Railroad, received, in 
 their inception and progress, his encouragement and 
 assistance. 
 
 His townsmen found in him one ready to use his 
 capital in sustaining those under temporary embar- 
 rassment, and to risk something rather than see his 
 neighbors go to the wall. He accordingly received 
 and retained their confidence, and was honored by 
 elections to various positions of trust. His political 
 services outside of Uxbridge were in the Constitu- 
 tional Convention of 1853, to which he was chosen a 
 delegate by general consent, and in the Legislature 
 of the State. He rounded out nearly four-score years 
 of honored and useful life, and died at the residence 
 of Judge Chapin, his son-in-law, in 1872. 
 
 It is proper to mention among the prominent men 
 who have been members of this bar, one whose life 
 was spent in other than professional pursuits, but 
 who always felt a pride in his connection with the 
 law, and who so well fulfilled the duties of his sta- 
 tion that the bar may well be proud to number him 
 among their honored dead. 
 
 Stephen Salisbury, the son of a Worcester mer- 
 chant bearing the same name, was born in 1798. His 
 father had been successful in establishing in the 
 small town an extensive business and a home where 
 
XXXVIU 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 a refined and generous hospitality was exercised. 
 From the intiuence ol' the hitter the son went out to 
 Leicester Academy and Harvard College, where he 
 graduated in 1817, carrying with him everywhere 
 the evidence of that home culture in his dignified 
 courtesy and unswerving integrity. He studied law 
 with Samuel Buruside, and was admitted to the bar, 
 though he had no need and probably no intention of 
 making professional labors his life-work. For seve- 
 ral years he assisted in the care of his father's prop- 
 erty, and in 1821), when he became its sole owner by 
 inheritance, he assumed the duties which he felt that 
 the possession of wealth devolved upon him, with an 
 earnest desire to conscientiously discharge every re- 
 sponsibility. Absolved from the necessity of any 
 labor if he had so chosen, he was one of the most 
 industrious of men. A diligent student, he made 
 himself familiar not only with classic authors, which 
 were perhaps his favorite recreation, but with a great 
 variety of lines of scientific and literary research. 
 For thirty years he presided over the American An- 
 tiquarian Society, and frequently contributed from 
 his pen to the publications of that body. His 
 wisdom was sought for in the conduct of financial, 
 charitable and scientific institutions, and to whatever 
 duties he assumed he applied the same conscientious 
 attention. His constant endeavor was to faithfully 
 perform that which he felt it right to undertake. The 
 Polytechnic Institute located in Worcester was a pecu- 
 liar object of his bounty and his care. As president 
 of its Board of Trustees he was unfailing in his atten- 
 tion to its interests. Till the latest period of his life 
 he was constantly growing in mental breadth, and 
 did not allow age or even later infirmity to repress 
 his eager interest in intellectual pursuits. Elsewhere 
 in these volumes his deeds will more fitly be described, 
 but as he always wished to be counted with the law- 
 yers when they gathered for any occasion of general 
 interest, so we cannot omit to claim some share in 
 liis good fame whose training as a law-student nuist 
 have aided in making him what he was. 
 
 For the facts contained in most of the earlier 
 sketches in this chapter the writer is principally 
 indebted to the scholarly address delivered by Joseph 
 WiLLARD before the bar of the county in 1829. He 
 was then but a little over thirty years of age, but the 
 address is characterized by thorough investigation, by 
 philosophical refiection and by inspiring views of the 
 nobility of the profession which he represented. His 
 father was president of Harvard College, and from a 
 line of ancestors he inherited a scholar's love for the 
 classics and for literary and historical investigation. 
 Born in Cambridge in 1798, he graduated in his nine- 
 teenth year, and at once began the study of law in 
 Amherst, New Hampshire. At this time he formed 
 the acquaintance of John Farmer, a zealous antiqua- 
 rian scholar, whose friendship and advice no doubt 
 gave a bent to the tastes of the young man towards 
 similar studies. After completing his professional 
 
 studies in the Cambridge Law-School, lie began prac- 
 tice first in Waltham, and in 1821 in Lancaster. 
 There for ten years he gave attention to business 
 with considerable success. He could not forego liter- 
 ary work, however, and was one of the writers for the 
 Worcester Magazine, a periodical devoted to historical 
 and literary topics, especially those of a local charac- 
 ter. His most elaborate work, which appeared in 
 those pages, was a history of the town of Lancaster, 
 which exhibits his habits of careful and minute 
 investigation .and his excellent taste and judgment 
 in the selection of his material. 
 
 In 1830 he married a Boston lady, and soon after- 
 wards removed to that city, continuing to practice 
 until 1840. In that year he was appointed, by Gov- 
 ernor Everett, clerk of the Court of Common Pleas 
 for Suflblk County. This office, through the changes 
 of the style of the court, and after the clerkship be- 
 came an elective position, he held till a short time 
 before his death. With its duties he made himself 
 thoroughly conversant. On the great multi[)licity of 
 questions of practice constantly arising, his opinion 
 came to be regarded as almost equal to a Supreme 
 Court decision. His methodical habits kept the large 
 accumulation of papers and records in perfect order 
 and available for instant reference, and he seems to 
 have transmitted to his son the same capacity for 
 the successful administration of that difficult position. 
 
 He found in retirement from practice more leisure 
 for his favorite historical studies. The Proceedings 
 of the American Antiquarian Society and the Massa- 
 chusetts Historical Society, of both of which learned 
 bodies he was an active member, are enriched by his 
 papers on a variety of topics. A work upon which 
 he was engaged at the time of his death was a life of 
 General Knox. The manuscript materials entrusted 
 to him were in a chaotic state, and the labor of ar- 
 ranging the letters and documents taxed his powers 
 for a long time. He became intensely interested in 
 the work, and after his strength was insufficient lor 
 any other exertion he insisted on the attempt to go 
 on with this labor of love. But it was not permitted 
 him to complete the task. In 1865 he died, amid the 
 closing scenes of the conflict of arms which had 
 aroused his fervent patriotism and in which had been 
 sacrificed the life of his eldest son. 
 
 Mr. Willard had early connected himself with the 
 Free-Soil party. His conscience deeply felt the sin 
 of slave-holding, and he welcomed the war as the 
 means of deliverance from that burden. A letter 
 which he wrote to an English friend, in reply to 
 some liostile criticisms of the English press, was 
 widely circulated and largely instrumental in inform- 
 ing public opinion in England on the true merits of 
 the Northern position. 
 
 Twenty-seven years after Mr. Willard's historical 
 sketch of our bar from its beginning, the tale was 
 taken up and carried on in graceful diction, with ad- 
 mirable skill, by Emoey Washburn, a cotemporary 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 and literary associate of Mr. Willard. From this 
 address are borrowed many of the details that have 
 appeared in these jjages. Its author was born in Lei- 
 cester in 1 800, and prepared for college in that admir- 
 able school, which has been the chief glory of the 
 town. His father died in the lad's seventh year, 
 leaving him to the care of his mother, to whom, 
 through her life, he manifested a most devoted at- 
 tachment, and of his pastor, Dr. Moore. This, gen- 
 tleman was called to a professorship in Dartmouth 
 College, and took with him his proUcje, then only 
 thirteen years old. In 1815 Professor Moore became 
 president of Williams College, and thither Mr. Wash- 
 burn followed his fortunes, and there graduated in 
 1817. His experience in small colleges made him 
 a firm believer in the superior advantage of the more 
 intimate association of pupils with instructors there 
 possible. He was always a stanch and useful friend 
 of his alma mater. Part of his professional studies 
 were pursued in the office of Judge Dewey in Wil- 
 liamstown, and for a year he attended the Harvard 
 Law School. Soon after his admission, in 1821, he 
 opened an office iu Leicester, where he remained for 
 seven years. During this period he served his town 
 as clerk and as Representative in the General Court. 
 Becoming interested with the founders of the Wor- 
 cester Magazine in preserving the memorials of the 
 past life of this vicinity, he wrote with great fidelity I 
 and published in various numbers of that periodical ( 
 a history of Leicester and of its academy. In 1828 
 his mother died, and the chief tie which bound him 
 to the village having thus been broken, he removed 
 to Worcester. That town then had a population of 
 some four thousand, but among them was Lincoln, 
 the Governor of the State ; John Davis, dividing his 
 time between the duties of a member of Congress and 
 a lawyer in active practice ; Charles Allen and Sam- 
 uel Burnside. 
 
 Mr. Washburn's clients followed him from Leices- 
 ter and he soon attracted others. In 1831 he formed 
 a partnership with John Davis, succeeding Mr. Allen 
 in that relation. His faculty of making every man 
 who came to him for advice feel that he had found a 
 personal friend, that his cause was in the hands of 
 one who had not only the ability but the sympathetic 
 interest to make the most of it, secured to Mr. Wash- 
 burn in a remarkable degree the affectionate adher- 
 ence of hosts of clients. His industry was incessant 
 and untiring, and his success proportionate. Gov- 
 ernor Bullock says of him, " His leading competitors 
 at the bar were clearer in statement, more incisive in 
 their arguments. Governor Washburn was never a 
 rhetorician. I perceived, however, that there was a 
 moral power of confidence behind him which was 
 equal to the power of eloquence." "His great source 
 of influence over juries was the kindliness, the 
 genuineness of his nature." Juries believed in the 
 honesty of the man. He was able so thoroughly to 
 identify himself with his client's view of the facts, as 
 
 to impress others with the sincerity of his own con- 
 victiion of its truth. 
 
 In 1838 he was again a member of the House of 
 Representatives, and presented and ably supported 
 the first report in favor of a railroad from Boston to 
 Albany. In 1841 and 1842 he was chairman of the 
 Judiciary Committee of the Senate. For three years 
 he assumed the duties of a nisi prius judge in the 
 Court of Common Pleas, and for two years more re- 
 sided in Lowell as the agent of a manufacturing cor- 
 poration, but the practice of the law in the county 
 where he was best known and best beloved was his 
 real vocation, and to it he returned with added zeal 
 and undiminished succes?. "^ 
 
 One of the large number of tasks in which he found 
 pleasure and recreation, in the midst of his most ex- 
 acting professional cares, w.as the preparation of the 
 " Judicial History of Massachusetts " down to Revo- 
 lutionary times, a work involving a vast amount of 
 research and containing most valuable information 
 for the student of the growth of our modes of legal 
 procedure. 
 
 While absent in Kurope in 1853 he was nominated 
 by the Whigs for Governor of the State, and was 
 elected by a narrow majority. The nest year he was 
 defeated by the "Know-Nothings," and returned to 
 the calling for which he was most fitted. 
 
 Whether his success was greater as an advocate or 
 as an instructor in the law, may be open to question. 
 In the year 1S5<; he became Bussey professor of law 
 in the Dane Law School at Cambridge, and for twenty 
 years lectured before successive classes of students 
 with ever-increasing reputation, and adding to the 
 ranks of his devoted admirers every disciple who had 
 the opportunity to listen to the kindly counsel which 
 he mingled with his instruction. It was said of him 
 that " Few professors have enjoyed in so full a meas- 
 ure the confidence and afleetion of the students of 
 that renowned seat of learning. None have been 
 more fortunate in the effort to inspire the young men 
 of the bar with lofty ideas and pure purposes, It was 
 not his power as a lecturer upon legal topics, though 
 respectable, by which he exerted the greatest influ- 
 ence on the mind and future course of the student, 
 but his private conversations and advice based on 
 long experience . . . and an earnest, unafl'ected in- 
 terest in the welfare and prospects of every young 
 man to whom he stood in the relation of instructor 
 and adviser." During his professorship he published 
 a treatise on the "American Law of Real Property,'' 
 which has passed through several editions, and is the 
 text-book of students and the reliable reference of 
 the practitioner to-day. Both this work and his vol- 
 ume on "Easements," are marked by the most careful 
 investigation of authorities and the presentation in 
 the fullest manner of every phase of the subject. In 
 the effort to cover the whole ground, the writer some- 
 times becomes prolix, but whatever of force is lost in 
 repetitions is compensated by the addition of prece- 
 
xl 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 dents and citations. In 1876 he resigned his profes- 
 sor's chair, but even then did not give up his 
 ambition to be useful. As a Representative in the 
 General Court during the last year of his life, he was 
 actively at work in the chairmanship of the judiciary 
 committee, and as senior member of the House ex- 
 hibited the same fresh interest in public matters as 
 when one of its youngest members he represented 
 Princeton, half a century before. In 1877 he died 
 with mental powers in full activity, and the afi'ection- 
 ate eulogies which were pronounced by his fellows in 
 every relationship of his busy life testified to the 
 deep impression which his genial manners and uni- 
 versal sympathy had made upon the hearts of all who 
 knew him. 
 
 When Judge Nathaniel Paine retired from his long 
 and honerable service of thirty-five years in the Pro- 
 bate Court he was succeeded by Ira M. Baeton", a 
 counsellor practicing in O.Kford. In that town he was 
 born in 179l). During a portion of his course at 
 Brown University he was a room-mate of Horace 
 Mann, whose friendship he enjoyed in their subse- 
 quent careers. After graduating in 1819, he studied 
 law with Sumner Bastow, in Oxford, with Levi Lin- 
 coln, and at the Harvard Law School, then recently 
 established. He was one of the first three to graduate 
 from that institution. In 1822 he opened his office 
 in his native town, and there continued practice for 
 fourteen years. As an adviser he was careful and con- 
 scientious, desirous rather of avoiding danger for his 
 client than of risking his interests by over-boldness. 
 As an advocate he attained consideralile success. Not 
 a brilliant orator, his efforts were characterized by an 
 earnest endeavor to perform his duty to the fullest 
 extent, and his well-known integrity secured to him 
 always respectful consideration by courts and juries. 
 Prom 1836 to 1844 he presided with impartiality in 
 the Probate Court, and by his kindly sympathy 
 maintained the traditions of that tribunal as the 
 guardian and pi'Otector of the helpless and the 
 afflicted. Upon his resignation he formed a partner- 
 shij) with the late Peter C. Bacon, to which Mr. 
 Barton's son was admitted later, and for several years 
 the business of the firm was of extensive proportions, 
 :iiul its name familiar beyond the limits of the county. 
 In 1849 his feeble health compelled his retirement 
 Iruui active practice, but did not prevent his acting 
 as counsel in chambers during many years. In this, 
 perhaps the most agreeable branch of legal practice 
 to one of non-combative instinct, he found his judg- 
 ment sought and relied upon by a large circle of 
 client-'. He took his fair share of the responsibility 
 in matters of public interest. For three years he 
 represented Oxford in the Legislature, and was Sena- 
 tor in 1832 and 1834. In the latter year he was 
 appointed one of the commissioners to I'evise the 
 .statutes of the State, and bring into shape, available 
 for use, the mass of public legislation which had 
 grown to be an almost chaotic tangle of repeals and 
 
 amendments. The plan of this first revision has been 
 substantially adhered to in subsequent codifications. 
 His addresses on several occasions gave proof of tastes 
 for historical investigation, which were not, however, 
 developed to a considerable extent. He lived until 
 1867. 
 
 Alfred Dwight Foster should be included in 
 these sketches as one of a line of lawyers who have been 
 ornaments of this bar. His father and grandfather 
 have received notice as judges of our courts, and his 
 son attained the same title with even greater distinc- 
 tion. Mr. Foster was born in 1800, in Brookfield, the 
 residence of his ancestors. After graduating from 
 Harvard, in 1819, he studied with Mr. Burnside, and 
 was admitted to the bar in 1822. After only two 
 years attention to practice, he withdrew from business, 
 and lived a life of quiet and useful leisure until his 
 death, in 1852. He served in one or two public capaci- 
 ties after his removal to Worcester, in 1828, and 
 acquired and retained the entire respect of the com- 
 munity. 
 
 One of Judge Washburn's most intimate friends 
 through a score of years, until death severed the ties, 
 was Thomas Kisnicutt. Born in Rhode Island in 
 1800, the same year with Jlr. Washburn, he graduated 
 with high honors from Brown University in 1822. 
 His law studies were pursued in the school at Litch- 
 field, in the offices of Francis Baylie, of Taunton, and 
 of Governor Davis. In 1825 he was admitted and 
 began business in Worcester. His physical power* 
 were never of the strongest, and his gentle nature 
 shunned the contests of the court-room and the politi- 
 cal arena. He did, however, serve several terms in 
 both, branches of the State Legislature, and was twice 
 chosen Speaker of the House. He found his true 
 sphere on the bench of the Probate Court, where he 
 succeeded Judge Thomas in 1848, and presided until 
 a short time before his death, ten years later. His 
 winning presence, gentle manners and affectionate 
 disposition endeared him greatly to all with whom he 
 came in contact. With several of the financial insti- 
 tutions of the city he was connected, and his sagacious 
 judgment in their conduct was constantly approved. 
 His was one of those characters which, courting no 
 publicity, by its sweetness and purity helps to 
 brighten the aspect of a world sometimes too busy to 
 even notice the shadows which overspread it. 
 
 Isaac Davis ' was born in Northborough, an agri- 
 cultural town in the eastern part of this county, June 
 2, 1799. His ancestors, for seven generations, had 
 been inhaliitants of Massachusetts, and possessed 
 marked faniily traits; conspicuous among them were 
 rugged honesty, energy, independence of character, 
 industry and public spirit. 
 
 His earliest progenitor in New England was Dolor 
 Davis, the precise time of whose arrival on these 
 shores is not known, but he is believed to have been 
 
 1 By J. Evarts Greene. 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 xli 
 
 one of the earlier settlers in the Plymouth colony. 
 He is known to have dwelt in Cambridge in 1634, to 
 have married Margery Willard, sister of Major Simon 
 Willard, formerly of Kent, England, and a distin- 
 guished soldier in the Indian wars of this colony, and 
 to have died in Barnstable, in the Plymouth colony, 
 in 1G73. 
 
 Samuel, the younger of Dolor Davis' two sons, mar- 
 ried Mary Meads. Simon, the youngest of Samuel's 
 five sons, was born August 9, 1G83, and attained the 
 age of eighty years. Of his sons, the oldest — bearing 
 the same name — was born in 1713, married Hannah 
 Grates, lived in the town of Holden and was the 
 father of eleven children. Isaac, the ninth of these, 
 was born February 27, 1749, married Anna Brigham 
 and lived in Northborough. Phiueas, the eldest of 
 his eleven children, was born September 12, 1772, 
 married Martha Eager, October 12, 1793, and, like his 
 father and grandfather, was blessed with a family of 
 eleven children. 
 
 Isaac, the subject of this sketch, was the fourth of 
 this numerous progeny. In his bdvhood the industry 
 of the inland towns of Massachusetts was almost 
 wholly confined to farming, with some few primitive 
 manufactures. Even Boston, the metropolis of New 
 England, and the seat of a large foreign commerce, 
 had scarcely one-fourth as many inhabitants as Wor- 
 cester has now. Hampshire County, with its rich 
 farming lands, was by far the most populous county 
 in the State, Worcester and Esse.x approaching it 
 most iiearly. Mr. Davis' father was a tanner and 
 currier, an upright and respected citizen. In his 
 household the homely virtues of piety, industry and 
 frugality were cultivated and flourished. The educa- 
 tion of the children, begun and continued at home by 
 the example and conversation of their parents, the 
 reading of a few but good books, and the early study 
 of the Bible, was pursued in the district school. The 
 time not so employed was given to the tasks of the 
 shop and the farm. 
 
 The district schools of those days laid a substantial 
 foundation for the building of a serviceable and 
 comely edifice of mental attainment and culture, but 
 they did not carry the acquisition of knowledge very 
 far. A boy of an inquiring and eager mind soon 
 learned what they had to teach. The course of school 
 studies having been early completed, Isaac Davis 
 went to work in his father's shop, and might probably 
 have adopted his trade, but for au injury whicli dis- 
 abled him for a time from bodily labor. While re- 
 covering from this hurt, conscious of mental powers 
 to which the mechanical occupation of his father 
 would not give full scope, even if he should ever be 
 sound enough in body to resume it, his ambition, 
 stimulated, doubtless, by the example of his uncle, 
 John Davis, then beginning the practice of law, in 
 which, as in polities and statesmanship, he made an 
 illustrious reputation, the young man resolved to pre- 
 pare himself for professional life. The obstacles in 
 
 his way would now be thought great, but they were 
 not greater than those which the young men of that day 
 who entered the professions were accustomed to sur- 
 mount, and Mr. Davis' energy and perseverance were 
 amply adequate to the task which he proposed for 
 himself His parents, burdened with the support 
 of a large family of young children, could give him 
 little assistance, and he depended largely on his own 
 exertions for support and the cost of his educa- 
 tion. 
 
 He began his preparation for college at Leicester, 
 and completed it at Lancaster Academy, and entered 
 Brown University in 1818, where he was graduated 
 with credit in 1822. Giving lessons in penmanship 
 and teaching school in winter were among the means 
 by which he paid his way through college. After his 
 graduation he accepted the office of tutor in the uni- 
 versity, at the salary of four hundred dollars, and at 
 the same time began the study of law in the office of 
 General Carpenter, then one of the leaders of the 
 Rhode Island bar. After a few months' trial of this 
 divided employment he resolved to give his whole 
 time to the law, and, removing to Worcester, entered 
 as a student theoffice of Lincoln & Davis. The busi- 
 ness of the office was large and varied, and gave the 
 student excellent opportunities for learning the prac- 
 tical details of professional work in all its branches. 
 While pursuing his studies Mr. Davis earned some- 
 thing toward his support by employing the time 
 which a young man, less patient of continuous labor 
 and less eager for independence, might have given— 
 and perhaps wisely — to recreation, in copying deeds 
 in the office of the register. 
 
 Soon after he entered the oflice Mr. Lincoln, the 
 senior partner, was chosen Lieutenant-Governor, and 
 the year after was appointed a justice of the Supreme 
 •Judicial Court. This appointment and the distin- 
 guished political honors, which soon followed, re- 
 moved him permanently from practice, and upon Mr. 
 Davis' admission to the bar, in 1825, he proposed to 
 his uncle, then conducting the business alone, to be- 
 come his partner, receiving as his share of the income 
 one-third of the profits of the business in the Court of 
 Common Pleas. This offer was declined, and the 
 uncle advised his nephew to begin practice in one of 
 the smaller towns of the county, where the competi- 
 tion would be less active, with the purpose of remov- 
 ing to Worcester when he had established a business 
 and reputation. But the young lawyer had no liking 
 for a timid policy. He preferred to face the greatest 
 difficulties at once and had no distrust of his ability 
 to surmount them. He therefore opened an oflice in 
 Worcester, and it was not long before his talents were 
 discovered and employed by clients in such numbers 
 as amply to justify his confidence in himself 
 
 The Worcester bar at that time was very strong. 
 It is doubtful whether in any county in the United 
 States was there then a group of lawyers more 
 remarkable for native ability, legal attainments and 
 
fliv 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 And now, with an affectionate reverence inspired by 
 personal association, and cultivated from boyhoood 
 through the changing years, until the writer was him- 
 self launched upon his professional career, it becomes 
 my delicate duty to speak of one who, for more than 
 fifty years of progress in the science of the law, kept 
 ever abreast of change and improvement, and whom 
 death found still faithful to his chosen calling, as 
 when, with youthful ardor, he first essayed its arduous 
 pathway. 
 
 , Peter Child Bacon was born in Dudley in 1804. 
 His father, Jeptha Bacon, though not a lawyer by 
 profession, was, in his day, when every town had not 
 its resident attorney, resorted to by his neighbors for 
 advice in their affairs, wherein his judgment and ex- 
 perience were recognized as valuable assistance. Like 
 many other justices of the peace, he was often called 
 upon to draft conveyances and wills, and in the obser- 
 vation of his father's really considerable practice, it is 
 probable that Mr. Bacon acquired his first inclination 
 towards his life-work. After graduating at Brown in 
 1827, the latter entered the New Haven Law School, 
 and supplemented his studies there by reading in the 
 office of Davis & Allen, in Worcester, Judge Barton, 
 in Oxford, and George A. Tufts, in Dudley. 
 
 During these preparatory years it was his practice 
 to devote sixteen hours of the twenty-four to his 
 books. Blackstone he read and re-read with earnest 
 attention, and for years after he had entered the bar 
 he annually reviewed the classic pages. For these 
 commentaries he always entertained the highest 
 opinion as a groundwork for a thorough knowledge 
 of the law, placing it first in the hands of each of his 
 students, commending them to learn its definitions 
 ipsissimis verbis, and failing not to test their obedi- 
 ence to the injunction by his questions. For two 
 years he kept his ofiice in his native town and for 
 twelve years more in the adjoining town of Oxford. 
 In 1844 he removed to Worcester and there, till with- 
 in four days of his death, with an interval of only 
 one year of rest, devoted himself exclusively to the 
 law. 
 
 It will be noticed that he came to the bar seven 
 years before the death of Benjamin Adams, of Ux- 
 bridge, whose professional life carried us back to the 
 time of Judge Sprague, and thus connected the story 
 with the earliest stages of the county's progress. 
 
 Upon coming to Worcester Mr. Bacon formed a 
 partnership with his former instructor, Judge Barton, 
 who had just resigned the i)robate ju<lgeship. Levi 
 Lincoln was then occupied with the duties of the 
 gubernatorial chair. Pliny Merrick and Emory 
 Washburn had just taken seats on the bench of the 
 Common Pleas. Charles Allen, from the same bench, 
 in that year resumed his practice. Rejoice Newton 
 and Samuel Burnside were still at the bar. Isaac 
 Davis had begun to interest himself more extensively 
 in other than professional employments. Alexander 
 H. Bullock, Henry Chapin and Francis H. Dewey 
 
 had recently established their offices. Of those now 
 in active practice only Joseph Mason, Esq., was then 
 admitted, and he was then in Templeton. Mr. Bacon 
 preferred to associate with himself in business some 
 brother lawyer to share the responsibilities of the 
 trial of causes, and especially after 1865, on his re- 
 turn from a needed rest in Europe, he left to younger 
 partners the transaction of the blisiness before the 
 courts. After Judge Barton retired from the firm of 
 Barton, Bacon & Barton, in 1849, he was for a short 
 time connected with the late Judge Dwiglit Foster. 
 
 For eighteen years the firm of Bacon & Aldrich 
 carried on business in the most uninterrupted har- 
 mony and friendship between the partners, until the 
 junior member accepted his present position in the 
 Superior Court. W. S. B. Hopkins and Mr. Bacon's 
 son made up the firm of Bacon, Hopkins & Bacon, 
 which existed at the time of the veteran lawyer's 
 death. 
 
 When he came to the bar the whole number ot 
 Massachusetts Reports was but twenty-five. Making 
 himself familiar with these, he read with care each 
 new volume as it was published, and his one hundred 
 and forty volumes are filled with marginal notes and 
 hieroglyphics, showing where his eye had marked an 
 important decision or a questionable dictum. He 
 made it a practice, which he recommended to his 
 students, to read the statement of facts in cases in- 
 volving vexed questions, work out his own solution 
 by investigation of earlier authorities, and then com- 
 pare his result with the reasoning of the opinion. 
 No question of law ever was suggested to him that he 
 did not endeavor to solve either at the time or at the 
 next leisure hour. He loved nothing better than to 
 sit with his students posing them with legal conun- 
 drums, or listening to the problems which perplexed 
 them and arguing out their moot cases. His office 
 thus became a model law-school, to whose instruc- 
 tions multitudes of lawyers still look back with affec- 
 tionate gratitude. 
 
 During his professional life almost the whole of 
 our system of equity jurisprudence was brought to 
 its present advanced condition. By piecemeal equity 
 powers were conferred by statute on the Su|)reme 
 Court, but it was not until 1857 that full jurisdiction 
 was granted, according to the usage and practice of 
 Courts of Chancery, and since that time, by the slow 
 process of judicial decisions and supplementary stat- 
 utes, great advances have been made in this most in- 
 teresting and valuable method of legal procedure. 
 Mr. Bacon was an equity lawyer, and owned and read 
 a valuable library of text-books on the subject long 
 before there was ojiportunity in our courts to avail 
 himself of most of its remedial processes. 
 
 Three times he saw the statutes of the State codi- 
 fied after growing to unwieldy proportions, and his 
 copies of the Revised, General and Public Statutes 
 each show his careful noting of subsequent amend- 
 ments. '■ Always consult the statutes; never give an 
 
^^^^^/^ 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 opinion without seeing what the statutes say," was 
 his frequent admonition to his students. His learn- 
 ing covered every branch and phase of the wide field 
 of legal doctrine. Perhaps the law of real property 
 in general, and especially the Massachusetts doctrine 
 of the rights of mill-owners in the streams which 
 turn their wheels, and the law of corporations, m.iy 
 be mentioned as having attracted a large share of his 
 attention. 
 
 During the operation of the United Stales Bank- 
 rupt Law, from 18G7 to 1878, Mr. Bacon was register 
 in bankruptcy for this district. Its complicated du- 
 ties he thoroughly mastered, and with patient fideli- 
 ty discharged its functions, which were principally 
 of a judicial character. It was the habit of his mind 
 to cautiously weigh the arguments on each side of a 
 question on which his opinion was sought, and so 
 many were the possible objections which his wide 
 knowledge suggested to either view that his final de- 
 cision was long in maturing, and generally given 
 with some reservation of a possible modification. 
 Like Lord Eldon, ho knew so much law that he 
 knew how little of it was absolutely uncontro- 
 verted. 
 
 His most valuable services were rendered as coun- 
 sel in chambers, where the whole wealth of his learn- 
 ing and experience were at the service of his clients. 
 Yet, as an advocate before juries in the first thirty 
 years of his practice, he obtained a large influence 
 by the thoroughness of his preparation, and by that 
 evident sincerity which characterized his every utter- 
 ance. His arguments on questions of law were sure 
 to bring to the aid of the court all that could, by 
 research and logic, be found to sustain his posi- 
 tions. 
 
 Notwithstanding his enthusiastic devotion to his 
 profession. Dr. Bacon, as we loved to call him, — for no 
 man more worthily bore the title of Doctor of Laws, — 
 was interested in all that goes to make up a broad 
 and liberal citizen. His studies in metaphysics, in 
 history, in mathematics were the enjoyment of his 
 leisure hours. With the latest advances in modern 
 thought he kept himself familiar, and the writer re- 
 membere listening with some surprise to remarks 
 which showed profound reflection on the latest de- 
 velopments of the theory of evolution. 
 
 For public oflice he was not at all ambitious, and 
 one term in the State Legislature and two years as 
 mayor of the city left him with a desire to do his 
 duty as a private citizen, and this he conscientiously 
 performed. During the war his patriotism was lofty 
 and courageous. Three sons he gave to the service 
 of his country, of whom but one returned. Deeply 
 as his affectionate nature felt the loss, he was never 
 heard to murmur at tlie sacrifice. His nature was 
 singularly open and kind. It did not seem that the 
 thought of the possibility of adopting any but the 
 straightforward course ever occurred to his mind. 
 Duplicity and cunning were with him simply impos- 
 
 sible. His strong emotional tendencies he kept in 
 check by seldom speaking of the topics that aroused 
 them ; but when he did have occasion to allude to a 
 friend who was no more, or any of the deep convic- 
 tions of his heart, it was evident that his feelings 
 were warm and tender as a woman's. In 1883, with 
 only a few- hours interval, the Nestor of our law 
 p-issed from his busy ottice to the rest that remain- 
 eth for such righteous mortals. With firm and ra- 
 tional faith, he had never shrunk from the last great 
 change, and, whatever that change betokens, no 
 man's life gave greater cause for calmness in await- 
 ing it than his whose kindly face in portraiture now 
 lends it8 silent inspiration among the books he 
 loved. 
 
 Benjamin Fkanklin Thomas." — The subject 
 of this sketch was a grandson of Isaiah Thomas, the 
 patriot-printer of the Revolution, and was born in 
 Boston, February 12, 1818. 
 
 He was educated at Brown University, where he 
 graduated in 1830, at tlie early age of seventeen. He 
 studied law in Worcester, and was admitted to the 
 bar in 1834, acquiring, while still young, a large and 
 excellent practice and growing influence in the 
 county. 
 
 In 1842 he represented the town of Worcester in 
 the State Legislature, and from 1844 to 1848 was 
 judge of Probate for Worcester County. Next to 
 Governor Washburn, he attained the largest practice 
 of the Worcester bar, at the time when eminence at 
 that bar was an exceptional distinction. Governor 
 Lincoln and Governor Davis were still among the 
 older members. Pliny Merrick, Charles Allen, Emory 
 Washburn, Henry Chapin, Peter C. Bacon, Ira M. 
 Barton were his contemporaries; while a score of 
 younger lawyers, now achieving high distinction in 
 professional and public life, were just entering into 
 active practice. 
 
 Upon ihe resignation of Mr. Justice Fletcher, in 
 1853, Judge Thomas was appointed, when barely forty 
 years of age, a justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, 
 holding that position for six years, and gaining a dis- 
 tinguished reputation as an able and learned jurist. 
 
 In 1859 he resigned his seat on the bench on ac- 
 count of the great inadequacy of the salary, and 
 removed to Boston, where he practiced and held a 
 position in the front rank at the bar. In 1801-63 he 
 served one term in Congress, and in 1868, upon the 
 retirement of Chief Justice Bigelow, he was nomin- 
 ated, by Governor Bullock, to the Council for chief 
 justice of the Commonwealth, but, after an unpleasant 
 controversy, failed of confirmation. 
 
 This is but a slight outline of the relations Judge 
 Thomas held to the public at large. 
 
 The greater part of his active life was spent in the 
 discharge of professional duties which have small 
 place in history, and will pass from memory to tradi- 
 
 1 By Delano GoiKliiid. 
 
xlvi 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 tion with the generation that knew and trusted and 
 honored liira. 
 
 He was particularly skilled in the law of wills and 
 trusts, and in this branch of the law had no rival. 
 On tlie bench he was distinguished for the tenacity 
 with which he defended the constitutional privileges 
 secured by the Declaration of Rights, and especially 
 trial by jury. 
 
 His most celebrated opinion is the powerful dis- 
 senting judgment delivered in the case of the Cora- 
 monwealth vs. Anthes, 5 Gray, in which he vindicated 
 the right of juries to determine, under the general 
 issue, the law as well as the facts in criminal trials. 
 His view was subse(iuently sustained by the Legisla- 
 ture, which re-enacted the statute in 18(50. 
 
 His studies, both in law and government, took a 
 wide range, and he was well read in history and in 
 English literature. With the bar he has ever been 
 very popular. 
 
 His associates, and especially those younger than 
 himself, were attracted to him not more by his varied 
 learning and talents than by his pure and amiable 
 character. The greatest regrets were expressed when 
 he left the bench, and no man has ever been more 
 highly respected at the bar. 
 
 In the heat of controversy excited by his nomina- 
 tion as chief justice, he was opposed on grounds 
 chiefly political, but also on the ground of a habit of 
 dissenting, which at that time was looked upon as a 
 serious disqualification. 
 
 But Governor Bullock, in justifying his nomination 
 to the Council, replied that, of the nineteen hundred 
 cases reported during the six years that Judge Thomas 
 held a seat upon the bench, he dissented in only four, 
 not by pride of opinion, but by the interests of truth 
 and justice. And a member of the Suffolk bar, then 
 and now one of its wisest and most learned members, 
 writing upon tlie same objection, said : 
 
 " It is undoubtedly desirable that the court should 
 stand together. Division is sometimes an indication 
 of weakness. But it is a much greater weakness to 
 insist upon this point to the exclusion of the qutstion 
 of what is right ; and when a judge is held up to 
 ridicule merely because he differs from his associates, 
 it will be the saddest sign of all. We have yet to 
 learn that the honest dissent of an able magistrate, 
 although repeatedly exercised, is ever regarded with 
 contempt by honorable associates, by the public, or 
 by the legal profession." 
 
 This, however, was but a pretext brought up by zealous 
 opponents to re-enforce tlie political and personal rea- 
 sons on which their opposition was mainly grounded. 
 
 But it is not worth while to revive the memory of 
 these forgotten strifes. The wounds inflicted then 
 were long ago healed. And among those who followed 
 Judge Thomas to the grave, there were none who did 
 so with more sincere and unaffected sorrow than those 
 who questioned the wisdom of his nomination, and 
 joined in the effort to defeat it. 
 
 In politics Judge Thomas was, in early life, a 
 Whig, and when the dissolution of that party came, 
 and the war suddenly presented grave problems of 
 government for immediate solution, it was harder for 
 him, than for most men in public life, to look with 
 patience upon the torture to which the Constitution 
 was exposed. 
 
 He was always conservative, with a tendency to 
 the technical side of disputed questions, always re- 
 strained and controlled by a quick moral sense and an 
 unfailing love of justice. 
 
 His brief term of political service happened to fall 
 upon a period of intense and exciting feeling, when 
 constitutional scruples were looked upon with little 
 patience, and were indulged at much j^ersoual peril. 
 But no man ever took the unpopular side of grave 
 public questions under a more commanding sense of 
 public duty than Judge Thomas took his upon the 
 constitutional questions forced upon him by the ex- 
 igency in which he was placed. 
 
 As an orator. Judge Thomas seemed born to high 
 distinction, if his ambition in that direction had been 
 equal to his rare gifts. 
 
 His formal addresses on anniversary and other mem- 
 orial occasions, are of a very high order of excellence ; 
 but, besides these, there are many among us who will 
 remember the brilliant and sometimes electric elo- 
 quence with which, in his earlier days, he took part 
 in the political and other public interests of the time. 
 His command of language was always pure, rich and 
 abundant ; his manner was spirited, fervent and stim- 
 ulating ; and when he finished there was always, 
 among those who listened, regret; that one endowed 
 with such gifts was so little inclined to exercise them. 
 
 Judge Thomas received the degree of Doctor of Laws 
 from Brown University in 1853, and from Harvard 
 College in 1854. He was, at the time of his death, 
 September 27, 1878, vice-president of the American 
 Antiquarian Society, a member of the Massachusetts 
 Historical Society and of the American Academy of 
 Arts and Sciences. 
 
 (Jur county has been singularly fortunate in the 
 character and ability of the gentlemen who have 
 presided in its Probate Court. In 1858, the year of 
 Judge Kinnicutt's death, the offices of judge of the 
 Court of Probate and of the Court of Insolvency were, 
 by act of the Legislature, united in one per.son in each 
 county. To this double trust Hexey Chapin was ap- 
 pointed, and for twenty years most admirably dis- 
 charged its functions. He was born in Upton in 1811, 
 and left at fourteen to provide largely for his own sup- 
 port. For some months he was engaged in learning a 
 trade. The necessity for such an occupation of course 
 rendered it difficult for him to procure an education, 
 but he was not driven from the undertaking, and 
 succeeded in fitting for college, and in graduating 
 from Brown in 1835. After gaining some exper- 
 ience and a small financial capital as a teacher in 
 the common schools of Upton, he began his legal 
 
^^^^ 
 
 ;^ 
 
 -^^. 
 
^i^^-td-^ >a-^ c-^^ /i/: ::y^-i^^^_^ „_t^^ 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 xlvii 
 
 studies with Emory Washburn, and followed them at 
 the Cambridge Law School. On admission to the 
 bar he chose Usbridge for his opening career, and 
 remained there till his removal to Worcester in 1846, 
 when Rejoice Newton made him a junior partner. As 
 an advocate he obtained a large and profitable prac- 
 tice. He possessed a shrewdness, a homely, kindly 
 method of address, and an entire absence of stiffness 
 or formality which procured him great influence with 
 Juries. For the duties of Probate judge he was ex- 
 ceptionally fitted. His fund of patience seemed 
 inexhaustible. In that court no strict rules of pro- 
 cedure are maintained; much of the business is trans- 
 -acted without the aid of counsel, and by persons who 
 come to the judge to learn what they ought to do, and 
 how to do it. For all such he had a kindly reception, 
 listened to their statements (generally involved, and 
 often incoherent), and let them feel that they had 
 found a friend as well as a help out of their diflicul- 
 ties. Towards members of the bar also, and especially 
 the younger element, his manners were courteous, and 
 commanded in turn respect. In the law governing 
 the cases under his consideration he was thoroughly 
 versed, and his decisions stood tlie test of appeal, with 
 but a small proportion of adverse rulings by the 
 higher court. Althougli for the last six months of 
 his life he was unable to attend in the court-room, his 
 courage did not permit him _te surrender, and up 
 till the very day before his death, in 1878, he con- 
 tinued occasionally, at his house, to attend to matters 
 of routine, hoping constantly that his usefulness was 
 not yet to end, and determined that it should con- 
 tinue with his life. Mr. Cliapin was a public-spirited 
 citizen, alive to the importance of the performance by 
 every man of his political duties. He was an early 
 member of the Free Soil party, and an effective 
 speaker during the anti-slavery agitations. For one 
 year he represented Uxbridge in the General Court, 
 and in 1853 he was its delegate to the Constitutional 
 Convention. 
 
 Worcester made him its mayor in 1849 and 1850, and 
 would have had him serve again had he not declined 
 the honor. In 1870, when, by the sudden death of 
 Mayor Blake, a vacancy occurred during a terra, the 
 City Council turned at once to him as the man most 
 suitable to fill the emergency, and he consented so to 
 do until a successor could be chosen by the usual 
 methods of election. He was not ambitious for 
 political office, and declined to stand as a candidate 
 when nominated by the Republicans for Congress in 
 185G. As a speaker on public occasions he was fre- 
 quently in demand, and his quaint humor and well- 
 told stories interested his audiences and impressed his 
 meaning on their minds. 
 
 With various business organizations he was actively 
 connected, and, by the exercise of a sagacious judg- 
 ment in investment, added to his accumulated prop- 
 erty. To the religious organization with which he 
 was connected he gave earnest support and valuable 
 
 assistance in many ways. His religious convictions 
 were deep and sincere, though rarely brought into 
 notice, except with intimate friends ; but their fruit 
 was shown in his discriminating and kindly benevo- 
 lence and readiness to further charitable organiza- 
 tions which commended themselves to his judgment. 
 An exemplary citizen, an upright judge and an hon- 
 esL man. 
 
 Alexander Hamilton Bullock.' — Governor 
 Bullock stands conspicuous in the list of Massachusetts' 
 chief magistrates ; even in the whole list, extending 
 through Colonial, Provincial and Constitutional 
 times; conspicuous in respect to patriotism, ability 
 and conscientious devotion to the public interest. 
 And for the very reason that he occupies so promi- 
 nent a position in our history, the writer is spared the 
 attempt at any extended delineation in this place, where 
 space is so limited. But with the portrait, in which his 
 features are so faithfully and so artistically presented, 
 it is necessary that something should appear respect- 
 ing his various characteristics and family connections, 
 with allusions at least to certain passages in his pub- 
 lic career. 
 
 He was born in Royalston, Worcester County, on 
 the 2d of March, 181G, and was the son of Rufus and 
 Sarah (Davis) Bullock. His father, who was born on 
 the 23d of September, 1779, was a school-teacher in 
 his early manhood, but soon became a country mer- 
 chant. Quitting that vocation in 1825, he engaged 
 in manufacturing, and in due time amassed a hand- 
 some fortune. He was somewhat in public life ; was 
 five years a Representative in the General Court, and 
 two years a Senator ; was a member of the conven- 
 tions of 1820 and 1853 for revising the State Consti- 
 tution ; and was Presidential elector in 1852. 
 
 Alexander H. Bullock, the subject of this sketch, 
 entered Amherst College in 1832, was a diligent 
 student, and on his graduation, in 183G, delivered the 
 salutatory oration at commencement. In the cata- 
 logue of his college contemporaries are found the 
 names of Rev. Richard S. Storrs, Rev. Henry Ward 
 Beecher, Bishop Huntington and others of wide 
 reputation. After graduating he taught a school for 
 a short ]ieriod, but, partly by the urgency of his father 
 and partly from his own inclination, he applied him- 
 self to the study of law, entering Harvard Law School, 
 then under the presidency of Judge Story. After 
 leaving the Law School he spent a year in the law- 
 office of the well-known lawyer, Emory Washburu, of 
 Worcester, where he gained a good knowledge of the 
 various details of legal practice. He was admitted to 
 the bar in 1841, and soon began practice in Worcester. 
 As a pleader he does not seem to have aimed to 
 become conspicuous. Senator Hoar says: "He dis- 
 liked personal controversy. While he possessed 
 talents which would have rendered him a brilliant 
 and persuasive advocate, the rough contests of the 
 
 1 By Hon. J. E. Newball. 
 
xlviii 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 court-house could never have been congenial to him. 
 He was associated with Judge Thomas as junior coun- 
 sel in one important capital trial, in which he is said 
 to have made an eloc|uent opening argument. He 
 had a considerable clientage for a young man, to 
 whom he was a safe and trustworthy adviser. But he 
 very soon established a large business as agent of 
 important insurance companies, and withdrew him- 
 self altogether from the practice of law.'' 
 
 In 184-1 Governor Bullock married Elvira, daughter 
 of Col. A. G. Hazard, of Enfield, Ct., founder of the 
 Hazard Gunpowder Manufacturing Company. Their 
 children were Augustus George; Isabel, who married 
 Nelson S. Bartlett, of Boston ; and Fanny, who 
 married Dr. William H. Workman, of Worcester. 
 The widow and all the children are yet living. 
 
 From early manhood Governor Bullock took a de- 
 cided interest in politics, but did not allow it to ab- 
 sorb an undue portion of his time till the period ar- 
 rived when he could safely make it a leading object. 
 In constitutional law he was particularly well versed, 
 and that fact, in connection with his decided opinions 
 on all public questions, gave him in debate and in 
 action very great advantage. In party affiliation he 
 was of the old Whig school. 
 
 A brief recapitulation of some of his efficient pub- 
 lic services may here be given. He was a member of 
 the Massachusetts House of Representatives for eight 
 years: first in 1845, and last in 1865. In 1862, 'G3, 
 '64 and '65 he was Speaker. And what Governor 
 Hutchinson says, in his history of Speaker Burrill, 
 may well be said of him, namely, that the House 
 were as fond of him " as of their eyes;" the historian 
 adding, in a note, " I have often heard his contempo- 
 raries applaud him for his great integrity, his ac- 
 quaintance with parliamentary forms, the dignity 
 and authority with which he filled the chair, and the 
 order and decorum he maintained in the debates of 
 the House." 
 
 Governor Bullock w.is also, in 1849, a State Sena- 
 tor. He was judge of the Worcester County Court 
 of Insolvency for two years, 1856-58, having, under 
 a previous jurisdiction, served as commissioner of 
 insolvency from 1853. He was mayor of Worcester 
 in 1859. But the most prominent event in his public 
 life was his election to the gubernatorial chair, which 
 he occupied three years — 18G6, '67 and '68. At the 
 first election he received nearly fifty thousand votes 
 more than the opposing candidate. 
 
 He undoubtedly could have held prominent posi- 
 tions in national affairs had he been so disposed; but 
 his ambition seems not to have run in that direction. 
 He never held office under the general Government, 
 and all the incidents of his political life must be 
 looked for in the history of his native State, where a 
 rich store is to be found. 
 
 On the 5th of January, 1879, Hon. George F. Hoar 
 was authorized by President Hayes to ask Governor 
 Bullock if he would accept the then vacant Eng- 
 
 lish mission. In answer the following letter was re- 
 ceived : 
 
 WoucESTBit, Dec. S, 1S79. 
 
 My D€<ir Sir: I received yesterday yotir favor of the ."itli inat., in 
 wliicli yuu kindly iiuniire, in behalf of tiie President, wliether I 
 wonld undertulce the Mission to England. I liave felt at liberty to 
 take to myself t«e[ity-four hours to consider this question, and I 
 now apprise you of the conclusion to which uiy retlection has, with 
 much reluctance brought me. I am compelled, by the situation of 
 my family, to reply that it would be practically iini)ossible for nie to 
 accept this appointment. 
 
 1 [larticularly desire to express to the President my profound and 
 grateful acknowledgment of the high distinction he has offered to 
 confer upon me, and to assure him of my purpose in every way as a 
 private citizen to uphold him in bis wise and patriotic administration 
 of the government. 
 
 Your communication has been and will cuntinue to be treated by 
 me as confidential. 
 
 I remain with great respect and esteem, 
 
 Tru y aud faitliluUy yours, 
 
 Alexaniiee H. Bullock. 
 
 The Hon. Geo. F. Hoar, U.S.S. 
 
 In financial, humane, and all reformatory move- 
 ments Governor Bullock was active and efficient. He 
 was president of the State Mutual Life Assurance 
 Company, and of the Worcester County Institution 
 for Savings, a director in the Worcester National 
 Bank, chairman of the Finance Committee of the 
 Trustees of Amherst College and a life-member of the 
 New England Historic-Genealogical Society. He was 
 a writer of much more than ordinary ability, aud 
 while editor of the ^E(/is newpaper, which position he 
 held for several years, established an enviable repu- 
 tation as a journalist. The degree of LL.D. was con- 
 ferred on him by Harvard and by Amherst. 
 
 During the Civil War Governor Bullock was an 
 efficient co-laborer with Governor Andrew, so appro- 
 priately called the " War Governor of Massachusetts.'' 
 His eloquent voice was often raised to cheer the 
 gathering crowds of patriots in various places, and 
 Faneuil Hall, too, resounded with his stirring ap- 
 peals. 
 
 He was a great friend of learning ; and all institu- 
 tions of instruction, from the elementary common 
 school to the best endowed college, had his counsel 
 and encouragement. 
 
 And there was in him a vein of true democracy, 
 often manifesting itself in anxiety to guard against 
 any attempt by legislative, judicial or any other 
 power to override the soverign right of the people ; 
 and hence, as might naturally have been expected, 
 he^'emained a firm friend to the principle of " Local 
 Option," in law, so far as it could in any way be made 
 expedient. He vetoed, to the surprise of many of his 
 party friends, one or two enactments, considered 
 important, for the simple reason that he viewed 
 them as trenching on some general right of the 
 people. 
 
 In 1869 he visited Europe with his family, and on 
 his return the following year the civic authorities and 
 citizens of Worcester gave testimony of their appreci- 
 ation of his character and his services by a public 
 reception. After his retirement from the Governor- 
 
^^ 
 
 r^ ^^-f^^OlL^. 
 
 . .^ 
 
 c^S^k^CC'^^ 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 ship he held no other public office, and declined to 
 entertain any of the suggestions made to him of 
 furtlier political service, which would involve, to 
 some extent, the abandonment of those studies and 
 employments which were so agreeable to him. 
 
 Governor Bullock was an orator of great power, and 
 the volume of his addresses recently published con- 
 tains many models of pure style and elegant scholar- 
 ship. Speaking' of him in this connection. Senator 
 Hoar says : " Above all, he possessed, beyond any of 
 his living contemporaries, that rare gift of eloquence 
 which always has been and always will be a passport 
 to the favor of the people where speech is free." 
 
 He was a lover of scholarship, a citizen of many 
 resources and large usefulness, whose life diffused all 
 around it an influence and charm, which elevated 
 the standard of the domestic and moral life of the 
 community. In January, 1882, with startling 
 suddenness, he died amid the scenes of his activities. 
 
 The world owes much of its brightness and beauty 
 to the people whose cheerful disposition and faculty 
 for cordial greetings make others ashamed of melan- 
 choly dullness and drive away worry and vexation 
 from their presence. 
 
 Such a blessing to his friends was the companion- 
 ship of the late Judge Dewey. 
 
 In 1814 Daniel Dewey was appointed to the bench 
 of the Supreme Judicial Court, and held the office 
 only about one year until his death. In 1837 his 
 son, Charles A. Dewey, received a like distinction, 
 and for nearly thirty years discharged his duties 
 with learning and fidelity. Francis H. Dewey, with 
 this distinguished legal lineage, was born in Wil- 
 liamstown in 1821. A few years later his father re- 
 moved to Northampton. In that town and in Amherst 
 his studies preparatory to college were pursued. 
 From Williams College, where his ancestors for 
 three generations had held office as trustees, he 
 graduated in 1840, and proceeded at once to fit 
 himself for his inherited profession in the law schools 
 of Yale and Harvard College. He also gained prac- 
 tical experience in the office of Charles P. Hunting- 
 ton, in Northampton, and of Emory Washburn, in 
 Worcester. With the latter he formed a partnership 
 soon after his admission to the bar, in 1843, a fact 
 which testifies to the elder man's appreciation of Mr. 
 Dewey's abilities even at that early stage. The man- 
 ner in which he entered upon the work of this es- 
 tablished office, and assumed its responsibilities alone 
 upon Judge Washburn's promotion to the bench in 
 the very next year, tested his powers and gave him a 
 high standing at the bar in the earliest years of his 
 practice. During this time his utmost diligence was 
 constantly required to attend to the multitude of 
 causes in which Mr. Washburn had been engaged. 
 It would have been most natural if clients who had 
 sought out so distinguished a counsellor to whom to 
 entrust their important affiiirs should have desired to 
 place them in other hands than those of an inex- 
 
 D 
 
 perienced young attorney ; but Mr. Dewey gave such 
 evidence of fitness for the task and of devotion to 
 business, that he retained almost the whole of the 
 clientage, and increased it as the years went by. In 
 1850 he associated with himself in practice Hartley 
 Williams, then just admitted to the bar, and contin- 
 ued the connection for thirteen years. From 1866 
 till 1869 Frank P. Goulding, Esq., was his junior 
 partner. During his whole life, and in all his varied 
 lines of employment, Judge Dewey was incessantly 
 active. No other adverb can describe the nature of 
 his activity. Always brisk, apparently in a hurry, 
 yet with his faculties alert and undisturbed, he went 
 from one task to another, without apparent thought 
 or need of rest. In the trial of causes before juries 
 his manner was restless, almost nervous ; but his 
 watchfulness of every movement, his quick seizure of 
 every slight advantage and his thorough familiarity 
 with the facts proved to opposing counsel that there 
 was nothing to be hoped from the inattention of his 
 adversary. Throughout the most heated controver- 
 sies he preserved his courteous tones, his pleasant 
 smile and his real composure. Some men are able 
 to hide beneath immovable features and thoroughly 
 controlled muscles disturbed feelings and discomfited 
 plans of action. But Mr. Dewey's mental quiet was 
 preserved under what seemed a physical necessity 
 for movement. 
 
 His closing argument was always to be dreaded as 
 likely to present some unexpected view of the evi- 
 dence or some shrewd suggestion which his opponent 
 had left unobserved and unanswered. He seemed to 
 take the jury into his confidence, to talk to them in 
 a friendly, common-sense manner, without attempt 
 at eloquence, but with remarkably convincing effect. 
 
 In 1860 Governor Claflin appointed him an asso- 
 ciate justice of the Superior Court, — a position which 
 he occupied until 1881. There he became a most 
 useful presiding officer, despatching the business of 
 the courts with the celerity which characterized his 
 private business, treating with courtesy and patience 
 counsel and witnesses, and assisting the jurymen by 
 impartial, lucid statements, summing up the evi- 
 dence and explaining the legal principles which 
 were to guide them. 
 
 Mr. Dewey's energies were by no means confined 
 to professional employments, exacting as those were. 
 The number of business enterprises and charitable 
 institutions in which he was interested as an officer, 
 and to each of which he gave faithful atteniion, 
 would seem to have furnished sufficient occupation 
 for the whole time of an active man. Yet he did not 
 seem to be oppressed by the burden of responsibili- 
 ties. He possessed the happy faculty of laying aside 
 all worry over affairs, when he had done the best 
 that his judgment dictated for their proper conduct. 
 He was president of one railroad company and a 
 director in another, and acquired a considerable 
 familiarity with the methods of nanagement of these 
 
lii 
 
 HISTOKi' OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 was the brightest ornament, ia not yet extinct. 
 Though the Worcester bar cannot claim his sous as 
 members, they still uphold the ancestral reputation 
 in other scenes. 
 
 George F. Verry was one of the best illustrations 
 which this bar has furnished of the value to a lawyer 
 of the qualities of self-reliance and perfect imper- 
 turbability. His success may be as fairly traced to 
 his possession of these traits as to any other cause. 
 He was born in Mendon in 1826, and had the advan- 
 tage of his father's care for only two or three years. 
 His education was obtained in the common schools 
 and during a partial course at the Andover Academy. 
 From that preparatory school he had hoped to enter 
 college, but his plans were interrupted, and he left 
 his studies to engage in learning the business of a 
 manufacturer. After a few years' trial, however, he 
 determined to fit himself for the bar, and began his 
 studies in the office of Henry D. Stone in the year 1849. 
 Admitted to the bar after the usual three years of 
 preparation, he was in a short time received as a part- 
 ner by Mr. Stone, and so continued until 1857. Thus 
 entering upon a business already well-established, he 
 had the opportunity to learn, by actual use, the value 
 of his acquirements. This was largely the process of 
 his attainment to that degree of forensic skill and 
 knowledge of the law which secured his high rank 
 among our advocates. He was not a learned student 
 of books or precedents, but to the questions involved 
 in each case in which he was concerned he gave close 
 attention and consulted the books with reference to 
 those particular topics. With a retentive memory 
 and a clear common-sense judgment, he thus became 
 familiar with the current of decisions upon almost the 
 whole of the great variety of controverted doctrines 
 which have been debated in our courts. After the 
 dissolution of his connection with Mr. Stone, he con- 
 tinued business alone with a rapidly increasing 
 clientage until 1875, when he formed a partnership 
 with Francis A. Gaskill, the present district attorney, 
 and Horace B. Verry, his adopted son, which con- 
 tinued till his death. 
 
 A large part of Mr. Verry's reputation was won in 
 the conduct of the defence of criminal causes. In 
 several capital trials which attracted wide attention, 
 his skill in the examination of witnesses, bis readi- 
 ness to meet sudden emergencies, and his thorough 
 grasp of the bearing of evidence were shown in a 
 manner which placed him among the leaders in that 
 department of practice. On the civil side of the 
 court, also, the possession of the same resources 
 brought to him, perhaps, the most lucrative clieutage 
 of any of his contemporaries during the ten years 
 before bis death. In the progress of the most excit- 
 ing trial he preserved a most absolute control of all 
 his faculties. Forcible in the presentation of his 
 own views, keen, and often severe in his examination 
 of witnesses, he never allowed any exhibition of 
 temper to weaken his influence with the jury, or ob- 
 
 scure his calm watchfulness of every manoeuvre. 
 His arguments seldom appealed to the emotional 
 nature, but were admirably lucid in their logical pre- 
 sentation of the facts. From the very outset of his 
 career he boldly confronted every adversary, however 
 more ample his experience, and learned even in defeat 
 to reserve for his client whatever of advantage there 
 remained to him. In social life he was a most genial 
 comrade. Especially towards younger members of the 
 profession were his manners and expressions of friend- 
 ship cordial at all times. The writer well remembers 
 many words of kind encouragement which helped to 
 make his student-days and first years of practice more 
 hopeful and less irksome. Mr. Verry did not hold 
 many public offices. In 1872 he was mayor of the 
 city of Worcester. The problem of the proper a.ssess- 
 ment of the expense of a great system of sewers had 
 long been deferred ; with characteristic energy he 
 sought a .solution. Principally under his direction, a 
 plan was adopted which was finally sustained by the 
 courts, though opposed by leading citizens and able 
 counsel. His acceptance of this responsibility cost 
 him his re-election the next year, but stands as an 
 evidence of his independence and sagacity. He served 
 two terms in the State Senate, the second year as 
 chairman of the Judiciary Committee. As a Demo- 
 crat during the last ten years of his life, he was most 
 frequently in the minority in the State, and though 
 several times a candidate, held no other elective 
 office. 
 
 In 1883 he died, leaving, it is believed, only friends 
 among the members of the bar, and only firm ad- 
 herents among his host of clients. 
 
 The death of Judge Adis Thayer is still so deeply 
 felt, not only in the community where he lived, but 
 in the councils of the leaders of the State, where his 
 presence had become well-nigh essential, that it 
 seems unnecessary in so brief a sketch iis is here pos- 
 sible to rehearse the well-known story of his life. 
 But neither the history of our bar nor that of the 
 Commonwealth for the past forty years can properly 
 be written without the mention of his share in the 
 progress of each. He was the son of Caleb Thayer, 
 a farmer of Mendon, not rich in material possessions, 
 but with a sturdy independence and an innate love 
 of liberty, which evinced itself in the early espousal 
 of the anti-slavery cause when the unpopularity ol 
 its adherents amounted to ostracism. His grand- 
 father was a Eevolutionary soldier, and the combative 
 tendencies of the descendants seem to have come by 
 right inheritance. Born in 1828, his early life was 
 spent upon the farm, with only the occasional oppor- 
 tunities for education afforded by the district schools. 
 Later on he attended the Worcester Academy, and, 
 with some thought of adopting the profession of a 
 teacher, he took a course in the Normal School at 
 Westfield. After short trial of school-room life, how- 
 ever, he made up his mind that he could not be satis- 
 fied with that career, and began the study of the law 
 
t^-tf ^^7 i(/^i>' 
 
I 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 liii 
 
 with Henry Chapin, whom he was destined to suc- 
 ceed upon the bench. In 1854 he entered upon his 
 practice in the city of Worcester, and attained a good 
 success as an adviser, especially in the management 
 of business concerns. His judgment was clear and 
 reliable, and marked by the plainest common sense. 
 As an advocate he did not appear with great fre- 
 quency before the courts, but his management of 
 causes entrusted to him was careful and intelligent, 
 tenacious of his clients' interests and mindful of de- 
 tails. 
 
 Though he gave diligent attention to his profes- 
 sional pursuits and acquired a lucrative clientage, it 
 was in political life that he found his greatest useful- 
 ness and rose to his greatest eminence. He was an 
 early and influential member of the Free-Soil party, 
 eager in his opposition to the encroachments of the 
 slave-power, and roused to indignation by the pro- 
 ceedings under the Fugitive Slave Law on the soil of 
 his native State. With Charles Sumner and John 
 A. Andrew he formed an intimate friendship, and 
 was their active co-worker and enthusiastic supporter 
 throughout their political contests. In his devotion 
 to the principles which he believed should govern 
 the State and Nation he was unselfish and consistent. 
 Though undoubtedly he would have been gratified by 
 the evidence of the appreciation of his services and 
 abilities, which an election to important office would 
 have afforded, he never faltered in his exertions for 
 the success of his party because others were assigned 
 to more conspicuous stations. He enjoyed the pos- 
 session of influence over the minds of his fellow- 
 citizens, and to that influence he was justly entitled, 
 since it was always exercised in the cause of what he 
 believed to be the truth. He was the friend and ad- 
 viser of all the prominent leaders of the Republican 
 party from its formation, and to liis powerful assist- 
 ance the State owes in a large degree the fact that 
 she has been able to retain in lier service some of her 
 ablest representatives. In the best sense or the term 
 he was a partisan. Thoroughly convinced of the 
 righteousness of his cause, conscientiously believing 
 that it was the duty of every good ciiizen to take part 
 in the decision of public questions, he threw himself 
 into a canvass with the spirit of a soldier, determined 
 that failure should not result from any lukewarmness 
 on his part. He was a great believer in the necessity 
 for organization in political work. The campaigns 
 which he directed were marked by the most thorough 
 attention to details and by the seizure of every hon- 
 orable method of securing victory. He did not often 
 appear as a public speaker, but when he did his lan- 
 guage was forcible, clear and charged with his earnest 
 convictions. Some of his addresses upon general 
 political topics are admirable in style and logical 
 completeness. 
 
 His ofiices were few. For several years under Lin- 
 coln, and again under Grant, he was collector of 
 internal revenue [^for this district. For two years lie 
 
 served in the State Senate. Perhaps his most promi- 
 nent political service was as chairman of the Repub- 
 lican State Committee in 1878, when, with all his 
 power, he successfully combated what he believed to 
 be a great danger to the welfare of the State. 
 
 Upon Judge Chapin's death, in 1878, he was ap- 
 pointed to succeed him in the Probate Court. The 
 nomination excited some opposition among those who 
 had become accustomed to regard Mr. Thayer as solely 
 a [Kditician. But by his ten years of impartial, faith- 
 ful disciiarge of the duties of the oflice, he approved 
 the wisdom of the selection, and earned the approba- 
 tion of the bar and the public. 
 
 His natural disposition was genial and sympathetic. 
 A fund of quiet humor made him a most agreeable 
 companion in hours of relaxation. Towards the latter 
 part of his life ill-health from time to time clouded 
 the usual brightness of his temper, and induced 
 periods of depression, through all of which, however, 
 he preserved his kindly interest in others and his 
 affection for his friends. He had interested himself 
 in several of the business enterprises of the city, 
 where his foresight had been of great service. But 
 these cares, added to his other activities, were too 
 great a strain upon his physical and mental powers. 
 He was oppressed by the thought of gradually losing 
 his capacity for usefulness on the stage where he had 
 filled so honorable a part. In the summer of 1888, 
 when his friends were looking forward to his restora- 
 tion to health as the result of a contemplated season 
 of rest and travel, in a moment of aberration he died 
 by his own hand. Massachusetts has lost no more 
 devoted lover, no more staunch defender. 
 
 In several instances to which our attention has 
 been attracted the honors of the profession, together 
 with the mental traits befitting the wearers of those 
 honors, have seemed to be transmitted from father to 
 son as a natural inheritance. Others, from the most 
 unpropitious antecedents, have achieved success and 
 high position. In truth, the pathway is open to all ; 
 to all it presents difficulties hard to overcome. Few 
 have had to contend with greater obstacles, or have 
 done it with so good courage, as Matthew J. McCaf- 
 FERTY. Born in Ireland in 1829, his parents brought 
 him to this country during his infancy. They were 
 poor, hard-working people, and at an early age the 
 lad must assist in his own support. In 1841 the 
 family moved to Lowell, and Matthew began as an 
 operative in the great mills there. Later on he 
 learned the trade of a machinist. While so employed 
 he was inspired with the ambition to become a law- 
 yer, and devoted his evenings and spare moments to 
 reading such law-books as he could obtain. In 1852, 
 having saved some little capital from his trade, he 
 entered the oiJice of Brown & Alger, in Lowell, and 
 regularly devoted himself to study. After two years 
 he found it necessary to replenish his funds, and be- 
 took himself once more to his trade in Worcester. 
 With his determination still unchanged he spent his 
 
liv 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 evenings reading in Mr. Bacon's office. A fellow- 
 student at that time was Hamilton B. Staples, now 
 an associate justice of the Superior Court. 
 
 For a short time Mr. McCafferty tried the rule of an 
 actor, but soon found it neither agreeable nor remu- 
 nerative, and returned to rely upon his shop to fur- 
 nish him the means of living until better times. His 
 generous, filial di.'iposition is illustrated by the fact 
 that, after having with some difficulty saved money 
 enough to carry him through college, he gave it all 
 to his mother, wlioih he visited in Lowell and found 
 lacking some of the comforts to which her age and 
 infirmities entitled her. Soon after this Benjamin F. 
 Butler became interested in the young man's sturdy 
 struggle, and assisted him through a partial course in 
 the College of the Holy Cross at Worcester. In 1857 
 he was admitted to the bar in Lowell, and soon after 
 opened his office in Worcester. He was a natural 
 orator, warm-hearted, impulsive, sympathetic, and 
 came to be regarded as the special champion of his 
 race in the city of his adoption. When the call for 
 volunteers was issued in 18(31, he enlisted as second 
 lieutenant in the Emmet Guards, a company com- 
 posed of men of Irish descent, in which he had pre- 
 viously served as captain. After its three months' 
 service had expired, he received the commission of 
 major in the Twenty -fifth Massachusetts Regiment. 
 With this command he rendered gallant service in 
 several battlts until March, 1862, when he resigned 
 on account of some difference with his colonel which 
 could not be adjusted. Returning home, he con- 
 tinued to support the government by his eloquent 
 speeches on public occasions. He served four terms 
 in the Legislature, and one as alderman of the city. 
 In 1883 his early friend and constant political ally. 
 Governor Butler, appointed him an associate justice 
 of the Municipal Court of Boston. In this capacity 
 his impartiality and his kindness of heart made him 
 an excellent police magistrate. In the short time 
 before his death, in 1885, he had approved himself to 
 the jirofession in his new sphere of action, where at 
 first there had been a disposition to cavil at the ap- 
 pointment of a judge from another county. 
 
 The career of Francis T. Blackmer compressed 
 within less than twenty years an amount of profes- 
 sional labor which might well have formed the em- 
 ployment of an additional decade, and would then 
 have left him but little of that leisure he so much 
 neglected. He seems to have felt that his time for 
 work was short, and that in the days allotted him he 
 must accomplish what would suffice for the years of 
 a longer pilgrimage. He was born in Worcester in 
 1844, but passed his boyhood in the towns of Prescott 
 and Hardwick, where his father carried on the oc- 
 cupation of a farmer at successive periods. 
 
 In the district schools and at Wilbraham Academy 
 he received all the instruction which he obtained be 
 fore beginning his legal studies. In later life he 
 keenly appreciated the advantages bestowed by a 
 
 more extended course of education, and expressed 
 his regret that he was unable to receive a college 
 training. Yet the reflection is inevitable that it is 
 not the schools that make the man. We cannot be 
 sure of the effect of the same discipline upon differ- 
 ent minds, and Mr. Blackmer certainly profited ad- 
 mirably by the limited facilities which he enjoyed. 
 When twenty years of age he returned to Worcester, 
 and entered the office of William W. Rice. During 
 his studies, and for some years after his admission to 
 the bar, he was employed by Mr. Rice, on terms con- 
 tinually more advantageous, as he demonstrated his 
 capacity for work and his mastery of the law. Sub- 
 sequently a partnership was formed under the name 
 of Rice & Blackmer, which continued until after Mr. 
 Rice's Congressional duties called him away from 
 regular attention to professional employments. 
 
 Mr. Blackmer had a remarkable facility in forming 
 acquaintances. There was not the slightest formality 
 or diffidence about him. In the same easy, off-hand 
 manner he met every new-comer, and inspired him 
 with confidence in his own ability to conduct his 
 business. His addresses to the jury were marked by 
 the same familiar style. Brought up like many of 
 them, in a farming region, familiar with the habits 
 of thought of our New England country people, he 
 talked to them as a friendly adviser, citing homely 
 incidents of country life to illustrate his meaning, 
 and in language and accent showing clearly that he 
 was one of them. It was here that he achieved his 
 principal success. Day after day during the sessions 
 of the court he appeared on one side or the other, ot 
 almost every case, and probably became personally 
 known to more of the inhabitants of the county 
 than any other of the advocates at the bar during 
 his later years. 
 
 His arguments did not pursue a logical order; but 
 neither did the usual train of thought of the majority 
 of his hearers in the jury-box. He went over the 
 story of the evidence as it arranged itself in his 
 mind, and when he had finished, there was no point 
 which he had forgotten, no inference which had not 
 been suggested. In his examination of witnesses he 
 showed a remarkable knowledge of human nature 
 and an adroitness which was rarely matched. Never 
 losing his temper, he was prepared to meet any sur- 
 prising development of testimony with unruffled 
 composure and the best resources at his command. 
 His profession thoroughly interested him. He loved 
 to talk over his cases with students or brother law- 
 yers, and was ever ready to receive new suggestions 
 or to state his own views when they were called for. 
 Before the Supreme Court he argued questions of 
 law with care and skill, thoroughly appreciating the 
 value of the distinctions on which he relied and the 
 effect of earlier decisions upon the point in issue. 
 
 In 1875 he was chosen city solicitor, and so con- 
 tinued until 1881, when he resigned, to take the 
 place, as district attorney, of Judge Staples, then 
 
X^^ .^.a^ ^_^ ^.y.2^ 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 Iv 
 
 promoted to the bench. In both these capacities, 
 calling for the exercise of quite different talents, he 
 acquitted himself with credit. 
 
 His interests outside of his profession were few, for 
 he gave himself little time for otlier pursuits. In 
 local jjolitical contests he took part from time to time. 
 The parish to which he belonged was always an object 
 of his attention. In his brief hours of social relaxa- 
 tion he showed liimself an affectionate and sunny- 
 tempered friend. But his constitution was not strong 
 enough to endure the strain to which he subjected it. 
 In 1883 he was obliged to give U[) work, and seek in 
 absolute rest the reinvigoration of his enfeebled 
 energies. During the fall he returned to his office, 
 and was so far encouraged to believe in his restora- 
 tion to health as to accept a le-election to tlie district 
 attorneyship. The apparent im|)rovement was but 
 temporary, however. His tasks were done, as his 
 brethren at the bar sadly noted when he appeared 
 among them at the opening of the December term of 
 court. Again he left his clients, and, hopeful to the 
 last, took his way toward a Southern climate. But 
 his disease had taken too firm a hold while he had 
 refused to leave his post of duty, and in January of 
 188-1 he died in the city of Washington. 
 
 He came to the bar the latest of those whom we 
 have mentioned. Many who saw his earliest efforts 
 are still in the full vigor of their usefulness, but as 
 we close these records with his name, let it be said 
 that none among them all more diligently followed 
 the injunction : " Work while the day is, for the night 
 Cometh." 
 
 In these imperfect sketches an attempt has been 
 made to preserve some memorial of a few of those 
 who have completed their life-work and are to be re- 
 membered as representatives of that ability and in- 
 tegrity which has characterized the administration of 
 justice in this county and Commonwealth. Neces- 
 sarily the names of many who have largely contrib- 
 uted to the establishment of this reputation are 
 omitted. The records of a lawyer's life are too often 
 written in water. The writer has mainly selected 
 those who have seemed to him to leave some lasting 
 impression on their times and to furnish examples 
 for the edification of their successors in the same 
 field of enterprise. To learn that the qualities which 
 secured their successes are still exhibited among us, 
 it needs only to glance over the honored list of names 
 which now adorns the roll of this bar. A Senator of 
 the United States, a justice of the Supreme Court of 
 the State, two justices of its Superior Court and one 
 of the United States District Court, and two recent 
 members of Congress figure in the list. In active prac- 
 tice are advocates as skillful and eloquent, counsel as 
 sagacious and learned as any who have gone before. 
 
 LIVING LAWYERS. 
 
 Charles Devens.' — Prominently identified with 
 
 1 Bj the Editor. 
 
 the military and judicial history of the State of Massa- 
 chusetts is the Hon. Charles Devens, one of the 
 justices of the Supreme Judicial Court. General 
 Devens was born in Charlestown, !Mass., April 4, 1820. 
 He graduated at Cambridge in 1838. He studied law 
 at the Harvard Law School, and subsequently with 
 Messrs. Hubbard & Watts, in Boston, and was admitted 
 to the bar in 1840. He first commenced practice at 
 Northfield, where he remained until 1844, when he 
 removed to Greenfield and formed a co-partnership 
 with Hon. George T. Davis, which continued until 
 1849, when he was appointed by President Taylor 
 United States marshal for the district of Massachu- 
 setts. This office he held until his resignation in 1853. 
 While residing at Greenfield he represented Franklin 
 County in the State Senate. Upon resigning the office 
 of marshal, he located in Worcester and resumed the 
 practice of his profession, forming a p.artnership with 
 Hon. Ge(nge F. Hoar and .1. Henry Hill. Soon after 
 Mr. Hill retired, and the firm of Devens & Hoar 
 continued until 1861. During his residence in Wor- 
 cester he served as city solicitor in 1856, 1857 and 
 1858. 
 
 Upon the breaking out of the Rebellion, Mr. Devens 
 promptly responded to the President's call for troops, 
 and entered the service as major of the Third Battalion 
 of Infantry. He soon after became colonel of the 
 Fifteenth Massachusetts Regiment, and from thi-i date 
 until the close of the war he was in active service. 
 He received his baptism of fire on the disastrous field 
 of Ball's Bluff, and in 1862 was made a brigndier- 
 general for gallantry on this memorable field of car- 
 nage. From the very beginning General Devens saw 
 severe service. In the battle of Fair Oaks he was 
 severely wounded, also at Chancellorsville, in 1863, 
 and at Antietam his horse was shot under him. His 
 distinguished bravery before Richmond was especially 
 commended by General Grant, and he was commis- 
 sioned major-general for gallantry at the capture of 
 the city. At the close of the war he was appointed 
 military governor of the Eastern District of South 
 Carolina. This position General Devens held until 
 June, 1866, when he was mustered out of the service. 
 
 Civil honors seemed to await him upon his return 
 to his native State, and in the following year, 1867, he 
 was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court, and in 
 1873 became an associate justice of the Supreme 
 Judicial Court, and remained upon the bench until 
 1877, when he was appointed Attorney-General of the 
 United States by President Hayes. At the expiration 
 of four years he returned to Massachusetts, and in 
 1881 was re-appointed to the bench of the Supreme 
 Court. Notwithstanding the exacting duties of a 
 judicial life Judge Devens finds time to manifest his 
 interest in military affairs, and has been president of 
 the Society of the Array of the James ; president of 
 the Society of the Array of the Potomac, and of the 
 Sixth Army Corps. He has been National Com- 
 mander of the Grand Army of tlie Republic, and was 
 
Ivi 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTEE COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 for nine years Commander of the Military Order of 
 the Loyal Legion for Massachusetts. 
 
 Judge Devens is eminently an orator, and his public 
 addresses and eulogies have been many and varied. 
 He is a member of various societies and clubs, and as 
 statesman, judge and general ranks among Massachu- 
 setts' most distinguished citizens. 
 
 George Fkisbee Hoar ' was born in Concord, 
 Mass., August 29, 182{;. His ancestors, from the early 
 days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, were men of 
 action and courage, humane, and always in advance 
 of their times, but not so radical as to be parted in 
 sympathy from their contemporaries, and to lose 
 the influence which their character, talents and pub- 
 lic spirit deserved. John Hoar, Senator Hoar's ear- 
 liest ancestor in Massachusetts, was one of three 
 brothers who came, with their widowed mother, from 
 Gloucestershire, England, among the early colonists. 
 
 He was a friend and co-laborer of Eliot, the apos- 
 tle to the Indians, and after the massacre at Lancas- 
 ter, in King Philip's War, followed Philip's band into 
 the wilderness with a single Indian guide, and ran- 
 somed Mrs. Rolandson, one of the Lancaster captives. 
 
 His brother, Leonard Hoar, was one of the early 
 presidents of Harvard College. Senator Hoar's 
 father, Samuel Hoar, was one of the great Massachu- 
 setts lawyers, contemporary with Mason, Webster and 
 Choate. His aspect inspired reverence, which was 
 increased by knowledge of his character. He was a 
 Representative in Congre.«s, and was chosen by Mas- 
 sachusetts to protect in the courts of South Carolina 
 her colored ci)izens unjustly imprisoned there. He 
 was expelled from the State by force, and was not 
 allowed to discharge his mission ; but his conduct 
 throughout was marked by dignity, tirmness and 
 courage. Senator Hoar's mother was the youngest 
 daughter of Roger Sherman, of Connecticut. 
 
 The village of Concord, where Mr. Hoar's boyhood 
 was passed, was full of fine influences. No place 
 could have been better for the forming of character 
 and preparation for a life of public or private useful- 
 ness. After his school-days there he entered Harvard 
 College, and was graduated in 1846. Choosing the law 
 for his profession, he studied at the Harvard Law 
 School and in the oflice of the late Judge Thomas, in 
 Worcester. Upon his admission to the bar in 1849, 
 he began practice in Worcester, and this city has 
 ever since been his home. 
 
 He was for a time associated in practice with the 
 late Hon. Emory Washburn, and later with the Hon. 
 Charles Devens and J. Henry HiH, Esq. Mr. Hoar 
 rapidly rose to a very high rank in his profession. 
 The native capacity of his mind, disciplined by edu- 
 cation and superbly equipped by study, was supple- 
 mented by uncommon industry and assiduous devotion 
 to the business of his clients. 
 
 His practice when he entered Congress in 1869, 
 
 By .1. Evai-ts Greene. 
 
 after twenty years at the bar, was probably the largest 
 and most valuable in the State, west of Jliddlesex 
 County. Mr. Hoar married, iu 1853, Miss Mary 
 Louisa Spurr, whe died a few years after, leaving a 
 daughter and a son, both of whom are now living. 
 He married, in 1862, Miss Ruth Ann Miller. 
 
 Mr. Hoar's first appearance in political life was as 
 chairman of the committee of the Free-Soil party for 
 Worcester County in 1849, which was more efficiently 
 organized here than in any other county of the 
 United States. In 1851, at the age of twenty-five, 
 Mr. Hoar was elected a representative to the General 
 Court. He was the youngest member in that body, 
 but became the leader of the Coalitionists in law 
 matters, and to him was given the task of drawing 
 resolutions, protesting against the compromise meas- 
 ures of the National Government in 1850. 
 
 So manifest at this time to the people of this dis- 
 trict was Mr. Hoar's fitness for public service that the 
 way was open to him to succeed the late Hon. Charles 
 Allen as the Representative of this district in Con- 
 gress. 
 
 But he put aside all suggestions fending that way, 
 because it seemed to him that to enter Congress then 
 would be to make politics instead of the law his pro- 
 fession. If his decision had been otherwise, his ener- 
 gy, courage, eloquence and firm grasp of constitu- 
 tional principles would doubtless have placed him in 
 the very front rank of the statesmen of the civil war 
 and reconstruction period. Although refusing Con- 
 gressional service, he did not decline such duty in 
 the State Legislature as was pressed upon him. In 
 1857 he was a member of the Senate, and chairman of 
 its Judiciary Committee. In tliat capacity he drew a 
 masterly report, defining the boundaries of the exec- 
 utive and legislative authority. 
 
 He made many political addresses, as varying occa- 
 sions called for them, and was always ready with ser- 
 vice in behalf of enterprises for the public welfare in 
 his own city. He aided in the establishment of the 
 Free Public Library and reading-room, was a member 
 of the board of directors and one of its early presi- 
 dents. His counsels and efforts were of great value 
 in the founding of the Worcester County Free Insti- 
 tute of Industrial Science, now the Worcester Poly- 
 technic Institute, whose usefulness as a pioneer in a 
 new field and conceded eminence now are due to the 
 wisdom with which its foundations were laid by that 
 group of sagacious and public-spirited men of whom 
 Mr. Hoar was one. His argument for technical edu- 
 cation before a committee of the Legislature in 1869 
 was, if not the first, among the earliest adequate pub- 
 lic statements of the claims of this branch of educa- 
 tion. He was also an early advocate of woman suf- 
 frage, having made an address on that subject in 
 Worcester in 1868 and before a legislative committee 
 in 1869. 
 
 In 1868 Mr. Hoar was elected a Representative in 
 Congress, as the successor of the late Hon. John D. 
 
"^®t 
 
 e^ 
 
 > c^\. 
 
 '-C-- 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 Iv 
 
 Baldwin. In this, the Forty-first Congress, he was a 
 member of the Committee on Education and Labor, 
 and his chief work was tlie preparation and advocacy 
 of the bill- for national education. The bill dittered 
 widely in its details from that now pending and 
 known as the Blair Bill, but its purpose — to give 
 national aid to education where illiteracy most pre- 
 vails and where, through poverty or indiiference, the 
 State and local governments inadequately provide for 
 public schools — was the same. The bill did not pass 
 in that Congress, and Mr. Hoar reported it with some 
 changes in the Forty-second and again in the Forty- 
 third Congresses, when it was passed by the House, 
 but failed in the Senate. In his first term in Congress 
 Mr. Hoar, by a timely and convincing speech, saved 
 the Bureau of Education when the Committee on Ap- 
 propriations had reported it ought to be abolished. 
 f* In this Congress, too, he vindicated General Howard 
 from the charges preferred by Fernando Wood, sup- 
 ported Sumner in his opposition to President Grant's 
 scheme for the annexation of Santo Domingo, and be- 
 came known as a formidable antagonist in debate by 
 his prompt and severe treatment of Mr. D. W. Voor- 
 hees and Mr. S. S. Cox, of New York, who ventured 
 to " draw" the new member. His retort upon Mr. 
 Cox was much relished by his associates. Mr. Cox, 
 then the triumphant wit of the House, had been carp- 
 ing at Massachusetts and daring Mr. Dawes, already 
 a Congressional veteran, to come to her defence, assur- 
 ing him that her stoutest champion was needed. 
 " Troy," said Mr. Cox, " was defended by Hector, yet 
 Troy fell." Mr. Hoar's reply was quick and scathing. 
 " Troy," said he, " did not need her Hector to repel 
 an attack led by Thersites." 
 
 In the Forty-second Congress Mr. Hoar, as a mem- 
 ber of the Committee on Elections, drew the report 
 in the case of Cessna against Myers. Many ques- 
 tions of great interest were discussed and decided in 
 this report, which has been an authority ever since, 
 being frequently cited in election contests both here 
 and in England. In this case the report assigned the 
 seat to Myers, the Democrat. Mr. Hoar's dealing 
 with election cases in this Congress and in the next 
 was recognized by his associates of both parties as 
 judicial and conscientious, and when the charge of 
 undue partisanship was afterwards brought against 
 him, he was defended by Mr. Giddings, a Texas 
 Democrat. In this Congress Mr. Hoar made an elo- 
 quent appeal for the rebuilding, at the national ex- 
 pense, of the College of William and ilary in Vir- 
 ginia, which was destroyed by fire while national 
 troops were encamped in its neighborhood during the 
 Civil War. 
 
 In the Forty-third Congress Mr. Hoar, besides ob- 
 taining the vote of the House for his Education Bill, 
 reported and carried through the House a bill to es- 
 tablish a Burfau of Labor Statistics, and was chair- 
 man of a special committee to investigate the polit- 
 ical disorders in Louisiana. The fairness of the in- 
 
 quiry and report of this committee was conceded 
 even by the Democratic counsel employed jn the 
 case. In this Congress Mr. Hoar delivered his eulo- 
 gy of Senator Sumner. 
 
 By the elections of 1874 the Republicans, who had 
 held undisputed control of the House of Kepresenta- 
 tives for fifteen years, were outvoted in so many dis- 
 tricts that in the Forty-fourth Congress the Demo- 
 crats were a majority of the House. In this Congress 
 Mr. Hoar made a number of notable speeches. At 
 his suggestion the Eads' Jetty Bill, which was in 
 danger of failure, was put into such form as to win 
 favorable action from the committee and Congressi 
 and thus, as Captain Eads himself testified, it was 
 through Mr. Hoar's efforts that New Orleans was 
 opened to ocean commerce. He wjs one of the man- 
 agers of the impeachment of Secretary Belknap, and 
 as such made an argument so convincing and pow- 
 erful that it not only changed the opinions of several 
 Senators on the question of jurisdiction, but it awoke 
 the conscience of the people and gave the initial im- 
 pulse to the wave of official and political reform, 
 which has not yet spent its force. But Mr. Hoar's 
 most distinguished service in this Congress was that 
 with which it closed — his work for and as a member of 
 the Electoral Commission. He was a member of the 
 special committee which prepared the bill establish- 
 ing the commi.s-sion, was its advocate in the House, 
 and was chosen by the House a member of it, his 
 associates being General Garfield, Judge Abbott, of 
 Massachusetts, General Hunton, of Virginia, and 
 Mr. Payne, of Ohio. In 1872 and again in 1874 Mr. 
 Hoar had given notice to his constituents of his wish 
 to retire from public life, but had yielded to the gen- 
 eral and imperative demand for his further service. 
 
 In 1876 his resolve not to be a candidate for re- 
 election to the House was announced as final, and 
 the people, accepting it, elected his successor. But 
 in the winter following the Legislature chose him as 
 Mr. Boutwell's successor in the other branch of Con- 
 gress, and he took his seat in the Senate in March, 
 1877, at the opening of President Hayes' administra- 
 tion, of which he was one of the few steadfast Sena- 
 torial supporters. In the Senate Mr. Hoar has been 
 a member, and for some years chairman of the Com- 
 mittee on Privileges and Elections and a member of 
 the Committee on Claims, on the Judiciary, on the 
 Library, and others of less importance. Besides con- 
 ducting many inquiries, preparing many reports, in- 
 volving large pecuniary interests or deciding weighty 
 questions of individual right or public polic-y, he is 
 the author or was the leading advocate of several 
 measures of first-rate importance. Among them are 
 the bill for distributing the balance of the Geneva 
 award, the Lowell Bankruptcy Bill, the bill for 
 counting the electoral votes for President and Vice- 
 President, the Presidential Succession Bill, the repeal 
 of the Tenure of Office Act and the resnlution for 
 amending the Constitution so as to make the Presi- 
 
Iviii 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 dential term aiid the term of eacli Congress begin 
 witli tjie liiith (lay of April instead of the 4th day of 
 Martli. All of these measures passed the Senate, 
 and most of them became laws. 
 
 In general Mr. Hoar has occupied himself in Con- 
 gress with matters of wide scope and of fundamental 
 importance rather than with those measures of nar- 
 rower range and temporary application, upon which 
 most of the labor of Senators and Representatives is 
 spent. His success in gaining for so many of these 
 larger measures the attention and favorable action of 
 a body somewhat dilatory, apt to be engrossed with 
 the affairs of the moment, and seldom looking farther 
 forward than to the next Presidential campaign, is 
 proof of his powers of convincing and persuading 
 and of the confidence of his associates in his wisdom 
 and the purity of his motives. 
 
 Mr. Hoar was re-elected to the Senate by the 
 Legislature in January, 1883, and again in 1889. 
 His election for the third time by the unanimous 
 vote of his party in the Legislature, without a note 
 of dissent or the public suggestion of any competi- 
 tor, was a distinction not accorded to any man in 
 Massachusetts for many years before, and proof that 
 the people have learned to set a value upon his ser- 
 vices not less than that which they assigned in ear- 
 lier days to those of Webster and Sumner. 
 
 Mr. Hoar has four times been chosen to preside 
 over Republican State Conventions. In 1880 he was 
 president of the National Convention at Chicago by 
 which General Garfield was made the Republican 
 candidate for President of the United States. His 
 dignity and courtesy, his prompt and impartial de- 
 cisions, and the easy mastery by which he held the 
 great convention to its work amid the enthusiasms 
 for rival leaders and the disturbing hopes and fears 
 and other strong excitements of the occasion, com- 
 manded general applause, and gave to the public of 
 the United States a better knowledge of his strength 
 and breadth of character. 
 
 Besides his political, legislative and professional 
 activity, which has been briefly outlined above, Mr. 
 Hoar has been and is usefully busy in other ways. 
 He has written valuable papers for the magazines; 
 has delivered many addresses on other than political 
 subjects ; has been a member of the Board of Over- 
 seers of Harvard College; an active member and for 
 some years the president of the American Antiqua- 
 rian Society; a trustee of the Worcester Polytechnic 
 Institute; a regent of the Smithsonian Institution, 
 and was selected by Mr. Jonas G. Clark as one of 
 the corporators of Clark University. He has re- 
 ceived the degree of Doctor of Laws from William 
 and Mary College, Amherst, Yale and Harvard. 
 
 P. Emory Aldrich,' of Worcester, an associate 
 justice of the Superior Court of Massachusetts, is a 
 native of New Salem, Bias*. His familv is of the 
 
 I B.v tlip Editor. 
 
 early New England stock, he being a lineal descend- 
 ant of George Aldi-ich, who emigated from England 
 in 1G35 and settled at first in Dorchester, but after- 
 wards became one of the original founders of the 
 town of Mendon. Members of this family in the 
 seventh and eighth generations from the founder are 
 now living in nearly every State of the Union; it has 
 had its Representatives in both Houses of Congress 
 and in all the learned professions; several of the 
 lineage have been judges in the courts of different 
 States. The family, in some of its branches, has been, 
 and is, honorably known in literature and commerce; 
 but a great majority of the race have been farmers. 
 As a race they are distinguished for longevity and 
 vigor of physical constitution and an inflexible will 
 in tlie pursuit of the objects of their choice. 
 
 The subject of this notice attended the district 
 school in his native village until he was sixteen years 
 old, and then became himself a teacher. He received 
 an academical education, and thereafter taught in the 
 schools of this State and Virginia; pursuing at the 
 same time a course of studies, such as were at that 
 day usually found in the curricula of New England 
 colleges. While teaching in Virginia he began the 
 study of law, which he continued at the Harvard Law 
 School in 1843-14, and graduated with the degree of 
 LL.B. 
 
 After that, returning to Virginia and resuming 
 there for a definite period his former vocation of 
 teaching, he was admitted to the bar upon examina- 
 tion by the judges of the Court of Appeals at Rich- 
 mond in 1845. He did not, however, enter upon prac- 
 tice there, but returned the same year to his native 
 Slate, and after six months' study in the then well- 
 known office of Ashman, Chapman & Norton, of 
 Springfield, he was admitted to the bar at the spring 
 term of the old Common Pleas Court for Hampden 
 County in 1846. 
 
 Subsequent to his admission he passed a few months 
 in Petersham in the ofBce of F. A. Brooks, Esq., who 
 had been a fellow-student of his at Cambridge ; and 
 in December, 1846, he began practice in the town of 
 Barre, Worcester County, and continued there during 
 the following seven years. For about three years of 
 the seven he was editor and publisher of the Barre 
 Patriot. He represented the town of Barre in the 
 Constitutional Convention of 1853. In May, 1853, 
 he was appointed by Governor Clifford district attor- 
 ney for the Middle District, which office he con- 
 tinued to hold, with an interval of a few months in 
 1856, until 1865. In the spring of 1854 he removed 
 to Worcester and opened an office in that city, and in 
 January, 1855, he formed a law partnership with the 
 Hon. P. C. Bacon, which partnership continued until 
 he left the bar for the bench in October, 1873. He 
 was mayor of Worcester for the year 1862. 
 
 Upon the organization of the Slate Board of Health, 
 in 1870, Mr.- Aldrich was appointed a member of the 
 board by Governor Claflin, and remained a member 
 
6<Ht4; 
 
 ^^ 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 lix 
 
 till his appointment to the bench of the Superior 
 Court. While he was a member of the Board of 
 Health he prepared an historical paper, relating to the 
 use of and the legislative regulation of the sale of in- 
 toxicating liquor, which was published in one of the 
 annual reports of the board. He was one of the 
 Representatives from Worcester in the State Legisla- 
 ture in the years 1866 and 1867 ; he took an active 
 part in the debates and business of the House. In 
 1866 he was one of the minority dissenting from the 
 decision of the Speaker of the ■ House upon the 
 question of the right of an interested member to vote. 
 Mr. Aldrich prepared at that time an elaborate report 
 upon the subject, wliich was published under the title 
 of "The Right of Members to Vote on all Questions 
 of Public Policy Vindicated." The principles of 
 parliamentary law and practice contended for in that 
 report were, at a later date, held to be correct, both 
 in the Federal House of Representatives and in the 
 British House of Commons. Judge Aldrich is a 
 member of the American Antiquarian Society and 
 one of the council of that venerable and learned 
 body. 
 
 As a member of the society and council he has pre- 
 pared several papers on historical, legal and literary 
 subjects, which have been published with the proceed- 
 ings of the society. He has written and delivered 
 addresses before other societies and associations upon 
 various aspects of social science and education, and 
 upon the right of the State to provide not only for the 
 elementary education of its children, but also for their 
 higher education in high schools, etc. For the last few 
 years he has given much time and study to the cause 
 of technical education. He has long been one of the 
 trustees of that admirable institution — the Worcester 
 Polytechnic Institute. 
 
 Since he left the bar he has written a work on 
 " Equity Pleading and Practice," which was pub- 
 lished in 1885. In 1886 he received the honorary 
 degree of LL.D. from Amherst College. In 1850 he 
 married Sarah, the eldest daughter of Harding P. 
 Wood, Esq., late of Barre. 
 
 William W. Rice,' son of Rev. Benjamin Rice, a 
 Congregational clergyman, was born in the historical 
 old town of Deerfield, Mass., on the 7th of March, 
 1826. His collegiate education was acquired at 
 Bowdoin, whence he graduated in 1846. And 
 it may be mentioned, in passing, that his alma 
 mater in 1886 conferred on him the degree of LL.D. 
 After graduating he spent four years as preceptor of 
 the far-famed Leicester Academy, and in 1851 com- 
 menced the study of law in the office of Emory Wash- 
 burn, then in full practice in Worcester. After the 
 usual course of three years' study he was admitted to 
 the bar; and from the first year of his professional 
 life to the present time has been a prosperous and 
 highly-esteemed practitioner. His courtesy of man- 
 
 1 By Hon. J. R. Newliall. 
 
 ner, his fairness towards opposing parties and uniform 
 deference to the court have marked him as a gentle- 
 man as well as advocate. 
 
 The career of Mr. Rice as a lawyer, successful as it 
 has been, by no means exhibits his whole character — 
 perhaps not the most useful or conspicuous part. He 
 has been almost constantly called by his fellow-citi- 
 zens to iill positions of honor, trust and responsi- 
 bility. 
 
 In the municipal administration of Worcester he 
 has served in various capacities, particularly in those 
 connected with the educational interests. In 1860 he 
 was mayor, and administered the duties of that high 
 ofiBce with efficiency and universal satisfaction. In 
 the capacity of special justice of the Police Court 
 and as occiipant of the bench of the County Court of 
 Insolvency his course met with marked approval. 
 
 The duties of the office of district attorney or pub- 
 lic prosecutor tor the Worcester District, to which he 
 was elected in 1868 and which he held five years, he 
 discharged with signal ability, with fidelity to the 
 State and a manly regard for the rights of those 
 whom it became his duty to prosecute. Few offices 
 are beset liy more difficulties and annoyances, the 
 duties being always arduous, often disagreeable and 
 sometimes of doubtful justice ; and he who success- 
 fully discharges them is worthy of the highest praise. 
 
 But perhaps it was as a member of Congress that 
 Mr. Bice has become most widely known. He was 
 for ten years a member of that august body, having 
 been first elected in 1876. In the discussions there 
 his speeches had much influence and his committee 
 work was often of the greatest importance. There, as 
 well as at, the bar, he was courteous and forbearing, 
 though never shrinking from the enforcement of his 
 convictions with ardor and eloquence. By his fellow- 
 members of all parties he was regarded with great 
 respect, for every one recognized him as honest and 
 patriotic. He was able in debate and not liable to 
 be taken unawares on any current suliject, was intelli- 
 gent, earnest and persistent as a worker in the inter- 
 est of his constituents, and exhibiting the same zeal 
 that characterized his efforts for clients at the bar. 
 . But it would savor a little of ostentation and at the 
 same time add nothing to the reputation of jNlr. Rice 
 to further pursue this jdiase of his career. 
 
 Some men possess such magnetic power that they, 
 without a particle of self-assertion, draw to them- 
 selves the sympathy and confidence of all with whom 
 they are brought in contact. And such have a 
 controlling influence in the common affairs of 
 life. There are others, on the contrary, who seem 
 always surrounded by a chilling atmosphere, impene- 
 trable to any brotherly feeling or confidential near- 
 ness. Those who best know Mr. Rice will have no 
 difficulty in which class to place him. Assuredly he 
 does not belong to the latter. 
 
 Politically, Mr. Rice is a member of the Republi- 
 can party, and ranks as the first Republican mayor of 
 
h 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 the city. In the War of the Rebellion his voice gave no 
 uncertain sound in urging upon every one the duty of 
 doing their utmost to preserve the integrity of the 
 Union ; and it was not by speech alone that he forti- 
 fied his patriotic sentiments. In his religious senti- 
 ments he is a Unitarian. 
 
 Mr. Rice was united in marriage November 21, 
 1855, with Miss Cornelia A. Moen, of Stamford, Conn., 
 by whom he had two sons, — the eldest, William W. 
 Rice, Jr., dying in childhood, and the youngest, 
 Charles Moen Rice, a graduate of Harvard, is now a 
 member of Mr. Rice's law firm. His first wife died 
 June 16, 1862. In September, 1875, he married Miss 
 Alice M. Miller, daughter of Henry W. Miller, Esq., 
 of Worcester. 
 
 Fraxk Palmer Goulding.' — The .subject of this 
 sketch is descended from Peter Goulding, who lived 
 in Boston in 1665, and afterwards in Worcester and 
 Sudbury. Palmer Goulding, son of Peter, had a son 
 John, who was born in Worcester, October 3, 1726, and 
 inherited from his father the business of tanning. He 
 removed early in life to Grafton, and died November 
 22, 1791. His wife, Lucy Brooks, of Concord, died 
 at the age of thirty-eight, the mother of ten children. 
 Ephraim Goulding, one of the children, was born 
 September 4, 1765, and married, March 6, 1792, 
 Susannah, daughter of William and Sarah (Prentice) 
 Brigham. He was a prominent man in the town, 
 serving as moderator of annual town-meetings eleven 
 years, as selectman six, as assessor one year and as 
 member of the School Committee six years. He died 
 January 14, 1838. Palmer Goulding, son of Ephraim, 
 was born October 11, 1809, and died in Grafton, 
 March 22, 1849. He married, first, Fanny W. May- 
 nard, who died August 9, 1839, having had three 
 children — JohnC, who was born in 1832, and died in 
 1839 ; Susan E., born in 1835, and Frank P., the sub- 
 iect of this sketch, who was born in Grafton, July 2, 
 1837. By a second wife, Ann Cutting, whom he 
 married June 2, 1842, he had Fanny A., born May 4, 
 1843. 
 
 Frank Palmer Goulding while a boy lived in Graf- 
 ton, Holden and Worcester, his father having at 
 various times occupation in those places, but on the 
 death of his father, in 1849, returned to Grafton, and 
 at the age of twelve years was apprenticed to learn 
 the liusiness of making shoes. From 1853 to 1857 he 
 worked at his trade in Worcester, and at the latter date, 
 at the age of twenty, entered the academy at Thetford, 
 Vt., and prepared for college. He graduated at Dart- 
 mouth in 1863, and at once began the study of law in 
 the office of Hon. George F. Hoar, in Worcester. A 
 year at the Harvard Law School completed his pre- 
 liminary law studies, and in 1866 he was admit ted to the 
 Worcester County bar. In the same year he became 
 a partner with Hon. Francis Hensbaw Dewey, then 
 in full practice, and remained with him until Mr. 
 
 1 l(j' W. 'f. Davis. 
 
 Dewey was appointed a justice of the Superior Court 
 in 1869. Mr. Goulding then formed a partnership 
 with Hon. Hamilton Barclay Staples, which con- 
 tinued until Mr. Staples was appointed a Superior 
 Court justice in 1881. Since that time he has been 
 alone, enjoying a large and increasing practice, to 
 which has been added the performance of the duties 
 of city solicitor, which office since 1881 he has con- 
 tinued to hold. 
 
 It is not difiicult to form an estimate of the charac- 
 ter and intellectual powers of a man who, with slen- 
 der educational advantages in early life, has reached 
 the professional position enjoyed by Mr. Goulding. 
 At a bar excelled by none in the State beyond the 
 limits of Suffolk County, he at an early day in his 
 career secured a rank which he has not only sus- 
 tained, but steadily advanced. His appointment as 
 one of the trustees of the new Clark University at- 
 tests both the confidence of the community in which 
 he lives in his business methods and sound judg- 
 ment and their respect for his mental attainments 
 and culture. 
 
 There are other evidences of the regard in which 
 he is held. He was one of the Presidential electors 
 chosen on the Republican ticket at the last election ; 
 he is also one of the trustees of the Worcester 
 County Institution for Savings, a director in the 
 First National Fire Insurance Company, and either a 
 present or retired member of the Worcester School 
 Board. With the pressure of professional business, 
 his political aspirations have been satisfied by two 
 years of service in the House of Representatives. 
 
 Mr. Goulding married, March 29, 1870, Abbie B. 
 Miles, of Pitchburg, and lias two children of fifteen 
 and tea years of age. 
 
 Hon. Johx D. Washburn.'-' — John Davis Wash- 
 burn is a native of Boston, where he was born March 
 27, 1833, being the eldest son of John Marshall 
 Washburn, who married, in 1832, Harriet Webster, 
 daughter of Rev. Daniel Kimball (Harvard Univer- 
 sity, 1800). 
 
 His parents removed to the grand old town of Lan- 
 caster, in Worcester County, when he was five years 
 old, and his early youth was passed amid those beau- 
 tiful surroundings. 
 
 At the age of twenty he graduated in 1853 from 
 Harvard University, and entered the profession of law, 
 studying first with Hon. Emory Washburn and 
 George F. Hoar in 1854, and later receiving a diplo- 
 ma from the Harvard Law School in 1856. 
 
 He practiced law in Worcester, in partnership with 
 Hon. H. C. Rice, and, by a development of his pro- 
 fessional business and inclinations, made a prominent 
 place, first, as an insurance attorney, and lastly, suc- 
 ceeding the late Hon. Alexander H. Bullock as gen- 
 eral agent and attorney of the insurance companies, in 
 1866. 
 
 = I!v the Kditi.r. 
 
ixJly^-yukJ^'l 
 
 lA^'Vi^W 
 
^:^^^Cu^^Z^-^-yZ' 
 
 ^/^c/ 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 Ixi 
 
 By his friendship with Governor Bullock he became 
 associated witli his military family as the chief of his 
 staff, from 18G6 to 1S69, receiving a colonel's com- 
 mission. 
 
 During the period from 1871 to 1881 he was a trus- 
 tee of the Worcester Lunatic Hospital, and from 1875 
 to 1885 filled the same relation to the Massachusetts 
 School for the Feeble-minded. He was a member 
 of the House of Representatives from 1876 to 1879, 
 and a Senator from the city of Worcester in 1884, 
 rendering the excellent public service to be expected 
 from his knowledge of affairs and his general sympa- 
 thies with all matters of care and concern in the Com- 
 monwealth. 
 
 His association has always been sought in corpor- 
 ate and financial affairs. From 1866 to 1880 he was a 
 director of the Citizens' National Bank. 
 
 He has been a member of the Board of Investment 
 of the Worcester County Institution for Savings since 
 1871, and a trustee and treasurer of the Memorial 
 Hospital since 1872. 
 
 He has been a director of the Merchants' and Far- 
 mers' Insurance Company since 1862, and succeeded 
 the Hon. Isaac Davis as president in 1883. 
 
 His large humanitarian instincts and tastes, taking 
 hold on all matters that have to do with educational 
 and intellectual advancement, have made for him a 
 congenial field where associates have warmly wel- 
 comed him in the numerous relations he has sustained 
 to our higher institutions and learned societies. Since 
 1871 he has been a councilor and secretary of the 
 American Antiquarian Society, and is a councilor of 
 the Massachusetts Historical Society. 
 
 He is also an original member of the American 
 Historical Association, and has been, since 1884, a 
 corresponding member of the Georgia Historical So- 
 ciety. It is much to say of one that he stands high 
 with his own alma mater. Colonel Washburn is a 
 member of the overseers' committee on the govern- 
 ment of Harvard University, and one of the directors 
 of the Alumni Association of the same institution. 
 He is one of the Board of Trustees and secretary of 
 the new Clark University of Worcester. 
 
 This is a good record for any man to have won in 
 middle life, and opens a field of service worthy of the 
 best ripened powers, such as promises to give the 
 subject of this sketch many years of useful citizen- 
 ship. 
 
 Colonel Washburn is a man of commanding pres- 
 ence, with a kindly dignity always open to approach. 
 
 He married, in 1860, Mary F., daughter of Charles 
 L. Putnam, Esq. (Dartmouth College, 1830), and has 
 one daughter, Edith, who married, in 1884, Richard 
 Ward Greene, Esq., of Worcester. 
 
 Edward Livingston Davis,' sou of Isaac and 
 Mary H. E. Davis, was born in Worcester, April 22, 
 1834. He began his education in the public schools 
 
 ' By J. Eyarts Greene, 
 
 of his native town, completing his course at the High 
 School in 1850 and was graduated at Brown University 
 in 1854. Having studied law in the office of his father 
 and at the Harvard Law School, he became a mem- 
 ber of the Worcester County bar in 1857. 
 
 He gave up the practice of the law the following 
 year, and associated himself with Nathan Washburn 
 and George W. Gill in the manufacture of railway 
 iron, locomotive tires and car-wheels, a business es- 
 tablished in 1857 in Worcester, which soon gave 
 profitable employment to a large capital. In 1864 a 
 corporation was formed, under the name of the 
 Washburn Iron Company, for carrying on the same 
 business. Mr. Davis was the treasurer and one of 
 the chief stockholders in this company, and contin- 
 ued to hold that office until 1882, when, upon the 
 death of his associate, Mr. Gill, he sold his interest 
 and retired from the corporation. 
 
 Since that time, as indeed before, he has been 
 much occupied with various business engagements 
 and public and private trusts, which the care of his 
 own property and the confidence of others in his 
 capacity and faithfulness imposed upon him. He 
 has been a director of the Boston and Albany, the 
 Norwich and Worcester, and the Vermont and Mas- 
 sachusetts Railroad Companies, president of the pro- 
 prietors of the Rural Cemetery, president of the Wor- 
 cester County Musical Association, member of the 
 Council of the American Antiquarian Society, and 
 director and trustee of many other institutions and 
 companies in his native city, and actively and help- 
 fully concerned in all enterprises designed to promote 
 the welfare of the city and its people. 
 
 While not ambitious of official honors or political 
 influence, Mr. Davis has not refused to bear his part 
 when his services were required iu responsible posi- 
 tions in the government of the city or State. He 
 was elected a member of the Common Council for 
 1865 and held the office for three years, for the last 
 year being president of the board. He was mayor of 
 Worcester in 1874. During his administration im- 
 portant public improvements were carried out, nota- 
 bly the construction of a portion of Park Avenue, 
 whose value has since been recognized. While 
 holding this office Mr. Davis saw the growing need 
 of the city for additional parks and play-grounds, 
 which he has since in another official capacity and 
 privately, so efficiently helped to supply. 
 
 While he was mayor, the Soldiers' Monument on 
 the Common was publicly accepted by him on behalf 
 of the city, and it was formally dedicated with ap- 
 propriate ceremony. It is an interesting coincidence 
 that his father, the Hon. Isaac Davis, accepted for 
 the city the monument erected on the Common in 
 memory of Colonel Timothy Bigelow, Worcester's 
 most distinguished soldier of the Revolution. This 
 dedication took place on the 19th of April, 1861, at 
 the moment when other Worcester soldiers, among 
 the first to be in arms in defence of the Union against 
 
Ixii 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 foes of its own household, were attacked in the 
 streets of Baltimore, and the first blood was shed in 
 the great Civil War, whose heroes are commemorated 
 by the monument dedicated by the second Mayor 
 Davis thirteen years later. These two monuments in 
 memory of the soldiers of two wars — for independ- 
 ence and for union — are the only memorial structures 
 on the Common. 
 
 Mr. Davis was a member of the State Senate in 
 1876. He has since repeatedly declined to be the 
 candidate of his party for various positions, includ- 
 ing that of Representative in Congress, preferring 
 private to political life. 
 
 He has not, however, declined employments of a 
 public nature other than political, and has been 
 chairman of the commissioners of the city's sinking 
 funds, an office of financial responsibility, and a 
 member of the Parks Commission. In this latter ca- 
 pacity, as well as by his gift of a portion of the Lake 
 Park and a fund for its improvement, he has con- 
 tributed materially to devise the present comprehen- 
 sive scheme of public parks and play-grounds, and to 
 secure its adoption, as well as to remove obstructions 
 from the Common and prevent encroachments upon 
 it, and thus to preserve it for the free use of the people, 
 as a place of recreation and an adornment of the city. 
 
 Mr. Davis is a member of the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church and has long been senior warden of the parish 
 of All Saints. When the present church was built, 
 from 1874 to 1877, he was chairman of the building 
 and fijiance committees, and contributed in time and 
 money more than any other member of the parish. 
 He has repeatedly represented the parish in the Dio- 
 cesan Convention, has been for several years a mem- 
 ber of the standing committee of the diocese, and 
 twice one of the four lay deputies of the diocese to the 
 general convention of the church. 
 
 Mr. Davis has been twice married. Hannah Gard- 
 ner, daughter of Seth Adams, Esq., of Providence, 
 Rhode Island, to wliom he was married in 1859, died 
 in 1861, leaving a son, who survived her but a few 
 days. He married, in 1869, Maria Louisa, youngest 
 daughter of the Rev. Chandler Robbins, D.D., of 
 Boston. They have two daughters, Eliza Frothing- 
 ham and Theresa, and a son, Livingston. 
 
 James Edward Estabrook.' — For nearly sixty 
 years the name and title " Colonel Estabrook," de- 
 scending from father to son, has been familiarly 
 known and respected, both within and beyond the 
 borders of this community. 
 
 " Colonel '' James Edward Estabrook, the subject 
 of this sketch, may be said to have inherited the 
 title, by courtesy, from his father, Colonel James Es- 
 tabrook, of the State Militia, the gallant commander 
 of the last Worcester County Regiment of Cavalry, 
 and who had the honor of leading the escort at the 
 reception of Lafayette in 1824. 
 
 1 By John J. Jewett. 
 
 The genealogy of the family is easily and clearly 
 traceable as far back as 1413, to the Estebroks in 
 Wales. 
 
 The American line begins with the Rev. .loseph 
 Estabrook, born in Enfield, England, who came to 
 Concord, Mass., in 1660, was graduated from Harvard 
 College in 1664, and soon after was settled as a min- 
 ister in Concord, Mass., where he was a colleague for 
 many years of the famous Rev. Edward Bulkeley, 
 remaining there during a pastorate of forty-four 
 years until his death, in 1711. Shattuck's " History 
 of Concord " refers to him as : 
 
 " A man of great worth, and eminently fitted for 
 his oflice. His appearance carried with it so much 
 patriarchal dignity, that people were induced to love 
 him as a friend and reverence him as a father. These 
 distinguished traits obtained for him, in the latter 
 part of his life, the name of The Apostle." 
 
 In an obituary notice, the Boston News Letter of 
 September 18, 1711, says: " He was eminent for his 
 skill in the Hebrew language, a most orthodox, 
 learned and worthy divine, of holy life and conver- 
 sation." 
 
 Three of his four sons became ministers, the eld- 
 est, Joseph, settling in Lexington, Mass., and refer- 
 ence is made to this branch in Hudson's " History of 
 Lexington," as "the noted ministerial family." 
 
 Ebenezer Estabrook, the father of Major James 
 Estabrook, and grandfather of James Edward, of 
 Worcester, removed from Lexington to the neighbor- 
 ing town of Holden about the time of the Revolu- 
 tion and founded the Worcester County branch of 
 the family. 
 
 Colonel James Estabrook removed from Holden, 
 his native place, to Rutland and thence to Worcester 
 in 1828, and, with the exception of a few years spent 
 in Bostion, his active business life was closely identi- 
 fied with the rapidly developing town and city of 
 Worcester until his death, in 1874. 
 
 During the administration of Governor Boutwell 
 he was appointed sheriff of Worcester County, from 
 which office he was removed, for political resisons 
 only, on the return of the Whig party to power. 
 
 Colonel Estabrook was a devoted and distinguished 
 member of the order of Free Masonry, and as early 
 as 1825, on the organization of the Worcester County 
 Commandery of Knights Templar, he was elected 
 the first Eminent Commander of that honorable 
 body. Always a respected citizen, he was entrusted 
 with many local interests, was an honored and in- 
 fluential member of the Old South, and later of the 
 Union Church, and was among the first to take an 
 active and leading part in the early development 
 of the real estate and mechanical interests of the 
 city. 
 
 As one of the well-known men whose lives form an 
 important part of the history of their times, we quote 
 the following extract from an extended tribute in the 
 records of that honorable and exclusive organization 
 
Zy^^l^t..^^ 
 
 SSx:^"^^^- 
 
^'^m^'^i 
 
 ^.-5$gf5*4'^;; '■^''' 
 
 'y^tl€yCcuiyt^ 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 Ixiii 
 
 known as the Worcester Fire Society, of which he was 
 a member, being tlie only person selected for this dis- 
 tinction at the annual meeting in 1830 : 
 
 " Colonel James Estabrook was a man of marked 
 intelligence, who accomplished more by knowledge 
 later acquired than have many men, whose education, 
 begun at college, seems to have been absolutely dis- 
 continued theu and there." 
 
 From the same authority, the Hon. John D. Wash- 
 burn, we also quote the following paragraph, not only 
 as a faithful description of the founder of the Worces- 
 ter branch of the family, but also as a remarkably 
 terse and vivid pen-picture of his son. Colonel James 
 E. Estabrook, the present postmaster of Worcester, in 
 whom the type and characteristics are faithfully per- 
 petuated : 
 
 " In stature he was below middle height, but made 
 the most of such height as he had by the erection of 
 his figure and military bearing. His complexion was 
 very dark, and in this, as well as his features, he re- 
 sembled the great Democratic leader, Stephen A. 
 Douglas. His manner was quick, his eye bright and 
 intelligent. Opposed to the party usually dominant 
 here, he held few offices, though counted a politician, 
 but he never adopted the coarser modes of warfare in 
 politics, was courteous to his opponents, refrained 
 from the imputation of unworthy motives, and carried 
 none of the bitterness of party contest into the rela- 
 tions of private life." 
 
 This latter trait is especially true of his son, James 
 Edward, who has been a life-long Democrat and a rec- 
 ognized leader and oracle of his party, not only in 
 Worcester County, but also prominent in the party 
 councils of the State and nation for a quarter of a 
 century. 
 
 He has been a delegate to every National Conven- 
 tion of his party since the close of the war to the time 
 of his appointment to a Federal office in 1887. He 
 has served as chairman of the State Executive Com- 
 mittee, and of the County, District, Congressional and 
 City Committees through many years of his party's 
 minority in the State, and has ever been held in high 
 esteem as an honest and honorable politician even by 
 his political opponents. 
 
 In this connection, his life-long friendship with the 
 late lamented Judge Adin Thayer, one of the ac- 
 knowledged leaders of the Republican party in the 
 State, will be recalled by their fellow-townsmen, among 
 whom it had been long a matter of common remark 
 that these two natural leaders of opposing forces only 
 suspended their intimate social relations for a few 
 weeks, during the active hostilities of a State or na- 
 tional campaign. 
 
 Colonel Estabrook has served his party in every 
 capacity that choice or party exigency imposed upon 
 him, with or without hope or prospect of reward, and 
 his selection by President Cleveland to fill the office 
 of postmaster, to succeed General Josiah Pickett, was 
 received with a very general expression of approba- 
 
 tion from his fellow-citizens, without regard to politi- 
 cal affiliation, as a well-deserved recognition of his 
 long and faithful devotion to the principles of his 
 party. 
 
 As a member of the School Board, president of the 
 Common Council and for two years, 187-1 and 1875, as 
 a representative of the city in the General Court of 
 Ma.ssachusetts, Colonel Estabrook rendered able and 
 faithful service, and discharged his duties with credit 
 to his constituents and with honor to himself 
 
 He is now one of the directors of the Free Public 
 Library of Worcester, an honor peculiarly in harmony 
 with his tastes and acquirements, and his long famili- 
 arity with the good society of books. 
 
 Born in Worcester October 29, 1829, he prepared 
 for college in the Worcester High School, and was 
 graduated from Yale in 1851. He then studied law 
 with Judge Benjamin F. Thomas, attended the Har- 
 vard Law School, and was admitted to the Worcester 
 bar in the autumn of 1853, at the age of twenty-three. 
 Later he became the law partner of Judge Dwight 
 Foster, of the Supreme Court, and practiced his pro- 
 fession until the breaking out of the War of the 
 Rebellion. 
 
 Early in that critical period of the nation's life 
 Colonel Estabrook promptly tendered his services to 
 the government, and was assigned to duty on the staff" 
 of General Charles Devens, and later on the statf of 
 General Butler, in the Department of the Gulf. 
 
 Compelled to resign from active service, by reason 
 of sickness, in 1862, he returned to Worcester, and 
 has since devoted his time to the care of his valuable 
 estates, the duties of political life, the genial society 
 of his chosen friends and the daily companionshiii of 
 his library of classic, historical and standard authors. 
 
 Few, comparatively, of his many friends and ac- 
 quaintances know or appreciate the fact that this 
 modest, genial and unassuming gentleman is still, at 
 three-score years, a familiar student of the classics, 
 and is the owner of one of the largest and choicest 
 libraries of rare editions of both ancient and modern 
 literature in the city. 
 
 Colonel James Estabrook, the father, married Al- 
 mira Read, of Rutland, Mass., and to them were born 
 five children — ^one daughter and four sons. Two of 
 these children are now living— the present postmaster 
 and his brother, Arthur Edgar Estabrook, an esteemed 
 citizen of Worcester, who shares with his brother the 
 care of their joint interest in the family projierty. 
 Colonel James Edward Estabrook remains a ripe and 
 genial bachelor, having never married. 
 
 Hon. E. B. Stoddabd.' — Elijah Brigham Stod- 
 dard, the son of Col. Elijah Stoddard, a worthy and 
 esteemed citizen of Upton, Mass., was born in that 
 town on June 5, 1826. 
 
 At tlie age of twenty-one he was graduated from 
 Brown University, and soon after came to Worcester, 
 
 > By .J. H. Jewett. 
 
Ixi 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUiNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 where he studied law with Hon. John C. B. Davis, 
 and was admitted to the Worcester County bar in 
 June, 1849. 
 
 For nearly forty years he has been a widely- 
 recognized factor in the professional, political and 
 social life of Worcester, and has filled many public 
 trusts with distinction. 
 
 "Colonel" Stoddard, as the subject of this sketch 
 is familiarly known, was the first commander of the 
 Third Battalion of Worcester County Rifles, organized 
 in 1858, and was later a member of the military staff 
 of Governor N. P. Banks, in 1860, and on the occa- 
 sion of the reception to the Prince of Wales, during 
 that year, Colonel Stoddard was one of the officers 
 assigned to duty as personal escort to the prince. 
 
 On his admission to the bar in 1849 he began 
 the practice of law in partnership with Hon. John 
 C. B. Davis, under the firm of Davis & Stoddard, 
 which continued until 1S52. 
 
 He then became the law-partner of his father-in- 
 law, Hon. Isaac Davis, a man of great prominence 
 and large estates in the community, which association 
 continued until 1857, when Colonel Stoddard was 
 appointed district attorney for Worcester County, 
 succeeding John H. Matthews, Esq., deceased in 
 office. This position he held for about six months, 
 until the expiration of the term. For nearly twenty 
 years he was engaged in the regular practice of his 
 profession, withdrawing somewhat from active prac- 
 tice in the courts in 1866, to accept the responsible 
 duties of secretary and business manager of the Mer- 
 chants' and Farmers' Fire Insurance Company, a 
 position whicli he has ably and faithfully filled for 
 the past twenty-two years and which he still holds. 
 
 Colonel Stoddard has, in fact, always been a man 
 of affairs, prominent and helpful in the public con- 
 cerns of the city, dealing with the affairs of men and 
 property on a large and varied scale, and intrusted by 
 his fellow-citizens with the care of large corporate 
 and individual interests. 
 
 Beginning his public duties as the Representative 
 of the city of Worcester in the Legislature of 1856, 
 he has since ably served the city and State in many 
 capacities. He was president of the Common Council 
 in 1858; later, a member of the Board of Aldermen 
 for two years ; twice elected to the Massachusetts 
 Senate (1863-64), and served two terms as State 
 Councilor of this district (1871-72). 
 
 Elected mayor of Worcester in 1882, his adminis- 
 tration was able and dignified, and his judgment in 
 matters of grave importance to the city has been 
 confirmed by subsequent events as both broad and 
 judicious. 
 
 Always actively interested in the progress of popu- 
 lar education, he has been a member of the School 
 Board for nine years, and for the past ten years has been 
 a member of the State Board of Education, where he 
 has rendered zealous and lasting service. His native 
 tact and business discretion has been recognized by 
 
 thirty years of continuous service as a director of the 
 Providence & Worcester Railroad, as a solicitor and 
 trustee for many years of the State Mutual Life In- 
 surance Company, and as the trusted counselor of 
 various public and private enterprises. 
 
 In addition to his other duties, he is now the presi- 
 dent of the t^uinsigamond National Bank, and also 
 president of the Worcester Five Cent Savings Bank. 
 
 Personally Colonel Stoddard is a gentleman of pure 
 and upright life, uniting a kindly disposition with a 
 natural dignity of manner. 
 
 He has been a life-long Republican, an earnest 
 worker and a faithful friend and ally of moral and 
 political progress. 
 
 He married, in 1852, Mary E., the eldest daughter 
 of Hon. Isaac Davis, by whom he has three children 
 now living — two daughters and a son. 
 
 Edwin Conant. ' — One of the earliest European 
 lodgments in Massachusetts, as distinguislied from 
 Plymouth, was made in the year 1625, at Cape Ann. 
 It was a little planting and fishing station, under the 
 superintendence of the sturdy Roger Conant, who 
 liad previously been at Plymouth and Nantasket. He 
 was a native of Budleigh, in Devonshire, England, 
 born in 1593, and came to America in 1623, soon be- 
 coming a prominent character among the settlers. He 
 was a remarkable man — remarkable for firmness, for 
 self-reliance, and, it may be added, for utter contempt 
 of the common and smaller hardships and annoyances 
 of life, that so distress some and trouble most of us. 
 
 The fishing and planting were not successful, and 
 the station was broken up in the autumn of 1626, 
 and Conant, with most of the company, removed to 
 the territory now forming Salem, and settled on the 
 tongue of land through which Bridge Street now 
 runs. This settlement was permanent, and made 
 before Endicott or Winthrop came.^ 
 
 ' By J. R. NewhaU 
 
 2 The severity of the winter, added to the privations they endured, so 
 diBCoiiraged the little band that some of them proposed abandoning the 
 enterprise. Not so with Conant. His mind was fixed, and go ho would 
 not. He had suffered hardships in other places and surmounted many 
 difficulties, but liere be bad set his foot, and wiis determined to make iu 
 this vicinage a permanent stand. He says in a petition to the court, 
 May, 1671 : " I was .... one of the first, if not the very first, that re- 
 solved and made good my settlement in matter of plantation with my 
 family in this colony of Massachusetts Bay, and have bin instrumeutal 
 both for the founding and carrying on of the same, and when, iu the in- 
 fancy thereof, it was in great hazard of being deserted, I was a means, 
 through grace assisting me, to stop the flight of those few that there 
 were heire with me, and that by my utter deniall to goe away witli them 
 who would have gon either for England or mostly for Viiginia, but 
 thereupon staid to the hazard of our lives."' It is stated, on very good 
 authority, that bis son Roger was the first white child born in Salem ; 
 but an ancient record says that at a church-meeting, in 17o3, the old 
 church Bible wiis presented to John Massey, a son of Jeffrey Massey, a 
 companion of Conant, as the " first town-born child." 
 
 Conant was likewise among the first settlers of Beverly, which is just, 
 on the other side of Bass River — Beverly, whose beautiful shores have 
 now for years been the summer resort of the wealthy and refined from 
 far and near, and which, during the last year or two, has so agitated 
 our Legislature on the question of territorial division. Beverly was set- 
 tled im a part of Salem about 1(530, and by 1649 the settlers were suffi- 
 ciently numerous to ask of the Salem Church "that some course be 
 
■^'""^'^o, 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 Ixv 
 
 It is interesting to dwell upon the life of Roger 
 Conant, so grand a type of the primitive and true New 
 England character; to trace along the line of descent 
 from him, the headof oneof our largest and best New 
 England families. 
 
 Edwin Conant, the subject of this sketch, and 
 many other well-known individuals can trace their 
 lineage directly to him, and well may they be proud 
 of their descent, though better, perhaps, that they 
 should endeavor to emulate his virtues. 
 
 Edwin Conant, whose portrait appears in connec- 
 tion with this sketch, was born in Sterling, Worcester 
 County, on the 20th of August, 1810. After pursuing 
 the u>ual course of preliminary academic training, he 
 entered Harvard College, where he graduated in 
 1829. Proposing to make the law his life business, 
 he prepared himself for the duties of that honorable 
 though often perplexing profession, under the direc- 
 tion of well-qualified instructors, and in 1832 com- 
 menced practice. After continuing in that calling 
 lor some ten years, his attention was directed to other 
 pursuits, and he did not return to the law. 
 
 In his religious views Mr. Conant has been a con- 
 sistent Unitarian, thus swerving from the rigid Cal- 
 vinistic faith of his early ancestors. Politically he 
 was an adlierent of the old Whig party, but on the 
 
 taken for the means of grace among themselves, because of the teilious- 
 nesa and difliculties over the water, and other inconveniences." The 
 town was incorporated in IGU8 by its present name— a name, however, 
 which was not satisfactory to several of the principal settlei"S, especially 
 to Conant, who, in the petition above referred to.saj's : " Now my umble 
 suite and request is unto this honourable Court onlie that the name of our 
 town or plantation may he altered or changed from Beverly, and be 
 called Budligh. I have two reasons that have moved me unto this re- 
 quest, — the first is the great dislike and discontent of many of our peo- 
 ple for this name of Beverly, because (wee being but a small place) it 
 liatli caused on us a constant nickname of beggtcrli/ being in the 
 mouths of many, and no order was given, or consent by the people to 
 their agent, for any name until they were shure of being a town granted 
 in the first place. Secondly, I being the first that had house in Salem 
 (and neither had any hand in naming either that or any other towne), 
 and myself, with those that were then with uie, being all from the west- 
 ern part of England, desire this western name of Budligh, a market 
 town in Devonshire, and neere unto the sea, as we are heere in this 
 place, and where myself was borne." 
 
 Roger Conant appears by every one to have been regarded as a very 
 upright man ; and the Rev. Mr. White, who took so active an interest 
 ill the settlement of Massachusetts, styles him " a pious, sober and pru- 
 dent gentleman." That he was deeply pious, no one can doubt on re- 
 viewing his course. The petition for the change of name from Beverly 
 to Bndleiiih ends in this strain : " If this, my sute, may find acceptation 
 with your worships I shall rest umbly thankfull, and my praiers shall 
 not cease unto the throne of grace fo.- God's guidance and his blessing to 
 be on all your weightie proceedings, and that iustice and righteousness 
 may be uverie where administered, and sound doctrine, truth and holi- 
 ness everie where taught and practised throughout this wilderness to all 
 posterity, which God grant. Amen." The court, however, did not 
 grant the " umble petition," and Beverly the name is to this day. 
 
 It has been claimed that, strictly speaking, Roger Conant was the firet 
 colonial Governor of Massachusetts. Probably the Eudicotts and AVin- 
 throps would not concede that. Yet there is no doubt that he was Gov- 
 ernor of the little colony that first made a permanent settlement within 
 our borders. 
 
 The picturesque little island in the bay, now generally known as Gov- 
 ernor's Island — sometimes as Winthrop's — was firet named Conant's 
 Island, in hi>nor of the worthy old Roger. In 1632 it was granted to 
 Governor Wiuthrop for a garden. Thence it was called Winthrop's or 
 Governor's Island. 
 E 
 
 disruption of that he joined the Democratic ranks 
 and still maintains his Jefforsouian principles. He 
 has not been much in public office, though always 
 interested in public affairs; has been something of a 
 military man, though not exposed to the "shocks of 
 war," as he served in peaceful times; has held 
 brigade and staff offices, and been a judge advocate. 
 
 Sterling, Mr. Conant's native place, is much in- 
 debted to him in various ways, especially for the 
 generous gift of the funds for the erection of the brick 
 edifice for the Free Public Library, and offices for the 
 town authorities. The building was dedicated to the 
 memory of his eldest daughter, Elizabeth Ann 
 Conant. 
 
 Mr. Conant has been twice married. His first wife 
 was Maria Estabrook, daughter of Hon. Joseph Esta- 
 brook, of Royalston, whom lie married in October, 
 1833, and by whom he had two daughters, neither of 
 whom are living. His second witie was Elizabeth 
 S. Wheeler, granddaughter of Rev. Joseph Wheeler, 
 Unitarian minister and register of probate. She was 
 also a granddaughter of Rev. Dr. Sumner, so long the 
 able minister of the First Church of Shrewsbury. 
 
 A genealogy of the Conant family has been pub- 
 lished, by which the lines may be traced to the good 
 old settler Roger, and wherein the notable achieve- 
 ments of some of the later members may be found 
 recorded. 
 
 Hon. Charles Augustus Dewey.' — Judge Dewey 
 is deservedly pre-eminent among Milford's most dis- 
 tinguished, honored and trusted citizens. His pedi- 
 gree, heredity and education gave him an auspicious 
 introduction to public life, which he has worthily 
 justified by his own exertions. He was born in 
 Northampton, Mass., December 29, 1830. His father 
 was Hon. Charles Augustus Dewey, for nearly thirty 
 years judge of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, 
 and his mother a sister of Governor De Witt Clin- 
 ton, the pride of New York's executive chair. He 
 was fitted for college at Williston Seminary, East- 
 hampton, and graduated from Williams College in 
 1851. He first studied law with his brother, the late 
 Hon. Francis H. Dewey, of Worcester; then a year 
 at the Harvard Law School, and afterward in the 
 city of New York, where he was admitted to the bar 
 in 1854. Having practiced law there till the fall of 
 1856, he went to Davenport, Iowa, and pursued his 
 practice for two years. He came to Milford in 
 March, 1859, and for the next two years was a pro- 
 fessional partner of Hon. Hamilton B. Staples. 
 
 In 1861 he was appointed trial justice. In 1864 
 the Police Court of Milford was established, and he 
 was appointed judge. He held this office till the 
 Third District Court of Southern Worcester was or- 
 ganized, in 1872, when he was appointed judge of 
 said court, and has since discharged the duties of 
 that office down to the present time. Meanwhile he 
 
 iBy Bev. Adin Ballou. 
 
Ixvi 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 has served seven years on the School Committee of 
 Milford, and for some time as its chairman. For 
 nearly twenty years he has heen a trustee of the 
 town library and of late chairman of the board. 
 
 In all these professional and official positions 
 Judge Dewey has discharged his responsible duties 
 not only with admirable ability, fidelity and prompt- 
 itude, but to such complete satisfaction of all parties 
 concerned as rarely falls to the lot of one obliged to 
 deal with so much conflicting mentality and interest. 
 He has won for himself a remarkable amount of 
 approbation and very little censure even from those 
 whose passions and prejudices he has crossed. He is 
 learned in legal lore, wears an inherited mantle of 
 judicial rectitude, and holds the scales of legal equity 
 with a firm hand of clemency. At his bar the inno- 
 cent and guilty are alike sure of both justice and 
 kindness. In public and private intercourse he is 
 intelligent, candid, conscientious and courteous, and 
 therefore universally respected. Id social life he is 
 urbane, genial, modest and dignified, and so welcome 
 to every reputable circle. In politics he is a stanch 
 Republican, in religion an exemplary Congregation- 
 alist, and in literature an amateur of the best. He is 
 simple in his personal habits, temperate, physiologi- 
 cally circumspect and averse to all forms of extrava- 
 gance. In social and domestic affairs he is unosten- 
 tatious, prudent and economical, without stinginess, 
 and puts intellectual entertainments far above sensu- 
 ous luxuries. His health is delicate rather than 
 robust, and he watches over it so as to make the best 
 of it, thereby managing to execute a large amount of 
 business on a small capital of physical strength. He 
 is a man of strong convictions on subjects he deems 
 important, and pronounces his opinions without 
 equivocation when properly necessary, but is not a 
 controversialist from choice, and never puts on airs 
 of dogmatic assumption or offensive severity towards 
 opponents. He evidently desires to be the friend 
 and well-wisher of his race, and, so far as compatible 
 with true moral integrity, to live peaceably with all 
 men. Of the many commendable ways in which he 
 is practically exemplifying this laudable desire, it 
 will hardly be expected that a brief biographical 
 sketch should make detailed mention. Perhaps the 
 few already indicated may suffice. 
 
 Judge Dewey was married to Miss Marietta N. 
 Thayer, daughter of Alexander W. and Marietta 
 (Dustan) Thayer, born in Worcester, June 22, 1847; 
 ceremony in Milford, March 12, 1867, by Rev. George 
 G. Jones. She has the ancestral honor of being a 
 descendant of the celebrated Hannah Dustan, of 
 Indian captivity renown. This marriage was one of 
 mutual, intelligent affection, and has been a happy 
 one. Mrs. Dewey has proved herself worthy of her 
 husband, and their connubial house has been a plea- 
 sant one. They have one promising daughter, — Maria 
 Thayer Dewey, born in Milford, August 8,1872. May 
 many divine benedictions rest on this family group. 
 
 Thomas H. Dodge' was born September 27, 
 182.3, in the town of Eden, county of Lamoille, 
 State of Vermont, being the fourth son of Malachi 
 F. Dodge and his wife, Jane Hutchins, who were 
 married in Belvidere, Vt., Jan. 9, 1812. His father, 
 Malachi F., was born in New Boston, N. H., Aug. 
 20, 1789; his grandfather, Enoch Dodge, was born 
 in Beverly, Mass., 1762, and where his great-grand- 
 father, Elisha Dodge, was born May 19, 1723, and 
 who was the fifth and last child of Elisha Dodge, of 
 Beverly, and his wife, Mary Kimball, of Wenham, 
 Mass., who were published Oct. 8, 1709. Young 
 Dodge had the advantages of good district schools, 
 his father being a well-to-do farmer. The family 
 subsequently moved to the town of Lowell, Vt., and 
 resided on a farm there until Thomas was about four- 
 teen years old, when his eldest brother, Malachi F., 
 Jr., having secured a desirable position with the 
 Nashua Manufacturing Co., of Nashua, N. H., a 
 change of residence was made by the family to that 
 place. 
 
 At Nashua, Thomas H. attended for a time the 
 public schools, and then entered Gymnasium Insti- 
 tute, at Pembroke, N. H. At this institution he 
 made rapid progress, and ranked among the first in 
 his class. 
 
 Returning to Nashua, he secured a position in the 
 spinning and weaving departments of the Nashua 
 Manufacturing Co., which gave him an opportunity 
 to become familiar with those departments, in the art 
 he was desirous of fully understanding. In this po- 
 sition he remained until he gained a full knowledge 
 of the processes while at the same time earning money 
 sufficient to permit him to take a course of study in 
 the Nashua Literary Institute, then under the charge 
 of Prof. David Crosby. In the meantime he had 
 been pursuing a course of study in elementary law, 
 the books being obtained from one of the leading 
 law firms of the place, who encouraged him in his 
 studies. He also continued his studies in Latin un- 
 der a private tutor. 
 
 Diligent and careful investigations and study into 
 the early rise and progress of cotton manufactures in 
 the United States had also engrossed his attention, 
 as being intimately connected with the business in 
 which he was engaged, — he was, in fact, an enthusiast 
 in those early years upon the great good and national 
 prosperity that would result from mechanical and 
 manufacturing industries if properly encouraged, and 
 in the year 1850, he published his " Review of the 
 Rise, Progress and Present Importance of Cotton Man- 
 ufactures of the United States; together with Statis- 
 tistics, showing the Comparative and Relative Renriin- 
 eration of English and American Operatives." 
 
 When he first became a resident of Nashua, the 
 Nashua Onzette was printed in a rear room iu which 
 the post-office was located, and young Dodge would 
 
 1 Extracts from extended biography. 
 
5S=SsSS~ ^X S>, 
 
 T^^y^. 
 
 ^C^_j^ 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 xvii 
 
 go in and watch the operation of the hand-press used 
 for printing the paper, and his quick mind at once 
 • ran to devising some way to print on a plane surface 
 and yet use a rotary motion, so as to print (rom a roll 
 of blank paper. The Nashua and Lowell Railroad 
 was something new, and he took an interest in look- 
 ing at trains as they came in, and one day he noticed 
 that the parallel-rod, which connected the driving- 
 wheels, had the very motion which he wanted, and 
 he drew the plan of a press, and later made one 
 which worked perfectly and attracted much notice. 
 One day, shortly after a description of the press had 
 appeared in the public journal.s, a gentleman called 
 to see Mr. Dodge, who found him to be a Boston 
 manufacturer by the name of John Bachelder. Mr. 
 Bachelder frankly made known his business and the 
 object of his visit. He was largely engaged in the 
 manufacture of cotton bags for salt, flour and similar 
 materials. He said he had seen the notice of the 
 press and came to see it, since he thought it was just 
 what he wanted. Said he wanted to print the cloth 
 direct from the bale, and should like to see it work. 
 The press worked perfectly, was bought by Mr. 
 Bachelder and patented, and came into very general 
 use. 
 
 The publicity of this invention was the beginning 
 of a new era in machinery for printing paper, which 
 resulted in the production of the lightning presses of 
 the present day. Being now in the possession of suf- 
 ficient funds, he decided to study law. 
 
 In 1S51 he entered the office of Hon. George Y. 
 Sawyer and Colonel A. F. Stevens, of Nashua, N. H. 
 As an illustration of the quick appreciation and util- 
 ization by Mr. Dodge of favorable opportunities, he, 
 while a law student, saw that the prospective city of 
 Nashua must necessarily extend in a short time to 
 the south, and with two other gentlemen purchased 
 a large part of the Jesse Bowers farm, lying on the 
 west of South Main Street, and had it surveyed and 
 platted as an addition to Nashua. 
 
 The lots were in demand as soon as offered, and 
 this investment proved very profitable, while, at the 
 same time, adding much to the prosperity of the new 
 city, which was soon after chartered, Mr. Dodge 
 being elected a member of the first City Council. He 
 was admitted to the bar December 5, 1854, and com- 
 menced practice in Nashua. Aside from his position 
 as a lawyer, he was extensively and publicly known 
 as a skilled manufacturer, a meritorious inventor and 
 a man of science, and which attainments having at- 
 tracted the attention of Hon. Charles Mason, then com- 
 missioner of patents, he was, in March, 1855, appointed 
 to a position in the examining corps of the United 
 StatesPatentOflice, Washington, D.C. Atfirstheheld 
 the position of an assistant examiner, but was soon 
 promoted to the position of examiner-in-chief. 
 
 When the famous Hussey Guard patent for mowing 
 and reaping-machines came up for an extension, 
 many of the ablest lawyers in the United States were 
 
 engaged as counsel, either for or in opposition to the 
 extension. Judge Mason referred the application to 
 Mr. Dodge, who reported the invention both new and 
 novel at the date of the patent, and that, under the 
 law, Hussey was entitled to the extension. This re- 
 port and decision was confirmed by Judge Mason, 
 and the extension granted. Litigation in the Fed- 
 eral Courts soon followed, to test the validity of such 
 action and the patent, and both were fully confirmed 
 in the Circuit Courts of the United States, and which 
 decisions of the Circuit Courts were subsequently 
 sustjiined, on appeal, by the Supreme Court of the 
 United States. 
 
 While Judge Mason remained at the head of the 
 Patent Oflice the assistance of Mr. Dodge was con- 
 stantly required in appeal cases, and upon the ap- 
 pointment of Judge Holt his services were still relied 
 upon by the new commissioner of patents. 
 
 Judge Holt, in the administration of the office, 
 reached the conclusion that a permanent court or 
 board of appeals ought to be established to meet the 
 public wants, and he appointed the three chief ex- 
 aminers, viz. : Thomas H. Dodge, DeWitt C. Law- 
 rence and A. B. Little. The establishment of this 
 board was a movement of great importance. 
 
 The decisions of the Board of Appeals, under the 
 direction of Mr. Dodge, changed the entire aspect of 
 the business before the Patent Office ; order, justice 
 and promptness in its official actions were recognized 
 by applicants throughout the country, while a stimu- 
 lus was given to the inventive skill and ingenuity of 
 the nation that resulted largely, no doubt, in the 
 production of many of the great and valuable inven- 
 tions of the past thirty years. He resigned Novem- 
 ber 2, 1858. 
 
 Mr. Dodge was admitted to practice in the Supreme 
 Court of the United States, and for twenty-five years 
 and more, thereafter, he had a very large and profita- 
 ble law practice in patent causes, and was, during 
 that time, actively engaged in the great suits relating 
 to the sewing machine, mowing and reaping machine, 
 corset, horse hay-rake, wrench, loom, barbed wire, 
 machines for making the same, and numerous other 
 valuable patented inventions involving millions of 
 dollars. 
 
 In the early part of 1864, Mr. Dodge located in 
 Worcester, where he had previously had a law-office 
 in the city, and besides was one of the active man- 
 agers of the Union Mowing Machine Company. 
 
 It was while residing in Washington that Mr. 
 Dodge devised the present plan of returning letters 
 uncalled for to the writers thereof, and on the 8th of 
 August, 1856, submitted in writing a detailed state- 
 ment of his plan to the Postmaster-General, Hon. 
 James Campbell, and in due time it received the 
 sanction of law, and the present generation receives 
 and enjoys advantages resulting from the change. 
 
 Mr. Dodge was a strong supporter of the Union 
 cause during the Rebellion, and while he remained 
 
Ixviii 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 in Washington bis house was open to those engaged 
 in relieving the sicli, wounded and dying soldiers ; 
 Mrs. Dodge, too, also joining with others in visiting 
 the hospitals to distribute food aud delicacies sent 
 from the North to Mrs. Harris and Miss Dix, lor the 
 sick and wounded. His youngest brother, Capt. 
 Eli!-ha E. Dodge, of the Thirteenth New Hampshire 
 Regiment, fell mortally wounded in the assault on 
 Petersburg, Va., in June, 1864, and died at Fortress 
 Monroe, June 22, 1864. 
 
 In 1881 he, in connection with Mr. Charles G. 
 Washburn, organized the Worcester Barb Fence 
 Company, he being president and Mr. Washburn sec- 
 retary and manager, and for which company the late 
 Stephen Salisbury, Esq., built the large factory at 
 the corner of Market and Union Streets. The plant 
 and patents were subsequently sold to the Washburn 
 & Moen Company. 
 
 Mr. Dodge was married, June 29, 1843, to Miss 
 Eliza Daniels, of Brookline, N. H. 
 
 In the grounds of Mr. Dodge is the "Ancient 
 Willow." (See illustration and poem by Harriett 
 Prescott Spofford, elsewhere in this work.) 
 
 AuGUSTu.? George Bullock.^ — Mr. Bullock is 
 a son of the late Governor Alexander H. Bullock, 
 whose portrait, with a biographical sketch, appears 
 elsewhere in this work. He was born in En- 
 field, Conn., on the 2d of June, 1847, and was edu- 
 cated in private schools, being fitted for college by 
 the late E. G. Cutler, who was afterwards professor 
 of modern languages in Harvard College. He en- 
 tered Harvard in 1864 and graduated in 1868. 
 
 After traveling a year in Europe he commenced 
 the study of law, pursued the usual course, and in 
 due time was admitted to the bar in Worcester. He 
 soon went into practice, occupying offices with Sena- 
 tor Hoar. 
 
 In 1882 his father. Governor Bullock, who had 
 then recently been elected president of the State 
 Mutual Life Assurance Comp.any, died ; and during 
 the year it was determined to change the policy of 
 the company, which had been of a somewhat limited 
 character, and make it one of the leading institutions 
 of the kind in the country. 
 
 It was in January, 1883, that the affairs and inter- 
 ests of this now widely-known and popular assurance 
 company were submitted to the management of the 
 subject of this sketch, he being elected president and 
 treasurer. He accepted the responsible position, en- 
 gaged earnestly in the work, arduous as it promised 
 to be, and has been eminently successful. The sug- 
 gestions for extended usefulness were efficiently and 
 rapidly carried forward, and new life and healthful 
 growth became visible in every department. Since 
 his instalment, which was but about six years ago, 
 the business of the company has been more than 
 quadrupled, and is adding to its assets accumulations 
 
 > By Jamos R. Newball. 
 
 of nearly half a million dollars annually. Its opera- 
 tions and reputation are not now by any means lim- 
 ited to Massachusetts or New England, it having 
 attained a large business, especially in the Middle 
 and Western States. 
 
 But it is not alone as president and treasurer of the 
 State Mutual Life Assurance Company that Mr. Bul- 
 lock is well and widely known. He is a director in 
 the Worcester National Bank, in the Worcester Gas 
 Light Company, in the Norwich and Worcester Bail- 
 road, in the Worcester County Institution for Sav- 
 ings, and president of the State Safe Deposit Com- 
 pany. He is also a trustee of the State Lunatic 
 Hospital and of the Free Public Library, and a mem- 
 ber of the American Antiquarian Society. 
 
 For an intelligent appreciation of literary and 
 social observances of the higher order Mr. Bullock is 
 well fitted by education and taste. And few places 
 afford better opportunities for the development of 
 refined sentiment than cultured Worcester. He has 
 many of the genial traits of his honored father, 
 many of his common-sense views and approachable 
 amenities — traits and habits that never fail of leading 
 to high social position. So then we find him, now 
 in middle life, sustaining in the business world a high 
 reputation for financial skill and ability, and in so- 
 cial life a position well worthy of aspiration. 
 
 In religious sentiment Mr, Bullock ranks with the 
 Unitarians, having departed somewhat from the 
 chosen faith of his fathers. His grandfather was of 
 the rigid old New England "orthodox" type; but 
 his father, after reaching manhood, embraced the 
 faith of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and to the 
 end of his life delighted in its ch.arming liturgical 
 form of worship. In political sentiment he ranks 
 with the Democratic party. 
 
 Mr. Bullock was united in marriage, October 4, 
 1871, with Mary Chandler, daughter of Dr. George 
 and Josepbiue Rose Chandler, and four male chil- 
 dren have been born to them, one of whom died in 
 infancy. 
 
 Feancis Almon Gaskill ^ was born in Black- 
 stone, Worcester County, on the 3d day of January, 
 1846. Until the year 1860 he lived in that town. In 
 1860 he moved to Woonsocket, R. I., and in the High 
 School of that town, under the instruction of Howard 
 M. Rice, Esq. (now one of the proprietors of the well- 
 known Mowry and Goflf School in Providence), he 
 fitted for college. In the autumn of 1862 he en- 
 tered Brown University, and was graduated in 1866. 
 He was occupied as private tutor to the sons of Mr. 
 Clement B. Barclay, of Newport, R. I., from October, 
 1866, till June, 1867, and thus had the advantage of 
 that most excellent mental instruction which comes 
 from teaching others. 
 
 In September, 1867, he entered the Law School 
 of Harvard University, and remained there, a close 
 
 2 By Herbert Paikor. 
 
/p 
 
 ^2.J^^^ 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 Ixix 
 
 student, till October, 1868, when, at the request of the 
 late Hon. George F. Verry, he entered his office as 
 clerk, and was duly admitted to the bar of this county 
 March 3, 1869. Later he was associated with Mr. 
 Verry as his partner, and so continued till Mr. 
 Verry's death, in 1883. 
 
 Mr. Gaskill was married, October 20, 1869, to Miss 
 Katherine Mortimer Whitaker, of Providence. For 
 a considerable time Mrs. Gaskill was an invalid, and 
 for the last few years of her life suffered almost con- 
 stantly from a paiaful illness, which she bore with a 
 truly beautiful fortitude and cheerfulness. She died 
 January 25, 1889, leaving two children. 
 
 In 1875-76 Mr. Gaskill served as a member of the 
 Common Council of the city of Worcester. In 1876 
 he was chosen one of the trustees of the Worcester 
 Academy, and has served in that capacity contin- 
 uously till the present time. He was elected a 
 trustee of the Free Public Library of Worcester for 
 six years from 1878 to 1884. and in 1886 was elected 
 to fill a vacancy in that board, of which he was presi- 
 dent in the year 1888. 
 
 In 1884 he was elected one of the trustees of the 
 People's Savings Bank, and still serves on that board. 
 In 1888 he was elected one of the trustees of Brown 
 University. He is also a director of the State Mu- 
 tual Life Assurance Company of Worcester, an insti- 
 tution whose standing and reputation in the financial 
 world is such as to make a position in its directorate 
 one of great honor and importance. 
 
 In 1883, during the illness of the district attorney, 
 Hon. Frank T. Blackmer, Mr. Gaskill filled that 
 office by appointment. In 1886 he was elected dis- 
 trict attorney, to serve from January, 1887, to January, 
 1890, succeeding Col. W. S. B. Hopkins, whose bril- 
 liant and distinguished abilities and character had 
 made his administration memorable. 
 
 It will thus be seen, from the preceding recital 
 of some of the various positions of importance and 
 responsibility to which Mr. Gaskill has been called, 
 that he has possessed in a large measure the confi- 
 dence and esteem of those to whom he has been 
 known. In the discharge of the duties of educa- 
 tional, charitable, financial and professional trusts, it 
 is obvious that he has had a training and experience 
 that has fitted him to deal judiciously with the mul- 
 titudinous interests which may be involved in the 
 discharge of his existing official duties. 
 
 He has had personal and continuous acquaintance 
 with and has shared in the direct management of 
 affairs which make up and are essential elements in 
 our complex industrial, social and governmental sys- 
 tem. He has had an active and successful pro- 
 fessional life. 
 
 Mr. Verry, with whom he was long associated, was 
 one of the acknowledged leaders of the bar: his cool 
 judgment, marvelous readiness in the crisis of a case 
 and his brilliant powers as an advocate rendered him 
 almost invincible, in the trial of causes. Mr. Gaskill 
 
 was far too apt and able a pupil to fail to profit from 
 his close professional and personal intimacy with Mr. 
 Verry. The opportunity for study thus given him 
 in the practice of the law has abundantly equipped 
 him for his arduous and responsible duties as prose- 
 cuting officer. While Mr. Gaskill was acting dis- 
 trict attorney the now famous case of Commonwealth 
 vs. Pierce came before our Criminal Court. The de- 
 fendant was a so-called physician, and, by reason of 
 treating a patient with baths and poultices of kero- 
 sene oil, finally produced her death. He was in- 
 dicted for manslaughter. It was extremely doubtful 
 whether the defendant Pierce could be convicted, by 
 reason of a much questioned decision of the Supreme 
 Court in an early cise. It was, however, of grave 
 moment to bring this vexed question again to the bar 
 of the Supreme Court for revision. The indictment, 
 a remarkably skillful piece of criminal pleading, was 
 drawn by Mr. Gaskill, with the able assistance of C. 
 F. Baker, Esq., then assistant district attorney. Later, 
 after a closely contested trial. Col. Hopkins, then dis- 
 trict attorney, managing the government's case, a ver- 
 dict of guilty was rendered ; and after exh.austive argu- 
 ments of the law questions before the Supreme 
 Court the conviction of the defendant was sustained, 
 largely through the courage and confidence which 
 Mr. G;iskill had in the righteousness of this cause, 
 the original prosecution of which was instituted by 
 him. We now have the decision of the Supreme Court 
 that homicidal medical pretenders shall not escape 
 responsibility for the fatal results of their incompe- 
 tency on the plea that ignorance and not malice 
 caused the death of their victim. 
 
 In a large number of the important legal contro- 
 versies in our county Mr. Gaskill has been of coun- 
 sel. His clients, no less than his opponents, know 
 the zeal, the energy and the learning which he dis- 
 plays in the preparation and trial of his cases. To 
 the discharge of the duties of the office of district 
 attorney he has brought all the fidelity and ability 
 which have given him .success and honorable reputa- 
 tion at the bar, on the civil side of the court. With 
 unflagging constancy and integrity he has conducted 
 the affiiirs of the people entrusted to his hands. 
 
 In the two years now expired of his current term of 
 office, prosecutions of great interest have been con- 
 ducted by him, one among many being that of a no- 
 torious mal-practitioner, whose victim had made a 
 dying declaration charging the crime upon the ac- 
 cused ; but, by reason of the inapt phraseology of the 
 statute, it was held by the court upon the trial that 
 the dying declaration could not be used in evidence 
 upon a trial for abortion ; the case was given to the 
 jury without this evidence, and a verdict of guilty 
 followed, which, for insufficiency of evidence, was set 
 aside. Thereupon an indictment was found for 
 manslaughter by negligence, which was a sagacious, 
 but by many lawyers thought a futile, effiirt to pre- 
 vent the escape of a guilty person, by reason of an 
 
Ixx 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 inefficient statute. Mr. Gaskill brought the accused 
 to trial on the charge of manslaughter, and, though 
 defended with great zeal and ability, the prisoner 
 was convicted ; for in this case the dying declaration 
 was unquestionably admissible, and was admitted. 
 After mature consideration by the counsel for the de- 
 fense, the exceptions were waived, and sentence was 
 imposed upon the defendant. 
 
 This successful prosecution is adverted to as dem- 
 onstrating the vigilance and energy of Mr. Gaskill's 
 methods, manifested as well in his prompt and sys- 
 tematic management at each term of the Criminal 
 Court, where everything upon the docket which can 
 be tried is brought forward and disposed of. In this 
 district at least, there exists no complaint of an ac- 
 cumulation of untried ca.ses. 
 
 Sureties, who have pledged themselves to secure 
 the attendance of an accused person for his trial, 
 have learned that a bail bond is a stern and inex- 
 orable compact, which they cannot evade ; no less 
 have persons who appeal from sentences in the 
 lower courts learned that they must speedily answer 
 on trial in the Superior Court. 
 
 It is a noteworthy fact, and one upon which Mr. 
 Gaskill may well look with legitimate pride, that in 
 the two years of his term of office as district attorney 
 no indictment drawn by him has been quashed for 
 any insufficiency in form. 
 
 Happily, the time has not yet come for writing a 
 completed biography of the subject of this sketch ; his 
 life-work is not yet done, and it may be confidently 
 hoped that many years of usefulness are yet before 
 him ; here only brief mention can be made of some 
 of the events (and those chiefly professional) of his 
 past life. 
 
 The biographer of one still in active life must 
 carefully observe a due consideration for him whose 
 life and character is under discussion, and so scrupu- 
 lously avoid anything by way of seeming eulogy, 
 however well deserved and just such eulogy may be. 
 
 The mf^re recital of the events of Mr. Gaskill's life, 
 the positions of honor and trust to which he has 
 been called, the distinguished reputation he has 
 gained in his profession, the respect and esteem in 
 which he is held by his cotemporaries, all make up a 
 more eloquent eulogy than the pen of any biographer 
 could frame. 
 
 It is fitting to add, however, what no one can or 
 would wish to gainsay, that Mr. Gaskill has fully 
 maintained the high moral and professional standard 
 established by his most distinguished predecessors in 
 the office. In him the county and the people may 
 see the realization of those rare qualities of mind and 
 character which are required of him, who is at once 
 prosecuting officer of the Commonwealth, but no less, 
 in accordance with the merciful and just considera- 
 tion of our criminal jurisprudence, " the prisoner's 
 attorney." 
 
 TnEODORE S. Johnson.'— Worcester County has 
 been exceptionally fortunate during its history in 
 securing for clerk of the courts men of high character 
 and pronounced ability. It is an office of dignity 
 and of great responsibility, requiring exact legal 
 knowledge, and a ready fund of fertility upon which 
 instant drafts must frequently be made. It is en- 
 riched with ample compensation, only slighly below 
 that established for a justice of the Superior Court. 
 
 Some of the incumbents of the office have yielded 
 to its attractions after distinguished service in Con- 
 gress, others after effective labors in other capacities, 
 while still others have relinquished it for a seat in 
 Congress. 
 
 The term of service of most has been long. Since 
 the incorporation of the county, in 1731, a period of 
 nearly one hundred and sisty years, there have been 
 but eleven different persons holding the office. No 
 fairer test than this can be applied to determine the 
 measure of satisfaction with which the affairs of the 
 office have been administered. 
 
 The incumbent is judged by two standards— one 
 adopted by the judges and lawyers, with whom he is 
 brought into closest relations ; the other, proceeding 
 from parties in causes, jurors and the public at large. 
 The former is applied more particularly to his legal 
 capacity and general administration of the office; the 
 latter to his characteristics. The combination of 
 qualities to satisfy both tests is not often found. 
 
 The eleventh clerk of the courts for Worcester 
 County is the subject of this sketch. 
 
 Theodore S. Johnson was born in Dana, in this 
 county, in 1843. After attendance in the common 
 schools of his native town and at the High School and 
 Wilbraham Academy, he came to Worcester in 1864, 
 and entered as a student the law-office of Dewey & 
 Williams. He was admitted to the bar in 1S6G, and 
 immediately began the practice of his profession in 
 Blackstone. In 1867 he was appointed trial justice 
 by Governor Bullock, and held the office till 1871. 
 
 In the latter year Hon. Hartley Williams, in whose 
 office Mr. Johnson had studied law, was judge of the 
 Municipal Court of Worcester, and a vacancy occur- 
 ring in the office of clerk of that court, he quickly 
 turned to Mr. Johnson as admirably qualified to fill 
 the position ; he was at once appointed and continued 
 as such and as clerk of the Central District Court of 
 Worcester till 1881. The sagacious treatment of the 
 great volume and variety of business in those courts re- 
 quiring the action and attention of the clerk during 
 those years certainly justified the judgment of his 
 friend and instructor, Judge Williams. 
 
 In 1881 Mr. Johnson was elected to his present 
 office as clerk of the courts for Worcester County 
 for the term of five years, and in 1886 was re-elected 
 for a similar term. 
 
 Mr. Johnson's activities have not been confined 
 
 1 By F. A. Gaskill. 
 
,^s*e. 
 
 } 
 
 ' ^ - S^CN/VWQJSVxJ 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 Ixxi 
 
 solely to these duties, though never for an instant 
 neglecting them. 
 
 He was captain and judge advocate on the staff of 
 the Third Brigade Massachusetts Volunteer Militia 
 from 1874 to 1876, inclusive. He was selected in 1878 
 by Governor Talbot as colonel and aide-de-camp up- 
 on his Gubernatorial staff. 
 
 Mr. Johnson's discriminating political judgment, 
 as well as his prominence as a citizen of Wor- 
 cester and his earnest belief in the Republican party, 
 led naturally to his selection as Worcester's represen- 
 tative on the Republican State Central Committee 
 from 1881 to 1884, inclusive. 
 
 In 1883 he was elected a director of the Quinsiga- 
 mond National Bank, and has retained the position 
 ever since. 
 
 In 1873 he married Miss Amanda M. Allen, of 
 Blackstone. 
 
 Valuable as his other service have been, honorable as 
 the other positions are which he has held, identified 
 as he has been with other material and social inter- 
 ests of Worcester and Worcester County, yet his ad- 
 ministration of the office of clerk of the courts has 
 been by far his most significant and successful 
 service. 
 
 The writer of this sketch can best apply the legal 
 test hitherto spoken of, and Mr. Johnson can securely 
 rest in the confidence and approbation ofthe bar 
 when that is invoked. His generous courtesy and 
 ready service to his brethren of the bar and to others, 
 and his unimpeachable character never fail to satisfy 
 the other test. 
 
 JUDGES OF THE HIGHER COURTS RESIDENT IN 
 WORCESTER COUNTY. 
 
 Superior Court. — Jedediah Foster, on the bench 
 1776-79. 
 
 Supreme Judicial Court. — Levi Lincoln, on the 
 bench 1824-25; Benjamin F. Thomas, 1853-59; 
 Pliny Merrick, 185.3-54; Dwight Foster, 1866-69; 
 Charles Devens, 1873-77, 1881-. 
 
 Coiintij Court of Common Pleas. — Artemas Ward, 
 on the bench 1775-99 (Q. J.); Jedediah Foster, 177-5- 
 76; Mosea Gill, 1775-94; Samuel Baker, 1775-95; 
 Joseph Dorr, 1776-1801 ; Michael Gill, 1794-98; Eli- 
 jah Brigham, 1795-1811; John Sprague, 1799-1801 
 (C. J.); Dwight Foster, 1801-11 (C. J.); Benjamin 
 Heywood, 1801-11. 
 
 Court of Comnmn Pleas for the Western Circuit. — 
 Edward Baugs, on the bench 1811-18 ; Solomon 
 Strong, 1818-20. 
 
 Court of Common. Pleas for Commonwealth. — Solo- 
 mon Strong, on the bench 1820-42 ; Charles Allen, 
 1842-44; Pliny Merrick, 1843-48, '50-53; Emory 
 Washburn, 1844-47 ; Edward Mellen, 1854-59. 
 
 Superior Covrt for the Commonweaith. — Charles 
 Allen, on the bench 1859-69 (C. J.); Charles Devens, 
 1867-73 ; Francis H. Dewey, 1869-81 ; P. Emory 
 Aldrich, 1873- ; Hamilton B. Stapler, 1881-. 
 
 Probate Court. — John Chandler, on the bench 
 1731-40; Joseph Wilder, 1740-56; John Chandler 
 (2d), 1756-62; John Chandler {3d), 1762-75 ; Jede- 
 diah Foster, 1775-76 ; Artemas Ward, 1776 ; Levi 
 Lincoln, 1776-82 ; Joseph Dorr, 1782-1801 ; Nathan- 
 iel Paine, 1801-36; Ira M. Barton, 1836-44; Benja- 
 min F. Thomas, 1844-48 ; Thomas Kinnicutt, 1848- 
 57 ; Dwight Foster, 1857-58. 
 
 Court of Probate and Insolvency. — Henry Chapin, 
 on the bench 1858-78; Adin Thayer, 1878-88; W. 
 Trowbridge Forbes, 1888-. 
 
 List of Members of the Bar. — In the follow- 
 ing list it is intended to give the names of all persons 
 who were members ofthe Worcester County bar Jan- 
 uary 1, 1889, and of those who had been members of 
 it at any time since the establisliment of the county, 
 with the date and place of the birth and graduation 
 of each (if graduated), the date of admission to the 
 bar, and the place or places where they have prac- 
 tised, so far as it has been practicable to obtain tlie 
 facts. 
 
 Explanations. — The ' indicates that the person was 
 dead January 1, 1889; r., removal from the county. 
 The colleges at which persons named were graduated 
 or attended are indicated by initial letters, thus : 
 H. C, Harvard College ; B. U., Brown University ; 
 A. C, Amherst College; Y. C, Yale College; AV. C, 
 Williams College; D. C, Dartmouth College ; M. U., 
 Michigan University ; W. U., Wesleyan University ; 
 U. v., University of Vermont ; U. C, Union Col- 
 lege; B. C, Bowdoin College; N. U., Norwich Uni- 
 versity; U. of C, University of Cal.; H. Cr., Holy 
 Cross College; McG., McGill University; C. U., . 
 Colby University ; T. C, Tuffs College ; St. M., St. 
 Michael's College ; N. D., University of Notre Dame. 
 
 Thomas Abbott, r., born in Canada; admitted 1849 ; 
 practised in Millbury and Blackstone. 
 
 Benjamin Adams,' born in Mendon, 1764; gradu- 
 ated at B. U., 1788; admitted 1792; practised in Ux- 
 bridge. 
 
 Cliarles L. Adams, born in Westboro', 18G1 ; ad- 
 mitted 1887 ; practised in Westboro', 
 
 Henry Adams,' graduated at H. C, 1802; practised 
 in Ashburnham. 
 
 Zabdiel B. Adams,' graduated atH. C, 1791; prac- 
 tised in Lunenburg. 
 
 Henry W. Aiken, born in Millbury, 1857; gradu- 
 ated at Y. C, 1880; admitted 1884; practised in 
 Millbury. 
 
 Charles F. Aldrich, born in Worcester, 1858 ; grad- 
 uated at Y. C, 3879; admitted 1881; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 P. Emory Aldrich, born in New Salt ni, 1813; ad- 
 mitted 1846 ; practised in Barre and Worcester. 
 
 Charles Allen,' born in Worcester, 1797; admitted 
 1818; practised in New Braintree and Worcester. 
 
 Frederic H. Allen,' graduated U. V., 1823; ad- 
 mitted 1818; practised in Atliol. 
 
HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 S.imuel H. Allen,' born in Mention, 1790 ; gradu- 
 tfil !it U. C, 1814 ; practised in Mendon and Graf- 
 ton. 
 
 j.iseph Allen,' born in Leicester, 1773 ; graduated 
 fit •; C, 1792; admitted 1795 ; practised in Worcea- 
 i r, Varren and Charlestown, N. H. 
 
 Aliert H. Andrews, born in Waltham, 1829; ad- 
 1] ii 1 1856 ; practised in Nebraska, Minnesota, Ash- 
 iiLiiilam and Fitchburg. 
 
 William S. Andrews,' r.,born in Boston; graduated 
 al H C, 1812; admitted 1817; practised in Spencer 
 and '.Worcester. 
 
 '"fiua Atherton,' born in Harvard, 1737 ; gradu- 
 iii'i at H. C, 1762; admitted 1765; practised in 
 '■ .1 r ham. 
 
 1] .yard Avery, r., born in Marblebead, 1827; ad- 
 niiiti-il 1849; practised in Barre, Worcester and Bos- 
 ton. 
 
 Erasmus Babbitt,' born in Sturbridge, 1765 ; grad- 
 ual f at H. C, 1790 ; practised in Cliarlton, Grafton, 
 0>. : .id, Sturbridge and Westboro'. 
 
 I ' t iiry Bacon, bom in Oxford, 1835 ; admitted 1859 ; 
 praci sed in Worcester. 
 
 i ■ . jr C. Bacon,' born in Dudley, 1804; graduated 
 A '• U., 1827; admitted 1830; practised in Oxford, 
 '. l.y and Worcester. 
 
 ' ' Jsmith F. Bailey,' born in AVestmoreland, Vt., 
 l^ . admitted 1848; practised in Fitcbburg. 
 
 [1^1 rison Bailey, born in Fitchburg, 1849; gradu- 
 [• 1 at A. C, 1872; admitted 1874; practised in 
 i-'J!. : ourg. 
 
 Ciiarles F. Baker, born in Lunenburg, 1850; gradu- 
 t.;i(i at H. C, 1872; admitted 1875; practised in 
 I'itclburg. 
 
 Cluistopher C. Baldwin,' born in Templeton, 1800 ; 
 admiited 1826; practised in Sutton, Barre and Wor- 
 cester. , 
 
 George W. Baldwin, r., born in New Haven ; grad- 
 uated at Y. C, 1853; admitted 1858; practised in 
 Worcester and Boston. 
 
 Isaac Baldwin, admitted 1853 ; practised in Clin- 
 ton. 
 
 Grirge H. Ball, r., born in Milford, 1848 ; gradu- 
 aiHtl at H. C, 1869; admitted 1871 ; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 <;corge F. Bancroft,' admitted 1874 ; practised in 
 Brookfield. 
 
 James H. Bancroft, born in Ashburnham, 1829 ; 
 admiited 186S ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Allen Bangs,' r., born in Springfield ; graduated at 
 T'. , 1827; pnirtised in Springfield and Worcester. 
 
 ,vard Bangs,' born in Hardwick, 1756; gradu- 
 stoil H. C, 1777; admitted 1780; practised in Wor- 
 iesltT. 
 
 E'hvard D. Bangs,' born in Worcester, 1790; ad- 
 miti. d 1813; practised in Worcester. 
 
 William B. Banister,' r., born in Brookfield, 1773 ; 
 1 ated at D. C, 1797; practised in Brookfield and 
 luryport. 
 
 Forrest E. Barker, born in Exeter, N. H., 1853 ; 
 graduated at W. U., 1874; admitted 1876; practised 
 in Worcester. 
 
 Merrill Barlow, r., admitted 1848 ; practised iu 
 Southbridge and Columbus, O. 
 
 Frederick J. Barnard, born in Worcester 1842 ; 
 graduated at Y. C, 1863; admitted 1867; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 L. Emerson Barnes, born in Hardwick, 1843; grad- 
 uated at A. C, 1871; admitted 1873; practised in 
 North Brookfield. 
 
 Andrew J. Bartholomew, born in Hardwick, 1833 ; 
 graduated at Y. C, 1856; admitted 1858; practised 
 in Southbridge. 
 
 Nelson Bartholomew,' born in Hardwick, 1834 ; 
 graduated at Y. C, 1856 ; admitted 1858 ; practised 
 in Oxford. 
 
 William O. Bartlett, r., born in Smithfield, R. L; 
 admitted 1843 ; practi-sed in Worcester and New York. 
 
 Ira M. Barton,' born in Oxford, 1796 ; graduated at 
 B. U., 1819 ; admitted 1822 ; practised in Oxford and 
 Worcester. 
 
 William S. Barton, born in Oxford, 1824 ; gradu- 
 ated at B. U., 1844 ; admitted 1846 ; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 Ezra Bassett, practised in New Braintree. 
 
 Snmner Bastow,' born in Uxbridge; graduated at 
 B. U., 1802; admitted 1811; practised in Sutton and 
 Oxford. 
 
 Liberty Bates,' graduated at B. U., 1797 ; practised 
 in Grafton. 
 
 Robert E. Beecher, r., born in Zanesville, O., 1839 ; 
 graduated at W. C, 1860; admitted 1868; practised 
 in North Brookfield. 
 
 Joshua E. Beeman, born in Westboro', 1844; ad- 
 mitted 1879 ; practised in Westboro'. 
 
 Felix A. Belisle, born in St. Marcelle, P. Q., 1857; 
 admitted 1888; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Daniel H. Bemis, born in Billerica, 1831; admitted 
 1860 ; practised in Clinton. 
 
 Abijah Bigelow,' born in Westminster, 1775 ; grad- 
 uated at D. C, 1795 ; admitted 1817 ; practised in 
 Worcester and Leominster. ' 
 
 Daniel Bigelow,' born in Worcester, 1752 ; gradu- 
 ated at H. C, 1775; admitted 1780; practised in Pe- 
 tersham. 
 
 George P. Bigelow, admitted 1881. 
 
 Lewis Bigelow,' born in Petersham ; graduated at 
 W. C, 1803 ; practised in Petersham and Peoria, 
 111. 
 
 Tyler Bigelow,' graduated at H. C, 1801 ; practised 
 in Leominster and Waltham. 
 
 Arthur G. Biscoe,' horn in Grafton; graduated at 
 A. C, 1862 ; admitted 1864 ; practised in Westbor- 
 ough. 
 
 J. Foster Biscoe, r., born in Grafton ; graduated at 
 A. C, 1874 ; admitted 1877. 
 
 Jason B. Blackington, r., graduated at B. U., 1826 ; 
 practised in Holden. 
 
THE BENCH AND BAK. 
 
 b 
 
 Francis T. Blackmer,' born in Worcester, 1844; 
 admitted 1867 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Fred. W. Blackmer, born in Hardwick, 1858 ; ad- 
 mitted 1883 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Francis Blake,' born in Rutland, 1774; graduated 
 at H. C, 1789; admitted 1794; practised in Rutland 
 and Worcester. 
 
 Jesse Bliss,' born in Brimfield ; graduated at D. C, 
 1808; admitted 1812; practised in W. Brookfield. 
 
 Daniel Bliss,' born in Concord, 1740; graduated at 
 H. C, 1760; admitted 1765; practised in Rutland 
 and Concord. 
 
 Willian) Bliss,' graduated at H. C, 1818; practised 
 in Athdl. 
 
 Jerome B. Bolster,' born in Uxbridge ; admitted 
 1865 ; practised in Blackstone. 
 
 Frederick W. Botham,' born in Charlton, 1811 ; 
 admitted 1835 ; practised in Southbridge and Douglas. 
 
 Frederick W. Bottom,' born in Plainfield, Conn., 
 1785; graduated at B. U., 1802; practised in Charl- 
 ton, Southbridge and Sturbridge. 
 
 Lewis H. Boutelle, r , practised in Westborough. 
 
 Charles D. Bowman,' born in New Braintree, 1816; 
 graduated at H. C, 1838; admitted 1845; practised 
 in Oxford. 
 
 Lucian C. Boynton,' admitted 1847 ; practised in 
 AVorcester. 
 
 Albert E. Bragg, r., admitted 1884 ; practised in 
 Worcester and Boston. 
 
 Samuel Brazer,' born in Worcester, 1785 ; practised 
 in Worcester. 
 
 Benjamin Bridge, practised in Uxbridge and Win- 
 chendon. 
 
 O. L. Bridges,' r., born in Calais, Me. ; practised in 
 Boston and Worcester. 
 
 William H. Briggs, born in Andover, 1855 ; ad- 
 mitted 1876 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 David Brigham,' r., born in Shrewsbury, 1786 ; 
 graduated at H. C, 1810; practised in Fitchburg, 
 Leicester, New Braintree and Shrewsbury. 
 
 David T. Brigham, r., born in Shrewsbury, 1808 ; 
 graduated atU. C, 1828; admitted 1831; practised 
 in Worcester. 
 
 Charles Brimblecom, born in Sharon, 1825 ; ad- 
 mitted 1848 ; practised in Barre. 
 
 Aaron Brooks,' born in Petersham ; graduated at 
 B. U., 1817 ; practised in Petersham. 
 
 Calvin M. Brooks, r., graduated at Y. C, 1847 ; ad- 
 mitted 1848 ; practised in Worcester, Boston and N. 
 Ashland, Conn. 
 
 Francis A. Brooks, r., born in Petersham, 1826 ; 
 attended H. C. ; admitted 1845 ; practised in Peter- 
 sham and Boston. 
 
 Bartholomew Brown,' graduated at H. C, 1799 ; 
 practised in Sterling. 
 
 John F. Brown, admitted 1880. 
 
 Luke Brown,' graduated at H. C, 1794 ; practised 
 in Hardwick. 
 
 William E. Brown,' born in Sidney, Me., 1831 ; ad- 
 mitted 1868 ; practised in Fitchburg. 
 
 Nahum F. Bryant, r., born in New Salem, 1810; 
 admitted 1835; practised at Barre and Bangor, Me. 
 
 Walter A. Bryant,' born in New Salem, 1817; ad- 
 mitted 1839; practised in Barre and Worcester. 
 
 Alexander H. Bullock,' born in Royalslon, 1816 ; 
 graduated at A. C, 1836 ; admitted 1841 ; practised 
 in Worcester. 
 
 Augustus George Bullock, born in Enfield, Conn., 
 1847; graduated at H. C, 1868; admitted 1875; 
 practised in Worcester. 
 
 Gardner Burbank, graduated at B. U., 1809; prac- 
 tised in Worcester. 
 
 Silas A. Burgess, born in Goshen, 1826 ; admitted 
 1852; practised in Blackstone and Worcester. 
 
 Henry M. Burleigh, r., practised in Athol. 
 
 Samuel M. Burnside,' born in Northumberland, N. 
 g., 1783; graduated at D. C, 1805; admitted 1810 ; 
 practised in Westborough and Worcester. 
 
 Albert C. Burrage, r., born in Ashburnham, 1859; 
 graduatedat H. C, 1883; admitted 1884; practised 
 in Boston. 
 
 Charles D. Burrage, born in Ashburnham, 1857; 
 graduated at U. of C, 1878; admitted 1882; prac- 
 tised in Baldwinville and Gardner. 
 
 Stillman Cady,' practised in Templeton. 
 
 Joseph B. Caldwell,' born in Rutland ; graduated 
 at H. C, 1802 ; practised in Grafton, Rutland and 
 Worcester. 
 
 William Caldwell,' graduated at H. C, 1802 ; prac- 
 tised in Rutland. 
 
 George W. Cann, born in Easton, Pa., 1849; at- 
 tended Pa. C, 1869; admitted 1872; practised in 
 Fitchburg. 
 
 James B. Carroll, r., born in Lowell, 1856 ; grad- 
 uated at H. Cr., 1878 ; admitted 1880 ; practised in 
 Springfield. 
 
 Peter T. Carroll, born in Hopkinton, 1857 ; attend- 
 ed H. Cr. ; admitted 1882 ; practised in Worces- 
 ter. 
 
 Chauncey W. Car ter, born in Leominster, 1827 ; 
 admitted 1857 ; practised in Leominster and Gardner. 
 
 Frederick H. Chamberlain, born in Worcester, 
 1861 ; admitted 1886 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Leon F. Chamecin,' born in Philadelphia, 1861 ; 
 admitted 1882 ; practised in Boston and Templeton. 
 
 Nathaniel Chandler,' born in Worcester, 1750; 
 graduated at H. C, 1768 ; admitted 1771 ; practised 
 in Petersham and Worcester. 
 
 Rufus Chandler,' born in Worcester, 1747 ; grad- 
 uated at H. C, 1766; admitted 1768; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 Charles S. Chapin, r., born in Westfield, 1859; 
 graduated at W. U., 1880; admitted 1884; practised 
 in Worcester. 
 
 Henry Chapin,' born in Upton, 1811 ; graduated at 
 B. U., 1835; admitted 1838; practised at Uxbridge 
 and Worcester. 
 
h 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 J^inus Child,' born in Woodstoclc, Conn., 1802 ; 
 graduated at Y. C, 1824; admitted 1826; practised 
 in Southbridge and Boston. 
 
 F. Linus Childs, born in Millbury, 1849; graduated 
 at B. U., 1870 ; admitted 1873 ; practised in Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 Ambrose Clioquet, born in Varennes, P. Q., 1840 ; 
 graduated at McG., 1865; admitted 1865; practised 
 in Montreal, Rochester and Worcester. 
 
 Charles W. Clark, r., born in Worcester, 1851 ; 
 graduated at Y. C. ; admitted 1876; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 Edward Clark,' born in Charlton ; practised in Sut- 
 ton and Worcester. 
 
 Henry J. Clarke, born in Southbridge, 1845 ; grad- 
 uated at Boston U., 1875 ; admitted 1875 ; practised in 
 Webster. 
 
 Samuel Clark, born in Dedham, 1809 ; graduated 
 at B. U., 1836 ; admitted 1841 ; practised in North- 
 borough, 
 
 Peter Clarke,' graduated at H. C, 1777 ; practised 
 in Southborough. 
 
 Hollis W. Cobb, born in Boyiston, 1856 ; graduated 
 atY. C, 1878; admitted 1881; practised in Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 John M. Cochran, born in Pembroke, N. H., 1849; 
 admitted 1870 ; practised in Palmer and Southbridge. 
 
 John B. D. Cogswell, r., born in Yarmouth, 1829 ; 
 graduated at D. C, 1850 ; admitted 1853; practised 
 in Worcester, Milwaukee, Wis., and Yarmouth. 
 
 James D. Colt, r., born in Pittsfleld, 1862 ; grad- 
 uited at W. C, 1884 ; admitted 1887 ; practised in 
 Boston. 
 
 Joseph B. Cook, r., born in Cumberland, R. I., 
 1837 ; admitted 1860 ; practised in Blackstone. 
 
 Edwin Conant, born in Sterling, 1810 ; graduated 
 at H. C, 1829; admitted 1832; practised in Sterling 
 and Worcester. 
 
 John W. Corcoran, born in New York, 1853 ; gradu- 
 ated at H. C, 1875; admitted 1875; practised in 
 Clinton. 
 
 Oliver S. Cormier, r. ; admitted 1884 ; practised in 
 Worcester and Manchester, N. H. 
 
 Mirick H. Cowden, born in Rutland, 1846 ; admitted 
 1875 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 John G. Crawford, born in Oakham, 1834; admitted 
 1865 ; practised in Michigan, New Hampshire and 
 Clinton. 
 
 Austin P. Cristy, born in Morristown, Vt., 1850; 
 graduated at D. C, 1873 ; admitted 1874; practised 
 in Worcester. 
 
 Samuel M. Crocker,' graduated at H. C, 1801 ; 
 practised in Douglas and Uxbridge. 
 
 Amos Crosby,' born in Brookfield, 1761 ; graduated 
 at H. C, 1786 ; admitted 1804 ; practised in Brook- 
 field. 
 
 Eph. M. Cunningham,' graduated at H. C, 1814; 
 practised in Ashburnham, Lunenburg and Sterling. 
 
 Albert W. Curtis, born in Worcester, 1849 ; gradu- 
 
 ated at Y. C, 1871 ; admitted 1873 ; practised in 
 Worcester and Spencer. 
 
 Wolfred F. Curtis, admitted 1878. 
 
 Elisha P. Cutler, graduated at W. C, 1798 ; prac- 
 tised in Hardwick. 
 
 Louis Cutting,' born in West Boyiston, 1849 ; 
 admitted 1888 ; practised in West Boyiston and Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 Samuel Cutting,' graduated at D. C, 1805 ; practised 
 in Templeton. 
 
 Appleton Dadmun,' born in Marlborough, 1828; 
 graduated at A. C, 1854; admitted 1857; practised 
 in Worcester. 
 
 John T. Dame, born in Orford, N. H., 1817 ; gradu- 
 ated at D. C, 1840 ; practised in Clinton and Marl- 
 borough. 
 
 Richard H. Dana,' born in Cambridge, 1787 ; gradu- 
 ated at H. C, 1808 ; admitted 1811 ; practised in 
 Sutton. 
 
 I. C. Bates Dana, born in Northampton, 1848 ; 
 admitted 1872 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 John A. Dana, born in Princeton, 1823 ; graduated 
 at Y. C, 1844; admitted 1848; practised in Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 William S. Dana, admitted in 1878. 
 
 Mat. (Jas.) Davenport, graduated at H. C, 1802 ; 
 practised in Boyiston. 
 
 Andrew J. Davis,' r., born in Northborough, 1815 ; 
 admitted 1834; practised in Worcester and St. Louis, 
 Mo. 
 
 Andrew McF. Davis, born in Worcester, 1833 ; 
 admitted 1859; practised in Worcester, New Y'ork 
 and San Francisco. 
 
 Charles T. Davis, r., born in Concord, N. H., 1863 ; 
 graduated at H. C, 1884; admitted 1886; practised 
 in Boston. 
 
 Edward L. Davis, born in Worcester, 1834 ; gradu- 
 ated at B. U., 1854 ; admitted 1857 ; practised in Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 George Davis,' practised in Sturbridge. 
 
 Isaac Davis,' born in Northborough, 1799 ; gradu- 
 ated at B. U., 1822 ; admitted 1825 ; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 James R. Davis, born in Boston, 1816 ; admitted 
 1869; practised in Milford. 
 
 John Davis, Jr.,' born in Shirley ; practised in 
 Lancaster and Charlton. 
 
 John Davis,' born in Northborough, 1788 ; gradu- 
 ated at Y. C, 1812; admitted 1815; practised in 
 Northboro', Spencer and Worcester. 
 
 John C. B. Davis, r., born in AVorcester, 1822 ; 
 graduated at H. C, 1840; admitted 1844; practised 
 in Worcester and New York. 
 
 William S. Davis,' born in Northborough, 1832 ; 
 graduated at H. C, 1853 ; admitted 1855 ; practised 
 in Worcester. 
 
 John E. Day, born in Killingly, Ct., 1851 ; gradu- 
 ated at A. C, 1871; admitted 1874; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 Ixxv 
 
 Francis Deane, born in Shrewsbury, 1804; gradu- 
 ated at B. U., 1826; admitted 1830; practised in 
 Southboro', Uxbridge and Worcester. 
 
 Frederick B. Deane, r., born in Uxbridge, 1840; 
 admitted 1860 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Louis E. Denfield, born in Westboro', 1854; gradu- 
 ated at A. C, 1878 ; admitted 1881 ; practised in Web- 
 ster and Westboro'. 
 
 Robert E. Denfield, r., born in Westboro', 1853 ; 
 graduated at A. C, 1876; admitted 1882. 
 
 Austin Denny,' born in Worcester, 1795 ; graduated 
 at Y. C, 1814; admitted 1817; practised in Harvard 
 and Worcester. 
 
 Nathaniel P. Denny,' r., born in Leicester, 1771 ; 
 graduated at H. C, 1797 ; practised in Leicester. 
 
 Charles Devens, born in Charlestown, 1820 ; gradu- 
 ated at H. C, 18.38; admitted 1840; practised in 
 Greenfield and Worcester. 
 
 Charles A. Dewey, Jr., born in Northampton, 1830; 
 admitted 1859; practised in Milford. 
 
 Francis H. Dewey,' born in Williamstown, 1821 ; 
 graduated at W. C, 1840; admitted 1843; practised 
 in Worcester. 
 
 Francis H. Dewey, born in Worcester, 1856 ; grad- 
 uated at W. C, 1876; admitted 1879; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 George T. Dewey, born in Worcester, 1858; gradu- 
 ated at W. C, 1879; admitted 1882; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 John C. Dewey, born in Worcester, 1857 ; gradu- 
 ated at W. C, 1878 ; admitted 1881 ; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 vSamiiel Dexter,' graduated at H. C, 1781 ; admitted 
 1784; practised in Lunenburg. 
 
 Charles S. Dodge, born in Charlton, 1859 ; admitted 
 1885; practised in Connecticut and Worcester. 
 
 Rufus B. Dodge, Jr., born in Charlton, 1861 ; ad- 
 mitted 1885 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Thomas H. Dodge, born in Eden, Vt., 1823; ad- 
 mitted 1852 ; practised in Nashua, N. H., Washington 
 and Worcester. 
 
 Samuel W. Dougherty, r., born in Worcester, 1848; 
 admitted 1876; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Nathan T. Dow, r., graduated at D. C, 1826 ; prac- 
 tised in Grafton. 
 
 James J. Dowd, born in Worcester ; graduated at 
 St. M., 1880 ; admitted 1882 ; practised in Worcester, 
 Brockton and Boston. 
 
 J. W. Draper, r., admitted 1851 ; practised in Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 John Danforth Dunbar,' graduated at H. C, 1789 
 practised in Charlton. 
 
 Thatcher B. Dunn, born in Ludlow, Vt., 1844 
 admitted 1873 ; practised in Gardner. 
 
 Alexander Dustin,' born in N, Boston, N. H., 1776 
 graduated at D. C, 1799; admitted 1804; practised 
 in Harvard, Westminster and Sterling. 
 
 Joseph Dwiglit,' born in Hatfield, 1703 ; graduated 
 at H. C, 1722 ; admitted 1731 ; practised in Brookfield. 
 
 Luke Eastman,' graduated at D. C, 1812; practised 
 in Barre and Sterling. 
 
 Samuel Eastman,' graduated at D. C, 1802 ; prac- 
 tised in Hardwick. 
 
 Joshua Eaton,' born in Waltham, 1714; graduated 
 at H. C, 1735 ; admitted 1737 ; practised in Worcester 
 and Leicester. 
 
 Jamea Eliot, practised in Worcester. 
 
 John E. Ensign, r., born in Cleveland, 1852 ; gradu- 
 ated at M. U., 1874; admitted 1876; practised in 
 Cleveland and Worcester. 
 
 James E. Estabrook, born in Worcester, 1829; 
 graduated at Y. C, 1851 ; admitted 1853 ; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 Constantine C. E^ty, r., born in Newton, 1824; 
 graduated at Y. C, 1845 ; practised in Millord and 
 Framingham. 
 
 Henry E. Fales, born in Walpole, 1837 ; admitted 
 1864; practised in Milford. 
 
 Lowell E. Fales, born in Milford, 1858 ; admitted 
 1881 ; practised in Milford. 
 
 Farwell F. Fay,' born in Athol, 1835 ; admitted 
 1859 ; practised in Athol and Boston. 
 
 Daniel H. Felch, admitted 1881. 
 
 Cornelius C. Felton, born in Thurlow, Pa., 1863; 
 
 graduated at H. C, 1886 ; admitted 1888 ; practised 
 
 in Philadelphia and Clinton. 
 
 i Frank G. Fessenden, r., born in Fitchburg, 1849 ; 
 
 admitted 1872; practised in Fitchburg and Greenfield. 
 
 Stephen Fessenden,' born in Cambridge; graduated 
 at H. C, 1737; admitted 1742; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Charles Field, born in Athol, 1815 ; admitted 1843; 
 practised in Athol. 
 
 Charles Field, Jr., born in Cambridge, 1857 ; gradu- 
 ated at W. C, 1881 ; admitted 1886 ; practised in Athol. 
 
 Maturin L. Fisher, r., born in Danville, Vt. ; ad- 
 mitted 1831; practised in Worcester and Iowa. 
 
 Joel W. Fletcher,' born in Northbridge, 1817 ; 
 graduated at A. C, 1838 ; admitted 1840 ; practised in 
 Leominster and Northboro'. 
 
 Waldo Flint, r., born in Leicester, 1794 ; graduated 
 at H. C, 1814 ; practised in Leicester and Boston. 
 
 George Folsom,' r., born in Kennebunk, Me., 1802; 
 graduated at H. C, 1822; practised in Worcester. 
 
 W. Trowbridge P'orbes, born in Westborough, 1850 ; 
 graduated at A. C. 1871 ; admitted 1878 ; practised in 
 Westborough. 
 
 Alfred D. Foster,' born in Brookfield, 1800 ; grad- 
 ated at H. C, 1819; admitted 1822; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 Dwight Foster,' born in Brookfield, 1757 ; gradu- 
 uated at B. U., 1774; admitted 1780; practised in 
 Brookfield and Rutland. 
 
 Dwight Foster,' born in Worcester, 1828 ; gradu- 
 ated at Y. C, 1848; admitted 1849; practised in Wor- 
 cester and Boston. 
 
 John M. Foster, practised in Warren. 
 
 Barlow Freeman,' r., practised in Charlton and 
 Southbridge. 
 
Ixxvi 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Elisha Fuller,' born in Princeton, 1795 ; graduated 
 at H. C, 1815 ; practised in Concord, Lowell and 
 Worcester. 
 
 Frederick W. Gale,' born in Northborough ; gradu- 
 ated at H. C, 1836 ; admitted 1839 ; practised in St. 
 Louis, Mo., and Worcester. 
 
 Thomas F. Gallagher, born in Lynn, 1855 ; gradu- 
 ated at N. D., 1876 ; admitted 1878 ; practised in 
 Lynn and Fitchburg. 
 
 George E. Gardner, born in East Brookfield, 1864 ; 
 graduated at A. C, 1885; admitted 1887; practised 
 in Worcester. 
 
 Francis A. Gaskill, born in Blackstone, 1846 ; grad- 
 uated at B. U., 1866; admitted 1869; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 Charles B. Gates, born in Worcester, 1851 ; gradu- 
 ated at M. U. ; admitted 1875 ; practised in Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 William H. Gates, born in Worcester, 1857 ; grad- 
 uated at W. C. ; admitted 1882; practised in Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 Frederick A. Gauren,' born in Grafton, 1854; grad- 
 uated at H. Cr., 1875; admitted 1879; practised in 
 Worcester and New York. 
 
 Richard George,' practised in West Brookfield. 
 
 George A. Gibbs, admitted 1887. 
 
 Arad Gilbert, r., graduated at B. U., 1797 ; prac- 
 tised in Hanover, N. H., Lebanon, N. H., and North 
 Brookfield. 
 
 Daniel Gilbert,' born in Brookfield, 1773 ; gradu- 
 ated at D. C, 1796 ; admitted 1805; practised in 
 North Brookfield. 
 
 William A. Gile, born in Franklin, N. H., 1843 ; 
 admitted 1869; practised in Greenfield and Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 Moses Gill,' graduated at H. C, 1784 ; practised in 
 Mendon. 
 
 Samuel B. I. Goddard, born in Shrewsbury, 1821 ; 
 graduated at A. C, 1840; admitted 1843; practised 
 in Worcester. 
 
 Samuel W. E. Goddard, born in Berlin, 1832; ad- 
 mitted 1852 ; practised in Belchertown, Boston and 
 Hubbardston. 
 
 Jesse W. Goodrich," born in Pittsfield, 1808 ; grad- 
 uated at U. C, 1829 ; admitted 1833 ; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 Isaac Goodwin, r., born in Plymouth, 1786 ; admitted 
 1808 ; practised in Boston, Sterling and Worcester. 
 
 J. Martin Gorham,' born in Barre, 1830 ; graduated 
 at H. C, 1851 ; admitted 1854 ; practised in Barre. 
 
 John S. Gould, born in Webster, 1856 ; admitted 
 1884; practised in Webster. 
 
 Francis P. Goulding, born in Grafton, 1837 ; gradu- 
 ated at D. C, 1863 ; admitted 1866 ; practised in Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 Isaac D. Goulding,' born in Worcester, 1841 ; ad- 
 mitted 1877 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Samuel L. Graves, born in Groton, 1847 ; graduated 
 at A. C, 1870 ; admitted 1872 ; practised in Fitchburg. 
 
 James Green, Jr., born in Worcester, 1841 ; gradu- 
 ated at H. C, 1862 ; admitted 1866 ; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 William E. Green,' born in Worcester, 1777 ; grad- 
 uated at B. U., 1798; admitted 1801; practised in 
 Grafton and Worcester. 
 
 William N. Green,' born in Milford, 1804; admit- 
 ted 1827 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Timothy Green,' graduated at B. U., 1786 ; prac- 
 tised in Worcester. 
 
 J. Evarts Greene, born in Boston, 1834 ; graduated 
 at Y. C, 1853 ; admitted 1859 ; practised in North 
 Brookfield. 
 
 Joseph K. Greene, born in Otisfield, Me., 1852 ; 
 graduated at B. C, 1877 ; admitted 1879; practised 
 in Worcester. 
 
 Jonathan Grout,' practised in Petersham. 
 
 William Grout,' born in Spencer; admitted 18.50 ; 
 practised in Worcester. 
 
 Franklin Hall, r., born in Sutton, 1820 ; admitted 
 1846 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Alexander (Edward) Hamilton,' born in Worcester, 
 1812; admitted 1835; practised in Barre and Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 Elisha Hammond,' born in 1781 ; graduated at Y. 
 C, 1802 ; admitted 1806 ; practised in West Brookfield. 
 
 William B. Harding, born in Tilton, N. H., 1844 ; 
 admitted 1867 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Frederick B. Harlow, born in Worcester, 1864; 
 graduated at A.. C, 1885; admitted 1888; practised 
 in Worcester. 
 
 William T. Harlow, born in Shrewsbury, 1828 ; 
 graduated at Y. C, 1851 ; admitted 1853 ; practised 
 in Spencer, Red Bluffs, Cal., and Worcester. 
 
 Jubal Harrington, r.,' born in Shrewsbury, 1803 ; 
 graduated at B. U. ; admitted 1825 ; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 Nahum Harrington,' born in Westborough, 1778 ; 
 graduated at B. U., 1807 ; admitted 1811 ; practised 
 in Westborough. 
 
 Henry F. Harris, born in West Boylston, 1849; 
 graduated at T. C, 1871 ; admitted 1873 ; practised 
 in Worcester. 
 
 Joel Harris,' graduated at D. C, 1804 ; practised 
 in Harvard. 
 
 Charles W. Hartshorn, r., born in Taunton, 1814; 
 graduated at H. C, 1833 ; admitted 1837 ; practised 
 in Worcester. 
 
 Harris C. Hartwell, born in Groton, 1847 ; gradu- 
 ated at H. C, 1869; admitted 1872; practised in 
 Fitchburg. 
 
 H. Spencer Haskell, born in Petersham, 1863; ad- 
 mitted 1886 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Daniel W. Haskins, born in Hardwick, 1829; grad- 
 uated at A. C, 1858 ; admitted 1862 ; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 Charles C. P.Hastings,' born in Mendon, 1804; 
 graduated at B. U., 1825 ; admitted 1828 ; practised 
 in Mendon. 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 Ixxvii 
 
 Seth Hastings,' born in Cambridge, 1762 ; gradu- 
 ated at H. C, 1782 ; admitted 1786 ; practised in 
 Mendon. 
 
 William S. Hastings,' born in Mendon, 1798; grad- 
 uated at H. C, 1817 ; admitted 1820 ; practised in 
 Mendon. 
 
 Samuel F. Haven,' born in Dedham, 1806 ; gradu- 
 ated at A. C, 1826 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Charles S. Hayden, born in Harvard, 1848 ; admit- 
 ted 1871 ; practised in Fitchburg. 
 
 Stillman Haynes, born in Townsend, 1833 ; admit- 
 ted 1861 ; practised in Townsend and Fitchburg. 
 
 Daniel Henshaw, r.,' born in Leicester, 1872 ; grad- 
 uated at H. C, 1807 ; practised in Winchendon, Wor- 
 cester, Boston and Lynn. 
 
 Levi Haywood,' graduated at D. C, 1808; prac- 
 tised in Worcester. 
 
 Charles B. Hibbard, admitted 1879. 
 
 James H. Hill,' admitted 1852 ; practised in North 
 Brookfield and New York. 
 
 Henry E. Hill, born in Worcester, 1850; graduated 
 at H. C, 1872 ; admitted 1875 ; practised in Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 J. Henry Hill, born in Petersham; admitted 1844; 
 practised in Worcester. 
 
 Samuel Hinckley,' graduated at Y. C, 1781 ; prac- 
 tised in Brookfield. 
 
 Ephraim Hinds,' r., graduated at H. C, 1805 
 practised in Athol, Barre and Harvard. 
 
 Benjamin A. Hitchborn,' graduated at H. C, 1802 
 practised in Worcester. 
 
 Pelatiah Hitchcock,' graduated at H. C, 1785 
 practised in Brookfield and Hardwick. 
 
 George F. Hoar, born in Concord, 1826 ; graduated 
 atH. C, 1846; admitted 1849; practised in Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 Rockwood Hoar, born in Worcester, 1855 ; gradu- 
 ated at H. C, 1876 ; admitted 1879 ; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 George W. Hobbs, born in Worcester, 1839 ; grad- 
 uated at N. U., 1857; admitted 1860; practised in 
 Uxbridge. 
 
 Henry Hogan, born in Pembroke, Me., 1864 ; ad- 
 mitted 1888; practised in Athol. 
 
 Charles A. Holbrook,' born in Grafton, 1821 ; ad- 
 mitted 1857 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Leander Holbrook, born in Croydon, N. H., 1815 ; 
 admitted 1847 ; practised in Milford. 
 
 Leander Holbrook, Jr., born in Milford, 1849; 
 graduated at H. C, 1872; admitted 1875; practised 
 in Milford. 
 
 S. Holman, r., admitted 1850 ; practised in Fitch- 
 burg. 
 
 George B. N. Holmes, practised in Oakham. 
 
 William R. Hooper, r., born in Marblehead, 1819; 
 admitted 1849; practised in Worcester. 
 
 John Hopkins, born in Gloucester, Eng., 1840 ; 
 graduated at D. C, 1862; admitted 1864; practised 
 in Worcester and Millbury. 
 
 William S. B. Hopkins, born in Charleston, S. C, 
 1836; graduated at W. C, 1855; admitted 1858; 
 practised in Ware, New Orleans, Greenfield and Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 George W. Horr, born in New Salem, 1830 ; ad- 
 mitted 1860 ; practised in New Salem and Athol. 
 
 Nathaniel Houghton,' born in Sterling ; admitted 
 1810 ; practised in Barre. 
 
 Ephraim D. Howe, born in Marlborough, 1842 ; 
 graduated at Y. C, 1867 ; admitted 1870 ; practised 
 in Gardner. 
 
 Elmer P. Howe, born in Westboro', 1851 ; gradu- 
 ated at Y. C, 1876; admitted 1878; practised in 
 Boston. 
 
 Estes Howe,' graduated at D. C, 1800 ; practised 
 in Sutton. 
 
 Frederic Howes, practised in Sutton and Temple- 
 ton. 
 
 William H. Howe,' graduated at Y. C, 1847 ; ad- 
 mitted 1849 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 George H. Hoyt,' born in Athol, 1839; admitted 
 1859; practised in Athol. 
 
 Daniel B. Hubbard, born in Hiram, Me., 1835 ; 
 graduated C. U., 1858; admitted 1879; practised in 
 Grafton and Worcester. 
 
 John W. Hubbard,' graduated at D. C.,1814; prac- 
 tised in Worcester. 
 
 Henry S. Hudson, r., admitted 1852; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 Joseph W. Huntington,' born in Middlebury, Vt., 
 1807; graduated at H. C, 1832; admitted 1837; 
 practised in Lancaster. 
 
 Benjamin D. Hyde,' born in Sturbridge, 1803 ; ad- 
 mitted 1831; practised in Sturbridge and South- 
 bridge. 
 
 Albert S. Ingalls,' born in Rindge, N. H., 1830 ; 
 admitted 1858 ; practised in Fitchburg and Arlington. 
 
 Eleazer James,' born in Cohasset, 1754; graduated 
 at H. C, 1778; practised in Barre. 
 
 John F. Jandron, born in Hudson, 1863 ; attended 
 H. Cr. ; admitted 1887 ; practised in Marlboro' and 
 Worcester. 
 
 Samuel Jennison,' graduated at H. C, 1774; prac- 
 tised in Oxford. 
 
 William H. Jewell, admitted 1883. 
 
 Asa Johnson,' born in Bolton ; graduated at H. C, 
 1787 ; practised in Fitchburg and Leominster. 
 
 Charles R. Johnson, born in Dana, 1852; gradu- 
 ated at H. C, 1875 ; admitted 1878 ; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 George W. Johnson, born in Boston, 1827 ; admit- 
 ted 1863 ; practised in Brookfield. 
 
 Theodore S. Johnson, born in Dana, 1843 ; admit- 
 ted 1866 ; practised in Worcester and Blackstone. 
 
 Silas Jones, r., practised in Leicester. 
 
 Jeremiah R. Kane, born in North Brookfield, 1855 ; 
 admitted 1883; practised in Spencer. 
 
 James P. Kelly, r., born in Boston, 1848; admitted 
 1876 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
Ixxviii 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 William H. Kelley, born in Liberty, Me., 1855 ; 
 graduated at C. U., 1874; admitted 1882; practised 
 in Warren. 
 
 Joseph G. Kendall/ born in Leominster, 1786 ; 
 graduated at H. C, 1810 ; practised in Leominster 
 and Worcester. 
 
 Charles B. Kendrick, r., admitted 1885. 
 
 Thomas G. Kent, born in Framingham, 1829 ; 
 graduated at Y. C, 1851 ; admitted 1853 ; practised 
 in Milford. 
 
 Francis L. King, r., born in Charlton, 1834 ; ad- 
 mitted 1859 ; practised in Boston and Worcester. 
 
 Henry W. King, born in North Brooktield, 1856; 
 admitted 1880; practised in North Brooktield and 
 Worcester. 
 
 Thomas Kinnicutt,' born in Warren, R. I., 1800 ; 
 graduated at B. U., 1822 ; admitted 1825 ; practised 
 in Worcester. 
 
 Edward M. Kingsl)ury, admitted 1879. 
 
 Edward Kirkland,' r., admitted 1834 ; practised in 
 Templeton and Brattleboro', Vt. 
 
 Daniel Knight,' graduated at B. U., 1813 ; practised 
 in Leicester and Spencer. 
 
 Robert A. Knight, r., born in North Brooktield, 
 1860 ; admitted 1887 ; practised in Worcester and 
 Springfield. 
 
 Lincoln B. Knowlton, r., practised in Millbury. 
 
 Joseph Knox, r., practised in Hardwick. 
 
 Thomas F. Larkin, born in Ireland, 1864; admit- 
 ted 1888; practised in Clinton. 
 
 Christopher J. Lawton,' admitted 1726; practised 
 in Leicester. 
 
 Frank D. Le.iry, r., born in Worcester, 1852 ; at- 
 tended at H. Cr.; admitted 1879; practised in Wor- 
 cester and Peoria, 111. 
 
 Seth Lee, born in Barre ; admitted 1810 ; practised 
 in Barre. 
 
 Benjamin Lincoln,' graduated at H. C, 1777 ; prac- 
 tised in Mendon. 
 
 D. Waldo Lincoln,' born in Worcester, 1813 ; grad- 
 uated at H. C, 1831; admitted 1834; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 Edward W. Lincoln, born in Worcester, 1820 ; 
 graduated at H. C, 1839 ; admitted 1843 ; practised 
 in Worcester. 
 
 Enoch Lincoln,' born in Worcester, 1788 ; gradu- 
 ated B. C, 1811 ; admitted 1811 ; practised in Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 Levi Lincoln,' born in Hingham, 1749; graduated 
 at H. C, 1772 ; admitted 1775 ; practised in Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 Levi Lincoln,' born in Worcester, 1782 ; graduated 
 atH.C, 1802 ; admitted 1805 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 William Lincoln," born in Worcester, 1801 ; grad- 
 uated at H. C, 1822 ; admitted 1825 ; practised in 
 AVorcester. 
 
 William S. Lincoln, born in Worcester, 1811 ; 
 graduated at B. C, 1830 ; admitted 1833 ; practised 
 in Millbury and Worcester. 
 
 George W. Livermore, r., graduated at H. C, 1823 ; 
 practised in Millbury. 
 
 Edward P. Loring, born in Norridgewock, Me., 
 1837 ; graduated at B. C, 1861 ; admitted 1868 ; prac- 
 tised in Fitchburg. 
 
 Aaron Lyon,' born in Southbridge, 1824 ; gradu- 
 ated at Y. C, 1849 ; admitted 1851 ; practised in 
 Sturbridge. 
 
 Peter S. Maher, r., born in Boston, 1848 ; admitted 
 1882 ; practised in Worcester and Boston. 
 
 Charles F. Mann, born in Worcester, 1849 ; admit- 
 ted 1873 ; practised in New York and Worcester. 
 
 David Manning, Jr., born in Paxton, 1846 ; gradu- 
 ated at Y. C, 1869 ; admitted 1872 ; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 Jerome F. Manning, r., born in Merrimack, N. H., 
 1838 ; admitted 1862 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Jacob Mansfield,' r., born at Lynn ; practised in 
 Warren and New York. 
 
 Charles Mason, born in Dublin, N. H., 1810; grad- 
 uated at H. C; admitted 1839 ; practised in Fitchburg. 
 
 Joseph Mason, born in Northfield, 1813 ; admitted 
 1837 ; practised in Templeton and Worcester. 
 
 John H. Mathews,' born in Worcester, 1826 ; ad- 
 mitted 1848; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Wm. B. Maxwell, r., born in Biddeford, Me.; prac- 
 tised in Lowell and Worcester. 
 
 Lewis A. Maynard, born in Shrewsbury, 1810 
 practised in Worcester. 
 
 James J. McCafferty, r., born in Lowell, 1852 
 admitted 1873 ; practised in Worcester and Lowell. 
 
 Mathew J. McCaflerty,' born in Ireland, 1829 
 admitted 1857 ; practised in Lowell and Worcester. 
 
 Andrew D. McFarland,' born in Worcester, 1811 
 graduated at U. C, 1832; admitted 1835; practised 
 in Worcester. 
 
 John Mcllvene, r., born in Scotland, 1850; ad- 
 mitted 1876 ; practised in Grafton. 
 
 Herbert Mcintosh, born in Doyles'.own, Pa., 1857 ; 
 graduated at B. U., 1882; admitted 1888; practised 
 in Worcester. 
 
 Edward J. McMahon, born in Fitchburg, 1861; 
 admitted 1885; practised in Worcester. 
 
 James H. McMahon, born in Ireland, 1850 ; ad- 
 mitted 1877; practised in Fitchburg. 
 
 Prentice Mellen,' graduated at H. C, 1784; prac- 
 tised in Sterling. 
 
 Edward Mellen,' born in Westborough, 1802 ; grad- 
 uated at B. U., 1823; admitted 1828; practised in 
 Wayland and Worcester. 
 
 George H. Mellen, born in Brookfleld, 1850 ; grad- 
 uated at A. C, 1874; admitted 1882; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 Charles H. Merriam,' born in Westport, N. Y., 
 1822 ; admitted 1852 ; practised in Leominster. 
 
 David H. Merriam,' born in Essex, N. Y., 1820; 
 admitted 1850; practised in Fitchburg. 
 
 Lincoln A. Merriam,' admitted 1851 ; practised in 
 Fitchburg. 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 Ixxix 
 
 Pliny Merrick,' born in Wilbraham, 1756 ; gradu- 
 ated at H. C, 1776 ; admitted 1787 ; practised in 
 Wilbraham and Brookfield. 
 
 Pliny Merrick,' born in Brookfield, 1794 ; gradu- 
 ated at H. C, 1814; admitted 1817; practised in 
 Worcester, Charlton, Swansey, Taunton and Boston. 
 
 Henry K. Merrifield, born in Worcester, 1840; 
 admitted 1862 ; practised in Blackstone. 
 
 Charles A. Merrill, born in Boston, 1843 ; gradu- 
 ated at W. U., 1864; practised in Minneapolis and 
 Worcester. 
 
 Clough R. Miles,' born in Westminster, 1796 ; grad- 
 uated at H. C, 1817; admitted 1820; practised in 
 Townsend, Millbury and Athol. 
 
 Jonathan Morgan,' graduated at U. C, 1803; prac- 
 tised in Shrewsbury. 
 
 David L. Morril, r., born in Goffstown, N. H., 
 1827; graduated at D. C, 1847; admitted 1850; 
 practised in Winchendon, West Brookfield and Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 Francis M. Morrison, born in Worcester, 1850 ; 
 admitted 1880 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Adolphus Morse,' r., admitted 1849; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 Andrew Morton,' graduated at B. U., 1795 ; prac- 
 tised in Worcester. 
 
 Daniel Murray,' graduated at H. C, 1771 ; prac- 
 tised in Rutland. 
 
 T. Edward Murray,' born in Worcester, 1842 ; ad- 
 mitted 1872 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Daniel Nason, r., admitted 1884. 
 
 Harry L. Nelson, born in Mendon, 1858; gradu- 
 ated at H. C, 1881; admitted 1882; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 Thomas L. Nelson, born in Haverhill, N. H., 1827 ; 
 graduated at U. V., 1846; admitted 1855; practised 
 in Worcester. 
 
 Joseph W. Newcomb,' r., born in Greenfield; grad- 
 uated at W. C, 1825 ; practised in Templeton, Salis- 
 bury, Worcester and New Orleans. 
 
 Horatio G. Newcomb,' admitted 1850 ; practised 
 in Templeton. 
 
 Benjamin F. Newton,' born in Worcester, 1821 ; 
 admitted 1850 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Rejoice Newton,' born in Greenfield, 1782; gradu- 
 ated at D. C, 1807; admitted 1810; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 Amasa Norcross, born in Rindge, N. H., 1824 ; 
 admitted 1848 ; practised in Fitchburg. 
 
 David F. O'Connell, born in Ireland, 1857 ; ad- 
 mitted 1879 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 John F. O'Connor, born in Worcester, 1859 ; grad- 
 uated at H. Cr., 1882 ; admitted 1888 ; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 Charles J. O'Hara, born in Ireland, 1861 ; gradu- 
 ated at H. Cr., 1884 ; admitted 1887 ; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 Daniel Oliver,' born in Middleborough ; graduated 
 at H. C, 1762; admitted 1781 ; practised in Hardwick. 
 
 Henry Paine,' born in Worcester, 1804; admitted 
 1827 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Nathaniel Paine,' born in Worcester, 1759 ; gradu- 
 ated at H. C, 1775 ; admitted 1781 ; practised in 
 Groton and Worcester. 
 
 John Paine,' born in Sturbridge ; graduated at H. 
 C, 1799. 
 
 Timothy Paige. 
 
 George G. Parker,' born in Ashburnham, 1800 ; 
 graduated at Y. C. ; practised in Ashburnham. 
 
 George G. Parker, born in Acton, 1826 ; graduated 
 at U. C, 1852; admitted 1857; practised in Milford. 
 
 Grenville Parker, r., born in Chelmsford ; admitted 
 1860; practised in Lowell and Worcester. 
 
 Henry L. Parker, born in Acton, 1833 ; graduated 
 at D. C, 18.56; admitted 1859; practised in Milford 
 and Worcester. 
 
 Herbert Parker, born in Charlestown, 1856 ; attend- 
 ed H. C. ; admitted 1882 ; practised in Worcester and 
 Clinton. 
 
 Frank Parsons, admitted 1881. 
 
 George W. Parsons, born in Rochester, N. Y., 
 1857 ; attended B. U. ; admitted 1880 ; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 G. Willis Paterson, admitted 1885. 
 
 Isaac Patrick. 
 
 Silas Paul,' graduated at D. C, 1793 ; practised in 
 Leominster. 
 
 H. B. Pearson,' admitted 1844; practised in Har- 
 vard. 
 
 Lucius D. Pierce,' born in Chesterfield, N. H., 
 1819; graduated at N. U., 1846; admitted 1854; 
 practised in Nashua, N. H., and Winchendon. 
 
 Edward P. Pierce, born in Templeton, 1852; at- 
 tended H. C. ; admitted 1878; practised in Fitchburg. 
 
 Lafayette W. Pierce, born in Chesterfield, N. H., 
 1826; graduated at N. U., 1846; admitted 1854; 
 practised in Oxford, Westborough and Winchendon. 
 
 Charles B. Perry, born in Leicester, 1858 ; admitted 
 1884; practised in Worcester. 
 
 William Perry,' born in Leominster, 1786; admitted 
 1828 ; practised in Leominster. 
 
 Luther Perry,' practised in Barre. 
 
 Onslow Peters, r., born in Westborough, 1803 ; 
 graduated at B. U., 1825; practised in Westborough. 
 
 Alfred S. Pinkerton, born in Lancaster, Pa., 1856 ; 
 admitted 1881 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Francis Plunkett, born in Ireland, 1840 ; admitted 
 1874 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Thomas Pope,' born in Dudley, 1788 ; graduated at 
 B. U., 1809; practised in Dudley. 
 
 Burton W. Potter, born in Colesville, N. Y., 1843 ; 
 admitted 1868 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Wilbur H. Powers, admitted 1878. 
 
 Calvin E. Pratt, r., born in Shrewsbury, 1827 ; ad- 
 mitted 1853 ; practised in Worcester and New York. 
 
 William Pratt,' born in Shrewsbury, 1806 ; gradu- 
 ated at B. U., 1825 ; practised in Shrewsbury and 
 Worcester. 
 
Ixxx 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Joseph Prentice, r., admitted 1838 ; practised in 
 Douglas. 
 
 Addison Prentiss, boru in Paris, Me., 1814 ; prac- 
 tised in Lee, Me., and Worcester. 
 
 Ciiarles G. Prentiss,' born in Leominster, 1778; 
 practised in Oxford and Worcester. 
 
 Joseph Proctor,' graduated at D. C, 1791 ; prac- 
 tised in Athol. 
 
 James F. Purcell,' born in Weymouth, 1852 ; ad- 
 mitted 1876 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Arthur A. Putman, born in Danvers, 1832 ; admit- 
 ted 1875; practised in Danvers, Blaclistone and Ux- 
 bridge. 
 
 George E. Putman, born in Fitchburg, 1853; grad- 
 uated at M. U., 1875 ; admitted 1875 ; practi.sed in 
 Fitchburg. 
 
 James Putman,' born in Salem, 1725; graduated 
 at H. C, 17-16 ; admitted 1748 ; practised in Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 Rufus Putnam,' born in Warren, 1788 ; graduated 
 at W. C., 1804 ; practised in Rutland. 
 
 Abraham G. Randall,' born in Manchester, 1804 ; 
 graduated at H. C, 1826 ; admitted 1831 ; practised 
 in Millbury and Worcester. 
 
 Richard K. Randolph, Jr., admitted 1879. 
 
 John B. Ratigan, born in Worcester, 1859 ; gradu- 
 ated at H. Cr., 1879 ; admitted 1883 ; practised in 
 AVoicester. 
 
 Warren Rawson,' born in Mendon, 1777; gradu- 
 ated at B. U., 1802; practised in Mendon. 
 
 Louis W. Raymenton, r., born in Chester, Vt., 
 1853; admitted 1879 ; practised in Minneapolis and 
 Worcester. 
 
 Edward T. Raymond, born in Worcester, 1844 ; 
 admitted 1880; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Charles M. Rice, born in Worcester, 1860; gradu- 
 ated at H. C, 1882 ; admitted 1886 ; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 Henry C. Rice, born in Millbury, 1827; graduated 
 at B. U., 1850 ; admitted 1852 ; practised in Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 Merrick Rice,' graduated at H. C, 1785 ; practised 
 in Harvard and Lancaster. 
 
 William W. Rice, born in Deerfield, 1826; gradu- 
 ated at B. C, 1846; admitted 1854; practised in Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 Jairus Rich,' practised in Charlton. 
 
 George W. Richardson,' born in Boston, 1808; grad- 
 uated at H. C, 1829 ; admitted 1834; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 Artemas Rogers, r., practised in Fitchburg. 
 
 Edward Rogers, r., practised in Webster and Chi- 
 cago, 111. 
 
 Henry M. Rogers, born in Ware, 1837 ; attended 
 A. C. ; admitted 1883 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Clarence B. Roote, born in Francestown, N. H., 
 1853; graduated at W. C, 1876; admitted 1884; 
 practised in Barre and Ware. 
 
 Arthur P. Rugg, born in Sterling, 1862 ; graduated 
 
 atA. C, 1883; admitted 1886; practised in Worces- 
 ter. 
 
 Charles M. Ruggles, born in Providence, R.I., 1836 ; 
 admitted 1860; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Timothy Ruggles,' born in Rochester, 1711 ; gradu- 
 ated at H. C, 1782; admitted 1735; practised in 
 Rochester, Sandwich and Hardwick. 
 
 Stephen Salisbury,' born in Worcester, 1798 ; grad- 
 uated at H. C, 1817 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Stephen Salisbury, Jr., born in Worcester, 1835 ; 
 graduated at H. C, 1856 ; admitted 1863 ; practised 
 in Worcester. 
 
 Simeon Saunderson,' admitted 1820 ; practised in 
 Westminster and Athol. 
 
 Edward B. Sawtell, born in Fitchburg, 1840 ; grad- 
 uated at H. C, 1862 ; admitted 1871 ; practised in 
 Fitchburg. 
 
 Emory C. Sawyer, admitted 1875 ; practised in 
 Warren. 
 
 John S. Scammell, born in Bellingham, 1816 ; grad- 
 uated at B. U. ; admitted 1840 ; practised in Milford. 
 
 Livingston Scott, admitted 1886. 
 
 William Sever,' graduated at H. C, 1778 ; practised 
 in Rutland. 
 
 John W. Sheehan, born in Millbury, 1866 ; attend- 
 ed H. Cr. ; admitted 1888 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 John Shepley,' practised in Worcester. 
 
 Jonas L. Sibley,' born in Sutton, 1791 ; graduated 
 at B. U., 1813 ; practised in Sutton. 
 
 Willis E. Sibley,' born in New Salem, 1857 ; admit- 
 ted 1888 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 William F. Slocum, r., born in Tolland, 1822; ad- 
 mitted 1846 ; practised in Grafton and Boston. 
 
 Heury O. Smith, born in Leicester, 1839 ; gradu- 
 ated at A. C, 1863 ; admitted 1866 ; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 Jonathan Smith,' born in Peterboro', N. H., 1842 ; 
 graduated at D. C, 1871 ; admitted 1875 ; practised 
 in Clinton. 
 
 Jonathan Smith, born in Peterboro', N. H., 1842; 
 graduated at D. C, 1871; admitted 1875; practised 
 in Manchester, N. H., and Clinton. 
 
 Moses Smith,' born in Rutland, 1777 ; admitted 
 1802; practised in Lancaster. 
 
 N. J. Smith, r., practised in Blackstone, Spencer 
 and Aurora, 111. 
 
 Sidney P. Smith, born in Princeton, 111., 1850 ; 
 graduated at A. C, 1874 ; admitted 1883 ; practised 
 in Chicago and Athol. 
 
 William A. Smith, born in Leicester, 1824 ; gradu- 
 ated at H. C, 1843 ; admitted 1846 ; practised in Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 Charles H. B. Snow,' born in Fitchburg, 1822; 
 graduated at H. C, 1844 ; admitted 1847 ; practised 
 in Fitchburg. 
 
 Frederick W. Southwick, born in Blackstone, 1843; 
 admitted 1868 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 William L. Southwick,' born in Mendon, 1827 ; ad- 
 mitted 1849; practised in Hopkinton and Blackstone. 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 Ixxxi 
 
 Frank B. Spalter, born in Groton, 1845; admitted 
 1871 ; practised in Wicliendoii. 
 
 Clarence Spooner, r., admitted 1883. 
 
 Edmund B. Sprague, r., attended H. C. ; admitted 
 1880 ; practised in Worcester and Denver, Col. 
 
 Franklin M. Sprague, r., born in East Douglas, 
 1841 ; admitted 1870 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 .Tohn Sprague,' born in Rochester, 1740 ; graduated 
 at H. C, 1765 ; admitted 1768 ; i)ractiscd in Newport, 
 R. I., Keene, N. H., and Lancaster. 
 
 Samuel J. Sprague,' graduated at H. C, 1799; prac- 
 tised in Lancaster. 
 
 Peleg Sprague,' born in Rochester ; graduated at 
 D. C, 1783; admitted 1784; practised in Lancaster, 
 Winchendon, Fitchburg, and Keene, N. H, 
 
 Homer B. Sprague, r., born in Sutton, 1829; grad- 
 uated at Y. C, 1852; admitted 1854; practised in 
 Worcester and New Haven. 
 
 William B. Sprout, born in Enfield, 1859; gradu- 
 ated at A. C, 1883 ; admitted 1885 ; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 Hamilton B. Staples, born in IMendon, 1829 ; grad- 
 uated at B. U., 1851 ; admitted 1854 ; jiractised iu 
 Milford and Worcester. 
 
 William Stearns,' born in Lunenburg; graduated 
 at H. C, 1770 1 admitted 1776; practised in Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 Daniel Stearns,' l)orii in Fitchburg, 1881 ; gradu- 
 ated at D. C, 1855 ; admitted 1859 ; practised in 
 Fitchburg. 
 
 Heman Stebbins,' burn in W. Springfield ; gradu- 
 ated at Y. C, 1814 ; practised in Bniokfield. 
 
 William Stedman,' born iu Caral)iidge, 1765 ; grad- 
 uated at H. C, 1784; admitted 1787; practised in 
 Lancaster, Charlton and Newburyport. 
 
 Charles F. Stevens, born in Worcester, 1855; grad- 
 uated at H. C, 1876; admitted 1878; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 Charles (4. Stevens, born iu Claremunl, N. H., 1821 ; 
 graduated at D. C, 1840 ; admitted 1.S45 ; practised 
 in Clinton. 
 
 Isaac Stevens,' born in Wareham, 1792 ; admitted 
 1821 ; practised in Middleboro' and Athol. 
 
 James A. Stiles, born in Fitchburg, l>i55; gradu- 
 ated at H. C, 1877 ; admitted 1880 ; practised in 
 Fitchburg and Gardner. 
 
 Amos W. Stockwell,' r., born in Sutton ; graduated 
 at A. C, 1833; admitted 1837 ; practised in Worcester 
 and Chicopee. 
 
 John H. Stockwell,' born in Webster, 1838 ; admit- 
 ted 1859; practised in Webster. 
 
 Elijah B. Stoddard, born in Upton, 1826 ; gradu- 
 ated at B. U., 1847; admitted 1849; practised in 
 AVorcester. 
 
 Henry D. Stone,' born iu Southbridge, 1820 ; grad- 
 uated at A. C, 1844; admitted 1847 ; practised in 
 Worcester and New Orleans. 
 
 Isaac Story,' graduated at H. C, 1793 ; practised in 
 Rutland and Sterling. 
 
 Martin L. Stowe,' practised in Southboro' and 
 Northboro'. 
 
 Asa E. Stratton, born in Grafton, 1853 ; graduated 
 at B. U., 1873; admitted 1875; practised in Fitch- 
 burg. 
 
 Ashbel Strong,' practised in F'itchburg. 
 
 Simeon Strong,' graduated at Y. C, 1786 ; practised 
 in Barre. 
 
 Solomon Strong,' born iu Amherst, 1780 ; gradu- 
 ated at W. C, 1798; practised in Athol, Lancaster 
 and Westminster. 
 
 John Stuart.' 
 
 John E. Sullivan, born in Worcester, 1857 ; gradu- 
 ated at H. Cr., 1877; admitted 1879; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 Bradford Sumner,' graduated at B. XJ., 1808 ; prac- 
 tised in Brookfield, Leicester and Spencer. 
 
 George Swan, born in Hubbardston, 1826 ; ad- 
 mitted 1848; practised in Hubbardston and Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 Samuel Swan,' born iu Leicester, 1778; graduated 
 at H. C, 1799 ; practised in Hubbardston and Oak- 
 ham. 
 
 Arthur M. Taft, born in Uxbridge, 185(1 ; admitted 
 1882; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Bezaleel Taft, Jr.,' born in Uxbridge, 1780 ; gradu- 
 ated at H. C, 1804 ; jiractised at U.vbridge. 
 
 George S. Taft,' born in Uxbridge, 1826 ; gradu- 
 ated at B. U., 1848 ; admitted 1851 ; practised in Ux- 
 bridge. 
 
 George S. Taft, born in Uxbridge, 1859 ; graduated 
 at B. U., 1882; admitted 1887; practised in Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 Jesse A. Taft, born in Jlendon, 1857; admitted 
 1883; practised in Milford. 
 
 William E. Tatum, admitted 1887. 
 
 Ezra Taylor,' born in Southborough ; practised in 
 Southborough. 
 
 Marvin M. Taylor, born in Jefi'erson, N. Y., I860; 
 admitted 1885 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Adin Thayer,' born in Blackstone, 1828; admitted 
 1854 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Amasa Thayer,' graduated at H. C, 181(1 ; prac- 
 tised in Brookfield. 
 
 Francis N. Thayer, born in Blackstone; admitted 
 1876 ; practised iu Blackstone. 
 
 John R. Thayer, born in Douglas, 1845; graduated 
 at Y. C, 1869 ; admitted 1871 ; practised in Worces- 
 ter. 
 
 Joseph Thayer,' born in Douglas, 1792; graduated 
 at B. U., 1815 ; admitted 1818 ; practised in Ux- 
 bridge. 
 
 Webster Thayer, born in Blackstone, 1857; gradu- 
 ated at D. C, 1880; admitted 1882; practised iu 
 Worcester. 
 
 Levi Thaxter, practised in Worcester. 
 
 Benjamin F. Thomas,' born in Boston, 1813; grad- 
 uated at B. U., 1830 ; admitted 1833 ; practised in 
 Worcester and Boston. 
 
Ixxxii 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 E. Francis Thompson, born in Worcester, 1859; 
 admitted 1884 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Henry F. Thompson, born in Webster, 1859 ; at- 
 tended W. C; admitted 1887 ; practised in Webster. 
 
 Oliver H. Tillotson," born in Orford, N. H.; ad- 
 mitted 1855; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Seymour A. Tingier,' l)orn in Tolland ; graduated 
 at W. C, 1855; admitted 1857; practised in Webster. 
 Joseph A. Titus, born in Leicester, 1842; gradu- 
 ated at A. C, 1863 ; admitted 1868 ; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 Paul P. Todd, r., born in Atkinson, N. H., 1819 ; 
 graduated at D. C, 1842 ; admitted 1847; practised 
 in Black.stone, Boston, St. Louis and New York. 
 
 John Todd, r., practised in Westminster and Fitch- 
 burg. 
 
 Ebenezer Torrey," born in Franklin, 1801 ; gradu- 
 ated at H. C, 1822 ; admitted 1825 ; practised in 
 Fitchburg. 
 
 George A. Torrey, r., born in Fitchburg, 1838; 
 graduated at H. C, 1859 ; admitted 1861 ; practised 
 in Fitchburg and Boston. 
 
 Newton Tourti'lot, r., admitted 1S53; jiractised in 
 Webster. 
 
 William M. Towne,' r., born in t'harlton ; gradu- 
 ated at A. C, 1825; admitted 1S2S; practised in Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 Louis K. Travis, r., born in HoUiston, 1852; ad- 
 mitted 1875; practised in Westborougli. 
 
 Joseph Trumbull, r., born in Worcester, 1828; ad- 
 mitted 1849; practised in Worcester. 
 
 George A. Tufts,' born in Dudley, 1797; graduated 
 at H. C, 1818 ; admitted 1821 ; practised in Dudley. 
 Stephen P. Twiss, r., born in Charlton, 1830; ad- 
 mitted 1853; practised in Worcester and Kansas City. 
 Benjamin 0. Tyler, r., practised in Winchendon. 
 Nathan Tyler,' graduated at H. C, 1779; practised 
 in Uxbridge. 
 
 Nathan Tyler, Sr.,' practised in Uxbridge. 
 Adin B. Underwood,' born in Milford, 1828 ; grad- 
 ated at B. LT., 1849 ; admitted 1853 ; piactised in Mil- 
 ford and Boston. 
 
 F. H. TInderwood, r., practised in Webster. 
 Jabez Upham,' born in Brookfield ; graduated at 
 H. C, 1785; admitted 1788 ; practised in Sturbridge, 
 Claremont, N. H., and Brookfield. 
 
 Joshua Upham,' born in Brookfield, 1741 ; gradu- 
 ated at H. C, 1763 ; admitted 1765 ; practised in 
 Brookfield, Boston and New York. 
 
 John L. Utley, r., born in Brimtield, 1S37; ad- 
 mitted 1874 ; practised in Blackstone and Worcester. 
 Samuel Utley, born in Chesterfield, 1843; admitted 
 1867 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Ernest H. Vaughn, boru in Greenwich, 1858 ; ad- 
 mitted 1884; practised in Worcester. 
 
 George F. Verry,' born in Mendon, 1826; admitted 
 1851; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Horace B. Verry, born in Saco, Me., 1843; admitted 
 1864 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Edward .T. Vose,' born in Augusta, Me., 1806; grad- 
 uated at B. C, 1825 ; admitted 1828 ; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 Richard H. Vose,' graduated at B. C., 1822; prac- 
 tised in Worcester. 
 
 Charles Wads worth, r., practised iu Barre and Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 Lovell Walker,' born in Brookfield, 1768; gradu- 
 ated at D. C, 1794; admitted 1801 ; practised in Tem- 
 pleton and Leominster. 
 
 Andrew H. Ward,' graduated at H. C, 1808; i)rac- 
 tised in Shrewsbury. 
 
 Nahnm Ward, born in Shrewsbury; admitted 1731 ; 
 practised in Shrewsbury. 
 J. C. B. Ward, r., practised in Athol. • 
 Charles E. Ware, born in Fitchburg, 1853 ; gradu- 
 ated at H. C, 1876; admitted 1879; practised in 
 Fitchburg. 
 
 Thornton K. Ware, born in Cambridge, 1823; grad- 
 uated at H. C, 1842; admitted 1846; practised in 
 Fitchburg. 
 
 Emory Washburn,' born in Leicester, 1800 ; gradu- 
 ated at W. C, 1817; admitted 1821; practised in 
 Charlemont, Leicester, Worcester and Cambridge. 
 
 John D. Washburn, born in Boston, 1833 ; gradu- 
 ated at H. C, 1853; admitted 1856; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 Asa H. Waters,' born in Millbury, 1808; practised 
 in Millbury. 
 
 Paul B. Watson, r., born in Morristown,N. J., 1861 ; 
 graduated at H. C, 1881; admitted 1885; practised 
 in Boston. 
 
 Francis Wayland, Jr., r., born in Providence, R. I., 
 graduated at B. U., 1846 ; practised in Worcester and 
 New Haven, Conn. 
 
 Jared Weed,' born in New York, 1783; graduated 
 atH. C, 1807; admitted 1810; practised in Peters- 
 ham. 
 
 Charles K. Wetherell,' born in Petersham, 1822; 
 admitted 1844; practised in Petersham, Barre and 
 Worcester. 
 
 George A. Wetherell,' born in Oxford, 1825 ; grad- 
 uated at Y. C, 1848; admitted 1851 ; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 John W. AVetherell, born in Oxford, 1820; gradu- 
 ated at Y. C, 1844 ; admitted 1846 ; practised in 
 Worcester. 
 
 J. Allyn Weston, ' r., born in Duxbury ; graduated 
 atH. C, 1846; admitted 1849; practised in Worcester 
 and Blilford. 
 
 Charles Wheaton,' r, born in Rhode Island, 1828 ; 
 admitted 1851 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 George Wheaton,' graduated at H. C, 1814; prac- 
 tised in Uxbridge. 
 
 Henry S. Wheaton,' r., graduated at B. U., 1841 ; 
 admitted 1844; practised in Dudley. 
 
 Otis C. Wheeler,' born in Worcester, 1808 ; admitted 
 1830; practised in Worcester. 
 J. C. Fremont Wheelock, boru in Mendon, 1856 ; 
 
THE BENCH AND BAR. 
 
 attended Y.C.; admitted 1883; practised in South- 
 bridge. 
 
 Peter Wheelock,' graduated at B. If., isll; prac- 
 tised in Mendon. 
 
 William J. Wliipple,' graduated at H. C, 1805; 
 practised in Dudley. 
 
 William C. White,' practised in Giafton, Rutland, 
 Sutton and Worcester. 
 
 William E, White, bora in Worcester, ISl!;^; ad- 
 mitted 1887; practised in Worcester and Leominster. 
 
 Solon Whiting, practised in Lancaster. 
 
 Abel Whitney,' graduated at W. C, 1810 ; practised 
 in Harvard. 
 
 Giles H. Whitney,' born in Boston, 1818 ; graduated 
 at H. C, 1837; admitted 1842; practised in West- 
 minster, Templeton and Wincheudon. 
 
 Milton Whitney,' r., born in Ashburnluun, 1823; 
 admitted 184i); practised in Fitchburg and Balti- 
 more, Md. 
 
 Abel Willard,' born in Lancaster, 1732; graduated 
 at H. C, 1752; practised in Lancaster. 
 
 Calvin Willard,' born in Harvard, 1784 ; graduated 
 at H. C. ; admitted 1800 ; practised in Barnstable, Pe- 
 tersham and Fitchburg. 
 
 Jacob Willard,' graduated at B. 1'., 1805; practised 
 in Fitchburg. 
 
 .loseph Willard,' r., born in Oamiiridge, 1798; 
 graduated at H. C, 1816 ; admitted 1819 ; |iractised in 
 Waltham and Lancaster. 
 
 Levi Willard,' graduated at H.-C, 1775 ; practised 
 in Lancaster. 
 
 Elijah Williams,' graduated at H. ('., 1704; prac- 
 tised in Deerfield and Mendon. 
 
 Hartley Williams,' born in Somerset, Me., 1820; 
 admitted 1850 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 James O. Williams,' born in New Bedford, 1827; 
 graduated at H. C, 1849; admitted 1853 ; practised in 
 Worcester and St. Louis, Mo. 
 
 Lemuel Williams,' born in Dartmouth, 1782; grad- 
 uated at B. U., 1804; admitted 1808; practised in 
 New Bedford and Worcester. 
 
 Lemuel S. Williams,' born in New Bedford, 1812; 
 graduated at H. C, 1830 ; practised in Dedham and 
 Westbo rough. 
 
 William A. Williams, born in Hubbardston, 1820; 
 admitted 1848; practised in Worcester. 
 
 John Winslow,' graduated at B. U., 1795; practised 
 in Northborough. 
 
 G. R. M. Withington, born in Boston ; graduated at 
 U. v., 1825; admitted 1829; practised in Boston and 
 Lancaster. 
 
 Charles W. Wood, born in Worcester, 1841 ; admitted 
 1883 ; practised in Worcester. 
 
 Harry Wood,' born in Grafton, 1838; practised in 
 Grafton. 
 
 Cortland Wood, r., born in Plainfield, Ct., 1850; 
 graduated at Y. C, 1871 ; admitted 1873 ; practi-sed in 
 Oxford. 
 
 Joseph H. Wood, born in IMendon, 1853; admitted 
 1877 ; practised in Milford. 
 
 Nathaniel Wood,' born in Holden, 1797 ; graduated 
 at H. C, 1821 ; practised in Fitchburg. 
 
 Samuel F. Woods,' born in Barre, 1837 ; graduated 
 at Y. C, 185(5; admitted 1858; practised in Barre. 
 
 George M. Woodward, born in Worcester, 1838; 
 admitted 18H0; practised in Worcester. 
 
 James M. Woodbury, born in Templeton, 1819; 
 admitted 1862; practised in Fitchburg. 
 
xQ^"^'- 
 
 i>r 
 
clx J^^^^^'^K "^"-l^^lein ^ ^ A N K L I N 
 
 r" 
 
H 1 S T O R V 
 
 OF 
 
 WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 TOWN HISTORIES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 LANCASTER. 
 
 BY HON. HENRY S. NOURSE. 
 
 Tlie Nashawatjs and their Hume — King^s Pttrchase — The X<tsh<itvn>i Planters 
 — Thf Town Grant — The Covenant — Land Attotmtnti — Death of Showa- 
 non. 
 
 At the time the Massachusetts Company were lay- 
 ing the foundations of their settlements on the river 
 Charles, there dwelt in the northeastern part of what 
 is now Worcester County a small tribe of red men, 
 generally known as the Nashaways. They were an 
 independent clan, though evidently of the same origin 
 and speaking the same tongue with the natives of the 
 coast, and the Nipmucks, Quabaugs and River In- 
 dians south and west of them. A close defensive al- 
 liance bound together these Massachusetts tribes, and 
 this bond was their only safeguard against the mur- 
 derous incursions of the Mohegans and Mohawks, 
 their traditional foes. 
 
 Of the Nashaways there were three groups or vil- 
 lages, — one at the eastern base of Mt. Wachusett, 
 another at the Waahacum ponds, and a third about 
 the meeting of the two branches of the river which 
 the pioneers called "Penecook," but which is now 
 known as the Nashua. By the custom of the period 
 the location of a native village or planting-field gave 
 name to those there resident, and we find these Indians 
 called indiscriminately, by the English, Washaeums 
 and Wachusetts, as well as Nashaways. They proudly 
 cherished traditions of great former prowess and pros- 
 1 
 
 perity, but war and pestilence had greatly reduced 
 their numbers before the coming of the white man, 
 and in 1033 the small-pox swept away hundreds more, 
 leaving but a comparatively enfeebled remnant be- 
 hind; although they were even yet numerous enough 
 to be styled "a great people" by Daniel Gookin. 
 
 The sachem holding mild sway over the Nashaways 
 was Showanon or Nashowanon, also called Sholan, 
 Shaumauw.Shoniowand Nashacowam — for an Indian 
 chief of repute always had sundry aliases, each, per- 
 haps, indicative of some specially memorable deed or 
 personal experience. His home was upon a plateau 
 between the little lakes of Washacum, about which 
 were clustered the wigwams of his central and largest 
 village. He appears not infrequently in early colonial 
 history and always greeting the white man with wel- 
 coming words and generous hospitality. Finally the 
 saintly Eliot joyfully proclaims that his personal min- 
 istrations have won Sholan and many of his followers 
 to the Christian fold. Before this the chieftain had 
 made many English acquaintances in his visits to the 
 Bay, and among them Thomas King, of Watertown, 
 gained his special favor. He persuaded King to visit 
 his domain, and made him generous offers of a land 
 grant, desiring him to establish a trucking-house, 
 where his people could exchange their peltry for 
 much-coveted iron weapons, kettles, cloths, and the 
 various novelties brought by the strangers from over 
 the seas. 
 
 The country of the Nashaways lay among lofty, 
 smoothly-rounded hills, sloping gently down to broad 
 meadows, through which coursed rivulets of pure, cool 
 
 1 
 
HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 water; while numerous little lakes slept iu conceal- 
 ment of the forest. It was a famous hunting-ground, 
 prolific of deer, beaver, wild turkeys and small game. 
 Occasionally the swan wandered hither from the Mer- 
 rimack, and moose, elk, bears, wolves and wild-cats 
 were sometimes met with. Samuel Maverick tells us 
 also that the waters were noted for excellent salmon 
 and trout. For the capture of the migratory shad and 
 salmon on their return towards the ocean, the Indians 
 had built a weir at the shallows in the main river, 
 while the frequent falls and rapids in the branches 
 afforded convenient spots for the successful plying of 
 spear and net, when the fish were ascending in spawn- 
 ing time. 
 
 The hunters or traders of Concord and Sudbury, 
 adventurous enough to push fifteen miles westward 
 into the wilderness, found a feeble band of the Natick 
 Indians living at Okommakameset (now Marlborough) 
 and a little beyond could look over the summit of the 
 lofty Wataquadock hills into the paradise of the 
 Nashaways. The widely-extended view with its deli- 
 cate hues varying with sun and season, which there 
 met their gaze, is the same that attracts so many ad- 
 mirers to-day; for even two hundred and fifty years of 
 civilization cannot avail to mar, or add to, the grand 
 features of so broad and varied a landscape. To the 
 north the horizon is bounded by the picturesque 
 mountain peaks of New Hampshire, blue or violet 
 with distance. The shapely dome of Wachusett at 
 the west dominate-i the scene, and, near at hand, little 
 valleys creeping out from the shadows of the George 
 and Wataquadock ranges of hills, join to form the 
 broad, fertile intervales, dotted with hickory, syca- 
 more and stately elms, which sweep northward, bear- 
 ing the rivers towards the sea. All is gentle undula- 
 tion, charming, restful — nothing awe-inspiring or 
 grand, perhaps, certainly nothing precipitous or even 
 abrupt — nothing suggestive of the ferocities of nature, 
 save the sharp cone of Monadnock, dimly to be seen 
 in the middle distance. 
 
 Nor was the landscape then a " howling wilderness," 
 gloomy with primeval forest and impassable coppice, 
 as so generally it has been depicted in story; for in 
 the vicinity of the Indian plantations, twice in the 
 year the woods were purposely fired to free them of 
 the brushwood that could hide a stealthy foe, or ob- 
 struct pursuit of game. Therefore, in time, extensive 
 areas came to wear a park-like appearance, resembling 
 the similarly formed "oak-openings" of the West, 
 everywhere passable, even for horsemen. The more 
 fertile meadows, where not too wet, were swept bare 
 of tree and underwood and clad in summer with a rank 
 growth of coarse grasses, "some as high as the should- 
 ers, so that a good mower may cut three loads in a 
 day," as William Wood testified in 1634. 
 
 At how early a date the pioneer pale-face first 
 looked down from its southern barrier of hills upon 
 Sholan's beautiful domain is not known. John Win- 
 throp relates that the Watertown people began a set- 
 
 tlement at Nashaway in 1643. Before that Thomas 
 King had accepted the invitation of the sachem, and 
 selected a location for a trading post on the sunny 
 slope of George Hill, near the parting of two trails 
 which led from the " wading-place" of Nashaway, 
 westward to Wachusett, and southwesterly by Washa- 
 cum to the land of the Quabaugs. King was a young 
 man. of limited means, and had formed a partnership 
 with Henry Symonds, a freeman, a capitalist, and an 
 enterprising contractor, living near the head of what 
 is now North Street, in Boston. By a little brook that 
 came brawling down the divide over which the west- 
 ern trail ran, the trucking-house was built, probably 
 in 1642, certainly before the summer of 1643. Sy- 
 monds, the moneyed partner, died in September of 
 1643, and King survived him little more than a year. 
 In the inventory of King's property there is no hint 
 of any estate at Lancaster. This is confirmation of 
 the statement made by Rev. Timothy Harrington in 
 1753 — doubtless recording a tradition — that a company 
 bought such proprietary rights at Nashaway as King 
 had obtained by his bargain with Sholan. No deed 
 of a sale is foun<l, but the price of the grant, as agreed 
 upon with the Indians, was twelve pounds. The ter- 
 ritory acquired was nominally ten miles long from 
 south to north, by eight miles wide. It included a 
 few families of Indians, dwelling about the rivers and 
 ponds, though these, perhaps, joined the Washacum 
 village, when, in 1663 and 1669, the warriors of the 
 tribe were decimated in contest with the bloodthirsty 
 Mohawks. A provision in Sholan's deed, however, 
 restricted the purchasers and their successors from 
 "molesting the Indians in their hunting, fishing, or 
 usual planting places." Joint occupancy was the evi- 
 dent intent of the conveyance. * 
 
 The Nashaway Company, having signed a compact, 
 at once began the assignment of home lots among 
 themselves, and sought from the authorities legal 
 sanction of their enterprise. Favorable response was 
 made to their petition. May 29, 1644, and the names 
 of the foremost undertakers thereafter appear from 
 time to time in various records. They were chiefly 
 from Boston and Watertown. At the head of the first 
 list of the proposed planters found, stand the names 
 of two graduates of Cambridge University, England — 
 Nathaniel Norcross and Robert Childe. The former 
 had been promised adequate settlement as pastor of 
 the plantation, but growing impatient of delays in the 
 gathering of his parish he soon departed for England, 
 bearing the manuscript of the broken contract with 
 him. Robert Childe was a scholar of varied learning. 
 He had traveled in many lands, was a close observer, 
 pretended to considerable knowledge of chemistry and 
 metallurgy, was ambitions and restlessly energetic. 
 He gave books to the infant college of Harvard, in- 
 vested largely in the iron works at Lynn and Brain- 
 tree, shipped from England vines, grafts of plums, and 
 various seeds and plants to his intimate friend John 
 Winthrop, Jr., and to all appearances wholly merited 
 
LANCASTER. 
 
 the commendation of that Puritan unimpeachable, 
 Hugh Peters, who wrote of him in June, 1645: "that 
 honest man who will bee of exceeding great vsc if the 
 Country know how to improue him, indeed he is very 
 very vsefull. I pray let us not play tricks with such 
 men by our jelousyes." 
 
 But in that age toleration had no home on earth ; 
 and why should Massachusetts be specially reproached 
 because she oft'ered no asylum for original thinkers 
 upon religious or political subjects? Jesuits and 
 Quakers, rhapsodistsand philosophers, bedlamites and 
 seers were alike crushed by the despotism of dogmas, 
 — a despotism which now seems the more strange be- 
 cause wearing the cloak of liberty. Vane, Vassal and 
 later William Pynchon fled the country in disgust at 
 the intolerance of the majority in power; Coggeshall 
 and Coddington were spurned, to be esteemed a great 
 gain in the colony of Rhode Island, and Childe, de- 
 spite the warning afforded by the fate of such able but 
 unseasonable reformers, and overestimating his own 
 strength, began a crusade against the theocratic re- 
 striction of suffrage to a select few. England was then 
 shaken by the fierce contest for supremacy between 
 Presbyterian and Independent. Childe and his fellow- 
 agitators were probably feared, and perhaps justly, as 
 being secret emissaries of Presbyterian ism, and Puri- 
 tanism rudely and speedily thrust them out of the 
 Commonwealth. Thus the Nashaway Company lost 
 its master of arts. 
 
 The third co-partner upon the list was also a noted 
 personage in colonial history. Steven Day, a lock- 
 smith by profession, had in 1639 set up at Harvard 
 College the first English printing-press in America, 
 and on it had printed the Book of Psalms in 1640. He 
 wa9«a man of worthy aims and rare energy, but so 
 lavish or improvident that his earnings and the sales 
 of lands granted him by the General Court, in reward 
 for his art, could not keep him out of debt. He was 
 an ardent promoter of the company's interests, often 
 traveling to Nashaway, and entertaining Indians and 
 proposed planters at his Cambridge home. His neces- 
 sities forced him to sell the lots first assigned to him, 
 but a few years later he acquired another with a 
 dwelling upon it — yet never resided there, and died in 
 January, 1668, a journeyman at the press he had 
 founded. He had long before forfeited his proprietary 
 rights at Nashaway by his inability to improve, or pay 
 tithe for, his allotments. 
 
 Besides Day, four other workers in iron were prom- 
 inent in the company : John Prescott, Harmon Gar- 
 rett, John Hill and Joseph Jenkes. This fact, joined 
 to the leadership of Childe, whose letters to Winthrop 
 show him to have been enthusiastic in his estimate of 
 the mineral wealth concealed in the New England 
 hills, warrants the supposition that the inspiration of 
 this proposed settlement, so far from tidal waters, was 
 not alone the profitable trade in furs, but the expecta- 
 tion of discovering valuable ores, and especially iron. 
 
 Prescott was obviously from the first the soul of the 
 
 undertaking, and ultimately, after one by one his 
 original associates yielded to discouragements and 
 abandoned him or died, lie alone, undismayed and 
 equal to any emergency, with unbending will, hard 
 common sense, and marvelous practical ability, 
 fought the long battle with obstructive men and re- 
 luctant nature, and won. Prescott was the founder 
 of Lancaster, and there existed no rival claimant to 
 that honor. Garrett, the blacksmith of Charlestown, 
 though he expended some time and means in the 
 earliest days of the plantation, and clung to his land- 
 title for several years with the avowed intention of 
 becoming a resident, finally drops out of sight. Hill, 
 a Boston smith and a freeman of influence, business 
 associate and neighbor of Henry Symonds, died July 
 27, 1646. Joseph Jenkes was a prototype of the 
 Yankee mechanical genius. A smith employed at the 
 Lynn Iron Works, he was granted the first patent in 
 America for a water-mill. May 16, 1646, and thence- 
 forward proved himself a bold, ingenious and success- 
 ful experimenter in the mechanic arts, being selected 
 by the Assistant in 1652 to make dies for the pine- 
 tree coinage of Massachusetts. He became too busy 
 and prosperous to keep up his interest in the Nash- 
 away scheme. 
 
 The other co-partners disclosed by various petitions 
 and records were: John Fisher, of Medfield; Ser- 
 geant John Davis, a joiner of Boston ; John Chand- 
 ler, of Boston ; Isaac Walker, a trader of Boston, who 
 married the widow of Henry Symonds ; Thomas 
 Skidmore, of Cambridge ; John Cowdall, a trader of 
 Boston, who is found possessing the Symonds and 
 King trucking-house after the death of the original 
 owners; James Cutler, of Watertown, who married 
 the widow of King ; Samuel Bitfield, a cooper of 
 Boston ; Matthew Barnes, a miller and influential 
 citizen of Braintree; John Shawe, a Boston butcher; 
 Samuel Rayner, of Cambridge ; George Adams, a 
 glover of Watertown. With the exception, perhaps, 
 of Cowdall, Adams and Rayner, we have no proof 
 that one of these men ever became actual residents at 
 Nashaway, or took active steps to further its settle- 
 ment after 1645. Chandler, Walker and Davis for 
 some reason became actively hostile to the company's 
 interests in 1647, as shown by the records of court, 
 and Cowdall sold his land and improvements to 
 Prescott the same year. Adams had his home-lot 
 assigned him upon George Hill, but occupied it briefly, 
 if at all. 
 
 The first two years after the General Court's sanc- 
 tion of the plantation saw little advance in the pre- 
 parations for settlement. The first step taken by the 
 associates was to send out fit pioneers to build houses, 
 store provender for wintering cattle, enclose with 
 paling a "night pasture," and prepare fields for grain. 
 Richard Linton and his son-in-law, Lawrence Waters, 
 a carpenter, and John Ball, all of Watertown, were 
 employed and given house-lots. Linton and Waters 
 built themselves houses upon lands assigned them 
 
HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 near the wading-place in the North River, which 
 were the first erected after the trucking-house. The 
 covenant entered into by tlie proprietors with their 
 minister contemplated the occupation of the valley 
 during the summer of 1645. 
 
 Prescott, who had a considerable estate in Water- 
 town, sold it, and packing his household goods upon 
 horses, set out with his family through the woods for 
 their new home. At the very outset of the journey 
 he met with serious misfortune. " He lost a horse 
 and his lading in Sudbury River, and a week after, 
 his wife and children being upon another horse, were 
 hardly saved from drowning." This sad experience 
 Governor Winthrop seriously records as a special prov- 
 idence — divine punishment of the brave pioneer for 
 his sympathy wilh that dangerous schismatic, Robert 
 Childe ! The other proprietors seem to have been 
 completely dismayed by this disaster to their leader, 
 and forthwith — June 12, 164.5 — petitioned the author- 
 ities to order this yawning chasm in their path to be 
 bridged. There is no reason to think that they ex- 
 aggerated the formidable nature of the crossing, for 
 more than one hundred years later the bridge and 
 causeway at the same place were complained of as 
 dangerous and in time of freshets impassable, and 
 lotteries were granted, the proceeds of which, amount- 
 ing to over twelve hundred pounds, were expended 
 upon them. The petitioners in 1045 declared it " an 
 vtter Impossibilitye to proceede forwards to plante at 
 the place aboue sayd [Nashaway] except we haue a 
 conuenient way made for the transportation of our 
 cattell and goods oner Sudbery River and Marsh." 
 Two years before, a cart-bridge had been begun by 
 the town's people, but left incomplete, and the swamp 
 remained unimproved. The court contributed twenty 
 pounds towards finishing the bridge and causeway, 
 stipulating that they should be completed within a 
 year. 
 
 Whatever was done to render the way less perilous 
 was done too late or too ineffectually to encourage 
 Norcross or his parishioners, other than the indomit- 
 able Prescott, to venture across it with their cattle 
 and household goods, during either 1645 or 164(5; and 
 by that time their patience or pluck wa.s exhausted, 
 the surviving Boston members of the company were 
 trying to have the grant rescinded to relieve them- 
 selves of any responsibility incurred by their cove- | 
 nant, and the minister had abandoned his parish. To ] 
 the difficult task of obtaining planters to make good j 
 so wholesale a defection, Prescott and Day seem to 
 have devoted much time and energy with very mode- 
 rate success. 
 
 The plan of settlement contemplated two groups or 
 double ranges of house-lots, in sight of each other, 
 but about a mile apart, the North River and its inter- 
 vales lying between. The trucking-house formed the 
 starting-point of the western range; the eastern lay 
 along the plateau, then (as now) called the Neck, be- 
 tween the main or Penecook River and the North 
 
 Branch. Prescott, who had chosen his first home-lot 
 in the eastern range, covering the site of the present 
 Lancaster House, sold it to Ralph Houghton and 
 made his home at the trucking-house. Philip Knight, 
 of Charlestown, built a house on the lot which he 
 bought of Steven Day, adjoining Prescott's on the 
 north, and upon the next two lots were John and 
 Solomon Johnson, of Sudbury, a roadway separating 
 their dwellings. Upon the south corner of Solomon 
 Johnson's lot now stands the George Hill School- 
 house. Thomas Sav/yer, a blacksmith of Rowley, 
 married Mary, the daughter of Prescott, in 1647 or 
 1648, and set up a home near his father-in-law, in a 
 range of lots parallel to and south of those above 
 named. Mrs. Sally Case's residence is nearly upon 
 the site of the Sawyer house. These were probably 
 the first five dwellings south of the North River. Wil- 
 liam Kerley perhaps moved upon his house-lot in the 
 upper range not much later, and Daniel Hudson, a 
 brickmaker from Watertown, occupied John Moore's 
 lot certainly as early as the spring of 1651. 
 
 On the Neck side, Lawrence Waters sold his house 
 to John Hall, whose wife Elizabeth occupied it, her 
 husband going to England. Waters built himself a 
 second house nearer the shallows in the river, a few 
 rods west of the one sold. Ralph Houghton soon 
 came up from Watertown and set up his roof-tree on 
 the Neck. A petition of the inhabitants to the Gene- 
 ral Court of May, 1652, asking township rights, states 
 that there were already living at Nashaway " about 
 nine farailyes." They must be selected from those 
 already named. Before this date there had probably 
 been ten white children born in the settlement: two 
 to Prescott, five to Lawrence Waters, two to Sawyer, 
 and one to Daniel Hudson. The answer to the peti- 
 tion is the so-called Act of Incorporation of the 
 Town of Lancaster. The first draft of the answer 
 was passed upon by the deputies in May, 1652, and in 
 this the name given to the town was Prescott, as had 
 been requested by the petitioners, paying deserved 
 honor to their generous, spirited and able leader. 
 
 The naming of a town for its founder had then no 
 precedent in New England. Not even a magistrate 
 or Governor had been so greatly honored. Probably 
 the assistants or executive refused thus to exalt a 
 blacksmith who was no freeman, and had but recently 
 taken the oath of fidelity. They may have recalled 
 also his sympathy with the agitation by Childe. The 
 name Prescott was promptly refused, and after further 
 consideration the name West Towne was inserted in 
 the answer. This title, entirely wanting appropriate- 
 ness and' euphony, satisfied no one, and further dis- 
 cussion carried the matter over another year. Pres- 
 cott's force of character and liberality had won not 
 only the admiration of his neighbors, but friendly 
 interest in many and high quarters. He had proved 
 very useful to Rev. John Eliot in his visits to the 
 Indian tribes about and west of Nashaway. He had 
 in 1648 been the pioneer of a "new way to Connecti- 
 
/ 
 
 LANCASTER. 
 
 cut by Nashaway, which avoided much of the hilly 
 way," and which Governor Hopkins, of Connecticut, 
 as well as the leading ministers interested in the work 
 of converting the Indians, esteemed a public benefac- 
 tion. When, therefore, the inhabitants, disappointed 
 of their first choice, petitioned asking to borrow a 
 title for the new town from the Englisli shire in which 
 Prescott was born, the suggestion was adopted, and 
 Lancaster began its legal existence May 18, 1653. It 
 was the forty-fourth town chartered in the Common- 
 wealth, and the tenth in Middlesex County. 
 
 Three copies of the "Court's Grant" exist — one 
 forming the first page of the town records, one an 
 official copy by Secretary Rawson in Massachusetts 
 Archives cxii. 54-55, and the original record of the 
 court. They difier somewhat in orthography. That 
 of the town records is as follows : 
 
 COPPIE OF THE COURT'S GRANT. 
 
 At a Gen'i' Court of Election held at Boston the 18"' of May 1053. 
 
 1. In answer to the Peticon of the Inliabitunta of Nasliaway tlie Court 
 finds according to a former order of the Gen'" Court in Anno H>47 no : 
 95 : That tlie ordering and disposeing of the Phmtatiun at Nashaway is 
 wholly in the Courts power. 
 
 2. Considering that there is allredy at Nashaway about nine fTamiliee 
 and that severall both freemen and othere intend to goo and setle tbt-rp 
 borne whereof are named in this Petition tiie Court doth Grant them the 
 libertie of a Townesliippand olhei-stbat hensfortli it shall In- called I-aii- 
 caster. 
 
 3. That the Bounds thereof shall be sett out according to a deede cf 
 tlie Indian Sagamore, viz. Nashaway Riuer at the passing oner to be 
 the Center, fivu* miles North fine miles south fine miles east and three 
 miles west by such Comissiouei-s as the Courte shall appoint to see their 
 Linea extended and their bounds limitted. 
 
 4. That Edward Breck, Nathaniell Hadlocke, William Kerley, Thomaw 
 Sayer, John Prescot and Ralph Houghton, or any foiire of them, whereof 
 the maior Parte to be froenien to be for present the prndentiall men of 
 ihe said Towno both to see all allottments to be laid out to the Planters 
 in due proportion to theire estates and allso to order other Prudentiall 
 afaires vntill it shall Appeare to this Court that the Place be so fai r 
 seated with able men as the Court may Judg meet, to give them full 
 liberties of a Towushipp according to Lawe. 
 
 5. That all such Persons whoe haue possessed and Continued Inhabi- 
 tants of Nashaway shall haue their Lofts formerly Laid out conlirmed 
 to them provided they take the oath of fidellitie 
 
 6. That Sudbery and Lancaster Layout highwaies betwixt Towne and 
 Towne according to order of Court for the Countries vse and then re- 
 paire them as neede slialbe 
 
 7. The Court Orders That Lancaster shall be I'ated w"iin the County of 
 Midlesex and the Towne hath Liberty to ciiooae a Constable. 
 
 8. That the Inhabitants of Lancaster doe take care that a godly min- 
 ester may bo nuiiiitained amongst them and that no evill persons Ene- 
 mies to the Lawes of tliis Comonwealth in Judgment or Practi/.e be Ad- 
 mitted as Inhabitants amongst them and none to haue Lotts Confirmed 
 but such as take the oathe of fidellitie 
 
 y. That allthough the first Undertakereand partnei-s in the Plantacon 
 of Nashaway are wholy Kvacuafed of theire Claimes in Lotts there by 
 order of this Courte yet that such persons of them whoe haue Expended 
 eitlier Charge or Labor for the Benefitt of the place and haue heipped on 
 the Pnblike workes there from time to time either in Contributing to 
 the minestrie or in the Purchase from the Indians or any otber Publike 
 worke, that such persons are to be Considered by the Towne either iu 
 proportion of Land or some other way of satisfaction as may be Just and 
 meete. Provided such Persons do make such theire expencea Cleorly 
 Appeare within Twelue monethes after the end of this Sessions for such 
 demandes and that the Interest of Harmon Garrett and such others as 
 were first vndertakers or haue bin at Great Charges there shalbe made 
 good to him them his or theire beires in all Allottments as to other the 
 Inhabitiints in proportion to tlie Charges expended by him and such 
 others aforesaid. Provided they make Improiiem' of such Allotmt-* by 
 building and Planting w^'in three i-eares after they are or shalbe Laid 
 out to them, otherwise theire Interest hereby Provided for to bee voyde, 
 
 Aud all such Lands soe hereby Reserved to bethenclortli at the Townes 
 Dispose : In further Answer to this Peticon the Court Judgeth it meete 
 to Confirm the aboue mentioned Nine perticulers to the Inhabitants of 
 Lancaster, and order that the bounds thereof be Laid out in proportion 
 to eight miles square. 
 
 Of the six prudential men, the first three only were 
 freemeu, and the death of Hadlocke, in Oharlestown, 
 very soon deprived them of a legal quorum, according 
 to strict construction of the fifth article. In October, 
 1653, however, they agreed upon a " covenant of laws 
 and orders," which all who were accepted as citizens 
 of the town were required to sign. As of the signa- 
 tures to this, ten were dated a year before, it was un- 
 doubtedly an obligation entered into by the earlier 
 comers adopted by the new oflicials. This covenant 
 served as a Constitution by which the internal econo- 
 mies of the town were administered for very many 
 years, and is therefore worthy to be given here in full, 
 with the signatures, as found in the town records : 
 
 I65i 18:8 m". The botul to hiu'le all comers. Memorandum, That wee 
 whose Names are subscribed, vppon the Receiueingand acceptanc of our 
 severall Lands, and Allottments w^h all ApiMirtinuuces thereof, from 
 those men who are Chosen by the Generall Court to Lay out and dispose 
 of the Lands within the Towne of Lanchaater heertofore Called by the 
 name of Nashaway doe hereby Covenant »t bimle ourseluea our heirea 
 Execut" it Assignes to the observing and keepeing of these orders and 
 Agreementd hereafter mentioned and Expressed. 
 
 Clmrch LtiHih. Rii'st ffor the maintainanc of the miin"stree of Gods holy 
 word wee doe Allowe Covenant and Agree that there be laid out Stated 
 and established, and we doe hereby estate and establish as Church Land 
 with all the pritiilledgea aud Appurtiuancea therevnto belonging for 
 ever, thirty acoi's of vppland and fortie acors of Entervale Land and 
 twelue acora of meddowe with free Libertie of Commons for Pasture 
 and fire wood, The said Lands to be improved by the Plantation or 
 otht^rwise in such order as shalbe best Advised and Ctmcluded by the 
 Plantation without Hent paying for the same, vntit the Labours of the 
 Planters or tliose that doe improue the same, be ffidly aattisfied. And 
 wee doe agree that the Plantation or Sellect men shall deternune the 
 time, how Lunge every man shall hold and Improue the said Lands for 
 the prortit thereof. And then to be Rented according to the yearly valine 
 thereof and paid in to such persons as the Plantation or Sellectinen shall 
 Appoynt to and for the vse of and towards the maintainanc of the mines- 
 ter Pastor or Teacher for the time being, or whomesoever may bee stated 
 to preach the word of God among vs : or it may be in the Choyce of the 
 minester to improue the said Lands himselfe. 
 
 Meeting house. And fturther wee doe Covenant and Agree to build a 
 Convenient meetinghouse for the Publicpio Assembling of the Church 
 and People of God, to worshipp God according to his holy ordinances in 
 the most eaqual! aud Convenient place that maybe Advized and Con- 
 cluded by the Plantation. 
 
 Ministers home. And to Build a house tor the Minester viipon the said 
 Church Land. 
 
 /((>(t«e lotts til pfftj h\^ p anil in the minister. And ffiirthcr we doe Engage 
 and Covenant every one for himselfe his heires Executors & Assignes to 
 pay to and for the vse of the minestreeabouesaid the sumeof ten shillings 
 a yeare as for and in Consideracon of o' home Lotts yearly forever, our 
 home Lotts to stand Engaged for the payment thereof, and what all this 
 shall fall short of a Competent maintainanc we Covenant to make vpp 
 by an equall Rate vppon o'^ Goods, and other improved Lands (not home 
 lots) in such way and order as the Country rate is Raised. And in case 
 of vacansy of a minester the maintainanc Ariseing from the Church 
 Land and home Lotts abouementioned, shalbe paid to such as ahalbe 
 Appoynted for the uae of a scoole to be as a stock ; or aa stock towards 
 the maintainanc of the minester, as the Plantation or Sellect men shall 
 think meetest. 
 
 To biiUd Inhabit d'C in a year or loose all and pn/j 5: "' And for the bet- 
 ter Promoteing and seting forward of the Plantation wee Covenant and 
 Agree, That such person or persons of vs who haue not inhabited this 
 Plantation heretofore and are yett to come to build Improue and lu- 
 habitt That we will (by the will of God) come vpp to build tu Plant land 
 aud Inhabit at or before one whole yeare be passed next after o' agcept- 
 
HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 aDce of c AUottnients, or elc to Loose all our Charges about it, and our 
 Lotts to Return to the Plantation, and to pay flue pounds for the vae of 
 the Plantation. 
 
 What Inhabitants not to be Admited. And for the Better. preserveing of 
 the pnritie of Religion and oursehies from infection of Error we Cove- 
 nant not to distribute Alluttineuts atid to Keeeiue into the Plantation as 
 Inhabitants any exnoniinicat or otherwise prophane and scandalus 
 (known so to bee) nor any notoriously erring against the Docktrin and 
 Discipline of the Churches and the state and Governni^ of this Com 
 onweale. 
 
 to end all lU/renc by Arhitracon. And for the better preserveing ol 
 peace and love, and yet to keepe the Rules of Justice and Equitie amoiige 
 ourselues, we Coveuant not to goe to Lawo one with an other in ActioriM 
 of Debt or Damages one towards an other either in name or state but tu 
 end all such Controversies among oursehies by arbitration or otherwise 
 except in cases Cappitall or Criniinall that sinn may not goe vnpuuisheil 
 or that the mater beaboue our abillities to Judge of, and that it bee with 
 the Consent of the Plantation or ScHect men thereof. 
 
 To pat) lOa p Loll. And for the Laying out measureing and bounding of 
 our Allottmeiits of this first Diuision and for and towards the Satisfieing 
 of our Engageui'" to the Generall Court, to make payment for purchase 
 of the Indians we Covenant to pay ten sliillings everyone of vs for our 
 several! AUottni^, to the Sellect men or whome they may Appoynt to Re- 
 ceive it. 
 
 Equall Lotts first DiuUion, hi 2"d Diuitiom acord to Estates : And. whereas 
 Lotta are Now Laid out for the the most part Equally to Rich and poorc, 
 Partly to keepe the Towne from Scatering to farr. and partly out of 
 Charitie and Respect to men of meaner estate, yet that Equallitie (which 
 is the Rule of God) may he observed, we Covenant and Agree, That in 
 a second Devition and so through all other Devitions of Land the mater 
 shall be drawne as neere to equallitie according to mens estates as wee 
 are able to doe. That be which hath now more then his e.state Deservelh 
 in home Lotts and entervale Lotta shall haue so much Less: and he tliat 
 hath now Less then his estate Deserveth shall bane so much more. And 
 that wee may the better keepe due proportion we Covenant and agree 
 thus to account of mens estates (viz) ten pounds a head for every person 
 and all other goods by due valine, and to proportion to every ten pounds 
 three acoi-s of Land two of vpland and one of Entervale and we giue a 
 years Libertieto Euery man to bringe in his estate. 
 
 Gifts free. Yet Nevertheless it is to he vnderstood That w* doe not 
 hfeerehy preiudice or Barr the Phintation from Accomodateing any man 
 by Gifift of Land (whidi proply are not AHottnit^:) but wee doe reserve 
 that in the free Power of the Plantation as occatitm may hereafter be 
 offered : And in Case The Phiutei-s estate be Lowe tliat he can elainie 
 Nothing in other dilutions yet it is to be vndei-stood that he shall euioy 
 all the Land of the first Devition. 
 
 ill Ind JjeuUion. And further we Covenant That if any Planter do 
 desire to haue hie proportion in the second devition it shalbe Granted. 
 
 Rules fur Ptoporcun of Meddoim. And tfurther wee Covenant to lay 
 out Meddow Lands according to thepreasent estates of the Planters/with 
 respect to be had to Remoteness or Neereness, of that which is remote to 
 giue the more and of that wch is neere to giue the Less, 
 
 And Concerning the 30 acors of vppland and 40 acors of Entervale 
 aboue Granted as Church Land. It is agreed and concluded to Lye 
 hounded by John Prescotts Ditch vppon the South and the North Riuer 
 over an ends [iinensl\ Lawrenc Waters vppon the North and so Rangeing 
 allong westward. 
 
 And for the Preventing of Inconveniences and the more peaceable 
 Isuing of the business about building of a meeting house it is Considered 
 and Concluded as the most equall place that the meeting house he 
 builded as neere to the t.'hnrch Land and to the Neck of Land as It can 
 bee without any notable inconveiiiencie. 
 
 And it is allso agreed That in all partes and Quarters of the Towne 
 where Sundry Lotts do Lie together they shalbe ffenced by a Coniiuon 
 ffenc according to proportion of acors by every planter, And yett not to 
 barr any man from perticuler and priuat Inidosure at his pleasure. 
 
 This is a true (topple of tlie Lawes and erdere ffirst Enacted and made 
 by those Appoynted and Inipowered by the Genrall Court as it is found 
 in the old book. 
 
 Tho(^e Names vt haue suusi-iurei) to these oanERS: 
 
 I subscribe tc this for my selfe and for my soun 
 Edwai-d Brek ! Kybert saue that it is agreed that we are not bound to 
 Rob" Brek: i "^^'"^ ^PP ^o inhabit wt^in a years time in our owne 
 persons: This is a true Coppie: 
 
 Jn" Prescott. 
 William Keiiy 
 Thomas Sayer 
 
 Ralph Haughton 
 
 J 
 Jn" Whitconili Seni"": ) 
 , ,,,, .^ , , . )■ Subscribed 
 Jn" Whitcomb Juui"^: I 
 
 Richard Linton. I 
 
 Jn° Johnson. 
 
 Jeremiah Rogers j 
 
 Jno Moore : Subscribed : lU^ : first mo : 
 
 William Lewes : | 
 
 Jn" Lewes. 
 
 Th" : James : mark 2V^ 3 ni" : 1C53 
 
 Edmund Pariier. "j 
 
 Benianiine Twitchell ' Subscribed: 
 
 Anthony Newton. 
 
 Steephen I>ay ) Subscribed : 10"' : 1 m" : V'>M 
 
 James Aderton j both of y™. 
 
 Henry Kerly : 1 
 
 Richard Smith. 
 
 William Kerly Jn^^ ',- Subscribed 15 : 1 mo : IG53 
 
 Jn" Smith. I 
 
 Lawrenc Waters 
 
 Jn" White: Subscribed- I'l" May 1053 
 
 Ju'^lTaiTer: Subscribed : 21 ; Septemb'' 1653 
 
 Jacob flarrer : Same date 
 
 John Haughton ) ^ 
 
 Samuel Deane 
 
 These subscribed together the first 
 
 .0 ; day: mo : 1G52 
 
 i- Subscribed : 4"' : U m" : 1G54 
 1(553 
 .-Subscribed ; 13H> : 1 m" ; 1653 
 
 D'' ; K ni" : 1G52 
 
 Sub'i : same li-i ; 7 ni" : 1G53 
 
 Subscribed : Aprill 3 : 1654 
 
 James Draper. | 
 
 Steephen Gates : Sen' : ("" 
 
 James Whiting or Wittoii : Snbscri ; Api^n T"* : 1054 
 
 Jn". Moore and 1 , „ .„_, n , ., . 
 
 ..-.,.. M3 : 2 mo : IR54 Subscribed 
 Edward Kibbie j 
 
 Jn" Mansfield : 13 : 2 ni" : 1G54 
 Jno Towers : ] 
 
 Richard Dwelly 
 Henry Ward. 
 
 Subscribed 18 : 2 ni'* : 1054 
 
 >Sabscribpd 4"'; 7 m^: 16C4. 
 
 Jno Peirce. 
 William Billingl'' 
 Richard Sutton : ap-^" 1653. 
 
 ] Subscribed the 12"" : 9 mo : 1654. and there is 
 Thomas Jusliu granted to them botli 5U acres of vpland it Swamp 
 
 Nathaniell Joslin together for theire home lotts and allso forty 
 
 acors of Entervale. 
 
 , I'iti': 12 
 
 1654 
 
 Joseph Rowlaudson: 
 
 John Rugg : Subscribed, 
 
 Subscribed 12^: 12 ni": 1G54 : and it is agreed 
 by the Towne that he shall haue 20 accui*s of 
 vpland & 40 acore of Entervale in the Night 
 Pasture : 
 Jn^Riggby: Subscribed 12""; 12"> m<» : 1654 and he is to haue 20 acors of 
 
 vpland & ten acors of Entervale 
 Ju" Roper: Subscribed 22 : l'"* mo": 1656 
 
 All tiieae before mentioned are subscribed & Iheire names Entered ac- 
 cording to theire Severall Dates in the old Book & Coppied i)er Jn" 
 Tinker Clerk 
 
 Jn" Tinker Subscribed y« first of ffebb* ; 1G57. 
 Mordica Maclode his ■ murk set 1 march it's? 
 Jonas J'uirbaitks : Subscribed the T^b : 2 m"» : 1^§& 
 
 Jonasffaiibanks 
 A'oyei- i^Kiuner subscribed the : 
 
 Roger Sumner 
 Gainalidl Beinand Subscribed : 
 Gamaliell tt Bemaiid 
 his marke 
 r/*"»H(H U'//<rWfr; Subscribed the l'*" July 1659 
 TlionuiB Wyellder 
 
 Duniell Gainer Subscribed the tenth day of march 1^-5? 
 
 1 6 tS 
 Daniel Gaiens 
 
 Twelve of these fifty-five signers — Twitchell, New- 
 tou, Deane, Draper, Whiting, Mansfield, Towers, 
 
 11«' of Aprill: 16Vj. 
 the Slth; of may 105y 
 
LANCASTER. 
 
 Dsvelly, Ward, Peirce, Billings and Sutton — never 
 became residents, and were not recognized in land 
 allotments. Steven Day and Robert Breck re- 
 ceived house-lots, but never occupied them. Kibbie 
 was probably a resident for a brief time, but re- 
 ceived no lands. Philip Knight, though one of the 
 earliest householders, seems not to have signed, and 
 removed. Elizabeth Hall went to her husband in 
 England, selling his house and lot to Richard 
 Smith. Cowdall and Solomon Johnson had sold out 
 to Prescott and Day, and Ball returned to Water- 
 town. 
 
 The organization of the corporation being thus 
 complete, the townsmen diligently applied them- 
 selves to securing the most obvious necessities for 
 comfortable living as a Christian community. Cow- 
 dall's deed of 1647 informs us that Linton and 
 Waters had raised corn upon the fifty-acre intervale 
 lot lying southerly from the present Atlierton 
 Bridge before that year, and the deep, rich soil 
 guaranteed a sufficient yield of grain for the plant- 
 ers and their cattle; but there was no mill nearer 
 than that at Sudbury. Prescott had already been 
 taking some steps to sup[)ly this prime need of 
 the town. He had at least chosen the site and bar- 
 gained with a millwright, as is shown by the formal 
 contract made between him and the town November 
 20, 1653. Six months later his grist-mill was at 
 work. 
 
 The assignment of home and intervale lots also 
 engaged the attention of the prudential men in No- 
 vember. The allotments which had been made by 
 Prescott, Day and others in the infancy of the 
 plantation, and subsequent purchases based upon 
 them, were confirmed. Actual settlers were given 
 in the established ranges of lots twenty acres each 
 of upland for a dwelling-place and twenty acres of 
 intervale for planting. 
 
 Lancaster has often been called a Watertown 
 colony because John Winthrop so styled it in 1643. 
 But of the fifty-five who signed the covenant, 
 twelve were from Dorchester, six were of Sudbury, 
 six of Hingham and five each from Roxbury and 
 Watertown. The others came from eight or ten dif- 
 ferent localities. The most prominent of the Dor- 
 chester colonists was the first prudential man named 
 in the incorporating act, Edward Breck. He had 
 been one of the selectmen of Dorchester for several 
 years, and upon his ability and experience great de- 
 pendence was placed by the Lancaster men. He 
 built a house near the wading-place of Penecook, 
 and retained his land, but lived here only for a brief 
 period. His continued absence and the death of 
 Hadlocke seriously obstructed the conduct of the 
 town's prudential affairs, and early in 1654, there be- 
 ing about twenty families in the town, the majority 
 petitioned that they might be relieved from their 
 probationary condition, and allowed full liberties of 
 a town according to law, electing their officers and 
 
 transacting business by legal town-meetings. There 
 were then but four resident freemen : William 
 Kerly, Thomas Rowlandson, Thomas Sawyer and 
 William Lewis; but the petition was granted, and 
 Lieutenant Edward Goodnow, of Sudbury, and 
 Thomas Dan forth, of Cambridge, were at the same 
 time deputed to lay out the bounds of the town's 
 grant, a duty they never found time to perform. 
 
 For the needs of the pioneer the meadows, as nat- 
 ural grass lands were called, came next in value to 
 the house-lot and planting-field, and a first division 
 of these open tracts wherever found in the town 
 limits was agreed upon — four acres to be set to each 
 one hundred pounds of estate. During the year 
 1654 the first legal town-meetings were held. At 
 the earliest " the plantacion upon legall warning as- 
 sembled ;'' formally confirmed the recorded acts of the 
 prudential men appointed by the General Court the 
 year before, some of these, as has been noted, not be- 
 ing strictly in conformity with requirements of law. 
 At another town-meeting it was voted " that there 
 should not be taken into the Towne above the num- 
 ber of thirty-five families." The greed of land 
 was strong, but this short-sighted restriction had but 
 a brief life. In the same territory over three thou- 
 sand families now find "ample room and verge 
 enough." 
 
 During the autumn of this year the Christian 
 Sagamore Showanon died. Reverends John Eliot 
 and Increase Nowell were at once sent to Washacum 
 by the court, to prevail if possible, with the Indians, 
 to elect Matthew, nephew of the dead sachem, as 
 his successor. They were successful. There seems 
 to have been some reason to fear that the choice 
 might fall upon another chief, also in the line of 
 succession, whose drunken habits and dislike of the 
 colonists made his accession to power much dreaded. 
 Thus far the friendly relations between the English- 
 men and the Nashaways seem to have been in no 
 way strained. The very rare mention of the tribe in 
 the town annals goes to prove that no quarrels or 
 grave jealousies interrupted friendly feeling. More- 
 j over, Eliot gratefully records Showanon's loving hos- 
 } pitality, and the generous care he showed in protect- 
 ing him with a body-guard on his journeying to the 
 interior. He once complains that the Indian wizards 
 or " powows " had not been wholly silenced ; but all 
 Christendom then believed in the reality of demo- 
 niacal possession, and little more than a year had 
 passed since Margaret Jones, the witch, had been si- 
 lenced by hanging in Charlestown. The unregener- 
 ate, credulous children of the forest feared sorcery, 
 just as did their enlightened neighbors, only they had 
 not learned the refinements of the English methods 
 of dealing with sorcerers. When they found that 
 drugs were far more efficacious- to relieve pain and 
 sickness than charms and juggling tricks, powowing 
 lost its hold upon their credulity. 
 
 Standing off at this historic distance, the position 
 
HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 of Sholan and his people living on terms of friendly 
 intimacy with the adventurous pioneers whom they 
 had invited to share the beautiful land of their in- 
 heritance, glows with only pleasing and romantic 
 hues. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 LANCASTER— (ro«/'/««<-n'). 
 
 The Firnt MiiiUter — Arhityntimi — Commminttt^s Appohifed to Direct Tmcn 
 AJfairs— The First Highiiui/s — Noijes^ Snrvey~llijiaJf€K-tio>i of the ln- 
 ditNis—Mouoco^sIiaid — Jiimcs QHanapnugs Fidelity — The Destnictioti 
 of Lancaster. 
 
 The years 1653 and 1654 saw the addition of seven 
 families to the town, those of Thomas and Nathaniel 
 Josliu, John Rugg, John Rigby, John Moore, Sr., 
 Stephen Gates and Thomas Rowlandson. The year 
 1654 was also graced by the coming of their chosen 
 pastor, Master Joseph Rowlandson, of Ipswich. His 
 signature to the covenant is dated February 12, 
 1654, and he, perhaps, did not begin preaching be- 
 fore that time, although he had been listed among 
 the townsmen the March previous. Other ministers 
 had doubtless been solicited to the charge after the 
 disappearance of Norcross, but a church in the wil- 
 derness, with its little group of poor immigrants, had 
 small attractions for men of education, unless they 
 were largely endowed with the missionary spirit. 
 We find, therefore, the first clergyman called to 
 Lancaster a youth of twenty-two years, fresh from 
 Harvard College, the lone graduate of 1652; one, 
 moreover, but recently escaped from a whipping- 
 post and penance for a collegiate prank — the pen- 
 ning and posting upon Ipswich Meeting-House of a 
 doggerel satire, which the civil authorities dignified 
 as a "scandalous libell.'' Master Rowlandson seems 
 at once to have won the respect and love of those 
 among whom he had cast his lot, and to have as- 
 serted his own dignity and that of the church ; for 
 the saucy maiden, Mary (iates, who contradicted him 
 in public assembly, and the ageil reprobate, Kdmund 
 Parker, who wouldu't sit under the dropjnngs of the 
 sanctuary, were alike speedily humbled and subjected 
 to ecclesiastical and civil discipline. His father and 
 mother came to Lancaster with him, but before two 
 years had passed he was married to Mary, the 
 daughter of John White, then the richest of his 
 parishioners. A parsonage had been built in a cen- 
 tral position between the two villages. The meeting- 
 house was not yet raised, but the site had been 
 already chosen, about twenty rods southeast of the 
 parsonage, on the highest ground in the present Mid- 
 dle Cemetery. A long narrow knoll, a little to the 
 east of the meeting-house site, was set apart for a 
 burial-place. 
 
 The prudential men elect soon found the ordering 
 
 of the town's aftiiirs to be neither an easy nor a 
 pleasant task. Although the divisions of land were 
 governed so far as possible by casting lots, they gave 
 rise to some bickering, and various questions arose 
 about which the managers themselves seriously 
 differed. The Kerly family began to display their 
 characteristic firmness in their owij opinions. The 
 salary of Master Rowlandson became a knotty subject 
 of debate. Plainly there was occasion to make trial 
 of the arbitration provided for in the covenant. 
 Major Simon Willard, of Concord, Captain Edward 
 Johnson, of Woburn, and Edmund Rice, of Sudbury, 
 being summoned as arbitrators in April, 1656, by their 
 "determinacions " settled twenty-four mooted points. 
 The minister's salary was fixed at fifty pounds a year, 
 and as in a rural community without money, church 
 tithes must be paid chiefly in products of the land, 
 wheat as a commercial standard was to be reckoned at 
 sixpence per bushel less than the price at the Bay, and 
 other grain in the same proportion. 
 
 Stephen Gates had been chosen the first constable, 
 an ofiice of larger dignity and more varied duties than 
 now appertain to it. He neglected to notify the four 
 freemen at the proper time to send in their votes for 
 nomination of the magistrates, was fined, and bis 
 black staff of office passed to Prescott. 
 
 Ralph Houghton was nominated the first clerk of 
 the writs, and confirmed by the County Court in 
 October, 1656. He was an able penman, and thence- 
 forward methodical reconU of the town's transactions 
 were faithfully kept by him during twenty years. 
 John Roper, a much esteemed addition, was accepted 
 a townsman this year, and given the home-lot origin- 
 ally Solomon Johnson's. In 1656 also the first county 
 road, that to Concord, was laid out. 
 
 Another petition from Lancaster this year demanded 
 the attention of the court. Out of the thirty heads 
 of families there were but five freemen in all, and two 
 of these were disabled by years. The law requiring 
 that in any action by selectmen the " major part " should 
 be freemen, it followed that Kerly, Lewis and Sawyer 
 by necessity could control all such action. Two of 
 these, at least, being men of stubborn character, their 
 opinions doubtless sometimes traversed those of more 
 able and wiser citizens, or denied the just demands of 
 the majority. The only remedies were, to transact all 
 business details by formal town-meetings — which, " by 
 reason of many inconveniences and incumbrances,'' 
 was not to be thought of — to obtain more freemen, or 
 to petition to be relegated to the care of commissioners. 
 The town " by a general vote " petitioned for the last, 
 and May 6, 1657, Major Simon Willard, Captain 
 Edward Johnson and Thomas Danforth, three of the 
 ablest men in the commonwealth, were ajipointed 
 commissioners, and empowered "to order the afaires 
 of the said Lancaster, and to heare and determine 
 their seurall diffrences and gricuances which ol)struct 
 the present and future good of the towne, standing in 
 power till they bee able to make returne to the Genrall 
 
LANCASTER. 
 
 Court that the towne is sufisiantly able to order its 
 owne affaires according to Law." 
 
 The first meeting of this august board of advisers 
 was held at the house of John Prescott, in September, 
 and found abundant matter requiring their adjudica- 
 tion. By this date Lancaster had won a valuable 
 accession in the person of Master John Tinker, who 
 had purchased of Richard Smith the house originally 
 built by Waters, and also the Knight house upon 
 George Hill. Tinker, who had been a resident of 
 Groton for a short time before coming to Lancaster, 
 was a freeman of education and clerkly ability. He 
 had bought the monopoly of the fur trade of Lancaster 
 and Groton for the year 1657, paying eight pounds for 
 it. A gift of land called Gibson's Hill — upon the east 
 end of which now stands the mansion of the late 
 Nathaniel Thayer — was made to Master Tinker by the 
 town at this time, and indicates that there was mate- 
 rial reason for his change of residence. The com- 
 missioners appointed John Tinker, William Kerly, 
 John Prescott, Ralph Houghton and Thomas Sawyer 
 selectmen, and instructed them in part as follows : 
 
 2. Encnnujt master RowUimhon. That the said Selecttnion take Care, 
 for the due encuraginent of master" Rowlandson who now Labnureth 
 amongst them in the niiuistrie of gods holy word, And alsoe that tliey 
 take carp for erecting a meeting house, pound and etokes. And that 
 they see to tlie Laying out of towne and Countrie liigh waies ami the 
 towne bounds, and the making and executing of all such orders and by 
 Lawes as may be for the Comon good of the plac (i e) respecting Corne 
 feilds, medowes, Oomon pastnrag Land, fences, herding of Catell ami 
 restraint of damage by swine and for the recouring of thos fines and 
 fortitiires that are due to the towne from snch psones as haue taken vp 
 land and not fullfilled the Oondicions of theire respectine grants wherby 
 the Comon good of the Plantacionbath beene and yett is much obstructed. 
 
 3. Patjm(. of towne debts. That they take Care for the payment of all 
 towne debts and for that end they are herby impowred to make such 
 Ijevies or rate from time to time, as they shall see needfuH for the dis- 
 charge of the Comon Charges of the towne, And in Case any of the 
 inhabitance shall refuse or neglect to niak due payment both for fjuaiity 
 and quantitie upon resonable demand, they may then Levie the sfime by 
 distresse, And are impowered alsoe to take 2^ raor and aboue such fine or 
 Rate as is due to bee paid for the satisfacion vnto your oficer that taketh 
 the distress for his paines theirin. 
 
 4. manor of asesineitls. That in all their asesments, all Lands apro- 
 priated, (Land giuen for addittions excepted) shall bee valued in manor 
 following (i e) home Lotts the vnbroken att 20^ p accor and the broken 
 vp at thirtie slnllings by the accor the entervaile the broken at fowertie 
 shillings the accor and the vnbroken at thirtie shillings the accor, and 
 medow Land att thirtie shillings, and in all rates to the ministrie The 
 Iiome Ijotts to pay tonn shillings p ann. according to the towne order. 
 And tliis order to Continue for fine yeares next ensuing. Alsoe that the 
 selectmen tiikspesiall Care for the preserning and safe keeping the townes 
 Records. And if they see it need full, that they pcure the same to bee 
 writon out fairly into a new booke, to be keept for the good of twsterit}', 
 the charge wherof to bee borne by the pprietors of the said Lands 
 respectiuely. 
 
 5. none freed from Itots vnlcss they i-elinqmsh vnder hind. That noe 
 man be freed from the Rates of any Land granted him in pprietie eccept 
 he mak a release and full resignation theirof vnder his hand, And doe 
 alsoe relinquish and surender vp to the vse of the towne, his home Lott 
 Intervaile and medow, all or none. 
 
 6. accnmndacoHS for 5 or 6 : he Left before 2 dinision. That their be 
 accomodacioos of Land reserued for the meet encuragment of fine or six 
 able men to com and inhabit in the said place (i e) as may bee helpfull 
 to the encuragment of the worke of god their, and the Comon good of 
 the place. And that no second deuision be Laid out vnto any man vntil 
 those Lotts bee sett apte for that vse ; by the selectmen, that is to say 
 home Lotts entervaile and medow. 
 
 7. master Rowlandsons deed of gift. The Comisioners doe Judg meet 
 
 to Confirme the deed of gift made by the towne vnto master Rowlandson 
 (i e) of a boiise and Land which was sett a part for the vse of the minis- 
 trie bering date 1*-^ tjtii nion 1657 vpon Coudicion that master Rowlandson 
 renioue not his habitacion from the said place for the space of three yeare 
 next ensning, vnlesse the said inhabitance shall consent theirto, And the 
 OomisioDers aproue theirof. 
 
 jiwilht agU inmntes. That none be entertained into the towne as in- 
 mates, tenants, or otherwise to inhal>it within the bounds of the said 
 towne, without tlie Consent of the selectmen or the maior pte of them, 
 first had and obtained, and entered In the record of the towne as their 
 act, vpon penalty of twenty shillings p month both to the pson that shall 
 floe offend by intruding himselfe, And alsoe to the pson that shall ofeud 
 in receiuing or entertaining such peon into the towne. 
 
 PiUKihthj'ii <{■ vodts. And that noe other pson or psones whatsoeuer 
 whalbe adniited to the Inioymeut of the priualedges of the place and 
 towueshipp. Either in accomodaccions vots elections or disposalles of 
 any of the Comon priualedges and interests theirof, saue only such as 
 hane beene first orderly admited and accepted (as aforesaid) to the enioy- 
 ment theirof. 
 
 The order against entertaining strangers is, of course, 
 an echo of Governor Winthrop's order of court passed 
 in 1637, which was so unpopular at the time that its 
 author felt called upon to publi.sh an elaborate defence 
 of so obvious an infringement of the people's rights. 
 John Tinker inaugurated a more systematic method 
 of recording the town's business, first copying into a 
 new book the contents of the "Old Town Book." The 
 selectmen during 1657 and 1658 ordered that all high- 
 ways, whether town or county, should be amply re- 
 corded for the information of posterity, and the way- 
 marks be annually repaired. All lands granted with 
 butts or bounds were ordered recorded by the town 
 clerk, for which special fees were to be paid him. The 
 valuable registry of lands in four large volumes, be- 
 ginning in 1657 and ending with the last division of 
 common land in 1836, is the fruit of this order. Mor- 
 decai McLeod, a Scotchman, was admitted to citizen- 
 ship. A letter was sent to Major Willard inviting 
 him to make his residence in Lancaster, with certain 
 proposals " concerning accomodacions,'' which proved 
 sufiBciently attractive to be promptly accepted.. The 
 selectmen ordered that the inhabitants on the Neck 
 should build a cart-bridge over the North Kiver near 
 Goodman Waters' house, and that those living south 
 of that river should build a similar bridge over the 
 Nashaway at the wading-place. These bridges were 
 completed that year, and stood, the first a few rods 
 above the present Sprague bridge, the other at or near 
 the site of the present Atherton bridge. The existing 
 highways were duly recorded as follows : 
 
 Cuutrie way. One way for the Cuntrie Lyeth : from the entranc in 
 to the towne on the east pte from Wataquadocke hill, downe to the 
 Swann Swanipe, and oner the wading place through Penicooke riuer : 
 that is by the Indian warre [weir] and soe along by master Rowlandsous 
 ground and the riuer and againe vp to goodnian Waters his barne be- 
 tweene old goodman Breckes lott and that which was Richard Smithes 
 now in the posesslon of John Tinker. To bee as it is staked out, att the 
 Least fine Rods wide, on the neck, and to be as wide as can be on the 
 cast side of the riuer vnder tenn Rods and aboue fine, and soe from good- 
 man AVaterses ouer the north riuer, vp by m:i8ter Rowlandsons the 
 breadth as is Laid out and fenced and marked and staked up to goodman 
 Prescotts Ry feild and soe betweeue that and John mores lott and Crosse 
 the brook and vpp betweene John Johnsons and Joliu Ropers Lotts fine 
 Rods wide ; And soe beyond all the Lotts into tlie woods. 
 
 Way to quasapoidkin medow. one way : from goodman Waterees barne 
 
10 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 fo qiiapaponikin medowes before the houses of goodman patee and both 
 goorliiian .loslliiis Ac : as it is laid out and marked : flue rods wide and in 
 the enteruaille 2 rods wide. 
 
 To qttnsap'^nik-in hilt, one way: from goodman Breckee house tlirougli 
 the end of his ground, and Ralph Iloughtons James Athertons goodman 
 "Whites and goodman Leweises &c, to quasaponikin hill fine Rods wide. 
 
 To thti Juill. one way to the mill att the heads of the liOtts of J(din 
 Prescolt Thomas Sawyer .facob ffarer &c flue Rods wide from the Cuntrie 
 hjghw.iy to the mill. 
 
 Stmrt ill ;/e sfriith ntd oj t/e towHe. one way Called the Street or Cross 
 way : from goodman Kerleyes entervaile and the rest of the entervailc 
 Lotta: And soe south beetweene the double rang of Lotts: fine Rods wide 
 and soetowards wiishaoome when it is past Jacob ffarers Lott : And alsoe 
 Itt runes the siime wiiltiess betweene the house Lotts and entervaile lotts 
 northward to the wallnut swampe : 
 
 from the Ciitilric hujjnvny to ye entervoije of J" : Prespoll toe to Wata- 
 quadoke. one way from the mill way att the end of goodman Prescotts 
 Ry feeild, to the Entrance of his entervaile flue Rods wide. And through 
 the entervailes oner Nashaway Rinerand the Still riuers, to the outsid 
 fenc, of Jacob ffarers Lott, two Rods and half wide. 
 
 Wojf to tJie plum trees A grotcn. Oneway; from that entervaile way 
 downe along all the entervailes to the Still riuer and towards groten on 
 the east side of the riuer two rods wide. 
 
 With the exception of the last, which was removed 
 to higher land, these ways are all in use to-day, with 
 a few local alterations of line and a general contrac- 
 tion in width. 
 
 The minister's maintenance was no small burden 
 upon his little flock, so few and so poor, and there 
 was evidently much, dilatoriness and uncertainty in 
 the payment of the stipend. Suddenly, in 1658, it 
 was noised about through the settlement that Master 
 Rowlandson was about to accept an invitation to the 
 church in Billerica. The selectmen at once visited 
 him to learn if the report were true, and became con- 
 vinced of his determination to go. Twelve days later 
 the messengers from Billerica came " to fetch Master 
 Rowlandson away." The people assembled, and unan- 
 imously voted to invite him " to abide and settle 
 amongst them in the worke of the ministrie," and to 
 allow him " flftie pounds a yeare, one halfe in wheat, 
 sixpence in the bushell vnder the Curant prises at 
 Boston and Charlstowne, and the rest in other good 
 curant pay in like proporcion, or otherwise fiftie and 
 fine pounds a yeare, taking his pay att such rats as 
 the prises of Come are sett eurie yeare by the Court." 
 The meeting also confirmed the deed of house and 
 land which had been made in his favor the preceding 
 August. Mr. Rowlandson accepted the invitation 
 upon the terms propo.sed. The first house for public 
 worship was completed this year, if not earlier. All 
 previous meetings of the selectmen had been at pri- 
 vate dwellings, but that of June 22, 1658, was "at the 
 meeting-house." 
 
 Thus far in the town's history houses must have 
 been constructed of logs or hewn timber, stone and 
 clay. Prescott's saw-mill was in operation early in 
 1659, after which more commodious framed structures 
 doubtless began to appear. It having been found im- 
 possible to obtain the services of either of the sur- 
 veyors designated by tlie court to lay out the bounds 
 of the town, consent was given for the employment of 
 Ensign Thomas Noyes, of Sudbury, a return of whose 
 survey is as follows : 
 
 April *J*^, le.'SO In obedience to the order of the honoured generall 
 Court to the now inhabitants of lancaster layd out y« bounds of lancaster 
 accordinge to the sayd grants, wee bogane at the wading place of nassua 
 riuer and rune a lline three rnille vpon a west north w«6t poynt one 
 degree westerly, and from the end of y three mill we rune two perpen- 
 dicular lines beinge flue mills in length each line, the one line runing 
 north north est one degree northerly, the other line running south south 
 west one degree southerly wee made right angis at the ends of the ten 
 mille line, runing two perpendicular lines, runningo both of tliem vpon 
 an east south east poynt on degree osterly, one of the sayd lines beinge 
 the north line wee did rune it eight mill in length the other being the 
 sonth line, wee did rune it six mill and a halfe in length and ther meet- 
 ing w'*i the niidell of the line, which is the line of the plantation granted 
 to the petition" of Sudbury whos plantation is called Whipsuffrage and 
 so runinge their line four mill wanting thre score perches to the end of 
 their line at the nor west Angle of Whipsuffrage plantation and from the 
 jiayd angle of Whipsufrage runing six mille and three quarters ther 
 meeting with y fore sayd east end of the eight mile line and soe period 
 all the sayd lines and hounds of lancaster which sayd grants rune eighty 
 square milles of land 
 
 this by mo Tjiomas Noyes 
 
 The deputyes approue of this returno. our Honof*^ Alagist" consenting 
 hereto. 14 October 1672. William Torrey, Cleric. 
 
 The magist" consent thereto prouided afarmeof amilesquare 640 acres, 
 be Layd out w'tiin this bounds for the countrys vso in such place as is not 
 already Appropriated toan.v — their brethren the deputyes hereto consent- 
 ing. And that Major Willard, Ralph Houghton & Jno Prescot see it 
 donne. 
 
 Consented to by yo deputies Edwd Rawson Secretary 
 
 18 , 8 . 72 William TqnnEY, Cleric. 
 
 Why the report was not approved until thirteen 
 years after the actual survey, and six years after the 
 death of the surveyor, does not appear in records. 
 Neither is there further allusion anywhere found to the 
 mile appropriated for the State, and the provision was 
 perhaps disregarded at first and finally overlooked. 
 The measurements of the survey were made with the 
 liberal allowance usual at that time in laying out town 
 grants, and can hardly be explained by the allowance 
 for swag of chain and irregularity of ground, that 
 being customarily only about one rod in thirty. The 
 ten-mile line of Noyes was, by modern methods of 
 .survey, over eleven miles in length, and the other di- 
 mensions were proportionably generous. The method 
 of defining the limits of a purchase from the Indians, 
 by distances and courses from a central point, was not 
 unique. Major Simon Willard, in bargaining for 
 Concord in 1636, " poynting to the four quarters of 
 the world, declared that they had bought three miles 
 from that place east, west, north and south, and the 
 s"* Indians manifested their free consent thereto." So 
 Sholan and the white men probably stood, in 1642, at 
 the wading-place of the Nashaway, which was very 
 near the bridge known as Atherton's, and agreed 
 upon the transfer of a tract of land five miles north- 
 erly, five miles southerly, five miles easterly and three 
 miles to the westward. John Prescott, ""who was per- 
 haps present at the time of purchase, and certainly 
 the only one of the first proprietors now resident in 
 the town, and acquainted with the exact terras of the 
 compact, accompanied Noyes to see that the mutual 
 intention of grantor and grantees was satisfied. It is 
 to be presumed that the three-mile base-line was run 
 twenty-three and one-half degrees north of a true east 
 and west course, to accord with Prescott's knowledge 
 
LANCASTER. 
 
 11 
 
 of that intent. In running the southern boundary 
 Noyes came upon the north line of the WhipsufTerage 
 plantation, wiiieh had been settled by court grant and 
 laid out the year before. He could not therefore com- 
 plete the rectangle called for by Sholan's deed, but 
 added a sufficient triangle on the east to make up for 
 that cut off by this IMarlborough grant. The original 
 
 ■Ln TiEiOi 
 
 JeCB 2BS6 
 "nOYSS" SURyey" I6S9. 
 
 "rue MILE" 
 
 "NEW GF(ANT" SURVEY 17/1 
 
 TOWN u/MfTS /see. 
 
 territory of Lancaster was therefore an irregular pen- 
 tagon containing, by Noyes' record of survey, eighty 
 and two-tenths square miles, but actually embracing 
 not far from one hundred. 
 
 The extent of their magnificent realm and its ca- 
 pacity for human support seems to have dawned upon 
 the town after the viewing of their boundaries, for this 
 year the restriction of families to thirty-five was re- 
 scinded, and a new policy declared that "soe many in- 
 habitants bee admitted as may be meetly accommo- 
 dated, provided they are such as are acceptable." 
 
 From his letters it may fairly be inferred that Master 
 Tinker was neither by physical constitution nor tastes 
 well adapted to the rough life of the pioneers, and this, 
 added to the fact that his ambition and abilities natur- 
 ally demanded a larger sphere for their exercise, de- 
 prived Lancaster of his services. In June, 1659, he 
 had removed to New London, Ct., and died three years 
 later, when on the high road to wealth and political 
 preferment. There were accepted as citizens during 
 the year before. Major Simon Willard, Jonas Fair- 
 banks, Roger Sumner, Gamaliel Beman, Thomas Wil- 
 
 der and Daniel Gaiens. Wilder was at once appointed 
 selectman in place of John Tinker, bought the lot 
 next north of the trucking-house and there resided 
 for the rest of his life. He came from Charlestown. 
 Roger Sumner was of Dorchester, and was, like Wilder, 
 a freeman. He had, in 1056, married Mary, the daugh- 
 ter of Thomas Joslin. He seems to have been the 
 first deacon in the Lancaster Church, although but 
 twenty-eight years of age; being dismissed from the 
 Dorchester congregation August 26, 1660, " that with 
 other Christians at Lancaster a Church might be begun 
 there." At this date doubtless Mr. Rowlandson waa 
 ordained — though no record of such fact is found — 
 and the church thus formally organized. Beman also 
 came from Dorchester, bringing a large family. Both 
 he and Sumner were assigned home-lots upon the 
 Neck. Jonas Fairbanks, of Dedham, and Lydia Pres- 
 cott, the youngest daughter of John, were the first 
 couple whose marriage was solemnized within the 
 limits of Lancaster, the ceremony being performed by 
 John Tinker by authority of special license. They 
 set up their roof-tree upon the next lot south of Pres- 
 cott's on George Hill, now owned by Jonas Goss. 
 Daniel Gaiens, so far as is known, brought no family 
 with him. He waa assigned a house-lot between Rugg 
 and Kerly in the George Hill range. 
 
 Major Willard .succeeded to the greater portion of 
 Tinker's Lancaster land rights, and occupied the house 
 before often mentioned as the first built in the town. 
 Its site is in the garden of Caleb T. Symmes. Whether 
 the major rebuilt or enlarged the dwelling which had 
 been occupied successively by Waters, Hall, Smith 
 and Tinker is not told, but the Willard home must 
 have been of ample proportions to fill the needs of his 
 natural and enforced hospitality as a magistrate, and 
 also furnish the suitable accommodations for a garri- 
 son and military headquarters. That it was a substan- 
 tial structure, largely of brick or stone, we know from 
 the fact that at its abandonment in 1676 it was partially 
 blown up, which means would not have been used 
 if fire alone could have effected its destruction. It was 
 probably surrounded by a stockade, being the chief 
 garrison. Here Major Willard lived for about thir- 
 teen years, often called from home for public duty, 
 now in Council, now in " Keeping County Courts," now 
 in exercise of his military office. 
 
 The three commissioners continued to appoint select- 
 men until, in March, 16(J4, the town legally assembled 
 confirmed all that had been done and recorded in past 
 years, and elected Major Willard, John Prescott, 
 Thomas Wilder, John Roper and Ralph Houghton 
 selectmen, empowering them "to order all the jiru- 
 dencial af'airs of the towne only they are not to dispose 
 of lands." This action of the people was accompanied 
 with a request to the commissioners to ratify their 
 doings and allow them thereafter the full liberty of a 
 town, to which they gladly consented. The General 
 Court did not formally discharge the commissioners, 
 however, until May 7, 1072. 
 
12 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 For several years the town's aftairs apparently moved 
 on in very quiet fashion. Lancaster had become a 
 vigorous, healthful community, with as much indi- 
 viduality as the jealously paternal nature of the colo- 
 nial government would jiermit. The few scant records 
 of town-meetings tell only of the harmonious and com- 
 monplace, for under the discreet leadership of Major 
 Willard and Prescott the contentious and the busy- 
 bodies were soon silenced. That a minority existed 
 who led unedifying lives in the midst of the children 
 of grace is now and then disclosed by the Middlesex 
 County Court records, but seldom were the sins of 
 these such as would call for any court's attention now- 
 adays. 
 
 A sermon-scorner, Edmund Parker, who lived 
 squalidly in a hovel, was arraigned, convicted and ad- 
 monished "for neglect of God's public worship;" 
 Daniel James was presented before the grand jury 
 "for living from under family government;" John 
 Adams was summoned to answer "for lying and false 
 dealing;" William Lincorne "for forcing of himselfe 
 into the towne as an Inhabitant," contrary to law, was 
 warned out and had his goods attached to secure the 
 fine. Nothing more criminal than these examples ap- 
 pears. It may be deemed rather complimentary than 
 otherwise that the town was once presented for not 
 having stocks ; it had no use for them. 
 
 January 2, 1671, Cyprian Stevens married Mary, 
 the daughter of Simon Willard, and the next year is 
 found in possession of the " Houseings, Barns, Sta- 
 bles, Orchards, Lands, Entervales, meadow lying and 
 being in Lancaster," lately the property of his father- 
 in-law, who had removed to his Nonaicoiacus Farm, 
 then within the bou nds of Groton. 
 
 No record of the town's doings between 1671 and 
 1717 are found, save in the register of the proprietors' 
 divisions of common land. This lamentable gap in 
 the manuscript annals of the town is by tradition 
 attributed to the loss of a volume of records by fire. 
 Whatever church records may have existed prior to 
 the pastorate of Rev. John Prentice, in 1708, have 
 likewise disappeared. The facts of the town's history 
 for this period of ibrty-six years must be chiefly 
 gleaned from county and State archives. 
 
 Daniel Gookiu, writing the year previous to the 
 breaking out of war with the Wampanoags, says the 
 Nashaways had become reduced by disease and battle 
 with the Mohawks to fifteen or sixteen families ; that 
 is, to less than two hundred men, women and children. 
 Matthew, the Englishmen's friend, was dead, and his 
 nephew, the treacherous Sam, alias Shoshanim, alias 
 Upchattuck, reigned in his place. The tribe was not 
 only few in numbers, but sadly degenerate. In fact, 
 the average savage was always a dirty loafer, often 
 besotted, who would not work so long as he could 
 beg or live upon the toil of the women of his wigwam. 
 The tidy English housewife shuddered whenever she 
 saw one entering her kitchen. His habits were 
 repulsive, his presence unsavory, his appetite insa- 
 
 tiate. He was quick to take offence, and never forgot 
 an injury or slight. 
 
 The Nashaways at first stood in great awe of the 
 white men as superior beings ; feared their far-reach- 
 ing muskets; hoped for their protection against the 
 predatory Mohawks, and craved the hatchets, knives 
 and other skilled handiwork of the smiths, and the 
 cloths, kettles, fish-hooks and gewgaws of their traders- 
 In Sholan's day the strangers were few and gracious, 
 brought with them valued arts, and were much to be 
 desired as neighbors. But familiarity cast out awe 
 and was fatal to mutual respect. The younger war- 
 riors, after a time, began to look askance at the 
 increasing power, encroachments and meddlesome- 
 ness of the English, and the planters made little con- 
 cealment of their contempt for the communists of the 
 forest. When, in 1663, the Mohawks made a san- 
 guinary raid into Central Massachusetts, the white 
 men stood aloof, offering no aid to the children of the 
 soil against the marauders. When again, in 1069, the 
 Nashaways, Nipmucks and other Massachusetts tribes 
 combined in an expedition to wreak vengeance upon 
 their life-long foes, the English proffered no assist- 
 ance. This species of neighborliness was not likely 
 to be forgotten by the defeated warriors. Most of the 
 braves now possessed guns and had learned to use 
 them with more or less skill. 
 
 So early as 1653, George Adams, who lived at Wa- 
 tertown, but claimed proprietorship in Lancaster, was 
 convicted of selling guns and strong waters to Indians, 
 and, having nothing to satisfy the law, was ordered to 
 be severely whipped the next lecture day at Boston. 
 When a valuable otter or beaver skin could be got in 
 exchange for two or three quarts of cheap rum, the 
 temptation was too great for Adams, and he was per- 
 haps neither poorer nor less honest than other traders. 
 Even John Tinker broke the law, by his own confes- 
 sion. The red men had not learned the white man's 
 art of transmuting grain into intoxicating drink, but 
 they had quickly acquired the taste for rum, and like 
 wilful children indulged their appetites without 
 restraint when opportunity offered. 
 
 Then, as now, there were stringent laws restrictive 
 and prohibitory respecting the sale of strong drink. 
 Then, as now, these laws were evaded everywhere and 
 constantly. Then two sure roads to financial pros- 
 perity were the keeping of a dram-shop and buying 
 furs of Indians. What with the refusal to aid against 
 the Mohawks, the peddling of rum, the greed of the 
 peltry-buyers, and the nagging of proselyting preach- 
 ers and laymen — very few of whom possessed a tithe 
 of the prudence and willingness to make haste slowly 
 which characterized the Apostle Eliot — it is hardly to 
 be accounted strange that degenerate sagamores, 
 succeeding the generous Sholan and Matthew, fol- 
 lowed their savage instincts ; and that a harvest of 
 blood followed where folly had planted. 
 
 Early in June, 1675, before the actual breaking out 
 of hostilities between the colonists and the Wampa- 
 
LANCASTER. 
 
 13 
 
 noags, it was suspected that Philip had solicited the 
 assistance of the Nipmucks, and agents were sent to 
 discover their intentions. The Nashaways were ap- 
 parently not distrusted. The agents were deceived, 
 and returned with renewed pledges of friendship from 
 the older chiefs. A shrewder messenger, Ephraim 
 Curtis, familiar with Indian wiles, in July came from 
 a similar mission, bringing news that startled the 
 Governor and Council from their fancied security. 
 The inland clans were already mustering for war, and 
 with them were Shoshanim and Monoco, leading the 
 Nashaways. The Council promptly sent a mounted 
 troop to treat with the savages, or if needful to " en- 
 deavor to reduce them by force of arms." Counting, 
 in their foolish self-confidence, one trooper equal to 
 ten Indians, this platoon, which should have been a 
 battalion, invited ambush and met disastrous defeat 
 at Menameset, August 2d. Major Willard, at the head 
 of less than fifty men, set out from Lancaster on the 
 morning of August 4th, under instructions from the 
 Council "to look after some Indians to the westward 
 of Lancaster," probably the Nashaways. While on 
 the march, news came to him that Brookfield was 
 beleaguered, and he hastened to the rescue, re-enforc- 
 ing the besieged garrison the same night. In that 
 quarter he remained until September 8th, five or six 
 companies arriving from the Bay to join his command. 
 Lancaster and Groton were thus stripped of their 
 natural defenders, and wily foes recognized the 
 opportunity. 
 
 The Nashaways, led by their two bloodthirsty and 
 cunning sachems, Sam and One-eyed John — who was 
 also known as Monoco and Apequinash — had been 
 conspicuous in the Brookfield fight. On the 15th 
 of August, in the evening, Captain Mosley with a 
 company of sixty dragoons arrived at Lancaster, 
 having been sent thither by Major Willard to pursue 
 a band of savages, reported to be skulking in the 
 woods about the frontier settlements. On the 16tb 
 Mosley started out in search of the enemy, but their 
 chief, Monoco, intimately acquainted with all the 
 region around, warily avoided the troopers, got into 
 their rear, and on August 22d made a bloody raid upon 
 Lancaster. Daniel Gookin says that twenty of Philip's 
 warriors were with Monoco, and this is plausible, for 
 Philip, who came into the camp of the Quabaugs with 
 the small remnant of his tribe the day after the siege 
 of Brookfield was raised by Major Willard, there met 
 the one-eyed sachem and gave him a generous present 
 of wampum. From that time Philip seems to have 
 been no more seen in battle, and if his men fought at 
 all, it must have been under other leaders. 
 
 Monoco gave no quarter. The foray was made in 
 the afternoon of Sunday. The house of Mordecai 
 McLeod, which was the northernmost in the town 
 situated somewhere near the North Village Cemetery, 
 was burned, and McLeod with his wife and two 
 children were murdered. The same day three other 
 men were slain, and a day or two after a fourth, all 
 
 of whom were mangled in a barbarous manner. Two 
 of these victims, George Bennett and Jacob Farrar, 
 Jr., were heads of Lancaster families; the others, 
 William Flagg and Joseph Wheeler, were probably 
 soldiers detailed for service here from Watertown and 
 Concord. This massacre was but the prelude to a 
 more terrible tragedy, the most sanguinary episode in 
 Lancaster history. 
 
 Over thirty years had passed since the building of 
 the first dwelling in the Nashua Valley. There had 
 been one hundred and eighty-one recorded births in 
 the town, and, including the recent murders by the 
 savages, there had been but fifty-eight deaths. Ten 
 of the oldest planters had died in Lancaster and five 
 elsewhere: Thomas Rowlandson, Thomas James, 
 Thomas Joslin, John Whitcomb, Stephen Gates, 
 John Tinker, Edward Breck, Richard Linton, Thomas 
 Wilder, Steven Day, Philip Knight, John Smith, 
 William Kerly, William Lewis, John White. The 
 sons, as they reached manhood, had usually sought 
 wives among their neighbors' daughters, built homes 
 on the paternal acres, and their families grew apace. 
 John Prescott could number thirty-five grandchil- 
 dren, nearly all living in sight of the old trucking, 
 house. With its two mills, its skilled mechanics, its 
 spinning-wheels buzzing in every cottage, the town 
 was independent of the world. Its nearest neighbors 
 were Groton and Marlborough, ten miles away. 
 Numerous barns and granaries attested the farmers' 
 prosperity. Cattle, horses, sheep, swine and poultry 
 had multiplied exceedingly. Time and thrift had 
 increased domestic comforts. Frame houses, in 
 which the windows, though small, were glazed, had 
 succeeded the gloomy log-cabins. Orchards had 
 come into bearing and yielded bountifully. All 
 kinds of grain flourished. Wheat was received for 
 taxes at six shillings the bushel, corn at three shil- 
 lings six pence, and apples were sold at a .shilling 
 per bushel. Potatoes were unknown until fifty years 
 later, but of most other vegetables, and especially of 
 peas, beans and turnips, large crops were raised. 
 
 The dwellings, as at first, were mainly in two scat- 
 tered groups of about equal numbers, one occupying 
 the Neck, the other extending along the slope of 
 George Hill. But Prescott with two of his sons now 
 lived near his grist and saw-mills, a mile to the south, 
 the "mill-path" leading thither. John Moore and 
 James Butler had built upon Wataqnadock. Several 
 of the houses were more or less fortified, being fur- 
 nished with flankers or surrounded with a stockade. 
 Of those known were: Prescott's, at the mills ; Rich- 
 ard Wheeler's, in South Lancaster ; Thomas Saw- 
 yer's, not far north from the house of Sally Case, his 
 descendant ; Rev. Joseph Rowlandson's and Cyprian 
 Stevens'. It is supposed that a few soldiers from 
 the older towns were distributed among these garri- 
 sons. 
 
 The Christian Indians, despite the flagrant abuse 
 with which they were treated after the breaking out 
 
14 
 
 HISTORY OP W0R0E3TER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 of war, generally proved faithful to the English, and 
 their services as scouts were invaluable. Among 
 these none deserves better to be honored in Lancas- 
 ter story than James Wiser, alias Quanapaug or 
 Quanapohit, whose courage and fidelity would have 
 saved the town from the massacre of 1676, had not 
 his timely warning been unwisely discredited by the 
 apparently lethargic Governor and his slumberous 
 Council. 
 
 Quanapaug was a Nashaway, for he owned lands at 
 Washacum in 1670. He was so noted for his brave 
 conduct in the contests between the English and the 
 Wampanoags, when he .served as captain of the Chris- 
 tian Indians, that Philip hail given orders to his lieu- 
 tenants that he must be shown no mercy if captured. 
 Governor Leveret h.aving ordered that scouts should 
 be sent out to ascertain something of the numbers, 
 condition and plans of the foe. Major Gookin selected 
 James Quanapaug and Job Kattenanit for this peril- 
 ous enterprise, and these two men, carrying a little 
 " parcht meal " for sustenance and armed only with 
 knives and hatchets, made the terrible journey of 
 eighty miles upon snow-shoes to the Indians' camp 
 at Menameset, setting out from Cambridge December 
 30th. They were greatly mistrusted and their lives 
 threatened by some of the Indians; but fortunately 
 James found a powerful friend in Monoco, who re- 
 spected him as a brave comrade in the Mohawk War, 
 and took him into his own wigwam. But James 
 knew that his every motion was watched by suspi- 
 cious enemies, and that even Monoco's protection 
 might be powerless in the presence of Philip, who 
 was expected soon. Finding that a meeting with 
 that dangerous per.sonage was inevitable if he de- 
 layed longer, and having effected the main purpose of 
 his errand, he escaped by stratagem, and on the 24th 
 of January, 1676, brought to the Massachusetts au- 
 thorities full information respecting the hostile camp, 
 and especially the intentions of the sagamores ; Mo- 
 noco declaring that "they would fall upon Lancaster, 
 Groton, Marlborough, Sudbury and Medfield, and 
 that the first thing they would do should be to cut 
 down Lancaster bridge, so to hinder their flight and 
 assistance coming to them, and that they intended to 
 fall upon them in about twenty days from Wednesday 
 last." 
 
 It can scarcely be believed, but the result proves 
 that no heed was paid to this seasonable warning; 
 no steps were taken to ward oft' the coming blow. A 
 body of troops, who had been in pursuit of the flee- 
 ing Narragansetts not far from Marlborough, had, 
 less than a week before, because of a lack of provi- 
 sions, been withdrawn to Boston instead of being 
 uaed to garrison the threatened towns. Even the 
 chief military ofiicer of the State, Daniel Gookin, 
 afterwards confessed that the report of Quanapaug 
 " was not then credited as it .should have been, and 
 consequently no so good means used to prevent it, or 
 at least to have lain in ambushments for the enemy." 
 
 The fact is, little energy or skill of generalship was 
 shown then or afterwards, and the savages wreaked 
 their vengeance in due time upon all the towns 
 named according to Monoco's programme. 
 
 Meanwhile some premonition of the approaching 
 tempest reached the valley of the Nashua, and in 
 fear and discouragement the people wrought at such 
 defences as were possible. The outlying houses were 
 abandoned or visited only by day. The chief mili- 
 tary officer, Henry Kerly, the minister and perhaps 
 some of the other prominent citizens finally went to 
 Boston to beg for additional soldiers. In their ab- 
 sence the storm burst upon the devoted town. About 
 ten o'clock at night of the 9th of February, Job 
 Kattenanit reached the door of Major Gookin in 
 Cambridge, half dead with fatigue, He had left his 
 wife and children in the hostile camp at New Brain- 
 tree, and traveled night and day to notify his Eng- 
 lish friends of their imminent peril. He confirmed 
 every word that his fellow-spy, Quanapaug, had 
 told. On the morrow Lancaster was to be a.esaulted, 
 and Job had seen the war-party of " about 400 " start 
 out upon their bloody errand. 
 
 Shortly after the attack upon the Narragansett 
 fort, December 19th, the remnant of that tribe, of 
 which about five hundred were reputed "stout war- 
 riors," abandoned their homes. Lute in January 
 they joined the Quabaugs and Nashaways in their 
 winter-quarters. The snow lay deep in the woods 
 and the weather had been of unwonted severity, but 
 before the close of the month a thaw suddenly swept 
 away the snow, and the country became again passa- 
 ble. Philip, with his feeble following, seems to have 
 lost that importance as a military leader which 
 tradition has persisted in attributing to him, and had 
 become at best only an artful political general ; mali- 
 ciously instigating animosities, but never appearing 
 in the fight, and often overruled in council. Quana- 
 paug reported the fighting men at Menameset to be 
 " the Nipmuk Indians, the Quabaug Indians, the 
 Pacachooge Indians, the Weshakum and Niishaway 
 Indians.'' The accession of the Narragansetts more 
 than doubled the force, and a part of them partici- 
 pated in the raid upon Lancaster, which was led by 
 Shoshanim and Monoco, of Nashaway, Muttaump, of 
 Quabaug, Quinnapin, a Narragansett sachem, bro- 
 ther-in-law of Philip, and probably Pakashoag and 
 Matoonas, of the Nipmucks. The unqualified state- 
 ment made by Rev. Timothy Harrington, in his 
 Century Sermon, that Philip was present at the 
 burning of Lancaster with fifteen hundred men, it 
 must be said, wholly lacks the support of any con- 
 temporary authority. Sewall in his diary speaks of 
 Maliompe (alias of Muttaump) as "the general at 
 Lancaster;" and some slight deference may have 
 been paid to that sachem by the others to ensure 
 concert of action ; but Sagamore Sam and Monoco 
 doubtless planned the attack. From his prominence 
 in the subsequent correspondence with the authorities 
 
LANCASTER. 
 
 15 
 
 and the price set upon his head, it is evident that in 
 popular estimation, Shoshanini was at least second 
 devil, Philip being first. 
 
 Awakened to the emergency. Major Gookin has- 
 tened to consult with his neighbor, Thomas Danforth, 
 a member of the Council, and a post-rider was at 
 once despatched to order what soldiers there were 
 stationed at Concord and Marlborough to the aid of 
 Lancaster. About forty men, the company of Cap- 
 tain Wadsworth, were on duty at the latter place. 
 Upon the arrival of the messenger at break of 
 day, Tliursday, February lOth, this little force, under 
 their gallant commander, marched immediately for 
 Lancaster Bridge, ten miles distant. They reached it 
 to find the planks removed so as effectually to prevent 
 the passage of horsemen — the river being unfordable 
 at that season ; but the troopers did not arrive to be 
 of assistance. Captain Wadsworth forced his way 
 over, and, avoiding an ambush laid on the main 
 road, safely marched by another route to the garri- 
 son-house of Cyprian Stevens, near the North Bridge, 
 and f)nly a ritle-shot distant from the minister's. 
 
 The assault of the savages was made at sunrise, 
 and simultaneously in five places. The people were 
 nearly all in shelter of the feebly fortified garrison- 
 houses. John Ball, who had for some reason re- 
 mained in his owu dwelling, was butchered together 
 with his wife and an infant; and two older children 
 were carried away captive. Though the position of 
 Ball's house is not exactly known, it was probably on 
 the George Hill range. At John Prescott's, his 
 grandson, Ephraim Sawyer, was killed. Of the gar- 
 rison of RicharcTWheeler, which was in South Lan- 
 caster, five were slain : Richard Wheeler, Jonas Fair- 
 banks, Joshua Fairbanks, Henry Farrar and another 
 unknown. The first three were shot by Indians, who 
 climbed upon the roof of the barn and could thence 
 fire down over the palisades. The other two were 
 waylaid while out of the garrison upon some errand. 
 
 But the chief slaughter was at the central garrison, 
 that of the minister. For about two hours the sav- 
 ages beset this house in overwhelming numbers, 
 pouring bullets upon it " like hail," and wounding 
 several of its defenders, among whom was the com- 
 mander. Ensign John Divoll. Unfortunately there 
 was no stockade about the house and its rear iianker 
 was unfinished and useless. The besiegers were 
 therefore able, without much exposure, to push a 
 cart loaded with flax and hemp from the barn, up 
 against a lean-to in the rear, and fire it. One heroic 
 man rushed out and extinguished the kindling 
 flames ; but a renewal of the attempt succeeded, and 
 soon the inmates of the burning house had to choose 
 between death by fire and the merciless rage of the 
 yelling demons that stood in wait for them without. 
 There were forty-two persons in the dwelling accord- 
 ing to the best contemporary authorities, of whom 
 twelve were men. By some marvel of daring or 
 speed or strategy, Ephraim Roper burst through the 
 
 horde of savages and escaped. Eleven men were 
 killed, and the women and children that survived 
 this day of horrors were dragged away captive. 
 
 We gather our knowledge of the incidents of the 
 massacre and captivity mostly from the pious narra- 
 tive of Mrs. Rowlandson, first printed in 1682. No 
 literary work of its period in America can boast equal 
 evidence of enduring popular favor with this of a 
 comparatively uneducated Lancaster woman; and 
 very few books in any age or tongue have been hon- 
 ored with more editions, if we except the imagina- 
 tive masterpieces of inspired genius. Mrs. Rowland- 
 son states that there were thirty-seven in the house, 
 and that twenty-four were carried captive, twelve 
 were slain and one escaped. It is probable that she 
 omits five soldiers casually stationed in the garrison. 
 She gives no names and a full list of the victims can- 
 not now be made. The following includes all that 
 are known : 
 
 Killed in liowlaudsoti Garrison. 
 Knsign John DiTolI. 
 .Toeiah DivoII, son of John, aged 7. 
 Daniel Gains. 
 Abraham Joslin, aged 26. 
 John MacLoud. 
 
 Thomas Rowlandson, nephew uf the minister, aged 19. 
 John Kettle, aged 36. 
 John Kettle, Jr. 
 
 Joseph Kettle, son of John, aged in. 
 >IrB Elizabeth Kerley, wife of Lieut. Henry. 
 William Kerley, son of Lieut. Henry, aged 17. 
 Joseph Kerley, do., aged 7. 
 
 Mrs Prisciila Roper, wife of Ephraim. 
 PrificiDa, child of Ephraim, aged 3. 
 
 li 
 Carrieil Captive from Rowlandmn Garrison, 
 
 >Ire Mary Rowlandson, wife of the minister, ransomed. 
 Mary Rowlandson, daughter of the minister, aged 10. ransomed. 
 Sarah Rowlandson, do., aged 6, wounded A died Feb. 18. 
 
 ■loseph Rowlandson, son of the minister, aged 13, ransomed. 
 .\Ire Hannah Divoll, wife of Ensign John, ransomed. 
 ■John Divoll, eon of Ensign John, aged 12, died captive? 
 William Divoll, do., aged 4, rausomed. 
 
 Hannah Divoll, daughter of do., aged 9, died captive? 
 Mrs Ann JoBlin, wife of Abraham, killed in captivity. 
 Beatrice Joslin, daughter of Abraham, do. 
 Joseph Joslin, brother of Abraham, aged 16. 
 Henry Kerley, son of Lieut. Henry, aged 18. 
 Hannah Kerley, daughter of do., aged 13. 
 Mary Kerley, do., aged 10. 
 
 Martha Kerley, do., aged 4. 
 
 A child Kerley, name & age unknown. 
 Mrs Elizabeth Kettle, wife of John, ransomed. 
 Sarah Kettle, daughter of John, aged 14, escaped. 
 Jonathan Kettle, son of John, aged 5. 
 
 A child Kettle, daughter do. 20 
 
 Ephraim Roper alone escaped during the assault. 1 
 
 One of Wadworth's soldiers, George Harrington, 
 was slain near Prescott's Mills, a few days later, and 
 John Roper fell on the day the town was abandoned. 
 As the tot.al casualties by reliable authorities were 
 fifty-five, the names of seven suftereis remain un- 
 known. The other garrisons made successful resis- 
 tance, and the Indians, after plundering and burn- 
 ing most of the abandoned houses, withdrew with 
 their terror-stricken prisoners to the summit of 
 
Ifi 
 
 HISTORY^ OF WOKCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 / 
 
 George Hill, and passed that night in triumphal 
 orgies, cooking and feasting on the spoils of the 
 farm-yards and storehouses. "This," writes Mrs. 
 Rowlandson, " was the dolefullest night that ever my 
 eyes saw. Oh, the roaring and singing, and dancing j 
 and yelling of thgse black creatures in the night, 
 which made the place a lively resemblance of hell.' 
 By Saturday afternoon most of the blood-stained 
 crew were again in their camps at Menameset. 
 
 The mounted companies arrived the next day, and 
 drove away the skulkers engaged in plunder. The 
 minister and Captain Kerly returned in time to as- 
 sist in burying the mangled and charred relics of 
 their dead relatives and neighbors. Those of the in- 
 habitants who had a place of retreat in the seaward 
 towns and means to remove, soon fled, and those who 
 were forced to remain behind crowded into the 
 strong garrisons of Thomas Sawyer and Cyprian 
 Stevens. With them were eighteen soldiers. Thence 
 they sent forth, March 11th, an eloquently pitiful ap- 
 peal to the Governor and Council for help to re- 
 move to a place of safety. /' 
 
 On March 2ljth, Major Willard sent a troop of 
 forty horsemen, with carts, who carried the sur- 
 vivors and some portion of their goods and provi- 
 sions to Concord. The buildings not before de- 
 stroyed were soon after burned by the Indians, two 
 only being left standing in the town — presumably 
 those of Butler and Moore, upon Wataquadock. 
 
 The valley of the Nashua, blood-stained and dis- 
 figured by fire-blackened ruins, lay desolate, and so 
 remained during four years. The quick succeeding 
 raids of the stealthy foe spread dismay even to the 
 sea-coast throughout the English plantations. No 
 outlying town but experienced their barbarity, and 
 several were abandoned. The contest, one of racial 
 antipathy, was now mutually recognized as for ex- 
 istence. In the knowledge of the horrors of defeat, 
 the white men fought with the courage of despera- 
 tion, and soon learned to meet the cunning tactics of 
 the savages with superior wiles. The Indians, un- 
 able to procure a regular supply of food, and often 
 nearly starved, were gathered into villages on both 
 sides of the Connecticut a few miles above North- 
 field. Early in April the head sachem of the Nar- 
 ragansetts, Canonchet, whose controlling genius held 
 together the incongruous alliance of rival tribes, was 
 fortunately captured and jnit to death. Distrust and 
 jealousy soon began their work, and a few days later 
 Philip was on his way with the Nashaways to their 
 hunting-grounds about Wachusett. Quinnapin ac- 
 companied him, with a portion of the Narragansetts, 
 and with him was Mrs. Rowlandson, his prisoner, the 
 servant of Weetamoo, one of his three wives. A ma- 
 jority of the Nipmucks and Quabaugs soon joined 
 them. 
 
 Messengers were sent to Wachusett by the authori- 
 ties at Boston to negotiate for the redemption of the 
 captives and especially Mrs. Rowlandson. Philip 
 
 fiercely opposed any bargaining with the English, but 
 his blood-thirsty counsels no longer found listening 
 ear*. Some of the prisoners had fallen under the 
 tomahawk, and others had succumbed to exposure 
 ■ind starvation. Most of the survivors were freed 
 during May, for a stipulated ransom. The Nashaway 
 sagamore, though yet far from humble, was evidently 
 tired of hostilities. If we may believe his own letter 
 to the Governor, he even journeyed to the villages of 
 the river Indians to recover certain captives there. 
 In his absence. Captain Henchman, under the guid- 
 ance of Tom Dublet, an Indian scout, surprised a 
 party of thirty-six Indians fishing at Washacum, of 
 whom he killed seven and captured the others. The 
 prisoners were mostly women and children, and 
 among them were the wives and sons of Shoshanim 
 and Muttaump. After this stroke of ill fortune, the 
 proud boasting of the sagamores was turned to ser- 
 vile supplication. Philip and Quinnapin, fearing 
 treachery, fled to their own land. 
 
 Early in September, the harassed and repentant 
 chiefs, Shoshanim, Monoco and Muttaump, worn out 
 with privation and trusting to some alleged promise 
 of pardon from the Council, surrendered themselves 
 and their men at Cocheco. September 26th, the 
 three sagamores with others were hanged at Boston. 
 Their wives and children, with other undistinguished 
 captives, were sold as slaves and shipped to the Ber- 
 mudas. The score or two of the Nashaways that may 
 have escaped or were allowed to go free joined the 
 Pennacooks. The Indian who captured Hannah 
 Dustin, in 1697, and was killed by her, was one who 
 had lived in Lancaster. A few who had embraced 
 Christianity, like Quauapaug and George Tahanto, 
 probably dwelt at Natick. The tribal history of the 
 Nashaways had reached its finis. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 LANCASTER— ( Conliiuied.) 
 
 The lieiittUemtnt — Fraich and Indian liitidB — The Garrinong — Netv Meeling- 
 hfmte — The Additional Grant — Earhj School-masters — Lovnreira War — 
 M'orcesler Conntti Fanned — Birth of Harvard^ Bolton and Leominster 
 — Sieges of t'itrlha<jcntt and Lonisbonrg — The Conquest of Canada. 
 
 The Lancaster exiles were widely scattered as they 
 sought refuge with relatives and friends in the Bay 
 towns. Many of them, so soon as bullet and gallows 
 had avenged their slain kindred and made return 
 possible, looked with longing towards their farms, or- 
 chards and gardens, purchased so dearly with years 
 of toil and anxiety, and final blood sacrifice. But 
 first shelter had to be built and leave of court ob- 
 tained ; for the re-occupation of a deserted town, by 
 an order of General Court, was placed in the same 
 class with new plantations, requiring preliminary 
 petition and the appointment of a fatherly committee 
 
LANCASTER. 
 
 17 
 
 to view, aiul hear, and consider, and order, and enjoin 
 obedience to, a form and manner of resettlement. 
 Probably some buildings were erected and some of 
 the proprietors were upon their lands when John 
 Prcscott, with two of his sons, his two sons-in-law, 
 Thomas Sawyer and John Rugg, his grandson, 
 Thomas Sawyer, Jr., and Thomas Wilder, John 
 Moore and Josiah White, sent to the court their pe- 
 tition, in 1679, asking for a committee that they 
 might, together with others, speedily "proceed to set- 
 tle the place with comfort and encouragement." The 
 committee were appointed and, although no record of 
 their conclusions is known to exist, births in Lancas- 
 ter were recorded during 1679 and 1680. In 1681 
 seventeen or eighteen families had returned and peti- 
 tioned for exemption from "country rates" success- 
 fully. 
 
 Their minister was not with them. In April, 1677, 
 Mr. Rowlandson had accepted liberal otiers from 
 Wethersfield, and was settled as colleague to Rev. 
 Gershom Bulkeley. In that office he died, aged forty- 
 seven years, November 24, 1678, " much lamented." 
 In December, 1681, John Prescott, the founder and 
 the oldest inhabitant of the town, died. The meet- 
 ing-house having been burned during or after the 
 destruction of the town, a new one was built upon 
 the same site, probably in 1684. Among the new- 
 comers was Samuel Carter, a graduate of Harvard 
 College in 1660, who bought the Kerly homestead 
 on George Hill, and probably served the people as 
 teacher and minister for a time, but accepted a call to 
 Groton in 1692. His sons continued in Lancaster, 
 and the family so multiplied that the Carters soon 
 rivaled the Wilders and Willards in the town census. 
 William Woodrop and Edward Oakes also temporarily 
 preached here, but there was no regular pastor until 
 December 3, 1690, when .lohu Whiting, a Harvard 
 graduate of 1685, was ordained, after preaching on 
 probation for nine months. 
 
 Upon the revolutionary deposition of Andros by the 
 people, in 1689, the magistrates and other prominent 
 gentlemen of the cfilony recommended the towns to 
 send instructed delegates to form an Assembly and 
 assume the responsibility of reorganizing the govern- 
 ment until orders should be received from England. 
 Lancaster's action in response was the election of 
 Ralph Houghton as representative, instructed to favor 
 the re-assumption of government by the Governor and 
 assistants elected in 1686. This seems to have been 
 the last public service of Ralph Houghton for the 
 town. He spent the declining years of life with a 
 son in Milton, where he died in 1705. At his departure 
 the most able man of affairs in the town was John 
 Houghton, second of the name, and upon him the 
 duties of town clerk devolved. 
 
 Soon the horrors of Indian warfare again menaced 
 the frontier, and a general retreat of the inhabitants 
 was imminent, when a special act was passed forbid- 
 ding removal from outlying towns under severe pen- 
 2 
 
 alty. One of the towns named in the act was Lan- 
 caster. Some hunters, in April, 1692, reported seeing 
 about three hundred Indians in the neighborhood of 
 Wachusett, and they were suspected of hostile designs. 
 By day or night mothers grew pale at every half-heard 
 cry of bird or beast, imagining it the death-shriek of 
 a dear one, or the dread war-whoop of the savage. 
 The able-bodied men and boys had to delve all day in 
 the planting season, or expect to starve the next 
 winter, and their unintermitling toil ill fitted them to 
 watch every second night, as they were obliged to do 
 in garrison. If they remained in their unfortified 
 houses they were exposed to worse than death in case 
 of an attack. But they could hope for little help from 
 the Bay towns. 
 
 There were now eight garrisons in Lancaster: — 
 Josiah White's, of ten men, upon the east side of the 
 Neck ; Philip Goss', nine men, near the North River 
 bridge ; Thomas Sawyer's, eleven . men, in central 
 South Lancaster; Nathaniel Wilder's, eight men, at 
 the old trucking-house site on George Hill ; Ephraim 
 Roper's, seven men, a little to the north of Wilder's ; 
 Lieut. Thomas Wilder's, thirteen men, on the Old 
 Common; Ensign John Moore's, eight men, on Wata- 
 rjuadock ; Henry WiUard's, eight men, at Still River. 
 These embraced fifty families, and indicate a popula- 
 tion of about two hundred and seventy-five. 
 
 July 18, 1692, a small band of Indians surprised 
 the family of Peter Joslin, on the west side of the 
 Neck, while he was absent in the field, killed Mrs. 
 Sarah Joslin, Mrs. Hannah Whitcomb and three 
 young children, and took away as prisoners Elizabeth 
 Howe, the sister of Mrs. Joslin, and Peter Joslin, aged 
 about six years. The boy was butchered in the wilder- 
 ness. Elizabeth, a girl of sixteen years, when the 
 Indians approached the house, was singing at the 
 spinning-wheel, and tradition says escaped the fate of 
 her sister because of her captors' admiration for her 
 song. She was ransomed from Canada after four years 
 of captivity. 
 
 For several years the townspeople lived in a state of 
 continual " watch and ward," plowing, sowing and 
 reaping in fear of the skulking, relentless foe. There 
 were occasional alarms, the garrisons were strength- 
 ened at great expense of labor, and in them the whole 
 community huddled together for defence at every 
 rumor of danger. The town became very much im- 
 poverished, and the General Court allowed them 
 twenty pounds " for encouragement," October 20, 1694. 
 One Sabbath, in the autumn of 1695, Abraham 
 Wheeler, when on his way from Sawyer's garrison to 
 his own house near the river, was mortally wounded 
 by an Indian lying in wait for him. September 11, 
 1697, in the forenoon, when the men were many of 
 them in their fields or at their own houses, and the 
 garrison gates were open, a band of savages who had 
 been larking in the woodland watching for a favorable 
 opportunity, made a sudden dash upon the western 
 portion of the settlement. Their plan had been to 
 
18 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 first carry by assault the garrison of Thomas Sawyer, 
 but as they were preparing to rush upon it, Jabez 
 Fairbank galloped at full speed into the gate coming 
 from his own house, and the Indians, supposing that 
 they were discovered — though such was not the fact — 
 turned their attack upon those in the fields and 
 defenceless houses. They surprised the families of 
 Ephraim Roper, the widow John Rugg, Jonathan 
 Fairbank, John Scateand Daniel Hudson, murdering 
 capturing or wounding nearly every member of them, 
 and burning their houses and barns. Meeting the 
 minister, Rev. John Whiting, at a distance from the 
 garrison, they attempted to take him captive, but "he 
 chose rather to fight to the last," and was slain and 
 scalped. Ephraim Roper's was a strongly garrisoned 
 house, and that of Daniel Hudson was lortified. The 
 killed numbered niueteen, the captives eight, five of 
 whom ultimately returned ; two others wounded, re- 
 covered. Capt. Thomas Brown with fifty men pursued 
 the enemy for two days, during which they came 
 upon the mangled corpse of one of the captured 
 women, probably Joanna or Elizabeth Hudson, whom 
 the retreating savages had slain. 
 
 Utterly disheartened, the people in their new dis- 
 tress appealed for exemption from taxes, aid to pro- 
 cure a minister and the help of soldiers in their gar- 
 risons. They were given only twenty pounds. As 
 temporary preachers, John Robinson, Samuel Whit- 
 man and John Jones served them in the pulpit, and 
 in May, 1701, Mr. Andrew Gardner, a Harvard grad- 
 uate of lti'J(5, was invited to preach. The following 
 September he accepted an invitation to become their 
 settled pastor. Before this the minister's salary had 
 been in part paid by an annual assessment of ten 
 shillings upon each original home-lot. As these lots 
 were many of them abandoned, and the rule in other 
 respects bore unequally upon the proprietors, the Leg- 
 islature, upon petition, ordered the levying of their 
 church rate upon all inhabitants in the same way as 
 other taxes. 
 
 The regular garrisons in 1704 were eleven in num- 
 ber, and their location and the number of their fam- 
 ilies mark a very important change in the growth of 
 the town. As one bloody raid after another strewed 
 the slope of George Hill with ruins, the fact that in a 
 military sense the east side of the rivers was much 
 the more secure from surprise, and the most defensible, 
 became obvious ; and thither the increase in popula- 
 tion tended. The garrisons on the Neck were : Ser- 
 geant Josiah White's, seven men ; Ensign Peter Jos- 
 lin's, nine men. Those on the west side were : Rev. 
 Andrew Gardner's, nine men ; Lieut. Nathaniel Wil- 
 der's, on George Hill, seven men ; and John Pres- 
 cott's, four men, at the corn-mill. East of the rivers 
 were: At Bride Cake Plain (now the Old Common), 
 Capt. Thomas Wilder's, fifteen men. Upon Wataqua- 
 dock and eastward: John Moore's, nine men ; Josiah 
 Whetcomb's, eight men ; Gamaliel Beman's, eight 
 men. At Still River: Simon Willard's, twelve men. 
 
 At Bare Hill : John Priest's, ten men. There were 
 seventy-six families, indicating a population of about 
 four hundred and twenty-five, of which two-thirds 
 lived on the east side of the rivers. The only inn- 
 keei)er was Nathaniel Wilder, who had for twenty 
 years been " licensed to sell beer, ale, cider, rum, etc." 
 
 In the summer of 1704 a large Ibrce of French and 
 Indians, under " Monsieur Boocore,'' who had de- 
 signed the destruction of Northampton, finding that 
 place prepared, became disorganized. A portion re- 
 turned to Canada, but about four hundred determined 
 upon a raid eastward. On Monday, July 31st, early 
 in the morning, this force made a furious onslaught 
 upon Lancaster, and first,asusual, upon the George Hill 
 garrisons. The brave Lieutenant Nathaniel Wilder 
 was here mortally wounded. Re-inforcements from 
 Marlborough and other towns, under Captains William 
 Tyng and Thomas Howe, promptly came, and the 
 enemy were finally driven ofl" with considerable loss. 
 Besides Lieut. Wilder, threesoldiers — Abraham Howe, 
 Benjamin Hutchins and John Spaulding — were killed. 
 A French officer of note among the assailants was 
 also slain, " which so exasperated their spirits that in 
 revenge they fired the Meeting-house, killed several 
 cattle and burned many out-houses." Four dwellings 
 at least were destroyed — those of Ephraim Wilder, 
 Samuel Carter and Thomas Rdss upon George Hill, 
 and that of Philip Goss near the meeting-house and 
 upon the same site as the Rowlandson garrison de- 
 stroyed in 1676. 
 
 Hostile bands continued to prowl about the frontier 
 towns during the summer and autumn, occasionally 
 scalping some unfortunate victim. During the alarm 
 after one of these murders a pitiful accident deprived 
 Lancaster of her third minister. On Thursday, Octo- 
 ber 2()lh, in the night, Samuel Prescott — being the 
 sentinel on duty at the garrisoned house of Rev. An- 
 drew Gardner, walking his beat within the stockade 
 — suddenly saw a man " coming down out of the upper 
 flanker," and having challenged him twice and re- 
 ceiving no reply, he fired upon him, in his surprise 
 sup[)osing him to be " an Indian enemy." To his 
 own grief and horror, as well as that of the whole 
 community, it was found that he had mortally 
 wounded the minister, who had gone up into the 
 watch-tower over the flanker to keep guard by himself, 
 probably in distrust of the wakefulness of the sentinels, 
 who had been scouting in the woods all day. The 
 following May, Rev. John Prentice began his ministry 
 in Lancaster, and on December 4, 170.3, married the 
 widow of his predecessor. He was not ordained until 
 March 29, 1708. For nearly two years the Sabbath 
 exercises were held at the parsonage, there being no 
 meeting-house. 
 
 October 15, 1705, the savages again invaded the 
 town. There were at this date two saw-mills in Lan- 
 caster, Thomas Sawyer, Jr., having, in 1698 or 1699, 
 built one upon Dean's — now called Goodridge's — 
 Brook, at the existing dam near the Deer's-horn's 
 
LANCASTER. 
 
 19 
 
 School-house. At this mill the Indians captured 
 Thomas Sawyer, Jr., his son Elias, a youth of sixteen, 
 and John Bigelow, a carpenter of Marlborough. The 
 three were taken to Canada, where Sawyer was res- 
 cued from torture and death at the hands of his cap- 
 tors by the intervention of the Governor, on condition 
 that he and his companions would build a saw-mill 
 upon Chambly River. The mill was built, being the 
 first in all Canada, and the captives returned in safety. 
 
 Forty pounds had been granted by the General 
 Court, after the burning of the meeting-house in 1704, 
 towards the building of a new one, to be paid upon 
 the erection of the frame. A large majority of the 
 inhabitants now living upon the east side of the rivers, 
 it was voted in town-meeting to place the building 
 upon Bride Cake Plain, a mile eastward of the old 
 site, and there a frame was set up in 1706. The new 
 location roused a tempest in the community. A com- 
 mittee of four from other towns was appointed to 
 settle the dispute, and being equally divided in opinion 
 made the quarrel worse. Then the Council and the 
 Deputies took opposite sides. Finally, as winter drew 
 near, the majority were given their way. John 
 Houghton donated the land for the building site, 
 Thomas Wilder gave a lot for the burial-ground on 
 the opposite side of the highway, Robert Houghtyn 
 with his assistants covered in the summer-seasoned 
 frame, and peace reigned once more in the parish. 
 
 In 1707 Jonathan White, a youth of fifteen years, 
 was killed by Indians, and August lOth a band killed 
 a woman and captured two men near Marlborough, 
 one of whom escaped. The other, Jonathan Wilder 
 — whose father, Lieut. Nathaniel, had fallen three 
 years liefore — was murdered when his captors were 
 overtaken by a force which hastily pursued them. In 
 the fight that ensued, Ephraim Wilder, brother of the 
 captive, was severely wounded. Ensign John Farrar, 
 a native of Lancaster, but resident of Marlborough, 
 was killed. Two others of Marlborough suffered, 
 Richard Singletary losing his life and Samuel Stevens 
 being badly wounded. The fight took place in the 
 northwest corner of the "Additional Grant" of Lan- 
 caster. For a year or two soldiers were quartered in 
 the town to aid in its protection. The last to be killed 
 by the enemy was an Indian servant of the Wilders, 
 August 'i, 1710. He was at work in the field upon 
 George Hill with Nathaniel Wilder, who was wounded 
 at the same time. 
 
 In 1711 there were eighty-three families and four 
 hundred and fifty-eight inhabitants in Lancaster, 
 divided among twenty -seven garrisons; and twenty- 
 one soldiers were stationed in the town. Ten years 
 before the proprietors had purchased of George Tahan- 
 to, "in consideration of what money, namely, twelve 
 pounds, was formerly paid to Sbolan (my uncle), some- 
 time sagamore of Nashuah, for the purchase of said 
 Township, and also six shillings formerly paid by 
 Insigne John Moore and John Houghton of said 
 Nashuah to James Wiser, alias tiuenepenett (Quana- 
 
 paug), now deceased, but especially for and in con- 
 sideration of eighteen pounds, paid part and the rest 
 secured to be paid by John Houghton and Nathaniel 
 Wilder, their heirs, executors and assigns forever, a 
 certain tract of land on the west side of the westward 
 line of Nashuah Township. . . ." At that time pe- 
 tition was made to the Legislature for sanction of the 
 purchase, which was given, and a committee appointed 
 to view and report. The matter lay dormant until 
 February 15, 1711, when a new committee was au- 
 thorized and the land surveyed. June 8, 1713, the 
 grant was duly confirmed to the town. Certain parties 
 laying out new townships to the westward in 1720, 
 alleged that the committee surveying this grant had 
 given more generous measure than the terms of pur- 
 chase warranted, but after a year's wrangling the 
 bounds were again confirmed as conforming to the 
 marks by which the Indian grantors had designated 
 them. Out of this added territory have since been 
 shaped the two towns of Leominster and Sterling, be- 
 sides a considerable tract given to the Boylstons. 
 
 During 1713 and 1714 the growth of enterprise in 
 the town was marked by the erection of two saw- 
 mills — one by Samuel Bennett up the North Branch, 
 and the other by Jonathan Moore on Wataquadock 
 Brook by the Marlborough road. The town was ad- 
 vancing more rapidly than ever before. In December, 
 1715, the selectmen appeared before the County Court 
 to answer for not having a grammar school according 
 to law. This proves that there were one hundred 
 families within the town limits. For several years 
 the versatile John Houghton, conveyancer, inn-keeper, 
 justice, selectman, representative to General Court, 
 etc. — who served the town as clerk from 1684 to 1724 
 — had also acted as schoolmaster, and is the first 
 named, although the ministers, during earlier days, 
 served in that capacity. Now the town procured the 
 services of a college graduate, Mr. Pierpont, of Rox- 
 bury, as master of their grammar school, and no no- 
 tice of another is found until 1718, when Samuel 
 Stow, probably of Marlborough, a Harvard graduate 
 of 171-5, was elected master at a salary of forty pounds 
 per annum. The minister's salary was then raised 
 from seventy to eighty-five pounds per year. 
 
 In 1717 Lancaster was presented "for neglecting to 
 repair ye great bridge," and a special town-meeting, 
 March 10, 1718, considered the rebuilding of the 
 "neck bridge." This is the first mention found of 
 any crossing of the Penecook save by wading-place 
 or canoes. The accounts of the destruction of the 
 town in 1670 point plainly to the existence of two 
 bridges only, one upon each branch. In the discus- 
 sion of 1705 relative to the location of a new meeting- 
 hou.se, the wording of a petition implies the same 
 condition as existing. Some cheap structure, within 
 the means of the impoverished town, probably was 
 thrown across the main river after the building of the 
 church upon the east side. The bridge of 1718 was 
 ordered to have five trestles and to be thirteen feet 
 
20 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 wide. Thirty-five pounds were appropriated for its 
 erection; tlie townspeople were all, however, expected 
 to assist at the raising, which doubtless was a season 
 of extraordinary jollification. 
 
 During Lovewell's War, as it is called, from 1722 to 
 1726, Lancaster was at no time entered by any con- 
 siderable force of Indians, but her young men were 
 forward in carrying the war into the enemy's country. 
 An act of 1722 oftered one hundred pounds for the 
 scalp of a male Indian over twelve years of age, and 
 half that sum for a woman or child, dead or alive. 
 This proved a sufficient inducement to enlist in tlie 
 terrible perils and hardships of the scouting parties 
 many bold spirits under popular leaders. Of these, 
 Capt. John White, an associate of Lovewell, won 
 great repute as a successful Indian fighter. Dying in 
 the service, he was eulogized by a contemporary as "a 
 man of religion, probity, courage and conduct, and 
 hearty in the serviceof his country against the Indian 
 enemy." Capt. Samuel Willard here began a military 
 career that reflected honor upon the town, leading 
 what he dignified in his journals as an "army " — two 
 companies of about ninety men each — to and from the 
 head-waters of the Saco and Pemigewasset, a march 
 of five hundred miles tlirough a pathless wilderness. 
 The numerous bands of rangers not only carried deso- 
 lation into the strongholds of the savage, but discov- 
 ered the fertile, sheltered valleys beside the beautiful 
 rivers and lakesof New Hampshire, and the log-cabins 
 of venturesome pioneers soon rising here and there 
 proved that the partisans had well noted the advant- 
 ages of the land. 
 
 Lancaster was no longer a border town, but the 
 mother of new frontier settlements. In a single de- 
 cade its population had doubled. In 1726 the meet- 
 ing-house had to be greatly enlarged, and two years 
 later the minister's salary was raised to one hundred 
 pounds. There were now four licensed inn-holders: 
 Capt. Samuel Willard, who had moved to the Neck 
 and probably built the house still standing near the 
 railway crossing; John Wright, at Still River; Oliver 
 Wilder, upon George Hill, and Thomas Carter, where 
 H. B. Stratton until lately resided. Among the chat- 
 tels of the latter was " one old Indian slave," valued at 
 twenty-five pounds, who lived untiri737. The orchards 
 of the town had become famous, and much of the fruit 
 was converted into cider. AVhat was not " drunk upon 
 the premises" had a ready sale both at Boston and in 
 the new towns. Even the minister in 1728 was credited 
 with a product of sixty-one barrels at the cider-mill 
 of Judge Joseph Wilder. 
 
 About the more important garrisons little villages 
 had grown, where the cottagers, with their household 
 industries and simple wants, were almost independent 
 of other communities, except that all gathered at one 
 common meeting-house on the Sabbath to listen to 
 the fervid exhortation of Rev. John Prentice, and all 
 sought Prescott's mill with their grist. In cases of 
 a broken limb or alarming illness, Jonathan Prescott, 
 
 with his saddle-bags full of drastic drugs, galloped up 
 from Concord when summoned, and for an astonish- 
 ingly small fee. If the need of medical skill was less 
 pressing, the local herbalist, Doctress Mary Whitcomb, 
 sufficed. Edward Broughton was school-master, 
 graduating the length of his terms according to the 
 taxes contributed, now teaching on the Neck, now at 
 Still River or Bare Hill, or on AVataquadock, until 
 1727, after which, apparently, the custom came into 
 vogue of employing young Harvard graduates as 
 teachers for short terms. From fifty to sixty pounds 
 per annum were appropriated for the town's schools. , 
 
 In 1728 a movement began looking to the formation 
 of a new county from certain towns of Suttblk and 
 Middlesex. The town was deeply interested in this 
 project and voted to favor it, provided the superior 
 courts should be held at Marlborough and two infe- 
 rior courts at Lancaster annually. The next year, on 
 February 3d, the vote was reconsidered, a new plan 
 being then under consideration, "for erecting a new 
 county in ye westerly part of ye Count)' of Middle- 
 sex." The meeting favored petitioning for the new 
 county and chose James Wilder and Jonathan Hough- 
 ton to act for the town in the matter. It is traditional 
 that the Lancaster people fully expected that two 
 shire-towns would be designated, and that Lancaster 
 would be one. No hint of this, however, appears in 
 the recorded action of the town-meetings. Lancaster 
 was not only the oldest, but the wealthiest and the 
 most populous of the fourteen towns set off April 2, 
 1731, to form the county of Worcester. It remained 
 so until the Revolution was over, save that Sutton for 
 a brief time had a few more inhabitants. Jonathan 
 Houghton, of Lancaster, was chosen the first county 
 treasurer and Joseph Wilder was made judge of the 
 Court of Common Pleas. 
 
 In 1731 the first public library of Lancaster was 
 established. It comprised but a single volume, 
 though that was a bulky quarto of nine hundred 
 pages. Rev. Samuel Willard's " Complete Body of 
 Divinity," by vote of the town, was purchased and 
 kept " in the meeting-house for the town's use so that 
 any person may come there and read therein, as often 
 as they shall see cause, and said Book is not to be 
 carried out of the meeting-house at any time by any 
 person except by order of the selectmen." ' I 
 
 A petition from a majority of those/living in the 
 northerly part of the town in May, ll^O, engaged the 
 attention of a special town-meeting. The proposi- 
 tion at first W.1S to cut off about one-third of the 
 original township on the north, which, with addi- 
 tions from Groton and Stowe, should form the new 
 town. After two years' discussion at town-meetings 
 and in the Legislature, the town of Harvard was 
 created by an act published July 1, 1732. This took 
 from Lancaster an area of about eighteen square 
 miles, and included the villages which had sprung up 
 about Bare Hill and Still River. 
 
 About ten years before this some of the proprietors 
 
LANCASTEK. 
 
 21 
 
 of the "Additional Grant," Gamaliel Beman heading 
 the movement, had set up new homes among the hills 
 of Woonksechocksett, as the Indians called the re- 
 gion north of Washacum. Emboldened by the suc- 
 cessful secession of the people in the northeast cor- 
 ner, these residents of the southwest corner of Lan- 
 caster, to the number of about a dozen householder:?, 
 petitioned for separate town organization in May, 
 1733. The same day there appeared a demand for 
 another precinct or township from some of the resi- 
 dents of Wataquadock and vicinity, proposing to di- 
 vorce from the old town all the territory east of the 
 rivers not taken by Harvard. Both requests received 
 repulse, and attempts were made to appease disati'ec- 
 tion by the introduction of proposals to build three 
 new meeting-houses, so situated as better to accom- 
 modate the scattered population. For several years 
 discu.ssion and precinct strategy made town-meetings 
 frequent and lively, and annually some plan for the 
 dismemberment of the town went before the Legisla- 
 ture. The act erecting the new town of Bolton was 
 published June 27, 1738, its western boundary being 
 parallel with the western boundary of the original 
 township and four miles from it. Out of the area 
 thus taken, — about thirty-five square miles, — Berlin 
 and a part of Hudson have since been carved. 
 
 Meanwhile the attractions of the valley of the 
 North Nashua in the Additional Grant had drawn 
 thither many Houghtons, Wilders, Carters, Sawyers 
 and others, chietly the grandsons of the early propri- 
 etors. Being more incommoded because of their 
 greater distance from the meeting-house, and soon 
 becoming more numerous than those living at 
 Woonksechocksett, they had a better reason for seek- 
 ing independence, and complicated the situation by 
 presenting, in February, 1737, their petition for sepa- 
 ration. They moreover shrewdly joined with the old 
 town to defeat the aims of other petitioners, in order 
 to gain consent to their own scheme, and July 16, 
 1740, the act was published which severed about 
 twenty-six square miles more from Lancaster under 
 the title of Leominster. This area was wholly from 
 the Additional Grant, excepting the farm of Thomas 
 Houghton, exsected from the northwest corner of the 
 old township. The Cliocksett people were not dis 
 heartened. They grew more numerous year by year, 
 and Gamaliel Beman did not recognize defeat. The 
 town finally consented to allow them their wish, 
 provided they would assume perpetual support of the 
 river bridge, now known as Atherton's. This propo- 
 sition did not please, and, after another year's wran- 
 gle, in January, 1742, the " Chocksett War" was in- 
 terrupted by a truce, the town voting to build two 
 meeting-houses. 
 
 The house of worship for the Second or Chocksett 
 Precinct, "nearEidge Hill," was completed so that 
 the first service was held in it November 28,1742. 
 That for the First Precinct was delayed by the diffi- 
 culty of agreeing upon its location. The aid of a 
 
 legislative committee had at last to be invoked for 
 the settlement of the question, and School-house Hill 
 was selected as the most central site. Two hundred 
 pounds were appropriated to build the Second Pre- 
 cinct house, and four hundred for that of the First 
 Precinct, which stood nearly in front of the present 
 residence of Solon AVilder. The meeting-house upon 
 the Old Common was torn down, and the materials 
 divided between the two parishes to aid in the build- 
 ing of school-houses. These, three in number, were 
 placed : one on the Neck, not far from the meeting- 
 house, but on the opposite side of the road ; one 
 nearly opposite the present Deershorn's School-house, 
 and the third near the Chocksett meeting-house. 
 Each of them was twenty-four by eighteen feet, with 
 seven foot studding. 
 
 The new First Church building was nearly square 
 in plan, being about fifty-five by forty-five feet, with 
 entrance doors in the middle of the north, east and 
 south sides. Across the same three sides were gal- 
 leries to which stairs led from the side-aisles. One 
 of these was assigned to men exclusively, the oppo- 
 site one to women. Special seats apart were for 
 " negroes." Directly before, and forming a part of 
 the pulpit, was a deacon's seat. On a part of the 
 Hoor the wealthier families were permitted to build 
 family pews at their own cost. These were square, 
 mostly about six feet by five, ranged along the walls 
 from the pulpit, while in the centre of the floor, on 
 either side of a central aisle were long seats, the fe- 
 male part of the congregation occupying one side, 
 the male the other. The pews were " dignified," the 
 size, and position of each marking pretty well the 
 wealth and social rank of its owner in the com- 
 munity. The sequence of the first families in 1644 
 appears nearly this : Rev. John Prentice, Deacon 
 Josiah White, Colonel Samuel Willard, Captain 
 John Bennett, Hon. Joseph Wilder, John Carter, 
 Thomas Wilder, etc. 
 
 In 1742 the north part of Shrewsbury was set off as 
 a precinct, and Lancaster surrendered to it about five 
 square miles from the most southerly part of its do- 
 main. This was the foreshadowing of a new town, 
 which, with slightly altered bounds, was created in 
 1786, under the name of Boylston. 
 
 Although three towns and two precincts had been 
 peopled from the Lancaster hive, attempts at further 
 swarming were not over. In December, 1747, four- 
 teen residents of Lancaster, under leadership of 
 Henry Haskell, covenanted with citizens of Harvard, 
 Groton and Stow, with the intent to be incorporated 
 into a township. This attempt, which signally failed, 
 proposed taking two or three square miles from the 
 northeast corner of the town. When the district of 
 Shirley was finally authorized, in 1753, Lancaster's 
 bounds were not disturbed. 
 
 The avocations of peace had been unharassed by 
 war alarms for fifteen years, when, in 1740, a recruit- 
 ing officer drummed for volunteers in Lancaster, and 
 
22 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 succeeded in persuading eighteen or nineteen of her 
 young men to wear the cockade. Captain John 
 Prescott, of Concord, a lineal descendant of the father 
 of Lancaster, was the senior officer of a battalion of 
 five hundred men raised by Massachusetts to join the 
 expedition of Vice-Admiral Vernon against Cartha- 
 gena, and Jonatlian Houghton, of Lancaster, was one 
 of his lieutenants. Those who enlisted with Hough- 
 ton from this town, so far as known, were: Daniel 
 Albert, David Farrar, Nathan Farrar, Ephraim 
 Fletcher, Benjamin Fry, John Hastings, Thaddeus 
 Houghton, Ezekiel Kendall, Peter Kendall, Joshua 
 Pierce, Benjamin Pollard, Gideon Powers, Timothy 
 Powers, Oliver Spaulding, Darius Wheeler, William 
 Whitcomb, Jacob Wilder. Few, if any of them, 
 ever saw their homes again, giving their lives for tlae 
 King in a quarrel of doubtful justice, not in the front 
 of victorious battle, but slain by virulent disease 
 after defeat. 
 
 Upon the breaking out of the war for the Austrian 
 Succession it was not to be hoped that the New Eng- 
 land colonies could remain at peace with their French 
 neighbors. Governor Shirley was gifted with suffi- 
 cient sagacity to see that only by the capture of 
 Louisbourg could Massachusetts retain her valuable 
 cod fisheries, or expect exemption from invasion. 
 Against that fortress, upon which had been lavished 
 all the resources of military art, he skilfully organ- 
 ized an expedition, which accomplislied his desperate 
 behest by sheer audacity, the sublime pluck of the 
 New England rank and file and happy fortune, 
 ratherthan by any prescience or rare judgmentof plan. 
 
 February 17, 174.5, Colonel Samuel Willard re- 
 ceived orders to take command of the Fourth Massa- 
 chusetts Infantry, enlisted for this expedition. The 
 regiment numbered about five hundred men in ten 
 companies, and, as the fleet sailed from Boston, 
 March 24th, was recruited within thirty days. This 
 speaks well for the popularity and energy of its 
 leader, but the enterprise itself took on much of the 
 nature of a crusade. Thomas Chandler, of Worcester, 
 was lieutenant-colonel and Seth Pomeroy major of 
 the regiment. Colonel Willard's own company had 
 for its officers: Captain-lieutenant, Joshua Pierce; 
 Lieutenant, Abijah Willard; Ensign, John Trum- 
 bull. Abijah Willard, the colonel's second son, was 
 soon promoted a step, and another son, Levi, became 
 ensign. In this company doubtless were many men 
 of Lancaster and vicinity, but the majority of Lan- 
 caster soldiers were probably in the Fourth Company, 
 the officers of which were: Captain, ,Iohn Warner; 
 Lieutenant, Joseph Whetcomb ; and Ensign, William 
 Hutchins. Unfortunately, the muster-rolls of this 
 expedition are not known to exist, and the names of 
 the soldiers are mostly unknown. Captain Warner 
 died in hospital and Thomas Littlejohn fell in action. 
 Many of their townsmen pr()bal)ly succumbed to the 
 rigors of the climate and the toils of the siege, for the 
 victims of disease were counted by hundreds. 
 
 January 6, 1748, Rev. John Prentice died. For 
 forty-three years he had preached, and during forty 
 was the ordained pastor of the town. He was the 
 son of Thomas and Sarah (Stanton) Prentice, born in 
 Newton, 1682, and a graduate of Harvard in the 
 class of 1700. By his two wives — Mrs. Mary Gardner 
 and Mrs. Prudence (Foster) Swan — he had ten chil- 
 dren. His contemporaries prized him for his learn- 
 ing, his liumility and his steadfastness. His juniors 
 tell of his sturdy dignity and Puritan manners. His 
 four printed sermons suggest that as a preacher he 
 was orthodox, clear in his convictions, earnest and 
 explicit in his exhortations. He was selected to de- 
 liver the Election Sermon at Boston, May 28, 1735. 
 Reverends Benjamin Stevens, William Lawrence, 
 Stephen Frost and Cotton Brown temporarily sup- 
 plied the vacant pulpit, but in February the last 
 named was invited to become pastor of the parish. 
 He declined, and August 8th the church made 
 choice of Timothy Harrington to be their minister. 
 November 16th of that year he was installed. He 
 had been pastor of a church at Lower Ashuelot, a 
 town abandoned during the Indian raids of 1747. 
 
 November 19, 1752, Colonel Samuel Willard was 
 seized with apoplexy and died the next day. He 
 was the wealthiest citizen ot Lancaster, and, Judge 
 Joseph Wilder jierhaps excepted, the most promi- 
 nent socially and politically. For twenty-five years 
 he had been the highest military officer of the dis- 
 trict, and for nearly ten judge of the Court of Com- 
 mon Pleas. He was a grand.son of Major Simon and 
 son of Henry Willard, born in Lancaster, 1690. 
 Judge Joseph Wilder died March 27, 1757, aged 
 seventy-four. His contemporaries unite in lavish 
 praise of his virtues and abilities. Rev. Timothy 
 Harrington in a funeral sermon speaks of him as fur- 
 nished " with a penetrating judgment, strong reason 
 and a tenacious memory, and all, so far as we can 
 judge, were consecrated to the honour of the Most 
 High." Appointed judge at the organization of 
 Worcester County, he was chief justice of the Court 
 of Common Pleas at his death. He was a son of the 
 second Thomas Wilder. 
 
 The one hundredth birthday of Lancaster, May 28, 
 1753, was appropriately celebrated by a "century 
 sermon " in the First Parish meetinghouse. This 
 discourse was printed, forming a pamphlet of twenty- 
 nine pages, and contains the early annals of the town 
 in sadly condensed form. Unfortunately, the author. 
 Rev. Timothy Harrington, bound by the mode of his 
 times, was more anxious to preserve the pulpit dig- 
 nity of his rhetoric than to gather and embalm for 
 posterity the reminiscences of the gray-headed vet- 
 erans among whom he daily walked. He devotes 
 half his pages to the history of the Jews and primi- 
 tive Christians, and accords but half a dozen lines to 
 the hospitable Sholan and the Nashaways. He gives 
 details of the various sieges of Jerusalem, but omits 
 all mention of the deeds of Colonel Willard's regi- 
 
LANCASTER. 
 
 23 
 
 ment at Loiiisbourg, and the pitiful sacrifice of Lan- 
 caster youth at Carthagena. 
 
 The town entered upon its second century pros- 
 perous and free from internal dissension. The Second 
 Precinct, temporarily content with its gain of semi- 
 autonomy, had, December 19, 1744, secured Rev. 
 John Melleii for their pastor, a Harvard graduate of i 
 1741. He had married Rebecca, the daughter of ' 
 Rev. John Prentice, the year after her father's de- 
 cease, and had given token of abilities that soon 
 placed him in the very front rank of the ablest ; 
 clergymen of his day. The repayment by England 
 to Massachusetts, in 1749, of its expenditures in the 
 late war, made possible the redemption of the paper 
 currency, which had greatly depreciated, and specie 
 again appeared in the channels of trade. But life in 
 Lancaster was with most a struggle for shelter, food 
 and raiment. The only measure of wealth was the 
 ownership of acres and cattle. Few things better 
 illustrate the simplicity or luxury of a community 
 than its conveniences for travel. Tn 175.3 Lancaster 
 paid tax to the Province upon three chaises ; in 1754 
 upon one chaise ; in 1755 upon two chaises and three 
 chairs; in 1756 upon two chaises and two chairs — 
 while most of the younger towns, until recently Lan- 
 caster soil, had neither chair nor chaise. The heavy 
 carts and wagons of the farm were the only wheeled 
 vehicles. 
 
 No census of the town was taken until ten years 
 later, but the population of its centennial year can be 
 fairly estimated from an existing tax-list of 1751, 
 jiractically a census of the heads of families at that 
 time. Although by the dowering of Harvard, Bolton, 
 Berlin and Leominster it had lost more than half its 
 area, its gain by births, and by immigration from 
 other towns, had fully made up the loss of inhabit- 
 ants. The rate list of 1751 contains two hundred 
 and eighty-five names, representing three hundred 
 and fifty-five polls. The population at that date did 
 not, therefore, fall far short of fifteen hundred souls. 
 That of the towns excised from Lancaster amounted 
 to nearly as many. Provision, generous for the times, 
 was annually made for educating the young. Rev. 
 Josiah Swan was generally the teacher of the Neck 
 School from 1747 to 1760, and Rev. Josiah Brown was 
 schoolmaster at Chocksett for as many years. For 
 the third school the teachers were successively : Ste- 
 phen Frost, Edward Bass, Joseph Palmer, Moses 
 Hemmenway and Samuel Locke — all Harvard grad- 
 uates — the last named a resident of the town, after- 
 wards president of Harvard College. 
 
 Seven years of pretended peace between Canadian 
 Jesuit and New England Puritan passed, and again 
 the British colonies were hurrying preparations for a 
 decisive struggle with their alert and aggressive foes. 
 During the autumn of 1754 several mechanics of 
 Lancaster, under Capt, Gershom Flagg, were engaged 
 in the construction of Fort Halifax. Others of her 
 citizens were serving on the eastern frontier in the 
 
 regiment of Col. John Winslow, and Ensign John 
 May led thirteen soldiers to j(jin Col. Israel Williams 
 at the western frontier. 
 
 Of the four great expeditions planned in 1755 to 
 break through the cordon of French occupation that 
 extended from the Ohio to the mouth of the St. 
 Lawrence, Lancaster was represented in two — that 
 against Crown Point, and the Acadian campaign. In 
 the former Samuel Willard, the eldest son of the 
 deceased colonel of the same name, was commissioned 
 to raise a regiment of eight hundred men. John 
 Whitcomb, of Bolton, was second in command; but 
 Col. Willard died at Lake George shortly after joining 
 the army, and Whitc:flinl> was promoted to the va- 
 cancy. In the regiment were seven men of Lancas- 
 ter, including two lieutenants, Hezekiah Whitcomb 
 and William Richardson, Jr. Lieut. Benjamin Wil- 
 der led a mounted troop of thirty-three volunteers 
 from Lancaster and its neighborhood, serving in the 
 regiment of Col. Josiah Brown. But the majority of 
 the Lancaster men, fifty one in number, foughi in the 
 regiment of Col. Timothy Ruggles, under three Lan- 
 caster captains — twenty-four with Capt. Joseph Whit- 
 comb, sixteen with Capt. Asa Whitcomb, and eleven 
 with Capt. Benjamin Ballard. All three companies 
 were in the bloody melee of AugiistSth, knc^vn as " the 
 morning fight," when the valor of the New England 
 rustics snatched victory from what at first seemed 
 defeat. On that day ten of the fifty-one were killed 
 or mortally wounded: Ithamar Bennett, Samuel Fair- 
 banks, William Fairbanks, Isaac Kendall, Peter 
 Kendall, Oliver Osgood, Josiah Pratt, Jr., Phineas 
 Randall, Joseph Robbins, Jr., John Rugg. Others, 
 enfeebled by camp fevers, in the late autumn dragged 
 themselves homeward, or were brought thither by 
 short stages through the wilderness upon horseback. 
 The campaign, a barren one save for the experience 
 and confidence in themselves gained by the colonial 
 officers and soldiers, ended with the year. 
 
 The Acadian expedition, though even more in- 
 glorious than that against Crown Point, is far more 
 famous in story, and Lancaster's part in it was a more 
 prominent one than has ever been given it in history. 
 Of the force of two thousand men embarking from 
 Boston May 20, 1755, under Col. John Winslow, for 
 the purpose of dislodging the French from the regions 
 bordering on the Bay of Fundy, one company of one 
 hundred and five men, allotted to the Second Battal- 
 ion, was organized at Lancaster and officered by men 
 of that town. These were: Capt. Abijah Willard, 
 Lieut. Jo.shua Willard, Second Lieut. Moses Haskell, 
 Ensign Caleb Willard. Thirty-six of the rank and 
 file were credited to Lancaster, of whom William 
 Hudson was killed in the attack made by the Aca- 
 dians upon the force engaged in burning the "Mass 
 House" at Peticodiac. The company took part in 
 the capture of Beau Scjour. Capt. Willard was se- 
 lected by Lieut.-Col. Monktou, the King's officer in 
 command, to lead a detachment to Tatmagouche. 
 
24 
 
 HISTOtlY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 There, opening his sealed orders, to his great surprise 
 and pain he found assigned to him the ungracious 
 task of laying waste that whole fair district to the Bay 
 of Verts, and removing the residents to Fort Cum- 
 berland. Amid the wailing of women and children, 
 and the smoke of blazing cottages, barns and store- 
 houses, Cai>t. Willard marched from hamlet to ham- 
 let, leaving desolation behind, in accordance with the 
 letter of his orders, but tempering them with such 
 mercy as he could ; his kindly heart, as his journal 
 testifies, bleeding for the distress he was compelled to 
 inflict. 
 
 Leaving their families among the smoking ruins of 
 their homes, the Acadian men were marched to Fort 
 Cumberland, and Capt. Willard received the gracious 
 commendation of the British officer. During the 
 rigors of a Canadian winter the Lancaster men, ill 
 provided with food and clothing, remained in bar- 
 racks at the fort, but were allowed to return home the 
 following April. Massachusetts was ordered to care 
 for one thousand of the " French neutrals," and ap- 
 portioned three families — twenty persons — to Lan- 
 caster. There these exiles lived in the wretchedness 
 of squalid poverty, disease and homesickness for ten 
 years, housed, fed and cared for by the town author- 
 ities. The last of them were finally shipped to 
 France. 
 
 The general plan of the campaign of 17.56 was 
 almost identical with that of the previous year, but 
 Shirley was superseded by pompous and loitering 
 officers of high rank in the British army. Their con- 
 ceit and inactivity gave the daring Montcalm an 
 opportunity to win some glory, and neutralized the 
 enthusiasm and costly preparations of New England. 
 The Lancaster soldiers were in the field as early as 
 the opening of spring would permit military opera- 
 tions, building roads and bridges and transporting 
 stores up the Hudson to Fort Edward, and thence to 
 Fort William Henry. Col. John Whitcomb was one 
 of the Committee of War for Massachusetts. William 
 Richardson and Hezekiah Gates were efficient agents 
 of the committee for procuring and forwarding mili- 
 tary supplies. Twenty soldiers from Lancaster were 
 in the regiment of Col. Jonathan Bagley, mustered in 
 the company of Capt. Benjavnin Ballard, and eight 
 or ten others are found serving in other regiments 
 and among the artillerymen of Fort William Henry. 
 
 The year 1757 saw a new plan of operations, but the 
 campaign under the same haughty and inefficient gen- 
 erals ended as before in discomfiture. Several Lan- 
 caster men served in the regiment of Col. Fry, who, 
 with most of his command, were in the massacre which 
 followed the surrender of Ft. William Henry to Mont- 
 calm, and escaped with the loss of everything but life, j 
 Nine others were in the regiment of Col. Israel Wil- I 
 liams. The fall of Ft. William Henry spread conster- 
 nation through the colonies, for it was expected that 
 the French would follow up their success by an inva- 
 sion of the English settlements. The militia were 
 
 hurriedly sent towards Albany. Capt. John Carter 
 with a mounted troop, and Capt. Nathaniel Sawyer 
 with an infantry company — one hundred men in all — 
 inarched as far as Springfield whence they were re- 
 called, Montcalm having returned to Canada with his 
 easily-won spoils. 
 
 With the year 17-58 the inspiration of a new war 
 policy, that of William Pitt, was felt throughout the 
 colonies. They obtained payment for their military 
 expenses and were promised relief from the extortion 
 and insolence they had constantly experienced from 
 Crown officials. The impetuous Wolfe and the chiv- 
 alrous Lord Howe were sent with some of the best 
 troops in England, to infuse energy into the campaign, 
 and the slothful Loudoun retired. The ministerial 
 orders required vigorous assault along the whole fron- 
 tier. The enthusiasm awakened in Massachusetts is 
 apparent in the zeal which Lancaster evinced in the 
 contest, 
 
 Col. Jonathan Bagley's regiment in Abercrombie's 
 advance upon Ticonderoga was in the van of the right 
 division, and charged upon the French at the time 
 Lord Howe lost his life. It was also engaged in the 
 assault upon Ticonderoga and met with some loss. Of 
 this regiment John Whitcomb was lieutenant-colonel, 
 and his brother, Capt. Asa Whitcomb, served in it with 
 forty of his Lancaster neighbors. Six of them laid 
 down their lives in the service: William Brabrook, 
 Eben Bigelow, Jonathan Geary, Philip Geno, .lohn 
 Larkin, Jacob Smith. In Colonel Timothy Ruggles' 
 regiment, under Cajjt. Joseph Whitcomb, of Lancaster, 
 and Capt. James Reed, of Lunenburg, were twenty- 
 one more Lancaster men, of whom one, Simon Ken- 
 dall, lost his life; eleven others served in other organi- 
 zations, making at least seventy-three known to have 
 enlisted in the campaign. Capt. Aaron Willard, who 
 led a light infantry company in the regiment of Col. 
 Oliver Partridge, was shot through the body in the 
 murderous assault upon Ticonderoga, but survived to 
 take part in the war for independence. After the un- 
 timely death of Lord Howe the imbecility of Aber- 
 crombie had again nullified the sacrifice and bravery 
 of the provincials. The veterans who had fought at 
 Louisbourg in 1745 under Pepperell, and conquered 
 under Lyman at Lake George in 1755 were fast learn- 
 ing to despise as well as hate the supercilious British 
 regular officers, who contem)>tuously spurned the coun- 
 sels of .soldiers like Pomeroy , and always were defeated 
 by inferior forces of the enemy. 
 
 The campaign of 1750, under Amherst, directed 
 towards the same strategic points as those of two years 
 before, brought to the front once more Capts. Aaron 
 Willard and James Reed, and with them were forty- 
 five Lancaster men, three of whom — George Bush, 
 Stephen Kendall and Reuben Walker — died during 
 the campaign. These two officers' companies served in 
 Col. Timothy Ruggles' regiment. Abijah Willard also 
 appears again, now as colonel of a regiment of eigh- 
 teen companies; Cyrus Fairbanks was his adjutant 
 
LANCASTER. 
 
 25 
 
 and Manasseh Di vol his quartermaster. Capt. Thomas 
 Beman, with twenty-two other men of Lancaster, served 
 in Willard's command, and five more were in other 
 companies. 
 
 Amherst did nothing to add to his own reputation, 
 and, in disregard of Pitt's positive orders, displayed no 
 energy in the movement to assist Wolfe. The younger 
 general's fame shone the brighter, and all New Eng- 
 land mourned him as their preserver. Col. Willard and 
 his fellow-townsmen marched home before the snows 
 fell and rested by their own firesides through the win- 
 ter, preparing for the final struggle. 
 
 With the spring Col. Willard again led his regiment 
 to the frontier. In his staff were most of the old mem- 
 bers, but Samuel Ward, of Worcester, afterwards to 
 become one of Lancaster's most valued citizens, was 
 made his adjutant. Capt. Beman again accompanied 
 him, with Sherebiah Hunt for his lieutenant, and thirty 
 enlisted men of Lancaster formed a part of his com- 
 pany. Rufus Putnam, who in Revolutionary days 
 became chief engineer and brigadier-general in the 
 patriot army, was his ensign. Six Lancaster volun- 
 teers served in other companies of Willard's regiment. 
 In Col. Ruggles' regiment were Captains Aaron Wil- 
 lard and James Reed, with eighteen Lancaster soldiers. 
 
 Col. John Whitcomb also served in the campaign of 
 1760, and with him were Li£ute^Ephraim Sawyer and 
 Henry Haskell, with eighteen others of Lancaster. 
 Sergt. Josiah Prentice died and Joseph Stesvart was 
 drowned during the year. Under Col. William Havi- 
 land, these two regiments leisurely rowed down Lake 
 Champlain in batteaux about the middle of August. 
 Arriving at Isle au Noix, Col. Whitcomb was ordered 
 to throw up defences while the rest of the army moved 
 to attack the fortified post; but the enemy did not 
 await assault, and Haviland moved on towards Mon- 
 treal. September 8th, orders were read announcing to 
 the troops the closing act in the conquest of Canada, 
 the capitulation of the Marquis Vaudreuil. On the 
 10th the Massachusetts regiments began the march 
 back to Crown Point, where for two months they were 
 engaged in the construction of earthworks and bar- 
 racks. In November Cols. Whitcomb and Willard 
 led their commands through the wilderness across 
 Vermont to Charlestown, N. H., and by the forest 
 paths to Lancaster, where they were disbanded about 
 December 1st. 
 
 For six years the town had, with the coming of 
 each spring, sent forth to the blood-stained frontiers 
 scores of her stalwart sons under their chosen leaders. 
 About seventy-five of her citizens annually were, for at 
 least eight or nine months, in the army. At least thirty- 
 three of these are known to have perished by bullet, 
 tomahawk or disease while on duty. Of the wounded 
 no record was kept. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 LANCASTER— ( Contituied) . 
 
 The First Censtis — Organization for lierolnlion — Lexington Alarm — Bunfrer 
 Hill and the Siege of Boston — War Annatt — Separation of Ciiocksett' 
 — Shays' liebellion — Bridge Lotteries. 
 
 The long war between alien races and religions was 
 hardly ended before the domestic "Chocksett War" 
 again broke out. But the town-meeting vote of 1762 
 proved that the Second Precinct was not yet strong 
 enough to carry its point. It persisted in its endeavors 
 year after year, but whenever the proposition to divide 
 the town gained a favoring vote, it was always upon con- 
 dition that the support of some bridge of vagrant 
 habits should be perpetually borne by the seceders. 
 To this they refused consent, and the contest was pro- 
 longed until all local questions were forgotten in the 
 turmoil of the struggle for national existence. The 
 two parishes were nearly equal in population. The 
 town-meetings were sometimes held in the Second 
 Precinct meeting-house, and the grammar-school was 
 kept alternately at Ridge Hill and on the Neck — the 
 proportion of the two terms being decided in town- 
 meeting. 
 
 The first colonial census, that of 1764, gives Lan- 
 caster 1999 inhabitants, living iu three hundred and 
 twenty-eight families and three hundred and one 
 houses, classified as follows : 
 
 Males. Femalea. 
 
 Under 16 years of age 514 421 
 
 Over 10 yeare of age 5U5 £32 
 
 Colored 12 14 
 
 IndiaQS . . . : I 
 
 How many of the twenty-six colored were slaves is 
 not told. Ten years before this there were but five 
 '"servants for life" in the town. Seven years later 
 than this five slaves were reported between the ages 
 of fourteen and forty-five. At least ten slaves are 
 known to have died between the two dates. The 
 total population of the four towns included in the 
 original Lancaster grants was four thousand eight 
 hundred and one. Notwithstanding the great waste 
 of human life in the war, the town's growth had been 
 steady and healthy, and so continued. It will be seen 
 that the average family then numbered over six indi- 
 viduals. In the latest census, omitting the State 
 school, the average family is less than four and four- 
 tenths persons. 
 
 The direct descendants of the first proprietors were 
 yet largely in the majority, gave character to the 
 town, and almost monopolized the management of its 
 affairs. But into the procession of the town's life had 
 come several prolific families, and some men of politi- 
 cal weight and large social influence. John Warner, 
 of Woburn, appeared about 1700; the Osgood family, 
 always prominent in the church, first came in 1710, 
 Hooker Osgood, a saddler from Andover, purchasing 
 the Rowlandson estate of Philip Goss. About the 
 same date, and from the same source, came Edward 
 
 2i 
 
26 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Phelps, the weaver, and bought lands not far from 
 Lane's Crossing. Soon followed John Fletcher, from 
 Chelmsford, progenitor of a sturdy race that peopled 
 a portion of George Hill. Thomas Whitney, of Stow, 
 and his sons John and Jonathan, about 1720 built 
 upon Wataquadock Brook. From Woburn, William 
 Richardson came in 1721, found a wife in Captain 
 Ephraim Wilder's daughter, became a prominent jus- 
 tice and represented the town several years in the 
 Legislature. Samuel Locke, also of Woburn, and 
 connected by marriage with the Richardsons, came to 
 Lancaster in 1742, and kept a famous tavern where 
 Wm. A. Kilbourn now lives. Nathaniel and Abijah 
 Wyman, from Woburn also, about the same tin.e 
 bought homes upon the Neck. Benjamin Bal'ard, 
 from Andover, a little earlier founded a new home 
 upon the northern portion of the George Hill range 
 and gave his family name to that section of the town. 
 The Dunsraoors appeared first about 1740 and fur- 
 nished the town two physicians, father and son. The 
 last, Dr. William Duiismoor, in whose veins flowed 
 mingled Sawyer and Prescott blood, developed politi- 
 cal abilities that soon placed him in leadership of the 
 revolutionary spirits of the neighborhood, and gave 
 him prominence even in colonial councils. The 
 Thurstons, Peter and Samuel, second cousins (the 
 first from Exeter, the second from Rowley), appeared 
 about the middle of the century. 
 
 In 1768 Lancaster received an addition to its terri- 
 tory — a tract of land at its southwestern corner about 
 three miles long by one and one-half wide, known m 
 " Shrewsbury Leg." It included the site of the present 
 village of Oakdaie, but then contained less than a 
 dozen families. The same year a trader came from 
 Groton to form a mercantile partnership with Levi 
 Willard. The store of the firm was at the cross-roads 
 of South Lancaster, and became the widest known 
 and best patronized of any in the region. The senior 
 partner sometimes made a journey to England to buy 
 goods. He lived in a house which stood near the well 
 on the lawn of E. V. R. Thayer's residence. The 
 junior partner. Captain Samuel Ward, already men- 
 tioned as holding a commission in the French and 
 Indian War, purchased an ancient house and lot upon 
 the opposite corner, being a part of the Locke farm, 
 and the eastern end of the original home-lot assigned 
 to John Moore in 1653. Captain Ward was not only 
 a man of unusual business ability, but his rare intel- 
 lectual powers, quick and accurate judgment of 
 character, prudence and shrewd management of men 
 would have given him exalted political place had he 
 not resolutely shunned all official position. He soon 
 became a conservative leader in the town. 
 
 It was apparently a season of calm and prosperity. 
 War had left few visible scars. The Briti-sh govern- 
 ment had reimbursed to the colony the sums con- 
 tributed in aid of the expulsion of' the Bourbons from 
 America, and plenteous harvests had gladdened the 
 farmers. But a jealousy of all authority not delegated 
 
 by popular sutfrage everywhere began to appear, per- 
 vading church as well as state politics. The pulpits 
 about Lancaster were all jarred, and some severely 
 shaken, by a revolt against clerical councils ; and the 
 orators proclaimed the divine right of an anointed 
 king subject to the divine right of the m.ijority. The 
 veteran soldiers had not forgotten the insults they had 
 borne, year after year, from the King's ofljcers, nor the 
 needless campaigning and bloodshed chargeable to the 
 incompetency of the generals set over them. The 
 nagging encroachments of the British ministry upon 
 charter rights found the majority of the colonists 
 already on the verge of rebellion, for which seven 
 years of war had been a practical school of arms. 
 
 The first town-meeting record in Lancaster for 
 1773 anticipates by three and one-half years the lib- 
 erty-breathing sentiments of the Declaration of Na- 
 tional Independence. The action of that meeting 
 took form in written instructions lor the guidance of 
 the town's representative, Capt. Asa Whitcomb, and 
 a series of resolutions drawn up by a " Committee for 
 Grievances,'' as follows :• 
 ****** **** 
 
 1. Jtenolvvd, That* this and every Town in this Province liave an 
 undoubted Right to meet together and consult upon all Matters inter- 
 esting to them when and so often as they shall judge fit : and it is 
 more especially their Duty so to do when any Int'ringenient is made 
 upon their Civil or Religious Liberties. 
 
 2. Resolvttl, That the raising a Revenue in the Colonies without 
 their Consent, either by themselves or their Representatives, is an In- 
 fringement of that Right which every Freeman has to dispose of his 
 own Properly. 
 
 3. RenoJued, That the granting a Salary to his Excellency, the 
 Governor of this Province, out of the Revenue unconstitutionally 
 raised from us, is an Innovation of a very alarming Tendancy. 
 
 4. Itefuiherl, Tliat it is of the highest Importance to the security Of 
 Liberty, Life and Property, that the pnblick Administration of Justice 
 should be pure and impartial, and that the judge should be free from 
 every Bias, either in Favour of the Crown or the Subject. 
 
 5. Resolved, That ttiu absolute Dependency of the Judges of the 
 Superior Court of this Province upon the Crown for their Sui)port 
 would, if it should ever take Place, have the strongest Tendancy to 
 bias the Minds of the Judges, and would weaken our Contidence in 
 them. 
 
 6. lieti'hed, That the Extension of the Power of the Court of Vice- 
 Admiralty to its present enormous Degree is a great Grievance, anil de- 
 prives the Subject in many Instances of that noble Privilege of Eng. 
 lishnien. Trials by Juries. 
 
 7. Re^iilveit, That the Proceedings of tliis Town be transmitted to 
 the Town of Boston. 
 
 These resolutions were signed by the committee : 
 Dr. William Dunsmoor, John Prescott, Josiah Ken- 
 dall, Ebenezer Allen, Nathaniel Wyman, Joseph 
 White and Aaron Sawyer. The instructions to the 
 town's delegate breathe the same spirit, and enjoin 
 him to use his " utmost efforts ... to obtain a 
 Radical Redress of our Grievances.'' 
 
 The organization of revolution began the next 
 year, with the plan of establishing permanent Com- 
 mittees of Correspondence in the towns throughout 
 Massachusetts. The members of the first Lancaster 
 Committee, chosen September 5, 1774, were Dr. 
 William Dunsmoor, Dea. David Wilder, Aaron 
 Sawyer, Capt. Asa Whitcomb, Capt. Hezekiah Gates, 
 John Prescott, Ephraim Sawyer. The chairman 
 
LANCASTER. 
 
 was the youngest of the number. The next day the 
 patriots of the town marched to Worcester, where an 
 armed convention of the people gathered on the 
 green, prepared to give a warm reception to the force 
 of British troops which Governor Gage had pro- 
 posed to send for the protection of the court. As 
 the regulars did not appear, attention was turned to- 
 wards the royalists. The justices, who recently had 
 sent a loyal address to the Governor, were compelled 
 to sign a recantation, and appear before the assem- 
 blage to acknowledge it. Of these justices were 
 Joseph Wilder, Abel Willard and Ezra Houghton^ 
 of Lancaster. 
 
 During the same month the town voted " That 
 there be one hundred men raised as Volunteers, to 
 be ready at a minute's warning to turn out upon any 
 Kmergency, and that they be formed into two Com- 
 panies, and choose their own officers," and that 
 these volunteers should be " reasonably paid by the 
 Town for any services they may do us in defending 
 our Liberties and Privileges." One company was 
 enlisted in each precinct. The Committee of Cor- 
 respondence was also authorized to purchase two 
 field-pieces, and two four-pounders were at once ob- 
 tained from Brookline, for which eight pounds were 
 paid. One of these was stationed in each parish, 
 with a supply of powder, ball and grape-shot. 
 Capt. Asa Whitcomb and Dr. William Dunsmoor 
 were chosen to represent the town in the First Pro- 
 vincial Convention. The constables were instructed 
 to pay over the taxes, when collected, to a special 
 committee — Aaron Sawyer, Ephraim Sawyer and Dr. 
 Joaiah Wilder — who were to account for the same to 
 the patriot receiver-general. The same committee 
 were ordered " to Post up all such Persons as con- 
 tinue to buy, sell or consume any East India Teas, 
 in some Public Place in Town.'' In the town-meet- 
 ing of January 2, 1775, a committee was chosen to 
 receive donations " for the suffering poor of the 
 Town of Boston, occationed by the late Boston Port 
 Bill." It was also then voted " to adopt and abide 
 by the spirit and sense of the Association of the late 
 Continental Congress, held at Philadelphia," and a 
 committee of fifteen were selected " to see that the 
 said Association be kept and observed by all." 
 
 The whole male population was now training for 
 the conflict seen to be inevitable. The re-organiza- 
 tion of the militia began in 1774, by a popular de- 
 mand for the resignation of all military commissions. 
 The Second Worcester was known as the Lancaster 
 Regiment, and consisted of ten companies and a 
 mounted troop, four companies and the troop being 
 of Lancaster, including all the able-bodied males be- 
 tween sixteen and fifty years of age, save a few by 
 law exempts. With the division of the training- 
 bands into minute-men and militia, new company 
 officers were chosen, young men aglow with the hot 
 temper of the times. These line officers elected the 
 brothers John and Asa Whitcomb, two veterans of 
 
 the French War, as their colonels — the former of the 
 minute-men, the latter of the militia. Abijah Wil- 
 lard was perhaps the most gifted and experienced of- 
 ficer in the town, but unfortunately favored the side 
 of the King. Dr. William Dunsmoor and Ephraim 
 Sawyer were the majors of the minute-men, and 
 David Osgood the quartermaster. Col. John Whit- 
 comb was chosen a major-general in February, by 
 the Second Provincial Congress. 
 
 Every soldier was expected to furnish himself with 
 arms and equipments, and if too poor to do so, he 
 was supplied by the town, or by contributions from 
 the more wealthy. No attempt was made to secure 
 uniformity in dress ; each wore his own home garb, 
 and as there was a much greater variety in the color 
 and form of men's wear then than now, the ranks 
 always presented a motley appearance. 
 
 There were at this period but seventeen towns in 
 Massachusetts which could boast a larger population 
 than Lancaster. It had a greater proportion of me- 
 chanics and traders than other inland towns — fulling- 
 mills, tanneries, potash boilers, a slate quarry and 
 even a little furnace for casting hollow-ware. But its 
 farmers raised nearly ten bushels of grain for every 
 man, woman and child in the town, and four times 
 as many cattle, sheep and swine per inhabitant as 
 were credited to the town in the census of 1885. 
 There was, therefore, a large surplus above the needs 
 for home consumption. Pork was sold at six pence, 
 salt beef at three pence, mutton at two pence, cheese 
 at four pence and butter at eight pence, per pound; 
 corn meal at three shillings, beans at six shillings, 
 potatoes at one shilling four pence per bushel ; cider 
 at seven shillings eight pence per barrel. There was 
 no public conveyance for travelers, no post-office 
 nearer than Cambridge. Silent Wilde, the news- 
 carrier, rode out from Boston on Mondays, with the 
 papers for regular subscribers, and jogged through 
 Lancaster on his way to the Connecticut Eiver 
 towns and back once a week. His trips were soon to 
 cease, and the day fast approached which was to test 
 anew Lancaster's patriotism. 
 
 On the morning of April 19, 1775, a post-rider 
 came galloping in hot haste through the town shout- 
 ing to every one he saw that the " red coats " had 
 come out from Boston. The tidings, long expected, 
 were spread by mounted messengers and the firing of 
 cannon ; the minute-men were soon hurrying down 
 the Bay road, and the militia followed not far behind. 
 Two hundred and fifty-seven men marched from the 
 town to Cambridge that day. General John Whit- 
 comb reached the scene of action before the running 
 fight ended and took part in directing it ; but it is 
 hardly probable that any great number of his regi- 
 ment, save the mounted troop, perhaps, kept pace 
 with him. The sis Lancaster companies were : 
 two troops of thirty-two men each under Captains 
 John Prescott, Jr., and Thomas Gates ; two com- 
 panies of minute-men, with Captains Samuel Sawyer 
 
28 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 and Benjamin Houghton ; and two companies of 
 militia led by Captains Joseph White and Daniel 
 Robbins. They remained at Cambridge about two 
 weeks. 
 
 The Provincial Congress immediately resolved upon 
 the enlistment of an army of thirteen thousand men 
 for eight months. Col. Asa Whitcomb was one of 
 those authorized to raise a regiment, and, on May 
 25th, reported his command containing eleven com- 
 panies, five hundred and sixty men — ^one company 
 above the complement. Ephraim Sawyer was major, 
 and Dr. William Dunsmoor surgeon of the regiment. 
 The Lancaster men were mostly in the companies of 
 Captains Andrew Haskell and Ephraim Richardson. 
 There is a tradition in old families that on the day of 
 the battle of Bunker Hill the Lancaster regiment was 
 stationed at Cambridge, but was ordered to furnish re- 
 inforcements to Prescott, and some of its companies 
 reached the hill and fought in the final struggle, 
 while others were coming up when the retre.at began. 
 The historian Bancroft says : " From the regiment 
 of Whitcomb, of Lancaster, there appeared at least 
 fifty privates, but with no higher ofBcere than cap- 
 tains.'' If he had written thrice fifty he would have 
 been more nearly just. By official returns the regi- 
 ment lost five killed, eight wounded and two missing, 
 which was a larger list of casualties than was 
 credited to eight others ot the sixteen regiments 
 in which casualties of battle occurred. Daniel 
 Robbins was killed upon the hill and Sergt. 
 Robert Phelps was mortally wounded and died 
 a prisoner in Boston. Both were in Haskell's com- 
 pany. Sergt. Israel Willard and Joseph Wilder were 
 probably wounded, the former mortally, as special 
 allowance was made for them by the Legislature at the 
 same time as to the heirs of Bobbins and Phelps. 
 Evidence is found in petitions for aid, showing that 
 Burt's Harvard and Hastings' Bolton company were 
 also in the fight, and the historian Frothinghara 
 supposes Wilder's Leominster company to have been 
 engaged. Capt. Andrew Haskell so commended him- 
 self by his conduct at Bunker Hill, that he would 
 have been promoted but for certain unofEcer-like 
 traits which he seemed unable to overcome. 
 
 During the siege of Boston the Lancaster regiment 
 was brigaded with the Rhode Island troops under 
 Gen. Greene and stationed on Prospect Hill. Col. 
 Whitcomb was one of the wealthiest farmers of the 
 town, a deacon in the Second Parish, a sterling 
 patriot, and evidently, from his enduring popularity, 
 gifted with noble qualities of heart. He was also a 
 brave and experienced soldier, but too amiable to 
 preserve proper discipline in his command. Upon 
 the consolidation of the Provincial regiments to 
 bring them to the Continental model, sundry super- 
 numerary officers were discharged, and Washington, 
 with the concurrence of Greene, selected Whitcomb 
 as one whose services should be spared. His men re- 
 sented this, and refused to re-enlist under another 
 
 commander, when Col. Whitcomb reproached them 
 for their lack of patriotism, and offered to enlist as a 
 private with them. Washington, hearing of this, re- 
 instated him and complimented him in special orders 
 for his unselfish zeal. The worthy colonel's military 
 service ended April 1, 1777, however, and he returned 
 to his farm. Impoverished by his sacrifices for coun- 
 try, he was compelled to part with his lands, removed 
 to Princeton, and there died, March 16, 1804, aged 
 eighty-four years. 
 
 In the closing scenes of the siege, March 9, 1776, 
 Dr. Enoch Dole, of Lancaster, was killed on Dor- 
 chester Heights by a cannon-ball. The town had 
 several soldiers with Arnold and Montgomery at the 
 gates of Quebec, and t vo or three were there wounded 
 and captured. 
 
 About five thousand refugees from Boston during 
 the siege were scattered through the inland towns, 
 and to these were added the people of Charlestown 
 after the burning of that place. One hundred and 
 thirty of the homeless were assigned by the Provin- 
 cial Congress to the charity of Lancaster, but the 
 actual number seeking refuge here was much greater, 
 for the proposed formal distribution of the exiles had 
 speedily to be abandoned as impossible. Many 
 sought Lancaster who added to its social force ; such 
 were Daniel Waldo, Edmund Quincy, Esq., and Na- 
 thaniel Balch. A lew became permanent residents of 
 the town ; for example, Josiah Flagg and John New- 
 man. 
 
 In August, 1776, the Court of General Sessions, in 
 authorizing five hospitals for inoculation for small- 
 pox, appointed Doctors William Dunsmoor and Josiah 
 Wilder directors of one at Lancaster. There is no 
 record of the location of this hospital, but fourteen 
 years later, when this scourge of humanity became 
 again virulent. Dr. Israel Atherton established one for 
 the same purpose upon Pine Hill, where it was kept 
 during four years. 
 
 After the departure of the American army for New 
 York, the defences of Boston Harbor were entrusted 
 to the militia, and during 1776 about fifty men of 
 Lancaster served in two regiments stationed at Hull, 
 with Capt. Andrew Haskell and Lieuts. John Hewitt 
 and Jonathan Sawyer for their officers. A requisition 
 upon the State for five thousand militia to tempora- 
 rily re-enforce the army at New York came from 
 Congress in June, and Lancaster's quota for four 
 months' service was seventy-two men. They served 
 under Capt. Samuel Sawyer and Lieuts. Salmon God- 
 frey and Nathaniel Sawyer, in the regiment of Col. 
 Jonathan Smith. The whole command was a hurried 
 levy of rustic youth, wholly undisciplined. Septem- 
 ber 15th, at Kip's Bay, they met the splendidly- 
 drilled Hessian corps, and came off with scant honor. 
 Four Lancaster men were then missing — probably 
 killed — and several were wounded. 
 
 Capt. Aaron Willard, who still suffered from his 
 terrible wound received at Ticonderoga in 1768, un- 
 
LANCASTER. 
 
 29 
 
 like his more noted cousins and neighbors — Abijah, 
 Abel and Levi Willard — was earnest in the patriot 
 cause. He was one of the two commissioners ap- 
 pointed by Washington to visit the Acadians, in order 
 to ascertain the strength of their alleged sympathy 
 with the revolutionists. The mission was found so 
 hazardous that the commissioners made their report 
 from information gained without entering the pi'ov- 
 ince. Willard received a commission as colonel of 
 a regiment drafted to strengthen the northern army 
 under Schuyler, but was prevented from service by a 
 painful accident. Capt. Manasseh Sawyer, August 
 ISth, marched to join the regiment of Col. Nicholas 
 Dike at Dorchester, with a company of ninety-two 
 men, enlisted for eight months. Thirty-two of these 
 were of Lancaster. Henry Haskell, who had distin- 
 guished himself in the battle of Bunker Hill as cap- 
 tain of a Shirley company, was lieutenant-colonel of 
 the regiment. Capt. Daniel Goss and Lieut. Jabez 
 Fairbank, with a company of militia, chiefly Lancaster 
 men, served at Dobbs' Ferry, in a regiment of which 
 their townsman, Ephraim Sawyer, was lieutenant- 
 colonel. 
 
 October 7, 1776, the town voted to empower the 
 House of Representatives " to draw up a Form of 
 Government" for the State, stipulating that it should 
 be sent to the people for ratification. Dr. William 
 Dunsmoor was at the same date elected representa- 
 tive. 
 
 The popular colonial system of short enlistments 
 forbade the growth of a well-disciplined national army 
 and menaced the success of any complex campaign. 
 A complete re-orgauization was resolved upon by the 
 formation of eighty-eight three-years' regiments of six 
 hundred and eighty men each. Fifteen of these were 
 demanded from Massachusetts, and it required one 
 man in every seven to fill the call. A bounty o' 
 twenty dollars and one hundred acres of land was 
 promised volunteers, and the monthly pay of privates 
 was fixed at six and two-thirds dollars. December 9, 
 1776, the male inhabitants of Lancaster over sixteen 
 years of age numbered six hundred and seventy-two 
 including thirteen negroes. Her quota was, therefore, 
 ninety-six men, and that number volunteered in due 
 time. Three more levies for three years were made 
 during the war. Ten soldiers were sent by the town 
 to the Continental army in the spring of 1780, thirty- 
 five in the spring of 1781, and seven in March, 1782, 
 the sum of the quotas being one hundred and forty- 
 eight. These men were all volunteers, the draft being 
 resorted to only for short-service calls. Large bounties 
 had to be paid at last, and a few non-resident substi- 
 tutes were hired. The men were scattered through 
 the Massachusetts regiments, the town being repre- 
 sented in every one but the First and Ninth. The 
 largest numbers were in the Tenth, Fourteenth and 
 Fifteenth. Most of them participated in the battles 
 which compelled the surrender of Burgoyne. Those 
 holding commissions were : 
 
 Henry Haskell, lieut.-col. 15th. John 'Whiting, lieut. l?th. 
 
 Ephraim Sawyer, capt. IGth. Pliilip Corey, lieut. 10th. 
 
 "William Harri8, paymaster 10th. .loseph House, lieut. 2(1. 
 
 .Ton.Tthan Sawyer, lieut. 14th, killed. Winelow Phelps, ensign 13th. 
 John Hewitt, lieut. 10th. Jonathan Wheelock, drum-major 
 
 nth. 
 
 The year 1777 was marked in Lancaster for a perse- 
 cution of suspected loyalists by the extremists of the 
 patriot party. A resolve of the Legislature concerning 
 " the danger from internal enemies " gave reason for 
 the creation of a committee to search for and obtain 
 evidence against such suspects, and Col. Asa Whit- 
 comb was selected. A black-list was presented by 
 him in September, bearing the names of Moses Ger- 
 rish, Daniel Allen, Ezra Houghton, Joseph Moore, 
 Solomon Houghton, Thomas Grant, James Carter 
 and Rev. TiiLOthy Harrington. Abijah and Abel 
 Willard and .Joseph House had fled with the Brilish 
 upon the evacuation of Boston, and their estates had 
 been confiscated. .Levi Willard and Joseph Wilder 
 were dead. Of those in Whitcomb's black-list, Ger- 
 rish, Moore and Ezra Houghton were imprisoned, 
 Solomon Houghton escaped from the country. Car- 
 ter's and Allen's names were stricken from the list in 
 town-meeting, and Grant is found serving in the 
 patriot ranks. The attempted proscription of Har- 
 rington was apparently the more bitter because of his 
 connection with the troubles in the Bolton parish. He - 
 made a shrewd and spirited defence, when called into 
 town-meeting to face his accusers, signally triumphed 
 over them, and was held in increased respect thence- 
 forward. 
 
 The loss of Ticonderoga and the victorious ad- 
 vance of Burgoyne southward spread dismay through- 
 out New England. One-half of the alarm list were 
 hurriedly marched from Lancaster to Bennington in 
 August, mostly embraced in companies led by Cap- 
 tains John White and Solomon Stuart. During the 
 autumn months of 1777 about thirty men of the town 
 partici2)ated in the Rhode Island expedition of Gen- 
 eral Spencer. 
 
 February 5, 1778, it was voted " to accept the 
 Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union be- 
 tween the United States of America," and May 18th 
 the town voted upon the acceptance of the new State 
 Constitution, when one hundred and eleven were 
 found in favor of and forty-one against it. It was, 
 however, rejected by the people. Four thousand 
 and forty-nine pounds were appropriated to pay the 
 soldiers hired to serve for eight and nine months' 
 service in the Continental Army. These men were 
 thirty-two in number and joined the forces stationed 
 along the Hudson. Captain Manasseh Sawyer and 
 over fifty Lancaster men were engaged in the unsuc- 
 cessful attempt to drive the British from Newport 
 jnd fought at Quaker's Hill under General Sullivan. 
 There were also constant details for guard duty. 
 Frequently twenty or more of the town's youth were 
 at Cambridge or Rutland in charge of prisoners. 
 
 The paper currency had steadily depreciated and 
 
30 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 counterfeit money was so abundant that the most 
 reputable persons innocently received and paid it out. 
 Trade was fast becoming a system of barter. Foolish 
 attempts were made to fix the prices of common 
 necessities by law, and annually committees were 
 chosen by the town to make up a schedule of these 
 prices. June 28, 1779, the town solemnly voted 
 "that the price of the Comodityes of the farmer and 
 any other article do not rise any higher than at this 
 time " 
 
 Eighteen men of the town were mustered June 25, 
 1779, for nine months, to re-enforce the Continental 
 Army, and a company of militia were serving at 
 Claverack with Captain Luke Wilder, Andrew Has- 
 kell being his lieutenant. 
 
 The State Constitution was voted upon May 13th, 
 and one hundred and three favored it, while only 
 seven declared against it. Dr. William Dunsmoor, 
 Captain Ephraim Wilder and Captain William Put- 
 nam were Lancaster's delegates in the convention 
 which formed it. In June, 1780, the town was called 
 upon to furnish forty men for six months' service. 
 Certain of the radical leaders, and especially Josiah 
 Kendall, who had been vociferously patriotic in the 
 earlier days of the war, avowed their belief that the 
 men could not be obtained, and counseled non-com- 
 pliance with the demand of the government. Cap- 
 tain Samuel Ward, who had narrowly escaped pro- 
 scription for his conservative views, saw his oppor- 
 tunity and promptly advocated in an eloquent 
 harangue immediate obedience to the requisition, 
 at whatever cost. He was made chairman of a com- 
 mittee of twelve empowered to hire the soldiers " on 
 any terms they think proper." The forty men with- 
 in twelve days were on their way to tlie camps, each 
 having been promised " £1400 lawful money, or £13 
 6s. 8d. in Corn, Beef and Live Stock or any Produce 
 as it formerly used to be sold." From this the silver 
 dollar would seem to have been worth one hundred 
 and five paper dollars at that date. 
 
 During both 1780 and 1781 a full company of mili- 
 tia served in Rhode Island for from three to five 
 months, and others were stationed for similar terms 
 of service on the Hudson. The rolls found indicate 
 that fully one-quarter of the whole male population 
 of Lancaster above the age of sixteen, were kept 
 constantly in the army during the most eventful years 
 of the struggle for freedom. Over six hundred names 
 of Lancaster soldiers in the Revolution are already 
 listed. Almost no records of casualtiesare discovered 
 in muster-rolls, but they disclose the names of thirty 
 men of Lancaster who died of wounds or disease be- 
 tween the battle of Lexington and 1779. Those who 
 for any cause were exempted from military service 
 lived lives of toil and sacrifice. Money was annually 
 appropriated for the care of soldiers' families, and 
 the widows and orphans received systematic aid after 
 the war, the town's expenditure being finally re- 
 funded by the State. Lancaster is credited with 
 
 having paid for such purposes from 1781 to 1785 the 
 sum of £1852 Is. id. 
 
 Twenty-three residents of the extreme southerly 
 portion of the town, May 15. 1780, presented a peti- 
 tion to be set off to Shrewsbury. To this public con- 
 sent wiis given in June, and an act of Legislature 
 consummated the division February 2, 1781. The 
 area thus parted with was about six square miles, and 
 was incorporated with Boylston in 1780. The Second 
 Precinct had by 1780 so grown as to outvote the 
 older portion of Lancaster, and the autonomy it 
 had long sought could no longer be denied. April 
 25, 1781, Chocksett was incorporated under the name 
 of Sterling, in honor of General William Alexander, 
 Earl of Sterling. By this change Lancaster lost over 
 half of its population and but thirty-six and one-half 
 square miles of its territory remained. 
 
 The noise and smoke of rejoicing over honorable 
 victory and independence won soon passed, and 
 there was time for the town to reckon up its sacrifices 
 and take account of domestic resources and necessities. 
 The outlook was not encouraging. The paper cur- 
 rency had become worthless and disappeared. Farmers 
 and mechanics were crushed with debt, and half 
 maddened by burdensome taxation, while lawyers and 
 merchants were reaping a golden harvest. Bankrupt 
 sales were advertised on every hand. Soon a spirit 
 of anarchy was born of the general discontent, which 
 culminated in Shays' Insurrection. No citizen of 
 Lancaster is known to have joined the armed force of 
 malcontents, and very few sympathized with the 
 appeal to violeuce. The town sent delegates to the 
 county conventions, voted in favor of enactment of 
 laws to alleviate the distress of the people, and re- 
 commended relieving the farming interest by excise 
 and import duties. 
 
 But when, January 16, 1787, the two militia compa- 
 nies were called out by Col. William Greenleaf, the 
 sherifi", the men were found almost unanimously in 
 favor of supporting the law, and upon his calling for 
 twenty-eight volunteers to march to the defence of 
 the courts at Worcester on January 2Sd, thirty-one 
 offered themselves. Lancaster was the rendezvous of 
 the troops from the eastern part of the county, and 
 Captains Nathaniel Beaman and John Whiting led 
 companies in the regiments which, under General 
 Benjamin Lincoln, pursued Shays and scattered his 
 "regulators." The service was not long nor attended 
 with bloodshed, but it was arduous in the extreme. 
 Those who participated in it often grew eloquent in 
 reminiscence of the terrible night march from Hadley 
 to Petersham, February 3, 1787, facing a furious snow- 
 storm in a temperature far below zero. Among those 
 serving as privates was Captain Andrew Haskell. 
 Three years later this veteran soldier was slain in 
 battle with the Indians at the defeat of General 
 Arthur St. Clair. Hon. John Sprague accompanied 
 the expedition against Shays upon the staff of General 
 Lincoln, as his legal adviser. 
 
LANCASTER. 
 
 31 
 
 Authority had been obtained by an act dated Feb- 
 ruary 15, 1783, for lotteries to meet the extraordinary 
 cost of rebuildine and repairing bridges and cause- 
 ways. Twelve classes of the Lancaster BrirJge Lottery 
 were drawn — the net proceeds of which amounted to 
 only £3286; and the results in other respects did not 
 encourage the continuance of the scheme. 
 
 By this time there were ten bridges over the Naishua 
 rivers, and eight of them were a public charge. They 
 were all built with one or more trestles in the bed of 
 the stream, and an ice jam or unusually high freshet 
 often tore several of these from their anchorage. 
 A September flood in 1787 swept away the Ponikin 
 saw-mill, and damaged or demolished half the bridges 
 in town. The Sprague, Ponikin and Atherton bridges 
 were rebuilt in 1788. The Sawyer bridge, so-called, 
 on the site of the present Carter's Mills bridge — 
 whither it had been moved from the discontinued 
 Scar road in 1742— was rebuilt in 1789. 
 
 The majority in Lancaster were opposed to the 
 ratification of the National Constitution, and elected 
 Hon. John Sprague their delegate to the State con- 
 vention of January, 1788, with the usual instructions 
 as to their wishes. Mr. Sprague, however, finally 
 favored the ratification, although but six of his AVor- 
 cester County associates voted with him. This use of 
 his discretion did not seriously offend his constituency 
 ■for at the first meeting for choice of a Presidential 
 elector, December 18, 1788, he received thirty-one of 
 the sixty-two votes cast in Lancaster. 
 
 Rev. Timothy Harrington became physically unable 
 to attend to the duties of his pastorate in 1790, and 
 on October 9, 1793, Rev. Nathaniel Thayer was 
 ordained as his colleague, receiving as a settlement 
 two hundred pounds, with a yearly salary of ninety 
 pounds. Mr. Harrington was born at Waltham, Feb-' 
 ruary 10, 1716, was graduated at Harvard College in 
 1737, and died at Lancaster, December 18, 1795, having 
 been pastor over the church here forty-seven years. 
 By a first wife, Anna Harrington, he had two sons and 
 four daughters. He married Ann, the widow of Rev. 
 Matthew Bridge, April 11, 1780. He was a lovable 
 man, attracting young and old by his gentleness, 
 affability and simplicity of manners. He was espe- 
 cially remarkable for his day, because of his liberality 
 of sentiment, shown in speech and conduct — a broad 
 charity toward all humanity. Three of his sermons 
 were published, and his century discourse was re- 
 printed in 1806 and 1853. 
 
 In 1791, February 7th, the proprietors voted " to re- 
 linquish to the several towns in the bounds of Old 
 Lancaster all their right to roads in the respective 
 towns." 
 
 An increased intferest in the subject of education 
 began to be visible in 1788. Some of the leading 
 citizens organized a central grammar school, and 
 Timothy Whiting and Jonathan Wilder were elected 
 a town visiting committee — the first recorded — to 
 serve with the minister and two others chosen by the 
 
 supporters of the school. The following year, under 
 a new State law, the town was divided into districts, 
 thirteen in number. In 1790 a new building for the 
 grammar school was erected on common ground 
 "opposite General Greenltaf's garden." The next 
 year one hundred and fifty pounds were appropriated 
 for education, one-third of which was devoted to the 
 grammar school, one hundred being divided among 
 the districts. From 1792 Rev. Nathaniel Thayer be- 
 came chairman of the school committee, annually 
 elected by the town, which at first consisted of seven, 
 but was increased to eleven in 1796. 
 
 Numerous landed estates passed from the owner- 
 ship of the older families shortly after the Revolu- 
 tion, in all sections of the town, and many new names 
 began to appear in the tax-lists. The ruling spirits 
 in the town management were Hon. John Sprague, 
 Capt. Samuel Ward, General John and Judge Timo- 
 thy Whiting, Sheriff William Greenleaf, Michael 
 Newhall, Col. Edmund Heard, Ebenezer Torrey, 
 Joseph Wales, Merrick Rice, William Stedman, 
 Jonas Lane, John Maynard, Jacob Fisher, Eli Stearns 
 and John Thurston, not one of whom was a lineal 
 descendant of the early settlers. At the north part of 
 the town many of the old residents became converts 
 of Mother Ann Lee, and joined the Shaker commu- 
 nity. A little colony of Reading families succeeded 
 to their farms. At the south end, as the nineteenth 
 century opened, the Burditts, Lowes, Rices and Har- 
 rises, mostly from Leominster and Boylston, came, 
 bringing with them the horn-comb industry. For a 
 few years, besides the saw and grist-mills of Col. 
 Greenleaf, at Ponikin, a trip-hammer and nail-cutting 
 machine were in operation. The quarry in the 
 northern end of the town sent annually to Boston a 
 large quantity of roofing-slate ; but these industries 
 were short-lived. . The first post-oflice was established 
 in Lancaster, April 1, 1795, with Joseph Wales as 
 postmaster. Jonathan Whitcomb carried the mails 
 and passengers daily to and from the city, by the 
 " Boston, Concord and Lancaster mail line'' stages, 
 when the century closed. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 LANCASTER— (r<3«//H«£'rf). 
 
 Hon. John Sprague — Cotton and WooUen MUts — The Academy — War of 
 1812— T7ic Whitingt— The Brick Meeting-house— Lafayette— The 
 Printing Enterprise — Dr. Nathaniel Thayer — Neto Ghtirchee — Clinton 
 Set Off — Bi-Centennial — Schoithi —Libraries — Cemlteries. 
 
 September 21, 1800,; Lancaster lost her leading 
 citizen by the death of Hon. John Sprague. He had 
 been for thirty years resident of the town, coming 
 from Keene, N. H., in 1770, to form a law partnership 
 with Abel Willard. He was a son of Noah and 
 Sarah Sprague, of Rochester, Mas-"., born June 21, 
 1740, and was graduated at Harvard College in 1765. 
 He served the towu ten years as Representative and 
 
32 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 two as Senator, was sherifl' for three years, and for 
 two j'ears was chief justice of the Court of Common 
 Pleas. He was widely respected as a peacemaker, a 
 safe adviser, a learned lawyer and an impartial judge. 
 
 In 1805, Moses Sawyer and Abel Wilder built the 
 dam and first mill, at the bridge over the Nashua in 
 the village then called New Boston. This water- 
 power soon came into possession of Elias Bennett, and 
 a fulling-mill was started in addition to the saw and 
 grist-mills. The clothiers and wool-carders succes- 
 sively here were Ezekiel Knowlton, Asa Buttrick and 
 Ephraim Fuller. Asahel Tower, Jr., also operated a 
 nail-cutting machine in connection with the saw-mill. 
 Samuel Carter purchased the property, and, about 
 1844, built a cotton factory, which was leased to the 
 Pitts Brothers and others. This was burned July 7, 
 1856, and the present factory built upon the same site. 
 
 In 1809 Poignand & Plant founded the first cot- 
 ton factory in Lancaster on the site of Prescott's 
 mills, and James Pitt.s, in 1815, built the second, 
 upon the Nashua. The details of these important en- 
 terprises will be found in the history of Clinton. 
 
 Burrill Carnes, Sir Francis Searles and Capt. Ben- 
 jamin Lee, three Englishmen of wealth, during about 
 ten years successively owned and lived upon the 
 Wilder farm, on the Old Common, now occupied by 
 the State Industrial School, and by lavish expendi- 
 ture gave it the semblance of an old-world baronial 
 estate. In 1804 the place was bought by Maj. Joseph 
 Hiller, of Salem, who resided here until his death, in 
 1814. He was an officer of the Revolution, had been 
 appointed by Washington the first collector of Salem, 
 and was an ardent Federalist, a Christian gentleman 
 and a very valuable accession to Lancaster. His two 
 highly accomplished daughters became the wives of 
 their cousins, Capt. Richard J. and William Cleve- 
 land, who also came to reside here, and won promi- 
 nence in town councils. As children came and grew 
 to boyhood Capt. Cleveland and his wife felt the need 
 of a higher education for them than the town's gram- 
 mar school could give, and persuaded several gentle- 
 men to join in establishing the Lancaster Latin 
 Grammar School in 1815. 
 
 This classical school was kept for about eleven 
 years upon the Old Common. The teachers' names 
 best tell the quality of the education there afforded: 
 Silas Holman, 1815; Jared Sparks, 1816; John W. 
 Proctor, 1817 ; George B. Emerson, 1818-19; Solomon 
 P. Miles, 1820-21 ; Nathaniel Wood, 1822-23; Levi 
 Fletcher, 1824 ; Nathaniel Kingsbury, 1825. These 
 scholarly young men, together with Warren Colburn 
 and James G. Carter, at the most enthusiastic period 
 of life's work, sitting at the hospitable board of the 
 Clevelands, discussed with the cultured host and 
 brilliant hostess the need of a new education which 
 should develop the reasoning powers of youth ; and 
 here they formed the opinions upon which some of 
 them, as the most inHuential factors, remodeled the 
 common-school system of the State. 
 
 September 15, 1808, Maj. Hiller, Hon. William 
 Stedman and Capt. Samuel Ward were chosen by the 
 town to draft a petition to President Jefferson for a 
 suspension of the embargo, which it was alleged had 
 closed the chief sources of the nation's wealth and 
 destroyed the customary incentives to enterprise and 
 virtuous industry. The friends of the French party, 
 as the Jeffersonians were nicknamed, were but few in 
 Lancaster. At a special town-meeting, June 24, 1812, 
 resolutions remonstrating against declaring war with 
 England as suicidal and unnecessary were passed by 
 a vote of one hundred and fifteen to fifteen. August 
 20th, Rev. Nathaniel Thayer, it being a fast day, 
 preached a sermon denouncing what he termed the 
 iniquitous policy of the President. But when, in Sep- 
 tember, 1814, the British fieet appeared off the coast, 
 and Boston was fearing an attack, there was no lack 
 of belligerency. Among the first military companies 
 to report to the Governor, in answer to his summons, 
 were the light artillery and an infantry company 
 of Lancaster, who, after a service at the meeting-house, 
 on Sunday, September 14th, proceeded to Cambridge. 
 Capt. Ezra Sawyer marched his infantry command 
 back the same week, having been ordered out by mis- 
 take. The artillery, forty men all told, remained on 
 duty until November 5, 1814. Capt. John Lyon, who 
 led the company from Lancaster, was superseded 
 by Capt. Silas Parker. Henry, Levi and Fabius- 
 Whiting served with distinction in the regular army, 
 attaining the rank of first lieutenant during the war. 
 Henry Moore was killed at Brownstown, JosiahRugg 
 died in the army, and Nathan Puffer served iu the 
 United States artillery. 
 
 September 3, 1810, John Whiting died at Wash- 
 ington, aged fifty years. He had been commissioned 
 lieutenant-colonel of the Fourth United States In- 
 fantry in 1808. Both he and his brother Timothy, 
 Jr., served throughout the War of the Revolution, 
 during which their father came from Billerica to 
 Lancaster. Both became associate justices of the 
 Court of Sessions, and were more than once candidates 
 of the .leffersonian party for Congress. An indication 
 of John Whiting's ability, probity and lovable char- 
 acter is found in the fact that when two Lancaster 
 men were candidates for Congressional honor, in 
 1804, he received eighty-four votes, while William 
 Stedman, the regular Federalist nominee, had but 
 seventy-six, although it was a fevered period in par- 
 tisan politics and the town's voters were usually more 
 than three-fourths Federalists. Tradition still recalls 
 Whiting's suave dignity when presiding over a town- 
 meeting and his courtly grace in social assemblies. 
 He was deacon in the church and brigadier-general 
 in the militia. His daughter, Caroline Lee, as Mrs. 
 Hen tz, became a very popular writer of verse and fiction. 
 His son, Henry, Brevet Brigadier-General, U. S. A., 
 published two volumes of poetry, and contributed ar- 
 ticles to the Noith American Rariew. 
 
 The corner-stone of the brick meeting-house was 
 
LANCASTER. 
 
 33 
 
 laid with appropriate ceremony July 9, 1816. Two 
 acres for the site were purchased for .li(!3.3.33, being part 
 of a farm belonging to Capt. Benjamin Lee. The de- 
 signer of the building was Charles Bulfluch, the 
 earliest professional architect in New England, who 
 also designed the State House in Boston and that at 
 Augusta. Thomas Hersey was the master-builder. 
 The cupola has been pronounced by competent 
 critics to be almost faultless in its proportions. On 
 Wednesday, January 1, 1817, the building was dedi 
 cated. The fi mil cost of the structure complete was 
 $20,428.99, and it was proposed to pay for it by sale of 
 the pews. They were accordingly appraised, eighteen 
 being given the highest valuation, $230, the lowest 
 being priced at $.-.0. At the auction sale Capt. Ward 
 paid the highest sum, $275, for pew No. 4 ; Capt. Cleve- 
 land paid $255 for pew No. 57. A bell weighing 
 thirteen hundred pounds was presented to the parish 
 by several gentlemen. It was cracked within a few 
 years, had to be recast, and now weighs eleven hun- 
 dred pounds. The old meeting-house stood until 
 1823, and was used as a town-house. In that year a 
 new town-house was built largely from the material 
 obtained in tearing down the old one. 
 
 In the year 1823 the town dared a temporary de- 
 parture from the old style of bridge construction. 
 For twenty years the subject had been anxiously dis- 
 cussed by special committees and town-meetings. 
 One committee had presented and advocated a plan 
 for a double arch stone bridge, but the cost was great 
 and there was a well-founded fear that the central 
 pier would seriously obstruct the passage of ice. 
 The town also seriously considered a curiously un- 
 scientific wooden structure, in which the planking 
 was to be laid upon the toji of seven timber arches, 
 unbraced and without chords. Almost yearly one or 
 more of the trestle bridges yielded to ice or freshet, 
 and was whirled down stream. Daniel Farnham 
 Plummer, a wheelwright of South Lancaster, exhib- 
 ited for several years a model of a wooden arch 
 bridge, which he claimed to have invented. This 
 model, three or four feet in length, made of hickory 
 sticks about as thick as one's finger, readily bore the 
 weight of a man ; and the town, when the Atherton 
 and Centre bridges next went seaward, voted to 
 adopt riumnier's principle. The new bridge was out 
 of the reach of flood, but had in itself sufficient ele- 
 ments of instability, and the wonder is that it stood 
 ten years. The town returned to the stereotype tres- 
 tle form again, except at the Centre, Ponikin and 
 North Village, where covered lattice girders were 
 built, which did good service for from thirty-five to 
 forty years. The river bridges were all finally re- 
 placed between 1870 and 1875 with iron structures, 
 for which, including the thorough rebuilding of most 
 of the stoue abutments, the total expenditure was 
 thirty-five thousand eight hundred and fifty dol- 
 lars. 
 
 Friday, September 3, 1824, is a date famous in the 
 3 
 
 annals of Lancaster, because of the visit of Lafay- 
 ette, the nation's guest. The general had passed the 
 night at the mansion of S. V. S. Wilder in Bolton, 
 and at half-past six in the morning, escorted by cav- 
 alry, proceeded to Lancaster by the turnpike. He 
 was received at the toll-gate with a national salute 
 from the artillery, and upon arrival near the meeting- 
 house was met under an elaborately decorated arch 
 by the town's committee and conducted to a platform 
 upon the green. There, in the presence of an im- 
 mense concourse from all the country around, he was 
 welcomed in an address by Dr. Thayer, to which he 
 made brief response, evidently deeply affected by 
 the eloquent words to which he had listened, and by 
 the spontaneous homage of a grateful i)eople. After 
 a brief stay, during which the surviving .soldiers of 
 the Revolution were presented to him, amid the 
 booming of cannon and the tearful acclamations of 
 the multitude, the cavalcade moved on towards Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 To this time and for a decade la(er the martial 
 spirit of the people was kept bright by the militia 
 laws. At least once a year the peaceful highways of 
 the town were wont to bristle wiih bayonets; and the 
 rattle of drum, the squeak of fife and the odor of 
 burnt cartridges overpowered all the sweet sounds 
 and smells of Nature. This was the " May training." 
 The " muster-fields " are historic, and old citizens 
 continue to recount the humors of the parades and 
 sham-fights. The original territory of Lancaster had 
 sixteen military companies, which, with half a dozen 
 from adjoining towns, made up the Lancaster regi- 
 ment. The town kept up a mounted troop until 
 1825, and also had a light artillery company and one 
 of light infantry, besides the ununiformed militia. 
 
 The one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the 
 destruction of the town by the Indians was cele- 
 brated February 21, 1826, when an oration was de- 
 livered by Isaac (Joodwin and a poem read by Wil- 
 liam Lincoln. The former was printed. 
 
 So early as 1792 public attention was called to the 
 desirability of a canal from the seaboard to the Con- 
 necticut, through Lancaster and Worcester, and pre- 
 liminary examination of a route was made. This 
 project was again brought forward in 1826, and Lan- 
 caster was earnest in its promotion. Loammi Bald- 
 win made a survey through Bolton and Lancaster, his 
 line crossing the Nashua at Carter's Mills; but capi- 
 tal failed to forward the enterprise. The traffic, as 
 before, continued to be conducted by heavy wagons 
 drawn by teams of horses. Forty such wagons daily 
 passed through the town to and from Boston, bearing 
 as many tons of merchandise or farm products. At 
 intervals of a mile or two stood taverns, which enter- 
 tained many wayfarers, and nightly attracted to their 
 sanded-floored bar-rooms a jovial company, which 
 grew hilarious as the hours sped, under the inspira- 
 tion of unlimited flip. The most direct route for the 
 Boston and Fitchburg Railway lay through Lancas- 
 
34 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 ter and Bolton, but the blind selfishness of inn-keep- 
 ers and stage proprietors was able to create sufficient 
 hostility to the road to carry it by a more tortuous 
 line through towns then less populous. Repentance 
 soon followed, and upon the inception of the Worces- 
 ter and Nashua road its projectors were met in liberal 
 spirit. Hopes of a more direct connection with Bos- 
 ton have been often raised, and, finally, April 30, 
 1870, the Lancaster Railroad Company was incorpo- 
 rated. Its road was built by George A. Parker, who 
 became president of the company, but has never been 
 used owing to a controversy between the Fitchburg 
 and Worcester and Nashua Railway corporations. 
 
 Capt. Samuel Ward died August 14, 1826, aged 
 eighty-seven. He had for fifty-nine years been resi- 
 dent in Lancaster, an active and liberal citizen. 
 Born in Worcester, September 25, 1739, he was for a 
 time a pupil of John Adams, but entered the army 
 when a boy of sixteen. His career to the date of his 
 coming to Lancaster has been outlined in a previous 
 page. He was devoted to mercantile pursuits until 
 the last twenty years of his life, which he spent in 
 the care of his ample landed estate. His generous 
 hospitality brought many guests to his board, and the 
 charm of his bright presence and richly-fraught 
 si)eech glows for us in the grateful reminiscences of 
 those who were blessed by his friendly interest. He 
 left a legacy of five hundred dollars, the income of 
 which he desired should be annually distributed " to 
 those who are unfortunate and in indigent circum- 
 .stances " in Lancaster. This sum has been increa.sed 
 by sundry similar legacies, and forms the Lancaster 
 Charitable Fund. Capt. Ward had outlived wife 
 and children many years, and willed his estate 
 to his niece, Mrs. Dolly Greene, wife of Nathan- 
 iel Chandler. Squire Chandler, as he was always 
 called, thenceforward resided in Lancaster. He was 
 a man of culture, bright wit and quaint individuality ; 
 born in Petersham, October 6, 1773, graduate at Har- 
 vard College in 1792, died June 4, 1852. Madame 
 Chandler survived her husband seventeen years, liv- 
 ing to the age of eighty-five. Their daughter, Mrs. 
 Mary G. Ware, remains in possession of the home- 
 stead. 
 
 During 1826 a brick, two-storied structure was 
 built a little south of the meeting-house, and the 
 Latin Grammar School was removed thither from the 
 Old Common. Hitherto a school for boys only, from 
 this time both sexes were admitted. The building 
 was paid for by subscription, and the ground for it 
 was the gift of George and Horatio Carter. An act 
 of incorporation was obtained February 11, 1828, by 
 the subscribers, under the title of the Lancaster 
 Academy. April 7, 1847, a second corporation with 
 the same title took possession of the building by pur- 
 chase, and, in 1879, the town having bought it, tore it 
 down to make room for the present grammar-school 
 house. The first teacher of the academy in this lo- 
 cality was Nathaniel Kingsbury. He had numerous 
 
 successors ; among those who served for several years 
 were Isaac F. Woods, Henry C. Kimball, A.M., and 
 William A. Kilbourn, A.M. 
 
 The year 1826 was also memorable for the publica- 
 tion of the first systematic history of the town, under 
 the title of " Topographical and Historical Sketches 
 of the Town of Lancaster," occupying ninety pages 
 of the Worcester Magazine. Its able and painstaking 
 author, Joseph Willard, Esq., was descended from a 
 Lancaster family, and practiced law here from 1821 
 to 1831. He proposed publishing a more comprehen- 
 sive history of Lancaster, and made valuable col- 
 lections of material for it, but it was postponed for 
 other literary work, and at his death, in 1865, was 
 found too incomplete for print. 
 
 During 1827 the brothers, Joseph and Ferdinand 
 Andrews, wood and copper engravers, came to Lan- 
 caster from Hingham. The latter had been editor of 
 the Salem Gazette. George and Horatio Carter built 
 the brick house nearly opposite the hotel, in Lancas- 
 ter Centre, for a book-store and printing office, and 
 thence, March 4, 1828, the first number of the Lan- 
 caster Gazette was issued. It was a sheet of five 
 columns to the page, edited by Ferdinand Andrews, 
 and printed every Tuesday. One of its standing 
 advertisements was : " Wood, corn and oats re- 
 ceived in pay for the Lancaster Gazette." The 
 last number was printed April 13, 1830, and Lancas- 
 ter had no newspaper again until the birth of the 
 Lancaster Couranf, in 1846. 
 
 Maps had been ])rinted and colored here as early as 
 1825 by the Carters, who were copper-plate printers. 
 Although the newspaper enterprise did not prosper, 
 the firm of Carter & Andrews did an extensive busi- 
 ness in book publishing, engraving on wood, copper 
 and steel, map printing and coloring, book-binding, 
 etc., employing nearly one hundred persons. A type 
 foundry was established by Charles Carter, and a 
 lithographic press was set up by Henry Wilder in 
 connection with the firm. In 1834 the business 
 passed under control of Andrews, Shephard & Has- 
 tings, and, in 1835, Marsh, Capen, Lyon & Webb took 
 possession, using for their publication title " The 
 Education Press." The enterprise was abandoned in 
 1840. Among many books printed in Lancaster 
 were: "Peter Parley's Works," "Farmer's General 
 Register of the First Letters of New England," "The 
 Comprehensive Commentary," "The Common School 
 .lournal," various standard school books, " The 
 Girl's Own Book," by Lydia M. Child, a series called 
 "The School Library," etc. The wood engraving 
 was superior to any work of the kind before that 
 date in the United States. 
 
 The Lancaster Bank was incorporated in the name 
 of Davis Whitman, Jacob Fisher, Jr., Stephen P. 
 Gardner and associates, April 9, 1836, with a capital 
 of one hundred thousand dollars. This was increased 
 by twenty-five thousand dollars in 1847, again by 
 twenty-five thousand in 1851, and by fifty thousand in 
 
LANCASTER. 
 
 35 
 
 1854. In 1876 the capital was reduced to the original 
 amount, and in 1881 the bank was removed to Clinton. 
 The first president was James G. Carter, who was suc- 
 ceeded in 1840 by Jacob Fisher, Jr. He resigned in 
 1874 and George W. Howe was chosen president. 
 Caleb T. Syrames, who had been cashier for thirty 
 years, retired in 1874 to be succeeded by Wm. H. 
 McNeil. Closely connected with this was the Lancas- 
 ter Savings Bank, incorporated in 1845, which, after an 
 exceptionally prosperous career, was ruined by a series 
 of unfortunate investments and placed in the hands 
 of receivers. The deposits amounted to about one 
 million dollars, of which the depositors have received 
 fifty-three and one-third per cent., and a small balance 
 awaits the settlement of the Lancaster Bank affairs. 
 
 The dam and mills at Ponikin, from the first saw- 
 mill built there in 1713 to the existing cotton factory 
 have seen many changes in ownership, location and pro 
 duction. The chief proprietors have been Samuel Ben 
 nett, Joseph Sawyer, Col. Joseph Wilder, Col. William 
 Greenleaf, Major Gardner Wilder, Charles E. Knight, 
 Charles L. Wilder, etc. When the last- named built the 
 present dam, only traces of the older ones, lower upon 
 the stream, were visible, but about a mile up the 
 river stood a prosperous saw and grist-mill, owned by 
 the Shakers, but built by Sewall Carter about 1828 
 near the site of a saw-mill founded by David Whit- 
 comb as early as 1721. This mill was bought by the 
 American Shoe Shank Company, and for several years 
 leather board, patent shanks, etc., were manufactured 
 there. The works were burned in December, 188.3. 
 
 While journeying for health and recreation Nathan- 
 iel Thayer, D.D., died very suddenly at Rochester, 
 N. Y., June 23, 1840. There had been for nearly two 
 centuries but one meeting-house, one religious society 
 in Lancaster. Sectarian differences there were, but 
 they seldom disturbed the harmony of social relations. 
 The revered pastor was always the prominent central 
 figure of the community, the father of the parish. 
 Nathaniel Thayer was twenty-four years of age when 
 he began his ministerial labors as the colleague of 
 Rev. Timothy Harrington, having been born at Hamp- 
 ton, N. H., July 11, 1769. He was the son of Rev. 
 Ebenezer and Martha (Cotton) Thayer. His mother 
 was a lineal descendant of John Cotton, the first minis- 
 tsrof Boston, and through her he ia said to have inher- 
 ited certain mental and moral features which had dis- 
 tinguished her ancestors, — " an uninterrupted succes- 
 sion of clergymen for nearly two hundred and thirty 
 years." He was fitted for college in the first class at Phil- 
 lips Exeter Academy and graduated at Harvard in 
 1789. Two years after his coming to Lancaster, on 
 October 22, 1795, he was married to Sarah Toppan, of 
 Hampton, and made his home at first in the old house 
 now generally known as Mrs. Nancy Carleton's, remov- 
 ing, after the death of his venerable colleague, to the 
 parsonage which stood a few feet south of the well in 
 front of Mrs. Nathaniel Thayer's present residence. 
 He received the degree of S.T.D. in 1817. 
 
 Dr. Thayer was in person not over medium height, nor 
 was he otherwise of rare mould, but his dignified mien 
 and a melodious voice of great compass and flexibility 
 gave impressiveness to his oratory. Twenty-three oc- 
 casional sermons of his have been printed. Though 
 always appropriate and sometimes rich in thought 
 happily expressed, the eff'ectiveness traditional of his 
 discourses was largely due to the thrilling tones and 
 skilful emphasis of the orator. He was conscientiously 
 averse to repeating an old sermon even when his time 
 was overtasked. Because of his power in the pulpit 
 and wisdom in church polity he was frequently sum- 
 moned even from great distances to aid in ordination 
 and council. 
 
 But not alone nor chiefly for his public teachings 
 was he prized by his people. His benignant presence 
 was sought as a blessing in times of joy, a comfort in 
 great sorrow. The prayer from his lips was the never- 
 omitted prelude to business at the town-meeting. 
 The young bashfully, the old unreservedly confided 
 their hopes, soul experiences and troubles to him, 
 assured of hearty sympathy a nd wise counsel. He 
 was the depositary of family secrets; the composer 
 of neighborhood disputes ; the ultimate referee in 
 mooted points of opinion or taste. To a gravity 
 which might have graced the Puritan clergymen, his 
 maternal ancestors, he joined an affability that showed 
 no discrimination in persons, and made him beloved 
 of children. 
 
 The day was never too long for his activity. In the 
 summer mornings by five o'clock the early travellers 
 saw him tilling his garden by the roadside. In the 
 alter part of the day he rode about his extended 
 parish, stopping to greet every one he met with kindly 
 inquiry, carrying consolation to the sick and sorrow- 
 ful, help to the destitute, the refreshment of hope to 
 the despondent, cheerfulness and peace to all. The 
 charm of his fireside, with its hearty hospitality, freely 
 and unostentatiously open to every chance guest, its 
 frugal comforts made sweeter by abounding Christian 
 graces,was never forgotten by those who came under 
 its influence. The wife and mother, who presided with 
 simple dignity over the household, survived her hus- 
 band exactly seventeen years, falling asleep at the 
 ripe age of eighty-two. In 1881-82 an apse was added 
 to the brick meeting-house, called the Thayer Memo- 
 rial Chapel, in honor of Dr. Thayer and his wife. In 
 it, besides the spacious chapel, are an elegantly 
 appointed church parlor, a kitchen with closets, etc., 
 a Sunday-school library room, basement and entrance 
 hall. Its cost, amounting to about fifteen thousand 
 dollars, was defrayed by a popular subscription among 
 the friends of the church, and its memorial character 
 is indicated by portraits and a suitably inscribed wall- 
 tablet. 
 
 Rev. Edmund Hamilton Sears, of Sandisfield, grad- 
 uate of Union College, 1834, was installed as Dr. 
 Thayer's successor December 23, 184U. Failing health 
 compelled him to obtain rest from the cares of so 
 
36 
 
 HISTOKY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 large a parish, and his pastoral connection with the 
 First Church closed April 1, 1847, to the great grief 
 of his people, and the regret of all citizens of the 
 town ; for his presence had ever been a quickening 
 influence to true and earnest living. His subsequent 
 life was largely devoted to literary labors, and of his 
 writings, both prose and poetry, some have won a 
 wide reputation, and that not confined to the so-called 
 religious circles. In 1871 Mr. Sears was honored by 
 Harvard College with the degree of S.T.D. He 
 died at Weston, January 16, 1876. Before him no 
 minister of the First Church had asked or received 
 dismission. 
 
 It is now two hundred and thirty-five years since 
 Master Joseph Rowlandson began his ministrations in 
 the Nashua Valley, and there have been but eight in- 
 cumbents of the pulpit in the church he founded, two 
 of whom were slaiu when their joint service amounted 
 to but twelve years. The present pastor, George 
 Murillo Bartol, was unanimously called to his office a 
 few months after the loss of Mr. Sears, and the fortieth 
 anniversary of his ordination was feelingly celebrated 
 by his parishioners on August 4, 1887. He was born 
 at Freeport, Me., September, 18, 1820, fitted for col- 
 lege at Phillips Exeter Academy, was graduated at 
 Brown University in 1842, and from the Cambridge 
 Divinity School in 1845. His power for good has not 
 been limited by parish confines, nor restricted to the 
 stated religious teachings of his order. The clergy 
 in Lancaster had ever been held the proper super- 
 visors of the schools, and upon his coming Mr. Bar- 
 tol was at once placed in the School Board, and was 
 annually rechosen, until, having given faithful service, 
 usually as chairman of the board, during twenty-one 
 years, he felt constrained to ask relief from this oner- 
 ous duty. From the establishment of the public 
 library he has always stood at the head of the town's 
 committee, entrusted with its management, and in its 
 inception and increase his refined taste, rare knowl- 
 edge of books and sound literary judgment have been 
 invaluable. With talents and scholarship that in- 
 vited him to a much wider field of service, he has 
 clung lovingly to his quiet country parish, making it 
 the centre of his efforts and aspirations. He is an en- 
 thusiastic lover of Nature in all her moods, a discrimi- 
 nating admirer of beauty in art, earnest in his soul 
 convictions, although averse to sectarian controversy 
 — and so tender of heart as to seem charitable to all 
 human weakness, save that he is intolerant of intol- 
 erance. ■ 
 
 The Universalist Society was organized April 3, 
 1838, and held its meetings for several years in the 
 academy building. Rufus S. Pope, James S. Palmer, 
 Lucius R. Paige, S.T.D. , and John Harrinian succes- 
 sively supplied tlie pulpit until 1843. A meeting- 
 house was built in South Lancaster, and dedicated 
 April 26, 1848, but seven years later was closed, in 
 1858 was sold to the State, and now stands in the 
 grounds of the Industrial School. Rev. Benjamin 
 
 Whittemore, born in Lancaster, May 3, 1801, son of 
 Nathaniel, was pastor of the society from 1843 to 
 1854. He received the degree of S.T.D. from Tufts' 
 College in 1867, and died in Boston, April 26, 1881, 
 having been totally blind for the last ten years of his 
 life. 
 
 The First Evangelical Congregational Church was 
 organized at the house of Rev. Asa Packard, a retired 
 clergyman resident in Lancaster, February 22, 1839. 
 Mr. Packard was a fifer in the Continental ,Vrmy, was 
 seriously wounded at Haerlem Heights, entered Har- 
 vard College and was graduated in 1783. He was 
 for many years a noteworthy figure in the town, by 
 reason of his old-school manners and dress. He 
 wore knee-breeches and silver buckles, the last seen 
 in Lancaster. March 20, 1843, he was found dead in 
 his chair, being then eighty-five years of age. He 
 preached here but a few times. Rev. Charles Packard 
 was ordained January 1, 1840, resigned his pastorate 
 here in 18.')4, and died at Biddeford, Me., Februarj' 
 17, 1864. He was the son of Rev. Hezekiah Packard, 
 born in Chelmsford, April 12, 1801, and was graduated 
 at Bowdoin College, 1817. During his valuable min- 
 istry in Lancaster, Mr. Packard was familiarly known 
 and greatly esteemed by all classes. Firm in opinion , 
 outspoken where a principle was involved, he was, 
 nevertheless, genial, respectful to the convictions of 
 others, and always a preserver of peace. The meet- 
 ing-house was dedicated December 1, 1841, was en- 
 larged in 1868, and its accommodations increased in 
 1852 and 1884, by the addition of a chapel, church 
 parlor, etc. 
 
 The successors of Mr. Packard have been : Franklin 
 B. Doe, graduate of Amherst, 1851, ordained October 
 19, 1854, resigned September 4, 1858; Amos E. Law- 
 rence, graduate of Yale, 1840, installed October 10, 
 1860, resigned March 6, 1864; George R. Leavitt, 
 graduate of Williams, 18G0, ordained March 29,1865, 
 resigned 1870 ; Abijah P. Marvin, graduate of Trin- 
 ity, 1839, begun preaching here 1870, was installed 
 May 1, 1872, and asked dismission September 12, 
 1875, but remains a resident of Lancaster, and an 
 actively useful factor in its affiiirs ; Henry C. Fay, 
 graduate of Amherst, employed 1876; Marcus Ames, 
 acting pastor, 1877 ; William De Loss Love, Jr., 
 graduate of Hamilton, 1873, ordained September 18, 
 1878, dismissed July, 1881; Darius A. Newton, 
 graduate of Amherst, 1879, ordained September 21, 
 1882, dismissed 1885; Lewis W. Morey, graduate of 
 Dartmouth, 1876, is now acting i)astor. 
 
 The New Jerusalem Church of Lancaster was not 
 legally organized until January 29, 1876, but neigh- 
 berhood meetings had been held by believers of 
 Swedenborg's doctrines so early as 1830, and for many 
 years Reverends James Reed, Abiel Silver and Joseph 
 Pettee at intervals visited the town and held services, 
 usually in an ante-room of the town hall. Richard 
 Ward was called as the first pastor in 1880, and was 
 installed on the same day with the dedication of the 
 
4'' 
 
LANCASTER. 
 
 37 
 
 chapel, December 1, 1880. Besides the tasteful 
 chapel, the society owns the parsonage and a small 
 fund, due to the beneficence of Henry Wilder, who 
 was for about twenty years the reader at meetings of 
 the New Church believers. At his death his prop- 
 erty was found to be willed for the establishment of 
 this church. 
 
 The Catholic chapel was consecrated July 12, 1873. 
 The parish is in charge of Rev. Richard J. Patterson, 
 of Clinton. 
 
 The Seventh-Day Adventist Church in South Lan- 
 caster was organized in 1864, and its meeting-house 
 was dedicated May 5,1878. Stephen N. Haskell was 
 ordained its elder in August, 1870. 
 
 The old town-house being inadequate to the public 
 needs, in April, 1847, it was voted to erect a new one 
 of brick " between the Academy and the brick meet- 
 ing-house,'' if land could be obtained, in accordance 
 with plans furnished by John C. Hoadley, a noted 
 civil engineer then living in Lancaster. The building 
 was completed in 1848, costing about seven thousand 
 dollars. It had only a single story at first, but the 
 hall proved almost useless as an auditorium because 
 of echoes, and in 1852 a second story was added at 
 an expense of twenty-five hundred dollars. This has 
 been used ever since as a school-room. The annex 
 at the rear was built in 1881. 
 
 Under the stimulus of the comb manufacture and 
 the temporary prosperity of the cotton factories of 
 Poignand & Plant and James Pitts, the southerly 
 portion of Lancaster had slowly grown in population 
 to nearly fifty families by 18H0, and became known as 
 the Factory Village. The valuable water-power of 
 the locality was not half developed for lack of enter- 
 prise and capital. In due time these came, and com- 
 bined with them came rare inventive genius. The 
 Clinton Company began its prosperous career in the 
 manufacture of the Bigelow coach-lace in 1838. In 
 1841 the Bigelow quilt-looms were started. In 1844 
 the foundations of the great gingham-mills on the 
 Nashua were laid. Soon after the Bigelow power- 
 looms revolutionized the making of Brussels carpet- 
 ing. Lancaster suddenly awoke to find, built upon 
 Prescott's mill-site, the bustling, ambitious village of 
 Clintonville, embr.acing within a single square mile 
 more people than dwelt in all its borders elsewhere. 
 Another division of the old town was seen to be in- 
 evitable, and Lancaster, on the 15th of February, 
 1850, granted to her daughter, Clinton, 4907 acres of 
 land and independence, which grant the Governor and 
 Legislature confirmed on March 14th. 
 
 June 15, 1853, a great multitude from near and afar 
 assembled in Lancaster to commemorate the two 
 hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of the 
 town. After exercises at the meeting-house, which 
 included an oration by Joseph Willard, the historian, 
 a procession was formed and marched to the elm- 
 shaded lawn at South Lancaster, where three of the 
 town's ministers, Whiting, Gardner and Prentice, had 
 
 lived and died. There hosts and guests found tables 
 loaded with food, and the usual social exercises ended 
 the festivities. The proceedings of the day were 
 published, forming a volume of two hundred and 
 thirty octavo pages, containing much local history. 
 
 The eminent educator. Professor William Russell, 
 established the New England Normal Institute in 
 Lancaster, May 11, 1853. It had but a brief life, 
 though a very useful one, ceasing to be in the autumn 
 of 1855. Dependent for support upon the fees 
 received of students, it could not longer compete with 
 the free normal schools of the State. Professor Rus- 
 sell thenceforward made Lancaster his home, and 
 here died August 16, 1873, "universally beloved and 
 respected for his many virtues. Christian graces and 
 scholarly attainments." He was a native of Glasgow, 
 Scotland, born April 28, 1798, and a graduate of 
 Glasgow University. 
 
 Lancaster began the printing of its annual school 
 reports with that of Rev. Edmund H. Sears for the 
 school year 1842-43. The first free high school was es- 
 tablished in 1849, but was discontinued after the sepa- 
 ration of Clinton in 1850, although the town from 
 time to time voted to pay the tuition at the academy 
 of scholars qualified for a high school course. In 
 1873 the free high school was re-established and located 
 in the upper rooms of the town hall, and the academy 
 ceased to exist. In 1851 the town, by authority of a 
 recent enactment, abolished the school districts, since 
 which year four of the original eleven district schools 
 have been abandoned, and all schools of suitable size 
 liave been graded into primary and grammar depart- 
 ments. New school buildings, with modern furniture 
 .md appointments, also have replaced the time-worn 
 structures owned by the districts. The town has 
 nearly always stood first in rank in the county, and 
 among the first twenty-five of the State in its expen- 
 diture for education. The appropriation for 1888 is 
 six thousand eight hundred dollars, the children of 
 school age numbering three hundred and twenty- 
 four. 
 
 It is now one hundred years since the first recorded 
 election in Lancaster of a school visiting committee. 
 Dr. Thayer became chairman of the board in place 
 of Rev. Timothy Harrington in 1794, and held the 
 position forty-six years, until his decease. Silas 
 Thurston, a veteran schoolmaster, was first elected in 
 1820 and served for thirty-seven years. He also died 
 in oflice, October 25, 1868. Capt. Samuel Ward 
 served about twenty-five years between 1788 and 
 1816. Rev. George M. Bartol was of the school com. 
 mittee during twenty-one years between 1848 and 1872. 
 Solon Whiting served sixteen years between 1820 and 
 1843. Fifteen others have been members of the 
 School Board ten years or more each. 
 
 After the destruction of Lancaster in 1676, Master 
 Rowlandson's books are spoken of by Mather as 
 though a considerable part of his loss. Mention is 
 often found in early inventories and elsewhere of 
 
38 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 respectable literary collections iu the possession of 
 Lancaster scholars. But the first considerable library 
 of a public character here was established by an asso 
 ciation of citizens in 1790, and known as the Lancaster 
 Library. This society was reorganized in 1800 as the 
 Social Library Association. In 1850 the books were 
 sold at auction to the number of a little over a thou- 
 sand. The Library Club was organized the next 
 year, and in 1862 its collection, numbering over six 
 hundred volumes, together with one hundred and 
 thirty volumes of the Agricultural Library Associa- 
 tion, were offered in aid of a tree public lil)rary, pro- 
 vided the town would assume its support and increase 
 as authorized by statute. The town accepted the 
 gift, added the little school libraries which had been 
 purchased in 1844, and opened the collection to the 
 public October 4, 1862, in an upper room of the town 
 hall. 
 
 January 22, 1860, Mr. Nathaniel Thayer proffered 
 the town a permanent fund of eight thousand dollars 
 the income of five thousand to be expended in the 
 purchase of books for the library, and that of the 
 remainder for the care of the public burial-grounds. 
 The trust was accepted at the next town-meeting with 
 grateful acknowledgments. At this date there had 
 been some discussion about the erection of a monu- 
 ment to those men of Lancaster who had given their 
 lives for their country during the Rebellion. It was 
 wisely decided at the town-meeting of April, 1866, that 
 the memorial should take the form of a useful public 
 building, with suitable tablets and inscriptions upon 
 its inner walls. The town voted the sum of five 
 thousand dollars for the erection of a library room, 
 to be known as Memorial Hall, provided an equal 
 amount should be obtained by private subscription 
 The building was completed and dedicated June 17, 
 1868, Rev. Christopher T. Thayer being the orator ol 
 the day, and Nathaniel Thayer presiding. The cost 
 of this memorial was nearly thirty thousand dollars, 
 of which Nathaniel Thayer defrayed nearly two- 
 thirds. 
 
 Hon. Francis B. Fay subscribed one thousand dol- 
 lars, and afterwards gave one hundred dollars more 
 for a clock. Colonel Fay had been a resident of the 
 town for about ten years, having built a mansion in 
 1859 upon the site now covered by the country-house 
 of E. V. R. Thayer. He was born in Southborough 
 June 12, 1793, had served in both branches of the 
 Legislature for Chelsea, of which city he was the 
 first mayor, and for a brief time was Representative 
 in Congress, being appointed by Governor Boutwell 
 to fill the unexpired term of Hon. Robert Rantoul, 
 deceased. He died in 1876. 
 
 George A. Parker presented the library with a 
 large collection of costly works relating to the fine 
 arts, selected by himself and valued at over five hun- 
 dred dollars, and gave seven hundred dollars for the 
 purchase of books of similar character. This en- 
 lightened benefaction of Mr. Parker claims the 
 
 gratitude of the community not only, nor chiefly, for 
 its munificence, but because it richly endowed a de- 
 partment which must otherwise have been meagrely 
 furnished, — affords the means for gratifying the love 
 of beauty, innate in all humanity, — combats utilita- 
 rianism and teaches refinement — exerts a humanizing 
 and exalting influence by appeals to hope and imagi- 
 nation from beyond the dry line of knowledge. The 
 nature of the gift discloses something of the charac- 
 ter of the donor, who was a man of broad intellect, 
 keen powers of observation and comprehensive views 
 upon measures of public utility. Extensive travtl 
 had developed in him cosmopolitan tastes, he had 
 acquired a wide acquaintance with English literature, 
 and his private collection of books was of choice 
 selection and the largest in the town. 
 
 George Alanson Parker was born May 9, 1822, at 
 Concord, N. H., one of thirteen children. Being 
 early thrown upon his own resources, he was forced 
 reluctantly to abandon cherished hopes of a classical 
 education, although fitted for entrance to Harvard 
 College, and began his life's work in the office of the 
 noted civil engineer, Loammi Baldwin. In 1842 he 
 opened an engineering oflSce in Charlestown, Mass., 
 associated with Samuel M. Felton, whose youngest 
 sister became his wife. Among other public works 
 in which he was engaged during this part of his 
 career were the surveys of the Filchburg, Peterboro' 
 and Shirley and Sullivan roads, and the building of 
 the Sugar Elver and Bellows Falls bridges. In the 
 spring of 1857 he came to Lancaster to reside. He 
 became the chief engineer for the Philadelphia, Wil- 
 mington and Baltimore Railway, and during a long 
 illness of President Felton was acting president of 
 the corporation. The building of the Susquehanna 
 Bridge at Havre de Grace, Md., was his most cele- 
 brated professional success, and one which gave him 
 a national reputation. In the earlier stages of its 
 construction he patiently overcame almost insuper- 
 able natural difficulties, and when the superstructure 
 was well advanced a tornado destroyed, in a few 
 moments, the labors of months. This terrible mis- 
 fortune be bore with cheerful fortitude, displaying 
 great fertility of expedient and fresh energy in the 
 reconstruction. During the Rebellion he was agent 
 of the government for supplying rolling-stock to the 
 roads used by the War Department. His latest work 
 was the building of the Zanesville and Ohio River 
 Railway. He was for many years consulting engineer 
 of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad corporation. He 
 freely gave his townsmen the benefit of his large ex- 
 perience and skill for the permanent improvement of 
 the public ways and bridges, and served them faith- 
 fully for three years in the Legislature. 
 
 Throughout a life of unusual activity and grave 
 responsibility never did his home in Lancaster fail 
 to give him peace, rest and inspiration for new work. 
 For Lancaster he always had a devoted affection, 
 and for her people a sincere regard, which displayed 
 
1 
 
LANCASTER. 
 
 39 
 
 itself in earnest and ready sympathy in time of need. 
 Though too busy a man to be greatly given to social 
 recreation, his hospitality was unbounded, and he was 
 one of the most entertaining and genial of hosts, the 
 most kindly and helpful of neighbors. He lived in 
 closest sympathy with Nature, having the tenderest 
 appreciation of every beauty in her realms of field, 
 forest and stream. In the marvelous order of the 
 seasons, in the development of animate and inani- 
 mate creation, he recognized the law and beneficence 
 of the Almighty and found confirmation of his strong 
 and abiding religious faith. By the roadsides and 
 within the borders of his own estate remain the ever- 
 growing evidence of his love for trees and his thought 
 for his children's children and the townspeople. 
 In the graceful outline and the grateful shade of a 
 stately tree he felt truly that to them who should 
 live after him he had left a kindly memory. 
 
 He died very suddenly April 20, 1887, before any 
 waning of bodily or mental vigor was discernible in 
 him, and before he had reached the span of life 
 allotted to man ; but he had done a full life-time's 
 work. Death came as he would have had it — in his 
 own home and when his earthly labors had found 
 successful conclusion, 
 
 Hon. George Bancroft, September 20, 1878, in 
 memory of kindness received in boyhood of ('apt. 
 Samuel Ward, asked the town to receive one thousand 
 dollars in trust, the income " to be expended year by 
 year for the purchase of boobs in the department of 
 history, leaving the word to be interpreted in the very 
 largest .sense." The trust was accepted with proper 
 expression of thanks, and is entitled the Bancroft 
 Library Fund, in memory of Capt. Samuel Ward. 
 The income of two thousand dollars, the bequest of 
 Rev. Christopher T. Thayer, who died in 1880, is also 
 available for the purchase of books. Special bequests 
 have been received from Mary Whitney, Deborah 
 Stearns, Sally Flagg, Mrs. Catherine (Stearn.s) Bal- 
 lard and Martha R. Whitney. Henry Wilder and 
 Dr. J. L. S. Thompson, by their intelligent interest 
 and zeal, secured valuable archfeological and natural 
 history collections, which are constantly increasing 
 by donations. 
 
 The library is more generously endowed with ex- 
 pensive and beautiful works on the natural sciences 
 and art than most public libraries of twice its size 
 and age. It is also rich in local history and bibliog- 
 raphy, as such a collection should be. The town 
 appropriates for its care and increase one thousand 
 dollars annually, besides the dog-tax, fines and sales 
 of duplicates — amounting to four or five hundred 
 dollars more. 
 
 The memorial hall, occupying the larger part of the 
 edifice, serves as a reading-room, contains shelving 
 for twenty thousand volumes, and a tablet upon which 
 are cut the names of the town's soldiers who died in 
 the war. A fire-proof room is used by town officers, 
 and contains the town records. The natural history 
 
 collections are displayed in an upper hall. The num- 
 ber of bound books is now twenty thousand ; of pam- 
 phlets, over ten thousand. About thirteen thousand 
 volumes were loaned during 1887 for home use, or an 
 average of twenty-nine for each family in town. The 
 management of the library and cemeteries is vested 
 in a committee of seven. Rev. George M. Bartol has 
 been chairman of this board from the first. Dr. J. L. 
 S. Thompson served as librarian, with the exception 
 of one year, until 1878, and Miss Alice G. Chandler 
 has held the office since that date. The original 
 building being already crowded by the growth of the 
 collections, extensive additions are in progress which 
 will more than quadruple the shelf capacity. The 
 cost of these improvements is assumed by the four 
 sons of Nathaniel Thayer, honoring their father's 
 generous interest in this noble institution, the pride 
 of the town. 
 
 There are six public burial-grounds in Lancaster, 
 all save one thickly set with the narrow homes of the 
 town's majority. The oldest is mentioned in 1658 as 
 " burying-place hill," and probably was set apart for 
 its purpose in 1653, being close by the site of the first 
 meeting-house. The oldest date legible is that upon 
 a stone marking the grave of the first John Houghton 
 — April 29, 1684. There are older memorial stones, 
 however, but undated. Among them are that of the 
 first John Prescott, 1683, and that of Dorothy, the 
 first wife of Jonathan Prescott, who died a year or 
 two before the massacre. The earliest stones are rude 
 slabs of slate, and the brief inscriptions, now almost 
 illegible, seem to have been incised by an ordinary 
 blacksmith's chisel in unskilled hands. The graves 
 of four of the earlier ministers — Whiting, Gardner, 
 Prentice and Harrington — are grouped together in 
 this yard. 
 
 The second burying-ground is that upon the Old 
 Common, opposite the site of the third church. The 
 land for this was given by the second Thomas Wilder, 
 probably in 1705. The third, called the North Ceme- 
 tery, as a town institution dates from 1800, but the 
 field had been used for burial purposes several years 
 earlier. 
 
 The Middle Cemetery contains about two acres, and 
 was purchased of Dr. Thayer and Hon. John Sprague 
 in 1798. The North Village Cemetery covers about 
 four acres, and was bought in 1855. Eastwood em- 
 braces forty-six acres, was purchased in 1871, accepted 
 as a cemetery in April, 1874, and dedicated October 
 12, 1876. The grounds are forest clad and naturally 
 beautiful, the highest elevations commanding exten- 
 sive views. They are laid out with winding drives 
 according to a plan made by H. W. S. Cleveland, 
 landscape architect, a native of Lancaster. All the 
 public burial-places are cared for by a special com- 
 mittee. The town's appropriation for' this purpose is 
 usually three hundred dollars, and the income of 
 seven special funds amounts to two hundred dollars 
 more. 
 
40 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 LANCASTER— (ai?///?:/*?^). 
 
 'flic nehellifin—The Town's Histonj Printed— The Town's Poor—Denth of 
 Nathaniel Thatjer^ General Statistics, Etc. 
 
 At the Presidential election of 1856 the vote of 
 Lancaster was : For John C. Fremont, 232 ; James 
 Buchanan, 35; Millard Fillmore, 10. The vote 
 of 1860 stood: For Abraham Lincoln, 183; Stephen 
 A. Douglas, 42; John Bell, 41. The men who thus 
 voted, when traitors appealed from the ballot-box to 
 the sword, were not tardy in defence of their convic- 
 tions. One of Lancaster's sons served in the Sixth 
 Regiment, in which was shed the first blood of the 
 Rebellion, in 1861, on the anniversary of the battle of 
 Lexington. The news of that bloodshed told every 
 village of the North that the bitterness of civil war 
 had begun. Monday evening, April 22d, a mass- 
 meeting of the citizens in Lancaster town-hall. Dr. 
 J. L. S. Thompson chairman, deliberated upon the 
 grave dangers threatening the republic. Enthusias- 
 tic patriotism ruled the assembly ; nor was it con- 
 tent with flamboyant resolutions only, but began 
 then and there the organization of a company for 
 the defence of the government. 
 
 This company, seventy-eight men, chiefly of Lan- 
 caster and Bolton, was called the Fay Light Guard, 
 in honor of Hon. Francis B. Fay, of Lancaster. It 
 was soon drilling under command of Thomas Sher- 
 win, captain-elect, and three weeks later joined the 
 Fifteenth Regiment, in camp at Worcester. With- 
 out any suflScient reason, alleged or apparent, the 
 Governor arbitrarily refused to commission the com 
 pany's chosen commander as captain, and the men, 
 in response, encouraged by the sympathy of the 
 whole camp, refused to be sworn in under the 
 stranger from another county set over them. The 
 company was therefore disbanded, when the rank 
 and file, almost without exception, enlisted in other 
 companies of the Fifteenth and Twenty-first Regi- 
 ments. They had received an outfit, and been paid 
 one dollar per day for all time spent in drill, at an 
 expense to the town of nearly one thousand dol- 
 lars. Before the end of August, 1861, forty volun- 
 teers represented Lancaster in the Union Army, and 
 before October closed, four of these slept their last 
 sleep on the banks of the Potomac, victims in the 
 defeat at Ball's Bluff". 
 
 Meetings for drill were held in the town;hall on 
 Monday evenings, in which many a volunteer who 
 afterwards did good service in the field received his 
 first lessons in the school of the soldier. Donations 
 of money, underclothing, etc., were solicited by a 
 citizens' comm.ittee, and, during the first winter of 
 the war, forwarded for distribution among the 
 town's soldiers. In July, 1862, systematic measures 
 were adopted for affording relief to the sick and 
 wounded. Frequent public meetings kept enthusi- 
 
 asm from flagging. Seventeen three-years' men 
 were demanded of the town, and were soon march- 
 ing with ^he Thirty-fourth Regiment. It was 
 voted, July '23d, to pay each recruit sworn in the sum 
 of one hundred dollars. Twenty-one nine-months' 
 men were called for in August, and entered the 
 camp of the Fifty-third, under Lieut. Edward R. 
 Washburn. 
 
 The Soldiers' Relief Association was formed Au- 
 gust 27, 1862, with Mrs. Harriet W. Washburn, presi- 
 dent, and Miss Elizabeth P. Russell, secretary and 
 treasurer. It soon became a branch of the Sanitary 
 Commission, held weekly meetings, which were uni- 
 formly well attended, and quietly accomplished a 
 vast amount of beneficent work. 
 
 In the calls of 1863 the town again offered one 
 hundred dollars bounty in addition to that promised 
 by State and national government, and her quota 
 was quickly filled, most of the recruits being as- 
 signed to the Thirty-fourth and Thirty-sixth Regi- 
 ments. In 1864 the premium was raised to one hun- 
 dred and twenty-five dollars, the maximum allowed 
 by law, and sundry substitutes were hired. As 
 news came from the great battle-fields one by one, 
 Lancaster learned that her sons were doing their 
 duty everywhere, and family after family mourned 
 their unreturning brave. Capt. George L. Thurston 
 came from the battle-ground of Shiloh, his constitu- 
 tion undermined by fatigue and exposure, to die 
 among his kindred. Capt. Edward R. Washburn 
 was brought from the bloody charge at Port Hudson 
 wilh a shattered thigh, to die at home within a year. 
 In the very last days of the struggle Col. Frank 
 Washburn fell mortally wounded, while leading a 
 desperate cavalry charge against an overwhelming 
 force of the enemy at High Bridge. 
 
 The following is a complete roster of those who 
 served for Lancaster : 
 
 Albee, John G., 53d (nine monthp), I ; 18 ; Oct. 18, '62 ; taken prisoner 
 at Thibod<iaux, La. ; ninstered out Sept. 2, '63. 
 
 Alexander, Natlianiel, IStli, C; 40; Dec. 17, '01 ; discliarged for dis- 
 ability Oct. 15, '62. 
 
 Atchlnsoo, William, 28th, A ; 22 ; Aug. 10, '63 ; mustered out June 30, 
 '65 ; a substitute for 0. L. Wilder, Jr. 
 
 Ayers, John t'urtis, 53d (nine months), I ; 25 ; Oct. 18, '62, as sergeant ; 
 ad lieut. May 22, '63 ; Ist lieut. July 2, '63 ; mustered out Sept. 2, 
 18li3. 
 
 Balcom, Charles H., 15th, C; 33; Dec. 14, '61 ; transferred to V. E. C. 
 April 15, '64 ; re-enlisted ; mustered out Nov. 14, '65. 
 
 Ball, Henry F., 4th C'av., V, ; 24 ; Dec. 31, '63 ; hospital steward Sept., 
 '64 ; mustered out Nov. 14, '65 ; credited to Clinton. 
 
 Bancroft, Frank Carter, ntias Henry T. Colter, 8th New Hampshire, A ; 
 17 ; Oct. 25, '61 ; drummer ; wovinded in ankle at Maryville, La., 
 May, "63 ; re-enlisted ; mustered out Oct. 28, '65. 
 
 Barnes, Frank W., U. S. Navy ; enlisted Sept. 15, '62, ou frigate '* Min- 
 nesota ; " discharged Sept., '63. 
 
 Barnes, George A., 16(h. C ; 18 ; cori>oral July 2, '61 ; sliot through foot 
 and taken prisoner at second battle of Bull's Run, Va., Aug. 20, '62 ; 
 discharged for wound Oct. 10, '62. 
 
 Beard, Jonas H., 25th, C ; 25; Sept. 28, '61 ; re-enlisted; wounded in 
 hip at Cold Harbor, Va., June 3, '64 ; mustered out July 13, '65. 
 
 Bell, John, 2d C'av, ; 26 ; May 7, '64 ; unassigned recruit ; a non-resi- 
 dent substitute. 
 
 Blgelow, William W., 26th, D ; 21 ; Sept. 27, '61 ; taken prisoner in 
 N. C. ; discharged for disability March IS, '63. 
 
LANCASTEK. 
 
 41 
 
 Bergman, Albert, 3d Cav. ; 26 ; July 2, '64 ; a non-resident substitute. 
 Blood, Charles E., 34th, H ; 21 ; Dec. 19, '0:i ; transferred June 14, V.5. 
 
 tu 'Jltti, G ; sergfant ; mustered out Jan. 20, 'GG. 
 Bridge, James A., 34th, H ; Pec. 19, V.3 ; shirt in forehead at Nf wniarket, 
 
 Va., Mii.v !■'>, '64, and died of wound. 
 Brooks, Walter A., 53d (nine months), I ; •^5 ; Oct. 18, '02 ; corporal; 
 
 died at Memphis, Tenn., Aug. 22, '63. 
 Brown, Jonas II., 34th, H ; 41 ; July 31, '62 ; mustered out June 16, 'r-5. 
 Burbank, Levi B., 34th, H ; 43 ; July 31, '62 ; discliarged for disability 
 
 Feb. 27, '64. 
 Burditt, Charles F., 3);th ; 43 ; Dec. 26, '03 ; uiiaRsigned and rejected le- 
 
 cniit ; a veteran of the Florida war. 
 Burditt, Thomas E., 2uth, D ; 22 ; Sept. 4, '61 ; mustered out Sept. 14, 
 
 1864. 
 Burke, James E., 2l6t, E ; 26 ; Aug. 23, '61 ; killed at Chantilly, Sept. 1, 
 
 1S62. 
 Carr, William D., 13th New Hampshire, (i ; 40 ; Sept. 19, '62; corporal ; 
 
 wtiurnled by shell Bluy 13, '64, and dietl of wound June 2n, '64. 
 rhafee, Cieorge E., r>3d (nine months), I ; 35 ; Oct. 18, '62 ; taken pris- 
 oner at Brashear City, La , June 20, '63 ; mustered out Sept. 2, '63. 
 Chandler, Frank W., 53d (nine months), I ; IS ; Oct. 18, '62 ; mustered 
 
 out Sept. 2, '63. 
 Chaplin, Solun W., 34th, H ; 38 ; Jdly 31, 'i;2 ; rulur corporal ; killedat 
 
 Piedmont, Va., ,lune 5, '64, by shell. 
 Clinton, Joseph, 2d, I ; 22 ; May 7, '64 ; mustered out July 14, '65 ; a 
 
 non-resident substitute. 
 Cobb, William L., 3-lth, H ; 22 ; 2d lieut. July 18, '62 ; let lieut. Aug. 
 
 23, '62 ; wounded in forehead at Ripen, Va., Oct. IS, '63 ; taken 
 
 prisoner at Cedar Creek, Va , Oct. 13, '64 ; capt. Feb. 18, '65 ; mus 
 
 tered out May 15, '65, as 1st lieut. 
 Coburn, George B., 34th, II ; IS ; July 31, '62 ; shot through foot, acci- 
 
 deutally, before Petersburg, and discharged therefor May 16, '65. 
 Coburn, Cyrus E., 5th (one hundred days), I ; 21 ; July 19, '64 ; mus- 
 tered out Nov. 16, '64. 
 Copeland, Joseph, 15th, D ; 21 ; April 29, '64 ; transferred to 2i_»tb, E, 
 
 July 27, '64; died a prisoner at Salisbury, N. C, Dec. 21, '64; a 
 
 substitute. 
 Ooyle, John, 2d Cav., H ; 22 ; May T, '64 ; a non-resident substitute. 
 Cutler, George W., 15th, C; 22; July 12, '61 ; shot through head at 
 
 liall's Bluff, Va., Oct. 21, '61. 
 Outler, Isaac N., 15th, C ; 20 ; July 12, '61 ; severely wounded iu left 
 
 ankle at Antietam, Md., Sept. 17, '62, and discharged therefor March 
 
 20, '63. 
 Cutler, Henry .\., 53d (nine months), I ; 18 ; Oct. IS, '62 ; died at Baton 
 
 Rouge, La., July 9, '63. 
 Dailoy, James, 3Uh, H ; 18 ; July 31, '62 ; mustered out June 16, '65. 
 Damon, Daniel M., 34th, H ; 25 ; July 31, '62 ; 1st sergt. ; taken pris- 
 oner at Winchester Sei)t. 19, '64 ; 2d lieut. May 15, '65 ; mustered 
 
 out June 16, 'ii.">, as 1st sergt. 
 Davidson, Thomas H., 15th, A ; 25 ; July 12, '61 ; discharged for dis- 
 ability April 25, '62. 
 Davis, George W., 13tli Battery L. A. ; 23 ; April 6, '64 ; mustered out 
 
 July 28, '65; a non-resident substitute. 
 Day, Joseph N., 34tb, H ; 22 ; Jan. 4, '64 ; wovnided in head at Win- 
 chester, Va., Sept. 19, "64 ; transferred to 24th, G, June 14, '65, 
 
 and to V. It. C. May 2, '65 ; discharged July 25, '65. 
 Dillon, James, 3Uh, H ; 26 ; July 31, '62 ; discharged for disability April 
 
 7, '63, and died at home 3Iay 10, *63, of consumption. 
 Divoll, George W.. 7th Battery L. A. ; 37 ; Jan. 5, '64 ; died at New 
 
 (irleans, La., Sept. 21, '64 ; credited to Leominster. 
 Dupee, John, 33d, E ; 36 ; July 2, '64 ; transferred to 2d, A, June 1, 
 
 '65 ; mustered out July 14, '65 ; a non-resident substitute. 
 Eldon, Henry H., V. S. Signal Corps ; 23 ; Dec. 2, '64 ; a non-resident 
 
 substitute. 
 Ellis, Warren, 15th, F ; 20 ; July 12, '61 ; wounded at Antietam, Md., 
 
 Sei>t. 17, '62 ; transferred to U. S. Signal Corps Oct. 27, '63. 
 Fahay, Bartholet, 15th Unattached Co. (one hundred days) ; 21 ; July 
 
 29, '64 ; nnistered out Nov. 15, '64. 
 Fairbanks, Francis H., 15th, C ; 25 ; July 12, '61 ; discharged for dis 
 
 ability April 10, '62 ; re-enlisted in 34th, H, July 31, '62 ; taken 
 
 prisoner at Cedar Cret^k, Va., Oct., '64, and died at Salisburj', N. C, 
 
 Jan, 4, '65. 
 Fairbanks, Charles T., 1st New Hampshire Inf. (three months), F ; 
 
 23; May 2, '61; mustered out Aug. 9, '61; re-enlisted in N. H. 
 
 Batt. of N. E. Cav. Sept. 15, '62 ; shot through body June 18, 'G;i, 
 
 and died the next day. 
 Farnsworth, John A., 34th, H ; IS ; July 31, '62; corporal; wounded 
 
 3i 
 
 in arm at Piedmont June o, '64 ; discharged for disability May 18, 
 )R0.5. 
 
 Farnswortli, Franjilin H., l.ith, C; i;i ; July 12, 'Gl ; killed at Fair 
 llaks. Va., May 31, '62. 
 
 Farnsworth, (ieorge W., 34th, H ; IS ; Jan. 4, '61 ; wounded in head at 
 Piedmont, .lune o, '64 ; discharged for dieahility June 8, 'ft5. 
 
 Farn.9»orth, John E., 34th, H ; 18 ; July 31, '62 ; corporal ; wounded 
 in leg at Newmarket May 1^, '64 ; in arm and hip at Winchester 
 Sept. 19. '64 ; mustered out June Iti, '6.5. 
 
 Farnswiuth, William H., Vth, B; June !.■;, '61. 
 
 Field, Edwin F., 2l8t, E ; 29 ; Aug. 23, '61 ; sergt. ; 2d lieut. Dec. 18, 
 '62 ; resigned May 8, '63. 
 
 Finnesey, James, 42d New York, K ; 21 ; corporal ; Aug. 9, '61 ; sergt., 
 transferred to .'i9th N. Y. ; mustered out .\nguBt 5, '64 ; died at In- 
 dianapolis c let. in, '64. 
 
 Fisher, William H., 53d (nine months), I ; 18 ; tict. 18, '62 ; mustered 
 out Sept. 2, '63. 
 
 Flagg, Albert, 53d, K ; IS ; Oct. 17, '62 ; mustered out Sept. 2, '63. 
 
 Flagg, Charles B. , 34th, A ; 23; June 2.3, '62 ; mustered out June 16, 
 1865. 
 
 Fox, William L,, 21st, E; 19; August '23, '61 ; corporal; wounded in 
 arm at t'hantilly Sept. 1, '62 ; re-enlisted Jan. 2, '64 ; sergt.; dis- 
 charged ;is supernumerary Sept. 24, '64. 
 
 Fox, Thomas, Uth Battery L. A. ; 18 ; Dec. 23, '64 ; mustered out June 
 16, '65 ; aaubstilute. 
 
 Frary, Oscar, 53d (nine months), I ; .30 ; Oct. 18, '62 ; died at Baton- 
 Rouge, La., July 28 ; '63. 
 
 Fuller, Edward M, 34th, F ; 20; corporal; Aug. 9, '62; appointed 
 capt. in 39lh U. S C. T. March 21, '64; maj. U. S. 0. T. June 1, 
 '65; mustered out Dtc, '65; wounded in head at Petersburg July 
 30, '64. 
 
 Fury, Michael, 34th, II ; 26 ; July 31, '02 ; wounded in leg at Piedmont 
 June 5, '64 ; mustered out August 6, '65. 
 
 Goodwin, John, 2d Cavalry, L ; IS ; Sept. 13, '64 ; a non-resident sub- 
 stitute. 
 
 Gould, John, V. S. Navy ; /enlisted August, '62, on supply steamer 
 "Rhode Island." 
 
 Gray, Stephen W , .34tli, H ; 30; July 31, '62; died at Martinsburg, 
 Va., April 2, '64. 
 
 Gray, James M., I5th, C; 23; July 12, '61 ; discharged for disability 
 Feb. 16, '63. 
 
 Hardy, George H., 21st, D ; 21 ; Aug. 23, '61 ; corporal ; wounded in leg 
 at Roanoke Island Feb. 7, '62 ; re-enlisted Jan. 2, '64, and trans- 
 ferred to 36th, I ; wounded in body at Petersburg, Va., June 1, '64 ; 
 transferred to 56th June 8, '65; mustered out July 12, '65; 
 credited to Harvard and Leominster. 
 
 HarriiUHU, Harris C, 53d (nine months), I ; 33 ; Oct. 18, '62 ; wounded 
 by shell in leg at Port Hudson, La., June 14, '62 ; mustered out 
 Sept. 2, '63. 
 
 Haynes, John C, 36th, G ; 29 ; Jan. 2, '64 ; diedat Camp Nelson, Ky., 
 March l:i, '64. 
 
 Hills, 'rhomas Augustus, 53d (nine months), C ; 21 ; Nov. 6, '62 ; mus- 
 tered out Sept. 2, '63 ; enlisted in 5tll (one hundred days) July 22, 
 '64 ; mustered out Nov. 16, '64. as sergt ; credited to Leominster . 
 
 llodgman, Oren, 34th, C ; 19; July 31, '62 ; taken prisoner at New- 
 market, Va., May 15, '64, and died at Charleston, S. C, Sept. 30, 
 1864. 
 
 Horan, Fordyce, 15th, A ; 20 ; Dec. '24, '61 ; transferred to Ist U. S. 
 Artillery, Co. I, Nov. 17, '62 ; died at Washington Nov. 3, '64. 
 
 Hosley, Henry H., 15th, C ; 18 ; July 12, '61 ; transferred Nov. 12, '62, 
 to Ist U. S. Artillery, I; mustered out July 12, '64 ; credited to 
 Townsend. 
 
 Hunting. Albert G., 16th, B ; 19 ; July 2, '61 ; killed at Fair Oaks June 
 25, '64 ; credited to Holliston. 
 
 Hunting, Joseph W.. 16th, B ; 22 ; July *2, '61 ; mustered out July 27, 
 '64 ; credited to Holliston. 
 
 Hunting, Thomas A. G., 34lh, H ; 45 ; July 31, '62 ; shot through the 
 body and taken prisoner at Piedmont, Va., June 5, '64 ; discharged 
 for disability May 23, '65. 
 
 Jackson, David W., 53d (nine months), I ; 33 ; Oct. 18, '62 ; mustered 
 out Sept. 2, '63. 
 
 James, John, 53d (nine months), I ; 21 ; Oct. 18, '62 ; mustered out 
 Sept. 2, '63. 
 
 Johnson, Adelbert W., 15th, C ; 23 ; July 12, 'CI ; discharged for dis- 
 ability May, '62 ; enlisted in 53d, Nov. 6, '62, from Leominster ; 
 wounded in knee at Port Hudson, La., and died at Baton Rouge 
 July 11, '63. 
 
42 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY. MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Joslyn, EiiwarJ R., 13th Illinois, B ; 21 ; enlisted at Sterling, 111., May 
 24, '61 ;'talveu piisuiitT May 17, '64, and died at St. Louis, SIo., April 
 13, '05. 
 Kelly, Martin, 60tli New York, II; 20; enlisted at Ogilenslnirg, N. 
 Y., Oct. 17, '61 ; corporal ; I'o-enlisted Dec. 14, '63 ; muatered out 
 July 17, '65. 
 Kern, John, 2d Heavy Artillery ; 22 ; July 2, '04 ; a non-rt*sident suh- 
 
 stituto. 
 Keyes, Sunnier W., fith (one huinired days), I ; 21 ; July 19, '64 ; mus- 
 tered out Nov. 16, 'G4. 
 Keyes, Stephen A., 53d (nine niontliB), K ; IS ; Oct. 17, '62 ; died and 
 
 buried at sea off FUirida Aug. 10, '63. 
 Kilburn, Sumner R.. 15th, ; 18 ; July 12, '01 ; re-enliBted Feb. IS, '64 ; 
 wounded in Wilderness, Ya., 3Iay 6, '04, and died at Fredericksburg 
 May 16, '64. 
 Kingsbury, Joseph \V., Ififh, A ; 18 ; Aug. 1, '61 ; taken prisoner and 
 
 discharged for dinability Nov. 27, 'C2. 
 Kittredge, Solomon, ]5tli, C ; 42 ; Dec. 17, 'Gl ; transferred May 1, '62, 
 
 to V. 11, C. ; re-enlisted July 1, '64; innstered out Nov. 14, '05. 
 Krum, John, 35Hi, K ; 24 ; Juno 29, '64 ; transferred to 29th, K, 
 
 June 9, '05 ; a non-resident substitute. 
 Langley, James, 2d Cavalry ; 22 ; May 7, '04 ; a non-resident sub- 
 stitute. 
 Lawrence, Sewell T., i!3d, H ; 31 ; Oct. 5, 'Gl ; discharged for disability 
 
 Aug. 11, '62; credited to Clinton. 
 Lawrence, Willard K., 15th, C ; 28 ; July 12, 'Gl ; shot thruugli body 
 
 and killed at Ball's Bluff, Va., Oct. 21, '61. 
 Leioy , Frank B., 57th, C ; 18 ;lFeb. IS, '04 ; mustered out June 22, '65 ; 
 
 a non-resident substitute. 
 SlcCarron, William, 3d Heavy Artillery, L ; 23 ; Btay 30, 'G4 ; discharged 
 
 for disability Sei)t. 3o, '64 ; a non-resident substitute. 
 McKay, William S., 3d Cavalry, A ; 24 ; April 8, '04 ; sergt. ; sorgt. 
 major July 26, '05 ; mustered out Sept. 28, '65 ; a non-resident 
 substitute. 
 McQuillan, Charles E., 2l8t, E ; 20 ; Aug. 23, 'Gl ; corporal ; wovuided 
 at Antietam, Sept., '02 ; transferred to 2d U. S. Cavalry, K, Oct. 30, 
 '62 re-enlisted in Hancock's V. S. Vet. Vols. Dfc. 0, '64 ; mus- 
 tered out Dec. 0, '05. 
 McRell, Ephraim, U. S. Navy ; IS ; enlisted Aug. 26, '(i3 ; served one 
 
 year, chieHy on gunboat "Nipsic " in Cliarleston blockade. 
 McRell, William J., U. S. Navy ; 21; enlisted Aug. 12, '62; wounded 
 by concuBsion of shell Feb. 1, '63, at Stone Inlet, S. V. ; taken 
 prisoner. 
 Mahar, Dennis, 21st, B ; 21 ; Aug. 23, '61 ; discharged for disability 
 
 Jan. 10, '63 ; claimed also by Clinton. 
 Mann, George C, 15th, F ; 21 ; July 12, 'Gl ; taken prisoner at Ball's 
 Bluff, Va., Oct. 21, '61 ; wounded in right leg at tjlottysburg, July 
 2, '63 ; mustered out July 28, '04. 
 SlatthewB, David W., 34tb, II ; 20 ; Sept. 19, '03 ; transferred to 24th 
 
 June 14, '65 ; mustered out to date from Jan. 20, *60. 
 Matthews, George W., 34th, 11 ; 18; Sept. 10, '03 ; wounded in leg at 
 Newmarket, Va., May 15, '04 ; taken prisoner at Liberty, W. Va., 
 Juno 17, '04, and in Andersonville prison ; discharged for disability 
 June 1, '65. 
 Mayo, John, 2d, G ; 24 ; July 2, '04 ; a non-resident substitute. 
 Mellor, William H., 34th, 11 ; 18 ; July 31, '62 ; transferred to V. R. C. 
 
 Jan. 19, '65. 
 Miller, Frank, 2d Heavy Artillery, A ; 27 ; July 2, '04 ; died at New 
 
 Berne, N. C, May 12, '65; a non-resident substitute. 
 Moeglen, John Louis, 20th, A; over 50 ; discharged for disability April 
 29, '62 ; enlisted in 2d Cavalry, M, Feb. 2, '04; died Sept. 2S, '64, of 
 a bullet wound in Shenandoah Valley. 
 Monyer, John, 2d Cavalry ; 35 ; Dec. 27, '04 ; a non-resident sub- 
 stitute. 
 Jloore, Joseph B., 53d (nine inonthB), I ; 38 ; Oct. 18, '02 ; wounded in 
 
 head May 27, '63, at Port Hudson, La. ; mustered out Sept. 2, '03, 
 Moore, Oliver W., V. R. C. ; 20 ; July 21, '04, on re-enlistment ; mus- 
 tered out Nov. 17, '05 ; a non-resident substitute. 
 Moses, Robert R., 15th, C ; 24 ; Dec. 17, '01 ; shot through lungsat An- 
 tietam Sept. 17, and died Oct. 3, '02. 
 Murphy, William F., 32d, D ; Sept. 7, 'G3 ; transferred to U. S. Navy 
 
 May 3, '64 ; a non-resident substitute for E. W. Hosmer. 
 Neu, Louis, 2d Heavy Artillery, A ; 22 ; July 2, '04 ; died Nov. 22, '64. 
 
 at Plymovith, N. C. ; a non-reaident substitute. 
 Nourse, Byron H., 63d (nine months), I ; 24 ; Oct. 18, '02, as sergt ; 1st 
 sergt. Jan. 22, '63 ; mustered out Sept. 2, '63. 
 
 Nourse, Roscoe H., 53d (nine mouths), I; 22 ; Oct. 18, '62 ; drummer ; 
 mustered out Sept. 2, '63 ; etdisted in 5th (one hundred days), E, 
 July 22, '04 ; mustered out Nov.* 10, '64. 
 Nourse, Henry S., 55th Illiiiois ; 30 ; enlisted in Chicago Oct. 23, '61 ; 
 commissioned adjutant March 1, '02 ; capt. Co. H, Dec. 10, '62; 
 commissary of mustt-rs 17th A. C. Oct, 24, '64 ; mustered out March 
 29, '05. 
 Xonrse, Frank E., 51st (nine uionths), ; 21 ; Sept. 25, '02 ; nnistered 
 
 out July 27, '03. 
 Nourse, Fred. F., r.th (one hundred days), E ; 21 ; July 22, '04, died at 
 
 New Brunswick, N. J., Sej)!. 13, '04. 
 O'Brien, Michael, 2Sth, 23 ; May 7, '64 ; a non-resident substitute, 
 ollis, John, let Heavy Artillery ; IS; corporal ; Dec. 3, '63 ; wounded 
 in foot by shell at Petersburg, Va., June 22, '64 ; mustered out July 
 31, '05. 
 Ollis, Luke, 21st, E ; 19 ; Aug. 23, '61 ; transferred to 2d U. S. Cav., 
 Co, K, Oct. 23, '02 ; re-enlisted and died of wound in Shenatnluah 
 Valley Oct. 13, '04. . 
 Otis, Edwin A., olst (nine months), C ; 19 ; Sept. 26, '62 ; mustered out 
 
 July 27, '03. 
 Parker, Leonard H., 30th ; 21 ; Dec. 29, '63 ; mustered out June 8, '65- 
 I'arker, Henry J., fith (three months), B; 25 ; Juno 19, '01 ; enlisted in 
 33d, E, August 5, '62 ; 1st sergt. ; sergt.-maj. Feb. 18, '63 ; 2d lieut. 
 March 20, '63; Istlieut. July 10, '63; killed at Kesaca, Ga., May 
 15, '64 ; credited to Tt)wnsend, 
 l*atrick, George H., 53d (nine months)^ I; 19; Oct. IS, '62 ; mustered 
 out Sept. 2, '63 ; enlisted in 36th, G, Oct. 14, '64 ; transferred to 56th, 
 E, June y, '05 ; mustered out Aug. 7, '05. 
 Plaisted, Simon M., 5Ist (nine months), E ; 24; Sept. 25, '62; mustered 
 out July 27, '63; enlisted in Ist Heavy Artillery, F, Aug. 15, '04, 
 corporal ; mustered out June 28, '65. 
 IMerce, William D., 5th (nine months), I ; 23 ; Sept. 16, '62 ; nnistered 
 
 out July 2, '63 ; credited to Bolton. 
 Pierce, Frank E., 2lBt, E ; 20 ; Aug. 23, '01; transferred to 2d U. S. 
 
 Cavalry, K. Oct. 23, 'G2 ; re-enlisted Feb. 29, '64. 
 Pierce, Edward, 35th, B ; 21 ; June 20, '64; transferred to 20th, B, 
 
 June 9. '05; a non-resident substitute. 
 Priest, Henry S., 7th Battery L. A. ; 25 ; Jun. 4, '04 ; discharged. 
 Puffer, Charles, 26th, E ; 41 ; Aug. 9, '04 ; mustered out Aug. 26, '05. 
 Putney, Henry M., 45th (nine niontlis), F; Sept, 20, '62; shot through 
 
 head at Dover Croas-Hoads, N, C, April 28, '03. 
 Rice, Walter C, 63d (nine months), I ; 45 ; Oct. 18, '02 ; mustered out 
 
 Sept. 2, 'G3. 
 Richards, Elienezer W., 2l8t, E; 35; Aug. 23, '01 ; killed at Freder- 
 icksburg, Va., Dec. 13, '02, by a shell. 
 Richards, George K., IGth, C; 30; Nov. 25, 'lil ; tmnaferred to V. R. C. 
 
 Aug. 11, '03 ; re-eiiiieted Nov. 30, '04 ; mustered out Nov. 14, '65. 
 Bobbins, William H., 2lst, A ; 39; in baud and mustered out Aug. 11, 
 
 1862. 
 Ross, William, 2d Cavalry, H ; 27 ; May 7, "04; a non-resident substi- 
 tute. 
 Rugg, James, 53d (nine nionllis), K; 42; Oct. 17, '02; mustered out 
 
 Sept. 2, '03. 
 Rugg, Henry H., 15th, C; 21; July 12, '01; wounded in shoulder at 
 Ball's Bluff, Va., Oct. 21, '01, and discharged therefor May 1, '62 ; 
 enlisted in 53d (nine months) Oct. 17, '02, and in 42d (one hundred 
 days) July 22, '64 ; mustered out June 16, '65. 
 Sawtelle, Edwin, 53d (nine months), I ; 24 ; Oct. 18, '02 ; mustered out 
 
 Sept. 2, '03. 
 Sawyer, Oliver B., 21st, E ; 21 ; Aug. 23, '61 ; discharged for disiibilily 
 June 30, '62; enlisted in 4i)th, B, Aug. 22, '62; mustered out Juno 
 10, 1805. 
 Schuniaker, William, 4th Cavalry, E; 21; Jan. 27, '64; died a jirisuner 
 
 at Andersonville, (!a., Sept. 13, '64, 
 Sheary, Patrick, 34th, H ; 28; Jan. 5, '04 ; transferred to 24th, Co. G, 
 
 June 14, '05; mustered out Jan. 20, '60. 
 Sinclair, Charles H., 21st, E ; 21 ; Aug. 23, '01 ; Killed at New Berne, 
 
 N. C, March 14, '(;2 ; credited to Leominster. 
 Smith, John, 2Sth, D; 23; May 7, '64; mustered out June 15, '65; a 
 
 non-resident substitute. 
 Smith, William, 28th ; 25 ; May 7, '64 ; a non-resident substitute. 
 Suuth, William, 13th Battery L. A. ; 22 ; April 8, '04 ; mustered out 
 
 July 28, '65. 
 Sweet, Caleb W., 23d, H ; 23 ; Sept. 28, '61 ; re-enlisted Dec. 3, '63 ; 
 wounded and taken prisoner at Drewry's llhiff, Va., 3Iay lo, (14 
 and died at Richmond Aug. 3, '64. 
 
LANCASTER. 
 
 42a 
 
 FRANCIS WASHBURN. 
 
 In the month of April, 1838, John M. Washburn, 
 then a merchant on the eve of retiring from business, 
 removed from Boston to Lancaster, and in the July 
 following his third son, Francis, was born. Bringing 
 into his life and character, as an inheritance from his 
 Puritan ancestors, an integrity of purpose and an in- 
 domitable will, it seemed from his childhood that he 
 was born to be a leader of men. Of a nature somewhat 
 reserved, though deeply imbued with the spirit of 
 tenderness for a few, his boyhood was not one of 
 numerous friendships, nor was be in manhood a 
 seeker for popular favor. From the academy of his 
 native town he went, at the age of sixteen years, to 
 serve a regular term in the Lawrence Machine Shop, 
 that he might know his work from the beginning 
 and become a master of the details of practical en-, 
 gineering. From Lawrence he went to the Scientific 
 School at Cambridge, and in 1859 to the famous 
 school of mining and engineering at Freiburg, in 
 Saxony. He became an accomplished student in these 
 subjects, determined to fully equip himself for the 
 important positions which were already awaiting his 
 acceptance on his return, .lesse Boult, of San Fran- 
 cisco, who was one of his fellow-students at Freiburg, 
 says of him that he was regarded then as a young 
 man of the highest intellectual powers, and sure of a 
 very brilliant future. 
 
 When, in 1880-61, the storm that now seems so far 
 from us, began to blacken in our civil sky, he wrote 
 " I must hasten my return. If the war comes I shall 
 sail at once." When the storm broke upon the cnuntry 
 he said, " I will take a commission if it is offered ; I 
 will go as a private soldier at all events." He came 
 home to find a commission already promised, but also 
 to find that his father was languishing in fatal dis- 
 ease, which was rapidly hastening towards its termina- 
 tion. Restrained, therefore, by filial solicitude and 
 dnty, from immediately proceeding to the field, 
 he now studied the arts of war with the same 
 fidelity with which he had devoted himself to those 
 of peace. 
 
 In December, 18(il, his' commission came, and with 
 it orders to proceed at once to duty. His only regret 
 in receiving it was that it came one day too late to 
 receive his father's sanction. Waiting only to pay 
 the last tribute of honor and affection, he reported 
 for duty and was mustered as a second lieutenant in 
 the First Kegiment of Massachusetts Cavalry, then 
 in camp at Reedville. The history of this distin- 
 guished regiment is part of that of the war and need 
 not be dwelt upon here. 
 
 He was successively captain in the Second, and 
 lieutenant-colonel in the Fourth Cavalry, and, on 
 the resignation of Colonel Rand, was, in February, 
 I8(i5, commissioned as colonel, which position beheld 
 until and at the time of his death. 
 
 Though constantly in the service, and often em- 
 
 ployed in difSeult and dangerous cavalry service. 
 Colonel Washburn escaped any injury till his last 
 engagement, and was seldom, if ever, off duty by 
 reason of sickness. After the death of his brother. 
 Captain Edward Richmond Washburn, who died of 
 wounds received at the first assault on Port Hudson, 
 La., he made two brief visits to his home. He was 
 always considerate in asking leave of absence, feeling 
 that such privileges were more valuable and more 
 due to brother officers who had left wives and chil- 
 dren behind them. Nor was he less considerate of 
 the men under his command. At the time of his 
 last visit he said earnestly and with a strong sense 
 of justice: " If I die on the field, you must leave me 
 there. The men in my regiment have just as much 
 to live for as I have: their death will bring equal 
 sorrow to their homes ; the officer is no more than 
 his men. Buried where they fell, so let it be 
 with me." 
 
 He was mortally wounded in the brilliant and 
 chivalrous engagement at High Bridge, Va., the last 
 in the war, on April (i, 1865. This was one of those 
 forlorn hopes, in which it became the duty of a 
 small, well-disciplined and gallant band to make a 
 stand against the flower of the Confederate Army, in 
 its retreat from Richmond. The orders were not 
 wholly clear ; but the purport of them was to hold 
 back the retreating army to the last possiljle mo- 
 ment. 
 
 Whether these orders were wisely and judiciously 
 given may not now properly be ini|uired; but hi.story 
 tells that they were executed with a firmness and 
 valor unsurpassed in the annals of ancient or modern 
 times. The odds were too great to be computed. 
 Colonel Washburn charged the enemy with an intre- 
 pidity and ert'ectiveness which called out their ex- 
 pressed admiration on the field and in their subse- 
 ipient accounts of the engagement. The orders were 
 literally and fearlessly obeyed, and the enemy was 
 held back till every officer of the command had been 
 killed, wounded or made a prisoner. The courage 
 and gallantry displayed in this action were noted by 
 the highest officers of the army, and Colonel Wash- 
 burn was, at the request of Lieutenant-General 
 Grant, commissioned as a brevet brigadier-general 
 for gallant and meritorious services. 
 
 The actual hand-to-hand encounters of sabre with 
 sabre, as well as the actual crossing of hostile bayo- 
 nets, were rare in our Civil War, us in most of the 
 wars of history. But in this action men fought 
 hand-to-hand. An accomplished swordsman, this 
 brave officer had already disarmed one antagonist, 
 and was engaged with another, when he received a 
 pistol-shot from the first. After this he received the 
 blow of the sabre which proved fatal, fracturing the 
 skull. And. thus, by bullet and sabre-stroke, his 
 magnificent physique, but not his dauntless spirit, 
 was conquered. 
 
42b 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHTTSBTTS. 
 
 The untiring devotion of one' who had with equal 
 faithfulness performed the same loving service for 
 his brother Edward, brought Ool. Washburn from the 
 field of battle to the house of his brother, Hon. John 
 D. Washburn, of Worcester. He had hoped to reach 
 the home of his childhood, and this was all the hope 
 that could be counted as rea.sonable, since from the 
 first the complication of his wounds rendered recov- 
 ery almost impossible. His strength proved, however, 
 unequal to the full journey. Not on the field, nor in 
 the hospital and among strangers, but in the presence 
 of tliose he loved, and in his brother's home, he died 
 at the early age of twenty-six, on the 22d of April, 
 18(i5. So gave himself a willing sacrifice in his 
 country's cause, this young and noble citizen, whose 
 name has been and will ever be honored at home, and 
 to whom, for his known purity of character and brave 
 and chivalrous deeds, has been accorded from abroad 
 the well-merited appellation, "The White Knight ol 
 Modern Chivalry." 
 
 The following tribute to that heroic battalion 
 of the Fourth Massachusetts Cavalry and their gallant 
 leader appeared in the yew Yoi-k Evening Post fif- 
 teen years after their desperate charge on the memor- 
 able ()th of April, 1865. Its repetition here may serve 
 as a fitting close to this sketch of one of many modest 
 heroes, who bravely dared, patiently endured and 
 nobly died in defense of their country's life and 
 honor. 
 
 (ioi! givL' UK and our cliiMieirs rhililrni grace 
 To own the tlebt, aucl pri/c tiie heritage 
 Thus tiuhly Si-aled iu bluuil. 
 
 THK CllARnH Oh' "TlIK KOUKTU CAVAl.ia.' 
 
 UKUrrATK.U rti I'liUSK WUO FELl, UN 'I'UF. SEMIi OF M'KII,, l^<Li6. 
 
 [The fourth Massachusetts Cavalry, or rather a 
 small portion of its rank and file, but with most ol 
 its field and staff officers, and led by its Colonel, 
 Francis Washburn, formed part of the advance 
 which, to use Geiioral Grant's words in his last gen- 
 eral report of the war, " heroically attacked and de- 
 tained the head of Lee's column near Farmville, Va., 
 until its commanding general was killed and his 
 small force overpowered." Less than a thousand 
 men, all told, without any artillery, held in check for 
 a considerable time, when every moment almost was 
 worth an empire, a rebel force outnumbering them 
 ten to one. Of the twelve Fourth Cavalry officers 
 who went into the fight eight were killed and wounded, 
 including their gallent leader. He lived to reach his 
 home, and died in his mother's arms.] 
 
 IThe UiteDr. Ileurv II. Fullt-r. 
 
 Onward they dash : 
 
 It mattered not the toilsome march, 
 Tlie foeman's cannon crash ; 
 
 Their souls were in their swords, 
 Their steed beneath one throb : 
 
 Onward they charge. 
 The grave's disdain to rob ! 
 
 Many or few ? 
 
 "Six hundred? " nay ; that were a host 
 Besides this band so true. 
 
 Four score of trusty arms 
 Against an army lined. 
 
 Ah ! weep with us 
 The comrades left behind ! 
 
 I see them still : 
 
 Down deep ravine, then up " to form " 
 On battle-shaken hill ; 
 
 One word is all enough, 
 One waving blade their light 
 
 Into the hordes 
 Of rebel-raging fight. 
 
 He at their head 
 
 A knight, a paladin of old, 
 A hero — honor led. 
 
 And tibered with the faith 
 Of ages won to God — 
 
 O what to him 
 The soaked and waiting sod ! 
 
 O sweet is it 
 
 For love of land to do and die ; 
 The heart-strings heaven-knit, 
 
 Relaxed from tensest strain 
 Upon his arm to rest 
 
 In whom alone 
 Is earthly conflict blest ! 
 
 And shall not we — 
 
 Survivors of the martyred brave, 
 By tears and blood made free — 
 
 Give what they gladly gave 1 
 Yes ! by the loved and lost, 
 
 Jlost sacred hold 
 (.)ur country's priceless cost. 
 
 A. ■/.. li 
 

 GEN 1- FRANCIS WASHBURN. 
 
LANCASTER. 
 
 43 
 
 Suuveur, Charles L., 2Gtb, 21 ; May 7, 'G-1 ; a non-resident substitnte. 
 Sjkes, Eilvvin, STth, C ; 29 ; Feb. 18, '64; a non-resident substitnte. 
 Taylor, Henry T., loth, A ; 27 ; July 12, 'Gl ; discharged for disability 
 
 April 25, '02. 
 Tbotupson, William, IGth, B; 18 ; .Inly 2, '111 ; wounded in bead May, 
 
 '04, at Spottsylvania, Ya. ; mustered out July 27, '04. 
 Thompson, George, 53d (nine months), C; 21; Nov. 6, '02; died at 
 
 llrashear City, La., May 31), '03 ; ci-edited to Leominster. 
 Thurston, George Lee, 55th IlHnois ; 311 ; enlisted in Chicago Oct. 23, 
 
 'Gl : coniniiaaionedadjt. Oct. 31, '01 ; capt. B March 1, 'G2; died 
 
 Dec. 15, '02, at Lancaster. 
 Tisdale, Charles E, 34th, H ; 20 ; July 31, '02 ; corporal ; discharged 
 
 for disability .Tan. 8, 'R3. 
 Toole, John, nth Battery L. A. ; 18; Dec. 23, '04: mustered imt June 
 
 10, '05 : a non-resident substitute. 
 Tracy, David H., 2d ; 29 ; July 2, 'r.4 ; a non-resident substitute. 
 True, George II.. 28th, A ; 21 ; baml Oct 8, '61 ; discharged Aug. 17, '62. 
 True, Jatnes G., 28th, A ; 25; band Oct. 8, '61 ; discharged Aug. 17, '02. 
 Turner, Luther G., 15th, C ; 23 ; July 12, '61 ; wounded in ann at 
 
 Ball's Bluir, Va., Oct. 21, '61, and died Nov. 1, '61. 
 Turner, Horatio E., 34th, F ; 18 ; Aug. 2, '02 ; died a prisoner at An- 
 
 dersonville, Ga.,Sept. 8, '04. 
 Turner, Walters. H., 63d (nine months), I ; 18; Oct. 18. '02; mustered 
 
 out Sept. 2, '63. 
 Valdez, .losepb, 11th Battery L. A, ; 3l); Dec. 23, '04 ; mustered out 
 
 JunelO, '05; a non-resident substitute. 
 Veret, J(din, 41b Cavalry, F; 28; Jan. ,5, '04; mustered out Nov. 14, 
 
 '05. 
 Warner, .lames G., 16tb, C; 31; July 12, '01 ; killed by bullet or 
 
 drowned at Ball's Bluff, Va., Oct. 21, '01. 
 Washburn, Edward R., ,53d (nine montlisl, I ; 20; 1st lieut. Oct. 18, '02. 
 
 capt. Nov. 8, '02; thigh shattered at I'ort Hudson, La., June 14, 
 
 '63 ; died of wound .Sept. 5, '04. 
 Washburn, Francis, 1st Cavalry; 'J4 ; 2d lieut. Dec. 20, lil; Ist lieut. 
 
 March 7, '02; capt. 2d Cavalry Jan. 2i;, '03; lieut. -col. 4th Cavalry 
 
 Feb. 1, '04 ; col. Feb. 4, '65 ; wounded in head April 0, '05, at High 
 
 Bridge, Va., and died at Worcester April 22, '05 ; brevet brig.-gen. 
 Watson, George, 2d ; 3;; ; July 2, '64 ; a non-resident substitute. 
 Weld, George D. ,47th (nine months), K ; 44 ; Oct. 31, '02 ; mustered 
 
 out Sept. 1, '63. • 
 
 Wheeler, Aimer, 11th, C ; 25 ; June 13, '61. 
 Whitney, Edmund C, .53d (nine months), I ; 26 ; as Corp. Oct, 18, 
 
 '62; wounded in arm Juno 14, '63; sergt. July 11, '03 ; mnstereilout 
 
 .Sept. 2, '63. 
 Whiltomore, Woodbury, 2lst, E ; 33 ; 2d lieut. Aug. 21, '01 ; 1st lieut. 
 
 March 3, '62 ; capt. July 27, '02 ; resigned Oct. 29, '02 
 Wilder, Charles 11., .53d (nine months), I ; 42 ; Oct. l.-., '02 ; mustered 
 
 out Sept. 2, '03. 
 Wilder, J. Prescott, 7th Battery L. A. ; 31 ; Jan. 4, '01 ; muslcred out 
 
 June H, '05. 
 WiMer, Sanford B., 2d Heavy Artillery, M ; 24 ; Dec. 24, '03 ; mustered 
 
 out Sept. 3, '05 ; credited to Clinton. 
 Wiley, Charles T., 11th Rhode Island (nine months), D ; Oct, 1, '03 ; 
 
 mustered out July 13, '03. 
 Wiley, George K., .14111, H ; 22 ; .Tan.l, '64; transferred to 24th, G, 
 
 June 14, '05 ; wounded in arm at Fisher's Hill, Va., Sejit. 22, '64 ; 
 
 discharged for disability June 20, '65. 
 Wilkinson, Charles, 20th ; 30 ; July 18, '63 ; mustered out June, '05 ; 
 
 a nun-resident substitute for George E. P. Dodge. 
 Willard, Edwin II., I5th, C; 23; July 12, '01; mustered out July 2.8, 
 
 1804. 
 Willard, Henry W., 34th, C ; 21 ; Aug. 2, '02; discbarg.d for disability 
 
 Feb. 26, '03 ; credited to Leominster. 
 Wise, John Patrick, 34th, A ; 21 ; July 31, '62; died at homo March 
 
 15, '64. 
 Worcester, Horace, 42d (one hundred ilays), K ; 20; July 18, '61 ; mus- 
 tered out Nov. 11, '04. 
 Wynian, Benjamin F., 5th (nine months), E; 23; Sept. 10, '02; mus- 
 tered out July 2, '63. 
 Zahu, Peter, 2d ; 24 ; Hay 7, '04 ; a non-resident substitute. 
 
 The following were born .and lived until m.anhood 
 in Lanca-ster, but were resident elsewhere when the 
 war began : 
 
 Atherton, Boswell, 33d, E ; 30 ; served for Groton ; discharged for dig- 
 ability Nov, 30, '62. 
 
 Bancroft, Charles L., 11th Illinois Cavalry, B; 34; 2d lieut. Dec. 20, 
 
 '01 ; 1st lieut. July 6, '02; mustered out Dec. 19, '64; wounded at 
 
 Meridian, Miss. 
 Bowman, Henry, colonel. (See Clinton.) 
 Bowman, Samuel M., lieutenant. (See Clinton.) 
 Bradley, Jerome, 3d Iowa Battery L. A., etc. ; 28 ; 2d lievit. Sept., '61 ; 
 
 Ist lieut. and q. in. 9th Iowa Infantry March 10, '02 ; capt. and 
 
 a.-q.ni. U. S. Vols. Feb. 19, '63; resigned .Tan. 9, '05. 
 Cleveland, Richard J., 9th Iowa, B ; -40 : Oct. 9, '01 ; discharged April 
 
 1, '03. 
 Cutler, Francis B., 35th New York, A ; 25 ; killed at Fredericksburg 
 
 Dec. 13, ' 02. 
 Dudley, John Edwin, 1st. Cal. and 30th Mass. ; 35 ; Ist sergt. ; 2d lieut. 
 
 Dec. 7, '04 ; 1st lieut. Dec. 8, '64 ; capt. April 21, '65. 
 Fletcher, James T., 11th Rhode Island, G ; Oct. 1, '62 ; mustered out 
 
 July 13, '63. 
 Fuller, Andrew L., lieut. 15th. (See Clinton.) 
 
 Green, Asa W., 19tli, F ; 22 ; enlisted in Haverhill ; wounded at Fred- 
 ericksburg, Va., in log Dec. 13, '02, and transferred tw V. E. C. 
 Green, Franklin W., 19th, F. (See Clinton.) 
 Jones, David W., 20th Connecticut, F ; 40; killed at Chancellorsville 
 
 May 3, '66. 
 Newman, James Homer, 1st Connecticut H. A., F ; 27 ; served May 23, 
 
 '01, to Sept. 25, '65. 
 Robinson, Charles A., 1st Cavalry, G ; 21 ; Oct. 5, '61 ; discharged for 
 
 disability, Feb. 0, '03 ; credited to Lowell. 
 Rugg, Daniel W., 21st, D ; .32 ; served for Fitchburg July I'.i, '01, to 
 
 Dec. 20, '62. 
 Sawyer, Frank 0., 9tll Vermont ; 30 ; 1st lieut. and q.m. June In, '02 ; 
 
 capt. and a.-q.m. U. S. Vols. Ang. 15, '64 ; mustered ont May 31, 'i;6. 
 Warren, Thonuis H., 12th Vermont, C ; 35 ; served Oct. 4, '62, to .Inly 
 
 14, '63. 
 
 Lancaster's quota under ;..l calls was one hundred 
 and seveuty-oiie men for three years, and there were 
 credited to her one hundred and eighty-one. The 
 preceding list proves this to be an underestimate of 
 the town's contribution of men for the supjiression of 
 the great treason. The veteran re-enlistments num- 
 bered fifteen. Ten citizens were drafted and jiaid 
 each three hundred dollars commutation. Thirty- 
 seven non-resident substitutes were hired. Twenty 
 of Lancaster's sons won commissions; twenty-seven 
 were killed or mortally wounded in action, and 
 twenty-three died ofdisea.se during the war. On In- 
 dependence Day, 186."), the town celebrated the vic- 
 tory of free institutions in the grove at the " Meeting 
 of the AVaters;" Eev. George M. Bartol delivered a 
 thoughtful addre.is to the great throng of people there 
 assembled, and Professor William Russell read the 
 Emancii)ation Proclamation. 
 
 Early in 1879 a comprehensive, illustrated history 
 of Lancaster was published, forming an octavo vol- 
 ume of seven hundred and ninety-eight pages. For 
 several years previous the desirability of such a pub- 
 lication had been privately and publicly discussed, it 
 being supposed that among the i)apers of .Joseph Wil- 
 lard, E.sq., deceased in 18(3.5, would be fountl a history of 
 thetown iiartitilly prepared for the press. Disapjiointcd 
 in this hope, at a town-meeting in April, 1876, the 
 subject was referred to a committee, consisting of 
 Eev. George M. Bartol, Rev. Abijah P. Marvin, Jonas 
 M. Damon, Charles T. Fletcher and Charles L. Wilder, 
 with power to take such action as they might deem 
 expedient. Jlr. Marvin was employed to write the 
 history, and in March, 1877, the town sanctioned the 
 doings of the committee and appropriated fifteen 
 
44 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 hundred dollars to meet the needful expenses. Seven 
 hundred copies of the book were printed at a total 
 cost of $3542.44. A copy was given to each family 
 belonging to the town, and about seven hundred dollars 
 were realized from sales. 
 
 Until the present century the town's paupers were 
 aided at their own homes by special vote of money, or 
 placed with such persons as would take them for a 
 fixed price by the year. Thus Dr. James Carter foi 
 many years contracted to support them for so much 
 per head, and housed them in an old building near 
 his own stately dwelling, but on the opposite side of 
 the way. In 1824 Rev. Asa Packard influenced the 
 town to a more humane policy. A farm in the ex- 
 treme northern section of the town was bought for 
 two thousand dollars, and there the homeless poor 
 were collected, a family being hired to conduct the 
 establishment under direction of chosen overseers. 
 The buildings proving insufficient, new ones were built 
 in 1828 on a road to the south of the old, which 
 served until 1872, when the town bought the large 
 three-story mansion built by Dr. Calvin Carter on the 
 site of his father's, burnt in 1821. This was used 
 until destroyed by fire. May 11, 1883, when the 
 present costly almshouse and farm buildings were 
 erected near the ashes of the old. 
 
 At the annual town-meeting of March, 1882, it being 
 known that Nathaniel Tliayer lay critically ill at his 
 city residence, a committee were chosen to address 
 him in a letter giving expression to the general solic- 
 itude and sympathy, and tendering to him renewed 
 acknowledgments for his many and generous acts of 
 good will to the town. A year later, one tempe.stuous 
 day, a large number of Lancaster's citizens paid vol- 
 untary tribute of respect by attending his funeral at 
 the First Church in Boston. Not the sorrow of his 
 many private pensioners only, but the saddened faces 
 of the whole community bore testimony to his worth 
 and the grave sense of his loss. A tablet of Caen 
 stone inscribed to his memory has been placed in the 
 Thayer Memorial Chapel. 
 
 Nathaniel Thayer was the youngest of three sons 
 born to Nathaniel Thayer, D.D., and his wife, 
 Sarah Toppan, Sejitember 11, 1808, in Lancaster. 
 Nurtured amid rural surroundings, in a house- 
 hold where frugality was a necessary law, he died 
 the wealthiest citizen of Massachusetts; a succe.ss 
 not striven for with insatiate greed of accumula- 
 tion, but gathered as the natural harvest of activity 
 and sagacity, and prudently garnered for use. Mr. 
 Thayer's school education was wholly Lancastrian ; 
 but among his teachers at the little local academy 
 were such inspired masters as Jared Sparks, George 
 B. Emerson and Solomon P. Miles. After leaving 
 school he entered upon mercantile life, and at the age 
 of twenty-six years was received as a partner by his 
 eldest brother, who had established a very prosperous 
 banking and brokerage business in Boston. The firm 
 of John E. Thayer & Co. being dissolved by the 
 
 death of the senior brother in 1807, the junior part- 
 ner continued the business with unvarying success. 
 
 Mr. Thayer, on June 10, 1840, married Cornelia, 
 daughter of General Stephen Van Rensselaer. In 
 1870 he decided to make Lancaster his legal home, 
 having for ten years previous spent the summers in a 
 mansion built among the elms that shaded the old 
 parsonage where his revered father and mother had 
 lived and died. When here he led a quiet life, in 
 cordial sympathy with the townspeople, studiously 
 avoiding everything that might seem ostentatious in 
 manner, equipage or speech, and taking a personal 
 interest in whatever concerned the material, moral or 
 intellectual welfare of the town. He was tenderly 
 loyal to old acquaintanceship, and greatly enjoyed re- 
 visiting the scenes and renewing the memories of his 
 boyhood's days. He was ever a cheerful giver to all 
 philanthropic objects, a munificent benefactor of 
 Harvard College, a generous patron of scientific re- 
 search. His liberality was wisely discriminative in 
 its aims, independent in method, and the modest dig- 
 nity which was his most obvious characteristic shun- 
 ned all publicity. 
 
 For about three years before his death, which took 
 place March 7, 1883, he whs debarred by failing vigor 
 of body and mental powers from active participation 
 in business pursuits. He was a member of the Ameri- 
 can Academy and Massachusetts Historical Society, 
 and honorary member of the Berlin Geographical 
 Society. In 1866 he received the degree of Master of 
 Arts from Harvard College, and in 1868 was elected a 
 Fellow of the Corporation, a very exceptional com- 
 pliment, never but once before paid to one not an 
 alumnus. Four sons and two daughters, with their 
 mother, survive him. His eldest son, Stephen Van 
 Rensselaer, a graduate of Harvard in 1870, died Oc- 
 tober 10, 1871. He was a young man of noble 
 impulses and rare sweetness of nature, who never had 
 an enemy, made hosts of friends, and has left behind 
 him a memory fragrant with generous deeds. 
 
 Lancaster has ever been noted for the social refine- 
 ment and literary tastes of its people. The list of 
 college graduates who were natives of the town, or 
 here resident at graduation, as given below, numbers 
 sixty, of which forty-four were alumni of Harvard 
 College. Its clergymen have almost invariably been 
 college-bred. Among very numerous resident and 
 native authors may be mentioned : Mrs. Mary Row- 
 landson, Rev. John Mellen and his sons (John and 
 Prentiss), Samuel Stearns, LL.D., Joseph Willard, 
 Esq., Capt. Richard J. (Ueveland and his sous (Henry 
 Russell and Horace W. S.), Brig.-Gen. Henry Whit- 
 ing, William Shaler, Hannah Flagg Gould, Mrs. 
 Caroline Lee (Whiting) Hentz, Rufus Dawes, Hon. 
 James Gordon Carter, Edmund II. Sears, S.T.D., 
 Hubbard Winslow, D.D., Mrs. Mary G. (Chandler) 
 Ware, Prof William Russell, Mrs. Julia A. (Fletcher) 
 Carney, Louise M. Thurston, Mrs. Clara W. (Thurston) 
 Fry, Charlotte M. Packard, Rev. Abijah P. Marvin. 
 
I 
 
LANCASTER. 
 
 45 
 
 Tlie college graduates known are: Samuel Willard, 
 1()5;», Harvard, acting president; Josiah Swan, 1733, 
 Harvard; Abel Willard, 1752, Harvard; Samuel 
 Locke, 1755, Harvard, S.T.D. and president ; Peter 
 Green, 17G6, Harvard, M.M.S.S. ; Josiah Wilder, 
 17{J7, Yale; Israel Houghton, 1707, Yale; Samuel 
 Stearns, JI.D., LL.D., probably in .Scotland; John 
 Mellen, 1770, Harvard, A.A. et S.H.S. ; Levi Willard, 
 1775, Harvard; Timothy Harrington, 1770, Harvard; 
 Joseph Killiurn, 1777, Harvard; Isaac Bayley, 1781, 
 Harvard; Henry Mellen, 1784, Harvard; Prentiss 
 Mellen, 1784, Harvard, LL.D., U. S. Senator; John 
 Wilder, 1784, Dartmouth ; Pearson Thurston, 1787, 
 Dartmouth ; Artemas .Sawyer, 1798, Harvard ; Samuel 
 J. Sprague, 17St9, Harvard ; Benjamin Aplhiirp Gould, 
 1814, Harvard, A.A.S. ; Hasket Derby Pickmau, 1815, 
 Harvard ; Sewall Carter, 1817, Harvard ; Moses K. 
 Emerson, 1817, Harvard; Paul Willard, 1817, Har- 
 vard ; Leonard Fletcher, , Columbia ; Jonas 
 
 Henry Lane, 1821, Harvard, M.M.S.S. ; Samuel Man- 
 ning, 1822, Harvard; Ebenezer Torrey, 1822, Har- 
 vard ; Levi Fletcher, 1823, Harvard ; Christopher T. 
 Thayer, 1824, Harvard; Frederick Wilder, 1825, 
 Harvard ; Stephen Minot Weld, 1826, Harvard ; 
 Richard J. Cleveland, 1827, Harvard ; Henry Russell 
 Cleveland, 1827, Harvard ; Nathaniel B. Shaler, 1827, 
 Harvard ; William Hunt White, 1827, Brown ; George 
 Ide Chace, 1830, Brown, LL.D., acting president; 
 Christoplier Minot Weld, 1833, Harvard, M.M.S.S.; 
 Francis Minot Weld, 1835, Harvard; George Harris, 
 1837, Brown; Richard C. S. Stilwell, 1839, Harvard, 
 M.JI.S.S. ; Frederick Warren Harris, 1845, Harvard; 
 Alfred Plant, 1847, Yale; James Coolidge Carter, 
 l.S.-.O, Harvard, LL.B.; Sidney Willard, 1852, Har- 
 vanl; John Davis Washburn, 1853, Harvard, LL.B.; 
 Henry Stedman Nourse, 1853, Harvard ; Sylvanus 
 Chickering Priest, 1858, Amherst ; Enos Wilder, 1865, 
 Harvard ; .Stephen Van Rensselaer Thayer, 1870, 
 Harvard; Albert JMallard Barnes, 1871, Harvard; 
 Francis Ncwhall Lincoln, 1871, Harvard ; Nathaniel 
 Thayer, 1871, Harvard; .Tohn Emory Wilder, .1882, 
 Agricultural; Samuel Chester Damon, 1882, Agricul- 
 tural; Edward E. Bancroft, 1883, Amherst, M.D. ; 
 Josiah H. Quincy, 1884, Dartmouth, LL.B.; ,Iohn 
 Eliot Thayer, 1885, Harvard ; William J. Sullivan, 
 M.D.,.188t;, Bellevue; John M. W. Bartol, 1887, ILir- 
 vard; Azuba Julia Latham, 1888, Boston University. 
 
 The physicians have been : Mary Whitcomb; Daniel 
 Greenleaf, died 1785, aged 82 ; Jolin Dunsmoor, died 
 1747, aged 45; Stanton Prentice, died 1709, aged 58; 
 Phinehas Phdps, dieil 1770, aged 37; Enoch Dole, 
 killed 1770, aged 27 ; William Dunsmoor, died 1784, 
 aged 50; Josiah Wilder, died 1788, aged 45; Josiah 
 
 Leavitt, ; Israel Atherton, M.M.S.S., died 
 
 1822, aged 82 ; Cephas Prentice, died 1798 ; James 
 Carter, died 1817, aged 63 ; Samuel Manning, M.M.S.S., 
 died 1822, aged 42; Nathaniel Peabody, M.M.S.S.; 
 Calvin (jarter, died 1859, aged 75; George Baker, 
 M.M.S.S. ; Right Cummings, died 1881, aged 94; Ed- 
 
 ward T. Tremaine, M.M.S.S. ; Henry Lincoln, M.M. 
 S.S., died 1800, aged 55 ; J. L. S. Thompson, M.M.S.S., 
 died 1885, aged 75; George W. Symonds, M.M.S.S., 
 died 1873, aged 62 ; George W. Burdett, M.M.S.S. ; 
 George M. Morse, M.M.S.S. ; S. S. Lyon ; Reuben 
 Barron ; Henry H. Fuller, M.M.S.S. ; Joseph C. Ste- 
 vens, died 1871, aged 39 ; F'rederick H. Thompson, 
 M.M.S.S.; A. D. Edgecomb, died 1883; Horace M. 
 Nash ; Walter P. Bowers, M.M.S.S. ; George L. To- 
 bey, M.M.S.S. 
 
 The lawyers have been: Abel Willard, John 
 Sprague, Levi Willard, Peleg .Sprague, William Sted- 
 man, IMerrick Rice, Solomon Strong, Moses Smith, 
 Samuel J. Sprague, John Stuart, John Davis, Jr., 
 Joseph Willard, Solon Whiting, George R. M. With- 
 ington, Joseph W. Huntington, Charles Mason, John 
 T. Dame, Charles G. Stevens, Daniel H. Bemis, Her- 
 bert Parker. 
 
 The following have served as representatives for the 
 town: — Thomas Brattle, 1071-72; Ralph Houghton, 
 1673-89; John Moore, Jr., 1689; John Moore, .Sr., 
 1690-92; John Houghton, 1690,'92,'93,'97,170.5-06,'08, 
 '11,'12, '15-17, '21, '24; Thomas Sawyer, 1707; Josiah 
 Whetcomb, 1710; Jabez Fairbank, 1714, '21-23, 37- 
 38; John Houghton, Jr., 1718-19; Joseph Wilder, 
 1720, '2.5-26; Col. Samuel Willard, 1727, '40, '42-43, 
 '49; Dea. Josiah White, 1728-30; James Wilder, 1731 ; 
 Jonathan Houghton, 1732; James Keyes, 1733; Capt. 
 Ephraim Wilder, 1734-36, '44 ; Ebenezer Wilder, 1739 ; 
 Capt. William Richardson, 1741, '45, '50, '54, '56, '58- 
 61; Joseph Wilder, Jr., 174<i-47, '51-53; David Wilder, 
 1755, '57, "62-65, '67; Col. Asa Whitcomb, 1760, '08- 
 74; Ebenezer Allen, 1775; Hezekiah Gates, 1775; Dr. 
 William Dunsmoor, 1770-78, '81; .Samuel Thurston, 
 1778; Joseph Reed, 1779; Capt. William Putnam, 
 1780; John Sprague, 1782-85, '94-99; Capt. Ephraim 
 Carter, Jr., 1780, '90-92; Michael Newhall, 1787-89; 
 John Whiting, 1793; Samuel Ward, 1800-01; William 
 Stedman, 1 802 ; Jonathan Wilder, 1803-00 ; Eli Stearns, 
 1800-10; Col. Jouas Lane, 1808-12; Major Jacob 
 Fisher, 1811-13, '21, '23; Capt. William Cleveland, 
 1813-15; Capt. John Thurston, 1814-17, '20; Capt. 
 Edward Goodwin, 1816; Capt. Benjamin Wyman, 
 1817-19; Maj. Solomon Carter, 1818; .Joseph Willard, 
 1827-28; Davis Whitman, 1827, '31; Solon Whiting, 
 1829-30; John G. Thurston, 1832, '38, '52-53, '55 ; 
 Ferdinand Andrew.s, 1832; Dr. George Baker, 1833; 
 Levi Lewis, 1833; .lames G.Carter, 1834-30; Dea. 
 Joel Wilder, 1834-35; Silas Tnurston, Jr., 1837-39; 
 John Thurston, 1839-10; Jacob Fisher, Jr., 1841, '44, 
 '68; John M. Washburn, 1842-43, '58; Joel Wilder 
 (2d), 184.5-46; Ezra Sawyer, 1847-48; Anthony Lane, 
 1850-51 ; Francis F. Hussey, 1854 ; JamesChilds, 1856 ; 
 Dr. J. L. S. Thompson, 1860, '62 ; George A. Parker, 
 1869-71 ; Sam'l R. Damon, 1878 ; Henry S. Nourse, 1882. 
 
 The following have been State Senators: — John 
 Sprague, 1785-86; Moses Smith, 1814-15; James G. 
 Carter, 1837-38; John G. Thurston, 1844-45; Francis 
 B. Fay, 1808 ; Henry S. Nourse, 1885-86. 
 
46 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 The following have been executive councilors: — 
 Maj. Simon Willard, 1<>54-7G; Joseph Wililer, 1735- 
 52; Abijah Willard, 1775. 
 
 William Stedman was Representative to Congress, 
 1803-10, and Prentiss Mellen, a native of Lancaster, 
 was United States Senator, 1818-20. 
 
 The population of Lancaster, at various periods, 
 has been as follows :^1')52, 9 families; l(i75, M or 60 
 families; 1()92, 50 families; 1704, 76 families; 1711, 
 83 families, 458 souls; 171.5, 100 families; 1751,285 
 families, 355 polls; 1764, 1999; 1776, 2746; 1790, 1460; 
 1800, 1584; 1810, 1694; 1820, 1862; 1830, 2014; 1840, 
 2019; 1S50, 1688'; 1855, 1728; 1860, 1732; 1865, 1752; 
 1870, 1845; 1875, 1957; 1880, 2008; 1885, 2050. 
 
 The population of the whole territory once belong 
 ing to Lancaster is about twenty-two thousand. 
 
 The United States Coast Survey locates "Lancaster 
 Church" in 42° 27' 19.98" north latitude, and 71° 40' 
 24.27'' longitude west of Greenwich. The elevation 
 above the sea level of the grounds about this church 
 is about three hundred and eight feet. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 CI,INTON, 
 BY HON. HICNRY S. NOURSE. 
 
 PrescotCe Mills — Destruction of the Setlltmeid hij lutliiins — Tlit: First Jliijh- 
 waijA — The C'(trrition Ceimts — The First F<nnili<s. 
 
 ALTiiouciii Clinton received its name and began 
 its corporate existence so recently as March, 1850, it 
 being the youngest town save one in Worcester 
 County, nearly two hundred years before that date 
 white men were tilling its soil, and bad impressed 
 into their service some part of its valuable water- 
 power. Its territory, in area only four thousand nine 
 hundred and seven acres, was included in the eighty 
 square miles purchased from Sagamore Sholan by 
 Thomas King, of Watcrtown, in 1642, and confirmed 
 to the Nashaway Company as a township, under the 
 name of Lancaster, in 1653. 
 
 The earliest settlers in this river valley were at 
 first clustered along the eastern slope of George Hill 
 and upon the Neck north of the meeting of the two 
 streams which form the Nashua. I5nt for the exist- 
 ence of the falls on the South Meadow Brook, proba- 
 bly neither the pioneers nor their successors would, 
 for many years, have sought homes in that more 
 southerly j)ortion of the town's grant, which now is 
 traversed by numerous streets thickly lined with the 
 residences and marts of ten thousand busy people ; 
 for most of this region, now Clinton, was clad with 
 pine forest ; its numerous hills, from their steepness 
 or the shallowness of the soil, were not well adapted 
 for tillage ; and along the river were no extensive in- 
 tervales, no broad meadows of natural grass, such as 
 
 existed on the North Branch and main river, to invite 
 the husbandmen. But the sagacious and enterpris- 
 ing leader of the Nashaway planters, John Prescott, 
 had noted the little cascade where the brook leaped 
 down over the ledge, and recognized it as the most 
 easily available site in the township for a mill. 
 
 There was no English settlement nearer than those 
 east of the Sudbury River, and even the carrying of 
 a grist to be ground involved a tedious horseback 
 ride of about twenty miles and back over the devious 
 Indian trail and the crossing of the always treacher- 
 ous Sudbury marsh. The rude processes of the sav- 
 ages or the laborious use of a hand-rjuern were often 
 resorted to in preparing grain for bread in preference 
 to so dreary a day's journey. A mill was a prime 
 necessity to the settlers, and scarcely had the Colo- 
 nial Government given formal recognition to the 
 town which Prescott had founded, than, with his 
 usual restless energy, he entered upon the task of 
 compelling the wild South Meadow Brook to aid in 
 the work of civilization. Mills run by water-power 
 were yet rare in New England. The first built was 
 hardly twenty years old, and the skilled mill-wright 
 of Charlestown had scarcely a competitor in his art. 
 Pi'escott's mill-dam w.is the prophecy of the prosper- 
 ous manufacturing town whose special products have 
 in recent years won a world-wide repute, and with 
 his plucky enterprise the history of Clinton appro- 
 priately begins. 
 
 By November 20, 1653, Prescott's plans for the mill 
 were so far perfected that he was ready to enter into 
 an agreement with his fellow-townsmen for its erec- 
 tion. This agreement is found duly recorded in the 
 third volume of the Middlesex County registry as 
 follows : 
 
 Know all men by tlieso presonis tliat I ,Tohn Prescott blackesmith, 
 hatli Covenanted and barj;iiin<'d with .Ino. ffovinell of Charlestowne for 
 ttie building of a ('urnii mill, witliin liir said Tuwmi uf Lanchasttr. 
 This wilnosseth (hat wee the Tnliabitants of I.atn baster for bis encour- 
 agement in so good a worke for the bohoofo of onr Towne, vpon condi- 
 tion that the said intended worke by him or bis aseignes be linlsbed, 
 do freely and fully giue grant, enfeoffe, A contirme vnto the sjiid John 
 Prescott, thirty acres <if intervale Land lying on the nurlh riuer, lying 
 north west of Henry Kerly and ten acres of Land adjoyneing to the 
 mill : and forty acres of Land on the South ejist of the mill brooUe, 
 lying between the mill brooke and Nashawjiy Kiucr in such place as the 
 said .lolin Prescott shall choose with all the priuiledgcs and ai>purte- 
 nances thereto ajiperteyning. To bane and to bold the said land and 
 eurie ])arcell thereof to the said John Prescott his heyeres and assignes 
 for ener, to his and their only projjiier vso and behoofo. Also wee do 
 coueuant & promise ti) lend the said John Prescott fine pound, in cur- 
 rent money one yeare for the buying of Irons for the mill. And also 
 wee do coueuant and grant to and with the said John Prescott liis 
 beyres and assignes that the said mill, with all the aboue named Land 
 thereto apperteyneing shall bo freed from all common cliar{;es for 
 seauen yeares lu'Xt ensueing, after the first finishing and setting tlie 
 said null to worke. In witnes whereof wee bane herevnto put our 
 hands this liO'li day of the 9""> In the yeare of onr Lord God one thou- 
 sand six hundred fifty and three, 
 Subscribeil names 
 
 Wir.i.M Krrly Senr., 
 
 Jnu. Puescot'i', 
 
 ,Ino White, 
 
 ItAi-cTt lIouoinoN, 
 
 Lawrence Waters, 
 
 EnMUND PARltER, 
 
 RicKARn LlNTOV, 
 
 KiciiARD Smith, 
 ^Vii.LM Kerli JrNi 
 Thomas James, 
 Jno Lewis, 
 James Atherton, 
 Jacob ffarrer. 
 
CLINTON. 
 
 41 
 
 Josei)li Willard, Esq., upon the authority of a di- 
 rect descendant of John Prescott, states that the first 
 mill-stone was brought from England. Some doubt 
 is thrown upon this assertion by the fact that the 
 alleged pieces of it, which have lain not far from the 
 dam until modern times, are of a sienitic rock not 
 found in England, but abundant enough in Massa- 
 chusetts. The first grist was ground in the mill May 
 23, 1G54. 
 
 Prescott probably at ouce removed from his home 
 upon George Hill to a new house built on the slope 
 overlooking the mill. This was the first dwelling 
 above the grade of an Indian wigwam within the 
 present bounds of Clinton. Its exact location was 
 plaiTily marked les* than fifty years ago by a consid- 
 erable depression, showing where the cellar had been, 
 and by a flowing spring near, water from which was 
 conveyed in a conduit of bored logs to the residence 
 of a later generation of the Prescotts, standing lower 
 upon the hillside. The Lancaster historian, before 
 named, in l.S2(! noted the site as " about thirty rods 
 southeast from Poignand and Plant's factory." It is 
 better defined now as south from the intersection of 
 High and Water Streets, upon the northerly half o( 
 the Otterson lot, Number 71 High Street, and about 
 one hundred and fifty feet from the front line of the 
 lot. 
 
 The original building must have been of logs or 
 squared timber, and was fortified doubtless with flank- 
 ers and palisades; for it appears in early records as 
 " Prescott's garrison" and, although having never 
 more than five or six adult defenders, it successfully 
 resisted fierce assaults made u])on it by a large body 
 of Indians. Prescott's will, written in 1G73, proves 
 that it was then commodious enough to accommodate 
 two families, and had adjacent out-housing for cattle 
 and an apple orchard. The dam probably occupied 
 precisely the same position as that of Frost & How- 
 ard's, and the little grist mill stood somewhat lower 
 on the brook than the extensive manufactory now 
 utilizing its water-power. 
 
 Four years went by, years in which Prescott was 
 busied not only at mill and anvil, but in various offices 
 for the town. His skill and judgment, nu)rcover, had 
 gained such repute that he was chosen by the colonial 
 authorities to serve on committees to lay out county 
 roads and build important bridges, and even to survey 
 special land grants. Emboldened by the success of 
 his corn-mill and by growing prosperity, he deter- 
 mined upon another enterprise of the greatest interest 
 to the community — the building of a saw-mill. His 
 neighbors were again called upon to further the ac- 
 complishment of his purpose by substantial gift of 
 land and temporary exemption from taxation. 
 
 Kuow all men by tlieso presents that for as mnch as the Inh.abitants 
 of Lanchaster, or the most part of them being gatlierod together on a 
 trayneing day, the IS"' of the 9"' mo, 1058, a motion was made liy .Ino. 
 Prescott blacllesmitli of the same towne, about the setting vp of a saw 
 mill for the good of the Towne, and yt lie tlie sjiid .Ino. Prescott, would 
 by the help of God set vp the saw mill, and to supply the said Inhab- 
 
 itants with boords and other sawne worke, as is afforded at other saw 
 mills in the contrey. In case the Towne would giue, grant and eon- 
 tirme vnto the said John Prescott a certeine tract of Land, lying East- 
 ward of his water mill, be it more or less, bounded by the riuer east, 
 the mill west, the stake of the mill laml and the east end of a ledge of 
 Iron Stone Itocks southards, ami forty acres of his owne land north, 
 the said land to be to him his heyrea and assigues for enei-, and al! 
 the said land and curie part thereof to be rate free vntill it be im- 
 proned, or any pi of it, and that his saws and saw mill shouhi be 
 free from any rates by the Towne, therefore know ye that the ptyes 
 abouesaid did mutually agree and consent eadi with tho other con- 
 cerning the aforementioned propositions !i« followeth : 
 
 Tho Towne lui their part did giue, grant and conlirmo vnto the said 
 lolin Prescott his heyres and assignes for ener, all tile aforeiucntioned 
 tract of laLid butted and bounded jis afoiosaid, to be to hiiii bis lieyres 
 .indtissigues for ener with all the priiiilcdges iiiid appurtenances there- 
 on, atnl thereunto belonging to be to his and their owne proppor vse and 
 heboofe as aforesaid, and the land and eurie part of it to be free from 
 all rates vntil it or any part of it be improued, and also his ssiw, Siiwes 
 ,nid saw-ndll to be free from all towne rates, or minister's rates, pro- 
 iiided the aforementioned worke be tinisbed and eompleated as aboue- 
 said for the good of the towne in some convenient time after this pres- 
 ent contract, covenant and agieeiuent. 
 
 And the said John Prescott did and doth by these presents byud him- 
 self, his beyrcs and assigues to set vp a saw-mill as aforesaid within the 
 bounds of the aforesiiid Towm\ and to supply the Towne with boords 
 ami other sawue worke Jis aforesaid and truly and faithfully to peiforme 
 futill. iind accomplish, all the aforementioned premisses for the good of 
 the Towne as aforesaid. 
 
 Therefore the Selectmen concievilig this saw-mill to bo of great vse 
 to the Towne, and the after good of tho place, Ilaue and do hereby 
 act to rattifie and confirmo all the aforementioned acts, covemmts, 
 gifts, grants and immunilyes, in respect of rates, and what ener is 
 aforcmentituied, on their own* part, and in behalfe of the Towne, 
 and to the true performance hereof, both partyes hane and do bynd 
 tbeliiselves by subscribing their hands, this twenty-fifth day of 
 February, one thousand si.\ livindred ami lilty-nim-. 
 
 .louN PaKsco'i-r. 
 
 The worke aboue mencconed was fildsbed according to this covenant 
 as witnesseth 
 
 Uali-ii lIot'OiiToN. 
 
 Signed and Delivred In presence of, 
 
 Thomas Wilder, 
 Thomas Sawvbr, 
 KAi.rn HouoHToN. 
 
 The township proprietors also granted Prescott 
 leave to cut pines upon any common land to supply 
 his saw-mill. In his will the corn-mill is described 
 as "the lower mill," and a second house and barn are 
 bequeathed to his son .John as appertaining to the 
 saw-mill. It seems certain, therefore, that the first 
 saw-mil! had a dam of its own, and that it was prob- 
 ably sitiuited near where a dam existed early in the 
 present century, a short distance below that of the 
 Bigelow Carpet Company. Somewhere near stood the 
 second house built in this region. 
 
 It is possible that about this time I'rescott also made 
 some attempt to manufacture iron from bog ore. In 
 1657 certain inhabitants of Lancaster and Concord, 
 John Prescott being one, upon petition, oltaiued colo- 
 nial license to erect iron works in those towns. The 
 forge at Concord was soon after established and for 
 many years had a meagre success. No mention is 
 found in any records of similar works at Lancaster 
 earlier than 1748, when John Prescott, third of the 
 name, in deeds to his son John, speaks of the " forge " 
 and an '' iron mine." The former was upon South 
 Meadow Brook, just below the dam of the Bigelow 
 
48 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Carpet Company. Mine Swamp Brook was so named 
 because of the ore dug in its neijiliborhood for use at 
 this forge. Wlietlier this experimental bloomery was 
 an adventure of the tirst, second or third John Pres- 
 cott, the supply of ore was neither sufficient in 
 quantity, rich enougli in metal, nor free enough from 
 sulphur to give encouragement for iron manufacture. 
 
 Although Indian names remain attached to numer- 
 ous localities in all the adjacent towns, not one sur- 
 vives in Clinton. Her three great ponds were very 
 early given their present names, — " Clamshell " ap- 
 pearing in records of 1697, " Moss," or " Mossy," in 
 1702, and "Sandy " not much later. Not a word is 
 found in the annals of the first proprietors that sug- 
 gests the existence of Indian dwelling-places or plant- 
 ing-fields anywhere near I'rescott's Mills. Perhaps 
 there were none permanently occupied after the 
 coming thither of white men, nearer than Washa- 
 cum, where the once powerful Nashaway tribe had 
 then gathered its feeble remnant spared by small-pox 
 and the relentless Mohawk warriors. In accordance 
 with their nomadic habits, doubtless, families con- 
 tinued to pitch their wigwams at the fa'ls in the 
 Nashua during the season when the salmon and 
 other migratory fish were making their annual jour- 
 ney up that stream ; and to camp on the shores of the 
 ponds at other seasons for the abundant food supply 
 therein. The considerable <juantity and variety of 
 atone implements found from time to time on the 
 east side of Clamshell Pond indicates the location of 
 an Indian settlement there at some remote period of 
 the past, or of a much frequented camping-ground. 
 
 Soon after his coming into the hunting-grounds of 
 the Nasliaway tribe, in ItUS, we find that Prescott 
 had won the respect of the Indiana. This was doubt- 
 less largely owing to their need of his valuable craft 
 as a maker of knives, arrow-heads, tomahawks and 
 steel traps. But tradition ascribes it to his stature, 
 giant strength, contempt of danger, skill with the 
 gun, and other heroic attributes ; and especially to 
 his possession of a corselet and helmet, supposed to 
 render its owner invulnerable. Various stories ol 
 his prowess and adventure are extant, wherein proba- 
 bly there lie germs of truth, but wrapped about with 
 anachronistic or imaginative details supplied by the 
 successive narrators. That he was U[)on terms of 
 familiar intimacy with the Sachem Sholan is told by 
 the records, and that his relations with Sachem Mat- 
 thew and his warriors were also friendly is evinced 
 by his possession of a house and farm at Washacum 
 and his purchase of land adjoining the Indian fort 
 there. When the machinations of Philip aroused a 
 pitiless war of races throughout New England, how- 
 ever, Prescott's property was not spared. 
 
 On February 10, 167f), a picked force of warriors, 
 at least four hundred in number, — Nashaways, 
 Quabaugs, Nipnets and Narragansets, — under the lead- 
 ership of Shoshanim, Muttaump, Monoco and Quani- 
 pun, fell upon Lancaster. Prescott's garrison was 
 
 one of the five resolutely assaulted at daylight. It 
 was heroically defended by the stalwart owner and 
 his sons, aided, perhaps, by two or three soldiers, and 
 the savages were finally repelled. Ei)hraim Sawyer, 
 one of Prescott's grandsons, aged twenty-five years, 
 was slain here in the fight. A young soldier, trom 
 Watertow'n, of Cajitain Wad^worth's company, named 
 Cieorge Harrington, was killed by the enemy a few days 
 later in the same locality. Seventy-five years ago two 
 graves were discernible in the grounds belonging to, 
 and a little to the east of, the mill. These, perhaps, 
 held the ashes of Sawyer and Harrington, though 
 then called Indian graves. With the protection of 
 the troops sent to the rescue, Prescott and his little 
 band withflrew from their perilous situation to join 
 the larger garrison of his son-in-law, Thomas Sawyer. 
 The carnage at the Rowlandson garrison, and the de- 
 struction by fire of all the barns and unfortified 
 houses in town, left the survivors so weak in numbers, 
 so disheartened, and so etlectually stripped of all 
 means of subsistence, that, even if there had been no 
 rea.son to fear a renewal of attack by the bloodthirsty 
 foe, the temporary abandonment of the place was 
 unavoidable. Major Simon Willard, on March 26th, 
 sent a troop of horsemen with carts to remove the 
 inhabitants who had not already Hcd to the Bay 
 towns, and for about three years only the millstone 
 and the rusting irons by the dams on South Meadow 
 Brook marked the site of Prescott's Mills. 
 
 In 1679, after the red warriors had perished in the 
 flame of the wrath they had kindled, among the first 
 to move to the re-settlement of the town were the 
 Prescotts. The mills were rebuilt on the spot where 
 the corn-mill had stood, and the eldest son, John, as- 
 sumed their management, Jonas having a mill at 
 Nonacoicus, and Jonathan becoming a resident of 
 Concord. In December, 16S1, John Prescott, Sr., 
 died, being about seventy-eight years of age. His 
 eldest son became possessor of all the estate connected 
 with the mills. 
 
 The lands granted by the Lancaster proprietors to 
 the founder of the town for his public benefactions 
 embraced much of the now densely inhabited part of 
 Clinton, extending from a bound forty rods above the 
 first dam down both sides of the brook to the river, 
 while the eastern boundary of the tract was formed 
 by the Nashua, from the brook's mouth to the ledge 
 near the Lancaster Mills, formerly known as Rattle- 
 snake Hill. This domain was largely extended west- 
 wardby thesecond John Prescott. A third and fourth 
 John succeeded him in its ownership, and a fifth held 
 the homestead, dying childless. 
 
 The first town way to Prescott's Mills was com- 
 monly known as the " mill-path," and was recorded 
 in 1658 as " five rods wide from the Cuntrie highway 
 to the mill." This is the main thoroughfare of the 
 present day, between South Lancaster and Water 
 Street. The original record of its location being lost, 
 it was laid out anew in 1811, together with its exten- 
 
CLINTON. 
 
 49 
 
 eion to Sandy Pond, varying in width from two and 
 one-half to three rods wide. The people of Stow^ 
 Marlborough, and even Sudbury, for many years had 
 no mills more conveniently accessible than Prescott's, 
 and the population of Lancaster, after the resettle- 
 ment, grew most rapidly to the eastward of the Nashua. 
 For all these patrons, the old mill-path was a round- 
 about road, and at a town-meeting in Lancaster, 
 August 26, 1686, a proposition was entertained for 
 another, the second town road laid out within Clinton 
 lines. The petition was " for a way to Goodman 
 Prescott's Corne-mill, to ly over the River at the 
 Scar." Goodman Prescott " told the Town that if 
 they would grant him about twenty acres of Land 
 upon the Mill Brook lying above his own Land, for 
 hisconvaniancy of preserveing water against a time of 
 drought, he was willing the town should have a way 
 to the mill threw his Land." A committee was ap- 
 pointed " to lay out a highway from the Scar to the 
 mill, threw John Prescott's land," and he was recom- 
 pensed by the grant desired, which is recorded as 
 lying " on the Mill Brook, near to the South Meadow, 
 bounded north and east by his own land, and south 
 and southeast by common land." 
 
 In April, 1717, a town-meeting, upon petition of 
 John Goas and Ihe report of a viewing committee, 
 voted to change the location of the westerly end of 
 this highway, so that it should " lye by the River, — 
 Provided said way be kept four Rods wide from y' 
 Scar bridge till it com to y" Hill from y"^ top of y' 
 River bank, and after it amount said Hill to lye where 
 it shall be most conveniant to y° Town, till it com to 
 said Mill, said Goss to cleer said Rode when that 
 Committy shall stake it out." April 24, 1733, John 
 Goss conveyed to John Prescott eighty acres east of 
 the Mill Brook, " a highway lying through s.iid Land 
 from the bridge that is over the River, a little above 
 the place called the Scarr." The mills had now 
 many rivals, and the current of travel flowed in other 
 directions. In May, 1742, the town voted to move the 
 Scar bridge down the river "to the road that leads 
 from Lieut. Sawyer's to Doctor Dunsmoor's'' — that 
 is, to the crossing of the Nashua, now known as 
 Carter's Mills bridge, where before this there was a 
 fording-place only. 
 
 Few traces of the Scar road, though a noted public 
 convenience for more than fifty years, can now be 
 discerned. Close scrutiny reveals signs of the bridge 
 abutments a few rods below the northern end of High 
 Street, and of the raised roadway on the eastern bank 
 of the river. Some time in the eighteenth century 
 there were five or more dwellings located along this 
 highway, of which two or three cellars on the part 
 east of the Nashua are not yet obliterated ; and other 
 similar relics of human habitation upon the west side 
 have disappeared within the memory of the living. 
 
 But many years before the abandonment of this 
 route by the Scar, another had probably come into 
 use from the eastward. This, now known as Water 
 4 
 
 Street, was wholly in the land of the Prescotts and 
 remained their private way until 1782, on April 1st of 
 which year Lancaster accepted it as laid out two rods 
 wide, "on condition that sd Town is not Burdened 
 with the cost of a Bridge." No record is found to 
 prove how long the bridge had then stood at this 
 crossing of the Nashua, but mention is made of a 
 "slab-bridge" in this vicinity about 1718, belongingto 
 the second John Prescott. It was then, doubtless, like 
 many of the bridges of that era, a narrow structure 
 made of puncheons resting upon log abutments and 
 trestles, and perhaps only passable for foot and horse- 
 men. By the surveyors of Lancaster in 1795 the 
 bridge is called " Prescott's," and noted as ninety-nine 
 feet in length. It was not until December 4, 1815, 
 that the town assumed the ownership of it and of the 
 approaches to it from the county road to Boylston, 
 although eight years earlier assistance was voted for 
 its reconstruction. A tew years later it appears in the 
 town records as the Harris bridge. 
 
 A by-path very early connected Prescott's Mills 
 with the county highway leading to Washacum and 
 westward. Widened and otherwise altered at various 
 dates, this is yet in use and known as the Rigby road. 
 This name does not appear attached to it in old 
 records, but the brooklet which it crosses in Clinton 
 was called Rigby's Brook before 1718. What connec- 
 tion the cross-road or the stream had with John 
 Rigby, who was one of the pioneer settlers of Lan- 
 caster, or with his heirs, has not been discovered. No 
 family of the name is mentioned in the town lists 
 since 1700, but a very old house which stood upon this 
 road in the early years of this century was commonly 
 known as the Rigby place. 
 
 In the surprise and massacre by the Indians, Sep- 
 tember 22, 1697, and in the attack by the French and 
 Indians of July 31, 1704, no loss of life or property at 
 Prescott's Mills was reported, though this, it would 
 seem, must have been one of the six fortified posts 
 said to have been assailed. The men belonging to 
 this garrison in 1704 were John Prescott, his two sons, 
 John and Ebenezer, and John Keyes, the weaver, 
 three of whom were married men with little families. 
 By a report of an inspection of garrisons ordered by 
 Governor Dudley, in November, 1711, we learn that 
 there were at that time but three families at the Mills, 
 including four males of military age, besides two 
 soldiers billeted there — fifteen souls in all. This may 
 be called the earliest census of Clinton. For half a 
 century the householders in this neighborhood had 
 numbered no more, and no less ; for half a century 
 more the accessions hardly trebled this population. 
 Along the roads leading westward, to Leominster, to 
 Woonksechocksett, (now Sterling,) to Boylston, and 
 to "Shrewsbury Leg," farms were cleared, humble 
 dwellings arose, children were born, grew to manhood, 
 migrated, and themselves set up roof-trees farther 
 west ; but at Prescott's Mills all remained apparently 
 as when the fathers fell asleep. 
 
50 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 D.'fniel and Benjamin Allen, of Watertown, were 
 among the very early settlers in Lancaster, but aban- 
 doned their lands when the Indian raids of 1675 and 
 1676 desolated the frontier towns, and never re-occu- 
 pied them. About 1746, however, Ebenezer Allen, of 
 Weston, a son of Daniel, came to Lancaster, acco)n- 
 panied by his son Ebenezer, and the two made their 
 homes upon a tract of land containing one hundred 
 and eighty acres, the northerly , portion of which is 
 now in possession of Ethan Allen Currier. This 
 had been the homestead of John Gosa, who bought 
 the property of John Prescott and John Keyes in 
 1717. Upon the brook which runs through the farm 
 Goss built a mill at the site of the existing dam, and 
 his dwelling and farm buildings stood on the uplands 
 near. • 
 
 The deed to John Allen, dated February, 1746, and 
 that of John to Ebenezer, in 1751, speak of the road- 
 way in use through the farm " from Prescott's Mills 
 to a Fordway, where there was a Bridge called the 
 Scar Bridge." The elder Allen sold his whole estate 
 to Ebenezer, Jr., in 1756, including some lands 
 bought on the west side of the mill-path where prob- 
 ably about that date the mansion was built, which 
 was torn down in 1879, to make room for Mr. Currier's 
 present residence. Ebenezer Allen, St., died in 1770, 
 at the age of ninety-four, and Ebenezer, Jr., in 1812, 
 aged eighty -eight years. The farm passed out of the 
 Aliens' hands in 1811, and Moses Emerson became its 
 owner shortly after. The bluff upon the east bank of 
 the Nashua, so often mentioned in town records as 
 the Scar, from the time of his purchase began to be 
 called Emerson's Bank. Mr. Emerson dying in 1822, 
 the estate was sold at auction by the guardian of his 
 children, and in 1825, George Howard, fromPembroke, 
 bought it. At that time no trace of the Goss Mill or 
 the other buildings once standing in the vicinity of 
 the brook remained, but a cart-path led up over the 
 plain to Harris Hill, perhaps the last trace of the 
 long-disused Scar Road. 
 
 Along the old county highway which leads from 
 Bolton to Boylston, where it winds about among the 
 rocky hills east of the Nashua in Clinton, a few farms 
 were tilled many years before the Revolution. Here 
 lived Lieutenant Thomas Tucker ; Thomas Wilder, 
 the son of John, and his son Jonathan ; Simon But- 
 ler, and the late John Pollard. Philip Larkin and 
 his soldier sons had homes to th« southeast from 
 Clamshell Pond. Thomas Tucker acquired his lands 
 through Capt. Thomas Wilder in 1716, and probably 
 built his house li«re about the date of his marriage, in 
 1719. He transferretl his iarra to his son William in 
 1757. In 1788 James Fuller bought the southerly 
 portion of the tract, and in 1798 the homestead came 
 into possession of Charles Chace, from Bellingham, 
 whose descendants have prominent place in the 
 annals of Clinton. The Tucker family had then 
 ■wholly disappeared from Lancaster. Upon the other 
 farms named, sons built near the fathers, and family 
 
 names clung to the estates far into the present cen- 
 tury. Now, however, but one lineal descendant of 
 any of these old families — the venerable Frederick 
 Wilder — dwells in this section of the town. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CLINTON— ( Cov tinned). 
 
 Tlie Itepohtllon — Tlie "Six Nations" — Immigratimi — The Conib-makers— 
 Faitfiiand & Plunt — Comi»g of the liigdows — Tlie CUnton Company 
 — TJie Lfincattter Quilt Company — The Bigelow Carpet Company — The 
 Lanvof'ler Mith — Clintom-itie, Us Builders and its Enterprises. 
 
 When the rallying cry, " taxation without repre- 
 sentation is tyranny," rang through the land, and 
 patriots began the organization of rebellion, John 
 Prescott, fourth of the name, was chosen one of the 
 town's Committee of Correspondence and Safety. 
 Like his grandfather, he seems to have been a radical 
 republican in politics, and was especially active in 
 the prosecution of those who sold tea, and all sus- 
 pected of a leaning towards Toryism. 
 
 When the.Lexington alarm-courier summoned the 
 yeomanry to arms on the morning of April 19, 1775, 
 John Prescott, fifth of the name, led as captain one 
 of the six companies from Lancaster which made a 
 forced march to Cambridge. As his command of 
 thirty-two men was mustered neither with Colonel 
 Asa Whitcomb's regiment of militia nor Colonel 
 John Whitcomb's regiment of minute-men, they were 
 probably a mounted troop of volunteers. They served 
 twelve days. Two of his sergeants, Elisha Allen and 
 James Fuller, were residents within the bounds of 
 Clinton ; Moses Sawyer was second-lieutenant in 
 Captain Joseph White's militia company ; Ebenezer 
 Allen, Jr., and Jotham Wilder were in Captain An- 
 drew Haskell's company, which fought in the battle 
 of Bunker Hill ; James Fuller and Jotham, Stephen, 
 Titus and Reuben Wilder served for short terms later 
 in the contest, most of them being at Saratoga. Sev- 
 eral of the Prescott family did patriotic service for 
 national independence, but at that date the Prescotts 
 mostly lived upon ancestral lands in Chocksett or 
 elsewhere than in the south part of Lancaster. 
 
 The region round about the boundary stone where 
 the lines of Berlin, Boylston and Clinton meet, in- 
 cluding sundry farms of each town, was, in the years 
 following the Revolution, known as the "Six Nations," 
 that name attaching to it because families represent- 
 ing half a dozen or more different nationalities were 
 therein resident. The Wilders, Carters and others 
 were English by descent; Andrew McWain, Scotch ; 
 the sons and grandsons of Philip Larkin, Irish; the 
 
 families of Louis Conqueret and Hitty, French; 
 
 Daniel and Frederick Albert, Dutch; and John 
 Canouse was a Hessian, a deserter from the captive 
 army of Burgeyne. Other names and nationalities 
 are sometimes added to the list. 
 
CLINTON. 
 
 51 
 
 Beyond the mills to the southward, towards Sandy 
 Pond, for a long distance all the lands desirable for 
 tillage or timber had fallen, by original proprietary 
 division of commons or by inheritance, to the Pres- 
 cotts and their kinsfolk, the Sawyers. The third John 
 Prescott, in 1748, the year before his death, " for love 
 and good-will," gave his grandchildren, Aaron, Moses, 
 Joseph, Sarah and Tabitha Sawyer, about ninety-seven 
 acres of land lying on both sides of a stated highway 
 and of the brook "aboue the forge." These grantees 
 were the children of John Prescott's only daughter 
 Tabitha, wife of Joseph Sawyer. It has often been 
 asserted that Aaron was the founder of Sawyer's mills 
 in Boylston, but the credit of building the first saw 
 and grist-mills in that locality probably belongs to his 
 father, Joseph. Moses Sawyer was the first to reside 
 upon the lands thus deeded to him and his brethren 
 by their grandfather, and his son Moses was the 
 second. Their houses yet remain upon what is now 
 called Burditt Hill, and the latest has long outlived 
 its hundredth year. 
 
 From the death of the fourth John Prescott, in 
 1791, began a subdivision of his landed estate into 
 many lots, and its rapid alienation from the family. 
 He had five sons and four daughters. To the two 
 youngest, Joseph and Jabez, he deeded in 1786 the 
 two mills, upon condition that each should deliver to 
 him or his wife, annually so long as either should 
 live, " five bushels of Indian corn, three of rye, three 
 of wheat, and one thousand feet of boards." Within 
 two years after the death of their father, the sons, 
 with the exception of John, had parted with their 
 patrimony and removed from Lancaster. Captain 
 John, the fifth and last of his name in th.e town, 
 clung to thirty or forty acres of land and the old 
 homestead, where he died, childless, August 18, 1811, 
 aged sixty-two, his wife, Mary (Ballard), surviving 
 him. 
 
 In the closing years of the eighteenth century the 
 people were weighed down by debt and taxation — 
 legacies of the long years of the war for independ- 
 ence. Shays' Insurrection had been summarily 
 quelled, for New England common sense recognized 
 the fact that anarchy could afford no relief from the 
 general distress. The yeomanry, however full their 
 barns, held mortgaged lands and empty purses. 
 Everywhere the sheriff was busy with executions, 
 foreclosures and forced sales. The merchants and 
 lawyers mercilessly devoured the debtors ; large es- 
 tates were broken up and homes changed owners on 
 every hand. Thus Prescott's. Mills and some of the 
 lands around them in 1793 fell into the possession of 
 John Sprague, the Lancaster lawyer and sheriff, and 
 until his death, in 1800, they are sometimes mentioned 
 in records as Sprague's Mills. Several heads of 
 families during this decade fixed their habitations 
 upon land in the vicinity bought for prices that now 
 seem ludicrously small. They were : Jacob Stone, 
 a noted framer of bridges and buildings, whose house, 
 
 burnt many years ago, was west of Sandy Pond, a 
 mile from any other dwelling, save one at a saw-mill 
 on Mine Swamp Brook, owned by Jonathan Sampson, 
 of Boylston ; Joseph Rice, a basket-maker from 
 Boylston, who married a daughter of Moses Sawyer 
 and lived near him; Nathaniel Lowe, Jr., from Leo- 
 minster, who in 1795 bought of Moses Sawyer a farm 
 lying between the mills and the river, which North 
 High Street now bisects ; Lieut. Amos Allen, who 
 bought lands of Jonathan Prescott in 1792 and built 
 the first house on the west side of the highway be- 
 tween the mills and Ebenezer Allen's; Benjamin 
 Gould, father of the poetess, Hannah Flagg Gould 
 and the scholar, Benjamin Apthorp Gould, who 
 began a dwelling probably about the same date, 
 which he never found means to finish, on the spot 
 where Deputy Sheriff Enoch K. Gibbs lives ; Coffin 
 Chapin, Richard Sargent and his sons, and John 
 Hunt, who lived at the summit of the hill on Water 
 Street, about half-way between the mills and the 
 bridge over the Nashua ; John Goss, who bought a 
 farm upon the east of the river, near the Bolton and 
 Berlin corner ; Elias Sawyer, who built on the river 
 bank near his dam already mentioned. James Elder 
 lived just outside Clinton bounds. 
 
 During the first ten years of this century accessions 
 became more numerous, and among them were some 
 whose descendants have been honorably identified 
 with every phase of Clinton's material progress. 
 Ezekiel Rice purchased the house and farm of Moses 
 Sawyer, Jr., in 1802. John Lowe, a comb-maker of 
 Leominster, in 1800 bought of John Fry fifty acres of 
 land, and in 1804 another lot adjoining, which in- 
 cluded the cellar of Benjamin Gould's house and a 
 shop of Asahel Tower's on the brook. Here he built 
 a few years later, and deeded a moiety of land and 
 house to his father, Nathaniel. Nathan Burditt came 
 from Leominster in 1808 and succeeded Mr. Rice in 
 possession of the house built by Moses Sawyer, Jr. 
 John Severy, a Revolutionary pensioner, came to re- 
 side on Mine Swamp Brook the same year, buying of 
 Sampson his house, brick-yard and saw-mill. John 
 Goldthwaite, the splint-broom maker, occupied a 
 dilapidated building, the only one on the Rigby Road. 
 Daniel Harris, a Revolutionary pensioner from Boyls- 
 ton, in 1804 and 1805 bought of John Hunt's numer- 
 ous creditors his substantial house and large farm, 
 which he in later times shared with his sons — Emory, 
 Asahel and Sidney — who, by their industry, thrift 
 and business ability, became leading men in the com- 
 munity. 
 
 Next to the saw and grist-mills, the first manufac- 
 turing industry to employ any considerable number 
 of workmen was the making of horn-combs, intro- 
 duced about the beginning of the present century 
 from Leominster, where it had been a profitable em- 
 ployment from the days of the Revolution. John 
 Lowe and Nathan Burditt were the earliest to ply this 
 trade in the town, but they soon taught it to many 
 
52 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 others; who gradually brought improved tools and 
 machinery into service to increase the quantity and 
 improve the quality of their products. 
 
 At first tlie comb-makers exercised their handicraft 
 in diminutive shops or rooms in their own dwellings, 
 and the women and children helped in the lighter 
 parts of the work. The horns were sawn into proper 
 lengths by hand, split, soaked, heated over charcoal, 
 dipped into hot grease, pressed into required form 
 between iron clamps by driven wedges, stiflFened by 
 cold water, marked by a pattern for the teeth, which 
 were sawn one by one. The combs were then smoothed, 
 polished and tied in packages for sale. The earliest 
 makers carried their own goods to market, and it is 
 told of John Lowe that he often journeyed as far as 
 Albany on horseback, with his whole stock in trade 
 in his saddle-bags. 
 
 The use of water-power in the manufacture was 
 not adopted until 1823. Through Lowe's land ran a 
 little brook, which was finally utilized for comb- 
 making by his son Henry, with whom was associated 
 his cousin, Thomas Lowe. The stream had been 
 dammed at least twenty years earlier, and a small 
 shop thereon had been occupied by Asahel Tower for 
 nail-cutting, and Arnold Rugg for wire-drawing. The 
 Lowes were succeeded several years later by Henry 
 Lewis, and he, in 183G, by Haskell McCollum, who 
 built a second shop and greatly increased the business, 
 having as a partner his brother-in-law, Anson Tjowe. 
 E. K. Gibbs built a third shop about 1840. 
 
 The age was one when a man was fortunate whose 
 personal peculiarity of form, feature, dress or habit, 
 were not salient enough whereupon to hang some 
 nickname — when many a worthy citizen walked 
 among his fellow-men almost unknown by his baptis- 
 mal name. The same fashion obtained respecting 
 neighborhoods, every little section of the town gaining 
 some quaint designation fancied to be descriptive of 
 the district or its people. The region about these 
 comb-shops on Rigby Brook became in popular par- 
 lance, Scrabble Hollow. 
 
 The water privilege on South Meadow Brook in the 
 possession of George Howard was soon turned to use 
 in the horn industry ; at first by lessees Lewis Pollard 
 and Joel Sawtell, later by the owner, who was enter- 
 prising and prosperous. But the most extensive 
 makers of horn goods were the sons of Daniel Harris, 
 who learned the trade of Nathan Burditt. Asahel 
 Harris at first conducted the business at his house 
 east of the river, still standing. This dwelling he had 
 bought from Samuel Dorrison, who built it upon a 
 lot severed from the Pollard farm. Mr. Harris built 
 later the brick house upon the height of the hill west 
 of the Nashua, where he introduced horse-power and 
 improved machinery in his work-shop. In 1831 
 Asahel and Sidney Harris built a dam and shop upon 
 the liver just above the bridge, securing a fall of about 
 six feet. Sidney Harris, in 1835, bought his brother's 
 interest in the water-power and the house above, aud 
 
 here began a career of great prosperity. Upon the 
 sale of the Pitts mills, in 1843, the grist-mill machinery 
 was brought thither. 
 
 In 1805 Samuel John Spraguesold the Prescott s.",w 
 and grist-mill, with a house and land, to Benaiah 
 Brigham, of Boston. Thomas W. Lyon soon after 
 bought them of Brigham and acquired other estate in 
 the neighborhood. In August, 1809, Lancaster was 
 stirred with the news that two wealthy foreigners, 
 residents of Boston, had bought the Prescott Mills 
 and were about to erect a factory for the weaving of 
 cotton cloth by power looms. Soon workmen began 
 laying the foundation of the new structure, and the 
 enterprising owners for twenty-five years thereafter 
 were notable citizens of the town. The elder of the 
 two, the capitalist of the firm and president of the 
 corporation afterwards organized, was David Poig- 
 nand, a dapper, urbane gentleman of French Hugue- 
 not descent, born in the island of Jersey. He wore a 
 queue, and carried a gold-headed cane, was both a 
 jeweller and a cabinet-maker by trade, and an excep- 
 tionally good workman. He also had made and lost 
 a fortune in the hardware trade in Tremont Street 
 Boston. His partner was his son-in-law, Samuel 
 Plant, an Englishman who had been in America 
 about twenty years as factor for a great cloth manu- 
 facturer of Leeds. Mr. Plant had made himself thor- 
 oughly acquainted with the manufacture of cotton in 
 England, and secretly brought thence drawings of the 
 machinery necessary for a mill, and perhaps some of 
 the more important parts of certain machines. From 
 these, with the aid of the ingenious machinist, Capt. 
 Thomas W. Lyon, he was able to completely equip 
 the factory and put it into running order. Under the 
 methodical management of Mr. Plant, aided by the 
 skill of the machinist, the difficulties which always 
 attend a novel undertaking of such magnitude were 
 soon overcome, and the success of the enterprise was 
 assured. This factory was one of the earliest of its 
 kind successfully run in America. The town granted 
 the firm partial exemption from taxation temporarily. 
 The embargo and war with England served all the 
 purposes of a high protective tariff for the infant 
 industry. Common cotton cloth which at the build- 
 ing of the factory cost about thirty cents a yard, 
 before the close of hostilities commanded double that 
 price. 
 
 A little above the factory, upon the same stream, 
 stood a saw-mill built, probably before 1800, by Moses 
 Sawyer, or his son Peter, but at that time owned by 
 Joseph Rice. It commanded a fall of ten to twelve 
 feet, but had a very limited reservoir. This mill was 
 often, and necessarily, a grave source of inconveni- 
 ence to Poignand & Plant by causing an intermit- 
 tent flow of water to their wheel. Mr. Rice's land 
 and water-rights were purchased in 1814, his log dam 
 was replaced by one of stone somewhat higher, and a 
 second factory was built a little below the saw-mill 
 site, to which the looms were moved from the old mill. 
 
CLINTON. 
 
 53 
 
 The business had grown until it called for more 
 capital than the firm possessed. February 12, 1821, 
 David Poignand, Samuel Plant, Benjamin Rich, Isaac 
 Bangs and Seth Knowles were incorporated with the 
 title of the Lancaster Cotton Company, representing 
 a capital of $100,000. Benjamin Pickman, Benjamin 
 T. Pickman and Lewis Tappan also became stock- 
 holders in the company, and the two last named were 
 in succession made treasurers. The old Prescott dam 
 having been broken through by a freshet in 1826, was 
 rebuilt and made one or two feet higher, giving a fall 
 of twenty-nine feet. The square, brick mansion near 
 the lower mill upon Main Street was also built by the 
 company as a residence for the superintendent, Mr. 
 Plant, twenty-five hundred dollars being appropriated 
 for the purpose. 
 
 The treasurer was accustomed to drive up from 
 Boston in his own chaise once a month to attend to 
 his special duties, and it was usual for a four-horse 
 team to be sent to the city once a fortnight with the 
 sheetings manufactured. The wagon for its return 
 trip was loaded with cotton bales and goods for the 
 store which Mr. Plant established a short distance 
 from the factory. For several years most of the 
 teaming for the company was done by Nathan Bur- 
 ditt, Sr. In case of any repairs which required a 
 new casting to be obtained, there was no foundry 
 suitably equipped to furnish it nearer than South 
 Boston. 
 
 August 28, 1880, while casually at the house of his 
 friend, Johu G. Thurston, in South Lancaster, David 
 Poignand died suddenly. In 1835 the company, find- 
 ing their business unprofitable because of changes 
 in the tariff" and the superannuated machinery, 
 advertised their property for sale, described as fol- 
 lows: "one hundred and seventy-seven acres of 
 land, one brick factory with nine hundred spindles, 
 one wooden factory with thirty-two looms and other 
 machinery; blacksmith shop, machine shop, eleven 
 dwelling houses and other buildings." The mills with 
 Buch laud and structures as were essential to their 
 operation were finally sold at auction July 26, 1836; 
 and bought by Nathaniel Band, Samuel C. Damon, 
 John Hews and Edward A. Raymond, for $13,974. 
 Their successors in 1837 leased the mills to the 
 brothers Horatio N. and Erastus B. Bigelow, who came 
 from Shirley, where the elder had been manager of a 
 cotton-mill. Mr. Plant removed to Northhampton, 
 and there died in 1847. 
 
 The Bigelows had selected this location preparatory 
 to the organization of capital for the developing of 
 some inventions of the younger brother. H. N. Bige- 
 low occupied the Plant mansion, and from this time 
 became a resident of the village and an indefatigable 
 and wise promoter of its best interests, moral, social 
 and material. March 8, 1838, the Clinton Company 
 was duly incorporated with a capital of one hundred 
 thousand dollars, and the right to hold real estate to 
 the amount of thirty thousand dollars. The incorpo- 
 
 rators whose names appeared in the legislative act 
 were: John Wright, H. N. Bigelow and Israel Long- 
 ley. The most notable inventions of Erastus B. Bige- 
 low, at that date perfected, were two power looms: 
 one for weaving figured quilts, the other for the weav- 
 ing of coach-lace. The upper, then styled the yellow 
 factory, was leased by the Clinton Company for the 
 latter manufacture, and the brick factory was devoted 
 to the making of quilts. 
 
 Before this time coach-lace had always been woven 
 by hand looms, and any attempt to supplant human 
 fingers in the complicated manipulation required was 
 scouted at by the weavers as presumptuous. But the 
 lace made by the ingenious mechanism invented by 
 Mr. Bigelow in 1836 and patented in 1837 proved of 
 a very superior quality, while the cost of weaving was 
 reduced from twenty-two to three cents a yard. The 
 manufacturers were rewarded with immediate and 
 ample financial success, which continued for about 
 ten years, when stage-coaches began everywhere to be 
 superseded by the railway train, and coach-lace found 
 no place in the new fashion of vehicles. 
 
 The company was fortunate in the time of entering 
 upon its work as well as in the genius of its inventor 
 and the ability of its management. The period was 
 one of great and general prosperity. August 17, 1842, 
 the real estate, hitherto leased, was bought of Samuel 
 Damon, and extensive improvements were begun. In 
 184,'5 the capital of the company was increased to three 
 hundred thousand, and in 1848 to half a million dol- 
 lars. Meanwhile the working plant w.as re-enforced 
 by the purchase of Sawyer's Mills, in Boylston, where 
 the water-power was utilized for the making of yarn. 
 Additions were annually made to the original build- 
 ings, and new ones were erected. When the demand 
 for their special product began rapidly to decrease, 
 machinery for the making of pantaloon checks, tweeds 
 and cassimeres was gradually introduced. 
 
 A large machine shop was connected with the works 
 which, under charge of Joseph B. Parker, turned out 
 nearly all the machinery required in the factory. 
 Horatio N. Bigelow was general manager from the 
 outset, being, however, relieved for three years, 1849 
 to 1851, by C. W. Blanchard. About four hundred 
 hands were engaged when all the looms were running ; 
 twelve hundred yards of coach-lace and four thousand 
 yards of pantaloon stutfs were finished per day. 
 
 Although the brick factory was bought in 1838 for 
 the introduction of the Bigelow quilt looms, owing to 
 financial difficulties the weaving of counterpanes did 
 not begin until 1841. The successive transfers of the 
 property are of interest, as giving the names of those 
 who began the quilt manufacture and as showing the 
 sudden rise in real estate values at that date. Rand 
 & Damon, by purchase of their associates' shares, 
 became sole owners of the cotton-mills in 1837, and in 
 1838, Rand, having acquired his partner's rights in 
 the brick factory, sold it to E.G. Roberts, who the 
 same day transferred it to W. R. Kelley for six thou- 
 
54 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 gatid dollars consideration. In September, 1839, it 
 was deeded to Thomas Kendall, the price named 
 being twenty-five thousand dollars. The property, 
 with, of course, additions and improvements, next 
 passed into possession of Hugh R. Kendall in 1842, 
 the alleged consideration being thirty thousand dol- 
 lars, and in 1845 it was sold to John Lamson for forty 
 thousand dollars. October 1, 1851, Lamson disposed 
 of the property to the Lancaster Quilt Company for 
 one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. 
 
 The quilts that came from the new looms were from 
 ten to thirteen quarters in width and of a high grade 
 In quality, equal to those of foreign make for which 
 the importers demanded six to ten dollars each. The 
 Bigelow quilts were soon in the market at less than 
 half those prices. In the quilt loom, as in all his 
 inventions and improvements in weaving machinery, 
 the design and mechanical construction of each ma- 
 chine were carefully perfected under Mr. Bigelow's own 
 oversight, and not more with a view to the saving in 
 cost of production than to attaining the highest stand- 
 ard of excellence in the fabric produced. 
 
 February 11, 1848, John Lamson, William P. Barn- 
 ard, George Seaver and associates were incorporated 
 by the name of the Lancaster Quilt Company, for the 
 purpose of manufacturing petticoat robes, toilet cov- 
 ers, and the various descriptions of counterpanes, 
 quilts and bed-covers, with an authorized capital of 
 two hundred thousand dollars. Thirty-six looms and 
 about one hundred hands were employed and the annual 
 output was over seventy-five thousand quilts. Charles 
 W. Worcester was the managing agent of the works. 
 
 The devices harmoniously combined in the coach- 
 lace loom were seen by the inventor to be equally 
 applicable to the weaving of any pile fabric. With 
 suitable enlargement and modification of parts the 
 product would become Brussels carpet, or, by the 
 addition of a cutting edge to the end of the pile wire, 
 be given a velvet pile. The adaptation to the carpet 
 loom of the chief novel feature of the lace loom — the 
 automatic attachments to draw out, carry forward and 
 reinsert the wires— was an easy problem for one who 
 "thought in wheels and pinions." The carpet loom, 
 as a conception in the inventor's brain, was soon com- 
 plete in all its details. The machinists under Mr. 
 Bigelow's eye shaped the conception in wood and 
 metal, and at Lowell in 1845 Jacquard Brussels car- 
 peting was woven upon the power loom. The inven- 
 tion was patented in England March 11, 1846, and in 
 the great London Industrial Exhibition of 1851 speci- 
 mens of Bigelow'.s carpeting were exhibited which 
 won from a jury of experts the highest encomium. It 
 was declared in their official report that the Bigelow 
 fabrics were " better and more perfectly woven than 
 any hand-woven goods that have come under notice 
 of the jury." 
 
 The Bigelow brothers, the success of the new carpet 
 loom thus made certain, bought a building at the 
 south end of High Street, in which Oilman B. Par- 
 
 ker's foundry and other mechanical industries had 
 been carried on, raised it and built a brick basement 
 beneath, thereby obtaining a room two hundred feet 
 long by forty-two in width. In this they set up 
 twenty-eight looms run by a thirty horse-power steam- 
 engine, and in the autumn of 1849 began the making 
 of Brussels carpet by power. The requisite spinning 
 was done at other mills. About one hundred hands 
 were employed and five hundred yards of carpeting 
 made daily. The day's labor of a skilled weaver on 
 the hand loom rarely brought five yards, while the 
 power loom, managed by a girl, readily produced four 
 or five times as much and ensured superior finish. 
 The works were under the management of H. N. 
 Bigelow. H. P. Fairbanks became a partner with 
 the Bigelow Brothers in 1850, and with added capital, 
 larger and more substantial buildings, year by year 
 crowded the little valley site. 
 
 A map of Lancaster, dated 1795, notes the ex- 
 istence of a "falls of about seven feet" in the river 
 ai, the place where now stands the dam of the Lan- 
 caster Mills Company. At that time this great 
 water-power was owned by Elias Sawyer, who built 
 a dam across the stream and began a sawmill, 
 which, from lack of means, he was never able to 
 complete, although he sawed considerable lumber 
 here. For a time he lived near by, but the property 
 passed from his hands, and in 1810 was acquired by 
 JamtsPitts, a millwright of Taunton, who came to 
 reside upon and improve his purchase in December, 
 1815. The narrow, rock-walled valley, and the hills 
 that hem it in, were densely covered with forest, and 
 no public road led thither. A few acres of the bot- 
 tom lands were soon cleared, and during 1816 Mr. 
 Pitts erected upon the mud-sill of the old Sawyer 
 Dam a new one, thirteen feet in height, and the 
 same year completed a saw and sri-t-mill. Possess- 
 ing some spinning machinery at a factory in West 
 Bridgewater, he brought it to Lancaster, and began 
 the manufacture of cotton yarn in 1820, gradually 
 enlarging his buildings and increasing his production 
 as success warranted. A small part of his power 
 was leased in 1818 and for a few yeais later to 
 Charles Chace & Sons, who built a small tannery 
 near the mills. Comb-making was also carried on 
 here at a later day, with power leased of Mr. Pitts. 
 
 James Pitts, Sr., died in January, 1835, and bis 
 sons, James, Hiram W. and Seth G., continued the 
 manufacture of satinet warps. The saw and grist- 
 mill was burned in 1836, but immediately rebuilt. 
 November 12, 1838, the town accepted a highway 
 laid out from the "red factory" of Poignand & 
 Plant — which stood where the Bigelow Carpet Com- 
 pany's spinning department now is — to Pitts' Mills. 
 This was the first public road to that locality, and 
 marks the origin of Mechanic Street. In 1842 the 
 Pitts Brothers sold their entire estate, including 
 about eighty acres of land, to Erastus B. Bigelow, 
 for ten thousand dollars. 
 
CLINTON. 
 
 55 
 
 February 5, 1844, E. B. Bigelow, Stephen Fair- 
 banks, Henry Timmins and associates were incor- 
 porated as the Lancaster Mills Company, with a 
 capital of five hundred tliousand dollars, and at 
 once laid the foundations of the manufactory now 
 famous as one of the largest gingham-mills in the 
 world. It was at first proposed to begin with the 
 manufacture of blue and white cotton checks only, 
 but in view of the liberal pecuniary returns at that 
 time rewarding manufacturing enterprise, and the 
 deserved confidence of the capitalists in the inven- 
 tive genius of the younger Bigelow, and the rare 
 organizing ability of the elder, it was determined to 
 build a gingham-mill of twenty thousand spindles. 
 Up to this time ginghams had been chiefly made 
 upon hand looms. The processes which this fabric 
 passes through before it is ready for market are in 
 number more than doable those required in the mak- 
 ing of plain cloth, and hence the design of the ma- 
 chinery and buildings was correspondingly complex 
 in character. To this novel problem E. B. Bigelow 
 devoted his energy and marvellous constructive skill 
 for more than two years, when his health gave way, 
 under the intense strain of the mental toil and 
 anxiety he had undergone, and he sought rest and 
 found cure in foreign travel. He had, however, 
 perfected all plans and contracts for the essentially 
 new elements of the plant, and his brother, being 
 thoroughly familiar with them, carried the works on- 
 ward to completion, and put them into successful 
 operation. 
 
 H. N. Bigelow continued in management of manu- 
 facture until 1849, when he was succeeded as agent 
 by Franklin Forbes, under whose long and very able 
 c >ntrol the company attained great financial success 
 and an honorable name for the unvarying superiority 
 of its products. The various purchases of real estate, 
 — two hundred and thirteen acres in all, — and the 
 construction of dam, mills and machinery ready for 
 operation, cost about eight hundred thousand dollars, 
 and the stock was divided into two thousand shares. 
 Both buildings and machinery were of the highest 
 excellence in design aud workmanship. The dam 
 was built chiefly of stone quarried in the immediate 
 neighborhood, and the town of Lancaster at the time 
 of its construction joined the banks of the river just 
 above with a wooden trestle bridge, and laid out a 
 roadway from it to the county highway. .The water- 
 ])ower was at first developed by three breast-wheels 
 upon a single line of shafting, each twenty-six feet in 
 diameter with fourteen buckets. These were supple- 
 mented by a Tufts' engine of two hundred and fifty 
 horse-power. The mills were admirably lighted and 
 ventilated, and neat, convenient tenements of wood 
 were built near them, accommodating seventy fami- 
 lies. About eight hundred operatives were required 
 when the works were in complete running order, two- 
 thirds of whom were females. Girls earned about 
 three dollars per week above their board. The head 
 
 dyer, Angus Cameron, was reputed the most skilful 
 of his craft in America. The weaving-room, contain- 
 ing six hundred looms, was the large-st in the United 
 States, having a floor-area of one and one-third acres. 
 Thirteen thousand yards of gingham were finished in 
 a single day — the estimated annual product being 
 four million yards — and the price, which had been 
 sixteen or eighteen cents per yard, dropped at once to 
 less than twelve. In 1849 the capital of the company 
 was increased to one million two hundred thousand 
 dollars. 
 
 The prosperity of the Clinton Company and the 
 starting of the Lancaster Mills speedily worked great 
 changes in their vicinity by the constantly-increasing 
 demand for intelligent labor, and the consequent en- 
 couragement offered to skill and traffic. The growth 
 of the village was very rapid, yet systematic and sub- 
 stantial. Streets were laid out according to a well- 
 digested plan, reserving prominent sites for public 
 buildings. In this and other work calling for the art 
 of an engineer, the judgment and foresight of H. N. 
 Bigelow were ably seconded by the taste and scien- 
 tific attainments of the famous civil engineer John C. 
 Hoadley, tlien resident in the Prescott house, at the 
 corner of High and Water Streets. The town of 
 Lancaster in 1848 accepted Church, Union, Chestnut, 
 Walnut, High, Nelson and Prospect Streets as town 
 roads, the expenditure for land and construction 
 having been wholly defrayed by the villHgers. Hun- 
 dreds of shade-trees were planted, of which the town 
 is now justly proud. Stores and dwellings soon rose 
 in every direction, and owners or lessees hastened to 
 occupy them before the hammer and saw of the 
 builders h.ad ceased work upon them. 
 
 The final location of the Worcester and Nashua 
 Railroad through the town in 1846 gave new energy to 
 enterprise, again to receive fresh impetus when the 
 road was formally opened to Groton on July 24, 1848, 
 and on November 5th of the same year to Worcester. 
 Before this the travelling public were dependent upon 
 Stiles' stage-coaches for conveyance to Worcester, and 
 reached Boston by patronizing Mclntire and Day's 
 coaches, which at .5.30 and 10 a.m. and 3.45 p.m. started 
 for Shirley Village, there connecting with the Fitch- 
 burg Railway trains. A. J. Gibson's rival line also 
 carried passengers to Souh Acton, where the same 
 trains were met. 
 
 The Lancaster Couranf, a weekly newspaper, was 
 established by Eliphas Ballard, Jr., and F. C. Messen- 
 ger, in connection with a job printing-office located on 
 the east side of High Street, in the building of C. W 
 Field. Mr. Messenger was editor of the paper, the 
 first number of which was published Saturday, July 
 4, 1846. In July, 1850, it was enlarged by the addi- 
 tion of one column to each page and its name changed 
 to Saturday Courant. 
 
 The professions of medicine, law and engineering 
 soon had gifted and public-spiriied representatives 
 here, whose honorable careers adorn the town's an- 
 
56 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 nals and whose wisely-directed influence made its 
 mark upon the town's institutions. Other wide- 
 awake young men coming hither to seek fortune and 
 build themselves permanent homes, engaged in trade 
 or plied various handicrafts, and by their worthy am- 
 bitions and energy gave a tone to the community 
 notably superior to that which generally character- 
 izes a new manufacturing town. 
 
 Postmaster Rand authorized the establishment of a 
 branch of the Lancaster post-oflice at the store of 
 Lorey F. Bancroft, which stood on the corner of High 
 and Union Streets until removed for the building of 
 Greeley's block in 1875. Regular postal privileges 
 were petitioned for and obtained in July, 1846. H. 
 N. Bigelow was the first postmaster commissioned, 
 and located the office in the north end of the Kendall 
 building, placing it in charge of George H. Kendall. 
 
 By popular usage the title of the corporation which 
 had been most influential in creating this thriving 
 village gradually became attached to it. It was 
 called Clintonville ; and therefore the reason for the 
 selection of its name by the company in 1838 obtains 
 some historic interest. It must be said that the name 
 Clinton was not adopted for any specially apt signifi- 
 cance or with intent to honor any person or family, 
 but simply because it satisfied the eye and ear better 
 than other names that may have been proposed. It 
 was doubtless chosen by Erastus B. Bigelow's desire, 
 and was suggested to him by the Clinton Hotel of 
 New York, which he had found a very comfortable 
 resting-place in his business journeys to Washing- 
 ton. 
 
 The Bigelow Mechanics' Institute was founded in 
 1846. It was an association formed by several of the 
 more intelligent citizens, who proposed to benefit 
 themselves and the community by the support of 
 courses of lectures upon scientific and literary sub- 
 jects, the collection of a library, the establishing a 
 reading-room and perhaps an industrial sch lol. A 
 reading-room was opened to members and subscribers 
 June 5, 1847, in the second story of the Kendall 
 building, then on High Street,where the Clinton Bank 
 block now stands. A fee of three dollars annually 
 entitled any resident to its privileges. The book 
 fund and expenses of lectures exceeding membership 
 fees and sale of tickets were met by subscription. 
 The introductory lecture was delivered in October, 
 1846, by Hon. James G. Carter. He was followed by 
 John C. Hoadley, Dr. George M. Morse, Charles G. 
 Stevens, Esq., Rev. Hubbard Winslow, and other edu- 
 cated gentlemen of the vicinity. In later years, 
 through the instrumentality of the Institute, noted 
 lecturers like Horace Greeley, Henry D. Thoreau, 
 Oliver Wendell Holmes, Josiah Quincy, Jr., etc., 
 were brought to delight and instruct Clinton audi- 
 ences. Regular monthly meetings of the members 
 were held for conference and the discussion of ques- 
 tions relating to the mechanic arts and manufactures. 
 The finances of the society were never quite commen- 
 
 surate with its ambitious aims, but in its six years' 
 life it was an eSBcient public teacher and accumulated 
 a valuable library of nearly seven hundred volumes. 
 
 The first tavern in Clintonville was kept by Horace 
 Faulkner in the old Plant farm-house, which in later 
 years served as a boarding-house for the Lancaster 
 Quilt Company. In 1847 H. N. Bigelow built the 
 hotel known as the Clinton House, Oliver Stone being 
 the contractor for its construction. Horace Faulkner 
 and his son-in-law, Jerome S. Burditt, opened it to the 
 public in Christmas week of that year, and the 
 " house-warming " was a notable occasion in the vil- 
 lage. The hall was added in 1850, its completion 
 being celebrated by an " opening ball " October 2d. 
 
 In the autumn of 1839 Ephraim Fuller's cloth- 
 dressing and wool-carding works at Carter's Mills 
 having been destroyed by fire, he purchased of George 
 Howard his water-power on South Meadow Brook, 
 and lands adjacent, where he erected a fulling-mill 
 and carried on a thriving business for many years. 
 His son, Andrew L. Fuller, soon became associated 
 with him, and, as the times favored, fhachinery for 
 the manufacture of every variety of woolen knitting- 
 yarn, satinets and fancy cassimeres was introduced. 
 For a time the business employed thirty hands, and 
 si.xty thousand yards of cloth were put upon the mar- 
 ket yearly, the mill sometimes being operated by 
 night as well as day. 
 
 In the winter of 1S46 Ephraim Fuller dammed 
 Goodridge Brook where it crosses the h'ghway in 
 Clinton and built a shop with a trip-hammer and 
 forge conveniences in the basement. Here Luther 
 Gaylord — who for several years had been engaged in 
 the manufacture by hand of cast-steel tools for farm 
 use — -made all kinds of hay and manure forks, garden 
 rakes, hoes and agricultural implements of similar 
 character, employing from six to ten men. His work 
 was unrivaled in excellence. There being more than 
 sufficient power for his limited needs, the upper story 
 of the building was fitted with a line of shafting and 
 leased to W. F. Conant, a builder of water-wheels, 
 Isaac Taylor, sash and blind manufacturer, and 
 others. 
 
 Shortly after the starting of the Bigelow carpet- 
 mill, Albert S. Carleton began the making of carpet- 
 bags of a superior quality, using Bigelow carpeting 
 made in patterns expressly for his purpose. His 
 work-rooms were in the brick building now the 
 residence of Dr. Charles A. Brooks. The business 
 later came into the hands of James S. Caldwell. 
 
 October 16, 1847, Oilman M. Palmer started an iron 
 foundry on land now covered by the weaving dejjart- 
 ment of the Bigelow Carpet Company, at the southerly 
 end of High Street. In 1849 he transferred this 
 property to the Bigelows, and built upon the site of 
 the present foundry, near the railway station. 
 
 Deacon James Patterson introduced in 1848 the 
 manufacture of belting and loom harnesses and the 
 covering of rolls, over the carpenter-shop of Samuel 
 
CLINTON. 
 
 57 
 
 Belyea, the two occupying one end of Mr. Palmer's 
 foundry. When the building was taken by the car- 
 pet company, Mr. Patterson built a shop in rear 
 of his own residence, but sold his business in July, 
 1853, to George H. Foster, who was located near the 
 railway. 
 
 Of any Massachusetts community it needs not to 
 be told that the foundations of school and meeting- 
 house were among those earliest laid and most 
 promptly built upon ; and that generous provision 
 was always made for the intellectual, moral and 
 religious culture of young and old, rich and poor 
 alike. In 1849 there were already three churches 
 in Clintonville, each with its settled clergyman 
 and commodious house of worship. Though forming 
 two districts in the Lanca-ter school system, the 
 village, under laws of that day, was permitted to 
 manage its schools according to special by-laws of 
 its own, and its prudential committee printed elabo- 
 rate annual reports. A more complete autonomy 
 was soon acquired. 
 
 CHAPTER TX. 
 
 CLINTON— ( Con tin ued. ) 
 
 T?i« luoorporaHoit — Favoring Atwpken — New Enterprises and Changes in 
 llu Old. 
 
 The fourth article of a warrant calling a town- 
 meeting in Lancaster, Nov. 7, 1848, was, "To see if 
 the Town will consent to a division thereof and allow 
 that part called Clintonville to form a separate town- 
 ship, or act in any manner relating thereto." The 
 subject was referred to a committee, with instructions 
 to report at a future meeting. This committee in- 
 cluded Elias M. Stilwell, James G. Carter, John H. 
 Shaw and Jacob Fisher, of the old town ; Horatio N. 
 Higelow, Ezra Sawyer, Sidney Harris, Chas. G.Stevens 
 and Jotham T. Otterson, of Clintonville. A citizens' 
 meeting was called in the latter village, Monday, Oc- 
 tober 29, 1849, to discuss the question of separation, 
 dt which H. N. Bigelow was chairman and Dr. George 
 M. Morse, secretary. Those present, with almost en- 
 tire unanimity, declared in favor of petitioning for 
 township rights, and a committee was chosen, con- 
 sisting of Charles G. Stevens, Sidney Harris, Joseph 
 B. Parker, Horatio N. Bigelow and Alanson Chace, 
 "to carry forward to accomplish men t the views of the 
 meeting, leaving the terms and the line of division to 
 the judgment and discretion of the committee." 
 
 November 12, 1849, at a town-meeting, majority and 
 minority reports were presented by the committee 
 chosen the year before. They contained such obvious 
 arguments, pro and con, as are usual in the debates 
 preceding town division, and both were tabled, the 
 tone of a brief discussion indicating that no com- 
 
 promise could be readily effected at that time. The 
 citizens' committee of Clintonville, in obedience to 
 their instructions, proceeded to prep.are a petition to 
 the Legi-slature. 
 
 The majority report, favoring the division, had gone 
 80 far as to propose a straight line of separation, to 
 begin "at the town bound between Lancaster and 
 Sterling on the Redstone Road . . . and run (hence 
 S. 75° 42' East to the easterly line of the town, strik- 
 ing the Bolton line at a point 289.56 rods from the 
 town bound which is a corner of Bolton, Berlin and 
 Lancaster." This severed from the old town nearly 
 the whole of the Deershorns School District, and vig- 
 orous remonstrance was made by almost every resident 
 therein. Therefore, on February 9, 1850, a meeting 
 was called at the vestry of (he Congregational So- 
 ciety's meeting-house, to consider a proposed line of 
 division, so run as to include little more than the old 
 Districts Ten and Eleven in the new town. 
 
 February 15th, at a special town-meeting, the chief 
 article in the warrant was, "To see what action the 
 Town will take in reference to the petition of Charles 
 G. Stevens and others to the legislature of the Com- 
 monwealth, for a division ot the town of Lancaster." 
 After some friendly discussion of the matter the as- 
 semblage voted that the citizens of the old town should 
 select a committee to confer with a like committee re- 
 presenting the petitioners, and that they should "re- 
 port as soon as may be what terms, in their opinion, 
 ought to satisfy the town of Lancaster, to consent not 
 to oppose a division of the town." The meeting ad- 
 journed for forty minutes, having chosen John G. 
 Thurs(on, Jacob Fisher, Silas Thurston, Dr. Henry 
 Lincoln and Nathaniel Warner to consult with the 
 Clintonville committee already named. Upon re-as- 
 sembling the unanimous report of the joint committee 
 was adopted, as follows: 
 
 1. That all tliR property, both real and personal, owned by the town 
 of Lancaster at the present time, shall beloHR to and be owned by the 
 town of Lancaster after the division shall take place. 
 
 2. That the inhabitants of Clintonville shall support and forever 
 maintain those persons who now receive relief and snpport from the 
 town of Lancaster as panpers, who originated from the territory proposed 
 to he set off ; and also forever support all persons who may hereafter be- 
 come paupers who derive their settlement from this territory. 
 
 3. That clintonville, or the town of Clinton, if so incorporated, eball 
 pay to the town of Lancaster the sum of ten thousand dollars in consid- 
 eration of the large number of river bridges and paupers that will re- 
 main within the limits of the old town ; the same to he paid in ten 
 equal payments of one thousand dollars, with interest semi-annually on 
 the sum due, the first payment of one thousjtnd dollars to be made in 
 one year after the separation shall take place. And the amount shall be 
 in full for all the town debt which Lancaster owes. 
 
 4. That the line of division shall be the same as this day proposed by 
 Charles G.Stevens, Esq., as follows: Beginning at a monument on the 
 east line of the Town, 289.50 rods northerly from a town bound, a cor- 
 ner of Bolton, Berlin and Lancaster ; thence north 65° 30' west 488.11 
 rods to a monument near the railroad bridge at Goodridge Hill ; thence 
 south 48° 30' west 783 rods to a tow n bound near the Elder farm, so 
 called ; thence by the old lines of the Town to the 7)lace of beginning. 
 
 5. If a division of the Town is elTected, the substance of the foregoing 
 
 articles having been put in legal form, shall be inserted in the act of 
 
 incorporation. 
 
 J. G. Thurston, 1 „, . . -, „ 
 
 > Chuirnian or Town ConimiUee. 
 C. G. Stevens, I 
 
58 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 The act incorporating the town of Clinton in ac- 
 cordance with tills agreement was signed by Governor 
 Briggs, March 14, 1850. The main eastern boundary 
 of the nc^ town had been fixed by the formation of 
 Bolton out of Lancaster territory by an act passed 
 June 27, 1738. The southern boundary had been 
 determined by the act of February 1, 1781, which an- 
 nexed about six square miles of the southerly part of 
 Lancaster's original grant to Shrewsbury. The west- 
 ern boundary was defined in the act of April 25, 1781, 
 incorporating the Second Precinct of Lancaster as the 
 town of Sterling. The irregular intrusion of Berlin 
 at the southeast corner was created by an act of Feb- 
 ruary 8, 1791, setting off Peter Larkin with his family 
 and estate from Lancaster to Berlin, then a district of 
 Bolton. 
 
 The new town took from the old very nearly two- 
 thirds of her population, although but one-fifth of her 
 acreage, and a similarly small proportion of the pub- 
 lic roads and pauper liabilities. Of the ten bridges 
 crossing the Nashua, eight were left to Lancaster, all 
 being of wood and mostly old, demanding large an- 
 nual expenditures for repairs, even when spared se- 
 rious damage by the spring freshets, and sure to 
 require rebuilding within twenty years. The debt of 
 the town was about three thousand dollars. It was 
 in view of these facts that the pecuniary consideration 
 paid the mother town was by the fair-minded men of 
 both sections held to be, perhaps, no more than justice 
 demanded. The liberal concession at least silenced 
 the loud-voiced opposition which at first met the pro- 
 posal for division, and so confirmed the bond of 
 friendly feeling between the two communities that 
 nothing has since been able seriously to weaken it. 
 
 Clinton began its corporate life with a population 
 of thirty-one hundred and eighteen, according to the 
 United States census of that year ; although but 
 twenty-seven hundred and seventy-eight by an enu- 
 meration made for the assessors in June, 1850. It had 
 a debt of about four and a halfdollars and a valuation of 
 over four hundred dollars per head of its inhabitants. 
 It could, with good reason, boast itself in many re- 
 spects a model manufacturing town. Its territory and 
 population were compact, nine-tenths of the citizens 
 dwelling within a sinjrle square mile. It was bur- 
 dened with few and short roads and bridges. Though 
 not ble-^sed with a productive soil, it was surrounded 
 by towns possessing rich farming lands and chiefly 
 devoted to agriculture. Its industries were widely 
 diversified, there being already well established man- 
 ufactories of gingham.-i, Brussels carpets, coach-lace, 
 counterpanes, tweeds, cassimeres, combs, carpet-bags, 
 agricultural tools, sish and blinds, castings, ma- 
 chinery. 
 
 At the head of its chief corporations stood man- 
 agers who wore not only generous and public-spirited, 
 but gifted with qualities more rare and valuable— taste 
 and foresight. Wliile studying the true economy of 
 machinery and manufactures, they looked less to 
 
 penny-wise saving than to enduring reputation. They 
 and their sucoes<ors built comfortable, detached 
 homes for their employes, instead of huddling them 
 in cheap blocks, and thoughtfully planned for ample 
 light, fresh air, convenience and safety in the work- 
 rooms, believing that health and contentment in the 
 workmen largely conduce to the employer's profit. 
 Without undue expense they made the architecture 
 and surroundings of their works attractive. The in- 
 fluence of this policy, which has been permanent 
 and followed very generally by private enterprise of 
 the townspeople, is not only to be seen in its exter- 
 nal and sesthetic results, but felt in the social life, the 
 atmosphere of content that pervades the place. 
 
 Tlie first town-meeting was held in the vestry of the 
 Congregational meeting-house on Monday, the 1st 
 day of April, 1850, at 9 o'clock a.m. A citizens' 
 caucus had previously nominated a list of town ofii- 
 cers, which the voters did not fully endorse. Albert 
 8. Carletou waschosen town clerk, and Sidney Harris, 
 treasurer and collector. The selectmen elected were 
 Ezra Sawyer, Samuel Belyea and Edmund Harris ; 
 the assessors, Alfred Knight, Joseph B. Parker and Ira 
 Coolidge; the overseers of the poor, James Ingalls, 
 Alanson Chace and Nathan Burditt. The school 
 committee, who were elected at an adjourned meet- 
 ing April 15th, were Rev. William H. Corning, Rev. 
 Charles M. Bowers , C. W. Blanchard, Dr. George W. 
 Burditt, Dr. George M. Morse, F. C. Messenger and 
 James Patterson. The three last named declining to 
 serve, Augustus J. Sawyer, William W. Parker and 
 Charles L. Swan were chosen in their places. The 
 sum of eight thousand two hundred dollars was 
 voted for the year's expenses, including two thousand 
 dollars for schools, and five hundred for a Fire Depart- 
 ment. 
 
 Certain pressing wants called for early public ac- 
 tion. There was no place for the burial of the dead 
 within the town limits, although a cemetery associa- 
 tion had been organized October 3, 1849. About ten 
 acres of land, admirably suited in position and char- 
 acter for a public cemetery, were soon purchased, 
 laid out with taste and judgment, and named Wood- 
 lawn. Near by a small farm was bought of Sumner 
 Thompson for an almshouse. Upon it were a small 
 house and barn ; to this were added three acres ob- 
 tained of Joseph Rice, and a dwelling of eleven 
 rooms was at once built. The twelve acres and im- 
 provements cost $3859.71. 
 
 A volunteer fire company, called Torrent, No. 1, was 
 organized September 18, 1850, its members being the 
 chief business men of the town. A Hunneman fire- 
 engine was procured, for which one thousand dollars 
 bad been appropriated, and on March 10, 1861, a Fire 
 Department was established by legislative enactment. 
 Franklin Forbes was chosen chief engineer. A sec- 
 ond company, the Cataract, No. 2, was formed June 
 17, 1853, and a third, the Franklin Hook-and-Ladder 
 Company, July 7, 1858. Organizations bearing the 
 
CLINTON. 
 
 59 
 
 same titles yet exist, but the engine companies were 
 disbanded and re-organized as hose companies after 
 the introduction of water for fire purposes, eacli 
 liaving in charge six hundred fcPt of hose. A fourth 
 company, formed in 1870, has care of a steam fire- 
 engine, one of Cole Brothers' manufacture, and twelve 
 hundred feet of hose. The firemen have alwaj's re- 
 ceived liberal support from the town, are supplied 
 with every modern appliance for use in the extin- 
 guishment of fires, and provided with comfortable 
 and attractively furnished halls, in the upper stnries 
 of the neat structures in which the apparatus is 
 stored. The Gamewell electric fire-alarm system was 
 adopted in July, 1885. 
 
 May 15, 1851, Franklin Forbes, Albert 8. Carleton, 
 Charles G. Stevens and associates obtained incorpora- 
 tion as the Clinton Savings Bank, and were author- 
 ized to hold real esiate not to exceed ten thousand 
 dollars in value. H. N. Bigelow was elected the first 
 president of the bank. In this office he was succeeded 
 by Franklin Forbes. The first treasurer, Charles ly. 
 Swan, is now president, and C. L. S. Hammond has 
 been treasurer since 186'1. For several years deposits 
 were received by the treasurer at the office of the 
 Lancaster Mills and by the president at his office in 
 the Bigelow Library building; later, by the treasurer 
 at the office of the Bigelow Carpet Company. Since 
 1864 the business of the bank had been conducted in 
 the rooms of the First National Bank. Its deposits 
 now amount to 81,123,109, the number of depositors 
 being about four thousand. The total deposits since 
 organization have been over five million dollars, and 
 the total number of accounts over fourteen thousand. 
 
 At the woolen-mill upon South Meadow Brook, 
 Andrew L. Fuller succeeded his father, who retired 
 from tlie business in 1850, just as their special manu- 
 factures of yarns and cloths began to be unremunera- 
 tive. Mr. Fuller was a man of great business capacity 
 and energy, shrewdly watchful of the market, and he 
 gradually introduced new machinery for the produc- 
 tion of goods for which there was a better demand. 
 When fashion decreed that hoop-skirts should be an 
 essential article of female apparel, he filled his work- 
 rooms with tape-looms and braiders for covering 
 hoop-skirt wire, and soon developed a very successful 
 business. In 1865 he more than doubled the capacity 
 of his main building, added two hundred braiders to 
 the two hundred and fifty he had previously run, and 
 increased the number of his tape-looms to forty. 
 Nearly one hundred hands were given employment. 
 September 10, 1867, Mr. Fuller died, but the manu- 
 facture was continued by his partner, Everett W. 
 Bigelow, until change in fickle fashion destroyed the 
 sale for such goods, and bankruptcy followed in 1870. 
 N. C. Munson, of Shirley,' under mortgagee rights, 
 took possession of and sold the property to Boyce 
 Brothers, of Boston, iu whose ownership the mills 
 were when destroyed in 1876, as narrated hereafter. 
 The industry has never been resumed. The water- 
 
 power is now in possession of George P. Taylor, who, 
 in 1885, built a neat, one-story brick mill here, which 
 was for a time leased to the Ridgvvay Stove and Fur- 
 nace Company, but is now unoccupied. 
 
 In 1852 the Bigelow Library Association, a joint 
 stock company, assumed the functions and received 
 the assets of the Bigelow Merhanics' Institute. It 
 began its career under far more favoring auspices 
 than its predecessor, having, beside the capital re- 
 rived from its stock subscription, generous donations 
 from various citizens, including the sura of one thou- 
 sand dollars given by Erastus B. B'gelow. A substan- 
 tial brick building was erected upon Union Street, 
 giving ample accommodations for the use of the 
 society and several rooms for rent. Here a choice 
 libr«ry was gradually gathered, and the association 
 became a prominent factor in the literary life of the 
 town. When, in 1873, the town resolved to maintain 
 a free public library, the association placed in its 
 charge the four thousand four hundred volumes 
 which it had accumulated. It then sold its remaining 
 effects and real estate, and its twenty years' career of 
 usefulness and beneficence closed. 
 
 A lot of about four acres in the heart of the village, 
 bounded by Walnut, Chestnut, Church and Union 
 Streets, was, in 1852, given to Clinton by H. N. Big- 
 elow, with the stipulation that it should be laid out 
 according to plans of J. C. Hoadley, that no perma- 
 nent structure of any kind should ever be built upon 
 it, and that it should be suitably embellished and 
 cared for forever as a public square. The town 
 accepted the gift April 5, 1852, and at once appropri- 
 ated one thousand dollars for its improvement. This 
 has now become a tree-shaded park, and is the most 
 u-eful of Mr. Bigelow's many and wise benefactions 
 to the town which he did so much to found, and was 
 ever striving to improve and adorn. 
 
 Joseph B. Parker, who for twelve years had been 
 superintendent of the Clinton Company's machine- 
 shop, built, in the summer of 1852, near the railway 
 station, a shop fitted with steam-power and tools for 
 the manufacture of machinery. Having associated 
 with him Gilman M. Palmer, he began work here on 
 the 1st of January, 1853. The firm of Parker & Pal- 
 mer was dissolved October 31, 1857, and two years 
 later A. C. Dakin was taken into partnership. 
 
 September 7, 1853, John T. Dame, E-q., received a 
 commission as postmaster, and removed the office 
 from the Kendall store to the Bigelow Library Asso- 
 ciation's building on Union Street. During the .'^ame 
 year a nesv road from Clinton westward through Lan- 
 caster, now known as Sterling Street, was laid out by 
 the county commissioners and constructed. October 
 19th of this year a noteworthy celebration of the sur- 
 render of CornwiiUis, the last in this part of the State, 
 brought to Clinton fifteen hundred regular and irregu- 
 lar militia and an immense crowd of people. The 
 time-worn comedy of the sham fight was manoeuvred 
 to its historic issue on Burditt Hill, with more smoke 
 
60 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 and noi«e than the town has ever experienced before 
 or since, and the traditions of former days were out- 
 shone in the farcical evolutions and grotesque accou- 
 trements of the "Continentals." 
 
 March 8, 1854, H. N. Bigelow, Franklin Forbes 
 and Henry Kellogg were constituted a corporation, 
 with the title of the Clinton Gas Light Company, and 
 authorized to hold real estate to the value of thirty 
 thousand dollars, with a capital of fifty thousand 
 dollars. Buildings had been erected the year before 
 in rear of the carpet-mill. Mr. Forbes was elected 
 president, and C. L. Swan, treasurer, of the company. 
 Milton Jewett became superintendent, and yet holds 
 that position. The Schuyler Electric Light Company 
 began building works in town, March, 1886, and in 
 July were authorized to furni.sh a few street lights. 
 Their plant and privileges were soon after sold to the 
 Gas Light Co. April 17, 1887, legislation was obtained 
 authorizing the corporation to increase its capital to two 
 hundred thousand dollars, and to hold real estate to 
 the value of seventy-five thousand dollare. By the 
 same act its corporate privileges were extended to 
 include the town of Lancaster, 
 
 The little steel forge upon Goodridge Brook was 
 lost to Clinton in 1852. Mr. Gaylord, being unable 
 to find a near market for his products in competition 
 ■with goods of inferior grade, accepted inducements to 
 remove to Naugatuck, Conn. The water privileges 
 and buildings, owned by Ephraim Fuller, were for 
 several years leased to various parties, chiefly for the 
 manufacture of doors, sash and blinds. Christopher 
 C. Stone then bought the mill and carried on that 
 business here for three years. In 1859 Eben S. Fuller 
 bought out Mr. Stone, and in 1867 supplemented the 
 water-power with a steam-engine, when large addi- 
 tions were also made to the buildings. The establish- 
 ment now embraces a saw-mill, which turns out about 
 three hundred thousand feet of native lumber annu- 
 ally, planing and various other wood-working m.a- 
 chines, a large shop for the manufacture of all kinds 
 of wood-finish used by builders, and an extensive 
 lumber and wood-yard. About twenty men are kept 
 constantly employed in its various departments, and 
 a small village has grown up about it. 
 
 In 1854 the electric telegraph wires appeared in 
 Clinton, and on the 23d of September the first busi- 
 ness message was sent over them. 
 
 The first loom to succe>sfully weave wire cloth was 
 an invention of Erastus B. Bigelow's, and upon its 
 success the Clinton Wire Cloth Company was founded 
 in 1856. Charles H. Waters, of Groton, was chosen 
 to assist H. N. Bigelow in superintending the erection 
 of the original works, and in the summer of 1857 
 began manufacture. He was made general manager, 
 and served as such with marked ability until March, 
 1879, when he became president of the company and 
 Charles B. Bigelow manufacturing agent. Buildings 
 of large area have from time to time been added to the 
 first mill, located at the intersection of the railroads — 
 
 notably in 1863, 1865, 1870, 1872, 1876, 1880 and 1887 
 — and now the works cover about six acres. The 
 looms and other machinery have been often improved 
 by new inventions or adaptations, mostly those of Mr. 
 Waters, whereby numerous difficulties attendant upon 
 the weaving of so stubborn a material as wire have 
 gradually been in large measure overcome. At the 
 death of Mr. Waters, March 13, 1883, James H. Beal 
 became the president of the company, and Charles 
 Swinscoe was made manager in 1885, when Mr. 
 Bigelow was called upon to assume the duties of 
 manufacturing agent for the Bigelow Carpet Company. 
 
 The capital of the Wire Cloth Company is four 
 hundred thousand dollars, and it is claimed to be the 
 largest manufactory of woven wire goods in the world, 
 turning out fifty million square feet in a year. The 
 mills are of brick, very substantial in construction, 
 and possess attractive architectural features. The 
 most prominent structure in the town, one that earliest 
 engages the attention of every one when approaching 
 it from any direction, is the tower used for the drying 
 of painted wire cloth. It is one hundred and eighty- 
 five feet in height, eighty by thirty-six feet in hori- 
 zontal section, having room for twenty-five tons of 
 cloth suspended in webs of about one hundred feet in 
 length. The chief products of the works are : hex- 
 agonal netting of every width and variety, jiainted 
 window-screen cloth, wire lathing, locomotive sparker 
 cloth, malt-kilu flooring, sieve and bolting cloths, etc. 
 An extensive galvanizing plant has been erected a 
 short distance from the main works beside the Wor- 
 cester and Nashua Railway, where a special process, 
 peculiar to this company, is used for the protection 
 of iron goods; the zinc being chemically united with 
 the iron, instead of simply forming a mechanical 
 coating upon it. 
 
 Sidney Harris, who began the making of horn 
 combs by hand in a small way in 1823, continued the 
 business until his death, November 21, 1861, when 
 his shops on the Nashua supported from twenty-five to 
 thirty workmen. His sales sometimes amounted to 
 twenty thousand dollars a year. Mr. Harris was the 
 youngest son of Daniel, and born in West Boylston. 
 He was one of the most enterprising and thrifty citi- 
 zens of Clinton, prominent in church and municipal 
 affairs, and every way worthy of the public esteem in 
 which he was ever held. He was among the earliest 
 and mo.st outspoken advocates of the temperance 
 cause. His sons, George S. and Edwin A., continued 
 the fabrication of horn goods, retaining the partner- 
 ship title of Sidney Harris & Sons, and greatly en- 
 larged the shop'? in 1866. The elder did not long 
 survive his father, and Edwin, by purchase of his 
 brother's interest, became sole proprietor of the fac- 
 tory, and so remained until his death, in the spring 
 of 1875. August 9th, of that year, a joint-slock com- 
 pany WHS organized to continue the bujines<, with a 
 capital of sixty thousand dollars, called the S. Harris' 
 Sons Manufacturing Company. Eliaha Brimhall, 
 
CLINTON. 
 
 61 
 
 Daniel B. Ingalls and Henry E. Starbird were by 
 turns presidents of the company, which gave work to 
 about eighty hands, and finished goods to the value 
 of from eighty to one hundred thousand dollars per 
 year, chiefly dressing and fancy-back combs. The 
 enterprise won no financial success, and in November, 
 1881, the whole stock of the company, having much 
 depreciated in value, was bought by Mrs. Edwin A. 
 Harris, who has since managed the manufacture un- 
 der the corporate title, giving work to fifty hands. 
 The present production of the factory is about forty 
 thousand dollai-s' worth of staple goods, chiefly toilet 
 combs, yearly. 
 
 The original incorporators of the Lancaster Quilt 
 Company were succeeded in May, 1859, by James 
 Reed & Co., and the mill changed hands more than 
 once thereafter, though the business was always con- 
 ducted under the name of the first corporation. The 
 firm of Jordan & Marsh finally controlled the prop- 
 erty, and in 1869 started the Marseilles quilt manu- 
 facture as a specialty. A few months later the weav- 
 ing of crochet counterpanes was begun, but the ad- 
 venture not proving sufficiently profitable, the mak- 
 ing of quilts was wholly abandoned in January, 1871, 
 the looms were sold to the Bates Company, of Lew- 
 iston. Me., and machinery for weaving other styles of 
 goods took their place. In the autumn of 1871 the 
 works were closed. 
 
 William E. Frcst and Sidney T. Howard, forming 
 a partnership under the title of the Clinton Yarn 
 Company, purchased the factory for twelve thousand 
 five hundred dollars March 28, 1873. They fitted it 
 anew for the spinning of cotton, and began manufac- 
 ture in April. The houses and remaining lands of 
 the Quilt Company were sold at auction the following 
 June for forty-three thousand three hundred and fifty 
 dollars. The Clinton Yarn Company has employed 
 from seventy-five to one hundred and twenty-five 
 hands, aud used annually from seven hundred to one 
 thousand bales of cotton ; selling products annually 
 to the value of about one hundred and fifty thousand 
 dollars. Both partners have deceased, and the mill 
 is now run by John R. Frost as agent. Bleach and 
 dye works are connected with the factory, and seven 
 thousand spinning and thirty-five hundred twisting 
 spindles are run. The power from the twenty-nine 
 feet fall in the South Meadow Brook has been used 
 until recently, assisted by a Wheelock steam-engine 
 of one hundred and fifty horse-powder. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 CLINTON— ( G7«//« «f a') . 
 
 Clmlon in the Bebellion— Soldiers' Rosier. 
 
 When the political champions of slavery treason- 
 ably sought to break up the Federal Union, nowhere 
 
 did the spirit of patriotism— so fervent everywhere in 
 Massachusetts — flame forth soonfr, or with more 
 genuine fire, than in Clinton. In the Presidential 
 election of 1860 four votes out of her every five were 
 cast for Abraham Lincoln. As the plans of traitors 
 gradually disclosed themselves and armed secession 
 tore star after star from the flag, not four-fifths, but 
 the whole community as one man declared for the 
 maintenance of the Constitution at even the cost of 
 civil war. In hall and street, mill, shop and home, 
 the national peril was the dominant topic of thought 
 aud speech. To the military organizations of the 
 Commonwealth the people naturally looked for the 
 call to action. 
 
 The second and third oflicers of the Ninth Regiment 
 of Massachusetts Militia were Clinton citizens — Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel Gilman M. Palmer and Major Christo- 
 pher C. Stone ; and of that regiment also was the 
 Clinton Light Guard. This company, which dated 
 its existence from May 12, 1853, was composed of 
 some of the best manhood of Clinton and vicinity, 
 and had been efficiently disciplined under the direc- 
 tion of its successive commanders : Captains Gilman 
 M. Palmer, Andrew L. Fuller, Henry Butterfield and 
 Christopher C. Stone. It was now led by Henry 
 Bowman, who, in accordance with a vote of the com- 
 pany in February, 1861, signified to Governor Andrew 
 its readiness for immediate service in defence of the 
 national government. It was supposed that the Ninth 
 Regiment might be sent to the front at once, and the 
 stir of hurried preparation was seen on every hand. 
 
 In the annual town-meeting, March 4th, the sum of 
 one thousand dollars was voted for the purpose of 
 furnishing the Guards with a service uniform. Thus 
 Clinton was the first town to anticipate by actual ap- 
 propriation of money the expected call for State 
 troops. Such expenditure of public funds being, 
 however, beyond the authority delegated to towns, a 
 special act of the Legislature was invoked and passed 
 April 2d, sanctioning such action when ratified by two- 
 thirds of the members present and voting at a meeting 
 legally called for the purpose. The company soon 
 after paraded in new suits of gray. 
 
 Sunday, April 21st, there came a dispatch from the 
 Governor calling upon the Light Guard to be ready to 
 move at twenty-four hours' warning. Notices were 
 read from the pulpits in the morning, and in the 
 afternoon the vestry of the Baptist Church was 
 thronged with earnest women workers, busily making 
 flannel underclothing for the volunteers. At a town- 
 meeting, the next day, generous provision was voted 
 for the care and protection of soldiers' families in the 
 absence of their natural guardians. But the anx- 
 iously expected summons was long delayed, and it 
 was not until June 28th that the volunteers, preceded 
 by the cornet band and an escort of citizens, marched 
 to the railway, and amid the tearful farewells of near 
 friends and the cheers of the multitude assembled, 
 were borne away for Camp Scott, Worcester, to join 
 
62 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 the Fifteenth Massachusetts, to which regiment they' 
 were assigned as the color company, C. Just four 
 months later they had passed through the te:rible 
 defeat of Ball's Bluff, and the captain, with thirteen 
 other Clinton men, were prisoners at Richmond, five 
 were wounded and two had lost their lives. 
 
 The Fifteenth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry 
 was especially noted for ils proficiency in drill, its 
 staying qualities in fight, and its exceptionally 
 sanguinaiy battle record. The men of Company 
 C sustained its colors, and bore at least their full 
 share of the regiment's glory and bhiod sacrifice. 
 The Clinton men serving in the regiment were 
 seventy-four, all told, of whom, before the Rebel- 
 lion succumbed, fourteen were slain in battle or died 
 of wounds, three died of disease, and over thirty had 
 received wounds not fatal. Their loss was quite severe 
 at Antietani, September 17, 1862, when five received 
 mortal injuries and twenty others were more or less 
 seriously wounded. At Gettysburg, of the twenty- 
 four in the battle line belonging to Company C, six- 
 teen were hit by rebel missiles, of whom Clinton lost 
 Lieutenant Buss and three others Ivilled and four 
 wounded. 
 
 Next in numbers to those of the Fifteenth was the 
 group of Clinton men in tlie Twenty-fifth Massa- 
 chusetts Volunteer Infantry, thirty-seven in all, 
 including a few recruits enlisted in 1862. These 
 were nearly all German-born, worljmen at the 
 Lancaster Mills, and mostly mustered in Company 
 G. Four of these were killed in battle, five died 
 during the war, and at least sixteen others were 
 wounded. The regiment won an honorable record, 
 serving in North Carolina during 1862 and 1863, and 
 in Heckman's brigade of the Eighteenth Army Corps, 
 chiefly in Virginia, during 1864. 
 
 In the Twenty-first Massachusetts Volunteer In- 
 fantry were twenty men claimed for Clinton's credit, 
 tour of whom died of wounds received in battle. The 
 regiment suffered severely at Chantilly, Antietam, 
 and in the final advance upon Richmond. Its first 
 experience was with General Burnside's expedition 
 in North Carolina. Five of the Clinton volunteers 
 re-enlisted after their first term had expired. 
 
 The three regiments above mentioned left for the 
 front during 1861. Of those who enlisted for the 
 town in 1862, the majority joined the Thirty-fourth, 
 Thirty-sixth and Fifty-third regiments. In the first 
 were sixteen soldiers accredited to Clinton. They 
 performed garrison duty along the Potomac during 
 1862 and 1863, and had no serious engagement with 
 the enemy. Their valor and endurance were, however, 
 severely tested during 1864, in the nine battles and 
 constant marching and countermarching of the 
 Shenandoah campaign. 
 
 The Thirty-sixth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry 
 contained thirty residents of Clinton, one of whom, 
 Henry Bowman, was its colonel. It was attached to 
 the Ninth Army Corps, narrowly escaped participa- 
 
 tion in the bloody work at Antietam, and though 
 present met with no loss at Fredericksburg. In 1863 
 it was transferred to the West, became greatly re- 
 duced in numbers (luring the campaign against 
 Vicksburg by climatic disieases, and passed through 
 the siege of Knoxville with Burnside. Its eventful 
 experience closed in Virginia, whither it returned in 
 1864 to join in the final grand struggle for the pos- 
 session of Richmond. But one of its Clinton mem- 
 bers fell in battle ; three died in captivity and three 
 of disease. 
 
 Twenty-eight Clinton men, with Lieutenant Josiah 
 H. Vose, served in the Fifty-third Massachusetts 
 Volunteer Infantry and he, with two others, laid 
 down their lives in battle. Although but a nine- 
 months organization, its stormy voyage by sea to 
 New Orleans, its adventures along the Mississippi 
 River, and its fiery ordeal of battle at Fort Bisland 
 and in the assault and siege of Port Hudson, com- 
 prise a more notable experience than many three- 
 years' regiments could boast. 
 
 The numerous other enlistments to the credit of the 
 town, mostly of a later date, were distributed among 
 many organizations, the record of which can receive 
 no particular mention here. 
 
 The action of the town-meetings already noticed 
 was but an earnest of a generous policy pursued 
 through the four years of war, and ever since, towards 
 those who volunteered in their country's service. 
 
 The selectmen were given large discretionary pow- 
 ers for the purpose of aiding families dependent for 
 support upon bread-winners who had become soldiers 
 of the Union ; the maximum bounty was paid to 
 citizens enlisting to fill the town's quota ; all soldiers 
 were relieved from the payment of a poll-tax ; and 
 after each successive call for troops Clinton was found 
 registered as furnishing an excess above the number 
 demanded. Private generosity never failed whenever 
 exigencies arose. Large sums were obtained by vol- 
 untary subscription for the equipment of the enlisted; 
 for forwarding material aid to the wounded and sick 
 in hospitals ; for sending agents to the field after the 
 great battles, and for other and constantly-recurring 
 calls upon patriotic sympathy where money could 
 avail. For help to families, known as " State aid," 
 during the five years ending with 1865, the town 
 expended $36,171.28; for other war purposes, $14,- 
 043.19. Nine thousand dollars raised by various pri- 
 vate subscriptions were also disbursed in bounties to 
 recruits and for kindred objects. 
 
 The buay afternoon of that April Sabbath in the 
 crowded vestry taught the people much concerning 
 woman's mission in war-time, and was suggestive of 
 what could be effected under wise organization. 
 Within a week thereafter an association was formed 
 by patriotic women which, in connection with the 
 parish sewing circles, sent to hospital and field thou- 
 sands of useful articles of their own handiwork. 
 After a year's experience, the aims of the society 
 
CLINTON. 
 
 63 
 
 taking wider scope, a citizens' meeting was called at 
 the Clinton House Hall, August 1, 1862, and the 
 Soldiers' Aid Society then organized issued a general 
 invitation calling upon all inhabitants of the town to 
 join in the work for the welfare of ihe volunteers. 
 The directors of the association were : Franklin 
 Forbes, president; Gilbert Greene, treasurer ; Henry 
 C. Greeley, secretary ; Mrs. J. F. Maynard, Mrs. 
 Jared M. Heard, Mrs. Charles W. Field, Mrs. Charles 
 G. Stevens. A room was furnished for the society's 
 use in the Bigelow Library Association's building, 
 and kept open during three hours each afternoon six 
 days in the week, for work and the reception of 
 articles contributed. The donations of material and 
 labor made by the society to the patriot cause have 
 been estimated at three thousand dollars in value. 
 Its charitable ministrations did not end until long 
 after the surrender at Appomattox. 
 
 The quota of Clinton under the various calls of the 
 government amounted to three hundred and seventy- 
 one men for three years' service. Adjutant-General 
 William Schouler credits it with an enlistment of 
 four hundred and nineteen, being a surplus of forty- 
 eight above demands. The enrollment lists of the 
 town fail to account for so many, lacking nearly one 
 hundred of that number after making due allowance 
 for over thirty nine-months' enlistments, and adding 
 the eighteen who paid commutation and twenty for 
 veteran re-enlistments. It may be therefore inflerred, 
 perhaps, that the unknown non-residents hired for the 
 town or assigned to its quota by the State or natipnal 
 authorities, were very numerous. 
 
 The population of the town at the outbreak of hos- 
 tilities was thirty-eight hundred and fifty-nine. Its 
 valuation was $1,690,692, and its debt $14,500. At the 
 end of the war it had four thousand and twenty-one 
 inhabitants, a valuation of $1,860,763 and a debt of 
 $34,190. 
 
 The following alphabetical roster of residents who 
 did military service for Clinton during the Rebellion 
 is doubtless not free from errors or omissions, but it 
 is the result of many revisions, and is the best now at- 
 tainable. Names are followed by the records of ser- 
 vice in the following order: the number of regiment, 
 Massachusetts Infantry being understood ,^unles3 
 otherwise stated), the letter of the company, the age 
 of the soldier when enlisted, date of muster in, ex- 
 perience of soldier. 
 
 CLINTOX SOLDIERS. 
 
 Amsdon, Marcus E., 2iJ H. Artillery, B; 21 ; July 28, '63 ; transferred to 
 Navy May 17, 'G4. 
 
 Ball, Henry F., 4tb Cavalry. (See Lancaster.) 
 
 Ball, James, 3d H. Artillery, F; 20 ; Sept. 16, '63 ; discharged for dis- 
 ability May 8, 't)5. 
 
 Bannon, Patrick, 53d, I ; 32 ; Oct. 18, '62 ; discharged for disability June 
 29, '63. 
 
 Barnes, James F., 3d Cavalry, B ; 27; Jan. 5, '64; mustered out Sept. 
 28, '65. 
 
 Barnes, Warren P., 22d, in band ; 31 ; Oct. 5, '61; discharged Aug. 11, 
 '62 ; re-enlisted in baud of Corps D'Afrique. 
 
 Bartlett, Anson B., 2d, D;18; May'.;5, '61; corporal; transferred to 
 
 V. S. A. April 2, '63. 
 Bartlett, Ezra K., GOth (one hundred days), F ; 19 ; July 20, '64; died 
 
 at Indianapolis Oct. 10, '64. 
 Battcrson, Eadoc C, 16lh, C ; 26; Dec. 14, '61 ; killed at Anlietnni 
 
 Sept. 17, '62. 
 Belcher, Thomas W., 63d, I; 36; Oct. 18, '62 ; wounded at Port Hud- 
 son ; mustered out Sept. 2, '63. 
 Bell, John, .34th, A; 32; July 13, '62; woi.nded at Lynchburg June 
 
 18, '64; mustered out June 16, '65. 
 Bemis, Daniel H., 3Cth, G ; 30 ; August 8, '62 ; discharged for disability 
 
 Not. 9, '63. 
 Benson, Edward W., 15th, C ; 25 ; July 12, '61 ; corporal ; sergeant ; 
 
 died in Clinton Aug. 3, '62. 
 Bonney, James A., 15th, C; 25; July 12, '61; prisoner at Ball's Bluff 
 
 Oct. 21, '61 ; killed at Spottsylvania May 31, '6t. 
 Bowers, Francis A., 26th, G; 18; Oct. 9, '61 ; lost right arm at Hill's 
 
 Point, N. C, and discharged for wound Oct. 13, '63. 
 Bowers, Henry W., 60th (one hundred days), F ; 19 ; July 20, '64, to 
 
 Nov. 30, '64. 
 Bowman, Samuel M., 61st, A ; 26; Sept. 26, '62; sergeant; mustered 
 
 out July 27, '63; re-enlisted in 57th Dec. 26, '63 ; Ist lieut.; wounded 
 
 by shell at Petersburg, and died July 26, '64 ; credited to Worcester. 
 Bowman, Henry, 16th, C; 26; Aug. 1, '61 ; captain ; prisoner at Ball's 
 
 Bluff Oct. 21, '61 ; major 34th Aug. 6, '6i ; declined ; colonel 36th 
 
 .\ug. 22, '62; resigned July 27, '63; appointed a.-q.m. U. S. Vols. 
 
 Feb. 29, '64; mustered out brevet-major Aug. 15, '66. 
 Boyce, James ; record not found. 
 Boynton, .\lonzo P., 36th, G ; 40; Aug. 11, '62 ; corporal; discharged 
 
 for disability Oct. 28, '63. 
 Brighani.John D., 16th, C;27; July 12, '61 ; corp. ; sergeant; wounded 
 
 and prisoner at Ball's Bluff Oct. 21, '61 ; discharged for disability 
 
 Dec. 10, '62. 
 Brigham, Samuel D.,]5th, C; 40 j July 12, '61; discharged for dis- 
 ability Jan. 24, '63. 
 Brockleman, Bernard, 25th, G ; 38 ; July 29, '62 ; wounded at Petersburg, 
 
 in leg, June 15, '64 ; mustered out Oct 20, '64. 
 Brockleman, Christopher, 53d, I; 36; Oct. 18, '62; mustered out Sept. 
 
 2, '63. 
 Brooks, Charles R., 7th N. H., K ; Deo. 19, '61; died at New Boston, 
 
 N. H., Jan. 25, '62. 
 Brothers, Hippolyte P., Ist, in band ; 26 ; May 25, '61 ; discharged July 
 
 27, '62; re-enlisted in 47th, E, Nov. 6, '62; mustered out Sept. 1, 
 
 '63 ; re-enlisted Jan. 4, '64. 
 Brown, Herbert J., 4th Cavalry, C ;^19 ; Jan. 6, '64 ; mustered out Nov. 
 
 14, '65. 
 Bryson, William, 34th, A; 35; July 31, '62; mustered out June 
 
 16, '65. 
 
 Bugle, George M., 2d H. .Artillery, C ; 21 ; Aug. 4, '63 ; discharged for 
 disability May 29, '63. 
 
 Burdett, Thomas E., 20th, D ; 22; Sept. 4, '61; mustered out Sept. 
 14, '64. 
 
 Burditt, Charles C.,63d, I; 18; Oct. 18, '62; mustered out Sept. 
 2, '63. 
 
 Burgess, James F., 15th, C; 26; July 12, '61 ; corporal ; discharged for 
 disability Jan. 7, '63. 
 
 Burgess, John R., 2d N. J., in band ; 33 ; May 22, '61, to Aug. 9, '62 ; 
 re-enlisted in 46th, B, Oct. 22, '62, to July 29, '63 ; re-enlisted in 
 27th, B, Oct. 29, '63 ; captured May 15, '64, at Drewry's Blutt'; 
 prisoner at Andersonville ; died two days after exchanged at Annap- 
 olis, Md., April 21, '65 ; credited to Holyoke. 
 
 Burgess, Thomas H., 15th, C ; 21; July 12, '61 ; wounded at Antietam 
 Sept. 17, '62, and discharged for wound Nov. 15, '62. 
 
 Burke, Patrick, 2l6t, E; 22; Aug. 23, '61 ; wounded at Antietam Sept. 
 
 17, '62 ; re-enlisted Jan. 2, '64 ; died of wounds May 4, '64. 
 Burns, Matthew, loth Illinois Cavalry, D; Nov. 26, '61 ; sergeant ; killed 
 
 at Richmond, La., June 15, '62. 
 
 Burns, Martin F., 36th, 0; 25 ; Aug. 20, '6J. 
 
 Burns, Thomas J., 34th, B ; 19 ; Aug. 1, '62 ; died June 10, '64, at Pied- 
 mont, Va., of wounds. 
 
 Burt, John, 99th Penna. ; 41 ; July 26, '61 ; discharged May, '02. 
 
 Buss, Elisha G., 15th, ; 26 ; July 12, '61 ; 1st sergt. ; 2d lieut.. Not. 
 14, '62 ; 1st lieut. March 15, '63 ; wounded at Gettysburg and died 
 of wound, Clinton, July 23, '63. 
 
 Callaghan, Thomas, 3d Cavalry, H ; 36 ; Jan. 5, '64 ; mustered out May 
 26, '65. 
 
64 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Cameron, Angus, 83(1 N. Y , F ; May 27, '61 ; 2d lleut. ; 1st lieut. ; 
 
 cnptHiii Jan. 27, '02 ; discharped for disability April 23, '63. 
 Cnrrudi, John E., IMIi, C ; la; July 12, '61 ; wonnded at Antietam 
 
 Sept. 17, '62 ; di-schaigod for disability March 11, '63 ; re-enlisted in 
 
 2d H. Artillery, M, Dec. 28, '63 ; mustered out Sept. 3, '65. 
 Carter, Alpheus H., 53d, I ; 27 ; Oct. 18, '62 ; mustered out Sept. 2, '63. 
 Carter, Charles W., 63d, I ; 19 ; Oct. 30, '62 ; drummer ; mustered out 
 
 Sept. 2, '63. 
 Caulfield, Thomas, 15th, C ; 24 ; July 12, '61 ; prisoner at Antietam 
 
 Sept. 17, '62 ; enlisted again, in artillery. 
 Chambers, Uirsm A., 15th, C ; 19; July 12, '61 ; killed at Antietam 
 
 Sept. 17, '62 ; credited to Worcester. 
 Champney, Samuel G., 25tli, D ; 19 ; Au^. 7, '62 ; died iu N. Y. of yel- 
 low fever Oct. Ill, '61 ; credited to Gnvfton. 
 Cheney, Gilbert A., 2d, D ; 23 ; May 25, '01 ; wounded at Antietam 
 
 Sept. 17, and died of wounds Oct. 18, '62 ; credited to Newton. 
 Chenery, Frank A., 36th, G ; 23 ; Aug. 11, '.62 ; killed at Cold Harbor 
 
 June 3, '64. 
 Chenery, James P., 15th, I ; 19 ; July 12, '61 ; corporal ; prisoner at 
 
 Ball's Bluff; killed at Gettysburg July 3, '63. 
 Childs, Abraham, 27th, I ; 28 ; Sept. 20, "61, as from Palmer ; re-enlisted 
 
 Dec. 24. '63 ; promoted 2d lieut. May 16, '65, as of Clinton. 
 Ohipman, Edward S.,4th Cavalry, C ; 39 ; Jan. 6, '64; mustered out 
 
 Nov. 14, '6i. 
 Clark, Thomas, 22d, G ; 27 ; Sept. 12, '61; discharged for disability Nov. 
 
 16, '62. 
 Clifford, James, 15th, E ; 20 ; March 21, '61 ; prisoner at Petersburg ; 
 
 transferred to 2Uth, E, July 27, '64; mustered out June 30, '05. 
 Cohen, William, 2l6e, B ; 19; Aug. 2,3, 01; wounded in Wilderness; 
 
 re-enlislod Jan. 2, '04 ; transferred to 36th, I ; Aug. 3U, '64 ; to 60th, 
 
 B, June 8, '65 ; mustered out, corporal, July 12, '65. 
 Cook, Willis A., 15th, C ; 32 ; July 12, '61 ; sergeant ; prisoner at Ball's 
 
 Bluff; discharged fur disability April 12, '62. 
 Coning, Isaac P., 16th, C ; 24 ; Aug. 12, '62; wounded at Antietam ; 
 
 discharged for disability March 19, '63; credited to West Cam- 
 bridge. 
 Conway, Francis, 4th Cavalry, C ; 41 ; Jan. 6, '04 ; mustered out Nov. 
 
 14, '05. 
 Converee, Williaui W., 4th Cavalry, H ; 27 ; Feb. 18, '64 ; mustered out 
 
 Nov. 14, '65. 
 Cooper, Rufus K., 15th, C ; 23 ; July 12, '01 ; prisoner at Ball's Bluff ; 
 
 wounded at Gettysburg July 2, '63 ; mustered out July 28, '64. 
 Corcoran, William, 151h, F ; 40 ; July 12, '01 ; discharged for disability 
 
 Feb. 15, '62. 
 Coulter, John T., 25th, A ; 19 ; May 9, '62 ; wounded at Drewry's Bluff 
 
 May 16, '64 ; mustered out Oct. 20, '04. 
 Coulter, William J., 15tli, C ; 20 ; July 12, '01 ; corporal ; sergeant ; Ist 
 
 lieut. Nov. 21, '63 ; prisoner at Petersburg ; transferred to 20th 
 
 July 28, '04 ; mustered out March 12, '65. 
 Coyle, Patrick, 63d, I ; 33 ; Oct. 18, '62 ; mustered out Sept. 2, '63. 
 Craig, John W., 25th, C; 19; Sept. 30, '01 ; discharged for disability 
 
 March 12, '63. 
 Craig, William H., 7th U. S., I; 22. 
 Craig, Edward C, 2d N. H. ; wounded at Antietam ; discharged and 
 
 enlisted in V. It. C. 
 Creelman, Matthew, 151h ; 21 ; July 12, '61. 
 
 Cromett, Hiram A., Ist Cavalry, C; 35 ; Sept. 17, '61; corporal; re- 
 enlisted Jan. I, '04 ; mustered out June 29, '05. 
 CroBsman, Willis A., 60th (one hundred days), F ; 27 ; July 20, '64, to 
 
 Nov. 30, '64. 
 Gushing, John E., 60th (one hundred days), F ; 18 ; July 20, '64, to 
 
 Nov. 30, '64. 
 Cushing, Charles C. ; served in U. S. Navy. 
 Cutler, Charles B., 34th ; 26 ; Aug. 11, '02 ; sergt.-major ; 2d lieut. 
 
 March 18, '64; Ist lieut. May 1, '65 ; mustered out June 16, '65 ; 
 
 credited to Worcester. 
 Cutting, Orin L., 16th, C ; 29 ; July 12, '61 ; discharged for disability 
 
 Oct. 28, '62. 
 Daboll, Biiggs M., 15th, C; 20; July 12, '61 ; corporal; wounded at 
 
 Ball's Bluff Oct. 21, '61 ; discharged for disability May 1, '62. 
 Davidson, Alonzo S., 3r)th,'G ; 22 ; Aug. 11, '02 ; sergt. ; sergt.-major Oct. 
 
 IS, '63 ; 2d lieut. Aug. 2, '03; Ist. lieut. April 23, '04; capt. June 
 
 23, '64 ; mustered out June 8, *65. 
 Davidson, Henry L., 15th, C; 24; July 12, '61; re-enlisted Feb. 13, 
 '64 ; transferred to 20th, E, July 27, '64 ; mustered out July 16, 
 '65 ; credited to Sterling. 
 
 wounded at Antietam ; 
 
 wounded at Antietam, 
 
 wounded at Roanoke 
 . 2, '64; trans, to 36th, I, 
 
 Davidson, Lucius D., 36th, G ; 18 ; Dec. 26, '63 ; died March 28, '64, at 
 
 Covington, Ky. ; credited to Sterling. 
 Davidson, Charles M.; in q.m.'s department ; died at Nashville Nov. 
 
 22, '64 ; name on soldiers' monument, but he was not enlisted. 
 Davenport, Benjamin, 3d Cavalry, B ; 25 ; Jan. 5, '64 ; killed Sept. 19 
 
 •64, at Winchester. ' 
 
 Davis, Frank L., 24th N. Y. Cavalry? died March 11, '55 ; record not 
 
 found, 
 Delany, John, 2lBt, 6 ; 25 ; Aug. 23, '61, for Webster ; re-enlisted Jan. 
 
 2, '64, for Clinton. 
 Dexter, Trustam D., 15th, C ; 27 ; July 12, '61 ; 
 
 mustered out June 28, '04. 
 Dickson, Joseph S., 15th, C ; 31 ; July 12, '61 ; 
 
 and discharged for wouud Dec. 16, '62. 
 Dickson, Patrick J., 21st, B; 22; Aug. 23, '61; 
 
 Island and at New Berne ; re-enlisted Jan. 
 
 Aug. 30, '04 ; to 56tb, A, June 8, '65 ; mustered out July 12, '65. 
 Diersch, William, 20th, C ; 41 ; July 18, '01 ; killed July 4, '02, at Har- 
 rison's Landing by accident. 
 Dixon, Edward, 60th (one hundred days), F ; 18 ; July 20, '64, to Nov. 
 
 30, '61. 
 Donovan, John, 30th, A ; 21 ; Oct. 1, '61 ; died at Baton Rouge, La., Oct. 
 
 12, '03. 
 Dorrison, Oscar A., 36tb, 6 ; 20 ; Aug. 12, '62 ; discharged for disability 
 
 Dec. 23, '61. 
 Duncan, Charles, 9th, C ; 28 ; June II, '61 ; killed at Malvern Hill July 
 
 I, '62. 
 Eaton, William O., 23d, H ; 23 ; Dec. 4, '61 ; discharged for disability 
 
 Aug. 14, '63. 
 Eccles, Roger, 36th, F ; 39 ; Aug. 6, '62 ; prisoner Oct. 2, '64, near 
 
 Petersburg ; died Nov. 29, '64, at Salisbury, N. C. 
 Eccles, William, 15th, C ; 22 ; July 12, '61 ; wounded at Antietam Sept. 
 
 17, '02 ; died Jan. 4, '63. 
 Edgerly, Heman 0., 15th, C ; 22 ; July 12, '61 ; prisoner at Ball's Bluff 
 
 Oct. 21, '61 ; re.enlisted in 4th N. H. ? wounded at Petersburg and 
 
 died '64. 
 Edenian, Barnard J., 63d, I ; 18 ; Oct. IS, '02, to Sept. 2, '63 ; re-enlisted 
 
 in 2d H. Artillery, M, Dec. 24, '63 ; mustered out Sept. 3, '65. 
 Ehlert, Ferdinand, 2Sth, 6 ; 35 ; Oct. 2, '61 ; discharged for disability 
 
 March 4, '63. 
 Ellani, John, 5th Maine, C ; 40 ; April 9, '02, to Sept. 2, '02. 
 Fay, John, 36th, G ; 22 ; Aug. 14, '62 ; mustered out June 8, '65. 
 Field, Lucius, 3Bth, G ; 22 ; Aug. 18, '62 ; com. -sergt. Oct. 15, '62 ; q.ni.- 
 
 sergt. May 26, '63 ; 2d lieut. Nov. 1, '64 ; 1st lieut. Nov. 13, '64 ; 
 
 a -q.m. ; mustered out June 8, '65, as 2d lieut. 
 Finnessy, James, 42d N. Y. (See Lancaster.) 
 Fisher, Abiel, 30th, G ; 18 ; Aug. 18, '62 ; corporal ; wounded near 
 
 Petersburg June 22, '04 ; discharged for disability Dec. 23, '04. 
 Fitts, William E., 3Uh, C ; 25 ; July 13, '02 ; corporal; died May 14, 
 
 '05, at Sterling ; credited to Sterling. 
 Flagg, Frederick E., 36th, G ; 18 ; Aug. 8, '62 ; prisoner near Rnoxville, 
 
 Tenn., Dec. 15, '63 ; died at Belle Isle, Va., March, '64. 
 Flagg, Frederick, 36th, G ; 40 ; Aug. 8, '62 ; corporal ; sergeant ; dis- 
 charged for disability Dec. 23, '64. 
 Flagg, William E., 14th Conn., B ; March 29, '64 ; transferred to 2d 
 
 Conn. H. Art., May 31, '65 ; mustered out Aug. 18, '65. 
 Frazer, Charles, I6th, C ; 23 ; July 12, ,'61 ; sergt. ; 2d lieut. Aug. 6, 
 
 '62 ; declined ; wounded at Antietam Sept. 17, '02. 
 Frazer, J*hn, 15th, C ; 31; July 12, '61; killed at Antietam Sept. 17, 
 
 1802. 
 Freeman, John W., navy; 38; Feb. 27, '03 ; seaman on ship "Merci- 
 
 dita ;" wounded in leg off Wilmington, N. C, Nov. 7, '63, and dis- 
 charged for wound Feb. 1, '04. 
 Freeman, Joshua, I5th, C ; 40 ; July 12, '01 ; sergt. ; 2d lieut. March 
 
 19, '03 ; 1st lieut. Sept. 20, '63 ; mustered out July 29, '64. 
 Freeman, William T., 63d, I ; 33 ; Oct. 18, '02 ; Ist sergt. ; 2d liaut. 
 
 March 19, '63; resigned March 20, '63. 
 Fuller, Edward M., 34th, F. (See Lancaster.) 
 Fuller, Alden, 16th, C ; 29 ; July 12, '61 ; sergeant ; prisoner at Ball's 
 
 Bluff; discharged for disability March 19, '63. 
 Fuller, Andrew L., 15th, C ; 37 ; Aug. I, '01 ; Ist lieut. ; resigned Oct 
 
 7, '61 ; died Sept. 10, '67. 
 Fuller, John, 53d, I ; 28 ; Oct. 8, '62, to Sept. 2, '63, 
 Gallagher, Thomas, 34th, H ; 34 ; Dec. 7, '63 ; transferred to 24th, A 
 
 June 14, '65 ; mustered out Jan. 20, '66. 
 
CLINTON. 
 
 65 
 
 Gately, John, Sd Cavalry, H ; 21; Jan. 5, 'lit; killed at Cedar Creek, 
 
 Va., Sept. 10, '04. 
 (lately, Martin, 9tb, K ; .31; June 11, '61; dischargad for disability 
 
 Dec. 22, 'O-I. 
 iJibbons .rohn,4tli Cavalry, C ; 3i; Jan. 6, '01; died July 16, '04, at 
 
 Richniornl, Va. 
 Gibbon.), P.itrick, :!4th, B ; 24 ; Dec. 7, '03 ; transferred to 24th, A, June 
 
 14, '6J ; mustered out Jan. 20, '06. 
 Gifford. Henry A., :jl'.th, G ; 41 ; Aug. 8, '62 ; mustered out June 8, '65. 
 Goddard, Artemaa \V., 4th Cavalry, C; 21; Jan. 6, 'G4 ; sergeant; 
 
 chief bnglor July 7, '05 ; mustered out Nov. 14, '05. 
 Gordon, John, 25tb, E ; 35 ; Sept. 25, '01 ; discharged for disability 
 
 Aug. 1, '02, and died at homo Sept. 6, '62. 
 Grady, Patrick, 4th Cavalry, C ; 30; Jan. 6, '04; mustered out Nov. 14, 
 
 ISO:.. 
 Grady, Thomas, 11th, B; 18 ; Juno 13, '01 ; mustered out June 24, '04. 
 Graichen, Bernard, 2ilth, C ; 21 ; Aug. 29, '61. 
 Graiclioii, Kdward, 25th, G; 26; July 29, '62; discharged for disability 
 
 Aug. 28, '03. 
 Graichen, Frank, 15tb, C ; 28 ; Aug. 27, '61 ; wounded at Ball's Bluff 
 
 Oct. 21, '01 ; discharged for disability May 2, '02 ; re-enlisted Dec. 
 
 24, '03, in 2d H. Artillery, M ; mustered out Sept. 3, '05. 
 Graichen, Gustave, IStii, ; 22 ; July 12, *01 ; wounded at .Antiotam 
 
 Sept. 17, '0.', and discharged for wound Dec. 4, '02. 
 Green, .Vsa VV., loth, F; 22; Jan. 3'), '6i ; wounded at Fredericksburg 
 
 Dec. 13, '62 ; transferred to V. B. C. Sept. 26, '63 ; credited to 
 
 Haverhill. 
 Green, Franklin \V., 13th, F ; 21 ; Jan. 25, '62 ; wounded Juno, '62, in 
 
 leg, and discharged for disability Feb. 19, '63. 
 Greenwood, Henry, 15th, C ; 25 ; prisoner at Ball's Bluff Oct. 21, '01 ; 
 
 re-enlisted Feb. 29, '64 ; transferred to 2 Ith July 27, '04, to Signal 
 
 Corps ; mustered odt Aug. 16, '05. 
 Grumbachor, Morltz, 25th, G ; 32 ; Oct. 17, '01 ; corporal ; killed at Coid 
 
 Harbor June 3, '04. 
 Hall, Augustus M., 21st, E ; 22 ; discharged by G. C. M. Sept. 27, '02. 
 Hall, Joseph, 3d Cavalry, B; 20; Jan. 5, '64; died at Morganza Bend, 
 
 La., Juno 19, '04. 
 Handley, John, :t4th, B; 19; Aug. 1, '02; mustered out June 10, '05. 
 Hapgood, Charles H., 15th, C ; 20 : July 12, '01 ; wounded at Antietam 
 
 Sept. 17, '02 ; transferred to V. R. C. Feb. 15, 'VA. 
 Harrington, Kdivurd F., 53d, K ; 20 ; Oct. 17, '02, lo Sept. 2, '63. 
 Harris, Charles B., 5l8t, C ; 19 ; Sept. 25, '02 ; mustered out July 27, '03. 
 llartwell, Charles H., 3d Cavalry, B ; 32 ; Jan. 5, '04 ; discharged for 
 
 disability Oct. 20, '64. 
 Hastings, layman H., 30th, G ; 21 ; Aug. 6, '62 ; died at Falmouth, 
 
 Va , Jan. 10, '03. 
 Hastings, William .\., 30th, G ; 20 ; Aug. 5, "62; corporal; mustered out 
 
 June 8, '05. 
 Hayes, Kdward K. (2d N. Y. Cavalry, A ; 21 ?) ; record not found. 
 Hayes, Junius D., 15th, C; 24; Dec. 14, '61 ; discharged for disability 
 
 Nov. 16, '02 ; drafted and paid commutation July, '0 J. 
 Head, James, 28th, G ; 23 ; Dec. 30, '61 ; mustered out April, 'e.'i. 
 Healey, Martin, 3d Cavalry, H ; 28 ; Jan. 5, "64 ; mustered out June 27, 
 
 I80J. 
 Henry, Kben S., •22d, band; 27; Oct. 6, '61; discharged Feb. 21, '62, 
 
 for disability. 
 Henry, George I., loth, C; 20; July 12, '61; tranferred to V. E, C. 
 
 Jan. 15, '64 ; mustered out July 14, '63. 
 HIggins, Timothy, 34th, B; 30; Aug. 1, '62 ; discharged for disability 
 
 Jan. 10, '63 ; re-eulisted in 57tli, A, Jan. 4, '64 ; wounded near 
 
 Spottsylvania June, '64; transferred to V. R. C. ; mustered out 
 
 Feb. 25, '65. 
 Ilohau, John, 7tli N. H.,A; Oct. 29, '61 ; wounded July 18, '63 ; re- 
 eulisted Fob. 27, '64 ; died at Fortress Moaroe Nov. 12, '04. 
 Hulilw, Charles P., 11th, B; 17 ; June 13, '61. 
 Hoffman, Charles, ,53d, I ; 32 ; Oct. 13, '02 ; wounded at Port Hudson ; 
 
 mustered out Sept. 2, "63. 
 Holbrook, Charles E., 15th, C ; 19 ; July 12, '01 ; killed at Antietam 
 
 Sept. 17, 'Oi. 
 Holbrook, John \V., 34th, A ; 30 ; July 31, '62; killed A|)ril 0, '05. 
 Ilolden, Francis T., 3d Cavalry, B ; Jan. 5, '04 ; let sergt. ; mustered 
 
 out Aug 111, '05. 
 Holder, William P., .Hd, I ; 44 ; Oct. 18 ; discharged Nov. 6, '62, for 
 
 disability. 
 HoUihan, Michael, 2l8t, B ; 27 ; transferred to 4th U. S. C. Oct. 25, '02. 
 Holmau, Herman, 25th, G ; 34 ; July 25, '62 ; lost leg before Petersburg 
 June '25, '64 ; discharged June 17, '65. 
 
 5 
 
 Holman, Henry B., 15th, C ; 19 ; July 12, '61; wounded twice at An- 
 tietam Sept. 17, '62; discharged Dec. 6, '02 ; killed by fall in Wor- 
 cester Feb. 20, '64. 
 Holman, Joseph F., 15th, 0; 20; July 12, '61 ; mustered out July 28, 
 
 1861. 
 Houghton, Augustine F. ; 1st Cavalry, D ; 38; Oct. 19, '61; mustered 
 
 out Oct. 3, '64. 
 Houghton. Frank E., 15th, C ; 18 ; .Inly 12, '61 ; re-enlisted in Bickett's 
 
 Battery, 1st Light Artillery, U. S. A. ; killed at St. Mary's Church 
 
 June 24, '04. 
 Houghton, Nathaniel T., 36th, I ; 18, Aug. 8, '62; musician; mustered 
 
 out June 8, '65. 
 Houghton, Warren, 3d H, Artillery, E ; 32 ; Aug. 27, '63; mustered out 
 
 April 6, '05. 
 Howard, Franklin, 1st Cavalry, C ; 43 ; Sept. 23, '61 ; discharged Feb. 
 
 17, '63, fur disability. 
 Howard George 0., 3d Cavalry, B ; 18 ; Jan. 5, '64 ; wounded in shoulder 
 
 at Cedar Creek, Va., Sept. 19, '04 ; discharged for disability July 5, 
 
 1805. 
 Howard, James 0., 15th, C ; 19; prisoner at Ball's Bluff; re-enlisted in 
 
 Kickett's Battery, 1st Light Artillery, U. S. A. ; mustered out June 
 
 24, '64. 
 Howarth, James. 21st, B ; 27 ; Aug. 23, '01 ; mustered out Aug. 30, '64; 
 
 credited to Springlield. 
 Howe, Charles H., 3iith, I ; 18 ; Aug. 15, '62 ; prisoner near Rutledge, 
 
 Tenn., Dec. 15, '63, and died at .^ndersonville, Ga. , Aug. 27, '64. 
 Hubbard, George, 21st, B ; 22 ; Aug. 23, '01 ; discharged Sept. 14, '61, 
 
 for disability. 
 Hunt, Andrew J, 1.5th, C; 28; July 12, '61 ; trans. Aug. 8, '01, to 
 
 Western gunboat fl"tilla ; mustered out Aug. 6, '64. 
 Hunt, George W., 15tli, C ; 18 ; July 12, '61 ; discharged for disability 
 
 Dec. 4, '63. 
 Hurley, G. Thomas, Jr., 61st, I ; 18 ; Jan. 23, '65 ; mustered out July 
 
 16, '65. 
 Jameson, Calvin. 21st, E ; 33 ; Aug. 23, '02 ; discharged for disability 
 
 March 10, '03. 
 Jaqulth, AmosS., 15th, C ; July 12, '01 ; prisoner at Ball's Bluff Oct. 
 
 21, '61; mustered out July 29, '64. 
 Jefts, Albert N., 15tb, C ; 20 ; July 12, '61 ; enlisted Nov. 12, '62, in 
 
 U. S. A. 
 Jewett, George H., 36th, G ; 24 ; Aug. 14, '62 ; discharged for disability 
 
 Feb. 28, '03 ; drafted in Worcester July 11, '63, and served In 2d Co. 
 
 sharpshooters until July 3, '04. 
 Kelly, John, 2d Conn., A ; 26 ; May 7, '61 ; discharged Aug. 7, '61. 
 Kenney, Thomas, 53d, I ; 18 ; Oct. 18, '02, to Sept. 2, '03 ; re-enlisted 
 
 Feb. 10, '04, In 21st, B ; transferred to 36th, I, and 56th, A, June 8, 
 
 'Oc ; mustered out July 12, '05. 
 Kidder, William H., 53d. I ; 23; Oct. 18, '62. 
 King, Robert, 3d Cavalry, B ; 45 ; Jan. 5, '64 ; corporal ; wounded at 
 
 Cedar Creek, Va., Sept. 18, '64 ; mustered out Sept. 28, '65. 
 King, W. Robert, 3d H. Artillery, E ; 19 ; Aug. 13, '63 ; sergeant; mus- 
 tered out Sept. 18, '05. 
 Kirchner, John, loth, C; 31 ; July 12, '61 ; probably drowned at Ball's 
 
 BlullOet, 21, '01. 
 Klein, Edward, 25th, G ; 25 ; Oct. 7, '61 ; wounded at Port Walthall, 
 
 Va., May 0, '04; mustered out Oct. "20, '64. 
 Klein, William F., 25th, G ; 30 ; Oct. 7, '61 ; died Nov. 3, '62, at New 
 
 Berne, N. C. 
 Kluessner, Herman, 25th, G ; 28 ; Oct. 4, '61 ; mustered out Oct 
 
 20, '64. 
 Koehler, Carl, 2.5tli, G; 38; Oct. 3, '61 ; re enlisted Jan. 19, '64; 
 
 wounded at Port Walthall, Va , May 6, '04 ; mustered out July 
 
 13, '65. 
 
 Kohnle, Frederick. 25th, G ; 22 ; Oct. 8, '61 ; corporal; killed at Cohl 
 
 Harbor, Va., June 3, '64. 
 Lakin, David, Navy ; 26 ; seaman on " Schackahan " Aug. 61 ; master's 
 
 mate ; a non resident. 
 Lammleln, Carl, 63d, I ; 40 ; Oct. 18, '62, to Sept. 2, '63. 
 Larkln, Alfred G., 4th Cavalry, C ; 21 ; Jan. 6, '04 ; mustered out Nov. 
 
 14, '65. 
 
 Lawrence, Sewell T., 23d, H ; 31 ; Oct. 5, '01 ; discharged for disability 
 
 Aug. 11, '62. 
 Laythe, Gilmau W., 15th, C; 23; July 12, '61; wounded at Antietam 
 
 Sept. 17, '62 ; dischai'ged for disability March 6, '63. 
 Laythe, Oren A., 15lh, G; 25; Aug. 12, '62; wounded at Antietam 
 
 Sept. 17, '62 ; discharged for dlsiibllity Marcli 14, '63. 
 
66 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Leopold, "Wolfgang, 25th, G ; 29 ; Sept. 16, '61 ; sergeant ; mustered out 
 
 Oct. 20, '04. 
 Lewis, Benjamin, 5th Cavairy, C ; 25 ; May 16, '64. 
 Lindhart, Christian, 25tli, G ; 31 ; Oct. 7, '61 ; wounded at Roanoke 
 
 Island Feb. 8, '62 ; iliscliarged fur disability March 15, '03. 
 Linenkemper, Henry, 2.^th, G ; 27 ; July 29, '62 ; wounded at Peters- 
 burg, Va., July 12, '64 ; mustered out Oct. 20, '64. 
 Lord, Alexander, IStli, ; 27 ; Aug. 12, '62 ; wounded at Antietam Sept. 
 
 17, 'G2, and prisoner ; killed at Gettysburg July 2, '63 ; credited to 
 
 Hinsdale. 
 Lnvell, Francis, 3d Cavalry, B ; 24 ; Jan. 5, '64 ; died a prisoner at 
 
 Salisbury, N. C, Feb. 21, 'Co. 
 Lowe, Theodore E., 16th, C ; 21 ; July 12, '61 ; transferred to V. E. C. 
 
 Jan. 15, '64. 
 Lowrie, William, 2d H. Artillery, M ; 18 ; Dec. 24, '63; mustered out 
 
 Sept. 3, '6E. 
 Lyle, Alexander, 15tb, C ; 29 ; July 12, '61 ; wounded at Fair Oaks, Va., 
 
 May 31, 'G2 ; discharged for disability Sept. 18, '62. 
 Madden, John, 42d N. Y. ; record not found. 
 Madden, Thomas, 42d N. Y. ? record not found. 
 Mahar, Dennis, 2l6t, B ; 21 ; Aug. 23, '61 ; discharged for disability Jan. 
 
 16, '03 ; claimed by Lunciiater. 
 Makepeace, Hiram, 15tb, C ; 3i> ; July 12, '61 ; discharged for disability 
 
 July 31, '62. 
 Maley, John, Navy ; 25 ; May 23, '61, en "Wabash." 
 Malley, Edward, 15th, C; 20; July 12, '61; drummer; mustered out 
 
 July 28, '64. 
 Maloney, Patrick, 21st, B ; 28 ; Aug. 23, '61 ; wounded at Chantilly ; 
 
 transferred to V. R. C. M,iy 10, '63 ; re-enlisted Jan. 5, '66. 
 Maloy, Edward. 24th, C ; 24; Sept. 7, '61 ; re-enlisted Jan. 4, '64 ; died 
 
 at home April 19, '04. 
 Maloy, Patrick, 34tli, B ; 18 ; Aug. 1, '02 ; mustered out June 16, '65. 
 Maloy, Thomas, 2l8t, E; 24; Aug. 23, '61; discharged for disability 
 
 Feb. 3, '63; re-enlisted in 34th, B, Dec. 16, '63 ; transferred to 24th, 
 
 A, June 14, '66 ; mustered out Jan. 20, '66. 
 Marshall, James, 26th, ; 26 ; Oct. 2, '61. 
 
 Martin, Michael, 36th, O ; 26 ; Aug. 0, '61 ; mustered out June 8, '65. 
 Matthews, Josephns, representative for C. L. Swan ; 14th U. S. Colored 
 
 Troops ; Nov. 22, '04. 
 Mattoon, chauncey, B., 15th, band; 22 ; July 12, '61; discharged Aug. 
 
 S, '(i2. 
 Mayuard, Waldo B., 15th, C; 23; wounded at Antietam Sept. 17, '62 
 
 and died of wound Oct. 2, '62 ; credited to Northborough. 
 McGee, Patrick, 36th, G ; 36; Aug. 13, '61 ; discharged for disability 
 
 Feb. 13, '63. 
 McGrath, Henry, 36th, G ; 25; Aug. 13, '61 ; died at Crab Orchard, Ky., 
 
 Oct. 10, '63. 
 McNabb, John, Navy; 19; Aug. 15, "02 ; on "Juniata," "Sonoma" 
 
 and " Sabine ;" discharged July ^7, '6J, having volunteered for 
 
 pursuit of "Tacony." 
 McNamara. Michael J., 9th, C ; 18 ; June 11, '61 ; discharged for dis- 
 ability Jan. 10, '63. 
 McNulty,James^ 3d Battalion Riflemen, C ; 23 ; May 19, '61, to Aug. 
 
 3, '61. 
 McRobie, John, 21sf, B ; 32 ; Aug. 23, '61 ; lost right arm at Chantilly 
 
 Sept. 6, '62, and discharged Nov, 14, '62. 
 Meehan, Patrick, 2l6t, B ; 22 ; .\ug. 23, '61 ; wounded at Chantilly and 
 
 Spottsylvania ; mustered out Aug. 30, '64. 
 Messier, Euos 34tli, H ; 27 ; Dec. 11, 'ii3 ; prisoner in retreat from 
 
 Lynchburg, and died at Andersonville Sept. 23, '64. 
 Miller, August, 25th, G ; 40 ; Oct. 3, '61 ; discharged for disability May 
 
 12, '64. 
 Miner, Joseph E., 15th, C ; 26 ; Aug. 12, '02 ; wounded at Antietam 
 
 Sept. 17, '02 ; mustered out July 29,'64 ; credited to Boston. 
 Miner, Dwight, 36th, Ci ; 18 ; Aug. 1, '02; transferred to V. R. C. 
 
 March 19, '64. 
 Moelter, Henry, 26th, G ; 29 ; Oct. 1, '61 ; discharged for disability 
 
 May 2, '02. 
 Moore, Charles W., 53d, I ; 32 ; Oct. 18, '62 ; corporal ; sergeant ; wounded 
 
 at Port Hudson June 14, '63 ; mustered out Sept. 2, '63. 
 Morgan, James A., 36th, G; 20; Aug. 14, '62; served at division head- 
 quarters ; mustered out June 8, '05. 
 Morgan, Paul C, 2d N. H., E ; 18 ; Sept. 2, '61 ; lost right arm at Bull 
 
 Run Aug. 29, '62, and discharged Nov 10. '62; re-enlisted in V. R. 
 
 C. July 14, '63 ; mustered out Jan. 22, '64. 
 Moulton, Charles H.,2l8t,E ; 18; Aug. 23, '61. 
 
 Muir, George, 16th, C ; 21 ; July 12, '61 ; served in 13th N. T. Cavalry, 
 
 B, April 13, '03 ; trannsferred to V. R. C. 
 Muller, Franz, 26th, G ; 27 ; Sept. 25, "61 ; killed at Arrowfield Church, 
 
 Maya, '04. 
 Mulier, Valentine, 2Sth, G ; 40 ; Oct. 1, '61 ; discharged for disability 
 
 May 31, '03. 
 Needham, .Tames A., 34th, B ; 19 ; Aug. 1, '62 ; corporal ; wounded at 
 
 Piedmont, Va , June 5, '64, and near Strasburg, Va , Oct. 13, '04 ; 
 
 prisonerund escaped ; discharged for disability April 17, '65. 
 Nicholas, George S., 4th Cavalry, G ; 39 ; Jan. 27, '64 ; mustered out 
 
 Nov. 14, '65. 
 Ogden, Thomas, 63d, I ; 40 ; Oct. 18, '62, to Sept. 2, '63. 
 Olcott, llervey B., 15th, C ; 29 ; Dec. 14, '61 ; wounded at Antietam 
 
 and Gettysburg ; transferred to V. R. C. March 15, '04 ; mustered 
 
 out Dec. 13, '04 ; died at Spiingflcld Feb. 27, '65. 
 Olcott, Biram W., 36th, G ; 21 ; Aug. 3, '62 ; corporal ; sergeant ; 
 
 wounded near Petersburg; 1st lieut. July 7, '64; discharged for l 
 
 wounds Dec. 23, '04, as sergeant. ■ 
 
 Orne, David J., 2d, D ; 23 ; May 25, '61 ; mustered out May 28, '64. 
 Orr, Robert, 63d, I ; 27 ; Oct. 18, '02 ; wounded at Port Hudson ; mus 
 
 tered out Sept. 2, '63. 
 Orr, William, Jr., 63d, I ; 25 ; Oct. 18, '02; sergeant; mustered out 
 
 Sept. 2. '03. 
 Osgood, George F., 15th, C; 22; Aug. 12, '62; wounded and prisoner 
 
 at Antietam' Sept. 17, '62 ; killed at Gettysburg July 2, '63. 
 Osgood, Otis S., 16th, C ; 22 ; July 12, '61 ; wounded in arm at Antietam 
 
 Sept. 17, '62, and discharged therefor Jan. 10, '03. 
 O'Toole, Michael, 9lh, C ; 21 ; June 11, '01 ; mustered out June 21, '64. 
 Owens, Patrick, 63d, I ; 3D ; Oct. 18, '62; wounded at Port Hudson; 
 
 mustered out Sept. 2, '63. 
 Palmer, Edward, 36th, G ; 19 ; Aug. 6, '62 ; mustered out June 28, '65. 
 Palmer, George W., 2d H. Artillery, M ; 19 ; Dec. 24, '63 ; mustered 
 
 out June 21, '65. 
 Patrick, George Henry. (See Lancaster soldiers.) 
 Pease, Henry C, 26th, E ; IS ; Oct. 0, '61 ; transferred to 4th La. as 2d 
 
 lieut. Sept. 28, '62. 
 Perry, George W., 30th, G ; 40 ; Aug. 10, '02 ; coriioral ; died at War- 
 
 renton, Va., Nov. 13, '62. 
 Finder, Calvin, 2l8t, G ; 33 ; Aug. 23, '61; re-enlisted Jan. 2, '64; 
 
 transferred to 36th, K, Aug. 311, '04; to 50th, H, June 8, '66 ; mus- 
 tered out July 12, '65 ; belonged to Ashburnham, but second term 
 
 of service credited to Clinton. 
 Pratt, George, 34th, G ; 18 ; Jan. 4, '64 ; transferred to 24th, G, June 
 
 14, '66 ; mustered out Jan. "20, '66. 
 Pratt, Nelson L. A., 15th, U ; 21 ; Aug. 7, '01 ; discharged Oct. 24, '03. 
 Pratt, Orin, 63d, I ; 18 ; Oct. 18, '02, to Sept. 2, '63 ; re-enlisted in 34lli, 
 
 B, Dec. 11, '03 ; transferred to 24th, A, June 14, '06 ; mustered out 
 
 Jan. 20, '60. 
 Putnam, George T. D., 15th, C ; 21 ; Dec. 14, '61 ; discharged for dis- 
 
 ability;Dec. 17, '62. 
 Putnam, Henry A., 15th, C; '24; July 12, '61; corporal; prisoner at 
 
 Ball's Bluff Oct. 21, '01 ; enlisted in Rickett's Battery, U. S. Light 
 
 Artillery, Nov. 12, '62 ; mustered out July 12, '64. 
 Quinn, John, 21st, B; 22 ; Aug. 23, '01 ; wounded at Bull Run Aug. 30 
 
 '02 ; re-enlisted Jan. 2, '64 ; wounded June 3, '64, at Bethesda 
 
 Church, and died June 9, '64. 
 Rauscher, Geortre, 25th, G ; 29 ; July 25, '02; wounded at Arrowfield 
 
 Church May 9, '64 ; njustered out Oct. 20, '64. 
 Keid, Thomas W., 53d, I ; 19; Oct. 18, '62; wounded at Port Hudson 
 
 Maj 27 and June 14, '03 ; mustered out Sept. 2, '63 ; died June, '05. 
 Reidle, Albin, 25tb, G ; 26 ; Oct. 3, '61 ; discharged for disability March 
 
 18, '03. 
 Reischer, Philip, 25th, G ; 35 ; Oct. 1, '01 ; sergeant ; wounded at Cold 
 
 Harbor, Va., June 3, '64 ; mustered out Oct. 20, '64. 
 Renner, Charles R., 21st, F ; 19 ; .\ug. 19, '01 ; re-enlisted Jan. 2, '04 ; 
 
 sergeant July 1, '64 ; wounded at Petersburg, Va., July 30, '04, and 
 
 died Aug. 22, '64. 
 Roberts, Thomas, 63d, I ; 28 ; Oct. 18, '62 ; killed at Port Hudson June 
 
 14, '63. 
 Robinson, Henry 8., 36th, G ; 31 ; Aug. 22, '62 ; 2d lieut. ; Jan. .30, '63, 
 
 Ist lieut. ; wounded in head at Blue Springs, Tenn., Oct. 10, '63 ; 
 
 discharged for disability July 7, '04 ; served later in navy. 
 Ryder, Charles G., 16th, C ; 28 ; Aug. 12, '62 ; corporal ; prisoner at 
 
 Cold Harbor, Va. ; mustered out May 17, '65. 
 Sargent, George E. 2d H. Artillery, M ; 18 ; Dec. 24, '63; discharged 
 
 for disability May 26, '65. 
 
CLINTON. 
 
 67 
 
 Sargent, Henry B., 15th, C ; 16 ; July 12, '61 ; discharged for disability 
 
 Fub. 11, '63; re-enlisted in 2d H. Artillery, M, Dec. 24, '63 ; mus- 
 tered out Sept. 3, '65. 
 Sargent, Itenzo B., 2d H. Artillery ; AnR. 17, '64 ; transferred to 17th, 
 
 G, Jan. 10, 'G.^, as of Boston ; mustered out July 11, '65. 
 Sawyer, George E., 2.jth, A; 23; May 7, '62 ; re-enlisted Feb. 25, '64; 
 
 mustered out July 13, '65. 
 Sawyer, George E., 60th, F ; 20 ; July 20, '64, to Nov. 30, '64. 
 Sawyer, Jonathan, 23d, H ; 42 ; Dec. 4, '61 ; wagoner; discharged for 
 
 disiibility May 9, '62 ; died at Clinton May 29, '62. 
 Schleiter, Darius, 31st, H ; 33 ; Jan. 21, '62 ; re-enlisted Feb. 17, '64 ; 
 
 mustered out in D Sept. 9, '65. 
 Schusser, Joseph, 2oth, G ; 40 ; Sept. 16, '61 ; prisoner at Cold Harbor, 
 
 Va., June 3, '64 ; died at Richmond, Va., Aug. 16, '64. 
 Schwam. Ferdinand, 2-ith, G ; 35 ; Oct. 7, '01 ; wounded at Roanoke 
 
 Islaud Feb. 8, '02 ; discharged for disability Jan. 16, '63. 
 Shaw, John,7tli, A ; 39 ; June 15, '61 ; discharged for disability July 20, 
 
 '62 ; credited to Somerset. 
 Shaw, John, Jr., 7th, A ; 18 ; June 15, '61. 
 
 Sibley, John, Navy ; 25; Aug. 19, '02, on steam sloop "Juniata;" dis- 
 charged Dec. 4, '63. 
 Smith, Augustus E., 5th, 1 , 18 ; Sept. 16, '62, to July 2, '63 ; re-enlisted 
 
 in 2d H. Artillery, M, Dec. 24, '63 ; mustered out Sept. 3, '65. 
 Smith, Alfred, 15th, C ; 27 ; Aug. 7, '02 ; wounded at .\ntietam Sept. 17, 
 
 '02 ; re enlisted Feb. 19, '04 ; transferred to 2()th, E, July 27, '64 ; 
 
 mustered out July 16, '65. 
 Smith, Francis E., 15th, C ; 18 ; July 12, '61 ; died at David's Island, N. 
 
 Y., July 23, '62. 
 Smith, George W., 2d H. Artillery, M ; 19 ; Dec. 24, '63 ; mustered out 
 
 S»pt. 3, '05. 
 Smith, James, 30th, F ; 34 ; Aug. 7, '62 ; corporul ; wounded at Jack- 
 sou, Miss., July 11, '63; mustered out June 8, '65. 
 Smith, Johu, 15th, C ; 27 ; July 12, '61 ; prisoner at Ball's Bluff Oct. 21, 
 
 '61 ; wounded at Gettysburg ; transferred to V. R. C Jan. 14, '64 ; 
 
 mustered out July 28, '04 ; re enlisted and died at Rainsford Island, 
 
 Boston. 
 Speiseer, Christian, 2flth, H ; 33 ; Aug. 24, '01 ; transferred to V. R. C. 
 
 Aug. 19, '63 ; credited to Lawrence. 
 Speisser, Gottfried C, 2Uth, C ; 35 ; Sept. 4, '61 ; died on steamer " Com- 
 modore" Sept. 18, '62. 
 Speisser, Gottfried, 25th, G ; 28 ; Sept. 25, '61 ; wounded at Petersburg, 
 
 Va., June IS, '64 ; mustered out Oct. 20, '61. 
 Spencer, Jonas H., 15th, F ; 18; July 12, '61 ; discharged Nov. 20, "62 
 
 to enlist in U. S. A. 
 Stauss, Lewis, 53d, I ; 28 ; Oct. IS, '62. 
 Stearns, Amos E., 25th, A ; 28 ; Sept. 11, '61 ; missing since May 16, 
 
 '64 ; credited to Worcester. 
 Stearns, George F., 25th, A ; 22 ; Sept. 10, '61 ; wounded at Cold Harbor, 
 
 Va., June 3, '04 ; mustered out Oct. 20, '64. 
 Stewart, Luther E., 21st, G ; 19 ; Aug. 23, '61 ; wounded at Antietam. 
 
 Sept. 17,'l'>2; re-enlisted Jan. 2, '61; woun<led at Cold Harbor, Va., 
 
 June 2, '64, leg amputated and discharged Oct. 10, '65. 
 Stone, LouisL., 60th, F ; 19 ; July 20, '64, to Nov. 30, '64. 
 Suss, Michael, 26th, G ; 28 ; Oct. 1, '61 ; killed at Petersburg, Va., June 
 
 18, '04. 
 Thurman, Charles, 34th, D ; 20 ; July 3, '02 ; mnsician ; mustered out 
 
 June 16, '05. 
 Thurniun, Charles H., 63d, I ; 42 ; Oct. 18, '62 ; killed at Fort Brisland, 
 
 La., April 13, '03. 
 Toole, Austin, 22d, G ; 21 ; Sept. 12, '61 ; transferred to V. R. C Sept. 
 
 30, '63. 
 Towsley, Leonard M., 15th, C ; 27 ; July 12, '01 ; wounded at Antietam 
 
 Sept. 17, '02, and died Sept. 27, '02. 
 Tracy, Jolin. 2l8t, B ; 21 ; Aug. 23, '61 ; wounded near Petei-sburg ; died 
 
 at Niishville, Tenn., Jan. 31, '65. 
 Turner, Uoratio E., 34th. (See Lancaster.) 
 Vetter, George, 25th, G; 20; Sept. 10, '61; wounded at Roanoke Island 
 
 Feb. 8. '62 ; died at New Berne July 9, '62. 
 Vint, Joseph .\., 63d, I; 18 ; Oct. 18, '02 ; drummer; mustered out Sept. 
 
 2, '63. 
 Vose, Josiah H.,53d, I; 32 ; Oct. 18, '02, 2d lieut. ; 1st lieut. Dec. 15, 
 
 '62 ; wounded at Port Hudson June 14, '63, and died at Springfield 
 
 Landing, La., June 17, '03. 
 Walker, William, 15th, C ; 28 ; July 12, '61 ; killed or diowned at Ball's 
 
 Bluff Oct. 21, '01. 
 Wallace. David , l.lth, C ; 19 ; July 12. '61 ; corporal ; sergeant ; 
 
 wounded and prisoner at Ball's Bluff Oct. 21, '61 ; prisonerat Peters- 
 
 burg ; transferred to 20th, G, July 27, '64 ; died at Florence, S. C, 
 
 Feb. 4, '65, a prisoner. 
 Ward, James H.,4th Cavalry, C ; 45 ; Jan. 0, '64; mustered out Oct. 20, 
 
 '65. 
 Waters, Horace H., 60th, ¥ ; 2:> ; July 20 to Nov. 30, '64. 
 Waters, John A., 53d, I ; 37 ; Oct. 18, '62, to Sept. 2, '03. 
 Waters, William G., 15th ; 23 ; July 21, '01 ; commissary sergeant ; 1st 
 
 lieut. Oct. 27, '02; discharged for disability March 14, '63. 
 Weisser, Frederick, 25th, G; 34 ; Sept. 25, '61 ; corporal ; wounded at 
 
 Port Walthall, Va., May 6, '64 ; mustered out Oct. 20, '64. 
 Wellington, Levi, 4th Cavalry, F ; 27 ; Jan. 6, '64 ; mustered out June 
 
 I, '65. 
 
 Welsh, Michael, 3d H. Artillery, F; 18; Sept. 16, '63 ; mustered out 
 
 Sept. 18, '65. 
 Wenniug, Frederick, 25th. G ; 45; Oct. 3, '61 ; wounded at Petersburg 
 
 June 15, '04 ; mustered out Oct. 20, '04. 
 Wheeler, John C, 22d, band ; 28 ; Oct. 5, '01 ; mustered out Aug. 
 
 II, '6!. 
 
 Wheclock, William R., 15th, C; 39 ; July 12, '61 ; sergeant ; 1st lieut. 
 
 Oct. 10, '62 ; capt. July 5, '63 ; mustered out July 20, '64. 
 White, Daniel A., '25th, band ; 25 ; Oct. 3, '61 ; mustered out Aug. 
 
 30, '62. 
 Whitney, Horace, Jr., 53d, K; 20; Oct. 28, '62; discharged by order of 
 
 court Dec, '62. 
 Wiesmun, Bernard, 25th, G ; 29 ; July 8, '62 ; discharged for disability 
 
 March 1, '63. 
 Wilder, Sanford B., 2d H. Artillery, M. (See Lancaster.) 
 Winter, Christian, 25th. G ; 35 ; Oct. 1, '61 ; mustered out Oct. 20, '64. 
 Wood, John, 00th, F ; 20 ; July 20 to Nov. 30, '04. 
 Wright, Archibald D., 15th, C ; 18 ; July 12, '61 ; sergeant; wounded 
 
 twice at Ball's Bluff Oct. 21, '61 ; wounded at Gettysburg; prisoner 
 
 at Wilderness Ma.v 6, '64 ; mustered out May 25, '05. 
 Wright, Daniel, 36th, F ; 30 ; Aug. 6^ '02, corporal ; sergeant Oct. 1, 
 
 '02 ; 2d lieut. Sept. 1, '63 ; Ist lieut. April '23, '64 ; wounded and 
 
 prisoner at Wilderness ; mustered out June 8, '05. 
 Zeigler, Heinrich, 25th, G; 42; July 25, '62 ; mustered out Oct. 20, '64. 
 Zimmerman, John, 53d, I ; 37 ; Oct. 18, '62, to Sept. 2, '63. 
 
 In July, 1863, eighty-seven citizens of the town 
 were drafted, of whom five served subsequently, five 
 had previously served and the following paid com- 
 mu:;4don : 
 
 Atherton, Frederick A. 
 Bartlett, Joseph F. 
 Brown, John N. W. 
 Buttnrick, William F. 
 Cultiug, George H. 
 Dawes, Alfred. 
 Fuller, Sidney F. 
 Fuller, Ebeo S. 
 Foster, John R. 
 
 Greeley, Henry C. 
 Hosmer, Samuel H. 
 Hayes, Junius 1). 
 Lowe, George W. 
 Loring, Frank M. 
 Marshall, Herman A. 
 Murphy, Cornelius. 
 Weeks, George W. 
 Wilder, George C. 
 
 The remainder were exempted for special reasons. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 CLiI'NTON—iConiinuecf). 
 
 Horatio Netso7i Bigeloic — Banks — TotcnSaU — Bigelow Free Library — Sol- 
 tlicrs^ Monument — Annals of Manufacturing Corporations — Tfie^' Waeh- 
 oiit" of 1876 — Franklin Forbes — Erastus B. Bigelow. 
 
 By what has been said on previous pages it clearly 
 appears that the more important industries of Clinton 
 were founded upon, and made possible by, the inven- 
 tive genius of one man. But the town, if not its 
 manufacturing iuterests, owes at least as great a debt 
 of grateful remembrance to the older as to the more 
 widely famous younger of the Bigelow brothers; and 
 
68 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Erastus B. Bigelow has feelingly recorded his great 
 obligations to his elder brother for the vast amount of 
 toil and care undertaken by him in building and 
 carrying into operation successively great establish- 
 ments based upon inventions before untried — for the 
 ability and patience displayed by him in meeting exi- 
 gencies constantly arising — and for perfecting numer- 
 ous practical adaptations essential to successful man- 
 ufacture. He frankly says : " For whatever success 
 has attended the development of my inventions, I am 
 indebted in no small degree to his fidelity, skill and 
 perseverance." 
 
 In the building of the town the elder was the mas- 
 ter-spirit, and his will, his judgment, his generosity 
 ordered its foundations and influenced its early growth 
 as no other man could. The results of his solicitude 
 for the welfare of his townsmen continue to honor his 
 name, and will long endure to proclaim his prescience 
 and the wisdom of his benevolence. 
 
 In the prinie of life and at the height of his useful- 
 ness Horatio Nelson Bigelow in 1864 was suddenly 
 forced to yield to others the leadership he had so long 
 held. Thoroughly conscientious and self-reliant, he 
 had ever been unwilling to entrust to other agents any 
 share of the duties which he felt to be his own ; he 
 had never spared himself. Nature, long and heavily 
 overtaxed, at last revolted and compelled a total with- 
 drawal from labor and business cares. A voyage 
 across the ocean failed to repair the broken mental 
 power, and after three years of invalidism he fell 
 quietly asleep on Wednesday, the 2d day of .January, 
 1868. At the time of his funeral, manufactories, 
 banks and all places of business throughout the town 
 were closed in token of respect for a public benefactor. 
 
 Mr. Bigelow was born at West Boylston, Mass., on 
 the 1.3th of September, 1812. His father, Ephraim, 
 the son of Abel, was a wheelwright and a chairmaker 
 by trade, who also cultivated a small farm. The 
 family lived in a very modest way, as became their 
 moderate circumstances. His mother, Polly (Brigham) 
 Bigelow, was awoman of marked character, unaffected 
 piety and native dignity, who brought up her two 
 sons to fear God and love the truth. The father died 
 in 1837 at the age of forty-six, but the mother lived 
 eighteen years in widowhood, most of the time with 
 her eldest son, honestly proud of the esteem and 
 honor which her children won from their fellow-men. 
 
 The boyhood of H. N. Bigelow was one of toil, and 
 his schooldays were few — two terms at the Bradford 
 Academy closing his educational opportunities. He 
 therefore owed little to books, but derived valuable 
 lessons from intelligent study of men, and early per- 
 sonal contest with adverse circumstances. In youth 
 he worked upon the farm and in the neighboring 
 mills, and at the age of twenty had so far mastered 
 the ordinary details of cotton manufacture that in 
 1832, when his enterprising father started a small 
 factory on the Nashun, he was installed as its over- 
 seer. September 24, 1834, he was married to Mits 
 
 Emily Worcester, and about that time was employed 
 as overseer in the Beaman mill. In 1836 he was 
 called to Shirley to become general superintendent of 
 a cotton-factory there. Thence, at the age of twenty- 
 five, with scant capital and his moneyless but gifted 
 brother as partner, he came to the idle water-power 
 on South Meadow Brook to build a town. In all the 
 positions he had held he had exhibited a restless dili- 
 gence and confidence in himself, and had developed 
 that exceptional administrative ability which proved 
 invaluable in organizing the giant manufactories 
 which he was called upon to construct and manage 
 until success became assured. 
 
 During the anxious first years at Clintonville, when 
 the load of responsibility thrown upon him in the 
 establishment of several novel manufactures seemed 
 too exacting of time and onerous for any one man to 
 bear, he found abundant leisure to be solicitous 
 about the well-being of the neighborhood in which 
 he had cast his lot, and the future economy and 
 comeliness of the bustling town, which, with pro- 
 phetic virion, he foresaw, must, before many years, 
 people the hill-slopes around. His energy hastened 
 the forming of the first church society, and the build- 
 ing for its use of the little chapel in the grove near 
 his residence. In his first manhood he had become a 
 member of the Orthodox Congregational Church, and 
 remained ever zealous in its behalf; but his sectar- 
 ianism was free from bigotry, and he often gave effi- 
 cient service and substantial aid to other religious 
 organizations. He urged the erection of commodious 
 school-houses, and a radical improvement of the local 
 school system, liberally contributing land and money 
 to a d in effecting the desired end, and when growing 
 prosperity made it possible, he often persuaded his 
 fellow-citizens, by his own munificent donations, to a 
 more generous support of worthy public institutions 
 and town improvements. 
 
 Like the majority of self-made men, so called, he 
 had a vigorous individuality. He often acted upon 
 impulse, and when confronted with unexpected or 
 what he deemed unreasonable opposition he met it 
 with resolute self-assertion. But he was easily placa- 
 ble and prompt to correct any injustice in his own 
 act or speech. He was happy in his home and took 
 great pleasure in its tasteful adornment, but he gave 
 few hours to what men call recreation, and his chief 
 enjoyment of life seemed to be in ceaseless mental 
 and bodily activity. Despite the engrossing care in- 
 cident to the agency of important corporations, he 
 accepted various public trusts, the duties of which 
 were never neglected. He was the first postmaster 
 of the village, and represented the town at the Gen- 
 eral Court during the first two years of its corporate 
 existence. He was the first president of the Savings 
 Bat!k, vice-president of the First National Bank, and 
 director in the Worcester and Nashua Railroad Com- 
 pany, the City Bank and the Mechanics' Mutual In- 
 surance Ci^mpany of Worcester. 
 
 I 
 
CLINTON. 
 
 69 
 
 Mrs, Bigelow has long outlived her husband, resid- 
 ing in the home he built in Clinton. Of four chil- 
 dren born to her, two died before his decease. Her 
 SODS, Henry H. and Charles B. Bigelow, inherit their 
 father's administrative talent, and succeeded him in 
 due time as managing agents of the Bigelow Carpet 
 Company. 
 
 The First National Bank of Clinton was chartered 
 in April, 18(34, with a capital of two hundred thousand 
 dollars. Hon. Charles G. Stevens was chosen presi- 
 dent, and C. L. S. Hammond, cashier, both of whom 
 have been continued in office to the present day. The 
 bank was at first located in a brick building on Union 
 Street, but in 1881 and 1882 built the costly brick and 
 marble block on the corner of High and Church 
 Streets. It remained the only general banking insti- 
 tution in town until June 15, 1882, when the Lancas- 
 ter National Bank transferred its office to rooms 
 leased in Brimhall's Block, Hon. Henry C. Greeley 
 being at the time president, and William H. McNeil 
 cashier. In 1885 the latter secured control of a ma- 
 jority of the stock, elected certain friends of his di- 
 rectors, and placed himself in the presidency, proba- 
 bly in order the better to conceal from the stock- 
 holders irregularities in his methods of conducting 
 the business of the bank. At the close of the year he 
 fled to Canada, a defaulter, and the settlement of the 
 bank's affiiirs was placed in the hand of John W. 
 Corcoran, Esq., as receiver. Its creditors have been 
 paid seventy per cent, of their claims, but final 
 settlement has been delayed awaiting the termination 
 of certain lawsuits. The Clinton Co-operative Bank 
 was incorporated in 1887. Daniel B. Ingalls is presi- 
 dent, C. A. Woodruff, treasurer, and Walter R. Dame, 
 solicitor. 
 
 For over seven years all town-meetings were held 
 in the vestry of the Congregational Church. From 
 November, 1858, the hall connected with the Clinton 
 House was used by the town on public occasions. The 
 erection of a special building for town use was a sub- 
 ject often discussed, and from 1866 began to arouse 
 warm debates in annual town-meetings, [n 1869 a 
 committee was appointed to investigate available sites 
 and consider plans. A location upon High Street was 
 by many considered very desirable, and the lots now 
 covered by Greeley's and the bank blocks were much 
 talked of. That now occupied by the High School 
 building was also advocated by many ; but the more 
 suitable ground upon Walnut and School Streets was 
 fortunately chosen, purchased for four thousand dol- 
 lars, and thereon the foundations of the present capa- 
 cious and imposing town-hall were laid, in July, 
 1871. 
 
 The design adopted by the town was that of Alex- 
 ander R. Esty, a Boston architect. The edifice is of 
 brick, relieved by a free use of Nova Scotia stone in 
 pilasters, beltings and other constructive and orna- 
 mental details. On the first floor are various rooms for 
 town ofBcers and Bigelow Hall, sixty feet wide by eighty 
 
 feet in length. The public library-room is located 
 at the rear of the hall, in a one-storied semi-circular 
 apse of twenty-five feet radius, which has an entrance 
 and vestibule of its own. The upper floor is occupied 
 mainly by Clinton Hall, ninety-five feet by eighty, in 
 which, including the gallery across the south end, about 
 eighteen hundred persons can be seated. A large stage 
 and retiring-rooms attached occupy the space at the 
 rear of the hall. The interior finish of the whole 
 building is of ash, and all the appointments for heat- 
 ing, lighting, etc., are of the best for their purposes. 
 
 The building was dedicated with appropriate cere- 
 monies December 4, 1872, when addresses were given 
 by Colonel T. W. Higginson and Hon. Charles G. 
 Stevens. Franklin Forbes, as chairman of the build- 
 ing committee, made a brief speech in delivering the 
 keys to the committee chosen by the town to have ex- 
 clusive control and management of the building for 
 three years, and George M. Morse, M.D., in response, 
 gave a condensed history of the town from the time 
 of Prescott's settlement on its soil. The building of 
 this important structure added one hundred and ten 
 thousand dollars to the town's indebtedness, bringing 
 the total to one hundred and forty-six thousand. A 
 funding scheme was adopted in October, 1871, which 
 provided for the issuing of bonds to the amount of one 
 hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, payable in 
 twenty years from January 1, 1873, bearing six per 
 cent, interest ; six thousand five hundred dollars of 
 the principal to be paid annually. These bonds were 
 mostly sold at par. They were exempt from town 
 taxation, and were issued in denominations of one 
 hundred and five hundred dollars. 
 
 The Bigelow Frwe Public Library was opened De- 
 cember 6, 1873, Andrew E. Ford being the first libra- 
 rian. It began its life of usefulness with four thou- 
 sand four hundred and eight books upon its shelves, 
 which had been donated by the Bigelow Library As- 
 sociation. This nucleus has grown iu fourteen years 
 to fourteen thousand one hundred and eighty-seven 
 volumes, showing an average annual addition of about 
 seven hundred volumes. The association's bequest 
 was made conditional upon the yearly expenditure by 
 the town of at least five hundred dollars for the pur- 
 chase of books. The annual appropriation, from fif- 
 teen hundred dollars in 1874, has increased to twenty- 
 three hundred in 1888, besides the amount received 
 from the dog tax and sale of catalogues, usually about 
 six hundred dollars additional. The circulation from 
 eleven thousand eight hundred and forty-two in 1874, 
 has grown to thirty-five thousand seven hundred and 
 twenty-two in 1886-87. The management of the library 
 is vested in six trustees, whose term of service is three 
 years, two being elected annually. Miss Charlotte L. 
 Greene is librarian, succeeding her sister. Miss Fannie 
 M. Greene, in 1886. A catalogue was printed in 1887. 
 
 An appropriate monument to the memory of the 
 fifty-eight Clinton men who died in the Union service 
 during the Civil War was erected in the summer of 
 
70 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 1875, the dedicatory services taking place August 28th. 
 It stands in the southwest corner of the town-hall 
 enclosure, and consists of an architectural base of Con- 
 cord granite eleven feet in height, surmounted by a 
 bronze figure of an infantry volunteer standing at 
 rest, copying a design by M. J. Powers. The exer- 
 cises of its dedication were a procession with music, 
 the formal transfer of the memorial to the town by 
 Franklin Forbes for the committee of construction, 
 and patriotic addresses by Hon. Charles G. Stevens, 
 John T. Dame, Esq., and the Reverends V. M. Sim- 
 mons and W. S. Burton. The cost of the monument 
 was about four thousand dollars, of which sum eight 
 hundred and forty dollars was collected by the women 
 of Clinton in various ways for such a memorial, and 
 the remainder was paid from the town treasury. 
 
 During the closing year of the Civil War there 
 began for the Lancaster Mills, as for most manufac- 
 turers, a period of great prosperity, during which ex- 
 tensive improvements and additions of buildings and 
 machinery were made year by year. In 1807 the 
 dam was entirely rebuilt, with an extreme length of 
 one hundred and seventy feet, securing a fall of twenty- 
 seven feet. At the same time the old breast-wheels 
 were replaced by two turbines of three hundred and 
 fifty horse-power each. In April, 1875, a branch of 
 the Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg, now a division of 
 the Old Colony Railway was built to the mills, giving 
 transportation facilities much needed. In 1877 Frank- 
 lin Forbes, for twenty-eight years manager, died, and 
 George W. Weeks, then superintendent, upon whom 
 very many of Mr. Forbes' original duties had before 
 this devolved, was appointed manufacturing agent. 
 
 During the administration of Mr. Weeks, the years 
 1880, 1881, 1887 and 1888 have been marked by very 
 important extensions of the working plant, the ca- 
 pacity for production having been increased at least 
 seventy-five per cent. The weaving-room, supposed 
 to be the largest of the kind in the United States, if 
 not in the world, has a floor area of one hundred and 
 thirty-seven thousand feet, or three and one-seventh 
 acres, affording space for twenty-eight hundred looms. 
 The carding and spinning departments occupy two 
 brick mills of huge dimensions, one three, the other 
 four stories in height. The whole floor area of the 
 works, including basements, etc., used for storage, and 
 the Sawyer's Mills in Boylston, is about sixteen acres, 
 twelve of which are devoted to manufacture. The 
 company has also about two hundred tenements, 
 nearly all of a class superior to those usually found 
 in manufacturing towns, and three large boarding- 
 houses, each accommodating one hundred persons. 
 An unusually large proportion of the employes have 
 dwellings of their own. 
 
 When the recently completed extension receives 
 its machinery, the corporation will require the labor 
 of nearly twenty-two hundred operatives, about 
 equally divided between the two sexes, and its yearly 
 product is expected to reach twenty-eight million 
 
 yards of twenty-seven inch ginghams ; last year it 
 was nearly twenty-five million yards. Three large 
 steam-engines of Corliss pattern, developing fourteen 
 hundred horse-power, are employed to aid the tur- 
 bines, while six small engines are in constant use for 
 various purposes. Among the army of workers are 
 skilled mechanics of various crafts, and corps of 
 chemists and designers perform important duties. 
 But a single quality of goods is here made, a high 
 grade of gingham everywhere known for its always 
 reliable colors and exceptional durability. Although 
 combinations of color are restricted to stripes and 
 checks, already about two hundred thousand distinct 
 patterns have been designed. 
 
 It will be noticed that the enormous increase of 
 production over that of the earliest years of the cor- 
 poration's life is far in excess of the numerical in- 
 crease of looms and operatives. In every department 
 new processes and improvements in mechanism have 
 been introduced from time to time, and greater speed 
 of movement attained, until the product per operative 
 is two and four-tenths times what it was in 1850. 
 The average wages have during the same period been 
 increased eighty per cent., and this although the 
 hours of labor per day are now two hours less than in 
 1850. 
 
 The present ofiicers of the company are : S. G. 
 Snelling, president ; Harcourt Amory, treasurer ; 
 George W. Weeks, agent; George P. Taylor, superin- 
 tendent. 
 
 February 18, 1864, the corporation which gave name 
 to the town ceased to exist, its charter being annulled 
 by legislative enactment. The coach-lace looms had 
 been sent to Philadelphia, it had the year before sold 
 its real estate in Boylston, known as Sawyer's Mills, 
 and certain of its looms for weaving checks, to the 
 Lancaster Mills Company ; and its water-rights, fac- 
 tory buildings, tenant-houses and lands in Clinton 
 to the Bigelow Carpet Company. The latter corpo- 
 ration had already made preparations to do its own 
 wool-cleansing and spinning, — for which preliminary 
 processes of its manufacture it had previously been 
 dependent upon other parties, — and to the extensive 
 plant required for these the grounds and buildings of 
 the coach-lace mills were devoted. A large worsted- 
 mill was completed in 1866, and the dam was rebuilt 
 and raised to control a flowage of two hundred and 
 thirty-six acres, including Mossy and Sandy, two of 
 the three great natural ponds of Clinton. 
 
 Upon the death of Horatio N. Bigelow, in 1865, his 
 eldest son, Henry N. Bigelow, was made superin- 
 tendent of the new department, and Charles L. Swan 
 held the same position in the weaving-mill. In De- 
 cember, 1871, Mr. Bigelow became managing agent 
 of the company. Under his supervision extensive 
 additions were made in both departments during 
 1872. A new worsted-mill, three stories in height, 
 two hundred feet long by sixty-five feet wide, was 
 built in 1875, and great improvements were made in 
 
CLINTON. 
 
 71 
 
 the machinery. Upon his retirement, March 26, 
 1881, he was succeeded in the management by his 
 brother, Charles B. Bigelow. During 1885 the weav- 
 ing department was very greatly enlarged, and in 
 1886 and 1887 an extension, two hundred feet in 
 length, was added upon the west, reaching to School 
 Street. In this have been placed newly-invented 
 looms for the weaving of Ax minster carpeting. 
 
 The president of the company is James H. Beal, 
 and C. F. Fairbanks is treasurer. The capital, which 
 was two hundred thousand dollars at the incorpora- 
 tion of the company in 1854, has been increased to 
 one million. 
 
 The number of looms is two hundred and forty, 
 and when the works are run to their full capacity, 
 twelve hundred persons are employed, whose pay 
 amounts to fifteen hundred dollars each day, and the 
 production is at the rate of one million eight hundred 
 yards per year. About six million pounds of wool 
 are used annually. The company is complete within 
 itself, importing the grade of wool which it requires, 
 and conducting all the operations of its fabrication, 
 — cleansing, spinning, dyeing, weaving, — on its own 
 premises. The floor space occupied amounts to ten 
 and three-fourths acres. Its various buildings are of 
 brick, and very attractive in appearance. The com- 
 pany also owns houses accommodating sixty-three 
 families, and has three boarding-houses. 
 
 Three grades of carpeting are manufactured by the 
 Bigelow Company, — Wilton, Axminsterand Brussels. 
 The first power-loom, invented by E. B. Bigelow, 
 thirty years ago won admiration, because with it a 
 single girl wove as much Brussels carpeting in a 
 given time as four men and four boys could do with 
 four hand looms. The perfected loom of to-day has 
 fourfold the capacity of the fiist Bigelow loom. 
 
 C. M. Bailey & Son, a few months after the de- 
 struction by fire of their property at Sterling in Feb- 
 ruary, 1868, purchased the low-lying land between 
 Sterling Street and the Boston, Clinton and Fitch- 
 burg Railway in Clinton, and established thereon an 
 extensive tannery with sixty-one vats, a large currier 
 shop, engine and boiler-house, and other accessories 
 of their business. The capacity of the yard was 
 about twenty thousand hides, and required the at- 
 tendance of forty men and boys. The junior member 
 of the firm, George E. Bailey, died in 1873, when 
 Bryant & King, by purchase, succeeded to the busi- 
 ness. They at once enlarged the works to more than 
 double iheir original capacity, employed about one 
 hundred hands, and were apparently in full tide of 
 prosperity when the breaking of the Mossy Pond 
 reservoir dam in 1876 swept away their large stock of 
 material, demolished their buildings and left them 
 weighed down by too heavy discouragements for re- 
 newal of the enterprise. Two years later C. M. 
 Bailey and William J. Stewart rebuilt some portions 
 of the buildings, gave work to twenty-five or thirty 
 men, and continued the tanning business until 
 
 August 28, 1880, when a fire laid the property again 
 in ruins, in which condition it remains. 
 
 Deacon Joseph B. Parker, the veteran machinist of 
 Clinton, died September 1, 1874, at the age of seventy 
 years. He was a native of Princeton, but came here 
 from Providence, R. I., where he had a shop, to or- 
 ganize and manage the machine-'hop connected with 
 the Clinton Company's works. His practical ability and 
 judgment were of great value to E. B. Bigelow in the 
 adjustment and construction of his inventions. He 
 was a pillar of strength in the Congregational Church, 
 a man of thorough independence and originality. 
 
 A joint stock company was formed to continue the 
 business of which he was the founder and had been 
 for nearly twenty-five years the manager, which took 
 the title of the J. B. Parker Machine Company. The 
 capital is forty-five thousand dollars, and the yearly 
 manufacture is estimated as fifty thousand dollars in 
 value. A. C. Dakin is president, C. C. Murdock, 
 treasurer, and N. E. Stowell, foreman. From seventy- 
 five to one hundred men are required when the 
 machinery of the shops is fully employed. The 
 special line of work done is the construction of carpet- 
 looms, the Bancroft mule, the Clinton yarn-twister, 
 and other mechanism for wool manufacturers. The 
 buildings of the company are commodious, well 
 equipped with power and tools, and conveniently 
 located beside the tracks of the Worcester and Nashua 
 Division of the Boston and Maine Railway. 
 
 Closely allied with and adjoining the machine- 
 shops are the new.and admirably appointed works of 
 the Clinton Foundry Company, recently completed 
 in place of the old foundry, built by Oilman N. 
 Palmer, in 1849, which was crushed in during the 
 great snow-storm of March 12, 1888. Major Christo- 
 pher C. Stone, for many years associated with Colonel 
 Palmer, bought the foundry in October, 1881, and, 
 forming a partnership with the J. B. Parker Company, 
 under the corporate title above named, became 
 general manager of the business. Twenty-six men 
 aie regularly employed here, chiefly upon machine 
 and railroad work, casting daily from a three-ton 
 cupola furnace. The value of castings sold annually 
 is about thirty-six thousand dollars. 
 
 Colonel Gilman M. Palmer came to Clintonville 
 from Dover, N. H., in 1847, but was born in Gardner, 
 Maine, December 4, 1812. He was foreman of the 
 first engine company, the first captain of the Clinton 
 Light Guards, lieutenant-colonel of the Ninth Mili- 
 tia, vice-president of the Savings Bank, and director 
 of the First National Bank. He served the town as 
 selectman for four years ; was one of the founders of 
 the Unitarian Church, and a member of Trinity 
 Masonic Lodge. He died May 27, 1885. By his will 
 nearly fifteen thousand dollars were left in public 
 bequests. 
 
 Upon Sterling Street, near the station of the rail- 
 way, stand the neat brick workshops of the Gibbs 
 Loom, Harness and Reed Company, which was incor- 
 
72 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 porated April 1, 1874, with a capital of fifty thousand 
 dollars. William H. Gibbs, the president of the 
 company, became in 1865 associated with George H. 
 Foster in the manufacture of belting, loom-harness 
 and roll-covering, and later began making reeds — in 
 which business they had been preceded by Robert 
 Turner. In the autumn of 1868 the partnership was 
 dissolved, and in a division of the assets Mr. Gibbs 
 retained the loom-harness and reed manufacture, and 
 Mr. Foster that of belting and roll-covering. Hear- 
 ing of an improved heddle machine of English in- 
 vention, Mr. Gibbs imported one, the first brought 
 into the United States. A rapid increase of orders 
 rewarded his enterprise, requiring more machinery 
 and capital, and the formation of a company followed. 
 It now has in operation thirteen heddle — or heald — 
 machines, giving work to forty operatives, male and 
 female. The ebonized loom-harness is a specialty for 
 which the company have a patent, granted February 
 1, 1881. The reed manufacture was begun in Novem- 
 ber, 1884, and has met with such encouragement that 
 but one reed maker in America now rivals this com- 
 pany in yearly production. This success has been 
 attained by superior workmanship. Charles L. Swan 
 is treasurer of the corporation. 
 
 About half-past three o'clock of Sunday, March 26, 
 1876, the people of Clinton and villages adjoining, 
 were startled by loud and long-continued alarm signals 
 from the steam gong of the wire-mill, giving wide 
 warning of an unforeseen and grievous disaster, one 
 that, because of the fortunate hourbf its happening, 
 was not attended with loss of human life, but which 
 forever ruined several useful industries, seriously 
 interrupted others, and utterly destroyed three hun- 
 dred thousand dollars' worth of capital, buildings, 
 machinery and goods. 
 
 A snow-storm, quickly followed by copious rains, 
 had filled the great reservoir of the Bigelow Carpet 
 Company to overflowing. In the Mossy Pond portion 
 of it the water stood higher than in the Clinton basin, 
 the culvert under the Worcester and Nashua Railway, 
 which joined them, proving insufficient to take away 
 the unprecedented flow poured in by the South 
 Meadow Brook. Before danger was suspected, the 
 waters rose so high as to wash over or through an 
 embankment at the northerly side of Mossy Pond, 
 just above the sources of the little brook formerly 
 known as Rigby's. This dam of earth was about 
 forty feet long and ten feet in height, and the ground 
 at either end of and beneath it was porous gravel and 
 sand. The trickling overflow soon grew to a resistless 
 torrent and tore this obstacle from its path, opening a 
 broad gap between the hills down to the level of the 
 marshy ground below. 
 
 About sixty rods away the Boston, Clinton and 
 Fitchburg Railway crosses the valley upon a gravel 
 embankment nearly forty feet in height, which 
 dammed the flood for a while, afTording time for the 
 residents of houses upon the meadow below to escape. 
 
 In less than half an hour, however, a river nearly one 
 hundred feet in width was rushing through the rail- 
 road bank over the vats of Bryant & King's tannery, 
 bearing along the debris of falling buildings and 
 thousands of hides from the extensive yards. Cross- 
 ing Sterling Street, it spread over the wide, level tract 
 below, undermining several dwellings, the occupants 
 of which barely escaped with such valuables as they 
 could hastily snatth and carry away in their arms. 
 The nest impediment met was the embankment of 
 the Worcester and Nashua Railway. This, being a 
 much lower and older earthwork than that previously 
 burst through, held firm for a time until a great lake 
 had formed behind it, and the water began to pour 
 over the track; but at length it gave way at the little 
 brook culvert, when the mad flood poured across Main 
 Street, w-hirled the old dams and shops built by the 
 early comb-makers, and a house which it had brought 
 from the meadows ^bove, crashing down the ledges 
 into the valley of the South Meadow Brook. 
 
 On this stream a factory, then the property of the 
 Boyce Brothers, of Boston, a three-story wooden 
 building, over one hundred and fifty feet in length, 
 stood upon the dam directly in the path of the 
 waters. It was quickly lifted from its foundations 
 and borne away upright over the Currier farm into 
 the Nashua, to bring up with a loud crash against 
 the first island. Nearly half of the structure, caught 
 in a swirl, again floated on at terrific speed towards 
 the iron bridge and the mills at South Lancaster. 
 Luckily, the depth of the flood was so great that the 
 main flow poured outside the river banks, and the 
 wreck following it passed down between the cotton- 
 factory and the grist-mill, struck the Lancaster Rail- 
 road Bridge a sounding blow as it went under it, 
 toppled over and was torn into fragments. Meadow 
 farms along the river for many miles were deeply 
 inundated, strewn with wreckage of buildings, ma- 
 chinery, furniture, hides, horn goods and great 
 masses of peat from Mossy Pond, and covered with 
 a deposit of sandy mud. The gaps in the railroads 
 had to be bridged, and remained serious interrup- 
 tions to travel for several days. 
 
 The Carpet Company, during the summer, filled 
 the crevasse through which the reservoir had 
 drained itself so disastrously with a solid structure. 
 Tedious lawsuits for damages followed, and the 
 sites of the manufactories demolished are even 
 now marked by ruins and desolation. 
 
 No citizen of Clinton everstood nearer the popular 
 heart than Franklin Forbes, the manager of the Lan- 
 caster Mills. In 1866 some warning from overtaxed 
 brain impelled him to seek much-needed rest, by a 
 vacation in Europe; but although he soon returned 
 to _his wonted labors nluch invigorated, he began to 
 delegate more and more of his duties to the assistant 
 whom he had trained from youth to be his succes- 
 sor — George W. Weeks, then holding the office of 
 superintendent. After a year or two of visibly fad- 
 
CLINTON. 
 
 ing strength, he died, December 24, 1877, at the age 
 of sixty-six, mourned as an irreparable loss by young 
 and old, in all classes of society, and wherever his 
 genial presence had been known. 
 
 Mr. Forbes was born in West Cambridge, Mass., 
 March 8, 1811, but his parents removed to Boston in 
 his early childhood. He was prepared for college at 
 the Latin School, being a schoolmate of Charles 
 Sumner, and was graduated at Amherst in 1833. 
 Thrown upon his own resources, he decided to adopt 
 the profession of teaching for a livelihood, and ac- 
 cepted the position of usher in a Boston school. 
 Scholarly in his tastes and a diligent student, he 
 also po.-sessed the gift of inspiring others wilh his 
 own enthusiasm for knowledge, and his success as 
 an instructor was correspondingly marked. He 
 became master of the school, and was called thence 
 to Lowell, to become principal of the High School in 
 that city. In 1837 he was married to Martha A. S. 
 Gushing, of Lunenburg. He continued to teach 
 for several years after his marri.age, but finding this 
 field of occupation somewhat narrow for his abilities 
 and aspirations, he began to employ his leisure in 
 legal studies. He was not, however, destined to 
 practice at the bar. 
 
 The avocation for which his natural powers pre- 
 eminently fitted him, and in which he subsequently 
 won so honorable repute, was pointed out to him and 
 others during his short period of service for the Locks 
 and Canals Company of Lowell. His peculiar ability 
 in the conduct of large business affairs attracted 
 notice and brought him the offer of the agency of the 
 Lancaster Mills, which he accepted, and on December 
 1, 1849, assumed his new duties, From that day, for 
 twenty-eight years, Mr. Forbes stood prominent 
 among the foremost citizens of Clinton, a respected 
 leader in municipal and church affairs and social cir- 
 cles, whose breadth of culture, genial and sympathetic 
 nature, unselfishness and strong practical sense, made 
 him not only an intelligent adviser in matters of 
 public concern, but one to whom all were glad to 
 listen. 
 
 He believed the true interests of capital and labor 
 to be identical, and his management of the great man- 
 ufactory placed in his charge was consonant with his 
 theory. His services were invaluable to the corpora- 
 tion, whose annual product increased during his 
 administration from four million to iifteen million 
 yards; but he never forgot the workman's rights or 
 welfare while he successfully labored to secure for the 
 stockholders their proper yearly harvest of profit. 
 Once, in a period of great depression in businesss 
 circles, his innate kindliness of heart prompted him 
 to keep the mills running half-time for several weeks 
 at a probable loss, to save the *age-earners from the 
 privations that would inevitably have followed the 
 entire stoppage of the works. He was ever thinking 
 of his operatives' needs and planning for their eleva- 
 tion. To this end he established evening schools and 
 
 popular lectures, to which he contributed much per- 
 sonal labor. 
 
 His long experience as a teacher and his warm 
 interest in the education of the young made him a 
 valuable inember of the town's School Board, of which 
 he was chairman thirteen years, a service exceeded 
 in length only by that of John T. Dame, Esq. He 
 was for many years president of the Savings Bank, of 
 the Clinton Gas-light Company, and of the Bigelow 
 Library Association. He was the first chief en- 
 gineer of the Fire Department, director in the First 
 National Bank, and his counsel was sought ou all 
 questions of grave interot to the town. The esteem 
 and respect in which he was universally held were 
 never, perhaps, more conspicuously shown than when, 
 in 1864, he was persuaded to allow himself to be a 
 candidate for Representative of the Eighth Worcester 
 District, then comprising the towns of Clinton and 
 Lancaster. He received every vote cast, save one in 
 Clinton. The Unitarian Society, which he was active 
 in organizing, found in him a generous benefactor 
 and an indefatigable Christian worker. His patriot- 
 ism was not only fervent and inspiriting, but self- 
 sacrificing. He was president of the Soldiers' Aid 
 Society during the Rebellion, and the volunteers and 
 their families knew no more loyal, no more tender- 
 hearted and cheery friend and adviser than he. 
 
 Mr. Forbes left two sons and three daughters, and 
 his wife still survives him. 
 
 December 2, 1879, Erastus Brigham Bigelow died 
 at his residence on Commonwealth Avenue, Boston. 
 His body was, in accordance with his expressed wish, 
 brought for burial to the town which his genius had 
 created, and was there received with public demon- 
 strations of genuine respect and sorrow. 
 
 Mt. Bigelow was phenomenal even among inventors 
 for his power of analysis and mental concentration. 
 Some of his inventions consist of very numerous ele- 
 ments in harmonious conjunction, forming the most 
 complex mechanism used in manufacture. But these 
 were all complete mental conceptions, as the author 
 of them himself assures us, fully fashioned and 
 adjusted in his mathematical imagination before 
 draughtsmen attempted to delineate, or workmen 
 wi-ought a single cam or lever of them. Singularly 
 enough, he was no mechanic, handled no tool well, 
 made only rough pencil sketches, and entrusted to 
 others the draughting of his ideas to working scale 
 for the machinists. His extraordinary power was 
 shown very early in life, for he was but fourteen years 
 of age when his little machine for the making of 
 piping-cord was perfected. During the fifty years of 
 his subsequent career he was granted in the United 
 States more than fifty patents, the larger number of 
 them for improvements in textile machinery. 
 
 He was a native of West Boylston, Massachusetts, 
 born April 2, 1814. He was obliged to contribute to 
 his own support when a mere boy by daily labor upon 
 the farm, and at the age of thirteen years began work 
 
HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 in a cotton-mill. The fortunate earning of one hun- 
 dred dollars by the sale of the piping-cord machine 
 enabled hin\ to pay for a few terms' tuition at a neigh- 
 boring academy. He earnestly desired a higher 
 education, but means were wanting, and for a few 
 years, apparently unconscious of his special talent, he 
 wandered from one place and occupation to another 
 with youthful instability — displaying, however, great 
 energy not wholly wasted, inasmuch as varied exper- 
 ience was a part of the preparation for his life's work. 
 At sixteen years of age he is found a clerk in a 
 Boston dry-goods store. Next he became a zealous 
 student of stenography ; even published upon that 
 subject his first book, and earned a little money by 
 teaching the art, travelling with a partner through 
 New England and the Middle States. For a time he 
 then became overseer of a cotton factory at Wareham, 
 and later he taught a writing-school and began the 
 study of medicine. Suddenly he conceived the idea 
 of weaving Marseille.-s quilts bj' power, and abandoned 
 his intention of becoming a physician to build the 
 counterpane loom, having induced a firm of Boston 
 importers to undertake the cost of the experiment. 
 The financial troubles of 1837 interfering with the 
 expected support by the firm, he came to Lancaster 
 with his brother; Horalio bringing to the partnership 
 his moderate savings, Erastus contributing an auto- 
 matic device for weaving coach-lace by power which 
 the experts declared would not work, but which the 
 brothers were confident would. 
 
 Prosperity rewarded jiluck, and did not come with 
 its usual coyness and at laggard pace ; fame followed 
 closely after. Mr. Bigelow had at last evidently 
 found his appointed place in the world's army of 
 workers. He was henceforth to take rank among the 
 creators and organizers of human industry ; a fellow- 
 laborer for human progress with Watts, Arkwright 
 and Eli Whitney. The Lowell Companies employed 
 him at appropriate salary to act as their advising 
 agent, to suggest special improvements in machinery 
 and methods of manufacture. Invention after inven- 
 tion speedily followed. The gingham, the various 
 carpet, the wire and the brocatel looms successively 
 won their victories and extended his reputation. The 
 great English carpet manufacturers acknowledged 
 themselves outdone by American ingenuity, and pur- 
 chased the new machinery. 
 
 It is noteworthy that Mr. Bigelow's aim, both as an 
 inventor and a manufacturer, was ever towards 
 greater perfection in the product. No prospective 
 profit could induce him to cheapen manufacture by 
 allowing the quality to fall below his ideal of excel- 
 lence. His object was to produce by machinery a 
 fabric every way better than that wrought by hand — 
 the decreased cost of production inevitably following, 
 and the consumers enjoying a double gain. He 
 always perfected his ideas, resolutely laboring until 
 the object sought was consummated, never abandon- 
 ing the half-wrought for some promising afterthought. 
 
 Mr. Bigelow first married Miss Susan W. King. 
 She died in 1841, leaving an infant son, Charles, who 
 survived his mother but six years. He found a 
 second wife in Miss Eliza Means, of Amherst, N. H., 
 by whom he had one daughter, Helen, now the wife 
 of Rev. Daniel Merriman. His stay in Clinton was 
 but brief, though he was a frequent visitor here. 
 His regular residence for most of his life was in 
 Boston, but he owned an estate of two hundred acres 
 at North Conway, N. H., which he named Stonehurst, 
 and there he spent the summers of his later years. 
 
 The degree of Master of Arts was bestowed upon 
 him in 1845 by Williams College; in 1852, by Yale; 
 in 1854, by Dartmouth, and in 1861 by Harvard. 
 Amherst conferred upon him, in 1867, the degree of 
 Doctor of Laws. He was a member of the American 
 Academy of Sciences, the Massachusetts Historical 
 Society, and the London Society for the Encourage- 
 ment of the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. He 
 was one of the founders of the Massachusetts Insti- 
 tute of Technology. In politics he was generally a 
 conservative, never an active partisan, and in later 
 life proclaimed his independence of party. He was, 
 in 1860, nominated by the Democracy of the Fourth 
 District as their candidate for Representative to 
 Congress, but his opponent, Alexander H. Rice, 
 afterwards Governor of the State, secured the election 
 by a small plurality. 
 
 Mr. Bigelow's published writings mostly treat of 
 political economy, and are characteristic of the man, 
 exhibiting his analytical skill, and remarkable rather 
 for precision of statement and lucidity than for 
 rhetorical graces. He sent to the press in 1858, 
 " Remarks on the Depressed Condition of Manufac- 
 tures in Massachusetts, with Suggestions as to its 
 Cause and Remedy ;" in 1862, a large quarto entitled, 
 "The Tariff' Question Considered in Regard to the 
 Policy of England and the Interest of the United 
 States ;" in 1869, an address, " The Wool Industry of 
 the United States;" in 1877, "The Tariff' Policy of 
 England and the United States Contrasted ;" in 1878, 
 "The Relations of Labor and Capital," an article in 
 the Atlantic Monthly. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ChlNTOTSS^iCoa/inued). 
 
 Schools — Churches — Newspapers — Water Supply — Statistics, Etc. 
 
 When, in the latter days of the Revolution, it be- 
 came necessary to resort to a draft to fill the quotas 
 demanded for the Continental service, towns in Mas- 
 sachusetts were usually divided into districts called 
 squadrons, in such manner and number as were sug- 
 gested by neighborhood convenience and the number 
 of men to be raised. An exactly similar plan seems 
 
CLINTON. 
 
 75 
 
 to have obtained at the same time, if not earlier, for 
 the distribution and use of school money. A law of 
 178S made this custom as applied to sl-IiooIs general 
 iu this Commonwealth, and at this date Lancaster 
 was divided into thirteen squadrons. Two of these, 
 known as Prescott's Mills and South Woods, were 
 within the bounds of Clinton. Judging from the 
 share of the town's appropriation received, they were 
 among the smallest districts in population. In suc- 
 ceeding years the limits of the squadrons and their 
 number were frequently changed, but these two re- 
 mained essentially unaltered until 1846, being gener- 
 ally called Districts Ten and Eleven. 
 
 Each squadron provided its own school accommo- 
 dations, whether a special building, or, as was often 
 the case, a room in a dwelling house, or an unused 
 shop. The earliest school house known to have been 
 built upon Clinton soil was that at Prescott's Mills, 
 in 1800 — a cheap, frame structure located upon a slight 
 elevati6n in the woodland on the southwest corner of 
 the intersection of the Kigby Road (now Sterling 
 Street) with the main highway. On each of three 
 sides it was lighted by small windows, placed high 
 above tlie floor and protected on the outside with 
 board shutters. The room was about eighteen feet 
 square and had a plank seat running around the three 
 windowed sides, with long heavy writing-desks before 
 it. To the front of the desks were attached board 
 seats for the abecedarians. On the fourth side was a 
 fire-place broad enough to take in cord-wood. The 
 South Woods School-house, or Number Eleven, was 
 similar in style, but less capacious, and situated en- 
 tirely out of sight of any other building on the old 
 county road east of the Nashua, about half-way be- 
 tween Bolton corner and Bo}'lston line. 
 
 With the incre.ise in population and wealth brought 
 by the enterprise of Poignand & Plant, the pride of 
 the " Factory District " — as Prescott's Mills began to 
 be called — demanded larger and better school accom- 
 modations, and in 182-1 a brick edifice was built upon 
 Main Street, about fifty rods southerly from the old 
 one, its cost, four hundred and twenty dollars, being 
 assessed upon the property of the district. This was 
 planned by James Pitts, Sr., and the scholars' seats 
 all faced in one direction, being arranged in tiers 
 gradually rising from front to rear. This building 
 served in the cause of education for about twenty-five 
 years. The first teacher in the old school-house was 
 Miss Sally Sawyer, who was paid one dollar per 
 week, and boarded with Captain John Prescott, who 
 was paid five shillings per week by the district. In 
 1808 there were twenty-seven scholars coming from 
 twelve families. Those who sent children were ex- 
 pected to contribute wood, cut fit for use, the amount 
 being prescribed by the prudential committee and 
 apportioned according to the number of scholars. There 
 were never but two terms of schooling in the year — 
 a summer and a winter session, each of seven to ten 
 weeks. Titus Wilder, Silas and Charles Thurston, 
 
 and Ezra Kendall were for many years the winter 
 teachers of Number Ten, noted disciplinarians all, 
 who sucessfuUy guided the youthful generations of 
 their day along thorny path< of learning, according 
 to the often-quoted Hudibrastic Version of Solomon's 
 proverb. Titus Wilder, in 1808, received four dollars 
 and fifty-eight cents per week for his instructions, 
 and " boarded himself 
 
 The whole population in both districts, during even 
 the prosperous days of Poignand & Plant's mills, prob- 
 ably did not reach two hundred and fifty souls, and the 
 schools were small. Upon the opening of the new 
 industries the old school-rooms were soon filled to 
 overflowing, and a primary school for Number Ten 
 was established in 1844. A so-called high school 
 was started in Clinton ville by private enterprise 
 during 1846, kept by Miss Adolphia Rugg. She was 
 soon succeeded by George N. Bigelow, an excep- 
 tionally successful instructor, who was called away 
 to become principal of the State Normal School at 
 Framingham, in 1855. There were in 1847 about 
 two hundred and thirty children of school age in 
 Clintonville, and the citizens, with commendable zeal, 
 combined to establish graded schools, elected a pru- 
 dential committee, a board of overseers and treasurer, 
 and authorized the borrowing of thirty-five hundred 
 dollars for the building of the needed school-houses. 
 The South Woods District was abolished and the 
 whole territory divided into four sections. New 
 houses were erected at Lancaster Mills and Harris 
 Hill, the central brick house was refurnished, and the 
 northern section was provided with a suitable room 
 by the enlargement of the primary school-house. 
 The third grade, or grammar school, at first occupied 
 the chapel of the Congregational Society at the corner 
 of Main and Sterling Streets, and was generally known 
 as the high-school. The establishment of a high 
 school as distinct from the grammar school dates 
 from 1874. 
 
 Clinton has now eleven school buildings, all but 
 two being substantial brick structures. Thirty-six 
 teachers — all females but one — and a general super- 
 intendent are employed, besides eight engaged in the 
 evening schools. The various schools are thus graded : 
 one high, ten grammar, twenty-two primary — all open 
 ten months in the year. In 1888 twenty-seven 
 thousand dollars were appropriated for their support, 
 and the pupils attending them numbered fifteen hun- 
 dred and ninety-four. The number of children be- 
 tween five and fifteen years of age is now nineteen 
 hundred and sixty. 
 
 The first high school building, which also served 
 for the centre grammar school, was built at the corner 
 of Church and Walnut Streets in 1853. The present 
 handsome structure at the corner of Chestnut and 
 Union Streets, one of the most finely appointed in 
 the Commonwealth, was completed in 1885, from plans 
 of J. L. Faxon, at a cost of sixty thousand dollars. 
 It is of brick and Long Meadow sandstone, and con- 
 
76 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 tains eight rooms above the basement. The princi. 
 pals of the high school have been as follows : George 
 N. Bigelow to 1853; C. W. Walker, one year ; Josiah 
 S. Phillips to 1859 ; Henry S. Nourse, temporarily to 
 fill out Mr. Phillips' term ; Rev. Frederick A. Fiske 
 one year; Miss Elizabeth A. Owens, one year; Dana 
 I. Joscelyn, one year; Rev. Milo C. Stebbins, 1862 
 and 1863; Josiah H. Hunt, eight years; Andrew E. 
 Ford, from 1873 to present time. Mr. Ford is a 
 graduate of Amherst College, a member of the class 
 of 1871. The superintendents have been : Samuel 
 Arthur Bent, 1883-85 ; William W. Waterman, 
 1886-89. 
 
 There are now nine organized religious societies 
 in Clinton, seven of which own capacious and 
 comfortable meeting-houses. The residents pre- 
 ceding the advent here of the Bigelow looms were 
 a God-fearing and church-going people, most of 
 whom regularly attended the Sabbath services in 
 Lancaster, tsvo or three miles distant. When 
 members justified it, the managers of the C'lin- 
 tonville corporations and other leading citizens or- 
 ganized neighborhood meetings, which were usually 
 held in the brick school-house. November 14, 1844, 
 a church of the Orthodox Congregational denomina- 
 tion, called the Second Evangelical Church of Lan- 
 caster, was formed, having lifty-one members, and 
 occupied as their place of worship a chapel built 
 upon or near the site of the first school-house at the 
 corner of Main and Sterling Streets. The first pas- 
 tor, Joseph M. R. Eaton, was engaged at a salary of 
 five hundred and fifty dollars, and ordained January 
 9, 1845. The society hired the bass viol used in the 
 choir, but the performer upon the instrument was one 
 of its moEt prominent members. In September, 1847, 
 signs of a change in the fashion of church music ap- 
 peared, by a vote of the parish that they " would be 
 pleased to have the Seraphine played on trial." The 
 society rapidly increased in numbers and prosperity, 
 and January 1, 1847, dedicated a new bouse of wor- 
 ship upon Walnut Street. This building, much en- 
 larged in 1859 and again in 1871, it continues to 
 occupy. Mr. Eaton was dismissed April 11, 1847. 
 His successors have been as follows: William H. 
 Corning, ordained December 8, 1847, dismissed 
 October 2, 1851 ; William D. Hitchcock, ordained 
 October 21,1851, dismissed July 16, 1853; Warren 
 W. Winchester, ordained March 23, 1854, dismissed 
 June 17, 1862 ; Benjamin Judkins, Jr., acting pas- 
 tor, December 1, 1862, resigned December 1, 1867; 
 DeWitt S. Clark, ordained November 11, 1868; dis- 
 missed December 12, 1878 ; Charles Wetherbee, in- 
 stalled April 30, 1879, dismissed July 31, 1884 ; Darius 
 B. Scott, installed January 14, 1885. 
 
 So early as March, 1816, several families of the 
 Baptist faith formed themselves into a society and 
 held meetings, sometimes in the South Woods School- 
 house, sometimes at the house of Charles Chace, and 
 engaged various preachers to visit them on stated 
 
 Sabbaths. Elders Luther Goddard and Thomas Mar- 
 shall were thus hired for some time. The leaders in 
 the society were mostly residents of School Districts 
 Ten and Eleven, and included Charles and Alanson 
 Chace, John Burditt, the Lowe and Sargeant families. 
 Deacon Levi Howard, Joel Dakin, Abel Wilder, Ben- 
 jamin Holt, etc. In 1830, when the Hillside Church 
 was established, many of these joined that society. 
 The second church organized in Clintonville was 
 called the First Baptist Society, and dates from 
 April 24, 1847. For two years its meetings were held 
 in the chapel on Main Street vacated by the Congre- 
 gational Society. In 1849 it removed to the present 
 house on Walnut Street, the capacity of which, how- 
 ever, was greatly increased in 1868. The land upon 
 which the meeting-house stands was a gift from Ho- 
 ratio N. Bigelow. The first pastor of the church, 
 Charles M. Bowers, D.D., resigned March 28, 1886, 
 after thirty-nine years of faithful ministry. He was 
 succeeded by Rev. Henry K. Pervear. 
 
 A chapel for Roman Catholic worship was built 
 upon Burditt Hill, on Main Street, in 1849, by Rev. 
 John Boyce, occupied as a mission church, and called 
 St. John's. Clintonville had then been for about four 
 years a mission station, a priest from Worcester 
 coming on one Sunday of each month to say Mass at 
 the house of some parishioner. Rev. J. J. Connelly 
 succeeded Father Boyce in 1862, residing in Clinton, 
 and the next year the town became a parish, with 
 Rev. J. Quin as pastor. He was followed in May, 
 1868, by Rev. D. A. O'Keefe, who died in October of 
 the same year. Rev. Richard J. I'atterson, the 
 present pastor, was ordained a priest December 22, 
 1866, and came to Clinton in November, 1868. The 
 chapel on Pleasant Street was built by him in 1869. 
 The corner-stone of the new Gothic church building 
 at the corner of Union and School Streets was laid 
 August 8, 1875. This is by far the largest and most 
 costly of Clinton's houses of worship. It is solidly 
 built of brick and cut Fitzwilliam granite, according 
 to plans of P. W. Ford, of Boston, and can accom- 
 modate a congregation of three thousand persons. It 
 was formally dedicated June 27, 1886. 
 
 The Methodist Episcopal Society was organized in 
 October, 1851. Regular meetings had been attended 
 previously by those attached to this faith, in Burdett's 
 — then known as Attic Hall, and were continued in 
 Concert Hall until the dedication of their present 
 meeting-house on High Street, December 25, 1852. 
 The basement of this edifice was added and finished 
 as a vestry in 1856, and the whole building was reno- 
 vated and improved in 1868. A parsonage which 
 stood until this year upon the opposite side of the 
 street was the gift of Daniel Goss, of Lancaster. In 
 1887 the church building was again remodeled and 
 enlarged. The pastors have been as follows: — Philip 
 Toque, October, 1850 to March, 1851 ; George Bowler, 
 one year; J. Willard Lewis, two years; Augustus F. 
 Bailey, one year, 1854; Newell S. Spaulding, two 
 
CLINTON. 
 
 77 
 
 years; Daniel K. Merrill, eight months, 1857; Willard 
 F. Mallalieu, four months; William J. Pomfret, two 
 years; Thomas B. Treadwell, one year, 1860; Albert 
 Gould, two years; John W. Coolidge, hired for a brief 
 time; William G. Leonard, four months; E. F. Had- 
 Ipy, fourteen months; Edwin S.Chase, one year, 1866; 
 Frederick T. George, one year, 1867 ; Joseph W. Lewis, 
 two years; William A. Braman, three years; A. C. 
 Godfrey, one year, 1873; Volney M.Simons, three 
 years; Watson M. Ayers, three years; Chas. H. Hana- 
 ford, two years, 1880-81; Albert Gould, three years; 
 John H. Short, three years; M. Emory Wright, 1888. 
 
 The First Unitarian Church was organized June 
 12, 1852, though services had been regularly held in 
 Burdett and Clinton Halls, by its members, during the 
 two previous years. The meeting-house upou Church 
 St. was dedicated Feb. 2, 1853. Twenty years later it 
 was raised, greatly enlarged, and the basement fitted up 
 for use as a vestry and church parlor. A bequest received 
 from the estate of Colonel G. M. Palmer has enabled 
 the parish to build a spacious and comfortable parson- 
 age upon a valuable lot on the corner of Walnut and 
 Water Streets. The pastors have been as follows: — 
 Leonard J. Livermore, began preaching April, 1851, 
 resigned September, 1S57; Jared M. Heard, ordained 
 August 25, 1858, resigned in 1863; James Salloway, 
 installed November 9, 1864, dismissed Decembel-, 
 1868; Ivory F. Waterhouse, began preaching January 
 3,1869, resigned May 25, 1873; William S. Burton, 
 began preaching October 5, 1873, resigned December, 
 1875; Charles Noyes, began preaching May 7, 1876, 
 resigned August 13, 1882; J. Frederick Dutton, in- 
 stalled June 6, 1883, resigned November 24, 1885; 
 James Cameron Duncan, ordained June 17, 1886. 
 
 The Church of the Good Shepherd (Episcopal) was 
 established as a mission in 1874. Regular services be- 
 gan April 12th of that year, in Bigelo .v Hall. On the 
 last Sunday of June, Rev. L. Gorham Stevens assumed 
 charge of the mission, and remained until the follow- 
 ing April. After a brief interval he w.is succeeded by 
 Rev. John W^. Birchmore, who, however, never be- 
 came a resident of Clinton, but was in charge of the 
 mission until April 28, 1878. October 28, 1876, the 
 foundations of a chapel were laid on TJnion Street 
 and the building was consecrated on the 17th of the 
 following April. Rev. Henry L. Foote was settled as 
 rector in August, 1878, and a parish organization was 
 effected April 14, 1879. In July, 1881, Mr. Foote was 
 called to the parish of Holyoke and Rev. E. T. Hamel, 
 an Englishman, became rector in September, 1881. 
 He was followed by Rev. George F. Pratt, in May, 
 1884, who resigned aud was succeeded by Rev. Thomas 
 L. Fisher, April 1, 1888. 
 
 The Second Advent Society meet in Courant Hall, 
 The organization dates from 1871, but no minister has 
 been settled. Isaac Barnes is the elder. 
 
 The Spiritualists hold meetings in Currier's Hall, 
 having no settled pastor. Their organization dates 
 from 1882. 
 
 The German Church, Rev. F. C. F. Sherff, pastor, 
 has recently built a neat Gothic meeting-house at the 
 corner of Haskell and Birch Streets. Services in the 
 German language had been held for about a year pre- 
 vious to its dedication. May 20, 1888, in the vestry of 
 the Congregational Society. 
 
 The post-office, in its present spacious and conven- 
 ient quarters, occupies nearly the same site as when 
 established in 1846, by H. N. Bigelow, the first post- 
 master. The second postmaster, John T. Dame, Esq., 
 served from September 7, 1853, to April 6, 1861, when 
 he was relieved by Deputy Sheriff Enoch K. Gibbs, 
 who held the office until August 1, 1870. His suc- 
 cessor, Charles M. Dinsmore, clo.sed his service Janu- 
 ary 3, 1887, when John McQuaid, the present post- 
 master, received his commission. From the date of 
 the removal of the office from Kendall's Block, in 
 1853, to its return to High Street upon the completion 
 of the Bank Block, April 9, 1882, it occuj.ied the west- 
 ern end of the Bigelow Library Association building, 
 on Uuion Street. 
 
 Under the law of 1858, creating trial justices, John 
 T. Dame, Esq., was commissioned and held office until 
 1864. Daniel H. Bemis, Esq., succeeded to the office, 
 and was superseded by Christopher C. Stone in 1871. 
 The Second District Court of Eastern Worcester was 
 established in July, 1874. It took the place of the 
 trial justice, and includes in its jurisdiction the towns 
 of Berlin, Bolton, Harvard, Clinton, Lancaster and 
 Sterling, its sessions being all held at Clinton. Hon. 
 Charles G. Sievens was appointed the first standing 
 justice, Major C. C. Stone, special justice, and Frank 
 E. Howard, clerk of the court. September 7, 1880, 
 Major Stone was confirmed as justice in place of Mr. 
 Stevens, who declined further service, and Jonathan 
 Smith, Esq., was commissioned special justice on 
 September 14th. In January, 1886, Mr. Smith re- 
 signed, and Herbert Parker, Esq., was appointed to 
 succeed him January 27, 1886. 
 
 The Saturday Courant's early history has been told 
 in u former page. With its restricted local circula- 
 tion becoming unremunerative when the war prices of 
 paper and labor were encountered, it was discontinued 
 with the number for December 13, 1862. In July, 
 1851, Mr. Messenger had withdrawn from both 
 editorship and partnership, to be succeeded by Edwin 
 Bynner, who with genial versatility figured at the 
 same time as editor, painter, poet, town-wit, auc- 
 tioneer and station-master. November 1, 1853, the 
 publishing office was moved acro-s High Street to 
 rooms under the Clinton Hou.-e hall, where it re- 
 mained fur fifteen years. Mr. Bynner abandoned the 
 enterprise July 1, 1854, finding it not sufficiently prof- 
 itable, and was replaced temporarily by John P. 
 Davis. January 1, 1855, Rev. Leonard J. Livermore 
 was given editorial charge of the paper, which he re- 
 tained until September 5, 1857, when he removed to 
 Lexington. Rev. Charles M. Bowers then acted as 
 editor for twenty months, but did not permit his 
 
78 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 name to appear as such. Thenceforward for about 
 three years the paper was nominally under the direc- 
 tion of "an association of gentlemen." March 22, 
 1862, Horatio E. Turner essayed the task of editing 
 it, but at the end of four months enlisted in the 
 Thirty-fourth Infantry, to give his life for country. 
 Wellington E. Parkhurst performed the editorial 
 duties from August 16, 1862, to the farewell number. 
 
 Upon the muster-out of the Union forces. Lieuten- 
 ant William J. Coulter, a skilled printer, who had 
 been employed upon the Salurdny Courani, r&solved 
 to resume its publication. Mr. Parkhurst was chosen 
 as editor, and September 30, 186.5, the first number 
 of the Clinton Courant appeared from the old office. 
 The venture proved promising enough to warrant en- 
 largement of the paper in 1866, 1867 and 1870. In 
 January, 1869, the office of publication was removed 
 to Tyler's Block, then just completed, and October 10, 
 1872, to its present location on Cliurch Street, Its 
 managemeot remains unchanged. The Courant ha? 
 maintained from the outset an independent position 
 in politics and religious matter.^, but is not weakly 
 neutral, nor reticent in expression of opinion upon 
 any topic of public interest. It is now twice the size 
 of the original sheet of 1816, has a wide circulation 
 for a paper of its class and is growing in deserved 
 popularity. A smaller sheet was imblished as an ex- 
 periment, on Tuesdays from September, 1880, for one 
 year, in connection with the Saturday issue, and 
 called the Clinton Advance. The unique file of the 
 Courant preserved in the Bigelow Public Library is 
 an invaluable record of Clinton's progress. 
 
 The Courant has had an active competitor for public 
 favor during the last ten years. The Clinton Recurd 
 was first published by John W. Eilam September 1, 
 1877. Its editors were E. A. Norris and E. M. Le 
 Poer. This newspaper was bought by Trowbridge & 
 French, and its name changed to the Clinton Times, 
 November 13, 1882. Mr. Trowbridge soon sold his 
 interest to his associate, George French, who, in April, 
 1884, disposed of the paper to George W. Reynolds, 
 from Melrose. During 1883 the Times also appeared 
 in semi-weekly form. It was Republican in politics 
 and advocated prohibition. It was published Wed- 
 nesday afternoons irom a printing-office in Greeley's 
 block. Its publication ceased March 24, 1887. Mean- 
 while a third candidate for the people's favor had 
 appeared. 
 
 The Clinton Enlerj^rise, published bj'Wood Brothers 
 in Greeley's block dates from Friday,. May 14, 1886. 
 M. E. C. Hankes was its firat local editor and man- 
 ager. 
 
 For the first thirty years after its incorporation the 
 town's people were wholly dependent upon wells and 
 rain-cisterns for water required for domestic purposes. 
 The larger manufacturing companies, by means of 
 their steam pumps, supplemented by reservoirs upon 
 high ground, protected their works from fire and sup- 
 plied their tenants. The question of the introduction 
 
 of water for general use was often agitated, but it was 
 not until November 22, 1875, that definite action 
 favoring such introduction was taken by a town- 
 mee.ing. On that date the report of a special water- 
 supply committee, of which Hon. Daniel B. Ingalls 
 was chairman, was adopted, and the committee in- 
 structed to obtain the necessary legislation for the 
 furtherance of their recommendations. April 4, 1876, 
 an act was approved authorizing Clinton to take the 
 waters of Sandy Pond, or any other pond or brook 
 within the town limits, for domestic and fire purposes, 
 and to borrow the sum of one hundred and twenty- 
 five thousand dollars for the construction of works. 
 During the subsequent five years, however, nothing 
 resulted save surveys, estimates and warm discussion. 
 Upon petition the Legislature revived and extended 
 the act February 4, 1881, for three years. During 
 that year a reservoir, with a capacity of two million 
 gallons, was constructed upon the summit of Burditt 
 Hill, and the main pipes were laid connecting it with 
 the principal streets. 
 
 The water of Sandy Pond is of great depth and 
 purity, covering an area of about fifty acres, and so 
 situated as easily to be guarded from external con- 
 tamination. The supply from it can be cheaply 
 increased by bringing to it the flow of Mine Swamp 
 Brook; but its elevation is insufficient to obviate the 
 necessity of a costly pumping-station. Explorations 
 were, therefore, extended into the adjoining towns, 
 in the hope of obtaining a re-ervoir at sufficient 
 height to supply the town by a gravity system. In- 
 vestigation of the sources of Wickapeket Brook, 
 begun by Jonas E. Howe of the committee, disclosed 
 such unusually favorable conditions that the scheme 
 for using the waters within the town bounds was aban- 
 doned, and a petition met the Legislature of 1882 
 asking authority to take water from (Sterling. An act 
 gave the desired privilege, and also authorized the 
 issuing of additional water-bonds to the amount of 
 one hundred thousand dollars. This legislation was 
 accepted by the required two-thirds vote of a town- 
 meeting March, 1882, and by January 1, 1883, the 
 main works were completed. 
 
 The cast-iron main is sixteen inches in diameter, 
 and about five and three-fourths miles in length. The 
 water is of unsurpassed purity, abundant for all prob- 
 able needs, and reaches the hydrants in High Street 
 with a pressure of about eighty pounds to the square 
 inch, having a head of over one hundred feet. At 
 the mills the hydrant pressure is one hundred and 
 ten pimnds. During 1883 Lynde Brook and Pond 
 were taken into the reservoir system. The first basin 
 had a capacity of three million gallons; Lynde reser- 
 voir has a capacity of ten million gallons. An act, 
 approved March 27, 1884, and accepted by a town vote, 
 permits the additional sum of fifty thousand dollars 
 in water bonds to be issued, and authorizes the sell- 
 ing of water to the inhabitants of Lancaster along its 
 main line, and to the Lancaster Water Company, 
 
CLINTON. 
 
 79 
 
 provided the needs of the inhabitants of Clinton are 
 first supplied. The water bonds authorized have not 
 all been issued. They yield four per cent, interest, pay- 
 able April and October 1st, and run for twenty years. 
 Work has recently begun upon an additional reser- 
 voir of thirty million gallons capacity. 
 
 In connection with the subject of water supply, 
 that of public sewage was given to the consideration 
 of the committee of 1875, and a report was made to 
 the town March 5, 1877, advising that no action be 
 taken at that time looking to any plan for a general 
 system of drainage. The little reservoir of the Clin- 
 ton Yarn Company, known as Counterpane Pond, had 
 already become seriously polluted by the foul matter 
 constantly poured into it from the carpet-mills and 
 various other sources, and, being in the heart of the 
 town, was a fruitful cause of complaint, especially 
 from those dwelling in its immediate vicinity. A plan 
 for a system of sewers was obtained from the noted 
 engineer, Phineas Ball, in 1883, and a petition for 
 authority to construct a sewerage system was pre- 
 sented to the Legislature of 1886. The petitioners, 
 however, preferred to be given leave to withdraw 
 rather than accept any bill prohibiting the discharge 
 of unfiltered sewage into the Nashua River, a restric- 
 tion which was demanded by the inhabitants of 
 towns upon that stream below Clinton. The subject 
 continues to be persistently debated, but the multi- 
 plicity and importitnee of the interests involved, and 
 the cost of an efiicient and comprehensive system, 
 have, thus far, prevented the adoption of any but a 
 luake-shift policy. Pipes for house drainage are now 
 being laid through the main streets. 
 
 The period of the town's life, thirty-eight years, has 
 been one of almost uninterrupted prosperity, exempt 
 from those episodes of great depression and financial 
 disaster which frequently visit similar manufacturing 
 towns. This is, doubtless, in part due to the high grade 
 and great variety of the products of its mills and work- 
 shops, but greatly also to the friendly relations which 
 have been sustained between labor and cajtital. It 
 speaks much for the intelligence of its working citi- 
 zens as well as for the liberal spirit of those who have 
 managed the capital here invested, that the harmony 
 which should exist between the employer and the 
 employed has never been very seriously nor generally 
 disturbed. 
 
 In the hard times of 1857 the larger manufactories, 
 for several weeks, were run on half-time or less, and, 
 but for the sympathy of the managers with theworkers, 
 would have been closed. The tact, energy and unsel- 
 fishness of Franklin Forbes were brought promi- 
 nently into view during the trials of this critical 
 period. The shares of the older companies gradually 
 fell in the stock market to half their par value. The 
 stock then, as now, was largely in the ownership of 
 non-residents, a fact preventing any strong personal 
 bond of sympathy between the wage-payer and the 
 wage-earner. But the managers, though firm in the 
 
 control of their great trusts, were tender of heart and 
 heedful of the needs of the toilers for daily bread. 
 The commercial stress, though long continued, there- 
 fore created little hitler antagonism. New inventions, 
 and improvements of the old, were brought forward 
 by E. B. Bigelow, cheapening manufacture, and when 
 the clouds of civil war began to lift, a new era of 
 prosperity dawned, surpassing that of earlier days. 
 
 In 1879 a reduction of wages was found necessary 
 at the Lancaster Mills to compensate for a great de- 
 preciation in the market for ginghams, and was 
 accepted without unusual demonstrations of dissatis- 
 faction. In March, 1880, the old rates were volun- 
 tarily restored, when the manager was met by a demand 
 from some of the weavers for an additional and large 
 increase. This was firmly refused, as the petitioners 
 were already receiving larger daily wages than given 
 at other mills in New England for the same or similar 
 labor. A portion of the weavers struck work, and for 
 several days the community was excited by fears of 
 trouble and loss. The cause of the disaffected, how- 
 ever, signally failed to win public sympathy, and, after 
 about a month of idleness, the deserted looms were 
 all manned again. 
 
 A similar difficulty arose in April, 1886, at the 
 carpet-mills, when seventy-seven dyers, being re- 
 fused demands deemed unreasonable, resolved to 
 leave their work. Upon the attempt to fill the 
 places vacated with workmen procured elsewhere, 
 threats and abuse were used to intimidate the new- 
 comers, and riotous demonstrations were made in the 
 vicinity of the mills by certain sympathizers with 
 the strikers. The manager at once closed the works, 
 announcing that they would remain closed until the 
 company's property and employes were safe from 
 mob violence and insult. A strong special police 
 force was organized, a few arrests were made, order 
 was at once restored and in a few days the machinery 
 was again set in motion. 
 
 These two short-lived disturbances, participated in 
 by comparatively few, and those for the most part 
 the least responsible, are all that blot the industrial 
 annals of the town. 
 
 Associations for benevolent, charitable and social 
 purposes, as well as mutual benefit societies, are 
 exceedingly numerous in Clinton. Besides many 
 more or less closely connected with the several 
 churches, the following distinct organizations exist: 
 
 Masons — occupying Masonic Hall, in National 
 Bank Block: Trinity Lodge, organized 1859, and 
 Clinton Royal Arch Chapter, organized 1869. 
 
 Odd-Fellows — having a hall in Greeley's Block : 
 Lancaster Lodge, No. 89, organized 1846; Clinton 
 Encampment, No. 29, organized 1883; Germania 
 Lodge, No. 42, Daughters of Rebecca, instituted 
 October 31, 1884. 
 
 Gkajid Army of the Republic — occupying 
 G. A. R. hall in National Bank Block: E. D. 
 Baker Post, No. 64, organized August 17, 1868; 
 
80 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Ladies' G. A. R. Relief Society, organized 1883 ; 
 Camp A. L. Fuller, Sons of Veterans, mustered in 
 November 7, 1887. 
 
 Temperance Societies. — Good Templars— Ever- 
 ett Lodge, No. 31, and Good Samaritan Lodge, No. 
 81 ; Clinton Temperance Associates; Women's Chris- 
 tian Temperance Union ; Young Women's Cliristian 
 Temperance Union ; St. John's Total Abstinence 
 and Mutual Aid Society. 
 
 Improved Order of Red Men. — Wattoquottoe 
 Tribe, No. 33; Juanita Council, No. 7, Daughters of 
 Pocahontas. 
 
 United Order of the Golden Cross. — Wachu- 
 sett Commandery, No. 66. 
 
 Knights of Honor. — Clinton Lodge, No. 193. 
 
 Ancient Order of United Workmen. — Clin- 
 ton Lodge, No. 29. 
 
 Royal Arcanum. — Wekepeke Council, No. 742. 
 
 United Order of the Pilgrim Fathers. — 
 Nashawog Colony, No. 75. 
 
 Royal Society of Good-Fellows. — Sholan 
 Assembly, No. 166. 
 
 German Order of Harugari. — Lichtenstein 
 Lodge, No. 129. . 
 
 Turnvep.ein Society, organized 1867. 
 
 Schiller Verein, organized 1868. 
 
 Sons of St. George. — Ro.se Lodge, No. 40. 
 
 St. Andrew's Society, organized 1879. 
 
 Ancient Order of Hibernians. — Division No. 
 8, organized 1872. 
 
 Vermont Association. 
 
 Massachusetts Catholic Order of Fores- 
 ters. — Clinton Court, No. 56. 
 
 Fireman's Relief Association, incorporated 
 1875. 
 
 Twenty Associates. 
 
 Twenty-five Associates. 
 
 Full Score Association. 
 
 Clinton Sportsmen's Club. 
 
 Prescott Club, incorpated April 20, 1886. 
 
 Clinton Board of Trade, organized February 
 15, 1884. 
 
 Clinton Rifles, Company K. Sixth Regiment 
 Massachusetts Volunteer Militia. 
 
 Clinton Bicycle Club. 
 
 The growth of Clinton has been very uniform. 
 Its population, by the official enumerations, has been 
 as follows: 1850,3113; 1855,3636; 1860,3859; 
 1865,4021; 1870,5429; 1875,6781; 1880, 8029; 1885, 
 8945 ; 1888, 10,037. 
 
 Numerous nationalities are here represented. The 
 Germans have a neat village by themselves, known 
 as Germantovvn, with a house of worship and a capa- 
 cious Turnverein Hall. The Irish are in the majority 
 in three or four localities — notably the "Acre," 
 "Duck Harbor" and "California." By the last 
 census, the native-born numbered 5547, and the 
 foreign-born, 339S, altliough three-fourths of the 
 population are registered as of foreign parentage. 
 
 Of those born aliens, 2097 came from Ireland; 465 
 from Germany ; 295 from Scotland ; 257 from Eng- 
 land ; 24S from various British provinces in America ; 
 9 from France ; 8 from Austria ; 4 from Italy, and 1 
 from China. 
 
 The valuation of the town has increased at more 
 rapid rate than the population: 1850,11,262,813; 
 1855, $1,607,991; 1860, $1,690,092; 1865, $1,860,763; 
 1870, $2,952,568; 1875, $4,340,919 ; 1880, $4,444,937 ; 
 1885, $5,143,726 ; 1888, $5,531,811. 
 
 The total indebtedness of the town in the same 
 years was: 1850, $13,600; 1865, $14,500; 1860, 
 $14,500; 1865, $34,190; 1870, $40,262; 1875, $132,- 
 000 ; 1880, 199,500 ; 1885, $337,000 ; 1888, $342,500. 
 
 Of the one hundred and twenty-five thousand dol- 
 lars in six per cent, bonds issued at the building of 
 the town hall in 1872, twenty-seven thousand five 
 hundred dollars remain unpaid, six thousand five 
 hundred dollars of the amount having been annually 
 called in. The school-house four per cent, loan, 
 which was fifty-four thousand dollars in 1886, has 
 been decreased six thousand dollars annually. Of 
 the four per cent, water bonds, two hundred and 
 fifty-three thousand dollars are outstanding, and nine 
 thousand dollars in amount have been bought for the 
 sinking fund. Most of the principal is due in 1901 
 and 1906. 
 
 The amount annually raised by tax.ation has grown 
 from $9059 in 1850, when the tax rate was seven 
 dollars to the thousand, to $104,598 in 1888, the rate 
 being eighteen in a thousand. 
 
 The votes of the town for Presidential candidates 
 have been ; 
 
 Ulysfles S. Graut, 524. 
 Horace Greeley, 298. 
 Rutlierfcirii B. Hayes, 676. 
 Samuel J. Tildeli, 482. 
 James A. Garfield, 082. 
 WilifleW Scott Hancock,613. 
 James B. Weaver, 1. 
 Neat Dow, 7. 
 Grover Cleveland, f>83. 
 James G. Blaino, 630. 
 Benjamin Butler, 42. 
 Jobu P. St. John, 16. 
 
 1852. 
 
 1856. 
 
 1860. 
 
 1864. 
 
 1872. 
 
 1876. 
 
 1880. 
 
 1884. 
 
 WiDfield Scott, 20O. 
 Franklin Pierce, 100. 
 John P. Hale, 82. 
 John C. Fremont, 353. 
 James Buchanan, 54. 
 Millard Fillmore, 3. 
 Abraham Lincoln, 346. 
 Stephen A. Douglas, 71. 
 John Bell, 11. 
 John C. Breckenridge, 7. 
 Abraham Lincoln, 334. 
 George B. McClellan, 84. 
 1808. Ulysses S. Grant, 443. 
 Horatio Seymour, 1117. 
 
 The following citizens have served the town as Rep- 
 resentatives in the Legislature: Horatio Nelson 
 Bigelow, 1851-52; Andrew Lowell Fuller, 1854; 
 James Ingalls, 1855; Horace Faulkner, 1856-58; 
 Jonas Elijah Howe, 1860, 1870, 1872, 1887 ; Rev. 
 JaredMann Heard, 1862; Franklin Forbes, 1864; 
 Rev. Charles Manning Bowers, 186.5-66 ; Charles 
 Whiting Worcester, 1868; Elisha Brimhall, 1871; 
 Lucius Field, 1878, 1882 ; Daniel Bowman Ingalls, 
 1880; Edward Godfrey Stevens, 1881; Alfred Augus- 
 tine Burditt, 1884; Jonathan Smith, 1886; Frank 
 Edward Holm m, 1888-89. Charles Godfrey Stevens, 
 Esq., was delegate in the State Convention of 1863. 
 
 The following have served as State Senators: 
 Charles Godfrey Stevens, 1862; Henry Clay Greeley, 
 
CLINTON. 
 
 81 
 
 1870 and 71 ; Elisha Brimhall, 1876 and '77; Daniel 
 Bowman Ingalls, 1881 and '82. 
 
 Henry Clay Greeley was a member of the Execu- 
 tive Council in 1885 and '86. 
 
 The clerks of the town have been : Albert .S. 
 Carleton, 1850-52; C. S. Patten, 1853 ; Artemas E. 
 Rigelow, 1854-59; Henry C. Greeley, 1860-6!l; Wel- 
 lington B. Parkhurst, 1870-72; Lucius Field, 1873- 
 77; Wellington E. Parkhunst, 1878-80; Martin J. 
 Costello, 1881-84; John F. Philbin, 1885-. 
 
 Treasurers in order of service : Sidney Harris, one 
 year; All'red Knight, four years; Sidney Harris, one 
 year; Alfred Knight, ten years; Elisha Hriinhull, 
 five years; Edwin N. Rice, four years; Wellington 
 E. Parkhurst, one year; Alfred A. Burditt, one year; 
 Henry O. Sawyer, one year; G. Walton Goss, ten 
 years. 
 
 The following have served as selectiuen : Ezra 
 Sawyer, Samuel Belyca, Edmund Harris, tiilman M. 
 Palmer, Calvin Stanley, Nelson Whitcomb, Alanson 
 Chace, Jonas K. Howe, Abel Rice, J. Alexander, 
 Horace Faulkner, David Wallace, Joshua Thissell, 
 B. R. Smith, Jamea F. Maynard, Gilbert Greene, 
 Charles W. Worcester. P. L. Morgan, Elisha Brim- 
 hall, Alfred A. Burditt, George S. Harris, Charles 
 Bowman, Otis B. Bates, Charles L. Swan, Dr. (icorge 
 W. Symonds, Charles H. Chace, Henry C. Greeley, 
 Albert H. Smith, T. A. McQuaid, William Haskell, 
 A. C. Dakin, George F. Howard, Christopher C. 
 Stone, Eben S. Fuller, C. C. Murdoch, Samuel W. 
 Tyler, Ale.xander Johnston, John Sheehan, Eli 
 Forbes, Sidney T. Howard, J. C. Parsons, C. C. Cook, 
 George W. Morse, Anton Wiesinan, Henry N. Otter- 
 son, P. J. Quinn, Herman Dietzman, Charles A. 
 Vickery, William H. Nugent. 
 
 The following served upon the School Committee: 
 Rev. William H. Corning, Rev. Charles M. Bowers, 
 Dr. (leorge M. Morse, Dr. George \V. Burdett, C. W. 
 Blanchard, Charles L.Swan, W. W. Parker, Augustus 
 J. Sawyer, Franklin Forbes, for thirteen years; John 
 T. Dame, Esq., for sixteen years ; Horatio N. Bigelow, 
 Alberts. Carleton, Rev. William D.Hitchcock, Rev. 
 George Bowler, James Ingalls, Dr. Preston Cham- 
 berlain, Rev. Leonard J. Livermore, Rev. T. Willard 
 Lewis, Artemas E. Bigelow, Charles (!. Stevens, Esq., 
 Josiah H. Vose, Henry C. Greeley, Daniel W. Kil- 
 burn, Eneas Morgan, Dr. George W. Symonds, 
 Joshua Thissell, Charles F. W. Parkhurst, William 
 Cushing, Rev. James Salloway, George W. Weeks, 
 Alfred A. Burditt, Wellington E. Parkhurst, for 
 twelve years; M. H. Williams, Daniel H. Bemis, 
 Harrison Leland, Henry N. Bigelow, Daniel B. In- 
 galls, Edward G. Stevens, Samuel McQuaid, John 
 W. Corcoran, Esq., Rev. Charles Noyes, Dr. Philip 
 T. O'Brien, Frank E. Holman. 
 
 The following have been jiracticing physicians in 
 Clinton : George W. Symonds, M.D., 1841, Dart- 
 mouth, M.M.S.S., died 1873; George W. Burdett, 
 M.D., 1846, Harvard, M.M.S.S. ; George M. Morse, 
 6 
 
 M.D., 1843, Harvard, M.M.S.S.; Charles D. Dowse, 
 
 ; A.W.Dillingham, ; Pierson T. Kendall, 
 
 M.D., 1816, Harvard, M.M.S.S., died 1865; Adoni- 
 ram J. Greeley, M.D., 1845, Harvard; Charles A. 
 Brooks, M.D., 1851), Hom(eoi)athic Medical College, 
 
 Philadelphia; Oscar T. Woolhizer, ; George A. 
 
 Jordan, M.D., 1872, Harvard, M.M.S.S.; L. W. Taft, 
 
 ; Philip T. O'Brien, M.'D., 1872, Albany; Perley 
 
 P. Comey M.D., 1878, Harvard, M.M.S.S. ; Walter 
 P. Bowers, M.D., 1879, Harvard, M.M.S.S. ; Charles 
 L. French, M.D., 1869. New York, College of Physi- 
 cians and Surgeons, M.M.S.S. ; C. R. Bradford, ; 
 
 Thomas F. Roche, M.D., 1882, Bellevue, M.M.S.S. ; 
 Thomas H. O'Connor, JI.D., 1883, Bellevue ; O. A. 
 
 Everett, ; Edward S. Everett, ; George C. 
 
 Ward, M.D., 1882, Hahnemann College, Chicago; 
 Albert C. Reed, M.D., 1887, Boston University. 
 
 The following attorneys have had ottices in Clin- 
 ton : Charles G. Stevens, A.B., Dartmouth, 1840 ; 
 John T. Dame, A.B., Dartmouth, 1840 ; Lsaac Bald- 
 win ; Daniel H. Bemis ; William B. Orcutt ; John 
 W. Corcoran, LL.B., Boston University, 1875; Jona- 
 than Smith, A.B., Dartmouth, 1871 ; John F. Brown ; 
 Charles (}. Delano; Herbert Parker; Walter R. 
 Dame, A.B., Harvard, 1883 ; John G. Crawford ; 
 Thomas F. Larkin. 
 
 The following, born upon Clinton soil or residents 
 of the town when graduated, have received degrees 
 at collegiate institutions : 
 
 George Ide ("hace, born in Lancaster, February 19, 
 1808, son of Charles and Ruth Chace; graduate at 
 Brown University, 1830; tutor of mathematics, 1831; 
 l)rofessor of chemistry, 1834; of physiology, geol- 
 ogy, etc., 1836 ; LL.D., 1853 ; president ad interim, 
 1867; professor of moral philosophy, 1868; died at 
 Providence, R. I., April 29, 1885. 
 
 George Harris, A. B., 1837, Brown ; ason of Emory; 
 died 1838, aged twenty-three years. 
 
 Frederic Warren Harris, A. B., 1845, Harvard; a 
 brother of the preceding ; died 1863. 
 
 George W. Burdett, M.D., 1846, Harvard, M.M.S.S. 
 
 Alfred Plant, A.B., 1847, Yale ; a son of Samuel ; 
 now a wealthy merchant of St. Louis, Mo. 
 
 Charles A. Bowers, A.B., 1864, Harvard; died 1865. 
 
 Charles H. Parkhurst, A.B., 1866, Amherst ; D.D., 
 1880 ; pastor of Madison Square Presbyterian Church, 
 New York City. 
 
 Eli Forbes, S.B., 1868, Massachusetts Institute of 
 Technology. 
 
 Charles S. Gowen, S.B., 1869, Massachusetts Insti- 
 tute of Technology. 
 
 Edward G. Stevens, 1870, West Point Military 
 Academy. 
 
 Arthur F. Bowers, A.B., 1871, Brown University. 
 
 Howard E. Parkhurst, A.B., 1873, Amherst. 
 
 Charles L. Swan, Jr., A.B., 1874, Y\ale. 
 
 John W. Corcoran, LL.B., 1875, Boston University. 
 
 Michael Kittridge, A.B., 1875, Holy Cross, Worces- 
 ter, clergyman. 
 
82 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER. COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Peter T. Moran, A.B., 1877, Holy Cross; M.D., 
 1883, Bellevue. 
 
 Clarence H. Bowers, D.D.S., 1878, Boston Dental 
 College. 
 
 Walter P. Bowers, M.D., 1879, Harvard, M.M.S.S. 
 
 Thomas J. Kelly, A.B., 1880, Holy Cross, Worces- 
 ter. 
 
 James F. Maher, A.B.,' 1880, Holy Cross, Worces- 
 ter, clergyman. 
 
 Elmer S. Hosmer, A.B., 1882, Brown University. 
 
 Thomas F. Roche, M.D., 1882, Bellevue, M.M.S.S. 
 
 Thomas H. O'Connor, M.D., 1883, Bellevue. 
 
 Walter R. Dame, A.B., 1883, Harvard; LL.B., 
 1886, Boston University. 
 
 James H. Grant, M.D., 1883, Bellevue. 
 
 John M. Kenney, A.B., 1884, Holy Cross, Worces- 
 ter, clergyman. 
 
 Michael J. Coyne, A.B., 1884, Ottowa, clergyman. 
 
 John H. Finnerty, M.D., 1884, Bellevue. 
 
 John J. Leonard, A.B., 1884, St. Michael's, To- 
 ronto, clergyman. 
 
 Thomas H. MacLaughlin, A.B., 1884, Boston Col- 
 lege. 
 
 Henry K. Swinscoe, A. B., 1885, Harvard. 
 
 Henry A. McGown, A.B., 1886, Amherst. 
 
 Charles L. Stevens, A.B., 1886, Amherst. 
 
 Martin Moran, M.D., 1887, Bellevue. 
 
 J. Frederic McNabb, S.B., 1887, Worcester Insii- 
 tute of Technology. 
 
 Patrick J. O'Malley, A.B., 1888, Ottawa. 
 
 Henry Forbes Bigelow, S.B., 1888, Massachusetts 
 Institute of Technology. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 CIJNTON— ( Continued. ) 
 MASONIC HISTORY.' 
 
 Trinity Lodce.— The charter of Trinity Lodge 
 was dated January 30, 1778. It was issued by the 
 Massachusetts Grand Lodge, of which Joseph Warren 
 was appointed the first (Jrand Master. Trinitv 
 Lodge's charter was signed by Joseph Webb, Grand 
 Miuster; Moses Deshon, Deputy Grand Master; Sam- 
 uel Barrett, Senior Grand Warden; Paul Revere, 
 Junior Grand Warden. It was addressed to Michael 
 Newhall, Edmund Heard, James Wilder, Jonas Pres- 
 cott and Richard P. Bridge. No previous dispensa- 
 tion had been granted these Masons to erect a lodge 
 and initiate candidates ; but, as was often the case at 
 that period, the charter was issued, in the first in- 
 stance, upon application of the brethren. All the 
 charter members were residents of within what are 
 now the limits of Lancaster, except James Wilder, 
 
 * By Jonathan Smith. 
 
 whose home was in the Squareshire District in Ster- 
 ling. Newhall came from Bolton, and Heard from 
 Worcester ; but neither had lived in Lancaster very 
 long, nor did either of them die there. Newhall went 
 to Leominster some time after 1800, and Heard re- 
 moved to Lower Canada about 1793. Their places of 
 death are unknown. Jonas Prescott was a descendant 
 of John Prescott, one of the first settlers of the town. 
 He always lived in Lancaster and died there. Of 
 Richard P. Bridge very little is known. If a resident 
 of Lancaster at all, he lived there but a short time 
 and his name does not appear in the records after 
 December, 1783. It is not known where any of the 
 charter members received their Masonic degrees, 
 though it was most probably in Boston, as at that 
 time (1778) there was no lodge existing nearer than 
 Boston and Newbury port. 
 
 Trinity Lodge was numbered six, but was the fifth 
 in order chartered by the Massachusetts Grand 
 Lodge. The Lodge of St. Andrew, of Boston, was 
 number one, and was chartered November 30, 1756, 
 though it had done some IMasonic work for two years 
 or more, receiving its charter from Sholto Charles 
 Douglass, Lord Arbedour, Grand Master of Masons 
 in Scotland. By the concerted action of St. Andrew's 
 and three traveling lodges, which were holden in the 
 British army, then stationed in Boston, a commission 
 was obtained from George, Earl of Dalhouse, Grand 
 Master of Masons in Scotland, apjiointing Joseph 
 Warren Grand Master of Masons in Boston and 
 within one hundred miles of the same, upon the 
 receipt of which the brethren of the above-named 
 lodges proceeded to organize the Massachusetts 
 Grand Lodge. The first charter issued by this Grand 
 body was to Tyrian Ijodge, of Gloucester, March 2, 
 1770. Then followed Massachusetts Lodge, of Bos- 
 ton, May 13, 1770; St. Peter's Lodge, Newburyport, 
 March 6, 1777; Berkshire Lodge, Stockbridge, March 
 8, 1777 ; and Trinity Lodge, January 30, 1778. There 
 were other Masonic Lodges in the >State, at the time 
 Trinity was organized, which received their cbarlcrs 
 from the St. John's Grand Lodge of Boston, a body 
 chartered by Anthony, Lord Viscount Montague, 
 Grand Master of Masons in England, in 1733. St. 
 John's Grand Lodge issued charters for lodges in Bos- 
 ton, Nova Scotia, Philadelphia, Rhode Island and 
 other States, and claimed jurisdiction over all the 
 Masons in America, while the Massachusetts Grand 
 Lodge had jurisdiction of Masons in Boston and 
 within a hundred miles thereof only. The agitation 
 which grew out of the existence of these rival bodies 
 found its way into Trinity Lodge. 
 
 While the two grand bodies did not unite until 
 1792, yet as early as April, 1786, it was voted in Trinity 
 Lodge, " to chuse a Comity of three to Consider of our 
 Situation as a Lodge and Connection there is be- 
 tween us and the Massachusetts Grand Lodge or any 
 other order of Antient Masons with their opinions of 
 the proceedings necessary for us to take to render our 
 
CLINTON. 
 
 83 
 
 Situation More Eligable." And in the following 
 June it was " voted to Acknowledge the Supremacy 
 of the present Grand Lodge of Massachusetts on Con- 
 dition our Quarterage take place from the present 
 Date." There is no further allusion to the subject on 
 the records of the lodge, and the union of the two 
 grand bodies six years later created no disturbance in 
 its relations to the Supreme Masonic authority of the 
 State. 
 
 In its first years Trinity Lodge exercised jurisdic- 
 tion over a wide territory. Applications were received 
 and acted u|ion from Merrimack, Medford, Barre, 
 Worcester, Oxford, Brookfield, Amherst, N. H., and 
 even from Lower Canada. But the founding of new 
 lodges, which proceeded rapidly after the close of the 
 Revolutionary War, and notably the organization ol 
 Morning Star Lodge in Worcester, in 1792, narrowed 
 its jurisdiction, and during its last years in Lancaster 
 itcovered a territory no larger than that now embraced 
 in the territory of the present Trinity Lodge of Clin- 
 ton. 
 
 Its records up to 1783 and subsequent to 1800 arc 
 missing, and but little of its history, except between 
 those dates, is known. Michael Newhall was the first 
 Master, and he was succeeded by Timothy Whiting, 
 Jr., and probably by Isaiah Thomas, of Worcester, 
 though this is not certain. Thomas was a member 
 up to about 1792, and among the very earliest of the 
 existing records is described as a Past Master. In 
 1783 the listof officers was as follows : Edmund Heard, 
 Master; James Wilder, Senior Warden; Ephraim 
 Carter, Junior Warden; Joseph Carter, Treasurer; 
 Moses Smith, Secretary; James Wyman, Senior Dea- 
 con; Samuel Adams, Junior Deacon; Jonas Fair- 
 bank, Senior Steward ; John Prescott, Junior Steward. 
 
 There was evidently considerable interest in the 
 order prior to 1800, notwithstanding the hard times 
 following the Revolution. The records show a good 
 attendance at the meetings, and that on every meet- 
 ing night, from 1783 to 1801, through summer and 
 winter, the lodge was regularly opened with a full 
 set of oflicers and a liberal representation of the 
 brethren. The number present varied from twelve to 
 fifty at each communication, and in the eighteen years 
 following 1783 one hundred and forty candidates re- 
 ceived their degrees. 
 
 The first hall occupied by the lodge in 1778 was 
 in a building once standing on the site of the house 
 now owned by Daniel Howard, in South Lancaster. 
 
 In 1778 Edmund Heard purchased this property of 
 Dr. Israel Atherton. The house has since been known 
 
 as the Ballard House. When it was torn down, man_\ 
 years ago, there could still be seen at one end of the 
 north front chamber the platform and other indica- 
 tions of the lodge's tenancy. Some trouble after- 
 wards grew up between the lodge and Edmund 
 Heard over the lodge's occupation. AVhen Heard 
 purchased the property he borrowed of the lodge 
 £224 43. 6rf. (£35 7s. 2d., reduced scale) with which 
 
 . I 
 
 to pay for it. Matters run along until 1788, when, 
 after repeated efforts on part of the brethren, a settle- 
 ment was had, at which Mr. Heard presented a long 
 bill for sundry repairs on the house and hall, and for 
 care of the lodge-room and property. The matter 
 was finally settled by Heard's giving the lodge his 
 note for £56 lis. 4rf., at the reduced scale, and a lease 
 of the " hall with the chamber adjoining, with the 
 usual privilege the Lodge have heretofore had in the 
 house from time to time, and at all times so long as 
 the Lodge shall continue as a Lodge." But the lodge 
 did not always remain there. In February, 1799, a 
 committee was appointed " to make provisions for a 
 suitable hall for Trinity Lodge," and in the following 
 February another committee was chosen to " contract 
 with Brother Merrick Rice to furnish a suitable and 
 convenient hall for the use of the Lodge." But when 
 it removed to the new quarters, and how long it there 
 remained, are unknown. One of the houses then 
 owned by Merrick Rice is the same now occupied by 
 Mrs. E. M. Greene, in the Centre Village, and it is 
 probable, but not certain, that it was to this house 
 the lodge removed in 1799. Afterward, the lodge 
 occupied a hall in the Lancaster Hotel, and as the 
 order grew unpopular, about 1826, the furniture was 
 removed to a private room in the house of some one 
 of the brethren, where the faithful continued to assem- 
 ble until the organization became finally extinct. 
 
 The meetings were on the first Monday of each 
 month, lasting from four o'clock p.m. until eight 
 o'clock, uj) to September, 1787, when the dates were 
 changed from four o'clock on the first Jlonday of 
 every month until six o'clock p.m. on the first Tuesday 
 of August, October, December, February, April and 
 June. But in February, 1790, the dates were again 
 changed to the first Tuesday of every month, from 
 six o'clock to ten p.m., and so continued, though in 
 1792 the hour was changed back to four o'clock. 
 
 The brethren faithfully observed the feast days of 
 the order. The festival of St. John the Eivangelist 
 (in December) was celebrated in their hall, only 
 members of the craft being admitted. But the feast 
 of St. John the Baptist (June 2-1 th) was public, and 
 often an imposing affair. All the brethren were sum- 
 moned, and the clergy in the neighboring towns, 
 whether Masons or not, were formally invited, and 
 one of them, by special request of the lodge, preached 
 a sermon. The brethren assembled at their hall at 
 nine a.m., transacted any business that came before 
 them, and at eleven a procession was formed which 
 marched to the church to attend a religious service. 
 Sometimes, as at the celebration in 1790, they were 
 escorted thither " by a well-disciplined company of 
 cavalry in complete uniforms,'' and were preceded by 
 " a band of music playing Entered Apprentice Song." 
 The services were interspersed with singing by selected 
 choirs, and were listened to by large audiences, 
 " whose attention and decency of behavior manifested 
 an unfeigned approbation of the animating truths 
 
84 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, JFASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 delivered." After the service tlie bretliren, witli tlie 
 clergy and invited guests, returned to the hall, where 
 a grand bantjuet was served. At the festival in 1790 
 the following toasts were drank : 
 
 1. " The Memory of St. John the Baptist." 
 
 2. " Our Illustrious Brother, George Washington, 
 President of the United States." 
 
 3. "The United Statesof America, with the Craft." 
 
 4. " The Venerable Clergy." 
 
 5. " All Mankind." 
 
 Among the clergymen who jjreached on these occa- 
 sions were Kev. Mr. Sumner, of Shrewsbury, in 1789; 
 Rev. Phineas Whitney, of Shirley, in 1790; Rev. 
 Peter Whitney, of Northboro', in 1792; and Rev. Wm. 
 Emerson (father of Ralph Waldo Emer.son), of Har- 
 vard, in 1793. After 1792 Trinity and Morning Star 
 Lodges often united in the observance of this feast, 
 meeting alternately in Worcester and Lancaster. On 
 these occasions the programme was very elaborate, 
 and was successfully carried out to the great pleasure 
 and, be it hoped, to the edification of all the brethren. 
 
 The meetings of the lodge were occasions of re- 
 freshment, as well as labor. A suggestive fact is the 
 amount of the steward's bill, which was presented at 
 the close of every meeting and promptly ordered 
 paid. In 1 793 a committee was chosen " to accommo- 
 date the Hall with a conveniency for mixing liquors," 
 and at another time it was voted, " That the Treasury 
 furnish some brother with money to purchis 2 Dozen 
 Tumblers ;" and as a preparation for one of their 
 June festivals, they ])rocured five dozen tumblers for 
 the banquet. But no intemperance or excess was 
 tolerated ; for at one of the meetings a committee was 
 
 chosen to remonstrate with Brother • for his 
 
 intemperate habits. The admonition did not cure the 
 appetite, however, for subsequently the lodge, by a 
 formal vote, debarred the erring brother from the 
 privilege of celebrating the approaching Feast of St. 
 John's with them. But, with all these festivities, the 
 records show that the lodge was fully alive to its 
 duties to the '' poor and distressed," and to their 
 widows and orphans. They buried their dead brethren, 
 relieved the widows, made liberal donations of money 
 to those in misfortune, and, in many other ways, 
 extended sympathy and help to those in need in a 
 manner which made it a society dear to its members 
 and sincerely re.spected by the community, 
 
 In those days Washington was regarded as the most 
 illustrious i)atron of the order in America. At all 
 Ma.sonic festivals his health was drank and his virtues 
 eulogized in speech and song. His death wfis the 
 occasion of a memorial service by Trinity Lodge. At 
 a special communication held .lanuary 11, 1800, the 
 lodge voted to meet on the 22d of the following Feb- 
 ruary, " for the purpose of testifying in a public man- 
 ner the sorrow we feel on acct. of the decease of the 
 greatest and best of men, Br. Geul. George Washing- 
 ton." The hall was draped in black and all the 
 brethren summoned to be present. Rev. Nathaniel 
 
 Thayer was invited to i)reach the .sermon. There was 
 a very large attendance, and citizens and soldiers joined 
 in the procession to the church. "The discourse," 
 .says the record, " delineated in a comprehensive 
 manner the virtues and excellencies of the deceased, 
 and enjoined it on all the Brethren to imitate, as 
 much as i>ossible, his great and unequalled virtues." 
 After the services a banquet was held at the hall 
 of the lodge. In the records a memorial page is 
 given to Washington, as follows : 
 
 BKOTHER GEOEGB WASHINGTON. 
 
 Bora Feliy, ll't, Ylri- of Light, 5732. 
 
 tlivested with the Coiniii.iiul of thu American 
 
 Armies, 5775. 
 
 Resigned liie CijmuiissioD to (Dungreefi, 
 
 5783. 
 
 Chosen PrcsiJout of the Ignited States, 
 
 5788. 
 
 Gave iu his Reeignatiuu, 
 
 570C. 
 
 Invested a second time with tlie Organization 
 
 and Coninniud of the American Forces, 
 
 57i)8. 
 
 Died December Thirteeutli, 
 
 5799. 
 
 The following were the Masters of the lodge from 
 17S3 to 1801 : Edmund Heard, 1783-89-90-91-92 and 
 part of 93— six years ; Timothy Whiting, Jr., 1784-85- 
 87-93-94-97 — six years; Ephraim Carter, 1786— one 
 year ; Abijah Wyman, 1788 — one year ; John May- 
 nard, 1795-90 -two years; Abraham Haskell, 1798— 
 one year; Moses Thomas, 1799 — one year; Amos 
 Johnson, 1800 — one year. Not all of these were resi- 
 dents of Lancaster. 
 
 Among those holding the office after 1800 were 
 Joel Pratt, Luke Bigelow, John G. Thurston and 
 Calvin Carter. The dates and length of their ser- 
 vices are unknown. 
 
 The year in which the lodge ceased to hold meet- 
 ings is in doubt. It was not represented in the 
 Grand Lodge after 1824, and it ceased to exist as an 
 active organization about 1832. The Morgan excite- 
 ment and the political agitation arising therefrom 
 were the principal causes of its decline. The society 
 became unpopular. The hall was given up and a 
 small room obtained, where, for a time, the faithful of 
 the craft continued to meet. At last even this was 
 abandoned, and the lodge property was taken in 
 charge by Johti G. Thurston, one of the members. 
 A part was stored in his attic, where it was found 
 twenty-five or more years later, and the altar, pedes- 
 tals and some other articles were i)ut into his barn, 
 and were never recovered. Neither the charter nor 
 any of the furniture or regalia were surrendered to 
 the Grand Lodge. When the lodge was reorganized 
 in Clinton in 1858, the old charter, a portion of the 
 records, the jewels, seal and many papers belonging 
 to the Old Trinity Lodge were recovered, and are now 
 deposited in the archives of the new organization, 
 where they still remain as interesting relics of the 
 elder Trinity Lodge. 
 
CLINTON. 
 
 85 
 
 New Trinity Lodoe. — On the evening of Sep- 
 tember 8, 1858, E. J)ana Banciolt, of Ayer, Geo. L. 
 Thurston, of Lancaster, and Henry Bowman, Alfred 
 A. Burdett, Daniel Marsh, Charles W. Odiorne and 
 A. JM. Eaglesham, of Clinton, met in Harris Hall, in 
 what is now known as C. W. Field's Block, to open a 
 lodge for instruction in Masonry. E. Dana Bancroft 
 was chosen Master, and gave instruction to the breth- 
 ern in the work and lectures. At this meeting Mr. 
 Bancroft was appointed a committee to ascertain if 
 Trinity Lodge, No. (>, formerly existing in Lancaster, 
 could be revived in Clinton ; or, if that could not be 
 done, to make such further inquiry .is he might deem 
 material for the establishment of a new lodge. At a 
 meeting one week later the coniniittee reported that 
 in the opinion of the secretary of the Grand Lodge, 
 Old Trinity Lodge could not be revived, and that the 
 proper course was to organize a new lodge. The 
 brethren at once voted to ask for a dispensation for a 
 new lodge in Clinton, to be called Trinity Lodge, 
 and the following were elected officers thereof: E. 
 Dana Bancroft, W. M. ; Henry Bowman, S. W. ; 
 Alfred A. Burdett, J. W.; Daniel Marsh, Treaa. ; 
 Geo. L. Thurston, S. D. ; A.M. Eaglesham, J. D. ; 
 C. W. Odiorne, 8. S. ; Henry E.ldy, .T. S. 
 
 The Grand Lodge granted the prayer of the peti- 
 tioners; the new dispensation was received and ac- 
 cepted September 29, 1858, and the list of officers 
 previously selected was confirmed. 
 
 On the 21st of September, 1859, the charter, dated 
 September 8, 185!>, was received, and the lodge form- 
 ally constituted and organized by the officers of the 
 Grand Lodge, John T. Heard being Grand Master. 
 The following were the charter members : Henry 
 Bowman, Alfred A. Burdett, Daniel Marsh, George L. 
 Thurston, Charles W. Odiorne, Luke Bigelow, Levi 
 Greene, Josiah H. Vose and Henry Eddy. Of these 
 all but Josiah H. Vose were Masons prior to the date 
 of the disi)ensation, though Henry Eddy had received 
 two of his degrees in Trinity Lodge under the dis- 
 pensation ; and George L. Thurston, Levi Greene 
 and Luke Bigelow were members of Old Trinity 
 Lodge, No. G. 
 
 Tiie first list of officers under the charter were 
 Henry Bowman, W. M. ; Alfred A. Burdett, S. W. ; 
 Geo. L. Thurston, J. W. ; Josiah H. Vose, Treas. ; 
 Henry Eddy, Sec. ; Samuel T. Bigelow, S. D. ; Daniel 
 Marsh, J. D.; John T. Buzzell, S. S. ; A. A. Pevey, 
 J. S. ; Gihnan M. Palmer, Marshal ; Levi Greene, 
 Tiler. 
 
 The establishment of the lodge w.as largely due to 
 the ze.al and eflorts of the three firet officers — Bow- 
 man, Burdett and Thurston. The following is a list 
 of the members of Old Trinity Lodge who joined the 
 new organization : George L. Thurston, Levi Greene, 
 Luke Bigelow, Joel Pratt, Artemas Barnes, Reuben 
 Blood and A. M. Eaglesham. The lodge, when firmly 
 established, grew rapidly, though the War of the Re- 
 bellion made heavy inroads upon its membership. 
 
 The records of that period illustrate the loyalty of 
 Masons to the supreme civil authority, and their ar- 
 dent patriotism in behalf of the Union cause. Some 
 of the brethren entering the array were presented with 
 substantial tokens of respect and aftection ; several of 
 the lodge's most beloved and, up to their enlistment, 
 active members fell upon the field of battle or died 
 of disease contracted in the military service, and 
 were brought home and tenderly laid at rest with the 
 impressive funeral ceremonies of the order. The fol- 
 lowing is a li.st of those who served in the army. It 
 includes only those who were Masons at the time of 
 or during their military service. 
 
 Geo. L. Thurston, adjt. ; captain 55tli 111. Vols. ; died of disease con- 
 tracted in service. 
 
 Josiub II. Vose, lieut. 53d Mass. Vols.; mortjilly wounded July ; died 
 July, 18(1.3. 
 
 Henry Bowman, rapt, l.'itli I*I.ass. ; col. :jGlli Slass. Vols. 
 
 Franklin Howard, Co. C, 1st Mass. Cav. 
 
 Frank T. Holder, sergt. Co. B, 3d Mass. Cav. 
 
 William L. Cobl>, lieut 3^th BLass. "N'ols. ; died of wounds. 
 
 Lucius Field, lieut. 3Mh Mass. Vols. 
 
 .Monzo S. riavidson, cai>t. :i('ith Mass. Vols. 
 
 William Orr, Jr., sergt. Co. I, ."iSd Mass. Vols. 
 
 Kdwin Sawtelle, C'o. I, 63d Mass. Vols. 
 
 Andrew L. Fuller, lieut. lr>th Mass. Vols. ; died of disease contracted in 
 service. 
 
 William G. Waters, lieut. l.'ith Mas.s. Vols. 
 
 Clias. B. Culter, lieut. 3tth Mass. Vols. 
 
 W. II. Bit;elow, asst. surgeon 32d Mass. Vols. 
 
 The lodge first leased a hall in C. W. Fields' 
 building, then called " Harris Hall," which it con- 
 tinued to occupy until April 6, 18G9, when it re- 
 moved to a new hall in Tyler's Block, which was 
 formally detlicated January 28, 1870. On the com- 
 pletion of the New Bank Block, in 1882, it again re- 
 moved to the new hall in that building, which had 
 been finished and elegantly fitted up by the brethren 
 at an expense of about twelve hundred dollars, and 
 where it now remains. The new hall was solemnly 
 dedicated to INIasonry October 20, 1882, by the of- 
 ficers of the Grand Lodge, Samuel C. Lawrence, 
 Grand Master, with impressive ceremonies, at the 
 close of which a grand banquet was served in the 
 Clinton House Hall. The following brethren have 
 served as Masters of the lodge : E. Dana Bancroft, 
 1858-5!), under dispensation; Henry Bowman, 
 1859-00, one year; Alfred A. Burdett, ISGO-Gl, 
 18G1-G2, 18G3-64, 1873-74, four years; Josiah H. 
 Vose,' 1862-G3, one year; Daniel Marsh, 186G-67, 
 one year; Levi Greene, 1864-65, 1865-66, two years; 
 George W. Burdett, 1867-68, one year; Henry N. 
 Bigelow, 1868-69, one year; Charles W. Ware, 1869- 
 70, one year; Charles F. Greene,^ 1870-71, one 
 year; Daniel B. Ingalls,' 1871, 1871-72, one and a 
 half years; Sylvester S. Welsh, 1872-73, one year; 
 Henry A. Putnam, 1874-75, one year; Henry O. 
 Sawyer, 1875-76, 1876-77, two years; G. Walton 
 
 I Entered tlie military service soon after bis iustallatioD, and fell in 
 battle before the close of bis Masonic year. 
 ■- Died in office. 
 ^ Elected to fill vacancy. 
 
86 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Goss, 1877-78, 1878-79, two years; Henry McGown, 
 1879-80, 1880-81, two years ; George Sutherland, 
 Jr., 1881-82, one year ; Edward G. Stevens. 1882-83, 
 one year; James B. Finnie, 1883-84, one year; 
 Samuel Booth, 1884-85, 1885-86, two years; Charles 
 A. Bartlett, 1886-87, one year; Jonathan Smith, 
 1887-88, one year. 
 
 In 1885 Col. Gilman M. Palmer left a legacy of 
 two thousand dollars to the lodge, the income thereof 
 to be devoted to the relief of the widows and or- 
 phans of its deceased members. The lodge has had 
 a steady growth, and now numbers one hundred and 
 forty members. It has upon its rolls many of the 
 most substantial and honorable citizens of the towns 
 within its jurisdiction, whose zeal and fraternal love 
 for its honor and welfare deservedly place it first, a^ 
 it is by many years the oldest, among all the societies 
 of the community. 
 
 Clinton Royal Arch Chapter.— In April or 
 May, probably in April, 1869, the following Royal 
 Arch Masons met in Masonic Hall, in Tyler's Block, 
 to organize a Rf)yal Arch Chapter in Clinton : Henry 
 N. Bigelow, Alfred A. Burdett, Levi Greene, Henry 
 A. Putnam, Charles W. Field, Charles W. Field, Jr., 
 George M. Lourie, Albert Shattuck, John Bennett, 
 Marcus E. Amsden and C. L. S. Hammond. All but 
 John Bennett were then residents of Clinton — Mr. 
 Bennett lived in Lancaster — and all belonged to chap- 
 ters in Worcester, Marlborough and Fitchburg. 
 
 The meeting organized by the election of Henry 
 N. Bigelow chairman, and C. L. S. Hammond secre- 
 tary. It was voted to petition the Grand Chapter for 
 authority to form a chapter in Clinton, and the name 
 of " Clinton Royal Arch Chapter " was selected for the 
 new organization. Choice was made of the following 
 officers : M. E. H. P., Alfred A. Burdett ; E. King, 
 Henry N. Bigelow ; E. Scribe, C. L. S. Hammond. 
 These officers were also chosen a committee to obtain 
 the recommendation of the chapters in Worcester 
 and Marlborough, and also to draw up and obtain 
 signatures to a petition to the Grand Chapter the fol- 
 lowing June for a dispensation to work. 
 
 In September of that year the Grand Chapter 
 granted leave to the new body to work. The dispen- 
 sation was dated September 7th, and was addressed to 
 the petitioners, which included, besides those at the 
 first meeting, Henry E. Starbird, J. E. Hitchcock, 
 C. W. Odiorne, Reuben Blood, E. W. Bigelow, 
 Quincy A. Whitney, H.Stevens and Benjamin Whit- 
 temore. The three officers chosen at the first meet- 
 ing were appointed High Priest, King and Scribe 
 respectively, and the dispensation was signed by 
 Henry Chickering, Grand High Priest, and Thomas 
 Waterman, Grand Secretary. On the evening of 
 September 8th, of the same year, the chapter held its 
 first meeting under the dispensation, and the 
 necessary steps were taken to procure an instructor 
 in the work, a hall for meetings and the proper 
 regalia and jewels for the officers. For the first year 
 
 the chapter met nearly every week, and the Royal 
 Arch Degree was conferred on nineteen candidates. 
 
 September 15, 1870, having worked a year under a 
 dispensation, Clinton Royal Arch Chapter was for- 
 mally constituted and consecrated by the officers of 
 the Grand Chapter. The list of charter members in- 
 cludes those petitioning for a dispensation the pre- 
 vious year, and also the names of Elisha Brimhall, 
 George H. Evans, Robert J. Finnie, Charles F. 
 Greene, Alonzo S. Davidson, Lucius Field, Henry O. 
 Sawyer, Wellington E. Parkhurst, Albert T. Bigelow, 
 A. S. Jaquith and Charles M. Dinsmore, twenty-five 
 in all. The charter dated from September 7, 1870. 
 
 The chapter leased rooms of Trinity Lodge, in 
 Tyler's Block, which it occupied until September 4, 
 1882, when it removed into the new and more com- 
 modious rooms fitted up by Trinity Lodge in the new 
 Bank Block, where it still remains. Since 1870 the 
 chapter has had a steady and prosperous growth and 
 now numbers sixty-one members. The following are 
 the names of those who have filled the office of High 
 Priest, in the order of their service: Alfred A. Bur- 
 dett, three years, one under dispensation and two 
 under charter ; Henry N. Bigelow, two years ; Charles 
 W. Field, Jr., one year ; Lucius Field, two years ; 
 Alonzo S. Davidson, two years; C. L. S. Hammond, 
 one year ; G. Walton Goss, one year ; C. C. Stone, 
 two years ; George B. Dinsmore, two years ; Jonathan 
 Smith, two years; George Sutherland, Jr., in office. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 SIDNEY HARRIS. 
 
 A fitting tribute to the life-work of an honored 
 citizen cannot be given in the brief sketch herewith 
 presented, but the people of Clinton can see that in 
 Sidney Harris they had a citizen whose influence for 
 good was widely spread in all directions and will con- 
 tinue to be felt for generations to come. 
 
 Mr. Harris was born in Lancaster (in that part now 
 called Clinton) in 1804, the youngest son of Daniel 
 and Abigail (Reed) Harris, and always resided in the 
 town of his birth. 
 
 His father was a Revolutionary pensioner, a strong 
 temperance man, as was likewise the son, who bore 
 the mantle of his fiither with the fearless, independ- 
 ent spirit which is required to successfully carry on 
 a good cause in the face of opposition. 
 
 In early manhood he established the business of 
 manufacturing horn-combs, many of the methods 
 being original with himself, and from a small begin- 
 ning built up a business which became national in 
 its reputation and yielded an ample fortune. The 
 territory bounded by his works became known as 
 " Harrisville," in which resided many happy families, 
 contented with their lot and surrounded by that neat- 
 
3 
 
 i 
 
 ^^^^-2^ 
 
I 
 
'(^^--f-t^e^cyc^e^ 
 
I f^iue^j^c^^ ^ ^ • -'' 
 
CLINTON. 
 
 87 
 
 ness and thrill which characterize a successful New 
 England village. 
 
 He was noted for his kindness to his employes 
 and to those who were associated with him in busi- 
 ness, and showed his appreciation of their faithful- 
 ness and honesty by many kind and generous deeds, 
 so that the few surviving him still hold his name in 
 grateful remembrance. 
 
 Mr. Harris was married in Lancaster by Rev. 
 Nathaniel Thayer, D.D., in the year 1829, to Sally 
 Kilburn, daughter of Daniel and Rachel (Mcintosh) 
 Kilburn,of Lunenburg, Mass. 
 
 Their children were: Edwin, born December 7, 
 1829 ; died December 27, 1829. Almira Jane, born 
 June 6, 1831 ; died September 22, 1847. Christopher 
 Thayer, born March 22, 1838; died March 20, 1854. 
 Edwin Algernon, born May 31, 1837; died May 28, 
 1875. George Sidney, born March 13, 1839; died 
 April 28, 1867. 
 
 He served on the Board of Selectmen in 1838 and 
 also as treasurer and collector in 1850 and 1855. 
 
 In religion he was a Unitarian, a pillar in the 
 church of his faith. As a citizen he espoused every 
 good cause and became identified with every move- 
 ment which pertained to the welfare of the town. 
 
 The last few years of his life were enfeebled by dis- 
 ease, and after relinquishing his business to his sons, 
 he slowly declined until November 21, 1801, when 
 death released him from his suft'erings. His widow 
 survived him until March 9, 1872. 
 
 EDWIX A. HARRIS. 
 
 One of Clinton's young and active business men 
 forms the subject of this sketch, and though passed 
 from this life, his influence is still felt among the 
 living, and his memory cherished in grateful remem- 
 brance. 
 
 Mr. Harris was born May 31, 1837, at the Harris 
 homestead, in Clinton, Mass., the fourth child of 
 Sidney and Sally (Kilburn) Harris. His boyhood 
 was passed at school and in his father's workshops, 
 so that when he came to years of manhood he was 
 thoroughly prepared to assume the responsibility of 
 the business which was relinquished by his father 
 on account of failing health. He was connected with 
 one of our most successful business establishments. 
 The father, Sidney, long and well known in this com- 
 munity, commenced the comb business in 1823, on 
 the site of the present works, and upon his death was 
 succeeded by his sons, Edwin A. and George S. ; the 
 subsequent death of the younger brother threw the 
 entire responsibility upon the elder, the business 
 being conducted throughout these changes under the 
 firm-name of S. Harris & Sons. From the start Mr. 
 Harris was remarkably successful, and under his vig- 
 orous eflbrts the works rapidly increased in size and 
 capacity, until they became the largest comb works 
 in the United Slates. He was one of the most active 
 
 and earnest men in business life, giving to his business 
 all his powers of mind and body ; a practical believer 
 in industry and all that it can do; though a young 
 man, he was able to show what earnestness and per- 
 severance may accomplish. 
 
 His excellent business traits commanded the admi- 
 ration of his fellow-citizens, and his death in the 
 prime of life, while fulfilling a mission of great use- 
 fulness, was mourned by all, particularly by the resi- 
 dents of the village which bore his name. 
 
 He married, December 28, 1858, Adeline K. Damon, 
 daughter of William Damon, of Fitchburg, Mass. 
 
 Children's names as follows : Herbert Christopher, 
 born April 28, 1862, deceased June 24, 1863; Plora 
 Kate, born July 20, 1865, deceased January 6, 1883. 
 
 In religion Mr. Harris was a Unitarian, and gave 
 generously to the support of the church. Like his- 
 father, he was active in reform, and manfully defended 
 the right on all occasions. Ever interested in the 
 public welfare, he was one of the first projectors and 
 supporters of the Agricultural Branch Railroad, and 
 the town is greatly indebted to him for the success- 
 ful culmination of this important enterprise, which 
 marked a new era in the growth of the town. Besides 
 being one of the railroad directors, he was also one of 
 the directors of the First National Bank of Clinton, 
 and greatly interested himself in the growth of this 
 institution. 
 
 But ere he had reached the age of thirty-eight, 
 when his future seemed full of promise and the re- 
 maining years of his life prospectively free from the 
 harassing cares of business, was he called to a higher 
 stage of existence, his death occurring May 28, 1875. 
 The funeral procession to the beautiful Harris lot in 
 Woodlawn Cemetery was one of the largest ever 
 seen in town, and well attested to the worth of the 
 citizen whose departure was mourned by the whole 
 community. 
 
 SAMUEL \V. TYLER. 
 
 Samuel Willard Tyler, the subject of this sketch, 
 settled in Clinton in 1864, coming from Attleboro', 
 his native town, Bristol County. His emigrant an- 
 cestor, Job Tyler, who came from England about 
 1653, was one of the pioneer settlers in the domain 
 of the good Massasoit, the steadfast friend of the 
 English. 
 
 When but twelve years of age his father died, leaving 
 him and an only sister to the care of a widowed 
 mother. He remained on the farm, spending the 
 time in rural pursuits, until he was twenty-one. The 
 only pride he was taught to desire was that which 
 arose from the exercise of an honest industry, and 
 he found full scope for its indulgence during his 
 early years. Though not of age, he was permitted to 
 act for himself, and to dispose of the results of his 
 labors. 
 
 Forty years ago a lad's school advantages in the 
 
88 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 country were circumscribed, and the boy Samuel's 
 were supplemented by only a brief academic course. 
 
 Possessing a talent for music, all the hours of 
 recreation were spent at the key -board of the home 
 instrument; while only a boy, the Sabbath found 
 him presiding at the organ of the country church. 
 Later, in his adopted town, he was identified with 
 various church choirs, and officiated as organist in 
 more than one of the leading churches. 
 
 His life was not an eventful one, and its history is 
 briefly told. 
 
 Large knowledge of the outside world was gained 
 in the War of the Rebellion, where he served as mu- 
 sician until orders were issued from the War Depart- 
 ment discharging all regimental bands from the 
 United States service. 
 
 His honored father and grandfather served in pre- 
 ceding struggles, the latter being an officer in the 
 Revolutionary War. In the military and civil de- 
 partments of the annals of his native town, from the 
 date of incorporation, in 1094, the names of grand- 
 father and great-grandfather appear conspicuously, 
 and are suggestive. 
 
 While in the South Mr. Tyler formed the acquaint- 
 ance of a comrade and brotlier-musician, and in 1S(>4 
 the two formed a co-))artnership in business under 
 the firm-name of Tyler & White. Four years subse- 
 quently he disposed of his interest in the business, 
 and himself engaged in the musical instrument 
 trade. 
 
 If we were to select any traits of character for 
 which Mr. Tyler was especially remarkable, they 
 would be his almost stern justice and fidelity to what 
 he believed to be right. His honesty made him not 
 less exacting with himself than with others. His 
 accounts were always correct, liis dealings always 
 just. 
 
 In these days, when chicanery, malfeasance in of- 
 fice, embezzlements, breaches of trust and fraud are 
 so prevalent, it is pleasant to write of one who kept 
 himself free from any kind of stain on his integrity. 
 
 He wrought continuously, ungrudgingly and un- 
 selfishly for the public weal ; and no fruits of his 
 labors were so grateful to himself as those garnered 
 in connection with public service. 
 
 He enjoyed always the esteem of the best elements 
 of the community. The public is ever willing to 
 place res|)onsil)ility on competent, trusted and willing 
 shoulders. During bis residence in his adopted town 
 he was one of (Hinton's most active and honored cit- 
 izens in every line of business enterprise, activity and 
 public service. Though not a member of the Board 
 of Trade, on its records may be found the following: 
 "The Clinton Board of Trade hereby expresses its 
 hearty appreci.ation of Mr. Tyler's unfi^ltering inter- 
 est in our town, and his constant devotion to its wel- 
 fare, as shown in liberal and successful eflbrts to en- 
 large and improve the business facilities of Clin- 
 ton." 
 
 He was elected to various positions, which he filled 
 to the universal acceptance of his constituents and 
 the public generally. 
 
 He was selectman for a period of four years, asses- 
 sor ten years, and water commissioner two years, 
 serving always with an enthusiastic api>reciation of 
 responsibility and opportunity. 
 
 While possessing a quick discernment, he was cau- 
 tious in adopting new measures; weighed all matters 
 in the balance of a clear judgment, and, after form- 
 ing an opinion, was very decided, rarely finding any 
 rea.son to alter it. 
 
 So far we have sjioken of Mr. Tyler only in his 
 business and (lublic life; but, as is ever the case, 
 that lile is the most real and important of which the 
 public sees but little and can know but little, — the 
 life each man lives in his family. In 1804 Mr. Tyler 
 married Persis Eldora Beniis, of Paxton, M.ass., with 
 whom he passed more than twenty years of wedded 
 life. 
 
 Their children were Samuel Willard and Harriet 
 Frances. 
 
 IMr. Tyler died February 19,1886, aged forty-seveu. 
 
 " He livetli long who livelli well." 
 
 JOSEPH B. PARKER. 
 
 .Toseph B. Parker, son of Quincy Parker and Pa- 
 tience Brooks, was born in Princeton, Mass., in 1805. 
 His ancestors were of Puritan origin, and for several 
 generations lived in Jlassachusetts. Aside from his 
 home training, bis early education was limited to the 
 common district school of his town. At the age of 
 fifteen he was apprenticed to Mr. Joel Howe, a black- 
 smith of Princeton, with whom he remained six 
 years. Completing his apprenticeship, he entered 
 the machine-shop of Samuel Flagg, of Oakdale, a 
 village in West Boylston. In this position he devel- 
 oped at once an uncommon tact for his new employ- 
 ment; for within a year he w.as appointed foreman 
 of the shop, on account of which some of the senior 
 workmen, refusing to work under so young a man, 
 left the shop ; but his apparent ability as a mechanic 
 held for him his position, and his manly demeanor 
 won back his disall'ected shop-mates and made them 
 ever after his true and faithful friends. 
 
 This position he held for eight years, until the 
 failure in business of his employer — 1834. A year 
 prior to this he had built himself a house and mar- 
 ried, in October, IS.'W, Miss Mary A. IMorgan. In 
 •July, ]S;?5, he was chosen deacon of the Orthodox 
 Congregational Church in West Boylston. His en- 
 gagement with Mr. Flagg terminating, he commenced 
 the machine business on his own .account, occupying 
 the shop formerly occupied by Mr. Flagg. 
 
 Meanwhile, K. B. Bigelow, then of West Boylston, 
 and since so distinguished as an inventor, had con- 
 ceived the idea of building a loom for weaving coun- 
 terpanes. In his struggle to bring forth his inven- 
 
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 c^>t^ 
 
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 cx:^e^>?L y^k-e^^ 
 
CLINTON. 
 
 S9 
 
 tioii, he sought the aid of Deacon Parker. The 
 coming together of these two men resulted in the 
 formation of a company to complete the undertaking 
 and put the loom in operation. The company con- 
 sisted of E. B. Bigelow, Deacon Parker and Eli Hol- 
 brook, all young men, and all about the same age. 
 
 This loom, however, was not a success. The com- 
 pany wanting means to carry on the work further, 
 the enterprise was, for a time, abandoned, though the 
 company fully believed in the final success of the 
 work. From this, the inventive genius of E. B. 
 Bigelow was turned to his coach-lace loom, which at 
 once came to better results. 
 
 This loom was built by Deacon Parker and put in 
 operation in Shirley Village, and later was removed 
 to Clinton. In 1S40, Deacon Parker removed his 
 business t o Providence, R. I. The success of the 
 Messrs. Bigelows being assured, they, with others, 
 formed a company, jiurchased the water-power in 
 Clinton, built a machine-shop and made extensive 
 preparations for operating their new inventions. 
 After the trial of other machinists to build their ma- 
 chinery, the Bigelows again sought the aid of Deacon 
 Parker. He was called from Providence to Clinton 
 and put in charge of the new machine-shop built by 
 the Clinton Company. 
 
 This new position brought more fully his mechan- 
 ical ability to the test. Following the coach-lace 
 loom came the reconstruction of the counterpane 
 looms then running, but had not done satisfactory 
 work. These were all rebuilt, resulting in the mann 
 facture of a much improved fabric. Following these 
 were the gingham and the Brussels carpet looms, 
 each of which was the first power loom of its kind 
 ever in operation. All these were made under Deacon 
 Parker's supervision. All were new ; there being no 
 models to work from or workmen experienced in thai 
 line of machine building. Everything was wrought 
 out step by step, without the suggestion or aid ol' 
 others. In the coach-lace loom was found the germ 
 of the Brussels carpet loom, which was brought to its 
 present state of perfection only by the protracted 
 study of years. To invent or make such a master 
 piece of machinery is honor enough fitr any man, and 
 justly entitles him to lasting fame. It may seem in- 
 vidious to institute comparisons between men of emi- 
 nent qualities in any profession. No one is greatest 
 in everything. Each has his weak as well as his 
 strong characteristics. The weak points of one man 
 are exactly those in which another is strongest. This 
 was especially true in case of E. B. P.igelow and Dea- 
 con Parker. One was the counterpart of the other. 
 The two ought and did work together. Neither could 
 have accomplished alone what they achieved unitedly. 
 E. B. Bigelow was an inventor of the highest order, 
 but was not a practical mechanic. Construction was 
 not his fi>rte. But where he was weakest Deacon Par- 
 ker was strongest. The idea of a machine being 
 given him, he could make it, which oftener than 
 
 otherwise is the most difficult part to perform. In 
 1851, Deacon Parker was sent by the Messrs. Bigelows 
 to England, to .superintend the setting up of Brussels 
 carpet looms. He remained there some six or eight 
 months, when he returned to Clinton. Soon after his 
 return ho built a shop and commenced the machine 
 business again on his own account. His business at 
 once increased, his machine-shop was twice enlarged 
 and under his management became an important 
 business interest of Clinton. 
 
 His strong points as a man of business were his 
 strength and clearness of mind. These were seen in 
 everything. United with his intense application this 
 ((uality was invaluable to him as a machinist. 
 
 He was a man of superior judgment. This also 
 appeared in all matters of every-day life. He was 
 every man's counselor, though he never wore a title. 
 In his business few men were his equal as a judge of 
 machinery. Young men esteemed it a privilege to be 
 taught the business of a machinist by him. 
 
 His ideal of a machine was perfection. Great care 
 was taken to make every machine perfect. Nothing 
 was allowed to leave his shop that was not so. This 
 had much to do with his success in after-life. 
 
 His attention to all the details of his business was 
 unremitting. He trusted nothing to others. And as 
 it was continuously on the increase, it was almost a 
 matter of necessity that he be more and more indus- 
 triously occupied with its cares and management. In 
 the summer of isr>9 he and his family spent a day at 
 the seashore in York, Maine, whit h up to that time 
 was the only holiday of the kind he had enjoyed. 
 
 Few men are identified with the almost model town 
 of Clinton more than Dea. Parker. In the variety 
 and extent of its manufactures, in its rapid growth 
 and continued prosperity, he took a constant interest, 
 and bore a conspicuous part. And could the town be 
 photographed in its moral, as well as in its material 
 aspects, it would appear that he was even more an 
 important factor in it. A man of clear head, sound 
 judgment, and a Christian character that always com- 
 manded respect and confidence, he, with others, did 
 most valuable pioneer service in laying the foundations 
 of the moral and religions in.stitutions of the town. 
 He exerted a .strong infiuence over young men, and 
 by his counsel and example was most useful in aiding 
 them to make a good start in life. 
 
 Though sufficiently conservative, he was a man of 
 reform ; always headed in the right direction, always 
 standing for the best things, no man ever doubting 
 how he would talk, and what he wonld do, when the 
 common good was at stake. 
 
 LEVI GREENE. 
 
 Prominent among the early pioneers of this town 
 was the subject of this sketch, who was born in Ber- 
 lin, Mass., October 12, 1801, the son of Aaron and 
 Lydia (Goddard) Greene. 
 
90 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 After serving his apprenticeship at carpentering, 
 under the famous Jacob Stone, of Lancaster, Mass., 
 he married Achsah, Jacob's daughter, November 5, 
 1829, settled in Lancaster and became a builder and 
 lumber dealer on his own account, in which occupa- 
 tion he was very successful, which, with judicious in- 
 vestments in the then small village of Clinton, laid 
 for him the foundations of his ample fortune. 
 
 The death of his first wife occurred October 21, 
 1843, and September 19, 1844, he married Lucy Har- 
 ris, of Lunenburg, Mass., daughter of William and 
 Betsy (Spaulding), who survived him. 
 
 The children of Mr. Greene were, — -Charles F., born 
 August 21, 18.30, died March 29, 1871; Ellen M.,born 
 May 7, 1832, died August 2, 1863; Eliza A., born July 
 30, 1833, died January 9, 185G; Emery W., born Oc- 
 tober 7, 1839, died June 18, 1857; Lucy H., born July 
 18, 1846, died August 24, 1846; Charlotte E., born 
 July 23, 1848, died September 18, 1848. 
 
 In 1848 he served the town of Lancaster as select- 
 man, also in 1846-47 as assessor, iu which latter ca- 
 pacity he also served the town of Clinton in 1855-56, 
 '58, '60-62, '65, most of the time as chairman of the 
 board. 
 
 In Masonic circles Mr. Greene took an active in- 
 terest, and Trinity Lodge and Clinton Royal Arch 
 Chapter elected him to their highest offices. 
 
 The Congregational Church also found in him a 
 faithful supporter, he being one of the original found- 
 ers. Always discharging his duties with perfect hon- 
 esty, he held the respect of his fellow-citizens, and his 
 opinion was sought by all classes, with full confidence 
 in his judgment. In his family and personal friend- 
 ships he was kind and affectionate, and few men were 
 more conscientious than he and none felt more deeply 
 the responsibility of citizenship and the duties de- 
 volving upon him. 
 
 HON. ELISHA BRIMHALL. 
 
 Mr. Brimhall was born in Oakham, Mass., March 
 25, 1825, and died in Clinton, after a brief illness 
 from pneumonia, April 9, 1887. Age, sixty-two years 
 and fifteen days. 
 
 He was the only child of Jonas and Caroline (Nye), 
 of Oakham, whose names for many generations were 
 prominent in the history of that town. His first work 
 was on his father's farm, but at the age of twenty he 
 commenced to learn the trade of a carpenter, which, 
 with fortunate circumstances, enabled him to lay the 
 foundation of his successful fortune. Coming to Clin- 
 ton at its first formation, he quickly became a 
 successful busine.ss man, and among those early 
 pioneers he was one of the most active and energetic, 
 adding much to the growth and progre.ss of the then 
 small village. 
 
 In 1857 he erected the large block on High Street, 
 known as Brimhall's Block, while the Courant Block, 
 Oxford House, and the large tenement block, bearing 
 his name, followed in quick succession to become, not 
 
 only ornaments to the principal streets of the town, 
 but enduring monuments to his zeal and business 
 enterprise. Before his decease he completed an 
 elegant mansion on Prescott Street, where ho was per- 
 mitted to reside but a brief period, ere he was called 
 away. During the Rebellion he was on the Board of 
 Selectmen, and to him the town was largely indebted 
 for his valuable services during those trying times. 
 As an example of his energetic and persistent nature, 
 his special trip to Washington may be cited, where, 
 through a personal interview with President Lincoln, 
 he secured a credit to the town of seventy men, 
 thereby saving a draft. From 1866 to 1871 he was 
 the treasurer of the town, having been unanimously 
 elected twice in the five years. 
 
 In 1873 he was again elected selectman, and in 1874 
 was chosen chairman of the Board of Assessors, but 
 declined to serve. 
 
 In politics Mr. Brimhall was a life-long Republi- 
 can, and also a firm believer in temperance princi- 
 ples, carrying out his belief in every-day life. 
 
 In 1871 he was elected to the Legislature from the 
 District then comprising Clinton, Northboro', Berlin, 
 by 170 majority over Jonas E. Howe. In 1870 he was 
 elected to the State Senate by 1048 majority, and re- 
 elected the following year by 1920 majority. 
 
 In financial matters Mr. Brimhall's .services were 
 almost constantly employed. He was a director of 
 the Lanca-ster National Bank, which failed through 
 the defalcation of the president. With his sharp eye, 
 Mr. Brimhall detected methods of business distaste- 
 ful to a man of his habits, and rather than be identi- 
 fied with anything which had the semblance of dis- 
 honesty he withdrew from the institution entirely. 
 At the time of the failure of the Lancaster Savings 
 Bank his services were secured asoneof the receivers, 
 which position he held at the time of his death. The 
 Congregational parish, of which he was an efficieut 
 member, is largely indebted to him for generous 
 financial aid and hearty co-operation in all good 
 works. 
 
 To enjoy an honorable position in the business 
 world was Mr. Brimhall's great ambition, and that 
 he attained it his fellow-citizens bear cordial testi- 
 mony by holding his memory in grateful esteem. He 
 acquired the high regard of hjs fellow-citizens by his 
 exemplary methods of life, in his business or social 
 relations, and he won the esteem of all by undeviat- 
 ing rectitude. He belonged to that class of men 
 whose motives are always honest, and who, in the pur- 
 suit of wealth, never sacrifice their honesty for a 
 single moment. 
 
 Mr. Brimhall married Mary A. Fletcher, of Spring- 
 field, Vt., who survives him. 
 
 PERLEY P. COMEY, M.D. 
 
 Perley P. Comey, M.D. (Harvard), youngest son of 
 Elbridge G. and Abigail (Pierce) Comey, was born in 
 
i 
 
 I 
 
r 'v_^/^'^^^ 
 
> 
 
 k 
 
CLINTON. 
 
 91 
 
 Holliston, Mass., January 14, 1852. His father was 
 born iu Hopkinton, Mass., was a farmer and returned 
 to Hopkinton to reside when the subject of our sketch 
 was eight years of age, — a man of sterling integrity 
 and exemplary character. Perley P. Comey received 
 his early education in the common and high schools 
 of Hopkinton, being also kept busy upon his father's 
 farm. 
 
 In 1868, his father having died, he was sent to the 
 Oread High School, in Worcester, a classical school 
 connected with the Oread Institute, afterward learn- 
 ing the apothecary business in Worcester. Later he 
 began the study of medicine with Dr. A. P. Richard- 
 son, of Boston, and at the Harvard Medical College, 
 at which institution he graduated in June, 1878, and in 
 August of the same year he began practice in Clinton, 
 Mass. He almost immediately began to have a very 
 liberal patronage and soon had a very extensive prac- 
 tice, not only in Clinton, but in all of the adjoining 
 towns. Ever ready to sympathize with and advise 
 the afflicted and suflering, he seemed to possess the 
 qualifications which make a man popular in the med- 
 ical profession. Few men bring to the study and 
 practice of their profession more of those varied quali- 
 fications which help to make up the true physician 
 and surgeon. Always on the alert in everything 
 relating to his profession, quick to see and prompt to 
 act, make him a successful surgeon as well as physi- 
 cian. 
 
 He married Marion L. Jones, daughter of John O. 
 Jones, of Boston, and granddaughter of Col. Jas. Esta- 
 brook, of Worcester, with whom she resided. They 
 have three children, two daughters and one son — 
 Effie M., Gertrude J. and Clifton J. 
 
 He in a member of the Massachusetts Medical 
 Society, a prominent Mason and Odd-Fellow, a mem- 
 ber of the Improved Order of Red Men, Knights of 
 Honor and United Order of Golden Cross. 
 
 LYMAN LEIGHTON. 
 
 Mr. Leighton was born in Upton, Mass. His father. 
 Hazard Leighton, was strongly built, over six feet tall, 
 and an athlete. The stories of his suppleness, physi- 
 cal feats and strength are quoted to this day. His 
 mind and judgment, though little schooled, were as 
 vigorous and self-poised as his powers of body. He 
 was highly skilled in agriculture. In 1839 he married 
 Lydia Aldrich, of the same place. Lyman was one 
 of six children born to them, and the eldest of three 
 boys. He was early sent forth to earn something for 
 the family, or at least his own bread. The first place 
 open to him was as a boy on a farm, and in this humble 
 way he began his battle with the world. 
 
 Mr. Leighton's school advantages were meagre. In 
 them, however, he acquired elements of an education 
 that have enabled him to use well such advantages as 
 came to him in life. He importuned his parents to 
 let him learn the trade of a carpenter, and with their 
 
 consent entered the employ of Thomas J. and Nahum 
 B. Hall, a then active co-partnership of contractors in 
 Upton. The old-fashioned days of apprenticeship 
 were on the wane, and the firm allowed him to work 
 with them and under their instruction for what he 
 could earn. He was a mere boy, but being permit- 
 ted to enter the ranks as a fellow-workman aroused 
 his manliness and called out his best traits. With 
 these men, who were skillful workmen and led their 
 men as well as planned and directed them, he had a 
 fine opportunity, not only to train his hands in the 
 use of tools, but to study their ways as successful 
 builders. They did not suppress but encouraged every 
 laudable effort, so that he found full play for his am- 
 bition and energy, and while he learned the details of 
 the art of his choice he also gained an insight into 
 those ways that laid the foundation for his future suc- 
 cessful business career. He ajiplied himself diligently 
 and faithfully to his chosen profession until the break- 
 ing out of the Civil War. He enlisted at the age of 
 eighteen years iu that fine regiment which was the 
 pride of Worcester County, — the Twenty-fifth Ma.ssa- 
 chusetts Volunteers,— and in September, 1861, went to 
 Annapolis, Maryland, where he entered at once upon 
 the train and drill of a soldier. He was here stricken 
 down by an attack of the measles and was sent to the 
 hospital, and though receiving the best possible care, 
 came from it with a weakened voice and wasted frame, 
 and the experienced surgeons felt he would not be 
 able to go through the hardships of an active cam- 
 paign. He did not shirk his duty, however, but went 
 with his regiment to North Carolin.a. After two bat- 
 tles he was so reduced in strength that a court of 
 surgeons recommended his discharge for disability, 
 which he received in July, 1S62. He returned home 
 at once, and in his native air and with good nursing 
 he so far recovered as to be accepted by the examining 
 surgeon, and again became an enlisted man. He 
 joined a company of heavy artillery in September, 
 1863, and served until the close of the war with credit 
 to himself and to his company. 
 
 He returned to his native town to take up again the 
 pursuits of peace. His trade had not been com- 
 pleted, and its work was now found to be very dull, 
 and he was compelled to accept any chance offered 
 him. In these new fields of labor he enlarged his 
 knowledge and gained valuable information that was 
 afterwards turned to good account in the management 
 of his afi'airs as a contractor. It was about this time 
 that he made the acquaintance of Miss Carrie Clark, 
 a young lady who resided in Upton with her mother, 
 and they were married in November, 1866. She was 
 of patriotic stock. Her ancestor, Edward Clark, was 
 a soldier in the Colonial army, and was present at the 
 surrender of the fortress of Louisburg to the English 
 in 1758. 
 
 After his marriage, finding he was unable to com. 
 mand a sufficient income to satisfy his household re- 
 quirements, Mr. Leighton removed to Clinton, Mass. 
 
94 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 boots and shoes there extensively and successfully 
 for many years, giving employment to a large number 
 of workmen. G. Bickford Brigham continues the 
 business there, and employs about one hundred hands ; 
 and his annual sales of boots and shoes amount to 
 $165,000. 
 
 William B. Wood also erected a factory in South- 
 ville, in which he manufactured cotton and woolen 
 cloths for many years, giving employment to a uum 
 ber of people. 
 
 Soon after the erection of those factories, Milton H. 
 Sanford, Esq., purchased a large tract of land in the 
 south part of the town, and in 1846-47 he erected 
 thereon a large stone factory for the manufacture of 
 cotton and woolen goods. He also built tliereon many 
 dwelling-houses and other buildings. This thriving 
 village he named Cordaville, in honor of his wife, 
 Cordelia. The same factory was burnt October 31, 
 1855. Two persons lost their lives in consequence of 
 the fire, and others were injured. On the same 
 spot he erected the present stone factory. He manu- 
 factured very extensively various kinds of cotton and 
 woolen fabrics, and jute blankets. He became very 
 wealthy. In 1864 he sold the real and personal prop- 
 erty to a stock company, called the "Cordaville 
 Mills Company," Eranklin Haven, Esq., being 
 president, John H. Stevenson, Esq., treasurer, and 
 Judge Thomas Russell, clerk. In 1871 said property 
 was sold by auction to Adolphus Merriam, Esq., of 
 Framingham. For some years large quantities of 
 goods were there manufactured by Merriam & Wil- 
 son. March 9, 1876, a stock company was formed 
 under the corporate name of " Cordaville . Woolen 
 Company," Hubbard Willson, Esq., president and su- 
 perintendent, and Adolphus Merriam, Esq., treas- 
 urer, said Willson, Merriam and Joseph Merriam, 
 directors. This company now manufacture blankets. 
 They employ about one hundred operatives, and the 
 sales amount to about one hundred thousand dollars 
 per year. 
 
 In 1860 one Kidder commenced the manufacture 
 of brick near Fayville ; after his death the property 
 was owned and the business continued by Ball & Hoi- 
 man. They were succeeded by the Framingham 
 Brick Company. By the aid of steam-power and im- 
 proved machinery the latter company are able to 
 manufacture yearly one and a half millions of brick. 
 Fayville was so named in honor of a large portion ol 
 its former business men, to wit: Colonel Dexter Fay. 
 and his two brothers. Colonel Francis B. Fay and 
 Honorable Sullivan Fay, Colonel Artemas Fay and 
 his brother, Elijah Fay. Colonel Dexter Fay com- 
 menced business as a butcher. He afterwards built 
 a small store about fourteen feet square. His trade 
 so increa.sed that he had to enlarge his store from 
 time to time. It became a famous place for trade 
 and eventually the yearly sales therein for many 
 years exceeded $125,000. His brothers formerly 
 were more or less interested with him in this business; 
 
 so, latterly, were hia sons, Emery B. Fay, Caleb T. 
 Fay, Sylvester C. Fay and Augustus F. Fay. Col- 
 onel Dexter Fay was also a noted cattle broker, and 
 was a constant attendant at the Brighton Cattle Mar- 
 ket for over forty years. Colonel Francis B. Fay, 
 after having filled many important offices in town and 
 county, moved to Chelsea, Mass. He became a very 
 successful commission merchant, was several times in 
 his lifetime honored with a seat in both branches of 
 the Legislature, and was once elected representative 
 to Congress. He was the first mayor of Chelsea. 
 Honorable Sullivan Fay was conveyancer, settled 
 many estates, was clerk of the Agricultural Branch 
 Railroad Company, was elected to both branches of 
 the Legislature, and was president of a Medical Col- 
 lege in Worcester, Mass. Colonel Artemas Fay was 
 a manufacturer of boots, shoes and bonnets. Elijah 
 Fay was a currier. The phrenological poet once 
 wrote concerning the organ of weight in the head of 
 Colonel Dexter Fay : " This organ is very large in 
 your friend. Colonel Fay — Colonel Dexter, of course. 
 There are many of that name on the records of fame 
 — there is Francis of Boston, in the mercantile trade ; 
 and Artemas, here at home, by whom bonnets are 
 made." 
 
 In those days beef cattle were sold in market by 
 estimated weight or by weight of the sides after they 
 were killed and dressed. In estimating droves of 
 heavy cattle his judgment was most always sought, as 
 no broker who attended the cattle market could ex<el 
 him in that art. He was a very honorable man in his 
 dealings, was very active in business, and was honored 
 and respected by his townsmen. He held many of 
 the principal offices and represented the town in the 
 General Court. He was an excellent colonel in his 
 regiment. Fayville received the following dis- 
 tinguished honor: 
 
 General Lafayette, in about the year 1815, while 
 journeying from New York to Boston with his body- 
 guards, stopped at the hotel in Fayville for refresh- 
 ments. The people of the village assembled to do 
 him honor, and he shook hands with them all. 
 
 John L. Whiting was born in Shrewsbury, Mass., 
 May 28, 182.3. He was the son of Seth Whiting and 
 Mary Kendall, and was one of nine children. 
 
 The Whiting family in the United States is de- 
 scended from Rev. Samuel Whiting, who came to 
 this country in 1636, and was the first minister of 
 Lynn, Mass. (1636 to 1679). 
 
 Seth Whiting and family moved to Southboro' in 
 1841, and from that date until 1850 the brush busi- 
 ness was carried on by the father and son in 
 Fayville. Mr. Whiting, Sr., was one of the earliest 
 and one of the best brush-makers in New England ; 
 he made several valuable improvements in the 
 art, and did more than any other man to super- 
 sede English with American paint-brushes in the 
 Boston market. He considered it a sin to make a 
 poor brush, or one that was not exactly what it 
 
^?^ 
 
 l1 
 
I 
 
 I 
 
SOUTHBOROUGH. 
 
 95 
 
 seemed to be. Shoddy of any kind, moral or ma- 
 terial, found no favor in his sight. 
 
 John L. Wliiting married Mary, daughter of 
 Moses Sawin, of Southboro', in 1852. He commenced 
 the manufacture of bruslies in Boston in 1864, 
 and has for years been the largest brush manufac- 
 turer in the United States. Whiting's patent 
 bruslies have a national reputation, and have been 
 introduced to some extent in other countries. Mr. 
 Whiting has introduced machinery into his factory, 
 thus eftecting a great saving of labor. The brush- 
 makers of the olden time used but one machine) 
 while John L. Whiting & Son have in use be- 
 tween seventy-five and eighty. 
 
 Several of Mr. Whiting's inventions effect a very 
 material saving in the length of bristles used in 
 brushes; this U accomplished by mechanical de- 
 vices which secure the bristles iu the ferrule by a 
 shorter hold than any of the old methods, thus 
 practically extending their length and increasing 
 their value, without injury to the quality of the 
 brushes. This economy of stock of course reduced 
 the prices of the brushes ; the result has been more of 
 a public than a private benefit, as other brush-makers 
 have been stimulated to extra exertions, in order to 
 accomplish, as far as possible, the saving eft'ected by 
 Mr. Whiting's inventions. 
 
 Mr. Whiting is popular with his employes, it be- 
 ing worthy of note that there has never been a strike 
 in his factory. 
 
 He is a public-spirited citizen and a liberal con- 
 tributor to many worthy charities. 
 
 In 1872, Curtis Newton and Dexter Newton, sons 
 of Stephen and Sally Newton, having purchased the 
 large estate of the late Col. Dexter Fay, erected, with 
 the assistance of Daniel H. Thompson, Joseph Fair- 
 banks, Allan D. Howe and Lewis Brewer, a shoe- 
 factory in Fayville, forty by fifty feet. Since that 
 time the factory has been twice enlarged, so that now 
 it contains over forty-six thousand feet of flooring. 
 The last addition was made by Dexter Newton, Joseph 
 Fairbanks, Allan D. Howe, Henry H. Newton and 
 Augusta E. Brewer, who are the present owners of the 
 factory. It is leased to H. H. Mawhinney & Co.; 
 Allan D. Howe, superiutendent. 
 
 The montlily pay-roll amounts to about twelve 
 thousand dollars. They employ about three hundred 
 operatives. The sales amount to about four hundred 
 thousand dollars annually. 
 
 Since the erection of this factory Fayville has 
 more than doubled its inhabitants and tenements. 
 
 Lincoln Newton (2d), was formerly a boot and 
 shoe manufacturer in Fayville, and gave employment 
 to many persons. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 SOVVHBOROUGH.—(CL»i/i,iued). 
 
 The number of inhabitants in town at the time 
 of its incorporation is not positively known. There 
 were about fifty families, and probably about two 
 hundred and eighty inhabitants. In 1757 it appears 
 that the number of enrolled men was 75, and the 
 number of minute-men 5G. In 1790 the number of 
 inhabitants was 837. At the close of each subsequent 
 decade the number of inhabitants was as follows, 
 viz.: 1800,871; 1810, !I2(J; 1820,1,030; 1830,1,080; 
 1840,1,145; 1850,1,347; 1860,1,854; 1870,2,133; 
 1880-85, 2,100. 
 
 Of the names of the inhabitants, the Newtons, 
 Fays and Brighams have always predominated. The 
 number of Newtons born iu town since its incorpora- 
 tion is 443 ; and the number of Fays born in town 
 during the same time is 334. 
 
 By order of the General Court, the first town- 
 meeting was held August 28, 1727, at the house of 
 Timothy Brigham, which stood where is now located 
 the St. Mark's School-house. William Johnson was 
 moderator. The first town-meeting, under warrant of 
 selectmen, was held March, 1728— James Newton, 
 moderator ; Moses Newton, Scth Bellows, Doe Mathea, 
 and Captain Ward were selectmen. The principal 
 business of this meeting, besides the choice of officers, 
 and of several town-meetings which followed, was to 
 arrange for procuring a minister of "good conversa- 
 tion to preach God's word," and to devise ways and 
 means to build a meeting-house. Money for both 
 purposes was promptly raised. The first meeting- 
 house built was 50x40 feet, aud 20-foot posts ; £300, or 
 $1,000, was appropriated for same. It was built in 
 1727-28. This house lasted seventy-nine years, at 
 the end of which time it was sold for .$76.99, aud 
 taken down. It was located a few feet south of the 
 house now owned by the Pilgrim Evangelical Society, 
 and on a portion of the land given by the inhabitants 
 of Marlborough to the inhabitants of this section 
 thereof, previous to the incorporation of Southbor- 
 ough(said land was given and set apart for the accom- 
 modation of meeting-house, burial-place and for a 
 training-field forever). In 1806, December 17th, the 
 second church edifice was dedicated ; it cost .$7,778. 
 
 The pews sold for 12,658 above the appraisal. In 
 1856 said meeting-house was conveyed by the First 
 Parish Society to said Pilgrim Evangelical Society, 
 and by the latter it was remodeled and fitted up in 
 its present modern style at a cost of about $13,000, 
 and dedicated. In 1828, September 10th, the Baptist 
 Society dedicated the brick church which is now oc- 
 cupied for a dwelling. For want of sufficient room 
 in the church, the dedicatory services were held in 
 the grove near "Mount Vickory." The present 
 Baptist Church was built in 1845. The first church 
 
96 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 of the Pilgrim Evangelical Society was built in 1832. 
 It is now the high school-hou.se. The Episcopal 
 Church was dedicated August 15, 1862. The Second 
 Congregational Church was located in Southville, 
 was built in 1872. 
 
 St. Miiltliew's Catholic Church, located between 
 Cordaville atid Sdutliville, was built in 1S79. St. 
 Anne's Catholic Church was built in 1887, and located 
 between Fayville and Southboro' Centre. Rev. John 
 F. Redican is rector of both societies. He was born 
 in Worcester, April 2, 1858 ; is a graduate of the 
 public schools of Worcester, also of the Holy Cross 
 College, Worcester, Mass; studied theology in Mon- 
 treal University ; was ordained in Montreal ; spent 
 five years as assistant in Webster ; came to Cordaville 
 as first pastor of St. Matthew's Church November 26, 
 1886. 
 
 The first minister settled by the town was Rev. 
 Nathan Stone. He was ordained October 21, 1730, 
 and continued their pastor until his death, May 31, 
 1781. June 1, 1791, Rev. Samuel Sumner was settled. 
 He was dismissed, agreeably to his request, December, 
 1797. In 1799, October 9th, Rev. Jeroboam Parker, 
 a native of Southborough, was ordained, and became 
 their pastor. He was dismissed at his own request in 
 1832. The First Parish Society afterwards settled 
 Rev. John D. Sweet, Rev. William Lord, Rev. Alden 
 and Rev. Barnard. The salary first paid to Mr. Stone 
 was £120 or $400, and thirty cords of good wood. In 
 1734 his salary w;us raised to X150 and thirty cords of 
 good wood. 
 
 Only one religious society existed in town until 
 1825. The Baptist Society have settled Rev. Jonathan 
 Forbush, Rev. Abiasaph Sampson, Rev. W. Morse, 
 Rev. Aaron Haynes, Rev. M. Ball, Rev. John Alden. 
 They have had several acting pastors, the present one 
 being Rev. H. G. Gay. The Pilgrim lOvangelical 
 Society was organized February 17, 1831, and have 
 settled Rev. Walter FoUett, Rev. Jacob Cummiugs, 
 Rev. E. M. El wood, Rev. G. D. Bates, Rev. W. J. 
 Breed, Rev. John Colby, Rev. H. M. Holmes, Rev. 
 A. L. Love, Rev. J. E. Wheelcrand Daniel E. Adam.s, 
 D.D. Rev. Alansou Rawson was acting jiastor from 
 April 28, 1843, to April 12, 1852. Rev. Andrew 
 Bigelow, D.D., was acting pastor from Aj)ril 1, 1874, 
 to April 1, 1875. 
 
 The Episcopal Society have had for rectors Rev. 
 Joshua R. Pierce, Rev. A. C. Patterson, Rev. Charles 
 Wingate, Rev. Robert Lowell, Rev. J. I. T. -Coolidge, 
 D.D., and the present rector. Rev. Waldo Burnett. 
 
 The Second Congregational Society have settled 
 Rev. C. A. Stone, and have had for acting pastors 
 Rev. John Le Boscjuet, and Rev. Truman A. Merrill. 
 
 The first appro|>riaticin made by Southborough for 
 teachers was in 1732, viz. : to Timothy Johnson, six 
 pounds ; and to Samuel Bellows, four pounds ten 
 shillings. Subsequently, for several years, Solo- 
 mon Ward was employed to teach in rotation the 
 four schools located in difl'ereut sections of the town. 
 
 Southborough maintained but four schools until 
 1837. The citizens of Southborough have ever mani- 
 fested a great intere.st in education. 
 
 In 1859, Henry H. Peters, Esq., a wealthy citizen, 
 feeling a deep interest in the education of the youth, 
 and having a desire that the scholars of Southborough 
 should have as good advantages for obtaining an edu- 
 cation as was enjoyed by the scholars in the neigh- 
 boring towns, donated the present school-house, 
 nicely finished and furni.?hed, and the land con- 
 nected therewith, to the town, on condition that it 
 should be u.sed for a high .school, to be taught by a 
 master (jualified to teach the branches usually taught 
 in a high school, and to be kept at least eight months 
 in each year. The town accepted the very liberal 
 donation at a regular town-meeting ; and as a token 
 of their ai)preciation of his generosity, they directed 
 that it should be called the "Peters High School- 
 House." 
 
 The citizens generally have manifested great satis- 
 faction with the good results of the school. They 
 have been willing to appropriate a liberal sum yearly 
 for the support of this as well as for the other ten 
 schools. The School Conuuittee, in 1878, expended 
 for schools, $5,854. In 1852 a free i)ublic library was 
 est.iblished. The opening of the same was properly 
 celebrated. A public meeting was held in the Town 
 Hall February 12th. The occasion was enlivened by 
 speeches, songs and music. A. L. Hobart, JI.D., then 
 of Southborough, nuule the principal address. The 
 following extract from his address will quite fully ex- 
 [ilain the character of the preliminary measures inci- 
 dent to its establishment : 
 
 Col. FranciB B. Fay, in the fulllicgsof his KonI aud liborHlity of his 
 j^pirit, conceived in Iiis heart to do a good thing unto tlie inliahitants of 
 the good old town of Soutlihorough, which gave him birth ; and so, 
 iiiisolicited, and of his own good-will and iileasnre, he thnist his hand 
 deep into his pocket, an<! drawing forth live hundred pieces of silver 
 (ff-^iOO), held them ui> before the eyes of the iidiahitanis of the town, 
 while he thus spoke: "Fellow-citizens! Fellow-townsnien ! I was 
 born, and nnrtnred, and rocked, and reared in your midst. lam one 
 of yon, and you are dear unto nie. And now, as you are dear unto me, 
 and as my heart atid hands are drawn towards you in aflection, and as 
 the enligiiteunient and elevation of your minds are things near my 
 heart, therefore, if all together, or any of you, will give a like simi, I 
 will give these live hnndied pieces of silver to form the nucleus of a 
 Town Library, which shall bo free for all the inhabitants of the town 
 to use for their improvemout, and for their children's children forever. 
 
 The town appropriated the other five hundred dol- 
 lars, and directed that as a token of their esteem for 
 the generous donor, it should be called the " Fay 
 Library." 
 
 In 1870, April 20th, Col. Fay tlonated to the town the 
 additional sum of one thousand dollars, for the benefit 
 of the library. There is now a fund of fifteen hundred 
 dollars in the hands of the trustees of the library, the 
 interest of which, with various other items contributed 
 uud appro])riated, eiialile Ihe trustees to expend about 
 two hundred dollars annually for books. There are 
 iiiiw in the library five thousand six hundred and 
 thirty-five volumes. The people of Southborough 
 have great cause to hold iu fond remembrance the 
 
SOUTHBOROUGH. 
 
 97 
 
 names of aforesaid donors; and not only we, but, in 
 future years, full many a son and daughter, who shall 
 inhabit this land, read books and learn in this school, 
 — looking back, perhaps, through time's long vista, — 
 will aho exultingly claim these donors as their im- 
 mortal benefactors. 
 
 In 1865 the St. Mark's School was incorporated 
 under the laws of the Commonwealth, and was 
 founded for the classical education of boys. Its 
 course of studies is prepared with the purpose of giv- 
 ing a thorough preparation for the admission to the 
 universities and colleges of the country. It is a 
 school for the Episcopal Church, and its order and 
 management are in conformity with the principles 
 and spirit of the Church. Its scholars number about 
 sixty, and are required to board at the institution. It 
 is said to be one of the most thorough and best-dis- 
 [ ciplined schools in the State. The establishment of 
 1 this school and the erection of the beautiful Episcopal 
 Church are the results of the great enterprise and 
 perseverance of our honored and esteemed fellow- 
 citizen, Dr. Joseph Burnett. The school is under 
 the management of the following officers: 
 
 Episcopal Visitor. — The Right Rev. Benjamin H. 
 Paddock, D.D., Bishop of the Diocese of Massa- 
 chusetts. 
 
 Board of Trustees.— Rt. Rev. B. H. Paddock, D.D., 
 Rev. D. C. Millett, D.D., Rev. George S. Converse, 
 A.M., Rev. Thomas R. Pynchon, D.D., Joseph Bur- 
 nett, Esq., Joseph Story Fay, Esq., Francis C. Foster, 
 [ Esq., H. N. Bigelow, Esq., Rev. S. U. Shearman, 
 George P. Gardner, Esq. 
 Bead Masler.—Winiam E. Peck, A.M. 
 Treasurer. — Joseph Burnett, Eeq. 
 Dr. Joseph Burnett was born in Southbnrough, 
 November 11, 1820. He married Josephine Cutter, 
 June 20, 1848, by whom he has had twelve children. 
 He received his education from the common schools 
 L in Southborougli and the English and Latin schools 
 ' in the city of Worcester, commencing business as an 
 apothecary in that city, where he remained two years. 
 He then removed to Boston, where he continued the 
 business for several years. He is now a manufactur- 
 t ing chemist of great notoriety. 
 
 The beautiful appearance of the Centre Village is 
 largely due to his benevolence, influence and taste. 
 In 1840 the town built its first town-house. Previous 
 to that time the town-meetings were held in the 
 church of the First Parish Society. Said town-house 
 cost about $4,000. It was burnt in 1869. Without 
 delay the inhabitants proceeded to erect another. 
 The present handsome, substantial and commodious 
 brick town-house was built in 1869-70, at a cost, in- 
 cluding fixtures and furniture, of about S30,000. The 
 building committee, consisting of Dr. Joseph Bur- 
 nett, Dexter Newton, Dr. J. Henry Robinson, Frank- 
 lin Este and Curtis Hyde, delivered the keys thereof 
 to the selectmen April 20, 1870. In 1824 the young 
 men organized a lyceum. Hon. Francis B. Fay was 
 7 
 
 presidentof the same for several years. This is said 
 to be one of the first lyceums ever formed in this 
 vicinity. One of the most exciting debates partici- 
 pated in by the then young America was : " Is an 
 untruth ever justifiable?" Disputants appointed in 
 the affirmative were Peter Fay and Blake Parker ; 
 negative, Joel Burnett and Brigham Witherbee. The 
 discussion waxed warm. The disputants, pro and 
 con, fought the battle inch by inch during the allotted 
 time. Question was finally decided on its merits, in 
 the negative. This lyceum accomplished much 
 good. 
 
 Another lyceum was formed in 1842. Its members 
 at one time numbered forty-four. Many momentous 
 questions were considered. Interesting and instruc- 
 tive free lectures, through their exertions, were given 
 to the public. Southborough has raised many noble 
 men and women, and several distinguished scholars. 
 
 The following is a list of those reared in town wlio 
 have availed themselves of the benefits of a college- 
 education, viz. : Jeroboam Parker, graduated at Har- 
 vard in 1797, became a minister; Nathan Johnson, 
 graduated at Yale in 1802, judge of Court of Common 
 Pleas ; Sherman Johnson, graduated at Yale in 1802. 
 minister; Luther Angier, graduated at Amherst in 
 1833, minister ; Marshall B. Angier, graduated at 
 Yale in 1884, minister ; Henry M. Parker, graduated 
 at Harvard in 1839, teacher; Joel Burnett, graduated 
 
 at Harvard Medical in , physician ; Waldo I. 
 
 Burnett, graduated at Harvard Medical in 1849, natu- 
 ralist; Edward Burnett, graduated at Harvard in 
 1871, M.C. ; Harry Burnett, graduated at Harvard 
 in 1873, chemist ; Waldo Burnett, graduated at Har- 
 vard in 1875, rector ; Clarence Thompson, graduated 
 at Amherst in 1874, civil engineer; George E. 
 Brewer, graduated at Amherst in 1874, insurance 
 broker ; Charles T. Murray, graduated at Dartmouth 
 College in 1882, teacher ; Winfield Scott Hammond, 
 graduated at Dartmouth College in 1884, teacher; 
 Charles C. Burnett, graduated at Harvard in 1886, 
 railroad manager. 
 
 Jeroboam Parker, mentioned above, was for many 
 years the minister in Southborough. Joel Burnett 
 was a noted physician in the town, was particularly 
 interested in her schools and was greatly honored and 
 respected. He delivered the first lecture on the sub- 
 ject of temperance given in the town. His son, 
 Waldo I. Burnett, was a zealous student and became a 
 distinguished naturalist. By the Boston Society of 
 Natural History he was elected curator of entomol- 
 ogy. In successive years he gained many of the 
 prizes offered by said society. In the winter of 1851 
 he delivered, at the Medical College in Atlanta, Ga., 
 a course of lectures in microscopic anatomy. In 
 1852 he prepared the essay which received the prize 
 from the American Medical Association. He died of 
 consumption July 1, 1854, in the twenty-sixth year 
 of his age. From an address concerning his life and 
 writings, delivered before the Boston Society of 
 
98 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Natural History, July 19, 1854, by Dr. Jeffries Wy- 
 man, is taken the following extract: " We cannot 
 but sensibly feel that in his death we have lost an 
 associate of no ordinary talents; we can point to no 
 other member of our society, and not more than one 
 other naturalist in our country, who has given such 
 proofs of zeal and industry, and who, in so short a 
 life, has accomplished so large an amount of scien- 
 tific labor. Had he been spared to future years, we 
 cannot but feel the assurance that he would have ac- 
 quired for himself a far higher place and still more 
 honorable name in the annals of science. Let us 
 cherish his memory and profit by his example." 
 
 The records of the town show that the people have 
 always taken a forward rank in the cause of freedom. 
 Capt. John Taplin went in command of a company of 
 forty-nine men on the Crown Point expedition in 
 1756; was out from February 18th to December 20th. 
 Capt. Aaron Fay commanded a company sent for the 
 reduction of Canada, and was out fioni March to 
 November, 1758. 
 
 Capt. John Taplin was also out in this campaign. 
 
 A number of Southborough men were out in the 
 campaign of the la^t French and Indian War. 
 
 Dilenton Johnson was at Fort William Henry when 
 it capitulated, August 9, 1757, and was exposed to the 
 Indian barbarities of that terrible day. Elijah Reed 
 and Joshua Newton, also of Southborough, were in 
 that battle. 
 
 In 1765, in town-meeting, the following unanimous 
 vote of instruction was given to their representative, 
 Ezra Taylor, Esq.: "That you would in the most 
 effectual and loyal manner firmly assert and lawfully 
 maintain the inherent rights of the Province, that 
 posterity may know that if we must be slaves, we do 
 not choose by our own acts to destroy ourselves, and 
 willingly entail slavery on them." 
 
 The military warrant, dated November 7, 1774, will 
 be read with interest by the citizens of the town : 
 
 To Ezekiel Collings, One of the Corporals of tlie Military foot Oom- 
 pany, in tbe Town of Soutliborougli, in the County of Worcester, under 
 the command of Josiah Fay, Captain, and in the Riginmnt whereof 
 Artemas Ward Esq, of Shrewsbury is Colonel — Greeting. 
 
 You are hereby Directed to Warn forthwith all the afternamed Non- 
 Commission Otficers and Soldiers of Said Company, Viz. , — 
 
 Jonathan Chanipny, sargeant. Asahel Newton. 
 
 Elijah Brigham sargeant. Luke Newton. 
 
 Hezekiah Fay, sergeant. Sirus Newton. 
 
 James Williams, corporal. Gideon Newton, 
 
 Ezekiel Collins, corporal. Mark Collins. 
 
 Ebenezer Richards, corporal. John Richards. 
 
 Isaac Newton, Jun., drummer. Josiah Fay, Jun. 
 
 Joshua Smith. Andrew Phillips. 
 
 Benj. Smith. John Phillips. 
 
 Nathan Tapplin, Eben Newton. 
 
 Elisba Tapplin. Josiah Ward. 
 
 Eneas Ward. Ebenezer Collins. 
 
 Elisha Fay. John Clifford. 
 
 John Fay, Jun. Zacheus Witherbee. 
 
 Elisba Johnson. Daniel Johnson. 
 
 Ephraim Amsden. Kirby Moore. 
 
 Moses Newton. Edmand Moore. 
 
 Erasnias Ward. Mark Collings, Jun. 
 
 David Newton, Jun. William Winchester, 
 
 Isaac Newton. 
 Solomon Leonard. 
 Timothy Angler. 
 Jonah Johnson. 
 P^<lward Ohamberlin. 
 Nathan Champny. 
 Job Biglo, 
 Thomas Stone. 
 Peter Ston. 
 
 Jabez Newton. 
 Williams Williams. 
 Abnor Parker, 
 John .lohnson. 
 Isaac Ball. 
 Nathan Fay. 
 Jedediah Parker. 
 John Leonard. 
 Jonas Woods. 
 
 To appear in tbe Common training field By the Meeting House in 
 said Southbr" with their fire-arms Compleate on the ninth Day of thia 
 Instant November, att Eight of the Clock, in tbe fournoon of said Day 
 then and thair Renuiin attend to and Obay further orders Hereof fail 
 Not and make return of thia Warrant with your Doings thereon Unto 
 me att or Before Said time. Given under my hand att said Southb** the 
 seventh Day of November anno-dom 1774, 
 
 JosiAU Fay Cap. 
 
 Capt. Josiah Fay's company of fifty -six minute men, 
 who were disciplined and supported at the expense of 
 the town, marched to Lexington and Concord, April 
 19,1775. Every able-bodied male citizen, sixteen years 
 old and upward, was armed according to law. They 
 were required to be in constant readiness to repel any 
 attack of the enemy. 
 
 In town-meeting April 29, 1861, on motion of Syl- 
 vester C. Fav, Esq., it was voted, unanimously "that 
 the town is ready to respond to the proclamations of 
 the President with every able-bodied citizen and every 
 dollar, if necessary." The town furnished two hundred 
 and nineteen brave and patriotic men, being thirty- 
 three more than enough to fill her quota under every 
 call of the President during the great Rebellion. Seven- 
 teen of those men died in the service of their country, 
 and these names appear on the monument erected to 
 their memory. Said monument, erected on the com- 
 mon in Southborough Centre, is of Fitzwilliam granite, 
 and was built by E. F. Meaney, olBoston, from a design 
 of A. R. Esty, Esq. It was dedicated January 1, 1867. 
 It is twenty feet high. On the south (front) side 
 are inscribed the words, "Erected by the citizens of 
 Southborough;" on the east, "In Memoriam ;" on 
 the north, " Our Country's Defenders ;" and on the 
 west, "Rebellion, 1861." 
 
 Patriots are here in freedom's battle slain — 
 
 5Ieu whose short lives were closed with scarce a stain ; 
 
 Men lovers of our race, whose labors gave 
 
 Their names a memory that defies the grave. 
 
 This monument cost $1613.50, and was paid for 
 mostly by subsciiption. Some of the money, how- 
 ever, was contributed by various as-emblies and so- 
 cieties. Henry H. Peters, Esq., subscribed $.500; Dr. 
 Joseph Burnett, $100 ; the ladies, nearly $200 ; Curtis 
 Newton, E. D. Rockwood, Peter Fay and S. N. 
 Thompson, each $25; and ninety-two other persons 
 contributed smaller sums. This town has a very per- 
 fect record of her soldiers who enlisted in the late war. 
 To William P. Willson, Esq., great credit is due for 
 his alacrity and perseverance in its preparation and 
 completion. The following is a list of the names of 
 said soldiers : 
 
 S, U, Andrews. Lyman B, Collins. 
 
 George Brown. Daniel Chick. 
 
 John F, Bates, Otis Q. Claflin, 
 
I 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 'jHvy-c/ c/^^^^ 
 
 % 
 
SOUTHBOROUGH. 
 
 99 
 
 Edwin F. Barney. 
 Cbiirles Baldwin, 
 Georffe T. Brigham. 
 Alfred W. Bi-igham. 
 Charlea H. Bidgelow, 
 Francis Bird, 
 diaries Battle. 
 ■William E. Buck, 
 Mitchell Butterfield. 
 Emerson Bigelow. 
 Thomas Boyd, Jr. 
 Eugene F Bigelow. 
 Augustine B. Bemia. 
 Henry T. Ureed. 
 Theodore N. Brewer, 
 Daniel Bressman. 
 George G. Burlingame. 
 Michael Bressney, 
 William Barr. 
 Marcelus J. Burditt. 
 Lucell Boyd. 
 Lovely Bird. 
 George M. Brigham. 
 Charles E. Brigham. 
 John Blanchard, 
 James Bresman. 
 Peter Clark. 
 D. A. Chamberlain. 
 Robert Crosby. 
 Michael Caughlin. 
 A, E. Chamberlain. 
 Patrick H. Cleary. 
 Charles K. Collins. 
 Joseph n. Collins. 
 Lowell T. Collins. 
 John Collins. 
 Hitrrison Chase. 
 Marshall Collins. 
 William Carroll. 
 Irving S. Hunt. 
 William H. Hill. 
 Vergene 0. Hyde. 
 William Hunt. 
 S. E. W. Hopkins. 
 Uriah Howes. 
 Sylvester G. Hosiner. 
 Martin J. Hubbard. 
 Henry E. Hartwell. 
 George H. Houghton. 
 Charles H. Homes. 
 Camilus C. Hyde. 
 Joseph W. Hurd. 
 A. E. Iiigraham. 
 David Ireson. 
 Lyman A. Jones. 
 Cornelius W. Johnson. 
 William Keefe. 
 Patrick Kilgariff. 
 David Kilpatrick. 
 John H. Kimball. 
 Charles T. Love. 
 John Lahan. 
 Edward L. Lovelaod. 
 Louis Lovely. 
 Paul Lake, 
 
 Benjamin F. Langley. 
 Michael Murphy. 
 George H. Moore. 
 Charles B. Moore. 
 Joseph Martin. 
 Michael SIcMahona. 
 James McNabb. 
 Edward JIcKnight. 
 Dennis Mahoney. 
 Richard Muletee. 
 Austin McTTaster. 
 Peter McFarlan. 
 
 James F. Chickering. 
 Michael Cook. 
 Moses E. Cook. 
 Maurice Crowoan. 
 Edwin C. Dockham. 
 Warren W. Day. 
 Erastiis X. Durgin. 
 John L. Day. 
 Francis H. Davis. 
 John Donahoe. 
 Andrew Dunn. 
 George E. Day. 
 Thomas Doan. 
 Thomas F. Dunbar. 
 Samuel R. Day. 
 John Denny, 
 Cornelius Doherity. 
 Bartlet Daily. 
 Orrin Edwards. 
 William E. Fay. 
 Horatio L. Fay. 
 Henry L. Flagg. 
 Marcelus E. Fay. 
 Darius C. Flagg. 
 A. Claflin Fay. 
 Eugene A. Frederick. 
 Charl-sF. Fisber. 
 Alfred Featherstone. 
 Frederic Fay. 
 Herbert W. Fay. 
 Charles B. Fay. 
 George W. Flagg, 
 George W. Fay. 
 William Fogarty. 
 Francis A. Gould. 
 Thomas Grant. 
 Matthew U. Gleason. 
 Michael Haggarty. 
 John Haggarty. 
 Thomas O'Brien. 
 James L. Onthank. 
 Lowell P. Parker. 
 Charles S. Parker. 
 Charles F. Parker. 
 Gardner R, Parker. 
 Rodger Pope. 
 Austin G. Parker. 
 Adolphiis B. Parker. 
 Frank Paul. 
 Ebeiiezer Pearson. 
 Charles E. Preble. 
 Arthur T. Rice. 
 Edward Roberts. 
 Joseph Raymond. 
 Levi Ramsden. 
 David Richardson. 
 Andrew Rock. 
 Timothy Ryan. 
 Andrew J. Reed. 
 Francis H. Stowe. 
 Charles Scott. 
 Amos P. Sargeant. 
 Warren H. Stevens, 
 George S. Sanford. 
 Charles B Suwin. 
 William M. Seavy. 
 Allen Stevenson. 
 Dennis Spellin. 
 Daniel Shay. 
 William Stafford. 
 Charles A. Trask. 
 Simeon 0. Taylor. 
 Frank C. Tucker. 
 George E. Thompson. 
 James S. Toothaker. 
 Samuel A. Toothaker. 
 J. Granville Underwood. 
 
 Michael McNarlan. 
 Patrick McAlear. 
 Michael McCue. 
 Osceola V. Newton. 
 Hartwell Newton. 
 George W. Nichols. 
 Joseph B. Nourso. 
 John F. Newton. 
 Francis A. Newhall. 
 Francis D. Newton. 
 S. Whitney Nourse. 
 Jeremiah L. Newton. 
 Dexter D. Onthank. 
 George O'Grady. 
 George E. Onthank. 
 John O'Brien. 
 Ares M. Onthank. 
 Charles O'Grady. 
 
 Greenville H. Winchester. 
 Warren W. Williams. 
 Hamlet S. Woods. 
 James Ward. 
 George W. Williams. 
 Albert L. Weeks. 
 George F. Wheeler, 
 Ephraini Ward. 
 Charles H. Woods. 
 William Welsh. 
 Edwin J. Walker. 
 Hiram N. Walker. 
 George L. Works. 
 George H. Waterman. 
 3larshall Whittemore. 
 Charles H, Walkup. 
 Joseph Wise. 
 
 The followiDg-named persons were allotted to 
 Southboro* by the Navy Commissioners, viz.: 
 
 George O. Allen. 
 Arthur A. Henry. 
 William H. Smith. 
 Thomas Shadwick. 
 Charles Smith. 
 Hiram Storer. 
 Jeremiah Shemnaham. 
 
 Frederick Scarlett. 
 Frederick A. Smart. 
 Joseph Staples. 
 Timothy Toomey. 
 
 Taakett. 
 
 Leroy L. Walden. 
 
 Among the names of many prominent men of this 
 town — part of whom are now living and the others 
 have recently deceased — who have done much to 
 promote its highest and best interests, are the follow- 
 ing : 
 
 Moses Sawin purchased the grist and saw-mill and 
 a small lot of land situate one-half mile west of Town 
 Hall, in Southborough, of Deacon Gabriel Parkei, 
 in 1833. The year following he bought of said Par- 
 ker seven acres of land adjoining same, and on south 
 side of Mill Pond, and built thereon a spacious dwell- 
 ing-house, barn and other buildings. The estate is 
 now owned and occupied by Charles B. Sawin, 
 youngest of his three surviving sons. Said Moses 
 Sawin was a lineal descendantofa long- list of millers. 
 His ancestor, Thomas Sawin, was the third son of 
 John Sawin, of Watertown, who was the father of the 
 American Sawins. Thomas Sawin bought of the 
 Natick Indian (a branch ofthe Massachusetts) fifty 
 acres of land in South Natick, for which he paid ten 
 pounds of lawful money. The following conditions 
 were agreed upon in their transaction, viz.: The said 
 Thomas Sawin was to build a mill on the premises 
 for the grinding of corn, and he ?ind his heirs and 
 assigns were to maintain said mill forever, and on 
 the other part it was agreed that there was to be no 
 other corn-mill built in town without the consent of 
 said Thomas Sawin, his heirs and assigns. Said mill 
 remained in possession of said Thomas Sawin and 
 his descendants from 1685 to 1833 — one hundred and 
 forty-eight years. Said Moses Sawin possessed and 
 carefully preserv^ed through life the curious old deed, 
 signed and sealed by the Indian chiefs of whom 
 his said ancestor purchased the land. They are now 
 in possession of said C. B. Sawin, at the old home- 
 stead, where antiquarians and others interested in 
 curious legal documents can examinfe them. 
 
100 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Moses Sawin was thrice married. In 1820 he mar- 
 ried Joanna T. Lane, of whom he had one child, 
 Joanna L. Sawin. In 1823 he married Mary B. Morse, 
 of whom he had eight children, viz.: John B., Mary B., 
 Sarah C, Maria A., Moses M., Lucy A., Charles B. and 
 James H. Two of these passed over the daik river 
 in early childhood, viz.: Lucy A. and James H. 
 Sarah C. died in early womanhood, August 9, 1853. 
 Joanna L. (Mrs. Libby) died November 15, 1860. 
 The other five children are still living, and earnestly 
 laboring to carry forward the great principles of pro- 
 gress and reform, which their father labored so assid- 
 uously to promote. In 1852 said Moses Sawin mar- 
 ried Mrs. Catharine A. Rice, who still survives him 
 and is loved and cherished, as a good mother should 
 be, by all his children. Mr. Sawin was an active 
 and excellent citizen. He took a lively interest in 
 town affairs, was a faithful member of the Board of 
 Overseers of the Poor for many years, and was enthu- 
 siastic in promoting the best interests of the town. 
 He was very active in aiding the great temperance 
 reform. When the clarion notes of William Lloyd 
 Garrison rang through the land calling the nation 
 to repentance for supporting and maintaining chattel 
 slavery, Mr. Sawin did not hesitate to enlist in the 
 great cause of humanity. He was convinced it was a 
 sin against God and a crime against his brother man. 
 
 He had the courage to ask the members of the 
 church to which he belonged to testify against the 
 sin ; when his request was rejected he refused to com- 
 mune with them as a church of Christ, and when, for 
 this refusal, they cast him out of the church, he 
 exultantly quoted to them the words of Christ, viz. : 
 " Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of 
 these my brethren, ye did it unto me." He was 
 especially gratified that he had lived to see slavery 
 entirely abolished ; it was what he had long labored 
 for and sought. But the crowning glory of his latter 
 days was in hearing his former opponents acknowl- 
 edge the righteousness of his cause, and labor earn- 
 estly with him in the overthrow of American slavery. 
 
 Mr. Sawin lived to a good old age (seventy-six) and 
 died February 7, 1871, of rheumatism, after long and 
 patient suftering. 
 
 John Thomas Cotton was the son of Rev. Ward 
 Cotton and his wife, Rebekah (Jackson), and one of 
 the numerous descendants of John Cotton, first min- 
 ister of Boston. Said John Thomas Cotton was the 
 oldest of six children, born in Boylston, Mass., Feb- 
 ruary 25, 1801. In youth and early manhood he had 
 a long and severe sickness, which left him in a feeble 
 condition, and although he lived to a great age, he 
 never enjoyed good health. He was a very conscien- 
 tious man, firm in his convictions, and was greatly 
 beloved by his fellow-citizens. He served as repre- 
 sentative to the General Court for several years, and 
 long held the office of town clerk of said Boylston. 
 In consequence of the failing health of his mother, 
 10 whom he was entirely devoted, he was induced to 
 
 give up all public employment. His mother died 
 October 11, 1854, after which he purchased a small 
 place for a home and sold the old homestead in 
 Boylston. He lived in Southborough in great con- 
 tentment and comfort, near his sister (Mrs. Hannah 
 S. P. Whitney), for near a quarter of a century. 
 Though he lived alone, he was no recluse, but was 
 very sociable and very fond of his neighbors and 
 flowers. He spent his last days with his sister, and 
 passed over the dark river to beloved ones beyond, 
 October 17, 1884. 
 
 Peter Fay, Esq., was born in Southborough, Octo- 
 ber 15, 1807. He married Roxanna Whipple, Decem- 
 ber 29, 1829. She died November 28, 1853. March 
 15, 1858, he married Dolly Collins. By his first wife 
 he had six children — two girls and four boys. He 
 lived on the old homestead formerly owned by his 
 father, Peter Fay — and which is now owned and occu- 
 pied by Charles F. Choate, Esq., president of the Old 
 Colony Railroad Company — until March 1, 1855, 
 having previously sold the same to Henry H. Peters, 
 Esq. He then bought the Parker farm, which for 
 many years was owned and occupied by the former 
 ministers of the First Parish Society. He lived there 
 about two years. He built the fine house in which 
 he now lives in 1857. He has held many of the 
 highest offices in town, and has received many honors 
 from the citizens thereof. He represented the town 
 at the General Court in 1845. He has served as 
 selectman some nine years. He was very active, 
 during the late war, in obtaining men to fill this 
 town's quota under every call made by President 
 Lincoln. He served on the Board of School Com- 
 mittee about nine years ; assessor, one year; overseer 
 of the poor, nine years; deacon of the Pilgrim Evan- 
 gelical Church for about fifteen years. He settled 
 the estate of his sister, Mrs. Dolly Bond, late of. 
 Shrewsbury, deceased. This estate amounted to over 
 $100,000. He received great credit for his faithful- 
 ness and energy concerning the settlement thereof. 
 
 On the old homestead he kept some forty head of 
 cattle, and he took great pride in having extra nice 
 ones. He made butter until 1840, and was the first 
 farmer but two in town who sold milk to go into Bos- 
 ton. He had fine apple orchards on his farm, which 
 often yielded him one thousand barrels in a year. He 
 was president of the first temperancesociety of South- 
 borough for fifteen years. 
 
 Daniel S. Whitney was born at Danvers (now Pea- 
 body) on February 4, 1810. He is one of the many 
 descendants of John and Elenor Whitney, of Water- 
 town, and the eighth in descent from the original 
 stock. Mr. Whitney was early engaged in the great 
 reforms of the century. In 1830, at the age of twenty, 
 after listening to an address by the celebrated Dr. 
 Pierson, of Salem, he signed a pledge to abstain 
 entirely from ardent spirits as a beverage, and from 
 that time he has labored on through all the phases of 
 the great temperance reform abstaining from all 
 
d^..^^^. 
 
i 
 I 
 
. :k 
 
SOUTHBOROUGH. 
 
 101 
 
 intoxicating liquors as a beverage. He still works 
 on, hoping for and believing in the final triumph of 
 this great cause of human progress. 
 
 In 18.S6, while keeping school on the Marhlehead 
 coast, he first listened to the Gospel according to anti- 
 slavery. Samuel J. May was the heavenly-tongued 
 apostle on that occasion in the Branch Church of 
 Salem, and from that lecture dates his interest in the 
 great anti-slavery agitation begun three or four years 
 before by William Lloyd Garrison. In the ranks of 
 that grand army of freedom he was ever happy to be 
 found. He was ordained as evangelist by the Massa- 
 chusetts Association of Restorationists, and occupied 
 pulpits as a supply for a few years. While thus 
 engaged he became deeply interested in the under- 
 taking of Rev. Adin Ballou, at Hopedale, Milford, 
 Mass. This attempt to realize in actual life our 
 highest conceptions of Christian principles was 
 entered upon with great enthusiasm, and for eight 
 years under several changes of business arrangements 
 he ioyfuUy labored on at the great moral problem. 
 He still clings to the hope that under more favorable 
 surroundings, and profiting by past experiences, what 
 was there attempted will yet be accomplished. All 
 the great reforms of the age— temperance, anti-slavery, 
 peace, the equal rights of women with men, and the 
 golden rule as the law of intercourse and labor — con- 
 stituted the policv of this attempt to realize the ideal 
 of the great Master. The weakness of the undertak- 
 ing, was found in the joint stock property of the under- 
 taking which placed the continuance of the experi- 
 ment in a few hands, and so brought it to a premature 
 end. But while it lasted it formed a grand stand- 
 point for living souls to utter and live their highest 
 convictions. 
 
 Mr. Whitney married, in 1842, Miss Hannah S. P. 
 Cotton, youngest child of Rev. Ward Cottton, of 
 Boylston. Three children were born to them — Daniel 
 Cotton, who left them at the age of seven years; Mary 
 P. C. (Billings), and Alice G. C. (Burton). 
 
 After leaving Hopedale in 1850 Mr. Whitney spent 
 one year in Beverly and two years in Boylston. In 
 185.3 he was chosen delegate from Boylston to amend 
 the Constitution of Massachusetts, and removed to 
 Southborough, that he might return daily to his fam- 
 ily while attending on that convention. The conser- 
 vative Whigs managed to quash the proposed amend- 
 ments before the people, but Mr. Whitney had the 
 satisfaction of voting to leave the term " male " out 
 of the amended Constitution. The conservatives of 
 that day looked upon the proposition as the wildest 
 of political dreams; but the thirty-five years since 
 that convention has brought it near even to our doors 
 here in Massachusetts. 
 
 During the years of darkness and violence following 
 the enactment of the Fugitive Slave Law, Mr. Whit- 
 ney was ever ready and glad to do duty in the ranks 
 of the Garrisonian Abolitionists. The flying fugi- 
 tives were ever welcome to his home, and the sharp 
 
 encounters with his pro-slavery neighbors were fre- 
 quent. On a town-meeting day a zealot in a bad 
 cause addressed Iiim with, " Mr. Whitney, you have 
 nigger on the brain." "Oh, no, Mr. B., you have nig- 
 ger on the brain ; I have negro on the heart," was his 
 reply. 
 
 When the final crash of arms came it was not 
 difficult to see that the end of slavery was near. Mr. 
 Whitney, during the last year of the war, labored in 
 the Sanitary Commission at City Point, and was 
 greatly pleased with the magnanimity of the Northern 
 soldiers, and the absence of all disposition to take 
 vengeance on the fallen traitors, as is common with 
 other nations. 
 
 He was delighted when the great silent man, who 
 brought the Rebellion to grief, brought our mother, 
 England, who treated us very shabbily during the 
 war, to a sense of her duty, or interest to pay the 
 damages. And since that day every effort and every 
 advance towards a permanent arrangement between 
 the two great English-speaking nations to settle all 
 their differences by arbitration, instead of the sword, 
 has given him the liveliest pleasure. 
 
 He believes in the good time coming, when nations 
 shall have outgrown the barbarism of war, and the 
 injustice, oppression and ignorance which constitutes 
 a chronic state of war. And he believes, further, that 
 this good time is to come through the instrumentality 
 of his beloved country. He knows that he must pass 
 over the dark river befi>re these great events trans- 
 pire, but a firm faith of the final triumph of right- 
 eousness on earth and beyond the earth makes the 
 evening of life joyful. 
 
 Curtis Newton was born in Fay ville, November 1 3, 
 1803. He married Lydia Ball Smith. He died Octo- 
 ber 11, 1880. In early life he was much interested in 
 military matters ; was Captain of the Rifle Company 
 for several years, and was chosen major, but declined 
 to serve. He represented his district to the General 
 Court, was many years assessor, was selectman four- 
 teen years, deputy sherif}', auctioneer for more than 
 twenty years, was moderator of town-meetings sev- 
 eral years, justice of the Peace. 
 
 At the annual town-meeting in March, 1881, the 
 following resolutions were unanimously passed, viz. : 
 
 R-isolved, Tliat in the death of our late townsman, Curtis Newton, 
 Esq., which occurred on the nth day of October last, we realize that 
 the town has lost a beloved citizen, a man who has filled many of its 
 highest offices, represented it in the General Court, and has ever per- 
 formed the duties intrusted to him in a manner and with a degree of fi- 
 delity that has done himself honor and has given satisfaction to his 
 constituents. He has contributed liberally in many ways to the cause of 
 freedom, and has always manifested a great love for the prosperity of 
 this, his native town. 
 
 IlemlL^efl, Tliat as a mark of respect due to so faithful a servant, we 
 direct our town clerk to record these resolutions on the town book of 
 records, and send an attested copy thereof to the widow of said deceased. 
 
 Dexter Newton was born in Fay ville, January 13, 
 1823. He married Arathusa A. Brigham, December 
 9, 1846. In early life he was engaged in the provision 
 busines-. He taught achool in this town three winters. 
 
102 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 He received his education in the common and high 
 schools in Southhorough and in the academy in 
 Westfield, Mass. He was station agent at Faj'ville 
 and Cordaville about eleven years; kept store in Cor- 
 daville about three years ; has been postmaster in Fay- 
 ville since July, 1869; United States assistant assessor 
 of internal revenue about five years; represented the 
 district in the General Court in 1861 and 1877 ; has 
 been auctioneer about twenty years, selectman ten 
 years, served on the Board of School Committee ten 
 years, asse.'sor twenty-seven years, overseer of the 
 poor five years, moderator of town-meetings over 
 thirty years, land surveyor, justice of the peace, 
 notary public, and has been Justice of the First Dis- 
 trict Court of Eastern Worcester since June, 1879; 
 has dealt largely in real estate, ha-s built nine houses 
 and has settled and helped to settle over two hundred 
 estates of deceased persons. He has zealously advo- 
 cated the principal reforms of his time. 
 
 Jonas Fay, Esq., a native of Southhorough, was 
 twice married. He was selectman, assessor and 
 member of School Committee for many years. Was a 
 school teacher when young ; represented the town in 
 General Court; deacon of the Pilgrim Evangelical 
 Church ; settled many estates of deceased persons 
 and was active in town affairs. 
 
 Deacon Francis Fisher was twice married; held 
 the office of selectman ; represented the district in 
 General Court ; in his younger days was a seafaring 
 man , and for a number of years a sea captain. 
 
 Ezekiel D. Rockwood was twice married ; was a 
 very prominent man ; served as selectman, overseer 
 of poor for many years, and represented the district 
 in the General Court. He was very liberal in his 
 donations for the cause of freedom and temperance. 
 
 Harvey Newton, Esq., son of Hezekiah Newton, 
 was born September 26, 1819, married Ann S. Gamage, 
 July 30, 1844; served as selectman one year. Was 
 once chosen to represent the district in the General 
 Court, but declined to serve — a very remarkable case. 
 He manufactured boots and shoes with .John Hartt, in 
 Soutliville, some seventeen years, and afterwards 
 carried on the business alone about eight years. He 
 built and now owns the shoe factories in that village, 
 and has contributed largely towards building up said 
 vill.ige. He was never blessed with children, but has 
 been highly blessed in many things. 
 
 •Tames Henry Robinson, M.D., born February 9, 
 1831, married Charlotte K. Rl' e, November 9, 18.57. 
 He graduated from Albany Medical College in 1856, 
 and commenced practice as physician at Deer Island 
 tlie same year. He practiced also in Ivan>as, and 
 while there was tiie family physician of the famous 
 John Brown. Since that time he has practiced in 
 Southhorough and vicinity. He has represented the 
 district in the General Court. . 
 
 William H. Buck, Esq., born August 26, 1813. He 
 married Sally Maria Brigham, June 20, 1850. He 
 was in the meat business some four years, and for 
 
 many years has been a cattle broker. He served as 
 selectman eight years, and has held various other im- 
 portant offices in town. He represented the district 
 in the General Court one year. 
 
 Benjamin F. Prentiss, Esq., born July 25, 1820 ; 
 married, July, 1850, to Susan S. Johnson, of whom 
 he had five children. He has held the office of 
 selectman eight years, overseer of the poor eleven 
 years ; is a master-builder by trade, and has erected 
 nearly three hundred buildings. 
 
 Sylvester C. Fay was born May 28, 1825. He mar- 
 ried Eliza Bell Burnett, daughter of Dr. Joel Bur- 
 nett, February 16, 1858. He kept store in Fayville 
 with his father and brothers many years. Lately he 
 has been engaged in the manufacture of corsets. He 
 is a man of much energy ; has served as selectman. 
 He has long been engaged in the temperance cause 
 and oiher reforms. His wife and her sister. Harriet 
 Burnett, have caused to be erected a large school- 
 house, in which is kept by them a school for about 
 thirty-five small boys, who are here prepared for 
 entrance to the St. Mark's and other classical 
 schools. 
 
 Leander W. Newton was born in Southhorough 
 November 26, 1838. He married Emma M. Muzzy 
 February 27, 1861. He has served as overseer of the 
 poor ten years, and as collector nine years. He has 
 represented the district in General Court. He is an 
 active business man. 
 
 Horace F. Webster was born January 22, 1829. 
 He married Ann M. Fox February 13, 1852. He 
 has been town treasurer six years, He also repre- 
 sented the district in General Court one year. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 STURBRIDGE. 
 
 BY LEVI B. CHASE. 
 
 Sturbridge is located in the southwest corner of 
 Worcester County, bordering south upon the Con- 
 necticut line, and west upon the county of Hampden. 
 
 The surface is made up of long parallel ridges, more 
 rounded hills, and corresponding valleys. 
 
 The upheaval of rock is mostly of the gneiss forma- 
 tion, the dip of the strata in some instances, as at the 
 lead-mine, being almost perpendicular. Laterally, 
 the trend of the strata is invariably northeasterly and 
 southwesterly. The ridgts liave their uniformity 
 broken up by differences in height, and the rounding 
 and excoriating action of the glacial period. 
 
 Right across these formidable barriers, and from its 
 entrance at the west to its outgo at the east line of 
 the original town, nearly — if it held a direct course — 
 at right angles with the rock system, the Quinebaug 
 has its way, dividing the territory into two nearly 
 j equal portions. 
 
STUKBRIDGE. 
 
 103 
 
 The streams affluent to the Quinebaug take the 
 water-shed from both directions, their general course 
 being governed by the same rule as the rock forma- 
 tion. 
 
 In the present town we have Breakneck Brook and 
 Hamant Brook from the south, the former discharging 
 at the south bend of the river, the other higher up, 
 near the centre of the valley. On the north side is 
 Hobbs, or Sugar Brook, which takes the flow from 
 Walker Pond, passes near the Common, and with its 
 long series of meadows forms a large portion and the 
 lowest level of the Central Valley. 
 
 Cedar Pond Brook, near the Fair Grounds, and 
 Long Pond Brook, near the western border, discharge 
 the water of the respective reservoirs of the same 
 name into the Quinebaug. 
 
 Allum Pond is a notable natural body of water sit- 
 uated about two miles northerly of Fiskdale Village. 
 It is about one mile long and half a mile wide. It 
 has Mount Toby upon the west of it, and is bordered 
 by elevated land. The water is held in a rocky basin 
 above the surrounding country. Fed by springs, its 
 clear water abounding in fish, the salubrity of the air 
 and the romantic scenery has given the shores of this 
 pond a local reputation as a camping-ground. 
 
 Walker Pond, in old times called Salstonstal's Pond, 
 is noted as a pleasure resort. Here the country road 
 skirts the eastern border beneath tall trees, while 
 upon the opposite side of the pond rises the abrupt 
 precipices of Walker Mountain, over which winds the 
 "mountain road," making up a drive which is highly 
 appreciated by the people in the vicinity. 
 
 Lead-mine, Long and Cedar Ponds, have each their 
 peculiar attractions. 
 
 Shumway Hill throws out its northern point as if 
 to stop the Quinebaug about two miles from the west- 
 ern border of the town. The river is forced to turn 
 and go around the hill close under the northern slope. 
 Along the northern hank of the river, just where it 
 curves, are situated the factories and the village of 
 Fiskdale. From the opposite slope of Shumway Hill 
 the view of thi-< village is enchanting. From the pin- 
 nacle of the hill very fine views of rural scenery are 
 obtained in every direction except the southward, 
 where lie the wooded hills and rocky ridges that envi- 
 ron the lead-mine region. To the eastward lies the 
 central valley of the town, and beyond the mited Fisk 
 Hill. 
 
 From Fisk Hill one has an extensive and delightful 
 view in every direction. 
 
 Looking westward across the valley, the Quinebaug 
 is seen emerging from Fiskdale along the base of 
 Shumway* Hill, and seems to loiter idly along by 
 grassy meadows and cultivated fields, winding abtmt 
 in many a romantic nook and charming retreat — a 
 blending of water, meadow and f )rest scenery seldom 
 surpassed. 
 
 All .along the valley it is the quiet Quinebaug. 
 Turned aside at Fisk Hill, it takes a southerly course, 
 
 going a little more hurriedly until it turns and 
 plunges eastward between high, rocky hills, and then 
 turns again to the northward, washing the opposite 
 side of the hill which turned it from its former course. 
 The river is again turned eastward by a high, rocky 
 precipice and by ihis time charged with power, which 
 is utilized for the purposes of man along the villages 
 of Southbridge. t 
 
 The quiet central valley is seen to the best advan- 
 tage from Fisk Hill, presenting many points of rural 
 beauty. 
 
 To the inhabitants of this town this valley has 
 the additional charm of ancestral and historic 
 associations — of being where are clustered the re- 
 ligious and secular institutions of civilization which 
 gives value to life, and of being the resting-place of 
 departed and loved ones. To those who have their 
 home here it is the very centre of the world. 
 
 Tantous(jue in Nipnet. — In September, 1633, 
 John Oldham, with three companions, passed through 
 Nipnet to the Connecticut River, " lodging at Indian 
 towns all the way." 
 
 While being entertained by the Indians at Tan- 
 tousque, he was shown some specimens of what proved 
 to be plumbago, or black-lead, and was shown, or 
 told, where the substance was to be found in large 
 quantities, near a pond called by the Indians Quassink. 
 That this took place in the valley of the Quinebaug, 
 in Sturbridge, is probable from following circum- 
 stances. 
 
 A path to the Connecticut River passed through 
 here, and there could have been none siuth of it 
 until beyond the abrupt ridges of the Breakneck 
 region ; the extent of which tract would carry any 
 southern route nearer, and probably south of the de- 
 posit of plumbago at the hill of Ocquebituque, "near 
 the cornfield where one Namaswhat lives." 
 
 The last-mentioned lead-mine was known to John 
 Pynchon some ten years later, but appears not to 
 have been discovered by John Oldham in 1633. The 
 hill of Ocquebituque is situated near the south line 
 of Union, Connecticut, six miles or more from the 
 Sturbridge mine. Hence, clearly John Oldham went 
 by the Quinebaug Valley path through this town, 
 about two miles north of the Sturbridge lead-mine, 
 and about len miles from the cornfield where Namas- 
 whnt lived. 
 
 William Pynchon established a trading-post for 
 furs at Agawara (Springfield) in 1635.' He had a 
 monopoly of the trade over a large territory, and for 
 a number of years the profits were considerable. One 
 of his first enterprises was opening a road to the Bay 
 settlements. 
 
 Preserved in the archives of Sturbridge are records 
 of roads whiih were used before the settlement, and 
 afterwiirds until the town was incorfiorated. By plot- 
 ting the toivn according to the original survey and 
 
 J Hon. George Sheldon. 
 

 104 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 distribution of lots, these isolated items of record 
 about the old paths have become available, and their 
 location known. 
 
 The one that will be described was called, upon 
 the records, " The road from Brimfield to Oxford." 
 From the west line of the town to Fiskdale there 
 is no record ; from a point back of Bacon & Bates' 
 store to No. 2 School-house ; from there to the lower 
 crossing over Cedar Brook, near the residence of Mr. 
 Geo. Wight, it was identical in location with the 
 present road ; passed the south side of Mr. Wight's 
 house, and a small pond-hole near Mrs. Kansom's, 
 then across the present highway, and to where Mr. 
 C. D. Russell now resides; then across to near Mr. 
 W. T. Lamb's, and along there with the present 
 road to Mrs. H. Plimptoo's ; then crossed Sugar 
 Brook, where N. D. Ladd & Son's mill-dam now is, 
 on over a field ; then through pasture and woodland 
 (where the tracks are still to be seen) to the north- 
 west mowing lot, on Mr. J. H. Lyon's farm ; thence 
 through the north part of his farm, passing Mr. N. 
 Eggleston's, to the southeast corner of Mrs. McGil- 
 pin's farm, to where there was a ford way over Mc- 
 Kinstry Brook by old Oxford line, and may be 
 traced in the direction of Dudley. It was the road 
 used by the first settlers of Sturbridge when they 
 moved from Medfield, Watertown and other places. 
 
 It is here suggested that this may be the exact 
 location of a section of the road opened by William 
 Pynchon, about 1635-38, and that it then followed 
 the general course of a previous Indian trail, which, 
 in its course westward, doubtless passed a little north 
 of Fiskdale, near the wigwams of the Putikookup- 
 pogg Indians, and on to Ashquoash, in the north 
 part of Brimfield. 
 
 Ten years later, 1648, Gov. John Winthrop writes 
 in his journal (ii. 325): "This year a new way was 
 found out to Connecticut, by Nashaway (Lancaster), 
 which avoids much of the hill way." Thi.s new way is 
 described by Mr. Temple (" Hist. North Brookfield ") 
 as passing down the valley of the Quaboag and 
 " struck the south trail east of Steerage Rock," in 
 Brimfield. Other evidences of record furnish satis- 
 factory proof that we have here the " Bay-Path " of 
 Dr. J. G. Holland's admirable historical novel with 
 that title. 
 
 Two important Indian paths, one from Providence 
 and another from Norwich, united at Woodstock, 
 and continued as one path through Sturbridge to 
 Brookfield. The course was quite direct from Leba- 
 non Hill to Fisk Hill, thence over Walker Moun- 
 tain, south of the pond and onward to South Pond, 
 a branch passing up the east shore to the ancient 
 village of Quobagud, while the more important 
 route skirted the west side of the pond, going on to 
 Wickabo.ig (now West Brookfield). It will be 
 again noticed farther along, when opened for an 
 Englishman's road, about 1680-90. 
 
 Gov. Winthrop sent Stephen Day, a printer, to 
 
 Tantousque, in Nipnet, in 1644, to examine the de- 
 posits of black lead, and also to search for other 
 minerals. 
 
 The 13th of November, the same year, the General 
 Court granted to John Winthrop, Jr., '"y" hill at 
 Tantousque, about sixty miles westward, in which 
 the black lead is, and liberty to pu/chase some land 
 of the Indians." (Winthrop by Savage, vol. ii. p. 
 213.) He purchased some land of the Indians, as it 
 appears. 
 
 A plot of land containing ten thousand two hun- 
 dred and forty acres was surveyed for Major-General 
 Waitstill Winthrop in 1715. Its east line ran 
 across Saltonstal's two thousand acres, which had 
 been surveyed the previous year, taking off nearly 
 one-third. A reasonable inference is, that there was 
 a prior claim, based upon a bargain between the an- 
 cestor, John Winthrop, Jr., and the Indians. In 
 this town the bounds were by natural features, In- 
 dian style : from a rock in a meadow south of Lead- 
 mine Pond, to an angle in Quinebaug River, north 
 of Geo. Wight's mills; then northward on the west 
 side of Cedar Pond to a point against the north end 
 of the original pond ; then west and onward, cover- 
 ing the site of Brimfield Centre; then southeastward 
 to the rock in the meadow. 
 
 The bounds of the tract were located with the 
 evident design of taking in the valuable lands along 
 the " Old Springfield Road," and, if fixed in 1644, or 
 in the days of John Winthrop, Jr., may be taken as 
 evidence of the antiquity of said road. 
 
 The lead-mine was being operated in March, 1658, 
 by employes of William Paine and Thomas Clark, 
 of Boston. The gentleman last named, it is sup- 
 posed, was the Captain Thomas Clark who, the latter 
 part of the same year, obtained a grant of the south- 
 ern mine of plumbago, or the hill of Acquebituque. 
 It appears that the Boston merchants carried on the 
 works at Tantousque for a share of the products, it 
 being included in the bargain that they should have 
 the owners' share at a stated price. A path was 
 opened from the lead-mine, passing a little south of 
 the house formerly owned by the late Otis Davis, 
 through Holland and Brimfield to the Springfield 
 road. 
 
 Richard Fellows kept a tavern, the site of which is 
 in the northeast part of Monson, and he was " very 
 willing to undertake to haul the lead to the water- 
 side," past his own door, to Connecticut River. 
 
 In the great war of 1675-76, known as " King 
 Philip's War," the Quabaugs were among the first to 
 take arms against the English. The Quinebaug 
 flowed between the land of the Wabbaquassets and 
 that owned by the Quabaugs. 
 
 No notable historical event occurred in Tantousque ; 
 its paths, however, were used by parties of both Eng- 
 lish and Indians. 
 
 Pliilip and his warriors were driven from Mount 
 Hope, and about the last of July, 1675, forced to flee 
 
STURBKIDGE. 
 
 105 
 
 from Pocasset Neck, passed through Woodstock and 
 Tantousque to Quabaug Old Fort. They were at that 
 time pursued by Captain Henchman, aided by Oneko, 
 son of Uncas, with fifty Mohegan warriors. 
 
 The fugitives crossed the Quinebaug and skurrled 
 up the forest-covered slope of what is now known as 
 Fisk Hill, in the land of their allies, the Quabaugs. 
 Their English pursuers, looking up the broad expanse 
 stretching away to the northward, knew that beyond 
 were the Quabaug Ponds, and that somewhere about 
 there were collected, in large numbers, their savage 
 foes. Captain Henchman here ordered the pursuit to 
 cease, and turned toward Boston. 
 
 Philip being reduced to a feeble following of forty 
 men, and "women and children many more," was un- 
 willing to advance in the direction of the English 
 forces at Brookfield, and at Tantousque passed on to 
 the Old Springfield Road, and arrived at Quabaug 
 Old Fort on the 6th of August. Quabaug Old Fort, 
 called by the Indians Ashquoach, was situated just 
 north of Sherman's Pond in Brimfield. A few days 
 later another party of Wampanoags, endeavoring to 
 get on the Nipmuck path to follow their chief, was 
 intercepted before it reached the Quinebaug River, 
 and one hundred and eleven men, women and chil- 
 dren were taken and delivered over to the English. 
 
 The same path was use<l by the fugitives who 
 escaped from the great battle of Narragansett Fort, 
 December 19, 1775. 
 
 The spring of 1676 came on with smiling sunshine, 
 awakening vegetation and the song of birds; but 
 among the colonists was a feeling of gloom and dis- 
 couragement. The Indians had been successful at 
 every point. 
 
 A change, however, was approaching. About the 
 middle of March the Indians were repulsed at West- 
 lield, Northampton and Hatfield —a grievous disap- 
 pointment. Many of them became tired of the war, 
 and returned to their fishing-places and hunting- 
 grounds. Admonished by recent suffering from 
 scarcity of food, many a sunny slope was being 
 planted with corn, beans and other crops. The old 
 wigwam was patched up, and their desire was for 
 peace. 
 
 But that was not to be ; they had carried the torch, 
 the tomahawk and the scalping-knife to many a home 
 of the white man, had commenced a war of extermina- 
 tion, had sown the wind, — the whirlwind was upon 
 them. 
 
 Into the valley of the Quinebaug, beneath the green 
 foliage, in the first week in June, 1G76, came Major 
 John Talcott, of Connecticut, with two hundred and 
 fifty mounted Englishmen, accompanied by Oneko, 
 son of Uncas, with two hundred Mohegan warriors. 
 They crossed the river in Dudley and coming up the 
 Springfield Road, rushed in every direction upon the 
 surprised inhabitants. Along the Quinebaug, by the 
 shores of our ponds, or wherever the dwelling of a 
 Quabaug might be, the Mohegans hunted them out 
 
 pursued upon the track of those who attempted to 
 escape, and killed or captured them. 
 
 When the war was over some of the hostile Indians 
 who had escaped drifted away in small parties and 
 became absorbed into other tribes. Some went to- 
 wards Maine, some to Canada, and some to the west- 
 ward, near Albany. 
 
 Their corn-fields, wheth.er on the hillside or upon 
 the plain by the river, were quickly seeded to pines, 
 and thereon were standing when the settlers came here 
 forests of fifty years' growth. Their wigwams entirely 
 disappeared. Stone implements alone speak of 
 former inhabitants. 
 
 Depopulated Tantousque was included in a tract of 
 the Nipmuck country, which a remnant of the In- 
 dians, the former owners, made over to the Massa- 
 chusetts government, February 10, 1681, for the sura 
 of fifty pounds and a reservation of land five miles 
 square, which is now in Dudley and Webster. 
 
 After the settlement of Woodstock, in 1656, and the 
 second settlement of Brookfield, about the same time, 
 a road from one place to the other, in their isolated 
 and feeble condition, became a necessity, and was 
 doubtless opened between these nearest neighbors at 
 an early period. The Brookfield and Woodstock 
 path came down on the west side of South Pond, and 
 was essentially the " New Boston Road," so called, as 
 far as Mr. C. D. Russell's, where it united with the 
 Old Springfield Road, and followed that about a mile 
 and a half to the old camping grounds, now the 
 northwest mowing lot on Mr. J. H. Lyon's farm. 
 Turning southward past where stands the Levins 
 Fisk house, then by Hosea Cutting's house and into 
 the present road west of Mrs. Emmon's house ; then 
 down the hill and across by Mr. P. Bond's house, 
 over by Mrs. Malcom Ammidown's residence, and 
 down the slope by the brick-yard to the river, where a 
 bridge was built of logs. 
 
 This was also near the fording-placeof the old Indian 
 trail. The path is traced by record southward from 
 the river to near the residence of Mr. Lewis Morse. 
 The present Woodstock road by the " Brown brick- 
 yard,'" so called, was laid across this old path, not far 
 from where Mr. Henry H. Wells' lane intersects it, 
 and may have passed from there over Lebanon Hill. 
 
 This Brookfield and Woodstock path followed in 
 a general way the previous Indian trail. Massachu- 
 setts acquired the title to these lands, with power to 
 grant the same, in 1681, as has been stated. 
 
 Tracts of land, of whatever size, granted to an in- 
 dividual were called farms, — a name distinguishing 
 such lands from grants made for towns. Individual 
 ownership of land in Tantousque was established for 
 the first time by lines and bounds November 24, 
 1714, the date of the survey of the Saltonstal farm. 
 At an early date in the history of the colony the 
 province of Massachusetts Bay gave to Sir Richard 
 Salstonstal, Knight, one of the patentees named in the 
 old charter, a tract of two thousand acres on the 
 
IIIC) 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 banks of Connecticut River. This property was 
 handed down among liis descendants, and was owned 
 in 1713 by his great-grandson, Rev. Gurdon Salston- 
 stal, of Norwich, Connecticut. 
 
 An agreement entered into by the province of 
 Massachusetts and the colony of Connecticut in the 
 year 1713 established a new division line, south of 
 which was found to be Mr.. Saltonstal's two thousand 
 acres, as well as many other grants of Massachusetts 
 along this border. In accordance with the terms of 
 the agreement, Massacliusetts paid to Connecticut, 
 for these former grants, an equal number of acres of 
 land by other grants within her now undisputed ter- 
 ritory ; and these new grants took the name, and for 
 many years were known as, " equivalent lands." 
 
 The following year Rev. Gurdon Salstonstal, then 
 Governor of Connecticut, agreed and accepted of the 
 General Assembly of the colony the right to " take 
 up to his own use the said quantity of acres, among 
 the equivalents allowed to this Colony, where it shall 
 best suit him, proviiled that the tract be taken up in 
 one entire piece," May, a.d. 1714. 
 
 It suited His Excellency to select the tract now 
 called the central Valley of Sturbridge. He obtained 
 his first view of the valley upon his arrival at the camp, 
 ing-ground, where the Woodstock road united with the 
 Old Springfield. He made that point the eastern 
 limit of his farm, the top of Shumway Hill the west- 
 ern extreme ; the bend of the river near Mr. A. J. 
 Morse's was made a southern angle, and the north 
 line of the old Bullock place, Mrs. Luther Hamant's 
 and J. J. Shepard's, defines the northern bounds. It 
 was called by his children Pineland. 
 
 The Demick Farm was west of and adjoined Sal- 
 stonstal's farm. The origin of this grant is unknown. 
 The most part of the village of Fiskdale is built up- 
 on this tract. 
 
 The Eliot Farm. — In "Ancient Plans,'' i. 285, is 
 found a plot of John Eliot's one thousand acres, en- 
 dorsed : "Purchased by Rev. John Eliot the 27th of 
 September, 1655, of Wattaloowekin and Nakin, In- 
 dians — said 1000 acres of land lies Southward of, 
 and contiguous to the township of Brookfield alias 
 Quabaug, at a place called Pookookappog Ponds." 
 
 December 5, 1715, the title to this land was con- 
 firmed to the heirs of Mr. Eliot by the General Court. 
 About eight hundred acres of the tract lie within the 
 bounds of Sturbridge, owned by the following parties, 
 viz. : Heirs of Mr. Austin Allen, Mr. G. H. Adams, 
 Mr. Monahan, Mr. Griffin and Mr. S. F. Bemis. 
 
 Mr. Eliot petitioned the General Court in 16ii4, in 
 ''. . . behalf of the Indiana of Putikookuppogg, . . ." 
 and was granted "... a plant tion to the Indians 
 not to exceed fower thousand acres . . ." It was not 
 to interfere with any former grant, and the Indians 
 were not to convey it away, or any part of it, without 
 the consent of the General Court. This grant was in 
 view of Rev. Apostle Eliot's plan of establishing a 
 " praying town here, alter the model of th.it at 
 
 Natick." The consummation of this enterprise was 
 prevented by the breaking out of King Philip's War, 
 and the removal from this vicinity of the Putikookup- 
 pogg Indians. No survey of the laying out of this 
 grant has been found. 
 
 The Winthrop Farm. — The form and position of 
 this farm, as first surveyed, has already been described 
 on a preceding page. 
 
 Judge Wait Winlhrop, who inherited this property 
 from his father, died 1718, intestate. He left two 
 children — John Winthrop, of New London, Conn., 
 and Ann, the wife of Thomas Lechmere, of Boston. 
 
 The son's claim under English law, that the real 
 estate was entirely his own, and the claim of Mr. 
 Lechmere, in behalf of his wife, under the colonial 
 law, occasioned a suit which coijtinued ten years or 
 more, being finally decided according to the colonial 
 law. 
 
 The settlement of Brimfield was " hindered by the 
 extent and uncertain tenure" of the Winthrop farm, 
 and the committee for laying out the town petitioned 
 the General Court in 1723 for a reform of the survey. 
 This petition was refu.sed. But it was renewed in 
 1727, accompanied by one bearirjg the same request 
 from Mr. Lechmere. The result was a new survey, 
 which was accomplished and accepted by the General 
 Court December 18, 1728. It was in a square form, 
 four miles each way, with the Connecticut line for the 
 southern boundary. The farm formerly owned by 
 Mr. Lyman Janes occupies the northeast corner; the 
 road by the residence of Mr. John Hamilton is on 
 the east line. The farm extends into Holland one 
 and a half miles, the north line of that town being 
 identical with that of the farm. 
 
 It is presumed that the position and " uncertain 
 tenure" of the Winthrop farm may have postponed 
 decisive action of the General Court upon "The 
 petition of several of the inhabitants of Medfield and 
 sundry others," ..." lor a Grant of the Province 
 Land between Oxford, Brimfield and Brookfield." 
 
 The first petition of 1725 called out the action of 
 the court, in so far as to order, June 2, 1725, the lands 
 to be surveyed. The repirt, one year later, was made 
 by John Chandler, Jr. The survey was made the 1 1th, 
 12th and 13th of May, 1726— Wm. Ward, surveyor; 
 Ebenezer Learned and Joseph Plimpton, chairmen. 
 The report gives thirteen tliou-and seven hundred and 
 thirty-two acres as the amount of province land, ex- 
 clusive of the liirms which have been described. The 
 subsequent re-location of the Wiuthrop farm dimin- 
 ished that amount to the extent of about three thou- 
 sand acres. 
 
 The second petition, with twenty-seven names, 
 came up June 13, 1728, and was ordered to be referred 
 to the next lull session ; iii the mean time a committee 
 was sent to view the land and estimate the value, who 
 reported it to be worth o.ne thousand pounds. 
 
 A third petition, with fifteen more names added, in 
 all forty-two, came up in the General Court July 4, 
 
 I 
 
STURBRIDGE. 
 
 107 
 
 1729. The prayer of the petitioners was granted 
 by a vote of the House, but the Council failed to con- 
 cur. 
 
 September 3, 1729, William Ward, Esq., and Joshua 
 Morse, by petition to the General Court iu behalf of 
 themselves and associates, obtained the object of sev- 
 eral years of persistent effort, — the grant for 
 
 A New Township. — The evidence does not appear 
 that the one thousand pounds were exacted by the 
 General Court, but the grantees were put under cer- 
 tain obligations in^tead. They were "obliged in 
 seven years' time from this date to settle, and to have 
 aciually on the spot fifty families, each of which to 
 build a house of eighteen feet square at least, to 
 break up and bring to fit for plowing and mowing, — 
 and what is not fit for plowing, to be well-stocked 
 with English grass — seven acres of land; to settle a 
 learned orthodox minister and layout to him a house- 
 lot, equal to the other house-lots, which house-lot 
 shall draw a fiftieth part of the province land now 
 granted, and to be accounted as one of the fifty that 
 shall be settled." Following were suitable regula- 
 tions for managing the business of the association. 
 
 Building a meeting-house was not among the 
 court's requirements. 
 
 Proprietary History. — The following are names 
 of the grantees in the order by them established. Most 
 of those whose residence is not here given were of 
 Medfield. 
 
 Meletiiih Bourne. 
 
 Williiim Ward, of Soutbborough. 
 
 Ezra Bourne. 
 
 Stiubael Coram. 
 
 Thomas Learned, of Oxford, 
 
 Natlian Fisk, of M'ulertuwn, 
 
 Henry Fisk, of Watertownr 
 
 Ebenezer Learned, of 0.\furd. 
 
 JIuhum Ward, of Sontliborougb. 
 
 Gersboni Keyes, of Boston. 
 
 Zerobabel Eager. 
 
 Jolin Shearman, of Jlaiiborough. 
 
 Joseph Haker. 
 
 .lonas Houghton, of Larjcaster. 
 
 Thomas Gleason. 
 
 Moses Gleason. 
 
 Jonjis Gleason. 
 
 Joshua Morse. 
 
 Joseiih Plimpton. 
 
 Nathaniel Smith, of Dedham. 
 
 Solomon Clark. 
 
 Minister's 
 
 Timothy Haniant. 
 
 William Plimpton. 
 
 Ephraim Partridge. 
 
 Abraham Harding. 
 
 Moses Harding. 
 
 Josiah Ellis. 
 
 Peter Dalch. 
 
 Ezra Clark. 
 
 Samuel Ellis. 
 
 David Ellio. 
 
 Francis Moquet, of Framinghan 
 
 Henry Atianis. 
 
 Ichabod Harding. 
 
 John Plimpton. t 
 
 Jusiah Cheney.' 
 
 John Dwight. 
 
 Jonathan Boyden.l 
 
 Joseph Clark, of Medfield. 
 
 Nathaniel Morse. 
 
 James Deoison. 
 
 Joseph Marsh. 
 
 right. 
 
 Seven supernumerous shares were sold for seventy- 
 five pounds each to : 
 
 Gerslioni Keyes. 
 Abraham Harding. 
 Nehetnith Allen. 
 
 James Denison. 
 Moses Allen. 
 Seth Wight. 
 David Morse. 
 
 Twelve at least of these became inhabitants of the 
 new plantation. Many others of the Medfield pro- 
 ])rietors sent their children and grandchildren. So 
 many came from that town, that after calling the 
 
 1 Died before the fireit division of hind. 
 
 place Dumer in 1731, it became known as New 
 Medfield. 
 
 Several early settlers became proprietors by pur- 
 chase. Ezekiel Upham bought of John Shearman ; 
 David Shumway of Ebenezer Learned; Hinsdale 
 Clark one of the shares of James Denison ; John 
 Harding had one of the shares of his " father, Abra- 
 ham ;" Edward Foster bought of Joseph Plimpton ; 
 Moses Marcy becoming acting proprietor in Novem- 
 ber, 1735, by power of atturney from absent members. 
 Abraham Harding, of Medfield, served as clerk for 
 the proprietors for many years. 
 
 At the first meeting, Novembers, 1729, a committee 
 of five, viz. : William Ward, Esq., Joshua Morse, 
 Capt. Ebenezer Learned, Capt. John Dwight and 
 Abraham Harding, were empowered to act in all the 
 affairs of the proprietors for the year ensuing. 
 
 They were " directed to lay out one hundred lots in 
 the best of our land, adding to the poorest lots a 
 quantity of acres according lo the best of their judg- 
 ment to make them as equal in value to ihe best as 
 they can." " None of the one hundred lots to be less 
 than fifty acres." " And then to couple two lots to- 
 gethtr and make them as equal in value, each couple 
 or pair as they can." This was accomplished, and 
 the drawing was carried out "July y° 9th, 1730." 
 
 This first division comprised nearly all the proprie- 
 tors' lands north of Quinebaug River ; also south of 
 the river the west side of Shumway Hill, and several 
 lots where now are situated Globe Village and the 
 centre village of Southrbridge. 
 
 The second divisionywhich was made in 1733, com- 
 prised the most part of the town now in Southbridge. 
 
 Most of the remaining lands were divided in 1740 ; 
 and again some small remnants in 1761, 
 
 As early as June, 1780, the " Committee^of Affairs " 
 received a letter from the heirs of Governor Salston- 
 stal containing proposals for locating the meeting- 
 house on their land. In the following November, 
 Jonas Houghton, of Lancaster, and Ebenezer Learned, 
 of Oxford, in behalf of the proprietors, obtained a 
 deed— free gift — of "... "six acres of land to set a 
 meeting-house upon, out of a farm or tract of land 
 containing two thousand acres, lately granted to the 
 Hon. Gurdon Salstonstal, deceased, by the General 
 Assembly of y'^ said Province, lying in Pine-land, 
 near or upon where y° road wliich runs from Brook- 
 field to Woodstock meets with the road now used 
 from Brimfield to Oxford." Land was given for 
 highways four rods in width through their lands 
 where most convenient, east and west, north and 
 south. 
 
 This deed contained no description of bounds, and 
 the locaticm within certain limits was left to the pro- 
 prietors. This was well; and the names of William 
 Ward, Esq., of Southborough, Jonas Hougliton, of 
 Lancaster, Joseph Plimpton, Joshua Morse and Abra- 
 ham Harding (last three of Medfield), who located 
 the meeting-house, the common, and planned the tys- 
 
 / 
 
108 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 tern of roads which diverge therefrom, should be held 
 in remembrance. The suitable place was found about 
 one-fourth of a mile southeast of where the road from 
 Brookfleld united with the road, as then used, from 
 Brimfield to Oxford. 
 
 The heirs of Governor Salstonstal were four daugh- 
 ters, viz.: Elizabeth, wife of Ricliard Christopher; 
 Mary, wife of Jeremiah Miller; Sarah, wife of Samuel 
 Davis (all of New London, Conn.); and Catherine, wife 
 of William Brattle, of Cambridge. The farm was di- 
 vided, and Mrs. Christopher and Mrs. Miller had the 
 eastern half, one thousand acres, which they sold, in 
 1732, to William Ward, Esq., who had been for two 
 years preceding chairman of the committee for for- 
 warding the settlement. He built a saw-mill on Sugar 
 or Hobb's Brook, and the large pine trees found stand- 
 ing near by, perhaps on what is now Sturbridge Com- 
 mon, were cut and siwed into lumber, which was used 
 in building the meeting-house in 1733-34, The meet- 
 ing-house was built by John Comins, Jr., of Oxford, 
 after a plan of one at Grafton. The first meeting- 
 house stood upon the site now occupied by No. 1 
 School and public library building. 
 
 The money, five hundred and twenty-five pounds, 
 received for the seven supernumerous shares sold 
 was, by vote, donated to the purpose of building the 
 meeting-house. Twenty pounds were raised in No- 
 vember, 1733, "for y° completing and finishing y" 
 meeting-house at New Medfield (-lo-called)." In 
 January, 1734, it was not finished, but meetings were 
 held the latter part of that year. A Mr. Cowell was 
 paid twenty-eight pounds, and eight pounds for board. 
 Ninety-eight pounds were raised for preaching in 1735, 
 and a like sum for 1736. It was an assessment of forty 
 shillings to each share per year. 
 
 Thesettlers in New Medfield made choice, in March, 
 1736, of Rev. Caleb Rice, who was accordingly 
 "called" to be their minister. Preliminaries being 
 arranged, Mr. Rice accepted the call in August, was 
 ordained September 29th, and installed pastor of a 
 church formed at that time. 
 
 The installment of a pastor released the proprietors 
 from any further care or expense about preaching in 
 New Medfield. 
 
 In the matter of roads and bridges nothing what- 
 ever was done during the eight years that the public 
 charges were paid by the proprietors. The members 
 of the association, who were settlers, were a minority. 
 From time to time — nearly every meeting — articles 
 were inserted in the warrants asking for action about 
 roads and bridges. A piece of road was laid out by 
 the proprietors in 1736, and nothing expended upon 
 its construction. A committee was appointed in 1731 
 to select the most necessary and convenient place or 
 places for a bridge or bridges over Quinebaug River. 
 
 There is no record of any report of that committee. 
 At a meeting of the proprietors. May 31, 1738, it was 
 "Voted: That Joshua Morse shall have £1 : 16:0, 
 for a journey to New Medfield in y" year 1736, to a 
 
 proprietors' meeting to prevent Building Bridges over 
 Quinebaug river in s'' town." 
 
 This policy of the association occasioned much 
 inconvenience and hardship to the settlers. The Old 
 Springfield Road and the Brookfield and Woodstock 
 were the only ways of ingress and egress, and, besides 
 those, such paths as individuals made for themselves. 
 
 The time specified in the grant of the township 
 expired in 1737. The court's requirement in every 
 respect having been fulfilled, the "Committee of Af- 
 fairs" elected November 9, 1737, were instructed, by 
 vote, " to petition y' General Court at their next 
 session, that the settlers or inhabitants of New Med- 
 field (so called) be invested with such privileges as 
 other towns in this province by law Injoy." 
 
 The response of the Legislature, in May, 1738, was 
 an "Act of Incorporation," entitled "An Act for 
 Erecting a New Town in the County of Worcester, at 
 a Plantation called ' New Medfield,' by the Name of 
 Sturbridge." 
 
 The settlement having arrived at the dignity of a 
 municipality, with the same privileges and rights of 
 other towns in the province, the proprietors had no 
 longer any oflicial power in her affairs. 
 
 All the lands which had been received from the 
 heirs of Hon. Gurdon Salstonstal, also the meeting- 
 house, were given to be the property of the town, 
 " for the use and benefit of the town of Sturbridge 
 forever." This was voted at a meeting of the proprie- 
 tors, April 10, 1740. 
 
 The proprietary association existed until 1788, 
 when the book of records was closed. Job Hamant 
 was the last clerk. 
 
 One of the original grantees, Henry Fi-^k, outlived 
 the association. He died in 1790, aged eighty-three. 
 
 Sturbridge. — When first incorporated, no portion 
 of "The Country Gore" was included. This was a 
 tract often thousand acres, in the form of a gore, left 
 between Oxford and Leicester, when the latter town 
 was set off, which extended westward to a line run- 
 ning through Walker and South Ponds, the wide end 
 of the gore. 
 
 In answer to a petition of John Davis, Caleb Child 
 and others of the inhabitants, in 1741, the General 
 Court annexed about one-third of the tract to this 
 town. "Brookfield 500 acres" was annexed to that 
 town in 1717, as compensation for the same amount 
 previously laid out to Col. John Pynchon, on Coy's 
 Hill, and occasioned the peculiar form of the lines 
 between said town and Sturbridge. 
 
 Including what was called "The Neck," lying 
 between Oxford or Dudley and Woodstock, the 
 southern bounds of the original town extended east 
 as far as Southbridge now does on the Connecticut 
 line. 
 
 Those settlers who were inhabitants of New Med- 
 field (so called), fulfilling the " Court's requirements" 
 before the incorporation of the town, also the home- 
 steads which they originated, are the following: 
 
STURBRIDGE. 
 
 109 
 
 V^' 
 
 Aaron Allen (Joseph, Joseph, James), born 1715; 
 
 wife Hannah ; came from Dedhani, originally 
 
 from Medtield. His house is still standing, now 
 owned by Mr. Nelson Bennett. 
 
 Moses Allen (brother of the preceding), born 1708. 
 He was a proprietor. He began on the next lot north 
 of his brother, now Henry Weld's. He had no family 
 here, and removed from the town after a few years. 
 
 Joseph Allen, with the preceding, were the three 
 sons of widow Miriam (Wight) Allen, who came with 
 them from Medfield. He was born 1702 ; married, first, 
 Abigail Gold; second, Sarah Parker; began the 
 homestead long known as the " Squire Jabez Harding 
 place." He and his family left the town after a few 
 ears. 
 
 Nehemiah Allen (Joseph, James) born 1699; mar- 
 ried Mary Parker. He came from Sherborn and 
 settled the site called the " Old Allen Place," north 
 of the Baptist Church in Fiskdale. He was a pro- 
 prietor. 
 
 Joseph Baker, from Dedham, probably (wife 
 Keziah) ; was a grantee, and settled lot 47, his own 
 right. The homestead is abandoned, and now in- 
 cluded in the farm of Mr. C. G. Allen. 
 
 David Bishop ; wife Hannah ; on the Holland 
 road, now known as the Deacon Jonathan liyon 
 place. 
 
 Nathaniel Bond ; house site the east side of the 
 road in the .south part of the farm of Mr. T. E. Arnold. 
 
 Hinsdale Clark (Nathaniel, Joseph), born 1710; 
 married Anne Partridge ; house site near where Har- 
 vey Newell now resides in Globe Village. 
 
 Joseph Cheney (Josiah, Joseph), from Medfield ; 
 born 1709 ; married Margery Mason ; settled the | 
 Cheney place on Shuraway Hill ; now abandoned. 
 
 Phinehas Collar, from Medfield; born 1702; wife 
 Hannah ; settled on the next lot east T. E. Arnold's 
 farm ; now abandoned. 
 
 Ebenezer Davis; wife Mary; settled where Mr. 
 Hayer lives, near the turnpike school-house. 
 
 James Deniaon, a native of Scotland ; wife Expe- 
 rience ; located where Lewis Morse resides in South- 
 bridge. He was a grantee. 
 
 Ebenezer Fay ; married Thankful Hyde ; located 
 next north of Eliot'a farm ; known as the Cyrus Fay 
 place. 
 
 Henry Fiske (Nathan, Nathan, Nathan), from 
 Watertown ; born 1707 ; married Mary Stone; house 
 Bite upon E. T. Brooks' farm on Fiske Hill. He was 
 a grantee. 
 
 Daniel Fiske, brother of the preceding; born 1709; 
 married, first, Dilliverance Brown; second, Jemima 
 Shaw ; located next north of his brother. 
 
 Samuel Freeman ; wife Mary ; house site on Elm 
 Street, Southbridge. 
 
 Jonathan Fosket ; wife Hannah ; settled where now 
 Melvin Shepard resides. 
 
 Edward Foster ; site now occupied by Alonzo 
 Marcy, Southbridge. 
 
 Joseph Hatch ; site of the Pauper Asylum, South- 
 bridge. 
 
 Henry Hooker (Henry), from Medfield ; married, 
 1733, Mary Parker, of Needham ; first settler on the 
 Brackett place ; site now owned by Mrs. F. W. Em- 
 mons. 
 
 John Harding (Abraham, John, Abraham), born 
 1713; married Vashti Rice; settled where Mr. C. G. 
 Allen now resides. 
 
 Caleb Harding, brother of preceding; born 1714; 
 married Hannah Weld ; settled the place now Edward 
 Nichols'. 
 
 James .Johnson; wife Susanna; settled the farm 
 called the Merrick place, west of Fiskdale. 
 
 Ebenezer Knapp, of Medfield ; married Elizabeth 
 Mason. 
 
 Samuel Leach, from Boston ; married, 1736, Lydia 
 Mason, of Medfield ; began where Ezekiel Cooper 
 now lives. 
 
 Joseph Marsh, of Medfield ; wife Sarah ; originated 
 the homestead now the residence of S. F. Bemis. 
 
 Aaron Martin ; wife Sarah ; began the homestead 
 now Horatio Carpenter's, on Fiske Hill. 
 
 Moses Marcy, from Woodstock, Conn. ; born 1702; 
 married, 1723, Prudence Morris. His house is the 
 residence of Andrew Marcy, in Southbridge. 
 
 Jonathan Mason, married, 1739, Hepzil)ah Morse, 
 both of Dedham ; settled where the late Oliver Mason 
 resided in Southbridge. 
 
 Noah Masin, his brother, married, 1736, Keziah 
 Muscraft ; settled where the late Lyman Chamber- 
 lain resided, in Southbridge. 
 
 Joseph Morse (Joseph, Joseph), married Expe- 
 rience Morse, both of Medway ; located where A. H. 
 Morse now resides, in Southbridge. 
 
 David Morse (David, Ezra, John, Samuel), born 
 1710 ; wife Jerusha Smith ; the homestead of A. J. 
 Morse. 
 
 John Morse, his brother, born 1717 ; settled where 
 Thomas Mack now lives, northwest of Fiskdale. 
 
 Joseph Moffett ; wife Mary ; the " Old Holbrook 
 Place." 
 
 Josiah Perry ; wife Hannah ; homestead of the 
 late T. N. Harding, in Southbridge. 
 
 Onesiphorus Pike ; now Mrs. Luther Hamant. 
 
 Solomon Rood ; wife Sarah ; Jason Smith's or ntar 
 there. 
 
 Rev. Caleb Rice ; wife Priscilla ; at the parsonage, 
 now Wm. Whittemore's. 
 
 Richard Rogers ; where W. H. H. Ormsby resides. 
 
 John Sireeter. 
 
 Joseph Smith (Nathaniel, Samuel, Henry), born 
 1707 ; married Abiel Hamant. He was the first who 
 stayed through a winterin this town, probably 1730-31. 
 His location was between W. H. H. Ormsby's on the 
 north and the George Plimpton place on the south. 
 
 Joseph Scott, settled on Moses Marcy 's mill-grant. 
 The house site is near the residence of Mr. David G. 
 Whittemore. 
 
110 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Isaac Newell (Isaac, Isaac, Abraham), from Need- 
 ham ; born l(i88; married, 1715, Abigail ; settled 
 
 first east of Cedar Pond. 
 
 John Stacy; wife Sarah ; on the site of the 
 
 residence of Mr. Melvin Haynes; kept tavern there. 
 
 Samuel Shumway, from Oxford ; wife Sarah ; farm 
 DOW occupied by William H. Shumway, his great- 
 grandson. 
 
 David Shumway, from Oxford ; wife Esther ; the 
 S. M. Streeter farm, now owned by Fiskdale Mills 
 Company. 
 
 Ebenezer Stearns ; the Leonard place, now Mrs. 
 Malcom Ammidown's. 
 
 Daniel Thurston (Daniel, Daniel, John), born 
 Medfieid, 1702; was in Marlborough 1732, in New 
 Medfield (Sturbridge) in 1737 ; wife Miriam — -. 
 
 Rowland Taylor, from Leicester; house site where 
 L. B. Chase now lives. 
 
 George Watkins ; wife Dilliverance ; the George 
 Weld place. 
 
 Hezekiah Ward, sou of William, of Southborough, 
 married Sarah Green, of Leicester; site of the resi- 
 dence of S. H. Hobbs. 
 
 Charles Ward, his brother; wife Abigail ; where J. 
 H. Lyon now resides, on Fiske Hill. 
 
 Ezekiel Upham was of Dorcliester, in 1726; born 
 1700; wife Hannah; his homestead has continued in 
 the name, now Nathaniel Upham. 
 
 From items of record, gathered here and there, the 
 foregoing are known to have been here before the 
 town was incorporated. They constituted the main 
 portion of those who fulfilled the court's require- 
 ments. 
 
 There were a few more, probably, on the ground, 
 whose names cannot now be given. The number of 
 families were increased to over one hundred in about 
 twenty years, and after that, by the formation of new 
 families by the sons and daughters of the early settlers, 
 the town continued rapidly to increase in population 
 during the period previous to the Revolution. 
 
 Many new names appeared. As founders of well- 
 known families here, the following may be mentioned : 
 John Weld, Nathaniel Walker and Jabez Nichols 
 were brought into our limits by the annexation of 
 over three thousand acres of the "Country Gore," in 
 1741 or '42. Rowland Clark, Benjamin Hyde, John 
 Marsh, Benjamin Robbins, Jeremiah Streeter, Na- 
 thaniel Smith and Daniel Plimpton were here 1745. 
 Ralph Wheelock,,. William McKinstry and Jabez 
 Harding in 1755 ; Gershom Plimpton, 1759 ; James 
 Plimpton, 1764. James Gibbs and the Howards 
 settled in the lead-mine district before 1770. David 
 Wight moved here in 1774. 
 
 The first meeting for the choice of officers for the 
 organization of this town was held the 18th of Sep- 
 tember, 1738. The freeholders and other inhabitants 
 qualified to vote in town affairs were assembled at the 
 meeting-house, which was new and unpainted. The 
 house was fifty feet long, forty wide, and twenty feet 
 
 between sills and plates. It had three doors, east, 
 west and south ; and galleries along the same three 
 sides; the north side of the hall being occupied by 
 the pulpit. The pews had not at this time been made. 
 The house stood on a knoll, and all about the slopes 
 and the small plain to the eastward were the slump?, 
 half-trimmed logs, broken snags, bushes, and the 
 usual appearances of a recent clearing ; beyond which 
 was a small saw-mill on the brook, and two or three 
 houses and some cleared land along the slope of the 
 rising hill farther on. For two miles westward, and 
 about one mile north and south, lay an unbroken 
 forest — Salstonstal's Farm, held for rise in value. 
 There were no highways. A path cut through the 
 woods northward by where the cemetery now is to 
 the "Old Springfield Road," and such ways as indi- 
 viduals made for themselves, was all that appeared. 
 
 Those who emerged from the woods and gathered at 
 the meeting-house, upon the day above mentioned, were 
 all young men, sanguine, full of the romance of life 
 and the excitement and novelty of their position, 
 They, upon that day, organized a municipal govern- 
 ment, and began the following list of officers, reach- 
 ing down to our time. 
 
 The names of moderators, town clerks, treasurers, 
 selectmen and representatives will here be given. 
 Other officers elected by the town have been : Assess- 
 ors, constables and collectors of taxes, wardians — an 
 office of ecclesiastical character, ranking in secular 
 authority next after the minister. They were first 
 elected in this town in 1762, and dropped after 1790. ■ 
 Two, sometimes three or four, were chosen each year. 
 " Informers of the breaches of the lavy for the preser- 
 vation of Deer," called later deer-reeves, were elected 
 annually as late as 1825. Tythingmen were elected 
 until 1840 or later, "Clerk of the Market," until 
 1775, after that called sealer of weights and measures. 
 Haywards were elected at first, and the office was 
 continued under the name of field-driver. Surveyors 
 of highways, fence-viewers, hog-reeves, sealers of 
 leather, surveyors of lumber, measurers of wood and 
 bark. 
 
 It is designed in the following town officer lists that 
 no individual should appear more than once under 
 the same office, the name of each citizen being 
 followed (1) by the first and last years of his elec- 
 tion to that oftice; and (2) by the total number of 
 times elected for annual terms of service during the 
 intervening years. The first years after each name, 
 reading downwards, show the order of elections in 
 regular sequence. 
 
 Moderators.— Mosea Marcy (Uol.), 1738, 1773 ; J18. Isaac Newell 
 (Dea.), 1730 ; 1. Edward Foster (Ilea.), 1750 ; 1. Joseph Baker (Dea.), 
 1758; 1. Nathaniel Wallier(Capt.), 1762, 1774 ; 11. Samuel Freeman, 
 1783, 17G4 ; 2. Joshua Harding (Dea.), 1704, 17!)I ; 13. Daniel Fisxe 
 (Dea.), 1760, 1773; 4. Moses Weld (Dea), 177.1, I70U ; 31. Ebenezer 
 Crafts (Col.), 1770, 1789 ; 11. Timothy Newell (lien.), 1780, 18i 4; 24. 
 Timothy Parker (Capt ), 1784, 17'J1 ; 0. Josiah Walker, 1787, 1800 ; a. 
 Oliver Plimpton, 1701,1812; 37. Stephen Harding (Maj.),1703, 1797 ; 
 3. Erasmus Babbitt, Jr., 1707, 1709 ; 2. Joshua Harding, 1789 ; 1. 
 Thomas Babbitt (Dr.), 1799 ; 2. Thomas Upham, 18o2, 1818; 4. John 
 
STURBRIDGE. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Paine, 1806 ; 1. Gershom Plimpton, 1809, 1815 ; 15. David Wight, Jr., 
 181.) ; 1. Simeon Fislie (Capt.), lKl.3, 1815 ; 2. Edward Pliijlips (Col), 
 1816, 18.5.5 ; 50. Sylvester Watkins, 1817, 1824 ; 4. Simeon Burt, 1818 ; 
 1. George Davis, Esq., 181i), 1821 ; 3. Roswell Warner,1819, 1S47 ; 5. 
 Hiram Wlieelock (Col.), I82G; 1. Avery P. Taylor, 1827, 1870; 14. 
 Gardner Watkins, 1832; 1. Pliny Freeman (Capt.), 1833, 1837 ; 5. 
 David Wiglit (Col.), 1831, 1841 ; 2. Thomas Merrick, 1837; 1. Caleb 
 Weld, Jr. (Capt.), 1840, 1849; 9. Beuj. D. Hyde, Esq., 1849,1856; 12. 
 David Wight (Capt.), 184.1, 1867 ; 7. David K. Porter, 1847 ; 1. Wil- 
 liam H. Sanders (Dr.), 1860 ; 1. Truman Charles, 1851, 1852 ; 3. Simeon 
 A, Drake, 1851, 1861; 14. Nelson Bennett, 1853, 1870 ; 6. Simeon P. 
 Marsh, 1853, 1883; 47. Alpheus Shumway, 1855; 2. Henry Haynes, 
 Jr., 1802, 1877 ; 8. Emerson Johnson, 186:5, 18C5 ; 3. Henry E. Hitch- 
 cock, 1866, 1879 ; 2. Noah D. Ladd, 1868, 1888 ; 9. Edmond Nichols, 
 1869; 1. A. B. Chamberlain, 1875; 1. John A. Gould, 1878; 1. Clar- 
 ence Fowler (Rev.), 1870 ; 1. Arthur C. Moore, 1881 ; 1. C. B. Car- 
 penter, 1882; 1. Frank H. Gleason, 1883 ; 1. Henry D. Hajnes, 1884, 
 1. H. C. Wales, 1885; 2. 
 
 Town Clrls —Daniel Fiske (Dea.), 17.18. '42 ; 4. Isaac Newell (Dea.), 
 1730; 1. Moses Marcy (Col.), 1743, '01; 18. Joshua Harding (Dea.); 
 1769, '82 ; 22. Joshua Harding, Jr., 1783, '90 ; 7. Isaac Clark, 1786 ; 
 1, DavidWight, Jr., 1791, 1808; 13. Jacob Corey (Dr.), 1809, '19 ; 8. 
 Samuel Freeman, 1815, '17 ; 3. Beuj. Bullock, 1833, '34 ; 2. Alfred M. 
 Merrick, 1835, '36; 2. Jacob Corey, Jr., 1837, '41 ; 5. Truman Charles, 
 1842, '43 ; 2. George V. Corey, 1844 ; 1. George Davis (Esq., Dea ) 
 1845, '49 ; 5. David K. Porter (Dea,), 1850, '69 ; 10. Samuel H. Hobbs,' 
 1860, '02; 3. Henry Haynes (Dea.), 180.3, '65 ; 3. Emery L. Bates, 
 1806, '69 ; 4. Amasa 0. Morse, 1870, '79 ; 9. Henry D. Haynes, 1873 ; 
 1. Alvin li. Cliamberlain, 1880, '88; 9. 
 
 Tou'n Treasurers. — Daniel Fiske (Dea.), 1738, '42 ; 5. Moses Marcj 
 (Col.), 1743, '50; 8. Joseph Baker (Dea.). 1751, '57 ; 6. George Wat- 
 kins, 1753, '64 ; 2. Joshua Harding (Dea.), 1768, '01 ; 4. Ealph Whee- 
 lock (Capt.), 1762, '81 ; 20. Samuel Hoblis, 1782 ; 1. Moses Weld (Dea), 
 .1783, '86 ; 4. Erasmus Babbitt (Dr.), 1787, '89 ; 3. David Wight, Jr., 
 1792, '08; 17. Jacob Corey (Dr.), 1S09, '10 ; 8. Simeou Fiske (Capt.), 
 1816, '17 ; 2. Simeon Burt. 1818 ; 1. David Wight (Col ), 1820. '34 ; 16. 
 Alfred M. Merrick, 18i5, '30 ; 2. Jacob Corey, Jr. (Dr.), 1831, '41 ; 6. 
 Truman Charles, 1842, '44 ; 3. George Davis (Esq., Dea.), 1845, '49 ; 6. 
 David K. Porter (Dea.), 1850, '59 ; 10. Sanniel H, Hobbs, 1860, '61 ; 2. 
 Elisha Southwick, 1802, '74 ; 13. Emery L. Bates, 1875, '86 ; 11. G. 
 Nerval Bacon, 188'i, '88 ; 3. 
 
 Se?ec(meN.— Daniel Fiske (Dea.), 1738, '78 ; 21. Moses Marcy (Col.), 
 1738, '73 ; 34. Henry Fiske (Lieut.), 1738, '8il ; 6. Isaac Newell (Dea.), 
 1739, '48; 3. Joseph Cheney, 1739, '71 ; 14. Rowland Taylor, 1740, 
 '64; 6. Hezokiah Ward, 1740; 1. James Deuison, 1740, '58 ; 17. 
 Joseph Baker (Dea.), 1741, '69 ; 5. David Shumway, 1742, '08 ; 11. 
 Moses Allen, 1743 ; 1. Edward Foster (Dea.), 1743, '44 ; 2. Nehemiab^^ 
 Allen, 1747, '49 ; 2. John Morse, 1747, '62 ; 12. Jonathan Perry, 1747 ; 
 1. John Harding, 1748, '54 ; 4. Ezekiel Upham (Capt.), 1760, '65 ; 6. 
 Nathaniel Walker (Capt.), 1762, '74 ; 6. John Weld, 1755 ; 1. Aaron 
 Allen, 1768, '80; 3. Samuel Freeman, 1759, '09 ; 7, Moses Weld (Dea.), 
 1760, '81 ; 18. , Daniel Plimpton (Col.), 1760, '76 ; 4. Joshua Harding 
 (Dea.), 1761, '89; 4. James Johnson (Ensign), 1761, '74 ; 10. Abijab 
 Shumway, 1772 ; 1. John Holbrook. 1772, '87 ; 8. Erasmus Babbitt 
 (Dr.). 1773; 1. John Tarbel, 1774 ; 1. Samuel Ellis, 1774, '89 ; 5. 
 Daniel Faulkner, 1776, '76 ; 2. Ralph Wheelock (Capt.), 1777, '81 ; 5. 
 Samuel Hamant (Capt.), 1777, '79 ; 3. David Wigbt, 1781 ; 1. Timo- 
 thy Newell (Gen), 1781, 1803 ; 9. Lemuel Sanders, 17b1, '98 ; 5. Eben- 
 ezer Crafts (Col.), 1782, '84 ; 2. Jonathan Gould, 1784; 1. Eli Towne, 
 1782, '84; 3. Benjamin Freeman (Col.), 1782, '96 ; 8. Jacob Allen 
 (Capt.), 1782, '90 ; 0. Henry Fiske, Jr. (Dea.), 1783, 1808 ; 10. John 
 Boyden (Capt), 1785, 1830; 4. Stephen Harding (Maj.), 1786, 1806; 9. 
 Jonathan Pbilpps (Dea.), 1786 ; 1. John Sahnon (Lieut.), 1787 ; 1. Isaac 
 Upham, 1787, '94 ; 6. Josiah Walker, 1788, 1805 ; 16. "Jeddidiah" 
 Marcy, 1790 ; 1. Simeon Fiske (Capt.), 1790, '02 ; 3. Simeon Allen, 
 1790; 1. David Richards, 1791, '94; 4. Abel Mason (Capt), 1792, 1801 ; 
 6. Eleazer Hibbard (Dea.), 1795, '96 ; 2. Comfort Johnson, 1796, 1810 ; 
 5. Stephen Gerould (Capt.), 1796, '99 ; 4. Oliver Plimpton (Esq.), 1797, 
 1808 ; 10. Samuel Hobbs, 1797, 1809 ; 9. Samuel Hooker (Maj), 1798 ; 1. 
 Elijah Shumway, 1800 ; 1. David Fiske, 1800, '03 ; 4. John Holbrook, 
 1801 ; 1. Nathan Fiske, 1804 ; 1. Perez Walker, 1806, '17 ; 6. John 
 Watson, 1807, '08; 2. Gershom Plimpton, 1809, '16 ; 7. John Phillips 
 (Dea.), 1809, '17; 6. Jered Lamb, 1810, '12 ; 3. Jonathan P.Curtis, 
 1811, '.37; 3. Sylvester Watkins (Capt.), 1811, '25; 12. John Plimp- 
 ton (Lieut.), 1812 ; 1. John Taylor (Lieut.), 1813, '15; 3. Ebenezer 
 Cutting, 1813, '16; 3. Oliver Hooker (Maj.), 1813, '15 ; 3. Jabez Hard- 
 ing, 1810, '17 ; 2. Stephen Newell, 1816 ; 1. David Wight (Ck)l.), 1817, 
 
 '42; 6. Penuel Belknap, 1818, '29 ; 4. Jonathan Lyon, 1818, '37 ; 6. 
 Epbraim M. Lyon, 1818, '19 ; 2. Fennel Cheney, 1818, '19 ; 2. Edward 
 Phillips (Col.), 1820, '30 ; 8. Amasa Cbild (Capt.), 1820, '22 ; 3. David 
 K. Porter (Dea.), 1821, '23 ; 3. Peter Belknap (Capt.), 1821, '45 ; 7. 
 Hezekiah Allen, 1823, '26 ; 3. William Dwigbt, Jr., 1823, '24; 2. 
 James Johnson, 1823, '30; 3. Cyrus Merrick, 1824; 1. Abijah Prouty, 
 1824, '34 ; 2. Zenas Dunton, 1825, '20 ; 2. Daniel Fiske, Jr., 1825, '39 ; 
 4. Nathaniel Walker, 1826, '36 ; 3. Pliny Freeman, 1827, '35 ; 3. 
 George Watkins, 1827, '28 ; 2. Richard Arnold, 1827, '28 ; 2. Philemon 
 Shopard, ls27, '29 ; 3. Thomas Merrick 1*28, '40 ; 5. Samuel Hobbs, 
 1829, '45; 3. Jeptha Plimpton, i830, '42 ; 3. Lemuel Hooker, 1831, 
 '35 ; 6. Benjamin Bullock, 1831, '39 ; 6. Festus Wight, 1831 ; 1. Jacob 
 Upham, 1832, '4u ; 3. Ziba Plimpton, 1833, '34 ; -2. Daniel Mason 
 (Dr.), 1833, '34 ; 2. Simeon Allen, 18)3; 1. Alpheus Wight, 18.34; 1. 
 Erasmus Holbrook (Gen.), 1834 ; 1. Caleb Weld, Jr., 1835, '40 ; 6. John 
 Plimpton, 1835; 1. Hiel Nichols, 183.5, '42 ; 2. Edward Richardson, 
 1830; 1. Lyman Morse, 1837, '43 ; 2. Chester Stone, 1838, ':i9 ; 2. John 
 Fay, 1838, '39 ; 2. Jonah Gifford, 1840 ; 1. Prince Bracket, 1840, '44 ; 
 2. Cheney P. Sheddon, 1841 ; 1. Livingston Shumway, 1841. '51 ; 3. 
 Simeon F. Marsh. 1841, '79 ; 6. Elisha Southwick, 1841, '05 ; 8. Ben- 
 jamin D. Hyde, 1842, '66 ; 2. Simeon Hooker (Capt.), 1843, '44 ; 2. John 
 Smith, 1843 ; I. Liberty Allen, 1843, '66 ; 3. James M. Belknap, 1844, 
 '48 ; 4. Dwight P. Johnson, 1844 ; 1. James Balchelor, 1844 ; 1. Free- 
 dom Nichols, 184.5 ; 1. Charles G. Allen, 1846, '50 ; 3. Aretas Hooker, 
 1846, '47; 2. Simeon A. Drake, 1847, '48 ; 2. Liberty Nichols, 1848, 
 '49 ; 2. Abiel D. Williams, 1S48 ; 1. Henry Haynes, Jr., 1848, '85 ; 6. 
 Lewis W. JIarsh, 1849, '60 ; 2. Ethan Allen, 1849, '76 ; 9. David 
 Wight (Capt.), 1860 ; 1. Jabez Harding, 1850, '72 ; 8. Linus L. Bel- 
 knap, 1850; 1. William H.Sanders, 1851 ; 1. Estes Bond, 1851 ; 1. George 
 Davis, Esq., 18.52; 1. Eliakim Chamberlain, 1852, '65; 6. Dexter 
 Nichols, 1852, '53 ; 2. John W. Draper, 1852, '69 ; 3. Amos Munroe, 
 1854 ; 1. Winthrop Nichols, 1851 ; 1. Francis V. Plimpton, 1854, '55 ; 
 2. Melville Snell, 1855, '57; 2. Chester Walker, 1855 ; 1. Avery P. 
 Taylor, 1856, '58 ; 2. Linus Leonard, 1860 ; 1. Aaron Lyon, 1857 ; 1. 
 Penuel Plimpton, 1859, 1869 ; 6. Nathaniel Upham, 1859, '78 ; 8. Emery 
 L. Bates, 1802, '65; 4. Lorenzo Plimpton, 1862; 1. Edmund Nichols, 
 1866, 'CO; 3. Amasa C.Morse. 1867; 1. William Wight, 1808 ; 1. 
 Noah D. Ladd, 1870, '88 ; 7. Thomas Talbot, 1870 ; 1. Samuel F. 
 Berois, 1870, '78 ; 2. Samuel W. Edgerton, 1873, '74; 2. Melvin 
 Haynes, 1873 ; 1. Charles Anderson, 1874, '76 ; 2. Marvin Clark, 1875, 
 '77; 3. Elias M. Gifford, 1876 ; 1. Henry W. Nichols, 1877, '80; 2. 
 Charles H. Allen, 1877, '79 ; 3. William Whittamore, 1879 ; 1. William 
 H. Shumway, 1880, '88 ; 4. Edward Nichsls, 1881, '82 ; 2. P. S. Calla- 
 han, 1883, '87 ; 4. David B. Wight, 1883, '84 ; 2. Elihu W. Mofflt, 
 1885, '86 ; 2. Charles V. Corey, 1885, '87 ; 3. George N. Bacon, 1887 ; 1. 
 James Nolan, 1888 ; 1. 
 
 There were five selectmen elected annually until 
 ISS.'i; since then three members have constituted the 
 board. 
 
 In reference to Representatives previous to 1771, 
 particular record has not been found. It is believed 
 that Moses Marcy, Esq. (Capt., Col.), served in that 
 capacity anterior to that time. The dates given in 
 the following list are the years in which the election 
 occurred : 
 
 Daniel Fiske, 1771 ; Timothy Parker, 1775 ; Joshua Harding, Jr., 
 1787, '88 ; Josiah Walker, 1789-97, and 1800-02 ; Frederick Plimp- 
 ton, 1798; Thomas Babbitt (Dr.), 1799; Thomas Upham, 180.3, '04; 
 Oliver Plimpton, 1805-07, David Wight, Jr., 1806, '13; Rev. Zenas L. 
 Leonard, 1808-12; Gersham Plimpton, 1809-12; John Phillips, 1814- 
 16; Samuel Freeman, 1816 ; Sylvester Watkins, 1817, '18, '20, and 
 in 1825.1 None sent 1819, '21 and '23. Cyrus Merrick, 1824 ; Amasa 
 Child, 1820, '27 ; Penuel Belknap, 1829 ; James Johnsou, 1830-32 ; Ros- 
 well Warner, 1831; Thomas Merrick, 1832; David Wigbt, 1833; 
 Edward Phillips,* 1822, '28, '3>, '38 ; Jared Lamb, 1835 ; David K. Porter, 
 1836-66 ; Jonathan P. Curtis, 1836, '87 ; Lemuel Hooker, 1836, '.39 ; 
 Abijah Prouty, 1838 ; Cromwell BuUard, 1839 ; Caleb Weld, 1810 ; 
 Nathaniel Walker, 1841; Benjamin D. Hyde, 1842; Hezekiah Allen, 
 1843 ; Prince Bracket, 1844 and 1S49 ; Simeon Hooker, 1845 ; George 
 v. Corey, 1840 ; Francis W. Emmons, 1847 ; Dwight P. Johnson, 1848 ; 
 Emerson Johnson, 1850; Seneca Richardson, 1851; Jabez Harding, 
 
 1 Not to attend unless so instnicted by the town. 
 
112 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 1862 ; Hiel Nichols, 1863 ; Simeon F. Mareh, 1854 ; Vincent B. New- 
 land, 1856. From Twenty-fourth Worcester Diatrict.— Henry Haynes, 
 1858 ; James il. Belknap, 18(;0 ; Elisha Southwick, 1S62 ; Emery L. 
 Bates, 18(54 and 1882. From Eighteenth District of Worcester County. 
 — Auiasa C. Moree, 1867 ; Kev. Martin L. Richardson, 1870; Noah D. 
 Ladd, 1872; George T. Lincoln, 1874; Charles Fuller, 1875; Alvan B. 
 Chamberlain, 1877 ; G. Norval Bacon, 1879 ; David B. Wight, 1884. 
 From Fifth Worcester RepresenUitive District. — Henry D. Haynes, 
 1887. 
 
 JSeartiors. — General Timothy Newell, also memher of the Governor's 
 Council ; Hon. Emery L. Bates, 1874, Third Worcester District. 
 
 Population in 1765, 896; 1776, 1374; 1790, 1740; 
 1800, 1846; 1810, 1927. Territory and inhabitants 
 taken to be a part of the new town of Southbridge in 
 1816. Sturbridge population in 1820, 1633; 1830, 
 1688; 1840, 2005; 1850, 2119; 1860, 2291; 1865, 1992; 
 1870, 2101 ; 1875, 2213. 
 
 Town appropriations for highways and bridges : 
 1739, £200 (old tenor), " ten shillings a day allowed 
 for each man;" 17S6, £20, or allowing 2s. per day; 
 1770, £150, allowing 3s. per day in June, or 2s. in 
 September; 1800, $1,000, $1.00 a day in June, or 67 
 cents in September; 1820, $700; 1840, $600; 1870, 
 $1,000; 1888,13,300. 
 
 Schools: 1742, £20; 1756, £16; 1770, £40; 1777, 
 £60 {L. M.); 1793, £120; 1810, $600; 1831, .$800; 
 1860, $1,500; 1871, $3,500; 1888, $3,200. 
 
 Total appropriation: 1800, $2,300; 1820, $1,900; 
 1840, $3,600 ; 1860, $4,907.08 ; 1865, $15,588.94 ; 1870, 
 $14,300 ; 1880, $13,580; 1888, $11,575. 
 
 The total valuation of the town in 1815 was $325,- 
 233, deducting that part taken for Southbridge, $83,- 
 783. Sturbridge valuation in 1810 was $241,450. In 
 1860, $815,850 ; in 1871, $992,547 ; 1888, $975,107. 
 The town is now out of debt, and owning property 
 valued at $33,612. 
 
 Thirty-five years after the incorporation of this new 
 town the central valley was still, for the most part, 
 wild, unoccupied land. Five hundred acres adjoin- 
 ing Sturbridge Common on the northeast and north- 
 west sides, extending to the brow of Fisk Hill on the 
 one hand, and to the fair grounds on the other, and 
 northward to the " Old Pauper farm " and Mrs. 
 Hamant's, was owned by Dr. Francis Borland, of 
 Boston, and so remained for fifteen years afterwards. 
 West of that, and southward, was one thousand acres 
 of unoccupied land owned by Mr. William Brattle, of 
 Cambridge, which was purchased in 1774 by Mr. 
 David Wight. 
 
 Good roads had been made each way through this 
 central valley, and in all other parts of the town 
 highways had been constructed, all tending toward 
 the meeting-house, or the "great road." Large and 
 productive farms had been wrought from the wild 
 land, and more than a hundred homesteads, many of 
 them commodious and substantial, had been built. 
 
 Two hundred times had sympathizing neighbors 
 gathered at the house of mourning. The story of 
 hardship and privation is told by the records of mor- 
 tality among-women and children. 
 
 Of the seventy early settlers mentioned on a pre- 
 
 ceding page, ten only had passed away. These were : 
 Adam Martin, Noah Mason, Solomon Rood, John 
 Streeter, Rev. Caleb Rice, Deacon Isaac Newell, 
 Nathaniel Bond, Samuel Freeman, George Watkins 
 and Jonathan Mason. Most of the first settlers who, 
 when young men, had organized the municipality, 
 were still active in the affairs of the town. 
 
 Their early assumption of responsibilities without 
 the presence and support of elder men, their practi- 
 cal and long experience in the affairs of social gov- 
 ernment, bred self-reliance and a positive and strong 
 feeling repellant of all foreign intervention. 
 
 The spirit and the enlarged view taken here upon 
 the affairs of the public in the time of the Revolution 
 are abundantly shown by the following extracts from 
 the records. At a meeting called by the selectmen 
 "y* 27th day June, 1774, to consider of some measures 
 proper to be adopted for the safety and defence of the 
 Province in this distressed condition by reason of 
 several late Acts of the British Parliament." After 
 solemn prayer to God for direction, they proceeded after 
 this manner, the selectmen to preside in the meeting 
 — Deacon Daniel Fisk, speaker. " After considerable 
 debate ..." it appeared to be the mind of the town, 
 universally, " not to purchase anything which shall 
 be imported from Great Britain after the time stipu- 
 lated and agreed to." " After making some small 
 alterations" in the Worcester and Berkshire cove- 
 nants, both were at that time signed, " universally." 
 
 September 28, 1774, in accordance with an article 
 in the warrant, the town chose " military officers for 
 the companies, and for their movements," viz.: Dan- 
 iel Plimpton was chosen major ; Timothy Parker, 
 Timothy Newell and Ebenezer Crafts were chosen 
 captains. The same day the town voted to provide 
 four half-barrels of powder, five hundred pounds 
 of lead and five hundred flints. Also a committee 
 of seven, viz.: Ensign James Johnson, Captain 
 Joseph Cheney, Lieutenant Henry Fiske, Mr. Hins- 
 dale Clark, Captain Ezekiel Upham, Mr. Stephen 
 Gerould and John Marsh, were appointed to make 
 provision for the men in case they should be 
 called into the service, and a vote was passed " by a 
 great majority," to pay the men, if called, for the 
 service rendered. 
 
 Voted, November 17, 1774, unanimously, " that 
 the constibles of this town pay the Province tax to 
 Henry Gardner, Esq., of Stowe ; and his receipt 
 therefor shall ever hereafter opperate as an effectual 
 discharge to them for the same." 
 
 The November meeting was adjourned " to Monday, 
 December 1st, at ten o'clock A. M., with the request 
 that all the men in town, from sixteen years old and 
 upwards, then assemble at the meeting-house with 
 arms and ammunition, in order for reviewing." The 
 old men formed a company of " alarm men." The 
 young men were organized in companies called 
 " minute men." They were marshaled and marched 
 into the meeting-house in military order. After ap- 
 
STURBRIDGE. 
 
 113 
 
 prnpriate exercises, conducted by Rev. Joshua Paine, 
 liiisiriess was resumed. 
 
 Tlie alarm men, to the number of one hundred and 
 three, some sixty and some over seventy years old, 
 were, many of them, found to be deficient in equip- 
 ments. The clerks of the other companies reported 
 most of them present and generally equipped, or 
 would be soon. Captain Crafts reported his company 
 of cavalry well equipped and prepared. A few men 
 belonging to the alarm list, who did not make their 
 appearance at the review, were visited by a com- 
 mittee, who took their names and an exact account 
 of their preparations. Report being made, the town 
 voted: "It is the sense of this meeting that every 
 man in town able to furnish himself with arms and 
 ammunition do forthwith fix himself complete ; and 
 be it further recommended in the strongest terms to 
 all in town unprepared to defend our just rights and 
 privileges, and all that is dear to us, in this time of 
 great danger and distress, to exert themselves to the 
 utmost to be prepared immediately." 
 
 A committee of one from each school district was 
 appointed to obtain signatures to the " Articles of 
 Association," and a pledge for the strict observance 
 of the laws and resolves of Congress. 
 
 Agreeable to the advice of the General Congress, 
 the town chose, January 20, 1775, the following Com- 
 mittee of Inspection : Deacon Daniel Fiske, Deacon 
 Joshua Harding, William McKinstry, Major Daniel 
 Plimpton, Aaron Allen, Benjamin Freeman and Dea- 
 con Moses Weld. 
 
 Deacon Daniel Fiske, Major Timothy Newell and 
 Colonel Daniel Plimpton were appointed a committee 
 to prepare instructions for Captain Timothy Parker, 
 the delegate to the Provincial Congress, which were 
 presented to the town and adopted May 29, 1775. 
 The first article was: 
 
 "1st. Respecting civil government (in case the peti- 
 tion or address to his majesty should be rejected), we 
 think it highly necessary to assume government by 
 and with ihe advice of our sister colonies as soon as 
 may be." 
 
 At a special town-meeting, June 27, 1776 (the 
 selectmen presiding), " being duely warned to know 
 the minds of the town respecting Independence, &c.; 
 after the resolve of the late house being read, & some 
 debate thereon: The question was put, whether, 
 should the Honorable Congress, for the safety of the 
 colonies, declare them Independent of the Kingdom 
 of Great Britain, the inhabitants of this town will 
 solemnly engage with their Lives & Fortunes to sup- 
 port them in the measure: — past in the affirmative by 
 a great majority." ' 
 
 For the year 1776 the Committee of Inspection and 
 Safety was: Jlajor Timothy Newell, Captain Ralph 
 Wheelock, Benjamin Freeman, John Salmon, Isaac 
 Stacy, William McKinstry and NathanieVWalker. 
 
 1 Town Records. 
 
 the present House of Representatives, Council, &c., 
 should form and ratify a plan of government as pro- 
 posed in a late Hand Bill : & it passed in the negative 
 without one dissentant." 
 
 A committee was chosen to "draw up some reasons 
 for their so voting;" viz., Dea. Daniel Fiske, Dea. 
 Moses Weld, Col. Daniel Plimpton, Mr. John Hol- 
 brook and Lieut. Henry Fiske. 
 
 At an adjourned meeting, the first Monday in 
 November, the committee laid before the town their 
 report, from which the following is quoted : " As the 
 end of government is the happiness of the people, so 
 the sole right and power of forming and establishing 
 a plan thereof is in the people; consequently, we 
 think it unadvisable and irrational to consent that any 
 set of men should form and ratify a constitution of 
 government for us, before we know what it is. . . ." 
 " Also, we look upon the present House of Representa- 
 tives to be a very unequal representation of the State." 
 The reasons being repeatedly and distinctly read, 
 were approved by a vote of the town. 
 
 Committee on Inspection and Safety (1777) : Major 
 Timothy Newell, Col. Daniel Plimpton, William 
 McKinstry, Capt. Abel Mason, Lieut. Benjamin Free- 
 man, Lieut. John Salmon, Mr. Job Hamant. 
 
 " Whereas, the Continental Congress have formed 
 and proposed to the Legislative Body of this State 
 articles of Confederation and perpetual union between 
 the States, therefore, voted : To instruct our repre- 
 sentatives to use their influence that the confederation 
 and perpetual union be ratified, & it past in the affirm- 
 ative. January 26th, 1778." 
 
 The town had now taken its stand for independence 
 and a " perpetual union between the United States." — 
 a position which has, first and last, cost so much in 
 the blood and treasure of her citizens. 
 
 Colonel Daniel Plimpton died in June, 1777, and 
 Deacon Daniel Fi.ske in March, 1778 ; and with them 
 passed away something, it may be, of the ""Spirit of 
 '76," in this town. The enthusiasm and energy of 
 Colonel Plimpton, the sterling character, superior edu- 
 cation and easy command of language of Deacon 
 Fiske, had done much to mold the sentiment and 
 action of the town. Also died, October 9, 1777, 
 "Moses Marcy, Esq.," who had in his day been one 
 of the principal men of the town — to whom a genera- 
 tion of the inhabitants had looked for guidance, but 
 of whom our records are silent after the opening of 
 the Revolutionary struggle. 
 
 The town's financial efl^orts began 1775, April 27th, 
 when the town, having ordered the constables having 
 money in their hands, to pay it to Henry Gardner, 
 Esq., of Stowe, appointed Deacon Daniel Fiske, Dea- 
 con Moses Weld and Major Daniel Plimpton a com- 
 mittee to see what money was in the hands of the 
 constables and " to stir them up to their duty." 
 
 The town having voted in 1774 to pay the minute- 
 men if called into service, a committee was chosen in 
 January, 1777, consisting of Colonel Daniel Plimpton, 
 
lU 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 At a special town-meeting, October 14, 1776, the 
 question was put : " Whether the town consent that 
 Mr. Jonathan Gould, Ensign James Johnson, Mr. 
 Job Haniant, Captain Ralph Wheelock, Captain Adam 
 Martin and Captain Isaac Stacy, to " adjust or esti- 
 mate the past services of Sturbridge soldiers in the 
 present war, and to form some plan for the town to act 
 or proceed." 
 
 The bounty was fixed at thirty pounds for each en- 
 listed man for three years' service, and so remained 
 through the years '77 and '78. In '79 one hun- 
 dred pounds each was voted to nine months' men, 
 forty pounds to be paid before they started. February, 
 1781, the town "voted to pay three hundred hard 
 dollars to each man agreeing to serve three years," to 
 pay one hundred at the time of marching, the re- 
 mainder at the end of one and two years. 
 
 Clothing for the town's proportion of soldiers, in 
 the army was obtained mainly by voluntary contribu- 
 tion. The receipts from that source being short of 
 the requirements in 1778, April 14th, the selectmen 
 were directed by vote of the town to purchase -shirts, 
 shoes and stockings, which they did, and brought in 
 their bill in May to the amount of £217 18s. 2d. 
 
 A large quantity of beef was furnished for the 
 army, and when unable in 1780 to procure the amount 
 called for (fifteen thousand nine hundred pounds), 
 the town borrowed money and paid that instead to 
 Colonel Davis' agent. 
 
 Names of soldiers of the Revolution from this town : 
 
 AbraJiam Allen, Caleb Allen, Klipbalet Allen, Joel Barrett, Justus 
 Boyden, Amos Hoyden, John Boyden, Thomas Boyden (also French War 
 of '55), Nathan Brown, Asa Bultard, Asa Coburn, Pbeneas Coburn, Zacba- 
 riah Coburn, Edward Coburn, Henry Clark, Henry Clark, Jr., Rufus 
 Clark, Lemuel Clark, .\sabel Clark, Jepthab Clark, Elijah Carpenter (also 
 French War of '55), Jacob Cleaveland, David Corey, John Corey, Joseph 
 Cheney, Ebenezer Crafts, JoluLCejlgdtin, Stephen Draper, Benjamin Dix, 
 Silas Dunton, John Dunton, James Dyer, Thomas D3'er, Robert Edwards, 
 Cyrus Fay, Simeon Fiske, Nathan Fiske, Joshua Fiske, Benjamin Fel- 
 ton (also War of '55), Walter Freeman, John Goss, Abel Gunn. Joshua 
 Hardiug, Hinsdale Hamant, Eleazer Howard (also War of '55), Benjamin 
 Hobbs, John Holbrook, Benjamin Humphrey, \bijah Hyde, Joshua 
 Hyde, Benjamin Hyde, John Hyde, Othniel Hyde, Samuel Hyde, James 
 Johnson (also ,War of '55), Comfort Johnson, Thomas Janes, Marvel 
 Jacksou, Joshua Gerrold, William Leech, Abel Mason (also War of '55), 
 Simeon Mason, Joshua Blason, Calvin Marsh, Silas Marsh, Duty Mareh, 
 Aaron Marsh, Elijah Marcy, Adam Martin, Aaron Martin, Moses Mar- 
 tin, Ithamar Merrifield, Joseph Mills, Asa flloi-se, Samuel Morse, 
 
 Morse, Daniel Morse, .Jeremy Morse, Enos Morse, Timothy Newell, 
 Samuel Newell, Stephen Newell, Timothy Parker, John Phillips, Eben- 
 ezer Philips, Elijah Plimptou, Elias Plimpton, Daniel Plimpton, Jr., 
 John Plimpton, Oliver Plimpton, Moses Plimpton, Primus (colored man), 
 Ichabod Robbins, Eli Robbins, Oliver Bobbins, Nathan Rice, Jesse Sa- 
 bin, Timothy Smith, Nathan Smith, Moses Sniitli, Nahum Smith, John 
 Salmon, Joseph Shaw, Samuel Shumway, Abijah Shumway, Elijah 
 Shumway, Stark Stacy, Amos Scott, William Simpson, Joseph Towne, 
 Parmenas Thayer (was three years under Gen. Wayne in the Indian 
 Warof 1791), Isaac Upham, Jcnathan Uphani, Nathaniel Walker (also 
 War of '55), Josiah Walker, Benjamin Walker, Obed Walker, Pheneaa 
 Walker, Isaac Warner, George Watkins, Thomas Waketield, Mr. Welch, 
 Charles West, Dennison Wheelock, Krtlph Wheelock, Thomas Young, 
 John Taylor. 
 
 The foregoing is the list collected by George Davis, 
 Esq., and is found in his historical sketch of this 
 town. The following names have been found by the 
 writer upon our town records, and State Archives : 
 
 Abner Allen, Jacob Allen, Joseph Dunton, Benjamin Freeman 
 
 Amos Gleason, Samuel Glover, Josiah Hicke, Asa Homer, Syriel Leech, 
 Isaac Newell, Rev. Joshua Paine (chaplain), Josiah Partridfce, Daniel 
 Plimpton (also War of '55), Abner Plimpton, Samuel Richardson, 
 Thomas Simpson, 
 
 We have here only the names of survivors, a few of 
 whom moved into this town after the war. The Rev. 
 Joseph S. Clark states, in his centennial address upon 
 the history of this town, July 4, 1838, " that he had 
 obtained the names of two hundred and thirty-nine 
 men from this town that served in that war. Among 
 this number was one colonel, one major, eight cap- 
 tains, eight lieutenants and two ensigns; besides, the 
 Rev. Joshua Paine officiated two months as chaplain." 
 
 War of 1812-15. — At a town-meeting in 1812 
 November 2d, on the question, " To see if the town 
 will grant any additional pay to soldiers doing duty 
 in defense of our country :" " Voted to pass the article 
 by," is the only record upon our town's books refer- 
 ring to that war. It proves that Sturbridge men were 
 at that time "doing duty in defence of our country." 
 Their names, for the most part, are unknown. In 
 1840 there is mention upon our records of Levi Sim- 
 mons having served in the War of 1812. In an old 
 account-book kept by a trader of that period, an arti- 
 cle of charge against Charles Coburn is written across 
 " Settled . by death in the Army." A trace of the 
 foundation of a small house and a lilac bush mark the 
 spot of Charles Coburn's humble home. He was a son 
 of Edward Coburn,whose name is on the Revolutionary 
 list. 
 
 The widows of Tilly Woodward and Captain Asa 
 Fisk are drawing pensions for their husband's services 
 in the War of 1812. 
 
 Captain Benjamin Bullock, a sea captain, whoFe 
 home was on the site now occupied by the residence 
 of the writer, was captured by a British armed vessel 
 in 1812, he being on the route home from the East 
 Indies in command of a vessel in the merchant service. 
 He was subsequently exchanged and immediately 
 entered the service of the United States and returned 
 his compliments with much vigor and success. He 
 was wounded in an engagement with the enemy, from 
 the effects of which he died soon after reaching home. 
 
 War of the Rebellion. — The efforts of the 
 town to aid and encourage men to enlist is about all 
 that is found upon the records having reference to the 
 war. From time to time money was raised to carry 
 out the intention of all the acts of the Legislature 
 relative to aiding the families, or those dependent on 
 the volunteers on duty; also for the support of the 
 widows and children of those that died while in the 
 service. A bounty of one hundred dollars was offered 
 by the town in 1802, August 28th, to those who volun- 
 teered and were mustered under the " Order of the 
 President for a draft of three hundred thousand men." 
 A bounty of one hundred and twenty-five dollars for 
 volunteers was offered in 1864, May 31st. The real war 
 history of this town, as well as all over the land, was 
 
STURBRIDGE. 
 
 115 
 
 written in the hearts of brave men and loyal women - 
 lejjible now only here and there — soon to be entirely 
 obliterated. 
 
 On the occasion of choosing Presidential electors 
 and State officers, November 8, 1864, there came into 
 the town hail Dea. John Phillips, who was then one 
 hundred and four years, four montbs and nine days 
 old. He had been a soldier in the Revolutionary 
 War, had served three terms as Representative in the 
 State Legislature, and had frequently held other office 
 in town affiiirs. He was a man of large frame, and a 
 long, strong and intelligent physiognomy. A ticket 
 of each of the great parties of that time was held in 
 front of him, and he was asked to designate which he 
 would deposit in the ballot-box. He said, in a voice 
 audible throughout the hall, "I wish to vote for 
 Abraham Lincoln." After that he requested that all 
 the soldiers who had been in the service, who were 
 present, should place themselves in a row in front of 
 him, and then that each man be introduced. Thus 
 comrades of the two great wars met and shook hands. 
 He requested to be borne to his carriage by soldiers 
 — his comrades — and the writer was one of the four 
 selected to have that honor. 
 
 At the time the town preserved no list of Sturbridge 
 soldiers in the war, and the one here presented is the 
 result of much labor, yet may not be complete. They 
 are as follows : 
 
 12th /H/aii^r//.— William L. Allen. 
 
 nth IiifajUnj.-ChitTleB A. Phillips. 
 
 15«/i Infnutrif.—'RmeTy F. Baily, William L. Blood, killed at Antie- 
 taiu, September 17, '62 ; Abrara Benjamin, William Carter, William H. 
 Clark, died of wounds, October 1, '62, at Antietam. Md. ; Lucian G. 
 Lamb, Alexander Oakee, Charles M. Plummer, Alfred L. Russell, 
 killed Sept. 17, '62, at Antietam ; Charles E. Stoue. 
 
 nth Iii/antry.— John B. Blodget, died Feb. 25, '65, at Newbern, N. 
 C. ; Henry Pepin, Albert Remington. Ezra Remington, Charles M. 
 Wliittemore, died April 25, 'G5, at Raleigh, N. C. ; Simeon Young, his 
 second enlistment. 
 
 19//* /H/(i(i/p//.— Walter A. Learned, Arthur L. Walker, died Jan. 15» 
 '65, at Andersouville Prison-pen, Ga. 
 
 2l8( /»/a»i(ri/.— George L. Bracket served three yeai-s, then re-en- 
 listed ; George Burr, John Crosby, re-enlisted ; Curtis H. Dodge, Henry 
 S. Edgerton, William H. Macomber, Ferdinand Rogers. 
 
 '2-2(1 Infanti-y. — James Brigham, died of wounds, May 15, '64, at 
 Laurel Hill, Va. ; Jerome D. Childs, John B. Cooper, died July 18, '62, 
 at Harrison's Landing, Va. ; Edmund Mason, Henry G. IHiller, John 
 F. Moore, died of wounds, July — , '63 ; John Newton, Amasa Phette- 
 place, Isaac G. Plimpton, died of wounds, July 4, '6'2, at Malvern Hill, 
 Va. ; John A. Plimpton, Nathan L. Stone, killed June 27, '6J, at 
 Gaines' Mills, Va. ; Kausom W. Towne, Jefferson Wellington, David 
 Wilson, Alvi R. Woodward, Simeon Young. 
 
 •Zbth /(iAi"(n/.— George Burr, second enlistment ; John Burns, Lewis 
 W. Benson, Alfred Carpenter, Maurice Doran. Nathan E. Keash, Wil- 
 liam J. Stone, died of wounds, June 27, '64, at Washingtoc, D. C. ; 
 Robert Young. 
 
 2~th Infimtrij. — J. Arthur Johnson. 
 
 2Sth Infantry. — James King. 
 
 31«/ Infantnj.—Thom&s O'Harra, died Oct. 6, '62, at Jacksonville, La. 
 
 34th Iiifautry. —W'aido J. Allen, died Mar. 26, '65, at Sturbridge; 
 George A. Blood, Michael Cleary, Asa F. Crosby, killed Sept. 19, '64, at 
 Winchester, Va. ; Patrick Gavin, died Aug. 27, '64, at Amlersonville 
 Prison-pen, Ga. ; John Hilton, James Hurst, William King.' William 
 W. Lombard, John Martin, Darius Moon, James Moon, Simeon G. 
 Newton, died Oct. 7, '6:j, at Webster, Mass. ; Richard Shannuck, died 
 of wounds, Nov. 30, '64, at Middletown, Va. ; James Shepard. 
 
 iOlk Iiifoutry.—iitepheii Andrews, Francis A Cooper. 
 
 42(1 Iiifautry.—Mbart H. Edgertou, 'Charles T. Fowler, Frank il. 
 
 Gleason, second enlistment ; Mark Heathcote, William Heathcote, 
 James Nolan, Theodore Snell, John Stone, Albert L, Sj'kes, Levins R. 
 Wight, Nelson Wright, died June 5, '03, at New Orleans, La. ; George 
 Wright. 
 
 4^ttb Itifmitry — George P. Ladd. 
 
 5l8( /M/un(rt/.— Salem T. Adams, Albert Back, Levi B. Chaee.i John 
 Cobley, Frank H. Gleason, John P. Haynes, Henry E. Hitchcock, Ev- 
 erett C. Hooker, LothropJL. Hooker, William H. Ho >kor, Edward E. 
 Jaynes, John F. Kebler, Andrew J. Lee, Henry H. Lincoln, Franklin 
 P. Lumbard, William D. Marsh. Albert Mood, Harlan L. Pepper, Levi 
 W. Richards,! Ht-nry H. Scarlborough,! Chester Scarborough,^ Mel- 
 vin Shepard,' Joseph S. Spencer, Edwin R. Spencer, Homer Smith, 
 Merrick L. Streeter,' Reuben Walker, Harrison Wells, Henry H. 
 Wells, Daniel VV. Wight,' Delos Witliey. 
 
 5Gth Infantry. — Andrew H. Barrett, Charles H. Brown, killed May 31, 
 1864, Cold Harbor, Va. ; J. Arthur Johnson, second enlistment, died 
 May l:i, 1865, at Spottsylvania, Va., and his name is given to Post No. 
 173, Department Massachusetts, G. A. R.; William D. Marsh, second en- 
 listment, died July 14, 1864, at Sturbridge ; Homer Smith, second en- 
 listment, killed May 24, 1^64, at North Anna River, Va. 
 
 57(ft Infantry. — George C. McMaster, died in the service. 
 
 6fHA Infantry,— ^ohx^ M. Chick. 
 
 618/ Infantry — Frank H. Gleason, third enlistment. 
 
 'Ad Battalion fii^emeu.— Elias M. Gifford, Jr. 
 
 AOi Cavalry. — Merrick Clark, George L. Marsh. 
 
 Veteran Itesfrre Carps. — William Amsden, Charles W. Smith. 
 
 l\th Uniied Statefi Colored Heavy Artillery. — Atram B. Jackson. 
 
 23d Vnited States Colored Troops. — Hiram H. Ransom, fell before 
 Petersburg. 
 
 2^ Hcain/ Artillery. —A]hert H. Bump, Arthur M. Bullard, Alvin B. 
 Chamberlain,' John Cobley, second en'iatment; Edwin N. Draper, 
 James L. Groves,' second enlistment; Lothrop L. Hooker, second en- 
 listment; Frederick Holmes, William H. Levalley, El bridge G. Perry, 
 Samuel A. Shumway, Addison P. Smith, Augustine Snell. 
 
 Five of these men, of the Second Heavy Artillery, 
 some way became credited to Charlton. It is but 
 justice to say that they intended to serve for their 
 native town of Sturbridge, where three of them still 
 reside. 
 
 The following are the names of those who were at 
 that time inhabitants of Sturbridge, aud who enlisted 
 for other towns : 
 
 1st BattalU>n, Heavy ArtUlery. — Addison C. Jackson, William T. Lamb, 
 Levi W.Richards' (second enlistment), enlisted for Worcester. 
 
 Afh Heavy Artillery. — George Remington for Southbridge, Samuel L. 
 Thomson' and Emerson D. Vinton' for Worcester. 
 
 1st Cavalry. — Loren W.Johnson, Alphonso F. Childs, died Augnst 20, 
 1864, at Andersonville prison-pen, Ga.; William S. Fuller, died January 
 111, 1S63, at Annapolis, Md.; Amasa C. Morse, Ebenezer Smith and Far- 
 num Soutliwick enlisted for Springfield. 
 
 4th Cavalry. — George P. Kendrick, George N. Stone ' and James 
 Stone enlisted for Boston. 
 
 34(7* Infantry. — Julius A. Parkhurst for Southbridge, 
 
 45^^ Infantry. — William P. Plimpton for Southbridge. 
 
 The following moved into this town soon after the 
 war, and have remained until the present time, viz. : 
 
 Orsamus Kenfield ' (34tli Inf.), from Brimfield ; S. Dana Merrill' (23d 
 Inf., Maine) ; William H. H. Ormsby' and Ezekiel M. Cooper' (l?th 
 Inf.), from Brookfield ; Andrew B. Fletcher (36th Inf.), from Charlton ; 
 Edward Hazzleburst' and Jeremiah J. Shepard,' from Rhode Island; 
 Charles Vickers' and John Day,' from Connecticut; W. L. D. Lom- 
 bard.' 
 
 Other resident members of Post 173 are: 
 
 W. E. Maynard, Maurice Cogan, Jerome Carlo, Joseph L. Ballon, Jo- 
 seph Kenworthy, in Sturbridge; B. C. Bennett, N. Alexander, W. Lilly 
 B. W. Charles, E. H. Davenpc-rt, E. W. Carder, A. N. Moulton and 
 James Scarborough reside beyond the border of the town, in Brimfield 
 and Hultand. 
 
 ' Members of J. Arthur Johnson Post, No. 173, Department Mass , G. 
 A, R. ; Commander (1S8S), W. H. H. Ormsby. 
 
116 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 In 1871 the town erected a monument of granite 
 
 upon the Centre Common, and inscribed thereon the 
 names of thos6 Sturbridge soldiers who did not sur- 
 vive the war. 
 
 Religious Societies, Churches and Ministers. 
 — A Congregational Church was organized in 1736, 
 Wednesday, September 29th, consisting of fourteen 
 male members, viz. : Rev. Caleb Rice, Henry Fiske, 
 Ezekiel Upham, Joseph Baker, Joseph Cheney, 
 Ebenezer Stearns, Joseph Allen, George Watkins, 
 Solomon Rood, Daniel Fiske, Josiah Perry, Jonathan 
 Fosket, Moses Allen, Daniel Thurston. 
 
 The same day Mr. Caleb Rice, a native of Hing- 
 ham and a graduate of Harvard University, was 
 ordained to the work of the ministry. As first pas- 
 tor he became one of the associate proprietors, own- 
 ing one-fiftieth part of the township. He died in 1759, 
 September 2d, on a Sabbath day. Fifteen persons 
 separated near the close of his ministry and estab- 
 lished a Baptist Church. About one hundred mem- 
 bers remained in his church. 
 
 Mr. Joshua Paine, a native of Pomfret, Conn., and 
 a graduate of Yale College, was next called to minis- 
 ter to this church. He was ordained here in 1761, 
 June 17th. To accommodate the multitude expected 
 on this occasion a platform was erected on the 
 Common at the foot of the hill, east of the present 
 meeting-house, and the interesting cerfmony there 
 performed where all could see. Rev. Joshua Paine 
 died in 1799, December 28th, and the funeral took 
 place the first day of the year and century of 1800. 
 By precept and example he nobly sustained the peo- 
 ple in thtir struggle for independence. 
 
 A new meeting-house was built in 1784, on a site 
 about ten rods northeastward of the old house, but 
 was not completed and dedicated until the autumn of 
 1787. 
 
 The successor of Mr. Paine was Mr. Otis Lane, of 
 Rowley, a graduate of Harvard University. A colony 
 of twenty were dismissed from this society in 1801 
 to form a church in the Poll parish, now Southbridge. 
 Mr. Lane was dismissed in 1819, February 24th, and 
 was succeeded by Rev. Alviu Bond, a native of Sut- 
 ton, and a graduate of Brown University. He was 
 ordained in 1819, November 30th, and served a twelve 
 years' pastorate, during which Sabbath-schools and 
 Bible-classes were established here, and one hundred 
 and twenty-three members were added to the church ; 
 also a temperance society was formed. 
 
 Rev. Joseph S. Claik, of Plymouth, a graduate of 
 Amhferst College, was ordained pastor in 1831, and 
 remained seven years. With his ministry com- 
 menced the voluntary method of supporting religious 
 worship by subscription, in this town. During Mr. 
 Clarke's pastorate 203 members were added by pro- 
 fession, and 56 by letter. The whole number of 
 members was 335. In the same period this church 
 and society contributed for objects of Christian 
 charity $4,000, besides aiding several young men in 
 
 preparing for the ministry. The interior of the 
 meeting-house was remodeled in 1835, giving more 
 seating capacity than the old-fashioned pews. 
 
 The following are the pastors since 1838 : 6. Rev. 
 David R. Austin, 1839-51 ; 7. Rev. Hubbard Beebe, 
 1852-54; 8. Rev. Sumner G. Clapp, 1856-62; 
 9. Rev. Marshall B. Angier, 1863-67; 10. Rev. 
 Martin L. Richardson began his labors herein 1867, 
 October 20th, and, rounding out his twenty-one 
 yeara' service, resigned in 1888, October 20th, much 
 to the regret of his people. 
 
 Names of those who have served as deacons : Dan- 
 iel Fiske, elected 173G ; Ebenezer Stearns, 1736 ; 
 Isaac Newell, 1741; Joseph Baker, 1747; Edward 
 Foster, 1749 ; Moses Weld ; Joshua Harding ; Job 
 Haniant; Rowland Clark; Elezear Hebbard ; Joel 
 Plimpton, 1807; Daniel Plimpton, 1808; Zenas 
 Dunton, 1826; George Davis, 1826; Ephraim M. 
 Lyon; James Chapin, 1832; Perley Allen, 1846-63; 
 David K. Porter, 1850-53; Melville Snell, 1853-66; 
 Henry Haynes, 1853, still in office ; Charles Fuller, 
 1863-86; Henry E. Hitchcock, 1863-73; Isaac 
 Johnson, 1869-74; William G. Reed, M.D., 1886. 
 
 Baptists. — In 1847 a new church was formed in 
 Sturbridge, and Mr. John Blunt was ordained as its 
 pastor. Henry Fiske and David Morse were the 
 ruling elders — the only persons ever appointed to that 
 office in this body. Two years later thirteen of their 
 number were baptized by Rev. Ebenezer Moultnn, 
 pastor of the Baptist Church at South Brimfield. 
 Soon afterwards upwards of sixty were baptized, in- 
 cluding their pastor, Mr. Blunt, and at that time this 
 church is supposed to have fully conformed to the 
 Baptist faith. Records of this society prior to 1780 
 are wanting. In 1784 a meeting-house was erected on 
 the height of Fiske Hill, upon a piece of land given 
 to the society for the purpose by Henry Fiske. This 
 house and location was used for the meetings of the 
 Baptist Society for nearly half a century. 
 
 Among the twelve who were added to the member- 
 ship of the church in 1786 was John Phillips, who 
 presided at a meeting in the Baptist meeting-house at 
 Fiskdale, in 1860, June 29th, on the occasion of the 
 celebration of his one hundredth birthday. He died 
 in 1864, aged one hundred and four years. 
 
 The society built a new meeting-house, which was 
 finished and dedicated in 1833, January 8th, on the 
 site now occupied by No. 1 School-house. 
 
 After occupying that spot five years, this house was 
 removed and located on ground given to the society 
 for that purpose, by the Hon. Josiah J. Fiske, at 
 Fiskdale. 
 
 PaMors. — Rev. John Blunt, 1747; Rev. Jordon 
 Dodge, 1784-88 ; Rev. Lenas L. Leonard, 1796-1832; 
 Rev. Addison Parker, 1833-35 ; Rev. Orrin O. Stearns, 
 1837-39 ; Rev. Joel Kenney, 1840-43 ; Rev. J. Wood- 
 bury, 1844-47; Rev. Thomas Driver, 1847-49; Rev. 
 Geo. E. Dorrance, 1850-52; Rev. Addison Parker, 
 1852-55; Rev. Geo. W. Preston, 1855-58 ; Rev. An- 
 
STURBRIDGE. 
 
 117 
 
 drew Read, 1858-62; Rev. J. M. Chick, 1862-64; 
 Rev. William Reed, 1866-67 ; Rev. J. T. Farrar' 
 1867-69; Rev. C. A. Cook, 1869-70; Rev. C. W. Pot- 
 ter, 1871-73 ; Rev. T. M. Merriara, 1873-76; Rev. J. 
 H. Gannett, 1876-80; Rev. S. M. Reed, 188.'). 
 
 A revival occurred in the early part of the ministry 
 of the Rev. S. M. Reed, resulting in the addition of 
 some thirty new members to the church, including 
 two or three admitted by letter. 
 
 Persons named in the following list have served as 
 deaci>ns of this Baptist Church: Daniel Fiske, John 
 Newell, Jonathan Phillips, Henry Fiske, John Phil- 
 lips, Jonathan Lyon, Moses Fiske, Priuce Bracket, 
 Rufus F. Brooks, Edward Richardson, P. L. Goodell, 
 Jonah Giflord, D. W. Harris, N. Underwood, E. T. 
 Brooks, H. A. Chamberlain. Deacons Goodell and 
 Chamberlain hold office at this time, 1888. 
 
 First Unitarian. — This society was organi«ed in 
 1864, June 3d. Theapplication to E. L. Bates, Esq. 
 justice of the peace, requesting him to issue his war- 
 rant to call a meeting for the organization of a re. 
 ligious society for the support of liberal preaching 
 was signed by Eliakim Adams, Liberty Allen, Na- 
 thaniel Upham, Wm. H. Upham, Bowers S. Chace, 
 Levins Hooker, E. W. Moffitt and Wm. H. Skerry. 
 The society started with about forty male members. 
 The next year, 186.5, the invitation of the National 
 Convention of Unitarian Churches was accepted, and 
 Emerson .Johnson and Bowers S. Chace were chosen 
 delegates to attend the convention with the pastor. A 
 tasty and comfortable house of worship was built in 
 1872, and dedicated December 11th. A parish com- 
 mittee is chosen annually, and the following persons 
 have served in that office: Nathl. Upham, Chas. N. 
 Allen, Eliakim Adams, Saml. M. Edgerton, Ethan 
 Allen, Farnum Southwick, Bowers S. Chace, Wm. H. 
 Skerry, A. C. Morse, H. W. Nichols, Henry Weld 
 Edw. Nichols, Wm. H. Upham, Emery L. Bates' 
 (Jhas. V. Corey, G. Norval Bacon, .Jonas Rice, Alvin 
 B. Chamberlain. 
 
 Pastors.— Uiiv. John A. Buckingham, 1864-66 ; 
 Rev. Henry F. Edes, 1866-68; Rev. Charles T. Irish, 
 1870-71 ; Rev. John A. Buckingham, 1871-73 ; Rev. 
 Clarence Fowler, 1874-80; Rev. B. V. Stevenson, 
 1880-82; Rev. Frank McGuire, 1882-88 ; Rev. lOph- 
 raim A. Reed, September, 1888. 
 
 Protestant Episcopal.— Was organized as a 
 parish under the name of Grace Church. The old 
 Union Hall was fitted up and used for a chapel. 
 
 Hectors. — Rev, Samuel Spear, 1870-72; Rev. 
 Levi Boyer, 1873-76 ; Rev. De Estaing Jennings, 
 1877, and continued several years; then the services 
 were dropped. 
 
 Catholic— The Fiskdale mission was instituted 
 as early as 1872. The Irish and the Canadian-French 
 have always had their separate meetings, and while a 
 mission, they were attended by the priests of their 
 respected nationalities, who had charge at South- 
 bridge. Two very tasty and well constructed 
 
 churches were erected in 1885, and in 1886, Septem- 
 ber 1st, the Fiskdale Mission was made a distinct par- 
 ish. The Reverend Father Jules Gratton was placed 
 in charge as priest. The census of the parish in 1886, 
 was: Irish, 45 families and 175 souls; French, 110 
 families and 610 souls. 
 
 Educational. — Rev. Joseph S. Clark, in his cen- 
 tennial address of 1838, says: "The first step towards 
 the advancement of common education in this place 
 was the establishment of four schools at the average 
 expense of £5 per school. The names of the four 
 teachers who had the honor of laying the foundation 
 of learning among us (peace to their venerated dmt I) 
 were Margaret Manning, Mary Hoar, the wife of 
 Jeremiah Streeter, and the wife of John Stacey, 
 1742. 
 
 Five school districts were formed in 1761, and re- 
 ferring to that, Mr. Clark says, such indeeil, is the 
 present law of the Commonwealth, but the plan was 
 devised and adopted by the citizens of this town long 
 before our law-makers had suggested such a thought. 
 
 The School Committee of 1825, Rev. Z. L. Leonard, 
 chairman, made a report of the schools — the first on 
 record in this town. In that report it is found that 
 " The whole number that have attended school the 
 winter past is five hundred and sixty, of which a re- 
 spectable number in each school have attended to the 
 higher branches of study." There were twelve school 
 districts. The age of attendance at common schools 
 was at that time extended at option to twenty years, 
 more or less. 
 
 From the 1888 printed reportof theSchool Committee 
 of this town, we find that " the .school year of thirty- 
 three weeks was divided into a spring, fall and winter 
 term, of ten, eleven and twelve weeks, respec- 
 tively." 
 
 Number of public day-HChools 14 
 
 Number uf peraons in the town May 1, 1877, between five 
 
 and fifteen years of age 345 
 
 Number ofdiflereiit pupila of all ages in all the public 
 
 scJhjoIb duriuK tlie ecliool year 371 
 
 Wbole uuniber of teacliers employed during the year 20 
 
 Average wages of teachers per month $27.75 
 
 H. E. Hilrlicock, A. B. Ch»mb«rlaiu, D. R. Wight, .School <:'ommitleB 
 of Sturbriilge, March 17, 1888. 
 
 Public Library. — In 1873 "The Quinebaug Library 
 Association " gave their librnry of between four and 
 five hundred volumes to the town, " on condition that 
 the town appropriate not less than $100 annually for 
 its increase and support and proper accommodation for 
 the public." The town accepted the gift and the con- 
 ditions, and the public library has been well cared 
 for and increased to over 3000 volumes. It is located 
 in the upper story of the Centre School-house build, 
 ing. In the year ending March 1, 1888, the number 
 of persons drawing books was 352. Total number of 
 books drawn, 6041. 
 
 Industrial. — The first saw-mill in the town wsia 
 built in 1732 by William Ward, Esq.,of Southborough, 
 upon Hobb's Brook, not far above the crossing of the 
 
118 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Fiske Hill road. In 1795 the number of saw-mills 
 upon the Quinebaug and tributaries had increased to 
 fifteen. There were nine in 1837, and at the present 
 time six. A large share of the sawing is now done by 
 portable steam mills. Nehemiah Allen's corn-mill is 
 mentioned upon our records iu 1769, and may have 
 been in operation at an earlier date. It wa.s located 
 near where the large dam owned by the Fiskdale Mills 
 has been constructed. Moses Marcy's corn-mill, which 
 accommodated the early settlers, was over the line in 
 Oxford (Charlton after 1754). In 1795 there were 
 four grist-mills in the town ; in 1737, three ; and at 
 the present time, one — that owned by Mr. George 
 Wight, which accommodates this and the borders of 
 adjoining towns. 
 
 Three mills for the manufacture of cotton batting 
 were operated in this town in 1837 ; at the present 
 time, none. 
 
 A tannery was established near the site of the first 
 saw-mill by Mr. Samuel Hobbs, a native of Weston, 
 and a member of " The Boston Tea Party," who came 
 to this town about 1780. Samuel Hobbs & Sons, 
 Josiah Hobbs, P. B. & J. B. Johnson, Southwick & 
 Tyler, and Nelson Bennett have successively owned 
 and operated the tannery. The business has been 
 dropped in that locality and the buildings are taken 
 away. 
 
 The "Old Tannery," at Fiskdale, was established 
 not far from the year 1780 by Abuer Allen, who car- 
 ried on the business about fifty years. Mr. Liberty 
 Allen (living 1888), grandson of Abner, succeeded to 
 the business in 1830, and has carried it on fifty-eight 
 years. Henry Allen, father of Liberty, was a pump- 
 maker. 
 
 Carriage and Harness Shop at the Centre Village. — 
 Mr. Henry Haynes, then called junior, started in the 
 business here in March, 1834. Mr. Melvin Haynes, a 
 brother, was admitted a partner in 1844. H. & M, 
 Haynes continued until 1861, when Melvin sold his 
 interest to his nephews, Henry D. and John P., and 
 the firm took the name of H. Haynes & Sons. John 
 P. sold his interest in 1865, and the final letter s was 
 taken off the firm-name. The number of hands em- 
 ployed has varied from one, at first, to fifteen or six. 
 teen at the highest. Since carriage-making, in later 
 years, has gone into larger concerns, H. Haynes & 
 Son have reduced their force, and confine their at- 
 tention to orders and repairing. The senior member 
 of the firm, who is still active, has been in the busi- 
 ness fifty-four years. 
 
 Boot and Shoe Business at the Centre. — Elisha 
 Southwick, having obtained permission, and a lease 
 of the ground from the town, built a shoe-shop on 
 the Common in 1850, and went into business. In 
 1859 he leased to Henry Merrick and Charles N. 
 Allen, but soon afterwards bought in, and when Mr. 
 Merrick and Mr. Allen left the firm, continued the 
 business alone until he gave it up to his son-in-law, 
 Mr. A. C. Morse, about 1868. Mr. Hiram Carter 
 
 bought an interest in 1869, and the firm of Morse & 
 Carter did a business of about $120,000 a year. Mr. 
 Carter withdrew, and Mr. Morse went on alone un- 
 til the business was closed, about 1877. 
 
 Mr, Charles N. Allen, after leaving the firm of 
 Southwick & Allen, did a large business on the oppo- 
 site side of the Common. He operated for the 
 greater part of the time between 1865 and 1875, 
 usually doing a business of $100,000 a year. 
 
 At Fiskdale. — Mr. Emery L. Bates, in connection 
 with Mr. Judson Smith, began in the boot and shoe 
 business about 1846. The firm of Sessions Bates & 
 Co. was formed about 1850, and did a business which, 
 at the maximum, amounted to over $300,000 a year. 
 The firm dissolved before the war, and Mr. Bates 
 continued the business here. His trade was largely 
 Southern, and the cloud of the Rebellion covered 
 about $80,000 of his as^sets, of which he finally rea- 
 lized only about $10,000. Mr. Bates then discon- 
 tinued the manufacture of boots and shoes, and or- 
 ganized the Snell Manufacturing Company, as de- 
 scribed in another place. 
 
 The Ladd's Shop Privilege. — Mr. David K. Porter, 
 iu the spring of 183(!, built a dam across the ancient 
 " Sugar Brook," exactly where the " Old Springfield 
 Road," which was opeued in 1635-38, had passed, 
 and flowed what was known to the wayfarer along 
 this route, before the settlement of the town, as 
 " Knotch Meadow." A very durable and valuable 
 water-power was obtained, it being situated upon the 
 outlet of Walker Pond, which is improved as a 
 reservoir. Gibbs, Tiflany & Company, composed of 
 Enoch K. Gibbs, Brigham Gibbs, Lucian Tiflany and 
 Dr. John Seabury, began the manufacture of pistols 
 here as the first enterprise. Town & Chafl'ee, from 
 Rhode Island, began to make augers and bits here 
 iu 1841, the first made in this town. Mr. Sumner 
 Packard began to make awls and general shoe-kit 
 tools in 1846, and was succeeded in 1855 by Mr. 
 Charles Varney, who commenced to make cutters 
 and dies in 1857. He sold to F. W. & H. Slayton 
 in 1863, who transferred a third interest to Mr. Noah 
 D. Ladd in 1804, and the whole property to Ladd & 
 Wight the next year. In 1867 Mr. Daniel R. Wight 
 went out, and Mr. Ladd, taking his son Henry J. 
 into the business, has continued under the firm-name 
 of N. D. Ladd & Son. The shop was burned in 
 June, 1878, and they had it rebuilt and running 
 in sixty-one days after the fire. They manufac- 
 tured shoe-knives, awl-hafts and a variety of small 
 tools until about 1875; since that time they have 
 given their attention principally to cutters and dies 
 for cutting cloth, paper, rubber, veneering, leather, 
 etc. 
 
 At Westville there is to be seen the ruined founda- 
 tion of an old mill ; also a canal and a broken-down 
 dam. This is the site of the first cotton -factory in the 
 town — including Southbridge. It was built by the 
 Sturbridge Manufacturing Company in 1812. This 
 
STUKBRIDGE. 
 
 119 
 
 asaociation was incorporated the 5th of December, 
 1811, with the following names: Kev. Zenas L. Leon- 
 ard, Stephen Newell, Lieut. John Plimpton, Moses 
 Fiske, Jephthah Plimpton, Ziba Plimpton, Moses 
 Newell, Eleazer Rider, Comfort Freeman, Nathaniel 
 Eider, Franklin Rider. 
 
 The factory building was thirty feet by forty-five, 
 and three stories in height, with preparations for 
 manufacturing cotton yarn. The mill began to run 
 for the company in the fall of 1812, and continued to 
 run with profit until the close of the war, when British 
 manufactures were introduced below the cost of any 
 similar production in these States. Southbridge was 
 set oft' in 1816, and although the factory building was 
 on the Sturbridge side of the river, it was subsequently 
 owned and occupied by Southbridge parties. The 
 mill was unoccupied a number of years ; then it was 
 struck by lightning and burned about 1882. 
 
 Charles Hyde's Box-Shop is on the Quinebaug, 
 about half a mile above the ruins of the old factory. 
 This mill site was first utilized for a saw-mill owned 
 by Dea. Edward Foster at an early period, and came 
 into the possession of Mr. James Plimpton about 
 1770, who had a saw-mill and a grist-mill there. The 
 place was called "Plimpton's Mills" for a period of 
 fifty years or more. Stephen Bracket had a cotton- 
 batting mill there; then it was "Bracket's Mills." 
 Pails were made there a few years. Sawing of lum- 
 ber, planing and matching, and the making of pack- 
 ing-boxes is the business now carried on there. 
 
 Wight's Mills. — Above the box-shop the Quinebaug 
 may be followed nearly two miles in its winding, quiet 
 course, before another mill-site is found ; and that 
 was originally found by the boys who followed the 
 path the cows made going down through the bushes 
 to drink. The river ran into a pocket surrounded by 
 sand-hills, and had to go back and flow quietly out 
 at the door. David Wight, Jr., built a dam across 
 the door, or place of outflow, dug through the sand- 
 bank and made a canal to conduct the water away 
 down through the meadow to the river again, and thus 
 obtained a very valuable water-power, which has been 
 used by three generations of his descendants. A 
 grist-mill, saw-mill, planing and matching is the 
 business now carried on there. 
 
 Snell Manufacturing Company's Works. — In 1798-99, 
 Mr. Alpheus Wiglit excavated a canal about half a 
 mile in length, conducting the water from the Quine- 
 baug, where a dara was constructed, to a convenient 
 locality near "the great road," and established a 
 water-power tliere, which has been of great public, as 
 well as private utility. In his day it was utilized for 
 a saw-mill, a grist-mill and a fulling-mill. 
 
 The manufacture of augers and bits was commenced 
 at Wight Village, in the old fulling-mill building, as 
 early as 1845, by Towne, Snell & Co. The following 
 year Lauriston Towne went out, and the firm-name 
 became Smith, Snell & Co., until 1850, when Lucius 
 Snell bought out Judson Smith. The firm was then 
 
 composed of Mr. Melville Snell, and two of his 
 nephews, Thomas O. Snell and Lucius, and took the 
 name of Snell & Bros. The old mill was burned in 
 1852, after which the firm bought the privilege and 
 built the first stone mill, one hundred feet by thirty- 
 two, and two stories in height. Then Dea. Thomas 
 Snell, the father of Thomas O. and Lucius, sold his 
 shop in Ware and removed his business to Sturbridge, 
 went into partnership with his brother and two sons, 
 and the firm-name was changed to Snell Bros. They 
 built two stone mills in 1853, one thirty-six by forty- 
 six, and the other one hundred by forty-five feet ; the 
 latter three stories in height. About seventy-five 
 workmen were employed in 185-1. 
 
 Deacon Thomas Snell was the son of Thomas 
 Snell, of Ware, who originated the Snell auger and 
 bit, the first of the kind made in this country. Thus, 
 the hereditary skill and long-established business 
 (from 1790) being transferred to this locality, when 
 Mr. Emery L. Bates, of this town, formed a copart- 
 nership with Messrs. Clarke & Wilson, an old hard- 
 ware firm in New York, and purchased the entire 
 business in 1862, they very appropriately took the 
 firm name of The Snell Manufacturing Company. 
 Mr. Bates has been the business manager to the 
 present time. In 1883 they-added the business of 
 making ship-augers, of which there is but one other 
 manufactory in this country ; and with improved 
 machinery and skilled mechanics are said to make 
 the finest goods in the world. 
 
 It is now a corporation with a capital of sixty thou- 
 sand dollars and employing about one hundred and 
 thirty workmen, manufacturing auger-bits and car- 
 bits, millwright and nut augers, boring machines and 
 boring machine augers, ship-builders' augers and the 
 various kinds of augers and bits used for power ma- 
 chines, producing about one hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand annually. 
 
 FiSKDALE AND FiSKDALE MiLLS. — Nchemiah 
 Allen, who was one of the proprietors and drew lands 
 in various parts of the town, bought of Moses Allen, 
 who had bought of Shubael Goram, original proprietor, 
 the " Dimick Farm " and " lot No. 25, west," 
 adjoining it on the north, now known as the "old' 
 Benson place," and also lot No. 37, now owned by Mr. 
 Liberty Allen, the Fiskdale Mills (Taylor Place) and 
 others, which bounded said " Farm " on the west. 
 The south line of Demick's was identical with the 
 north bounds of Mr. C. G. Allen's farm, and the 
 eastward the same as the west line of J. D. Under- 
 wood's and D. W. Wight's pasture-lands on the hill, 
 and continued the same course after crossing the 
 river, northeastward to the lot 25 west above men- 
 tioned. The line last described was between the 
 Salstonstal and Demick " Farms." 
 
 Nehemiah Allen built his house previous to 1738, 
 upon the site of the "old Allen place," northward of 
 the Baptist meeting-hou.se. 
 
 In the second generation his son John remained 
 
120 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 upon the homestead, " Captain Jacob " had the 
 south part of the lot No. 37, and the grist-mill, and 
 originated the liomestead called the Taylor Place. 
 Abner had the north end of 37, and built the house 
 now the residence of his grandson. Liberty AUe'n; 
 also originated the tanning business there. 
 
 In the third generation Moses Allen succeeded his 
 father, John Allen, on the origin.al homestead, having 
 for a farm that part of Demick's north of the river. 
 Dr. Abraham Allen had the real estate of his father. 
 Captain Jacob, and Henry succeeded Abner. 
 
 These men of the third generation had become old, 
 their family had had peaceable possession and quiet 
 for over ninety years, when two brothers, Henry and 
 Josiah J. Fiske, sons of David, of Fiske Hill, and 
 grandsons of Henry (see grantees), bought Moses 
 Allen's farm, erected the first factory and laid the foun- 
 dation of the village that bears their name. Moses 
 Allen's farm was deeded to Henry and Josiah J. Fiske 
 in 1826. Hon. Josiah J. Fiske was a lawyer residing 
 in Wrentham, but was largely interested in the 
 Quinebaug Company, the iirst company formed for 
 operating at this point on the Quinebaug River. 
 Henry Fiske became resident proprietor here and 
 erected the first brick mill and a suitable number of 
 tenement houses in 1827-28, and to him is due the 
 credit of performing the pioneer work of founding 
 this village. The dimensions of this first cotton-mill 
 were eighty-four feet by forty, and five stories high. 
 It was put in operation in May, 1829, under the 
 superintendence of Mr. Harvey Hartshcrne, of 
 Wrentham. The Quinebaug Company constructed 
 the upper dam in a thorough manner and began the 
 erection of the ''stone mill " in 1S.34. Henry Fiske 
 retired from the concern, and the old Quinebaug 
 Company was merged in the Sturbridge Cotton-Mills, 
 which was incorporated in 1835 with a capital of one 
 hundred thousand dollars. It v.'as through the efforts, 
 the energy and perseverance of Hon. Josiah J. Fiske 
 that the Sturbridge Cotton-Mills Company was 
 formed and the construction of these mills carried to 
 completion. After the retirement of his brother, he 
 gave more of his personal attention to affairs here, 
 residing here more or less, and died at Fiskdale in 
 1838. These first mills had ten thousand spindles 
 and two hundred looms. Mr. Simeon A. Drake was 
 the agent from 1832 to 1854, followed by Mr. Wm. B. 
 Whiting. 
 
 In 1859 Mr. James C. Fisk, of Cambridge, was 
 chosen treasurer, and assumed charge of these mills, 
 with Mr. Bowers S. Chace as agent. Mr. Fisk held 
 the office of treasurer until his death, in 1885. The 
 corporate name of the Sturbridge Cotton-Mills was 
 chanyed by an act of the Legislature in 1869 to Fisk- 
 dale Mills; and an increase of capital stock to five 
 hundred thousand dollars was authorized. 
 
 When the property first came under the manage- 
 ment of Mr. James C. Fisk the buildings were in a 
 dilapidated condition, tilled with old and worn-out 
 
 machinery. The corporation houses were in equally 
 as bad shape, and the general appearance of the mills 
 and village was that of a run-down and worn-out con- 
 cern. 
 
 Mr. Fisk tore down the old mills and built new ones ; 
 put in new machinery, remodeled the houses, — and 
 to-day the village of Fiskdale stands as a monument 
 to the energy and success of this man who has made 
 it as pretty, healthy and successful a factory village 
 as can be found ; with its large and well-built mills, 
 comfortable and neat houses, well-kept yards, and 
 large farms, keeping some forty head of stock and 
 twelve horses, it can well be called a model village. 
 
 The Fiskdale Mills property consists in part of two 
 mills, the machinery of which is operated by one Her- 
 cules wheel of -100 horse-power, and one of 250 horse- 
 power. These mills run 34,000 spindles, and 800 
 looms ; using some 6000 pounds of cotton daily ; pro- 
 ducing some ten and a quarter million yards of 64x64 
 standard print cloths in a year. 
 
 Mr. James L. Fi.sk, son of the late Mr. James C. 
 Fisk, is now (1888) president of the company; Mr. C. 
 Curry, the treasurer, and Mr. O. B. Truesdell the 
 agent. 
 
 Agricultttee. — As early as the beginning of the 
 century the " Massachusetts Society for Promoting 
 Agriculture," sent to all parts of the State a series of 
 questions relative to the then existing condition of 
 agriculture. In the report of the Massachusetts So- 
 ciety mention is made that replies had been received 
 from "Sturbridge, where there is a Sucieli/." Aulo- 
 graph rejdies, written in the blank spaces between the 
 printed questions, are under the name of Erasmus 
 Babbitt, and the pamphlet bears the date of 1800. 
 Mr. Babbitt reports a medium-sized farm in Stur- 
 bridge to be "130 acres, divided: one-third pasture — 
 one-fifth mowing — one-fifteenth tillage — ^onethirtieth 
 orchard and one-third woodland; the orchards are 
 generally increasing and yield a competent supply of 
 cider." That "this farm will keep 15 head of n cat 
 cattle, 2 horses, and 15 sheep." "All the coarse fod- 
 der and meadow hay is fed to tlie cattle in the yards." 
 "Provender is little used except for horses that work 
 hard, or creatures fatting." On this medium farm 
 "about 7 acres are planted or sown to grain." "Aver- 
 age crop of corn is 25 to 30 bushels to the acre;" po- 
 tatoes, "130 to 150 bushels to the acre"— "12 or 15 
 bushels for seed," and "the largest are thought to be 
 best." "About J of an acre of potatoes is planted on 
 a medium farm." We have the rose-back species of 
 swine of the largest kind — killed twenty months old, 
 weigh two hundred and forty pounds. The product 
 of a cow, all the cream being churned, is seventy 
 pounds of butter, and about as many pounds of skim- 
 cheese can be made from the same cow. 
 
 The foregoing presents the main points of the re- 
 plies to the questions of the Massachusetts Society, 
 of Erasmus Babbitt, Esq., a lawyer then residing in 
 this town and probably an officer of that early Agri- 
 
TEMPLETON. 
 
 121 
 
 cultural Society of Sturbridge, of which we have no 
 further account. 
 
 The present agricultural condition of the town may 
 be indicated by the following extracts from the census 
 of Massachusetts, report of 1885: — Amount of land, 
 cultivated, uncultivated and woodland, 19,111 acres; 
 cultivated land, 16 per cent.; uncultivated, 40 per 
 cent. ; woodland, 44 per cent. Number of farms, 145 ; 
 average size, 131 acres; number of farms reported 
 over one acre and under two, 1 ; over three and under 
 four, 4; over five and under ten, 8 ; over ten and under 
 fifteen, 5; over fifteen and under twenty, 5; over 
 twenty and under thirty, 9; over thirty and under 
 forty, 8; over forty and under fifty, 6; over fifty and 
 under sixty, 7; over sixty and under seventy, 4; over 
 seventy and under eighty, 6; over eighty and under 
 ninety, 8; over ninety and under one hundred, 19; 
 over one hundred and under one hundred and fifty, 
 29; over one hundred and fifty and under two hun- 
 dred, 13; over two hundred and under three hundred, 
 8; over three hundred and under four hundred, 4; 
 over eight hundred and under nine hundred, 1. Ag- 
 gregate value of these 145 farms: — Land, §262,930; 
 buildings, $219,103; machines, implements, etc., $19,- 
 521; domestic animals, etc., $50,781; fruit trees and 
 vines, $11,377. The total yearly product from these 
 farms amounts to $125,152. Farms owned, 123; hired, 
 13; on shares, 5; not given, 4 — total, 145. Number 
 of persons owning or having charge of farms : — Males, 
 159; females, 8; farm laborers, 86. 
 
 Formation of the Second Agricultural Societij of Stur- 
 bridge. — An informal meeting of citizens was held at 
 the house of Mr. J. N. Chamberlain, October 31, 1843> 
 and Maj. S. A. Drake was called to the cliair. It was 
 voted to hold an exhibition, November 8th, on the 
 Common. Three were appointed to "extend and give 
 notice over the town in general." The exhibition was 
 lield as appointed, and at an adjourned meeting, No- 
 vember 15th, a committee was chosen to draft a con- 
 stitution and by-laws. At anotlier adjourned meeting, 
 November i^7th, a constitution containing eight arti- 
 cles was adopted, and tlie following list of officers 
 chosen, viz.: — President, S. A.Drake; Vice-President, 
 Caleb Weld, Jr.; Secretary, Benj. D. Hyde; Corre- 
 sponding Secretary, A. M. Merrick; Treasurer, Benj. 
 Bullock; Directors, Thos. Merrick, John Boyden, 
 David Wight, A. P. Taylor, Peter Belknap, Geo. V. 
 Corey, Simeon Hooker, Samuel Hobbs, S. F. Marsh. 
 
 Out of this was evolved the Worcester South Agri- 
 cultural Society, incorporated in 1854, "for the en- 
 couragement of agriculture and the mechanic arts by 
 premiums and other means in the town of Sturbridge, 
 in the county of Worcester." The fine park of this 
 society, containing the buildings and conveniences 
 for a first-class fair, the whole plant being valued at 
 upwards of $16,000, is situated near the centre of this 
 town. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 TEMPLETON. 
 
 BY H. F. L.iNE. 
 
 Location — Boundaj'y — Eievation — Stieams — Po7t<h — Soil — Prnduclioyis 
 I'opulution^ValuaUon — Uiisliti;is AJ}'airs of the Preeenl Time. 
 
 TeMPLETON is in the extreme northerly portion of 
 Worcester County, in the middle of the second tier 
 of towns from the New Hampshire line. Royalston 
 lies next it on the nortliHcst, and Winchendon 
 on the northea^t. Gardner, whose territory was 
 taken partly from this town, lies on the eastern 
 side. Hubbardston lies to the southwest, sepa- 
 rated from it by a straight boundary line. Phil- 
 lipston, originally a part of this town, extends com- 
 pletely along the western side. The extreme length 
 of the town is about eight miles. It varies in breadth 
 from about three miles in the northerly portion to 
 five miles in the middle and southerly portions. It 
 contains from nineteen to twenty thousand acres of 
 surface. The town lies filteen miles west of Fitch- 
 burg, twenty-six miles northwesterly from Worcester 
 and sixty-five miles from Boston. It is in latitude 
 42' 32' north and longitude 72° 5' west from London. 
 
 Templeton is situated on a high elevation. The 
 village at the centre of the town is not less than 
 twelve hundred feet above the level of the sea. Some 
 hills rise even higher than that. There is an elevated 
 plateau reaching from Wachusett Mountain, in the 
 central part of Worcester County, to Monadnock, in 
 Southern New Hampshire. This town lies on the 
 western edge of this plateau, where it begins to slope 
 toward the Connecticut River, as the eastern side of 
 the plateau slopes toward the Merrimac. There are 
 no mountainous elevations in the town, although the 
 whole surface is hilly. The hills are rounded masses, 
 usually fertile to the summit. The crests of some of 
 these hills and ridges command extensive views of 
 the surrounding country, as from Dolbear Hill, near 
 the village at the centre of the town. Mine Hill, in 
 the eastern part of the town, and from the high ridges 
 of laud in the southern and also in the northwestern 
 parts of the town. It is a notal.ile feature of this por- 
 tion of Worcester County that it lies in long ridges or 
 swells of land extending in a northerly and southerly 
 line, with corresponding valleys between. Roads 
 running north and south find locations quite nearly 
 level ; but running east and west it is one continuous 
 couree of up hill and down. The Ware River Rail- 
 road finds ea.sy grades through one of these valleys. 
 The situation of this town, just on the western 
 edge of the plateau, brings it just barely within the 
 Connecticut River basin, into which river all of its 
 surplus waters flow. The towns lying next easterly 
 of this, send a portion of their waters into the Mer- 
 rimac. The largest stream of water in town is Otter 
 River. This stream has its sources in Hubbardston 
 
122 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 and Gardner, flows through the southeasterly portion 
 of this town, and the southwesterly part of Gardner, 
 forms the boundary line between the two towns for 
 some distance, then flows in a northwesterly direction 
 through the northerly part of the town, yielding an 
 abundant water-power at the villages of Otter River 
 and Baldwinville. Just outside of this town it unites 
 with Miller's River, a tributary of the Connecticut. 
 Otter River has several tributaries in this town. Mill 
 Brook, with several reservoirs for the storage of 
 water, furnishes several water privileges at P^irtridge- 
 ville and East Templeton. Trout Brook, with several 
 mill privileges, flows in a direct northerly course 
 through one of the valleys and falls into Otter River 
 a little below Baldwinville. Beaver Brook flows in a 
 northerly course through another of the valleys in 
 the extreme westerly part of the town, falling into 
 Miller's River near South Royalston. There were 
 formerly two saw-mills on this brook. There are 
 several small tributaries of Otter River, some of which 
 have in the past furnished mill-sites. The Burnshirt 
 River drains the southwesterly part of the town and 
 furnishes several mill privileges. This stream falls 
 into Ware River, and thence by way of the Chicopee 
 River reaches the Connecticut. On these various 
 streams there are not less than thirty-five mill-sites, 
 the water-power of which has at some time been 
 turned to practical use. But some of them have in 
 later times been given up. 
 
 Several neighboring towns, whose situation is much 
 like our own, have their surface dotted with natural 
 ponds, forming an attractive feature in the landscape. 
 The artificial pond is suggestive only of utility ; the 
 natural pond seems to be almost wholly for the grati- 
 fication of the eye. This town has only two natural 
 ponds, and both are of small size. Snake Pond 
 is in the extreme easterly part of the town, lying 
 partly in Gardner ; Cook Pond is in the southerly 
 part of the town, small in area, and with no attractive 
 features. The artificial ponds, for the mill privileges 
 and reservoirs, are numerous and scattered over the 
 town. 
 
 The soil of this town is not sterile; neither can it be 
 called fertile. It yields fair crops when replenished 
 by fertilizing material and stimulated to activity by 
 the energetic hand of the owner. But the land is not 
 easy of cultivation, and we cannot compete with West- 
 ern States in the production of oats and corn. The 
 usual agricultural products are raised here in moder- 
 ate quantities. Gra»s is, perhaps, the most important 
 product. The fruits are not produced in abundance 
 here. The peach does not thrive. The season is 
 hardly long enough for the grape. Apples are pro- 
 duced in moderate quantities, but not nearly enough 
 for the home supply. The white pine is the most 
 abundant of the forest trees. Spruce and hemlock 
 are common, and also maple, birch and beech. The 
 oak and the ash are not so often found, and chestnut 
 trees have become quite rare. The American larch, 
 
 sometimes known as tamarack, and the hard pine 
 grow in some localities. The black cherry, leverwood, 
 hornbeam, poplar, basswood and balsam are found in 
 small quantities. The elm is rarely found, except 
 where it has been set out as a shade-tree. The poison 
 dogwood is found in some of our forests, and the usual 
 wild shrubs grow in abundance — the laurel, common 
 alder, black alder, withewood, sumac and hazel. 
 Doubtless the town at its first settlement was densely 
 wooded. We read from time to time in the Pro- 
 prietors' Records of their sending persons " to burn the 
 woods." An important product in the early times was 
 the potash obtained from the ashes of the burned 
 trees. 
 
 Templeton was incorporated a.s a town in 1762. Its 
 population at different periods has been as foflows : 
 In 1765, including Phillipston, 348 ; in 1776, inclu- 
 ding Phillipston, 1016 ; in 1790, after Phillipston was 
 set ofl; OoO; in 1800, 1068; in 1810, 1205; in 1820, 
 1331; in 1830, 1552; in 1840,1776; in 1850, 2173 ; 
 in 1860, 2816 ; in 1870, 2802 ; in 1880, 2789 ; in 1885, 
 2627. Of this last number in the census of 1885, 
 1302 were males, 1325 were females ; 2293 were 
 native born, and 334 were foreign born. 
 
 The valuation of the property in the town in the 
 year 1800 was less than one hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand dollars ; in 1840 it was somewhat less than six 
 hundred thousand dollars; in 1887 it was a little 
 over one million dollars. According to the assessor's 
 lists for the year 1887, there were in the town 592 
 dwelling-houses, 429 horses and 4.50 cows. The 
 number of polls taxed was 788 ; the number of legal 
 voters in 1888 was 569. 
 
 Templeton has its population gathered chiefly in 
 the four principal villages. Each of these villages 
 has a post-office and a hotel ; each has one or more 
 churches and stores ; each has a public hall ; and, 
 beginning with the year 1887, each, with a portion of 
 the contiguous territory, constitutes a voting precinct 
 for the purposes of the State election. The Centre 
 village is at the summit of one of the high ridges of 
 land of which this region is made up. Here the first 
 houses were built ; here was the meeting-house of the 
 olden time ; here was the public Common, serving as 
 a military training field and muster-ground. The 
 militia of this and the neighboring towns gathered 
 here for the autumnal muster. On the west side of 
 the common is the town hall. Near by is the 
 Unitarian Church and chapel. On the east is the 
 brick building of the Boynton Public Library. 
 Next is the Trinitarian Church edifice. Opposite is 
 the location of the summer school of Mr. Charles W. 
 Stone, of Boston. At the south end of the Common 
 Mr. Percival Blodgett keeps, in more than the usual 
 quantity and variety, the miscellaneous assortment of 
 dry goods and groceries usual in a country store. 
 Mr. J. O. Winch deals in boots and shoes. For 
 several years the hotel, now burned, was kept by 
 Mr. Charles E. Ellis. Miss Delia Damon manages 
 
TEMPLETON. 
 
 123 
 
 the affairs of the post-office. Westerly of the village 
 is the station of the Ware River Railroad. Near it 
 is an establishment for painting and finishing furni- 
 ture, carried on by Messrs. Kilner & Bourn. On 
 Trout Brook, near by, Messrs. Bourn, Hadley & Co. 
 are extensively engaged in the manufacture of pine 
 and ash furniture. 
 
 Two miles easterly of Templeton Centre, and well 
 toward the borders of the town, is the village of East 
 Templeton. The Methodist Church has its location 
 here. And here also is Memorial Hall , on whose 
 walls are two marble tablets bearing the names of 
 those soldiers who lost their lives in the Civil War. 
 Ericsson Post, No. 109, of the Grand Army of the 
 Republic, has its place of meeting in this building. 
 There is a co-operative store in its lower story. Mr. 
 F. L. Sargeant is the postmaster of the village, and 
 has a grocery store. Mr. Henry J. Wright keeps a 
 hotel and livery stable, and has a miscellaneous 
 business besides. Mill Brook runs directly through 
 this village and furnishes abundant water-power. 
 Three shops on the upper part of this stream have 
 been burned within a few years. A little fariher 
 down the stream is the factory of Mr. Chester N. John- 
 son, who makes children's carts and wagons in large 
 variety and quantity. The next factory is that of the 
 sons of T. T. Greenwood, who are largely engaged in 
 the manufacture of furniture. They have a furniture 
 store at Gardner. Chairs are manufactured at the 
 lowest mill on the stream by the East Templeton 
 Co-operative Chair Company, a prosperous organiza- 
 tion of several mechanics of the village, which has 
 carried on business here for several years. 
 
 The village of Otter River is in the northeasterly 
 part of the town, about three miles from the Centre 
 village. It has a station on the Fitchburg Railroad. 
 There is a public hall in connection with the school- 
 house. St. Martin's Church, Catholic, is in this vil- 
 lage. Frederick Warner is the postmaster and keeps 
 a store. Francis Lelaud has built a large brick store 
 on the site of the former hotel, and keeps groceries, 
 dry goods and miscellaneous articles in great variety. 
 Otter River furnishes water-power, on which are three 
 factories, two of which are owned by the Hon. Rufus 
 S. Frost, of Chelsea, Mass., and are occupied with 
 spinning for his other factories «(lsewhere ; the third 
 has always been a woolen-factory. Messrs. Lord, 
 Stone & Co. make a great many stoves, and send out 
 agents to sell them in various parts of New England. 
 There are two brick-yards at this part of the town. 
 One has been .somewhat recently established. The 
 other was for many years carried on by Mr. Horatio 
 N. Dyer, and more recently by his son, Charles C. 
 Dyer. The annual product at this yard has recently 
 been one and a half million of bricks. 
 
 Baldwinville is in the northerly part of the town, 
 well toward the Winchendon line and about four 
 miles from the Centre village. It has excellent 
 railroad facilities, being situated at the junction of 
 
 the Ware River Railroad with the Fitchburg. The 
 Baptist Church and the Goodell Memorial Church 
 are both in this village. There is also a public hall, 
 named Union Hall. George E. Bryant is postmaster 
 of the village. For several years Mr. George Par- 
 tridge has been the proprietor of the hotel. The 
 Templeton Savings Bank has its place of business 
 in this village. Mr. Louis Leland has kept a store 
 at the " Lee" stand in this village since 1870, keep- 
 ing a supply of dry goods, groceries and miscellaneous 
 articles. In the Cady & Brooks block, near the 
 railroad bridge, Mr. C. S. Dickin.son keeps drugs and 
 medicines and a slock of furnishing goods in one 
 store, and Messrs. C. S. Dickinson & Co. keep 
 groceries in an adjoining store, in one portion of 
 which is the post-office. Supplies of coal are fur- 
 nished by Messrs. Evans & Bowker. Otter River 
 Hows directly through the village and furnishes a 
 liberal supply of water-power, which is industriously 
 used. The shop at the uppermost privilege is owned 
 and occupied by Messrs. Smith, Day & Co., in the 
 manufacture of chairs. A portion of the water-power 
 here is used to turn the machinery of the paper-mill, 
 where sheathing, roofing and fire-proof paper is man- 
 ufactured by Mr. H. M. Small, formerly Small, Gould 
 & Co. Mr. George A. Brooks is a contractor and 
 builder, as well as a dealer in lumber. Following 
 down the river, we come to what was formerly known 
 as the " Red Mill." Here the Waite Chair Company 
 manufecture children's chairs in a variety of patterns 
 and with various ingenious devices for changing their 
 form and rolling them about. At the "Lower mill " 
 chairs of various patterns are manufactured by Messrs. 
 D. L. Thompson & Son. On the north side of the 
 river Messrs. Baker & Wilson manufacture children's 
 wagons and carts at the lower shop, and carry on an 
 extensive business of grinding and selling corn at the 
 upper shop, formerly known as the "Hat-shop." 
 There is a machine-shop near the railroad bridge in 
 which William E. Nichols manufactures band-saw 
 machines and chair machinery of various kinds and 
 does other machinist's work. Messrs. Holman & 
 Harris have built a new shop in the northerly part of 
 the village, close by the railroad. They use steam- 
 power only, and make large quantities of pails, buckets 
 and other wooden-ware. This account of the busi- 
 ness of the village would not be complete without 
 mentioning an enterprise in which Mr. Frank L. 
 Hosmer and Mr. E. W. Lund are separately engaged. 
 Each has a green-house, heated by steam, in which 
 cucumbers are raised during the winter, and are ready 
 in the very early spring for the New York and Boston 
 markets, to which they are daily sent. 
 
124 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 
 CHAPTER X V I r I. 
 
 TEMPLETON— ( Continued. ) 
 
 GnwtoJ the Towimhip — Tlie Proprietortt — Enrlij SMlnnents — Old Houses^ 
 Jncorporatkijt ; Trmpleton, 2'liiltipslon — Cointttj Jielalions — State Jteta- 
 twm — Political Parties. 
 
 The lands lying in this region were regarded as the 
 property of the Province of Massachusetts. They 
 were granted to persons with a view to the promotion 
 of the settlement of the country rather than as a means 
 of increasing the revenues of the Province. There 
 were many persons in the towns of the eastern part 
 of the Province who had rendered military service in 
 the war against the Narragansett Indians, which 
 terminated in 1675, ending with the destruction of the 
 Indian tribes. Promises had been made to the sol- 
 diers in these wars that they should receive gratuities 
 in land in addition to their wages ; but for fifty years 
 these promises had remained unfulfilled. The soldiers 
 who survived and the heirs of others urged their 
 claims and finally, June 15, 1728, the General Court 
 recognized their claims by granting to them two town- 
 ships, each six miles square. A convention of those 
 who brought forward their claims met at Cambridge 
 in 1730. At that meeting the number of those who 
 presented claims was much greater than had been 
 expected. Thomas Tileston, Esq., and others were 
 appointed a committee to request the General Court 
 to grant more townships. This petition was acted 
 upon favorably by the House of Representatives, 
 which voted that each one hundred and twenty per- 
 sons whose claims shall be allowed by this court may 
 be allowed a township of six miles square. The con- 
 currence of the Governor and Executive Council was 
 necessary to give validity to the grant. The House of 
 Representatives sent to the Council a message setting 
 forth earnestly and eloquently the valor and merit of 
 the soldiers engaged in the Narragansett exjiediiion 
 and calling the attention of the Council to the fact 
 that a " proclamation was made to the army, in the 
 name of the government, when they were mustertd 
 on Dedham Plain, where they began their march, that 
 if they played the man, took the fort and drove the 
 enemy out of the Narragansett country, they should 
 have a gratuity in land beside their wages." Addi- 
 tional lists of claimants were afterwards brought in, 
 making the full number of officers and soldiers whose 
 claims were allowed eight hundred and forty persons. 
 A committee was appointed to lay out five more tracts 
 of land in some of the unappropriated lands of the 
 Province, in accordance with the order of the General 
 Court. The grantees were also ordered to meet within 
 six months to make choice of committees to regulate 
 each propriety or township which was to be held and 
 enjoyed by each one hundred and twenty grantees in 
 equal proportion. The grantees of each township 
 were to pass such rules and orders as to oblige them 
 
 to settle sixty families, with a learned minister, within 
 the space of seven years from the date of the grant. 
 The grantees chose such committees June 6, 1733. 
 
 The Proprietors of the Township. — Each of 
 the townships granted by the General Court to soldiers 
 of the Narragansett Indian War seems to have borne 
 the name Narragansett, with a number attached to 
 distinguish the one from the other. Some of these 
 townships seem to have been in New Hampshire. 
 The neighboring town of Westminster was Narragan- 
 sett Number 2. Templeton was, until the time of its 
 incorporation, known as Narragansett Number 6. 
 The proprietors of this township seem first to have 
 drawn a township somewhere in New Hampshire, as 
 at their first meeting they voted to accept of the town- 
 ship " on the back of Rutland, in lieu of the town- 
 ship assigned us, west of Ponocook and Suncook." 
 
 The first meeting of the proprietors of the township 
 Narragansett Number G, was on October 19, 1733, 
 at the tavern of Jonathan Ball, in Concord, Mass. 
 They chose Samuel Chandler, Jonas Houghton and 
 John Longley as a committee to lay out a township 
 " on the back of Rutland, if the land there be acom- 
 adable." At an adjourned meeting of the proprietors, 
 December 3d, they voted to accept of the township. 
 A survey of the township was made by Jonas Hough- 
 ton, and a plot of the same was returned to the General 
 Court, which was accepte<l by that body in February, 
 1734. A meeting of the proprietors was held April 
 1, 1734, when they chose Jonas Houghton, John 
 Longley and Joseph Fassett a committee " to finish 
 the lines of the township, and burn the woods from 
 time to time until further orders;" they also voted 
 that a tax often shillings should be paid by each pro- 
 prietor. 
 
 The first step towards making a division of the land 
 of the town among the proprietors was taken at a 
 meeting held in Concord, October 30, 1734. At that 
 meeting it was " voted that the township be laid out 
 in part as soon as may be. Voted that there be laid 
 out a hundred and twenty-three forty-acre lots of the 
 best of the upland. Voted that Samuel Chandler, 
 Captain James Jones, Mr. Joshua Richardson, John 
 Longley and .loseph Fassett be a committee to lay 
 out the lots aliove-mentioned. Voted that the lots be 
 made as equal as may be, and in as regular form and 
 as compact as the laud will allow of. Voted that said 
 committee order ttmys (roads), and where the meeting- 
 house and the three public lots shall be, and to order 
 land for a burying-place and for a training-place, and 
 for other public use, according to their best discre- 
 tion." 
 
 It will thus be seen that land for the public use was 
 provided for at the earliest possible time, even before 
 the settlement of the town. In accordance with the 
 preceding vote, the committee proceeded to lay out 
 the one hundred and twenty-three forty-acre lots — 
 house-lots these were called — one for each of the one 
 hundred and twenty owners of the towuship, and the 
 
TEMPLETON. 
 
 125 
 
 tliree public lots, of which one was for the support of 
 wlinols, one for the first minister, and one for the 
 support of the ministry. The committee employed 
 surveyors, and spent about thirty days in the work of 
 surveying the lots. 
 
 At a meeting held at Concord, January 24, 1735 
 (old style), the lots were distributed among the pro- 
 prietors by a chance drawing. Any proprietor who 
 did not like his lot was permitted to drop it and take 
 an equal amount in the undivided land, provided he 
 did so within a given time. The full list of the names 
 of the original proprietors, with the numbers of the 
 lots which fell to each, may still be seen in the book 
 of Proprietors' Records. Very few of these original 
 owners of the fots in the township ever settled here. 
 Their lots were sold to others. 
 
 It was a condition of the grant of the township by 
 the General Court ilut hixty families should be settled 
 on as many lots within seven years. But settlers did 
 not rapidly come in. In 1737 the proprietors voted 
 that the owners of sixty of the lots, designated by 
 drawing numbers, should pay into the treasury the 
 sum of twelve pounds each, old tenor, and that the 
 other sixty lots should be settled within three years, 
 and that each proprietor who settled his lot should 
 receive a bounty of eight pounds. In 1743 an addi- 
 tional bounty of twelve pounds was offered to each of 
 the first ten families who, before September 1, 1744, 
 would build a "good dwelling-house and inhabit the 
 same, agreeably to the act of the Great and General 
 Court." Buc a war between France and England 
 came on, and the Indians acted as allies of the French, 
 and the whole colony was so disturbed that all thought 
 of settling new townships was given up. However, 
 peace came in 1749. 
 
 The first meeting of proprietors held within the 
 township was on October 6, 1742, on " Ridge Hill," 
 supposed to be near where the Partridgeville tJchooL 
 house now stands. A contract was made with Samuel 
 Sheldon to build a saw-mill, but he failed to build one. 
 Another contract was made with James Simonds, 
 Reuben Richardson and Oliver Richardson. It is 
 believed that they built a mill in 1743, on the site now 
 owned by A. S. Hodge. A meeting of proprietors 
 was held in 1744, and after that no meeting was held 
 until September 20, 1749, when they again met on 
 " Ridge Hill," in the township. 
 
 A meeting was held May 9, 1750, " at the meeting- 
 house place," in the township, and it was voted to 
 divide the meadow land. Foin- acres, in the middling 
 sort of the meadow, was taken as the standard or 
 quantity assigned to each proprietor. John Whit- 
 comb and Charles Baker were appointed surveyors. 
 There was not enough of the meadow land to furnish 
 each one four acres, and so it was voted that those 
 who drew " blanks," should have nine acres each, "in 
 any of the undivided upland," giving us an idea of 
 the relative value of meadow and upland at that time. 
 In 1751 there was a second division of upland, with 
 
 sevenfy acres as the standard, but the committee had 
 power to make the lots larger or smaller, according to 
 their goodness. These lots, one hundred and twenty- 
 three in number, were surveyed and distributed by 
 lot. May 15, 175^'. 
 
 A third division of the upland was agreed upon in 
 May, 1753, viithforty acres as the standard, and it 
 was voted that each proprietor may " pitch to his own 
 land," — that is, selectalot adjoining one formerly re- 
 ceived at a previous distribution, — and that the com- 
 mittee " qualify the land over or under the standard, 
 as it is for goodness or accommodation." There were 
 sixty-six " pitched lots ; " the other proprietors drew 
 for their locations. A fourth division of land was 
 voted twelve years later, September 25, 1765, with 
 twenti/ acres us the standard for each proprietor. And 
 twelve years later still, October 29, 1777, a fifth divis- 
 sion was agreed upon, and six acres was to be the 
 standard, with the usual provision for increasing or 
 diminishing the quantity according to the location 
 and goodness of the land. And thus, if we include 
 the division of the meadow lots, there were six divi- 
 sions of land among the proiirietors. In all of the 
 divisions, each proprietor must have received about 
 one hundred and eighty acres of land. Some received 
 an excess of upland in the place of meadow lots ; 
 and some lots were made a little over or under the 
 standard, according to location or goodness. 
 
 After the division of 1777 there was still remaining 
 a quantity of land, in pieces of irregular !-ha))e, lying 
 between the lots already laid, in various parts of the 
 township, amounting in all to about nine hundred 
 acres. At a meeting of the proprietors, held May 3, 
 1786, it was voted that " it is expedient to sell this 
 land at public vendue, and, after paying the debts, 
 divide the proceeds among the proprietors according 
 to their interest." Any proprietor, who preferred it, 
 was to have his share of the land set off to him under 
 the direction of a committee. The sale was made in 
 accordance with the vote, And it was further agreed 
 on June 6, 1787, that the hill called the " Mine Hill" 
 shou'd be sold " at public vendue for the most it will 
 fetch." Both salts having been made and the debts 
 paid, there was found a balance of eleven shillings 
 and sixpence for each original right, which the treas- 
 urer was directed to pay to the owners of the 
 rights. 
 
 The proprietors, at their meeting of May 3, 1786, 
 granted theCommon, and the burying-ground near it, 
 to the town of Templeton, for the use and benefit of 
 the people of the town and their heirs forever. 
 
 In the division of land among the proprietors, after 
 the survey was made, it was usually laid before a 
 meeting of the proprietors and afterwards recorded by 
 the proprietors' clerk, in a book ke|)t for that purpose. 
 There are, in the archives of the town, two books, con- 
 taining the records of the proceedings of the propri- 
 etors at their meeting-i, and a record of the surveys in 
 the original laying out of lots throughout the town- 
 
126 
 
 HISTORY OF WOKCBSTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 ship, with the length of the lines in rods, and their 
 direction as indicated by the compass. There are 
 many boundary lines of farms and lots, which, to- 
 day, are the same that were made by the first survey- 
 ors as they laid out lots in these original distributions 
 among the proprietors. The proprietors continued to 
 hold meetings, with long intervals between, in the 
 later times, until 1817. A meeting was called to meet 
 at the dwelling-house of Lipha French, on the 10th 
 of February of that year. This meeting was 
 adjourned three times, the last meeting being on the 
 first Monday of November, 1817. They then "voted 
 to adjourn this meeting to the last Wednesday in 
 May next, then to meet at Lipha French's." This is 
 the last entry in the Proprietors' Book of Records. 
 It is not even signed by the clerk, as was the custom. 
 
 The original proprietors of this township, as it 
 appears, lived mostly in the towns of Concord, Gro- 
 ton, Lancaster, Bolton, Littleton, Westport, Chelms- 
 ford, Stowe, Marlborough, Billerica and Woburn. 
 Their first meeting was held in Concord, and their 
 earlier meetings were held in the more central of 
 these towns. As has been already stated, their first 
 meeting here was in 1742, on " Ridge Hill." Some 
 other meetings were held there also. Sometimes after 
 the meetings were held in the township, they met at 
 the meeting-house place ; sometimes at Joshua 
 Wright's tavern, or at the house of Lipha French, in 
 later times. 
 
 The early proprietors of this and other towns were 
 constituted by the General Court a body corporate 
 for managing the affairs of the settlement. Their 
 legal powers were similar to those of towns. They 
 could lay taxes for the making of roads and for the 
 support of schools and public worship. But these 
 taxes were assessed wholly on the land, and not on 
 polls or personal property. Their meetings were con- 
 ducted much after the manner of town-meetings. The 
 presiding officer was called a moderator. They had a 
 clerk and treasurer. They chose committees to per- 
 form various duties in their behalf. Samuel Chandler 
 was a leading spirit among the proprietors in the 
 earlier times and until his death, in 1742. Charles 
 Baker was prominent in the earlier settlement, and 
 was a leading citizen of the town after its incorpora 
 tion. For some time he held the office of Proprietors' 
 Clerk. He surveyed many of the lots in the original 
 laying out, including the Common and burying-jjlace 
 He died in 1S13, at the age of eighty-five. His place 
 of residence was in what is now PhiUipston, on the 
 farm recently owned by Henry S. Miner. 
 
 Early Settlements — Old Houses. — One hun- 
 dred and fifty years ago this hilly region of northern 
 Worcester County was probably one unbroken forest. 
 The noise of the axe of the lumberman had not then 
 mingled with the sound of the gurgling streams, 
 which then ran quietly to the sea unvexed by dam or 
 water-wheel. Twenty-five years ago there were white 
 
 pine trees in our valleys which must have been stand- 
 ing when the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. There is 
 nothing to indicate that the Indians had any dwelling- 
 places here or engaged in the cultivation of the land. 
 They probaldy roamed through the forests merely for 
 the purpose of hunting and fishing. An arrow-head 
 has now and then been picked up. A stone mortar 
 and pestle for pounding corn have been found. There 
 is evidence that the early settlers in several of these 
 towns were annoyed by the Indians. Buildings were 
 burned, property destroyed, .and some persons lost 
 their lives at their hands. 
 
 The early settlers of this town cannot with justice 
 be charged with wresting these lands from the In- 
 dians ; for there is no evidence that the Indians had 
 any more title to the lands here than the foxes and 
 wolves that roamed through the same forests with 
 them. 
 
 It has already been stated that a saw-mill was 
 probably built in East Templeton in 1743. The first 
 family probably came here in 1751. A bounty of 
 eight pounds, and afterwards of twelve pounds addi- 
 tional, had been ofl^ered to the proprietor who should 
 first settle his lot. The earliest payment to any per- 
 son for building a house on his lot and living in it 
 with his family was made to Ellas Wilder in Septem- 
 ber, 1751 ; the next was made to Deacon Charles 
 Baker in October, 1751 ; and the next to Timothy 
 Chase, in May, 1752. Such payments had been made 
 in the next three and a half years to about thirty 
 actual settlers. 
 
 In 1753, when there were from eighteen to twenty 
 families in the township, a meeting-house was built, 
 which was fifty feet long and forty feet wide. The 
 first framed dwelling-house in the township is be- 
 lieved to have been the " Dolbear " house, erected in 
 1760. This house, with its large chimney and un- 
 plastered ceilings and walls, still stands about one- 
 half mile southerly of the Common, on the old Hub- 
 b.ardston road. The house standing next northerly 
 of the Public Library building is a very old house. 
 It formerly stood on what is now the Common, near 
 the public pump. In this house Joshua Wright 
 kept his tavern, and the proprietors at sundry times 
 held their meetings there. 
 
 The " Wellington " house is one of the oldest 
 houses, having been built by Rev. Mr. Sparhawk in 
 1764. Doubtless there are quite a large number of 
 houses now standing that were built only a little later 
 than these. 
 
 Incorpoeation — Templeton, PhiUipston. — In the 
 early years of the settlement the affairs of the town- 
 ship had been entirely under the management and 
 control of the grantees or proprietors. The time at 
 length came when it seemed best to the inhabitants 
 to assume the powers and duties of a town, and 
 accordingly the town was incorporated by the General 
 Court. 
 
TEMPLETON. 
 
 127 
 
 copy OF THE ACT OF INCORPOBATION.. 
 
 Anno regni} 
 tertii. i 
 
 L. S. 
 
 f Regis Georgii 
 t Sectindo. 
 
 An Act for incorporntiiig the VUinUititm called NaiTagatisetl No. 6, in tlic 
 County of Worcester^ into a Town by the Nanie of Templetown. 
 
 Whereas, the plantation of Narragansett No. 6, lying in the County 
 of Worcester, is competently tiileil with inhaljitanta, who labor under 
 great diificulties and inconveniences by nieansof their not being a town; 
 therefore, 
 
 Be it enacted by the Governor, Council and House of Representatives, 
 That the said plantation, commonly called and known by the name of 
 Narragansett No. 6, bounding westerly on PoquoiRe, southerly on 
 Rutland District and Petersham, easterly on Westminster, northerly on 
 Ipswich Canada and Royalshire, be, and hereby is erected into a town 
 by the name of Templetown ; and that the said town be, and hereby is 
 invested with all the powers, privileges and immunities that any of the 
 towns of this province do or may by law en,ioy ; — 
 
 Provided, That nothing in this Act shall be understood or construed as 
 in any measure to supersede or make void any grants or assessments al- 
 ready made or agreed on by the proprietors ot said place in time past, 
 but that the same shall remain and be as effectual as if this Act had not 
 been made. 
 
 And be it further enacted. That Joshua Willard, Esq., be, and hereby 
 is, empowered to issue his warrants to some principal iuhabitJint of the 
 said plantation requiring him, in his majesty's name, to warn and no- 
 tify the said inhabitants qualified to vote in town alTairs, that they meet 
 together at such time and place in said plantation, as by said warrant 
 shall be appointed, to choose such olticers as may be necessary to man- 
 age the affairs of said town; and the inhabitants, being so met, shall 
 be, and hereby are, empowered to chouse said officers accordingly. 
 
 Feb. 23, 1762. — This Bill, having been read three several times in the 
 House of Representatives, passed to be enacted. 
 
 James Otis, Speaker. 
 
 March 6, 1762.— 
 Ry the Governor, I consent to the enacting this Bill. 
 
 Fra. BERNARn. 
 
 In accordance with the provision made in the fore- 
 going act of incorporation, Joshua Willard, Esq., of 
 Petersham, issued a warrant directed to Jason Whit- 
 uey, one of the principal inhabitants of Templeton, 
 requiring him to call a meeting for the purpose of 
 choosing town officers. And in accordance with the 
 notification made, the first town-meeting in the 
 new town of Templeton was held in the meet- 
 ing-house, at two of the clock in the afternoon, 
 on Tuesday, May 4, 1762, " in the Second year 
 of his Majesty's Reign." They chose Abel Hunt 
 town clerk, Jason Whitney, Joshua Hyde and Abner 
 Newton for selectmen and assessors, Zaccheus Barrett 
 treasurer and Charles Baker constable; also the usual 
 minor officers. On June 7, 1762, another meeting 
 was held to grant money for town purposes. 
 
 Thus Narragansett No. 6 was merged in the town 
 of Templeton. The origin of the name is not known. 
 The name was spelled " Templetown " in the act of 
 incorporation. It was also so spelled in the town 
 warrants and earliest town records. After 1764 the 
 town-meeting warrants always have it " Temple- 
 ton." 
 
 The township, Narragansett No. 6, and the town 
 incorporated as Templeton, included most of the 
 present town of Phillipston. Quite early it became 
 manifest that there was an east and a west side of the 
 town. The deep valley of the Burushirt River and 
 Trout Brook separated the two sections. Moreover, 
 the meeting-house was decidedly to the east of the 
 
 middle of the territory of the town. The central 
 point would be in the deep valley previously 
 mentioned, and never, in the olden time, was a 
 meeting-house set in a valley. But it was a long 
 way from the west part of the town to the house 
 of worship, and especially inconvenient in the 
 winter season. And so the town sometimes voted 
 that the Rev. Mr. Sparhawk might, for a few Sundays 
 in the winter, preach in the west part of the town, 
 the meeting-house being closed on such Sundays ; 
 but this was done with reluctance by the town, and 
 seems not to have been a satisfactory arrangement for 
 either side. 
 
 Much discussion and controversy arose regarding 
 the matter. It was proposed in town-meetings, at 
 different times, to build a meeting-house in the west- 
 erly part of the town, to move the meeting-house to 
 the middle of the town, and even to divide the town; 
 but all these plans failed. Finally, in 1773, the 
 westerly part of the town petitioned the General 
 Court to be separated from the rest of the town in the 
 matter of its parochial aff.iirs. This petition was 
 granted in 1774, and two precincts were thus formed. 
 They acted together in transacting most of the ordinary 
 town business. The town-meetings were held at the 
 meeting-house on the Common, as usual, but in call- 
 ing the meetings the selectmen made out two war- 
 rants, one to be served by a constable in the westerly 
 part of the town, and another by a constable in the 
 easterly part. The easterly part of the town was 
 sometimes called the " First Precinct," the westerly 
 the "Second Precinct." In 1784 fourteen of the 
 inhabitants of the Second Precinct, not satisfied with 
 their situation, petitioned to be united again with the 
 First Precinct, and that precinct voted to receive them, 
 but there is no intimation that any action was taken 
 by the General Court. 
 
 The Second Precinct, together with a portion of 
 the southeasterly part of Athol, was incorporated as 
 a town October 20, 1786, by the name of Gerry. 
 The name was in honor of Elbridge Gerry, a man 
 prominent in the political affairs of this State. The 
 name was changed to Phillipston, February 5, 1814. 
 In 1785 the town of Gardner was incorporated, 
 whose territory was made up of portions of Win- 
 chendon, Ashburnham, AVestminster, and from twelve 
 to fifteen acres from the easterly side of Templeton. 
 The town of Westminster, or Narragansett No. 2, 
 formerly reached to the stone monument, near the 
 residence of Mr. Lucas Baker. In laying out that 
 town they had accidentally made the lines so as to 
 include a portion of the territory granted to the pro- 
 prietors of Narragansett No. 6, or Templeton. The 
 amount thus included was estimated at four hun- 
 dred acres, and as a compensation for the loss of this, 
 the proprietors of this township were permitted to 
 have an equal amount from the lands of the province 
 on the northwesterly side of the town. This, in some 
 way, resulted in a quite extensive enlargement of the 
 
128 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 area of ihe town on tliat side. This arrangement 
 was made about 1737. 
 
 County Relations. — For more than a hundred 
 years intermittent efforts have been made with refer- 
 ence to the formation of a new county made uj) of 
 towns in the northern part of Worcester County, 
 with the addition of some other towns lying either to 
 tlie east or to the west of them. Sometimes it was 
 proposed that Templeton should be the shire-town ; 
 sometimes Petersham was named ; but the later eflxirts 
 have been made with the design of having Fitchburg 
 as the shire-town. This town chose Joshua Wilhird, 
 Esq., as its agent to act " at the Great and General 
 Court concerning a new county," in 176.3, a little more 
 than a year after the incorporation of the town. 
 
 A delegate was chosen to represent the town in a 
 convention held at Petersham in 1781, but with in- 
 structions not to join in the petition for a new county 
 unless the towns of Ashby, Ashhurnham, Fitchburg, 
 Lunenburg, Leominster and Westminster were also 
 included. Charles Baker was chosen, in 1784, as 
 agent of the town for a division of the county, and 
 the next year the town refused to send a delegate to 
 represent them in a convention at Petersham, In 
 1791 the town sent delegates to the same place; but 
 later in the year " the town, by vote, signified their 
 disapprobation of a new county." In 1792 an effort 
 was made to form a county, extending from Ashburn- 
 ham on the east to Pelham and Shutesbury on the 
 Wfst, and including nineteen towns. But this town 
 voted that its agent should not sign this petition. 
 The town made a like refusal in 1794. 
 
 There was a plan fur building a new court-house at 
 Worcester in 1796. But the people remonstrated 
 against it for three reasons: first, the county of Wor- 
 cester was too large, and if divided, the court-house, 
 as it then was, would be sufficient ; second, if not 
 divided, the court-house should be nearer the centre; 
 third, it was a time when building material and labor 
 were too high. For several years after, the town gave 
 its influence for a division of the county. In 1798 
 the town favored division by a vote of eighty four to 
 one. These eff'orts all failed, and there was, for a time, 
 a rest from these labors. But the contest was renewed 
 in 1810, when a conventiou met in this town concern- 
 ing the matter. The town sent a petition to the Legis- 
 lature in favor of a division. But the county was not 
 divided. 
 
 The paroxysms of agitation for county division 
 occur less frequently as the years go on. Meanwhile, 
 in all later etforts, Templeton has steadily opposed the 
 division. In 1828, when it was proposed to form a 
 new county made up of sixteen towns from Worcester 
 County and five from Middlesex, the vote of this town 
 was four in favor to one hundred and twenty-six 
 against the division. Vigorous eff'orts for a new 
 county were made from 1851 to 1855, with Fitchburg 
 as shire-town. Templeton constantly remonstrated 
 against the measure, and several times chose Colonel 
 
 Artemas Lee a committee to unite with committees 
 from the neighboring towns to oppose the division. 
 But in 1856 some of the terras of the County Courts 
 began to be held at Fitchburg. A court-house and 
 jail were also established there. Another effort for 
 division was made about 1875. Like all of the others, 
 this efl^ort failed, and the county remains with its 
 liberal proportions, and posterity is likely to find its 
 full integrity preserved. 
 
 State Relations. — Templeton has alwajs taken 
 an active interest in the affairs of the State and the 
 nation; but it sent no representative to the General 
 Court until the beginning of the Revolutionary con- 
 test. In the first thirteen years of its existence as a 
 town, nine times it " voted not to send," and in the 
 four remaining years no action was taken upon the 
 matter. Jonathan Baldwin was chosen to represent 
 this town in the General Court, meeting at Salem in 
 October, 1774, and also to a Provincial Congress, 
 meeting at Cambiidge, Concord, and at Watettown in 
 1775. He was the first representative from this town 
 to any legislative body. His first election was the 
 only instance in which such a representative has been 
 chosen by this town at a meeting called " m his ma- 
 jesty's name.'' 
 
 A Constitution was framed for Massachusetts by the 
 General Court in 1778 ; in a vote by the people, it was 
 rejected by a large majority. Templeton gave twenty- 
 two votes for, and filiy-one against the adoption of 
 that Constitution. 
 
 The present Constitution was adopted in March, 
 1780, by the favorable vote of more than two-thirds 
 of the people. Templeton voted fifty-seven in favor 
 to one against; and again in 1795, the vote in this 
 town was, " seventy-sis for the Constitution to stand 
 as it is; none against it." Capt. John Richardson 
 and Mr. Joel Grout were delegates from this town to 
 the convention of 1779-80, which framed the present 
 Constitution. Lovell Walker, Esq., was the delegate 
 to the convention of 1820, which proposed fourteen 
 amendments, nine of which were adopted. This town 
 voted very decidedly in favor of all the proposed 
 amendments except two. Gilman Day, Esq., was the 
 delegate to the convention of 1853, which proposed 
 eight amendments, all of which were rejected by vote 
 of the State, although Templeton favored them, cast- 
 ing about two hundred and twenty-four votes in favor 
 and one hundred and thirty-seven against. There 
 have since been other amendments adopted singly, 
 no convention having been called. 
 
 The Constitution of the United States was framed 
 in 17S7, and sul)mitted to conventions of delegates in 
 each of the States. The Massachutetts convention, 
 composed of three hundred and sixty members, as- 
 sembled at Boston in January, 1788, and ratified the 
 Constitution by the small majority of nineteen votes. 
 Capt. Joel Fletcher, the delegate from this town, voted 
 against its adoption, as did also all of the otlier fifty 
 delegates from Worcester County except seven. 
 
TEMPLETON. 
 
 129 
 
 The representatives from this town to the General 
 Court have been : Jonathan Baldwin, 1774, 1775, 
 1786; Capt. John Kichardson, 1776, 1777, 1785; 
 Capt. Ezekiel Knowlton, 1778, 1779, 1783, 1784, 
 1787, 1788, 1789; Capt. Joel Fletcher, 1781, 1791, 
 1792; Col. Silas Cutler, 1793, 1798; Capt. Leonard 
 Stone, 1795, 1800, 1801, 1806, 1809 ; Silas Hazleton, 
 1797; Lovell Walker, 1803, 1805,1808; John W. 
 Stiles, 1810-13 ; Moses Wright, 1814-16 ; Eph- 
 raim Stone, 1819, 1830; Benjamin Read, 1823; Dr. 
 Josiah Howe, 1825, 1827 ; Col. Leonard Stone, 1828, 
 1829. 1831; Samuel Lee, 1830; Artemas Lee, 1832, 
 1833, 1834, 1836, 1847, 1861; Samuel Dadman, 1832, 
 1833, 1834, 1835; Moses Leland, 1837-39; Joseph 
 Davis, 1838 ; John Boyntou, 1839, 1840 ; Charles T. 
 Fisher, 1842, 1843; Oilman Day, 1845; John W. 
 Work, 1846, 1849,1851; Dexter Gilbert, 1850 ; Ed- 
 ward Hosmer, 1852; Benjamin Hawkes, 1853 ; Fred- 
 erick Parker, 1854 ; John Sawyer (2d,) 1855; Henry 
 Smith, 1856 ; Leonard Stone, 1859 ; William Smith, 
 1865; George P. Hawkes, 1866; William Stone, 
 1871; William N. Walker, 1872; Edward Sander- 
 son, 1874 ; Charles W. Davis, 1876 ; Otis D. Sawin, 
 1880; Charles S. Lord, 1882; Charles A. Perley, 
 1885; Percival Blodgett, 1889. 
 
 A change was made in the State Constitution in 
 1867, by which two or more towns were united to form 
 one representative district in some cases. This town 
 was, at one time, united with Hubbardston, then 
 with Gardner, then with Hubbardston, Petersham 
 and Phillipston, and now with Gardner, Winchendon 
 and Ashburuham. In the foregoing lists only those 
 representatives whose residence was in Templeton are 
 included. 
 
 Under the former system, Templeton in fourteen 
 different years voted not to send a representative, and 
 in one year, 1844, there was no choice. 
 
 Political Parties. — The town of Templeton, in 
 its relations to political parties, has usually been de- 
 cidedly Federalist, Whig and Republican, successively, 
 although there have been years and times when the 
 vote was cast quite differently from the usual habit. 
 A few instances selected from the vote for Governor 
 in different years will reveal the usual division into 
 parties. At the first election after the adoption of 
 the State Constitution, John Hancock, Federalist, 
 had fifty-one votes ; his opponent, five votes. In 1807 
 Caleb Strong, Federalist, had one hundred and 
 eighteen votes ; James Sullivan, seventy- two. In 1816 
 John Brooks, Federalist, had one hundred and forty 
 votes; Samuel Dexter, seventy-four. In 1835 Edward 
 Everett, Whig, had two hundred and two votes ; 
 Marcus Morton, Democrat, twenty-eight. In 1845 
 George N. Briggs, Whig, had one hundred and forty- 
 nine votes ; Isaac Davis, Democrat, one hundred and 
 twenty. It is interesting to mark the rise and prog- 
 ress of the anti-slavery sentiment in this town, as 
 indicated by the vote for Governor in successive 
 years. There were eight votes for the candidate 
 9 
 
 which represented that party in 1843. The vote for 
 successive years next following was seven, thirty- 
 three, thirty-eight, thirty-seven, forty-six, thirty-nine, 
 one hundred and fifty-four, one hundred and twenty- 
 nine, one hundred and thirty-three, one hundred and 
 thirty-two, one hundred and fifty-three and one 
 hundred and forty-ong in 1853. A political cyclone 
 swept over the State and battered down all political 
 fences formerly existing, and the Native American 
 party had a very decided preponderance of votes for 
 three years, beginning with 1854. In 1860 John A. 
 Andrew, Republican, had three hundred and thirty- 
 five votes ; Erasmus D. Beach, Democrat, had one 
 hundred and eight. In 1880 John D. Long, Repub- 
 lican, had three hundred and fifty-one votes ; Charles 
 P. Thompson, Democrat, one hundred and forty-eight. 
 These selected votes will give quite as correct an idea 
 of the division into parties as an average, computed 
 from all of the years would give. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 TEMPLETON— (07»//««^(/.) 
 
 MILITARY AFFAIRS. 
 
 Tlie Revolution — The Currency — Second War trith EngUntd — A 3Tilitia 
 MuBler — The Civil Wai — The Sanitary Commission. 
 
 There is abundant evidence to prove that the in- 
 habitants of the town of Templeton were fully in- 
 formed of the nature and significance of the contest 
 which was arising between the colonies and the 
 mother country. They were thoroughly in earnest 
 and filled with patriotic zeal for the proper mainten- 
 ance of our rights and liberties. So zealous were they, 
 that they had not patience or forbearance to endure 
 the presence of those who criticised the course 
 of the colonists or expressed sympathy for the 
 royal government. In their opinion, the right of pri- 
 vate judgment should not be extended so far as to 
 cover the case of those who thought the Parliament of 
 England was in the right. A Tory was a hateful ob- 
 ject in their eyes. He had few rights that others felt 
 bound to respect. Sometimes he was visited by a 
 committee, and some confession was extorted from 
 him. Sometimes others refused to have business 
 transactions with him. 
 
 To a Tory in the time of the Revolution the atmos- 
 phere of this town could not have seemed congenial ; 
 neither would its inhabitants have seemed to him al- 
 together lovely or possessed of all the milder virtues. 
 If there was some intolerance in this, we must remem- 
 ber that it needed that full earnestness and intensity 
 of feeling to carry us successfully through the contest. 
 Any considerable indifference or lukewarmness would 
 have left us still colonists of Great Britain. 
 
 In 1765 this town contained a population of three 
 
130 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 hundred and forty-eight persons. In 1776 there were 
 ten hundred and si.xteen. In both cases Phillipston 
 is included, that town having not yet been incorpo- 
 rated. The people had hardly cleared their farms and 
 built their houses before the warning notes of the 
 coining contest were upon them. The first settlers 
 were not wealthy. Their strong muscles and stout 
 hearts were their most valuable possessions. There 
 was abundant opportunity to turn both of these to 
 practical use. The inhabitants of the town conducted 
 themselves with great spirit, patriotism and self-sacri- 
 fice during the whole of the war. 
 
 At a meeting held May 17, 1774, the town adopted 
 some resolves concerning goods imported from Great 
 Britain, as follows : 
 
 " Voted, first, that we will not by ourselves, or by 
 any under us, directly or indirectly, purchase any 
 goods, of any person whatever, that is or shall be 
 subject to any duty for the purpose of raising a rev- 
 enue in America. Voted, second, that we will not use 
 any foreign tea, nor countenance the use of it in our 
 families, unless in case of sickness, and not then with- 
 out a certificate from under the hand of one or more 
 physicians, that it is absolutely necessary in order for 
 the recovery of their patient. And whoever in this 
 town shall act contrary to the aforementioned votes 
 shall be deemed an enemy to his country and treated 
 as such.'' 
 
 A Committee of Correspondence and Safety was 
 chosen by the town each year during the war. By 
 means of such committees in the various towns the 
 public were kept informed of the progress of events, 
 maintained their interest in public affairs, and were 
 ready to act with promptness in any emergency. There 
 was at least one company of minute-men in this town. 
 A committee was chosen by the town in March, 1775, 
 to take care of the farms and families of the minute- 
 men, if they should be suddenly summoned away. 
 The selectmen were to procure fire-arms and ammu- 
 nition at the expense of the town. A marble tablet 
 on the walls of the town hall commemorates the ser- 
 vices of Captain Ezekiel Knowlton and thirty-six sol- 
 diers, minute-men, perhaps, who promptly responded 
 to the alarm sounded through this province on the 
 morning of the 19th of April, 1775. The tidings borne 
 from Charlestown by Paul Revere on the evening of 
 April 18th probably reached this town at about noon of 
 April 19th ; and before the day closed, the soldiers 
 from this town were on their march for Boston. 
 
 It is interesting to observe, in the public records, 
 the changes in the mode of beginning the warrants for 
 calling the town-meetings. From the earliest times 
 until the time of the Revolution the warrant began : 
 " In his majesty's name you are required to warn," etc. 
 The warrant, for a meeting on March 6, 1775, read in 
 this way ; but the warrant for a meeting on May 7th of 
 that same year began : " Agreeable to the Late Char- 
 ter of this Province and the Constitutional Laws of the 
 Same." The warrant for a meeting on July 5th began : 
 
 " By order of Congress." Each of these last-named 
 forms was used in the next warrants. Next came one 
 with this formula omitted entirely. " In the name 
 of the government and people of Massachusetts Bay 
 in New England," was then used, until after the 
 adoption of the State Constitution. From the begin- 
 ning of the year 1781 to the present time the warrant 
 has been issued " in the name of the Commonwealth 
 of Massachusetts." 
 
 It is known that Captain Ezekiel Knowlton, Cap- 
 tain Joel Fletcher and Captain John Richardson, all 
 of this town, commanded companies some time during 
 the war. The names of some of the soldiers serving 
 under them are also known. The town records show 
 that many times during the war the town provided 
 beef and other provisions for the army, furnished 
 clothing for the soldiers, paid bounties for enlistment, 
 and chose committees to look after the fiimilies of sol- 
 diers during their absence. At a town-meeting held 
 May 24, 1776, under an article, "to give Instructions 
 to their Representative Respecting the united Colo- 
 nies Declaring themselves to be in a state of Inde- 
 pendancy, Separate from Grate Britain," it was " Re- 
 solved, that if the Continental Congress should, for the 
 safety of the united Colonies, declare them Indepen- 
 dent of the kingdom of Great Britain, we do solemnly 
 engage with our lives and fortune to support them in 
 the measure." This vote was passed a little more than 
 a month before the Declaration of Independence was 
 made by the Continental Congress. 
 
 Military stores were collected at Bennington, Vt., 
 by the Continental authorities. Gen. Burgoyne sent 
 a detachment of troops to capture them ; but instead 
 of that, his whole detachment was captured by the 
 American troops in a battle which occurred August 16, 
 1777. The news of the approach of British troops to 
 these western New England towns spread quickly in 
 this vicinity, and on August 21st, Capt. Josiah Wilder, 
 of this town, at the head of sixty-one men, set out for 
 Bennington. But it was soon found that there was 
 no further need of troops there, and the men returned 
 to their homes after a very brief service. 
 
 The Currency. — There were great difficulties with 
 the currency during the Revolutionary War. The 
 paper-money had been made a legal tender. It had 
 depreciated to an exceeding degree. As a matter of 
 course, the prices of labor and merchandise were ex- 
 ceedingly high and unstable. Great confusion arose 
 in business affairs. AVith the hope of affording relief 
 from the extreme difficulties of the situation, the 
 towns adopted the method of "stating prices" — that 
 is, of determining at what prices articles should be 
 bought and sold, hoping the people would see fit to 
 conform to those prices. Sometimes a convention 
 would be held to determine the prices for a whole 
 county, or even for the State. Such a convention was 
 held at Concord in October, 1779, and Thomas White 
 was the delegate from this town. This convention 
 voted to leave it optional with the towns to "state the 
 
 1 
 
TEMPLETON. 
 
 131 
 
 prices" for themselves. This town chose a committee 
 of seven men to state the prices of such articles as 
 they may think necessary and make report to the 
 town. The committee performed the work assigned 
 them and made their report to the town. It was 
 adopted November 5, 1779, and is still plainly seen 
 on the records. Doubtless the town came as near per- 
 forming the impossible as is usual when such a feat is 
 attempted. In spite of committee, town or convention, 
 the paper-money would still go on depreciating and 
 the prices would increase; and in 1780 it is said that 
 the town paid six hundred pounds in Continental bills 
 for twenty Spanish milled-dollars. This would be in 
 the ratio of one hundred dollars for one. In the fol- 
 lowing year the town appropriated, expressed in terms 
 of that depreciated currency, twelve thousand pounds 
 for schools, and ten thousand five hundred pounds for 
 repairs of the highways. 
 
 Second Wae with England. — The second war 
 with England did not meet with favor from the people 
 of New England, and this town shared fully in the 
 general feeling of opposition to it. In 1808 the town 
 voted to petition the President of the United States 
 to suspend the embargo, in whole or in part. In the 
 next year they petitioned the Legislature to urge upon 
 Congress the repeal of the Embargo I^aw. When war 
 was actually declared, in 1812, the town chose a com- 
 mittee of seven persons, — Rev. Elisha Andrews, Rev. 
 Charles Wellington, Lovell Walker, Eiq., Samuel 
 Cutting, Esq., John W. Stiles, Leonard Stone and 
 Deacon Paul Kendall, — who prepared a memorial to 
 the President of the United States in opposition to 
 the war, which was adopted by a vote of eighty-six to 
 tweniy-two. The memorial treats of the blockade, 
 the Orders in Council, the impressment of American 
 seamen and the alliance with France. It fills twelve 
 pages of the town records, and is expressed in vigor- 
 ous language. It is said to have been composed by 
 John W. Stiles, then a merchant of this town. 
 
 Several persons from this town were in the army 
 for a shorter or a longer period during this war. The 
 town also voted "to provide, and keep constantly 
 under the control of the selectmen, powder, balls and 
 flints for the use and benefit of the soldiers in this 
 town." 
 
 A Militia Muster. — A muster of the militia in 
 former times must have been a very interesting 
 affair, attractive both to boys and men. It must have 
 been more than the equal of the modern cattle show 
 and fair. There is something in military evolutions 
 and display that appeals strongly to human feelings. 
 Templeton abounded in these military gatherings. It 
 was the central town in the group of six, from which 
 was gleaned the material for one regiment of militia; 
 it was well supplied with hotels ; and especially was 
 it desirable on account of the excellent parade-ground 
 which its " Common " afforded. Gardner, Winchen- 
 don, Royalston, Athol and Phillipston were the towns 
 united with Templeton from which to gather the 
 
 regiment. Some towns furnished two companies. A 
 day in later September or early October was selected 
 for the regimental muster. On the previous day, 
 perhaps, some officers would mark along the east 
 side of the Common a line on which the soldiers were 
 to arrange themselves. Early on the morning of the 
 day appointed the companies from the other towns 
 would approach the village and leave their horses 
 and vehicles at some farm-house. They would then 
 form into a column and march to the Common. In 
 the forenoon there would be an inspection by officers 
 appointed for that purpose ; the soldiers being ranged 
 in a straight line which frequently would reach as 
 far as from the site of the hotel to the Library 
 building. The privates were dressed in citizen's 
 clothes ; the officers had uniforms and a sword, 
 usually. After the inspection would come a review 
 which would end the forenoon's duties. In the after- 
 noon came the time for a sham fight. Sometimes a fort 
 would be constructed and a part of the troops 
 assigned to its defence and an >ther part to make the 
 attack, simulating real warfare. Then the declining 
 sun would find the soldiers wending their way to 
 their homes. In these times the law of the State 
 required that all male citizens between eighteen and 
 forty-five years of age should perform some military 
 duty. Hence the somewhat frequent " training " 
 days for the companies and the annual muster of the 
 regiments. And hence the reason why we find so 
 many persons of the last generation bearing military 
 titles. Quite a large number of persons bore the 
 title of colonel from their service in the State militia 
 in command of a regiment. 
 
 Previous to 1852 several military organizations had 
 existed in this town. There was in the earlier part 
 of the century a cavalry company, composed of about 
 seventy-five men from Templeton and four neighbor- 
 ing towns. A rifle company existed from 1814 to 
 about 1838. A volunteer company, called the Cadets, 
 was formed in 1844, and existed for several years. 
 But at the time just previous to the Civil War there 
 was no military organization in the town. 
 
 The Civil War. — Massachusetts has ever occupied 
 a foremost position in the chief military contests in 
 which the nation has been engaged. She furnished 
 much more than her proportionate share of troops in 
 the War of the Revolution. She was more than ready 
 to do her share of service in the War of the Rebellion. 
 Her Governor Andrew was a tower of strength for 
 the State and nation during the long years of that 
 severe contest. Worcester County was not behind 
 other parts of the State either in promptness or 
 efficiency. Her towns that had kept up regular 
 military organizations were among the first to offer 
 their services to the government in the spring of the 
 year 1861. The town of Templeton was ready and 
 eager to do her part. She showed herself worthy of a 
 place in the State and county to which she belonged. 
 Party disputes and divisions were for a time laid 
 
132 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 aside. All belonged to the patriotic i)arty. The 
 national flag wa.s invested with a much greater depth 
 of meaning. Its simple stars and stripes were looked 
 at with a greatly increased regard and affection. It 
 was freely displayed on private dwellings and in pub- 
 lic places. It was common to have it represented even 
 on one corner of the common letter envelopes. Pub- 
 lic meetings were held and patriotic addresses were 
 delivered in the town hall, which was filled to over- 
 flowing with eager and enthusiastic audiences. The 
 pulpits glowed with patriotic sermons; the ministers 
 were not lukewarm in this time of popular uprising. 
 There were very few in the community who did not 
 partake of the patriotic fervor. Those who feared 
 lest the spirit of patriotism had died out were quickly 
 assured of its continued existence. 
 
 Although this town in the later years had not kept 
 up a military organization, there was not wanting a 
 good degree of the military spirit. Templeton Com- 
 mon had been the field for the annual muster of the 
 regiment. The sons of those who took an active part 
 in those military displays had reached mature years. 
 There existed an abundance of sparks of the military 
 spirit which the daily tidings from the South fanned 
 into a glowing flame. In the spring of 1861 a mili- 
 tary company was formed which enlisted for five 
 years in the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, subject 
 to the call of the government should their services be 
 needed. Of this company, George P. Hawkes was 
 chosen captain, and Charles W. Davis and John 
 Brooks were chosen lieutenants. This was after- 
 wards reorganized according to the rules of the United 
 States service, and became Company A of the Twenty- 
 first Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers. 
 
 At a town-meeting held April 30, 1861, the town 
 voted to pay each soldier for the time spent in mili- 
 tary drill ; to make an addition to the wages which 
 the government allowed to soldiers ; also to furnish 
 each man a uniform and a " Colt's '' or some other 
 revolver. The uniforms were quickly made and 
 furnished to the men. On further thought, it was 
 not deemed best to supply the revolvers. This 
 company left Templeton for the camp at Worcester 
 July 19, 1861. The day of their departure was a 
 great day in Templeton. In the morning the com- 
 pany assembled, and were drawn up in front of the 
 hotel. The relatives of the soldiers and the citizens 
 generally assembled in large numbers. Addresses 
 were made to the men from the balcony of the hotel 
 by several persons. Rev. Edwin G. Adams pre- 
 sented to each soldier a pocket Testament. The 
 exercises were very interesting, but of necessity 
 deeply tinged with sadness. The company marched 
 to the railroad station, near Otter River Village. 
 An exceedingly long train of carriages followed, 
 bearing the friends of the departing soldiers. A 
 collation was served at the station, and the men 
 departed. 
 The Twenty-first Regiment of Massachusetts Vol- 
 
 unteers was recruited mostly from towns in Worces- 
 ter County, Company A being mostly from Temple- 
 ton. It left the camp at Worcester August 23, 1861, 
 and was first stationed at Annapolis, Md. It formed 
 a part of the Burnside expedition ; participated in 
 the battles of Roanoke Island, Newberne and Cam- 
 den; bore its full share of the disasters of Pope's 
 campaign in Virginia, meeting with severe losses at 
 Manassas and Chantilly. It bore an active part at 
 South Mountain, Antietam and Fredericksburg. 
 Then away to Tennessee and the siege of Knoxville, 
 with several battles fought near by. The spring of 
 1864 brought the Ninih Army Corps, of which the 
 Twenty-first Regiment formed a part, back to Vir- 
 ginia, and the names. The Wilderness, Spottsylva- 
 nia. Cold Harbor and Petersburg suggest the reasons 
 why the Twenty-first Regiment was so depleted in 
 numbers as to be consolidated with the remnant of 
 the Thirty-sixth. Fifcy-six men from Templeton 
 were connected with the Twenty-first Regiment dur- 
 ing .some portion of its career. Their names fol- 
 low : 
 
 George P. Hawkes, lieutenant-colonel and brevet 
 brigadier-general ; Charles W. Davis, captain and 
 brevet- colonel ; Levi N. Smith, captain; Daniel D. 
 Wiley, brevet brigadier-general, both in Commissary- 
 Department ; John Brooks, Benjamin F. Fuller, 
 Henry S. Hitchcock, Jonas R. Davis and John F. 
 Lewis, lieutenants; J. Prescott Cutting and John 
 W. Wallace, first sergeants ; John F. Green, Levi 
 Morse, J. Albert Osgood and Augustus Upton, ser- 
 geants; Moses A. Chamberlain, Ambrose P. Chase, 
 Henry K. Marshall, William H. Mellen, John A. 
 Merritt, James A. Miller, Otis P. Moore, Sereno 
 Sawyer and E. Wyman Stone, corporals ; Herbert 
 Leland, musician ; Mandell Bryant, wagoner ; Sam- 
 uel B. Adams, Henry N. Allen, Charles A. Black- 
 mer, William A. Blackmer, George W. Bradish, 
 Collins W. Chittenden, Charles W. Cobleigh, Charles 
 H. Cummings, Charles H. Cutting, August Dabers, 
 Charles J. Dunn, William Flint, George W. Jennison, 
 George H. Lamson, Reuben Mann, William Marrar, 
 Uriah Merritt, Harrison S. Pierce, Asa F. V. B. Pi- 
 per, Wilbur A. Potter, George H. Sawtell, David H. 
 Spear, Otis L. Sweet, George L. Thayer, John Thi- 
 beault and Eleazer S. Whitney, of Company A ; 
 James F. Delehanty, of Company D ; Franklin Ad- 
 ams, Company E ; James Lewis, Company F ; and 
 George D. Whitcomb, of Company D, privates. 
 
 The patriotic feeling of the town was not ex- 
 hausted by the enlistment and departure of the 
 before-named company. 
 
 The Twenty-fifth Regiment was recruited mainly 
 from towns in Worcester County, and Templeton 
 furnished thirty-four men, most of whom were in 
 Company I, which was commanded by Capt. V. P. 
 Parkhurst, of this town. The regiment left its camp 
 at Worcester October 31, 1861, proceeded to Annap- 
 olis, joined the Burnside expedition and served in 
 
TEMPLETON. 
 
 133 
 
 North Carolina until October, 1863. It lost more 
 than two hundred men at Cold Harbor. It took 
 part in the siege of Petersburg. Many of its men 
 had re-enlisted, and continued in the service until 
 the end of the war. Dr. Joseph C. Batchelder, of 
 this town was, for a time, assistant surgeon of this 
 regiment. Following are the names of men from 
 this town : 
 
 Varanus P. Parkhurst, captain ; Amos Buffum, 
 Thomas Saul, lieutenants; Joseph S. Moulton, 
 Dwight M. Martin, George Trask, Lyman S. Wheel- 
 er, sergeants ; George A. Jackson, Walter Lamb and 
 Francis L. Moore, of Company I, with Gustave 
 Kluge and Hermann Spindler, of Company G. cor- 
 porals; George E. Potter, musician; George Baker, 
 George D. Browning, Albert M. Cobleigh, Patrick 
 Coffey, James H. Crocker, David B. Day, Theodore 
 J. Dyer, George E. Evans, John Goodale, George F. 
 Greenwood, Clarence W. Jennison, Artemas Jones, 
 Ransom P. Kimberly, Benjamin R. Manning, Marcus 
 S. Moulton, Leander N. Norcross, William Norcross, 
 Charles W. Weller, Joel Whitney, Jr., and Chris- 
 topher Myers, of Company C, privates. 
 
 The Thirty-sixth Regiment entered the service in 
 the autumn of 1862. Its first engagement was at 
 Fredericksburg. It was at the siege of Vicksburg. 
 It took active part in the Virginia campaign of 1864 
 from the Wilderness to the siege of Petersburg. 
 Templeton furnished thirty-one men for this regi- 
 ment, mostly in Company D, which was under com- 
 mand of Capt. Amos Butfum. He had been active 
 in the formation of the company. Christopher Saw- 
 yer enlisted in Company D, but was afterwards Cap- 
 tain of Company H. John A. Stearns was first 
 lieutenant in Company D. Stephen F. Brooks, 
 Charles B. Fisher, Levi H. Higley, Charles Under- 
 wood, Courtland A. Allen, Cyrus G. Buff'um and 
 James L. Brigham were corporals ; Benjamin F. 
 Brooks and Henry M. Cobleigh, musicians ; George 
 A. Brooks, Charles A. Cummings, James H. Day, 
 Frank M. Fenno, Augustus A. Goddard, Chauncy N. 
 Johnson, Edwin W. Lund, James A. Martindale, 
 Irving L. Merritt, Martin Maynard, Stephen H. Pat- 
 terson, William H. Perry and Charles M. Perry, of 
 Company H ; C. C. B. Sawyer, Ephraim Turner, 
 Julius G. Upton, Ctarles Wheeler, Ezra L. Wheeler, 
 Augustus S. Whitney and George S. Wright were 
 privates. 
 
 The Fifty-third Regiment enlisted for nine months, 
 but their period of service extended from October 17, 
 1862, to September 2, 1863. Their field of service 
 was mainly in Louisiana, at Baton Rouge, on the Red 
 River expedition, at Fort Bisland and the siege of 
 Port Hudson. This regiment encountered hard ser- 
 vice in a climate very unfavorable to health. Tem- 
 pleton furnished forty-three men for this service. 
 Charles W. Uphara was first lieutenant of Company 
 G, and was much of the time in command of the 
 company. D. Porter Stockwell, William L. Lamb 
 
 and Rufus Stickney were sergeants; Marshall C. 
 Mower, Castelly O. Norcross, Albert W. Kendall 
 and Charles W. Tr.isk were corporals of Company 
 G; Thomas L. Addison. Benjamin F. Armitage, 
 Leonard M. Baker, Dan forth N. Baker, Lewis R. 
 Briggs, Albert G. Bushnell, William T. Bronsdon, 
 Dixie J. Crosby, Joseph B. Cummings, Ezekiel F. 
 Divoll, Clark A. Earle, Emmons Fales, Charles B. 
 Garfield, Edwin W. Greenwood, John W. Guile, S. B. 
 Hildreth, W. P. Hunt, Franklin Jackson, Horace E. 
 Jennison, Samuel W. Jennison, William G. Kilner, 
 J. W. Leland, William L. Leland, Willard B. May- 
 nard, C. C. Merritt, Howard L. Manning, Henry M. 
 Mirick, George W. Newton, Russell D. Newton, C. J. 
 Nourse, Emory Olney, Joel Richardson, J. H. Saul, 
 Charles H. Searle and Edwin W. Wright were pri- 
 vates. 
 
 The soldiers from this town were mostly in ihe 
 four regiments previously named; but a few were in 
 other organizations. In the Second Regiment were 
 Eugene C. Bushnell, musician and lieutenant; 
 Alvin W. Day, corporal in Company F, and Cyrus C. 
 Bryant. Elmer Parker was in Company D of the 
 Thirteenth Regiment. Charles F. Lee was a lieu- 
 tenant in the Eighteenth and afterwards a first 
 lieutenant in the Fifty-fifth Regiment. Edward D. 
 Lee was first lieutenant and adjutant in the Twen- 
 ty-seventh. Amos W. Gray was a private in the 
 Twenty-seventh. George H. Dudley was sergeant, 
 and Wend all Eaton, James M. Lufkin, John Preston 
 and Benjamin E. Thayer were privates in the Thirty- 
 second Regiment. Charles Lynde served in the 
 First Regiment of Cavalry, and P. D. Stratton and 
 Rollin C. Williams in the Heavy Artillery. Edward 
 L. Jones was a captain in the Forty-fourth Regiment 
 of Infantry. 
 
 There were a few soldiers credited to the quota of 
 the town in the last year of the war who are not in- 
 cluded in the preceding lists. Most of these rendered 
 little or no service. But, without counting these, 
 Templeton furnished no less than two hundred men 
 for the service in the great Civil War. Some served for 
 a comparatively short period owing to wounds or 
 other causes of disability. About one-fifteenth part 
 of the men who entered the service were killed or 
 mortally wounded in battle ; more than twice as many 
 died of disease or of ill treatment in Southern prisons. 
 There were not le*s than thirty out of the two hun- 
 dred who served either three or four full years with- 
 out any serious wound or illness. Some few there 
 were, even, who served during the whole war, taking 
 part in every skirmish or battle in which their regi- 
 ment was engaged, without receiving the slightest 
 wound or encountering any sickness. Some, on the 
 other hand, immediately fell a prey to fatal disease, or 
 were slain in the first battle. Several lost their lives 
 in consequence of insufficient food and ill treatment 
 in Southern prisons ; others survived with health per- 
 manently impaired. Nearly all the men entered the 
 
134 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 service as privates ; but, in addition to numerous sub- 
 ordinate officers, not less than six reached the rank of 
 captain, and two left the service with the rank of bre- 
 vet brigadier-general. The volunteers from Temple- 
 ton were generally men of mature age, who were 
 interested in the public welfare and were fully aware 
 of the public need and danger. They entered the 
 service of their country with a conscientious regard 
 for duty. Without such men the Eebellion never 
 would have been suppressed. 
 
 The Sanitary Commission. — The United States 
 Sanitary Commission rendered a service of the very 
 highest importance during the war. It expended 
 more than twenty-five millions of dollars for the care 
 and comfort of the soldiers in addition to what the 
 government was able to do. An average of two thou- 
 sand sick and wounded soldiers were each night sup- 
 plied with shelter by its efforts, who otherwise would 
 have been shelterless. The inhabitants of Templeton 
 were interested in these efforts, and contributed freely 
 to the Sanitary Commission, or sent articles directly 
 to the soldiers in whom they had a personal interest. 
 Large boxes containing clothing, towels, lint, band- 
 ages and articles useful in the hospitals were filled by 
 the people in the difierent villages and sent to the 
 Commission. Jellies, syrups, pickles, and articles for 
 convalescent soldiers were also sent. Thoughtful 
 minds and willing hands eagerly sought for means to 
 alleviate the hardships and pains of the soldier. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 TEMPLETON— ( Cow ^;;»/d'rf. ) 
 
 BUSINESS AFFAIRS. 
 
 Manufactures— Early Mills — At BtilduHnviUe — On Trout Brook— At Par- 
 tridgeville and East Templeton — At Otter Eiver — Eotels— Stores— Sav- 
 ings Bank — Roads — Railroads. 
 
 By a vote of the proprietors at a meeting held in 
 Concord, Mass., January 24, 1735, a committee was 
 chosen and authorized "to agree with any person or 
 persons that will erect a mill or mills in said town- 
 ship." Mr. Samuel Sheldon, of Billerica, soon after 
 made a contract with this committee to build a saw- 
 mill and a grist-mill, and he gave bonds to erect the 
 mills. He was to be the owner of the mills and was 
 to have a grant of land for establishing them. The 
 proprietors, at a meeting held in Concord, November 
 1, 1737, confirmed the contract, and "voted and 
 granted to said Sheldon, his heirs and assigns, for- 
 ever, eighty acres of land, to be by him laid out in 
 one or two places, in a regular form, in any of the 
 common land of the township, excepting the land 
 reserved on account of the mine ; the land drowned 
 by his mill-dam to be accotinted a part of the eighty 
 acres; provided, that there be not more than twenty 
 acres of meadow included in said pond and eighty 
 
 acres of land ; provided, also, he keep up a saw-mill 
 and grist-mill in said township, according to his ob- 
 ligation and agreement made with him." Still, not- 
 withstanding the contract and provisional grant of 
 lands, Mr. Sheldon never built the mills. 
 
 Another meeting of the proprietors was held at 
 Concord, September 6, 1739, when it was " voted that 
 the Committee chosen to agree about mills in said 
 township be directed, as soon as may be, to procure 
 some suitable person or persons to build a good saw- 
 mill and corn-mill in said township,and to give them 
 such encouragement in any of the common lands or 
 streams within said township as they can or may 
 agree for; and to enter into obligation for the same 
 in the name of the proprietors. Also voted that the 
 Committee chosen to let out the mills in said town- 
 ship be fully empowered to put Mr. Samuel Sheldon's 
 bond in prosecution as soon as may be ; or the Com- 
 mittee may have a liberty to agree with Mr. Sheldon 
 as they may see fit." 
 
 Another proprietors' meeting assembled at Concord, 
 September 16, 1742, and under the article in the war- 
 rant, "to inquire whether there is a saw-mill erected 
 in said township, or like to be; '' it is recorded, " In- 
 quired and there is no mill erected." At an ad- 
 journed meeting a little after this the committee were 
 instructed to put Mr. Sheldon's bond in suit, but it 
 seems never to have been done. 
 
 At a proprietors' meeting in 1743 they purcha^'ed 
 Mr. Thomas Hobbs' right in the township, to secure 
 the forty-acre lot. No. 91, already assigned to him, 
 in order that they might use it for a mill privilege. 
 This water privilege is said to have been the one 
 recently occupied by Mr. A. S. Hodge. The price 
 allowed to Mr. Hobbs for this lot and one share in all 
 the then undivided lands was .£26 lO.s., to be paid in 
 twelve months, without interest. 
 
 It seems that a bargain was made with Lieutenant 
 James Simonds, Reuben Richardson and Oliver 
 Richardson who were to receive the land in con- 
 sideration of building the mill, which was probably 
 erected in 1743. .In November, 1743, a committee 
 was chosen " to clear the road from the meeting-house 
 place to the saw-mill in said township, and also to 
 look out and mark a road from said mill across Otter 
 River, into Narragansett No. 2," or Westminster. 
 There were no permanent habitations here at this 
 time, nor until a period of seven years later. Indian 
 hostilities were prevalent, and probably the saw-mill 
 was neglected ; for we find that in 1749 the clerk was 
 directed to notify Lieutenant Simonds and his part- 
 ners " to rectify the mill, so that it may be in order 
 for sawing, and for the benefit of the township ; so 
 that they may fulfil their contract." A committee 
 was chosen, in 1755, by the proprietors " to take care 
 of the saw-mill, and see that the owners perform 
 according to contract." 
 
 In May, 1753, the proprietors voted "to build a 
 corn-mill," and a tax of six shillings on each right 
 
TEMPLETON. 
 
 135 
 
 was laid to defray the cost of the mill. Mr. Thomas 
 Sawyer, of Bolton, seems to have built the mill, and 
 to have received, in 1755, in payment, therefor, the 
 sum of £24 13s. 6rf., or about one hundred and twenty 
 dollars. This sum seems to have been paid him in 
 consideration of his building the mill and under- 
 taking to do the grinding, he owning the mill all the 
 time. It had been believed that this mill was erected 
 at Baldwinville, on Otter Eiver; but Captain Park- 
 hurst, who has recently written a history of the town, 
 thinks tlie evidence points to its having been located 
 at "Goulding village," in Phillipston, near Phillips- 
 ton Pond. 
 
 However this may be, it seems to be fettled that at 
 about this same date of 1754 a saw-mill and grist- 
 mill was erected by this same Thomas Sawyer, of 
 Bolton, in what is now the village of Baldwinville, 
 on the site of the shop now occupied by the Waite 
 Chair Company. 
 
 In 1763 the proprietors had an article in a warrant 
 for a meeting, " to see if the proprietors will prosecute 
 in law the bond against Thomas Sawyer, for his not 
 grinding according to contract for the inhabitants of 
 said town,'' and a committee was chosen to see that 
 he fulfilled his contract. 
 
 Thomas Sawyer seems to have carried on the mills 
 on this site at Baldwinville until about 1767, when 
 they were sold to Jonathan Baldwin, Esq., an enter- 
 prising and public-spirited citizen from Spencer, 
 Mass. He became a very large land-holder in the 
 village of Baldwinville, owning a large tract on the 
 north and west. Captain Eden Baldwin, son of 
 Jonathan, succeeded his father in the ownership of 
 the mills. He carried on the lumber business and 
 also made bricks at a yard near where the house of 
 C. M. Cummings now stands. In 1803 he rebuilt the 
 mills and carried them on until 1829, when he rented 
 them for five years to William Kendall and Edward 
 Richardson, of Holden. 
 
 In 1836 Captain Eden Baldwin sold the mills to 
 Colonel George W. Sawyer, who retained possession 
 some two years and then sold the property back to 
 Captain Baldwin, who retained it until his death, in 
 1839. In that year another Eden Baldwin, from 
 Ashfield, a distant relative of the former, became the 
 owner, and in 1840 he took down the former structure 
 and built the eastern half of the "Red Mill,'' putting 
 in a new grist-mill and a self-setting saw-mill. In 
 1842 he sold to Gilman Day, who received Charles 
 Baldwin, a grandson of Captain Eden, as a partner in 
 1843. Edwin Sawyer bought Mr. Baldwin's interest 
 in 1847. Day & Sawyer built the western half of the 
 "Red Mill." They made wood-seat chairs, hat-cases, 
 etc. The manufacture of chairs has been continued 
 at this stand by difl'erent firms formed in successive 
 years : Sawyer & Thompson in 1853, Sawyer,Thompson 
 & Perley in 1856, Thompson, Perley & Waite in 1871 
 and the Waite Chair Company in 1887. On the 
 death of Mr. Perley the firm was divided and Mr. 
 
 Thompson became the head of a firm making chairs 
 at the lower mill. 
 
 In 1843 Captain Warren L. Merritt began the hat- 
 pressing business in the " Red Mill." But a mill 
 was built al the north end of the dam in 1844 by 
 Samuel D. Morley, and Captain Merritt moved his 
 business there and continued it until 1850, after 
 which the business was continued by John Stearns, 
 and Lee & Stearns, who employed about twenty 
 hands. In the recent years Baker & Wilson have a 
 grist-mill here, at which they grind large quantities 
 of Western corn, selling the meal in the neighboring 
 villages. 
 
 In the early part of the century a number of 
 persons in this village and in other parts of this town 
 jvere engaged in the manufacture of wood-seat chairs. 
 The work was done wholly by hand in small shops 
 near to or connected with dwelling-houses. As the 
 years went on, machinery was invented to facilitate 
 the work, and that necessitated the concentration of 
 the work in larger establishments. 
 
 In 1844 Albert Bryant and James Stimpson built a 
 dam at what is now known as the lower shop. A shop 
 was soon built at the north end of the dam, and in 
 1846 another at the south end by James Stimpson. 
 In these shops various kinds of business have been 
 carried on by different persons and firms. Hat-press- 
 ing has been carried on ; different firms have manu- 
 factured matches ; doors, sashes and blinds have 
 been made ; a shop was burned at the south end of 
 the dam in 1862. Soon the privilege passed into the 
 hands of Willard Baker and Sawyer, Thompson & Per- 
 ley. The latter firm and their successors have occupied 
 the southerly shop in the manufacture of chair.s. A 
 division of this firm was made in 1887, and this shop 
 is now occupied by D. L. Thompson & Son, who con- 
 tinue here the manufacture of various kinds of chairs. 
 The northerly shop has for some years been occupied 
 by Baker & Wilson in the manufacture of children's 
 carriages. 
 
 A tannery was carried on for several years previous 
 to 1817 by Joel Hayden, and afterward by Henry & 
 Joseph Newton, on the site receatly occupied by the 
 ofBce and store-house of Thompson, Perley & Waite, 
 west of the hotel. His mill for grinding bark by 
 water-power was on the site now occupied by the 
 machine-shop of William E. Nichols. Various kinds 
 of bu-iness have since been done here. John & Hart- 
 ford Potter made sofa frames ; Bennet Potter put in 
 a grist-mill ; Kelton & Hollingsworth were machin- 
 ists ; Eden B. Sawyer, and afterward Bufl'um & New- 
 ton, made measures for measuring grain ; Captain W. 
 L. Merritt made window shades; James Stimpson 
 made faucets. At the present time the privilege is 
 used by William E. Nichols for the manufacture of 
 band saw machines and various kinds of chair 
 machinery. 
 
 In 1841 Captain Joseph Davis built a saw-mill at 
 the most easterly privilege in B.ildwinville. For 
 
136 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 some years pails were made here and afterward doors, 
 sashes and blinds ; Sawyer & Patterson made matches ; 
 Robinson & Hersey made buckets, and James Stimp- 
 son clothes-pina. This mill was burned in 1856. The 
 privilege was bought in ISfiO by Charles A. Perley 
 and Oilman Waite. In 1870 a stock company was 
 formed and a large and commodious factory was put 
 up which furnished accommodations for several firms. 
 Smith, Day & Co. made chairs ; L. Greenwood & Co. 
 also made chairs ; E. Sawyer & Co. made furniture. 
 This mill was burned in 1885. It was rebuilt by 
 Smith, Day & Co., who continue the manufacture of 
 chairs at this stand. A part of the water-power at 
 this place is used by Mr. H. M. Small in the manu- 
 facture of sheathing and roofing paper. 
 
 There were formerly two saw-mills on Beaver Brook, 
 .in the extreme western part of the town. There were 
 also two mills in the northwesterly part of the town, 
 on the Royalston road, one of which is still kept in 
 operation. These were on tributaries of Otter River. 
 
 On Trout Brook there were formerly five mill priv- 
 ileges which were utilized. Only two or three of them 
 are now used. The first privilege to be used was that 
 now occupied by Bourn, Hadley & Co. Mr. Withing- 
 ton erected a saw-mill here not far from 1820. Dea- 
 con Benjamin Hawkes and his sons had made furniture 
 by hand at a shop formerly standing on the present 
 site of the Public Library. Later they made use of 
 the water-power at this stand for some years. The 
 present proprietors are extensively engaged in the 
 manufacture of pine and ash furniture. Farther 
 down on this stream toward Baldwinvilleis a saw- mill. 
 Staves for pails are also prepared here. 
 
 The water from Phillipston Pond flows through the 
 southwesterly part of this town, on its way to join the 
 waters of Ware River. On this stream have been 
 several mill privileges, which have been used for 
 grinding grain, sawing lumber, and preparing chair- 
 stock or staves for pails. On a stream tributary to 
 this is a mill which has been variously employed, re- 
 cently as a cider-mill ; formerly, Mr. Leander Leland 
 made shoe-pegs here with ingenious machinery which 
 he had prepared. 
 
 Mill Brook is the name applied to a stream of 
 water which rises in the southeasterly part of this 
 town and flows through Partridgeville and EastTem- 
 pleton, falling into Otter River a short distance be- 
 low the latter village. As this brook has quite a rapid 
 fall, it furnishes several water privileges, two of which 
 were in Partridgeville. On the upper one was a saw- 
 mill, formerly owned by A. A. & G. W. Jones. This 
 has been suft'ered to go to decay. A little way down 
 the stream, and close by the highway, was formerly a 
 grist-mill. Afterwards, for some years, H. & J. W. 
 Partridge made chairs here. It is now owned by 
 De.xter P. Merritt. Two reservoirs for the storage of 
 water lie above the village of East Templeton. Below 
 the dam of the lower one was a shop for the manu- 
 facture of chairs. The water-power was supplemented, 
 
 in later times, by a steam-engine. The shop was 
 built by Bennett Potter, and had been occupied by 
 Potter & Jeunison, Parker, Sawyer & Co., McLean & 
 Dickernian, and others. It was burnt recently, and 
 has not been rebuilt. 
 
 The chair manufactory of A. S. Hodge was burnt 
 recently, and has not as yet been rebuilt. Chairs have 
 been for many years manufactured on this site by dif- 
 ferent parties, using steam as well as water-power in 
 later years. The shop now owned by Henry J. 
 Wright seems to have been built by Bennett Potter. 
 Various kinds of business have successively been car- 
 ried on here. The grist-mill and saw-mill formerly 
 owned by John Simonds was, in 1813, bought by Joel 
 Fales, who enlarged the mills. He soon erected 
 another shop near where the " Fales '' shop recently 
 stood, and carried on the manufacture of scythes for 
 several years. He had a furnace and made small 
 castings. He had a trip-hammer and manufactured 
 hoes. His son, Otis P. Fales, was associated with him 
 in this business. In later times the brothers, Otis P. 
 and Joel G. Fales, under the firm- name of J. G. 
 Fales & Co., made chairs, the seats of which were 
 woven out of thin plates of wood split by a machine 
 invented for this jnirpose. The chairs had a look not 
 unlike the chairs of the olden time, and for some uses 
 were quite popular. This shop was burned a few 
 years since. On the next mill-site the manufacture 
 of children's carts and wagons has been carried on 
 since the year 1858, by Chester N. Johnson, who has 
 made of it a very successful business. The tannery 
 business had for many years been carried on at this 
 site, earlier by Mr. Swan and later by Warren 
 Simonds. At the next site, T. T. Greenwood's Sons 
 continue the business of the manufacture of furniture, 
 which their father had begun some years before. They 
 also have a furniture store in West Gardner. A mill 
 built by Artemas Brown formerly stood on the next 
 site. At first it was a saw-mill ; afterwards tubs and 
 pails were made here, but there has been no shop 
 here for some years. The last shop on the stream is 
 that of the East Templeton Chair Company, a co-op- 
 erative incorporated company, which has met with a 
 good degree of success. 
 
 Otter River enters the town on its eastern side, from 
 Gardner, and flows through the northerly portion of 
 the town, furnishing an abundant water-power in the 
 villages of Otter River and Baldwinville. The Otter 
 River Blanket Mill occupies the first mill-site on 
 this stream, having a location just over the Gardner 
 line. Horse blankets in large quantities were quite 
 recently the product of this mill. The first mill here 
 was built by Cooper Sawyer. The manufacture of 
 chairs has, in the past time, been carried on here. A 
 little farther down the stream is what is known as 
 the Templeton Blanket Mills, which, together with 
 the iactory last named, is owned by Rufus S. Frost, 
 of Chelsea, Mass. On this site William Hunting 
 built a saw-mill, which Col. Leonard Stone after- 
 
TEMPLETON. 
 
 137 
 
 wards bought and occupied for many years. William 
 E. Nichols for a time had a machine-shop here, and 
 Charles Everett a grist-mill. Going a little way 
 down the stream, we come to the Woolen Mills. 'J'he 
 first building on this site was erected about 1823 by 
 Capt. Samuel Dadman, who began here the manu- 
 facture of woolen cloth. The Dadman Manufactur- 
 ing Company, the Jones Manufacturing Company, 
 and other firms have continued the business. A new 
 building was erected in IS.SG. Some kind of woolen 
 goods has been the manufacture carried on here. Near 
 this site, in the earlier part of the century, and 
 reaching back to about 1787, Edward Cambridge had 
 a shop for dressing cloth. He performed the service 
 of dressing and finishing the cloth made by the farm- 
 ers at their own homes on the hand-looms. .lust east 
 of the present factory building, Nathan Smith had a 
 shop, at which he used to receive wool from the farm- 
 ers and card it into rolls, ready for spinningat home. 
 
 The manufiicture of bricks has been carried on 
 quite extensively by Charles C. Dyer, in the village 
 of Otter River, at the yard which had been for many 
 years occupied by his father, Horatio N. Dyer. 
 These are transported by rail and sold in Worcester 
 and other places. 
 
 The manufacture of stoves has for many years been 
 an important industry in the village of Otter River. 
 Tt was begun by Thomas Parker, who, about the year 
 1836, erected a shop on a tributary of Otter River 
 flowing into the town from Winchendon. He carried 
 on the business until 1843, when he was succeeded 
 by his son, Daniel W. Parker, who, in 1851, received 
 Otis Warren as a partner. Mr, Warren carried on 
 the business alone until 1853, when he sold to Gates 
 & Lord. Lord & Walker became the name of the 
 firm in 1858, which became Lord & Stone in 1871, 
 and Lord, Stone & Co. in 1887. During all of this 
 time, in addition to the manufacture of stoves, a 
 general foundry business has been done at this stand, 
 and machinists' work also. The work, which was 
 begun on a small scale, has gradually increa.-ed, giv- 
 ing employment at the present time to from thirty- 
 five to forty hands. From five hundred to six hun- 
 dred tons of iron are melted annually. The stoves 
 are sold by traveling agents in various parts of New 
 England. 
 
 Inventors. — The soil of Worcester County is 
 certainly not favorable, as a general thing, for the 
 production of agricultural crops ; but it produces 
 excellent mechanics. The very atmosphere seems to 
 favor their growth. And Templeton, like its neigh- 
 boring towns, has always abounded in good mechanics 
 — good in the practical execution of work, and some- 
 times apt in the invention of new machines and 
 processes. Indeed, these country towns would, many 
 of them, have gone to early decay had it not been for 
 their mechanical and manufacturing industries. The 
 local market furnished by the manufacturing villages 
 is the one thing that makes farming possible here. 
 
 Eli Bruce was one of the early settlers in the town, 
 living in the village of Baldwinville, in the house 
 now occupied by Mr. Hiklreth. He was a very 
 ingenious man. He made clocks, repaired watches 
 and jewelry. He constructed a pipe-organ, which 
 was said to have been a very fine one. He invented 
 a machine for making pins out of wire, heading and 
 pointing them ready for use. He also invented 
 machinery suitable for the manufacture of wooden 
 buckctJ. His was a versatile mind, ever ready to 
 animate material things with a capacity to subserve 
 human wants. 
 
 Asa Fessenden was another mechanic of unusual 
 ingenuity. He lived first at Templeton Centre, 
 making vehicles of various kinds at the fhop after- 
 wards occupied by Maynard & Fiske. In later life 
 he lived in Baldwinville, in the same house formerly 
 occupied by Eli Bruce. 
 
 James Stinipson, now living in Baldwinville, is 
 the inventor of a machine of much utility in the 
 manufacture of furniture. It makes with rapidity a 
 strong joint for the fastening together of the sides 
 of drawers for bureaus, and is generally used in 
 furniture-making establishments. He secured a 
 patent for the method of making the joint in 1857, 
 and on the machine in 1859. Mr. Slimpson is also 
 the inventor of a street lamp of much conveuience. 
 The lamp is lowered for lighting and care by an iron 
 lever turning on an axis. 
 
 John Nichols, of Baldwinville, invented a child's 
 chnir that is very easily convertible into a carriage, 
 and again into a play table. There were six difl'erent 
 kinds of these chairs. He has also invented an 
 ingenious form of street lamp, in which the lamp 
 slidesdown through a hollow lamp-post for convenience 
 of lighting and care. The dralt of air for the lamp 
 is also through the post, so that it burns steadily even 
 when it is windy. 
 
 Hotels. — In the olden times country towns 
 abounded in inns or taverns. On the principal lines 
 of travel there seems to have been only a distance of 
 two or three miles between them. The great number 
 of loaded teams transporting merchandise from Bos- 
 ton to the interior towns created a necessity for 
 numerous stopping-places. Perhaps there was also 
 found some pecuniary profit in furnishing some form 
 of liquid refreshment for thirsty travelers. But the 
 taverns were numerous in our own town as well as in 
 others ; and tradition surrounds them with a kind of 
 halo which could not have been visible to their im- 
 mediate patrons. The " enchantment " doubtless 
 results from the distance which time interposes. Most 
 of them were farm-houses of a larger size. In the 
 villages, however, were taverns of more pretension 
 and importance. 
 
 It is not easy to ascertain the date of the opening 
 of the first tavern in town. Doubtless the first ones 
 were kept by persons who gave their chief attention 
 to other pursuits. There was formerly a tavern kept 
 
138 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 at the farm-house now known as the " Lambert 
 Howe " place. There were three taverns at Temple- 
 ton Centre. One was kept by Joseph Upham in the 
 brick house at the northwesterly side of the Common. 
 One by Joshua Wriglit, familiarly known as Landlonl 
 Wright, was kept in what has been known as the old 
 " Hawkes " house, then standing where the public 
 pump now is. But the chief public-house of the 
 village seems always to have been the one on the site 
 of the recent Templeton Hotel, which has been kept 
 for some years by Charles E. Ellis. This building was 
 burned in September, 1888. This house, in the earlier 
 part of the century, was kept by Lipha French, Cal- 
 vin Townsley and Levi Pierce. In later times Francis 
 Twichell was very favorably known as the proprietor. 
 
 The house now owned by Mr. Lucas Baker in East 
 Templeton, and that owned by Mr. Isaac Bourn in 
 Brooks village, were both kept as taverns in the early 
 part of this century, being on the line of through 
 travel from Boston to Albany, which passed through 
 Templeton. This town was also on a line of through 
 travel from Worcester to Keene. On this line were 
 two taverns at the Baptist Common, — the one kept in 
 the house which is the present residence of Mr. John 
 M. Brown, the other in a house directly opposite, on 
 the other side of the Common. Baldwinville was 
 also on this line of travel, and here, in several of the 
 earliest years of the century, Capt. Eden Baldwin kept 
 a tavern in the house now owned by Albert Bryant. 
 In 1832 Capt. Joseph Davis built the hotel now 
 known as the Narragansett House. In 1870 it was 
 purchased by Mr. George Partridge, who has since 
 been the proprietor. The building has at two different 
 times been partially burned. 
 
 About 1847 Mr. J. G. Goldsmith built a hotel in 
 the village of Otter River, on the present site of Mr. 
 Le'and's store. This he kept for several years. After 
 several persons had occupied it for brief periods, it 
 was bought by Mr. Joshua W. Partridge and kept 
 until the building was burned. In later times a hotel 
 has been kept by different persons on the opposite side 
 of the street from the former one. 
 
 Stores. — In the last century and the early part of 
 this there was not much necessity for an abundance 
 of stores, and where they existed at all there was 
 little occasion for a large stock of goods. The families 
 were not very numerous and were scattered about on 
 the farms. They produced their own beef and pork, as 
 well as fruits and vegetables. They were very sparing 
 in the use of tea and sugar, and coffee was almost 
 unknown. They spent very little money on luxuries 
 of any kind. Their clothing was prepared with their 
 own hands at their homes. The farmer himself, with 
 his own team, carried any salable products of his farm 
 to Boston, and brought back home supplies for his 
 own family and sometimes for his neighbors. Grad- 
 ually, as the population increased, it was found more 
 economical to make a division of labor, and so permit 
 some persons to devote their whole time to the work 
 
 of making these exchanges. Hence the evolution of 
 the country merchant and the country store. 
 
 In Templeton Centre, early in this century, a long 
 building stood on the site of the " Lee" store. In the 
 north end of this building John Bigelow kept clocks, 
 watches and similar goods. Cyrus Brown kept a 
 variety store in the middle of the building. In the 
 southern portion was sometimes a shoemaker's shop. 
 John Bigelow lived in the "Gilbert" house. Cyrus 
 Brown afterwards had a farm in the westerly part of 
 the town, which has remained in the hands of his 
 descendants to this day. This store building was 
 moved away, and a part of it was used to make the 
 house now owned by Charles W. Upham. In 1829 
 Col. Artemas Lee erected the store and dwelling-house 
 now standing on that site, and kept some connection 
 with the store during the rest of his life. The names 
 of the tirms successively doing business there were 
 Lee, Harding & Jones, Lee & Lincoln, Lee & Wood, 
 Lee & Gambell, and afterwards Leland & Jones. 
 Some time after the death of Col. Lee the store and 
 other real estate was bought by Percival Blodgett, 
 who, with a slight intermission, has carried on the 
 business to the present time. He has added a stock 
 of drugs and medicines. Col. Lee, before building on 
 this site, had kept a store in the southerly portion of 
 the hotel building, during a portion of which time he 
 was associated with Lipha French. 
 
 On the ea.sterly side of the Common, on the site of 
 the "Brick" store, formerly stood a wooden one-story 
 building, which was in after time moved away, and 
 now forms the lower story of the Trinitarian parson- 
 age. In this and the brick structure which succeeded 
 it a store has been kept until quite recent times. In 
 the early part of the century it was occupied by John 
 W. Stiles, a prominent merchant of northern Worces- 
 ter County, and later by Col. Ephraim Stone. 
 
 Several persons assisted in the work of the store, and 
 among others Rufus Wyman, who afterwards became 
 a partner. But Col. Stone was advancing in years, 
 and Mr. Wyman was desirous of leaving town ; so the 
 store was given up. Not long after, a Co-operative 
 Union store was organized and kept here for some 
 years, under the management of Erastus O. Eddy. 
 After this was given up, the store business was carried 
 on here for several years, first by the firm of Dudley 
 & Blodgett, and afterwards by Mr. Dudley alone. 
 
 A store was also formerly kept by George Howe in 
 a building which stood northerly of the residence of 
 Mrs. Batchelder. Another store was kept by Moses 
 Bond, in the brick house now owned by Charles W. 
 Stone. 
 
 The country store has been something more than 
 merely a place for the convenient purchase of the 
 family supplies. Men meet each other here and have 
 an interchange of views on the political or social 
 questions of the day. 
 
 It furnishes a partial substitute for the social en- 
 joyments of the club and the attractions of the theatre. 
 
TEMPLETON. 
 
 139 
 
 The philosopher must take account of these informal 
 and accidental meetings of persons who live in scat- 
 tered dwellings as one of the forces which advance 
 civilization, or at least as a force tending to hinder 
 the lapsing into barbarism, ^ess potent than the 
 town-meeting or the Sunday gathering, but still a 
 force worthy of recognition. 
 
 Baldwinville next claims our attention in this mat- 
 ter of stores. But on the way thither, we may remark 
 that, in the earlier times, there were two stores at the 
 " Baptist Common," as well as two taverns and one 
 church. Doubtless there were in Baldwinville, as 
 elsewhere in the early times, persons who united to 
 some other business that of furnishing family supplies, 
 even before the erection of stores. But in 1824 
 Captain Eden Baldwin erected a store at a point 
 northerly of the residence of Mr. Ray, and about 
 where the road to the railr 'ad station now passes. 
 
 Captain Moses Bond, who had previously kept a 
 store at the centre of the town, carried this on for 
 three years. Captain Joseph Davis then leased the 
 store and placed it in the care of Mr. Valentine. On 
 his removing to Baldwinville, in 1830, Captain Davis 
 bought the store building and in 1840 removed it to 
 a location in .close proximity to his hotel, where it 
 now stands. A store has been kept in the building 
 until a period quite recent. The store now occupied 
 by Louis Leland was also built in 1821. Joseph Ray- 
 mond first carried on business here, and afterwards 
 Lee & Raymond until 1837. Lee & Morley and Lee 
 & Lincoln were the styles of firms until 1844 ; then 
 M. H. Wood & Co., until 1856. Sundry persons kept 
 a small stock of goods here for a time, after which 
 there was a period of suspended animation, which 
 was terminated by the appearance of the firm of 
 Leland Brothers in 1870. Since 1872 Louis Leland 
 has continued the business alone, Francis Leland 
 retiring and giving his undivided attention to his 
 store at Otter River. A store has been kept on the 
 site of the Cady & Brooks block since 1844. It was 
 first occupied by James Stimson and Mark W. Ray. 
 A Protective Union store was afterwards kept here, 
 with James H. Clapp as agent. It was occupied by 
 Sawyer, Thompson & Perley as a store and office 
 from 1861 to 1876. O. D. Sawin kept the store one 
 year, continued by Sawin & Bryant to 1880, when the 
 building was burned. It was rebuilt on a larger 
 scale, with a spacious hall on the third floor. The 
 .stores on the lower floor were occupied by Dorr & 
 Dickinson and Lehy & Goss. Rooms for the Tem- 
 pleton Savings Bank and also for a lawyer's ofiice 
 were in the second story. Fire consumed the whole 
 structure again in 1882, and again it was rebuilt with 
 offices as before in the second story, and the post- 
 office and stores in the lower story. In one of these 
 stores, drugs and medicines and furnishing goods are 
 kept by C. S. Dickinson ; in the other, groceries and 
 miscellaneous goods by C. S. Dickinson & Co. 
 
 A small building to be used as a store was erected 
 
 in 1857, just south of the bridge over Otter River. 
 This has been occupied for brief timesby different 
 persons, sometimes as a shoe store, sometimes as a 
 grocery store, but it is at present unoccupied. 
 
 In the village of Otter River the first >tore of im- 
 portance was kept, in the low, one-story building on 
 the west side of the Main Street. Samuel D. Morley, 
 Samuel M. Osgood and Francis Leland have suc- 
 cessively engaged in trade at this stand ; others have 
 continued to occupy this store until the present time. 
 In 1883 Francis Leland built, for the more complete 
 accommodation of his business, the large and com- 
 modious brick store which he has since occupied. 
 About 1847 Captain Joseph Davis, of Baldwinville, 
 erected the large building for a store and dwelling- 
 house on the eastern side of the street, and a store 
 was kept here for about ten years under his super- 
 vision. Since, it has been occupied by Warner & 
 Kirschner, and now by Frederick Warner. 
 
 Savings Bank. — The Templeton Savings Bank 
 was incorporated April 19, 1871. Its place of busi- 
 ness has always been in the village of Baldwinville. 
 Up to the present time it has hired one of the upper 
 rooms in the Brooks & Cady Block. This year (1888) 
 the trustees voted to erect a new building suitable 
 for the accommodation of the bank and containing 
 rooms to rent for other purposes. The building is to 
 be fifty by forty feet in size, and the work of con- 
 struction is now going on. M. A. Wilson is president 
 of the Savings Bank, and Asa Hosmer is treasurer. 
 Its assets now amount to more than two hundred 
 thousand dollars. 
 
 Roads. — Roads of some kind must be of prime im- 
 portance to the people of a new settlement. We find 
 that the proprietors of this town early gave attention 
 to making them. The first roads were doubtless 
 mere bridle-paths, in most cases suitable only for 
 passing on horseback. From the formation of the 
 town until now the building and repairing of roads 
 has been a very large item in the public expenditures. 
 During the first twenty years of the existence of the 
 town the appropriations for mere repairs of highways, 
 leaving out altogether the cost of building ihem, was 
 from three to five times as much as the appropriation 
 for schools ; during the next twenty years it was 
 from one and a half to three times as much; during 
 the first forty years of this century a little more than 
 twice as much. There was then a few years in which 
 they were not very far from equal. For the last fif- 
 teen years the ratio has been reversed, and the ap- 
 propriation for schools has been about twice as much 
 as that for repairs of highways. 
 
 It will not be practicable to trace the origin and 
 history of our roads minutely, although it would be 
 a matter of interest to do so. A few details must 
 here suffice. The proprietors, in 1737, paid a com- 
 mittee for " marking and clearing a road to the town- 
 ship," which perhaps was a bridle-path from West- 
 minster. In 1740 a road was "marked and cleared 
 
140 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 to Pequoiage" (Athol). Roads were also to be 
 cleared to the settlers' lots, and also a road to Peters- 
 ham. On May 13, 1752, the proprietors chose a 
 committee of three persons to lay out roads through 
 the township. In 175.3 this committee was directed 
 not to lay out the new roads until " the settlers have 
 pitched on their house-spots." In 1754 the commit- 
 tee reported a road from the Common reaching half- 
 way to Baldwinville, which was extended further in 
 1759, and in 1701 made to reach quite across Otter 
 River. 
 
 The bridge over Otter River at Baldwinville seems 
 to have been built by Noah Merritt in 1763. The 
 bridge over the same river in the village of Otter 
 River was probably built in 1778. The town records 
 are abundantly sprinkled over with the reports of the 
 laying out of roads. 
 
 At the second town-meeting after the town was 
 incorporated it was voted "to give for work on the 
 highways three shillings a man per day till the last 
 of August, and then to the last of September two 
 8hilling^l, and that oxen have half as much, and a 
 cart a quarter as much." This meeting granted forty 
 pounds for mending highways, it being the first 
 money granted by the town for any purpose what- 
 ever. 
 
 The building and repairing of roads was a severe 
 tax on the inhabitants of these towns in the early 
 times. The turnpike system afforded some moderate 
 degree of relief. Companies were formed and incor- 
 porated with the design of making better roads than 
 towns could afford to make, and toll was demanded 
 by the company from those who traveled on them. 
 The Fifth Massachusetts Turnpike Corporation was 
 incorporated by the Legislature in 1799. Its route 
 extended from Greenfield and Northfield, in two dis- 
 tinct lines, which united at Athol, thence through 
 Templeton, South Gardner and Westminster to Leo- 
 minster. 
 
 In this town it ran through Brooks village, Temple- 
 ton Centre and East Templeton. Tolls, at differing 
 rates for ditferent vehit;les, were established, and 
 gates were set up at convenient places for its collec- 
 tion. Persons passing to or from public worship, 
 and those on military duty, were exempt from paying 
 toil. 
 
 Templeton was situated at the intersection of three 
 stage-lines, in the time before the advent of railroads. 
 It was on a through line from Boston to Albany ; also 
 stages running from Worcester to Keene and from 
 Lowell to Springfield passed through here. So there 
 were scenes of much activity as the stages arrived 
 and departed. Exchanges of horses and providing 
 for the wants of travelers made the taverns or hotels 
 places of importance in those days. 
 
 Railroads. — The construction and improvement 
 of the common roads received the early and constant 
 attention of the settlers in these towns, and, relative 
 to the meaus of the people, large expenditures were al- 
 
 ways made upon them. The people of this town have 
 been forward and earnest in providing more extended 
 and rapid means of communication. When the 
 project was started for a canal from Boston to simie 
 point on the Hudson River, this town, in 1825, chose 
 a committee to confer with the canal commissioner.*, 
 and urge its being built through this section of the 
 State, but it was soon seen that railroads were more 
 desirable than canals. In 1835 this town favored a 
 railroad through its limits, connecting Worcester and 
 Keene. This town early became interested in the 
 Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad, and, in 1844, 
 chose a committee to favor its location here, and 
 when, after the charter was obtained, an effort was 
 made to divert the road from this town and build it 
 through Wincbendon, the plan met with the most 
 determined opposition. The town appropriated 
 money and chose a committee to resist the change. 
 This committee acted with great vigor and earnest- 
 ness ; it was composed of earnest men : Col. Artemas 
 Lee, Captain Joseph Davis, Joseph Mason, Esq., 
 Oilman Day, Esq., and Col. Leonard Stone. They 
 had surveys made, they employed counsel to defend 
 the case ; there were trials before the county commis- 
 sioners, and hearings before the legislative commit- 
 tees. In 1845 the county commissioners gave a 
 decision against the change of location. The railroad 
 company again petitioned the Legislature for a change 
 of location, the town again opposed it; the road was 
 finally built here, and the first passenger-cars passed 
 through this town in 1847. Some years after, the 
 company renewed its efforts for a change in location, 
 and again they failed to accomplish their purpose. 
 
 Not long after this road was built the project was 
 formed of a railroad running across the State, to 
 connect with the Boston and Albany. The valleys 
 extended themselves in such directions as to promise 
 easy grades. The Ware River Railroad was chartered 
 in 1870. This town, in its corporate capacity, sub- 
 scribed for two hundred and fifty shares of stock ; it 
 invested $25,000 in bonds. The road was graded; 
 the construction company failed, and the stock 
 became worthless. The town sold the bonds for one- 
 half their cost, $12,500. The town lost its money, 
 but gained further facilities for communication. A 
 passenger-train first passed through on this road 
 October 30, 1873. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 r'BMPh'ETON—(Coiiiiiiucd.) 
 
 Pttsl-Ogices — The Common — Cemeteries — Societies — Warning Out — Thti 
 Great Load of Wood — Chaises — Bottiities on Wild Aniinttls. 
 
 At the present time Templeton has four post- 
 offices, at each of which mails arrive and depart two 
 or more times daily. We are only two and one- half 
 
 I 
 
TEMPLETON. 
 
 141 
 
 hours from Boston and seven hours from New York 
 City. One hundred )'ears ago the mail facilities 
 were very meagre, not only for the country lowns> 
 but even for the largest cities in the colonies. At 
 about the time of the American Kevnlution mails 
 were despatched between Boston and New York 
 three times in a week during the summer, and two 
 times a week during the winter, taking from six to 
 nine days in the passage from one city to the other. 
 The bulk and weight of the mails did not exceed the 
 capacity of a pair of saddle-bags. The mail between 
 New York and Philadelphia was carried five times a 
 week, usually by boys on horseback. Benjamin 
 Franklin had been Postmaster-General for the colonies 
 from 1753 to 1774, and had greatly increased the 
 efficiency of the mail service. But Massachusetts 
 had, at her own charge, established a postal system 
 with fourteen post-offices within her own boundaries. 
 
 The mail routes which were established radiated 
 from Cambridge, running north to Haverhill and 
 Georgetown, in Maine; south to Providence and 
 Falmouth; westerly to Great Barrington, through 
 Worcester and Springfield. From Worcester mails 
 were carried to Woodstock, Vt., and, very likely, 
 this route passed through this town. 
 
 Soon after the government went into operation, in 
 1789, a general postal system was established for all 
 the colonies. The rates established at the organiza- 
 tion of the department, and continued until 1810, 
 were : For a letter composed of a single piece of 
 paper, under 40 miles, 8 cents ; under 90 miles, 10 
 cents; under 150 miles, 12i cents; under 300 miles, 
 17 cents ; under 500 miles, 20 cents ; over 500 miles, 
 25 cents. 
 
 The rates of postage have several times been re- 
 duced since 1816. 
 
 In the first years of this century probably the 
 town of Templeton did net receive a mail oftener 
 than two or three times a week. The records of the 
 United States Post-Office Department, at Washing- 
 ton, do not show when a postmaster was first ap- 
 pointed for this town. The earliest records, how- 
 ever, show that Thomas Wilder was the postmaster 
 on July 1, 1802. The following list contains the 
 names of all the postmasters, and the date of their 
 appointment, from 1802 to the present time: Lovell 
 Walker, appointed October 1, 1803 ; Caleb Leland, 
 appointed July 1, 1809; Lipha French, appointed 
 September 28, 1810 ; Artemas Lee, appointed Sep- 
 tember 28, 1829; John Boynton, appointed October 
 14, 1843; George H. Jones, appointed April 20, 1848 ; 
 Dexter Gilbert, appointed January 27, 1849 ; Addi- 
 son J. Lincoln, appointed July 14, 1849; De.xter 
 Gilbert, appointed May 3, 1853 ; Henry Smith, ap- 
 pointed March 19, 1861 ; Artemas Lee, appointed 
 November 6, 1863; Henry Smith, appointed March 
 24, 1865; Julius A. Jones, appointed March 20, 
 1867 ; Percival Blodgett, appointed March 22, 1869 ; 
 Delia Damon, appointed July 13, 1885. 
 
 The post-office at Templeton Centre was the only 
 one within the limits of the town until the year 1830, 
 when a post-office was established at Baldwinville, 
 and that village has since then been known by that 
 name. The names of the postmasters, with the date 
 of their appointment, follows: Joseph Davis, ap- 
 pointed in 1830; James H. Clapp, appointed Au- 
 gust 5, 1853; Edwin Sawyer, appointed June 24, 
 1861; Otis D. Sawin, appointed December 9, 1870; 
 Ezra A. Lamb, appointed June 16, 1874; George E. 
 Bryant, appointed August 27, 1885. 
 
 The post-office was established at Otter Kiver 
 Village in 1860, and the following persons have 
 served as postmasters: Samuel M. Osgood, appointed 
 1860; Francis Leland, appointed 1867; Frederick 
 Warner, appointed 1885. 
 
 The post-office at East Templeton was established 
 in 1866, with Fitch L. Sargeant as postmaster, in 
 which oflSce he still continues to serve. 
 
 The Common. — Templeton was one of those for- 
 tunate towns whose early inhabitants exercised a wise 
 foresight in providing ample grounds for public use. 
 The beauty of many New England villages is very 
 much enhanced by such thoughtful foresight on the 
 part of some persons. In this town a piece of ground 
 was set apart for " Publick use" some years before the 
 incorporation of the town. In 1754 the proprietors 
 chose committees "to pitch upon burying places," 
 and one site was selected near the meeting-hou?e, the 
 other in the west part of the town. On March 21, 
 1759, Charles Baker presented to the proprietors the 
 plan of a piece of ground which he had surveyed for 
 a Common and a burying-ground, containing eight 
 acres and seventy rods. This survey was accepted 
 by the proprietors on that date and the land devoted 
 to the public use. The old meeting-house then stood 
 on the southwesterly part of this Common. 
 
 At a meeting of the proprietors held at the meeting- 
 house on j\[ay 3, 1786, they granted and appropriated 
 the burying-place and Common to the use of the 
 town forever. The plan of the two pieces of ground 
 is contained in the" Proprietors' Records,'' Book II., 
 Page 81, and embraces somewhat less than the area 
 laid out in 1759 — six acres and one hundred and 
 nineteen rods. This Common extended on the north 
 only to a line running irregularly across from the 
 present residence of Dr. Tobien to the brick house 
 owned by Charles W. Stone. At the southwest 
 corner it included an area which has since been 
 sold by the town to individuals for the sites of the 
 two houses nearest the present Common. In 1791 
 the town purchased of Isaac Jones, for ten pounds 
 and ten shillings, a triangular-shaped piece of ground 
 lying between the house of Miss Twichell and the 
 hotel, " to enlarge and extend the Common.'' In 1814 
 the town purchased of Joshua W. Whitcomb a long 
 strij) of ground containing about one acre, lying on 
 the westerly side of the highway and extending from 
 the Common to a point near the residence of J. Pres- 
 
142 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 cott Cutting. In 1816 another similar pteje of 
 ground, lying on the easterly side of the road and 
 extending from the Common to the corner of the 
 roads near the residence of Colonel George P. Hawkes, 
 was purchased of James F. Robbins and wife, for the 
 sum of three hundred dollars. That made up the 
 area of the Common to its present limits. At a 
 somewhat recent date the Common was adorned with 
 trees by the generosity of Colonel Artemas Lee. In 
 the olden time the Common was much used for 
 military trainings and musters. It furnishes an 
 excellent play-ground for the school-children in 
 modern times. 
 
 Cemeteries. — The first ground set apart for a 
 burying-place in this town was that adjoining the 
 Common. The proprietors passed a vote devoting 
 this lot to that purpose in 1754, caused it to be sur- 
 veyed by Charles Baker in 1759, and granted it the 
 town by a vote passed May 3. 1786. Very few burials 
 have been made here since the laying out of the new 
 cemetery. There is a burial-place at the " Baptist 
 Common," lying close to the former site of the 
 Baptist Church. No burials are now made here. In 
 1850 the cown j)urchased ground for two new burial- 
 places — the one at Baldwinville, the other in the 
 valley lying westerly of the village at the Centre. 
 The improvement and adornment of these places is 
 going on from year to year, partly by individual effort 
 and expenditure, and partly by appropriations made 
 by the town. Cemeteries are no longer the dreary, 
 neglected places which they once were. The town has 
 made special provision for the safe keeping of money 
 bestowed by individuals for the future care of their lots. 
 
 Societies. —There was formerly a lodge of Free 
 and Accepted Masons in this town. It was dissolved 
 in 1843, and iis funds were given in trust to the town. 
 This constitutes what is known as the Masonic Fund, 
 the income of which is distributed, charitably, by 
 trustees chosen annually by the town. A large 
 number of persons were connected with the Know- 
 Nothing Lodge in 1854. A post of the Grand Army 
 of the Republic, Ericsson Post, No. 109, was organ- 
 ized in 1869, and holds its meetings at its hall in 
 East Templeton. A lodge of Knights of Honor was 
 formed in 1879. It has a place of meeting at its 
 hall in the Centre Village. The same hall is also the 
 place of meeting for Templeton Grange, No. 122, 
 Patrons of Husbandry. This grange was organized in 
 1885. There have formerly been organizations of Good 
 Templars in one or another of the villages of the 
 town; one has been recently formed in Baldwin- 
 ville. There are several organizations for literary 
 and intellectual improvement, combined with more 
 or less of entertainment and social enjoyment. 
 These are more especially intended for young per- 
 sons and are mostly conducted under the auspices 
 of some one of the religious societies, as the Young 
 People's Union in connection with the Unitarian 
 Society ; the Willing Workers in connection with 
 
 the Trinitarian, both of the Centre. At Baldwin- 
 ville there is the Social Temple in connection with 
 the Baptist Society, and the Memorial Union in 
 connection with the Memorial Society. There is also 
 at East Templeton an association for literary im- 
 provement known by the name of the Round Table. 
 
 Warning Out. — A statute of the province existed 
 before the American Revolution which provided that 
 if persons were legally warned to depart from a town, 
 they could not at once gain a legal residence there, and 
 so the town would not be chargeable for their support 
 in case they came to want. So the selectmen and con- 
 stables were diligent in serving this notice upon new- 
 comers, "warning out'' all persons soon after their ar- 
 rival. It was not a warm reception, but it was deemed 
 a wise precautionary measure. When any inhabitants 
 of the town received any persons from another town to 
 dwell in their families, they immediately sent a writ- 
 ten notice to the selectmen, informing them of the Aict, 
 and stating the age and circumstances of the persons 
 and the town in which they last dwelt. The select- 
 men issued a warrant to the constable requiring him, 
 ■'in his majesty's name," to warn these people to de- 
 part from the town forthwith. The early records of 
 the town abound in copies of these documents. 
 
 The Great Load of Wood. — The history of the 
 town would not be complete without some mention 
 of the "great load of wood." It was no uncommon 
 thing for the minister of the olden time to receive 
 gifts of firewood from his parishioners. In the month 
 of January, 1822, Colonel Leonard Stone, who lived 
 in the northerly part of the town and had a saw-mill 
 on Otter River, was drawing a load of hard wood to the 
 parsonage for his minister, Dr. Wellington. As the 
 load passed across the Common, Colonel Ephraim 
 Stone saluted his brother with the question, " Why 
 don't you take your minister a load of wood while 
 you're about it?" Colonel Leonard replies, "I've 
 been sawing out lumber down't the mill, and there's 
 any quantity of slabs. I will give the minister as big 
 a load as you can draw." Colonel Ephraim stirred 
 up the people to make a full acceptance of the offer. 
 A sled was improvised with runners thirty or more 
 feet long and placed eight feet apart, with a tongue 
 for the attachment of oxen in front of each runner. 
 The sled was taken to the mill. The slabs were 
 eagerly piled on. Eighty pairs of oxen were attached 
 and the load was easily drawn around through Bald- 
 winville, up well upon the more level ground. Then 
 with common sleds they brought and piled on more 
 slabs until there were no more slabs at the mill. 
 Night came on, but the morning brought the oxen 
 and men to the load once more, and soon it was brought 
 to the minister's door. It was a more huge wooden 
 structure than that which came to ancient Troy, but 
 yet, in this case, with no menace to the safety of the 
 town. Many people came to see the immense load, as 
 it remained for some days upon the sled in the minis- 
 ter's door-yard. 
 
TEMPLETON. 
 
 143 
 
 It is probably known to all that our ancestors were 
 wholly ignorant of the luxury of a modern carriage 
 with its cushioned seats and easy springs. It is not 
 much more than half a century back to the time of 
 riding on horseback. There came a time when a man 
 of means might have a chaise. And the possession of 
 one set a mark of distinction upon its owner. It was 
 esteemed so much of a luxury that the United States 
 imposed a special tax upon them. I subjoin a certi- 
 ficate from the tax collector. 
 
 This is to certify tliat A B , of the town of Templeton, iu the 
 
 6th Coltectiou District of Massachusetts, has paid the duty of two dollars 
 for the year, to end on the 31st day of December, for and upon a two- 
 wheel carriage, for the conveyance of persons, hung on wooden springs, 
 and called a chaise. This Certificate to be of noavail no longerthan the 
 
 aforesaid carriage shall be used by the said A B , unless said 
 
 certificate shall be produced to the Collector by whom it was granted 
 and an entry made thereon, specifying the name of the then owner of 
 said carriage and of the time when he became possessed thereof. Given in 
 conformity with an Act of the Congress of the United States the 24th of 
 July, 1814. Worcester, Jan. 21, 1814. 
 
 Wm. EUSTIS, 
 Collector of Bevenue, 6lh Collection District of Mats. 
 
 Bounties on Wild Animals. — In the earlier 
 times the town sometimes offered a bounty for kill- 
 ing destructive animals. A bounty of thirty-four 
 cents for each old crow and seventeen cents for a 
 young one was offered in 1797 and on several other 
 years, the last of which was in 1834. A bounty of 
 twenty-five cents for old hen-hawks and twelve and a 
 half cents for young ones was offered in 1801 and 
 1802. In 1783 and the three following years the 
 town ottered a bounty of forty shillings for each full- 
 grown wolf's head, and it is known that at least one 
 person actually received such a bounty. There is 
 found no record of any bounty for bears, although it 
 is believed that they existed here in the early times. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 T'EWPlM'tO'ii— [Continued.) 
 
 EDUCATIONAL AFFAIRS. 
 
 Schools — Private Schools — Public High Schools— Teachers — Graduates — 
 Libraries — Boijiitmi Public Library. 
 
 The first settlers of a town whose farms are not 
 fully cleared and dwellings not completed are not in 
 a condition to give much thought to schools. There 
 were uo schools supported by grants of public money 
 until after the incorporation of the town. There was 
 a grant of a small sum for schools, by the town, for 
 the first time, in the year 1763. Two " squadrons" 
 for schools were formed in 1764, one in the easterly, 
 the other in the westerly part of the town. In 1769 
 it was voted that each "squadron" should receive the 
 same proportion of money for schooling that they had 
 paid in taxes. In 1776 the school money was divided 
 according to the number of children in each division 
 between four and sixteen years of age. In 1779 it 
 
 was changed so as to divide according to the number 
 between four and twenty-oae years of age. In 1885 
 the method was adopted of dividing one-half of the 
 school money equally among the districts and the 
 other half in proportion to the number of children 
 therein. The town voted in 1805 to use the word 
 " district " to designate the school divisions. Pre- 
 viously, the word " class " had been used, and earlier, 
 the word " squadron." By a law enacted by the 
 Legislature in 1789, towns were permitted to divide 
 their territory into school districts. The districts 
 were made corporations in fact in 1799, but not in 
 name until 1817; and not until 1827 were the dis- 
 tricts authorized to choose prudential committees. 
 That was previously done in town-meeting. The dis- 
 trict system prevailed in this town until 1869, when it 
 was given up in accordance with a law of the State, 
 and the town system was substituted. In 1787 the 
 town apportioned its territory into seven " classes " 
 or districts, for school purposes. District No. 8, 
 Baldwinville, was formed from No. 6, in 1831. Dis- 
 trict No. 3 was divided in 1834, making District No. 
 9 at East Templeton. These nine districts formed 
 the divisions for school purposes until the district 
 system was given up. From 1815 to 1822 District 
 No. 1 formed two districts, with two school houses, 
 the one standing on the site of the present one, the 
 other standing near the present residence of Mr. P. 
 M. Mirick. Afterwards, for a time, the two houses 
 stood side by side on the present location. Both were 
 moved away to make room for the present structure, 
 and each is now made into a dwelling-house of the 
 village. 
 
 In the early times the town did not build or own 
 the school-houses. In some districts they were built 
 by the voluntary contributions of the people. In 
 some cases the schools were kept in private houses. 
 There is no indication that the town appropriated any 
 money for school-houses until 1787. A committee 
 was chosen in that year to appraise the value of the 
 school-houses then existing, and to purchase them of 
 their owners. The appraised value of all was fifty-one 
 pounds, or about one hundred and seventy dollars. 
 The town then granted the sum of four hundred 
 dollars for building and repairing the school-houses 
 throughout the town, and a committee was chosen to 
 determine their location. It was voted by the town 
 in 1801 to allow each district which might build a 
 school-house one hundred dollars, the town to own 
 the house and keep it iu repair. From 1814 to 1869 
 the school-houses were owned and kept in repair by 
 the several school districts, each district raising money 
 by taxation for the building and repairing of its own 
 house. In 1869 the town again became the owner of 
 all the school-houses, the appraised value of which 
 was $11,846.88; and the school districts were num- 
 bered with the things of the past. A school-house 
 for the north jjart of the town, and standing between 
 the two villages, was built in 1801. A school-house 
 
144 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 was built in Baldwinville by the district in 1850, and 
 another one by the town in 1883. The Otter River 
 School-house was built by the district in 1860, with an 
 addition made by the town in 1877. A public hall 
 was also secured over the school-room by contributions 
 from the people of the neighborhood. The older 
 school-house in East Templetou was built by the dis- 
 trict about 1834; the newer one by the town in 1874. 
 The town hall and school-house, in one building at 
 the Centre, were built by the combined action of the 
 town and district, in 1844. 
 
 Until the year 1826 the superintendence of the 
 schools, in a legal point of view, seems to have been 
 vested in the selectmen ; but practically, the work was 
 done chiefly by the minister. At the special request 
 of Dr. Wellington, the town, in 1811, chose a com- 
 mittee to assist him in examining school-teachers. A 
 committee consisting of one person for each district 
 was chosen, in 1815, to assist in examining thes-chools, 
 and to recommend " certain useful classical books." 
 Similar committees were afterwards chosen at different 
 times. But still the chief pari, of the work devolved 
 upon the minister. In 1826 towns were required by 
 law to choose three, five or seven School Committee- 
 men ; and ever since that time the superintendence of 
 schools has bylaw devolved upon that body. In 1857 
 the number of School Committee was fixed at three, 
 or some multiple of three, and the term of office ex- 
 tended from one year to three years, one-third of the 
 number being chosen each year. In this town there 
 have been several persons who have served the town 
 for a long period in the care of the schools. Rev. 
 Charles Wellington, D.D., partly by virtue of his 
 duties as minister, and partly by special election of 
 the town, gave fully thirty years of service. Rev. 
 Lewis Sabin, D.D., was elected for thirty-two con- 
 secutive years. Rev. Edwin G. Adams had twenty- 
 two years of service, and Rev. Gerard Bushnell six- 
 teen yeais. Dr. J. W. D. Osgood served ten years ; 
 Captain Samuel Lee, eight years ; Colonel Leonard 
 Stone, Joseph Mason, Esq., and Gilman Day, Esq., 
 each served six years, and Charles Church, five years. 
 In times nearer the present, E. C. Farnsworth, Esq., 
 has served five years, V. P. Parkhurst, Esq., seven 
 years, and Francis Leland nine years. Of the present 
 Board of School Committee, Mr. Ingalls has com- 
 pleted five years of service, Mr. Hosmer six years, and 
 Mr. Blodgett nineteen years. Several other persons 
 have served on the School Committee from time to 
 time, for short periods of less than five years each. 
 
 The appropriations for schools were of necessity 
 small in the first years of the existence of the town. 
 There has been a somewhat steady increase in the 
 amount from the earlier to the later periods. The 
 first sum granted for schools was in 1763. A sum a 
 little more than the equivalent of thirty dollars was 
 granted in 1704. The amount of the grant had been 
 increased to three hundred dollars at the end of the 
 century and to one thousand dollars in 1841. It 
 
 reached two thousand dollars in 1856, three thousand 
 dollars in 1866, and for the last six years the sum has 
 been four thousand and seven hundred dollars. It 
 should be borne in mind that in the earlier times the 
 school money was supplemented by gratuitous sup- 
 plies of fuel and sometimes by the teachers boarding 
 successively with different families in the district. In 
 the original division of lands in the township one lot 
 was reserved for schools. This school lot, which was 
 No. 86, lying in the southerly part of the town and 
 containing Cook's Pond, was sold at auction, by vote 
 of the town, in 1709, for about one hundred and 
 eighty-seven dollars. This, with some money to be 
 obtained from the sale of " pew-ground " in the meet- 
 ing-house, was to be kept as a school fund ; but the 
 money seems to have been used for other purposes. 
 The town also received $3,337.74 as its share of the 
 surplus revenue distributed by the United States in 
 1837, and it was voted to keep it as a fund, the income 
 of which was to be applied to the support of schools. 
 For some three years the income was so used, but the 
 town had pressing need of money and even the prin- 
 cipal of the fund was applied to other uses. 
 
 Private Schools. — Some public-spirited citizens 
 of this town, impressed with the feeling that there 
 was need of more ample provisions for higher educa- 
 tion, formed an association and established a private 
 high school in Templeton. The school met a public 
 want and was largely attended. Many persons still 
 live in the town who retain pleasant recollections of 
 their connection with this school. The school was so 
 fortunate as to begin its course under the instruction 
 of an earnest, enthusiastic teacher, who had great 
 skill in arousing the attention and compelling the 
 pupil to think — theimponantaim of all true teaching. 
 Jacob Bachelder was principal of the school from the 
 time of his graduation from Dartmouth College, in 
 1830, to the year 1835. He was afterward principal 
 of the Lynn and the Salem High Schools. He was for 
 some years librarian of the Lynn Public Library. 
 He was a man of unusual vigor of intellect and per- 
 fect integrity. 
 
 Mr. Martin Snow Newton and Mr. Daniel B. Park- 
 hurst were successively principals of the school for a 
 brief time. Mr. Sylvester Judd was the last principal 
 of the school, coming here in 1836. He was afterward, 
 for thirteen years, a Unitarian minister in Augusta, 
 Maine, and the author of a well-known story of New 
 England life, entitled "Margaret." The school was 
 suspended in 1837. 
 
 In the twenty years next following there was no 
 High School continuously kept ; but some enterpris- 
 ing teacher, on his own responsibility, would keep a 
 private High School for one or two terms in the town 
 hall, or the school-room next the Common. Such a 
 school was kept at one time by William Barrows, and 
 at another time by William H. Earle. 
 
 Public High Scuools. — The Templeton High 
 School was the first public High School in this town. 
 
TEMPLETON. 
 
 145 
 
 and was established in ISoO. Tlie first term was kept 
 in the autumn of that year in the grammar school- 
 room, at the Centre Village, with fifty-one pupils. 
 The present principal of the school, H. F. Lane, 
 began his long period of service with that first term, 
 and has been the principal of the school, with the 
 exception of one term, to the present time. The 
 second term of the High School was kept at Baldwin- 
 ville, in the spring of 1857, under the instruction of 
 Mr. L. W. Russell, who has been for many years past 
 the principal of a grammar school in Providence, R. 
 I. An assistant teacher has been employed in terms 
 when the attendance was largest, and thirteen young 
 ladies have served in that capacity from one to three 
 terms each ; another, in these latest years, has ren- 
 dered such assistance during twenty-one terms. 
 
 Until 1866 there were only two terms of the school 
 each year; from that time to 1873 there were three 
 terms each year; afterward there were four terras 
 yearly. These terms were kept alternately in the 
 difl'erent villages of the town. 
 
 It hag been the aim of the High School, during all 
 the years of its existence, to have its studies and train- 
 ing so arranged and administered as to promote activity 
 of mind, self-control, self-direction, and a conscien- 
 tious regard for duty. The persona who have been 
 members of this school are scattered widely over the 
 country. The country towns perform a service of great 
 value to the community in preparing persons for 
 lives of intelligent activity in the larger towns and 
 cities to which they soon depart. About one thou- 
 sand persons have received instruction in the Tem- 
 plelon High School. 
 
 In 1886 a High School was established at Baldwin- 
 ville for the greater convenience of those living in the 
 northerly part of the town. Mr. E. B. Vining has 
 been the only principal of that school. 
 
 Teachers and Graduates. — Some of our teach- 
 ers have had long periods ofservioe in our schools. Mrs. 
 Lucy Richardson spent nearly her whole active life 
 in teaching, earlier iu the public schools, and later in 
 a private school which she had established at her own 
 home near the Common. Miss Maria Cutting has 
 completed thirty-nine years of service as teacher in 
 the public schools of this town. 
 
 Miss Margaret Leland has had many years of expe- 
 rience in the public schools in different parts of the 
 town. Miss Henrietta Sawyer, whose earlier years of 
 service were in the schools of her native town, is a 
 veteran teacher in Washington University, at St. 
 Louis. The present teacher of the Tem])leton High 
 vSchool h.is just completed his thirty-second year of 
 service in that school. Many other teachers have had 
 quite long periods of service, and it would be a suit- 
 able tribute if their names could be included in this 
 enumeration. 
 
 Many of the youth of this town, having sipped at 
 the fountains of knowledge opened for them here, 
 have taken deeper draughts elsewhere. In the later 
 10 
 
 years a score of young ladies have comp'ieted courses 
 of study at our normal schools. Several have 
 availed themselves of the advantages offered by the 
 Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. 
 
 The Worcester Polytechnic Institute was founded 
 by a citizen of this town. George I. Alden, who waa 
 a graduate of the Lawrence Scientific School, has 
 been a professor in this institution from its founda- 
 tion in 1868. Charles Parkhurst, Samuel S. Jennison, 
 Fred. L. Dudley, Charles H. Wright, William H. 
 Kirschner and Fred. S. Hunting have pursued courses 
 of study in this institution. George S. Stone is a 
 graduate of the State Agricultural College at Am- 
 herst. George S. Gates received instruction at the 
 United States Naval Academy, at Annapolis, Md., 
 and entered the navy. Charles Wellington Stone 
 graduated from Harvard College in 1874. He has a 
 private school for boys in the city of Boston, and also 
 conducts a summer school at his Templeton residence. 
 Edward W. Chase is a graduate of Amherst College. 
 He has been principal of High Schools in Ohio, and 
 at present is teaching near Chicago. George I. Jones 
 graduated from Harvard College in 1871, and has been 
 engaged in the book publishing business in St. Louis 
 and at present is employed in Chicago. George M. 
 Bartlett is a graduate of Washington University, 
 St. Louis, and is now secretary and treasurer of that 
 institution. Lucas Lee Baker is a graduate of Har- 
 vard College of the class of 1883. He has ever since 
 been engaged in teaching, and is at present principal 
 of the High School in HoUiston, Mass. His brother, 
 B^'ron E. Baker, entered college in the same class, but 
 died before the completion of his course. 
 
 Journalism has not often been chosen as a life-work 
 by our young men. But Edmund Hudson has gone 
 from the quiet life of his native village to mingle in 
 the stirring scenes of the national capital, and make 
 a daily record of the doings of law-makers and Presi- 
 dents. In those days of stirring excitement, preced- 
 ing the first election of Lincoln, he was just entering 
 upon his studies in the High School. Too eager to 
 begin life's work to wait for an over-long course of 
 study, with much energy he set about learning the 
 stenographer's art. He was for a time a reporter of 
 news for different Boston papers. For several years 
 he has led a very busy life as Washington corre- 
 spondent of the Bos/on Herald, and editor and pub- 
 lisher of the Army and Navy Register. He also pub- 
 lished a weekly paper at Washington calkd The 
 Capital. 
 
 Most of these young men whose names have been 
 enumerated as having obtained a higher education 
 do not now count in the census lists for Templeton. 
 The historian, however, rightly classes them among 
 the products of the town, knowing, as he does, that 
 these country towns are the perennial fountains 
 whence come the supplies of physical energy and 
 mental vigor for our cities. 
 
 In the earlier part of the century there were several 
 
146 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 young men who were successful in obtaining a higher 
 education. Oliver Baker was a graduate of Yale Col- 
 lege, and engaged in teaching in some Southern State. 
 His brother, Otis Baker, died before the completion 
 of his course in the same college. Amos J. Cook was 
 a graduate of Dartmouth College about the year 1801. 
 He was an intimate college friend of Daniel Webster, 
 and succeeded him as principal of the academy in 
 Fryeburg, Maine, in which position he remained for 
 more than thirty years. Charles Goodnow was a 
 graduate of Amherst College, and was for a time 
 principal of a school in Concord, Mass., and after- 
 wards a lawyer there. Christopher C. Baldwin was 
 the son of Capt. Eden Baldwin. He pursued his 
 studies at Leicester Academy and Harvard College, 
 and then studied law as his profession. He practiced 
 law in Worcester, Sutton and Barre. But his mind 
 was more satisfied with scientific and antiquarian re- 
 search than with legal contests, and he gave much 
 time to such investigations. In 1831 he was chosen 
 librarian of Antiquarian Library at Worcester. Noth- 
 ing could have been better suited to his tastes, and he 
 was admirably fitted to perform the duties devolving 
 upon him. In 1835, when on a journey for antiqua- 
 rian research in the State of Ohio, he lost his life by 
 the overturning of the stage on which he was travel- 
 ing. He was only thirty-five years of age. His 
 friend, William Lincoln, of Worcester, son of Gov. 
 Levi Lincoln, delivered a very interesting public ad- 
 dress, which was printed, commemorative of the life 
 and work of Mr. Baldwin. Charles W. W. Welling- 
 ton, son of Eev. Charles Wellington, graduated from 
 Harvard College in 1846, and was a book-keeper in 
 the city of Boston. He died in 1880. 
 
 This town has not been wholly wanting in those 
 who have been skilled in the use of the pencil and the 
 brush ; artists have found at least a temporary abode 
 among these bills. Lucas Baker had a natural apti- 
 tude for drawing and painting, and by careful and 
 diligent cultivation has become highly skilled in the 
 practice of those arts himself and in teaching them to 
 others. He was for ten years instructor in drawing in 
 the public schools of Boston. For the last few years 
 he has been one of the instructors in the Art School 
 of the Metropolitan Museum in New York City, but 
 still keeps a home in Templeton. 
 
 Miss Adelaide R. Sawyer was for some years a resi- 
 dent of Baldwinville. She drew portraits in crayon. 
 Afterwards she gave attention to the production of 
 ideal designs in figure. Some of these productions 
 became very popular and met with a large sale. "The 
 Better Land," "Our Hope," "Our Joy," "The Empty 
 Sleeve," " Myrtle Hazard," were titles of some of the 
 most-widely known of these representations. For a 
 time she was teacher of crayon drawing in the Boston 
 Academy of Art. Sarah Goodridge had natural gifts 
 and tendencies leading her to the work of an artist. 
 She became noted as a painter of miniature portraits, 
 had an office in Boston, and some of the most dis- 
 
 tinguished people of New England were her patrons. 
 Elizabeth Goodridge (Stone), sister of the preceding, 
 was also skilled in the same kind of work. Their 
 early home was at the house now occupied by Mr. 
 Briggs, near the Ware River Railroad station. 
 
 Libraries. — Successful efforts have been made at 
 various times to furnish a supply of reading matter 
 through the agency of libraries. Quite early in the 
 history of the town a private library was established 
 by the Templeton Union Library Association, the 
 books of which were distributed among the share- 
 holders half a century ago. In the early part of this 
 century there was a private library known as the 
 Social Library. The Ladies' Social Circle, an organ- 
 ization connected with the First Parish, began to 
 gather a library in the year 1835. This has gradually 
 increased by yearly additions until it now numbers 
 about twenty-four hundred volumes. Books are de- 
 livered only on Sunday to annual shareholders, who 
 pay a yearly fee of fifty cents. For many years this 
 has been a prosperous library, and it still continues to 
 be such. The books are kept in a room specially de- 
 voted to that purpose in the chapel which adjoins the 
 church edifice. A library society was organized in 
 East Templeton in 1854, which has gathered a library 
 numbering upwards of one thousand volumes. The 
 several religious societies of the town have Sunday- 
 school libraries containing books more especially 
 adapted to the younger people. The books are 
 generally carefully selected and diligently read. The 
 State Board of Education, in accordance with an act 
 of the Legislature of 1843, furnished each school dis- 
 trict throughout the State with a school library. 
 These contained many valuable books, but they soon 
 ceased to be used, as there was no provision tor keep- 
 ing up a lively interest by the addition of new books. 
 A fund was given by Miss Abigail Locke for the 
 establishment of a ministerial library for the use of 
 the minister of the First Parish, and to be kept at the 
 parsonage. This library already contains books of 
 much value. The income of the fund permits annual 
 additions to be made. 
 
 In 1854, Dr. George C. Shattuck, of Boston, gave 
 five shares in the Boston Athenseum to the town of 
 Templeton, as a token of regard and affection for his 
 native town. The terms of the gift as expressed by 
 the donor are: " That the Selectmen of the town, for 
 the time being, shall permit the use of the five shares, 
 from year to year, by any five persons resident in 
 said town, to be selected by them from the classes of 
 clergymen, physicians, lawyers, and scientific farmers 
 and mechanics; it being understood that the said 
 shares themselves are to be forever inalienable." And 
 further, Dr. Shattuck anticipated the annual assess- 
 ment of five dollars a share, by paying a sufBcient 
 sum in advance to provide for that, and thus securing 
 to inhabitants of Templeton the perpetual privilege 
 of taking out books, on the shares, from the extensive 
 and valuable librarv of that institution. For so val- 
 
TEMPLETON. 
 
 147 
 
 uable and lasting a gift, tlie town passed a vote of 
 thanks in acknowledgment of " their grateful appre- 
 ciation of his munificence in conferring this franchise 
 upon the town, which has the honor of numbering 
 him among her most distinguished and useful sous." 
 This proves to be a very valuable supplement to the 
 other reading facilities enjoyed by the town. Rare 
 and costly books can thus be consulted which it might 
 not be easy to reach in other ways. 
 
 The Boynton Public Library was first opened to the 
 public in September, 1873. The fund for its sup|)ort 
 was the gift of David Whitcomb, Esq., late of Wor- 
 cester, but formerly engaged inactive business in this 
 town. In 1868 he gave to the town of Templeton, in 
 the name of John Boynton, who was his former part- 
 ner in business here, the sum of four thousand dollars, 
 to establish and maintain a Free Public Library, for 
 the use of the inhabitants of the town, to be known 
 and called the Boynton Library. In 1885, Mr. Whit- 
 comb gave an additional sum of four thousand dol- 
 lars for the same purpose. In the case of both sums, 
 one-half of the annual income is to be applied to the 
 increase of the principal, until each sum shall have 
 reached the sum of five thousand dollars. The library 
 fund will thus ultimately become ten thousand dol- 
 lars. The income is to be wholly applied to the pur- 
 chase of books and periodicals. By a provision in the 
 deed of gift, the trustees of the library are the chair- 
 man of the Board of Selectmen, the town clerk, the 
 School Committee, and three other persons elected 
 annually by the town. H. F. Lane has been the li- 
 brarian from the opening of the library. For twelve 
 years the library was kept in some upper rooms con- 
 nected with Mr. Blodgett's store. In 1885 the town 
 appropriated two thousand dollars for the erection of 
 a library building, which was completed and occupied 
 in September of that same year. The library now 
 contains thirty-three hundred volumes, and is in- 
 creased by yearly additions. More than twelve thou- 
 sand issues of books are annually made to six or 
 seven hundred persons, scattered over the whole town. 
 The Templeton Historical Society, in an upper room 
 of the library building, has begun to gather a collec- 
 tion of books, papers and articles which would throw 
 light upon the history of the town and community. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 TEMPLETON— ( Continued.) 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS. 
 
 The First Church — The BaplM CJmrch—The TrinUariim Church— Tlia 
 Vnifcrmli»t Church— The Methodist Churck—St. Mtirtin^a Church — 
 memorial Church — MinislerB. 
 
 It should be borne in mind that in the towns of 
 New England, in early times, the affairs of town and 
 church were united. The church was one of the in- 
 
 stitutions of the town. The meeting-house was built 
 and owned by the town. The minister was paid from 
 the town treasury, the amount being voted annually 
 in town-meeting. The meeting-house also was made 
 to serve as a place for holding the jtown-meetings. 
 The tithingmen were chosen at the annual town meet- 
 ing with the other town officers. When there were 
 about twenty families in this township they deter- 
 mined to build a meeting-house which should be fifty 
 feet long and forty feet wide. It was placed on what 
 is now the Common, a little southeasterly of the pres- 
 ent church edifice, and was the first house of worship 
 in the township, which then included Phillipston as 
 well as what is now Templeton. This edifice was 
 used for about fifty years, until the year 1811, when 
 the present church edifice was built. 
 
 This first meeting-house was raised July 8, 1753, in 
 the presence of a large number of people, some of 
 whom had come from towns so far distant as Sterling. 
 The frame of this house was of chestnut, and the trees 
 of which it was made are said to have grown wholly 
 on the spot of ground now known as the Common. 
 At the time of building this house the region imme- 
 diately about was a forest. The building of the 
 meeting-house was performed by Mr. John Brooks, of 
 Sterling. The timber was furnished by the proprie- 
 tors, and also the glazing and pulpit. A few years 
 later the town made an appropriation toward finishing 
 it, and the whole cost of the structure to proprietors 
 and town was about two hundred and twenty-five 
 pounds — equivalent to seven hundred and fifty dollars. 
 
 The first church in this town was organized Decem- 
 ber 10, 1755, and on that day Rev. Daniel Pond was 
 ordained as the first minister. He was a graduate of 
 Harvard College of the class of 1745. Generous pro- 
 vision was made by the proprietors and people for the 
 ordination. People came in large numbers from the 
 neighboring settlements to attend the exercises. The 
 newly-erected meeting-house was completely filled. 
 It was a day of festivity and enjoyment for the people 
 and their visiting friends. But the ministry of Mr. 
 Pond was of short duration. Difficulties arose be- 
 tween him and the people. A council was called 
 which, after two days' deliberation, recommended his 
 dismission. In 1759 he removed to West Medway 
 and engaged in teaching, receiving pupils at his house. 
 Several persons preached as candidates, and among 
 them the Rev. Ebenezer Sparhawk, who preached for 
 the first time Not. 29, 1760. After preaching a year 
 both minister and people were so well satisfied with 
 each other that his ordination took place Nov. 18, 
 1761. In 1764 he built and ever after lived in the 
 house which in later years has been known as the 
 " Wellington " house. He had a long and useful 
 ministry of forty years, dying of apoplexy, November 
 25, 1805. He is reputed to have been a person of 
 superior mental ability and exact scholarship, cour- 
 teous and dignified in his manners and warm in his 
 friendships. His funeral sermon was preached by the 
 
148 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Payson, of Rindge. During Mr. Sparhawk's 
 ministry about twenty members of the First Cburch 
 withdrew to ibrm the Baptist Church. 
 
 Rev. Charles Wellington was ordained February 
 25, 1807. The old and first meeting-house was still 
 in use, but efforts were now made to build a new one, 
 and the work was entered upon in 1810. The new 
 church edifice was dedicated September 18, 1811, Dr. 
 Wellington preaching the sermon. And now for the 
 first time a bell was obtained and placed in the belfry. 
 Three new ones have been successively procured as 
 tlie former ones became defective. The old meeting- 
 house was tlien moved to the southwesterly corner of 
 the Common, and for about thirty years was used as 
 a town house and place for public meetings. In 
 these early times the minister was expected to have 
 some oversight of the schools, vi.siting them and 
 examining teachers, and Dr. Wellington attended to 
 these duties for many years, sometimes with the help 
 of a committee chosen by the town for such purpose. 
 The fiftieth anniversary of Dr. Wellington's settle- 
 ment here was pleasantly and appropriately celebrated 
 in 1857. He remained the minister of this church, 
 respected and beloved by all, until his death, which 
 occurred August 3, 1861. 
 
 The health of Dr. Wellington was somewhat im- 
 paired in bis later years, and Rev. Norwood Damon 
 was settled as his colleague, February 21, 1844. He 
 remained only until November 1, 1845. Rev. 
 Edwin G. Adams was a man of marked ability, who 
 possessed some unusual traits of cliaracter which 
 rendered his life one of much usefulness to the 
 community in which he lived. He was born in the 
 town of Ashby, Mass., December 24, 1821, and died 
 in Templeton, May 10,1877, after an illness of several 
 months' duration. In boyhood he worked in his 
 father's store and attended the schools and academy 
 of his native town. In early life he formed the 
 resolution to become a minister, and worked diligently 
 to that end, graduating from the Divinity School, at 
 Cambridge, in 184(5. The First Congregational 
 Church ill Templeton invited him to become the 
 colleague of Rev. Charles Wellington, and he was 
 ordained January 13, 1847. On the death of the 
 latter, in 1861, he became sole pastor, in which 
 relation he remained to the day of his death. In 
 1855 the honorary degree of Master of Arts was 
 conferred upon him by Harvard College. 
 
 In December, 1855, he pre.iched an historical dis- 
 course, commemorative of the hundredth anniversary 
 of the formation of the church. This was published 
 with an appendix, forming a very valuable treasury 
 of information concerning the earlier and later his- 
 tory of the town. The twenty-fifth anniversary of 
 his settlement was pleasantly observed in 1872. 
 
 He was married, November 14, 1848, to Sarah L. 
 Priest, of Jjittleton, and when, during his ministry, 
 the people spoke or thought of their minister, they 
 always felt that in some way Mrs. Adams was in- 
 
 cluded in that designation. They labored together 
 for the good of the society and the community, and 
 the service of each rendered that of the other more 
 effective. They were prudent advisers, wi^e counsel- 
 ors, highly valued friends. Their presence in a 
 household brought sunshine and dispelled darkness. 
 
 As a mini.ster and pastor, Mr. Adams possessed the 
 esteem and aflfection of the members of his own 
 society to an unusual degree. He was not content 
 with rendering merely the usual professional services 
 of a minister; every force was utilized, nothing was 
 done at random, or without a settled purpose. The 
 art of making social intercourse an elevating in- 
 fluence was understood by him. The sewing society 
 and the social gathering were to be means for the 
 improvement of cliaracter. His was a deeply reli- 
 gious nature ; nothing less than a conscientious 
 regard for duty, at all times, and in all positions, 
 would satisfy him. He was glad always to find 
 reasons for agreeing with other people and sects, 
 rather than for disagreeing with them. 
 
 For twenty-two years he served on the School 
 Committee, and rendered valuable service to the 
 schools and the cause of education by his unwearied 
 and painstaking labor, combined with prudence, good 
 judgment and a wise foresight. 
 
 Mr. Adams had a natural aptitude for the mastery 
 of legal and financial affairs, and came to have such 
 a knowledge of their underlying principles and their 
 application to practical affairs as to make his opinion 
 and advice very valuable, even to those whose lives 
 were spent in the management of such aff'airs. Few 
 lawyers could excel him in unraveling a knotty legal 
 question. To thread his way through these investi- 
 gations was among his recreations. 
 
 A keen discernment, a well-balanced judgment, 
 great prudence, far-reaching foresight, combined with 
 the most perfect conscientiousness and integrity, 
 made a combination of qualities which rendered his 
 life a highly useful one. 
 
 His successor in the ministry was the Rev. Alfred 
 C. Nickerson, whose pastorate was from 1878 to 1886. 
 Rev. Nathaniel Seaver, Jr., was installed January 11, 
 1887, and is the pastor at the present time. 
 
 The Baptist Chukch. — The Baptist Church in 
 this town was organized August 22, 1782, with twenty- 
 one members, seventeen of whom — ten men and 
 seven women — had withdrawn from the First Church 
 for this purpose. These twenty-one persons met at a 
 private dwelling, and, in the present e and by the ad- 
 vice of the council which they had called, formed 
 " The Baptist Church of Christ in Templeton." The 
 council consisted of the pastor and six delegates 
 from tlje church in Royal^ton and the pastor of the 
 church in Harvard. This church has had seventeen 
 settled pastors ; and there have been several intervals 
 in which there was a stated supply. Rev. John Sellon, 
 the first pastor, was ordained Nov. 19, 1783, and re- 
 mained a year and a half. Rev. Joel Butler became 
 
^.^-..^^.J^. 
 
TEMPLETON. 
 
 149 
 
 pastor in 1787, and remained about four years. There 
 was then a period of about ten years without any 
 settled minister. Rev. Elislia Andrews became the 
 pastor in 1800 and remained until 1813, when he was 
 dismissed. 
 
 He also liad a second pastorate, extending over the 
 period from 1827 to 18.32, making eighteen years in 
 all. Mr Andrews is spoken of as a man of strong in- 
 dividuality and commanding natural powers, iis well 
 as earnest religious zeal. The church enjoyed a time 
 of comparative encouragement and strength. In the 
 interval of Mr. Andrews' absence there seems to 
 have been two pastors, whose terms of service, how- 
 ever, filled only apsrtion of the period, — Rev. George 
 Phippen and Rev. James Parsons. Next after the 
 final dismission of Sir. Andrews in 1832, Rev. Win- 
 throp Morse was installed as pastor, and remained about 
 two years. Rev. Isaiah C. Carpenter was ordained as 
 pastor in 1837, and resigned in 1843. Rev. John 
 Woodbury became pastor in 1844, and resigned in 
 1848, making four years of service. Rev. Sandford 
 Leach was pastor from 1848 to 1851, followed soon in 
 the same year by Rev. A. V. Dimock, who remained 
 until 1857, nearly seven years, and the longest pas- 
 torate but one in the history of this church. Rev. 
 John F. Ashley was ordained pastor in 1858, and re- 
 mained about two years. Rev. A. H. Ball was pastor 
 for six months, beginning in 18G9. Rev. H. V. 
 Dexter became pastor in 1871, and continued in that 
 relation four years. Rev. Miles N. Reed became 
 pastor in 1878, and Rev. N. B. Wilson in 1881. Rev. 
 George Shepard is the present pastor. 
 
 The centennial anniversary of the formation of this 
 church was celebrated at Buldwinville, August 22, 
 1882, with interesting and appropriate exercises. A 
 sermon was preached by Rev. Heman Lincoln, D.D., 
 of the Newton Theological Institution. Over five 
 hundred people were in attendance, many coming 
 from the neighboring towns and more distant places. 
 Several former pastors ofthe church vrere present and 
 took part in the exercises. 
 
 During the early years of the existence of this 
 church the only place of meeting for religious 
 services was at private houses. The dwelling-houses 
 of Samuel Byam and Silas Cutler were most often 
 used for this purpose, being larger or more centrally 
 located. About 179(5 there began to be a movement 
 made to see about building a meeting-house, and one 
 was finally erected and dedicated in the autumn of 
 1799, the Rev. Dr. Baldwin, of Boston, preaching the 
 dedication sermon. This house was located at the 
 "Baptist Common," thus giving a name to this 
 neighborhood. It stood at the southerly end of the 
 small cemetery now seen there. Near to the meeting- 
 house, on the easterly side of the Common, was a 
 tavern and a store. In 1840 the meeting-house was 
 taken down, and removed to a site presented by 
 Capt. Eden Baldwin, just out of the village of 
 Baldwinville, on the road to Otter River. Here 
 
 the house was again erected, its length increased and 
 a steeple added. It was re-dedicated February 3, 
 1841. But the location between the two villages did 
 not prove to be a permanently convenient one, and 
 so once more it was removed, and placed on its 
 present location. This time it was removed without 
 being taken to pieces. A new and graceful spire 
 was built, and the whole interior and exterior was 
 refinished. It was dedicated for a third time in Sep- 
 tember, 1869. A chapel, containing a kitchen and 
 conveniences for social meetings, was added in 1879- 
 80. A few years after the removal to the present 
 location a clock was placed in the tower, by the 
 voluntary contributions of the people ofthe village. 
 
 The Trinitarian Church. — The Trinitarian 
 Congregational Church was organized April 11, 1832, 
 having at first twenty-four members. Its first pastor 
 was Rev. Lemuel P. Bates, who was installed Janu- 
 ary 16, 1833, and dismissed April 19, 1837. Then 
 came the long and highly useful pastorate of Rev. 
 Lewis Sabin, D.D., who was installed September 21, 
 1837, and resigned September 24, 1872. Rev. 
 Charles A. White was pastor from June, 1873, to 
 June, 1876; Rev. C. M. Temple, November, 1876, to 
 June, 1878 ; Rev. R. W. Haskins, December, 1878, 
 to June, 1879 ; Rev. F. H. Kasson, October, 1879, to 
 June, 1880 ; Rev. George Sterling, June, 1880, lo 
 June, 1881 ; Rev. Thomas O. Rice, December, 1881, 
 to June, 1885; Rev. Roswell C. Foster, from 1885 to 
 the present time. 
 
 Rev. Lewis Sabin, D.D., had a long pastorate over 
 this church, and his other services are closely inter- 
 woven with the history of the town. He graduated 
 from Amherst College with the highest honors of 
 his class, in 1831 ; was installed over this church in 
 1837 ; received the honorary degree of Doctor of Di- 
 vinity in 1857 ; was elected one of the trustees of 
 Amherst College in 1862, and resigned his ministry 
 in 1872. He died June 8, 1873. 
 
 Dr. Sabin was not only a faithful minister, but 
 also a public-spirited and highly-esteemed citizen, 
 interested and earnest in all measures th.at were 
 deemed conducive to the public welfare. He was 
 active in the temperance cause and earnest in the anti- 
 slavery movement. For thirty-two years he served 
 the town as a member of the School Committee, a 
 longer service than that rendered by any other per- 
 son. Here he rendered an intelligent, painstaking 
 and conscientious service, highly beneficial to the 
 schools. 
 
 The Universalists. — A Universalist Society was 
 organized in 1842. Its first meetings were held in the 
 old Town House, and afterwards the meetings were 
 held in the present Town Hall. No meeting-house 
 was ever erected. Services were held on alternate 
 Sundays, or at other stated intervals. Rev. Gerard 
 Bushnell was the only pastor of this society. 
 
 The Methodists. — The Methodist Episcopal 
 Church of this town dates from 1843, although a 
 
150 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 " class " had been maintained for about three years 
 previously, and inchided in the charge of the 
 preachers at Hiibbardston. In 1843 a church of 
 twenty-four members was formed. A meeting-house 
 was erected in 1844, in the southerly part of the vil- 
 lage at Templeton Centre, on what is now a vacant 
 lot near the " Hudson " house. The ministers here 
 were Rev. Willard Smith, 1843; Rev. Joseph T. 
 Pettee, 1844; Rev. Simon Putnam, 1845, 1846; Rev. 
 T. G. Brown, 1847. Rev. C. Perry supplied in 1849. 
 Preaching in this meeting-house was discontinued in 
 1848, and the building was sold. The members of the 
 society attended services at Hubbardston mostly from 
 1830 to 1859. A church edifice was erected in 1860 
 at East Templeton, in which the services of this soci- 
 ety have since been constantly helc}, under the fol- 
 lowing succession of ministers: Rev. C. H. Harding, 
 1860; Rev. N. H. Martin, 1861; Rev. H. Satchwell, 
 1862, 1863; Rev. C. F. Newell, 1864, 1865; Revs. A. 
 F. Mowry and A. B. Waters, 1866; Rev. W. B. 
 BLickmer, 1868; Rev. D. K. Banister, 1869, 1870; 
 Rev. J. M. Avann, 1871, 1872; Rev. J. W. Fenn, 
 1873, 1874; Rev. R. W. Harlow, 1875, 1876; Rev. F. 
 M. Miller, 1877, 1878; Rev. W. H. Marble, 1879, 
 1880, 1881 ; Rev. E. Higgins, 1882, 1883 ; Rev. L. 
 White, 1884, 1885, 1886; Rev. D. Atkins, 1887, 1888. 
 St. Martin's. — Saint Martin's Church is of the 
 Roman Catholic faith and has its place of worship at 
 the village of Otter River. The church edifice was 
 erected in 1853 and consecrated in 1854. The priest 
 who officiates at this church also has charge of one or 
 more parishes elsewhere. 
 
 The Memorial Church. — The Goodell Memorial 
 Church was organized at Baldwinville in 1874. Ser- 
 vices were held in Union Hall for about nine years 
 In 1882 the work of erecting a church edifice was 
 entered upon. This was dedicated June 28, 1883. 
 The ministers of this church have been Rev. L. Pay- 
 son Broad, Rev. C. M. Temple, Rev. R. S. Haskins, 
 Rev. J. F. Crumrin, Rev. M. A. Duherty and Rev. 
 Roswell C. Foster. 
 
 Ministers. — The ministers of the churches in 
 Templeton have none of them been natives of the 
 town; but this town has furnished some ministers for 
 other regions. Quite far in the southeast part of the 
 town is the "Turner'' farm, now owned by Mr. 
 Lucien Gove. This was the birthplace and early 
 home of Rev. Jonathan B. Turner, for years a pro- 
 fesssor in the college at Jacksonville, HI., and Rev. 
 Asa Turner, both of whom were men of vigorous 
 thought and earnest lives. The " Barrows '' place is 
 now the residence of Leonard M. Baker. This was 
 the birthplace of Rev. William Barrows, of Reading, 
 Mass., and Rev. Lewis Barrows. Rev. Emmons 
 Partridge and Rev. Lyman Maynard were natives of 
 this town and relatives of pers'ins still living here. 
 And at least one life-long missionary, Mr. Goodell, of 
 almost world-wide fame, received his first inspiration 
 from these hills and vales. 
 
 Rev. William Goodell, D.D., was born in this town 
 February 14, 1792 and died in Philadelphia February 
 18, 1867. His studies were pursued at Phillips 
 Academy, Andover, Dartmouth College and Andover 
 Theological Seminary. The greater part of his life 
 was spent as a missionary in the Turkish Empire, 
 and an interesting volume has been published giving 
 an account of his labors. He was of feeble bodily 
 constitution, yet he was full of cheerfulness and even 
 mirthfulness, which even his stern Puritan theology 
 could not fully repress. He was an earnest man, 
 thoroughly devoted to the performance of duty and 
 entirely absorbed in his chosen work of being a 
 faithful missionary. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 TEUFh^TON— {Continued.) 
 
 Lawyers — Physicians — Hospitttls — Pi-ominenl Men. 
 
 Templeton was manifestly a better field for the 
 exercise of the lawyer's profession in former times 
 than in later years. In the earlier part of the cen- 
 tury two lawyers had their offices near the Common, 
 and seem to have found abundant employment. 
 Hon. Lovell Walker was one of these lawyers. He 
 seems to have enjoyed the public confidence in a 
 very large degree. He was for two years Representa- 
 tive to the General Court, and for some years Senator 
 for Worcester County. 
 
 He was born in Brandon, Vt., and was a graduate 
 of Dartmouth College. He died in 1839. His place 
 of residence was the house now owned by Miss 
 Tvvichell. His office was in a small building, re- 
 cently standing near the " Brick store." 
 
 Joseph W. Newcomb, Esq., was engaged in the 
 practice of law here for a brief period of time just 
 after Mr. Walker. The office of Samuel Cutting, 
 Esq., was in a small building not very long ago stand- 
 ing on the corner where now is the residence of Mrs. 
 Batchelder. He was a native of this town, a son of 
 Jonathan Cutting, and a life-long resident here. 
 Edward Kirkland was a lawyer here, removing after- 
 wards to Louisville, Ky. Joseph Mason, Esq., now 
 of Worcester, was an active, public-spirited lawyer 
 of this town from 1837 to '47. He was town clerk 
 for two years, served on the School Committee six 
 years, and took a very active pan in the affairs of the 
 town and the religious society with which he was 
 connected. He was afterwards for many years clerk 
 of courts for the county of Worcester. In 1842 he 
 was appointed one of the standing commissioners of 
 bankruptcy for the Massachusetts District, and has 
 held the office of master in Chancery. 
 
 Giles H. Whitney, Esq., a native of Boston, a 
 graduate of Harvard University and its Law School, 
 practiced law in Templeton Centre and Baldwinville 
 from 1846 to '55. In the latter year he reiiioved to 
 
TEMPLETON. 
 
 151 
 
 Winchendon, where he died January 12, 1888. He 
 had been a member of both branches of the State 
 Legislature, and was esteemed as an upright lawyer 
 and trusted citizen. 
 
 Stillman Cady, Esq., was engaged in the practice 
 of law at Baldwinville from 1858 to the time of his 
 death, in 1884. In the last years of Mr. Cady's life 
 Charles D. Burrage, Esq., now of Gardner, was asso- 
 ciated with him. 
 
 If it be true that Templeton has imported nearly 
 all of her lawyers, it is equally true that she has ex- 
 ported some of her own product for the benefit of 
 other places. Leonard A. Jones, who has acquired a 
 well-deserved reputation as the author of several 
 valuable legal works, is a son of Templeton. He 
 graduated from Harvard College in 1855, and the 
 Harvard Law School in 1858, in which year he was 
 admitted to the Suftblk bar, and has ever since been 
 in the practice of law in the city of Boston. Mr. 
 Jones is the author of the following legal works : "A 
 Treatise on Mortgages of Real Property," two vol- 
 umes ; " A Treatise on Mortgages of Personal Prop- 
 erty,'' one volume ; "A Treatise on Pledges, includ- 
 ing Collateral Securities," one volume; " A Treatise 
 on Liens," two volumes; "Forms in Conveyancing,'' 
 one volume; and " Index to Legal Periodical Litera- 
 ture." 
 
 Josiah Howe, son of Dr. .Tosiah Howe, was a 
 lawyer in New York City. Thomas Greenwood, 
 who-ie early home was in East Templeton, graduated 
 at Yale College, and became a lawyer in New York 
 City, where he still resides. Emory C. Sawyer, 
 whose parents have their home in Baldwinville, 
 gained a legal education, and is in the practice of law 
 at Warren, Mass. 
 
 Physicians. — The members of the medical profes- 
 sion are engaged in a work which brings them into 
 close intimacy with the lives of the people in their 
 homes. Fortunate, indeed, is the town and com- 
 munity that enjoys the services of a well-educated, 
 skillful, sympathizing physician. Such good fortune 
 this town has experieticed. 
 
 Benjamin Shattuck, the first physician of Temple- 
 ton, was born in Littleton, Mass., November 11, 1742, 
 and died of consumption in this town, January 14, 
 1794. He was a graduate of Harvard College of the 
 class of 1765. He studied medicine with Dr. Oliver 
 Prescott, of Groton, and settled in Templeton at the 
 special invitation of the people of the town. He con- 
 tinued in extensive practice about twenty-five years, 
 and became one of the most eminent in his profes- 
 sion. The community joined in a public funeral, the 
 Kev. Mr. Sparhawk preaching a sermon in his eulogy. 
 This sermon was printed, and copies of it may still 
 be found. 
 
 Josiah Howe, M.D., was a physician of Templeton, 
 who rose to eminence in his profession. He pursued 
 his medical studies with Dr. Benjamin Shattuck, the 
 first physician of this town, and on the death of the 
 
 latter succeeded to his practice here. Dr. Howe was 
 born in Milton, Mass., March 19, 1771, and died in 
 Templeton, January 24, 184-3. In his later life he 
 gave attention to business affairs. He was at one 
 time connected with the woolen-factory at Otter 
 River. Several dwelling-houses at Templeton Centre 
 were built under his direction and ownership. Among 
 them were the " Hudson " house, Mr. Winch's house 
 and that owned now by Dr. Tobien. At this house 
 he last dwelt. 
 
 Dr. Marshall practiced medicine for some years in 
 this town, having his residence at the Baptist Com- 
 mon. 
 
 Charles W. Wilder, M.D., was a native of Ashburn- 
 ham, Mass. He graduated at the Medical Depart- 
 ment of Dartmouth College in 1817. He practiced 
 his profession for many years in this town. He was 
 a skillful physician and an energetic and public- 
 spirited citizen. About 1845 he removed to Fitch- 
 burg, and earnestly promoted the building of the 
 Fitchburg and Worcester Railroad, of which he be- 
 came the first president. The last years of his life 
 were spent in Leominster, where he died February 12, 
 1851. 
 
 Mason Spooner, M.D., engaged in medical practice 
 in this town for a good many years in the first half of 
 this century. He was regarded as a skillful physi- 
 cian, and many persons are now living who remember 
 his presence in their families. He died in 1853, in the 
 eighty-second year of his age. 
 
 Jonathan W. D. Osgood, M.D., was the son of 
 Jonathan Osgood, the first minister of Gardner. His 
 studies were pursued at New Salem Academy, Wil- 
 liams College and Dartmouth College, from which he 
 graduated in 1823, and from the Medical School of 
 the same institution in 1826. He spent several months 
 in attending lectures and in hospital practice in Phil- 
 adelphia. He began the practice of medicine in 
 Templeton in 1827, and continued here until 1858, 
 when he removed to Greenfield. Here he lived until 
 his death, which occurred May 15, 1885. His re- 
 mains were brought to Templeton for burial. He 
 was a good citizen, a skilled physician, affable and 
 gentlemanly in his manners. Many persons still 
 have pleasant recollections of him as their family 
 physician. His place of residence in Templeton was 
 in the house now owned by Mr. J. 0. Winch. 
 
 E. E. Spencer, M.D., a native of North Kingston, 
 R. I., received his diploma from the Eclectic Medi- 
 cal College of Cincinnati in 1860. He had also re- 
 ceived the degree of M.D. from the Worcester Medi- 
 cal College in 1858. He was engaged in the prac- 
 tice of medicine in Templeton from 1861 to 1872, 
 when he removed to Cambridge. He was active in 
 promoting the formation of the Massachusetts Eclec- 
 tic Medical Society, of which he h.is been treasurer 
 and president. 
 
 J. B. Gould, M.D., was a native of Hillsboro', N. 
 H. Jle was a student of medicine in the Medical 
 
152 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Department of Harvard University, and in the 
 Medical College at Woodstock, Vt., of which he was 
 a graduate in 1850. He has practiced medicine in 
 Royalston, in Tenipleton, from 1862 to 1874, and since 
 the latter date in WestSomerville, Mass. 
 
 Joseph C. Batchelder, M.D., was a native of Tops- 
 field, Mass. His medical education was received at 
 Dartmouth College and at the Harvard Medical School. 
 He practiced medicine in Lynn, Topsfield, Cambridge, 
 and in Templeton from 1857 to the time of his death, 
 in 1885. Dr. B.itchelder was an enterprising and 
 public-spirited citizen, as well as a very skillful 
 physician and surgeon. He was the Representative 
 from his native town in the Legislature of Massa- 
 chusetts in 184(5. He took an active interest in pro- 
 moting the construction of the Hoosac Tunnel. In 
 the Civil War he was assistant surgeon of the Twenty- 
 fifth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers. 
 
 The physicians thus far named had their residences 
 in the village lying around the Common. At the 
 present time there are two physicians whose place of 
 residence is at this village : — Dr. A. S. Tobien has 
 been in practice here since 1874 — and Dr. S. E. Green- 
 wood since 1878. 
 
 George Jewett, M.D., was a native of Rindge, N. 
 H. His medical education was received at Woodstock, 
 Vt., and at the Berkshire Medical College, where he 
 graduated in 1846. He began the practice of medi- 
 cine at Baldwinville in 1847, removed to Gardner in 
 1862, and thence to Fitchburg. 
 
 Lucius W. Baker, M.D., received his degree from 
 the University of the City of New York in 1880, 
 and immediately began the practice of medicine in 
 his native village. Dr. Baker was the projector of the 
 Hospital Cottages for Children, and for five years the 
 superintendent and physician, retiring in 1887 to 
 devote his time more fully to the care of his Medical 
 Home for Nervous Invalids, at Baldwinville. 
 
 A list of the names of physicians who have en- 
 gaged in the practice of medicine at Baldwinville is 
 subjoined. The first physician residing in the village 
 seems to have been Dr. Barrett, who began practice 
 in 1847; Dr. Jewett, in 1854; Dr. Jonathan A.White 
 1854-63 ; Dr. John W. Bement, 1868-74 ; Dr. William 
 F. Southard, 1873-78 ; Dr. J. S. Fogg and Dr. G. L. 
 Perry remained a short time ; Dr. L. W. Baker, 1880; 
 Dr. E. N. MuUins has been in active medical prac- 
 tice since 1883. 
 
 Some persons who were natives of this town have 
 engaged in medical practice in other places. The 
 names of a few such now follow : 
 
 Dr. George C. Shattuck, son of Dr. Benjamin Shat- 
 tuck, was born in Templeton, July 17, 1783, and died 
 at his residence in Boston, March 18, 1854. He was 
 eminent for his professional skill and for his munifi- 
 cent public and private charities. He graduated from 
 Dartmouth College in 1803, and from the Medical 
 Department in ISOG, receiving also a medical degree 
 from Harvard College in 1807. He was possessed of I 
 
 much wealth and became noted for his public bene- 
 factions, giving liberally to Dartmouth College, Har- 
 vard College and various public institutions. From 
 him the town of Templeton received the liberal gift 
 of five shares in the library of the Boston Athen- 
 icum. Dr. Shattuck was a very popular and skill- 
 ful physician of the city of Boston. His son, of the 
 same name, was for many years a professor in the 
 Harvard Medical School. 
 
 James Lloyd Wellington, M.D., son of Rev. Charles 
 Wellington, graduated from Harvard College in 1838, 
 and from the Harvard Medical School in 1842, since 
 which time he has been a physician in active practice 
 in the town of Swansea, Mass. 
 
 Edward Sawyer, M.D., a physician of Bridgewater, 
 Mass., was a native of Templeton, and received his 
 early education in her schools. He graduated from 
 the Harvard Medical School in 1865, and began the 
 practice of medicine in the autumn of that same year. 
 In addition to his general practice he has for more 
 than twenty-two years been physician to the State In- 
 stitution at Bridgewater. Besides his busy activity 
 in professional work, he serves the community in va- 
 rious positions of responsibility and usefulness. 
 
 Dr. Charles Whitcomb, for many years past a phy- 
 sician of Barre, Mass., was a native of this town. 
 
 Very few women from this town have engaged in 
 any other professional work than that of teaching. 
 Miss Salome Merritt, however, has received a medical 
 education, and is in the active practice of her i)rofes- 
 sion in the city of Boston. 
 
 Hospitals. — The Hospital Cottages for Children, 
 organized and incorporated in 1882, are located at 
 Baldwinville. They are arranged on the cottage 
 plan, and are designed for the treatment of children 
 affected with chronic diseases. Their country loca- 
 tion makes it possible to have fresh air, sunlight, out- 
 door exercise and wholesome food, as well as careful 
 nursing and medical care. The idea of the institution 
 originated with Dr. L. W. Baker. His father. Deacon 
 Willard Baker, gave liberal aid by furnishing buildings, 
 rent free, for some years, and in other ways. Mr. J. 
 W. Coolidge has earnestly labored for the institution 
 from its first inception, and has been very efficient in 
 placing it upon a good financial basis. A lady 
 board of visitors, including ladies of prominence liv- 
 ing in ditferent parts of the State, has from the first 
 rendered very valuable assistance in support of the 
 institution. This board has also erected a third build- 
 ing with funds which it has gathered. The Legisla- 
 ture of Massachusetts granted ten thousand dollars to 
 the institution in 1887. The institution now has three 
 buildings under its control, and has accommodations 
 for about fifty children. 
 
 Dr. Baker's Medical Home for the treatment of 
 nervous diseases, including the alcohol and opium 
 habits, and the nervous disorders of childhood, is lo- 
 cated in Baldwinville. It was established in 1885. 
 
 FiiOMiNENT Men. — Towns and communities natur- 
 
,^^^- 
 
 ^"^t 
 
9 
 
/i^^^^^^^^^^Z''^ 
 
TEMPLETON. 
 
 153 
 
 ally range themselves under the leadership of individ- 
 uals who are possessed of an unusual degree of energy, 
 persistence or intelligence. These they appoint to 
 act for them on important occasions either at home 
 or abroad. Such men in the last century were Mr. 
 Thomas White, Captain John Richardson, Captain 
 Joel Fletcher, Captain Ezekiel Knowlton, Colonel 
 Silas Cutler and Captain Leonard Stone. Captain 
 Fletcher was the delegate from this town to the con- 
 vention which ratified the Constitution of the United 
 States in 1787. Jonathan Baldwin was the first Rep- 
 resentative from this town to tlie General Court in 
 1774. He is aUo believed to have been the first ju.stice 
 of the peace in this town. He was an enterprising 
 citizen of that portion of the town now known as 
 Baldwinville. His son, Captain Eden Baldwin, was a 
 man of great vigor, enterprise and influence, engaging 
 actively in various business enterprises. From him 
 his native village takes its name. 
 
 As the next century advances new names come into 
 prominence in different sections of the town. Cap- 
 tain Joseph Davis was for many years a very promi- 
 nent citizen, living in Baldwinville. He came from 
 Northboro' to this village in 1830 and opened a store. 
 In 1832 he built the hotel. He bought Stephen 
 Knowlton's farm on the east of the village and built 
 a dam at the water privilege there. He was very 
 active in various kinds of business. He labored earn- 
 estly and effectively to secure the location of the Ver- 
 mont and Massachusetts Railroad through this village. 
 He was a very active, energetic, public-spirited citi- 
 zen. He died November 5, 1868. His son, Thomas 
 W. Davis, has been for several years city surveyor for 
 the city of Boston. 
 
 Oilman Day, Esq., was a prominent citizen of 
 Templeton during the greater part of a long life, 
 which extended from April 1, 1802, to August 11, 1877. 
 The neighboring town of Wincbendon was his birth- 
 place. For a large part of his life he was engaged 
 more or less actively in the lumber business and some 
 form of manufacturing. His saw-mill was on Trout 
 Brook, southwesterly of Baldwinville, and is still 
 known as tlie "Day" JMill. For a period of some 
 three years, beginning with 183(), he was associated 
 with Levi Pierce in conducting the hotel at Temple- 
 ton Centre. He was also owner, in part, of the stage- 
 line connecting Worcester and Keene, which line 
 passed through this town. He was frequently called 
 to fill places of trust and honor by the votes of his 
 fellow-townsmen. He held]in successive years various 
 town offices. He served for one term, in 1846, as 
 Representative from this town to the General Court. 
 He was also chosen as the delegate from this town to 
 the convention which assembled in 1853 to revise the 
 Constitution of the State. He held a commission as 
 justice of the peace and trial justice from ISGl to the 
 time of bis death. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to state that he was deeply 
 interested in the public affairs of the county, State 
 
 and nation. He was earnestly in favor of the divi- 
 sion of Worcester County and labored to promote it, 
 in opposition to some of his prominent fellow-towns- 
 men. He occupied a very prominent i)osition among 
 those who labored to retain the location of the Ver- 
 mont and Massachusetts Railroad so as to pass through 
 the northerly part of this town, instead of being di" 
 verted to Winchendon, and his labors were successful. 
 The greater part of his life was spent in Baldwinvillei 
 and here his widow and sons still live. 
 
 Thomas Fisher was a farmer living midway between 
 Baldwinville and Otter River. He was frequently 
 chosen to serve the public in matters where good 
 judgment and integrity were required, and was a 
 prominent citizen in the earlier part of the century. 
 His son, Dea. Charles T. Fisher, lived upon the same 
 farm on which his father had dwelt, and likew'ise 
 possessed the public confidence. 
 
 Col. Leonard Stone lived in what is now the village 
 of Otter River, on the farm which his father, Capt. 
 Leonard Stone, had occupied before him, and on 
 which his sons have since dwelt. He possessed the 
 public confidence in a high degree, serving for several 
 years on the School Committee and the Board of Select- 
 men. He was also for several years the representa- 
 tive to the General Court. He took an active part in 
 the contest for the location of the Vermont and 
 Massachusetts Railroad. He was an influential citi- 
 zen, trusted and honored. 
 
 Capt. Samuel Dadman was another enterprising and 
 influential citizen, engaged in the woolen manufac- 
 turing business at Otter River. He was four times 
 chosen as representative to the General Court, and 
 received other marks of the public confidence. 
 
 Col. Ephraim Stone lived at Templeton Centre, and 
 was for many years connected with mercantile busi- 
 ness there on the site of what has generally been 
 known as the " Brick Store^'' He was a man of great 
 energy of character and activity in affairs, and was 
 frequently chosen to positions of trust and responsi- 
 bility. 
 
 John W. Stiles was, in the early part of the century, 
 a merchant whose place of business was on the east 
 side of the " Common." He is said to have been a 
 man of much vigor and mental ability, and he cer- 
 tainly took a deep interest in public aflairs. He it 
 was who composed the memorial sent by this town to 
 the President of the United States in opposition to the 
 War of 1812. 
 
 Col. Artemas Lee was for many years a leading 
 mind in the business and political aflairs of north- 
 ern Worcester County. He was born in the neigh- 
 boring town of Barre, November 2, 1793. He came 
 to Templeton in 1810, in his seventeenth year, and for 
 some time served as clerk in the store of John W. Stiles> 
 who was then a merchant of prominence in this region. 
 After some years he formed a partnership with Lipha 
 French, and opened a store in the southerly part of 
 the hotel building. This partnership was dissolved 
 
154 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 in a few years, and he continued the business alone. 
 In 1829 he erected the dwelling-house and store situ- 
 ated at the southerly side of the Common, and now 
 owned by Mr. Percival Blodgett. Here the main part 
 of his life was spent. He kept a country store with 
 all its great variety of goods. In later times various 
 persons were associated with him in his mercantile 
 afikirs at this place of business. Lee, Harding & 
 Jones, Lee & Lincoln, Lee & Wood, Lee k Gambell 
 were the styles of successive firms. He engaged also 
 in mercantile business in Baldwitiville, in Athol aud 
 in Gardner, having partners in each of these places. 
 He was an earnest, enterprising business man, and 
 met with success in his business pursuits. 
 
 Colonel Lee was always deeply interested in public 
 affairs, and entered upon them with earnest zeal and 
 abounding energy. He opposed the division of the 
 town when that project was entered upon. Again and 
 again it fell to his lot to oppose the division of Wor- 
 cester County. It did not need a large number of 
 such opponents as he was to defeat a measure. When 
 it was proposed to change the location of the Ver- 
 mont & Massachusetts Railroad, so that it would not 
 pass through this town, he vigorously opposed the 
 change, and was one of a committee of five appointed 
 by the town, who labored earnestly and successfully 
 in opposition to the change of location. He was first 
 elected to the Legislature in 1832, serving in the House 
 of Representatives for four consecutive years. He was 
 again elected as Representative irora this town in 1847, 
 and also in 18G1. He also serVed for three or four 
 years in the Massachusetts Senate as a member from 
 Worcester County. Senators were then chosen by the 
 counties. 
 
 He was always deeply interested in the affairs of 
 this town ; the numerous shade-trees upon the Com- 
 mon bear testimony to one form of this interest. He 
 was interested in the militia of the State, realizing 
 that emergencies might arise when tbeir trained ser- 
 vices might be essential to the public welfare. He ac- 
 quired his title of colonel from having been com- 
 mander of the local regiment of militia. Two of his 
 sons lost their lives in the late Civil War. Colonel Lee 
 was a man of uncommon intellectual vigor and force 
 of character. His life was one of ceaseless activity in 
 business and public affairs. He died in 1870. 
 
 If he could communicate his ideas to us, he would 
 not consider this notice complete without some rec- 
 ognition of her who for many years was his efficient 
 counselor and helper. Mrs. Lee, whose married life 
 began June 10, 1830, still lives in the city of Boston, 
 furnishing a home to grandchildren whose father's 
 life was given for his country. 
 
 John Boynton, Esq., spent his active business life 
 in TenipletoM. Here he accumulated the fortune 
 which enabled him to give ten thousand dollars for 
 the benefit of the schools of his native town. Mason, 
 N. H., aud one hundred thousand dollars for found- 
 ing the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He came 
 
 to this town in 1825, and began the manufacture of 
 tinware, employing peddlers who traveled about the 
 country and sold it or exchanged it for paper stock. 
 The business increased in volume, and proved to be 
 profitable. In 1830 the late David Whitcomb, Esq., 
 of Worcester, came to live in this town, and became a 
 partner with Mr. Boynton in the tin business. He here 
 laid the foundations of a fortune which has enabled 
 him in later years to bestow gifts to religious and 
 charitable purposes to the amount of a full million of 
 dollars. Mr. Whitcomb gave the money which con- 
 stitutes our Library Fund, requesting that the library 
 should be called the "Boynton Library." Mr. Boyn- 
 ton was the first president of the Miller's River Bank 
 at Athol. He was always thoroughly devoted to his 
 business affairs, and gave le<s thought to other mat- 
 ters. He died in 1867. Mr. Whitcomb removed to 
 Worcester in 1851, and was engaged in business there 
 until his death, in 1887. 
 
 John Bigelow held the office of town clerk for 
 twelve consecutive years, beginning with 1823. He 
 lived in the "Gilbert" house, and kept clocks, watches, 
 and jewelry in a store which formerly stood on 
 the site of Mr. Blodgett's store. His son, Joshua R. 
 Bigelow, gained wealth in mercantile business in 
 Boston, and pleasantly remembered his native town 
 by the gift of the public clock which is in the tower 
 of the Unitarian Church. Dexter Gilbert was a 
 prominent citizen, who was postmaster for eight 
 years, and held the office of town clerk for twelve 
 years, consecutively, beginning with 1842. Rev. 
 Gerard Bushnell was much trusted in the management 
 of public affairs, having served for sixteen years as a 
 member of the School Committee, for twenty-t wo years, 
 beginninsr with 1854, as town clerk, and was, for one 
 year, a representative to the General Court. 
 
 T. T. Greenwood was actively engaged in manufac- 
 turing enterprises in East Templeton for more than 
 forty years. In 1841 he began the manufacture of 
 chair-seat frames. In 1849 he erected the present 
 furniture-shop, aud, taking Mr. F. L. Sargeant as a 
 partner, they entered upon the manufacture of tubs, 
 pails, churns and other wooden-ware. In 1860 they 
 began the manufactureofpineand chestnut furniture. 
 Mr. Sargeant retired in 1863, and, from that tiiue 
 until his death, Mr. Greenwood carried on the busi- 
 ness alone, making additions to his factory and sup- 
 plementing water-power with steam-power as his busi- 
 ness increased. Mr. Greenwood was a pioneer in the 
 utilization of the pith of the rattan. This pith was 
 then regarded as waste merely, and burned in bonfires. 
 He bought it of the American Rattan Company, of 
 Fitchburg, and made it into baskets. It has since 
 been turned to a great variety of uses. 
 
 In 1883, in company with one of his sons, he 
 established a store at West Gardner, for the sale of 
 furniture at retail. Two of his sons continue the 
 business at this store, and two others carry on the 
 manufacturing operations at East Templeton. 
 
J . U . '^^/l.^.C^nyl'-1?~-zr-7^ 
 
i 
 
 I 
 
TEMPLETON. 
 
 155 
 
 III addition to his business enterprises, Mr. Green- 
 wood was a public-spirited citizen, ever on the alert 
 for improvements in the condition of his native 
 village and town. He liberally assisted in the estab- 
 lishment of a village library, in 1854, and of a public 
 hall, in 1872. With others, he labored earnestly and 
 effectively for the establishment of the village post- 
 office, in 1866. He was foremost in urging the 
 construction of the new road to West Gardner, and 
 caused the preliminary surveys to be made chiefly at 
 his own expense. With others he joined in an effort 
 to secure the location of the Ware Eiver Railroad 
 through East Templeton. 
 
 He was interested in schools and public education. 
 It was no uncommon thing for him to visit the 
 schools. When the High School was established, in 
 1856, we find him among those who were earliest, 
 laboring to secure such a result, and he ever main- 
 tained a lively interest in its welfare. 
 
 The village of East Templeton was the scene of 
 his life's labors. Here he was born, March 26, 1817, 
 and here, on July 10, 1885, he died. 
 
 Charles A. Perley was born in Gardner, September 
 15, 1826, and died February 2, 1887. His life was 
 mainly spent in the chair manufacturing business in 
 the village of Baldwinville. After spending four 
 years in the southerly part of Winchendon, he came 
 to this town in 1856 and engaged in the manufacture 
 of chairs, as a member of the firm of Sawyer, 
 Thompson & Perley, afterwards Thompson, Perley & 
 Waite. This firm manufactured a variety of cane- 
 seat chairs and in later times large quantities of the 
 child's folding chair, an ingenious contrivance for the 
 comfort of children. 
 
 Mr. Perley was always active in promoting the 
 business prosperity of the village in which he lived. 
 He was the prime mover in the formation of the 
 Baldwinville Mill Company, which erected a new 
 shop on the site now occupied by Smith, Day & Co. 
 He had been for some years llie president of the 
 Templeton Savings Bank. He took an active part in 
 the formation of the Memorial Church and the erec- 
 tion of its church edifice. In 1885 he was the Repre- 
 sentative from this district in the Massachusetts 
 House of Representatives. 
 
 Colonel Henry Smith was born in Shrewsbury, 
 Vermont, in 1S26 and died in Boston in 1881. He 
 married Abby Boynton AVbitcomb, daughter of David 
 Whitcomb, Esq., of Worcester. In 18-1:9 he engaged 
 in the manufacture of tin-ware in Templeton, in 
 company with Mr. Whitcomb and continued the 
 business in the later time in company with his 
 brother, until 1865. Thtir traveling agents were 
 accustomed to sell their tin-ware in various parts of 
 Kew England. He was also interested in the same 
 business with partners in Springfield, Lowell, Albany 
 and New Haven. In 1865 he removed to Boston and 
 , engaged in the banking business, being instrumental 
 in the establishment of the Home Savings Bank, of 
 
 which he became president, and the Central National 
 Bank. His latest business enterprise was the estab- 
 lishment of the International Trust Company, of 
 which he became president. 
 
 He served one term in the Massachusetts House of 
 Representatives and three terms in the State Senate, 
 the last term after removing to Dorchester. He 
 served at one time on the staff of Governor Banks as 
 one of his aids. He was an active, enterprising and 
 public-spirited citizen. He had accumulated wealth 
 in his business and was liberal in contributing to 
 religious and philanthropic enterprises. 
 
 Percival Blodgett spent his early years in North 
 Orange, Mass., where be was bom in 1841. He 
 received his education in the public schools of liis 
 native town and at Andover Academy. He came to 
 Templeton as a teacher in the public schools in 1861, 
 and taught for several terms. He began his mercan- 
 tile career in 1865, as a member of the firm of Dudley 
 & Blodgett, whose place of business was at the 
 " Brick store." From 1870 to the present time he 
 has been in business alone, at the stand formerly 
 owned and occupied by Colonel Lee. He became the 
 owner of this establishment in 1877 and carries on 
 here a prosperous business in the sale of various 
 kinds of merchandise usually kept at a country store. 
 Mr. Blodgett has for several years been one of the 
 selectmen, has held the office of town treasurer for 
 twelve years, and has been a member of the school 
 committee for twenty years. He is chosen a repre- 
 sentative to the Legislature of Massachusetts for the 
 year 1889, from the Second Worcester County District. 
 Isaac Bourn is a native of Potton. Canada, having 
 been born there November 24, 1821. He came to 
 Templeton in 1845, working for wages for the first 
 two years. He was engaged in the lumber business 
 from 1847 to 1849, in company with Jonas Brown, 
 and from the latter date until 1879 in company with 
 John Brooks. He is at present senior partner in the 
 firm of Bourn, Hadley & Company. They manufac- 
 ture large quantities of pine, chestnut and ash fur- 
 niture at their shop, near the Ware River Railroad 
 station, and are also dealers in all kinds of lumber. 
 Mr. Bourn is still actively engaged in the business in 
 which he has manifested so much energy and enter- 
 prise. 
 
 Some persons who were natives of Templeton have 
 become conspicuous for their business capacity or 
 philanthropic efforts in other fields. One such was 
 George Partridge, who engaged in business in Saint 
 Louis, Mo., was prosperous in his affairs and gave 
 large sums for the benefit of Washington University 
 in that city. Thomas White is extensively engaged 
 in the manufacture and sale of the " White " sewing- 
 machine, in Cleveland, Ohio. He began the business 
 on a small scale in this town. The White family wai 
 one of the old and worthy families of this town and 
 Phillipston. Moses W. Richardson leads an active 
 business life in the city of Boston, in which he has 
 
156 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 been prosperous. His early life was spent here. He 
 learned his first lessons of business affairs as clerk in 
 the store of Colonel Lee. His name represents two 
 families of prominence in this town. His grand- 
 father, Moses Wright, was for ten years the town 
 clerk, and three years a Representative to the Gen- 
 eral Court. The Richardson family has ever been 
 prominent in numbers and influence. 
 
 The first settlers of a town, with rugged hills 
 completely covered with forests, must have been per- 
 sons of vigor and steadfastness of purpose. Among 
 the early inhabitants of this town there were men of 
 more than ordinary ability and strength of character. 
 They were also men of sterling integrity. They 
 directed the currents of thought and action into good 
 channels. The influence of such men extends be- 
 yond the limit of their own lifetimes, frequently 
 exerting a powerful influence on their successors. 
 There has been in this town a permanence and sta- 
 bility in its affairs which has greatly inured to the 
 public benefit. Many things have worked together 
 in the past to make the influence prevailing in a 
 New England town a very favorable environment for 
 the development and improvement of a human being. 
 May it be long before these towns shall have lost the 
 essential features which have been characteristic of 
 the best of them ! 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 UXBRIDGE. 
 
 BY GEORGE W. HOBBS. 
 
 This town is beautifully located in the " Black- 
 stone Valley," about twenty miles south from the 
 city of Worcester. 
 
 On the west the gently-sloping hilh are covered 
 with the fine dwellings of its prosperous citizens, 
 overlooking a diversified scenery of meadows, rivers, 
 ponds and busy workshops. On the east the plains 
 stretcli out to the lofty Mendon hills, whose westerly 
 slopes form the water-shed for the " West River," 
 which furnishes the water-power for the " Wacan- 
 tuck" and"Elmdale" Mills; while gently mean- 
 dering through the valley, the "Blackstone" and 
 "Mumford" Rivers beautify the plain and furnish 
 the power for the numerous other mills which add to 
 the business and prosperity of this lively and enter- 
 prising town. 
 
 Its natural beauty, fine roads, excellent hotel, se- 
 cluded drives and cool retreats make it a desired 
 haven of rest for the numerous " summer boarders" 
 who, in increasing numbers, annually make their pil- 
 grimage hither. From the pleasant drive on " Lawler " 
 hill, just west of Main Street, away in the dim dis- 
 tance, — thirty miles as the crow flies, — the blue peak 
 
 of old Wachusett can easily be seen on a fair day, 
 and the view, once seen, is long remembered. From 
 the opposite side of the town, on the hill near the 
 residence of Mr. T. W. Giles, a bit of scenery is un- 
 folded which has no equal even on the canvas of a 
 Turner. As far as the eye can reach, the beautiful 
 valley of the Blackstone is spread out in all its en- 
 chanting loveliness. Here and there, above the abun- 
 dant foliage, rises the spire of some distant church ; 
 the hillsides dotted with neat houses, green fields, 
 teeming orchards, lowing herds; handsome villas, 
 cool groves, glimmering lakes ; rivers looking like 
 threads of silver, lofty hill-tops crowned with peren- 
 nial pine, rich meadows fragrant with new-mown hay 
 and golden-hued flowers ; farms, villages, factories, 
 tall chimneys, and all the concomitants of a thriving 
 valley meet the eye and fill the mind with a never- 
 tiring pleasure. The native to the manor born, as 
 well as the stranger within its gates, pause upon this 
 favored spot and involuntarily exclaim " How beau- 
 tiful ! " 
 
 A gentleman from Providence, while riding up this 
 hill with the writer, exclaimed: "Stop! In all my 
 travels at home or abroad, I never saw a finer scene 
 than this. I would like to build a house right on 
 this lot before us and have that view always before 
 me." For an hour we lingered, and with a deep sigh, 
 he took his leave with regret, saying : " I did not 
 suppose there was so fine a view this side the White 
 Mountains, and I don't believe your townspeople ap- 
 preciate it as they ought." 
 
 The facility with which this town can be reached 
 by the numerous trains upon that model railway, the 
 " Providence and Worcester," causes such an influx 
 of seekers after rest and ozone, that the hotel and 
 boarding-houses are taxed to their utmost during the 
 vacation season, and those who come one season are 
 pretty sure to engage rooms for the next. 
 
 There are several mineral springs near the centre 
 of the town, and the water furnished by iheUxbridge 
 Water Company proves, upon analysis, to be about 
 absolutely pure, being nearly equal to that of the 
 famous Poland Springs, and pronounced by local 
 physicians to be nearly as effectual in the cure of 
 kidney and urinary troubles. At no distant day 
 these springs will be appreciated, and a sanitarium 
 will invite the health-seekers to come and be cured. 
 Uxbridge ranks among the older towns of the county, 
 having been incorporated three years before the 
 county itself. 
 
 Originally a part of Mendon, the history of the 
 causes which led to its separation from the mother 
 town may not inappropriately be recorded here. 
 
 In 171G it seems that the western part of the town 
 of Mendon and the eastern part had a disagreement 
 about the road to be built to Taft's bridge, over the 
 Great River (Blackstone), which led to the appoint- 
 ment of a committee of conference. This difficulty 
 having been adjusted, the next recorded difference 
 
UXBRIDGE. 
 
 157 
 
 which arose was in 1720, when, as appears by the 
 '•Mendon Annals," "the inhabitants of the west 
 part of the town (now Uxbridge) began to agitate 
 the question of dividing the town, or of being 
 allowed to be a precinct by themselves; but upon 
 their petition to that effect, the town took no action." 
 
 In 1722, October 16th, at a town-meeting held in 
 Mendon, the inhabitants of the western part of the 
 town objecting to being assessed for repairs to the 
 meeting-house, the town " voted, that if they would 
 pay, the town would reimburse them, provided they 
 are set off as a precinct or a town within the space of 
 thrre years." 
 
 December 14, 1726, more than the stipulated "three 
 years '' after the last difficulty, the town, " in answer 
 to our western inhabitants petitioning to be set off as 
 a town or a precinct, voted in the negative." But the 
 said western inhabitants were becoming more deter- 
 mined to secede ; and therefore, at a meeting held in 
 Mendon March 31, 1727, the town " voted, after the 
 reading of the petition of the western inhabitants of 
 the town for a division of the town, that the bounda- 
 ries should be as follows, viz.: Beginning at thesouth- 
 weit corner of the town, at the Province line, thence 
 east four miles with .*aid line; thence turning north 
 and running parallel with the west line of the town, 
 until it comes to a small brook running westerly be- 
 tween West and Misco Hills; thence down said brook 
 to the West River; thence up said river to Andruss's 
 Brook ; and thence up Andruss' Brook to the town- 
 ship line " 
 
 The western inhabitants lost no time in taking the 
 benefit of the vote, doubtless feeling that a reconsid- 
 eration might blast their hopes, if opportunity were 
 given ; for it appears from the records in the Massa- 
 chusetts Archives, " Towns, vol. 113, p. 714," that in 
 an almost incredibly short time, considering the dis- 
 tance to Boston and the roads and conveniences or 
 inconveniences of travel, the petition and vote was 
 presented to the General Court for its approval and 
 the incorporation of ihe new town. The act of incor- 
 poration passed both houses (i.e. the House of Repre- 
 sentatives and the Council) and became a law June 
 23, 1727, which is the birthdai/ of the town of Ux- 
 bridge. To show the mode of procedure in such 
 matters at that early day uuder colonial government, 
 I transcribe the act of incorporation entire: 
 
 Anno Regni Jtvgis Georgh Vecimo Terlio, 
 
 An act for dividing the town of Mendon and erecting a now town by 
 the name of Uxbridge. 
 
 nilerem, the westerly part of the Town of Mendon, in the County of 
 Sufolk, is completely filled with Inhabitants, who labour under great 
 diffloiilties by their remoteness from the place of Public Worship, ic, 
 and have thereupon made application to the said Town of Mendon, and 
 have likewise addressed this Court that they may bo set off as a distinct 
 aud separate town aud be vested with all the powers and privilege of a 
 town ; and the Inhabitants of Mendon haviug consented to their being 
 set off accordingly; 
 
 lie it therefore enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor, Conncil and Rep- 
 resentatives in General Court aasembled, aud by the authority of the 
 same, that the westerly part of said Town of Mendon is hereby set off 
 
 and constituted a separate Township by the name of Uxbridge ; the 
 bound of said Town to be as foUowelh : That is to say, Beginning at 
 the South West corner of the town of Mendon, at the Troviuce South 
 Line : thence to run four miles east with the Province Line ; then North 
 a parallel with the West line of the said Town, until that line meets 
 with a small Brook that runs between West Hill and Misco Hill ; then 
 ye sjiid Brook to be the bounds to the West River; then the West River 
 to be the bounds to a brook known by the name of Andrew's Brook, 
 which brook shall bo the bounds to the north line of the Township. 
 
 And that the Inhabitants of the said Lands, as before described and 
 bounded, be, and hereby are, invested with the powers, privileges and 
 immunities that the Inhabitants of any of the Towns of this Province, 
 are, or ought by law to be invested ; Provided the Grant of the said 
 Township be not construed to Affect the Rights and privileges of any 
 Persons to lands within the same. 
 
 Provided also, that the Inhabitants of the said town of Uxbridge, do, 
 within the space of two years from the Publication of this Act, Erect 
 and finisli a suitable House for the Public \Vorship of God, and procure 
 and settle a learned Orthodox Minister of good conversation, and make 
 provision for his comfortable and honourable support ; aud that they set 
 apart a Lot of not less than One hundred acres of Land in some con- 
 venient place in said town near the moeting-IIouse, for the use of the 
 Bliniatry; and likewise provide a School Master to instruct their youth 
 in writing and reaiiing. 
 
 In Council Juno 21, 1727. Read, 
 
 J. WiLLARD, Sec'i/. 
 
 Passed to be Engrossed. 
 
 In the House of Representatives June 23, 1727. Read a first time ; 
 The 24th — Read a second time and passed in concurrence with amend- 
 ment. 
 
 Dele. * Sent up for concurrence. 
 
 Wm, Dudley, Spe<d-er. 
 
 Agreed. 
 
 The amendment referred to by the record as passed 
 by the House was the striking out of the following 
 clause, which, in the act as approved by the Council, 
 was after the word reading, in the last sentence of the 
 act, viz. : 
 
 And that thereupon they be discharged from any further payment for 
 the maintenance of the Ministers and Schools in the said Town of 
 Mendon, for any estate lying within the said Town of Uxbridge. 
 
 The people of tho^e early days had queer ideas of 
 density of population, when they allege, as recited 
 in the preamble to the act above quoted, " the westerly 
 part of the town of Mendon, etc., is completebj JilUd 
 with inhabitants," etc., for it must be remembered 
 that Mendon township at that time comprised about 
 sixty Ihousand acres, and embraced what is now 
 Mendon, Milford, Uxbridge, Blackstone and North- 
 bridge, with a total population then of some twelve 
 hundred people, and now the same territory is 
 populated by nearly twenty-five thousand people, 
 with plenty of room for more. Moreover, the reason 
 set forth by the aggrieved inhabitants of the west 
 part, that " they laboured under great difficulties, by 
 their remoteness from the place of public worship," 
 etc., indicates that the population of the old town of 
 Mendon was rather scattered, and had plenty of room 
 to spread towards the centre. 
 
 It appears from the records of the old, and the new 
 town that the boundary line, as set forth in the vote 
 of Mendon, and in the act a/oresaid, was rather 
 indefinite and litlle understood even by the parties 
 to the same. P'or at the very first meeting of the new 
 town, a committee was appointed "to run and settle 
 ye Line between Mendon and Uxbridge ;'' and at 
 different dates up to 1754, nearly twe.^ty-seven years 
 
158 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 afterwards, there were repeated attempts on the part 
 of the two towns to settle the dispute concerning the 
 boundary line ; and it was finally settled to the satis- 
 faction of all parties, after an appeal to the General 
 Court, pending which the two towns came to an 
 agreement ; and the appeal was duly dismissed. 
 
 Uxbridge is supposed to have received its name 
 from Henry Paget, Earl of Uxbridge, at the time a 
 member of the King's Privy Council. Its Indian 
 name is Wacantug, or Wacantuck ; and this name is 
 perpetuated by the " Wacantuck House," and the 
 " Wacantuck Woolen-Mills " hereinafter referred to. 
 The first town-meeting in Uxbridge was held at the 
 house of Cornet John Farnum, July 25, 1727. The 
 members of the first Board of Selectmen were Robert 
 Taft, Ebenezer Read, Woodland Thompson and 
 Joseph White. The first town clerk was Edmund 
 Rawson, an accomplished gentleman, an excellent 
 penman, and a methodical recorder of the doings of 
 the new town. To-day, after the lapse of more than 
 one hundred and sixty years, his records of the meet- 
 ings of the town are as clear and plain as though 
 recently written ; and for brevity and good language 
 would be appropriate models for town clerks of the 
 present decade. Solomon Wood, the first town treas- 
 urer, received for the responsibilities and arduous 
 duties of that oflice for one year, the munificent com- 
 pensation o( Jive shillings ; and at the same time the 
 town voted this compensation, they " voted to pay 
 Lieut. Joseph Taft sei'en shillings for a barrel of 
 cider." The record does not tell for what purpose 
 tlie town purchased the cider, but inasmuch as they, 
 a year or two later, voted that the committee who had 
 charge of building " ye meeting House purchase 
 fifteen gallons of good rum for the raising," it is 
 probable tliat the town fathers were a little afraid to 
 drink the water whicli nature had furnished in such 
 abundance. 
 
 The town clerks and town treasurers have been 
 men of such ability and worth, that in the one 
 hundred and sixty-one years of its corporate exist- 
 ence the town has had only eighteen difierent town 
 clerks, and about as many town treasurers. The 
 attraction to these offices could not have been the com- 
 pensation, for it is matter of resord that, considering 
 the amount of responsibility, the pay of these officials 
 has been, and is to-day, grossly inadequate. That at 
 least one of these gentlemen groaned in spirit under 
 his burdens is manifest from these poetic verses, 
 copied verbatim from the fly-leaf of the treasurer's 
 account-book of 1767. I have called it by the 
 appropriate name : 
 
 THE TREASURER'S LAMENT. 
 A strong Deeire pervades the 'spiring Mind, 
 To tlieir own cure tu liave this booli iissigued ; 
 But whosoever sliall this booit ubtailie, 
 Will find the pTofit pntjn iif>t half the paine. 
 I long liavo labored on tliia servile Charge, 
 Tve found theprofttJt ttmaU, the trouble large. 
 With true exactness all accounts I trac'd, 
 
 And then the Names & sums in order plac'd ; 
 
 But all the methods I could e'er invent, 
 
 Ne'er to my Neighbors would it give content.- 
 
 So I'm resolved, I'll soon this book forsake, 
 
 That those who long have sought, may now partake. 
 
 For nearly one hundred years after its organization 
 Uxbridge remained simply an agricultural town, with 
 the usual amount of such mechanical business as was 
 cairied on in the rural towns of New England. When 
 it w.as incorporated it was a part of the county of 
 Suffolk ; but when Worcester County was created, in 
 1730, just three years afterward, Uxbridge became a 
 part of it, and is so well satisfied with the connection, 
 that no voice can be heard in favor of severing the 
 old tie, or forming a part of any new county whatso- 
 ever. It is a part of the Blackstone Valley, and, with 
 the other valley towns which constitute Worcester 
 South, it has a local pride in the old county, and a de- 
 sire to remain in it and of it. 
 
 The diversified topography of this town is one of its 
 principal charms. Hill and valley, meadow and 
 upland, lakes and rivers all contribute to make the 
 picture perfect. Comprising nearly twenty-eight 
 square miles of territory, with about seven teen thousand 
 acres taxed, with over eighty miles of well-kept high- 
 ways and town-ways, many rivers and streams crossed 
 by stone, iron and wooden bridges, its handsome 
 churches, fine hotel, imposing town hall and other 
 elegant buildings reared by its thrifty population, 
 now numbering about thirty-five hundred, Uxbridge 
 sends out its invitation to the rest of old Worcester 
 County to present to the readers of the " County 
 History " a better record than she lias made. Her 
 adopted son, who writes this history, regrets that the 
 limited space allowed him, prevents his doing justice 
 to her ; for, do the best he may, the half cannot herein 
 be told. 
 
 The rivers of Uxbridge are the Blackstone, the 
 West and the Mumford. Its larger brooks, furnish- 
 ing water-power, are the Ironstone, the Emer-son, the 
 Rivulet and the Drabble Tail. 
 
 The Blackstone River has its source in North Pond, 
 in the city of Worcester. From this pond flows a 
 small but beautiful stream called Mill Brook. This 
 stream, in its course through Worcester, Millbury, 
 Sutton, Grafton, Northbridge, Uxbridge and Black- 
 stone, where it leaves the Slate, receives the waters of 
 several affluents, is called the Blackstone River, and 
 its constantly increasing size and volume furnishes, 
 by the time it reaches Uxbridge, a seldom-failing 
 power, which gives to the town its great prosperity as 
 a manufacturing centre. 
 
 The West River has its origin in the town of 
 Upton ; and, although it runs through the easterly 
 part of Uxbridge, it retains the name " West River," 
 which was given it when it was the western boundary 
 of Mendon. It empties into the Blackstone about 
 half a mile south of the Hecla Mills, and about a 
 mile southeasterly of the railway station. Like the 
 
UXBRIDGB. 
 
 159 
 
 Blackstone, it contributes power to run the machinery 
 of several factories, whicli will be described farther 
 on. 
 
 Mumford River has its rise in " Douglas Woods," 
 in Douglas; being increased by streams from Bad- 
 luck Pond and Manchaug Pond, in Douglas, and by 
 springs and rivulets, and the vast reservoirs in Whi- 
 tinsville. It enters Uxbridge just south of the Lin- 
 wood Mills at Whitin's Station ; thence through 
 North Uxbridge, furnishing power to the great cot- 
 ton-mills there located; thence southeasterly to 
 Uxbridge Centre, joining the Blackstone about three- 
 quarters of a mile southeasterly of the railroad 
 station, at what is called the " Forks of the River." 
 The Capron Mills are located upon this river. 
 
 The Ironstone Brook, formerly called " Forge 
 Brook," and so designated in the early records of the 
 town, rises in the extreme southwesterly part of the 
 town, near the Rhode Island line ; forms the Iron- 
 stone Pond; thence flows under the New York and 
 New England Railroad into the village of Ironstone; 
 and thence about a mile easterly to the Blackstone 
 River. It was very early used for furnishing power 
 for various mechanical enterprises, a dam and forge 
 having been erected upon it nearly one hundred and 
 fifty years ago by Benjamin Taft, one of the original 
 settlers in the town. 
 
 The Emerson Brook rises in Douglas, flows easterly, 
 and enters Uxbridge in what is called "' Scadden ; " 
 it thence flows southeasterly, under the various names 
 of " Shove Brook," " Tucker Brook " and " Emerson 
 Brook," until its confluence with the Blackstone, on 
 the farm of Millins Emerson. Its course is about 
 five miles long, much of the way a very rapid, turbu- 
 lent stream, and has fall enough, if its waters could 
 be stored and used to advantage, to run all the ma- 
 chinery now in use in the town. It supplies the 
 power for Lee's Mills and the mills of Zadok A. Taft 
 & Co., and, in former years, the Shove and the Rich- 
 ardson saw and grist-mills. It is also one of the 
 finest trout brooks in this section, and for several 
 years Seth P. Carpenter, of Milford, an enthusiast in 
 pisciculture, spent time and money in the erection of 
 hatching hou.ses and spawning-tanks; which, since 
 his death, have fallen into "innocuous desuetude" 
 and decay. The old gentleman was sanguine of suc- 
 cess, and there is no doubt that if the vandal fisher- 
 men and surreptitious hookers of trout had left his 
 breeding trout and hatchlings alone, he would have 
 realized his fondest dreams. 
 
 The Rivulet Brook rises in the westerly part of the 
 town, flows easterly through the farm of the late 
 John S. Taft, to the pond at the Rivulet Mills, owned 
 by Richard Sayles & Co., furnishing power for that 
 prosperous establishment, and thence to the Mumford 
 River, a short distance south of the Uxbridge Cotton- 
 Mills. One of the earliest mills in town was built 
 upon this stream ; and the second distillery for the 
 manufacture of gin and cider brandy emptied its 
 
 nauseous refuse into its waters, on the Taft farm. In 
 1815 a woolen-mill was erected upon this brook, and 
 since that date it has never ceased to furnish power 
 for some manufacturing euterprise. Drabble Tail 
 Brook is a small stream formed by the union of 
 Croney Brook and Shuttle Brook, two smaller streams, 
 or rivulets, arising from springs in the hills, just 
 westerly of the centre of the town, and runs through 
 the central village, crossing the highway near the 
 Blackstone National Bank, and emptying into the 
 Mumford River just below the dwelling-house of the 
 late John W. Capron. This stream runs the water- 
 wheel at the Shuttle Shop, and is capable of doing 
 more damage in a sudden thaw than all the other 
 water-courses in town. Less than one-eighth of a 
 mile from the Shuttle Shop Pond to its outlet in the 
 Mumford, it has repeatedly overflowed its banks, 
 made a pond of Mechanic Square, a race-way of 
 Main street, and a host of good citizens indignant at 
 the negligence which allows this insignificant stream 
 to kick up such a muss every three or four years. In 
 1824 excavations were begun for the Blackstone 
 Canal, a project which had been agitated at various 
 times from 1776 to the lime when the Canal Company 
 was incorporated, 1822. This canal was to be the 
 great means of communication and trade between 
 Providence and Worcester, and designed as an 
 avenue for the transportation of heavy freight up 
 and down the Blackstone Valley, which hitherto had 
 been carried, at great expense and delay, by wagon- 
 teams. Uxbridge was one of its important stations, 
 and the locks and banks of the old canal can be seen 
 to-day, though the canal ceased to be used in 1848, 
 when it was superseded by the Providence and Wor- 
 cester Railway. 
 
 These several water-courses have each and all con- 
 tributed to the prosperity and comfort of the inhabit- 
 ants of Uxbridge, and are the source whence has 
 sprung that almost miraculous power which has kept 
 the wheels of local industry in motion. While they 
 have benefited the people, they have also added to 
 thebeauty and attractiveness of the town ; so that they 
 may well claim from the pen of the historian their 
 full meed of praise. Uxbridge, like most other 
 manufacturing towns, is divided into villages; each 
 manufacturing establishment building up around it 
 comfortable homes for the employes, and schools for 
 the education of their children. 
 
 As these different villages will be commented upon, 
 in connection with the history of manufacturing, 
 which follows in another chapter, it will suffice for the 
 present to give their names. 
 
 Uxbridge Centre (where are located the Town Hall, 
 Unitarian, Trinitarian, Methodist and Roman Catholic 
 Churches, Capron Mills, principal stores, post-office 
 and railway station) comprises about one-third of the 
 population ; North Uxbridge (also a post-office vil- 
 lage) contains the Uxbridge Cotton-Mills and the 
 Baptist Church. The next largest village is the 
 
160 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Calumet, for many years known as the " Jv ew Vil- 
 lage." Next in size and importance is the Hecla 
 village, formerly known as " Shank-bone," a nickname 
 given to it (more than fifty years ago, it is saiil) on 
 account of the frequency with which shank-beef was 
 served at the mill boarding-house. A letter from 
 Ireland, addressed to an employ6 of the mill, was 
 directed to " Shankbone, Mass., U. S.'' How the post- 
 office clerks ascertained the location of this village by 
 that name is one of the unanswered conundrums. 
 
 Wheelock's village (formerly called " Crackerville," 
 probably on account of crackers being too prominent 
 aa article of diet, on some remote occasion) is the 
 next in size. It is one of the prettiest, best-condi- 
 tioned villages iu the town, and its inhabitants are 
 justly proud of it, and of the public-spirited gentlemen 
 whose kindly interest in their welfare has made their 
 homes and surroundings so pleasant. Elmdale (for- 
 merly Squaw Hollow), one of the oldest villages in 
 the town, situated about half a mile easterly of the 
 Hecla village, is the home of the proprietor and em- 
 ployes of Scott's Satinet Mills. Ironstone (at the 
 south part of the town, three miles from the centre. 
 on Forge Brook) was once the largest village in Ux- 
 bridge. In the early history of the town it was 
 famous for the first mechanical business, established 
 over one hundred and fifty years ago. For many 
 years a large business was done there, and it was a 
 post-station and general trading-place for the sur- 
 rounding country. Ironstone Factory was built in 
 1815, by a stock company, and was burned in 1832. 
 Subsequently rebuilt, it was operated with varying 
 success by different parties till 1865, when it was 
 again burned, and the projserty and the village have 
 fallen into ruin. 
 
 The Rivulet village, on the south side of the old 
 Boston and Hartford Turnpike, owned mostly by 
 Richard Sayies & Co., is an illustration of what the 
 energy and business enterprise of a live, intelligent 
 man can accomplish. When Mr. Sayies took the 
 property, it was sadly out of repair; the -street was 
 narrow and inconvenient for travel; the tenements 
 dilapidated, small and few in number, and the sur- 
 roundings unpleasant. In a few short years wonders 
 have been accomi)liahed. New houses have been 
 erected, the old ones repaired and enlarged, the street 
 widened, a new bridge put in, the factory buildings 
 enlarged, modernized and improved ; the grounds, 
 lawns and fences made neat and handsome, and the 
 entire village renovated and beautified. 
 
 Happy Hollow is the happy name of a small village 
 which has grown up around and in the vicinity of the 
 woolen-mills erected by Zadok A. Taft and D. M. 
 Lee, on the Emerson Brook. 
 
 These constitute all the factory villages, but there 
 are several of the agricultural sections of the town 
 known by local names, which can have no general 
 interest, as they are not strictly villages. 
 
 The minerals of Uxbridgeare iron, lead, silver, in 
 
 small quantities, while quartz, beryl and smoky topaz 
 in crystals are frequently found. Vast quarries of 
 gneissoid granite furni.'~h material for buildings, curb- 
 ing, monuments and general cemetery work. It is of 
 excellent quality and fineness, and capable of taking 
 a high polish, some of it being in color and quality 
 nearly equal to the imported Scotch granite. The 
 Uxbridge Silver Mine, located in the southwest part 
 of the town, on land now owned by C. R. Thomson 
 and others (formerly the Chileon Tucker farm), was 
 opened about fifty years ago, and for awhile g.ave 
 promise of considerable richness. But after sinking 
 two shafts to a depth of nearly fifty feet, and working 
 a cross-cut on the vein, it was found that the vein, 
 instead of increasing in width, as was hoped and 
 expected, was, if anything, even smaller than at the 
 surface — about three-fourths of an inch of metal, in a 
 hard, refractory gangue of quartzite. The metallic 
 vein was a true galena, carrying a good per cent, of 
 silver, but the immense expense attending its excava- 
 tion, reduction and purification requiring, in the 
 language of the day, " a gold mine to work the silver 
 mine," caused a suspension of all work, and for about 
 fifty years not a dollar's worth of ore has been taken 
 from the mine. Its shafts are filled with water, and 
 abandoned to the nymphs of the thick woods, whose 
 spreading branches hide the place where fond hopes 
 much expense and bitter disappointment lie buried. 
 There are several small beds of liuionite, or bog ore, 
 and at the south part of the town, near Ironstone, the 
 dark-colored rocks, which there abound, contain con- 
 siderable quantities of specular iron, so that the stone 
 is called " ironstone," and the village takes its name, 
 " Ironstone," from that fact. 
 
 It is believed by some tliat the yellow-colored 
 quartz, which is found in quite large quantities in the 
 western part of this town and the adjoining part of 
 Douglas, contains gold, but if they will take pains to 
 weigh it they will find its specific gravity insufficient 
 to indicate the presence of gold. It is undoubtedly a 
 kind of jasper — an opaque, yellow quartz colored by 
 iron, or ferruginous clay, — possessing no value what- 
 ever. The western and southwestern parts of the 
 town are well wooded, nearly every farm having 
 several acres of wood and sprout land, for market and 
 domestic wood. Pine, chestnut, oak and birch are the 
 principal woods, with occasionally a small lot of wal- 
 nut. 
 
 The taxable valuation of the town in 1821 — which 
 is the earliest tax record which has been preserved — 
 was about $113,116 ; the number of polls, 366 ; and 
 the amount raised for State, county and town pur- ■ 
 poses, $1,986.37 ; rate, $1.75 on each $1000 of valua- I 
 tion. In 1830 — nine years later — the valuation had 
 increased to $786,592 ; 483 polls. Amount raised, 
 not including school district taxes, about $4500 ; rate, 
 $2.90 per $1000 of valuation. 
 
 In 1860, thirty years later, the number of i)olls had 
 increased to 818; the valuation to $1,566,458 — a gain 
 
UXBRIDGE. 
 
 161 
 
 of over 99 per cent. ; the amount raised for State 
 county and town purposes to $19,158, not including 
 highway taxes — a gain of over 100 per cent. ; and the 
 rate of tax to $5.0tj per $1,000— a gain in rate of 75 
 per cent. 
 
 In 1888, tweuty-six years later, tlie numljer of polls 
 have increased to 885; the valuation to $2,032,725 ! 
 the amount raised for 8tate, county and town pur- 
 poses, including highway taxes, to $2S,i)9(j^a gain of 
 over 300 percent.; and the rate to *13.5ll per $1,000 
 — again in rate of 266 per cent. It is worthy of note 
 that the State tax for Uxbridge, in the year 1860, was 
 $495 ; while in 1888 it has increased to $2,475 — a gain 
 of just 500 per cent. 
 
 This town believes in tlie axiom " pay as yon go;" 
 and although it raised over forty thousand dollars for 
 war purposes during the Rebellion, toolv possession 
 and paid for over twenty thousand dollars" worth of 
 school district property in 1870, when school districts 
 were abolished, built a new town hall in 1879 at a 
 cost of over fifteen thousand dollars, and has recently 
 expended over fifteen thousand dollars more in new 
 school-houses, widening Mendon Street, and building 
 new bridges and annually ajipropriates over twenty 
 thousand dollars for town charges and expenses, it is 
 a// paid up. It owes no debt, and its excellent roads, 
 good care of its unfortumite poor and its unsurpassed 
 schools attest the wi.sdomof its course. In 1879, after 
 years of agitation, a fine brick town hall building, 
 containing a concert hall, voting hall, rooms for the 
 I Free Public Library and all the town officers, was 
 erected by the town, at an expense of a little over 
 fifteen thousand dollars. This sum was all raised by 
 taxation and paid in three years — five thousand dol 
 lars and interest being raised each year in addition to 
 the regular taxes for town purposes. 
 
 Taken as a whole, Uxbridge is one of the brightest 
 in the galaxy of stars that form the crown of muni- 
 cipal glory which makes old Worcester County 
 famous. 
 
 " I fain wouUI [Kiiise to name tier every ctiarm, — 
 The sheltered cot, the cultivated farm, 
 The uever-failiii}^ stream, the husy mill. 
 The decent church that topt the neighhoririg hill." 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 VXBRWGn— {Coil/ iinu'd.) 
 
 Relkuon. — One of the conditions upon which the 
 new town was chartered, which is exjiressed in the act 
 of incorporation, was that within two years from the 
 publication of the act the said inhabitants should 
 "erect and finish a suitable House for the public wor- 
 ship of <Tod, and procure and settle a learned Urtho 
 dox Minister of good conversation," etc. 
 
 We find, therefore, that at a town meeting held 
 August 25, 1727, the inhabitants passed the following 
 11 
 
 vote, copied verbatim from the records: — "Voted, 
 That they would Sett ye meeting House on ye South 
 side of Drabble Tail Brook. But seeing it would be 
 inconvenient to Set the meeting House where the First 
 Vote Specified, they recalled s'' vote and passed a vote 
 that They would Sett ye meeting House within the 
 Fence of Eben' Read's Pasture, on a place which they 
 had Viewed for, and Judg'd convenient for that pur- 
 pose." 
 
 October 1, same year, " voted that they would main- 
 tain the public preaching by way of Rate, till ournext 
 annual meeting." Also voted at same meeting, "that 
 they would accept of Mr. Terry's proffer of preaching 
 to us for Iwenty ■ihiUiii<js a sabbath, till ye next an- 
 niud meeting; and also that all the money that should 
 be put iu unmarked, should be lo<iked upon ;is given 
 gratis." 
 
 It is a matter of some interest, that the pay of a 
 minister to occupy the pulpit in 1888 is about four 
 times greater than in 1727, or twenty dollars per Sun- 
 day, instead of twenty shillings; and it also seems 
 that the good ]>eople of that early day might ofl'-set 
 against the parish tax any money put into the contri- 
 bution-box, which they were careful enough to mart, 
 probably meaning marked with contributor's name, 
 and claimed as paid in anticipation of tax. 
 
 It was also voted at said meeting, "that they would 
 build said meeting h(uise forty feet in length and 
 thirty-five feet in brcadgth, and twenty-nine feet be- 
 tween joynts." 
 
 How acceptably Mr. Terry preached to our hard- 
 headed forefathers is matter of some doubt, for at the 
 annual meeting in March, 1728, his name is not men- 
 tioned in the records, and the town voted "that a com- 
 mittee be chosen to provide somesniteable person for 
 to preach unto us." That they sadly needed some 
 suitfablc person to preach unto them is manliest from 
 the succeeding votes relative to church and meeting- 
 house, viz. : " Voted at said meeting that they would 
 notyVre the Quaiem," which means that all those un- 
 happy followers of George Fox who had settled in this 
 town should be taxed the same as the orthodox be- 
 lievers, to sustain orthodox preaching, even though 
 (as now) they had conscientious scruples against it; 
 a system of religious intolerance which the progress 
 of a century and a half has, in a great measure, cor- 
 rected. 
 
 It was also " voted, that there be fifteen gallons 
 of Gond Rum provided for ye raising of ye meeting- 
 house." A suitable minister in that early time might, 
 and undoubtedly did, approve of this strong auxiliary 
 force, then considered necessary for the proper and 
 successful raising of even an orthodox meeting-house, 
 whose huge timbers, rough hewn and unseasoned, 
 should stand against storm and flootl and Indian foes, 
 monuments of the people's devotion to the living God. 
 
 So lately as twenty-five years ago, in this same 
 town, the writer has seen the prodigious effect which 
 a few tjuarts of "good rum" has had in raising some 
 
162 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 of the dwelling-houses and barns which grace the 
 hillsides, and it is a question fit for the decision of 
 the prohibitionist of 1888 whetlier churches and 
 dwellings raised by the strong aid of strong drink are 
 more prone to decay and destruction, and more the 
 object of divine wrath than those raised upon cold 
 water? At all events the religion of 1728, and many 
 years since, recognized without serious criticism the 
 use of intoxicating liquors upon all important occa- 
 sions ; while the religion of the present day, thanks 
 to a more enlightened public opinion, has not only 
 ceased to appi'ove, but severely condemns its use. The 
 next record concerning preaching is of the meeting 
 held November ye 8th, 1728, when the town voted 
 "that they would continue preaching this winter 
 amongst them ; " but January 13th, following, they 
 voted " not to do anything at present about settlement 
 of a minister;" though on the 28th of the same 
 month they voted "that there be five men chosen to 
 be a committee to see about providing one to preach 
 among us, and that said committee shall provide a 
 suUeable person to preach to us by the first Sabbath in 
 April next, and that said committee shall stand while 
 (until) there is a minister settled among us." For more 
 than a year following no mention is made in the 
 records, concerning the success of the committee or 
 the building or completion of the "meeting-house." 
 So it may be presumed that the spiritual needs of the 
 people were satisfactorily provided for. 
 
 May 4, 1729, about two years after the town at its 
 first meeting voted to build a meeting-house, the 
 record says, " the freeholders and other inhabitants 
 met att ye meeting-house ;" &o that now, for the first 
 time, we are certain that the town complied with the 
 conditions of its act of incorporation, and did, " within 
 two years from the publication of the act, erect and 
 finish (?) a suitable house for the public worship of 
 God; "but the other condition of said act "procure 
 and settle a learned Orthodox Minister of good con- 
 versation," etc., was not fulfilled for some time after, 
 though they evidently tried to make literal compli- 
 ance. 
 
 July 1.3, 1729. the town voted " that they are willing 
 to settle Mr. Othniel Campbell to be their minister, 
 and that if be will .settle amongst us as our minister, 
 that they will give him 70 pounds a year for his sallary, 
 and \00 pounds settlemt'id for encouragement." 
 
 It must be remembered that it is pounds sterling 
 herein referred to, and that to a new people in a 
 new country, dependent on the earth for their living 
 and burdened with the expense of building for them- 
 selves houses, and developing their farms from the 
 wild woods and rocky hillsides around them, the 
 payment of a sum equal to nearly five hundred dol- 
 lars, as " encouragement" to a minister of the Gospel 
 to settle among them, and an annual stipend or 
 salary of about three hundred and fifty dollars, was 
 an undertaking which shows more than anything else 
 in the early history of this town what sterling, loyal, 
 
 public-spirited and religious men these first citizens 
 of Uxbridge proved themselves to be — a lesson which 
 the wealthy and independent citizen of to-day may 
 study with pleasure and profit. 
 
 Mr. Campbell seemed to have trouble in getting 
 dismissed from his previous pastoral relations to some 
 other town, for Uxbridge voted February, 1730, " to pay 
 not exceeding 100 pounds per year if he could get to 
 preach for us by the first Monday of March next." 
 
 May 4, 1730, it appears of record that Mr. Camp- 
 bell couldn't come, for the town " voted for Mr. Webb 
 and Mr. Wales, and Mr. John Wales had y' major 
 vote," and on May 7th it was " voted that if Mr. 
 Wales will accept of their call and settle among them 
 as their minister, that they will confer on him y'' sum 
 of one hundred ])oundsin good passable money for his 
 settlement, and ninety pounds a year in good passable 
 money for his satlery." In May of the same year Mr. 
 Campbell comes to the front with a demand for pay- 
 ment of his services for supplying the pulpit ; for on 
 the 29th of May the town " voted to give Mr. Camp- 
 bell y' sum of five pds. for y' 7 Sabbaths he has been 
 absent from y' town since we had y'' Minister's advice 
 for y" hearing of others, and for y' damage he has .sus- 
 tained since he preached to us or had a call from us ;'' 
 and also " voted that they do dismiss Mr. Campbell 
 from any tie that the town has upon him for preach- 
 ing among us;" "and likewise voted that they will 
 have preaching continued among us." 
 
 Mr. Campbell is not so easily disposed of. Like 
 some ministers of the present day, he knew how to 
 stick, and about how much he wanted for ihe privilege 
 of going ; for in June, same year, after demanding fur- 
 ther satisfaction for damages sustained, the town voted 
 " not to do anything further in respect to Mr. Camp- 
 bell's request for satisfaction for getting off from his 
 obligations when he was called to Uxbridge." At the 
 same meeting it was " voted to follow the minister's 
 advice and give Mr. Nathan Webb a call, or renew Mr. 
 Campbell'ss call." That some of the town did not take 
 kindly to the proposition to " renew Mr. Canipbetl's 
 call," appears from the vote passed. July 9th, " Voted 
 that they will give Mr. Nathan Webb a call in order 
 to settle with us as our minister, and that they give 
 him for encouragement ye same for settlements and 
 salary as were voted Mr. Wales, when they voted to 
 give him a call." This is the first intimation given 
 in tbe records that Mr. Wales had declined the call. 
 
 September 4, 1730, Mr. Campbell carried his point, 
 and received from the town the sum of twenty-one 
 pounds for all his damages, for dismissal, etc. ; and his 
 receipt, recorded at length on the records of the town 
 gives evidence that a legal mind advised, and a care- 
 ful hand drew up, an acknowledgment that held this 
 litigious minister of the gospel so tightly that his 
 name does not again appear upon the records of the 
 town-meetings. 
 
 Mr. Nathan Webb was the frst settled minister in 
 Uxbridge, and his ordination took place the 3d day 
 
UXBRIDGE. 
 
 163 
 
 of February, 1731 ; so that it was nearly four years^ 
 instead of two, before the other condition in the act 
 of incorporation was fulfilled. Mr. Webb died March 
 16, 1772, after a ministry of over forty years. He was 
 deeply lamented, and goes down to posterity as a 
 faithful preacher, an earnest, true-hearted man, whose 
 influence upon the minds and hearts of the early in- 
 habitants of Uxbridge was extremely beneficial and 
 conducive to that growing prosjierity which made 
 Uxbridge one of the leading towns of Provincial 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 The second settled minister was Hezekiah Chap- 
 man, who was settled January 27, 1774, and was dis- 
 missed April 5, 1781. It is a lamentable fact that the 
 cause of Mr. Chapman's dismissal was intemperance. 
 
 The third settled minister was Rev. Josiah Spauld- 
 ing, who was settled September 11, 1783, and was dis- 
 missed at his own request October 27, 1787. After 
 the dismissal of Mr. Spaulding, Mr. Samuel Mead 
 preached for some time ; and in December, 1791, the 
 town voted to concur with the church in giving Mr. 
 Mead a call to be settled over them in the ministry; 
 but it does not appear upon the records what answer 
 Mr. Mead made to the call. It probably was not loud 
 enough in a pecuniary sense. The fourth settled 
 minister was the Rev. Samuel Judson, who was settled 
 October 17, 1792, and dismissed in 1832, and died in 
 November of the same year. The First Congre- 
 gational Society was incorporated in the year 1797 ; 
 and from this time all connection between the town 
 and the " Congregational Society " ceased. The town 
 occupied the meeting-house for town-meetings and 
 business purposes until it was taken down for th( 
 purpose of building a new church, in 1834. Many ol 
 the present residents of the town attended church 
 in the time of Mr. Judson, and can bear testimony 
 that " he was a man of remarkable conscientiousness 
 rare good nature, much native common sense, and deep 
 in the love and confidence of the people of his charge.'' 
 At the dismissal of Mr. Judson the elements of re- 
 ligious o[)inion came to an open rupture, and those 
 who had formerly been united under his ministrations 
 formed themselves into separate societies, and the two 
 houses for religious worshij) which now stand upon 
 opposite sides of the Common were erected, and the 
 members of the two societies, who unitedly had paid 
 Mr. Judson a salary of $400 a year, settled the Rev. 
 Samuel Clarke at a salary of $600 a year, and the Rev- 
 David A. Grosveuor at a salary of $600, and from that 
 time to the present, when the salaries of the ministers 
 of these two churches aggregate $2600, both societies 
 have been exceedingly prosperous. 
 
 The new church of the First Congregational So- 
 ciety was dedicated in .January, 1835, the pastor, Rev. 
 Samuel Clarke, preaching the sermon. This build- 
 ing, still standing, was thoroughly repaired in 1864, at 
 a cost of about $4500 ; and again in 1878 it was re- 
 modeled inside, new pews put in, and the walls and 
 ceiling elegantly frescoed, at a cost of some $4000, 
 
 and to-day it is one of the finest country churches in 
 the State. During the present year a new and ele- 
 gant organ, costing some $3000, has been put in at the 
 right of the minister's desk, and its full, deep, musi- 
 cal tones would astonish the early choirs who, at the 
 other end of the church, succeeded in drowning the 
 accompanying music of the little organ which Mr. 
 Rogerson so artistically played. 
 
 The meeting-house of the Evangelical Congrega- 
 tional Society was built in 1833 and dedicated in the 
 autumn. It has been several times repaired, has 
 been lately remodeled and fitted with handsome fur- 
 niture and a new pipe-organ, and, like its neighbor 
 across the Common, is a fine, convenient and comfort- 
 able church. 
 
 Referring to the records of the town, we find that 
 the original meeting-house, though erected within 
 the limit prescribed by the act of incorporation, was 
 not finished till long after ; for a vote was passed in 
 February, 1733, " that they will have but one pew 
 built in ye meeting-house, and that they will have ye 
 men's seats on ye one side of ye alley, and ye women's 
 seats on j'e other side ; " and in August, 1735, " the 
 sura of one hundred pounds was appropriated to 
 finish ye meeting-house." So it appears that for sev- 
 eral years the people met in a cold, uncomfortable, 
 barn-like structure, sat upon hard benches or cushion- 
 less seats without backs, and listened to the word of 
 God under circumstances that would appal the stoutest 
 heart and chill the marrow of the most consistent and 
 earnest Christian of the present generation. 
 
 We wonder, as we sit in our comfortable, steam- 
 heated, electric-lighted, soft-seated, floor-carpeted, 
 well ventilated churches of the present day, and lis- 
 ten to the rich music of the modern pipe-organ, and 
 the operatic warbling of our thousand dollar quar- 
 tette singers, how those old pioneers and great-grand- 
 fathers of ours could possibly have lived through 
 such hardships as they endured, and enjoyed the 
 blessings of religion obtained under such discourag- 
 ing circumstances as attended them. 
 
 The pastors who have served God and the people 
 in the First Congregational (Unitarian) Society since 
 its incorporation have been : Rev. Samuel Clarke, 
 who was installed January 9, 1833, and died Novem- 
 ber 19, 1859, " a faithful and beloved pastor for nearly 
 twenty -seven years ;'' Rev. Charles Taylor Canfield; 
 ordained and installed October 12, 1860, and resigned 
 March 31, 1862; Rev. Rushton D. Burr, installed 
 November 12, 1862, and resigned May 4, 1868 ; Rev. 
 Samuel R. Priest, ordained and installed January 
 20, 1869, and resigned January 2, 1871 ; Rev. James 
 
 F. Lusk was hired March, 1872, and resigned July 
 1, 1875 ; Rev. George Bremner, ordained and in- 
 stalled November 16, 1875, and resigned December 
 28, 1883 ; Rev. L. M. Burrington, installed Septem- 
 ber 28, 1884, and resigned July 25, 1886 ; Rev. W. R. 
 
 G. Mellin, installed April 6, 1887, and remains 
 pastor of the church. 
 
164 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 The pastors of the Evangelical Congregational So- 
 ciety have been : Rev. David Adams Grosvener, 
 ordained and installed June fi, 1882, and dismissed 
 at his own recjuest .June 15, 181:2; Rev. John Orcutt, 
 installed December 18, 1842, and dismissed May 1, 
 1849; Rev. Jacob Jackson Abbott, D.D., installed in 
 1850, and resigned in 18(i2; Rev. J. B. Johnson, 
 installed December 15, 18G4, and dismissed February 
 6, 1868; Rev. Thomas C. BIscoe, installed December 
 2, 1868, and dismissed May 25, 187(); Rev. George 
 H. Johnson, hired for one year from May 1, 1877, 
 and served faithfully till the year expired; Rev. 
 William H. Cobb, installed September 18, 1878, and 
 dismissed October 1, 1887 ; Rev. F. L. Bristol, in- 
 stalled May 1, 1888, and now remains pastor of the 
 church. 
 
 The Baptid Church. — The Baptist Church, located 
 at North LJ.\bridge, was organized June '22, 1842; 
 and on the same day Rev. Austin Robbins was or- 
 dained and installed pastor of the new church. The 
 church rapidly increased in numbers, receiving 
 forty-seven members during the first year of its ex- 
 istence. Mr. Robbins resigned in 1850, after a suc- 
 cessful pastorate of eight years. For the next four 
 years the pulpit of this church was supplied by Rev. 
 Job Boomer, Rev. Joseph Smith, Rev. Joseph Til- 
 linghast and Rev. -S. S. Mallory, each officiating 
 about one year. Rev. James W. Russell became 
 pastor of the church November 11, 1854, and re- 
 signed in 1864 ; Rev. Joseph Barber became pastor 
 in April, 1865, and resigned ia November, 1868, and 
 was followed by Rev. J. W. Dick, in April, 1869, who 
 continued his ministry here until July, 1871. In 
 October, 1871, Rev. J. H. Tilton was installed pastor, 
 and remained six years, closing his labors October, 
 1877. In November, 1877, Rev. B. H. Lane was 
 installed, and resigned May 30, 1882; Rev. T. M. 
 Butler was installed November 1, 1882, and resigned 
 in June, 1888. 
 
 This society lias recently erected a fine church 
 building at North Uxbridge, opposite Chase's Corner, 
 with a convenient parsonage close by, and is rapidly 
 grovying in membership and is free from debt. 
 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. — The first Method- 
 i.st preaching in Uxbridge Centre began about Sep- 
 tember 1, 1874. Some of the citizens, desiring to 
 reach a clas-i that was not hearing the Gosi)el, made 
 arrangements with Rev. Mr. Merrill, then pastor ol' 
 theM. E. Church in Whitinsville, to preach in Taft's 
 Hall on Sunday evenings ; and Mr. Merrill continued 
 hia services up to February 7, 1875. 
 
 Mr. F. T. Pomeroy, of Shrewsbury, a local preacher 
 of the M. E. Church, a young man of excellent 
 ability and pleasant aildress, succeeded Mr. Merrill, 
 and remained here until April, 1877. His appoint- 
 ment was considered a mission of the church. The 
 mission was formally organized as a church with 
 eight members December 19, 1875, by Rev. Dr. Has- 
 kell, presiding elder of the Worcester District. Mr. 
 
 Hunter, of the Boston University, succeeded Mr. 
 Pomeroy, but soon left. He was succeeded by Rev. 
 John W. Collier, who began his labors, June 9, 1877, 
 and closed them June 23, 1878, to go as a missionary 
 to Peru, South America. For the remainder of the 
 Conference year Mr. J. H. Thompson supplied the 
 pulpit. 
 
 Mr. Thompson was returned to Uxbridge for the 
 Conference year 1879-80, which was the first appoint- 
 ment made here by the Conference. Mr. Thompson 
 was succeeded by Rov. Charles Perkins, who was in 
 turn succeeded by Rev. J. W. Uodgers. The present 
 pastor is Rev. J. T. Kennedy. 
 
 In March, 1878, the society purchased of the town, 
 as a site for a church edifice, a part of the old bury- 
 ing-ground in the centre of the town. Subscription 
 papers for the church were opened in January, 1879, 
 which were very generously signed by the members 
 of other congregations (notably the Unitarian), and 
 on April 1st the amount pledged was three thousand 
 five hundred dollars. The church, which cost about 
 six thousand dollars, was completed early in 1880, 
 and was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies. It 
 stands nearly opposite the railway station, just north 
 of the new town liall, and is a fine specimen of church 
 architecture. This church has grown rapidly, and has 
 a membership, at the present time, of about sixty. 
 
 JVte Friends, or (Quakers. — It a|)i)ears by the town 
 records that at the time tlie town was incorporated, 
 or very soon after, several families of Friends or 
 Quakers were living within its limits, and, as is 
 their custom, objected to paying the rates or taxes for 
 the 8up])ort of ministers or preachers, then settled, 
 anil paid by tax ; and the matter was brought before 
 the town at a meeting held in March, 1728. At this 
 meeting " they voted that they would not free the 
 Quakers." This is the first information given by the 
 town records concerning the fact that a part of the 
 settlers of the town were members of that society. 
 Mr. L. C. Wheeler, a member of the society, fur- 
 nishes the following account of this sect, which is of 
 great interest: 
 
 At the (late of the or^aniz.ation of the town, ttiu gimkerg were a part 
 of the Siiiithiiehi ftlontlily meeting, and tiiuieuliteiUy liekl iiieetinKS, in 
 indivitluals' lionsee, till 1770, when the Slonllily flieeting anthoiizt.ii 
 "the bniltling uf a meeting-house in IJxbiiilge, near Moses Faniuui's.' 
 The meeting-house stands at the junetion of the roaiis from Millvilln 
 and Ironstone to Ll-vbridge Centre, anil is constructed of brick, with a 
 tablet bearing the date of its erection, 1770, in the gable. 
 
 The following account of its construction is taken 
 from old records in the possession of the clerk of 
 the "Quarterly Meeting : " 
 
 In the 4tb month, 1770, the Sniithfield fllonthly Meeting ordered a 
 meeting-house to be built a little Southerly of Muses Farnuni's, by the 
 side of the tireat I'oad. In the nioidhs following the Ineise was bnilt, 
 thirty-live feet long and thirty feet broad. Itnring llie .'itli tuontli, I77I, 
 Adam Harkness, William Bnffnm and David Steere do report yt they 
 find the whole cost of buildiiig the brick meeting-house to amount to 
 Xi06 S». l(i. 
 
 The house has been in use to the present time, and 
 notwithstanding its age of one hundred and eighteen 
 
UXBRIDGE. 
 
 165 
 
 years, its walls show no signs of weakness or decay, and 
 its plain roof, without jets or ornamental finish of any 
 kind, is in an excellent state of preservation. The 
 window-sashes contain the same small panes of glass, 
 and the same doors swing on leather hinges, as for- 
 merly. The internal .arrangements of the house are 
 also left in their original style, having heen simply 
 kept in repair. 
 
 A few years previous the Monthly Meeting had 
 authorized the erection of a meeting-house in Ux- 
 bridge, and in 17i>(> one was erected in what was then 
 the north part of Uxl)ridge, and which is now North- 
 bridge, that town having been set oil' from Uxbridge 
 in 1772. This house stood very near the location of 
 the present meeting-house, — about half a mile south 
 from Riverdale in Northbridge. 
 
 The meetings held .at Uxbridge and Northbridge 
 were a part of the Smithfield Monthly Meeting, till 
 7th month (.Inly), 17S3, when the several meetings 
 held in Uxbridge, Leicester, Northbridge and Rich- 
 mond, N. H., were set oil', and formed a separ.ate 
 Monthly Meeting under the name of the Uxbridge 
 Monthly Meeting, which has continued till the pres- 
 ent time, except that the Richmond Meeting has 
 been dropped, and the meeting formerly .at Leicester 
 removed to Worcester. In addition to the above, a 
 meeting at Pomfret, Conn., and one at Douglas have 
 been made a part of the Uxbridge Monthly Meeting. 
 
 The apjiroved ministers of Uxbridge Monthly, as 
 far as ascertained, have been Daniel Aldrich, Rich- 
 ard Mowry ; Job Scott, approved 12lh month, 17.S3; 
 Israel 8al)in, approved 1790; and Royal Southwick, 
 Daniel Olapp, Timothy K. Earle, John B. Daniels 
 and Salome C. Wheeler. In addition to the above, 
 the following have moved into the Jlonthly Meeting 
 from other places, viz. : Steidien Cortland, Lydia 
 Haight and Susan A. Gilford. 
 
 Only two of the above-named ministers were natives 
 of Uxbridge, and spent their whole lives in the town, 
 ministering semi-weekly to the congregations that 
 gathered in the " Old Brick," viz. ; Richard Mowry, 
 who died Isl month 23d, 1835, aged nearly eighty-six 
 years, and Royal Southwick, who died 11th month 
 30th, lS4it, aged eighty years. Job Scott, whose 
 ministry w.as approved in 17S3, and whose journal 
 giving a history of his labors in the ministry has been 
 published, spent only a few years of his life in the 
 town, anil Israel Saben lived here in 1770, at the time 
 of his marriage, and for several years afterwards. 
 
 There .are now but four .ajiproved ministers of the 
 denomination in the Monthly jMeetiiig ; and only one 
 of these, Mrs. Salome C. Wheeler, is a resident of the 
 town. Her labors in the ministry are usually at the 
 Northbridge Meeting, but her influence in our schools 
 — of which she is one of the Board of Examiners — 
 her interest in temper.ance work, her kind symp.athy 
 and Labors for the sick a.nd afflicted, are all gratefully 
 appreciated by the people of Uxbridge, who are proud 
 to claim her as one of our most respected citizens. 
 
 The membership of this denomination is not large, 
 but they m.ake up for lack of numbers by their intel- 
 ligence and Christian zeal. 
 
 In the words of the Quaker Poet of Amesbury : 
 
 " The laat of liis sect to liis fathers may go, 
 Ijeaving only Lis coat fur some Barn inn to show ; 
 Bnt the trnth will ontlivp liini, and broaden with years, 
 Till tile false dies away, and the wrong disappears/* 
 
 The Roman Catholic Church. — The earliest ac- 
 count of any Roman Catholic Church service in 
 Uxbridge is that a service was held for the few 
 Catholics then in town, in 1850, by the Rev. l^atrick 
 McCJrath, of Hopkinton, in one of the laborer's 
 tenements owned by .Joseph Th.ayer, Esq. 
 
 In 1853 Uxbridge was erected into a parish by 
 Right Rev. J. B. Fitzpatrick, Bishop of the Diocese 
 of Mass.achusetts, and Rev. E. J. Sheridan was ap- 
 pointed |ia.stor, August, 1853. The parish then in- 
 cluded the towns of Grafton, Millbury, Northbridge, 
 Dcmglas and Uxbridge. St. Mary's Church in Ux- 
 bridge was dedicated in 1855, the sermon on the oc- 
 casion being preached by Rev. James A. Healy, 
 afterwards Bishop of the Diocese of Maine. 
 
 In May, 18C7, Rev. Dennis O'Keefe was appointed 
 pastor and remained one year, when he was removed 
 to Clinton, in this county. 
 
 In May, 18G8, Rev. Dennis C. Moran was appointed 
 pastor, and the church in this town being insufficient 
 to accommodate all the Catholics of Uxbridge and 
 Northbridge, so rapidly hiid their numbers increased, 
 that this pastor caused St. Patrick's Church in Whit- 
 insville to be built in the year 1870, and thus gave 
 relief to the overcrowded St. Mary's. 
 
 In 1871, Rev. Henry L. Robinson, a gentleman of 
 great erudition and eloquence, was appointed pastor, 
 and is still occupying that position, loved and honored 
 by his congregation, .and highly respected and appre- 
 ciated by Christians of other denominations. So 
 highly have his labors in this field been valued by the 
 head of his Church, that the additional title of "Doctor 
 of Divinity" has been accorded to him, and is, we 
 know, well deserved and modestly worn. 
 
 In the year 1870 St. Mary's w.as repaired and hand- 
 somely frescoed at an expense of over two thousand 
 five hundred dollars. The present parish includes 
 the towns of Uxbridge and Northbridge, with St. 
 Mary's as the p.arish church. Dr. Robinson has charge 
 of both churches .and congregations, and is assisted 
 by a curate. The number of souls belonging to the 
 parish is over two thousand, and its average Sunday 
 attendance is very much larger than any other congre- 
 gation in the town. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 UXBRIDGE— (O^wZ/ww^/.) 
 
 Schools and Libkakies. — It will be observed that 
 the act of incorporation of the town required not only 
 
166 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 that there should be maintained public worship, but 
 also required to be maintained " a school-master to 
 instruct their youth in writing and reading." The 
 schools in Uxbridge rest upon this foundation. 
 
 In January, 1732, the town voted " that they will 
 sett up and keep a school in ye town of Uxbridge," 
 and "voted to have a sohool-dame for ye 1st 7 or 8 
 months, to keep a school in each part of the town 
 proportionable," and " voted that ye selectmen shall 
 provide a .school-dame, and state ye places that she 
 shall keep ye school att." 
 
 There must have been some ditiiculty in providing 
 a school-dame, for on March 7th the town voted " to 
 make choice of a school-master to keep a school in 
 town, and that John Read, Senior, be the school- 
 master." 
 
 Whether some doubting Stephen considered the 
 employment of a school-dame an evasion of the re- 
 quirement in the aforesaid act, that "a school-?»asto- 
 be maintained," etc., and caused the town to recon- 
 sider its first vote, or no female teacher could be per- 
 suaded to bury herself in the wild-woods of this then 
 thinly inhabited town, is an open question. But it it- 
 of record that the first school was taught by John 
 Read. What salary he received, and how many weeks 
 in a year his school was in session, is not recorded. 
 His successor, George Woodward, was chosen May 3, 
 1733, and the town voted to board him and to give 
 him twenty pounds for his year's services. Mr. Jame- 
 Emer.son boarded the teacher, and was allowed seven 
 shillings a week. January 7, 1734, the town chose 
 Edmund Rawsou teacher, and increased his salary to 
 twenty-five pounds. The same year we find mention 
 made of school districts as " squadrons," and each 
 squadron had the liberty of choosing its teacher — a 
 woman — and the selectmen were to approbate the 
 teachers. 
 
 In 173G John Rawson was elected teacher, and was 
 allowed forty-five pounds for teaching school. The 
 expenses of maintaining the schools up to the year 
 1756 seem to have been met from the income derived 
 from the grants of land made to the town by the 
 General Court, one of which was a grant of five hun- 
 dred acres, in the northerly part of the province, in 
 what is now New Hampshire; though in what part of 
 that State it is difficult to determine, though it is said 
 to be in Coos County. In the year 1756 the town 
 began to raise money for schools by direct tax, helped 
 out from time to time by sale of the school lands, and 
 the use of the proceeds for school purposes. 
 
 The first mention made of a school-house is in the 
 month of December, 1738, when the town " voted to 
 build a school-house." Tradition says the meeting- 
 house was previously used for this purpose ; but as 
 we have seen, the primitive meeting-house had but 
 poor accommodations for use on the Sabbath, and it is 
 hardly probable that it was made use of for school 
 purposes in its then unfinished and uncomfortable 
 condition. It is more probable that the schools were 
 
 kept in private houses, as the selectmen were required 
 to open schools in diffisrent parts of the town. The 
 school-house erected in 1738-39 must have been almost 
 as crude and uncomfortable, in many respects, as the 
 meeting-house, for the town voted October 17, 1740, 
 "to allow forty-four pounds, three shillings and three 
 pence for what had been done and for what was to be 
 done to the school-house " — a sum equivalent to a 
 little over two hundred dollars, which in these days of 
 plenty would pay for a very uncomfortable barn, if it 
 was not too large. In 1760 the town voted to divide 
 the town into districts, and each district was to enjoy 
 the privileges of schooling in proportion to the 
 money raised by them. The division took effect in 
 1761, and the town was divided into thirteen districts'; 
 the children of specified families were to attend 
 specified schools, and each district was to have a sum 
 of money allotted it, in proportion to the number of 
 scholars in that district. The sum of sixty pounds 
 was raised for schools each year from 1762 to 1771, in 
 1776 forty pounds, in 1777 sixty, in 1778 one hundred 
 and twenty, and in 1779 three hundred pounds, show- 
 ing by this sudden increase the effect and the pur- 
 chasing power of the depreciated currency in the 
 time of the Revolutionary War. In 1783-84 the ap- 
 propriation again fell to forty pounds, the money 
 value of the currency having improved by the 
 emission of a new and better national promise to pay. 
 
 In 1788 we find the first mention made of a gram- 
 mar school, the town having then " voted that three 
 pounds, thirteen shillings and six pence, raised at the 
 last meeting, should be applied to a grammar school 
 the present year." In 1796 the town was redistricted 
 and divided into eleven school districts and substan- 
 tially remained so divided up to 182.'>. In 1797 the 
 town voted to raise two thousand dollars for building 
 school-houses in the several districts, and in case the 
 inhabitants of the district were unable to agree 
 where their school- house should be placed, the com- 
 mittee were to fix upon a proper site. For a good 
 description of these old school-houses I am indebted 
 to Hon. Charles A. Wheelock, who speaks from 
 personal experience in the following language: 
 
 " The old school-bouses ! What queer buildings 
 they were when compared with the modern school- 
 house ! The writing-desk was a plank running round 
 three sides of the room ; the seat was a slab, its flat 
 side uppermost, with holes bored in it in which were 
 driven cart-stakes for legs. The scholar had no back 
 to his seat unless he should turn round and face the 
 centre of the room, when his back might rest against 
 the edge of the plank writing-desk. The big stone 
 fireplace was filled with blazing logs in winter and 
 the child must roast and freeze by turns. The dun- 
 geon — that dreadful place — to which the unruly ones 
 were consigned sometimes to regale themselves upon 
 the good things the prudent had brought to sustain 
 themselves in their arduous labors while delving 
 among the mysteries of the three R's, and the heavy 
 
UXBRIDGE. 
 
 167 
 
 ruler was there and that never-to-be-forgetten birch 
 which was so quickening to the mental faculties when 
 properly administered." 
 
 Gradually but surely the expense attending the 
 schooling of the children increased, so that while in 
 the year 1800 the amount appi-opriated was only about 
 four hundred dollars ; in isy.") it had increased to 
 one thousand dollars. With the increased appropria- 
 tion better school advantages were secured. The 
 average wages of female teachers in 1835 was only 
 $5.73 per month, and male teachers $13.93, exclusive 
 of board. The schools were kept twenty weeks in a 
 year, women teaching summers and men in the win- 
 ters ; and, therefore, it is to be presumed that the ten 
 weeks of summer school were principally for the benefit 
 of the younger children, while the grown-up sons and 
 daughters, whose labors were essential to the family 
 support in summer, attended school ten weeks in the 
 winter, and were taught by a man, on account of the 
 necessity of having some one who could handle them 
 and compel obedience. As the town increased in 
 population, as it did rapidly after 1835, it became 
 necessary to provide better accommodations for the 
 school-children. The appropriations gradually in- 
 creased, new school-houses were erected to take the 
 places of those so graphically described by Mr. Whee- 
 lock, and more and better teachers were employed. 
 
 In 1855, it having been ascertained that the town 
 had a population sufficiently large to bring it within 
 the provisions of the statutes requiring a high school 
 to be kept, the town voted that the School Committee 
 should procure a place and open such a school, and 
 six hundred dollars was appropriated for the support 
 of the school until the next March meeting. The 
 committee .subsequently employed Mr. Nathan Gold- 
 thwaite as principal of the school, which was opened 
 in the old academy building on the northerly end of 
 the town's common. This "old academy building" 
 was erected in 1819 by Solomon's Temple Lodge of 
 Free Masons and the citizens of the town by contri- 
 bution, the citizens building the lower story and 
 the Masons the upper. In February, 1819, this article 
 appeared in the town warrant : " To see if the town 
 will permit the erection of a private school-house on 
 the north end of the Common, between the cartway 
 leading to widow Fanny Willard's back-yard, and the 
 wall south of where the old blacksmith shop stands ; 
 provided said building can be erected by private 
 munificence." 
 
 On March 3d (annual town-meeting) it was voted 
 that liberty be given to build a school-house on the 
 town common — of certain specified dimensions — pro- 
 vided it be built within three years from this date. 
 The Masonic Lodge, recently formed in the town, 
 which had been holding its meetings in the hall at 
 the Spring Tavern, in the north part of the town, de- 
 sired better accommodations and eiiected an arrange- 
 ment with the committee of citizens by which the 
 Masons and the citizens should erect the building at 
 
 joint expense, the Masons completing and occupying 
 the upper story and the citizens the lower part for 
 private school purposes. The building was of brick 
 and was so far completed December 25, 1819, that the 
 JSIasons occupied their new hall. The private school, 
 which was afterward known as the " Uxbridge Acad- 
 emy," was opened by Mr. Abiel Jaques, a Harvard 
 graduate, in the fall of 1820, and was used for an 
 academy and select school for young ladies under sev- 
 eral different teachers of both sexes, until about the 
 time the town took it for a high school room in 1855. 
 
 In 1865 a three years' course of study was arranged 
 for the high school, which, in 1869, was changed to 
 one of four years. The schools and school system of 
 Uxbridge have always been its especial pride. The 
 town has freely voted its money for their support, 
 and, notwithstanding the carping criticisms of a few, 
 who, if they knew more about the schools, would use 
 better judgment, they are excellently and economi- 
 cally managed, and aie producing grand results. The 
 wages of teachers at the present time average as fol- 
 lows : Female teachers, thirty-five dollars per month ; 
 male, high school only, one hundred and ten dollars, 
 for ten months only. There are now seventeen com- 
 mon schools and the high school, and the average 
 length of the schools is thirty-three weeks for com- 
 mon schools, and thirty-eight for the high school. 
 
 In 1869 the Massachusetts Legislature passed a 
 law abolishing school districts, and requiring the 
 towns to take possession of all the school-houses and 
 other school property owned by the several districts 
 in their corporate capacity, within one year thereaf- 
 ter, and pay the districts for the same such sum as a 
 committee agreed upon by the town and the districts 
 should appraise the property at — the same to be 
 paid to the several resident and non-resident tax- 
 payers of the districts, in proportion to the amount 
 of property liable to taxation therein, by deducting 
 from such tax-payer's annual town tax for that year 
 the amount apportioned to hira for his interest in the 
 school property. 
 
 By this law Uxbridge bought of the several school 
 districts property aggregating, by the appraisal of the 
 committee, something over $23,000. Since 1870, 
 therefore, the school district system has ceased to ex- 
 ist, and all the schools and school property is in the 
 charge and control of the general School Committee, 
 consisting of twelve members, and imstead of repairs 
 and expenses attending the buildingof new houses be- 
 ing now paid by direct tax upon the inhabitants of the 
 district, where the school-house may chance to be 
 located, as was formerly the case, all the school ex- 
 penses, inclusive, are assessed in one sum to the in- 
 habitants of the town, as other town charges are 
 assessed. This, of necessity, makes the per cent, of 
 increase of money raised for town purposes since 1860 
 appear larger, in proportion to the increase of the 
 previous period referred to in the first chapter, thiin 
 it otherwise would ; for the amount of money usually 
 
168 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 required annually for repairs of school-houses is quite 
 an item in the list of school expenses, iind liable to 
 mislead the careless critic who attempts to show the 
 extravagance of school management to-day over the 
 management of twenty years ago. A careful exami- 
 nation of the records and the other items of town 
 expenses will show conclusively that the percentage 
 of increase in school expenses has only kept pace 
 with the increase in population, valuation and gen- 
 eral progress of both town and State. 
 
 No town in the county can show better schools or 
 better accommodations for the scholars for the 
 amount expended. The grading of the schools is 
 comparatively higher than obtains in many of the 
 neighboring towns, and applications are frequently 
 received from pupils iu adjoining towns for leave to 
 attend the grammar and high schools iu Uxbridge. 
 The schools for the past three years have been under 
 the charge of school superintendents, whose personal 
 attention to the minutest details of grading, instruc- 
 tion and discipline has done much to produce the good 
 results obtained. Cheap, unskilled labor in any busi- 
 ness is dear at any price ; and a poor teacher, more than 
 a poor laborer in any other vineyard, can do immense 
 damage, and should never be intrusted with the edu- 
 cation of the young, even though she is willing to 
 work for small wages. The success of a .school, like 
 the success of a woolen-mill or a machine shop, <le- 
 pends upon the degree of .skill possessed by the man- 
 agers, and the consensus of public opinion is in favor 
 of that kind of management which produces good 
 results and makes the business a success. 
 
 We have neither time nor space to give an account 
 of the different private schools which, since the in- 
 auguration of Uxbridge Academy, have met with 
 varying success. At the present writing not a single 
 private school is in existence in the town, nor has 
 there been for several years. The broad and liberal 
 instruction given in the public school seems to meet 
 the requirements of all classes, and no occasion 
 offers for the establishment of schools for private 
 emolument and gain. 
 
 From small beginnings, under most discouraging 
 and disheartening circumstances, the public-school 
 system of Uxbridge has constantly advanced, until it 
 has become one of the proudest monuments to the 
 good sense, sagacity and philanthropy of her people. 
 
 lAbraries. — The earliest circulating or public library 
 iu this town, of which there is any record, was called 
 the " U.vbridge Social and Instructive Library," and 
 was kept and managed by George Southwick, who was 
 .born in 1747, and died in 1807. A book was found 
 many years ago by Jonathan F. Southwick, which 
 contained the name Uxbridge Social and Instructive 
 Library, with the number lO.S, and the date 1775. Mr. 
 Southwick (now deceased) said that he remembered a 
 meeting of the stockholders, for the purpose of divid- 
 ing up the books, and closing the affairs of the library. 
 
 in 1812. So that it probably existed some thirty-five 
 or forty years. 
 
 It is not easy to trace the history of libraries in the 
 town, prior to the establishment of the " Uxbridge 
 Free Public Library," by vote of the town in April, 
 1874; as they, and the records concerning them, have 
 passed out of existence. Hon. C. A. Wheelock re- 
 members that there was a "Social Library" in the town 
 in 1821, and how much earlier he is unable to tell. 
 As its name was " Uxbridge Second Social Library," 
 it is very probable that it began its existence soon 
 after the year 1812 — the date of dissolution of the Ux- 
 bridge Social and Instructive Library. 
 
 Another library was formed as early as 1830 or 1831, 
 which continued to live with varying degrees of use- 
 fulness until the establishment of the " Fi-ee Public 
 Library." As many as a thousand volumes may, at 
 one time, have belonged to it, as we have seen vol- 
 umes which were numbered as high as nine hundred 
 and fifty. In the forty years of its existence it was 
 used by a large number of |iersons. From a report of 
 the Hon. Benj. Adams, dated .lauuary 1 1, 1830, it ap- 
 pears that this library was formed in January, 1828. 
 In 18fi5 the name of this library was called " Uxbridge 
 Library Association," and for several years the writer 
 of this history had charge of the same as librarian, it 
 being then in the room occupied by him as an office 
 in the Union bnilding. In the spring of 1873 the 
 Library Association offered the books belonging to 
 the association to the town as a nucleus for a public 
 library ; provided the town will establish such a li- 
 brary. About the same time the " Uxbridge Agri- 
 cultural Library Association," an association of farm- 
 ers, who for sever.al years had been contributing 
 books and funds for an agricultural library, and who 
 owned a few hundred volumes and pamphlets, made 
 a .similar offer, with the same condition. 
 
 At the aiunial town-meeting in Jlarch, 1874, there 
 being an article in the warrant for the consideration 
 of the subject, the town voted to establish a Free Pub- 
 lic Library, appointed a commiitee to report a plan, 
 etc., of the same at an adjourned meeting to be held in 
 April, and voted to appropriate the " Dog Fund," 
 amounting to about $27") to the uses of the library. 
 At the adjourned meeting, April 0, 1874, the report 
 of the committee and its recommendations and rules 
 for the management of the public library were ac- 
 cepted and adopted, and a board of trustees was cho- 
 sen, as provided by law. 
 
 The Free Public Library thus established went into 
 operation for the delivery of books .lanuary 20, 1875, 
 and had on its shelves six hundred and eighty-nine 
 volumes. In thirteen years the library, under the ju- 
 dicious management of Hon. Chas. A. Wheelock and 
 his associates on the board of trustees, and the gener- 
 ous annual appropriations of the town, has become 
 one of the best in the county; is patronized by all 
 classes of society, has a catalogue containing nearly 
 Jive thousand volumes of the best literary and standard 
 
UXBKIDGE. 
 
 169 
 
 works, suited to all ages and conditions of life, and 
 has so nearly outgrown its present quarters in the 
 north end of the new town hall that, at no distant day, 
 it will be necessary to move to a building by itself, 
 which we hope some public-spirited citizen will build, 
 and pi'esent to the town for that purpose. 
 
 The advantages of a Free Public Library cannot 
 be overestimated — it reaches the homes of the poor 
 as well as the rich, and furnishes the means of a 
 home education and culture, otherwise unattainable 
 by many. To the scholars in the public schools, who 
 have frequent occasion to consult the valuable refer- 
 ence hooks and encyclopedias ; to the mechanic and 
 the farmer, seeking scientific demonstration of their 
 respective theories ; to the professional man, and the 
 average reader, it has proved a real blessing and 
 source of constant gratifieation and enjoyment. If it 
 adds something to the burden of taxation, all pay it 
 cheerfully, feeling that it is money well invested, and 
 its rapid growth and constantly increasing use proves 
 that the projectors of the " Free Public Library" 
 made no mistakes when they induced the town to 
 take its action of 1874. At the present rate of increa.se, 
 averaging some four hundred volumes per year, the 
 " Uxbridge Free Library " will soon be entitled to 
 honorable mention on the records of the National 
 Library at Washington. 
 
 b 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 VXBRlDC.n—{Co?i/i>i!/ei/.) 
 
 Manufacturing. — While Uxbridge takes no in- 
 ferior rank as an agricultural town, she ever points 
 with becoming pride to her manufacturing establish- 
 ments, which, more than anything else, have been 
 the meau.s of increasing her population and her 
 valuation. 
 
 At an early date in her history the ingenuity of 
 her mechanics began to manifest itself in the produc- 
 tion of better facilities for carrying on of mechanical 
 business. More than one hundred and fifty years 
 ago dams were built across the water-courses, and the 
 giant " (ujuw jiuentes" was harnessed to the forge, 
 the saw-mill, the grist-mill, the wheelwright-shop anil 
 finally the factory, until to-day, the busy whir of the 
 spools and spindles, the rattle of the loom and the 
 clatter of the bobbins, on every stream, fill the air 
 with their music and tell the glad story of a happy, 
 prosperous and intelligent people. 
 
 Hon. Charles A. Wheelock, one of the oldest and 
 most intelligent manufacturers now living in the 
 Blackstone Valley, to whom I am indebted for many 
 valuable hints and facts in the preparation of this 
 history, gives me the following .account of the manu- 
 facturing industries of this, his native town. 
 
 It is well known that Samuel Slater, about 1790, 
 was the first to manufacture cotton goods in this 
 
 country ; but it is not so generally known that John 
 and Arthur Schofield, who came from England in 
 March, 1793, introduced the manufacture of woolen 
 goods. 
 
 In 1810 Daniel Day built his first mill in Uxbridge; 
 size, twenty by forty feet, two stories high, and located 
 where now stands the mill of S. W. Scott. In the 
 same year he put into the mill a billy, a jenny with 
 thirty spindles and a hand-loom. In 1812 he added 
 four looms, making five in all. Everything except 
 the picking and carding was then done by hand, and 
 no looms were run by water-power, until a number of 
 years after. 
 
 In the same year the first movement was made to- 
 wards the manufacture of cotton goods in Uxbridge. 
 This was seen in the building of the works of the 
 "Uxbridge Cotton-Mills" in that year by Mr. Ben- 
 jamin Clapp. 
 
 The next attempt at woolen manufacturing was 
 made by the Rivulet Manufacturing Company, which 
 was incorporated in ISIt!, although the company was 
 formed, the buildings erected, and the business of 
 manufacturing begun in 1814. This company used a 
 billy and jennies, which were built in this town by 
 John & George Carpenter, and the mill was super- 
 intended by .Terry Wheelock, a practical mechanic, 
 well acquainted with the construction and operation 
 of machinery. The weaving was all done by hand- 
 looms, and the goods were chiefly satinets, although 
 some broadcloths and cassimeres were made. 
 
 Cotton manufacturing kept pace with woolens, and 
 this same year, 1814, the Ironstone Mill was built on 
 Forge Brook (now Ironstone Brook), in the south 
 part of the town, by William Arnold and others. 
 
 After this time, for a few yeai-s, there were no mills 
 erected in this town ; but important improvements 
 were made in the construction of machinery. The 
 next mill built was the Capron Mill, thirty-three by 
 sixty feet, and three stories high, in the year 1820, 
 and went into operation in the winter of 1821-22. It 
 was started with one set of cards, one billy of forty 
 spindles, two jennies of one hundred and twenty 
 .spindles each, two cotton-spinning-frames of sixty- 
 four spindles each, with the preparations, and a 
 warper and dresser for making satinet warps, and 
 twelve power satinet-looms, — the first satinet power- 
 looms ever built, it has been said, and they were built 
 on the premises b}' Luke Jillson, of Cumberland, 
 R, I. lu 1824 an addition was made of a set of cards, 
 a billy of fifty spindles and a jenny of one hundred 
 and twenty spindles, built by the Messrs. Carpenter; 
 a jenny of one hundred and fifty spindles, built by 
 Jerry Wheelock ; eight .satinet-looms, two cotton-cards 
 and two spinning-frames of sixty-four spindles each, 
 built in Woon.socket. 
 
 In 1837 sixty feet were added to the length of the 
 Capron Mill, and in 1855 forty feet more were added. 
 At first it ran two sets of machinery ; now it runs 
 six. This factory has been a remarkably lucky one 
 
170 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 for its owners and lessees ; has never been burned, 
 and has made money for every one who has occupied 
 it. In 1851 Moses Taft and J. W. Day, under the 
 firm-name of Taft & Day, hired this mill and con- 
 ducted the business for several years, when Wm. 
 O. Capron, one of the owners of the mill, was ad- 
 mitted to the firm, making it Taft, Day & Co. J. W. 
 Day shortly afterwards withdrew, and Taft & Capron 
 continued till about 1861, when E. & J. Taft bought 
 tliera out and carried on the business until the close 
 of the war, when their lease expired. They were 
 succeeded by Henry and Charles C. Capron, under 
 the name of H. & C. C. Capron. Mr. Charles C. 
 Capron soon withdrew from the firm, and was suc- 
 ceeded by William E. Hayward, when the firm 
 became Capron & Hayward ; they in turn being 
 succeeded by the Capron Woolen Company, composed 
 of Henry Capron, Charles C. Capron and Royal C. 
 Taft, of Providence, E. I., who now run the mill. 
 
 In the autumn of 1824 the dams were built for the 
 Luke Taft Mill, — now the Wacantuck, owned and 
 operated by C. A. & S. M. Wheelock, — and the 
 Uxbridge Woolen, now the Hecla ; also to carry the 
 water ef the West River to the mill of Mr. Day, — 
 now Scott's. The next year, 1825, witnessed the 
 erection of the Luke Taft Mill, thirty-four by sixty 
 feet, three stories high ; the Uxbridge Woolen-Mill, 
 thirty-six by eighty feet, three stories high; and an 
 addition to the Day Mill, making it forty by forty-five 
 feet, three stories high. New and improved machinery 
 was put into these mills, and they were soon in opera- 
 tion. Taft's and Day's Mills were started on satinets 
 in the winter of 1825, and the Uxbridge W(K)len- 
 Mill on cassimeres, late in the fall of 182G. 
 
 In August, 1828, the Uxbridge Woolen-Mill, the 
 largest of all the mills in town, was destroyed by fire, 
 and within a week a woolen-mill was burned in Mil- 
 ford, and another in East Douglas. As this was con- 
 temporaneous with the remark of the British Minis- 
 ter that " he would not allow America to make a 
 hob-nail," and also at a time when the country had 
 become much excited on the subject of duties for the 
 protection of domestic industry, many persons ex- 
 pressed the opinion that the English manufacturers 
 had emissaries here who were to burn the woolen- 
 mills, and in that way accomplish the object of 
 defeating the eft'ect of the protective tarifl'. 
 
 The Uxbridge Woolen-Mill was immediately rebuilt 
 of brick, forty by eighty feet, three stories high. 
 Since the erection of the former mill, John Goulding, 
 of Dedham, had invented and obtained letters patent 
 for improvement in carding and spinning wool, and 
 his new machinery for that purpose was coming into 
 general use, so that the new Uxbridge Woolen-Mill 
 was supplied with it, to the great advantage of all 
 concerned. The Uxbridge Woolen Manufacturing 
 Company was a corporation, receiving its charter in 
 the winter of 1826-27. Its corporate existence con- 
 
 tinued until about the year 1848, when the property 
 passed into the hands of Josiah Seagrave and M. D. F. 
 Steere, who operated the mill for about ten years. In 
 1850 the mill was greatly enlarged, the machinery 
 increased to twelve sets, with about fifty Crompton 
 fancy looms. In 1852 the mill was again destroyed 
 by fire. It was soon rebuilt, and filled with the most 
 improved cassimere machinery then known. In 1857, 
 Mr. Steere went to Amesbury to take charge of the 
 Salisbury Mills, and Mr. Seagrave operated the mill 
 alone. In February, 1859, the devouring flames 
 again seized upon this unlucky property, and de- 
 stroyed the finishing-mill and dye-house. This last 
 loss was too much for the proprietor, who had so long 
 been harassed and troubled with misfortune, and, 
 though he rebuilt the destroyed buildings with the 
 insurance money, he was unable to continue the 
 business, and soon after died. The property then 
 passed into the hands of the mortgagees, J. C. Howe 
 & Co., of Boston, who soon sold it at auction to 
 William D. Davis, of Providence, R. I., who took it 
 just in time to receive the advantages the Civil War 
 gave to manufacturers. About 1868, Mr. Davis sold 
 the mill to Robert & Jacob Taft, who made exten- 
 sive repairs, additions and improvements, operated it 
 two or three years, then resold it to Mr. Davis, who 
 again operated it for several years. In 1884 the 
 Calumet Woolen Company, then owning the mill at 
 New Village, bought of Mr. Davis the entire Uxbridge 
 Woolen property, including mills, tenements, machin- 
 ery, farm, etc., and have since expended upon it, in 
 permanent improvements, additions and new ma- 
 chinery, over eighty thousand dollars, making it by far 
 the finest manufacturing property in the town, and 
 the finest woolen-mill in Worcester County. It has 
 all the modern improvements, is lighted with electri- 
 city, has telephone connection with the other mills 
 owned by the corporation, and has started out to re- 
 deem itself from the reputation its former bad luck 
 has given it, and under the charge of its present 
 managers will certainly succeed. 
 
 The old Day Mill, the first mill built in the town, 
 was burnt in 1844, and was rebuilt in the course of a 
 year or two by his son, Joseph Day. Afterwards it 
 was operated l)y J. W. Day, son of Joseph Day, for 
 four or five years, or until 1849 or '50, when Samuel 
 W. Scott took a lease of it for a term of years, and 
 manufactured satinets on contract. In 1859 Mr. 
 Scott bought the mill and farm of Mr. Day, and has 
 continued to operate it to the present time ; the past 
 ten years in company with his brother, J. R. Scott, 
 the firm now being J. R. Scott & Co., who lease the 
 mill of S. W. Scott. The mill was burned to the 
 ground in the summer of 1878, but was rebuilt in an 
 enlarged and greatly improved manner, with first- 
 class machinery in every respect for making satinets. 
 The village is now appropriately named Elmdale, and 
 its genial proprietor is entitled to great credit for the 
 determination and courage he has manifested in 
 
UXBRIDGE. 
 
 171 
 
 achieving victory over his troubles, and accomplish- 
 ing his deserved success. 
 
 The mill built by Luke Taft, on the West River, in 
 1825, seems always to have been a lucky mill, with a 
 single exception. 
 
 Luke Taft operated the mill alone, until his son 
 Moses Taft was taken into the concern, about the 
 year 1833. In 1840, J. Wheelock & Son— C. A. 
 Wheelock — bought one-half of the Luke Taft Mill, 
 taking into the business Silas M. Wheelock, making 
 the firm J. Wheelock &Sons. The other half of the 
 mill was run by Moses Taft, till he sold out, in 1846, 
 to C. A. & S. M. Wheelock, Mr. Jerry Wheelock, 
 the father, retiring from the business. The mill origi- 
 nally built by Luke Taft was burned in the winter 
 of 1837-38, but was immediately rebuilt upon a 
 larger scale, and supplied with new and improved 
 machinery. C. A. & S. M. Wheelock named their 
 mill, which they greatly enlarged and improved, "the 
 Wacantuck Mills," the name Wacantuck being the 
 Indian name of the town. They manufactured 
 satinets and plaids until 1852, when they also made 
 cassimeres. Since 1855 they have made cassimeres 
 exclusively, and have ever since continued to pro- 
 duce an excellent quality of these all-wool goods, 
 which find a ready sale in the market, and keep this 
 mill constantly at work. Many of the help at this 
 mill have grown gray in its service and, like the 
 proprietors themselv&s, take great pride in the success 
 of the mill and the beauty of its village. Several of 
 the employes own their homes, and, as a rule, all the 
 employes are well-paid, contented and happy, and 
 have an unbounded respect for their neighborly em- 
 ployers. 
 
 In 1852, Moses Taft laid the foundation for the 
 mill formerly known as the Central Mills, now the 
 Calumet. It was completed the next year, and 
 leased to Israel M. Southwick and Richard Sayles, 
 under the name of Southwick & Sayles, who con- 
 tinued to operate the mill till 1859, when they sold 
 out their lease to Bradford, Taft & Co., of Providence, 
 R. I., Mr. Sayles continuing to superintend the mill 
 and act as agent till January 1, 18ij4. Daniel W. 
 Taft then took charge of the mill as superintendent, 
 and continued in charge until betook the lease in his 
 own name in 18t)9. Mr. Moses Taft sold the 
 mill to R. & J. Taft in 18(i6, and these gentlemen 
 made great additions and improvements thereto, and 
 by building a new dam at Rice City, in the northerly 
 part of the town, and flowing about one hundred 
 acres of land, greatly increased the water-power, and 
 made it more permanent. These enterprising gentle- 
 men also put in an eighty horse-power steam-engine 
 as extra power in dry weather, and thus became sure 
 of constant operation of the mill in all seasons. At 
 the conclusion of Mr. D. W. Taft's lease, in 1883, the 
 Calumet Woolen Company was incorporated, with 
 Isaac Fenno, of Boston, for president; S. M. Wheel- 
 ock, of Uxbridge, treasurer; and Arthur Wheelock, 
 
 agent and general superintendent, and purchased of 
 Messrs. R. & J. Taft, all the mill estate, inclusive, 
 and of Mr. D. W. Taft certain machinery and fix- 
 tures owned by him. This corporation immediately 
 expended over twenty thousand dollars in new 
 j machinery and improvements, widened the canal, 
 raised its banks and increased its capacity largely; 
 and are to-day turning out handsome, high-grade 
 cassimeres, the best ever manufactured in the town. 
 As hereinbefore stated, this corporation also owns 
 and operates the Hecla Mill, about one-half a mile 
 easterly of the Calumet ; the two mills being con- 
 nected by telephone and under the charge of Arthur 
 Wheelock, agent and general manager. The purchase 
 and enlarging of these two mills by this corporation, 
 at an expense of over two hundred and fifty thousand 
 dollars, has given an impetus to the prosperity of the 
 town which it has never known before. Employing 
 more help, the population of the town has increased 
 from three thousand and fifty in 1880 to three thou- 
 sand five hundred in 1888. The weekly payments of 
 the corporation amount to about twenty-five hundred 
 dollars, and this amount is added to the trade accounts 
 of all the retail dealers in town, making business in 
 all branches correspondingly better. About one-third 
 of the capital stock is owned by residents of the town, 
 so that the town not only gets the benefit of the large 
 tax upon the real estate, but also gets a large return 
 from the State, in the shape of corporation taxes, re- 
 turned to the towns in which the stockholders reside. 
 The gratitude of the town is due to Hon. S. M. 
 Wheelock, by whose efforts this corporation was 
 established and located in this town. 
 
 In 1864 Richard Sayles and D. A. McBride bought 
 of Dea. Chandler Taft the old Rivulet Mill and water- 
 power, which had been idle for a number of years, 
 made extensive repairs, and manufactured shoddy 
 till 1866, when Mr. Sayles purchased Mr. McBride's 
 interest, and soon after sold it to Israel M. Southwick, 
 taking Mr. Southwick as his partner. The next fall 
 Sayles & Southwick put in steam-power, enlarged the 
 property, and fitted it up to receive new machinery, 
 on an extensive scale, for the manufacture of shoddy. 
 In November, 1866, Mr. Southwick sold out to Mr. 
 Sayles, and Mr. Sayles soon after sold one-half inter- 
 est in the property to Zadok A. Taft ; and Messrs. 
 Sayles & Taft put in the shoddy machinery and ran 
 the mill till 1869, when they leased the mill to E. S. 
 Bradford & Co., of Providence, R. I., for the manu- 
 facture of knitting yarn, and it was run on this work 
 until the mill was burned in October, 1872, a few 
 weeks before the great Boston fire. It was rebuilt the 
 next year in a much improved manner. At first cot- 
 ton machinery was put in, but it soon gave place to 
 woolen machinery, with which Mr. Sayles was better 
 acquainted. Messrs. Sayles & Taft ran the mill 
 until October 1, 1878, and then leased the mill and 
 machinery to Sayles, Taft & Co., the company being 
 Henry S. Morse; then in January, 1882, Taft left the 
 
172 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 manufacturing firm, and it became Richard Sayles & 
 Co. These gentlemen operated the mill with great 
 success until the death of Mr. Sayles, in 1887. The 
 property is now owned by the Ihree sous of Mr. Sayles, 
 who carry on the manufacture of satinets under the 
 same name as the old firm — Richard Sayle.s & Co. 
 
 About tlie year 1834 Alvin Cooke purchased a small 
 building on the Emerson Brook, which was form- 
 erly used for a cabinet shop. He enlarged it, and put 
 in woolen cards, spinning machinery and looms, but 
 no finishing machines. He operated the mill under 
 contract for Ellingham L. Capron, who was then 
 operating the Capron Mill, making satinets. In 1837 
 Mr. Cooke was obliged to succumb to the financial 
 pressure, and never again engaged in manufacturing. 
 From 1837 to 1879 the mill has been practically idle 
 and unoccupied. Since 1880 Mr. D. M. Lee has 
 utilized it for the purpose of a shciddy-mill. Mr. Lee 
 has greatly improved the property, built a new dam 
 and reservoir on the stream, and is determined to 
 make it a success. 
 
 In 18l!5 or '66, Mr. Zadok A. Taft bought the 
 property on the Emer.son Brook which was formerly 
 known as the Leonard Taft Saw and Grist-Mills. 
 These mills had not been used for many years and 
 had fallen into decay. Mr. Taft erected a new mill, 
 into which he at first put machinery for making cot- 
 ton warps. Subsequently he removed this and sub- 
 stituted satinet machinery. Mr. Taft operated the 
 mill for several years and then leased it, and it has 
 been operated by several ditlcrent firms for that pur- 
 pose till the present time. 
 
 In 1832 the Ironstone Mill — built in 1814 asa cotton- 
 mill — was burned. It was rebuilt by Jonathan F 
 Southwick, fitted with woolen machinery, and operated 
 by Fairbanks & Messinger for the manufacture ol 
 Kentucky jeans. In 1865 fire again visited this 
 property and destroyed the factory. Subsequently a 
 roof was put over the basement walls, which 
 remained standing, making a one-story mill, which 
 for several years was used by Joseph C. Keith 
 & Co. for a shotldy mill. It afterwards passed 
 into the hands of Abijah Esty, of Millville, and 
 at his decease it ceased to be used for manufactur- 
 ing purposes, and the mill and the brick tenements 
 and store-houses which once denoted a prosperous vil- 
 lage are fast becoming dilapi<lated ruins. About the 
 year ISSU Mr. ('harles C. Capron erected in the mill- 
 yard of the Capron Mills a well appointed shoddy- 
 mill, and in a few years his largely increasing busine-s 
 occasioned the building of another mill near to the 
 other, into which he put, in addition to shoddy cards 
 and pickers, two sets of yarn machinery for making 
 woolen yarn for carpets. This i)art of the business 
 was subsequently given up, and the entire plant de- 
 voted to the manufacture of shoddy. In addition to 
 the water-power of the Mumford River, these mills 
 and the Capron Satinet-Mills are supplied with 
 
 adequate steam power, and under the management of 
 the Messrs. Capron are, as usual, successful. 
 
 The old Shuttle Shop on Drabble Tail Brook was 
 at one time devoted to manufacturing purposes, cot- 
 ton yarn and shoddy being among its principal pro- 
 ductions. The machinery was operated by Zadok A. 
 Taft and B. Stetson, and afterwards by J. C. Keith. 
 
 One of the principal industries of Uxbridge from 
 an early date was the manufacture of cotton goo<ls. 
 The first factory erected I'or that pnipose was erected 
 in 1810, by Forbes & Benjamin Clapp, at what is 
 now known asRogerson's Village, in North Uxbridge. 
 They sold out in 1815 to Harvey & Mellen, and they 
 soon after sold to Robert Rogerson. The mill was a 
 small building, which was afterwards removed and 
 converted into a factory tenement-house. There they 
 manufactured cotton thread until about the year I8IG7 
 when the venture proved a failure. They had been 
 stocked by Mr. Robert Rogerson, who was at that 
 time a merchant in Boston, and upon the failure of 
 Harvey & Mellen the property passed into his hands. 
 Mr. Rogerson continued the business then until about 
 the year 1825, when he removed the Clapp Mill and 
 began the erection of his first stone factory. Near it, 
 and in accordance with his original plan, he erected a 
 second stone factory, and the two mills have since 
 been united. He expended thus, in buildings and 
 machinery, the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand 
 dollars. He laid out a village, which at that time had 
 more of the quality of perfection than almost any 
 other manufacturing village in New England. It is 
 laid out with great taste, and the stone work of the 
 dams, canals, bridges and arches under the mill are 
 marvels of good workmanshiii, which constant use of 
 more than fifty years has not detracted from. These 
 mills and this beautiful village will long stand, built 
 as they are in lasting stone and brick, a fitting monu- 
 ment to the genius and public spirit of Robert Roger- 
 son. In the financial troubles of 1837, Mr. Rogerson 
 was obliged to give up the property, and it passed into 
 the possession of the nujrtgagees. A new corj^oratlon 
 was formed, called the Uxbridge Cotton-Mills, and the 
 mill is still called by that name, although the original 
 incorporators have nearly all died or sold their interest 
 in the property. In 1851 the Whitin Brothers, of 
 Northbridge, were the princii)al owners and managers 
 of the corporate stock and property, and under their 
 excellent management, which has continued to the 
 present time, the property has continued to improve, 
 and is now a first-class cotton-mill in every respect. 
 This is the only cotton-mill in town, and with the 
 single exception of the mill at Ironstone, originally 
 built for a cotton mill, is the only one ever erected 
 here solely for cotton goods. 
 
 There have been several other manufacturing estab- 
 lishments started, continued lor a short time and 
 then given up ; which, as they did not contribute 
 materially to the prosperity of the town, will not be 
 noticed at length. Among these were the Uxbridge 
 
UXBRIDGE. 
 
 173 
 
 Card Clothing Co., the Bay State Arms Co., and the 
 Wilder Screw Machine Co., neither of which met 
 with success, and none are now in exi.stence. 
 
 One of the industries of the town, of which brief 
 notice should be given, was the carriage manufactory 
 of Theodore B. Whiting, in Mechanics' Square, on 
 Drabble Tail Brook. About the year 1850, Mr. 
 Whiting purchased the cluster of buildings formerly 
 used for a tannery and cooper shop, etc., in rear of 
 Union Building, and began the manufacture of car- 
 riages and harness, and also did a general wheelwright 
 and blacksmithing busine-ss. Many excellent car- 
 riages were made by Mr. Whiting, and they were so 
 well made that some of them are in use to-day, after 
 more than thirty years of service. The style, of 
 course, is somewhat antiquated, but the carriages are 
 good for the balance of the century. A thoroughly 
 good and honest man himself, his reputation sufl'ered 
 no injury from his handiwork. It needed no war- 
 ranty, and none was asked by those who knew the 
 genial, upright, dignified gentleman who received 
 their orders. At his lamented death, which occurred 
 in ISfiil, the business was divided, the wheelwright, 
 the blacksmith, the painter, and the harness-maker 
 each striking out for himself; and as a result, the 
 business of manufacturing carriages soon became a 
 business of carriage repairing. Prentiss Whiting 
 several years before had started a carriage factory at 
 the Rivulet, but it did not prove a success, and a man 
 named Gardner is said to have manufactured car- 
 riages for awhile in the old shop now owned by 
 Merrill Greene, on North Main Street. 
 
 Banks. — The Blackstonc Bank was incorporated 
 August 27, 1825, with a capital of $100,000, divided 
 into one thousand shares. It was originally, and 
 until 18B5, a period of forty years, a State bank, and 
 was the only bank of discount and circulation in this 
 part of the Blackstone Valley. 
 
 In 18<i5 it became a National Bank, under the 
 banking-laws of the United States, and its name was 
 changed to the Blackstone National Bank. Its cap- 
 ital remained the same, and, under its excellent 
 management, it has always had a surplus, so that its 
 capital stock has seldom been obtainable in the mar- 
 ket for less than $120 per share. It has had but four 
 presidents since 1825, and only three cashiers — Jona- 
 than Gregory being cashier from 1825 to 1830, E. W. 
 Hay ward from 1836 until his death, in 1875, a continu- 
 ous service of nearly forty years. Moses Taft, Esq., has 
 been president of the bank since 1865, and, although 
 nearly eighty years of age, is hale and hearty and a 
 shrewd and capable financier. The bank occupies a 
 room in Robert Taft's block, under a very peculiar 
 lease. The advantage of having a bank in Uxbridge 
 was of such moment to the then owners of the old 
 brick store, which has since been remodeled into the 
 modern business block, that, as an inducement for it 
 to locate here, the room was fitted up, and a long 
 lease given, in which the stipulated rent was " one 
 
 barley-corn per year,'' and this singular rent fs all 
 that the bank has been required to pay for the use of 
 its banking-rooms to this date. Whether the rent 
 has actually been handed over each year, and what 
 the landlord does with it, are open questions, which 
 no one seems able or willing to answer. 
 
 The Ih-bridgc Savings-Bank Wiis incorporated June 
 3, 1870, and elected for its president Moses Taft, Esq., 
 who still holds that position. 
 
 In the eighteen years of its existence this bank has 
 grown in the confidence of the people, and its de- 
 posits now amount to over $335,000. As its manage- 
 ment is rather conservative and its loans made at low 
 rates of interest, its diviflends are not, as a rule, quite 
 up to those paid by city banks, but are generally sat- 
 isfactory to depositors. A little more public spirit 
 exhibited by the management, in the way of a bank- 
 ing-house built and owned by the bank, would give 
 it better facilities for doing business, and, as an 
 investment, would pay full as well as loans on mort- 
 gages at five per cent., and the general public would 
 be highly gratified. 
 
 A good first-class business block on the site just 
 south of the National Bank, arranged for stores, 
 banking-rooms and oftices, would supply a much- 
 needed want, and would be occupied at good rent as 
 soon as completed. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 UXBRIDGK— (G)«////«,v/.) 
 
 The Revolution.— In the year 1774, on the 6th 
 day of July, the town, at a meeting called to consider 
 the difficulties existing between the colonies and the 
 mother country, passed a vote to appoint a committee 
 of nine citizens and freeholders, "to correspond with 
 committees that now or shall be chosen by any towns 
 in this province for the purpose, on any matiir that 
 may respect the present difficulty, that now or may 
 subsist between Great Britton and North-a/Kccjca." 
 
 In October, 1774, it was voted in town-meeting, "to 
 purchase five barrels of powder, and as much shot as 
 was proper; " and a committee was chosen " to provide 
 for soldiers who may be called to march." In Janu- 
 ary, 1775, the town voted " to carry the resolves of 
 the Continental Congress into execution;" and a com- 
 mittee was appointed " to see them strictly adhered to 
 in this town." At this meeting Mr. Benjamin Green 
 was elected a delegate to the Provincial Congress to 
 be held at Cambridge; and in May, of the same year, 
 Mr. Abner Rawsou was chosen to attend the Provin- 
 cial Congress at Watertown. 
 
 The fires of patriotism now burned brighter and 
 steadier, and the increasing military ardor of the citi- 
 zens of this town, was made manifest, in the unan- 
 imity with which they voted to stand by the action of 
 the Continental Congress. 
 
174 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 At a meeting of the inhabitants held in May, 1776, 
 in the spring previous to the Declaration of Independ- 
 ence, an article of which the following is a copy was 
 voted almost unanimously in the affirmative: "To 
 see if the town will vote, if the Honorable Congress 
 should, for the safety of the United Colonies, Declare 
 themselves Independent of the Kingdom of Great 
 Britain, whether that they will solemnly engage with 
 their lives and fortunes to support them in the meas- 
 ure." 
 
 In July, 177G, it was voted, "to grant six pounds to 
 each person who shall Enlist in behalf of this town 
 to go to Canada, or the Northern Department agree- 
 able to the late act." 
 
 In May, 1777, there were evidently some Tories liv- 
 ing in Uxbridge; for the town chose, "by written 
 votes," Seth Read "to procure and Lay before the 
 Court the evidence that may be had of the Inimical 
 disposition of any Inhabitant of this town towards this 
 or any of the United States, who shall be charged by 
 the freeholders and other inhabitants of said town, or 
 if their residence within this State is looht upon to be 
 dangerous to the public peace and Safety." 
 
 That the inhabitants of Uxbridge had pretty deter- 
 mined ideas as to what sort of government the new 
 nation needed and should liave, is apparent from the 
 fact that in said meeting they voted "to instruct our 
 representative not to vote for the proposed form of 
 constitution and form of government;" but as the 
 record gives no information as to the form of Consti- 
 tution and government they did desire, we must sup- 
 pose, in view of their very decided opposition to Great 
 Britain, that the form of government, etc., proposed 
 by Congress was not sufficiently antagonistic to the 
 mother country. 
 
 In March, 1778, it was voted "to send to the sol- 
 diers now in actual service in the Continental Army, 
 in behalf of the town of Uxbridge for three years or 
 during the war, two shirts, one pair of tow breaches, 
 two pair of stockings, and one pair of shoes;" and 
 "that a committee be chosen to procure s'd cloathing 
 and a man to earn- it to them;" this last being no 
 slight undertaking, when it is remembered that there 
 was no public conveyance of any kind, and a journey 
 of even a few miles was attended with great danger 
 and fatiguing labor. 
 
 In 1778 two thousand pounds were raised " to pro- 
 vide for soldiers in the Continental army," and in the 
 same year "men were sent to Rhode Island, and men 
 as guards to Rutland." 
 
 The sendingof substitutes into the army was allowed, 
 for in January, 1779, the warrant for the town-meeting 
 contained this article : " To see what sum of money 
 the town will give or allow to such Persons as have Pro- 
 cured a man to do a turn for them in the Continental 
 Service for three years, or during the war." No action 
 appears of record upon this article. In April, 1779, 
 two thousand five hundred i)ounds were appropriated 
 "to carry on the Continental War." In June, 1779, 
 
 the town voted "that the Committee for Hireing 
 Soldiers for s'd Town be Directed to Engage to Such 
 Soldiers as they may hereafter Procure to Engage in 
 the present war, in Consequence of orders Received 
 for that purpose (for the Hire of such Soldiers), either 
 Continental Currency, or the produce of the land 
 Raised amongst us, Acting Defcrentionarily \i\ Engag- 
 ing either Money or produce as to the sum of Money 
 or Quantity of produce, and at what price as they with 
 such soldiers may agree." 
 
 In November, 1780, one thousand pounds were 
 raised to supi)ly the army with beef; also in January, 
 1781, twenty-three thousand pounds (probably Conti- 
 nental currency) were appropriated for the same pur- 
 pose ; also fifteen "hard dollars" (probably silver) 
 were voted to hiring " Continental men." and on 
 August 28, 1781, the town voted " to raise one hundred 
 and fifty pounds ' hard money ' for the supply of beef 
 called for by the General Court." 
 
 The following is a true copy of an original docu- 
 ment now in the possession of the writer. The paper 
 is yellow with age, but the writing and the original 
 signatures of the members of the committee are as 
 plain and legible as though recently written : 
 
 Committee Chamber, Boston, March IHi 
 These Coiiifle tliiit Nathan Tyler Sr. and Others Selectmen of Uxbridg 
 Procnrod for the Use of this Coranionwealth, in the year 1779 : 
 
 thirty Nine Shirts @ £6 each f2a4 
 
 thirty Nino Pr Shoes @ £7—4 pr Jjr 280 16 
 
 thirty Seven Pr Hose (a. £4 — pr pr 148 
 
 Selectmen allowance for Trouble 25 — 
 
 Do Transportation 15 — 
 
 Total £702 10 
 
 which sum of Seven hundred & two Pounds Sixteen Shillings was 
 
 allowed by the Committee on accounts on the 11th of March 1780, 
 
 Attest 
 
 Seth Washburn 1 
 
 Charles Turner | Committee 
 
 J. Bahnum \ on 
 
 KzKA Sargeant I .\ccount6 
 
 Joseph IIosmer J 
 
 The signatures are the genuine signatures of the 
 members of the Committee of the General Court of 
 1784, so that it is probable that the account, which 
 was allowed in March, 1780, was not paid to the 
 selectmen until after a renewal of the approval in 
 1784, as above set forth. Money, or what represented 
 money, was of such small value in 1780 that we may 
 suppose the delay was occasioned by a disagreement 
 as to the kind of money the bill allowed was to be 
 payable in To show how great a depreciation must 
 have taken place in the value of the currency, the 
 town records state that in November, 1780, the town, 
 at a regular meeting held to provide for town charges 
 and expenses, " voted to raise (25,000) twenty-five thou- 
 sand pounds, to defray town charges," and the same 
 year they voted the sum of ten thotisand pounds to buy 
 beef for the army. 
 
 The records of the town do not contain a list, or 
 anything that purports to be a list, of its citizens who 
 served in the Revolutionary army. But from actual 
 votes passed and recorded, I find the following names 
 
UXBRIDGE. 
 
 175 
 
 referred to as having served in the different divisions 
 of the service as volunteers or substitutes. It is prob- 
 able that there were many others. 
 
 Capt. Edward Seagrave. 
 Lieut. Abner Taft. 
 Lieut. Bezaleel Taft. 
 Lieut. Kobort Taft. 
 Sergt. Noali Taft. 
 Sergt. Paul Wliite. 
 John Prentice. 
 Natlian Dowse (or Druce). 
 Joseph Cletlvelaud. 
 Peter Sibley. 
 Nathaniel Fish. 
 A. Aliirich. 
 Jeremiah Chillson. 
 Oliver Murdock. 
 Joseph Rawson. 
 John Falkner. 
 
 Oliver Thayer. 
 Samuel Hayward. 
 Moses Taft. 
 Jabez Thayer. 
 Oliver Taft. 
 John Hall. 
 Charles Philips. 
 Benjannn Cogswell. 
 Capt. Simeon Wheelock. 
 James Hall. 
 Aarou Brown. 
 .John Beals. 
 James Keith. 
 Ichabod Keith. 
 John Seagrave. 
 
 An interesting episode of the Revoluionary period 
 was the visit of General (jcorge Washington to Ux- 
 bridge, in the year 1780, on his journey from Boston 
 to Hartford. General Washington, then President of 
 the United States, passed a night at a tavern kept by 
 the father of Warner Taft, at North Uxbridge, and 
 was so well pleased with the attention he received, 
 that at Hartford, on the 8th of November, 1789, on 
 his way home, he wrote the following letter to Mr. 
 Taft, near Uxbridge, ]\Iaas. : 
 
 Sir, — Being informed that you have given my name to one of your 
 sons, and called another after Mrs. Washington's family, and being 
 moreover much pleased with the modest and innocent looks of your two 
 daughters, Patty and Polly, I do for these reasons send each of these girls 
 a piece of chintz ; and to Patty, who bears the name of Mrs. Washing- 
 ton, and who waited on us more than Polly did, I send five guineas with 
 which she may buy herself any little ornaments she may want, or she 
 may dispose of them in any other manner mure agreeable to herself. .\s 
 T do not give these things with a view to have it talked of, or even to its 
 being known, the less there is said about the matter the better you will 
 please me ; but that I may be sure the chintz and money have got 
 safe to hand, let P{itty, who I dare say is equal to it, write me a line in- 
 forming me thereof, directed to "The I*re.sident of the United States, 
 New York." I wish you and your family well, and am your himible 
 servant. G. Washington. 
 
 This house is still standing, and in a good state of 
 preservation, retaining its same style as when the 
 father of his country honored it with his presence. It 
 is now owned and occupied by some of the heirs of 
 Warner Taft, and should be long preserved for its his- 
 torical associations. A desk once owned by the Tafts, 
 and at which Gen. Washington is said to have sat and 
 written a dispatch or letter to be sent to Boston, is 
 now owned by the writer of this history, and is most 
 highly prized. 
 
 The Civil War. — The record of Uxbridge in the 
 War of the Rebellion was one of which she may well 
 be proud, having furnished two hundred and ninety 
 ('2'M) soldiers, seventeen more than her quota, as 
 called for by the State. The first " war meeting " was 
 held in the ba,sement of the Unitarian Church, then 
 occupied for town-meetings, on the 11th day of May, 
 1861, which was addressed by several spirited and 
 eloquent speakers. At the close of the speaking it was 
 unanimously voted to give each volunteer belonging to 
 the town twenty-one dollars a month while in service, 
 
 I and one dollar a day for drilling previous to enlist- 
 ment, not exceeding twenty days of eight hours a day. 
 Fifteen hundred dollars was appropriated to purchase 
 uniforms, and one hundred dollars to defray the ex- 
 penses of forming a company of riflemen. On May 3, 
 1862, the town appropriated two thousand five hun- 
 dred dollars to pay State aid to families of the volun- 
 teers, and a committee was chosen " to ascertain the 
 names of the soldiers belonging to thetown, that their 
 names may be preserved to posterity, by causing the 
 same to be entered upon the records of the town." On 
 July 23d the town voted "to give a bounty of one 
 hundred and fifty dollars to each volunteer for three 
 years, who should be accredited to the town's quota." 
 On August 23d the same amount was voted to those 
 who entered the service for nine months, to be paid 
 when the town's quota was full ; if not filled by volun- 
 teers and a draft was made, then no bounty was to be 
 paid. 
 
 March 2, 1863, the town voted to raise four thou- 
 sand dollars for aid to be paid to the families of volun- 
 teers during the year. September 28th the aid was 
 extended to the families of drafted men. 
 
 On May 2o, 1864, a bounty of one hundred and 
 iwenty-five dollars was voted to be paid to the three 
 years' volunteers who should enlist upon the quota of 
 the town, whether residents of Uxbridge or otherwise. 
 As before stated, the town had no difficulty in filling 
 its quota at these liberal bounties, and the voters 
 were not sorry that the number furnished was so 
 many in excess of the calls. 
 
 The whole amount of money expended for war pur- 
 poses was twenty thousand two hundred dollars 
 ($20,200) ; for State aid to families about fourteeo 
 
 I thousand six hundred dollars ($14,600). About ten 
 thousand dollars was contributed by citizens in addi- 
 tion to the above. Large quantities of clothing, stock- 
 
 i ings and shoes were also contributed by the Ladies 
 Soldiers' Aid Society and other patriotic workers, and 
 
 , many hundred dollars' worth of articles intended for 
 
 j the comfort of the boys at the front were forwarded, 
 of which no estimate can be made. 
 
 I The following list contains the names of soldiers in 
 the army of the United States engaged in putting 
 
 ] down the Rebellion and preserving the Union, who 
 enlisted as residents of Uxbridge. The list does not 
 include, therefore, those who helped to fill the quota, 
 but who resided in other towns ; as their names are 
 no doubt honored in a fitting manner by the towns 
 
 ' which were honored by them. Those whose names 
 are marked with a (*) died either in actual service or 
 as prisoners of war. Let all unite to do honor to these 
 brave sons of old Uxbridge ! 
 
 Aldrich, G. 
 Aldricb, Gideon M. 
 Aldrich, James G. 
 Aldrich, John A. 
 .\ldricb, Moses A. 
 Aldricb, W. D. F. 
 Andy, J. 
 
 Johnson, Stephen C. 
 Johnson, John R. 
 Kavanough, Jamee. 
 Keeting, Francis. 
 Kemp, David. 
 Kenny, Geo. W. 
 Kenny. 
 
176 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 AnKon, Henry. 
 Anthony, Sylvanue. 
 Arnold, Edmund C. 
 Baron, .lospph M. 
 Bnilon, rt. 
 Btirnaiii, W. H. 
 Jkrrows, Chester. 
 Barry, .1. 
 Bennett, Janies. 
 Bent, Ferdinand A. 
 Blancliard, William. 
 Bolster, Andrew J. 
 Bolster, Geo. W. 
 B'-yce, •TaniPB. 
 Biadford. Charles. 
 Br.inian, Chiirles E. 
 *Braman, Palmer E. 
 Brashaw, J. 
 Brirk, ()rville. 
 Brown, George. 
 Bryant, Perry. 
 *Bnrrin, Ahram B. 
 Bufih, Angustue. 
 Chipniiiti, S. R. 
 CaiUvell, Jerome. 
 Carpenter, A. 
 Carpenter, John H. 
 Chappell, J. 
 Christy, \V. J. 
 Clarke, Elmore. 
 Cleveland, Chaiies B. 
 Cole, Geo. E. 
 Cole, Granville. 
 *Cole, Wm. J. 
 *Chollar, H. A. 
 Cooney, Andrew. 
 Coegrove, Lewis. 
 Coyle, Patrick, 
 Ciimmings, Juline E, 
 Carmody, John. 
 Oexter, Joseph W. 
 Donnell, K. Blc. 
 Puffy, John A. 
 Dngan, Michael. 
 Duffee, Owen. 
 Daley, James. 
 Eames, A. M. 
 Engley, E. 
 *Engley, H. M. 
 Farris, Daniel P. 
 Finchon, Thomas. 
 Fitch, George Otis. 
 Fitrh, H. N. 
 Fitz Gerald, W. 
 Fit7, Simons, A. T. 
 Fuller, Cliffurd. 
 ♦Garside, Andrew J. 
 Gihney, Luke P. 
 Gibson, H. O. 
 Gifford, Jos. H, 
 Graham, TIenry H. 
 Guild, Oliver A. 
 Ilitekell, Abner U. 
 Hall, Chandler. 
 Hall, (Jporge. 
 Halt, Stephen. 
 Hatnilliin, ThuniaB. 
 'Mayden, Frank. 
 *Hayden, Walter. 
 Hayward, H. C. 
 Hlighland, T. 
 Hill, Ezra J. 
 Hill, Reuben. 
 Hinchcliff, J. 
 HoUifl. A. J. 
 Holroyd, Geo. H. 
 HortOD, Andrew J. 
 
 Kenness, J. 
 Keinnay, James H. 
 Kelly, J. 
 
 Kingston, Harrison. 
 Kinny, Geo. W. 
 Kernes, Peter. 
 Lackey, Eugene. 
 Lackey, Saml. W. 
 Legge, Geo. W. 
 *Legge, Henry H. 
 Lynch, James. 
 Magee, John A. 
 Mahony, J. F. 
 McArthur, W. S. 
 MrArthur, Walter. 
 *Metcalf, A.B. 
 Metralf, Wm. H. 
 Minott, Franklin, 
 Minott, William Henry. 
 Morrisey, John. 
 *Mi)wry, Arnold. 
 .Mulligan, James. 
 Murdock, Walter L. 
 Jlurphy, J. 
 Norbery, Frank. 
 OIney, Edward. 
 O'SiUlivan, James. 
 Rawsou, Chas. C. 
 RawRou, Orrin F. 
 Reed, James. 
 Reed, Levi. 
 Richardson, Dexter F. 
 Rusfiell, James F. 
 Ryan, Edward. 
 Ryan, Wm. 
 Ryder, Jamen. 
 Rugg, Chas. H. 
 *Sabin, Richard M. 
 Sawyer, Millard W. 
 Scarborough, Elias. 
 Schotield, Ed. 
 Seagrave, Charles S. 
 Seagrave, Frank B. 
 Seagrave, James E. 
 8eagrave, Geo. L. 
 Seagrave, Lawsou A. 
 Smith, Farnum. 
 Salmon, Hugh. 
 Seagrave, A. M. 
 Seagrave, Wm. H. 
 Seagrave, Orville B. 
 Searles, Andrew J. 
 Sheehan, Napoleon T. 
 Sherman, Albert A. 
 Sprague, Geo. W. 
 Smith, Chas. M. 
 Smith, James. 
 Smith, J. 
 Smith, Samuel W. 
 Smith, S. 
 Taft, Albert. 
 Taft, Frank M. 
 Taft, Henry L. 
 Taft, Ii<aac D. 
 Taft, James. 
 Thmnpson, Chaa. H. 
 Thompson, Eli D. 
 ThompeoD, Geo. 
 Thompson, Saml. 0. 
 Toomay, Farrell. 
 Vibberta, Geo. L. 
 Velfl, John. 
 A\ ilber, Daniel. 
 Wilber, Joseph H. 
 Wilcox, Noah. 
 Wilson, (.Jharles. 
 "Wilson, Hiram. 
 
 Horton, Henry C. 
 Hortnn, Jerom«. 
 Howard, Charles li. 
 Howard, W. C. 
 Hall, Benj. F. 
 Hall. Hezekiah. 
 Johnson, Albro A. 
 
 Wheeler, Chae. E. L. 
 White, Addison B. 
 Whitmore, Hannibal. 
 Wo(td, William. 
 Whitcomb, John. 
 Wright, Edward B. 
 
 All honor, then, to him whose humble name 
 
 Is here emblazoned on the ndls of fame. 
 
 Ages (i» come, and children yet to be, 
 
 Inheriting our priceless liberty. 
 
 Shall sound the praises of these boys in blue, 
 
 Who bravely fought, lo spU" and country true ; 
 
 Of these brave men who stand recorded here, 
 
 All future times in history shall hear, 
 
 And bless their memories with a sacred tear. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 UXBRI DGK— ( Continued. ) 
 
 Miscellaneous — Representatives to Congress. — In 
 1820 and 1822 Benjamin Adams was elected Repre- 
 sentalive to Congress and served his district and 
 State with great fidelity and al)ility. He is the only 
 citizen of Uxbridge who ever had the honor of a seat 
 in Congress. 
 
 The Representatives to the General Court since 1750 
 have been as follows: Daniel Read, l/S.O; Nicholas 
 P.ayliss, 1758; Solomon Wood, 1760-r)2 ; Ezekial 
 Wood, 1766-71 ; Joseph Read, 1772,74; Abner Raw- 
 son, 1775, 76; Joseph Read, 1777; Nathan Tyler, 
 1778-80; Nicholas Baylies, 1781 ; Bezaleel Taft, 1783 ; 
 Seth Read, 1784-86 ; Samuel Willard, 1787 ; Nathan 
 Tyler, 1789-91 ; Bezaleel Taft, 1794-97, and 1802-1 ; 
 Joseph Richardson, 1806; Bezaleel Taft, 1806; Peter 
 Farnum, 1808; Benjamin Adams, 1809-13; Samuel 
 Read, 1814; Daniel Carpenter, 1815; Samuel Read 
 and John Capron, 1816; Samuel Read and Bezaleel 
 Taft, 1817, '18 i Samuel Read and Daniel Carpenter, 
 1819; Samuel Read and liezaleel Taft, 1820; Bezaleel 
 Taft, Jr., 1821-23; Joseph Thayer, 1824, '26; Beza- 
 leel Taft, Jr. (Senator), 1828; Joseph Thayer and 
 Daniel Carpenter, 1829; Samuel Read and George 
 Willard, 1830, '31 ; Samuel Read and Joseph Thayer, 
 1832 ; Effingham L. Capron and Joseph Thayer, 1833 ; 
 Joseph Day and Samuel Read, 1834 ; John W. Ca- 
 pron and George Willard, 1835, '36; John Carpenter 
 and F211ery Holbrook, 1837 ; Asa Thayer and Samuel 
 Read, 1838; Francis Deane, Jr., and Gideon Mowry, 
 1839; Jonathan F. Suuthwick, 1840 ; Otis Wilco.x, 
 1841: Chandler Taft, 1842; Henry Chapin, 1844; 
 Moses Taft, 1845 ; Cyrus G. Wood, 1854 ; Charles E. 
 Taft, 1855 ; Jacob Taft, 1856 ; Samuel W. Scott, 1857 ; 
 Joshua Garside, 1858 ; Scott Seagrave, 1859 ; Newell 
 Tyler, 1860; William C. Capron, 1861; Scott Sea- 
 grave, 1803; R. D. Burr, 1865; Harrison C. Whit- 
 more and A. A.Sherman, 1870; Charles A. Wheelock, 
 (Senator), 1869, '70; George W. Hobbs, 1871, '72; 
 George W. Taft, 1873 ; Charles C. Capron, 1875 ; Za- 
 dok A. Taft, 1877 ; Charles E. Seagrave, 1881 ; James 
 
UXBKIDGE. 
 
 V, 
 
 Daley, 1883 ; Michael Eeilly (2d) 1885 ; Daniel W. 
 Taft, 1887 ; Silas M. Wheelock (Senator), 1887, '88. 
 During the next decade Uxbridge will be represented 
 only every third year. 
 
 Post-offices. — The first post-office in Uxbridge was 
 established in the village of Ironstone, then the largest 
 village in the town, lii 1810 an office was established 
 in North Uxbridge, in the house of Samuel Read, on 
 the Boston and Hartford turnpike, where it remained 
 until 1852, when it was removed to Rogerson's Village, 
 near the Mills, where it remained until 1885, when it 
 was removed to Chase's Corner, near its original loca- 
 tion. 
 
 The postmasters of this office have been Samuel 
 Read, George Adams, C. E. Whitin, A. S. Sweet and 
 H; C. Chase, the present incumbent. This office ac- 
 commodated for many years the towns of Northbridge 
 and Douglas. 
 
 In 1825 a post-office was established at the Centre 
 Village, in the brick store then owned by the Messrs. 
 Capron. John W. Carpenter was the first postmaster, 
 and his successors have been Sullivan, Thayer, Thomas 
 Aldrich, R. D. Mowry, Charles B. Rawson, Charles 
 A. Taft and Henry S. Farnuni, the present incum- 
 bent. This office is now the principal post-ofiice in 
 the town and pays its postmaster an annual salary of 
 about twelve hundred dollars, an increase of about 
 four hundred dollars in the last eight years. 
 
 In 1S72 a District Court for Uxbridge, Blackstone, 
 Northbridge and Douglas was established for civil and 
 criminal business, having jurisdiction of all civil 
 actions, when the ad damnum in the writ does not 
 exceed three hundred dollars. Court is held every 
 week-day alternately in Uxbridge and Blackstone; 
 on Mondays for civil business in Blackstone and on 
 Saturdays for civil business in Uxbridge. A. A. Put 
 nam, Esq., was appointed justice of the court and 
 still presides over it. The associate justices are Fran- 
 cis N. Thayer, Esq., of Blackstone, and W. J. Taft, 
 Esq., of Mendon, the latter gentleman having an 
 office in Uxbridge. 
 
 The members of the legal profession who have 
 resided in the town and assisted in building up its 
 prosperity are as follows : 
 
 Nathan Tyler, Benjamin Adams, Bezaleel Talt, Jr., 
 George Wheaton, Joseph Thayer, Francis Deane, 
 Henry Chapin, Lucius B. Boynton, George S. Taft, 
 George W. Hobbs, Frederic B. Deane, George F. 
 Bancroft, A. A. Putnam, O. B. Pond, George S. Taft 
 (2d). 
 
 Uxbridge has also had good reason to be proud of 
 its medical profession, for its physicians have been 
 uniformly men of skill and excellent character, who 
 have done much for the health and prosperity of the 
 town. Among them are the honored names of Dr. 
 Wood, the first physician to settle in the town ; Dr. 
 Samuel Willard, Dr. George Willard, Dr. Augustus 
 C. Taft, Dr. Smith, Dr. A. W. Bennett, Dr. J. W. 
 Bobbins, Dr. J. M. Macomber, Dr. Chauncey A. 
 12 
 
 Wilcox, Dr. Wm. L. Johnson, Dr. L. D. White, Dr. 
 W. L. Sanders and Dr. Benj. Joslyn. Dr. A. W. 
 Fuller and Dr. F. J. Partridge have recently moved 
 into town. It would be a pleasing task to write the 
 biographies of many of these professional laborers of 
 both the professions, but the space allotted to Ux- 
 bridge in the history of the county peremptorily de- 
 mands brevity and condensation ; ao their many 
 friends "must take the will for the deed." 
 
 Newspapers, etc. — The first and only newspaper 
 published in Uxbridge was started by Geo. W. Spen- 
 cer, a printer who had formerly jiublished the 
 Doufihis Herald and conducted a small job-printing 
 office in East Douglas. Mr. Spencer, believing Ux- 
 bridge a better field for his labors in the newpaporial 
 line, removed his presses and type to this town, and 
 in August, 1872, issued the fir.st number of his paper, 
 which he called T/ie Worcester South Compendium, 
 Spencer Bros., proprietors. The firm consisted of 
 Geo. \V. Spencer and Charles A. W. Spencer, the 
 elder brother being the editor and general manager of ■ 
 the paper, while the younger took charge of the job- 
 printing, which soon grew to quite a business. The 
 paper was a well-edited, spicy little weekly, Repub- 
 lican in politics and progressive in its ethics. In 
 1877 C. A. W. Spencer retired from the firm and Mr. 
 L. H. Balcome suceeded him ; the firm then became 
 Spencer & Balcome. In 1879 Mr. Balcome bought 
 out his partner and became and has since been sole 
 proprietor. In July, 1880, Mr. Balcome finding the 
 old name too long and desiring to make his paper still 
 more a local organ, changed the name of his publica- 
 tion to The Uxbridge Compendium — which name it 
 still retains — and was i.ssued as an eight-page paper. 
 For several years Mr. C. W. Greene was the editor, 
 but Mr. Balcome for the past two years has been sole 
 editor and manager, and, with a good corps of re- 
 porters to gather up the news, would have the credit 
 of publishing a good country weekly. The old 
 presses used by Spencer Bros, have been thrown out 
 and new powerpres.ses run by steam-power have been 
 substituted. One of the busiest places now to be 
 found in the centre of the town is the Compendium 
 office. If the increasing businei<s of the office will 
 warrant it. The Daily Coinpendiuta wil! at no distant 
 day be welcomed in every household. 
 
 The Uxbridge Water Company was incorporated in 
 1881, for the purpose of supplying the inhabitants 
 of Uxbridge with pure water for domestic purposes. 
 Its reservoirs, on Lawler Hill, are fed by springs, and 
 will contain half a million gallons. Pipes are laid 
 through the principal streets, and the water supply 
 is excellent and sufficient. A number of hydrants 
 placed at convenient distances furnish adequate pro- 
 tection against damage by fire, and the company is 
 entitled to great credit for its service to the public. 
 
 The Judson Memorial. — In the year 1869 Deacon 
 Willard Judson, an esteemed citizen of the town, 
 and a sou of Rev. Samuel Judson, formerly pastor of 
 
 I 
 
178 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 the Orthodox Church, desiring to manifest his great 
 interest in the town in a quiet, unassuming manner, 
 instructed his attorney, Geo. W. Hobbs, Esq., to pur- 
 chase of the Howard Watch and Clock Company, of 
 Boston, one of its best tower clocks, and ask the 
 town, at its annual meeting, then soon to be 
 held, to accept the same, as a gift from one who pre- 
 ferred that his name should not be made known until 
 after his decease, imposing as the only condition 
 that the town should keep the clock in running or- 
 der. 
 
 Mr. Judson also desired that the clock should be 
 placed upon the Unitarian Church, as it could be 
 seen more generally than if placed elsewhere. When 
 the matter was brought before the town, great inter- 
 est was manifested by the citizens, and the gift was 
 accepted without a dissenting voice. The knowing 
 ones, of court<e, knew who gave the clock, and many 
 difierent gentlemen were named, but not a single 
 guesser guessed aright. Mr. Judson died in May, 
 • 1882, and then, for the first time, his name was pub- 
 lished by his attorney, as the donor of the clock. 
 For nearly twenty years it has faithfully recorded 
 the passage of time, and its resounding strokes, upon 
 the sweet-toned church bell, marking the hours as 
 they fly, serve to remind the people of their bene- 
 factor, and call attention to this unique memorial of 
 a public-spirited citizen. 
 
 Farmers' Chih. — In the year 1878 the farmers of 
 Uxbridge and Mendon formed a Farmers' Club, and 
 gavcannual exhibitions forabout five years, when, the 
 Worcester Southeast Agricultural Society, located at 
 Milford, having surrendered its charter, the Farmers' 
 Club was discontinued, and its members applied for, 
 and received, a charter as an agricultural society, to 
 be located at Uxbridge, under the name of the 
 Blackstone Valley Agricultural Society. 
 
 The new society purchased extensive grounds, and 
 erected cattle-sheds and pens, and built a track for 
 the trial of farm and family carriage horses only, 
 horse-racing for purses being expressly prohibited. 
 
 It has started out with the intention of being a 
 farmers', and not a jockeys' society ; and thus far has 
 proved by its success the wisdom of its plans. 
 
 The fame of its fairs, and exhibitions of cattle, 
 second to none in the State, calls to its annual exhi- 
 bitions the best Hocks and herds in the county, and 
 so great is the demand for space that new sheds and 
 pens must soon be erected. The fall exhibition is 
 always exceptionally fine, and attracts great crowds 
 of visitors. It is an institution of which the farmers 
 of the Blackstone Valley may well be proud. 
 
 No other town, of the size and population of 
 Uxbridge, had been more successful in bringing up 
 a large number of active and energetic business men 
 than this. Of those who have left behind them 
 pleasant memories, I may name the following : John 
 Caprou, Daniel Day, Ananias Gilford, Jonathan 
 Whipple, Samuel Read, Ephraim Spring, Alpheus 
 
 Bayliss, Frederick Taft, Eastman Taft, Jerry Wheel- 
 ock, Amariah Chapin, Jonathan Gregory, Abiel 
 Jaques, George Willard, Deacon Daniel Payne, 
 Adolphus Spring, Daniel Carpenter, Cato Willard, 
 Daniel Farnum, Peter White, Manley Scott, Bezaleel 
 Taft, Joseph Thayer, Orsmus Taft, Willard Judson 
 and numerous members of the families of Taft, 
 Thayer, Seagrave, Spring, Wood, Farnum, Thomp- 
 son, Williams, Wheelock, Sayles and others, whose 
 names are household words. Uxbridge has also sent 
 such men as Stephen C. Greene, Josiah, Royal and 
 Amory Chapin, Jacob, Josiah, Edward and Geo. W. 
 Seagrave, John, Paul, Peter, Moses and Welcome 
 Farnum, Sylvanus Holbrook, Efiingham L. Capron, 
 Asa Newell, Joseph Carpenter, Daniel Day, Royal 
 C. Taft (now Governor of Rhode Island), Caleb 
 Farnum, David F. and Cyrus G. Wood, Geo. T. 
 Murdock, Stephen and Jason Emerson, Newell 
 Tyler, Daniel Seagrave, Dr. William Bayliss, Nicho- 
 las Bayliss, Willard Preston, D.D. and a host of 
 others whose names are preminent in the professional 
 and commercial world, and who are proud to ac- 
 knowledge themselves children of Uxbridge to the 
 manor born. 
 
 There are larger and older towns in Worcester 
 County than Uxbridge, but there are none more 
 beautiful, healthy and delighful to live in than this. 
 
 With no debt, and light taxes, with pleasant, 
 .sociable neighbors and townspeople ; with fine 
 churches, excellent schools, no license and high 
 morality, surely we may be pardoned for the pride 
 we take in claiming a place in the front rank of 
 Worcester County towns. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 MOSES TAFT. 
 
 Moses Taft, who is well known as having been, for 
 more than half a century, largely engaged in the 
 manufacture of woolens, was born in Uxbridge, 
 Mass., January 26, 1812, near where Daniel Day, in 
 1810, built the first woolen-mill in this town. 
 
 His father, Luke Taft, the fifth in descent from 
 Robert Taft, the Puritan ancestor, who came from 
 England and settled in Mendon, Mass., about 1680, 
 was born in Uxbridge June 3, 1783, and was brought 
 up as, and followed the occupation of, a farmer till 
 about 1816, when, probably attracted by the hum of 
 the spindle and the thud of the loom of the near- 
 by Day Mill, he was led to procure a jenny of twenty 
 spindles and a hand-loom (there were no others at that 
 time), which he set up in his house and began the 
 manufacture of satinets. 
 
 This machinery in the house gave Moses, at an 
 early age, an opportunity to observe some of the pro- 
 cesses of manufacturing, and, at the age of seven 
 
-*i^- 
 
 JMn^e^y^i 
 
UX BRIDGE. 
 
 170 
 
 years, was given his first work in the business, — that 
 of winding bobbins for the weaver. This was the 
 extent of liis manufacturing e.xperience till liis fatlier, 
 in 1821, hired room and power in the Day Mill, when 
 he was inducted into the mysteries of piecing rolls 
 and tending carding-machines. 
 
 In 1824 his father bought a water-power on the 
 West River, with land suitable for factory, dwellings 
 and other necessary buildings, and built his dam and 
 canal iu the autumn of that year and his fiictory the 
 next year. The fiictory was put into operation in the 
 fall of 1825, with two sets of cards and twenty power- 
 looms, — the goods made being satinets. 
 
 Moses was here employed in the various depart- 
 ments suitable to his age, attending the usual short 
 terms of the winter schools, with an occasional term 
 in the academy in this town, till 1827, when he re- 
 ceived the advantage of a term at the Friends' School, 
 then a popular school, in Bolton, Mass., of which 
 Thomas Fry was the instructor. 
 
 The few advantages the district schools aftbrded 
 with those named above, together with the applica- 
 tion made by him to obtain an education, and the 
 practical advantages received in the business life he 
 followed in his younger days, has enabled him to dis- 
 charge, in an efficient and highly satisfactory manner, 
 most important duties, as will be seen as the narrative 
 proceeds. 
 
 On his return from Bolton he again took his place 
 in the mill till the spring of 1829, when he took up 
 the occupation of clerk in the store of John Capron 
 & Sons. The business of that company having been 
 closed up by failure, Moses returned to his home, and 
 entered at once upon the business of manufacturing 
 in his father's mill, — making himself expert in every 
 department, from the ability to make a proper se- 
 lection of stock for the goods that were to be made, 
 to the putting up the finished goods for market. 
 
 At eighteen years of age he was competent to take 
 full charge of the mill, after which time his father 
 devoted his time principally to his farm and other 
 business interests. 
 
 In 1837 Mr. Taft entered into partnership with his 
 father and brother-in-law, Caleb T. Ohapiu, under 
 the style of " The East River Manufacturing Com- 
 pany." 
 
 From this time Luke Taft practically left the 
 business of manufacturing -simply holding his estate 
 and giving his sons the advantage of his advice and 
 credit. 
 
 If any manufacturer remembers as far back as 1837, 
 it will be with almost a shudder, as it comes back to 
 him, as to how he lived through that year of trial 
 and failure on all sides of him, and yet contrived to 
 pay one hundred per cent, on all his bills. 
 
 This company, though severely tried, as every one 
 was in that year from the integrity of its mem- 
 bers, never compromised any of its debts, but paid in 
 full all claims against it. 
 
 In 1840 Luke Taft sold one-half of his manufactur- 
 ing real estate and power to J. Wheolock & Son, and 
 retired entirely from the risks and cares incident to 
 manufacturing, — his son, ]Moses, taking the other 
 half of the property and machinery, — Mr. Caleb T. 
 Chapin giving up his interest in the " East River 
 Manufacturing Company," and taking the superin- 
 tendency of a cotton-mill in Northbridge. 
 
 From this time (1840) till April, 1846, Moses Taft 
 ran his half of the mill successfully. At this last 
 period he sold his share of the estate and machinery 
 to C. A. & S. M. Wheelock. 
 
 Soon after the sale to C. A. & S. M. Wheelock, he, 
 in company with Mr. Samuel W. Scott, who had been 
 in his employment several years, hired a mill in Bur- 
 rillville, R. I., where the present Mohegan Mill 
 stands, and engaged in the manufacture of satinets, 
 under the style of Taft & Scott, which continued till 
 the burning of the mill, in the winter of 1849-50, 
 when the business of this firm was closed up and the 
 firm dissolved. 
 
 In 1849 he entered into partnership with James W. 
 Day, a grandson of Daniel Day, the pioneer woolen 
 manufacturer of Uxbridge, under the style of Taft & 
 Day, and hired the Capron Mill, in this town, and 
 commenced there the manufacture of satinets. 
 
 After a few years' successful business in the Capron 
 Mill, Deacon Wm. C. Capron became a partner, when 
 the firm took the style of Taft, Day & Co., which was 
 shortly changed to Taft & Capron by the withdrawal 
 of Mr. Day from the company. 
 
 The firm of Taft & Capron continued till about 1862, 
 when the business and unexpired lease of the mill 
 was sold to Messrs. R. & J. Taft, and the firm of Taft 
 & Capron was dissolved. 
 
 Before selling his interest in the factory built by 
 his father to C. A. & S. M. Wheelock, Mr. Taft had 
 conceived the idea of building a factory on the west 
 side of the Blackstone River, above the dam of the 
 "Uxbridge Woolen Company." 
 
 To do this it would be necessary to secure all the in- 
 terest of the "Blackstone Canal Company," in water 
 and canal together, with a release from each individual 
 owner on the river of the right to divert the water and 
 to procure all necessary land for the erection of fac- 
 tory, tenements and other conveniences required for 
 such an establishment. 
 
 Having obtained all the necessary titles and re- 
 leases to the estate in 1852, he laid the foundation for 
 the mill, which was built the following year, with 
 tenements and other necessary buildings. 
 
 This mill, which was known for some thirty years 
 as the "Central Woolen Mill," was leased first to 
 Messrs. Southwick & Sayles, till 1859, then to Messrs. 
 Bradford, Taft & Co., of Providence, R. I. 
 
 In 1865 Mr. Taft sold his " Central Mill " estate to 
 Messrs. R. & J. Taft, who, in 1883, sold the property 
 to the " Calumet Woolen Company,'' a corporation 
 that now holds the estate. 
 
180 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Since retiring from the " Capron Mill" Mr. Taft^ 
 has been, and now ia, interested in several woolen- 
 mills, namely — the " Caryville Mill," in Bellingham, 
 Mass., with seven sets of machinery ; the " Douglas 
 Woolen Mill," in East Douglas, Mass., with five sets 
 of machinery; the " Chattanooga Mill," in Ashland, 
 Mass., with five sets of machinery ; besides an inter- 
 est in the " Putnam Woolen Company," in Putnam^ 
 Conn., and the " Calumet Woolen Company," in this 
 town. 
 
 Not alone as a manufacturer has Mr. Taft been 
 known. Since 1865 he has been president of the 
 " Blackstone National Bank of Uxbridge, Mass.," be- 
 sides being a member of its board of directors for 
 several years previous to that date. He has also been 
 president of the " Uxbridge Savings Bank " from its 
 organization, in 1870. 
 
 Nor has he been negligent of his duties as a citizen 
 or failed to receive the confidence and honors in the 
 gift of his fellow-townsmen, having been elected and 
 served several years on the Board of Selectmen of the 
 town and as chairman of the board. In 184.') he rep- 
 resented the town in the General Court for that year 
 He has served " Uxbridge Lodge, No. 120, 1. O. O. F.," 
 some fifteen years as its treasurer. 
 
 In the parish of the " First Congregational Soci- 
 ety " he has often been called upon to discharge the 
 duties of various committees and to assist in matters 
 of great importance. 
 
 In all the affairs of business life, in all the various 
 duties of social life, as citizen, as neighbor, as friend, 
 he has been conscientious, faithful and considerate 
 helping where help has been needed, and givinggood 
 advice where advice was the best thing to give. 
 
 When Moses Taft is withdrawn (may it be long be- 
 fore itshall be ! ) from the business and duties of life, it 
 may be truly said a man will be missed. 
 
 JERRY WHEELOCK. 
 
 Jerry Wheelock, born in Uxbridge, Mass., Septem- 
 ber 19, 1784, was well known in this vicinity (Ux- 
 bridge, Worcester County, Mass.) as an ingenious 
 mechanic, both as a builder and operator of woolen 
 machinery in the early days of woolen manufac- 
 turing. 
 
 He was of the sixth generation from the original 
 immigrant of the race, Ralph Wheelock, who w.is 
 born in Shropshire, England, in 1600. He was edu- 
 cated at Clare Hall, Cambridge, was a dissenting 
 preacher, and came from England in 1637, when the 
 tide of persecution ran highest. After remaining in 
 Watertown one year, he removed to Dedham at the 
 time of its settlement, and was active in the forma- 
 tion of the church there ; was a freeman in 1639. 
 He was the founder of Medfield, which waa set off" 
 from Dedham in 1650, and received the first grant of 
 a house-lot in that town. 
 
 Simeon Wheelock, the father of Jerry, was born in 
 
 1741 in Mendon, Mass. The first we hear of Simeon 
 is on a memorandum book kept by him as an orderly 
 at "Crown Point, dated Aug. 4, 1760; then under the 
 command of Christopher Harris, Colonel of the R. 1. 
 Regiment." 
 
 He came to Uxbridge probably in 1768, as he ap- 
 pears in the registry November 28, 1763, as declaring 
 intention of marriage with Miss Deborah Thayer, of 
 Mendon. 
 
 He was a blacksmith by trade, and bought the 
 land now owned by the heirs of Royal Jefterson and 
 others, a little north of the " First Congregational So- 
 ciety's Meeting-house," of John Harwood in 1768, 
 and built the house now standing there, and where 
 most of his children were born. His blacksmith- 
 shop is said to have stood opposite his house, and 
 about where the academy building now stands. 
 He was town clerk of Uxbridge from 1773-77, and 
 was also a soldier in the War of the Revolution. 
 
 He joined the government forces in suppressing 
 the Shays' Rebellion, and died at Springfield in con- 
 sequence of injuries received from a fall on the ice 
 in descending Arsenal Hill, leaving a widow and 
 eight children; Jerry, the youngest, being in the 
 third year ,of his age. 
 
 The family was left in somewhat straitened circum- 
 stances, and the more so from the fact that the father 
 had sold his estate in the centre of the town, and 
 bought a place some three miles away, which, after 
 his death, was found to be mortgaged; and to save 
 what had already been paid, nearly as much more 
 was paid by the widow. 
 
 At this time it is evident that Jerry, at the age of 
 a little more than two years, was left to the care of a 
 mother in straitened circumstances, with other chil- 
 dren of tender age, who were likewise dependent on 
 the same over-burdened care. 
 
 We, whose children find everywhere the best ap- 
 pliances for obtaining an education, can scarcely con- 
 ceive of a time when the best means for obtaining 
 (irey education was to lie on the hearth before afire 
 of blazing pine-knots with such books as those 
 times aftbrded ; or, when attending the schools of 
 that day for the short time they were kept, to be told 
 
 "You must give up your seat to . You pay 
 
 nothing for your schooling, and he pays." 
 
 After a discussion in a town-meeting on the subject 
 of appropriating money for educational purposes, in 
 which the writer took a part, his father said to him, 
 and with more feeling than he ever saw him manifest 
 on any other occasion : " Charles, I never want any 
 child told as I have been — ' You pay nothing for 
 your schooling, therefore you must give your seat to 
 , who pays.' " 
 
 His education, and it was rjood for the times, must 
 have been principally obtained from his mother, who, 
 from papers in my possession of her preparation, 
 must have had a superior education for a woman of 
 those times. 
 
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1 
 
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 (Z^^^^-^^A^ 
 
UXBRIDGE. 
 
 181 
 
 At a suitable age he learned the trade of a " Set 
 workman," a trade now made entirely obsolete by the 
 large factories that by power machines turn out hun- 
 dreds of cedar pails and tubs daily. 
 
 He next took up the trade of turner, and made 
 bobbins and spools for John Slater. Afterwards he 
 took up the business of chair-making, which he fol- 
 lowed for several years. 
 
 In 1810 Daniel Day built the first woolen-mill in 
 this vicinity. The first machinery was put into the 
 mill in 1811. 
 
 Jerry Wheelock having married the eldest daugh- 
 ter of Mr. Day, became a member of the manufac- 
 turing firm of Daniel Day & Co. Having natural 
 taste for mechanics and tact in the management of 
 machinery, after a few years he left the company and 
 went into the employment of Artemas Dryden, Jr., of 
 Holden, Mass., who was then, and for many years 
 after, noted as a builder of woolen-carding machinas, 
 and was engaged, principally, in setting up and put- 
 ting into operation machines of his make in various 
 places ; and was setting up machinery in Falmouth, 
 Mass., in 1814, during its bombardment by the British 
 ship-of-war " Nimrod." 
 
 In 1814 the association — afterwards incorporated — 
 known as the " Rivulet Manufacturing Company " 
 was formed. Jerry Wheelock became a member of 
 the association, and was the mechanical manager 
 and superintendent of the mill till the spring of 
 1819, when he gave up the place and returned 
 to his old home and immediately commenced the 
 building of woolen machinery. 
 
 This business he continued till 1834. He was well 
 known, not only in this immediate vicinity, but in 
 parts of Connecticut, New Hampshire and the east- 
 ern part of New York, as a thorough workman and 
 as making great improvement in the machinery 
 he built, both in its workmanship and in the ease 
 and perfection of its operation. 
 
 In 1834 he abandoned the building of machin- 
 ery and went into manufacturing in company with 
 his sons, which he continued till 184G, when he 
 retired from active business. 
 
 Strict integrity and the most perfect workman- 
 ship possible with the means possessed for doing 
 work, it is believed, are the characteristics that 
 would be ascribed to him by those best acquainted 
 with him. 
 
 Of the former, when advised by his sons that, 
 considering the risks of business and his age, it 
 was best for him to withdraw from business, after 
 considering the matter with regard to reflections 
 that might fall on him in case of failure of his 
 successors, he said to the writer: "Charles, I am 
 not going to shirk any responsibility or have it 
 said I left the business to escape from it ; and I 
 want you to remember all my interest in this 
 property must be considered as much at stake as 
 if my name stood as a member of the iirm." 
 
 Fortunately, by good luck or good management, no 
 risk was incurred and no call was made upon his 
 property to make good the failure of his successors. 
 
 .Of his workmanship, the greatest fault ever found 
 with it, was that the unimportant with him, was 
 just as important as the most important in the 
 eyes of others ; and at times many careless per- 
 sons would consider time thus spent to be spent 
 to a useless purpose. 
 
 Whether, in view of the great inclination to slight 
 work without regard to consequences that may fol- 
 low, this should be written down against him as a 
 grievous fault is left for others to judge. 
 
 As a citizen he was honored by his townsmen 
 with the various municipal oflices of the town, the 
 duties of which he discharged with the same faith- 
 fulness as he did all other works. 
 
 As a neighbor he was trusted, respected and loved. 
 
 As a husband and father he was not only beloved, 
 but was deserving of all the love and honor they 
 could give him. 
 
 He died October 10, 1861, after a distressing sick- 
 ness of more than five years, lamented by all who 
 knew him. 
 
 SILAS MANDEVILLE WHEELOCK. 
 
 Mr. Wheelock, well known as a manufacturer and 
 business man for some fifty years, was born in Ux- 
 bridge, Mass., November 11, 1817, at the time his 
 father, Jerry Wheelock, was superintendent and 
 mechanical agent of " The Rivulet Manufacturing 
 Company." He has always been a resident of the 
 town of his nativity, and never lived without the 
 limits of the school district of his early boyhood. 
 
 He early manifested an ability for the management 
 of affairs, and whatever work he was called upon 
 to perform, he was always able to find playmates ready 
 to assist him in his work while he did the planning 
 and superintending; and it may safely be said, and, 
 as his life will show, this faculty has never been lost. 
 
 His opportunity for obtaining an education was 
 very limited. The district school of about ten weeks 
 of a male teacher in winter, and about the same 
 length of time of a female teacher in summer, to 
 which was added three or four terms to a select school 
 in this town, taught by young college graduates, 
 among whom were Mr. E. Porter Dyer, afterward 
 Congregational minister in Shrewsbury, in this 
 county, and Mr. C. C. Jewett, afterward Prof Jewett, 
 librarian of "Smithsonian Institute" and of the 
 " Boston Public Library." 
 
 Early in life, in his ninth year, he began work in 
 a woolen-mill at almost the only work that children 
 of that age could be employed, — piecing rolls. 
 
 From that time he has been constantly connected 
 with woolen manufacturing in some form, — as work- 
 man in its various branches, as superintending in 
 some of its departments, and as manager and financier 
 of private companies and corporations, and in having 
 
182 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 charge of the woolen department in a commission 
 house in Boston and New York. 
 
 In 1846 the business firm of C. A. & 8. M. Wheelock 
 was formeil, the Imsiness being the manufacture of 
 satinets, plaid linseys and tweeds. This business was 
 continued till 1855, when, after making a very consid- 
 erable enlargement of its factory and putting in steam 
 power, it entered upon the manufacture of fancy cas 
 simeres, giving up its other manufactures. Tliis busi- 
 ness has been continued to the present time, now nearly 
 forty-three years, during which time S. M. Wheelock 
 has been the general business manager and financier. 
 
 In 1870 he bought the Harriss Woolen Company's 
 property in Putnam, Conn., consisting of a factory, 
 twelve sets of woolen machinery, water-power, one- 
 fourth of the Quinnebaug River at this point, together 
 with dwelling-houses and other property. 
 
 This purchase, in connection with business men, 
 was organized under an act of incorporation by the 
 Legislature of the State of Connecticut as " The 
 Putnam Woolen Company.'' After an increase of 
 the capital stock in 1880, a second factory with ma- 
 chinery power, one-fourth of the Quinnebaug houses 
 and other property, was bought and added to the 
 previous purchase. S. M. Wheelock was chosen 
 treasurer of the company and business manager, 
 which position he maintained till the fall of 1887, 
 when other business occupied so much of his atten- 
 tion as to make it expedient for him to resign the 
 treasurership of this company. 
 
 In 1883 he purchased the Central Mill property in 
 this town, consisting of factory, machinery, power, 
 the whole of the Blackstone River at this point, 
 houses and other property. A company of business 
 men being formed and incorporated under the general 
 corporation laws of Massachusetts as the " Calumet 
 Woolen Company," took the property, and after 
 making extensive repairs and changes and additions, 
 began the manufacture of fancy cassimeres, S. M. 
 Wheelock being the treasurer and principal manager 
 of the company. 
 
 In 188(5 he purchased the property known as the 
 Uxbridge Woolen Factory, which included buildings, 
 machinery, power, the whole of the Blackstone River 
 at this point, dwelling-houses and other property. 
 The Calumet Woolen Company, after an increase of 
 its capital stock, took this property, and after making 
 very great alterations and additions, have put it into 
 operation as " The Hecla Mill." 
 
 Since this last purchiise and putting into operation 
 of the Hecla Mill, he has continued, as before, the 
 management of the Calumet Mills, and also the 
 Wacautuck Mills, by which name the mills of C. A. 
 & S. M. Wheelock are known. 
 
 S. M. Wheelock has manifested but little ambition 
 for political life, although he has discharged the 
 duties of one of the Board of Selectmen of this town 
 for some three or four years, and served on various 
 committees appointed for temporary purposes. 
 
 In 1887 his friends thought his age and practical 
 ability fitted him for the discharge of the duties ap- 
 propriate to a member of the Massachusetts Legis- 
 lature. 
 
 At a Republican convention held for the purpose of 
 nominating a candidate to represent the Second Wor- 
 cester Senatorial District in the then ne.xt General 
 Court he received the nomination for that position, 
 which was duly confirmed by his election in Novem- 
 ber following to the Senate of Massachusetts by a 
 majority that showed him and his immediate friends 
 that it was not merely as a partisan he owed his elec- 
 tion, but for his qualities as a man of practical ability. 
 
 He has this year — in accordance with the general 
 rule of the political parties in relation to Senators — 
 been again elected to the same position by a gratify- 
 ing majority. 
 
 It is not as a politician on which the reputation of 
 S. M. Wheelock is to stand, but as a thorough, prac- 
 tical business man, for which he early in life mani- 
 fested a striking ability ; for stern integrity in busi- 
 ness matters, worth more th.an millions obtained by 
 fraud and chicanery. For more than fifty years of 
 business life, during which time revulsions in business 
 have been encountered that have swamped those ap- 
 parently the most strongly prepared to endure the 
 storm, he has been able to fulfill all his engagements, 
 never paying less than one hundred per cent. But in 
 doing this it has sometimes been felt as a hardship to 
 be obliged to compete with those who, after settling 
 their obligations for fifty per cent, or less, still con- 
 tinued to meet him in the busine-s mart. 
 
 RICHARD SAYI^ES. 
 
 Richard Sayles was born September 1.3, 1819, at 
 Gloucester, R. I., situated in the northwestern part of 
 the State, in Providence County. Here he lived with 
 his parents, attending school until eleven years old ; 
 he then went to live with a farmer a few miles distant 
 from his home, receiving for the first year a compen- 
 sation of eleven dollars and board, and during the 
 winter months a few weeks of schooling. Out of this 
 sum he clothed himself and saved nearly one-third of 
 it. He was well liked by his employer and continued 
 with him on the farm until sixteen years of age, each 
 year receiving an advance in wages and saving a 
 large part. At sixteen he left the farm and entered 
 a grocery-store in Providence, R. I., as clerk, retaining 
 the position al>out five years. In 1840 he came to 
 Uxbridge and attended school in the Old Academy 
 building for one year, having earned and saved the 
 money to pay his tuition while a clerk at Providence. 
 He was a diligent student, and, with characteristic 
 energy and industry, employed his time in a ])rofitable 
 manner outside of school hours: in company with a ■ 
 fellow-student of his own age, he hired a piece of 
 land, from which they raised a large crop and dis- 
 posed of it at a profit, all the work of cultivation 
 
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 ^■i^tf 9-y' 
 
 /jS^^*!-? ^z I /-z^^ 
 
UXBRIDGE. 
 
 183 
 
 being performed out of school hours. At the end of 
 his year's schooling at the Old Academy he entered 
 the employ of the Uxbridge Woolen Company, and 
 remained with them about three years. He then 
 returned to Providence and bought out his former 
 employer in the grocery business, at the corner of 
 Charles and Randall Streets. The business proved 
 successful, and he continued in it three years, and 
 then returned to Uxbridge again and entered the 
 employ of the Uxbridge Woolen Company as book- 
 keeper, filling the position some six years with great 
 credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of the 
 company, who offered him an interest in their busi- 
 ness to remain with them. January 1, 184(), while in 
 the grocery business, in Providence, he was married 
 to Sarah Eddy McBride, who was born at Bolton, 
 Mass., October 14, 1822, at the time of her marriage 
 re.siding at Northbridge, Mass. Her parents were 
 members of the Society of Friends. April 1, 1853, 
 Mr. Sayles entered the employ of Mr. Moses Taft, of 
 Uxbridge, and superintended the building and equip- 
 ment of the Centreville Woolen-Mill, now known as 
 the Calumet Mill, on the completion of which, in the 
 summer of 1853, he, in company with his brother-in- 
 law, Mr. Israel M. Southwick, hired the mill, and, 
 under the firm-name of Southwick & Sayles, com- 
 menced the manufacture of a fine grade of fancy 
 cassimeres, which they continued successfully until 
 July 1, 1859. They then sold out to Messrs. Brad- 
 ford, Taft & Co., of Providence, R. I., Mr. Sayles 
 remaining with the new firm in the capacity of agent 
 and superintendent, and Mr. Southwick as master- 
 mechanic. Messrs. Bradford, Taft & Co. were suc- 
 ceeded by Messrs. Taft, Weeden & Co. Mr. Sayles 
 remained with them until January 1, 1864. During 
 a part of the time, from July 1, 1859, to January 1, 
 1864, — that is, from the breaking out of the War of 
 Rebellion, — the mill was engaged in the manufacture 
 of a fine grade of indigo blue goods for officers' over- 
 coats and suitings, all of the product being contracted 
 direct to the United States (Tovernment, and receiving 
 the highest commendation. Tlie mill for a time was 
 run day and night upon this line of goods, requiring 
 sixteen blue vats for the coloring of the wool. During 
 this period of manufacture for the army the duties 
 devolving upon Mr. Sayles were excessive, often re- 
 quiring his |iresence at the mill until late at night ; 
 this close application to business proved too severe a 
 strain upon him and resulted, January 1, 1864, in a 
 severe shock of paralysis, from which he did not 
 fully recover for several months. After a partial 
 recovery, having severed his connection with Messrs. 
 Taft, Weeden & Co., he leased, about April 1, 1864, 
 the Laurel Ridge Woolen-Mill, in thetownof Burrill- 
 ville, R. I., and village of Pascoag, operating it for 
 one year in the manufacture of satinets, residing 
 during the time with his family in Uxbridge. May 
 28, 1864, in company with David A. McBride, a 
 brother-in-law, he bought of Mr. Chandler Taft the 
 
 old Rivulet Mill property, situated in the north part 
 of the town. After moderate improvements and re- 
 pairs, they commenced the manufacture of shoddy, 
 supplying Mr. Sayles' mill, in Pascoag, and also 
 manufacturing for the market. They continued this 
 business successfully for about two years. On Febru- 
 ary 9, 1866, Mr. Sayles purchased Mr. McBride's 
 interest in the property and sold the same to Mr. 
 Israel M. Southwick, his former partner at the Cen- 
 treville Mill. Immediately they commenced exten- 
 sive additions to the property with the intention of 
 manufacturing fancy cassimeres ; but owing to the 
 great depression in the business, which soon followed, 
 the project was given up, and the property remained 
 unoccupied for several months. 
 
 November 13, 18t)6, Mr. Sayles purchased Mr. 
 Southwick's interest, and goon after sold it to Mr. 
 Zadock A. Taft, of Uxbridge, a copartnership was 
 formed under the firm-name of Sayles & Taft, and 
 the manufacture of shoddy was commenced on an ex- 
 tensive scale, and was continued with success until 
 July, 1869. They then leased the property to Messrs. 
 E. S. Bradford & Co., of Providence, R. I., who com- 
 menced the manufacture of fine and medium grades 
 of woolen yarns ; this firm was succeeded by Messrs. 
 Pierce & Paine, of Providence, and they continued 
 the business until October, 1872, when the mill was 
 burned to the ground, making a total loss. The fol- 
 lowing year Messrs. Sayles & Taft commenced the 
 rebuilding of the property on an enlarged scale, and 
 when completed began the manufacture of cotton 
 warps and yarns, and continued the business for 
 about one year, and then .sold the cotton machinery 
 and replaced it with machinery for the manufacture 
 of satinets, which business they commenced and con- 
 tinued under the firm-name of Sayles & Taft, until 
 October 1, 1878, when they associated with them Mr. 
 Henry S. Morse, of Uxbridge, the firm-name becom- 
 ing Sayles, Taft & Co., the manuflicture of satinets 
 being continued. January 1, 1882, Mr. Taft retired 
 from the firm, and Mr. Sayles and Mr. Morse con- 
 tinued under the firm-name of Richard Sayles 
 & Co. The various business interests of Mr. Sayles 
 in his connection with the Rivulet Mills property 
 have proved successful, as is reflected in the appear- 
 ance of the village, its improved streets and lands, 
 substantial mill buildings, neat and comfortable 
 houses, all of which point to the enterprise, industry 
 and integrity of Mr. Sayles, its projector, who, in every 
 respect, was a self-made man ; broad and progressive 
 in his views, his aim was to have his village and its 
 people surrounded by the best influences, and to that 
 end contributed liberally of his means and effort. 
 Largely to his influence was due the erection of the 
 handsome Baptist Church near his village, he being 
 elected and serving as chairman of its building com- 
 mittee, and contributing generously to its fund and 
 also to its support. In his religious views he com- 
 bined those of the Universalists and Unitarians: in 
 
184 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 politics a stanch Republican and strong advocate of 
 protection to American labor and American industries. 
 He several times refused public office, devoting all his 
 time to his business and improvements in his village. 
 He was a strictly temperate man, and a man of very 
 decided opinions, always expressing them in a 
 straightforward and honest manner. As an em- 
 ployer, he was kind and generous, doing all in his 
 power for the comfort and welfare of his employes, 
 always kind-hearted and genial, ever ready to lend a 
 helping hand and speak a word of encouragement. It 
 was a pleasure to meet and converse with him. He 
 was a man in every sense of the word, a man of the 
 strictest integrity and sterling honesty. 
 
 May 23, 1887, after several weeks of extremely 
 painful illness, he passed away in the sixty-eighth 
 year of his age, although in appearance a much 
 younger man. He leaves a wife, three sons and a 
 large circle of friends. He was a lineal descendant 
 from John Sayles and Mary Williams, daughter ol 
 Roger Williams. John Sayles was a native of Eng- 
 land, and Mary Williams was born at Plymouth, 
 Mass., in August, 1G33. 
 
 Esek Sayles, the grandfather of Richard Sayles, was 
 born at Gloucester, R. I., November 20, 1753, and 
 was married, January 9, 1788, to Mary Harris, hi^- 
 second wife, who was born at Gloucester, R. I., Octo- 
 ber 16, 17G3, by whom he had eight children, — six sons 
 and two daughters, — all born at Gloucester. Amasa 
 Sayles, the oldest child, was born November 18, 1788, 
 and was married November 22, 1811, to Mary Keach, 
 who was born at Gloucester, R. I., January 10, 1794, 
 and were the parents of Richard Sayles, he being the 
 fifth of seven children, — six sons and one daughter, — 
 all born at Gloucester. But two of the family survive — 
 Mrs. Israel M. Soutliwick and Rensselaer Sayles, both 
 residents of Uxbridge. 
 
 DANIEL FARKUM. 
 
 Daniel Farnum was of the fifth generation in de- 
 scent from John Farnum, an early settler at the 
 ancient town-seat in Mendon, and a little later in the 
 southerly part of Uxbridge. 
 
 The lineage is .John, Moses, Moses, David, Daniel. 
 His grandfather Moses was an eminent minister in 
 the Society of Friends, whose memory is still fragrant 
 in many bosoms. Mr. Farnum lived through all the 
 mature part of his life in Northbridge, near the border 
 of Uxbridge. He was the oldest son of a large 
 family, and is survived only by his youngest brother, 
 Samuel J., now a resident in or near Poughkeepsie. 
 
 Daniel Farnum was born with a good constitution, 
 which he preserved well by regular and temperate 
 habits, experiencing but little sickness, and retaining 
 his faculties in remarkable vigor till within the last 
 year of his life. His was emphatically a sound mind 
 in a sound body; he was characterized for sound 
 common sense, a strong sentiment of justice and 
 honesty, insistence on his own rights, and respect for 
 
 those of others ; economy, simplicity and hospitality 
 in domestic afl'airs ; was provident, faithful and kind 
 in the family circle ; a serviceable, judicious and 
 trustworthy townsman, honored with the principal 
 municipal offices, including those of seleclman and 
 Representative in the Legislature ; a reliable counselor 
 in financial matters ; a lover of his country and its 
 liberties ; a firm opposer of slavery and oppression ; 
 sparing in religious professions, of broad tolerance 
 toward all denominations; liberal in theology, and a 
 steadfast lioper in the final triumph of go(id over evil. 
 These were qualities and characteristics which in Mr- 
 Farnum overshadowed the incidental imperfections 
 common to human nature. He was warmly attached 
 to the interests of the town, and was a constant at- 
 tendant on town-meetings, the last one he attended 
 being in 1878, when in his ninety-fourth year. Among 
 the positions of public financial tru.st he occupied was 
 that of director in the Blackstone Bank, of Uxbridge, 
 over twenty years. He had been expecting his de- 
 parture for three years, expressed his entire resignation 
 to the Divine disposal, and passed away in the con- 
 fident assurance of the life everlasting, December 10, 
 1879, aged ninety-five years and eighteen days. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 AUBURN. 
 
 BY REV. S. n. HOSMER. 
 
 ToPOORAPHirAi,. — Auburn lies on the map an ir- 
 regular pentagon in form, its eastern boundary and 
 base line touching Millbury, with Worcester on the 
 north, Leicester on the west and Oxford on the south. 
 Its area covers about 10,000 acres, with a diameter of 
 five miles in its extreme length. The centre, or the 
 Congregational Church, lies five miles distant south 
 by west from Worcester City Hall. The Norwich 
 and Worcester Railroad threads the eastern side of the 
 town, with depots at Auburn and Stone's Crossing ; 
 the Boston and Albany Railroad runs through the 
 western part. It has no station, but Jamesville and 
 Rochdale depots are respectively within a half-mile 
 and a mile of the town line. In 1885 the Webster 
 Branch was opened, whose junction with the Albany 
 road is in Auburn. This branch has a station at 
 West Auburn. Thus railroad facilities are good. 
 
 The surface is hilly, though without very high 
 summits. The water-courses, trending northerly and 
 easterly, join their channels to make the southern 
 branch of the Blackstone River. These brooks and 
 ponds are frequented by anglers, and three water 
 privileges serve manufacturing uses and have for 
 nearly a century. Pakachoag Hill extends two miles 
 in the easterly part of Auburn, passing into Worces- 
 ter, where it is crowned by the College of the Holy 
 
AUBURN. 
 
 185 
 
 Cross. From its broad plateau one gets a fine view of 
 Stoneville, Leicester steeples on the western horizon, 
 Millbury, Grafton and Shrewsbury, Mt. Asnebum- 
 skitand blue Wachusett. Grassy Hill bordersou West 
 Millbury, Prospect Hill stretches from West Auburn 
 across the Oxford line. Growl and Beer's Hills rise in 
 the northwest corner. We find our Auburn not the 
 "loveliest village of the plain." The population is 
 fairly distributed, the factory precinct of Stoneville 
 being the more thickly built up. Pondville lies east 
 of the centre. The inhabitants generally are farmers 
 whose great barns show the tons of hay produced 
 and the quantity of stock raised. Towns adjacent 
 have a larger territory and population, and, with the 
 exception of Millbury, a more ancient record. Our 
 history narrates the origin, the doings and the present 
 condition of an average New England rural commu- 
 nity. 
 
 CIVIL HISTORY. 
 
 In Council, June 10, 1773, ordered that Gerehom Rice, Israel Stevens, 
 David Bancroft, .Tunatlian Stone, Daniel Boyden, Jacob Stevens, Tliomas 
 Drury, Thos. Driiry, Jr., Henry Gale, Wm Bancroft, Jas. Nichols, Darius 
 Boyden, Jas. Hart, Thos. Baird, Jas. Hart, Jr., Thos. Baird, Jr., Oliver 
 Curtis, Comfort Rice, Elizabetli Boyden, Phebe Bancroft, Jno. Boyden, 
 Daniel Bancroft, Chas. Hart, Jas. Nichols, Peter Boyden, of Worcester - 
 Benjamin Carter, Chas. Richardson, Timothy Carter, Pbiueas Rice, Ben 
 jamin Carter, Jr., Rachel Buck, Daniel Roper, Gershom Bigelow, Ger- 
 fihom Bigelow, Jr., Peter Hardy, Daniel Cummiiigs, Charles Richardson, 
 Jr., of Sutton ; Samuel Eddy, Levi Eddy, Peter Jenison, Kuth Stone, 
 Jesse Stone, Isaac Pratt, Abraham Fitts, Alexander Nichols, David 
 Gleason, of Oxford ; John Orowl, Jr., .\iidrew Growl, Jonathan Phillips' 
 John Hart, Thomas Scott, William Yong, Jonathan Stone, of Leicester ; 
 be and hereby are, with their Families and Estates, erected into a Pre- 
 cinct, and shall' enjoy all the powers and privileges which other Pre- 
 cincts in this province by Law etyoy ; and it is further ordered that all 
 other persons (with their Families and Estates) living in the towns of 
 Worcester, Leicester and Oxford, not further than three miles (as the 
 roads are now trod) from the Place hereinafter fixed for building the 
 meeting-house upon, together with all such others in Sutton that live 
 not further than one mile and a half from said place, who shall signify 
 their desire to belong to said Precinct by lodging their names in the 
 Secretary's office within nine months from this date, be and hereby are 
 Incorporated and made a part of the Precinct aforesaid— ordered that the 
 spot for erecting the meeting-house upon be at the following place (viz)., 
 at an Oak stump with stones upon it, Standing on the Westerly side of 
 the County road leading from Worcester to Oxford, near the centre of 
 two acres of Land which Thomas Drury conveyed to Jonathan Stone, 
 Daniel Boyden and David Bancroft ; the said two acres of land lieth on 
 the gore of land that was annexed to the town of Worcester. 
 
 The gore of land above named lay originally in 
 Leicester, and had been annexed to Worcester in 
 1758. 
 
 These persons expressed their wish to join the new 
 precinct, and did accordingly: Samuel Holman, 
 Gershom Eice, Jr., Israel Stone, Wm. Parker, Joseph 
 Phillips, .Samuel Learnard, Israel Phillips, Jacob 
 Work, Jonathan Cutler, David Stone, John Harwood, 
 Thomas Gleason, William Phips, Isaac Putnam, Jo- 
 seph Gleason, Jonas Bancroft, Elisha Liverraore, 
 Gardner Chandler (for my land within the limits), Na- 
 thaniel Scot, David Bates, Nathan Patch, David 
 Richards. 
 
 July 27, 1773, the precinct was organized and chose 
 its officers ; among others, Jacob Stevens, clerk, and 
 Jonathan Stone, treasurer. The freeholders met at 
 the tavern of Thomas Drury, Jr., inn-holder. The 
 
 principal doings of the South Parish of Worcester, 
 as it was called, will come in review under matters 
 ecclesiastical, which mainly occupied attention dur- 
 ing the five years of precinct municipality. One 
 fact, however, deserves notice. On the proprietors' 
 book stands, in the clear hand-writing of William 
 Phips, the Declaration of Independence, with the 
 subjoined order from the Council of Massachusetts: 
 
 That the Declaration be printed and a copy sent to the ministers of 
 each parish of every denomination within this State, and that they sever- 
 ally be required to read the same to their respective congregations, aff 
 soon as Divine Service is ended in the afternoon, on the first Lord's Day, 
 after they shall have received it, and the town or district clerks are then 
 required to record the same in their books, to remain as a perpetual 
 memorial thereof. 
 
 April 10, 1778, the precinctbecame an incorporated 
 town, named Ward, in compliment to Major-General 
 Ward, the commander of the colonial forces, at Cam- 
 bridge, till Washington arrived. Heath, Gardner 
 and Warren similarly commemorate other Revolu- 
 tionary ofiicers. Road-making, parish affairs, with 
 the patriotic furnishing soldiers and supplies for the 
 army, occupied our townsmen. In 1780 a committee 
 reported on the adoption of the proposed State Con- 
 stitution, favorably on the whole, yet suggesting their 
 decided preference for legislative representation as 
 towns, rather than based on the number of polls, 
 and emphatically disapproving the proviso that the 
 Constitution should not be amended for fifteen years. 
 In 1795 the town voted thirteen to seven in favor of 
 a revision of that instrument. September, 178G, 
 " Voted not to take any notice of the petition or 
 address of the town of Boston ;" but what the metrop- 
 olis desired of the country cousins, to be treated so 
 curtly, is not apparent. 
 
 Ward, like other towns, was considerably impli- 
 cated in the uprising of Shays' Rebellion. Taxation 
 was oppressive; Middle and Western Massachusetts 
 was in a ferment. A company of armed men from 
 Ward, under Captain Goulding, joined other insur- 
 gents, gathered at Worcester to prevent the sitting of 
 the court. Some days later, after a chilling snow- 
 storm, the insurrectionary soldiers indulged quite 
 freely in stimulants from merchant Waldo's stock of 
 liquors, but detected a queer taste that suggested to 
 some the thought of poison. Fortunately, Dr. Green, 
 of Ward, being at hand, relieved their fears and imag- 
 inary pains in the discovery that the favorite fluid had 
 been plentifully seasoned with snufl'. 
 
 The town addressed several petitions to the General 
 Court, Governor and Council, and Major-General 
 Lincoln, in behalf of their misguided brethren, who 
 became amenable to justice, particularly craving 
 pardon for Henry Gale, under sentence of death 
 as a rebel. He finally obtained life and liberty 
 through the pardon granted by the executive to 
 the condemned insurgents. The town expressly 
 aftirmed "that the hostile measures adopted and pur- 
 sued by sundry persons to oppose known laws were 
 unjustifiable in their nature and tendency." These 
 
186 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 petitions were able papers and proved to be in the 
 line of governmental policy. 
 
 Captain Samuel Pxldy was chosen representative 
 to the General Court in 1787, and in a long docu- 
 ment received the explicit instructions of his con 
 stituents. I quote some of them : "The setting of 
 the General Court, in the town of Boston, is a matter 
 which the citizens of this Commonwealth are not gen- 
 erally satisfied with, as in transacting the business of 
 an Infant Nation, irabarassed with debts, it h highly 
 incumbent to study economy and dispatch, for which 
 great purposes the town of Boston is by no means 
 adapted." The next section demanded the abolition 
 of the Court of Common Pleas ; they also asked for 
 a convention to revise the Constitution, and that 
 inn-holders and retailers be licensed by the selectmen 
 of their respective towns. Article thirteen complains 
 " of the pernicious practice of the Law, as tending to 
 the imbarassment, perplexity and expense of the 
 people. If the general prosperity and happiness of 
 the people can be effected by proper checks and re- 
 straints on the practitioners of the law, we do not 
 insist upon the total annihilation of the order, but 
 if upon investigation it should appear conducive to 
 the happiness of the people, that the order be annihi- 
 lated, you will act conformably, for it is better that a 
 few sutler than a People to sink beneath oppression." 
 
 Sometimes the town voted not to send a Representa- 
 tive to the Legislature. Two of its ablest men, at the 
 same town-meeting elected representatives, each in 
 turn refused the honor. In 1794 Joseph Stone, sur- 
 veyor, was empowered to take a map or plan of the 
 town, agreeable to a resolve of the Legislature. Next 
 year the town agreed to help Joseph Stone against a 
 loyalist's claim to certain property. In May, 179(3, 
 "Voted unanimously that, alarmed by the reports 
 current, that ye Treaty lately concluded between the 
 United States of America and the Government of 
 Great Britain, and duly ratified by the Constituted 
 Authorities, meets with impediments and delays in 
 carrying into effect, on the part of these State.s by the 
 Majority of the Hon. House of Representatives of the 
 Federal Congress; it is the wish and desire of this 
 town, that the said Treaty be fully carried into effect 
 without further delay." This vote was sent to the 
 Hon. Dvvight Foster, Representative in Congre.ss. 
 
 During Jefferson's administration Ward by vote 
 sustained the government in ordering the embargo, 
 so unpopular in New England. John Clark, Esq., was 
 the delegate to the convention for the revision of the 
 State Constitution in 1820. Fifteen years later manu- 
 facturing was starting on a larger scale than the 
 smithies, saw and grist-mills, home-looms and spin- 
 ning-wheels of earlier times. That fact, with the con- 
 struction of the two railroads, brought in a foreign 
 element of population which is now mainly Canadian 
 French. Church records chronicle with refreshing 
 simplicity sixty years ago the death of an Irishman, 
 a black woman, a foreigner from Sweden, the merely 
 
 naming the race or nationality affording sufficient per- 
 sonal identification. Tythingmen were chosen as 
 late as 1839. 
 
 The name of our town. Ward, because of confusion 
 with Ware, was changed in 1837 to Auburn, proposed, 
 we think, by Joseph Stone, Esq., who served as town 
 clerk twenty-four years. Indeed, the recording the 
 town's doings fitly belongs to the clan of Stones, the 
 most frequent family name from the first; the present 
 capable town clerk, Emory Stone, having filled that 
 office thirty-two years. In 1850 the Legislature an- 
 nexed to Auburn certain estates, which, by their own- 
 ers' choice, in virtue of the act of incorporation of 
 Ward, had paid taxes and exercised suffrage in the 
 towns adjoining. Our growth has been slow but sure, 
 without the rush, inffation, depression and crash that 
 have scathed some communities. Probably more build- 
 ing went on from 1865 to 1875 than in any other dec- 
 ade. The population was in 1790, 473; 1810, 540; 
 1830, 090; 1850, 879; 1880, 1317. State census of 
 1885, 1208; the number of polls, 310; and the valua- 
 tion, $487,421. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIL 
 
 AVBVKii— [Coil /ill lied. ) 
 
 EccLESiASTirAL. — The first settlers took prompt 
 action in church affairs ; for in August, 1773, they 
 voted " to begin Preching as soon as may be,'' and 
 planned to build the meeting-house. The pews 
 were dignified, and taken by families in 1775, though 
 the church was not finished until ten years were 
 gone. It was a nearly square structure, standing 
 more on the Common than at present. The proprie- 
 tors' book shows the plan of the ffoor with large 
 square pews against the wall, gives the pew-owners' 
 names and prices paid. Various ministers were 
 heard, and three unsuccessfully called. The church 
 was formed with the presence and sanction of Rev. 
 David Hall, of Sutton, Rev. Mr. Maccarty, of Wor- 
 cester, and Rev. Mr. Chaplin, of Sutton Second 
 Church (which is now the first of Millbury), Thurs- 
 day, January 25, 1776. Eleven men and as many 
 women made up its original membership. Rev. Mr. 
 Hall officiated at their tirst communion observance, 
 June 9th. The first pastor. Rev. Isaac Bailey, a 
 native of Sterling, graduated at Harvard College in 
 1781, and was ordained here November 4, 1784. He 
 had studied divinity with Rev. Daniel Emerson, of 
 HoUis, N. H., whose daughter, Elizabeth, he married. 
 His was a useful pastorate of thirty years. He died 
 April 10, 1814, and sleeps with his deacons and 
 congregation in the old church-yard. 
 
 March 1, 1815, Rev. Enoch Pond (Brown Univer- 
 sity, 1813) was ordained pastor, who labored dili- 
 gently and successfully till 1828. He then became 
 editor in Boston of the periodical Spirit of the I'il- 
 
AUBURN. 
 
 187 
 
 grims ; and somewhat later began his life-work, at 
 Bangor Theological Seminary, where he died, full of 
 years, service and honor, in 1881. This church 
 greatly flourished during his ministry, more than 
 doubling its membership in two extensive revivals. 
 He published sermons, reviews, lectures, beside 
 preparing young men for college. Anecdotes are 
 told by those who remember him showing his pleas- 
 ant and, at times, jocose disposition and ready wit. 
 His dwelling looks to-day very much as when he 
 abode there, and the long school-room and study, 
 now two chambers, is our veneration, as is Luther's 
 home and study to the residents of Wittenberg. 
 
 Rev. Miner G. Pratt preached twenty years. He 
 married Caroline, daughter of M.oj. Thos. Drury, 
 afterward resided at Andover, and died at Rochester) 
 N. Y., 1884, aged eighty-four years. He organized a 
 parish library, and was also postmaster. In 1887 the 
 church building was moved back fifty feet, and the 
 belfry and spire added. 
 
 Several clergymen came with shorter terms of stay, 
 among whom was Rev. L. IvesHoadley, a relative by 
 marriage of Dr. Pond. Rev. EInathan Davis, from 
 Fitchburg, a graduate of Williams College in 18.34, 
 began labor in November, 1869. He did noble work 
 as a citizen as well as preacher. The church was 
 raised up, galleries removed and the interior quite 
 remodeled. The church's centenui.al was joyfullj' 
 celebrated in J.anuary, 1876 ; but the only printed 
 record is the newspaper column. Mr. Davis' minis- 
 try of ten years greatly strengthened the church. 
 Sincere was the sorrow at his funeral, April, 1881. 
 Rev. N. A. Prince pre.ached two years; and the 
 present incumbent. Rev. S. D. Hosmer, of Harvard, 
 1850, began his labors January 1, 1883. The chapel 
 near to the church has served at times as a school- 
 room. In it hang three portraits of former pastors — 
 Rev. Dr. Pond, Rev. Charles Kendall and Rev. 
 EInathan Davis. 
 
 On the town records we catch glimpses of persons 
 not in accord with the standing order ecclesiastically. 
 In 1779 provision was made to supply the deficiency 
 caused by "taxes sunk by being laid on several of 
 the Baptist persuasion in a late Ministerial R.ate." 
 Ten years after the selectmen were empowered " to 
 abate Minister's taxes set to those who bring Certifi- 
 cates of their Congregating otherwheres besides in 
 tliis town, as they may think proper." Liberty was 
 given Elder Rathborn (at the desire of Jas. Hart) 
 " to preach in the meeting-house at any time when 
 they may not have occasion to make use of it them- 
 selves." March, 1812, the town "allowed the Dis- 
 senters from the Congregational Society the Privi- 
 lege of occupying the Meeting-House on Week Days 
 for Lectures; when the aforesaid Congregationals 
 do not want to occupy the said house themselves." 
 
 A churcli was erected through the efforts of Colonel 
 Goulding and Samuel Warren in West Auburn, next 
 the burial-ground, in 1814. This was the Baptist 
 
 house of worship. When that society migrated to 
 North Oxford, this building, bought by the War- 
 ren Brothers, and moved to the site of their tan- 
 nery, was used for business purposes till it was 
 burned, about 1863. 
 
 The Baptist Church in Sutton called a council 
 of elders and delegates, who met April 9, 1815, 
 and constituted the First Baptist Church of Ward, 
 with eleven male and seventeen female members. 
 Elder Pearson Crosby, of Thompson, Conn., preached 
 the sermon text (Matt. 16: 18), and Elder Thomas L. 
 Leonard, of Sturbridge, gave the right hand of fellow- 
 ship to the new church. Deacon Jonah Goulding, 
 Samuel Warren, David Hosmer and several persons 
 of the Jennison and Gleason families were original 
 members. Elder Dwinel seems to have been the 
 first pastor, afterward Elias McGregory, and Rev. 
 John Paine was the preacher from 1830 till 1837, 
 when the larger part of the church, which counted 
 near one hundred members, were transferred to 
 become the Baptist Church in North Oxford. Also 
 in 1837 Rev. Jonah G. Warren was chosen to 
 prepare the history of this church. The Oxford 
 Church and congregation to-day are largely com- 
 posed of Auburn families. 
 
 The Roman Catholic Church at Stoneville began 
 as a mission in 1870. It is now under the pas- 
 toral supervision of Father Boylen, who lives in 
 Oxford. They have a neat sanctuary on the hill, 
 with a fine view of the Holy Cross College in 
 Worcester, distant less than two miles. 
 
 Educational. — In 1779 two hundred pounds 
 were given for schooling, and the town divided 
 into five squadrons or districts, "Each squadron 
 to diaw their money, and it to be a free school 
 for the Town." The first committee chosen in 1780 
 were Jonathan Stone, Darius Boyden, Jesse Stone, 
 ,Tohn Prentice and Andrew Crowl. In November 
 three thousand pounds were added to the sum 
 granted last year for schooling. It must have 
 been the depreciated currency of the day, for soon 
 after thirty pounds became the annual appropria- 
 tion. Who were the school-dames or masters then, 
 we know not. Joseph Stone may have been one. 
 In 1784 Ward refused to allot any part of the 
 school-money "to be held in the Center for the 
 sole purpose of teaching Large Scholars." Two 
 years later the committee were seven in number, 
 viz., James Hart, Jr., Joseph Dorr, Esq., Lieu- 
 tenant Thomas Drury, Jonah Goulding, Levi Eddy, 
 Deacon Ezra Cary and Abel Holman. The ap- 
 portionment of the school-tax on the lands of non- 
 residents in 1789 names the Sutton Squadron, 
 Leicester Squadron, North and South Squadrons on 
 Prospect Hill, Bogachoge and Deacon Stone's Squad- 
 ron. November, 1790, Lieutenant Thomas Drury 
 was annexed to the southeast squadron, provided 
 said squadron shall erect their school-house on the 
 height of land south of Messrs. Cary & Green's 
 
188 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Potash ; and a new squadron was formed ; the 
 families of Abel Holman, Richard Bartlett, Eliph- 
 alet Holman and Paul Thurston set oft' from the 
 southeast district. In June of the next year the 
 three western districts were consolidated, and prep- 
 arations made to build a school-house. A little 
 later forty pounds was the usual annual appro- 
 priation. Like other towns fifty years since, a 
 prudential committee looked after the school finances 
 and a visiting cooamittee attended to the literary 
 attainments of teachers and pupils. The pastors 
 have generally served with others on the School 
 Committee, and the town has a few times recognized 
 their merit by placing ladies on the educational 
 board. A report of the School Committee was 
 accepted at town-meeting in 1843 ; but the earliest 
 printed school report I have seen came out in 1851. 
 
 A school of a higher grade was held in the fall of 
 1875, whose pupils enjoyed the thorough instruction 
 in High School studies of a Yale graduate, resident 
 still in town. We have two hundred and forty 
 children between five and fifteeu years old, six school- 
 districts, with seven schools ; the Stoneville building, 
 erected in 1872, housing two schools, with an annual 
 appropriation of $1,300, added to which is the State 
 school fund and the dog- tax. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Pond taught a private school some seven 
 years in his own house. He fitted many young men 
 for college, took rusticated collegians into his fam- 
 ily, and, with wonderful diligence and versatility, 
 heard lessons, directed his scholars, wrote sermons 
 and articles for the press at the same time. He pre- 
 pared a new arrangement of Murray's English 
 Grammar. At times there were thirty or forty pupils. 
 Hon. Albert G. Wakefield, of Bangor, Maine ; Rev. 
 Artemas Ballard, D.D., of St. Louis; Virgil Gar- 
 diner, from the South ; Mr. Burrill, of Providence, 
 R. I. ; and Rev. Gideon Dana were of those who 
 studied here. Since Mr. Pond's departure selecl 
 schools have at diflferent times been kept in the 
 chapel. 
 
 Some of the elders here in their youth attended 
 Leicester Academy, whose centennial was kept in 
 188-4. At present our youug people take advantage 
 of the nearness and excellence of Worcester's varied 
 institutions of learning. 
 
 A paper-covered little book is still preserved with 
 Jonathan Stone's autograph as owner in 1760. His 
 son, Joseph Stone, Esq., who died in 1835, had a good 
 library for the time. Among his varied capabilities 
 he exercised the craft of a bookbinder. Traces exist 
 of a social library about 1880 ; Joseph Stone, Abijah 
 Craig, Oliver Baker and others being share-holders. 
 There was, too, a parish library in Rev. Mr. Pratt's 
 day, of which he was custodian. Mr. William Craig 
 willed to the town one thousand dollars, provided the 
 town added another thousand to establish and main- 
 tain a free public library, only the interest to be 
 expended. He was a man eccentric in dress. 
 
 econornical in his habits, of bright faculties, quick at 
 repartee, an active Whig. He died in 1871. The 
 library was opened in October, 1872, with two hundred 
 volumes, and was for several years in charge of Miss 
 Hannah Green, at her residence ; thence moved to 
 an ante-room of the town hall. It has outgrown its 
 present quarters. A portion of the library, mostly 
 theological works, of the style read by our devout 
 grandfathers, once belonged to Joseph Stone. The 
 residue (fifteen hundred volumes) are a well-selected 
 collection, diligently conned by the young people of 
 Auburn. Miss Lucy P. Merriam is the trusty libra- 
 rian. A catalogue was printed in 1885. We need 
 for our library a copy of every book and pamphlet 
 written in or about this town or its vicinity ; and 
 then a commodious hall for their use, preservation 
 and increase. The town also owns a large case, 
 filled with law works and the public documents of 
 the State. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 AUBURN— ( Coutin ued. ) 
 
 Manufactures. — In the last century every house- 
 wife was skilled, like Solomon's virtuous woman, in 
 seeking wool and fiax, and deftly handled the spindle 
 and distafi'. The whirr of the spinning-wheel and 
 jar of the loom made the home music. On early rec- 
 ords the potash of Dr. Green and Recompense Cary 
 is named as the starting-point of a new road. An 
 official document in 1794 mentions two grist-mills, 
 four saw-mills and one fulling-mill. A wind-mill, 
 too, caught the breezes upon Prospect Hill. Charles 
 Richardson's mill utilized the water privilege, now 
 called Pondville, known as Rice's mills fifty years 
 ago. From Mr. Rice the property passed through 
 several owners to Otis Pond, who changed the busi- 
 ness from a saw and grist-mill to the making of yarn. 
 Then, with his brother as partner, it became a sat- 
 inet-mill. At this time, 1862, Mr. B. F. Lamed 
 took an interest in the business, which, at first with 
 others, and then alone, he sustained till 1883. The 
 Auburn Mill was widely known for its woolen goods, 
 sold through Boston and New York commission 
 houses. By a freshet causing the reservoir to give 
 way, the mill was damaged in 1873. Mr. A. Henry 
 Alden was drowned in the fiume by the bursting in 
 of the bulkhead gates June 18,1879. A six-families 
 tenement-house, ofiice and store-house were built, 
 and a set of cards put in, making five sets in the mill, 
 in the spring and summer of 1880. Three times has 
 the plant been wholly burned, — in 1805 ; August 
 25, 1870 ; and August 21, 1880. Each rebuilding was 
 a marked improvement. A very pleasant festival 
 and charitable gathering of towns-folk and friends 
 from abroad, with a bright speech by Hon. John D. 
 Washburn and a poem by Rev. E. Davis, celebrated 
 
AUBUKN. 
 
 189 
 
 the completion of the new mill in the month of Feb- 
 ruary, 1881. Mr. Lamed sold the property in 1883 to 
 L. J. Knowles & Brother. The mill is now managed 
 under the firm of Kirk, Hutching & Stoddard as the 
 Auburn Woolen Mill. 
 
 The Drury family, for three generations, owned a 
 grist and .saw-mill at the outlet of the pond near the 
 Southhridge and Stoneville roads. Colonel Alvah 
 Drury built the house now Mr. Hilton's residence, 
 and prospered in his business. The site afterward be- 
 came known as Dunn's Mill. Albert Curtis and B. F. 
 Larned bought the water privilege, and Dunn's shod- 
 dy mill, owned by B. F. Larned, was burned, with a 
 loss of over four thousand dollars. May 2, 1877. Mr. 
 James Hilton carried on the same business, and liis 
 premises were burned in 1887, but immediately re- 
 built and enlarged. 
 
 Dark Brook, the outflow of Eddy's Pond, at two 
 points has turned the wheels of manufacturing in- 
 dustry. 
 
 Plows, scythes, wooden-ware for farmers' tools and 
 shoes were made here from 1820 to '40. Ichabod 
 Washburn, the wealthy and liberal wire-maker of 
 Worcester, served his apprenticeship with Nathan 
 Muzzy, whose blacksmith-shop stood behind the 
 church. He received his freedom suit of clothes, 
 made by Mrs. Muzzy, at the expiration of his ser- 
 vice. 
 
 In 1837 Auburn could show one woolen mill, a pa- 
 per mill, a card factory, three shingle mills, a lath 
 mill and a sash and blind factory. Daniel Haywood's 
 paper mill, a four-story structure on the stream above 
 Stoneville, was swept away by a flood in 1856. John 
 Warren & Sons carry on the tannery in West Au- 
 burn. This industry has been successfully prose- 
 cuted on the same spot, and kept in the family since 
 Jonah Goulding started that business nearly a cen- 
 tury ago. 
 
 In 1834 Jeremy Stone began to improve the water- 
 power on Young's Brook by erecting a brick m'll and 
 houses for the operatives. He died at the South be- 
 fore his plans were completed, but the village at 
 Stoneville marks his business foresight. Edward 
 Denny, of Barre, next owned the property. About 
 1850 Mr. A. L. Ackley bought him out, changing the 
 woolen to a cotton mill. John Smith, of Barre, took 
 it in 1858, whose sons, C. W. and J. E. Smith, coined 
 money by .shrewd business operations in the war-pe- 
 riod, from 1861 to '65. At C. W. Smith's death, a 
 few years since, the mill lay idle awhile. Mr. George 
 H. Ladd acted as superintendent till the last sale of 
 the property and his removal to Clinton, Mr. Hogg, 
 the carpet manufacturer at South Worcester, is 
 present owner, the business-name being the Stone- 
 ville Worsted Company, making yarn for the Worces- 
 ter Carpet Mill. 
 
 When the Lynde Brook reservoir broke loose, the 
 damage at the Stoneville dam and bridge cost the 
 town alone three thousand dollars. The dwellings 
 
 of the operatives under the maple's shade, the neatly- 
 kept pine grove on the near hillside, its height 
 crowned by the Catholic Church and the public school, 
 form as attractive a New England laciory village as 
 you may find. 
 
 The Darling Bros. (Messrs. D. W. & J. T.), con- 
 tractors, reside on the Rochdale road in Auburn. 
 Specimens of their skill, fidelity and success as 
 l)uilders are seen at the Polytechnic, Worcester, and 
 public edifices at Ware and Springfield. Through 
 the influence of James Alger, a veteran engineer on 
 the Boston and Albany Railroad, some twenty of our 
 young men are firemen and engineers on several rail- 
 roads. 
 
 Agriculture. — Rev. Peter Whitney writes of this 
 town in 1793 : " The soil in general is fertile, rich and 
 strong, suitable for orcharding and all kinds of fruit; 
 well adapted to pasturage and mowing, and produces 
 large crops of rye, oats, wheat, barley, Indian corn 
 and flax. It is not very rocky, but affords stone 
 sufficient for fencing in the farms.'" And Major 
 (rookin, a century before, noted the famous crops of 
 Indian corn at Pakachoag, the Indian civil planta- 
 tion, and translated the significance of the aboriginal 
 word, the village named from " a delicate .spring of 
 water there." 
 
 I suppose wool-raising in the olden time was profit- 
 ably pursued. Different ear-marks of the stock- 
 owners are recorded by the town clerk. The minister's 
 glebe counted its acres by the scores, and the good 
 parson, like his congregation, was expert in using the 
 plough, scythe and sickle. There must have been 
 ilouble the amount of woodland. In recent times the 
 supply of railroad ties, and hundreds of trees cut 
 down for fuel, explains the lesser area of the fore«t. 
 For a mile one rode along a shaded avenue a few years 
 since on the Southbridge road ; alas ! that the fact 
 should be but a pleasant memory now. Some farms 
 -till belong to descendants of their first owners. Our 
 yeomen quite generally are busied in supplying milk 
 10 the neighboring city. Mr. A. S. Wolf conducts a 
 ivell-managed market produce farm, and finds a ready 
 disposal for all he raises. He employs, winter and 
 summer, a number of men, and his fruitful acres 
 remind one of the Arlington and Belmont market- 
 ^.^ardens. Other persons cultivate the small fruits and 
 realize, we hope, the pecuniary profits a well-known 
 novelist gave as his experience on the banks of the 
 Hudson. The yearly harvest exhibition shows an 
 attractive display of flowers, vegetables and fruit. 
 
 The Auburn Grange, No. 60, P. of H., was organized 
 July 2, 1874, with twenty-three charter members. It 
 now numbers over one hundred, and is in a flourish- 
 ing condition. A few years since the grange spent a 
 bright May-day, before Arbor Day was recognized, in 
 the adornment of the public green by setting out 
 thrifty young maples to grow beside the half a dozen 
 lofty elms, the bequest to us of our thoughtful prede- 
 cessors a century ago. 
 
l!MI 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 We note some of the chief agricultural results in 
 Auburn, found in the tallies of the State census in 
 1885 for the year previous: 
 
 Milk, gallons " 250,716 
 
 Value of dairy products $47,164 
 
 Hay, straw and fodder 30,927 
 
 Vegetables 10,391 
 
 Animal products 9,152 
 
 Wood products 7,368 
 
 PtmUry products 6,y74 
 
 Aggregate of agricultural products 8132,032 
 
 There were ninety-one farmers, with eighty-five ad- 
 ditional farm laborers. 
 
 A sentence from the town's instructions to its rej) 
 resentative, in 1787, might serve well as a grange 
 motto: "The industrious husbandman, on wliom this 
 cominonvvealth will prolialily ever depend for its 
 greatest strength.'' True of the United States to-day, 
 though not as applicable to Massachusetts as when 
 originally penned. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 AVEVRN—iCoii/iinicd.) 
 
 Military Affairs. — Military titles abound in the 
 names of the first residents. Some had seen service 
 in the French and Indian Wars. The commission of 
 Comfort Rice as first lieutenant in the Third Com- 
 pany of Foot, Micah Johnson, captain, in the regiment 
 of militia in Worce.ster County, whereof John Chand- 
 ler is colonel, signed by Governor Hutchinson, June, 
 1773, is yet preserved. Two companies marched from 
 Worcester on the Lexington alarm, April, 1775. Cap- 
 tain Timothy Bigelow led the minute-men. A few in 
 his company and one certainly in Captain Flagg's 
 were from this South Parish. The State archives con- 
 tain the muster-roll of Captain John Crowl's com- 
 pany from this place, twenty-six men in all. They 
 were attached to Colonel Larned's regiment, and 
 marched to Roxbury in the alarm of April, 1775. They 
 were paid for a hundred miles' travel and from six to 
 twelve days' service. Total amount allowed for this 
 company and receipted for by their captain January 
 24, 1771), £28 2s. 7\'l. When the parish became a 
 town its records attest its earnest loyalty to freedom, 
 in ofl'ering good bounties for army recruits, in for- 
 warding beef, grain and clothing to the soldiers in 
 service. The following document is a sample: 
 
 To Capt .lobn waight, .\gont for Solrler clutliing for the county of 
 Worcester, we the Selectmen of Ward have apprised and sent the follow- 
 ing artikels, viz. : 
 
 ^^H shirts at 48s per shirt 467 4 
 
 14 pair of shoes 48s per pair 33 12 
 
 14 pair of Stockings 36« per pair 25 4 
 
 Total.. 
 
 £126 
 
 Ward, Nov. 3n, 1778. 
 
 CHAS RlCHAttnSON 
 
 Nathan Patch 
 Jonathan CuTLEE _ 
 
 Select 
 Men 
 
 The town also purchased five guns and ammunition. 
 
 There must have been a home company, as its officers 
 were associated in 1780 with the town's Committee of 
 Correspondence. 
 
 The part Ward took in Shays' Rebellion has been 
 already told. October, ITM, a quarter of a pound of 
 powder was allowed each soldier for the muster at Ox- 
 ford that shall bear arms on said day. Next year the 
 records state, " Voted to give One Dollar to each of 
 the men called for from the military Company in this 
 town, who shall be Volunteers to fill the Levy; also 
 to such of the Cavalry and Artillery, who are inhab- 
 itants of this Town, who may be detached from their 
 respective Corps, in proportion to the Levy on the 
 Infantry ; also that the town will make up the pay to 
 each and every of said Soldiers, including whatsoever 
 they shall be entitled to receive from the public equal 
 to $10 per month they may serve, after they shall be 
 called into actual service, consequent to said Levy." 
 
 The town's powder was stored in the attic of the 
 church until a powder-house was built on the hill-top 
 south of the old burying-place. Men still living, in 
 their younger days trained with their townsmen on 
 the Common, or went through the military evolutions 
 in a field near Major Drury's house ; marched to Lei- 
 cester, Oxford or Worcester, joining other companies 
 for regimental review. Gradually the military spirit 
 died out in the piping times of peace, till the black 
 war-cloud looming up on the Southern horizon sum- 
 moned the citizen soldiery of the North. Auburn 
 enlisted seventy-seven men ; three of these entered 
 the navy. The Twenty-fifth Regiment Massachusetts 
 Volunteer Militia received the most of these of any 
 one regiment, but Auburn had soldiers also in the 
 Fifteenth, Twenty-first, Thirty-fourth and Fifty-first, 
 and scattered individuals in yet others. A few joined 
 the Heavy Artillery. Three were killed; four more 
 died of wounds or sickness in the hospitals. On the 
 soldiers' monument, raised in 1870, are inscribed the 
 names of fifteen soldiers, deceased. The little flutter- 
 ing flags mark the resting-places of these and others 
 since mustered out from life's march and bivouac. 
 
 John A. Logan Post, No. 97, G. A. R., was organized 
 with thirty-six comrades and was largely efficient 
 toward the erection of the soldiers' monument. But so 
 many of its members left town that after three years the 
 post disbanded. No uniformed soldier is met on our 
 quiet streets ; the nearest approach to the stormy times 
 of '63 is the distant boom of the holiday salutes of Bat- 
 tery B in Worcester or the crack of the sportsman's 
 rifle intent on shooting sly Reynard or a harmles'i 
 rabbit. The grandson of the first pastor became dis- 
 tinguished as Prof Jacob Whitman Bailey at West 
 Point. Would that one of our tall forest trees might 
 stand as a flag-staff on the Common to display on fit 
 occasions the Stars and Stripes above the greenery of 
 those towering elms. 
 
 Cemeteries.— In January, 1775, a committee was 
 chosen " to pick upon a buruing yeard." They re- 
 ported " upon a Diligent and faithful tryal of y' 
 
AUBURN. 
 
 191 
 
 Ground near the Senter of the parish, the most Sala- 
 ble place on the Rode from the meeting-house to ox- 
 ford, on the Southerly Corner of Mr. Thomas Drury's 
 Cleared Land," eleven rods each way, containing 
 three-quarters of an acre. This old burying-ground 
 joins the Commou and is thickly planted with the 
 memorial stones of our predecessors. The oldest bears 
 the date April 13, 1777— the stone of Mrs. Deborah 
 Thurston, aged nineteen years. The epiUiphs chroni- 
 cle the family genealogies of the town to a large 
 extent, as for forty years here was the only burial 
 spot, and till 1846 the principal one. Our forefathers' 
 tomb-stone poetry was usually alarming in its address 
 to the living; but these lines on the stone of a four- 
 years-old child answer darkly the mooted question. 
 Is life worth living? 
 
 When tbe arcJiaugel's tninip shall blow, 
 
 And suuls to bodies join, 
 What crowds shall wish their lives below 
 
 Had been as short as mine. 
 
 An ancient graveyard beside the thronged city's 
 street seems terribly out of place, only interesting to 
 some Old Mortality of an antiquarian ; but in the 
 country the open fields around, singing birds loving 
 its tree-tops, wild flowers and creeping vines border- 
 ing its stone walls, the sunset glow of a summer even- 
 ing lighting up its glades, give a tranquil beauty and 
 serenity better felt than told. The poet's matchless 
 elegy could have been written only of a country 
 church-yard. 
 
 For seventy years the graveyard near School -House 
 Number Four has been the burial-place for the west 
 part of Auburn. The first interment was that of Mr. 
 Gleason in 1S14. Colonel Goulding's tomb is here. 
 A small enclosure on Prospect Hill near the Oxford 
 line has one monument and several graves. It be- 
 longed to the Cudworth fomily. The Burnap field, 
 on land of Thomas S. Eaton, is where that family 
 buried their dead, but the stones have been all 
 removed. 
 
 The new cemetery, laid out in 1846, occupies about 
 six acres midway from the church to the depot. A 
 simple plinth and marble shaft, resting on a granite 
 base, the soldiers' monument, crowns the crest of the 
 slope opposite the gateway. For forty years this 
 garden of the dead received the faithful care of, and 
 nearly every grave was dug by, the sexton, John G. 
 Stone, from whose broad acres this land was pur- 
 chased. Our town name recalls the designation of 
 that first extensive garden-cemetery, Mount Auburn 
 near Boston. As our necropolis has never been named, 
 from its fair prospect over the near water to the dis- 
 tant hills, let us designate this beautiful spot our Mt. 
 Pisgah. 
 
 The Old Tavern. — The residence of Otis Pond, 
 at the Common, is perhaps as old and as little changed 
 as to the interior, as any house in town. This was 
 the tavern, with swinging sign-board between the two 
 supporting timbers, suggesting accommodation for 
 
 man and beast. It was kept by mine hosts Drury, 
 Hturtevant, Cary and Wiser, and not on a temperance 
 platform, as stories of the older inhabitants assure us. 
 Here reined up the stages from Worcester to Norwich, 
 which, in 1831, left Worcester every Wednesday and 
 Saturday at 3 a.m., the passengers reaching Norwich the 
 same afternoon, and, by the steam packet "Fanny," 
 New York the next morning. The summer arrange- 
 ments for 1838 read ; Monday, Wednesday and Friday 
 the stage leaves for the Norwich boat at 6. .30 a.m., but 
 on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday on the arrival of 
 the first train from Boston. The Southbridge stage also 
 passed through this town. A town-meeting, awaiting a 
 committee's report, would take a recess at the inn so 
 accessible. The first parish-meeting convened there, 
 and its best room, I fancy, witnessed Sabbath worship, 
 till the church was ready for use. Dr. Pond speaks of 
 a memorable ball at the tavern, which was the precur- 
 sor of a great revival. The post-oflSce and store were 
 at the Common, but years since left the geographical 
 centre of the town for its travel centre — the depot. 
 But the sign " Groceries " remains, — an epitaph on 
 business departed, perhaps capital buried beyond 
 resurrection. Like an old palimpsest, too, it carries an 
 older inscription of the store-keeper's name, easily 
 decipherable beneath the last-painted word. 
 
 Personai, Sketches. — We glance at a brief out- 
 line of some whose lives have shaped our local his- 
 tory. All that occurred before 1773 belongs to Wor- 
 cester's chronicles or the other mother towns. Yet a 
 word of some then active where now lie our farms 
 may not prove amiss. 
 
 September 17, 1674, Rev. John Eliot and his coad- 
 jutor, Major Daniel Gookin, visited Pakachoag (Lin- 
 coln's " History of Worcester" gives thirteen ways of 
 spelling that name), preached and appointed civil 
 officers among the Indians. John Speen, a Natick 
 convert, had already preached and taught here two 
 years. Gookin locates this Indian village seven 
 miles from Ha.ssanamesit, — i. e., Grafton, — and three 
 miles from the Connecticut Path, which led west- 
 ward. That way ran just north of Lincoln Square, in 
 Worcester. Wattasacompanum, as ruler among the 
 Nipmucks, aided Eliot and Gookin. But next year the 
 wily Philip seduced the natives from their loyalty to 
 the English, when they burned deserted Quinsiga- 
 mond, and were present at the Brookfield disaster. 
 Wattasacomj)anum, or Captain Tom, as he is called, 
 paid the penalty of his weakness at his execution on 
 Boston Common. Matoonas, who had been chosen 
 constable at Packachoag, met a similar fate. 
 
 Col. Timothy Bigelow, who served in the French 
 and Indian War;- and led Worcester's company of 
 minute-men on the Lexington alarm, was born in 
 what was Worcester, but soon became included in 
 Ward. His beautiful memorial column on Worces- 
 ter Common records his soldierly service. 
 
 Rev. Wm. Phips, of the colonial Governor Sir 
 Wm. Phips line, lived near the Oxford bound- 
 
102 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 ary, east of Prospect Hill. Born at Sherborn and a 
 graduate of Harvard College in 1746, he preached at 
 Douglas till dismissed in 1765. We find no trace of 
 him as a minister here, but he was active in church, 
 precinct and tovifn matters, a capable man and a firm 
 patriot. His daughter Sukey married Wm. Craig 
 and was the mother of Abijah and William Craig 
 and their as peculiar sister. Miss Patty. Mr. Phips 
 died in reduced circumstanciis at Oxford in 1798. 
 
 A resolution passed at town-meeting in 1787 rings 
 out its sweeping " Woe unto you lawyers !" Never- 
 theless, even in those troublous days, one of the 
 most useful and honored citizens was the Hon. 
 Joseph Dorr, born in Mendon, graduated at Har- 
 vard, 1752. Leicester and Brookfield also claim him 
 as a resident. His services are conspicuous on our 
 annals from 1786 to 1795. Having assisted in fram- 
 ing the State Constitution and filled already the posi- 
 tion of State Senator, he was exceedingly valuable 
 here in drafting petitions for clemency to those en- 
 gaged in Shays' Insurrection, and was sent as the 
 town's intercessor to lay their appeal before the Gov- 
 ernor and Council. His youngest son, Edward, born 
 in Ward, was a large land-owner in Louisiana and 
 died there. Two older sons became eminent in mer- 
 cantile and financial circles in Boston. Joseph Dorr 
 held the office of justice of the Court of Common 
 Pleas twenty-five years and was judge of Probate for 
 Worcester County eighteen years. He died at Brook- 
 field in 1808. 
 
 Deacon Jonathan Stone, of the third generation 
 from Deacon Simon Stone, of Watertown, the immi- 
 grant ancestor and the third successively named Jon- 
 athan, came from Watertown about 1753, and settled 
 on lands then in Leicester. In 1757 he and others 
 asked to be joined to Worcester, which took place 
 next year. Still later his acres fell into the new 
 parish, soon becoming the township of Ward. His 
 descendant, Emory Stone, Esq., owns the ancestral 
 possessions, the venerable homestead standing till 
 within forty years. Jonathan Stone's name occurs as 
 owner of pew No. 47 in the Old South Church, 
 Worcester, in 17()o. He marched with Captain Bige- 
 low to Cambridge, April, 1775, his sou. Lieutenant 
 Jonathan, going with Captain Flagg. Most of the 
 family name here now are descended from Deacon 
 Jonathan. He was active in the organization of the 
 church and served as its first deacon. As appears in 
 the original plan of the edifice, he bought pew No. 
 15, on the right of the pulpit, and paid the best 
 price (sixty pounds) of any proprietor. The school 
 District where he lived is named as Deacon Stone's 
 District. After his day that section wa.s known atone 
 time as New Boston. Old family Bibles record his 
 three marriages and the goodly array of his nine sons 
 and daughters. He lived to be over eighty years and 
 his stone stands near the cemetery wall close by the 
 chapel. 
 
 His son, Joseph Stone, Esq., has been already 
 
 spoken of. As teacher, surveyor, bookbinder, and 
 even occasional printer, he was variously and largely 
 useful. Fond of reading and study, he gathered quite 
 a library, and the annotations in his pamphlets and al- 
 manacs aftbrd many a desired fact to the antiquary. Spec- 
 imens of hymns and tunes he composed are preserved. 
 In 1793, with Abraham Wood, he published a singing- 
 book, which circulated widely. The town records, in 
 his clear chirography are a feast to the eye and a de- 
 light to the investigator. Some of our elders remem- 
 ber the cloaked figure of this aged worshipper at 
 church. He had been often chosen to public office, 
 and faithluUy discharged every trust. He outlived 
 his wife sixteen years, and died childless, at the age 
 of seventy-nine, February 22, 1835. He gave some of 
 his property to Bangor Seminary, and a memoir of 
 him was written by Dr. Enoch Pond. 
 
 Jonah Goulding settled in the west part of the town, 
 coming thither from Grafton. He became noted as 
 the captain of the Ward company, that joined Shays' 
 forces. One Boyden was the lieutenant. After the 
 rebellion collapsed he was arrested at his home and 
 confined forty days in Boston Jail. His business was 
 that of a tanner, and he built the mansion occupied 
 by his grandsons, the Messrs. Elbridge and John 
 Warren. He filled the place of school committee- 
 man and selectman. Naturally firm in purpose, keen 
 in judgment and outspoken in speech, he acted with 
 emphatic earnestness. He was the principal mover 
 in the formation of the Baptist Church, and its life- 
 long strong pillar. He died in 1826. 
 
 Rev. J. G. Warren, D.D., his grandson, and son of 
 Samuel and Sally Goulding Warren, born September 
 11, 1812, fitted for college at Leicester Academy and 
 graduated at Brown University, 1835, Newton Theol- 
 ogical Institute, 1838. He was ordained at North 
 Oxford, September, 1838, and had pastorates at 
 Chicopee and North Troy, N. Y. ; but his chief ser- 
 vice was done as a secretary of the American Baptist 
 Missionary Union from 1855 to 1872. At a critical 
 period he filled this position with marked capacity 
 and success. He retired in enfeebled health, and died 
 in Newton, February 27, 1884. He was a trustee of 
 Brown University and Newton Theological Institute. 
 
 For seventy years and four generations the Drury 
 family were important persons ; but none of the name 
 are now resident. They owned a large estate, at one 
 time two hundred and fifty acres, reaching from the 
 church site well up on Pakachoag. Thomas Drury, 
 the elder, probably came from Framingham. His 
 name appears, in 1772, on the Worcester records 
 among those eligible for jury duty. His grave-stone 
 dates his death November 3, 1778, in the fifty-ninth 
 year of his age. His son, Lieut. Thomas, had gone 
 forth with Captain Bigelow's minute-men on the Lex- 
 ington alarm. He deeded to the town, in 1781, the 
 land around the church, two and one-half acres ; im- 
 proved the water-power, long known asDrury's Mills, 
 and died, aged ninety-one, in 1836. His daughter. 
 
ASHBURNHAM. 
 
 193 
 
 Phebe, married, in 1799, Rev. Z. S. Moore, then pas- 
 tor in Leicester. Soon he became a professor at 
 Dartmouth College, then the second president at Wil- 
 liams, and died while first president of Amherst Col- 
 lege. She is well remembered as a lady of fine char- 
 acter and dignity, a widow many years, and at her 
 death her property was left to Amherst College. 
 
 Major Drury, often named as Thomas, Jr., well 
 sustained the family reputation. His residence, from 
 its high location, commands fine views to the north 
 and east, from Cherry Valley across the southern part 
 of Worcester. Rev. Mr. Davis owned the place re- 
 cently, and the old-time hospitable mansion is now 
 owned and occupied by Mr. John J. Holmes. The 
 worthy major's twin daughters, Almira and Caroline, 
 greatly resembled each other, occasioning amusing 
 mistakes of personal identity. Miss Caroline married 
 Rev. M. G. Pratt, for twenty years pastor of the Con- 
 gregational Church. 
 
 Colonel Alvah Drury (each generation has a sepa- 
 rate military title) showed remarkable busincis 
 enterprise. He built the house just above his mills, 
 now Mr. Hilton's, and was much relied on bv his 
 townsmen for his capability and public spirit. He 
 died in his prime, the result of an accident in his 
 mill, and with the removal of his family that well 
 known and oft-spoken name passed out of Auburn 
 annals. 
 
 For so small a town. Ward, in its early days, was 
 favored with skilled physicians. Dr. Thomas Green, 
 from Leicester, settled here, probably at the time of 
 Dr. Campbell's removal. Dr. Green had served as 
 surgeon's assistant during the Revolution. He whs 
 town clerk in 1784-85. This branch of the Green 
 family, for a century and a half, have manifested 
 aptitude for the study and practice of the healing art, 
 which Dr. Thomas followed in Ward for twenty-five 
 years. He died in 1812, and was succeeded in his 
 profession by his half-brother. 
 
 Dr. Daniel Green, also of Leicester, was born 
 November 9, 1778, a son of Thomas Green, and 
 grandson of Rev. Thomas Green, a noted physician 
 and surgeon, as well as pastor of the BaplisfChurch 
 in Leicester. Dr. Green was of the sixth generation 
 of those who came to Massachusetts from England in 
 1G30. About 1811 he established himself in Ward, 
 and for over fifty years was the esteemed and suc- 
 cessful physician, with a practice extending into all 
 the neighboring towns. A man of excellent judgment, 
 with keen powers of observatiou, and integrity of 
 purpose, he was the trusted practitioner till over 
 eighty years of age. He was an active worker in tbe 
 anti-slavery cause in its earlier days, as well as an 
 earnest advocate of temperance. He married, January 
 13, 1814, Elizabeth, daughter of Ralph Emerson, of 
 Hollis, N. H. June 1, 18G1, he died, aged eighty- 
 three years. " He was closely identified with the 
 best interests of the town through all these years, 
 and is remembered accordingly." 
 13 
 
 John Mellish, Esq., was born at Dorchester in 
 1801, came to Auburn in 1839, was a justice of the 
 peace thirty-five years, held the oflice of school com- 
 mittee-man until advanced in years, having held the 
 same position in Oxford and Millbury, and was em- 
 ployed as school-teacher, generally in the winter 
 season, for many years. He took the census of 
 Auburn in 1840 and 1850. His son, John H., 
 graduated at Amherst College in 1851 ; Andover 
 Seminary, 1854; was ordained at Kingston, N. H., 
 February 14, 1855 ; is now preaching at North 
 Scituate, R. I. Another son, David B., learned the 
 printers' trade; became an expert reporter and sten- 
 ographer, in New York City ; had an office in the 
 Custom House, was elected Representative in Congress 
 and died while filling that post in 1874 at Washing- 
 ton, D. C. A daughter, Mary Louisa, married Rev. 
 Franklin C. Flint, of Shrewsbury, and died in 1881. 
 
 The Eddy family have held a prominent place in 
 town for a hundred years. A recent death removes 
 this landmark, and the widow and children have 
 migrated. A boy, Samuel, is the ninth in successive 
 generations bearing that name. 
 
 These then form the annals of our quiet neighbor- 
 hood. Less in aren and population than places ad- 
 jacent, less of the factory element and more of the 
 yeoman's toil. Auburn follows the even tenor of her 
 way. Its century and a decade of municipal life have 
 been in general uneventful years, aloof from the swirl 
 and roar of the city's whirlpool, yet growing, though 
 slowly. In other States the name Auburn marks 
 thriving cities; here it best comports with rural 
 scenes. Still-life one might disdainfully count this, 
 if restless and ambitious as most Americans are. 
 But a town so accessible to Worcester will some day 
 share its growth, and number residents by thousands. 
 Upon the creditable past may our citizens plan for 
 and attain future thrift, growth and the common 
 weal. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 ASHBURNHAM. 
 
 BY EZRA S. STEARNS, A.M. 
 
 Originally the town of Ashburnham included 
 about one-third of each of the adjoining towns, Ashby 
 and Gardner. It is situated in the northeast corner of 
 Worcester County, and is bounded on the north by 
 New Ipswich and Rindge in New Hampshire; on the 
 east by Ashby, in Middlesex County, and by Fitch- 
 burg ; on the south by Westminster and Gardner, and 
 on the west by Winchendon. Since 1792, except the 
 addition of two farms, the gift of Westminster, the 
 boundaries and area of the township have remained 
 unchanged. The present area is about twenty-four 
 thousand five hundred acres, including about one 
 
194 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 thousand five hundred acres of ponds and reservoirs. 
 Situated in tlie line of the water-slied between the 
 Connecticut and Merrimack Valleys, the course of 
 numerous streams is outward ; the only waters flowing 
 into the town are a few small brooks which have their 
 source in Eindge and New Ipswich on the north. 
 There are eight natural ponds in the town ; four are 
 tributary to the Connecticut and four to the Merri- 
 mack River. Here the Souhegan and Squannacook 
 and important branches of the Nashua and Miller's 
 Rivers have their source. The altitude exceeds that 
 of the surrounding country on the east, south and 
 west. The summit on the line of the Chcsline Rail- 
 road, one and one-half miles northwest of station at 
 South Ashburnham, is one thousand and eighty-four 
 feet above tide water, while the old burial-ground on 
 Meeting-House Hill exceeds the summit by two hun- 
 dred feet. The rounded form of Great Watatic on the 
 dividing line between Ashburnham and Ashby, towers 
 to the height of one thousand eight hundred and forty- 
 seven feet. In the north part of the town are several 
 lenticular hills with rounded outlines and arable to the 
 summit. These remarkable accumulations of hill are 
 also found in Rindge, Ashby and Gardner, but only 
 a small proportion of Ashburnham falls within the 
 area of this glacial drift. The soil is tliat common to 
 the hill towns of Worcester County. When placed in 
 comparison it is stubborn and rocky, yet generally 
 arable and productive. The subsoil is clay retentive 
 of moisture, and numerous springs gushing from the 
 hill-sides are the perennial source of brooks and rivu- 
 lets winding through the valleys, and supporting the 
 crystal lakes nestled among the surrounding hills. 
 The fauna and flora of the locality are topics discussed 
 in the general history of tlie county. 
 
 Lunenburg, including Fitchburg and a part of 
 Ashby, and Townsend, including a more considerable 
 part of Ashby, were originally granted 1719, and 
 within those grants numerous settlements were made 
 in rapid succession. For several years the territory 
 at the west of the new settlements was unbroken, and 
 the future town of Ashburnham remained the border 
 of the wilderness on the line of the settlements. In 
 1735 six grants of land, containing three thousand 
 eight hundred and fifty acres, were located within the 
 present township, and are minutely described in the 
 "History of Ashburnham," recently published. Also 
 in 1735, and while these individual grants were being 
 located and surveyed, the General Court made grants 
 of several townships to the surviving soldiers or the 
 heirs of those deceased who served in the expedition 
 to Canada in 1690. The companies from Dorchester, 
 Ipswich, Rowley and other towns each received the 
 grant of a township, and |)reservingat once the names 
 of the towns in which the soldiers resided and the 
 military service in which they had engaged, the 
 new grants which were located in this vicinity were 
 called Dorchester Canada (now Ashburnham ), Ipswich 
 Canada (now Winchendon), and Rowley Can.ada (now 
 
 Rindge). The township of Dorchester Canada was 
 surveyed in January, and the grant confirmed by the 
 General Court June 1, 1736. For nearly twenty years 
 and until the date of incorporation, the government 
 of the township was proprietary. In accordance 
 with the conditions imposed by the General Court, 
 three sixty-thirds were reserved in equal shares for the 
 first settled minister, for the ministry and for the 
 support of public schools. The remainder was 
 divided from time to time equally among the sixty 
 proprietors, who individually made sale of their land 
 to speculators and to settlers. 
 
 The early roads and mills and the first meeting- 
 house were ordered and controlled by the proprietors, 
 and by them the call wa.s extended to the first settled 
 minii^ter. Between 1736 and 1744 considerable pro- 
 gress was made in the settlement. A saw-mill was 
 built in 1738, and in 1739 or 1740 the first meeting- 
 house was erected. The number of families residing 
 in the township during these years is not known, and 
 the names of only a few of the settlers have been 
 preserved in the records. At the outbreak of the 
 French and Indian War two houses were fortified, but 
 before the close of the year 1744 the settlement was 
 deserted. During the ensuing five years there were 
 no meetings, of the proprietors, and no family re- 
 mained within tlie township. 
 
 In 1748 active hostilities between England and 
 France were suspended, but during that and the 
 following year parties of Indians, accompanied by 
 French soldiers, continued to menace the exposed 
 and poorly-defended line of the i-ettlements. The 
 northern part of Worcester County was wholly deserted, 
 or continually in a state of alarm and anxiety. Not 
 until 1750 did a feelingof security invite an occupancy 
 of the frontiers. One by one the hardy pioneers 
 founded homes in the town, and through the eflibrts 
 and encouragement of the proprietors, the settlement 
 of this town slowly increased until the return of peace 
 opened the door to an increasing tide of immigration 
 to the towns in this vicinity. It api)ears that during 
 the first twenty years of effort and danger, dating 
 from 1735, there were a considerable number of tem- 
 porary residents in this town, and that among these, 
 on account of the insecurity of the times, there were 
 not over a half-dozen families who settled here pre- 
 vious to 1755 and became permanent inhabitants of 
 the town. 
 
 Deacon Moses Foster, of Chelmsford, and James 
 Colman, of Ipswich, cleared land and built houses 
 in the northeast part of Dorchester Canada previous 
 to the permanent renewal of the settlement. The 
 sites of these early homes are now in Ashby, having 
 been included within the limits of that town when 
 incorporated in 1767. In times of expected danger 
 they removed their families to Lunenburg, and prose- 
 cuted their labor in this town with many interruptions. 
 About 1750 Deacon Foster removed to the centre of 
 the town, and subsequently was an inn-holder many 
 
ASHBURNHAM. 
 
 195 
 
 j'ears. He died October 17, 1785, aged ninety-four 
 years. Mr. Colman was a prominent citizen, and was 
 a member of the first Board of Selectmen. He con- 
 tinued to reside at the scene of his early labor in this 
 town, but, after 1767, he was a citizen of Ashby, where 
 he died August 15, 1773. Elisha Coolidge removed 
 from Cambridge, 1752, and settled at Lane Village. 
 He was a mill-wright, and a useful citizen. He died 
 August 29, 1807, aged eighty-seven years. Jeremiah 
 Foster, from Harvard, and a native of Ipswich, 
 removed to this town with hi.s family in 1753, and 
 settled on the Gamaliel Hadley farm. He was a man 
 of character, and influential in the new settlement. 
 He died December 12, 1788, aged seventy-eight years. 
 Next in order appear John Bates, Zimri Heywood and 
 Benjamin Spaulding, an enterprising trio in the 
 northeast part of the town, who were subsequently 
 included in Ashby. Enos Jones, from Lunenburg, at 
 the age of nineteen years, settled on a farm in the 
 north part of the town, on the Rindge road, which 
 still perpetuates a name that remains prominent in 
 the annals of Ashburnham. Omitting mention of 
 several families that removed from town after a few 
 years' residence, to the settlement was added Jona- 
 than Samson, a native of Middleborough, who removed 
 from Harvard in 1762, and settled on the Merrick 
 Whitney farm. He was a useful citizen, and late in 
 life he removed to New Hamp.shire, where he died 
 at an advanced age. Ehenezer Conant and Lieuten- 
 ant Ebenezer Conant, Jr., from Concord, settled near 
 Rice Pond in 1763. Both died in this town. Their 
 descendants have won a merited distinction in several 
 scholastic callings. In the midst of these arrivals 
 several German families settled in the eastern part of 
 the town, in a locality which still bears the familiar 
 appellation of " Dutch Farms." Soon after their 
 arrival in the colony, and while temporarily living 
 near Boston, Henry Hole, Christian William White- 
 man, Jacob Schoffe, Simon Rodamel, Peter Perry, 
 John Rich and John Kiberling, in 1757, purchased 
 one thousand acres of land, and early the following 
 year removed hither, except Peter Perry, whose name 
 does not again appear. At the same time, purchasing 
 land of them and locating among them, came other 
 Germans, Jacob Constantine, Jacob Selham, Andrew 
 Windrow, Henry Stack and Jacob Barkhardst, while 
 John Oberlock and Philip Vorback settled near the 
 site of Gushing Academy. A few years later Jacob 
 Wilker settled on the farm still owned by his descend- 
 ants. These were born in Germany, and nearly all of 
 them were married in their native land. They were 
 educated, intelligent people, and in full sympathy 
 with the settlement in religion and in hatred of 
 tyranny. By assimilation and intermarriage, in lan- 
 guage and manner of living they quickly became 
 equal and common factors in the body poliiic, and in 
 social relations. No traces of caste, or prejudice of 
 race, appear in the records or the traditions of the 
 town. In the second and subsequent generations the 
 
 name of Hole was written Hall; Kiberling or Kib- 
 linger became Kibling; the Oberlocks assumed the 
 name of Locke; Rodamel was changed to Rodimon, 
 and later to Dimond, while Windrow was Anglicized 
 in Winter. After the Revolution, in which they 
 manifested a conspicuous patriotism, members of the 
 second generation of several of these families removed 
 to Northern New Hampshire. 
 
 Among the non-resident proprietors, who were most 
 active in forwarding the settlement, appear many 
 names familiar in the annals of a former century. 
 Timothy Tilestone, of Dorchester, was the first peti- 
 tioner for the township and for several years a rul- 
 ing spirit of the organization. He was ably sup- 
 ported by Judge Joseph Wilder, of Lancaster, the 
 Sumners, of Milton, and by Benjamin Bellows and 
 Edward Hartwell, of Lunenburg. The fortunes of 
 the second or permanent settlement of the town 
 were supported and encouraged by Richard and 
 Caleb Dana and Henry Coolidge, of Cambridge, 
 Colonel Oliver Wilder and the brothers, Joseph 
 Jr , and Captain Caleb Wilder, of Lancaster, Jona- 
 than Dwight and Hezekiah Barber, of Boston, Rev. 
 John Swift, of Framingham, Hon. Isaac Stearns, of 
 Billerica, and many others whose association with 
 these primitive affairs of the town adorn the early 
 pages of its history. 
 
 Ashburnham, hitherto known as Dorchester Canada, 
 was incorporated February 22, 1765. The proprietors 
 and inhabitants in a joint petition for incorporation, 
 expressed a desire that the town be called Ashfield, 
 but the General Court, with an accommodating regard 
 for an assumed prerogative of the royal Governor in 
 the act of incorporation, left a blank, in which Gov- 
 ernor Bernard caused to be written the euphonious 
 name of Ashburnham in honor of an English earl. 
 
 At the first town-meeting, holden March 25, 1765, 
 William Whitcomb was chosen town clerk, and Dea- 
 con Samuel Fellows, Tristram Cheney, James Cole- 
 man, John Rich'and Jonathan Gates selectmen. A 
 long list of minor town oflices were selected with 
 unanimity, and certainly with a rare measure of im- 
 partiality, which bestowed an office upon nearly 
 every citizen. From this date to the Revolution the 
 town was prospered in its internal affairs and made 
 considerable advance in population. The more 
 prominent settlers who arrived immediately preced- 
 ing and subsequent to the date of incorporation were: 
 Jonathan Taylor, Jonathan Gates, Nathan Melvin, 
 Stephen Ames, David Clark, John Conn, Samuel 
 Salter, John Adams, William Benjamin, Joshua Bil- 
 lings, Amos Dickinson, Jacob Harris, Joseph Met- 
 calf, Abijah Joslin, Samuel Nichols, Ephraim Stone, 
 Oliver Stone, Caleb Ward, Samuel Wilder, John 
 Willard, Jacob Willard, Oliver Weatherbee and 
 Phinehas Weatherbee. 
 
 Ecclesiastical. — Very early in the proceedings 
 of the proprietors a committee was selected to locate 
 a tract of land for a burial-ground and the site of the 
 
196 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 future meeting-house. The committee promptly re- 
 ported November 10, 1736, that the meeting-house lot, 
 containing ten acres, had been located " on a hill 180 
 rods south of a great pond (Upper Naukeag), and 
 has a very fair prospect." To the present time the 
 original boundaries on the southwest and north sides 
 have suffered no thange, while on the east side a nar- 
 row strip has been severed from the public grounds 
 and added to the farm now of Benjamin Gushing. 
 The first meeting-house, erected 1739 or 1740, was 
 not injured during the years the settlement was aban 
 doned, and it silently invited occupancy twenty years 
 before the organization of a church and the settle- 
 ment of a minister. During the later years of this 
 period several sums of money were appropriated for 
 the support of preaching, but the amount raised for 
 this purpose clearly indicates that the meeting-house 
 was occupied only a small part of the time. A con- 
 siderable number of the settlers were members of the 
 church in Lunenburg, and there many of the children 
 bom in Dorchester Canada previous to 1760 were 
 baptized. In 1759 a more liberal appropriation was 
 made, and Mr. Jonathan Winchester was here during 
 a considerable p.art of the year. A call was extended 
 November 27, 1759, and he was ordained April 23, 
 1760. The same day a church was organized. The 
 covenant bears the signature of Mr. Winchester and 
 of twelve, male residents of the settlement, six of 
 whom were Germans. The membership during the 
 first eight years was above fifty. The peaceful and 
 successful ministry of Mr. Winchester was abruptly 
 ended by his death, after a brief illness, November 26, 
 1767. Rev. Jonathan Winchester was of the fourth 
 generation of his family in this country. He was 
 born in Brooicline, April 21, 1717, and was graduated 
 at Harvard University, 1737. He was a sou of Henry 
 and Frances (White) Winchester, grandson of John 
 and great-grandson of John, the emigrant ancestor. 
 He was a teacher in his native town twenty years, 
 and entering the ministry late in life, his first and 
 only settlement was at Ashburnham. The superior 
 merit and character of the man are clearly reflected 
 in the records and traditions of the town. In him 
 firmness was softened with mercy, and the ministerial 
 austerity of his time was tempered with mildness of 
 manner and gentleness of heart. With these quali- 
 ties of mind and of heart he secured the willing love 
 and confidence of his parish. He married. May 5, 
 1748, Sarah Crofts, of Brookline, where six of their 
 ten children were born. Mrs. Winchester died in 
 this town July 27, 1794. 
 
 The second minister was Rev. John Gushing, D.D., 
 who was ordained November 2, 1768, and who con- 
 ducted a successful ministry until his death, April 27, 
 1823. These many years of service were crowned 
 wilh the rewards of faithful labor and a peaceful ad- 
 ministration of parochial affairs. From the " History 
 of Ashburnham " the following lines are borrowed : 
 
 lu stature, Mr. dishing was tnll and portly ; in bearing dignified and 
 
 erect. He moved with precision and with the incisive mark of strength 
 
 and vigor. As the infirmity of age grew upon him, liis step was slower 
 but never faltering ; his form became slightly bowed but lost none of its 
 original dignity and commanding presence. His mild blue eye and the 
 serenity of bis countenance were undimmed even when his whitened 
 and flowing locks were counting the increasing furrows of age in his 
 face. 
 
 As a preacher he adhered to the fundamental doctrines of his creed 
 and supported them with frequent quotation from the Scriptures. The 
 plan of his discourse was lucid and his methods of reasoning direct and 
 logical. If he was tenacious in the use of set terms and forms of speech, 
 he invariably applied them with aptness and precision. He did not rely 
 on the abundance of words or the exhibition of emotion, but upon the 
 weight and sequence of the central truths which formed the theme of 
 his discourse. His voice was clear, strong and pleasing. He read his 
 sermons closely and without gesture. In delivery he was moderate, 
 earnest and impressive. 
 
 He was pre-eminently a minister of the olden time. His parish was 
 his field of labor and no one was neglected. His charge was his con- 
 stant thought and duty, and while he watched for the fruit of his labor, 
 he toiled on with unfailing hope and courage. Even in the decline of 
 life and under the weight of nearly eighty years his service was accept- 
 able and liis parish \inited in their love and respect for their venerable 
 teacher. At every fireside the serenity of his countenance, the wisdom 
 of his speech and the purity of his life and example were continually 
 deepening the impression and enforcing tlie influences of his public 
 ministrations. 
 
 It seems that the affection of his parish increased as he paled and grew 
 feeble in their service. And when death came and stilled the pulsations 
 of bis warm and generous heart, his people paid a fitting tribute in the 
 lines of sorrow engraved on every countenance. From that hour the 
 voice of tradition began to assert that bis genius was solid ; his under- 
 standing clear; his judgment strong; his memory faithful ; his emo- 
 tions cool and restrained, yet his sympathies tender and his affections 
 warm ; that his resolution and perseverance were unusual, that be was 
 faithful to every trust and that his heart was so honest, his friendship so 
 sincere and his tongue under such control, that his smile was a benedic- 
 tion and his speech a sermon. 
 
 Rev. John Gushing, D.D. (Harvard University, 
 1764), was born in Shrewsbury, August 22, 1744. He 
 was the son of Rev. Job and Mary (Prentice) Gush- 
 ing, and a lineal descendent of the Gushing fami- 
 ly of Hingham. He received the degree of Doctor of 
 Divinity from Harvard University, 1822. He mar- 
 ried, September 28, 1769, Sarah Parkman, daughter of 
 Rev. Ebenezer and Hannah (Breck) Parkman, of 
 Westborough, who died in this town March 12, 1825. 
 Until near the close of the pastorate of Rev. Dr. 
 Gushing the churches, not only in this vicinity, but in 
 a more extended circle, were closely allied in doc- 
 trinal views and declarations of covenant. In many 
 places there were dissenters and here and there inde- 
 pendent churches, but a large majority assented to 
 the doctrines of the " standing order." In the midst 
 of more diversity of creed duringthe past half-century 
 or more, the fir.«t church in Ashburnham has remained 
 in full relations with the orthodox or Trinitarian 
 Gongregationalists. Since the death of Mr. Gushing 
 nine ministers havebeen installed over the church, and 
 six have supplied about thirty years. The ministry 
 has been continuous, and no serious contention has 
 arisen between the pastor and the people. In present- 
 ing the names of these many pastors the limits of 
 this sketch will preclude extended notices. 
 
 The third minister was Rev. George Perkins, son of 
 Dr. Elisha and Sarah (Douglas) Perkins, born iu 
 Plainfield, Conn., October 19, 1783; ordained at 
 Ashburnham, February 25, 1824 ; dismissed at his re- 
 
ASHBURNHAM. 
 
 197 
 
 quest July 3, 1S32 ; died at Norwich, Conn., Septem- 
 ber 15, 1852. Rev. George Goodyear, born in Ham- 
 den, Conn., December 9, 1801, son of Simeon and 
 Hannah (Beadsley) Goodyear; installed October 10, 
 1832; dismissed November 16, 1841; died at Temple, 
 N. H., November 18, 1884. Rev. Edward Jennison, 
 son of William and Phebe (Field) Jennison, born in 
 Walpole, N. H., August 26, 1805 ; installed May 12, 
 1842 ; dismissed May 12, 1846 ; died in Conway, 
 Mass. Rev. Elnathan Davis, son of Ethan and 
 Sarah (Hubbard) Davis, born in Holden, Mass., Au- 
 gust 19, 1807; installed September 16, 1846; dis- 
 missed May 21, 1851 ; died April 9, 1881. Rev. 
 Frederick A. Fiske, son of Rev. Elishaand Margaret 
 (Shepard) Fiske, born in Wrentham, Ma.ss., April 15, 
 1816 ; installed December 30, 1851 ; dismissed April 
 17, 1854; died at North Attleborough, Mass., Decem- 
 ber 15, 1878. Rev. Elbridge G. Little, son of Joseph 
 and Rebecca (Webster) Little, born in Hampstead, 
 N. H., November 11,1817; installed August 22,1855; 
 dismissed May 13, 1857; died at Wesley, Mass., De- 
 cember 29, 1869. Rev. Thomas Boutelle, son of 
 James and Abigail (Fairbanks) Boutelle, born in 
 Leominster, Mass., February 1, 1805 ; supplied from 
 the spring of 1857 to January, 1863 ; died in Fitch- 
 burg, Mass., November 28, 1866. Rev. George E. 
 Fisher, son of Rev. George and Mary (Fiske) Fisher, 
 born in Harvard, Mass., January 22, 1823 ; installed 
 May 21, 1863 ; dismissed September 2, 1867. Rev. 
 Moody A. Stevens, son of David and Elizabeth 
 (Ryder) Stevens, born in Bedford, N. H., February 
 7, 1828 ; supplied from 1867 to 1870. Rev. Leonard 
 S. Parker, son of William and Martha (Tenney) 
 Parker, born in Dunbarton, N. H., December 6, 1812 ; 
 supplied 1870 to 1876. Rev. Daniel E. Adams, son 
 of Rev. Darwin and Catherine (Smith) Adams, born 
 in Hollis, N. H., June 22, 1832; supplied from July 
 16, 1876, to July 5, 1885. The past three years has 
 been an era of temporary supplies. 
 
 At intervals between the pastorates. Rev. Josiah 
 D. Crosby has supplied a longer time than several of 
 the pastors named. During the last forty years of a 
 useful' life, with brief interruptions, he resided in 
 this town. He was a son of Fitch and Rebecca 
 (Davis) Crosby, and was born in Ashburnham, 
 March 1, 1807. He died June 8, 1888. The second 
 meeting-house, built 1791, was located on the Old 
 Common, and near the site of its primitive prede- 
 cessor. The third and present church edifice was 
 erected in Central Village, 1833, and dedicated Feb- 
 ruary 19, 1834. 
 
 In the autumn of 1793 Rev. Jonathan Hill 
 preached the first Methodist sermon in this town, 
 and a society was gathered the following j'car. Rev. 
 Lorenzo Dow, Rev. John Broadhead, a presiding 
 elder, and Bishops Whatcoat and Asbury are in- 
 cluded among the early preachers at the house of 
 Silas Willard, Esq. In 1831 the Ashburnham and 
 Westminster Societies were united, and constituted a 
 
 station. A meeting-house was built on Main Street, 
 and dedicated July 4, 1832. This building is now 
 owned and occupied by the Catholic Society. The 
 present commodious edifice was built 1870. Previous 
 to 1832 sixty-five preachers were assigned to the sta- 
 tion to which the Methodist Church in Ashburnham 
 belonged, and since that date thirty-six appoinments 
 have been made by the Conference. From the first 
 the organization has been perpetual, and a vigorous 
 society has been maintained. 
 
 To accommodate families in that portion of the town, 
 a meeting-house was erected at North Ashburnhan, 
 1842, and a church with Evangelical proclivities was 
 embodied February 21, 1843. At no time has the 
 membership been large, and public ministrations have 
 not been continuously sustained. In 1860 the church 
 was disbanded, and the "Second Congregational 
 Church of Ashburnham,'' with an amended creed, 
 was organized. 
 
 The Catholics of Ashburnham held services in the 
 town hall several years, and since 1871 have owned 
 and occupied the edifice erected by the Methodists in 
 1832. The church is under the spiritual direction of 
 Father John Conway, who is also in charge of the 
 church in Winchendon. 
 
 Military History. — That the inhabitants of a 
 typical New England town were patriotic during the 
 Revolution can safely be assumed ; that they met the 
 trials of the times with heroism and uncomplainingly 
 assented to the severest exactions of their country can 
 be asserted without fear of contradiction. The Revo- 
 lutionary sketches of towns which crowd the pages of 
 the Gazei/cer laboriously demonstrate that which never 
 has been denied. Many of these local histories of the 
 Revolution written upon the suggested plan are inter- 
 changeable. Each possesses so many features common, 
 to them all that the conventional sketch, with a change 
 of local terms, with equal truth would apply to any 
 other town. The repeated requisition of the govern- 
 ment for men, for money, for food and for clothing 
 were demands alike upon all the towns of the infant 
 Commonwealth, and quotas were distributed with equal 
 impartiality. The volume varied with the population 
 of the several towns, yet the demand was applicable 
 to them all. The scene and the players wei-e new in 
 every town, yet the drama was universal and every- 
 where the same. 
 
 The population of Ashburnham in 1776 was five 
 hundred and fifty-one. On account of the immigra- 
 tion from the older and more exposed towns near the 
 seaboard, there was a considerable increase in popu- 
 lation in this and other towns in this vicinity during 
 the war, yet probably the number of inhabitants did 
 not exceed eight hundred during the years of the Revo- 
 lution. The records of Ashburnham do not contain 
 the names of any who were in the army. The record 
 of service presented in the following paragraphs has 
 been compiled from the archives of the State, from 
 papers filed in the Department of Pensions and from 
 
198 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 papers in the possession of societies and individuals. 
 As early as 1773 the under-current of public sentiment 
 found expression in a warrant for a town-meeting, 
 "To see if the town will consider the general griev- 
 ances that are laid upon us by acts of Parliament, and 
 disposing of our monies without our consent." What- 
 ever debate ensued, there is no record of a vote at this 
 time ; but in July, 1774, the town was again assembled, 
 and it was then voted, " that the Covenant sent from 
 Boston be read, and accordingly it was read ; then a 
 motion was made for an alteration and that Doctor 
 Senter, George Dana, Elisha Coolidge, Samuel Nichols 
 and Jonathan Samson be a committee to alter said 
 Covenant, and adjourned said meeting for half an 
 hour, and then said Covenant was altered to the 
 acceptance of the town. Voted that Elisha Coolidge 
 and Samuel Nichols be a committee to keep the Cove- 
 nant after it is signed." The covenant which was sent 
 to all the towns for signature was a solemn pledge 
 that those who .subscribed would abstain, from the 
 purchase and use of specified articles of British mer- 
 chandi.se, and that at the risk of life and fortune they 
 would resist the officers holding commissions under 
 the oppressive acts of Parliament. About this time 
 the town was represented by Jonathan Taylor at the 
 memorable Worcester Convention, which recom- 
 mended the several towns within its influence to im- 
 mediately apjwint military officers, to organize minute- 
 men, to procure arms and ammunition, and to provide 
 for any emergency that may arise. In September of 
 this year, and in harmony with the vote of the sur- 
 rounding towns, it was voted to indemnify the officers 
 in the event they were harmed for not returning a list 
 of jurors, as required by Parliament. At the same 
 meeting Jonathan Taylor was chosen a representative 
 to the Provincial Congress, which assembled October 
 11th, at Concord. 
 
 Following the recommendations of the Worcester 
 Convention the town, September 3, 1774, voted "to 
 buy half a hundred of powder, one hundred of lead 
 and ten dozen of flints as a town stock." At this 
 meeting Abijah Joslin waschosen captain, Deliverance 
 Davis lieutenant and Ebenezer Conant, Jr., ensign, of 
 the minute-men. A committee of Safety and Corre- 
 spondence was also chosen ; they were Samuel Nichols, 
 Jonathan Samson, Deliverance Davis, Abijah Joslin 
 and Jonathan Taylor. With these preparations for 
 the future, the town awaits the events of another and 
 a more eventful year. Early the following spring 
 Deliverance Davis and Jonathan Gates were captains 
 of the companies in this town, but there is no record 
 of their election or appointment. A prominent, and 
 subsequently an honored, citizen is not named in these 
 initial proceedings, and there is a tradition that 
 Samuel Wilder was a little tardy in espousing the 
 cause of American independence, and that he was 
 waited upon by a self-constituted committee. His 
 hesitation, if any existed, was of brief duration, and 
 his subsequent opinions and conduct were approved 
 
 by his townsmen, who frequently elected him to office 
 during the war and many succeeding years. Swiftly 
 following these measures ot preparation, the sudden 
 intelligence that a detachment of British troops had 
 left Boston and were marching inland, was brought 
 to Ashburnham in the afternoon of April 19th, and 
 an alarm was immediately sounded. A company of 
 thirty-eight men quickly assembled, and marched that 
 afternoon under the command of Captain Jonathan 
 Gates. Other men from the remoter jiarts of the town 
 continued to assemble on the old Common, and with 
 hasty preparations awaited the dawn of another day. 
 In the gray of the morning a second company, con- 
 taining thirty-three men, and commanded by Captain 
 Deliverance Davis, hastened forward to scenes of 
 anticipated danger. These companies, in connection 
 with many others simultaneously summoned to the 
 field, marched to Cambridge and remained there with 
 the gathering army about two weeks, and until they 
 were discharged. When these companies were dis- 
 banded, nineteen by re-enlistment continued with the 
 army and the remainder returned to their homes. The 
 rolls of the two companies contain the following 
 names : 
 
 Jonathan Gates, captain ; Amos Dickinson, lieutenant ; Ezra Atherlon, 
 lieutenant ; George Dana, William Wilder, Joseph Metculf and Ebenezer 
 Burgess, sergeants ; Daniel Ilobart, Peter Joslin and Francis Lane, cor- 
 porals ; Joseph Stone, drummer ; Amos Lawrence, Phinehas Wetherlice, 
 Moses Russell, Nathaniel Parker, Henry Gates, Samuel Joslin, Jonathan 
 \V. Smith, David Robinson, Jacob Kiblinger, Henry Hall, Amos Kendall, 
 Henry Winchester, Samuel Willard, Philip Locke, Aaron. Samson, 
 Samuel Salter, John Gates, Jonathan Winchester, Daniel Edson, Joseph 
 Wilder, Nathaniel Harris, John Whitney, Joshua Holt, Ebenezer AVood, 
 Philip Winter, David Clark, Jr. Deliverance Davis, captain ; Ebenezer 
 Conant, Jr., lieutenant; John Conn, lieutenant; Oliver Stone, John 
 Adams and Samuel Cutting, sergeants ; Sliubael Hohart, Timothy Wood 
 and Oliver W'hitcomb, corporals ; Elijah Edson, drummer ; Isaac Mer- 
 riam, Oliver Willard, Uriah Holt, W'illiam Whitconib, William Ben,ja- 
 niin, Jacob Constantine, Caleb Ward, Enos Jones, Nathan Melvin, Ka- 
 thaniel Hastings, Samuel Blason, Ephraim Wetherheo, David Clark, 
 Isaac Blodgett, Joshua Hemenway, John Hall, John Kiblinger, John 
 Putnam. Jacob Willard, Joshua Holden, Jonathan Taylor, Jonathan 
 Taylor, Jr., Joseph Perry. 
 
 In the organization of an army from the companies 
 at Cambridge, a company was recruited from the men 
 from this vicinity. They were under the command 
 of Capt. David Wilder in Col. Whitcomb's regiment. 
 In this company Jonathan Gates was lieutenant, 
 Francis Lane and Peter Joslin were sergeants. The 
 other men from Ashburnham were : 
 
 Joshua Holt, Jacob Kiblinger, Philip Locke, David Robinson, Samuel 
 Salter, Aaron Samson, Henry Uall, Henry Winchester,' Samuel Willard, 
 John W^hitney, Ebenezer Wood, Philip Winter, David Clark, Jr., Joshua 
 Hemenway, John Farmer, Joseph Smith, Jr., Jonathan Gates, Jr., Isaac 
 Blodgett, John Locke, Jacob Winter, Daniel Edson. 
 
 Other Ashburnham men who enlisted at this time 
 were David Clark, Uriah Holt and Thomas Dutton. 
 These men participated in the siege of Boston, and 
 remained in the service until the close of the year. 
 It is probable that the whole of Colonel Whitcomb's 
 regiment was not called into action at the battle of 
 Bunker Hill, but it is certain that Captain Wilder's 
 company of that regiment was warmly engaged on 
 
ASHBURNHAM. 
 
 199 
 
 that memorable day. Clark, Holt and Dutton were 
 also in the battle, and several others who subsequently 
 removed to Ashburnhara, but at the time were resi- 
 dents of other towns, shared the danger and glory of 
 the engagement. Upon the discharge of Captain 
 Wilder's company, after a service of eight months, 
 there was a call for men to serve a short term, while 
 recruits for a longer term of service were being en- 
 listed. Among these recruits appear the names of 
 Jonathan Gates, Jr., Jonathan Samson, Jr., Joseph 
 Metcalf, his son, Ezekiel Shattuck Metcalf, and David 
 Merriam. At the annual March meeting, 1776, Jona- 
 than Taylor, John Willard, Jonathan Samson, Abijah 
 Joslin and Ebenezer Conant, Jr., were chosen a 
 Committee of Correspondence, The selectmen who 
 were active agents in the prosecution of the war were 
 William Whitcomb, John Kibliuger and Oliver Wil- 
 lard. In May, 1770, the General Court adopted an 
 order calling upon the people to express an opinion 
 concerning a formal separation from Great Britain. 
 The citizens of this town were promptly assembled in 
 town- meeting. The article in the warrant and the 
 vote of the town are transcribed from the records : 
 
 Article 2. To see if tlie Inhabitants of said Town are willing to stand 
 .by the Honorable Congress in declaring the Colonies Independent of the 
 Kingdom of Great Britain with their lives and fortunes to Support them 
 in the mcisure. 
 
 .Tune 28, 1776. Pursuant to the above warrant the town being met 
 made choice of Mr. Eliaha Coolidge, moderator. 
 
 Voted. We the Inhabitants of the Town of Ashburuham, in Town 
 meeting assembled being sensible of the disadvantage of having any 
 further connections with the Kingdom of Great Britain and are will- 
 ing to break off all connections with them and it is our Resolution 
 that if the Honorable Congress shall declare the Colonies Independent 
 of the Kingdom of Great Britain that we the said Inhabitants will 
 stand by them with our lives and fortunes to support them in the 
 measure. 
 
 The foregoing motion being put was voted unanimously. 
 
 In due course of time the Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence, which was foreshabowed by similar votes in 
 other towns, was received in printed form by the 
 patriots of this town. It was formally read from the 
 pulpit by Rev. Dr. Cushing, and subsequently tran- 
 scribed upon the records of the town. Other men 
 who were ctdled into the service during the year 
 1776 were Ebenezer Bennett Davis, Daniel Putnam, 
 Uriah Holt, Thomas Ross, David Taylor, .John 
 Kiblinger, Jacob Kiblinger, John Hall, William 
 Ward, Jacob Rodiman, David Stedman, Nicholas 
 Whiteman, Peter Joslin, Philip Winter, Daniel Ho- 
 bart. Of these, Peter Jo.sliu died while returning 
 from the army, Philip Winter died in the service, 
 and Daniel Hobart was killed at the battle of White 
 Plains, October 28, 1776. For the year 1777, the 
 selectmen were Samuel Wilder, John Willard, Jona- 
 than Samson, Jonathan Taylor and Abijah Joslin ; 
 and the Committee of Safety and Correspondence 
 were Samuel Foster, William Wilder, Enos Jones, 
 Joseph Metcalf and Francis Lane. In the rolls of 
 the Massachusetts Regiment, raised for the defence 
 of Rhode Island, appear the names of John Kiblin- 
 
 ger, Jacob Rodiman, Samuel Metcalf, Jonathan 
 Coolidge and William Ward. 
 
 To avoid the inconvenience experienced during 
 the preceding two years, on account of the short 
 term of enlistment, and to create a more stable and a 
 better disciplined army, orders were given early in 
 1777 to establish the regiments on the Continental 
 plan, and recruit their decimated ranks with men, 
 enlisted for three years, or during the war. For this 
 purpose the quota of Ashburnham was sixteen, and 
 an earnest effort was made to supply the required 
 number. Thirteen men enlisted and were mustered 
 into service May 26, 1777, for three years, as follows : 
 Ebenezer Bennett Davis, David Clark, David Clark, 
 Jr., John Winter, Thomas Pratt, Samuel Mason, John 
 White, Paul Sawyer, Jacob Lock, Thomas Ross, 
 Joshua Holdeu, Timothy Johnson and Adam Rodi- 
 man. 
 
 The town hired Francis Lee, of Pepperell, Andrew 
 Foster, of Andover, and Josiah Fessenden, of Boston, 
 to complete the quota. The summer of this year 
 was a season of unusual excitement and alarm. 
 The intelligence of the loss of Crown Point and 
 Ticonderoga, and the uninterrupted advance of 
 General Burgoyne created a widespread sentiment of 
 the most painful apprehension. There was an im- 
 perative call for troops, and immediately followed 
 the startling tidings that the enemy were invading 
 Vermont and threatening the western counties of 
 Massachusetts. The town was promptly in arms, 
 and Captain Jonathan Gates with a company of men 
 marched to Charlemont. Other companies from the 
 neighboring towns had manifested equal diligence 
 and were in the immediate vicinity. In the mean 
 time the American army opposing Burgoyne had 
 retreated into New York, and the theatre of war had 
 been removed. These hastily-formed companies 
 were then dismissed, and returned home after an 
 absence of three weeks. It was an unorganized 
 expedition, and no rolls of the companies are found. 
 Scarcely had these men returned to their homes and 
 the labor of their fields, before a renewed and equally 
 imperative call was heard. An engagement was 
 imminent, and the militia was ordered to the support 
 of the American army. Again Captain Gates called 
 out his company, and, hurriedly equipped, they 
 marched again to Charlemont and to Williamstown, 
 and thence to Bennington, Vt., arriving there the 
 second day after the victory of General Stark. 
 Thence they marched to Fort Edward, N. Y. ; here a 
 part of them remained until discharged, while others 
 were engaged in the battles of Stillwater and Sara- 
 toga. 
 
 The Ashburnham company and the Fitchburg 
 company, and possibly others from this vicinity in this 
 service, had no regimental organization, and were 
 attached to a New Hampshire regiment, commanded 
 by Col. Bellows, of Walpole; but the rolls of the 
 companies do not appear in the roster of that regi- 
 
200 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 ment. Only the names of a few of the Ashburnham 
 soldiers of this company, found in miscellaneous 
 papers and records, can be stated. They are — John 
 Adams, David Merriara, William Ward, Jonathan 
 Samson, Jr., and in all about thirty. In August of 
 this year there was a dralt, and David Chaffin being 
 drawn, was assigned to Col. Cushing's regiment, in 
 the army of Gen. Gates. He was discharged on 
 account of sickness, three months later ; and of the 
 soldiers in the Continental Army, Jacob Locke and 
 Samuel Mason died in the autumn of this year. 
 
 In the year 1778 William Ward, Jonathan Benja- 
 min and Benjamin Clark were among the nine 
 months' levies for the Continental Army, and in the 
 service at Boston appear the familiar names of Jona- 
 than Samson, Jr., John Hall, Nicholas Whiteman, 
 David Stedman and William Ward, while Ezekiel 
 Shuttuck Metcalf, John Chamberlain, David Chafhn 
 and Simon Kodiman were among the recruits for the 
 expedition to Rhode Island. The theatre of the 
 war having been transferred to the Middle and 
 Southern States, there were no subsequent calls upon 
 the militia or minute-men to meet sudden emergen- 
 gencies, but the demand for men to recruit the deci- 
 mated ranks of the Continental Army was often 
 renewed. In this service the subsequent enlistments 
 were: Ebenezer Conant, Jr., Jacob Constantine, 
 John Kiblinger, David Bond, William Ward, Samuel 
 Metcalf, David Chaffin, Edward Whitmore, Elijah 
 Mason, Simeon Rodiman, Jacob Rodiman, Isaac 
 Merriam, Reuben Rice, Andrew Winter, Jr., Phine- 
 has Hemenway, Jonathan Merriam, David Clark, 
 Jr., Jonas Benjamin, John Coolidge, James Eegget, 
 Peter Rodiman and William Ward. This was the 
 seventh enlistment of William Ward. An increas- 
 ing burden of taxation attended the progress of the 
 war, and requisitions for money for beef and for 
 clothing were often renewed, making heavy drafts 
 upon the impoverished resources of the people of 
 Ashburnham. Long before the close of the war 
 they were compelled to meet their pressing liabilities 
 with pledges of future labor and the ungarnered 
 fruits of their toil. In a season of financial extrem- 
 ity, in 1781, the town gave a vivid expression of 
 failing resources in the following entreaty for re- 
 cruits: 
 
 Voted that each man that will engage to serve in tlie army for 
 three years shall have eighteen head of three years' old cattle given 
 him when his time is ont, and if he he discharged in two years then 
 said cattle are to be buttwo yeare old, or if he serve but one year they 
 are to bo but one year old, all to be of juiddliug size. 
 
 In other words, the soldier was to receive a bounty 
 of eighteen calves, and the town was to keep them 
 of middling size as long as the soldier remained in 
 the service. 
 
 Another vote about this time also reflects the 
 poverty and distress of the time. In the dignified 
 expression of a town-meeting, the citizens of Ash- 
 burnham declared their inability to compensate 
 
 "Jonathan Samson and Mrs. Hemenway for send- 
 ing two small deer to the army." The vote was 
 negative, but in the record of a generous deed the 
 town, perhaps unconsciously, extended to the gener- 
 ous donors a more liberal reward. Often during the 
 Revolution the soldier in the distant army was 
 cheered by the presence of a father, a brother or a 
 son, bearing from the scanty store of his home some 
 articles of food or clothing. All were patriots, and 
 whether at home or in the army, they labored for and 
 served their country. Equally meritorious and con- 
 tributary to the achievements of the Revolution 
 were the arduous service of the soldier in the field 
 and the self-denial and accumulating burden of the 
 patriot citizen in his home experience. 
 
 For the information and profit of the present and 
 future generations, a large majority of towns, follow- 
 ing the commendable example of a few, will eventu- 
 ally give a full and authentic account of the names 
 and the service of its patriotic citizens who were 
 enrolled in the War of the Rebellion. It is a labor 
 due to the surviving comrades and to the memory of 
 the heroic dead. The limits of a chapter of local 
 history will admit little more than a summary of 
 numbers, or at best the lists of names and the dura- 
 tion of service. These skeletons, however accurate in 
 outline form, are without the flesh and blood of per- 
 sonal exploit and the breath of individual experience 
 and suffering. That the inhabitants of Ashburnham 
 nobly performed their part in crushing the Rebellion 
 and in preserving the Union is seen in the following 
 aggregates: The whole number of enlistments 
 credited to the quota of the town, including thirty re- 
 enlistments of veterans, is two hundred and forty- 
 three. In addition to this patriotic record, about 
 thirty residents of Ashburnham enlisted on the quota 
 and are counted among the soldiers of other towns. 
 
 In the spring of 1861 the Ashburnham Light In- 
 fantry, under the command of Capt. Addison A. 
 Walker, was a well-organized company and in a good 
 stale of discipline. Amidst the echoes of falling 
 Sumter came to the loyal North the proclamation of 
 President Lincoln for seventy-five thousand men. 
 The service of the company was promptly tendered. 
 But it was the policy of Governor Andrew to reserve 
 many of the disciplined companies to be distributed 
 among the regiments subsequently recruited. This 
 reservation of the Ashburnham company, complimen- 
 tary to its discipline, produced a considerable measure 
 of discontent and embarrassment, and several of the 
 men, impatient of delay, enlisted into organizations 
 that were already under orders. The ranks of the 
 company, however, were promptly filled, and an ex- 
 cellent discipline was maintained. With the organi- 
 zation of the Twenty-first Regiment the expected 
 summons was received. This company, subsequently 
 known as Company G, containing forty men from 
 this town, entered Camp Lincoln, at Worcester, July 
 19th, and with the regiment was ordered to the front 
 
ASHBURNHAM. 
 
 201 
 
 August 23, 1861. In the mean time there had been 
 fourteen enlistments from this town into the regi- 
 ments previously organized. Immediately after, 
 twenty men joined the Twenty-fifth Regiment, and 
 nine men, who served in miscellaneous organizations, 
 completed the patriotic record of the year. 
 
 In 1862 the number of enlistments was fifty-seven. 
 Of these, five were assigned to the Thirty-fourth 
 Regiment; twenty-three to the Thirty-sixth Regi- 
 ment, twenty-seven to the Fifty-third Regiment, and 
 two recruits joined the Twenty-first Regiment. To 
 this date every call for men had been promptly met, 
 and at times the town was credited with several men 
 in excess of its quota. These repeated calls had 
 borne hardly upon the community, and the number 
 of men of suitable age was greatly depleted. Every- 
 where the quota of 1863 remained unfilled, and the 
 government, to fill the decimated ranks of the regi- 
 ments in the field, resorted to conscription. Sixty- 
 four men from this town were drafted. Of these, some 
 were exempted on account of disability, others fur- 
 nished substitutes or paid commutation, while a 
 small minority — fourteen, including substitutes and 
 five recruits hired by the town — entered the service 
 and were assigned to the regiments already in the 
 field. 
 
 From January 1, 1864, to the close of the war, fifty- 
 three enlistments and thirty re-enlistments of veterans 
 were credited to the quota of the town. About one- 
 fourth of these were strangers to the town, who were 
 ready and willing to accept the proffered bounty, and 
 with an equal alacrity they deserted at the first oppor- 
 tunity. In this constant stream of men to the front, 
 and in the gallant service of her sons, the loyal im- 
 pulse and the firm patriotism of the town are clearly 
 revealed. By the voice of the town, all needed sums 
 of money were promptly raised and a generous pro- 
 vision was made for the families of the soldier. The 
 Aid Society, sustained by the women of Ashburnham, 
 and the comprehensive liberality of the citizens, are 
 apparent features of a noble record. In addition to 
 several natives of the town who, at the time, were 
 residing elsewhere, eleven residents of Ashburnham 
 were commissioned officers in the service. Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Joseph P. Rice was commissioned a captain 
 at the organization of the Twenty-first Regiment and 
 assigned to the command of Company H. In Febru- 
 ary following he was promoted major, and, in May, 
 lieutenant-colonel. He was killed at the battle of 
 Chantilly September 1, 18G2. At the organization of 
 the Fifty-third Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel George 
 H. Barrett was commissioned captain of Company I, 
 and promoted lieutenant-colonel. He was in command 
 of the regiment on its departure from the State, and, 
 with the regiment, was mustered out September 3, 
 1863. Captain Addison A. Walker, commissioned 
 captain at the organization of the Twenty-first 
 Regiment and assigned to the command of Company 
 G ; resigned May 13, 1862. Captain Samuel A. Tay- 
 
 lor was promoted from lieutenant to captain May 
 28, 1862; resigned January 13, 1863. He was subse- 
 quently a lieutenant in the Fourth Heavy Artillery. 
 Captain Asahel Wheeler, promoted from lieutenant to 
 captain January 14, 1863 ; resigned April 25, 1863. 
 Subsequently he was commissioned captain in the 
 Sixty-first Regiment. Lieutenant Alonzo P. Davis, 
 commissioned first lieutenant at the organization of 
 the Twenty-first Regiment; resigned in January, 
 1862. Lieutenant Charles H. Parker, commissioned 
 lieutenant M.ay 28, 1862; resigned March 2,1863. 
 Lieutenant George E. Davis, commissioned first 
 lieutenant April 26, 1863; honorably discharged 
 August 30, 1864. Lieutenant Joseph H. Whitney, 
 commissioned lieutenant October 80,1862; resigned 
 February 23, 1863. The seven last named were 
 assigned to Company G, Twenty-first Regiment. 
 Lieutenant Charles H. Heald was commissioned 
 lieutenant July 3, I860, and was honorably discharged 
 with the Second Regiment July 14, 1865. Lieutenant 
 Charles W. Whitney, commissioned lieutenant No- 
 vember 13, 1864; honorably discharged with the 
 Thirty-sixth Regiment June 8, 1865. 
 
 Beginning with the close of the Revolution and 
 continuing a little more than fifty years, a company 
 of militia, ordered and maintained by the laws of the 
 Commonwealth, regularly appeared at the annual 
 trainings and musters. Until a general revision of 
 the militia laws, about 1835, this service of able- 
 bodied citizens of suitable age was compulsory. At 
 a very early date the citizens of Ashburnham gave 
 evidence of dissatisfaction with this feeble expression 
 of a military spirit. In response to an earnest peti- 
 tion, in June, 1791, the General Court adopted the 
 following resolve: 
 
 Resolved, That Ilis ExceUoncy the Governor be and he is hereby em- 
 powered and reqnested to issue orders for forming a Company of Liglit 
 Infantry in the town of Ashburnliam, provided they do not reduce the 
 8t;inding company of militia in said town to a less number than si.\ty 
 privates of the train band ; tlie officers of said Light Infantry company 
 to be appointed and commissioned in the same way and manner as is 
 provided by law for the appointing and commissioning other military 
 officers. Said company when so formed to be under the command of the 
 Colonel or commanding officer of the fourth regiment of the second 
 brigade in said division. 
 
 The organization of tlie Ashburnham Light In- 
 fantry immediately ensued, and the first officers — Jo- 
 seph Jewett, captain ; Caleb Kendall, lieutenant; and 
 Charles Hastings, ensign — were commissioned July 
 13, 1791. From this date the company was vigor- 
 ously maintained with full ranks and manifested a 
 genuine military enthusiasm, until the War of the 
 Rebellion, with the exception of five or six years, 
 about 1850. In 1866 the organization was revived, 
 and, complying, with the general militia laws of the 
 Commonwealth, it constitutes a company of Massa- 
 chusetts Volunteer Militia, and at present forms a 
 part of the Sixth Regiment. In the War of 1812 the 
 Ashburnham Light Infantry was ordered into the 
 service and was stationed at South Boston and Dor- 
 chester fifcy-one days. They were discharged Octo- 
 
202 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY", MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 ber 30, 1814. At this time the officers were Ivera 
 Jewett, captain ; Timothy Crehore, lieutenant ; and 
 Walter R. Adams, ensign. There were forty-eight 
 non-commi.ssioned officers and privates. 
 
 Educational. — " Voted to Keep a School and 
 voted Eight Pounds for y" School and Voted for 
 y' y" School Should be a moveing School, voted to 
 leave it to y" Selectmen to make j" Quarters where 
 y' school shall be Cept and voted it bee a free 
 School." These votes, adopted in 1767, are the 
 beginning of the educational history of Ashburn- 
 ham. From this date public schools have been 
 maintained, the orthography of the town clerk has 
 been improved and general results have kept pace 
 with the progress of the age. Seen in the light of the 
 present, the sums raised for school purposes in the 
 early history of the town were limited, but they were 
 not less than the appropriations made in other towns 
 of equal ability. With the exception of the years 
 1768, 1709 and 1776, in which no appropriation was 
 made for this purpose, the town raised twelve pounds 
 annually until and including 1777. During the later 
 years of the Revolution a large nominal sum in depreci- 
 ated currency was appropriated, and for several suc- 
 ceeding years the annual appropriation was fifty 
 pounds. The substantial and increasing sums raised 
 for school purposes in this town are given in each de- 
 cade : 1800, ifSOO ; 1810, .$400 ; 1820, $500 ; 1830, |500 ; 
 1840,1900; 1850,11400; 1860, $1700; 1870, $3000; 
 1880 and to 1888, $3000. From 1872 to 1875, $3500 was 
 appropriated. For a considerable number of years 
 the town was divided into three school districts, and 
 while under this arrangement, a school was main- 
 tained at the centre of the town, another at the 
 Dutch Farms, in the east part, and the third in the 
 south part of the town ; there were no school-houses 
 until immediately after the Revolution. At the close 
 of the past century there were nine districts, and in 
 each a comfortable school-house. In 1829 the Tenth 
 District, including Lane Village, was organized 
 mainly from the old Seventh District, and in 1850, 
 by a division of the First District, the Eleventh Dis- 
 trict was created. 
 
 In other respects the boundaries of the several 
 school districts, with a few temporary and minor 
 changes, have been preserved to the present time. 
 The early settlers of this town divided themselves in- 
 to communities of convenient proportions many 
 years before the State vested school districts with 
 corporate powers, and a committee " to visit and in- 
 spect the schools" was annually chosen by the town 
 several years before a committee of supervision was 
 authorized by the laws of the State. Beyond the slen- 
 der support of the town the public schools in their 
 infancy were spontaneous in the several neighbor- 
 hoods, and were not the creation of public legisla- 
 tion. 
 
 The school system originated with the people, and 
 the perfection of our school syolem rests in the fact 
 
 that it has not been creative, but has seized and solid- 
 ified with the authority of law the established meth- 
 ods created and approved by the people. From the 
 first the schools have been in advance of the statutes. 
 It is true that law has given uniformity and symme- 
 try to our school system, but all its features origi- 
 nated with and were first approved by thecommunities 
 which make up the people of the Commonwealth. 
 In 1878, after considerable discussion, the school 
 district organization was abolished, and the pruden- 
 tial affairs of the schools were referred to the Com- 
 mittee of Supervision. 
 
 During the past twenty years the town has main- 
 tained a high school. The early terms were held in 
 the basement of the armory and in the school-houses 
 in the central village. Commencing with the in- 
 auguration of Cushing Academy in 1875, a depart- 
 ment of that well-ordered institution has given the 
 town a permanent and excellent high school, and 
 for its support an annual appropriation is made. 
 
 Cushing Academy bears the name of its founder. 
 Thomas Parkman Cushing, a native of Ashburnham 
 and a son of Rev. Dr. John Cushing, through the 
 active and later years of his life was a merchant and 
 resident of Boston, where he died November 23, 
 1854. Immediately after his decease, and in accord- 
 ance with the provisions of his will, the Cushing 
 Academy Fund was safely invested. 
 
 At the time of the organization of the academy 
 corporation, in 1865, the sum of ninety-six thousand 
 dollars was transferred to the corporation, which was 
 left at interest until the accumulation was sufficient 
 to meet the cost of a school edifice, and leave the 
 principal unimpaired. 
 
 In the mean time George C. Winchester presented 
 the corporation an ample and eligible lot for the site 
 of the academy. Mr. Winchester is a great-grand- 
 son of Rev. Jonathan Winchester, the first minister 
 of this town. The grounds accommodating the in- 
 stitution received the name of " Winchester Square," 
 perpetuating at once, through the liberality of their 
 descendants, the memory and names of the first and 
 second ministers of Ashburnham. 
 
 The present commodious and attractive building 
 was promptly erected, and dedicated September 7, 
 1875. The cost of the building, including furniture, 
 was $92,611.75, and the permanent fund in round 
 numbers is one hundred and twenty thousand dol- 
 lars, of which the income is annually appropriated 
 for the support of the school. 
 
 A spacious dwelling, known as " Jewett Hall," and 
 occupied by teachers and pupils, was presented to the 
 corporation by Charles Hastings, and the Crosby 
 house, on Central Street, was presented by Rev. Jo- 
 siah D. Ci'osby, who was the first clerk of the board 
 of trustees, and who manifested an unwearied inter- 
 est in the work and mission of the school. From the 
 first this institution has been eminently successful, 
 and under its present able management it commands 
 
ASHBURNHAM. 
 
 203 
 
 confidence at home and a liberal support from the 
 surrounding towns. 
 
 Edwin Pierce, A.M., was the first principal. He 
 remained in' charge four years, 1875-79. He was 
 a son of Dana and Diedema (Paul) Pierce, and was 
 born at Barnard, Vt., June 26, 1826; graduated at 
 Dartmouth College, 1852. He was formerly professor 
 of Latin and Greek at Yellow-Stone Spring College, 
 Iowa, and principal of other educational institu- 
 tions. 
 
 Professor James E. Vose succeeded Jlr. Pierce, 
 and remained in charge until his death, May 30, 1887. 
 He was a son of Edward L. and Aurelia (Wilson) 
 Vose, and was born at Antrim, N. H., July 18, 1836. 
 Previous to his labor here he had secured a merited 
 reputation, and had been in charge of several acade- 
 mies of New Hampshire. 
 
 H. S. Cowell, A.M., was appointed principal in 
 June, 1887. He is a son of Rev. David B. and Chris- 
 tiana B. (Coffin) Cowell, and was born at West Leb- 
 anon, Me., October 10, 1855; graduated at Bates 
 College, 1875. He was principal of Clinton Grove 
 Seminary, Weare, N. H., 1875-76 ; of Francestown 
 (N. H.) Academy, 1876-83 ; of Arms Academy, Shel- 
 burne Falls, Mass., 1883-87. 
 
 The first president of the board of trustees was 
 Rev. Francis Wayland, D.D., who died 1865, and 
 was succeeded by Hon. Alexander H. Bullock, who 
 resigned 1876, when Abraham T. Lowe, M.D., was 
 appointed. He died July 4, 1888, and his successor 
 has not been chosen. Hon. Amasa Norcross, the 
 only remaining original member of the board, is vice- 
 president. Hon. Ebenezer Torrey, Hon. Ohio Whitney 
 and George F. Stevens, Esq., have filled the office of 
 treasurer. Mr. Stevens died November 15, 1887, and 
 his successor, George W. Eddy, was appointed No- 
 vember 30, 1887. llev. Josiah D. Crosby was clerk 
 of the board from 1865 to '76 ; upon his resignation 
 he was succeeded by Colonel George H. Barrett, who 
 has been continued in office to the present time. 
 
 Mechanical Industbies. — There are fifty mill- 
 sites in this town where at sometime the water-power 
 has been utilized for mechanical purposes. This un- 
 usual number of mill i)rivileges found in a single 
 town have invited the farmers of Ashburnham from 
 the cultivation of a rugged soil to engage in a variety 
 of manufactures. Succeeding the primitive saw-mills, 
 which were numerous in this town and whose only 
 product was boards and other coarse lumber, there 
 have been in times past a largeuumber of small shops 
 in which has been manufactured a great variety of 
 wares. Thread spools, friction matches, knife trays 
 and many other articles of wood-ware have been made 
 here. Tubs and pails were formerly manufactured at 
 several mills and still are made in considerable quan-' 
 titles by George G. Rockwood at the centre of the 
 town. From the first, and independent of the manu- 
 factures named, the leading industry of this town, 
 both past and present, is the manufacture of chairs. 
 
 In this respect it is the second town in New England. 
 This business, either in the production of chair stock 
 or finished chairs, has been conducted in all parts of 
 the town ; but experiencing the fortunes of the limes 
 the industry has become centralized in a few large 
 establishments. Beginning with 1842, when Charles 
 Winchester purchased the mill and bu.sines3 of Philip 
 R. Merriam, the growth of the business in this town 
 was rapid. In 1848 the firm of Charles & George C. 
 Winchester was formed. They conducted an exten- 
 sive business and erected new mills and many dwell- 
 ing-houses. In 1870, when the firm was dissolved by 
 the retirement of the senior brother, they were giving 
 employment to two hundred men. George C. Win- 
 chester was succeeded in 1880 by the Boston Chair 
 Manufacturing Company with a capital stock of $150,- 
 000. The company own and occupy for manufactur- 
 ing purposes thirty-four buildings, presenting a total 
 flooring of 300,000 feet, or about seven acres. The 
 number of men employed is about 200, beside afford- 
 ing employment to an equal number of persons in 
 filling the cane chairs. The number of chairs annually 
 made and sold approaches one-half a million. 
 
 There have been many firms and individuals en- 
 gaged in this manufacture in South Ashburnham. 
 The more familiar names are Burgess, Glazier, May, 
 Matthews, Flint, Merriam, Allen, and at present Or- 
 ange Whitney, Benjamin E. Wetherbee, Irving E. 
 Plaits and Luther B. Adams. An extensive plant is 
 owned and conducted by Wilbur F. Whitney, who 
 has been engaged in the manufacture in this town 
 since 1865. His factory was burned six years ago, 
 and immediately he purchased land at Ashburnham 
 Depot and erected the capacious buildings now occu- 
 pied by him in the business. The two main factories 
 are respectively 172 by 40 and 150 by 40 feet. This 
 manufacture includes rattan and over 600 patterns of 
 modern styles of cane-seat chairs. Mr. Whitney gives 
 employment to 250 hands, demanding a monthly pay- 
 roll of $9,000. The annual product is $350,000. The 
 number of cane-seat chairs annually produced is 
 nearly 400,000. 
 
 Cotton-spinning by power, and the manufacture of 
 cloth completed in hand-looms, was begun in this town 
 in 1811 or 1812. This industry was established at 
 Factory Village. The mill was burned in 1846, and 
 a larger mill was built on the same site, which was 
 also burned in 1877. It has not been rebuilt. The 
 cotton factory on Water Street in the central village 
 was built by a home corporation in 1849. It has been 
 continuously operated, and has contributed to the ma- 
 terial interests of the town. The property is now 
 owned and conducted by George Blackburn & Co. 
 
 Boundaries. — According to the surveys when the 
 original township was severed from the wilderness, 
 there were included in the boundaries then estab- 
 lished twenty-seven thousand oue hundred and 
 ninety acres. The early measurements were ex- 
 tremely liberal, and the actual area of Dorchester 
 
204 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Canada at this time was about thirty-one thousand 
 acres. Encroachments upon these fair proportions 
 has been a favorite occupation of the surrounding 
 towns. Four considerable tracts of land have been 
 taken from the original area, and other attempts have 
 been successfully resisted. 
 
 By the adjustment of the province line in 1741, 
 eight hundred and seventy-seven acres now included 
 in Rindge and New Ipswich were severed from the 
 town. Both the original and amended boundaries of 
 the town on the north were right lines, but they were 
 not parallel. The course of the original line was 
 north 78° west, while the amended province line was 
 established north 80° west, with the intention of run- 
 ning a line due west with an allowance often degrees 
 for variation of the needle. The area taken from this 
 town in form was a trapezium extending across the 
 northern border, and about ten rods in width at the 
 eastern, and one hundred and ten rods at the western 
 extremity. The incorporation of Ashby in 1767 sev- 
 ered about one thousand five hundred acres from the 
 northeast part of the township. Ashby was not an 
 original grant, but was composed of parts of Town- 
 send, Ashburnham and Fitehburg. In the same man- 
 ner Gardner in 1785 was taken from the towns of Ash- 
 burnham, Templeton, Westminster and Winchendon. 
 The area severed from this town was nearly three 
 thousand acres. Again in 1792 another tract of land 
 in the northeast part of the town, containing about 
 one thousand and four hundred acres, was severed 
 from Ashburnham and added to Ashby. The town, 
 still containing an ample area, could afford the land, 
 but the loss of several valued and useful citizens by 
 each of the last three dismemberments was a more 
 serious consideration. Again the spectre of disinte- 
 gration appeared in the southeast part of the town. 
 Beginning with the close of the Revolution and con- 
 tinued for twenty years, the adjoining portions of 
 Westminster, Fitehburg and Ashburnham made ah 
 earnest effort to become incorporated as an inde- 
 pendent town. At times the measure was prosecuted 
 with considerable energy, and at all times it was 
 strenuously opposed, and finally defeated by the re- 
 mainder of the tovi^ns at interest. With the exception 
 of slight changes to correspond with the line of a few 
 farms, no subsequent curtailment of the area of Ash- 
 burnham has occurred. 
 
 Ashburnham became a post-town in 1811, and from 
 that date a post-office has been continuously main- 
 tained at the central village. Since 1850 there has 
 been a post-office at or near the depot for the accom- 
 modation of South Ashburnham. The post-office at 
 North Ashburnham was established in 1854. 
 
 The First National Bank of Ashburnham was 
 organized in 1873. Under conservative and ju- 
 dicious management, it has been successful. The 
 population of the town in 1885 was two thousand 
 and fifty-eight; in 1S55 the population was two 
 thousand two hundred and eleven, and this number 
 
 has not been exceeded by any enumeration of the 
 inhabitants. In May, 1887, the number of ratable 
 polls was five hundred and fifty-five, the assessed 
 value of real estate was eight hundred and eighteen 
 thousand eight hundred and ninety-four dollars, and 
 of personal estate one hundred and seventy-fou r 
 thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight dollars. 
 The rate of taxation was sixteen dollars per one 
 thousand dollars. 
 
 Personal Notices. — Many useful citizens who 
 have been prominent in municipal affairs, and whose 
 lives refresh and enliven the annals of Ashburnham, 
 the greater number of natives of the town who have 
 won an honorable measure of fame in other fields of 
 labor and the descendants of many of the Ashburn- 
 ham families distinguished in many callings will 
 receive notice, and their gi>od works will constitute a 
 part of any present or future review of the town. 
 
 Samuel Wilder, Esq., was a resident of the town at 
 the date of incorporation. Until his death his career 
 was coeval with the town. A man of good judgment 
 and of marked ability, he received a continuous' 
 measure of honor from his townsmen, to whose ser- 
 vice a great part of his life was devoted. Mr. Wilder 
 was a captain of the militia, a magistrate many years, 
 a deacon of the church, and several years a member 
 of the Legislature. He was town clerk twenty-two 
 years, a selectman fifteen years, an assessor twenty 
 years and frequently was chosen on important commit- 
 tees. The current records during the years of his 
 useful life assert the merited esteem of his associates 
 and an appreciation of superior mental endowment. 
 He was the son of Colonel Caleb Wilder, a prominent 
 proprietor of Dorchester Canada. He was born in 
 Lancaster, May 7, 1729, and died in this town. May 
 9, 1798. Among his children were Caleb Wilder, a 
 noted school-teacher in this town ; Thomas Wilder, a 
 respected citizen of Ware ; Dr. Abel Wilder, a dis- 
 tinguished physician of Blackstone. Hon. A. Car- 
 ter Wilder, son of Dr. Abel Wilder and grandson of 
 our Samuel Wilder, was a member of the Thirty- 
 eighth Congress from Kansas, and subsequently 
 mayor of the city of Rochester, N. Y. Hon. D. 
 Webster Wilder, another son of Dr. Abel Wilder, is 
 an accomplished journalist and many years State 
 auditor of Kansas. Dr. Charles Woodward Wilder, 
 an esteemed citizen and physician of Templeton and 
 Leominster, was a son of Caleb Wilder, Jr., and a 
 nephew of Samuel Wilder. 
 
 Colonel Joseph Jewett, son of Edward Jewett, was 
 born in Stow, May 10, 1761. He was a soldier in the 
 Revolution, and at the close of the war he removed to 
 Ashburnham. Like many of the active men of his 
 time, his energies were enlisted in a variety of pur- 
 • suits. Colonel Jewett was prominent in military af- 
 fairs, was a merchant, a farmer, a dealer in cattle and 
 lands, and succeeding Mr. Wilder, he was the squire 
 or magistrate. He represented the town in the Leg- 
 islature eight years, was a selectman fifteen years, an 
 
ASHBURNHAM. 
 
 205 
 
 assessor fifteen years, and was ten times chosen to 
 preside over tlie annual March meeting. He died 
 May 3, 1846. His son, General Ivers Jewett, born in 
 this town May 7, 1788, was a gentleman of ability, of 
 attractive personal appearance, tall and commanding 
 in presence and popular and esteemed by his associ- 
 ates. At the age of thirty-four years he had been 
 promoted step by step from the command of the Ash- 
 burnhara Light Infantry to the rank of general of the 
 State Militia. Few men in a rural community have 
 been equally honored or more widely known. In 1827 
 he removed to Filchburg and was there interested in 
 several business enterprises, some of which were not 
 wholly fortunate for him and his business associates. 
 Subsequently he removed to the South and died at 
 Mobile, Ala., April 26, 1871. Rev. Merrick Augustus 
 Jewett, another son of Colonel Joseph Jewett, was 
 born in this town August 26, 1798, was a graduate of 
 Dartmouth College, 1823, and subsequently an able 
 Congregational minister at Terre Haute, Ind. He 
 died April 3, 1874. 
 
 Jacob Willard, Esq., was a prominent citizen in 
 this town many years. He was cotemporaneous with 
 Deacon Wilder and Colonel Jewett and divided hon- 
 ors with them. He was bold and aggressive, and his 
 loyalty during the Revolution and the troubles attend- 
 ing the open revolt of Daniel Shays was conspicuous. 
 He was the fir.st Representative to the State Legisla- 
 ture under the Constitution, and four subsequent terms. 
 He was frequently elected to town office and other 
 positions of trust, and exercised at all times a com- 
 manding influence. He was a son of Henry Willard, 
 and was born in Harvard .Inly 20, 1734, and removed 
 to this town about 1768, where he died February 22, 
 1808. His daughter Emma, burn December 18, 1777, 
 married Rev. Thomas Skelton, and died November 3, 
 1881, aged nearly one hundred and four years. 
 
 Silas Willard, Esq., son of Deacon John Willard, 
 and a nephew of Jacob Willard, Esq., was born in 
 this town October 8, 1768, where he died June 14, 
 1855. He was a selectman and an assessor twenty 
 years ; delegate to the Constitutional Convention, 
 1820 ; a magistrate twenty-eight years and promi- 
 nently associated with the affairs of his time. 
 
 Rev. Elijah Willard, a brother of Silas Willard, 
 Esq., was born in this town April 19, 1782, was a 
 Methodist clergyman and died at Saugus September 
 5, 1852. 
 
 John Adams was born in Cambridge (now Arling- 
 ton), January 22, 1745. He was a son of Captain 
 Thomas Adams, who removed to this town late in 
 life. The son, John Adams, settled in the east 
 part of the town, 1766. He was a soldier in the Rev- 
 olution and subsequently was considerably employed 
 in municipal affairs. He was an intelligent, active 
 man and was held in high esteem by his townsmen. 
 He died with faculties unimpaired February 26, 1849, 
 aged one hundred and four years, one month and 
 four days. His descendants are numerous in this 
 
 town and elsewhere, and are an industrious, active 
 race. Amos Adams, a son of Jonas R. Adams, and a 
 grandson of John Adams, was a successful lawyer in 
 Chicago, 111., and subsequently was a judge in Cali- 
 fornia. Samuel G. Adams, the popular and able 
 superintendent of police of the city of Boston ; Ivers 
 W. Adams, formerly a successful merchant of Boston 
 and now general manager of the American Net and 
 Twine Company; and Melvin O. Adams, a successful 
 lawyer of Boston and several years assistant district 
 attorney for the district of Suffolk, through different 
 lines of descent are great-grandsons of John Adams, 
 the centenarian. 
 
 Dr. Abraham Lowe, son of Jonathan Lowe, was 
 born in Ipswich (now Essex), February 11. 1755. In 
 his infancy the family removed to Lunenburg. He 
 read for his profession under the tuition of Dr. Abra- 
 ham Haskell, of Lunenburg, and came to this town, 
 1786. He was a skillful physician and a useful and 
 honored citizen. He died October* 23, 1824. Dr. 
 Abraham Thompson Lowe, son of Dr. Abraham 
 Lowe, was born in this town August 15, 1796 ; grad- 
 uated at Dartmouth Medical College, and after a few 
 years of professional labor in this town he removed 
 to Boston, 1825, where he was engaged in the whole- 
 sale drug trade many years. He was prominently 
 connected with several railroad corporations and 
 monetary institutions. He was the author of several 
 school-books of good repute. He died July 4, 1888. 
 
 William J., George and Edward W. Cutler, of the 
 firm of Cutler Brothers, wholesale druggists of Bos- 
 ton ; Abraham L. Cutler, of the firm of A. L. Cutler 
 & Co., paints and oils, Boston; and Charles H. Cutler, 
 of Chicago, III., are sons of Dr. William H. Cutler, an 
 esteemed physician and citizen of this town, and 
 maternal grandsons of Dr. Abraham Lowe. 
 
 John Conn, son of a Scotch-Irish immigrant, was 
 born in Harvard, 1740, and removed in early life to 
 this town. He was a lieutenant in the Revolution 
 and was a prominent citizen of the town. His son, 
 John, and grandson, John Conn, Jr., were men of 
 character and ability in this town. Susannah, a 
 daughter of John Conn, Sr., married David Wallace. 
 They are the grandparents of Hon. Rodney Wallace, 
 of Fitchburg. 
 
 Deacon Jacob Harris, a native of Ipswich and a 
 former resident of Harvard, removed to Ashburnham, 
 1767. He was a selectman, and for fifteen years an 
 assessor, a deacon of the church and a conservative, 
 useful citizen. He died September 26, 1826. His 
 son. Rev. Samuel Harris, was a Congregational min- 
 ister and labored in Alstead, New Boston and Wind- 
 ham, N. H., where he died September 5, 1848. 
 
 Jacob Constantine, a son of German immigrants, 
 born 1752, was a good citizen and a Revolutionary 
 soldier. He died March 8, 1814. Lieutenant-Gov- 
 ernor Fuller, of Vermont, is a great-grandson. 
 
 Capt. David Cushing and his brother, George R. 
 Cushing, Esq., were natives of Hingham, were prom- 
 
2nfi 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 inent factors in the business and municipal affairs of 
 this town. The former died May 3, 1827, and the 
 latter February 2, 1851. Joseph Gushing, son of Capt. 
 David, established the Farmers' Cabinet of Amherst, 
 N. H., and with him Hon. Isaac Hill learned the art 
 of printing. In 1809 he removed to Baltimore, Md. 
 He was a member of the city government many years 
 and member of the Legislature. Joseph Gushing, a 
 prominent business man of Fitchburg, is a grandson 
 of Capt. David Gushing. 
 
 Stephen Gushing, remotely related to the preced- 
 ing family, removed to Ashburnham, 1830. He was a 
 man of exalted character, and in many capacities 
 faithfully served his townsmen. Rev. Stephen Gush- 
 ing, his son, born March 13, 1813, has been a success- 
 ful preacher and officer of the Methodist Conference. 
 
 Col. Enoch Whitmore, son of Isaac Whitmore, was 
 born in this town September 8, 1796. He was a 
 farmer and manufacturer. He was a man of clear con- 
 victions and (tecided opinions, a radical, but not a 
 fanatic. In politics he was an Abolitionist, and for 
 many years his well-known opinions were a bar to 
 political preferment, and yet, while in a minority, his 
 worth and recognized ability secured a frequent elec- 
 tion to oiEce. Living until his views were endorsed 
 and accepted by a large majority of his townsmen, he 
 died September 13, 1860. 
 
 Jerome W. Foster, son of Joel Foster, and a de- 
 scendant in the fourth generation of Jeremiah Foster, 
 an early settler in this town, was born September 15, 
 1810. He was a civil engineer, a justice of the peace, 
 and often employed in the conduct of town affairs. 
 He was town clerk eighteen years, and in all 
 his faithful service to the town he was aided by good 
 jud;;ment and ability. 
 
 Gapt. Silas Whitney, son of Samuel Whitney, was 
 born in Westminster October 20, 1752. He removed 
 to this town, 1778, and became the most extensive 
 laud-holder in the town. He was an active citizen 
 and influential in town affairs. He died November 14, 
 1798. His descendants are numerous. Ohio Whit- 
 ney, son of Capt. Silas Whitney, born March 22, 1789, 
 was a man of abili.y and great iorce of character. Af- 
 fable in manner, upright in character and honorable 
 in all his relations with his townsmen, he commanded 
 the respect and esteem of all. He died March 3, 1870. 
 Hon. Ohio Whitney, son of Ohio Whitney, born June 
 9, 1813, was much employed in municipal and State 
 affairs, He was a selectman and an assessor many 
 years and a moderator of the annual March meeting 
 eighteen years. He was a trustee of several monetary 
 institutions and a director of the First National Bank 
 of Ashijurnham. In 18.56 he represented this district 
 in the Legislature, and the following year he was a 
 member of the State Senate. He died February 6, 1879. 
 Francis A. Whitney, Esq., a brother of Hon. Ohio 
 Whitney, born in this town August 2, 1823, died April 
 , 28th, 1887. He was a successful school-teacher, 
 many years a member of the School Committee, 'elect- 
 
 man and assessor. He was a public-spirited, useful 
 citizen. Milton Whitney, E^-q., son of Capt. Silas 
 Whitney, Jr., and a grandson of Capt. Silas Whitney, 
 was born in this town October 9, 1823. He was an 
 eminent lawyer and several years a county attorney 
 of Baltimore, Md. He was a brilliant advocate, and 
 won many laurels in his profession. He died Septem- 
 ber 3, 1875. Rev. William Whitney, son of William 
 Whitney and grandson of Capt. Silas Whitney, was 
 born in this town July 22, 1829. He resides at Gran- 
 ville, Ohio, and for many years was financial agent of 
 Dennison University and treasurer of the Baptist 
 Educational Society. Rev. Quincy Whitney, of Cam- 
 bridge, is a son of Samuel Whitney and a grandson of 
 Capt. Silas Whitney. 
 
 Hon. Isaac Hill, a distinguished journalist, Gov- 
 ernor of New Hampshire, Comptroller of the Treas- 
 ury and United States Senator, was a well-rtmembered 
 youth of this town, being nine years of age when the 
 family removed hither. His younger brothers, George 
 W. and Horatio Hill, were born in this town. 
 
 Hon. Phinehas Randall was born in Ashburnham, 
 June 5, 1787, and resided here until he began his col- 
 legiate study. He was a lawyer, and for several years 
 a presiding judge of Common Pleas of Montgomery 
 County, N. Y. Hon. Alexander W. Randall, Gov- 
 ernor of Wisconsin, member of President Grant's 
 cabinet and Minister to Rome, and Hon. Edwin M. 
 Randall, chief justice of Florida, are sons of Hon. 
 Phinehas Randall. 
 
 General Harrison C. Hobart, an eminent lawyer of 
 Wisconsin, was born in this town January 31, 1815. 
 He won a brilliant record in the War of the Rebel- 
 lion, and has exercised a commanding influence in 
 civil and political affairs. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 JOHN AND ELINOR WHITNEY. 
 
 John and Elinor Whitney, the emigrant ancestors 
 of a numerous family, sailed from England in the 
 " Elizabeth and Ann," Roger Cooper, master, in 
 April, 1635. At this date he was aged thirty-five, and 
 his wife thirty years. He settled in Watertown, 
 where he became a considerable landholder, and was 
 admitted freeman March 3, 1635-6. He was a select- 
 man eighteen successive years, and his name is con- 
 spicuous in the records of his time. He died June 1, 
 1673; his wife, Elinor, died May 11, 1659. 
 
 John, eldest son of John and Elinor Whitney, was 
 born in England, 1624; admitted freeman, 1647. He 
 married Ruth Reynolds, daughter of Robert Reynolds, 
 of Boston, and resided in Watertown. He was a 
 selectman several years, and a prominent citizen. 
 He died October 12, 1692. leaving five sons and five 
 daughters. 
 
 Nathaniel, son of John and Ruth (Reynolds) 
 Whitney, was born in Watertown, February 1, 1646-7. 
 
:>^^^^ 
 
d^ti 
 
 -^^^^^4^, '^^2 <0 
 
i 
 
ASHBURNHAM. 
 
 207 
 
 He married, March 12, 1673-4, Sarah Hagar, born 
 September 3, 1751, daughter of William and Mary 
 (Bemis) Hagar, of AVatertown. His homestead was 
 included in Weston, where he died January 7, 1732-3 ; 
 his widow died May 7, 1746. 
 
 William, third of the seven children of Nathaniel 
 and Sarah (Hagar) Whitney, was born May 6, 1683, 
 and resided in Weston. He married. May 17, 1706, 
 Martha Peirce, born December 24, 1681, daughter of 
 Joseph and Martha Peirce, of Watertown. He died 
 January 24, 1720-1. 
 
 Samuel Whitney, son of William and Martha (Peirce) 
 Whitney, was born in Weston May 28, 1719. He 
 married, October 20, 1741, Abigail Fletcher, and was 
 one of the early settlers of Westminster, and is a 
 prominent character in the annals of that town. He 
 died January 1, 1782. Capt. Silas Whitney, of Ash- 
 burnham, was a son of these parents. 
 
 Abner, son of Samuel and Abigail (Fletcher) Whit- 
 ney, was born in W'estminster May IS, 1748. He 
 married. May 14, 1770, Elizabeth Glazier, daughter of 
 Jonas and Eunice (Newton) Glazier, of Shrewsbury, 
 who died April 3,1778; he married (2d), April 22, 
 1779, her sister, Levina (Glazier) Ward, widow of 
 Jonas Ward. He died in Westminster, 1811. 
 
 Joseph G., son of Abner and Lcviua Whitney, was 
 born June 22, 1783, He married, 1805, Levina Dunn, 
 and resided in Westminster and in Ashburnham, 
 where he died July 31, 1868. 
 
 John, son of Joseph G. and Levina (Dunn) Whitney, 
 was born in Westminster September 12, 1806. He 
 was a pioneer manufacturer of chairs in Westminster 
 and in Ashburnham. He was a man of ability and 
 character, commanding the respect and confidence of 
 his associates. He died May 4, 1873. His wife, 
 whom he marrif d May 9, 1832, was Eliza Gushing, 
 daughter of Stephen Gushing, Esq., a prominent 
 citizen of Ashburnham. She died September 1, 1882. 
 
 WILBUR F. WHITKEY. 
 
 Wilbur Fisk Whitney, son of John and Eliza 
 (Gushing) Whitney, and of the ninth generation in 
 America, was born December 9, 1839, and from 
 early manhood has been closely identified with the 
 material intertsts of this town. From an indusrial 
 standpoint the town of Ashburnham occupies a 
 prominent position among the manufacturing towns 
 of the State. Here the manufacture of chairs was 
 an early, and through later years remains an impor- 
 tant industry. While the Winchesters and their 
 successors have been conducting an extensive busi- 
 ness at the centre of the town, Mr. Whitney, in his 
 chosen field at Siuth Ashburnham, from a humble 
 beginning, has enlarged his facilities from year to 
 year, and at present is at the head of a more exten- 
 sive business than is owneil and conducted by any 
 single individual in this line of manufacture. His 
 monthly pay-roll, distributed among 250 employes, is 
 
 $9000, and the annual product of the manufacture 
 includes 380,000 chairs, valued at wholesale at 
 $350,000. Much of the labor-saving machinery is 
 special, and is covered by patents. The chairs made 
 by Mr. Whitney are the modern styles of cane-.seat 
 and a great variety of rattan chairs. The designs 
 and styles are original, and frequently change to 
 meet the demands of the trade. la mechanical 
 skill, in ability to personally supervise all the minute 
 details of an extensive business, and in a prompt and 
 clear comprehension of the growing demands of the 
 trade, Mr. Whitney has advanced to a prominent 
 position among the manufacturers of the present 
 time. While his success in business has been 
 founded on industry, perseverance and the fortui- 
 tous issue of well-matured plans, his honesty and 
 ready appreciation of the rights of others have been 
 important factors. He has continually maintained 
 fraternal relations with his employes, and has had no 
 experience with strikes nor contests with labor or- 
 ganizations. With the spirit of a good citizen, his 
 success has been reflected in the growth and pros- 
 perity of the town, and he has ever manifested a 
 lively interest in local and in municipal affairs. In 
 this direction his eflort has been the fruit of principle 
 anil the thoughtful act of method and wisdom 
 rather than the sudden and fitful oflering of a gen- 
 erous impulse. For many years, with system and 
 exactness, ten per cent, of his annual income has 
 been given to religious and charitable objects, and, 
 with a liberality of sentiment characteristic of the 
 donor, no one sect or class has been the sole recip- 
 ient. 
 
 With the experience of years Mr. Whitney has 
 joined the fruit of an attentive study of the social 
 and political problems of the times. His conclusions 
 are intelligently formed, and his judgment of men 
 and of measures is free from partiality and preju- 
 dice. In debate he is apt and logical, and if he is 
 decided in his opinions, he is tolerant in judging of 
 the faith and charitable in weighing the conduct of 
 others. His political opinions have been pronounced 
 but conservative. He has not been closely allied 
 with any party, but his political faith has embraced 
 the purposes of good government, and has been un- 
 restrained by the school of politics. In his daily 
 life he has seldom wounded or disappointed his 
 friends, and he has cultivated no enmities. His 
 sympathies, quick and steadfast, lead him to the 
 presence of the wronged and the suffering, and guid- 
 ed by principle, his ministrations to his fellow-nien 
 are ever kind and substantial. In business and in 
 social affairs he has challenged the respect and good 
 opinion of all who know him. His merit has won, 
 and his future will enjoy, the friendship and confi- 
 dence of his associates. In the personal supervision 
 of an important industry, Mr. Whitney has found 
 full employment, yet he has been an efficient mem- 
 ber of the School Committee many years, and has 
 
208 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 labored in this worlc with unfailing interest. Ho is 
 a director of the Ashburnham National Bank and of 
 the Nashua Reservoir Company. In 1875 he repre- 
 sented this district in the Legislature. In 1878 he 
 was nominated for Congress by the Greenback party 
 and by a convention of Independents. In the can- 
 vass he received seven thousand votes. He was 
 renominated in 1882 and 1884. In 1876 and 1877 
 he was nominated for State treasurer, and in several 
 instances his candidacy was endorsed by the Prohi- 
 bitionists. 
 
 Mr. Whitney is still in the prime of life, and this 
 brief sketch is but the beginning of a completed 
 chapter. Men of his temperament and character 
 summon energy and wisdom with advancing years. 
 
 In his domestic relations Mr. Whitney has been 
 fortunate and happy. He was united in marriage, 
 July 17, 1866, to Miss Emeline S. Jewell, daughter 
 of Dexter and Sarah (Mower) Jewell, of Kindge, 
 N. H. Their eldest child, and only son, a lad of 
 great promise and universally beloved, died at the 
 age of fifteen years. Four bright and sunny daugh- 
 ters, from five to fifteen years of age, bring light and 
 gladness to a happy fireside. 
 
 DR. NATHANIEL JEWETT. 
 
 Dr. Nathaniel Jewett, the subject of this sketch, 
 was born in Boston, March 10, 1841, and was edu- 
 cated in the public schools of that city. He afterwards 
 pursued a course of professional studies under pri- 
 vate tutors. 
 
 He graduated with honors from the Boston Dental 
 School in 18G9, and from the New York Eclectic Col- 
 lege in 1871, having attended also, lectures in Har- 
 vard Medical College, and at the College of Physi- 
 cians and Surgeons, New York. 
 
 He has been president of the Worcester North 
 Eclectic Medical Society, and for many years secre- 
 tary and treasurer ; also president and counselor of 
 the Ma:isachusetts Eclectic Medical Society, and a 
 member of the National Medical Association. 
 
 Through his mother's active interest and sympathy 
 in charitable organizations and reforms during the 
 early years of his life in Boston, his naturally sym- 
 pathetic and generous qualities were early enlisted in 
 efforts to aid the unfortunate. 
 
 Dr. Jewett came to Ashburnhara and commenced 
 the practice of medicine in 1871. Of the eighteen 
 physicians who have practiced here, none have been 
 more constantly or successfully employed. Many 
 serious eases have been under his treatment calling 
 for surgical skill and patient care. With much me- 
 chanical ability, and quick to feel for all who suffer, 
 he has been very successful and ingenious in devising 
 mechanical appliances and aids, and inventing means 
 for the comfort and convenience of his patients. 
 
 He also possesses the qualities of a good nurse, and 
 with much magnetic power, his presence is always 
 
 welcome in the sick-room, where so much depends on 
 gentleness and encouraging words. Many a family 
 have looked to him as a support in the hour of sor- 
 row, and found him ever ready to aid when the last 
 rites of affection are needed fur the dead. 
 
 Dr. Jewett is social in his nature, ardent, generous 
 and loyal in his friendships, and keenly sensitive to 
 disloyalty or broken faith in those he has trusted. In 
 his tastes he is very artistic, and music is one of his 
 greatest pleasures. IJondof books and study, he has 
 accumulated a large library of medical, scientific and 
 other works. 
 
 When contributions or personal efforts are called 
 for in aid of town, church or social movements, he is 
 always generous in response. 
 
 With a large share of the trials, discouragements 
 and constant requisitions upon a physician's life, he 
 has always been faithful in filial duties. To his 
 mother, who was long an invalid, he gave the best of 
 his care and life, freely relinquishing all that would 
 prevent him from ministering to her needs, and faith- 
 fully attending her until her death here, in 1887. 
 
 The doctor has long been connected with Masonic 
 orders, active and enthusiastic in interest for all that 
 concerned the fraternity. He has held various posi- 
 tions, and is one of the Past Commanders of Jeru- 
 salem Commandery, Fitchburg; also a member of the 
 Grand Commandery of Massachusetts and Rhode 
 Island, and is a thirty -second degree Mason. He has 
 also held offices in various other secret orders. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 FITCHBURG. 
 
 BY ATHERTON P. MASON, A.B. (HARV.), M.D. (HARV.). 
 
 [Latitude, 42° 35' N. ; longitude, 71° 47' W. ; direction ami distance from 
 Boston, W. N. W., 47 jniles ; altitude of top step of City Halt above sea 
 level, 470 /ee(.] 
 
 DESCRIPTIVE. 
 
 Fitchburg, the smaller of the two cities of Wor- 
 cester County, and, after Worcester, the most import- 
 ant place in the county, is pleasantly situated among 
 hills and valleys, and is about twenty-four miles north 
 of its sister city. The township is of average size, 
 being about six and a half miles from north to south, 
 and about four and a half miles from east to west. A 
 small stream, the north branch of the Nashua River, 
 formed by the confluence of several brooks in the 
 southwesterly part of the town, curves to the north 
 and emerges near the southeast corner ; and along its 
 course most of the population and all the business 
 interests of the city are located. 
 
 The thickly populated and business centre— the city 
 proper — lies a little southeast of the centre of the 
 township. West and south of the city proper are the 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 209 
 
 villages of West Fitcliburg, Rockville and Crocker- 
 ville, and east and south are Traskville, East Fitch- 
 burg and South Fitchburg. The outlying portions of 
 the township are but sparsely inhabited, being mainly 
 utilized for farming purposes, though considerable 
 areas are covered with woods or used simply for pas- 
 turage. The township is bounded on the north by 
 Ashby, on the east by Lunenburg and Leominster, 
 on the south by Leominster and Westminster, and on 
 the west by Westminster and a small part of Ash- 
 burnhara. 
 
 Any detailed description of the city and its outlying 
 villages would, of course, be beyond the scope of this 
 sketch. As has been stated, the city lits in a valley 
 along the stream. The territory on the south side of 
 the stream, or, " across the river," as it is called, is 
 occupied almost entirely by dwelling-houses, while 
 the business portion is on the north side close to the 
 river bank ; and the hills a little farther north and 
 the more level land to the east are thickly covered 
 ■with dwellings, many of which are beautiful and 
 costly. Main Street, the jirincipal business street in 
 the city, follows for the most part the course of the 
 stream, its general direction being east and west. On 
 this street are a number of important manufacturing 
 establishments, many substantial business blocks, 
 several public buildings, hotels, handsome churches, 
 and towards the upper end a few tine private resi- 
 dences. From its beginning it is paved with stone as 
 far as the City Hall ; and a horse railroad track runs 
 through almost its entire length. There are three 
 parks on this street — the " Lower Common," or Rail- 
 road Park, Monument Park and the " Upper Com- 
 mon," — situated nearly equidistant from one another- 
 The first of these is at the junction of Main and Water 
 Streets, opposite the handsome and commodious Union 
 Passenger Station, and is a small enclosure provided 
 with a band-stand. Monument Park is directly in 
 front of the County Court-House and nearly opposite 
 the Wallace Library and Art Building, while flank- 
 ing it on the east is Christ Church, a beautiful and 
 picturesque stone building. Taken in connection 
 with these three fine edifices, this jiark is a most in- 
 viting spot and much frequented. In its centre is an 
 expensive and massive soldiers' monument of granite 
 surmounted b)- three bronze statues. Four brass field- 
 pieces, secured from the government through the 
 eSbrts of the late Hon. Alvah Crocker, and mounted 
 in regulation style, are placed one at each corner, and 
 the whole park is enclosed by a substantial iron fence 
 upon a base of hammered granite. The " Upper 
 Common " is located towards the upper or western 
 end of Main Street, and is larger than either of the 
 other parks. It has recently been laid out and beauti- 
 fied, and bids fair to rival Monument Park in the 
 favor of the citizens. It is a parallelogram in shape 
 and entirely surrounded by shade-trees. Near the 
 lower end is a very ornamental band-stand, from 
 which the Fitchburg Military Band often gives even- 
 14 
 
 ing concerts during the summer. The band also 
 gives concerts from the band-stand iu the Lower 
 Common, and the musie furnished by this justly- 
 celebrated organization always calls together a large 
 concourse of citizens. Opposite the head of the Up- 
 per Common is the old First Parish (Unitarian) 
 Church, astructureinterestingfrom an historical point 
 of view; and flanking the Common on its northerly 
 side are several handsome residences. At the easterly 
 terminus of the horse railroad, near the Lunenburg 
 line, are the fair-grounds and trotting park, formerly 
 the property of the Worcester North Agricultural 
 Society. In 1887 this property was purchased by a 
 number of gentlemen, forming an organization known 
 as the Fitchburg Park Company, for the purpose of 
 improving and beautifying it for use as a park. 
 
 The upper portion of Main Street is considerably 
 wider than the lower part, and is abundantly supplied 
 with shade-trees. From Putnam Street to the Amer- 
 ican House, Main Street is altogether too narrow for 
 the tide of business which daily passes through it, and 
 without dnubt it will be alisolutely necessary for the 
 city to construct a new street before long to relieve 
 the pressure on Main Street. This portion of the 
 street is entirely without shade-trees, or even room 
 for them to grow, and it is becoming more and more 
 evident every year that a great mistake was made 
 iu not reserving a more generous width for the street. 
 
 Fitchburg is pre-eminently a busy and thriving 
 city, and probably no other place of its size can boast 
 of a greater diversity of industries. The little stream 
 running through the town was a source of great annoy- 
 ance to the early settlers. The spring floods carried 
 away their bridges, and the river was considered a 
 nuisance and probable bar to the growth of the town. 
 But coming years showed the folly of these fears. 
 Dams were constructed, the water controlled, and 
 manufacturers on a small scale began to locate on the 
 banks of the formerly detested stream. Thus was a 
 seeming curse turned into an evident blessing, for 
 from those few mills have sprung the present great 
 manufacturing concerns located here. Now the 
 stream, whether swollen by the floods of spring, or 
 diminished to a mere rivulet by the drought of summer, 
 is allowed to pursue its way for the most part unheeded 
 by the busy manufacturer. Water-power is still used 
 to some extent, but steam is now the chief motor tha' 
 propels the machinery, looms and spindles that daily 
 pour forth products which go to the markets, not of 
 this country alone, but of the world. A description 
 of these large manufacturing establishments, of which 
 our citizens are justly proud, must be deferred to a 
 subseqiient portion of this sketch. 
 
 It is evident that ample transportation facilities are 
 necessary in order to distribute all these varied pro- 
 ducts, and Fitchburg certainly possesses such facilities 
 to a marked degree. When, about half a century ago, 
 the Hon. Alvah Crocker proposed and advocated a 
 railroad direct from Boston to Fitchburg, the idea met 
 
210 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 with great opposition and ridicule. Mr. Crocker per- 
 severed in .spite of all obstacles, the railroad became 
 an accomplished fact, and the immense benefits arising 
 from its construction are realized by the citizens of 
 to-day. It has grown into the great Hoosac Tunnel 
 Line and afl'ords direct communication, not with 
 Boston alone, but with the great cities of the West. 
 Other railroads have since been built which give 
 direct communication with all important points. An 
 elegant and commodious passenger-station, built about 
 ten years ago, is shared by all these roads in common, 
 and there are large freight depots, car-shops, engine- 
 houses, etc., which will bo described further on. 
 
 Fitchburg is by no means behind the times as re- 
 gards the adoption of all methods and means by which 
 the wealth, prosperity and enlightenment of her 
 citizens may be advanced, their business facilitated, 
 and their lives and property protected from danger or 
 destruction. The streets of the city are kept clean 
 and in good condition, and are, for tlie most part, well 
 lined with shade-trees ; a pure and very abundant 
 water supply has been provided at large expense ; 
 school-houses are numerous and, as a rule, commodious 
 and well-ventilated; a thoroughly organized and well- 
 equipped Fire Department, in connection with the tire- 
 alarm telegraph and numerous hydrants, aflbrds the 
 best possible protection against serious loss by fire; 
 the efficient police force keeps the city singularly free 
 from theft and murder. All these departments are 
 under the direct control of the city, and their eft'ective 
 work reflects great credit on the authorities, both in 
 past and present time. In addition to these advan- 
 tages of a strictly municipal character, there are 
 others no less important to the welfare of the city. 
 There are numerous churches, substantial and invit- 
 ing, both ^xternally and internally, whose pulpits are 
 occupied by good pastors ; there is an efficient tele- 
 phone service with many subscribers ; the streets are 
 well lighted with electricity, furnished by the Wachu- 
 sett Electric Light Company, and in some portions 
 with gas, furnished by the Fitchburg Gas Company ; 
 the Fitchburg Street Railway Company provides con- 
 venient means of transit from one end of the city to 
 the other, and the government has established the 
 letter-carrier system here. 
 
 Having seen, in a general way, what man has ac- 
 complished towards making Fitchburg an attractive 
 and desirable place of residence, let us devote a 
 little space to the investigation of what nature has 
 done to beautify and make pleasant this city among 
 the hills. The north branch of the Nashua, which 
 has been previously mentioned as traversing the 
 southerly portion of the township, is formed by the 
 confluence of several brooks having their origin in 
 ponds in Westminster and Ashburnham. These 
 brooks, uniting in the southwesterly part of the 
 township, form the only stream of any size in Fitch- 
 burg. There is nothing particularly beautiful or 
 romantic about it at the present time, except in a 
 
 few spots where the hand of man has not encroached 
 too ruthlessly upon its original condition. Many 
 bridges, both for railroad and public use, have been 
 built across it, and numerous dams have been 
 erected along its course, which form small ponds 
 that lack the element of natural beauty. It is 
 rather singular that, while almost every one of the 
 towns in this vicinity possesses at least one large 
 natural sheet of water, there is nothing of the sort 
 in Fitchburg. So the citizens have to content them- 
 selves with brooks, of which there are several in 
 town that are very picturesque and well worth visit- 
 ing. One of these is Falulah Brook, in the north- 
 erly part of the town, towards Ashby. Its course is 
 through wooded country, and in many places it has 
 worn for itself a channel through the solid rock. 
 In spots it has hollowed out deep basins in the rock, 
 forming quiet, transparent pools; and again it dashes 
 down some rocky incline, producing fascinating cas- 
 cades. This brook crosses the township diagonally, 
 and that part of it in the southeasterly corner has 
 received the name of Baker's Brook. It receives 
 several tributaries, prominent among which are 
 Scott and Shattuck Brooks, whence is obtained the 
 water supply of the city, and Pearl Plill Brook. 
 
 In the southerly part of Fitchburg is another brook, 
 quite as interesting and picturesque as Falulah, and 
 certainly better appreciated, from the fact of its be- 
 ing easy of access. The name of it is Wanoosnac 
 Brook. During the past century the spelling of its 
 name has undergone considerable change. Rev. 
 Peter Whitney, in his "History of Worcester 
 County," published in 1793, speaks of it as " Wauh- 
 noosnok Brook." In Torrey's " History of Fitch- 
 burg," published in 1836, it is spelled Wanoosnock. 
 By some, at the present time, it is called Monoos- 
 noc. However much the nomenclature may have 
 changed, it is certain that its natural beauty has not 
 followed suit. For some distance it flows along be- 
 side the Old Turnpike Road, unmolested by the 
 hand of man, at times hidden among the trees and 
 again appearing in open spaces, tumbling and splash- 
 ing along its rocky bed. It is especially well worth 
 visiting in the early summer, when it is full of water. 
 At one point, where it flows in a deep and pre- 
 cipitous gully, a massive stone dam was built many 
 years ago. From some imperfection in its construc- 
 tion, the dam never could be made to hold water, and 
 the brook, which, as well as the dam itself, is 
 almost entirely concealed by trees that have grown 
 up since man's futile attempt to obstruct it, flows 
 noisily beneath the heavy stone-work as if filled 
 with defiant joy at its retained fieedom. A little 
 farther above is another dam, built with better skill, 
 which has, for over half a century, been occupied as 
 the site of a saw-mill. 
 
 The most marked topographical features in Fitch- 
 burg are Rollstone Hill, southwest of the city, and 
 Pearl Hill, to the northeast. The former is a rounded 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 211 
 
 mass of solid gneiss, attaining an elevation of about 
 four hundred feet above the river. Whitney thus al- 
 ludes to it in his history : " A little southwest of the 
 meeting-house is a high, rocky hill, covered princi- 
 pally with pine, called Bollstone Hill." At the present 
 time the pines have disappeared. Until a few years 
 ago two old and weather-beaten specimens, the sole sur- 
 vivors of former times, were standing like ancient 
 sentinels upon the summit of the hill ; but age, com- 
 bined with the poor quality and small amount of 
 soil and the fierce winds of winter, caused them to 
 succumb, and they fell some years ago, one soon after 
 the other. The writer well remembers the feeling of 
 sadness that arose within him when these aged land- 
 marks were prostrated. The lower portion of their 
 trunks bore a vast collection of autographs, for prob- 
 ably almost every boy who climbed to the top of the 
 hill, for years previous to their fall, and was 
 lucky enough to own a knife, carved his initials 
 on one or the other of them. The top of the hill is 
 now practically bare rock, though the thin soil in 
 spots supports a scanty and stunted growth of bushes. 
 The sides of the hill have a tolerably thick layer of 
 soil, and are covered with a growth of small trees, 
 mostly chestnut, oak and maple. Excellent building 
 stone is obtained from this hill, and the supply seems 
 to be practically inexhaustible. Extensive quarries 
 have been worked for a great many years without any 
 v^ry appreciable diminution in the size of the hill, 
 unless it be on the southwesterly side. 
 
 The use of Rollstone granite is by no means 
 confined to Fitchburg alone. It is shipped to 
 various places, and there are several buildings 
 in Boston constructed entirely of it. Some portions 
 of the rock contain extraneous minerals, and fine 
 specimens of beryl and tourmaline have been ob- 
 tained here in times past. On the very summit of the 
 hill is " the Boulder," a rounded mass of rock, forty- 
 five feet in circumference, and probably weighing 
 one hundred tons. Its composition is totally unlike 
 that of any rock formation within thirty miles, and it 
 is certain that this boulder was conveyed toitspresent 
 position by ice. Glacial strice are plainly visible be- 
 neath it where the surface of the bed-rock has not 
 weathered. The fine view of the city and surrounding 
 country that is obtainable from the summit of Roll- 
 stone is well worth the slight trouble necessary to 
 climb the hill by some of the stone roads and paths. 
 At the feet, so to speak, of the observer perched upon 
 the top of the boulder, are the numerous tracks of the 
 Hoosac Tunnel Line, with trains moving upon them 
 almost constantly ; just beyond is the river, with the 
 city stretching along lis course and forming almost a 
 complete semi-circle; behind the city rise the hills, 
 culminating in the beetling brow of Pearl Hill to the 
 northeast. Big Watatic, in Ashburnham, overtops his 
 brethren in the northwest. In clear weather the sharp 
 summit of grand Monadnock can al.so Vje seen in that 
 direction. The rounded outline of Wachusett, about 
 
 twelve miles distant, fills the southern horizon, and to 
 the east and southeast are the towns of Lunenburg 
 and Leominster, a few miles away. Portions of other 
 towns can also be seen, and the undulating character 
 of the country in all directions presents a pleasing 
 spectacle to the eye. 
 
 Pearl Hill is somewhat higher than Rollstone, and 
 on one side rises abruptly in the form of a precipice. 
 It is compo-ed of a micaceous rock of rather pecu- 
 liar appearance, which, a century ago, encouraged the 
 hope that there were " valuable mines, either of gold 
 or silver, or both, imbosomed there." The Rev. Peter 
 Whitney goes on to say that " attempts have hereto- 
 fore been made to possess them ; but for want of 
 wealth or perseverance in the undertakers, they have 
 not obtained the desiderata." It is exceedingly im- 
 probable that capitalists will care to expend money in 
 searching after gold or silver in the bowels of Pearl 
 Hill. Rollstone is a much more profitable invest- 
 ment. A fine view can be obtained from the summit 
 of Pearl Hill, and a drive on the Pearl Hill Road is 
 much in vogue with citizens and visitors. West of 
 Pearl Hill and north of Rollstone is the high land 
 where the water supply of the city is stored. There 
 are four reservoirs located at different levels, the 
 highest being Overlook, about four hundred feet above 
 the river, whose embankment and gate-house are 
 quite conspicuous. 
 
 There are many pleasant drives in and about the 
 city. The suburban roads are, for the most part, well 
 made and kept in good condition, though the hilly 
 character of the entire surface of the township renders 
 very considerable washouts inevitable during the 
 spring months, and causes more or less expense an- 
 nually for repairs. The soil is generally quite fertile, 
 and there are many valuable farms in the town. 
 Woods are abundant in many parts of the town and 
 consist of all the varieties of trees indigenous to this 
 section. Fruit-trees flourish and there are many fine 
 orchards in and around Fitchburg. Small fruits and 
 garden produce are raised in great abundance with 
 ordinary care. 
 
 Much more might be said descriptive of Fitchburg 
 and its environs. In the foregoing the writer has 
 intended simply to speak of facts that will not appear 
 elsewhere, or to touch on matters that will be further 
 elaborated in subsequent portions of thi.s sketch. We 
 will conclude this section by giving a few statistics in 
 regard to population and agricultural interests. Ac- 
 cording to the census of 1885, the population at that 
 time was 15,375. Since then there has been a very 
 considerable increase in the number of inhabitants, 
 and probably 19,000 would not be far from the correct 
 figures at the present time (1888). A few of the 
 agricultural statistics gleaned from the census of 1885 
 are as follows : there were then 209 farms in town, 
 3676 acres of cultivated land, 5850 acres of pasturage 
 and 5134 acres of woodland. The aggregate value of 
 agricultural products was $294,558, the largest items 
 
212 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 being, — dairy products, $97,414 ; hay, straw and fod- 
 der, $70,(596 ; vegetables, $25,990; apples and small 
 fruits, S19,280, and poultry and wood products about 
 $18,000 each. There were about 40,000 fruit-trees 
 and grape-vines, valued at $76,473. There were 741 
 cows and about 8000 fowls. 
 
 From these few statistics one can see that, though 
 Filchburg is not given very much to agricultural 
 pursuits, she makes a very respectable showing in 
 that line. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 FITCHBURG— ( Conthuied). 
 
 EARLY HISTORY ( 1 764- 1 799). 
 
 FiTCHBURG was originally a part of Lunenburg, 
 and its history prior to 1764 is identical with that of 
 Lunenburg and may be found in the history of that 
 town. Previous to 1764 several attempts had been 
 made by the people living in the westerly part of 
 Lunenburg to be set off as a separate town, but were 
 unsuccessful. Oa January 25, 1764, another attempt 
 was made and the consent of Lunenburg obtained, the 
 town voting " to let the people go." The request was 
 granted on condition that " the inhabitants should 
 pay their minister's tax, as heretofore they had done, 
 until they should be formed into a disirict." As soon 
 as the consent of Lunenburg was obtained, a com- 
 mittee, consisting of John Fitch, Amos Kimball, 
 Samuel Hunt, Ephraira Whitney and Jonathan 
 Wood, was chosen to procure an act of incorporation. 
 So zealously did this committee work that in just 
 nine days after the granting of the request the act 
 passed the General Court and was signed by the Gov- 
 ernor. The following is a copy of the act of incorpo- 
 ration in full : 
 
 Amio Eegui Eegtf Georgii Tertii Quarto. 
 
 An act for setting off the inhabitants, as also the estates, of the west- 
 erly part of Lunenburg into a separate town by the nani.i of Fitchburgb. 
 
 Be it enacted by the Governor; Council and House of Eepresentatives^ that 
 the inhabitants, with their lands, on the westerly part of Lunenburg, 
 beginning at such a place on Leominster line as that a straight line 
 therefrom may run between the lands of Messi-a. Paul Welherbee and 
 Jonathan Wood to a stake and stone a small distance to the westward of 
 Mary Holt's house, then turning and running north, ten degrees and a 
 half east, to the southeast corner of Ephraim Whitney's land, then to 
 keep the easterly line of said Whitney's land to the northeast corner 
 thereof, and from that corner to run northwardly on the enstwardly 
 line of John "Wbite'e land to the norwesterly corner thereof, and from 
 that corner to run north, four degrees east, to Townsend line ; then run- 
 ning west, thirty one degrees and a half north, on Townsend line to Dor- 
 chester Canada line, then turning south, nine degrees west, eight miles 
 and a hundred and forty rods on Dorchester Canada line, to Westmin- 
 ster line ; then turning east, eleven degrees thirty minutes south, three 
 miles and thirty one rods to a heap of stones on Leominster line; tlien 
 turning and running to the bound first mentioned, be and hereby is set 
 off and erected into a separate towu by the name of Fitchburgh, and that 
 the said town be invested with all the powers, privileges and inmiunities 
 that other towns in this Province do or may by law enjoy, that of send- 
 ing a Representative to the General Assembly only excei>ted ; and that 
 the inhabitants of said town shall have full power and right, from time 
 to time, to join with said town of Lunenburg in the choice of a Repre- 
 
 sentative, or Representatives, and be subject to pay their proportionable 
 part of the charges, who may be chosen either in the town of Lunen- 
 burg or town of Fitchburgh, in which choice they shall enjoy all the privi- 
 leges, which by law they would have been entitled to if this act had not 
 been made ; and the Selectmen of the town of Lunenburg shall issue 
 their warrant to one or more of the constables of Fitchhurgh, requiring 
 them to notify the inliabitanfg of the town of Fitchburgh of the time 
 and place of their meeting for such a choice. 
 
 Provided, nevertheless, and be it further enacted, that the said town of 
 Fitchburgh shall pay their proportion of all town, county and Province 
 taxes, already set on, or granted to be raised, by said town of Lun(n- 
 burg, as if this act had not been made. 
 
 And be it further enacted, that Edward Haitwell, Esq., be and hereby 
 is empowered to issue his warrant to some principal inhabitant in said 
 town of Fitchburgh, requiring him to notify and warn the inhabitants 
 of sjiid town, qualified by law to vote in town affairs, to meet at such 
 time and place as shall be therein set forth, to choose all such oflftcers 
 as shall be necessary to manage the affaii-s of said town. 
 
 February 2d, 17G-i. This bill having been read three several times in 
 the House of Representatives, passed to be enacted. 
 
 Timothy Rugoles, Speaker. 
 
 February 3d, 17fi4. This bill having been read three several times in 
 Council, passed to be enacted. 
 
 A. Oliver, Secretanj 
 
 February 3d, 1764. By the Governor ; I consent to the enacting of 
 this bill. Francis BEHNARn. 
 
 The history of Fitchburg begins therefore on the 
 3d day of February, 1764. About forty families were 
 then living within the limits of the new town, mak- 
 ing the probable number of inhabitants something 
 over two hundred. There was one mill in the town, 
 — the saw and grist-mill erected about 1750 by Amos 
 and Ephraim Kimball, — near the location of the 
 present " Stone Mill," now occupied by J. Gushing 
 & Co. To the Kimballs also belongs the honor of 
 building the first dam across the North Branch of the 
 Nashua. It consisted of a log laid across the stream 
 with spikes driven in above it, and was generally 
 swept away every spring by freshets. It was located 
 a few feet above the present granite dam, near the 
 Laurel Street bridge. 
 
 Rufus C. Torrey, in his " History of Fitchburg," 
 gives a complete list of the heads of families living 
 in the town at the time of its incorporation, and also 
 the place of residence of each of them. It contains 
 forty-three names. After this list is the following, 
 which gives an idea of what Fitchburg was a century 
 and a quarter ago: "The above-mentioned individ- 
 uals and their families composed the population of 
 Fitchburg. Their dwellings, in almost every in- 
 stance, were far apart, — here and there a house scat- 
 tered over a large territory. A single dwelling-house 
 stood in the ' Old City,' and in the village, where the 
 population is now so thickly clustered together, not 
 a single house was erected. The winds, which swept 
 down the valley of the Nashua, sighed through the 
 pines which have formed a dense forest." He also 
 adds that " the pitch-pine trees aflbrded an excellent 
 shelter for deer, partridges and wild turkeys." 
 
 It is somewhat singular that uncertainty should 
 have so long existed as to the origin of the name of 
 the town. Mr. Torrey, writing in 1836, wavers be- 
 tween the claims of John Fitch (the chairman of the 
 committee chosen to procure the act of incorporation) 
 
FITCH BURG. 
 
 213 
 
 and a Colonel Timothij Fitcli, of Boston, "who owned 
 extensive tracts of land in the town, and was consid- 
 ered, in those days, as a man of note and distinction." 
 John Fitch also owned much land in town, and Mr. 
 Torrey very frankly states that to which of these 
 gentlemen belongs the honor of furnishing the name 
 of the town " is a point which will probably remain 
 forever in obscurity." 
 
 Now in 18.31 Nathaniel Wood, Esq., delivered be- 
 fore the Fitchburg Philosophical Society a series of 
 five lectures on the early history of this town. The 
 manuscript is now in the public library, and in the 
 second lecture occurs the following unqualified state- 
 ment in regard to the matter : "The town was named 
 after John Fitch, the same person taken by the In- 
 dians, as mentioned in my last lecture. It appears 
 he was an extensive land-owner, a man of influence, 
 and probably was the principal agent in procuring 
 the act of incorporation. All these circumstances 
 combined induced the petitioners to request that the 
 new town should be incorporated by the name of 
 Fitchburg." 
 
 Mr. Torrey, in the preface to his history of the 
 town, says, in reference to these lectures, " Unre 
 stricted use of Mr. Wood's papers has been gener- 
 ously granted me." How he happened to over- 
 look the explicit statement above quoted is a mys- 
 tery. 
 
 Now a few words about the " Col. Timothy Fitch," 
 of whom Mr. Torrey speaks, before we conclude this 
 subject. A thorough investigation in regard to this 
 claimant was made a few years ago by Mr. Henry A. 
 Willis, a prominent citizen of Fitchburg, and much 
 interested in historical matters, with the following 
 result: after a careful search through the histories 
 of Boston, all available genealogical records and the 
 Worcester County registry of deeds, he was unable 
 to find any man of that name who ever owned a foot 
 of land in Fitchburg. He did find, however, in the 
 Worcester County registry of deeds a Zachariah 
 Fitch, who died some twenty years before Fitchburg 
 was incorporated. It appears that he owned " one- 
 half part of about 300 acres " in what is now the 
 southerly portion of the township of Fitchburg. So 
 the claim that this Colonel Fitch "owned extensive 
 tracts of land in that town " is reduced to very small 
 proportions. 
 
 To sum up the whole matter, it seems that half a 
 century ago, or more, there was an idea prevalent 
 that the town was named for some Fitch other than 
 John Fitch ; but so vague was the impression that 
 Mr. Torrey did not even have his first name correct, 
 for the statement in the " History of Fitchburg " 
 evidently refers to Zachariah Fitch. 
 
 It may then be regarded as settled that the town 
 was named in honor of that sturdy early settler, John 
 Fitch. He lived in the northerly part of the town, 
 which, in 1767, became a portion of the new town of 
 Ashby, in Middlesex Counly. He was prominent in 
 
 the early town afftiirs of Ashby, and died there April 
 8, 1795, aged eighty-seven years. A monument, com- 
 memorating some of the events of his rather more 
 than ordinarily eventful life, was afterwards erected 
 over his grave. 
 
 In accordance with the provision in the act of in- 
 corporation, Edward Hartwell, Esq., of Lunenburg, 
 on the 1.5th of February, 1764, issued his warrant 
 directed to Amos Kimball, requiring him to notify 
 the qualified voters " to assemble at Captain Hunt's 
 new dwelling-house in said town, on Monday, the 
 fifth day of March, at ten of the clock in the fore- 
 noon, to choose town officers and fix the day for 
 the annual meeting and the mode of warning at 
 town-meetings." 
 
 Fitchburg's first town-meeting was accordingly held 
 March .5, 1764, at Captain Samuel Hunt's tavern. 
 The following town ofHcers were chosen : Amos 
 Kimball, moderator; Ephraim Whitney, town clerk; 
 Amos Kimball, David Goodridge, Samuel Hunt, 
 Ephraim Whitney and Reuben Gibson, selectmen. 
 Under the guidance of these gentlemen the infant town 
 entered upon its career, which was destined to far 
 exceed the fondest hopes of its founders. The town 
 fixed the first Monday in March as the day for the 
 annual town-meeting, and voted that in future the 
 constable or constables of the town warn all town- 
 meetings. 
 
 Three weeks later the second town-meeting was 
 held to consider various articles, one of which was 
 "to see if the Hoggs shall run at large for the present 
 year." The " Hoggs " were fortunate enough to 
 secure their liberty for the year. The next town- 
 meeting was held at the tavern, September 12, 1764. 
 Captain Thomas Cowdin was then proprietor of this 
 house, having bought out Captain Hunt during the 
 summer. At this meeting the following vote was 
 passed : " that two miles on the westerly Line, begin- 
 ning at the north westerdly corner, and Half a mile 
 on the easterdly Line, beginning at the northeasterdly 
 corner, on Townsend Line, thence running a straite 
 Line from corner to corner be Sott off to Mr John 
 fitch and others, in order for them to Joyne a part of 
 Townshend and a part of Dorchester Canady, in 
 order to make a Town or parish among themselves, 
 and that the said John fitch and others be freed from 
 paying anything to the settlement of a minister or 
 for building a meeting-house in said town of Fitch- 
 burgh." 
 
 This certainly shows great liberality on the part of 
 Fitchburg's early settlers, and such a large concession 
 would seem to indicate that John Fitch was highly 
 esteemed among his fellow-citizens. The several 
 tracts mentioned above were, in 1767, incorporated as 
 the town of Ashby. 
 
 In those early days the territory comprising Fitch- 
 burg seems to have been largely owned by a few in- 
 dividuals, and it may be of interest to note some of 
 the most extensive landholders. In July, 1764, Cap- 
 
214 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 tain Thomas Cowdin moved into the town, and soon 
 became a leading citizen. As above stated, he pur- 
 chased the Hunt tavern, which stood some thirty rods 
 or more east of the present junction of Blossom and 
 Pearl Streets. He also purchased the farm going with 
 the tavern. This farm, which is now the busiest and 
 most thickly populated portion of the city, extended 
 from about the present location of Mount Vernon 
 Street on the west to East and Boutelle Streets on the 
 east, and from Pearl Street on the north to Main and 
 Winter Streets on the south. He also owned the 
 land comprised between Baker's Brook and the two 
 roads to Lunenburg. Captain Cowdin kept the Hunt 
 tavern for about ten years, and then removed to what 
 was later called the Boutelle house, near the present 
 location of the American House, which he enlarged 
 and opened as a tavern. Until his death, in 1792, he 
 was a very prominent man in town affairs. A few 
 years ago a handsomely polished, massive granite 
 monument was erected to his memory, in Laurel Hill 
 Cemetery, by his grandson, Hon. John Cowdin, of 
 Boston. 
 
 Amos Kimball and his cousin Ephraim, who settled 
 here some fifteen or twenty years before the incorpo- 
 ration of the town, also owned a large tract of land. 
 They lived on what is now known as Hale's Hill, at 
 the upper end of South Street, and owned from that 
 point down to the river and a considerable distance 
 to the west along the river, probably including Roll- 
 stone Hill. 
 
 Another large landholder was a Judge Oliver, of 
 Salem, who owned from Cowdin's westerly boundary 
 along the north side of the river as far as the junction 
 of Phillips' Brook with the Nashua, comprising what 
 is now the upper portion of the city and all of West 
 Fitchburg. He also owned a tract of land a mile 
 square on Dean Hill, in the northwesterly part of the 
 township. 
 
 Colonel William Brown and Burnett Brown, both 
 non-residents, owned an extensive tract in the southern 
 part of the town, probably the land between Mount 
 Elam and Rollstone roads, and also a tract southwest of 
 Dean Hill, near the Westminster line, and a piece of 
 laud somevvhere in the north part of the town. 
 
 As yet there had been no preaching in Fitchburg, 
 the nearest meeting-house being in Lunenburg. 
 Accordingly, in November, 1764, the town voted to 
 have six weeks' preaching on their own territory. 
 Rev. Peter Whitney, the future historian of Worces- 
 ter County, was asked to furnish preaching for this 
 length of time. He accepted the invitation, and the 
 services were held in Cowdin's tavern. At this same 
 November meeting it was also voted to build a house 
 of worship, and a sum equivalent to about $166 was 
 appropriated to begin the erection of it. Captain 
 Cowdin very generously donated a portion of his 
 wheat-field as a site for the building. The location 
 corresponds closely to the present upper corner of 
 Blossom and Crescent Streets. The people very 
 
 wisely adopted the old-fashioned, honest plan in 
 erecting their meeting-house, and built only as fast as 
 they could afford to pay for it; consequently it was 
 nearly two years before it was completed. The fir.st 
 town-meeting was held in it on September 22, 1766, 
 and from that time until September 17, 1798, town- 
 meetings were held in it. On the latter date, and for 
 nearly forty years thereafter, town-meetings were 
 held in the new meeting-house completed about two 
 years previously. Services for public worship were 
 held in the old house until the dedication of the new 
 one, on January 19, 1797. 
 
 No mention will here be made of the early minis- 
 ters of Fitchburg. A brief account of them will be 
 given in the ecclesiastical history of the town. 
 Neither shall we, in this place, speak at any length 
 concerning the schools, which will be reserved until 
 the portion of this sketch relating to education is 
 reached. Suffice it for the present to say, that in the 
 autumn of 1764 the town voted a very small sum for 
 "2scools" during the following winter. The next 
 year, and for several succeeding years, a somewhat 
 larger sura was voted for schools. By far the greater 
 portion of the education obtained by the children in 
 those days was acquired by means of private instruc- 
 tion. 
 
 Fitchburg began to increase in numbers and valua- 
 tion very soon after its incorporation. Energetic and 
 thrifty young men came from towns to the eastward 
 and settled here with their families ; and in 1771 there 
 were in town some eighty families, and the valuation 
 was equal to about $8000. New roads were opened, 
 and considerable money was expended on bridges. 
 It is evident, however, that the inhabitants were not 
 skilled in bridge-building. In 1770 the bridges were 
 nearly all carried away by the spring freshets, and 
 were rebuilt before the next winter, only to be carried 
 off again in the following spring. The town records 
 for 1771 state that the town voted "to rebuild the 
 bridges carried away and damnified by the Hoods," 
 and also " to pay for the rum expended at the bridges." 
 
 "Torrey's History" affirms that " the good people 
 of Fitchburg, being vexed at the intrusion of ' cattel ' 
 belonging to persons having no 'interest' in the 
 town, they promptly forbade the entrance of all such 
 'cattel,' and proceeded ' to build a pound with logs.' 
 It was enjoined ' that every person in town come and 
 work at said pound, or pay his proportion.' It was a 
 common practice for them, however, to vote that their 
 own ' Hoaggs Go att Large lawfully Yoktand Ringd,' 
 —as the erudite Town Clerk has recorded it." 
 
 It will be remembered that, in the de<criptive por- 
 tion of this sketch, mention was made of unsuccessful 
 attempts to obtain gold and silver from Pearl Hill. 
 These attempts were probably made some ten years 
 after the incorporation of the town. In September, 
 1769, deeds of John Putnam, Reuben Gibson and 
 Isaac Gibson were recorded in the Registry of Deeds, 
 leasing to Edmund Quincy, of Stoughton, their lands 
 
FITCHBUEG. 
 
 215 
 
 and farms (about two hundred acres in all, probably,) 
 on Pearl Hill, for the purpose of opening mines. The 
 consideration was five shillings in each case. The 
 mines were to be opened within a specified time and 
 the lessors were to have one-sixteenth part of the " hid- 
 den treasures " obtained therefrom. 
 
 At the same time deeds were recorded by which 
 Edmund Quincy conveyed to "Charles Gleditsch, of 
 Boston, Jeweller," one-half interest in the proposed 
 mines. Mr. Quincy's absence in England rendered 
 it impossible for him to open the mines within the 
 required time, and May 14, 1774, a new lease, made 
 jointly by Mr. Putnam and the Messrs. Gibson, was 
 recorded, granting Mr. Quincy further time. After 
 a recital of the former leases of mines, etc., " in our 
 lands and farms in sd Fitchburg, at a Place called 
 Pearl Hill," the document goes on to say : " In 
 consideration that the said Edmund Quincy has 
 been at Considerable Charges, from time to time, to 
 Comply with the Terms of the leases aforementioned 
 by Reason of his going for England and thereby was 
 not in his power to comply in Opening any Mines 
 that may be in our lands aforesaid, we prolong and 
 give him a further term of three years from the Date 
 hereof to comply with the true intent of said Leases." 
 It was further set forth that Mr. Quincy was to " pay 
 and allow " the said lessors " one-sixteenth part of all 
 Mines, Mine Ores, Minerals, or other hidden Treas- 
 ures of the Earth, free and Clear of all Cost and 
 Charges, Delivered at the Pits Mouth wheresoever 
 the same may be Dug, had, gotten or obtained by any 
 Means whatsoever." This was dated May 5, 1774. 
 The unsuccessful result of this venture was no more 
 than could reasonably be expected. 
 
 Nor was this the only gold-mining scheme that Mr. 
 Q,uincy had on hand in this town. He laid his plans 
 to attack the bowels of Hale's Hill also ; for Septem- 
 ber 13, 17G9, Amos Kimball gave a deed, which was 
 duly recorded October 10, 1769, the substance of 
 which was as follows: "Know all men by these 
 presents that I, Amos Kimball of Fitchburg in the 
 County of Worcester in the Province of the Slassa- 
 chusetts Bay in New England, (ientleman, for and in 
 Consideration of Five Shillings LawfuU Money to me 
 in hand paid by Edmund Quincy of Stoughtonham 
 in the County of Suflblk and Province Aforesaid, 
 Gentleman, the Receipt whereof I do hereby acknowl- 
 edge and am fully Satisfied and Contented and for 
 divers other good Considerations me hereunto Moving 
 Have given granted Bargained and Sold and by these 
 presents Give grant Bargain and Sell convey and 
 Confirm unto the said Edmund Quincy" etc., '' All 
 and Singular Mines Mine Ores Minerals and other 
 hidden Treasures " that existed on his farm which 
 was "Butted and Bounded as follows Southerly on 
 Ephraim Kimball Easterly on Said Ephraim Kimball 
 Northerly on Nashaway River and westerly on 
 Rolestone hill." He further granted to Mr. Quincy 
 and his heirs, " Liberty right and privilege of Ingress 
 
 Regress and Egress " and to have " Workmen and 
 Laborers Pitts and Shafts to Sink Levells and Drift- 
 ways to make and drive up and all other Necessarys 
 and Convenients '■" that might be needed, together 
 with the right of using any streams on the said land 
 for the purpose of " Cleaning the oar got in upon or 
 within said Tract of land." Mr. Kimball further 
 agreed to defend Mr. Quincy's rights to this property 
 against all persons, "excepting the Demands of our 
 Sovereign Lord the King his heirs or Successors." In 
 conclusion, was the following provision, breach of 
 which would make the contract null and void : 
 " Provided Nevertheless it is the true Intent and 
 Meaning of this deed that the said Edmund Quincy 
 his heirs Executors Administrators or Assigns shall 
 commence and Begin to work upon the premises afore 
 granted within the space of three years from the date 
 hereof." As we have already seen. Mr. Quincy's 
 absence in England prevented his beginning mining 
 operations within the three years, and, as in the other 
 cases, the contract was renewed for three years from 
 May 5, 1774 ; but the " mines " were probably never 
 opened. 
 
 As regards trading interests, there seems to have 
 been no regular "store" in town until 1772, when 
 Deacon Ephraim Kimball opened one in his dwelling- 
 house, located near the Kimball saw and grist-mill 
 previously mentioned. Soon afterwards, however, 
 two more stores were opened, one by Joseph Fox, 
 who came here from Littleton, and the other by Wil- 
 liam Hitchborn, who came from Boston. Both these 
 stores were located near the meeting-house. 
 
 About this time, also, David Gibson built a bakery 
 on the spot now occupied by the residence of Eben- 
 ezer Torrey, Esq., and he also built his dwelling- 
 house directly across the road from the bakery. 
 These were probably the first buildings erected in 
 this portion of the town, which, fifty years later, was 
 the most thickly settled and prosperous part of Fitch- 
 burg, and rejoiced in the title of " The Village," 
 while the earlier settled portion, a half-mile or so 
 to the easr.ward, had stagnated and lost its prestige, 
 and had the nickname of " Old City" applied to it. 
 
 Although the early years of Fitchburg's existence 
 were prosperous, yet there were events preparing 
 which checked, for a time, the wheels of progress. 
 A fire was smouldering which, a few years later, burst 
 out in the ruddy glare of the Revolutionary War. 
 
 Fitchburg, of course, did not, like Boston and 
 many other towns in the Province, suffer from actual 
 invasion, but she unflinchingly and patriotically 
 bore her full share of the hardships of the seven 
 years' struggle for freedom, and was ever ready, and, 
 among the inland towns, was one of the first, to con- 
 tribute both men and money to the extent of her 
 ability, to aid in the resistance of the colonies 
 against the inroads of the British- 
 
 Fitchburg ix the Revolutionary War. — In 
 September, 1768, the authorities of Boston sent to the 
 
216 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 selectmen of Fitchburg, as they did likewise to the 
 selectmen of the other towns in the Province, desir- 
 ing them to call a town-meeting, to consider what 
 was best to be done in view of the critical condi- 
 tion of affairs between the colonies and Great Britain, 
 and also to choose an agent to meet with them in Bos- 
 ton, and set forth the " views, wishes and determina- 
 tions of the people of Fitchburg upon the subject.' 
 A town-meeting was soon called, and Hon. Edward 
 Hartwell of Lunenburg was chosen to act as agent for 
 both Fitchburg and Lunenburg. The records do not 
 state what course he was instructed to pursue as the 
 representative of the two towns. 
 
 For the next five years nothing special, of a 
 political nature, seems to have disturbed the citizens 
 of Fitchburg. Of course, they felt the same uneasi- 
 ness and dissatisfaction that was experienced 
 throughout the colonies, and most intensely in and 
 about the town of Boston. 
 
 At last, when forbearance ceased to be a virtue, the 
 selectmen of Boston sent letters to the various towns, 
 desiring them " to pass such resolves concerning their 
 rights and privileges, as free members of society, as 
 they were willing to die in maintaining, and to send 
 them, in the form of a report, to the Committee of 
 Correspondence in Boston." 
 
 Fitchburg took early notice of this letter, a town- 
 meeting being held December 1, 1773, a few days 
 after its receipt, for the purpose of considering it and 
 expressing the sentiment of the citizens. The com- 
 munication was read and the record of the meeting 
 states that "after the town had deliberated thereon 
 with zeal and candor, unanimously agreed to choose 
 a committee of seven men, and chose Mr. Isaac Gib- 
 son, Capt. Reuben Gibson, Messrs. Phineas Hartwell, 
 Ebenezer Woods, Ebenczer Bridge, Kendall Bou- 
 tell and Solomon Steward as a committee to consider 
 of our rights and privileges in common with other 
 towns in this province, together with the many flagrant 
 infringements that have been made thereon, and to 
 report at the adjournment." 
 
 The adjourned meeting was held December 15th, 
 and the report of the committee was read. It clearly 
 and vigorously set forth the lact that the people of 
 Fitchburg were in full accord with all efforts to op- 
 pose, and, if need be, strenuously resist any encroach- 
 ments on the rights of the colonists. The report 
 closed with the following : '"And with respect to the 
 East India tea — forasmuch as we are now informed 
 that the town of Boston and the neighboring towns 
 have made such noble opposition to said tea's being 
 brought into Boston, subject to a duty so directly tend- 
 ing to the enslaving of America — it is our opinion 
 that your opposition is just and equitable; and the 
 people of this town are ready to afford all the assist- 
 ance in their power to keep off' all such infringe- 
 ments." 
 
 The stand taken by Fitchburg showed that the 
 citizens were determined and courageous, and yet at 
 
 the same time exercised a commendable discretion. 
 That they wholly disapproved of the perpetration of 
 any outrage is shown by the "instructions" given to 
 Dr. John Taylor, of Lunenburg, who, in May, 1774, 
 was elected jointly by Lunenburg and Fitchburg to 
 represent the two towns in the Great and General 
 Court. He was instructed to " bear testimony against 
 all riotous practices and all other unconstitutional 
 proceedings," and also not to give up any charter 
 rights and privileges, and to use his influence to have 
 rights that had been taken away restored ; and fur- 
 ther, " to move in the General Assembly that there 
 might bea Congressand union with all the provinces." 
 AVhethcr he moved for such a congress, or not, does 
 not appear, but the deputies of a Congress of that 
 description met in Philadelphia in the following 
 September. 
 
 In October of the same year the town sent Capt. 
 David Goodridge as their delegate to the Provincial 
 Congress which convened at Concord and soon after 
 adjourned to Cambridge. This Congress prepared 
 plans for the defence of the province, and passed the 
 resolve relative to the " minute-men," so called. 
 
 Fitchburg was now wide awake. Forty men were 
 enlisted as minute-men and the selectmen expended 
 about fifty dollars for " powder, lead and flints." The 
 armory of the minute-men was in Ephraim Kimball's 
 store. These men were regularly drilled and ready to 
 start at a moment's notice. 
 
 The winter passed away and the memorable 10th of 
 April, 1775, was at hand. It found the little town on 
 the alert. At seven o'clock on the morning of that 
 day the British reached Concord, and at nine o'clock, 
 just two hours later, the alarm gun was fired in front 
 of Kimball's store. In a very short time about fifty 
 men, under the command of Captain Ebenezer 
 Bridge, started for Concord, and immediately after 
 their departure a large wagon, filled with provisions, 
 was despatched to follow them. The company pro- 
 ceeded as rapidly as possible, but did not reach Con- 
 cord until evening — too late to take any part in the 
 events of that historic day. Quite a number of the 
 men returned home in a few days, as there was no 
 immediate need of their services; but shortly after- 
 ward a company was regularly enlisted composed of 
 Fitchburg and Lunenburg men. 
 
 Other men from this town joined the Continental 
 army at various times, and there were some thirty 
 Fitchburg men constantly in the field until Boston 
 was evacuated. There were probably a dozen men 
 from this town engaged at Bunker Hill, and at least 
 one of them (John Gibson) is supposed to have been 
 killtd. The last seen of him was in the hottest of the 
 battle, beating down the enemy with the butt of his 
 musket. 
 
 " Independence Day " was now drawing near. Be- 
 fore taking the decisive step of declaring the American 
 colonies free and independent, the Continental Con- 
 gress submitted the matter to the legislative bodies of 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 217 
 
 the several colonies to ascertain if their support could 
 be relied upon after the die was cast. 
 
 The General Court of Massachusetts had already 
 assured the Congress that the people of the Old Bay 
 Colony would undoubtedly support them ; but to make 
 the matter doubly sure, a resolve was passed that each 
 town in the colony should take individual action on 
 the matter. 
 
 In accordance with this resolve, the people of Fitch- 
 burg assembled in town-meeting, July 1, 1776, just 
 three days before the Declaration of Independence 
 was adopted by the Continental Congress. And this 
 is the answer that little Fitchburg returned to the 
 General Court at this alarming crisis: " Voted, that 
 if the Honorable Continental Congress .should, for the 
 safety of these United Colonies, declare them inde- 
 pendent of the Kingdom of Great Britain, that we, 
 the inhabitants of the town of Fitchburg, will, with 
 ourselves and fortunes, support them in the measure." 
 
 In October, 1776, the town voted adversely in regard 
 to the question submitted to it, in common with the 
 other towns of the Province, as to whether the " then 
 Representative House, together with the Council, 
 should make a form of government for the State of 
 the Massachusetts Bay.'' The objections of the people 
 of Fitchburg to this project took the form of a report 
 and were based on the following well-taken points: 
 that the members of the present House were not 
 elected with a view to any such action, and that many 
 of the inhabitants, who ought to have a voice in the 
 matter, were absent in the army. In other words, 
 they thought it best not to be in too much of a hurry. 
 
 Two and a half years later, in May, 1779, the town 
 voted unanimously (forty-five votes) in favor of a new 
 State Constitution. Just a year previous their vote 
 on the same matter was twenty-two in favor and four 
 against. In August, 1779, Capt. Thomas Cowdin was 
 elected delegate from this town to attend the conven- 
 tion held at Cambridge, September 1st, for the pur- 
 pose of framing the new State Constitution. This 
 Constitution, as prepared by the convention, was sub- 
 mitted to the people for their ratification in May, 
 1780, and Fitchburg voted unanimously (65 votes) in 
 favor of its adoption. 
 
 During this period the inhabitants of Fitchburg 
 who remained at home were by no means reclining 
 on beds of roses. It was " hard times " with them. 
 Money was scarce, prices were high and the soldiers 
 .and their families had to be provided for. 
 
 In 1777 the town began to get tired of the heavy 
 burden. There was much gloom and not a little 
 grumbling; but through it all no word reflecting on 
 the justice of the American cause would be tolerated 
 by the mass of the citizens. Patriotism was put above 
 everything else and persons who did not come up to 
 the mark in this respect were closely watched. *' More 
 than one inhabitant of this town was threatened with 
 a coat of tar and feather.^, and even with the destruc- 
 tion of his house," says Torrey. 
 
 Everybody was called upon to contribute to the 
 good cause, to the utmost of his ability, and the sus- 
 picion and wrath of the citizens fell upon those who 
 did not seem disposed to do their full share. 
 
 The people were divided into classes, according to 
 their wealth, and each class furnished soldiers in 
 turn, as they were called for by the government, 
 and had to provide for the bounty money. 
 
 In addition to all the money furnished by these 
 classes, the town also expended what amounted to 
 quite a sum in those days. It is difficult to estimate 
 how much the town actually expended during the 
 last five years of the war, because the currency fluc- 
 tuated so much, but it was probably between $7000 
 and -SSOOO. 
 
 It is very easy to see that all these war expenses, 
 combined with the ordinary running expenses of the 
 town, must have taxed the resources of the inhabit- 
 ants of Fitchburg to the utmost. To cap the climax, 
 the Continental currency, issued by the Congress, was 
 counterfeited by the British, and the country was 
 flooded with this spurious paper. 
 
 In 1777 the currency began to depreciate and con- 
 tinued to do so in a most alarming and ruinous 
 manner. The government, for some inexplicable 
 reason, made them legal tender for debts due, and 
 the result was that many, who were previously in com- 
 paratively affluent circumstances, were reduced to 
 almost absolute poverty. On the 1st of January, 1780, 
 this currency had depreciated to such an extent that 
 $1.00 specie was worth .?32.50 Continental. 
 
 The records at that period show that sums of 
 money were voted by the town that would appear 
 fabulous, did we not understand about the deprecia- 
 tion. Thus, in February, 1780, it was voted that the 
 inhabitants should be allowed three dollars (i e., 
 about nine cents "hard money") per hour for their 
 labors on the highways. Eight thousand dollars was 
 voted to be raised to assist in supporting soldiers' 
 families. "In July, it was voted to raise S1666.66 to 
 hire soldiers with. In the October following, a com- 
 mittee of the town contracted for four thousand eight 
 hundred pounds of beef, and agreed to pay $26,000 
 for it, or at a rate of over $5.00 per pound.'' In 1781 
 Continental money took a still greater drop, and in 
 March of that year two men who had been elected 
 collector^ of taxes in Fitchburg for the ensuing year, 
 and refused to serve, were each fined $900, equal to 
 about $10 specie, the usual fine in such cases. At the 
 same time the town voted $20,000 for repairs of high- 
 ways and allowed each person $5 per hour for his 
 labor. 
 
 The last, but not perhaps the least, of the troubles 
 with which the town had to contend during this period 
 was that dreaded disease, sraall-pox, which broke out 
 here in 1776. A hospital for the purpose of inoculation 
 was established in town by Dr. Thaddseus McCarty, 
 of Fitchburg, and Dr. Israel Atherton, a noted phy- 
 sician of Lancaster. It does not appear that there 
 
218 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 were many deaths from the disease. Notwithstanding 
 all these trials and hardships, Fitchburg increased 
 considerably in size during the war, and at the time 
 of the declaration of peace, in 1783, the town had 
 about one thousand inhabitants. 
 
 But another ti'ouble was soon to come upon them 
 in the form of 
 
 Shays's Insureection.— At the close of the war, 
 trade was stagnant, and there was very little money. 
 The State government, in order to keep up its credit, 
 imposed very heavy taxes on the people. At first the 
 people had recourse to petitions ; but finding that no 
 amelioration resulted from their numerous statements 
 of grievances, they broke out into open rebellion 
 against the State authorities. The leading character 
 in the short-lived disturbance was a man named 
 Daniel Shays, a former captain in the Continental 
 army; hence the name Shays's Insurrection was ap- 
 plied to it. 
 
 The discretion that had previously characterized 
 the people of Fitchburg, fortunately prevented ihem 
 from breaking out into open rebellion ; but their 
 threats were loud and deep, and not all the taxes 
 ordered by the government were collected. 
 
 In June, 1786, Elijah Willard was appointed a dele- 
 gate from this town to a convention, held in Worces- 
 ter, to consider the best means of extricating the 
 people from their burdensome difficulties. The town 
 voted to defend his property if he should be arrested 
 for attending the convention, " provided he behaves 
 himself in an orderly and peaceable manner; otherwise 
 he is to risk it himself 
 
 By all means in their power, short of force of arms, 
 did the people of Fitchburg resist all eflbrts to collect 
 the taxes, and the consequence was that a large com- 
 pany of soldiers was sent here in the fall of 1786, to 
 enforce obedience. This made the citizens exceed- 
 ingly indignant, and there were several occasions 
 when serious strife was imminent. The company was 
 prudently withdrawn to Townsend in the winter of 
 1786-87. During all their stay in Fitchburg, the sol- 
 diers exhibited great insolence towards the citizens, 
 and when they were ordered to Townsend they put a 
 finishing touch to their impudence by impressing men, 
 horses and conveyances to take them there. A num- 
 ber of the soldiers were taken by Asa Perry, who 
 hated them most cordially, and he managed to tip his 
 load into the snow-drifts several times in the course 
 of the journey. During 1787 the trouble gradually 
 subsided and matters went on with tolerable smooth- 
 ness. 
 
 It may be of interest to give a short description of 
 the appearance of the town as it was about a century 
 ago. In his " History of Fitchburg," Mr. Torrey has 
 given as good and accurate a description as could be 
 written, which is as follows: "A traveler, approach- 
 ing from the cast or south, would first behold the 
 tavern of Thomas Cowdin, Esq. Upon the hill to the 
 northwest might be seen a small, yellow and rather 
 
 mean-looking meeting-house. In front would appear 
 the 'red store ' of Joseph Fox, Esq., and in the rear 
 of that his dwelling-house, with large projecting 
 eaves. The mills and meeting-hou.se of Deacon 
 Ephraim Kimball were just below, and over the 
 bridge were two houses more. Casting his eyes up 
 the hill, he would see the house of Rev. Mr. Payson, 
 where C. Marshall now lives. This was all that could 
 be seen, and all that then constituted the middle of 
 Fitchburg. Thence proceeding westward, over a 
 crooked and rough road, the traveler would next see 
 the house already mentioned as having been built by 
 David Gibson, and opposite to that, on the right, the 
 baker's shop. He would then come on to the present 
 Common. Here his eyes would be greeted by small, 
 stunted pine trees, and such bushes as grow upon the 
 poorest land. A straggling log fence here and there 
 might serve to diversify the scene. Nothing more 
 was to be seen, unless William Brown had commenced 
 building Captain Z. Sheldon's present dwelling-house, 
 till, passing the swell of ground at Dr. Abel Fox's 
 house, the modest, unassuming house of Benjamin 
 Danforth would be visible on the right, and his black- 
 smith's shop on the left. Continuing his course 
 onward, over one of the most wretched roads that 
 ever bore that name, and passing over the high bridge 
 — and a crazy one it was — near the bellows-shop of 
 Messrs. Thurston & Battis, no marks of human habi- 
 tation were to be seen till, passing around the hill, he 
 might discern in the distance the solitary cottage of 
 Benjamin Kemp. The river, which is now crowded, 
 so to speak, with mills and factories, then appeared 
 like a useless profusion of water, flowing noisily 
 along over its rocky bed to the parent ocean, unob- 
 structed by a single dam save the one in the Old 
 City. Such, fifty years ago, was the forbidding aspect 
 of what is now the busy and pleasant village of 
 Fitchburg." The reader will bear in mind that the 
 foregoing was written by Mr. Torrey in 1835 or 1836. 
 
 In addition to the middle of the town above de- 
 scribed there was, a century ago, a flourishing settle- 
 ment in the westerly part of the township. Theland 
 there was elevated, the soil good and there was no 
 river to cause trouble every spring. This region, now 
 known as Dean Hill, was settled early and became 
 quite prosperous. This locality boasted of two tav- 
 erns, kept by Jacob Upton and Jedediah Cooper 
 respectively, a blacksmith's shop and a doctor, be- 
 sides the houses of many thrifty farmers. 
 
 The people living in this region had to pay their 
 proportion of the taxes for the annual repairs of 
 bridges and highways in the middle of the town. To 
 free themselves from these heavy and, in their opinion, 
 unjust taxes, they determined to be set oif as a sepa- 
 rate town; and in the warrant for the annual town- 
 meeting March 7, 1785, was an article " to see if the 
 town will take into consideration the request of Mr. 
 Jacob Upton and others, to see if the town will set 
 off the inhabitants of the northwesterdly part of 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 219 
 
 Fitchburg, with their lands and privileges, free and 
 clear from said Fitchburg, to join the extreme part 
 of Westminster with the noriheasterdly part of 
 Ashburnham, to be incorporated into a town, to have 
 town privileges as other towns." 
 
 The people in all other parts of the town were 
 unanimously opposed to this project, doubtless fear- 
 ing that, in case this prosperous and growing portion 
 were set off and ceased to contribute to Fitchburg's 
 town expenses, they would be utterly swamped by the 
 taxes necessary to repair the damage done by that 
 grievous nuisance, the north branch of the Nashua. 
 Bo the article was promptly voted down. 
 
 The people in the west, by no means discouraged 
 by this defeat, went to work immediately to gain 
 their point and contrived a very shrewd scheme 
 worthy of " Yankee ingenuity."' The time had come 
 when all were agreed that there was need of a new 
 meeting-house in a more central locality. This 
 commonly acknowledged fact was made the basis of 
 a petition brought before the town by the people of 
 the west in May, 1785. The substance of this petition 
 was that a mile or more in width of the northerly 
 part of Westminster, with the inhabitants thereon, be 
 annexed to Fitchburg, these proposed new inhabitants 
 " to be convened with others of the inhabitants of said 
 town, for the public worship of God and to be vested 
 with all other privileges with said town in public mat- 
 ters, to join with the inhaliitants of said Fitchburg to 
 build a meeting-house on Ezra Upton's land," etc. 
 
 This, at first glance, seemed like a perfectly fair 
 proposition. If adopted, territory would be added to 
 the township and the location of the proposed meet- 
 ing-house would be quite near the centre of the 
 town. But the men of the east were Yankees, too, 
 and dust could not be thrown into their eyes. Tney 
 saw the point so speciously concealed by the meeting- 
 house scheme. They saw that if the petition were 
 granted and the new territory annexed, the inhabit- 
 ants of the new acquisition, combined with the 
 people in the west, would then be strong enough to 
 control the town-meetiug, would vote to be set 
 off as a separate town and thus leave the remainder 
 of the town of Fitchburg in the lurch. So the 
 petition was negatived, doubtless much to the cha- 
 grin of those who had hoped to pull the wool over 
 their neighbors' eyes. 
 
 Nothing more (except complaining of the distance 
 they had to travel to go to meeting) was done by the 
 people of the west until March, 1786, when they very 
 modestly requested of the town, "that Eev. Mr. Payson 
 have liberty to preach some part of the time in the 
 year in the westerly part of the town." This privilege 
 was also denied them, " the town thinking that by 
 yielding an inch they would open a door through 
 which they might unwillingly be thrust a mile," as 
 Mr. Torrey aptly expresses it. 
 
 The wrath of the west was now fully aroused. 
 They were bound to have their rights recognized, and 
 
 to have a new meetiug-house as near them as they 
 could get it. At this time began a controversy 
 concerning the location of the meeting-house, which 
 lasted over ten years, and required ninety-nine town- 
 meetings to settle. An account of this controversy 
 will be given in the ecclesiastical history. 
 
 The town records during this period (1786-96) 
 contain but little that does not refer to the contro- 
 versy. Two events, however, occurred in the course 
 of these years that are worth noting in this section. 
 One was the census of 1791, from which it appears 
 that Fitchburg's population at that time was one 
 thousand one hundred and tifty-one, showing that 
 the town had grown very slowly during the previous 
 eight or ten years. 
 
 The other event was the appearance of Rev. Peter 
 Whitney's "History of Worcester County," pub- 
 lished in 1793. It may be of interest to give a few 
 of his impressions about Fitchburg as it was then. 
 After a very brief account of the incorporation of 
 the town and a description of the character of its 
 surface and soil, he says: "Most of the people live 
 in comfortable and easy circmnstances, possessing all 
 the necessaries and many of the conveniences of life. 
 They are industrious, and, having a good soil to la- 
 bor upon, live independent, and, for an inland town, 
 several families among them may justly be deemed 
 rich. The people near the meeting-house are settled 
 pretty thick, and there much business of various 
 kinds is performed; for here runs, a few rods south 
 of the meeting-house, the north branch of Nashaway 
 River. One part of this river comes from Ashburn- 
 ham, the other part from Watchusett Pond; these 
 unite a little west of Fitchburg Meeting-House. 
 After this junction, and just below the meeting- 
 house, there is one corn-mill, one saw-mill, one 
 fulling-mill, one clothier's works, one trip-hammer 
 and works for grinding scythes. These occasion a 
 great resort of people there to transact their various 
 concerns." Further on he states that it is a flourish- 
 ing place, and thinks that "if they continue in 
 peace and unity they will still greatly increase in 
 numbers and wealth." He adds: "They subsist 
 chiefly by husbandry ; there are, however, the usual 
 mechanicks and a few dealers in European, East and 
 West India goods." 
 
 The town records contain very little of interest 
 during the last few years of the century. February 
 12, 1796, a small part of the south we«iterly portion of 
 the township was annexed to Westminster. In 1798 
 the town laid a tax on " Doggs,'' and the next year 
 voted to abate it. The tax appears to have amounted 
 to fifty-three dollars. In the fall of 1797 it was voted 
 " to build a pound with stone two rods square within 
 the walls." The contract was given to Thomas Cow- 
 din (son of Captain Thomas Cowdin, who died in 
 1792), for thirty-three dollars and fifty cents, with 
 the privilege of taking stone off the town's land. 
 The old stone pound still stands in the woods, close 
 
220 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 by the Ashburnham hill road, and looks desolate and 
 forsaken. Whether it has been rebuilt or not since 
 1796 the writer cannot state ; but its appearance 
 would indicate that it had not. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 mrC'H.BV'RG—iConanued.) 
 
 HISTORY FROM 1800 TO 1872. 
 
 The year 1800 found the town in a tolerably flour- 
 ishing condition. The population had increased to 
 one thousand three hundred and ninety. The people 
 had recovered their equanimity on the meeting-house 
 question, and the new house of worship was much 
 appreciated on Sundays, and often called into use on 
 week-days for town-meetings, its first use for this pur- 
 pose being on September 17, 1798. A clock had been 
 put into it, for which the town, for some reason un- 
 known, seems to have heen rather unwilling to pay. 
 
 In 1801 there appears to have been a revival of the 
 desire of the people in the west to be set off; for, at a 
 town-meeting February 23, 1801, there was an article 
 in the warrant " to see if the town will vote to set oif 
 all the inhabitants in the northwestern part of 
 the town of Fitchburg, who wish to be set off as a 
 town, agreeable to a plan formerly drawn by some of 
 the inhabitants of the towns of Fitchburg, West- 
 minster, Ashburnham and Ashby." It was voted to 
 pass over this article. 
 
 During the following five years there seems to be 
 nothing of special interest entered upon the town 
 records. In September, 1806, the town voted to 
 choose a committee to provide jilans for a powder- 
 house, select a location for it and ascertain, " as near 
 as they can," the expense. The coDiraittee made a 
 favorable report, and the town voted March 7, 1808, 
 to build the powder-house, and chose a committee of 
 three to attend to it. This powder-house was located 
 near the bend in the present Central Street, and is 
 well remembered by many of our older citizens. It 
 stood there for a considerable number of years. 
 
 Jn 1808 the town concluded a satisfactory agree- 
 ment with the town of Lunenburg, " respecting pau- 
 peis, public lands and taxation," matters that for 
 some time had been in dispute. It was the custom 
 in Fitchburg, as in most towns at that time, to let 
 out the poor to the lowest bidders. Regular public 
 auctions were held every yeitr for this purpose: and 
 some of the conditions upon which certain of the 
 paupers were " let out '' are worth noting. Thus, for 
 example, one L. W. was bid ofl" by a citizen ''to 
 lodge and board and mending for the said L.'s work, 
 till she is otherways disposed of, the town to cloathe 
 her and doctor her in sickness if need. In regard to 
 one of the town charges it was always stipulattd that 
 
 the person who bid him off "resk his conduct if he 
 
 should be at freedom and be answerable for all dam- 
 age done by him." 
 
 In April, 1808, a certain pauper " was struck off at 
 a public vendue, at 26 cents a week, — all running 
 charges excluded, viz., sickness and clothing." The 
 prices bid ranged from nothing to a little over a dol- 
 lar a week, according to the capabilities of the pau- 
 pers to work and the amount of care necessary to 
 look after them. In 1820 a new method was begun, 
 all the paupers, thirteen in number, being let out 
 together to Jacob Upton, for the year, for three hun- 
 dred and nine dollars and seventy-five cents. 
 
 In May, 1810, there was an article in the warrant 
 "to see if the town will raise a sum of money to pur- 
 chase an engine." There seems to have been a fire 
 just previous, but the people could not have been 
 very greatly alarmed, as no action was taken on this 
 article. 
 
 During the first decade of this century the town 
 was only moderately prosperous. The population 
 had increased somewhat, being one thousand five 
 hundred and sixty-six in 1810. People were un- 
 doubtedly deterred from settling here on account of 
 the high taxes necessary to keep the roads and 
 bridges in repair and to build new ones. Moreover, 
 there was bitter dissension among the people in re- 
 gard to theological matters, which will be referred to 
 later. It began early in 1801 and continued until 
 1823, when the two societies mutually agreed to dis- 
 agree, to live and let live, and a final separation took 
 place. 
 
 It was during this decade that the first cottunfac- 
 tory was erected in Fitchburg. It was also one of the 
 earliest (the third) built in this State. This factory, 
 known among us for more than half a century as the 
 "Fitchburg Woolen Mill," was built in 1807 by a 
 corporation of some thirty individuals, for the pur- 
 puse of trying the then novel experiment of spinning 
 cotton. It was successful for a time, but later was 
 converted into a woolen-mill. In 1887 it was pur- 
 chased by the Parkhill Blanufacturing Company ; 
 thus, by a singular coincidence, the first factory built 
 in Fitchburg was, after many years, restored to its 
 original industry. A detailed account of this old 
 landmark will be given hereafter. On " Election 
 Day," 1810, Capt. Martin Newton put in operation 
 two spinning-frames in a building near the present 
 "Stone Mill." 
 
 Paper-making was begun in town in 1805, in a mill 
 built on the site of the Eollstone Machine Company's 
 works, by Thomas French. The dam built there the 
 year previous was the third across the Nashua. Up 
 to the year 1810 nothing in the way of manufacturing 
 enterprises, other than those mentioned above, had 
 been established in Fitchburg as permanent industries 
 of the town. Scythes, bellows, hats and a few other 
 articles were made here then on a small scale, but are 
 now no longer among the industries of Fitchburg. 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 221 
 
 In March, 1811, the town made another unsuccess- 
 ful attempt to raise money ($100) for the purchase of 
 a fire-engine, and July of the same year chose Paul 
 Wetherbee, John Thurston and Samuel Gibsou a' com- 
 mittee " to raise a contribution for the relief of the 
 sufferers of Newbury port by a late fire." 
 
 The War of 1812 does not seem to have had much 
 effect on town affairs here. The war was unpopular 
 in New England, but Fitchburg appears to have 
 borne her part without any murmuring. In the war- 
 rant for a town-meeting in May, 1812, was an article 
 "to see if the town will offer any reward, by way 
 of bounty or wages, to such soldiers as may volunteer, 
 or be detached, to supply the number of troops re- 
 quired by the commander-in-chief from the infantry 
 and cavalry of said town.'' It was voted that the 
 town make up the soldiers' wages to twelve dollars a 
 month while in actual service. 
 
 In May, 1815, it was voted "that Z. Sheldon and 
 others have liberty to erect a liberty pole at their own 
 expense." 
 
 For some years previously there had been an article 
 in the town warrants, from time to time, to see if the 
 town would sell the twenty-two and a half acres of 
 land purchased of Thomas Boynton in December, 
 1788, for the meeting-house site, but never used. The 
 town had not as yet been able to come to an agree- 
 ment about it. In 1813 there was an article to see 
 whether it should be sold to Jonas Marshall, Jr., and 
 the proceeds applied to the purchase of a bell for the 
 meeting-house, on condition that Mr. Marshall "will 
 give $100 more than two or three men, that shall be 
 agreed upon, shall appraise the land to be worth.'' 
 The article was not acted upon. In March, 1817, it 
 was finally voted "to sell the town's land bought of 
 T. Boynton, reserving a piece for the pound," and a 
 committee of three was chosen "to sell it to the best 
 advantage." The members of this committee seem to 
 have accomplished their work, and in March, 1818, it 
 was voted that the conveyance be made by the town 
 treasurer and "to appropriate the money arising from 
 the sale of the town's laud to repair the bridges car- 
 ried away by the freshet;" but this vote was reconsid- 
 ered and it was agreed to appropriate the money " as 
 any other." The spring of 1818 seems to have been 
 particularly disastrous to the bridges. 
 
 August 21, 1820, the town voted on the question, 
 "Is it expedient that delegates should be chosen to 
 meet in convention for the purpose of revising or al- 
 tering the Constitution of Government of this Com- 
 monwealth?" The vote was unanimously in favor of 
 choosing such delegates (eighty-five votes). October 
 16, 1820, the town chose Calvin Willard and John 
 Shepley as delegates to attend a convention held for 
 this purpose in Boston, on the third Wednesday of 
 November, 1820. 
 
 During this decade the population of the town in- 
 creased very little, being one thousand seven hundred 
 and thirty-six in 1820. In these ten years three more 
 
 cotton-mills were built in town — the first being New- 
 ton's cotton factory, built in 1812 by Captain Martin 
 Newton and Solomon Strong. To accommodate this 
 factory the town, in September, 1812, laid out a " town 
 road and private way, two rods wide, to a stake oppo- 
 site the northwest corner of the new Factory." This 
 " way " (now known as Newton Place) passed through 
 the land of Oliver Fox, " whose damage," as the 
 records say, " is appraised at $101, which Newton and 
 Strong are to pay, as also all expenses of making and 
 keeping it in repair." The second factory was the 
 " Red Mill " (where Pitts' mill now stands), built in 
 1813, and the third was built on Phillips' Brook in 
 1814 by a company which failed soon after the close of 
 the war, but was later put into operation as a cotton 
 factory by other parties. 
 
 During thi» period many new roads had been built, 
 and old ones straightened and made more level. The 
 town fathers began to recognize the fact that a straight 
 line is the shortest distance between any two given 
 points. The early settlers, for the sake of protection 
 and defence, lived on the tops of the hills, and the 
 roads, being built for their accommodation, went 
 straggling and twisting over the various hills as best 
 they could. Evidently such roads, besides being 
 difficult to construct and hard to travel on, were really 
 in the end the most expensive that could be made, 
 because of the great damage necessarily done every 
 year when the snows of winter melted and produced 
 torrents of water, which washed them out badly and 
 rendered them dangerous to travel upon. The authori- 
 ties saw this, and began to "mend their ways" in a 
 double sense. Much improvement in this respect had 
 been made by 1820, but the roads in and around Fitch- 
 burg could not be called really good until some ten or 
 fifteen years later. 
 
 Let us now return to the consecutive history of the 
 town. The convention in Boston in 1820 prepared 
 articles of amendment to the Constitution, to be 
 submitted to the people for ratification ; and April 
 9, 1821, the inhabitants of Fitchburg were called to- 
 gether to vote on the proposed fourteen articles of 
 amendment, eacli one to be voted on separately. The 
 result was as follows : 
 
 TICLES. 
 
 VEAS. 
 41 
 
 NATS. 
 63 
 17 
 16 
 31 
 59 
 21 
 31 
 
 ARTICLES. 
 
 8 
 
 YEAS. 
 87 
 
 NAY 
 
 in 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 61 
 
 15 
 
 
 81 
 
 10 
 
 29 
 
 61 
 
 i 
 
 48 
 
 11 
 
 65 
 
 ?4 
 
 
 12 
 
 62 
 
 37 
 
 6 
 
 . . 65 
 
 13 
 
 68 
 
 '1 
 
 7 
 
 61 
 
 14 
 
 65 
 
 37 
 
 Thus it appears that they voted in favor of accept- 
 ing all except Articles One, Five and Ten. 
 
 Up to this time the town seems to have been un- 
 successful in regard to getting a vote to purchase any 
 fire apparatus. There appears to have been, how- 
 ever, an "Engine Company," for in October, 1821, 
 it was voted " that the town provide ten pair leather 
 buckets for the Engine Company." They probably 
 
HISTORY OF WORCESTEE COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 thought it well to have the name, because the engine 
 must come sooner or later ; and come it did, before 
 very long, too, for in March, 1823, it was voted " to 
 raise one hundred dollars to purchase an engine;" 
 also " to close with Oliver Fox's offer," which was 
 that he would build an engine-house and give the 
 land, providing the engine be kept down in the " Old 
 City." This engine was what is now called a '' hand 
 tub," and had to be fed with water from buckets. 
 The engine-house was located near the present quar- 
 ters of Niagara Hose, No. 4, on Day Street. So the 
 " down-towners " had the distinction and gratification 
 of having the fire-engine near them. 
 
 During the years 1814 to 1822, inclusive, the town 
 voted not to send a Representative to the General 
 Court, and in 1822 a line was imposed on the town 
 for neglecting to send any that year. In April, 1823, 
 the town authorized Joseph Simonds, town treasurer, 
 to pay the fine and in the following SeptemVjer, voted 
 to petition the General Court to relinquish the 
 amount of the fine. 
 
 In April, 1827, the sum of seventy-five dollars was 
 raised to pay the expense of completing the fire- 
 engine and fifty dollars for buckets. At the same time 
 it was voted " that the overseers of the poor be au- 
 thorized to purchase a farm for the support of the 
 town's poor, and, if they do so, that they be author- 
 ized to stock it, provide farming tools, etc." 
 
 They accordingly purchased a piece of land in the 
 southeastern part of the town, on the road to Leo- 
 minster (now Water Street in South Fitchburg) and 
 it has been used as a poor-farm since that time. In 
 April of the next year it was voted to change the 
 name of poor-house to that of work-house. May 5, 
 1828, it was voted " to build a reservoir for water on 
 the common, with two pumps, at an expense not ex- 
 ceeding $50." 
 
 The year 1830 brought several novelties to Fitch- 
 burg. In the autumn of that year J. E. Whitcomb 
 & Co. opened a printing office in town, in a building 
 just below the tavern which stood on the site now 
 occupied by the Fitchburg Hotel. In October, 1830, 
 this enterprising firm began the publication of a 
 newspaper — the first one in Fitchburg — called the 
 Fitchburg Gazette. 
 
 Another event of this year was the appearance of 
 " A Map of Fitchburg, Mass., Surveyed by Levi 
 Downe : October, 1830." It bore the imprint of 
 "Pendleton's Lithography, Boston, Mass.," and was 
 well executed, and showed very accurately the condi- 
 tion of the town at that time. From it we learn that 
 there were then in Fitchburg three hundred and 
 twenty-five dwelling-houses, two meeting-houses, one 
 academy, twelve school-houses, one printing office, 
 two woolen manufactories, four cotton manufactories, 
 one scythe manufactory, two paper-mills, four grist- 
 mills, ten saw-mills, three taverns, two hat manufac- 
 tories, one bellows man ui'actory, two tanneries, two win- 
 dow-blind maiiul'acturics and one chair manufactory. 
 
 During the ten years, 1821-30, the town made con- 
 siderable progress. The population had increased 
 much more than it had in any previous decade, 
 being two thousand one hundred and seventy-six in 
 1830, an increase of nearly four hundred and fifty 
 over the number of inhabitants in 1820. Several 
 substantial dams had been built and a number of 
 new mills and factories erected. 
 
 The improvement of the roads and bridges had 
 begun in earnest. Many old roads had been practi- 
 cally discontinued and new ones built. The road to 
 Leominster had been straightened and otherwise im- 
 proved ; in 1830 a new road was opened to Ashburn- 
 ham, and about the same time another to Lunenl urg. 
 The river-road to Westminster was opened a few 
 years later. 
 
 Two substantial stone bridges were built in 1829 
 over the Nashua, on the Keene and Boston mail road 
 (now River Street), a little west of the meeting-house. 
 The cost of these two bridges is stated to have been 
 over two thousand one hundred dollars. The fire- 
 engine seems to have been put into requisition at 
 least a few times during the ten years, for in May, 
 1828, it was voted that a reward of two hundred dol- 
 lars be authorized to be offered "for the appre- 
 hension of any person or persons who shall be con- 
 victed of having set fire to the buildings which have 
 recently been burnt in this town." 
 
 The " High School Association of Fitchburg " was 
 formed about 1830, and during that year erected the 
 academy, for which Captain Zachariah Sheldon very 
 generously donated the land. The academy stood a 
 little in front of the present location of the Fitch- 
 burg High School building, and cost about twelve 
 hundred dollars. All these things show that the 
 people were awake to the necessities of the times, 
 and that the town was well started on its prosperous 
 career. 
 
 The year 1832 witnessed the establishment of the 
 first bank in Fitchburg. The Fitchburg Bank was 
 chartered that year by the Legislature with a capital 
 of one hundred thousand dollars, and went into 
 operation in July. It began business in a small 
 granite building on the site of the brick building now 
 occupied as an office by the firm of Crocker, Burbank 
 &Co. 
 
 Nothing else of special note seems to have occurred 
 during the period from 1831 to 1835. The following 
 vote in August, 1832, may, however, be of sufficient 
 interest to copy ; for some of the older residents 
 doubtless remember the big sign-post referred to, 
 which stood on the Common lialf a century ago. 
 " Voted, that Capt. Z. Sheldon have permission to 
 erect a sign-post on the Common, under the direction 
 of the Selectmen, with regard to place, kind and stile 
 of post and guide- boards, all to be done to their satis- 
 faction ; and it is expected to be ornamental to the 
 Common." 
 
 A brief description of the town, as it appeared 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 223 
 
 about that time, taken from a letter written by a 
 native of Fitclibuig tlien residing in Wisconsin, is so 
 graphic that it is worth quoting. Tliis letter was 
 written in 1SG4 in response to an invitation to attend 
 the Centennial celebration of the town in June of 
 that year; and in it the writer goes back in recollec- 
 tion to the time " when the 'old city' was little else 
 than the ' stone factory ' and a farm ; when boys, and 
 men, too, played ball on the Common, whicli was 
 then a waste of sand (well covered with granite blocks 
 and chips) from the Unitarian ' meeting-house ' to 
 the ' Lower Tavern,' and without any enclosure or 
 improvement of any kind except the town-pump and 
 a huge sign-post ; when the old yellow ' town school- 
 house ' held a prominent place at the head of the 
 street, and the orchard next, which, I think one mem- 
 ber of your committee and all the boys of that period 
 will remember, had no other fence at its front on the 
 main street of the village than a rough stone-wall, 
 containing, I verily believe, more stones than can be 
 found in any one place in all Wisconsin.'' 
 
 A more extended description of the main street 
 about 1836 would show the following: Beginning on 
 what is now West Main Street, one would first see 
 the " Red Mill ; " a little below it, on the present 
 corner of Main and River Streets, stood a store ; and 
 beyond that, not far from the Common, was the Bap- 
 tist Church, which is now occupied as a carriage 
 repository. One would next come to the Common, 
 with the First Parish (Unitarian) Church standing at 
 its head and the " yellow school-house" flanking the 
 church and standing at the present junction of Main 
 and Mechanic Streets. On the corner of Main and 
 Rollstone Streets was the Orthodox Church, on the 
 site of the present Calvinistic Congregational Church, 
 and just below was the brick building which still 
 stands there, though somewhat enlarged. The lower 
 portion has always been used as a grocery store, and 
 for half a century, lacking a few months (April, 1836, 
 to October, 1885), it was occupied by Mr. Thomas 
 C. Caldwell, for many years the veteran grocer in 
 active business in Fitchburg. In 1836 the upper 
 portion of this building was occupied by the tailor's 
 shop of Daniel Cross. Mr. Cross is still in the same 
 business, though in much more commodious quarters 
 than those early days afforded, and enjoys the dis- 
 tinction of being the senior merchant in active busi- 
 ness in Fitchburg. He began business here in 1833. 
 The building of which we were speaking was after- 
 ward raised one story and otherwise enlarged, and for 
 many years the upper portion has been used by the 
 Sentinel Printing Company. The grocery store in 
 the lower portion, though now passed into other 
 hands, will probably always be called the T. C. Cald- 
 well store. Just below was Factory Square, with the 
 Fitchbu rg Woolen Mill standing in the same place as at 
 present, and substantially the same in appearance then 
 asnow,with the exception of an addition to the north- 
 west corner, built in 1887 by the present owners. 
 
 Factory Square has lost the charm of the noble elm 
 which, until a few years ago, lifted its w-ide-spreading 
 branches over its centre. Next the square stood a 
 tavern, on the site of the Fitchburg Hotel, and be- 
 yond the tavern was a store, in the rear of which was 
 the printing office. On the other side of the street, 
 directly opposite the tavern, was the store of Benja- 
 min Snow & Son, above that a hardware store, then 
 the granite bank building, and above that, on the 
 present corner of Main and and Academy Streets, 
 where the National House now stands, was another 
 tavern. The academy was plainly visible at the then 
 extremity of Academy Street. There were about 
 forty dwelling-houses scattered along the upper por- 
 tion of the street. In " Newton's Lane " was a cotton- 
 factory, and in the " Old City " were the " Stone 
 Mill," the Burbank Paper Slill, a tavern, a store in 
 the rear of I. C. Wright & Co.'s present hardware 
 store, a brick school-house, occupying about the site 
 of the old meeting-house, and about a dozen dwell- 
 ings. Such, in brief, is a description of the appear- 
 ance of Fitchburg a little over fifty years ago. 
 
 LTntil about this time the First Parish Church had 
 been used for town purposes; but in 1830 the Parish 
 began to think seriously of building a new church 
 just above the site of the old one. This made it 
 necessary for the town to take some action in regard 
 to having a town hall, and on December 31, 1836, the 
 following vote was passed: "Voted, to unite with 
 School District No. 1 in erecting a building for town- 
 house and school-house, if it can be done on equitable 
 terms." A committee was chosen to purchase a spot, 
 and another committee to build the house, &c. A 
 site was bought on the corner of Main and Baker 
 (now Circle) Streets, and arrangements were made by 
 which the old meeting-house was moved to that loca- 
 tion and fitted up for town purposes. The house, 
 much altered from its original appearance, still stands 
 there and is now known as Crocker's Hall. The first 
 town-meeting was held in it November 13, 1837, at 
 which time the following report of the expenditures 
 of the committees in making this change was ren- 
 dered : "Cost of spot, i?1000. Benchesof old meeting- 
 house, $410. Moving it, .1ii200. Stone-work, $518. 
 Painting, $140. Labor and material, $639.86, — less 
 old porches and stuff sold, $29.16 = $2922.57." 
 
 During the period between 1830 and 1840 several 
 newspapers were started here, but had only a brief 
 existence. In 1838, however, a new era was inaugu- 
 rated in the journalism of Fitchburg by the starting 
 of the Fitchburg Sentinel, December 20lh of that year. 
 This newspaper has continued to be published ever 
 since, and on December 20, 1888, completed a half- 
 century of prosperous existence. 
 
 The fourth decade of this century may justly be 
 called a very prosperous one in the history of the 
 town ; but it was only the precursor of what was to 
 come. The population in 1840 had increased to 
 two thousand five hundred and seventy; old Indus- 
 
224 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 tries had flourished and new ones had come into town 
 to stay. The foundation of the large machine manu- 
 focturing interests of Fitchburg was laid in 1838 by 
 the establishment of the firm of J. & S. W. Putnam 
 in town. 
 
 The records contain very little of interest or im- 
 portance during the few years succeeding 1840. In 
 April, 1844, it was voted " that the selectmen procure 
 a suitable safe for the preservation of the books and 
 records of the town.'' About this time also the 
 people began to think of having a town clock, and in 
 November, 1844, it was voted " pay one-half the ex- 
 pense of a first-rate clock to be placed on the Second 
 Parish Meeting-House, provided the said one-half 
 does not exceed two hundred dollars, and that the 
 selectmen be a committee to see this money properly 
 applied." At the same time it was voted " to discon- 
 tinue the travel on the Common between the two rows 
 of maple trees, as far down as these trees extend, and 
 that the same may be fenced, provided it be done free 
 of expense to the town." 
 
 The all-absorbing topic at this time was the Fitch- 
 burg Eailroad. The first public meeting to consider 
 the project of direct communication between Boston 
 and Fitchburg, by a railroad, was held in the town 
 hall November 12, 1841, pursuant to a notice printed 
 in the Sentinel the day previous. The people of 
 Fitchburg were deeply interested in having the road 
 built, and aided, in every way possible, their fellow- 
 townsman, Alvah Crocker, Esq., through whose zeal 
 and untiring energy the railroad became an accom- 
 plished fact. The year 1845 will ever be a memorable 
 one in the annals of Fitchburg. In February of that 
 year the track was completed to this town, and on the 
 5th of the following March the road was opened for 
 use. There was more or less contention in regard to 
 the location of the depot. The site finally decided 
 upon was a part of Deacon David Boutelle's garden ; 
 so the " Old City " was again favored, as it was in the 
 case of the first fire-engine; and its prospects began 
 to brighten. Three years later the Vermont and 
 Massachusetts Railroad was completed, and Fitch- 
 burg's importance as a railroad centre began to de- 
 velop. These railroads rendered the natural resources 
 of the town fully available, and inaugurated a new 
 era in business. The people worked hard to secure 
 them, and richly deserved the almost incalculable 
 benefits that have been derived therefrom during the 
 last forty years or more. A powerful impetus was 
 given to the town, and the question " Where is 
 Fitchburg?" was no longer asked, at least in this 
 Commonwealth. Energetic business men saw the ca- 
 pabilities of the town and located here, and the popu- 
 lation began to increase in a most gratifying manner. 
 Iq 1845, according to a census taken by the assessors, 
 the population of the town was three thousand eight 
 hundred and eighty-three. 
 
 At a town-meeting, November 10, 1845, a commit- 
 tee was chosen " to name the several stri-ets in the 
 
 Centre Village, in the town of Fitchburg.'' Their 
 
 report was accepted and adopted March 2, 1846, and 
 from it we learn that the following-named streets were 
 then in existence: Main, Mechanic, Prospect, West, 
 River, School, Chestnut, Rollstone, Baker's, Academy, 
 High, Pleasant, Prichard, Central, Blossom, Summer, 
 Water, Laurel, South and Cross Streets. This com- 
 mittee also named Cottage Square and Newton's 
 Lane. 
 
 At a town-meeting, November 7, 1848, a committee, 
 previously appointed for the purpose, reported a code 
 of by-laws to be observed by the town of Fitchburg. 
 These by-laws were quite strict, and if rigidly en- 
 forced, must have rendered the town a model of law 
 and order. At this meeting these by-laws were 
 accepted, and a committee, consisting of Alpheus P. 
 Kimball, Ivers Phillips and William Carleton, was 
 chosen to procure the sanction of the Court of Com- 
 mon Pleas thereto. The sanction was duly obtained 
 at the December term, 1848, and the by-laws were 
 printed by order of the town and distributed among 
 the citizens. 
 
 In 1849 the town took a wise and commendable 
 step by voting " to establish a High School, to be 
 kept throughout the year, with suitable vacations, 
 and the School Committee to put it in operation as 
 soon as convenient." The sum of eight hundred dol- 
 lars was raised for this purpose. 
 
 The year 1850 found Fitchburg a bustling, thriving 
 town of a little more than five thousand inhabitants. 
 The increase in population and business was unprece- 
 dented in the annals of the town. During the decade 
 the foundation of the chair business had been laid 
 here by Walter Heywood and Alonzo Davis. Two 
 more banks had been established — the Fitchburg 
 Savings Bank, in 1846, and the Rollstone Bank, in 
 1849. The Fitchburg Mutual Fire Insurance Com- 
 pany was incorporated March 22, 1847, and began 
 business September 1st of the same year. 
 
 Several substantial and, at that time, commodious 
 and ornamental brick blocks had been built in town 
 previous to 1850, among which may be mentioned the 
 Torrey & Wood, Heywood, Comee, Town & Piper, 
 Snow & Wood (now called Central Block) and Roll- 
 stone Blocks. The Universalist Church was built in 
 1847 and had in the lower story three good stores. 
 The Fitchburg Hotel Block was erected about 1850 
 and furnished four good stores. It is quite evident, 
 therefore, that Fitchburg was at that time well 
 provided with stores and accommodations for oflices, 
 etc. The American House was built in 1845 by 
 David Boutelle; but the easterly wing, under which 
 the stores are located, was not erected until 1858. 
 All of these blocks still stand, though a few have 
 been remodeled somewhat. 
 
 Since 1850 the advance in all directions has been 
 so rapid, and there has been such a multiplicity of 
 events, that no attempt will be made in this portion 
 of t' e sketch to speak of anything but matters per- 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 225 
 
 taining directly to town affsiirs, which cannot be taken 
 up elsewhere. The progress in education, church 
 affairs, manufacturing, etc., will be given in detail in 
 special chapters hereafter. 
 
 In 1851 appeared the second map of Fitohburg. It 
 was a large, full and accurate map, and when com- 
 pared with its predecessor of 1830 showed what an 
 immense advance the town had made in the twenty- 
 one years. 
 
 March 31, 1851, the Legislature passed an act to 
 authorize a Fire Department in the town of Fitch- 
 burg, which was accepted and approved by the town 
 May 26, 1851. 
 
 About this time the people began to think seriously 
 of building a new town-house. The old one was 
 manifestly too small to accommodate the great in- 
 crease of voters, and it was necessary that something 
 be done about the matter in the near future. But, as 
 was the case with everything of that kind, there was 
 contention as to where a new town-hall, if built, should 
 be located. The " Old City " people had secured the 
 stone railroad depot and were anxious to have the 
 town-house, too. On the other hand, the town-house 
 had previously been up-town and the people there 
 were bound to have it remain in that vicinity. 
 Fortunately, before much time was wasted, an ami- 
 cable conclusion was reached, as is shown by the 
 following extract from the Fitchburg News of January 
 28, 1852 (Vol. I., No. 2). 
 
 On Monday, the 2Gth, the citizens of Fitchburg Toted to bnild a 
 Town House, GO by 100 feet, two stories high, with a basement for a 
 uiiii'Ivet or other purposes. The probable coat, according to Mr. Wood's 
 statement, will be S2i),000. 
 
 The Hall is to be in the second story, according to the plan proposed, 
 aild the first floor reserved for courts, scliools, or otlier purposes, ac- 
 cording to the judgment of the building committee, or future instruc- 
 tion of tlio Town. 
 
 Tile site most liltely to be selected is next below Central Block, where 
 Dr. Blood now resides. The meeting was large and at one time con- 
 aideraldo warmtli was manifested both pro and con., but tlie feeling soon 
 subsided and the plan submitted by tlio committee was unanimously 
 adopted, as was also tlie report nominating a building committee. This 
 committee consists of Messrs. N. Wood, J. P. Putnam, I. Phillips, C. 
 Marshall, N. Cowdin, A. J. Town and Col. Upton. 
 
 It is truly a matter of congratulation, not only that we are at last 
 swreofsoon having a good House, but also that such harmony ijrevaila 
 in regard to it. 
 
 From the first number of the Fitchburg Reveille, 
 March 31, 1852, is taken the following; 
 
 New Town House. — .\ handsome and substantial town-house is soon 
 to be erected in Fitchburg. An appropriation for this purpose, of 
 5^6,000, was made at tiie last March meeting, and the new building is 
 to be located on Main street, just south of Central Block. The founda- 
 tion is to be laid immediately and the building completed during the 
 
 coming summer. 
 
 The land upon which it was built cost four thou- 
 sand dollars, and the building and its furnishing cost 
 about eighteen thousand dollars. It was a handsome 
 and substantial brick edifice, and, with some altera- 
 tions and enlargements, has served as town-house and 
 city-hall for the past thirty-five years, besides afford- 
 ing accommodations for the Fitchburg Public Library 
 from 1859 to 1885, and the Fitchburg Post-Office from 
 1853 to 1872. 
 15 
 
 During this decade the people of Fitchburg took 
 much interest in the subject of slavery, which, a few 
 years later, became a question of vital importance. 
 Many public meetings were held with regard to the 
 "Fugitive Slave Law,'' and the people here boldly 
 denounced it. 
 
 An important step in the progre-s of the town was 
 taken in theestablishmentof the Fitchburg Athenteum 
 in 1852 ; and a still more important one in the found- 
 ing of the Fitchburg Public Library in 1859. The 
 Fitchburg Gas Company was organized in 1852, and 
 soon after began to furnish light for the streets. A well- 
 equipped Fire Department had been established, sub- 
 stantial bridges and good streets constructed, more 
 business blocks built, a musical organization, known 
 as the Fitchburg Cornet Band, was established in 1851, 
 and existed for some years — in a word, the promises 
 of previous years were fast being fulfilled. The popu- 
 lation of the town had increased to six thousand four 
 hundred and forty-two in 1855 and seven thousand 
 eight hundred and fifty-four in 1860. 
 
 The few years following 1860 were almost entirely 
 taken up by the events connected with the Civil War. 
 Fitchburg, as usual, did her full share as regards the 
 furnishing of men and money and the performance of 
 good work for the preservation of the Union, and a 
 condensed account of what the citizens of this town 
 did and suffered during those eventful years will be 
 given in a special chapter hereafter. There was, how- 
 ever, during the war period, one very interesting and 
 important event in the town's history that should be 
 chronicled in this portion of the sketch, viz.: 
 
 The Centennial Celebration of the Incoe- 
 POEATION OF THE TowN. — At the annual town- 
 meeting, in April, 1863, a committee of fifteen was 
 chosen to make arrangements for and take charge of 
 a 'fitting observance of the one hundredth anniver- 
 sary of the incorporation of the town. The com- 
 mittee of arrangements consisted of the following 
 gentlemen : Hon, Alvah Crocker, chairman, and 
 Ebenezer Torrey, Dr. Jonas A. Marshall, John T. 
 Farwell, Abel F. Adams, Joseph Upton, Dr. Thomas 
 R. Boutelle, Lewis H. Bradford, Thornton K. Ware, 
 Nathaniel Wood, Abel Simonds, Moses Wood, James 
 P. Putnam, Amasa Norcross and Henry A. Willis. 
 
 The incorporators, in their zeal to have their 
 work quickly accomplished, had caused the anniver- 
 sary to come in February, an inclement season at 
 which no public demonstration could be held with 
 any degree of comfort. The committee of arrange- 
 ments accordingly very wisely decided to postpone 
 the festive day to a more comfortable time of the 
 year, and fixed upon Thursday, June 30, 1864, as the 
 date of the celebration. 
 
 Though the hearts and thoughts of the people of 
 Fitchburg at that period were with the absent ones 
 who were fighting the battles of our country — for the 
 Union, whose fate seemed then to be trembling in 
 the balance — yet preparations that were elaborate. 
 
226 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 considering the circumstances, were made for this 
 noteworthy event in the history of the town. The 
 committee, ably seconded by the hidies of Fitch- 
 burg, did all in their power to make the celebration 
 a success ; and the day, when past, gave ample proof 
 that their labors had accomplished all that their 
 hearts could wish. 
 
 To many natives of the town who had removed to 
 distant States, to those who, at a former period, had 
 been for a time identified with the progress of the 
 town and to many prominent State officials, invita- 
 tions were sent by the committee, asking them to 
 honor the day with their presence. Many accepted, 
 and many who could not be present sent letters con- 
 gratulating the town on the completion of its first 
 century of prosperity. 
 
 The 30th of June at last arrived. The weather 
 was delightful and the town early astir. People 
 hegan to pour in from neighboring towns, and the 
 streets of Fitchburg were crowded as they never 
 were before. It was a holiday with the schools, and 
 all the stores closed at 10 a.m. On the arrival of 
 the morning train from Boston, about 10 o'clock, 
 the procession was formed on the park near the 
 depots under command of Chief Marshal Col. Ed- 
 win "Upton, assisted by Marshals Eugene T. Miles, 
 Charles Burleigh, Robert L. Goddard, John Burney, 
 Alpheus P. Kimball, Lucius Aldrich, Edmund B. 
 Hayward and Henry A. Spooner, in the following 
 order: 
 
 ^d. Chief Marsbal A'd- 
 
 HaU's Boston Brass Band. 
 
 Couimittee of Arrangements. 
 
 Marshal. Aid. 
 
 Orator and Poet of the Day. 
 Invited Guests. 
 Fitchburg Drum Corps, E.H. Frost, Leader. 
 
 Marshal. Aid. 
 
 Citizens of Lunenburg and neighboring Towns. 
 Choir of "Old Folks" in Costume. 
 
 Marshal. Aid. 
 
 Citizens of Fitchburg. 
 Children of the Public Schools. 
 
 The procession, when formed, moved through the 
 principal streets of the town and then by Circle Street 
 to the field owned by,the late Walter Heywood, nearly 
 opposite what was then the chair shop of the late 
 Hon. Alonzo Davis. Here Yale's mammoth tent 
 was spread. After the vast assembly had entered 
 this pavilion and been seated, the centennial exercises 
 were begun with music by the band. On the platform 
 were the members of the committee of arrangements 
 (only three of whom are now living, viz. : Henry A. 
 Willis, Esq., Hon. A. Norcross and Hon. T. K. Ware), 
 officers and speakers of the day, clergymen and town 
 officials of Fitchburg and many invited guests. Hon. 
 Alvah Crocker presided. On the desk was an ancient 
 Bible, once the property of Colonel Zachariah Fitch, 
 and in front of this desk was a portrait of the same 
 gentleman, fpr whom, it was at that time erroneously 
 supposed, the town was named. 
 
 Aid. 
 
 Aid. 
 
 Aid. 
 
 At the conclusion of the music by the band the 
 Rev. E. W. Bullard, of Royalston, a former pastor of 
 the Second Paii;-h (Orthodox) Church in Fitchburg, 
 read the forty-sixth Psalm from the old Bible, after 
 which prayer was offered by Rev. Calvin Lincoln, 
 of Hingham, for so many years the beloved pastor of 
 the First Parish (Unitarian) Church in Fitchburg. 
 An oiiginal hymn, written for the occasion by Mrs. 
 Caroline Atherton Mason, of Fitchburg, was then sung 
 l)y the " Old Folks" choir, under the leadership of 
 Mr. Eben H. Frost. The address of welcome was 
 then delivered by Hon. Alvah Crocker, after which 
 the choir sang a hymn of thanksgiving, written for 
 the occasion by Mrs. Mary Caroline Lowe, of Fitch- 
 burg. The chairman then introduced Hon. Charles 
 H. B. Snow, Esq., the orator of the day, who de- 
 livered a scholarly, polished and valuable historical 
 address, an extract from which will be given hereafter. 
 After the address the "Old Folks" choir, led by the 
 veteran teacher, Cyrus Thurston, rendered some 
 ancient pieces most admirably. George E. Towne, 
 Esq., the poet of the day, then read an original poem, 
 running over with wit and full of interesting allusions 
 to days gone by. After more music by the band and 
 singing by the choir, Charles Mason, Esq., read an 
 original jjoem, written by Mrs. Caroline A. Mason, 
 describing the experience of " an old Continental," 
 returned to the scenes of his terrestrial life, and his 
 astonishment at the immense, and to him incompre- 
 hensible, changes that time had wrought in the vil- 
 lage of Fitchburg. This closed the exercises in the 
 pavilion. 
 
 A procession was then formed of invited guests and 
 those having tickets to the dinner, and marched to 
 the town hall, wliere plates had been laid for five 
 hundred guests. The hall was handsomely decorated 
 with flags, flowers and streamers, and tlie walls were 
 adorned with portraits and photographs of various 
 persons notable in the history of the town. Mr. 
 Henry W. Haskell supervised the decorations, and 
 Landlord Day, of the Fitchburg Hotel, provided the 
 excellent dinner. After ample justice had been done 
 to the dinner the toast-master, George E. Towne, 
 Esq., proposed many toasts, which were happily 
 responded to by prominent individuals. The day 
 concluded with a concert in the town hall in the 
 evening, given by the " Old Folks," assisted by Miss 
 Julia Houston, which was largely attended. Thus 
 pa,ssed off a day that will ever be memorable in the 
 annals of Fitchburg. 
 
 The condition of the town at this time, the rapid 
 and substantial progress it had made, cannot be better 
 described than it is in the following eloquent passage 
 from Mr. Snow's Centennial address: 
 
 Today, as we look around us .and see the Nashua, for miles studded 
 with its workshops and manufactories, its valleys and the neighboring 
 hillsides adol'nod witli the neat and comfortable homes with which New 
 p^nghind labor rewards its votaries, as we wituess on every hand the 
 evidences of happiness and prosperity, and then recall the untamed and 
 wilful Nashua, tlie bleak and barren steeps, the tangled, SMampy valley 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 227 
 
 and the secluded and infrequent farm-houae of one hundred years ago, 
 ■we may, in a measure, appreciate the results of a century of wonderful 
 mechanical ingenuity and invention, and also of a century of steady 
 New England enterprise and labor. More than fifty different varieties 
 of manufacture are at present successfully carried on within our limits. 
 Our paper-mills supply the market with over five million pounds of 
 paper annually, and the Keio York Herald, whose daily issues fly, as if, 
 on the wings of the wind, to every point of the compass, we might al- 
 most say whitening the laud like snowflakes, draws a large portion of 
 its vast supplies of paper from one Fitchburg mill. Our manufactories 
 largely supply the South American and Cuban markets witli chairs. 
 The ingenuity and admirable workmanship of our great machine com- 
 pany have been rewarded with extensive orders from the most distant 
 parts of the globe. Our scythes, our cutlery, our clt>tbs, our shoes and 
 our hats have been scattered broadcast over the States and, within the 
 last eventful year, — sad change from the arts of peace to those of war ! — 
 cannon cast in our foundries, monsters of modern destructive art, frown 
 from our harbor and coast defences, while others, whose beautiful sym- 
 metry, lightness and strength half beguile usfi'om the thought of tlieir 
 terrible uses, have helped swell the thunder of the l)lood.v battle-fields 
 of the South. May we not almost appropriate the language of the clas- 
 sic poet and ask, "Quae regiv in terris non i^eiKt ytostri luhoris f" 
 
 The years immediately following Ihe close of the 
 war were very prosperous, and the high pressure con- 
 tinued until the natural result came in the busines-s 
 panic of 1873. Fitchburg came in for her full share 
 of prosperity. Many new and important manufac- 
 turing establishments were located here during the 
 last five years of this decade, and in 1870 there were 
 nearly one hundred lai;ge manufacturing concerns iu 
 town and the population had increased to 11,260. 
 During this period, also, many public improvements 
 were begun which, as well as the new manufacturing 
 establishments, will be spoken of later. 
 
 The year 1871 was a busy one in Fitchburg. Build- 
 ing was bri.ik, and among the many edifices erected 
 that year were two which were by far the most costly, 
 elegant and substantial that have been built in Fitch- 
 burg. One was the Fitchburg iSavings Bank block 
 on Main Street, not far from the Common ; the other 
 was the County Court-house, located in the rear of 
 what is now known as Monument Park. It was 
 during the summer of 1871, also, that the water mains 
 of the new water-works were laid through the princi- 
 pal streets of the town. 
 
 Another important event of this year was the action 
 taken in regard to casting off the town form of govern- 
 ment and becoming a city. As soon as the town at- 
 tained to the required twelve thousand inhabitants, 
 the question of applying for a city charter began to 
 be agitated, and at a town-meeting held Tuesday, No- 
 vember 7, 1871, the matter was formally brought be- 
 fore the town for consideration. Article 14 of the 
 warrant for this meeting was as follows: " To see if 
 the town will take the necessary steps for obtaining 
 the Franchise of a City Charter, at the coming ses- 
 sion of the Legislature, by the choice of a committee 
 for that purpose, or act anything thereon they may 
 - deem expedient." 
 
 The town chose as such a committee Alvah Crocker, 
 Eugene T. Miles, Thornton K. Ware, Dr. Alfred 
 Hitchcock and George Robbins. This committee at- 
 tended promptly to their duty, and during the follow- 
 ing winter the " Act to Incorporate the city of Fitch- 
 
 burg " passed through both branches of the Legisla- 
 ture, and was, on March 8, 1872, approved by the 
 Governor. 
 
 At the last annual town-meeting, April 8, 1872, the 
 citizens of Fitchburg, by a vote of nine hundred and 
 sixty-eight to fifty-six, decided in favor of accepting 
 the charter. The vote on the question was very light, 
 as it was known that very little, if any, opposition to 
 the charter existed. At the same meeting the citi- 
 zens also voted in regard to accepting Sees. 30 and 31 
 of the charter, which provided that at the first city 
 election one-half of the Aldermen and Common Coun- 
 cilmeu should be elected for one year and the other 
 half for two years, and that at each annual election 
 thereafter one-half of each board should be elected 
 for the term of two municipal years. These two sec- 
 tions the town rejected by a vote of six hundred aud 
 seventy-five to two hundred and eight, thus making 
 the election of all the members of both branches an- 
 nual. September 18, 1872, the selectmen announced 
 the division of the city into six wards, and defined 
 their respective boundary lines. During November 
 of the same year numerous ward caucuses were held 
 for the purpose of electing the various ward officers, 
 committees, «&c., and of getting things into running 
 order. On Tuesday, December 3, 1872, the first city 
 election was held in Fitchburg, and a heavier vote 
 was polled than ever had been in any town election. 
 The result was the election of Hon. Amasa Norcrosa 
 as the first mayor of the city, he receiving eleven hun- 
 dred and eleven votes to eight hundred and fifty- 
 three for Eugene T. Miles. 
 
 There is little more to be recorded before we close 
 the history of Fitchburg as a town. One event in 
 the year 1872 should be mentioned. This was the 
 detith, on February 23d, of Salmon W. Putnam, one 
 of the pioneers of Fitchburg's great machine manu- 
 facturing interests, and largely concerned in the 
 founding of the Putnam Machine Company. He was 
 highly esteemed for his worth and ability, and on the 
 day of his funeral business was generally suspended 
 in Fitchburg. Another circumstance that is deserving 
 of mention in this chapter is the substantial and 
 practical expression of good will and generosity 
 given by the town at the time of the disastrous fire in 
 Chicago in October, 1871, and the serious forest fires 
 in Michigan, about the same time. Besides a large 
 amount of clothing, etc., the citizens of Fitchburg 
 sent to the sufferers by these fires the sum of nearly 
 six thousand dollars in money. At the time of the 
 great Boston fire, in November, 1872, their generosity 
 was again shown. 
 
 Much more might have been written about Fitch- 
 burg as a town, had space allowed, but here we must 
 conclude this section. Since the beginning of 1873 
 the city form of government has been in force ; and 
 the main points in Fitchburg's history as a city, 
 for the past sixteen years, will be briefly outlined in 
 the few following pages, after which her history in 
 
228 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 the Civil War, her progress in educational, ecclesias- 
 tical, industrial matters, etc., — in fact, whatever of 
 importance has been done by her citizens to make 
 Fitchburg what she is to-day, — will be given in detail 
 under their appropriate and respective headings. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 FITCUBVRG—iConiinued.) 
 
 HISTORY OF THE CITY (1873-1888). 
 
 On January 6, 1873, occurred the inauguration of 
 the first city government at the city hall. The In- 
 augural Address of Mayor Norcross was carefully 
 prepared and contained much of interest to the in- 
 habitants of the infant city. It was a critical time in 
 business affairs, and the mayor clearly and forcibly 
 showed the necessity of the exercise of prudence, 
 sagacity and, as far as compatible with the best in- 
 terests of the city, economy on the part of those 
 whom the people had chosen to conduct municipal 
 affairs during the coming year. 
 
 The construction of the water-works and other 
 public improvements had brought a debt of over six 
 hundred thousand dollars upon the city at its start, 
 and there was still much to be done in completing 
 and maintaining these improvements. Nearly all 
 the water debt was satisfactorily funded and about 
 half the city debt proper. Early in 1873 a special 
 act, authorizing the city of Fitchburg to fund its 
 floating debt and issue additional scrip, passed the 
 Legislature and was approved March 29, 1873. In 
 conformity with this act, bonds of the denomination 
 of one thousand dollars each, with coupons repre- 
 senting accruing interest at six per cent., payable 
 semi-annually, for twenty years, from July 1, 1873, 
 were obtained, and during the balance of the year 
 sixty-three thousand dollars of the floating debt were 
 funded by the sale of these bonds. 
 
 The fiscal year of the city ends November 
 30th, and on that date, in 1873, the net debt 
 of the city was $650,775.50. However, in spite 
 of the hard times and necessarily large outlay, 
 Fitchburg's first year as a city was by no means 
 a discouraging one. The good effect of these public 
 improvements was beginning to be felt; population 
 and valuation had increased, and more business 
 blocks had been erected. The people were well sat- 
 isfied with the administration of I\Iayor Norcross, and 
 at the city election in December, 1873, he was re- 
 elected. 
 
 The year 1874 was not quite so prosperous, and 
 during the following five years, or so, there was a 
 small but steady annual decrease in the population 
 and valuation of the city. One cause of this decrease 
 was the removal from town of two large and prosper- 
 
 ous manufacturing concerns, — the American Rattan 
 Company and the Whitman & Miles Manufactur- 
 ing Company. 
 
 In 1874 occurred an event of great interest, which 
 will be spoken of more fully hereafter. This was 
 the dedication of the Soldiers' Monument, June 24th. 
 The city appropriated two thousand dollars for the 
 dedication, and the oration was delivered by Major- 
 General Nathaniel P. Banks. 
 
 November 30, 1874, the net debt of the city was 
 $728,873.84, an increase of nearly $78,000 for the 
 year, due wholly to discount on bonds, extension of 
 the water-works and payment of the balance of the 
 Soldiers' Monument contracts. 
 
 During this year another bank was established 
 here, — the Safety Fund National Bank. 
 
 At the city election in December, 1874, Eugene T. 
 Miles was elected mayor for the year ensuing. 
 
 During 1874 death removed two of Fitchburg's 
 prominent citizens, — Dr. Alfred Hitchcock, the 
 beloved physician, eminent in his profession, and 
 noted for his good qualities of mind and heart, and 
 Hon. Alvah Crocker who, above all other men, 
 brought prosperity to Fitchburg, and was ever ready 
 to inaugurate and carry forward any project condu- 
 cive to the advancement of the interests of the town. 
 
 The year 1875 was quite an active one in Fitch- 
 burg, in spite of the fact that the city felt severely 
 the depression in business, the result, as it were, of 
 the recoil of the preceding financial crisis. Another 
 bank — the Wachusett National — was established here, 
 mainly through the efforts of Hiram A. Blood, 
 Esq. Several substantial brick business blocks were 
 erected, among which were Crocker block and the 
 Wachusett Bank block. The large and commodious 
 machine-shop occupied by C. H. Brown & Co. was 
 completed this year, as was al.so the fine business 
 block built by James F. Stiles. 
 
 During this year the city expended upwards of 
 $60,000 more on the water-works in the construction 
 of Scott reservoir, extension of water-mains to West 
 Fitchburg and extensions in the city proper. In con- 
 sequence of this large necessary expenditure, the net 
 debt of the city November 30, 1875, reached high- 
 water mark, viz: $790,149.66. Since that time the 
 city has had to make no very large expenditure for 
 extraordinary improvements, and almost every year 
 since 1875 has witnessed a considerable decrease in 
 the net debt. 
 
 The year 1875 did not pass without taking from 
 our midst a bright and shining light in the person of 
 Hon. Charles H. B. Snow, the orator at the centennial 
 celebration, who, on September 18, 1875, was called 
 away from a busy and useful life. He was a man of 
 great talent, and in the prime of life, and his death 
 was a sad blow to this community, where he had 
 always lived, and for which he was ever ready and 
 willing to expend his best efforts. 
 
 On account of the unavoidable absence of Mayor 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 229 
 
 I 
 
 Miles from the city during the last two months of 
 his terra, the office of mayor was declared vacant on 
 November 2, 1875. The Board of Aldermen and the 
 Common Council elected Hon. Hiram A. Blood to 
 fill out the unexpired period. At the annual city 
 election, the following December, he was elected 
 mayor for the ensuing year. 
 
 The official census of 1875 gave Fitchburg a popu- 
 lation of 12,289, showing a slow growth since 1870. 
 
 The three years following 1875 were years of gi'eat 
 business depression in Fitchburg. Our mills, fac- 
 tories and machine-shops were, in most cases, obliged 
 to curtail both the number of employes and the num- 
 ber of working-hours, because of the meagre amount 
 of orders for their products. The manufacturing 
 establishments of Fitchburg were put to a severe test 
 during these three years, and the fact that, with a 
 very few exceptions, they all withstood the strain, 
 shows their financial stability, and reflects great 
 credit upon the ability and sagacity of the men who 
 superintended the affairs of these various heavy 
 manufacturing concerns during these trying times. 
 
 As a natural consequence of this stagnation in 
 business, the city retrograded, as regards both popu- 
 lation and valuation. During this period it was 
 unwise and, fortunately, unnecessary, to enter upon 
 any new work. That which had been done in the 
 years immediately preceding sufficed to tide the 
 city over, and only an amount of money sufficient to 
 keep the public works and institutions in statu quo 
 was needed. 
 
 In 1876 death continued its ravages among our 
 prominent citizen?, removing on June 2(5th ex-Mayor 
 Eugene T. Miles, a man widely known and esteemed 
 for his integrity and benevolence, and who for manv 
 years had been prominent in the business interests 
 and public affairs of Fitchburg ; and August 3d Hon- 
 Nathaniel Wood, for over half a century one of our 
 most prominent and active citizens. It was he who 
 collated and preserved much of the early history of 
 Fitchburg, which otherwise would probably have been 
 irretrievably lost. 
 
 David H. Merriam was mayor during the years 
 1877-78. These two years were probably the darkest 
 the city ever experienced, but public affairs were well 
 cared for during Mayor Merriam's administration. 
 The debt was reduced by something over twenty-five 
 thousand dollars ; and in spite of the decrease in popu- 
 lation, the tax rate during both years was kept at a 
 lower figure than it was in the few years preceding — 
 in fact, the rate was the lowest in 1877-78 that it has 
 been from the incorporation of the city to the present 
 time. 
 
 In 1878 the handsome and commodious Union 
 Passenger Station was completed ; but aside from 
 that, very little building was going on at that time. 
 
 In December, 1878, William H. Vose was elected 
 mayor and served one year, declining a unanimous 
 renomination. His valuable business experience and 
 
 strict fidelity to the best interests of the city proved 
 of great service to Fitchburg during the year 1879. 
 The city was just beginning to see the glimmer of 
 better times ahead, and a steady hand, guided by 
 business tact, was necessary to keep the people from 
 presuming too much on the "good time coming." 
 During his administration the debt was reduced by 
 nearly twenty-five thousand dollars. 
 
 Until this year no direct appropriation had ever 
 been made for water-works construction and exten- 
 sion ; but in 1879 such an appropriation was made 
 (four thousand dollars), and an annual appropriation 
 for that purpose has been made since then. 
 
 In December, 1879, Eli Culley was elected mayor, 
 and served the city in that capacity for two years. 
 The appropriation bills for these two years (1880-81) 
 were the smallest since our incorporation as a city ; 
 and at the same time the accounts show that the debt 
 November 30, 1881, was 1704,516.58, making a re- 
 duction of nearly $33,000 since the same date in 1879. 
 
 Population and valuation began to increase grad- 
 ually in the course of these two years. In 1880 the 
 population was 12,405. Business, too, began to take 
 on a more healthy tone, and the city started on the 
 up- grade. 
 
 In the fall of 1879 a company was formed here 
 which marked the beginning of a new era in the indus- 
 tries of Fitchburg. This was the Parkhill Manufac- 
 turing Company. The company began business in 
 February, 1880, and since that time has prospered, 
 and is to-day one of the heaviest concerns in town. 
 During this period there were other signs of business 
 prosperity in town, prominent among which were the 
 starting of the Fitchburg Worsted Company in 1880 
 and the erection of E. M. Dickinson & Co.'s large 
 shoe factory in 1881. 
 
 In 1880 death again entered the ranks of our prom- 
 inent citizens; JanuaryjlSth of that year died Stephen 
 Shepley, for over forty-five years an active business 
 man of Fitchburg and much interested in the early 
 history of the town. In 1876 he wrote a paper of 
 value in regard to John Fitch. August 1, 1880, died 
 Walter Heywood, the founder of the extensive chair 
 manufacturing company here. 
 
 During 1881 the city expended over thirteen thou- 
 sand dollars in the construction of sewers, but this 
 sum was more than counterbalanced by money re- 
 ceived from sewer assessments, etc. 
 
 George Bobbins was the next mayor and served 
 during the year 1882. Mr. Robbins was a member of 
 the committee to procure the city charter, and has al- 
 ways taken considerable interest in public affairs. 
 During his year of service matters went on satisfac- 
 torily. The debt was decreased by about thirty-two 
 thousand dollars; over ten thousand dollars were ex- 
 pended on sewers, necessitating an appropriation of 
 six thousand dollars by the City Council for that pur- 
 pose. 
 
 The prosperity of the city continued, though no 
 
230 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 new enterprises of special note were started that year. 
 The owners of buildings on the lower part of Main 
 Street were beginning to put new fronts to the busi- 
 ness blocks and to furnish them with large plate-glass 
 windows, thereby greatly improving the appearance 
 of the street. Notable among the improvements of 
 this kind was the brown-stone front put on to the L. 
 J. Brown Block that year. 
 
 In 1882 the city purchased the "Upper Common," 
 previously the property of the First Parish iu Fitch- 
 burg. Since that time the city has spent considerable 
 for stone-work, grading and laying out paths, etc., and 
 now the Common is a much more attractive spot than 
 it was ten years ago. Moreover, through the gen erosity 
 of certain citizens in the vicinity, a handsome band- 
 stand has been erected near its lower extremity and 
 makes a striking addition to the beauty of the park. 
 
 At the city election in December, 1882, Alonzo 
 Davis was elected mayor, and so acceptable was his 
 administration that he was re-elected to the office the 
 two following years, and is the only man thus far in 
 our history as a city wlio has held the office of mayor 
 for three successive years. 
 
 In 18S3 it became necessary to build a fourth reser- 
 voir, and Falulah Reservoir was accordingly con- 
 structed that year at an expense of a little over fifty- 
 two thousand dollars. As the City Council made no 
 appropriation for this expenditure, it became a part of 
 the city debt, which, November 30, 1883, was $686,- 
 430.70, an increase of about fourteen thousand dollars 
 over the debt a year previous, showing that had it not 
 been for this extraordinary expense there would have 
 been a very material decrease in the city debt that 
 year. 
 
 In 1883 the Wachusett Electric Light Company 
 was incorpoi'ated, and since the fall of that year has 
 furnished most of the principal streets of the city with 
 brilliant and satisfactory illumination. 
 
 The year 1884 will long be remembered by the 
 citizens of Fitchburg as the year when the Hon. 
 Eodney Wallace made and proceeded to carry out his 
 generous proposition to provide the city with an 
 elegant and commodious public library building, 
 together with a site for the same. July 1, 1885, 
 witnessed the completion of his noble project, the 
 dedication of the costly and substantial structure and 
 its formal presentation to the city by the donor. The 
 Wallace Library and Art Building will be spoken of 
 at greater length under the head of Libraries and 
 Lectures, in the section on the educational history 
 and progress of Fitchburg. 
 
 In his third inaugural address, in January, 1885, 
 Mayor Davis recommended the construction of a 
 system of sewers of larger capacity than tlieu existed 
 in the city, and, in accordance with his suggestion, 
 plans were drawn and the work of construction 
 entered upon the following spring. During 1885 one 
 and a quarter miles of sewer were built, of which 
 seven hundred and twenty-five feet consisted of a 
 
 main sewer twenty-six by thirty-nine inches, built 
 of brick and located in ■ Elm, Oliver and Putnam 
 Streets. 
 
 The net debt, November 30, 1885, was $635,124.11, 
 a gratifying decrease of over $51,000 during the two 
 previous years. The city was in a prosperous condi- 
 tion, and in 1885 had a population of 15,375 and a 
 valuation of about $12,000,000. Building was brisk 
 during the three years from 1883 to 1885 inclusive, 
 and some new concerns were put into operation, nota- 
 bly the Cleghorn Mills in 1885. 
 
 Several prominent citizens died in the course of 
 these three years. Charles Burleigh, one of Fitch- 
 burg'a most ingenious mechanics and competent busi- 
 ness men and a prominent member of the Putnam 
 Machine Company, died May 28, 1883. Of his many 
 valuable inventions the most prominent are the Bur- 
 leigh Rock-Drill and the Patent Air-Compressor, 
 which have made his name familiar wherever great 
 engineering feats have been accomplished. 
 
 March 12, 1884, died Cyrus Thurston— " Uncle 
 Cy," as he was for many years familiarly called — 
 prominent in musical circles in Fitchburg since the 
 early years of this century, and noted for his long 
 and valuable service on the Board of Overseers of 
 the Poor of the town and city of Fitchburg. Only 
 a few days after his decease our citizens were called 
 upon to mourn the loss of a much younger, but 
 more noted musician, AVarren S. Russell, leader of 
 the Fitchburg Military Band. 
 
 October 27, 1884, ex-Mayor William H. Vose 
 passed away, full of years and universally loved and 
 respected. 
 
 In the autumn of 1885 the temperance people of 
 Fitchburg made a strong effort to carry the city for 
 " no license." They nominated Frederick Fosdick, 
 president of the Fitchburg Steam-Engine Company, as 
 their candidate for mayor, and at the election, in De- 
 cember, he was triumph.antly elected, and no license 
 was established by a decided majority. Mr. Fosdick 
 served the city two years as mayor, and made a good 
 record for himself and the city in every way ; and his 
 efibrts to carry out the principles of the temperance 
 party, and the good success that rewarded these 
 efforts, are deserving of tlie highest praise. 
 
 During 1886 and 1887 a number of changes were 
 effected in the city affairs, which have proved to be 
 advantageous. Mayor Fosdick, in his first inaugural 
 address, recommended that Fitchburg follow the 
 example of some other cities, and pay the Water 
 Department for water used by it each year. This 
 plan was adopted in 1886, and resulted satisfactorily, 
 and has since been continued. By this me.ans some 
 $15,000 per year is paid to the Water Department, 
 which helps materially in extinguishing the water 
 debt without making any perceptible increase in the 
 rate of taxation. He also recommended the appro- 
 priation of $20,000 to the sinking fund, instead of 
 $10,000, as heretofore, which was done. 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 231 
 
 f 
 
 About this time bursts were frequently occurring 
 in the cement-lined water mains, and Maj'or FoscHck 
 advocated replacing them with iron mains. This 
 work was begun in the spring of 188G. The cement- 
 lined pipe in Main Street was replaced by a 16-inch 
 iron main, and the pipe in several other streets was 
 replaced by iron pipe of suitable size, during the 
 summer, at a cost of a little over $34,000, which was 
 covered by the issue of scrip to the amount of $35,000. 
 This, of course, increased the debt somewhat, but the 
 increase was comparatively small (about $8,000), the 
 net debt, November 30, 1886, being $643,369.16. 
 About $1.5,000 were expended in the same way in 
 1887, and the debt increased about $2,500, being 
 $646,012.27 November 30, 1S87. It has been found 
 that no repairs, or only very trifling ones, are neces- 
 sary to keej> the iron mains and pipe in good condi- 
 tion, which causes an annual saving of several thou- 
 sand dollars that would simply have been wasted on 
 repairs of the old cement-lined pipe. 
 
 The rapid growth of the city during 1886-87 caused 
 a great demand for new streets and sidewalks, and 
 large sums were expended for these purposes. A 
 brick trunk sewer, 36x29 inches, was built through 
 Laurel Street, and smaller sewers through connecting 
 streets, during the summer of 1887, at a cost of over 
 $31,000; a substantial brick city stable was built in 
 1886, at an expense of about .$5,000. Thus it will be 
 seen, that though the city spent a very large sura of 
 money during these two years, yet it was wisely 
 expended, and we are now in good condition to meet 
 our constantly and rapidly-increasing prosperity. 
 
 In 1886 the Fitchburg Street Railway was incor- 
 porated, and began to lay their track in the early sum- 
 mer. The track-layers immediately followed the work- 
 men engaged in replacing thecement pipe, so that Main 
 Street was pretty thoroughly torn up during the greater 
 part of the summer of 1886. 
 
 Much building was also going on in all parts of the 
 city at this time, the largest building erected being 
 the Orswell mill, built in 1886. 
 
 At the city election in December, 1887, Hon. Eli 
 Culley, who was mayor in 1880-81, was elected by the 
 people as their chief executive for the year 1888. 
 
 Early in 1888 the Fitchburg Railroad Company 
 made a long contemplated move and one most ad- 
 vantageous to Fitchburg, by purchasing a large tract 
 of land in what is now called East Fitchburg, about 
 a mile east of Union Passenger Station, and announc- 
 ing their intention of using it as a location for their 
 extensive car-shops, heretofore established and main- 
 tained at the Boston end of the road. Work was soon 
 begun on the necessary buildings, a description of 
 which will be given in another section. When these 
 shops ai'e completed and in full operation they will 
 cause a very material increase in the population and 
 add much to the prosperity of the city. 
 
 July 4, 1888, witnessed a grand celebration in 
 Fitchburg. K. V. Sumner Post I'J, G. A. E., has the 
 
 credit of getting up this celebration, and the city and 
 our citizens generally helped to make it a success by 
 liberal gifts of money. The principal feature was a 
 very large trades' procession in the morning. The 
 other exercises of the day were at the Fitchburg 
 Park, and included a dinner, addresses, sports and a 
 balloon ascension in the afternoon, and a fine display 
 of fire-works in the evening. 
 
 During the portion of 1888 now past death has been 
 busy here, and up to this time (autumn) has taken 
 from us five men who have for a long time been 
 prominent in the history of Fitchburg. February 7th 
 died Gardner S. Burbank, since 1851 an influential 
 citizen, and for fifteen years a member of the firm of 
 Crocker, Burbank & Co. He accumulated a large 
 property, the most of which he left in the hands of 
 trustees, the income to be paid to Mrs. Burbank dur- 
 ing her life, and at her death the whole amount is to be 
 paid over to the city of Fitchburg and devoted to the 
 building of a city hospital. 
 
 May 23d died Hon. Alonzo Davis, an ex-mayor of 
 Fitchburg and, since 1845, a prominent manufacturer 
 and business man. 
 
 July 31st died John Putnam, senior founder of the 
 Putnam Machine Company, and a resident of Fitch- 
 burg since 1838. 
 
 September 3d died Hon. Ebenezer Torrey, for over 
 sixty years a prominent citizen of Fitchburg. A brief 
 sketch of Mr. Torrey appears in the Professional 
 chapter. 
 
 October 11th ex-Mayor David H. Merriam died, 
 being the fifth man of prominence in town to die dur- 
 ing the first ten months of 1888. 
 
 We will close this portion of the history of Fitch- 
 burg with a table showing statistics relative to the 
 growth of the town since its incorporation. The pop- 
 ulation in 1888 is estimated from the number of 
 polls, May 1st. 
 
 Year. 
 1765 
 
 Population. 
 259 
 
 Valuation. 
 
 No. of Poll 
 
 1791 
 
 1,151 
 
 1,300 
 
 1,666 
 
 1,736 
 
 2,179 
 
 2,570 
 
 
 
 ISOO 
 
 
 
 1810 
 
 
 
 1820 
 
 1830 
 
 1840 
 
 S359,966 
 
 540,009 
 
 935,342 
 
 1,995,749 
 
 3,527,456 
 
 10,373,403 
 
 9,132,844 
 
 11,494,662 
 
 13,604,890 
 
 321 
 494 
 702 
 
 1S50 
 
 1860 
 
 1S70 
 
 1880 
 
 5,120 
 
 7,854 
 
 11,260 
 
 ... 12 405 
 
 1,308 
 1,938 
 3,24S 
 3,680 
 4,561 
 6,963 
 
 1885 
 
 1888 
 
 15,375 
 
 20,000 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 mTClIBVRG—(Conli)!ued.) 
 
 HISTORY DURING THE WAR OF THE REBELWON. 
 
 In the preparation of this portion of the sketch the 
 writer has depended largely upon " Fitchburg in the 
 
232 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 War of the Rebellion." To Henry A. Willis, Esq., 
 the author of this valuable memorial of what Fitch- 
 burg did to preserve the Uuion, the writer takes this 
 occasion to render grateful acknowledgment for per- 
 mission to take from it many facts essential to this 
 portion of the history, and which cannot be easily 
 obtained elsewhere. 
 
 Before entering upon our condensed history of 
 Fitchburg's part in the Civil War, it may be well to 
 give a brief account of the military companies in the 
 town prior to the breaking out of the war. 
 
 In 1861 there were two military companies in exist- 
 ence here. Of these, the organization which was by 
 far the older was 
 
 The Fitchburg Fusiliers. — This company was 
 formed from the " Old South " Company of the Fourth 
 Regiment, Second Brigade, Seventh Division, Massa- 
 chusetts Volunteer Militia, and a charter was granted 
 it under its present name of Fitchburg Funliers, De- 
 cember 14, 1816. The organization of the company 
 was perfected at a meeting held February 3, 1817, at 
 which time John Upton was elected captain, Alpheus 
 Kimball, lieutenant, and Walter Johnson, ensign. 
 The uniform adopted was " a blue coat, trimmed 
 with bell buttons and lace, pantaloons of the same 
 color as the coat, made to button over the boots and 
 trimmed with bell buttons from the bottoms to the 
 hips, and the caps were bound with red morocco and 
 varnished and otherwise ' ornamenttd as a committee 
 chosen might think proi)er.' " 
 
 The Fusiliers first appeared publicly in their new 
 uniforms on the Fourth of July, 1817, on which occa- 
 sion the ladies of Fitchburg presented the company 
 with a handsome banner. A standard was also pre- 
 sented to the company by the ladies in September, 
 1841. 
 
 The Fusiliers were always on hand to attend " mus- 
 ter," and, according to all accounts, used to have very 
 enjoyable times at the old-fashioned muster, which 
 was essentially different from the modern variety. 
 
 Many of our prominent citizens have commanded 
 this company during its existence of nearly three- 
 quarters of a century. 
 
 Its record during the war will be given further on. 
 
 At the present time this company forms a part of 
 the Sixth Regiment Infantry, Massachusetts Volun- 
 teer Militia, and is designated as Company B. 
 
 The other military company in town at the time of 
 the breaking out of the war was known as 
 
 The Washington Guards. — It was organized in 
 July, 1855, on petition of Charles H. Foss and fifty- 
 nine others, and on the 19th of the same month 
 otiicers were chosen as follows: John B. Proctor, 
 Captain ; Hiram P. Minot, First Lieutenant ; Charles 
 H. Foss, Second Lieutenant ; Oscar A. Battles, Third 
 Lieutenant ; Varius Stearns, Fourth Lieutenant. At 
 a meeting a week later the name of .Washington 
 Guards was adopted by vote of the company. The 
 uniform consisted of " a cloth cap, smaller at the top 
 
 than at the base, and surmounted by a blue pompon ; 
 dark blue pants and coat with epaulettes ; patent- 
 leather body belts and webbing cross-belts." In 
 February, 1859, the company purchased seventy of 
 the well-remembered bear-skin caps. 
 
 During the war the Guards formed the nucleus of 
 six Fitchburg companies and its name and organiza- 
 tion were given up ; but August 23, 1866, a company 
 was formed, chiefly through the efforts of Richard 
 Tucker, in which were many of the old Guards. This 
 company took the name of UnionVeterans and Hiram 
 P. Minot was chosen captain. Sept. 11, 1868, the 
 company voted to change the name to Washington 
 Guards. This is the present existing organization, 
 and it forms a part of the Sixth Regiment Infantry, 
 Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, being designated as 
 Company D. The headquarters of the Sixth Regi- 
 ment have for some years been at Fitchburg, Henry 
 G. Greene, of this city, holding the position of colo- 
 nel. 
 
 At the time of the breaking out of the war Fitch- 
 burg had a population of about eight thousand, and 
 during the whole course of the war the town was ever 
 ready to furnish her full share of men and money to 
 aid the Union. Mr. Willis indeed said truly in the 
 introduction to his book, "A community which has 
 sent nine companies into the field during the war, 
 which has promptly filled its quotas under all calls 
 and has now to its credit seventy-five men surplus 
 above all demands upon it, has certainly a record of 
 which it may well be proud and one well worth 
 preserving." 
 
 It is gratifying to note that Fitchburg's zeal and 
 activity were also officially recognized by a man, and 
 in a manner that left no doubt as to the sincerity of 
 the tribute to the loyalty of the town. The occasion 
 on which these words were uttered was the funeral 
 of Lieutenant-Colonel George E. Marshall, of the 
 Fortieth Regiment, at the town hall in Fitchburg, 
 and the one who spoke them was Hon. Alexander H. 
 Bullock, then Governor of Massachusetts. Colonel 
 Marshall, a son of Abel Marshall, of Fitchburg, was 
 killed at the battle of Cold Harbor, June 1, 1864. 
 He was buried on the field, and his remains were not 
 recovered until the spring of 1866. The town voted to 
 give his remains a public funeral on the 19th of 
 April of that year. It was an imposing funeral, and 
 was attended by His Excellency, Governor Bullock, 
 and his staff and other oflBcials. During the course 
 of the solemn ceremonies Governor Bullock made a 
 brief and eloquent address, in which he spoke feel- 
 ingly of the glorious career of young Marshall 
 through the twenty-four battles he was engaged in, 
 of his well-deserved prometions, and of his gallant 
 conduct in that disastrous charge at Cold Harbor, 
 where he "fought and died in obedience to orders, and 
 for the sake of his example." He then paid the follow- 
 ing tribute to Fitchburg : 
 
 I do uot forget, iu the thick-coming memories which the scene en- 
 
FITCHBUKG. 
 
 233 
 
 forces upon me, tliat this ancient and beautiful town of ritcliburg— to 
 which by neiglihorhood ties of birtli and youthful residence my heart 
 ever draws me and ever M ill- disliuguif bed herself by the iiromptneiia, 
 by tlie alacrity, by the prodigality of means and of nun with which she 
 entered u])on the opening, solemn di-ama in the early days of the war. 
 Not many towns iu the State matched her record, and few, if any, sur- 
 passed her. 
 
 We will now endeavor to give, in as condensed a 
 form as possible, an account of Fitchburg's part in 
 the Civil War. 
 
 On Saturday, April 13, 18C1, news reached the 
 town of the attack on Fort Sumter, and Major 
 Anderson's gallant defence. The next day came the 
 news of its surrender. Then, fast following, came 
 President Lincoln's call for seventy-five thousand 
 volunteers. Captain John W. Kimball, of the Fusil- 
 iers, and Captain Edwin Upton, of the Guards, 
 reported their companies ready to march at once if 
 wanted. But already enough whole regiments had 
 been offered, and Governor Andrew hurriedly des- 
 patched the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eighth 
 Eegiments for Washington, and the old Ninth Regi- 
 ment, to which both the Fitchburg companies then 
 belonged was obliged to wait. 
 
 During the next few days anxiety possessed the 
 hearts of the people, and little business was done. 
 Then came the 10th of April, a day twice memorable 
 in the annals of our country and especially of Massa- 
 chusetts. Late in the afternoon of that day the wires 
 brought us the following: " The Sixth Massachusetts 
 Regiment is now fighting its way through Baltimore ; 
 four men have been killed, many wounded, and the 
 fighting still going on." 
 
 The shock produced by this message was terrific. 
 Massachusetts blood had been spilt and must be 
 avenged. A citizens' meeting was hastily called, 
 which was held on the afternoon of Saturday, April 
 20th. Alvah Crocker, Esq., presided. Mr. Crocker 
 and various other citizens spoke patriotically and elo- 
 quently upon the all-engrossing subject, after which 
 the following resolutions were presented and unani- 
 mously adopted : 
 
 Ecsolved, That wo respond cordially to the Proclamation of the Presi- 
 dent of the United States ; that we declare our unflinching resolution to 
 support our Government in its struggle to maintain its honor, integrity 
 and existence. 
 
 lieaolved, That we will use our utmost endeavors to secure a vote of the 
 town whereby the sum often thousand dollars shall be raised by direct 
 tax, which sum of money shall be appropriated to provide for the sup- 
 port of the families of any of the soldiers who may be called out dur- 
 ing the present war, and for fitting out and equipping such men. 
 
 The next day was Sunday — the first in war-time — 
 and the services in all the churches in town were of a 
 patriotic nature. During the day the ladies of Fitch- 
 burg were not idle. It was expected that on the mor- 
 row our companies would be called upon, and their 
 kind hearts, anticipating what might be the needs of 
 the near future, prompted them to busily engage 
 themselves in the preparation of lint, bandages and 
 clothing for the brave men who, like the "minute- 
 men " of the last century, stood ready to go to the 
 front at a moment's notice. 
 
 The following week was one of feverish anxiety. 
 Our companies were not called upon, and many of the 
 soldiers assisted the ladies in their preparation of 
 bandages, etc., at the armories. The zeal of the 
 citizens suggested many measures, some of which 
 were not very practical. One of these was that each 
 soldier from Fitchburg should have a revolver and a 
 bowie knife, and one hundred and fifty revolvers were 
 actually bought for this purpose, and Whitman & 
 Miles, with characteristic liberality, offered to manu- 
 facture the same number of bowie knives. This 
 scheme was abandoned before the time came to 
 march. 
 
 On April 27th a town-meeting was held, at which 
 it was unanimously voted to raise ten thousand dol- 
 lars for the soldiers and their families, and a com- 
 mittee of seven (Ebenezer Torrey, Moses Wood, Che- 
 dorlaomer Marshall, William Woodbury, Levi Downs, 
 Alpheus P. Kimball and Timothy S. Wilson) was 
 chosen to take charge of the appropriation. A com- 
 mittee was also chosen to see what reduction could 
 he made in town expenses for the current year. 
 
 By this time the Fusiliers and Guards had recruited 
 their companies, and on the day of this town-meet- 
 ing a grand parade was held, in which the company 
 from Leominster joined. 
 
 On May 4th an adjourned town-meeting was held 
 to hear the report of the committee on retrenchment. 
 This committee made a report recommending a re- 
 duction of five thousand dollars in the town appro- 
 priations for the year, — two thousand dollars each 
 from schools and highways and the remaining one 
 thousand dollars from other departments. Their re- 
 port was accepted and the recommendations adopted, 
 though all regretted the reduction in the school ap- 
 propriation. During the other years of the war, it is 
 but just to say, the school appropriation was not 
 diminished for war expenses. At this same meeting 
 the chairman of the committee having charge of the 
 ten thousand dollars voted for the soldiers and their 
 families, read the following note, which is self-ex- 
 planatory and an honor to the medical profession : 
 
 Tn the MUUartj Belief Commatee,—GenlIemen : The undersigned physi- 
 cians of Fitchburg members of the Slassachusctts Medical Society, 
 through you hereby tender gratuitous professional services, when do 
 Bired, to the families of the soldiers of this town while engaged in the 
 war to defend the Government of the United States against the present 
 Southern Eebellion. 
 
 Thomas R. Boutelle, 
 Jonas A. Marshall, 
 Alfred Hitchcock, 
 James K. Wellman, 
 George Jewett, 
 George D. Colony. 
 Fitchhurgh, May 1, 1861. 
 
 These physicians faithfully fulfilled the promise 
 contained in the above note until the close of the 
 war. Only two of the signers are now living, — Drs. 
 Jewett and Colony. 
 
 Thursday, May 16th, was a great day in Fitchburg. 
 The two military companies paraded and the school- 
 
234 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 children with their teachers and all the citizens 
 joined in a grand patriotic demonstration. In the 
 evening there was a presentation, at the town hall, of 
 two handsome silk flags, procured by the ladies at an 
 expense of eighty dollars. The hall was crowded, 
 and after the opening of the meeting by the presiding 
 officer, Hon. J. W. Mansur, Miss Emma Twitchell 
 presented one of the flags to the Fusiliers. Captain 
 Kimball made a fitting acknowledgment of the beau- 
 tiful gift and caused his men to swear that " it should 
 never trail in the dust while a single arm was left to 
 uphold it." Miss Eliza Trask then presented the 
 other flag to the Guards, whose commander. Captain 
 Upton, accepted it on behalf of his company with 
 appropriate remarks. 
 
 An account, necessarily very brief, will now be 
 given of the companies sent out from the town, and 
 of the work, both public and private, done by the 
 citizens who remained at home during the war 
 period. 
 
 Company D, Second Regiment. — Soon after 
 President Lincoln issued his call for three years' 
 troops, James Savage, Jr., of Boston, opened a re- 
 cruiting office in Fitchburg. A company was raised 
 in about a week and was attached to the Second 
 Regiment and designated Company D. Most of the 
 men in this company were from neighboring towns, 
 because there were then in town two full companies, 
 and, as the chances of their being called into service 
 soon seemed to be good, the young men did not care 
 to leave them in order to join Captain Savage's com- 
 pany. But, notwithstanding the fact that only a few 
 of our own citizens enlisted in it, it was always known 
 as the " Fitchburg Company." 
 
 The Second Regiment was mustered into service 
 May 11, 1861, and served the entire three years; and a 
 large number re-enlisted at the end of this time. July 
 14, 18G5, it was mustered out of the service and 
 started for Boston, receiving a fine reception in New 
 York as it passed through the city. On July 26th, 
 it was finally discharged, after having served four 
 years, two months and fifteen days. During this long 
 period it made a brilliant recard and participated in 
 numerous battles, among which may be noted the 
 following: It was in the thickest of the fight in the 
 battle of Cedar Mountain, August 6, 1861, and lost 
 heavily; at Antietam, September 17,1862, it served 
 gallantly, capturing a flag from the enemy and losing 
 about seventy of its members; at Chancellorsville it 
 was hotly engaged for an hour and a half and lost 
 one hundred and twenty-eight in killed and wounded; 
 onthe2dand3d of July, 1863, it made a most hon- 
 orable record at Gettysburg ; it accompanied General 
 Sherman on his " grand march to the sea " in the lat- 
 ter part of 18G4. On the 24th of May, 1865, it took 
 part in the grand review of the whole arm}', after 
 which it performed provost duty near Washington 
 until it was mustered out of the service. 
 
 COMI'ANY B, FlFTKENTH REGIMENT (FiTCHBURO 
 
 Fusiliers). — As has been before stated, the Fusiliers 
 and Guards belonged to the old Ninth Regiment, and 
 it was expected that this regiment would be filled up 
 and accepted as the old Ninth ; but instead of that, 
 its number was assigned to a regiment of foreigners 
 recruited in Boston. This left both of our companies 
 out in the cold, so to speak. On the 11th of May, 
 1861, the Fusiliers voted to volunteer for the war, 
 and finally the company was ordered into camp at 
 Worcester, and became Company B of the Fifteenth 
 Regiment. 
 
 It was on the 28th day of June, 1861, that the 
 Fusiliers left for camp. In the morning of that day 
 the citizens gathered at the town hall to bid them 
 good-bye and God-speed. Remarks were made by 
 prominent citizens, among them Dr. Jonas A. Mar- 
 shall, captain of the "Old Fusiliers," who exhorted 
 the soldiers to sustainthehonorof the" Old Fusiliers'' 
 and their native town on all occasions. Captain 
 Kimball responded on behalf of the company. Each 
 soldier was then presented with a New Testament 
 from the clergymen of the town, and a note was read, 
 signed by the clergymen, asking their acceptance of 
 this gift and expressing the hope that the little book 
 might be of priceless value to them in the trying 
 scenes of the future. 
 
 After the soldiers had been gratuitously vaccinated 
 by Drs. Hitchcock and Jewett, the company was es- 
 corted to the Fitchburg Hotel to partake of a dinner 
 provided by the citizens. After the dinner the " Old 
 Fusiliers," under command of Captain Marshall and 
 the " Second Edition '' of the Fusiliers, composed of 
 younger men, under command of Capt. Eugene T. 
 Miles, escorted the company to the depot. Thus left 
 our first company of Fitchburg men, many of them 
 never to return to their friends and native town. 
 
 The Fifteenth Regiment was mustered into service 
 July 12, 1861, and left the State August 8th, arriving 
 in Washington three days later. On August 1st Capt. 
 Kimball was promoted to major and Lieut. Clark S. 
 Simonds to captain. 
 
 The first engagement of the Fifteenth was at Ball's 
 Bluff, October 21, 1861, in which its loss amounted to 
 upward of three hundred men in killed, wounded and 
 prisoners. 
 
 April 29, 1862, Major Kimball was promoted to 
 lieutenant-colonel and assumed command of the regi- 
 ment, as its colonel was absent on account of wounds 
 received at Ball's Blufl". Under Lieut.-Col. Kimball's 
 command the Fifteenth took part in the siege of 
 Yorktown and in a number of battles, the two most 
 notable being Fair Oaks, May 31, 1862, and Antietam, 
 September 17, 1862. In the first-mentioned battle the 
 regiment behaved gallantly, and the bayonet charges 
 by it at several critical periods during the battle won 
 the admiration of Gen. Gorman, who commanded the 
 brigade of which it was a part. In a private letter to 
 Governor Andrew he asked "that the history of the 
 ' Fifteenth Massachusetts Volunteers may be made a 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 235 
 
 part of the history of the State, as associated with one 
 of the moat brilliant exploits of the war." 
 
 At Antietam the Fifteenth also distinguished itself, 
 though at the great cost of three hundred and forty- 
 three men, killed, wounded and missing. Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Kimball was recommended for promotion for 
 his gallantry and good management of his command 
 during this terrible battle. 
 
 After this the regiment was engaged in a campaign 
 in the Shenandoah Valley and at Fredericksburg, 
 December 12, 1862. Nothing of note occurred until 
 June 25, 1863, when it began a forced march from 
 the Rappahannock to Gettysburg. It was a hard 
 march, but that the members of the regiment per- 
 formed it well is shown by the following order read 
 to them June 27th : 
 
 Headqvarters 2d Division, 2d Corps. 
 June 26th, 1SG3. 
 
 General Orders^ No. 105. — The Fifteenth and Nineteenth Massachusetts 
 Volunteers for niarcliing in the best and most compact order, and with 
 the least straggling from their ranks, are excused from all picket duty 
 and outside duty for four days. 
 
 By command of 
 
 Brig.-Gen'l Gibbon. 
 
 The record of the Fifteenth at Gettysburg July 
 2-4, 1863, was very brilliant. "The regiment went 
 into action with eighteen officers and two hundred 
 and twenty-one enlisted men. During the three days 
 it lost three officers (Col. Ward, Capt. Murkland, of 
 Fitchburg, and Lieut. Jorgensen) killed, eight officers 
 wounded, nineteen enlisted men killed, eighty-flve 
 wounded, many of them mortally." 
 
 In the spring of 1864 there were about three hun- 
 dred officers and men in the regintent, and nearly half 
 of this number were killed and wounded in the bat- 
 tle of the ^Vilderness early in May of that year. 
 During the next few weeks it took part in all 
 the marches and battles in which the Second Corps 
 was engaged, from the Rapidan to Petersburg, and on 
 the 22d of the following June, reduced to five nfficers 
 and uvruhj men, it confronted a large force of the 
 enemy "near the Jerusalem plank road before Peters- 
 burg." Here, by a hidden manoeuvre of the enemy, 
 it was flanked, and all, except one officer and four 
 men, were taken prisoners. This officer was wounded 
 the same day, and the four men ♦'ere placed in another 
 command until more of the officers and men came 
 from the hospitals. Its three years' term of service 
 having expired, the regiment was, on July 12, 1864, 
 ordered to proceed to Worcester, where it arrived on 
 the 21st, about one hundred and fifty strong. The 
 State and city officials gave it a rousing reception, 
 and on the same evening all that were left of the 
 Fusiliers and were able to travel (about twenty men) 
 arrived in Fitchburg and were given a public recep- 
 tion. 
 
 Such is a brief account of the brilliant, though sad, 
 record of one of the best regiments Massachusttts 
 sent out; and Fitchburg has every rea.'ion to be proud 
 of the prominent part which the officers and men fur- 
 
 nished by the town took in the making of its glorious 
 history. 
 
 Company D, Twenty-first Regiment (Wash- 
 ington Guards). — For some cause or other the 
 Guards were not allowed to go with the Fusiliers, 
 though desirous of so doing ; and it was not until 
 July 19. 1801, that the company was ordered into 
 camp at Worcester and became Company D of the 
 Twenty-first Regiment. Their departure was the oc- 
 casion of another public demonstration by the citi- 
 zens, consisting of a meeting in the town hall, a 
 dinner at the American House and a grand parade. 
 
 The Twenty-first Regiment left Worcester August 
 23, 1801. It was first under fire at the battle of 
 Roanoke Island, February 8, 1802, when it acquitted 
 itself nobly and was the first to plant a Union flag in- 
 side the enemy's works. It lost fifty-seven men, killed 
 and wounded, in this battle. Our own Company D 
 was honored after the battle by the presentation to 
 its captain, Theodore S. Foster, of a flag by Lieuten- 
 ant-Colonel A. C. Maggi, commanding the Twenty- 
 first. Accompanying the flag was a note which 
 concluded thus : " You may inscribe on the flag 
 these words : The Officers of the Twenty first Regiment, 
 M. v., to the brave Captain T. S. Foster, of Co. D." 
 The flag and note were sent by Captain Foster to 
 the Fitchburg Public Library, to be there preserved. 
 
 March 14, 1802, the regiment took part in the 
 battle of Kewbern, and was highly commended in 
 the official report for its bravery. General Burnside, 
 after the battle, presented to it the first gun (a brass 
 field-piece) which it captured from the enemy. Its 
 loss in this action was three officers and fifty-four 
 men, killed and wounded. 
 
 April 19th it arrived at Elizabeth City, and, after a 
 forced march of twenty miles, took part in the battle 
 of Camden. 
 
 July 9th it arrived at Newport News and became 
 part of the Army of the Potomac, and, during the 
 rest of 1802, it was almost constautly on the move. It 
 took part in General Pope's campaign, and, in the 
 disastrous retreat that followed, it suffered great 
 hardships. It also participated in the following 
 battles, with great credit to itself, during the latter 
 part of 1862 : Second Bull Run, Chantilly, Antietam 
 and Fredericksburg. The regiment's losses in these 
 four battles were two hundred and sixly-six officers 
 and men killed, wounded and taken prisoners. 
 
 During most of 1863 the regiment did picket duty 
 in Kentucky and Tennessee. It was a part of the 
 besieged force that was shut up in Knoxville for 
 some weeks in November, and was on duty constantly 
 and made several brilliant charges during the siege ; 
 and when the siege was finally raised, December 5,^ 
 1803, the Twenty-first was one of the regiments 
 ordered to pursue the enemy. " From that time the 
 regiment saw weary marches and constant exposure, 
 and was reduced to such an extremity that tioo ears of 
 raw corn per day Were issued to each man as his 
 
236 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 ration. Thus situated, in the woods of East Tennes- 
 see, on the 29th of December, 18G3, the proposal was 
 made to the regiment to re-enlist for the new term of 
 three years, and in thirty-six hours all but twenty-four 
 of the regiment had re-enlisted." 
 
 January 8, 18G4, the Twenty-first started for home 
 on a "veteran furlough," and received a public recep- 
 tion on its arrival in Worcester. At the expiration 
 of the furlough it returned to the scene of operations, 
 and was in season to take a prominent part in the 
 battle of the Wilderness, May 6, 1864, but was for- 
 tunate enough to suffer a comparatively light loss, — 
 three officers and twelve men. 
 
 June 16th the regiment arrived before Petersburg, 
 having been almost constantly engaged in skirmishes 
 and battles wiih the enemy during their entire 
 march, and having lost upwards of one hundred offi- 
 cers and men within the five weeks preceding. On 
 the following day it participated in a brilliant charge 
 on the enemy's works; and from that date to July 
 30th was constantly in the rifle-pits at the front. 
 
 V On the 30th occurred the explosion of the mine, 
 and this regiment was in the division which rushed 
 into the ' crater,' only to be repulsed with severe 
 loss." 
 
 This was the last engagement in which the Twenty- 
 first participated, as soon afterward " it was decided 
 that the Regiment was not a 'veteran regiment,' be- 
 cause of the Ihree-fourths that had re-enlisted, fifty- 
 six had been rejected for various reasons, and it was 
 ordered that the Regiment be broken up, and the 
 officers and non-enlisted men proceed home to be 
 mustered out." 
 
 On August 30, 1864, the regiment was accordingly 
 mustered out at Worcester. This breaking up of the 
 organization was a great disappointment to all who 
 had ever been connected with it, and certainly its 
 history during the three years of its existence reflects 
 much honor and credit on both officers and men. It 
 is gratifying to state here that Captain Foster, who 
 went out as the commander of Company D, was pro- 
 moted to major May 17, 1862, and to lieutenant-colo- 
 nel September 2, 1862. 
 
 Company F, Twenty-fifth Regiment. — In the 
 autumn of 1861 authority was granted to raise the 
 Twenty-fifth Regiment, and Edwin Upton, of this 
 town, was appointed its colonel. The old Guards 
 formed the nucleus of the company raised in Fitch- 
 burg, of which Charles H. Fo^s was appointed cap- 
 tain. 
 
 Recruits came in rather slowly, and September 23, 
 1861, a large meeting of the citizens was held at the 
 town hall to help recruiting in town. David H. Mer- 
 riam, Esq., presided, and Hon. Goldsmith F. Bailey 
 made an eloquent address. This meeting had good 
 results, and Capt. Foss had Company F filled in less 
 than a month after he began to raise it. 
 
 About October 1, 18GI, the company left town for 
 Worcester, and on the day of their departure from 
 
 Fitchburg a parade was held, after which the com- 
 pany enjoyed a dinner provided for its members at 
 the American House, through the liberality of Charles 
 T. Crocker, Esq. After the dinner remarks were 
 made by Mr. Crocker, Amasa Norcross, Esq., and 
 Rev. George Trask, and later in the afternoon Com- 
 pany F left us amid great enthusiasm and hearty 
 God-speeds. 
 
 On the 10th of October some of the friends of Col. 
 Upton united in the presentation to him of a fine 
 horse and set of equipments as a token of their esteem 
 and regard. The presentation speech was made by 
 Amasa Norcross, Esq., and Col. Upton feelingly re- 
 turned thanks to his fellow-citizens for their splendid 
 gift, after which he invited them to partake of a col- 
 lation at the American House. Earnest remarks were 
 made by Hon. Moses Wood, Hon. J. W. Mansur and 
 other gentlemen present. 
 
 October 31, 1861, the Twenty-fifth left Worcester 
 and went to Annapolis, where the next two months 
 were spent in drilling, during which time it acquired 
 such proficiency that it was complimented officially 
 as one of the best of the large number of regiments 
 gathered there. 
 
 As in the case of the Twenty-first Regiment, the 
 Twenty-fifth's first baptism of fire was at Roanoke 
 Island. At this battle it did good service, fighting in 
 the front ranks for three hours, when, their ammuni- 
 tion being exhausted, the regiment was ordered to the 
 rear. Its loss in this battle was forty-eight killed and 
 wounded. A month later the regiment was engaged 
 at the battle of Newbern. Here it made a gallant 
 charge on the breast-works of the enemy, and was the 
 first to plant the State colors on the work. It was 
 also the first regiment that entered the city of New- 
 bern. Its loss was miraculously small, — twenty killed 
 and wounded. 
 
 From this time until about December 1, 1863, the 
 regiment was in the vicinity of Newbern, doing 
 picket duty and having occasional skirmishes with 
 the enemy. 
 
 On account of poor health Col. Upton was obliged 
 to resign his command of the Twenty-fifth, much to 
 the regret of his men ; and at ihe time of his retiring 
 he was presented by tfce enlisted men of the regiment 
 with a beautiful sword, belt and .sash, costing one 
 thousand dollars. Col. Josiah Pickett succeeded 
 him in the command. 
 
 Early in 1864 a furlough was granted, and the 
 Twenty-fifth returned to Massachusetts, receiving a 
 most hearty welcome in Boston and Worcester. It 
 left Boston for the field March 21, 1864, and early in 
 May was engaged in several sharp conflicts not far 
 from Richmond. In one of these engagements, by a 
 singular coincidence, the Twenty-third, Twenty-fifth 
 and Twenty-seventh Massachusetts Regiments were 
 directly opposed to the Twenty-third, Twenty-fifth 
 and Twenty-seventh South Carolina Regiments. On 
 this occasion Massachusetts got the better of South 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 237 
 
 I 
 
 Carolina. It was a sharp struggrle, and among the 
 killed was First Lieut. Charles E. Upton, of Fitch- 
 burg. A week later, while moving towards Richmond, 
 the regiment was attacked by the Rebels, and came 
 near being captured. The official report of this ac- 
 tion says : 
 
 " The Twenty-fifth fought splendidly, holding 
 their ground with the utmost tenacity, inflicting on 
 the charging columns of the enemy the most terrible 
 slaughter until surrounded, and with their ammuni- 
 tion exhausted, they were ordered to face by the rear 
 rank and charge the Rebel line in the rear, thereby 
 throwing the enemy into such confusion as to enable 
 the regiment to extricate itself from one of the most 
 perilous positions troops were ever placed in, and 
 completely checking the advance of the enemy.'' 
 
 The losses of the regiment in all these contests 
 during the month of May, 18G4, amounted to twenty- 
 six killed and one hundred and fifteen wounded. 
 
 On the 3d of the following June the Twenty-fifth 
 underwent its most terrible experience of the war in 
 tlie battle of Cold Harbor. During the day this 
 regiment made a most heroic assault upon the Rebel 
 lines, and held the position they attained, though at 
 a terrible expense of life. The total loss of the regi- 
 ment in this battle was as follows : 4 officers and 
 23 men killed; 11 officers and 128 men wounded ; 2 
 officers and 47 men missing. Among the killed 
 were — James Graham, Jr., of Fitchburg, second lieu- 
 tenant of Company F, and Lieut. -Col. George E. 
 Marshall, of the Fortieth Massachusetts Regiment, 
 who was also a Fitchburg boy. 
 
 This was the last regular battle in which the Twenty- 
 fifth participated. June 13th it went to the "Point 
 of Rocks," on the Appomattox River, and two days 
 later made an assault on the enemy's works, carrying 
 the position and capturing two cannon, and on the 
 18th made another charge which was unsuccessful. 
 The loss in these two assaults was seven killed and 
 thirty-one wounded. 
 
 October 5, 18(34, the portion of the regiment whose 
 term of service had expired was ordered to Worces- 
 ter ami mustered out October 20th. The remainder, 
 consolidated into a battalion of four companies, re- 
 mained in North Carolina, taking part in only one en- 
 gagement (Wise's Forks) during the period of its stay. 
 July 13, 1865, it was ordered to Massachusetts to be 
 mustered out, thus closing the record of the gallant 
 Twenty-fifth. 
 
 Company A, Thirty-sixth Regiment.— In July, 
 1862, President Lincoln issued a call for three hun- 
 dred thousand men, and authority was given to raise 
 the Thirty-sixth Regiment. Fitchburg's proportion 
 was found to be ninety-seven and Captain Thaddeus 
 L. Barker, of the ''Old Guards," was appointed to raise 
 a company. 
 
 On July 12, 1862, a large citizens' meeting was held 
 in the town hall, at which resolutions, presented by 
 Thornton K. Ware, Esq., were adopted, recommend- 
 
 ing the calling of a town-meeting at an early date to 
 take measures for offering a bounty of seventy-five 
 dollars to every recruit. A committee was also chosen 
 to canvass the town for recruits. 
 
 A town-meeting was held just a week later at which 
 it was voted to "authorize and instruct our selectmen 
 to appropriate and pay one hundred dollars, as a 
 bounty, to each and every acceptable recruit, when he 
 shall have been mustered into the United States ser- 
 vice and shall have joined the Volunteer Company 
 now forming in this town, or either of the three com- 
 panies from this town, now at the seat of war; not to 
 exceed in all the sum of ten thousand and one hun- 
 dred dollars." 
 
 Ourquota was soon filled, and on August 1, 1862, the 
 company left town amid cheer.sand great enthusiasm. 
 
 Lieut.-Col. John W. Kimball, of the Fifteenth, was 
 designated as colonel of the Thirty-sixth, but being 
 unable to obtain his discharge from the Fifteenth, 
 Major Bowman, of the Thirty-fourth, was apijointed 
 its colonel. 
 
 The regiment arrived in Washington September 7, 
 1862, and on the 20th joined Gen. Burnside's army at 
 Sharpsburg, Md., arriving a little too late to take part 
 at Antietam. For some time it was in various parts 
 of Virginia and witnessed its first battle at Freder- 
 icksburg, but was not actively engaged, being held in 
 reserve, and having only two men wounded. 
 
 During the following winter nothing of note 
 occurred. Early in April, 1863, the Thirty-sixth was 
 sent to Cincinnati to guard the polls at the election 
 of the mayor of that city. After the surrender of 
 Vicksburg, July 4, 1863, this regiment, with others, 
 pursued the enemy and lost eight men in skirmishes. 
 Then followed their trying campaign in Mississippi, 
 in which the regiment lost one hundred and fifty men 
 by death and discharge on account of disease and 
 exhaustion. 
 
 During the autumn it was engaged in several minor 
 battles, losing about thirty men. It was present at 
 the siege of Knoxville and suffi^red with the rest from 
 lack of food. After the siege was raised the Thirty- 
 sixth joined in the pursuit of the enemy, and during 
 the winter of 1863-64 suffered very severely from lack 
 of food and clothing. At one period the rations were 
 " si.c spoonfuls of flour a day for seven days and what 
 corn could be picked up from under the feet of mules 
 and horses." 
 
 On the 6th of April, 1864, the regiment arrived at 
 Annapolis, where the men received new clothing and 
 good food and enjoyed a much-needed, though short, 
 rest. A month later it took part in the battle of the 
 Wilderness, where "the regiment acquitted itself 
 nobly, charging the enemy three times with a loss of 
 two officers and sixty-two men killed and wounded.'' 
 The battles of Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor fol- 
 lowed soon after, and the regiment was engaged in 
 both and lost heavily, — one hundred and twenty-six 
 officers and men killed and wounded. 
 
238 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 June 16, 1864, the Thirty-sixth arrived before 
 Petersburg and on the following day made a gallant 
 charge on the enemy's works, capturing four cannon 
 and four hundred and fifty prisoners; and for the 
 next four weeks it was in the rifle-pits, at the front, 
 and lost some twenty men, picked oft" by the rebel 
 sharpshooters. It remained in the vicinity of Peters- 
 burg until April 1, 18G5. 
 
 The regiment was mustered out of the service June 
 8, 1865, and arrived in Worcester two days later, 
 where it received a hearty public reception by the 
 citizens. 
 
 Captain Thaddeus L. Barker, of Company A, was 
 promoted to major, May 6,1864; lieutenant-colonel, 
 October 12, 1864, and to colonel, November 13, 
 1864. 
 
 Companies A and B, Fifty-third Regiment. — 
 In August, 1862, a call was issued for troops to serve 
 nine months. Fitchburg's citizens took hold in ear- 
 nest, and in a few days two entire companies were 
 enrolled. After the ranks were filled, the town voted, 
 August 30th, to give each of the nine months' volun- 
 teers from this town one hundred dollars bounty. 
 Euo'ene T. Miles was commissioned captain of Com- 
 pany A, and Jonas Corey captain of Company B, 
 both companies being attached to the Fifty-third 
 Regiment. 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel John W. Kimball, of the Fif- 
 teenth, was designated colonel of the Fifty-third, and 
 assumed his command of it November 29, 1862. On 
 that date he received a fine horse and set of equip- 
 ments from a few of his many friends in Fitchburg. 
 
 The Fifty-third started for New York November 
 29th, to join General Banks' expedition. On account 
 of the prevalence of a mild form of scarlet fever 
 among the men, the regiment did not leave for the 
 South until January 17, 1863. It then went by 
 steamer from New York to New Orleans, and thence 
 to Baton Rouge. 
 
 The regiment was first under fire Ap:il 12, 1863, at 
 Fort Bisland, and was actively engaged on the follow- 
 ing day. During the next night the enemy evacuated 
 the works, and at daybreak on the 14th, Fort Bisland 
 was in possession of the Union army, and the flag of 
 the Fifty-third was the first to be planted on its ram- 
 parts. In this battle Lieutenant Nutting, of this town, 
 in command of Company A, was killed, as were also 
 thirteen privates. 
 
 The regiment participated in the pursuit of the 
 enemy, capturing many prisoners and driving in a lot 
 of cattle. It accompanied the army to Opelousas and 
 Alexandria, and arrived at Port Hudson May 22, 1863, 
 where it remained until July lllh, much of the time 
 being actively engaged with the enemy. The first 
 general attack on the works at Port Hudson took 
 place May 27th, and during that day and the next the 
 Fifty-third was at the front, in hot conflict a large 
 portion of the time. Its loss was thirty killed and 
 wounded. From the 1st to the 4th of June the regi- 
 
 ment was in the rifle-pits to the front, and from the 
 5th to the 8th joined in an expedition to Clinton. It 
 was a severe march, and several men in the regiment 
 were sunstruck. The enemy retired from Clinton 
 without giving battle. The Fifty-third returned to 
 Port Hudson on the evening of the 8th, and remained 
 in comparative quiet until the 13th ; on the evening 
 of the 13th orders were given for it to join in an 
 assault on the works of the rebels at three o'clock the 
 next morning. Four regiments were designated to 
 make this assault — the Fourth Wisconsin, Eighth 
 New Hampshire, Thirty-eighth and Fifty-third Massa- 
 chusetts — and at the appointed time they myved upon 
 the enemy's works. The rebels opened a murderous 
 fire upon the heroic men, but their line did not waver. 
 It advanced on the double-quick close to the works, 
 but was not strong enough to carry them, and no sup- 
 ports came to its aid. It was a gallant, but most dis- 
 astrous, charge. The Fifty-third lost eighty-six men 
 killed and wounded. One of the killed was Captain 
 Taft, of Fitchburg, the third commander lost by Com- 
 pany A in two months. The bravery of the Fifty- 
 third in this charge was highly commended, and 
 Colonel Kimball, for special gallantry, was recom- 
 mended for promotion. 
 
 Just previous to the first general attack on Port 
 Hudson a most deplorable accident befell the Fifty- 
 third. It happened thus : On the night of May 25, 
 1863, it was ordered to do picket duty, General 
 Paine, who gave the order, honoring the regiment by 
 saying " he wanted this Regiment, because he knew 
 he could depend upon it to hold the position during 
 the night." Soon after taking their position for the 
 night, the rebels at their front opened fire, which was 
 unwittingly returned by two New Yoik regiments in 
 the rear, thus placing the Fifty-third between two 
 fires. Fortunately the firing was stopped before 
 much damage was done ; but it was at this time that 
 Captain George H. Bailey, of Fitchburg, was killed. 
 He was in command of Company A, having received 
 his appointment only one week previous to his 
 death. 
 
 Port Hudson surrendered July 9, 1863, and the 
 Fifty-third, after doing picket duty for two days, 
 started for Baton Rouge, and on the 15lh went to 
 Donaldsonville, where it was in camp, and engaged 
 in drill and picket duty till August 2d, when it re- 
 turned to Baton Rouge. Its nine months' term of 
 service having expired, it was ordered to Massachu- 
 setts. 
 
 A grand public reception was given it at Fitchburg 
 August 24th, on which day fully eight thousand peo- 
 ple from surrounding towns were present to witness 
 the return of the brave soldiers. An address of wel- 
 come was delivered by Amasa Norcross, Esq., to 
 which Colonel Kimball responded for the regiment. 
 A procession was then formed and marched to the 
 upper Common, where a bountiful collation, prepared 
 by the ladies, was e/ijoyed by all. 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 239 
 
 The regiment was mustered out of the service Sep- 
 tember 2, 18GS, at Camp Stevens. 
 
 The Fifty-third was in service for only a compara- 
 tively short time, but it made for itself a most bril- 
 liant record, and, in the wcrds of the various gen- 
 erals it served under, " it ought to have been a three 
 years' regiment." 
 
 Considering the short time it was in service, its 
 loss from disease was something fearful, as the fol- 
 lowing statement, given by Mr. Willis, in his book, 
 shows : 
 
 Original strength of regiment 950 
 
 Killed in_ battle and died of wounds 33 
 
 Died of disease 132 
 
 Discharged for disability 53 
 
 Deserted 22 
 
 240 
 
 Mustered out.. 
 
 Many of the members of the regiment who re- 
 turned home had disease fastened upon them, from 
 which they never recovered ; some twenty dying 
 within a few days after reaching home. 
 
 Company F, Fifty-seventh Regiment. — Octo- 
 ber 17, 1863, President Lincoln issued a call for three 
 hundred thousand more men. Fitchburg's quota 
 was found to be one hundred and twenty, and Cap- 
 tain Levi Lawrence was authorized to raise a com- 
 pany in town. 
 
 It took a long time to fill the ranks, and many 
 meetings were held and strenuous efforts made by the 
 citizens before the company was ready to start. 
 Finally, on February 6, 18(34, it left for camp at 
 Worcester, under command of Captain Lawrence, 
 and became Company F, of the Fifty-seventh Regi- 
 ment. 
 
 The Fifty-seventh left Massachusetts April 18th 
 and arrived at Annapolis two days later, whence it 
 proceeded to Washington and was immediately 
 ordered to the front. 
 
 Its first battle was at the Wilderness, where it was 
 hotly engaged for one hour, in which time its loss was 
 two hun<lred and fifty-one officers and men killed, 
 wounded and missing. 
 
 May 12th it took part at Spottsylvauia and lest 
 seventy-two officers and men, and on the 18ih, in a 
 reconnoisance, lost seventeen more. On the 24th it 
 was ordered to cross the North Anna River to test the 
 strength of the rebels, was attacked on both flanks 
 and lost its lieutenant-colonel and thirty-six men. 
 
 The regiment then went to Cold Harbor, and was 
 engaged in that vicinity for a lew days and then 
 marched to Petersburg, where itarrived June 16, 1864, 
 and remained for several months. Ou the 30th of 
 July it participated in the assault at the explosion of 
 the mine, and lost six officers and forty-five men in 
 the disastrous attempt. 
 
 During the following two months the Fifty-seventh 
 was engaged in picket duty near Petersburg, and on 
 September 30th was in the battle of Poplar Grove 
 
 Church. At this time there were inly sixty men in the 
 regiment present for duty, and eight of them were 
 lost in this action. 
 
 During the next three months the regiment, or 
 rather what there was left of it, was engaged in recon- 
 noitering and skirmishing, losing, during the period, 
 some twenty men. 
 
 In a movement on the Weldon Railroad in Decem- 
 ber, 1864, the men suffered extremely from cold. For 
 some time afterward it lay in the lines before Peters- 
 burg, with the exception of a short period when it 
 joined in a reconnoi.sance towards Weldon about the 
 middle of Februaiy, 1865. The intense cold during 
 much of the winter caused severe suffering. 
 
 On March 25, 1865, the Fifty-seventh was engaged 
 in the memorable repulse of Gordon's corps, and 
 earned for itself a proud record. 
 
 Petersburg was evacuated on April 3d, and on that 
 day the regiment entered the works and was ordered 
 to guard the roads to Richmond and Chesterfield. 
 Soon afterward it went to Washington and performed 
 provost duty at various points in that vicinity until 
 July 30th, when it was mustered out after a service of 
 about fifteen months, during which time it made for 
 itself a most honorable and enviable record. 
 
 Company H, Fourth Heavy Artillery. — This 
 was the last company raised in this town, and was 
 recruited under President Lincoln's call, issued July 
 IS, 1864, for one year troops. As the bounty was large 
 iS200), and the term of service short, the company 
 was very quickly raised, a large proportion of the 
 men in it having seen service in other Fitchburg com- 
 panies. Eben T. Hayward, of this town, was uhosen 
 captain, and the company left Fitchburg for Readville 
 August 15th, and left the State for Washington Sept- 
 ember 13, 1864. It was then consolidated with various 
 other unattached companies as the Fourth Heavy 
 Artillery Regiment, and designated Company H. 
 
 This regiment was assigned the duty of garrisoning 
 various forts on the Virginia side of the Potomac, and 
 Company H, during most of its term of service, occu- 
 pied " Fort Garasche," where there was little to do 
 except to drill in artillery and infantry practice. It 
 was an uneventful year for the men. They faithfully 
 performed their allotted tasks and received mmh 
 praise " for their good drill and soldier-like conduct." 
 
 The regiment was mustered out of service June 
 17, 1865. 
 
 The Call For Three Months' Troops.— To- 
 ward the end of May, 1862, when Gen. Banks' army 
 was routed and the rebels were rapidly approaching 
 the national capital, the President hurriedly issued 
 a call to the Governors of all the States to send on all 
 three months' troops that could be spared for the 
 defence of Washington. 
 
 Gov. Andrew's call upon the Massachusetts militia 
 reached Fitchburg early Monday morning. May 26, 
 1862. Both the Guards and Fusiliers had efficient 
 organizations at that time, and were ready to respond 
 
240 
 
 HISTORi^ OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 to any sudden call. The men assembled at their 
 armories, and at 5 o'clock in the afternoon took the 
 train for Boston, the Fusiliers, witli sixty-six men, 
 under Capt. Eugene T. Miles, and the Guards, with 
 fifty-eight men, under Capt. Jonas Corey. 
 
 " Among the incidents of this exciting day may be 
 mentioned the fact that wlien the order of Captain 
 Miles reached the shop of Whitman & Miles (of 
 which firm the captain was a member) fifteen men 
 dropped their tools and stepped forward to join the 
 ranks of the ' Fusiliers,' and the firm, not at all dis- 
 turbed at this wholesale reduction of their 'available 
 force,' at once gave another proof of their patriotism 
 by presenting ten dollars to each of the fifteen." 
 
 Our men, together with other companies that had 
 been hurried to Boston, were quartered for two nights 
 in Faneuil Hall. But the alarm at Washington soon 
 subsided and Governor Andrew received a telegram 
 saying that the troops were not needed ; so the men 
 were dismissed and Wednesday afternoon, May 28th, 
 the Fusi/iers and Guards returned to Fitchburg in 
 high feather, had a parade through the streets aud 
 were treated to a collation by the jubilant citizens. 
 
 Though these men did not go to the " seat of war," 
 yet it was their expectation and intention so to do, 
 and their prompt response is worthy of record in a 
 history of Fitchburg. The majority of them saw 
 service and fought bravely in the companies sent out 
 later from this town. 
 
 March 13, 1865, Colonel Kimball was made brevet 
 brigadier-general United States Volunteers, "for 
 gallant and distinguished services in the field and 
 during the war." 
 
 By way of summary, it may be stated that of the 
 citizens of this town who went to the war, one was 
 brevet brigadier-general, two were colonels, two 
 lieutenant-culonels, two majors, two surgeons, four 
 brevet majors, seventeen captains, twenty first lieu- 
 tenants, seven second lieutenants, three navy officers 
 and sixteen seamen in the navy, six hundred and 
 ninety-three non-commissioned officers, musicians 
 and privates, making a grand total of seven hundred 
 and sixty-nine men — nearly one-tenth of Fitchburg 's 
 population at that time. Of this number sixty were 
 killed in battle, sixty-eight died from wounds, disease 
 or starvation in rebel prisons, twenty-five were taken 
 prisoners and eighty-four received wounds from 
 which they recovered. 
 
 Much more might have been written about our 
 brave soldiers if space would permit, and the writer 
 would be glad also to give some history of the naval 
 experience of the sixteen war-ships and gunboats, on 
 board of which were citizens and natives of this 
 town. Suffice it, however, to say that there were very 
 few great battles in the War of the Rebellion in which 
 Fitchburg men did not participate with credit to 
 themselves and honor to the town. 
 
 It remains to speak of what was done by the citizens 
 of Fitchburg who remained at home during the war. 
 
 Of the large amount of private benevolence and 
 assistance no record has been, or ever can be, written : 
 but of the work of the town and of various benevolent 
 societies, a record can be given which, if elaborated, 
 would form one of the most interesting portions of 
 Fitchburg's history. 
 
 It will be remembered that at the very beginning 
 of the war the town appropriated $10,000 for the 
 equipment of our soldiers and support of their 
 families ; and at every annual town-meeting during 
 the war the following vote was passed : " Voted, That 
 the Selectmen be authorized to pay for the support of 
 the families of Volunteers such sums as they think 
 their circumstances require." 
 
 The money thus voted was in addition to the "State 
 Aid " authorized by the Legislature to be paid by 
 towns. By this generous provision of the town the 
 selectmen, aided by the hearty co-operation of the 
 citizens, were enabled to relieve all cases of need ; 
 and it is safe to say that no soldier's family in Fitch- 
 burg sufiered from lack of the necessaries of life 
 during all the period of the war. 
 
 Of the two principal societies organized in this town 
 for the relief and assistance of soldiers we propose 
 to give a brief account, and the first to be spoken 
 of is 
 
 The Ladies' Soldiers' Aid Society. — The ladies 
 of Fitchburg, as has been stated before, began their 
 work of preparing clothing, etc., previous to the 
 departure of our soldiers ; and this work they unre- 
 mittingly continued while the war lasted. 
 
 In order that their good work might be carried on 
 in a methodical and efficient manner, it was thought 
 best to organize a society, and, at a meeting held 
 September 16, 1861, this "Soldiers' Aid Society" was 
 formed, and Mrs. Ebenezer Torrey was chosen presi- 
 dent, with Mrs. Amasa Norcross as secretary. The 
 prime object of this society, as stated in its constitu- 
 tion, was " to furnish to the soldiers engaged in the 
 present war of our country such aid as may be in our 
 power." Most faithfully did the members carry out 
 this object to the end. Any lady could become a 
 member on p-iyment of twenty-five cents, and it is 
 needless to say that the membership was very large. 
 All the preparation of work, purchasing and general 
 direction of aflairs werje vested in a board of twelve 
 directresses, chosen, with the other officers, annually. 
 
 The funds of the society were derived from mem- 
 bership fees and annual assessments, but were largely 
 increased by private donations and church contribu- 
 tions; and the Dramatic Club, the Musical Associa- 
 tion and the "Relief Committee " placed goodly sums 
 at its disposal. The "Old Folks" choir also gave 
 concerts at various times and donated the proceeds 
 to the society. 
 
 One of the first things done by this society was the 
 preparation of boxes of clothing, etc., which were 
 sent to the Twenty-first and Twenty-fifth Regiments 
 at Annapolis, and also blankets and winter clothing 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 241 
 
 sent to the Fifteenth at Poolesville; and in return 
 the secretary of the so -iety received letters from the 
 commanders of the Fitchburg companies conveying 
 their sincere and lieartfelt thanks. Tiie Thirty-sixtli 
 and Fifty-third Regiments were similarly provided 
 for before they left the State. 
 
 At the time the Fifty-third was detained in New 
 York, in the winter of 1862-63, under very uncom- 
 fortable circumstances, the society, on January 1, 
 1863, sent to the members of Companies A and B an 
 inviting dinner of roast turkey and New England 
 plum-pudding and pics. That the dinner "went to 
 the right spot " was amply attested by the acknowl- 
 edgments received in return. 
 
 Of course the intention of our Soldiers' Aid Society 
 was to make the Fitchburg boys its chief care ; but 
 its work was by no means limited to them. During 
 the war it sent large amounts of various supplies and 
 necessaries to the Sanitary and Christian Commis- 
 sions, the Massachusetts Relief Association at Wash- 
 ington, the New England Soldiers' Relief Association 
 at New York, the Worcester Relief Society and to 
 persons known to the society who were caring for the 
 wounded in the hospitals. From all these societies 
 and individuals thus aided came scores of apprecia- 
 tive and thankful letters. 
 
 The actual amount of money received and ex- 
 pended for relief by this society during its existence 
 was something over one thousand five hundred dol- 
 lars ; but of the innumerable gifts of clothing, bed- 
 ding, delicacies for the sick and wounded, no esti- 
 mate of value can ever be made. 
 
 The society held stated meetings, but there were 
 times in its history when sudden and imperative calls 
 were made upon it; and lis earnest members, putting 
 aside their household duties, worked, as we may say, 
 day and night, for the soldiers. One such occasion as 
 this was when, in May, 1862, tlie Fusiliers and Guards 
 were ordered to report in Boston, ready for duty, at 
 a few hours' notice. In I'elation to this emergency 
 the records of the society contain the following: — 
 " Forthwith, the ladies, Monday morning though it 
 was, snatched sewing implements, and in rapid haste 
 gathered at the Town Hall, to fit out our men with 
 flannel shirts and other appropriate garments, and 
 sewing-machines and busy fingers vied with each 
 other to achieve the work." 
 
 And in the same way, when the wires flashed to us 
 the news of some terrible battle raging, as at Gettys- 
 burg, the Wilderness, or other fields of carnage and 
 suffering, the ladies flew to their work of mercy and 
 comfort. All honor to the ladies of Fitchburg who 
 performed this vast amount of noble work ! Many of 
 them have long since left us and gone to their reward ; 
 but, whether living or dead, their labors during those 
 long, dark years are, and ever will be, remembered, 
 and will remain as an everlasting memorial of their 
 self sacrificing devotion to the cause of liberty and 
 the relief of suffering. 
 16 
 
 When the Rebellion was crushed and the army dis- 
 banded, the necessity of thi< society ceased. Its last 
 meeting was he'd June 22, 1805, " no member regret- 
 ting she had been identified with its labors, but rather 
 that it could not more truthfully be said of her, 'she 
 hath done what she could.' " 
 
 The second relief organization iu Fitchburg, of 
 which we propose to give a brief account, was 
 known as 
 
 The Soldiers' Relief Committee. — This was a 
 large organization composed of gentlemen living in 
 all section4 of the town, and did a vast amount of 
 good work during the two years of its existence. 
 
 It was started at a citizens' meeting in the town 
 hall, September 26, 1861, its object being "to organize 
 for the more effectual aid and comfort of the soldiers 
 in the field from this town and their families." 
 
 A sub-committee of eighteen was chosen "to raise 
 funds to aid enlistments, to procure comforts for our 
 soldiers and their families and take such other action 
 in the matter as may be deemed expedient.'' 
 
 This committee to raise funds, etc., went to work 
 immediately, and collected considerable money, 
 farm produce and clothing ; and the following-named 
 gentlemen were appointed an executive committee 
 to distribute the same : Dr. Thomas R. Boutelle, 
 Alvah Crocker, Lewis H. Bradford, Hanson L. Reed 
 and Henry A. Willis. 
 
 Tills executive committee immediately issued a 
 circular, which was distributed among the citizens 
 requesting that all cases of destitution in the families 
 of volunteers be reported without delay. 
 
 On October 21, 1861, occurred the battle at Ball's 
 Bluff, in which the Fifteenth Regiment lost heavily. 
 Our own Company B, of that regiment, suff'ered 
 terribly in the battle, and Capt. Clark S. Simonds 
 and eighteen of his men were captured and impris- 
 oned at Richmond. Nothing was known here con- 
 cerning their fate till letters were received from 
 Capt. Simonds informing us of the imprisonment of 
 himself and his men, and making an earnest appeal 
 for his men, who were suffering for lack of clothing 
 and money. This news did not reach us till Novem- 
 ber 20th, a month after the battle. A meeting of 
 the citizens was forthwith called, and held on the 
 evening of the 20th, at which seven hundred dollars 
 in cash were raised, and about one hundred dollars' 
 worth of clothing contributed by the merchants. 
 This money and clothing, together with blankets, etc., 
 given by the Soldiers' Aid Society, were consigned to 
 the hands of Henry A. Willis, Esq., who started with 
 them for Fortress Monroe ou November 26th, whence 
 they were in due time forwarded to our boys at Rich- 
 mond. At this time Mr. Willis visited the camps of 
 the Fifteenth, Twenty-finst and Twenty-fifch Regi- 
 ments. About three weeks after the supplies were 
 forwarded from Fitchburg, a letter was received from 
 Captain Simonds, acknowledging the receipt of the 
 money and clothing and conveying his thanks, on be- 
 
242 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 half of his men, for the prompt and generous response 
 which the people of Fitchburg had made to his appeal.. 
 The letter also contained the following, which is cer- 
 tainly worthy o f record in this place: 
 
 It is a fact of wbich I sluill ever speak with pride, that FUchhurg wna 
 thejirst and onhf town as yet to aid her prisoner/*, and Masisachusetts the 
 only State. Since the clothing came from Fitchburg, clothing of all 
 kinds, enough for three hundred and fifty men, has arrived, sent by the 
 State authoritiea of Massachusetts, for the relief of her men now here in 
 captivity, placing them in comfort, in this respect, for the winter. 
 
 This statement that Fitchburg was the Jirsl toxon in 
 the whole North to send aid to suffering prisoners is in- 
 deed one that may justly inspire a feeling of pride. 
 Many other towns soon followed her example, but ere 
 long the inhuman orders of the rebel authorities made 
 it impossible for our supplies ever to reach the starv- 
 ing and almost naked Union prisoners. 
 
 Our citizens mont willingly contributed money to be 
 placed at the disposal of the Soldiers' Relief Commit- 
 tee, and the town, on December 14, 18G1, voted to 
 appropriate the sum of one thousand dollars to help it 
 in its noble work, and until the committee ceased to 
 exist, in October, 1863, it carefully sought out the 
 needy families of soldiers and relieved their wants. 
 About two thousand dollars was thus disbursed, be- 
 side a very large amount of clothing, farm produce, 
 &c., of which no accurate account was ever kept. 
 After October, 1863, this work was conscientiously 
 carried on by the citizens and the town until the close 
 of the war. 
 
 During the whole course of the war, when news 
 reached us of great battles, either the Soldiers' Re- 
 lief Committee or the citizens very quickly despatched 
 committees io the front with generous amounts of 
 supplies, and to look after and bring home the 
 wounded. Such action was taken after the battles of 
 Ball's Bluf}', Roanoke Island, Antietam, Fredericks- 
 burg, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Cold Harbor and 
 the battles before Petersburg. 
 
 Lack of space prevents us from giving an account of 
 all this, and the mere details of a few of the more im- 
 portant contributions after some of the great battles 
 must suffice. After the battle of Gettysburg there 
 were sent, on July 14, 1863, in charge of Henry F. 
 Coggshall, Esq., $1079.60 in money, and nine barrels 
 and five large boxes packed solidly with clotliiug, 
 bandages, liquors, wines and delicacies for the sick 
 and wounded. 
 
 News of the battle of the Wilderness reached Fitch- 
 burg May 8, 1864. It was Sunday, and that evening 
 a meeting of the citizens was held in the town hall, 
 the result of which was that in less than twenty-four 
 hours after the meeting Dr. Alfred Hitchcock and 
 Messrs. H. A. Goodrich and E. B. Hayward started 
 for the front, taking with them seventeen hundred 
 dollars in cash and sixteen barrels and bundles of 
 carefully selected stores for the sick and wounded. 
 This promptness and generosity of our citizens re- 
 ceived wide notice in the newspapers " and Fitchburg, 
 for her repeated efforts in this direction, became noted 
 
 for the very liberal care she bestowed upon her 
 
 soldiers." 
 
 There is no accurate account of all the money thus 
 sent away to the fields of battle for the relief of 
 the sick and wounded soldiers ; but the whole amount 
 received and disbursed by the various societies and 
 committees in town was not far from twelve thousand 
 dollars. Most of this sum went to the soldiers them- 
 selves, together with large amounts of supplies. Be- 
 sides this, much was done by the town and societies for 
 the soldiers' families in the way of money andaupplies. 
 Certainly Fitchburg did all that could be expected 
 and the gratifying feature of it is that everything was 
 done and given freely and spontaneously. 
 
 Soldiers' Funerals.— Soldiers from this town 
 met death in almost every one of the great battles of 
 the Civil War and on scores of battle-fields of minor 
 importance. 
 
 Seven public funerals were held in Fitchburg dur- 
 ing, or shortly after, the war, over the remains of 
 eleven of our boys, and a brief mention will here be 
 made of them. 
 
 The first was that of Clark S. Simonds, captain of 
 Company B, Fifteenth Regiment. Captain Simonds 
 was killed at Antietam, September 17, 1862, while 
 conversing with Colonel Kimball after the battle was 
 nearly over. His funeral was held September 23d, 
 with military honors, and all business in the town was 
 suspended. 
 
 The second public funeral was that of Henry A. 
 Beckwith, first lieutenant of Company D, Twenty- 
 first Regiment. Lieutenant Beckwith was mortally 
 wounded at the battle of Chantilly, September 1, 1862, 
 and died, four days later, in the hut of an old slave 
 woman near the battle-field. His body was brought 
 home by his wife and Henry A. Willis, Esq., and 
 given a public military funeral on Sunday, October 
 5, 1862, in the town hall, which was densely packed. 
 
 The third was that of George G. Nutting, first litu- 
 tenant of Company A, Fifty-third Regiment. He was 
 killed at Fort Bisland, La., April 13, 1863, and on 
 account of the absence of Capt. Miles, was in com- 
 mand of the company at the time of his death. His 
 body was at once sent to Fitchburg, wheie it was 
 given a public burial. May 1st. On that day business 
 was suspended in town during the afternoon, flags 
 were at half-mast, and the town hall, in which the 
 services were held, was beautifully decorated. A long 
 procession followed the remains to the cemetery, and 
 the fallen hero was laid to rest in Laurel Hill with 
 military honors. 
 
 The fourth was that of Frederick H. Sibley, first 
 lieutenant of Company I, Thirty-sixth Regiment. He 
 died of disease at Louisville, Ky., August 17, 1863, 
 and his remains were brought home by his father. 
 His funeral occurred at the Universalist Church, 
 August 27, 1863, and he was buried with military 
 honors. 
 
 The fifth was the funeral of George H. Bailey and 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 243 
 
 Jerome K. Taft, both captains of Company A, Fifty- 
 third Regiment, and both killed at Port Hudson, La. 
 We have already related the unfortunate accident by 
 which Captain Bailey was mortally wounded, May 
 25, 1863. Captain Taft, his successor in command, 
 was commissioned only four days before he fell in 
 the gallant assault on the works at Port Hudsoni 
 June 14, 1863. Their remains were brought home 
 and funeral services held October 5, 1863. The bod- 
 ies of the two brothers-in-arms rested on one bier. 
 The Fifty-third had returned from the war a little 
 over a month previous, and both the Fitchburg com- 
 panies of the regiment did esjort duty and many of 
 the officers of the Fifty-third were present. "The 
 obsequies were a credit to those who had them in 
 charge, and a noble tribute to the brave men they 
 commemorated." 
 
 The sixth public funeral was held April 6, 1S64, 
 over the bodies of four of our Fitchburg boys, — Ser- 
 geant Simon F. Marshall, of the Third Cavalry, and 
 privates Edward P. Farwell, J. Henry Kendall and 
 Charles W. Stuart, all of Company A, Fifty-third 
 Regiment. 
 
 Sergeant Marshall was wounded at Baton Rouge, 
 and died soon afterward, August 17, 1862, at the St. 
 James Hospital in New Orleans. 
 
 Privates Farwell and Kendall were two of the 
 youngest soldiers that went out from this town. The 
 former was but eighteen when he enlisted. His 
 friends tried to dissuade him from entering the 
 army, but his answer was, "Some must defend the 
 country and I feel it my duty to go.'' He went, but 
 never returned. At Port Hud.son he was stricken 
 with a fatal disease. He lived to see the surrender 
 of the stronghold, and on July 19, 1863, died within 
 its fortifications. Kendall was still younger, not 
 quite seventeen when he enlisted, and a delicate boy. 
 Twice before had he volunteered and been rejected 
 on account of his youth. When every effort was 
 being made to fill up Companies A and B of the 
 Fifty-third, he again volunteered and was accepted; 
 and when his mother besought him not to go, he 
 said " Mother, if the men will not go to the war, the 
 boys )nust." He endured the marches, privations 
 and suffering remarkably well, and was courageous in 
 battle. He was in the front ranks at the heroic 
 charge on the works at Port Hudson, June 14, 1863, 
 where he received the wound from which, ten days 
 later, he died, at the New Orleans hospital. Truly 
 both these young men were heroes. 
 
 Private Charles W. Stuart was killed in the first 
 battle in which the Fifty-third engaged, — that of 
 Fort Bisland. 
 
 In the spring of 1864 Mr. Josiah Spaulding, of this 
 town, made a journey to Louisiana to procure the 
 remains of these four men, was successful and soon 
 returned with them in charge. The funeral occurred 
 April 6, 1864, and the services were conducted by the 
 various clergymen of the town. Rev. Alfred Emerson 
 
 preaching the sermon. A hymn, written for the oc- 
 casion by Mrs. Caroline A. Mason, concluded the 
 services. Then, with martial solemnity, they were 
 borne to the city of the dead " over the river," and 
 laid to rest in their soldier graves. 
 
 Of the seventh and last soldier's funeral in Fitch- 
 burg mention has already been made in the opening 
 section of our war history. It was that of Lieutenant- 
 Colonel George E. Marshall, of the Fortieth Regi- 
 ment, and occurred April 19, 1866. The services 
 were held in the town-hall, which was most beauti- 
 fully and artistically decorated, and there was a large 
 concourse of ciiizens and organizations, both military 
 and civic. Ex-Governor John A. Andrew, Governor 
 Alexander H. Bullock and his staff and other offi- 
 cials and several members of the Legislature occu- 
 pied seats on the platform. 
 
 The exercises opened with the singing of a hymn, 
 written for the occasion by Mrs. Mason ; Rev. Henry 
 L. Jones, rector of Christ Church, delivered the 
 funeral oration, and a brief but eloquent address was 
 made by Governor Bullock. The remains were es- 
 corted to the receiving tomb, where the casket was 
 deposited, after which the customary salute was fired. 
 In a grave on the hillside now repose the remains of 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Marshall beside those of his 
 brother, Sergeant Marshall ; and the aged father still 
 lives to tenderly care for and keep green the graves of 
 his two noble sons who died in the preservation of 
 the Union. 
 
 The writer painfully realizes that the story of 
 Fitchburg's part in the Civil War has not been half 
 told in the few preceding pages. Only the briefest 
 outline has been given. Those terrible years were 
 filled with private sufferings, anguish, heart-rendings 
 and sacrifices, a record of which has been preserved 
 only in the Book of Life and the hearts of the suf- 
 ferers ; no manuscript or printed page ever has por- 
 trayed them, or ever will, in their real significance. 
 
 The writer feels that this sketch of the war, imper- 
 fect as it is, ought not to be concluded without at least 
 a brief mention of those of our citizens who fell vic- 
 tims to the systematic inhumanity of rebel prisons. 
 As far as is known, there were seven of these unfortu- 
 nates from Fitchburg, as follows: John H. Prichard, 
 died in the horrible prison-pen at Andersonville, 
 January 18, 1865. 
 
 Charles E. Goodrich, who was only sixteen years 
 old when he enlisted asadrummer-boy in the Twenty- 
 first, was captured at the battle of the Wilderness and 
 sent to Andersonville, where he was kept four months, 
 until his robust frame wasted to a mere shadow of its 
 former self, when he was sent to the foul prison at 
 Florence, S. C, where he died in October, 1864. 
 
 William T. Peabody and Henry K. Hill were both 
 captured at the Wilderness, and sent to prison. The 
 former died at Andersonville, September 1, 1864, and 
 the latter at Florence, but the date is unknown. 
 
 George P. Cotting was taken prisoner in the attack 
 
244 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 made by the rebels, May 16, 1864, on the Twenty-fifth 
 Regiment while moving towards Richmond. He was . 
 sent to Andersonville, where he wasted away. He 
 was finally exchanged, but was too much weakened 
 to go further than Annapolis, where he died in the 
 hospital. 
 
 William H. Hayden was in the navy, and was on 
 the gun-boat "Granite City" when it was captured, 
 May 8, 1864, while cruising up one of the bayous of 
 Texas. He was taken to Galveston and died in a so- 
 called "hospital" there, on September 16, 1864. 
 
 Cyrus Putnam was captured at Drury's Bluff in the 
 same engagement in which Cotting was taken pris- 
 oner. He was sent to Richmond, where the wound 
 he had received, just previous to his capture, was 
 neglected, and he died there after a lingering illness 
 — how long we know not — a victim of man's inhu- 
 manity to man. 
 
 A short account of the beautiful and costly memorial 
 which Fitchburg erected in honor and commemora- 
 tion of her fallen heroes seems to be a fitting termina- 
 tion to our record of the war. We will therefore con- 
 clude this section with a condensed history of the 
 inception, construction and dedication of 
 
 The Soldiers' Monument. — Soon after the close 
 of the war the question of building either a soldiers' 
 monument or a memorial hall began to be agitated. 
 
 April 9, 1866, the town voted that a committee of 
 five be appointed by the chair "to report the names 
 of seven to constitute a committee on the subject of 
 erecting a monument, as a sacred memorial to our 
 citizens who fell in their country's service, during the 
 late rebellion." The chair appointed as this commit- 
 tee Messrs. L. H. Bradford, Ebenezer Torrey, William 
 H. Vose, Amasa Norcross and George F. Fay, who 
 presented the names of Alvah Crocker, George E. 
 Towne, Eugene T. Miles, Lewis H. Bradford, Alpheus 
 P. Kimball, Stephen Shepley and Henry A. Willis, 
 and these seven gentlemen were duly constituted the 
 Soldiers' Monument Committee, which was subse- 
 quently organized by the choice of Mr. Crocker as 
 chairman, and Mr. Bradford, secretary. 
 
 April 8, 1867, Mr. Towne made a verbal report for 
 this committee and asked for further time, which was 
 granted. It was also voted to add to the committee 
 General John W. Kimball, Colonel Theodore S. Fos- 
 ter and Walter A. Eames. 
 
 April 13, 1868, Mr. Shepley made an able and elo- 
 quent report for the committee and the town voted 
 that " the Soldiers' Monument Committee be author- 
 ized to purchase the two lots of land situated upon 
 Main Street, owned by William W. Comee and Isaac 
 Hartwell, and erect thereon a Soldiers' Monument 
 at an expetise not exceeding fifty thousand dollars, 
 whenever twenty thousand dollars of the same shall 
 have been raised by private subscription." 
 
 On the 28th of the same month it was voted to in- 
 struct the committee to buy these two estates for forty 
 thousand dollars, and to rent the buildings and estates 
 
 and sell the buildings as soon as the construction of 
 the monument required it. These two estates were 
 accordingly purchased for the sum named, and came 
 into the hands of the Soldiers' Monument Committee, 
 who rented them for some years. 
 
 April 12, 1869, Mr. Crocker made a report on the 
 soldiers' monument, which was accepted and placed 
 on file. It was then voted that a sum not exceeding 
 forty thousand dollars be appropriated for a monu- 
 ment, ten thousand dollars of which was to be raised 
 by taxation the current year. At an adjourned 
 meeting. May 3, 1869, this vote was rescinded in order 
 to investigate the feasibility of erecting a memorial 
 hall instead of a monument. A committee of nine, 
 consisting of Frederick F. Woodward, Alvin A. 
 Simonds, David H. Merriam, Gardner S. Burbank, 
 Jabez Fisher, George Robbins, Edwin P. Monroe, 
 Hale W. Page and Edwin Upton, was appointed 
 "to prepare and present plans and specifications, 
 together with the estimated cost of a Memorial hall 
 and report at a future meeting." The original com- 
 mittee was not, by this action of the town, discharged 
 or relieved of its trust, but, the appropriation having 
 been withdrawn, it was decided best for the Monu- 
 ment Committee not to proceed further until the 
 Memorial Hall Committee had rendered a report. 
 The investigations of this committee did not appear 
 to be favorable to the Memorial Hall project. A 
 verbal report was made on the matter, April 11, 1870, 
 by David H. Merriam, which report was accepted 
 and the committee discharged. 
 
 Meanwhile, in September, 1869, Ebenezer Torrey, 
 town treasurer, was instructed to give a deed of right 
 of passway over the Comee and Hartwell estates to 
 the county of Worcester, on condition that the County 
 Court-house be erected in the rear of these estates 
 and front towards Main Street, "said right to con- 
 tinue as long as said court-house shall remain stand- 
 ing, as aforesaid." The right was duly conveyed 
 and the court-house built very soon after, in accord- 
 ance with the provision therein. 
 
 May 2, 1871, the town authorized the Monument 
 Committee "to grade, fence and otherwise improve 
 the lot in font of the court-house." 
 
 October 2, 1871, Mr. Crocker made a report to the 
 town, and presented plans and designs for the pro- 
 posed monument, all of which was accepted ; and the 
 Monument Committee was instructed "to proceed 
 forthwith to carry out the designs and plans sub- 
 mitted, at a cost not exceeding $25,000." In ac- 
 cordance with this instruction the committee made 
 the following contracts: 
 
 November 15, 1871, with Samuel A. Wheeler & Son, 
 of Fitchburg, for the construction of the foundation to 
 receive the granite superstructure and bronze statues. 
 
 April 1, 1872, with Martin Milmore, of Boston, who 
 had furnished the designs accepted by the town the 
 previous autumn, for the execution of the bronze 
 statues and tablets. 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 245 
 
 I 
 
 April 8, 1872, with Runels & Davia, of Lowell, to 
 erect the superstructure of Concord granite. 
 
 Agreements were also entered into by the commit- 
 tee with J. L. Roberts, of Boston, to furnish and erect 
 a substantial iron fence around the enclosure, and with 
 David Damon & Co., of Fitchburg, to execute the 
 granite base for the fence and the steps at the two 
 entrances to the park, both of which agreements were 
 fulfilled in a manner creditable to the artisans and 
 highly satisfactory to the committee. 
 
 There was a strong feeling among the citizens that 
 the superatructuj-e should be made of granite quarried 
 from old RoUstone, a dear and familiar object to the 
 eyes of the brave boys whose death the monument was 
 to commemorate ; and the members of the Soldiers' 
 Monument Committee felt the claims of RoUstone as 
 deeply as did any of the other citizens. Unfortunately, 
 however, at that stage of development of the Roll- 
 stone quarriet", the granite obtained was apt to contain 
 here and there iron pyrites, and exposure to the 
 weather caused staining of the granite in spots with 
 iron. No contractor was willing to assume the respon- 
 sibility of furnishing RoUstone granitethat would keep 
 unblemished by iron stains. It is gratifying to state 
 that there has been much improvement in the granite 
 in this respect since then ; the deeper the quarry- 
 men go, the cleaner and purer does the granite become. 
 The committee, feeling that no blemish ought to mar 
 their costly memorial, decided, much against their 
 will and inclination, that RoUstone granite was out of 
 the question as a material out of which to construct 
 the superstructure, and fixed upon what is called 
 "Concord" granite, as the stone best suited to the 
 purpose. 
 
 Beginning with 1873, the city government replaced 
 that of the town, and on January 28, 1873, it was 
 ordered by the City Council that the Soldiers' Monu- 
 ment Committee, appointed by the town, be continued 
 as a committee of the City Council until the business 
 for which it was appointed was completed. 
 
 Meanwhile the work on the various contracts was 
 progressing, and on June 2, 1873, the Soldiers' Monu- 
 ment Committee deposited within the die of the 
 monument a box containing books, papers and docu- 
 ments relating to the history of Fitchburg, its war 
 history, copies of deeds and contracts relating to the 
 monument, newspapers, fractional currency and coin 
 then in use, etc., and a written report, signed by all 
 the members of the Monument Committee save one 
 or two who were absent from the city, of the action of 
 the town and the work of the Soldiers' Monument 
 Committee in regard to the erection of this memorial. 
 
 It was expected that the dedication would take 
 place in the autumn of 1873, but an accident occurred 
 in making the cast of the central bronze figure, 
 " America," causing a necessary delay of four months. 
 
 It was then decided that June 17, 1874, should be 
 the day, but unavoidable circumstances necessitated a 
 further postponement of one week, and on June 24, 
 
 1874, the dedicatory exercises were held. Elaborate 
 preparations were made for this event, and the City 
 Council appropriated the sum of two thousand dollars 
 for the occasion. Gen. John VV. Kimball was ap- 
 pointed chief marshal, and authorized to select mar- 
 shals and aids. The gentlemen whom he appointed 
 had all seen service in the war, and were as follows: 
 
 Marshals. — T. S. Foster, colouel, 21st Regiment ; Edwin tjpton, col- 
 onel, 25th Regiment; C. H. Foss, captain, 25tli Regiment, and senior 
 past commander of Post lU, G. A. R. ; T. L. Barker, colonel, 36th Regi- 
 ment; George Jewett, major, 51st Regiment; E. A. Brown, major, 53d 
 Regiment; Levi Lawrence, captain, 57th Regiment; G. T. Hay ward, 
 captain, 4th Regiment Heavy Artillery. 
 
 Aids. — George Lawrence, lieutenant, 1st Regiment ; Charles C. Walk- 
 er, private, 2d Regiment; Edwin Newton, private, 10th Regiment; 
 Albert H. Andrews, major, 19th U. S. Infantry ; Rii^ell 0. Houghton, 
 captain, 2Gth Regiment. 
 
 Bugler. — Edward R. Campbell, private, Ist Vermont Artillery. 
 
 The day of dedication was fine, there was a large 
 attendance of citizens from neighboring towns and 
 most of the business blocks and many private houses 
 in the city were handsomely decorated. The pro- 
 cession, which was an imposing one, was made up of 
 ten divisions, and moved promptly at eleven o'clock ; 
 and after passing through the principal streets, was, 
 with the exception of the carriages, battery and fire 
 apparatus, massed in Monument Square. 
 
 The exercises opened with the hymn, " Great Je- 
 hovah, turn Thine eye," which was finely rendered by 
 the Choral Union. 
 
 Rev. Dr. S. B. Grant then offered prayer, after 
 which Hon. Alvah Crocker made a brief address of 
 welcome, from which is taken the following extract: 
 
 My friends, I do not claim that Fitchburg, in character, tone and 
 spirit, is above our sister towns and municipalities, but I do claim with 
 a population of 80UO souls, including 2UiX) able-bodied men, furnishing 
 eight companies and a balance in isolated individual cases sufficient to 
 make a regiment of 1000 men, that there was the same spirit as in the 
 Revolutionary War when she furnished the germ (in her letters to Bos- 
 ton) of the immortal Declaration of Independence, that Bancroft alludes 
 to, and can be read by any one, as when her old iron cannon, on the 
 19tb of April, 1775, boomed tlie call to her minute-men ; the same spirit 
 as when Capt. Bridge, with fifty men, before the metal was cold, was on 
 his way, or " Hue of march," to Concord and Lexington, and was at Pit- 
 cairn's heels before he gut into Boston. 
 
 The report of the Soldiers' Monument Committee 
 was then read by Capt. Eugene T. Miles. At the 
 close of the report Capt. Miles presented the Soldiers' 
 Monument to the city in the following words: 
 
 Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen of the City ConiicU: Trusting implicitly in 
 your patriotism, in your sympathy with the bereaved ones who to-day 
 mourn the loss of dear ones who fell in the bloody conflict to sustain 
 our liberties, in your true love of country, in your integrity as munici- 
 pal officers, nothing now remains but to commit to your care and keep- 
 ing, and through you to the people of our young city, this beautiful 
 structure — the Soldiers' Monument — together with so much of its sur- 
 roundings as are completed. 
 
 In the interests of those for whom they were erected, care for them 
 kindly, with fidelity and tenderly : 
 
 "For there are deeds which should not pass away. 
 And names that must not wither." 
 
 At this time the monument was unveiled, salutes 
 fired and patriotic music played by the eight bauds 
 present. 
 
 Hon. Amasa Norcross, mayor, then in a few well- 
 chosen and eloquent remarks, accepted the Soldiers' 
 
246 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Monument in behalf of the people of the city of 
 Fitchburg. 
 
 A poem written for the occasion by Herbert Ingalls, 
 Esq., was then read by Eli A, Hubbard, Esq., super- 
 intendent of schook. 
 
 At the conclusion of the reading of the poem, Hon. 
 Alvah Crocker introduced Major-General Nathaniel 
 P. Banks, the orator of the day, who delivered a 
 stirring and eloquent address; and at its close Gen- 
 eral Kimball stepped to the front of the platform and 
 called for three army cheers for General Banks, 
 which were given with a will. General Banks 
 stepped forward, bowed and said: "Comrades, from 
 my heart I thank you for your kind remembrance." 
 
 Thus was our memorial to the fallen Fitchburg 
 soldiers dedicated ; and since that day its stately, 
 symmetrical and ornate form has been to the citizens 
 of this place a sacred object, and well worthy the care 
 and attention bestowed upon it and the beautiful park 
 whose centre it occupies. 
 
 We will close with a statement, in round numbers, 
 of the total cost of the monument and park and a 
 brief description of the monument. The statement 
 in regard to the cost is taken from the report read at 
 the dedication : 
 
 "Cost of lot, $40,000; granite base for fence, 
 $3600 ; iron fence, $3000 ; foundation for monument, 
 $2000 ; granite superstructure, $9000 ; bronze statues 
 and tablets, $15,400 ; which, with the grading and 
 miscellaneous expenditures, will make the total cost 
 at least $75,000." 
 
 About ten thousand dollars were received for rent 
 of the estates prior to the removal of the buildings 
 thereon and from the sale of the buildings, and the 
 net cost, without interest, was found to be $66,- 
 699.23. 
 
 The monument itself rests upon tiers of solid ma- 
 sonry, so graduated as to form three broad steps on 
 all sides of it. From this base rises the massive 
 square shaft, broader at the base than at the top, to a 
 height of some twenty feet above the level of the 
 park. A large granite cap crowns the top of the 
 shaft and bears the colossal bronze statue " America," 
 holding in each hand a myrtle wreath, as if in the act 
 of crowning the two large bronze statues on either 
 side and below her. These two statues represent a 
 soldier and sailor, respectively, and are placed on 
 pedestals forming, on either side, a portion of the 
 granite superstructure, their top being only a few feet 
 above the level of the park. Though these magnifi- 
 cant bronze statues were designed by Mr. Milmore, it 
 is but just to state that they were made by the Ames 
 Manufacturing Company, under the supervision of 
 Mr. M. H. Mossman. 
 
 Into each side of the monument, just below the 
 cap-stone, is let a large bronze tablet. The tablet, 
 looking toward Main Street, bears upon it an inscrip- 
 tion proclaiming that the monument is Fitchburg's 
 tribute, not only to her brave sons who fell in battle. 
 
 but also to those who went forth and fought nobly for 
 the "just cause," and were spared to return once 
 more to the home of their youth. The tablets on the 
 other three sides of the shaft are inscribed with the 
 names of one hundred and thirty-five men who perished 
 in the War of the Rebellion, and whom Fitchburg 
 claims as belonging to her "Roll of Honor." The 
 four tablets were made by Samuel Hooper & Co., and 
 are finely executed. 
 
 A sufficient description of Monument Park was 
 given in the opening chapter of this history, and need 
 not be repealed. 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 FITCHBURG - ( Continued. ) 
 
 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 
 
 The history of the beginning, growth and progress 
 of religious life and organizations in a town like 
 Fitchburg would easily make a volume of itself ; and 
 this fact may be realized more fully when we say 
 that from 1786 to 1823 the town was almost all the 
 time in a ferment concerning religious and church 
 matters. 
 
 During the first forty years of Fitchburg's exist- 
 ence church and town aflairs were almost inextricably 
 blended. All church business was settled in town- 
 meeting, and, very naturally, controversy arose 
 between people in diflerent sections of the town ; and 
 during the first quarter of the present century doc- 
 trinal disputes were carried on with considerable 
 bitterness. 
 
 We have already spoken, in the section on the 
 early history of the town, about the " six Sabbath 
 days' preaching," by Rev. Peter Whitney, in the 
 Samuel Hunt tavern, during the winter of 1764-65, 
 and of the building of the first meeting-house. 
 
 November 21, 1765, the town voted " not to have 
 preaching this winter." 
 
 September 22, 1766, voted to have preaching during 
 the coming winter, and appropriated £40 for that 
 purpose, and chose Amos Kimball, Elisha Fullura 
 and Jonathan Wood "for to git a minister to 
 preach ; " also voted " to have Mr. Petter Whitney, 
 Mr. Angier, Mr. Payson, if they will come and preach 
 with us." 
 
 Rev. Samuel Angier preached for them that winter 
 and was so well liked that the people gave him an 
 invitation to become their permanent pastor; but Mr. 
 Angier declined the call, chiefly, if not wholly, on 
 account of some difiiculty arising between him and 
 Deacon Kimball. It appears from the records that 
 the deacon boarded the minister, for the town voted, 
 March 2, 1767, " to allow Deacon Kimball six shillings 
 per week for boarding the minister till the time 
 agreed upon is expired for Mr. Angier to preach." 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 247 
 
 May 11th the town voted to appoint Thursday, 
 May 21, 1767, as " a day of fasting and prayer in order 
 to ask divine assistance in giving some Gentleman a 
 call to settle in the Gospel ministry in this town." 
 
 During that summer Rev. John Payson, a graduate 
 of Harvard in 1764, son of Kev. Phillips Payson, of 
 Chelsea, and a brother of the young and much- 
 lamented minister of Lunenburg, Samuel Payson, 
 who died in 1763, preached for the people of Fitch- 
 burg. He gave great satisfaction, and September 24, 
 1767, the town voted to give him a call, and oflered 
 him the same terms of settlement and salary as had 
 been proposed to Mr. Angier a few months before, 
 viz. £133 13s. id., as a settlement, one-half to be paid 
 one year after ordination, and the balance two years 
 after, and an annual salary of £60, " until there 
 shall be sixty families settled in town, after that to 
 pay him annually £66 13s. id." Two months later, 
 November 23d, the town voted to find and provide 
 for him thirty cords of wood annually. On this date 
 Rev. Mr. Payson gave his answer in the affirmative, and 
 accepted the town's call to settle on the terms proposed. 
 
 The First Church in Fitchburg was formed January 
 7, 1768, and on the 27th of the same month Rev. John 
 Payson was ordained its pastor, and his pastoral re- 
 lations with the town continued until May 2, 1794. 
 By vote of the town the two churches in Lancaster, the 
 church in Lunenburg, the First Church in Leomin- 
 ster and the two churches in Westminster and Shirley 
 were invited to participate in the ordination. 
 
 For the next few years matters ecclesiastical ran 
 along very smoothly and nothing worth recording oc- 
 curred till the "hard times " and depreciation of the 
 currency came in 1777. During the three years 
 1778-80, it was hard work to pay Mr. Payson's salary 
 and the poor man came near starving to death. The 
 town, however, did not allow him to come to absolute 
 want, and March .30, 1778, voted to appoint a com- 
 mittee of four to circulate a subscription paper among 
 the inhabitants to give them a chance " to subscribe 
 some of the necessaries of life, or anything they please 
 to subscribe for Mr. Payson's support." Two weeks 
 later, April 13th, the records state that this committee 
 reported to the town and presented the paper to Mr. 
 Payson, "which was kindly accepted by Mr. Payson 
 and said he was well suistied with what the town had 
 done, until September next, which will be one year 
 from the time the subscription paper was dated." 
 
 In October, 1778, he received one thousand dollars 
 Continental currency, and the next month two hun- 
 dred and sixty-six dollars more (equivalent, in all, to 
 about one hundred and eighty-four dollars), as his 
 salary. 
 
 In September, 1779, the town voted him £1479 IBs. 
 as his salary for the ensuing year and to make up the 
 depreciation for the last year. 
 
 May 23, 1780, the town voted "to pay Mr. Payson 
 £3320 4s. to make his .salary good since said salary 
 was granted." 
 
 October 9, 1780, it was voted to raise one hundred 
 pounds, "hard money," "to pay the Rev. Mr. Payson 
 his salary the year ensuing, to be paid in hard money 
 or produce, that is, wheat at 9s. per bushel ; rye at 
 63. per bushel ; Indian corn at 4s. per bushel ; labor 
 in the summer, 4s. per day; flax, Is. per pound; 
 sheep's wool, 2«. per pound; pork, 5d. per pound; 
 beef, Sd. half penny per pound, and other produce in 
 proportion." 
 
 The same vote was passed in 1781 and 1782 ; and 
 during the remaining years of Mr. Payson's pastorate 
 the annual salary voted him was £66 13s. id. 
 
 Nothing worth noting occurred in church affairs 
 until the famous " meeting-house controversy " began. 
 We have previously recorded the two futile attempts 
 made by the people living in the westerly part of the 
 town, in 1785, to be set off from the town of Fitch- 
 burg. These attempts, however, were but a skirmish. 
 
 The date of the beginning of the real contest was 
 September 12, 1786, when the town voted "to build a 
 new meeting-house in the center of the town, or the 
 nearest convenient place to the center." To fix upon 
 this much-de-ired "center" took over nine long 
 years, and occupied the attention of the people during 
 the whole or some portion, of ninety-nine town-meet- 
 ings. We propose to give here only a history of the 
 most important acts of the people in this matter. 
 
 For the next two years no public action was taken 
 in regard to the new meeting-house, partly because 
 the people became involved in aside issue concerning 
 the manner of singing in church. The custom was 
 for the minister to read the psalm or hymn, then the 
 oldest deacon present would read the first line, which 
 the congregation would then sing, and so on to the 
 end, each line being read and sung separately. In 
 the winter of 1786-87 an attempt was made to intro- 
 duce .something similar to our present mode of singing, 
 together with some new tunes. The veteran singers 
 did not approve of these innovations, and many 
 characterized them as irreligious and unscriptural. 
 Quite a dispute occurred in which the whole town 
 became interested, and in May, 1787, there was an 
 article in the town-meeting warrant as follows: "To 
 see if the town will vote to come into any general rule 
 in regard to carrying on the singing part of the pub- 
 lic worship of God, and whether the singers shall sing 
 a part of the time without reading, and how the 
 psalm shall be read, whether by line or verse, or act 
 any thing thereon." A committee was chosen to 
 consider the matter and report at the next meeting. 
 
 In accordance with the report of this committee 
 rendered at a town-meeting soon afterward it was 
 voted " to sing five times in the worshipping on the 
 Lord's day, in the following manner, — the first sing- 
 ing before prayer, without reading; after prayer, 
 with reading line by line, and set such tunes as the 
 Congregation can in general sing: first in the after- 
 noon, before prayer, without reading ; after prayer, 
 with reading ; after sermon, without reading." This 
 
248 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTEP! COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 was a compromise which suited both parties, and the 
 innovators had the satisfaction of carrying three out 
 of five of their points. 
 
 During tliese two years considerable private con- 
 troversy was going on in regard to the location of the 
 new meeting-house. Meanwhile Jedediah Cooper 
 and Jacob Upton, the two tavern-keepers in the 
 westerly part of the town, despairing of getting any 
 satisfaction out of the town, determined, together 
 with some of their neighbors, to have a meeting-house 
 among themselves at any rate. They accordingly 
 erected a frame, which was covered after a time, and 
 used occasionally for worship. It was just within 
 the limits of the town, and was a desolate looking 
 building. The proprietors did not take much care of 
 it and its shabby and dilapidated appearance earned 
 for it the name of " the Lord's Barn.'' It was sold 
 and taken down about 1825, and the proceeds of the 
 sale (about thirty-six dollars) were divided among the 
 proprietors. 
 
 September 9, 1788, the subject was again brought 
 before the town by means of an article in the war- 
 rant, — " To see if the town will erect a meeting- 
 house in the center of the town, or receive any part 
 of Westminster that shall be willing to join with us, 
 and then erect a meeting-house in the nearest conve- 
 nient place to the center." 
 
 This article was inserted by the people of the west 
 and no action was taken on it at this meeting; but 
 at an adjourned meeting September 23d, a committee, 
 consisting of Moses Hale, Daniel Putnam, Jacob 
 Upton, Asa Perry and Oliver Stickney, was chosen 
 "to examine and find out a place to erect a meeting- 
 house in the most convenient place to accommodate 
 the inhabitants of the town of Fitchburg." The re- 
 sult of the investigation of these five gentlemen was 
 that two of them found " the most convenient place " 
 to be in the west, two in the east, while the remain- 
 ing one was upon the fence. Their report was ren- 
 dered to the town October 2d, and was rejected as 
 soon as given, and the gentlemen were promptly dis- 
 charged from further service in that direction. Im- 
 mediately thereafter a motion was made to place the 
 new house on the site of the old one; this was foith- 
 with negatived. Then, " after some consideration on 
 the matter," as the records state, it was voted " to 
 erect the new meeting-house in the nearest con- 
 venient place to the center." Such brilliant progress 
 must have astonished the people, for a few minutes 
 later it was voted " to reconsider all votes hitherto 
 passed relating to this matter," after which the meet- 
 ing was adjourned to the following day. 
 
 At nine o'clock the next morning the parties 
 proceeded to business. The first thing done was to 
 vote "not to erect the meeting-house where it now 
 stands." It was then moved to place it " on the hill 
 near Phineas Sawyer's house, on the land belonging 
 to the heirs of Mr. Ezra Upton." 
 
 This location was in the westerly part of the town, 
 
 and the motion to place the house thereon was 
 carried, thirty-two voting in favor of it and seventeen 
 against. Thus, by a vote of nearly two to one, it 
 was decided to build the new house in the west, and 
 the people in that section were greatly rejoiced thereat. 
 A committee was chosen, consisting of Reuben 
 Smith, Asa Perry, Phineas Sawyer, Elijah Carter 
 and Jacob Upton, to inform the inhabitants of the 
 west part of the town of this action and consult with 
 them. It was voted that this committee "be in- 
 vested with power to agree with the owners of the 
 new frame erecting for a meeting-house in the north- 
 westerly part of the town, if that appears cheapest 
 for the town, — otherways be invested with power to 
 provide materials and timber for building a new 
 meeting-house in the prudentest manner for said 
 town, on said plat of ground." This committee was 
 directed to report at the next meeting. 
 
 This was a bitter pill for the east, and the people of 
 that section, resolved on retaliation, called a town- 
 meeting October 21st, "To see if the town will com- 
 ply with a request of a number of the inhabitants of 
 the town of Fitchburg, to grant that they, together 
 with their respective estates and interests, may be set 
 off from Fitchburg and annexed to Lunenburg." 
 This was one alternative proposed by the east. The 
 other was that the town allow the petitioners the old 
 meeting-house, with Mr. Payson as their pastor, and 
 let them be incorporated as a "poll parish." It was 
 voted " to give those petitioners that called the meet- 
 ing leave to withdraw." 
 
 The honest people, who, for the sake of peace and 
 reconciliation, had favored the west at the meeting 
 October 2d, were now very much alarmed. Holding 
 the " balance of power " as they did, they were in 
 rather an awkward predicament. If they favored the 
 east, the west threatened to form a new parish ; if 
 they favored the west, the east evinced strong symp- 
 toms of either forming a new parish, or returning to 
 the parent town of Lunenburg. 
 
 Meanwhile, the gentlemen of the committee ap- 
 pointed by the town October 2d, undaunted by this 
 blast from the east, were prosecuting their labors with 
 great zeal and confidence. They had bargained for 
 the new frame belonging to Jacob Upton and others, 
 prepared a site for the new house on the land of Ezra 
 Upton's heirs and done sundry other wise things. 
 
 November 17, 1788, a town-meeting was held to hear 
 their report, which was duly submitted, whereupon it 
 was voted not to accept the report, and insult was 
 added to injury by summarily discharging the com- 
 mittee from further service. This was done by the 
 peacemakers, who were at their wits' ends, and this 
 time threw their influence into the eastern scale. At 
 this meeting a committee was chosen "to find the 
 center of the town." 
 
 December 18, 1788, this committee reported in town- 
 meeting that the centre of the township had been 
 found, after a careful survey, to be on the land of one 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 249 
 
 Thomas Boynton, about five hundred f?et north of 
 the pound. This report was accepted, and Thomas 
 Cowdin, Pliineas Hartwell, Oliver Stickney, Daniel 
 Putnam and Paul Wetherbee were chosen a committee 
 to bargain for a site in that locality. This committee 
 bought of Mr. Boynton twenty-two and a half acres of 
 land, a little south of the pound, paying therefor two 
 dollars and thirty-three cents per acre, and the town 
 approved this action. 
 
 This location did not fuit the people in the west, 
 and they forthwith resorted to their old scheme of 
 forming a new town, and called two meetings for that 
 purpose, thereby frightening the conscientious peace- 
 makers nearly out of their wits. The petitioners, 
 however, did not put in an appearance at either 
 meeting, and in consequence these two meetings were 
 uncommonly peaceable. The petition was of course 
 dismissed each time. In fact, the whole thing was 
 but a ruse on the part of the men of the west to keep 
 the attention of the people from a deep-laid scheme 
 which they proposed soon to spring upon the unsus- 
 pecting public. 
 
 November 2, 1789, it was voted " to erect a new 
 meeting-house on the land jiurchased of Thomas 
 Boynton," and a committee of seven was chosen to 
 take charge of the matter. Two weeks later the town 
 voted to reconsider all votes heretofore passed on this 
 subject i and thus, at the end of four years, the town 
 was in the same position regarding this matter as 
 when operations were first entered upon, with the 
 exception of owning twenty-two and a half acres of 
 real estate. The reason of this strange action was the 
 culmination of the move on the part of the west, 
 alluded to above. The people in that region, together 
 with the inhabitants of adjoining portions of Ashby, 
 Ashburnham and Westminster, had presented to the 
 General Court a powerful petition for an act of incor- 
 poration into a town. 
 
 Tliis petition set forth in glowing colore tlie delightful situation of the 
 contenipliited town— how natui-e had lavislied all her skill upon it — how 
 admirably adapted for a township by itself was the noble swell of land — 
 and that nothing in nature or in art could exceed the grand and impos- 
 ing spectacle of a meeting-house towering from its summit, wiiile j 
 beneath the said swell was a region of low, sunken land, which almost ' 
 cut off the petitioners from intercourse with the rest of mankind.^ 
 
 This meant business, and the inhabitants of Fitch- 
 burg and the three adjoining towns not included in 
 the proposed new town speedily drew up a spirited re- 
 monstrance, in which every statement of the peti- 
 tioners was denied, and the whole project denounced 
 as visionary. During all of 1790 the attention of 
 both parties was wholly engrossed with this matter, 
 and the result was that the General Court refused to 
 incorporate the new town. 
 
 Both parties were much in need of a breathing 
 spell after this vigorous contest, and it was not until 
 September 7, 1791, that the battle was renewed. On 
 that date it was voted, forty-one to twenty-three, " to 
 
 • Torrey's " History of Fitchburg :" Fitchburg, 1836. 
 
 erect a new meeting-house in the center of the town, 
 or in the nearest convenientest place thereto." This 
 double-barrelled supcrlativeness is proof postive that 
 the spirit of the people was in no wise cast down by 
 the fruitless struggle of the past five years. Though 
 the people could not decide upon a location, they 
 were bound to have plans drawn for a new meeting- 
 house at all odds, and at this meeting a committee 
 was chosen to plan a new house. October 10th, this 
 committee reported to the town "to build a house 
 sixty by forty-six feet, with a porch at each end 
 twelve by eleven feet, with stairs into the galleries." 
 There were to be forty-six pews on the ground floor 
 and twenty-five in the galleries, to be sold to the 
 highest bidders, and three years were to be allowed 
 for the completion of the house. This report was ac- 
 cepted November 14, 1791, and on the same date a 
 committee was chosen to clear a spot on the land 
 purchased of Thomas Boynton and build the house. 
 
 For as long a period as six weeks thereafter it 
 really looked as if the matter was settled ; but every- 
 thing was completely upset December 27, 1791, by a 
 vote " to dismiss the committee chosen to build a new 
 meeting-house from further service." 
 
 Almost three years then elapsed before any further 
 action was taken by the town in this matter. The 
 people, however, showed their dogged obstinacy by 
 refusing, on several occasions, " to repair the meeting- 
 house windows, and to paint the outside of the meet- 
 ing-house." 
 
 The town again renewed operations September 3, 
 
 1794, by voting "to erect a meeting-house in the 
 center of the town, or in the nearest convenientest 
 place thereto, to accommodate the inhabitants there- 
 of for divine worship." Joseph Stearns and David 
 Kilburn, of Lunenburg, and Benjamin Kimball, of 
 Harvard, were chosen by ballot as a "committee of 
 three disinterested persons out of town " to discover 
 that much-to-be-desired spot, " the nearest conveni- 
 entest place to the center." This committee found 
 the centre to be about a quarter of a mile northeast of 
 the pound, and decided that the most eligible location 
 for the house was about half a mile south of this 
 point, which would have placed it not f;ir from the 
 present junction of Main and River Streets. Their 
 report was rendered to the town October 21st, and re- 
 jected, thirty-six to twenty-nine. So the opinions of 
 interested and disinterested persons seem to have been 
 considered of about equal value — as good for nothing. 
 
 A month later a motion to place the house on the 
 site selected by the out-of-town committee was de- 
 feated, forty-eight to forty-five. A committee was 
 then chosen to select a suitable location, and Decem- 
 ber 1, 1794, reported in favor of " setting the meeting- 
 house near the high bridge under the hill " (the 
 same place the out-of-town committee selected). 
 This report was accepted, strange to say, sixty-one to 
 forty-seven. A town-meeting was called January 8, 
 
 1795, to choose a committee to purchase this site; 
 
250 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 but, with its customary obstinacy, the town refused, 
 at this meeting, to choose such a committee, and so 
 ended the project of building the liouse there. 
 
 January 20, 1795, it was voted " to erect a meeting- - 
 house on the town's hind they purchased of Thomas 
 Boyntou, about five rods southwest from a large 
 white oak tree, and to pattern it after the Leominster 
 meeting-house." It was to be completed by De- 
 cember 31, 1796. 
 
 February 10, 1795, it was voted to pattern it after 
 the Ashburuham meeting-house. " Likewise voted 
 to have the length of said hou<e sixty-two feet by 
 forty-eight feet, the posts to said house to be twenty- 
 seven feet in length, and that the undertaker to 
 build the house give bonds, with good bondsmen, to 
 fulfil the contract." The contract was given to John 
 Putnam, Jr. At subsequent town-meetings minor 
 details in regard to the construction of the house 
 were settled. 
 
 September 1, 1795, a committee of five was chosen 
 " to stake out and oversee the clearing and levelling 
 of the meeting-house spot for the underpinning on 
 the town land,"' and also " that the Selectmen lay 
 out a four-rod road in the best place to accommodate 
 the travel to the new meeting-house spot." 
 
 There seemed at this time to be a very good pros- 
 pect of building the new house on the town's land; 
 but it was not so to be, for October 19, 1795, a town- 
 meeting was called " to know the sense of the town, 
 whether the former vote in placing said meeting- 
 house should be altered." After considerable discus- 
 sion it was decided, by a vote of forty-four to thirty, 
 "to place the new meeting-house at the crotch of the 
 roads, near Capt. William Brown's house" (where 
 the Upper Common now is). This was a final de- 
 cision, though why it should have been is rather 
 difticult to see, because this location was a trifle east 
 of the town's land. It was intended to have the 
 house face directly "down street," but the opposi- 
 tion mustered sufficient strength to change this plan 
 so that it should face south and "stand cornerwise 
 to the street." 
 
 So at last this momentous question was settled, and 
 early in the summer of 1796 occurred the raising. 
 Great preparations were made for this important 
 event. May 9, 1796, a town-meeting was called "to 
 see if the town will make any provision for the re- 
 freshment of the Raisers and also the Spectators that 
 shall attend upon the raising of the new Meeting- 
 house." This was a most amicable meeting, and it 
 was unanimously voted "that the town provide one 
 barrill W. I. Rum and Loaf Sugar sufficient to make 
 it into Toddy for refreshment for the Raisers and 
 Spectators that shall attend the raising of the new 
 Meeting-house." A committee was also appointed, 
 consisting of Deacon Kendall Boutelle, Deacon Eph- 
 raim Kimball, Deacon Daniel Putnam, Reuben Smith, 
 Joseph PoUey, Dr. Jonas Marshall and Asa Perry, 
 "to deal out the Liquor to the Raisers and Spectators 
 
 on Raising Day." Any one would suppose that a bar- 
 rel of rum ought to make an amount of " Toddy " suf- 
 ficient to satisfy the cravings of those who would be 
 present at the raising; but the people were bound to 
 have a rousing time after waiting so long for it, and 
 to prove conclusively to the country round about that 
 there was nothing small about them; for, before 
 this meeting adjourned, it was voted " that the com- 
 mittee to deal out the Liquor and Sugar sufficient for 
 the Raisers and Spectators, in case the barrill of W. I. 
 Rum and Sugar already voted should be insufficient, 
 procure more and bring in their account to the town 
 for allowance." 
 
 This was the only meeting held to consider the sub- 
 ject of the new house during the ten years, where 
 there was no contention or exhibition of spleen. For 
 once the good people of Fitchburg were all of the 
 same mind, and a "barrill of W. I. Rum," which, at 
 the present time causes so much controversy, in the 
 presumably degenerate days of 1790, acted like oil 
 upon the troubled waters. 
 
 A few days later the raising came off successfully, 
 but there is no definite statement as to the amount of 
 rum and sugar consumed thereat. The following 
 copy of the order to reimburse Deacon Boutelle for 
 the refreshment expenses may, however, throw some 
 light on the subject: 
 
 FiTCHRURG, May y" 12 : 179fi. 
 
 To Ebenezer Thurston Town treasurer you are hereby Directed to pay 
 
 De° Kendall Boutwell thirty eight Dollars and one Cent it being fur 
 
 providing rum and shugar for the Raising of the new Meeting liouse and 
 
 this with his Rec* shall be your discharge for the above sum. 
 
 I) C John Thurston 1 „ , 
 
 „ „, vSelectmen. 
 
 38 1 Paul Wetherbee I 
 
 On the back of this order is written the receipt and 
 settlement as follows : 
 
 May y« 12 : 1796 Reed a Note in behalf of the Town of fitchburg of 
 thirty Eight Dollers and one Sent in full of the within order. 
 
 Kendal Boutell. 
 April 10 : 1797 Order Settled with the Treasurer. 
 
 Such is the history of probably the most stubbornly 
 fought and protracted meeting-house controversy on 
 record. Zeal, obstinacy and bitterness on the part of 
 both factions characterized the contest throughout, 
 and so fierce was the strife that the people of neigh- 
 boring towns for miles around were in the habit of 
 coming in large numbers to attend the town-meetings 
 held in Fitchburg during these ten years. 
 
 The edifice was dedicated January 19, 1797, Rev. 
 Zabdiel Adams, of Lunenburg, preaching the sermon. 
 
 The controversy produced a very serious effect upon 
 the town's good minister. Rev. Mr. Payson, who, 
 moreover, was much troubled by the inroads made 
 upon his flock by the Methodists, Baptists and Uni- 
 versalists. He became enfeebled in body and mind, 
 but continued to preach most of the time until the 
 autumn of 1793. By that time his mental infirmity 
 had increased so much that the church and town 
 united to call a council to consider the matter. This 
 council met about the middle of November, 1793, but 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 251 
 
 was unable to settle anything to the satisfaction of 
 all concerned. 
 
 During the following winter and spring the town 
 hired other ministers to preach, and April 7, 1794, all 
 parties agreed to reassemble the council of the pre- 
 vious year and abide by whatever decision it should 
 arrive at. The council accordingly met April 29th, 
 and decreed that the town should pay Jlr. Paysou a 
 sum equivalent to about five hundred and thirty dol- 
 lars and dismiss him from the pastorate. This propo- 
 sition was accepted by the town May 2, 1794, and Mr. 
 Payson's connection with the town, as its pastor, was 
 finally dissolved. 
 
 Mr. Payson continued to live here without any im- 
 provement in his mental condition, and on May 28, 
 1804, while visiting at the house of his brother-in-law 
 in Leominster, committed suicide. He was buried in 
 the town cemetery in Fitchburg, where the tombstone 
 erected to his memory by his son can still be seen. 
 
 The two councils assembled here in November, 
 1793, and April, 1794, were provided with board and 
 lodging at the expense of the town. The members 
 thereof were cared for at the tavern of Mrs. Cowdin, 
 the widow of Thomas Cowdin. The bill for their en- 
 tertainment is somewhat of a curiosity in its way and 
 is as follows : 
 
 FlTCHBUKO, Nov. 11th, 1794. 
 The Venerable Council's Bill. 
 
 28 meals of victualsat U. 6d S7 00 
 
 17 suppers at Is 2 83 
 
 17 breakfasts at 1» 2 83 
 
 34 dinners at Is. 6d 8 fio 
 
 9 suppers at Is 1 50 
 
 2 breakfasts at Is 33 
 
 10 lodgings at id 54 
 
 Horse keeping 10 oo 
 
 Liquor 7 50 
 
 Total $11 03 
 
 Rec'd Pay't Hannah Cowdin. 
 
 For about a year after Mr. Payson's dismissal Eev. 
 John Kimball preached for the people. The church 
 voted to give him a call and November 21, 1794, the 
 town concurred. His salary vyas fixed at £90 per 
 year, with a settlement of £200, to be paid as follows : 
 £25 at the ordination, £75 one year therefrom, and 
 £100 seven years after ordination. Mr. Kimball de- 
 layed his answer, and April G, 1795, the town voted to 
 give him an annual salary of £112. May 6, 1795, Mr. 
 Kimball declined the call. 
 
 November 26, 1795, the town voted to concur with 
 the church in extending to Rev. John Miles an invi- 
 tation to become their pastor at a salary of four hun- 
 dred dollars per year. Mr. Miles declined. 
 
 Various ministers then preached here, among them 
 the Rev. Thomas Noyes, whom the church, early in 
 JTST^voted to call. The town was notified of this 
 action at a meeting April 3, 1797, and voted not to 
 concur. Then, by a vote of forty-three to twenty- 
 four, the town signified its willingness to extend a 
 call to Rev. Samuel Worcester. During a brief ad- 
 journment of the town-meeting, the church met and 
 
 voted to call Rev. Mr. Worcester, agreeably to the 
 preference of the town ; and the town, reassembled 
 after the adjournment, then voted to concur with the 
 church. The title of the church to precedence in 
 calling the pastor was thus distinctly recognized. 
 
 Mr. Worcester's salary was fixed at four hundred 
 dollars per year, with the privilege of taking his sup- 
 ply of wood from about twenty acres of the town's 
 land. June 20, 1797, this was changed by voting to 
 deduct twenty pounds from his annual salary (making 
 it §333.33), and give him a " settlement" in addition 
 of two hundred pounds (SG66.66), one-half to be paid 
 one year after ordination, and the remainder two 
 years after, with interest. Mr. Worcester accepted 
 the call July 22, 1797, and the last Wednesday of the 
 following September was selected as the day for his 
 ordination, and on that day, September 27th, he was 
 duly ordained. Rev. Dr. Samuel Austin, of Worcester, 
 preaching the sermon. 
 
 In the month of October, after his ordination, Mr. 
 Worcester was united in marriage with Miss Zervia 
 Fox, of Hollis, N. H., which was Mr. Worcester's na- 
 tive town. He then " settled down " in Fitchburg 
 and entered with zeal on the work of the ministry, 
 and for a time everything went on prosperously ; but 
 new beliefs and doctrines were fast gaining ground, 
 which led, in 1801, to the division of the town into 
 three societies and a year later to Mr. Worcester's 
 dismissal. 
 
 In March, 1798, the town voted that " the Select- 
 men try and see what market they can make of 
 the old meeting-house." June 21st, following, it was 
 voted that it be sold at public auction, the pew-hold- 
 ers having liberty to take out their pews before the 
 sale, if they desired. Benjamin Fuller bought it at 
 the auction and proposed to move it away, but Mrs. 
 Cowdin, the widow of Thomas Cowdin, to whom the 
 land, on which the house was, belonged, threatened 
 to proceed against him if he did so. September 17, 
 1798, the matter was brought before the town, and it 
 was voted " to give up Mr. Fuller's obligation for the 
 old meeting-house and give him three dollars for his 
 trouble.'" The ipatter was finally settled by giving 
 the underpinning to Mrs. Cowdin and selling the 
 house ; and in May, 1799, the proceeds of the sale 
 were equally divided between the town, the pew- 
 holders and Mrs. Cowdin. 
 
 At this time considerable attention was paid in 
 town-meeting to the request of the Methodists and 
 Baptists in town to have their " miniater tax " abated ; 
 and a little later the town actively opposed a petition 
 to the General Court made by the people in the 
 northwest part of Fitchburg and in adjoining parts of 
 Ashby, Ashburnham and Westminster, to form a 
 " pool parish " among themselves. The "Fitchburg 
 Universal Christian Society" had been formed and 
 rapidly gained power in town affairs. The result of 
 all this dissension was that in 1801 the majority of 
 the people became dissatisfied with Mr. Worcester 
 
252 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 and the town was divided into three societies. March 
 2, 1801, the town chose ii committee consisting of the 
 assessors to proportion tlie number of Sundays each 
 Bociety should use the meeting-house, according to 
 the amount of taxes paid by the members of each. 
 On the 13th of April following, the report of this 
 committee was accepted, giving the use of the house 
 as follows : Society in the east part of the town (Uni- 
 versal Christian Society), twenty-four Sundays; Rev. 
 Mr. Worcester's society, seventeen Sundays ; the 
 society in the west, eiglit Sundays ; and the remaining 
 three Sundays in the year were apportioned to the 
 Baptists and Methodists. 
 
 One week previous to this, April 6, 1801, the town had 
 voted that it would be "for their peace and happiness to 
 dissolve the contract with the Rev. Samuel Worcester 
 as their minister, agreeable to the contract made with 
 him at the time of his settlement." A committee was 
 appointed to wait on Mr. Worcester and inform him 
 of this vote and get his answer in regard to dis'^olving 
 the contract. Mr. Worcester, after conferring with 
 the church, returned an answer to the effect that he 
 desired to dissolve the contract, but claiming the 
 right, solely for his church and himself, of appointing 
 a council of five churches to dismiss him in regular 
 ecclesiastical form, the town to defray the expenses of 
 such a council. The town accepted this proposal" 
 The council, composed of Rev. Messrs. Gushing, o 
 Ashburnham, Lee, of Royalston, Payson, of Rindge^ 
 N. H., Austin, of Worcester, and Hill, of Mason, N, 
 H., and eight delegates from their churches, convened 
 June 22, 1801, and decided that it would be be.st for 
 Mr. Worcester to continue in his pastorate. This 
 decision was formally accepted by both the church 
 and the town. This truce, however, did not last long. 
 Committees of conference were appointed, ex parte 
 councils held, etc., and the upshot of the matter was 
 that on December 7, 1801, the town declared the con- 
 tract with Mr. Worcester .null and void, raised one 
 hundred and thirty dollars and appointed a committee 
 to hire preaching, and voted " that the sexton be di- 
 rected not to open the meeting-house doors upon any 
 occasion unless by direction of the Selectmen or the 
 committee to hire preaching." 
 
 During the following six months numerous councils 
 were convened, and on one occa-ion there were two 
 councils in session here at the same time. Finally, a 
 mutual council was agreed to, and the pastor was 
 regularly dismissed, September 8th. 
 
 Ttius, notwithstanding the votes of the town, dividing tlie house of 
 worship between different societies, with the reiterated threats of the 
 " Universal Cliristian Society "' to talie possession of his pulpit for the 
 number of Sabbaths allowed them ; and notwithstanding the vote ex- 
 plicitly declaring '*tho contract fur his support dissolved," with other 
 measures of a corresponding character, he retained hie pnJpit to tliti lasty 
 and received his salary, according to the terms of his settlement, until, 
 in due order and form, and agreeably to his own wishes, ho ceased to be 
 the pastor of the church and the minister of the town of Fitchburg 1 1 
 
 i*'The Life and Labora of Rev. Samuel Worcester, D.D.," by S. M. 
 Worcester, D.D. : Boston, 1352. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Worceiter preached his " Farewell Ser- 
 mon " on August 29, 1802, on which occasion a very 
 large congregation gathered to hear him. 
 
 The most important result of this protracted con- 
 troversy was the dissolution, soon after Mr. Worcester's 
 dismissal, of the parochial powers of the town. Two 
 societies were formed. The First Parish held the 
 church property, and in 1804 Rev. William Bascom 
 became its pastor. In the same year the other society 
 settled Rev. Titus T. Barton, and in 1805 built a small 
 house of worship on the corner of what are now 
 known as Main and Bollstone Streets. Mr. Barton 
 was dismissed in February, 1813, whereupon the First 
 Parish made overtures for a re-union of the two socie- 
 ties which were accepted the latter part of that year. 
 About that time Mr. Bascom requested to be dismissed, 
 which request was granted. 
 
 For over a year the church had no settled pastor, 
 but in August, 1815, Rev. William Eaton accepted a 
 call, and preached until June 30, 1823, when he was 
 dismissed at his own request. A considerable minority 
 did not agree with him in religious opinions, and 
 October 31, 1823, a final separation of the two societies 
 occurred. The majority retained the church prop- 
 erty, and its organization has since been known as 
 
 The First Parish (Unitarian). — Rev. Calvin Lin- 
 coln, Jr., the first Unitarian pastor in Fitchburg, was 
 ordained June 30, 1824, and continued as pastor until 
 1855, a period of thirty-one years. From 1851 to 
 18.54 he had as his colleague Rev. Horatio Stebbins. 
 Rev. William P. Tilden was pastor from 1855 to 1862 ; 
 and since then the church has had five ministers, the 
 last and present pastor being Rev. William H. Pier- 
 son, who was installed in 1881. 
 
 This society used the house dedicated in 1797 as 
 their place of worship for about forty years. In the 
 autumn of 1836 this house was removed, and the 
 present brick church, completed in 1837, was erected 
 on nearly the same site. It stands in a very picturesque 
 situation at the head of the Upper Common. Its inte- 
 rior has been materially changed several times since 
 the church was built. About 1871 an addition was 
 built in the rear, and a very large and fine organ put 
 in ; and ten years later new pews were put in, the 
 side galleries taken away, stained-glass windows sub- 
 stituted for the old-fashioned kind, and the whole 
 interiorgenerally renewed at a cost of several thousand 
 dollars. The auditorium is now one of the brightest 
 and finest in the city. During the summer of 1888 a 
 brick chapel, named Phillips Chapel and costing 
 some twelve thousand dollars, was erected in the rear 
 of the church. 
 
 The Calvinistic Congregational Society. — 
 The early history of this society is, of course, iden- 
 tical with that of the First Parish, with the excep- 
 tion of the few years of separation prior to the latter 
 part of 1813. In October, 1823, those individuals 
 who could not sympathize with the religious opin- 
 ions of the First Parish formed a new society, and 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 253 
 
 on the 31st of that month it was voted by them 
 " that this church remove its connection from the 
 First Parish and unite with the Calvinistic Congre- 
 gational Society, formed this day in the town of 
 Fitchburg." The churcli, numbering one hundred 
 and two persons, immediately removed to the house 
 built in 1805. In 1828 the building was enlarged. 
 In 1848 the present brick church was built, and 
 some twenty years later the high flight of stone steps 
 on Rollstone Street was removed, the entrance and 
 vestibule of the church materially changed and im- 
 proved, and a commodious and handsome brick 
 chapel built on Rollstone Street, next to, and con- 
 nected with, the church. 
 
 Rev. Rufus A. Putnam was the first pastor of this 
 sodety. He was ordained in February, 1824, and 
 dismissed, at his own request, in March, 1831. 
 Since then the society has had nine ministers, the 
 longest and most important pastorates being tho-fe of 
 Rev. Ebenezer W. Ballard, 1838 to 1852; Rev. 
 Alfred Emerson, 1858 to 1870; Rev. Henry M. 
 Tyler, 1872 to 1876 ; and Rev. Dr. S. Leroy Blake, 
 1880 to 1887. 
 
 The present pastor is Rev. Clarence R. Gale, who 
 began his ministry over this society January 1, 1888. 
 
 As time went on the building occupied by this 
 society became inadequate to accommodate the in- 
 creased congregation, and the need of another so- 
 ciety, in the easterly part of the town, became very 
 evident; and in 1808 a portion of its members or- 
 ganized 
 
 The Rollstone Congregational Society. — 
 The first public services of this new society were 
 held in the hall of the American House, beginning 
 March 8, 1868. The church was organized on April 
 16th following, and Rev. Leverett W. Spring was 
 engaged as pastor for one year. A site for a new 
 church was soon purchased, at the corner of Main 
 and Snow Streets, and the corner-stone of the edifice 
 was laid October 5, 1868. The church, which is a 
 large and handsome brick structure, was dedicated 
 February 24, 1870. In connection with it is a fine 
 chapel, also built of brick, and named in honor of 
 the donor, Dea. David Boutelle, Boutelle Chapel. 
 Dea. Boutelle contributed liberally to the needs of 
 this society, his gifts towards the building fund ag- 
 gregating upwards of twenty-eight thousand dollars. 
 
 The pastors of the Rollstone Church have been 
 Rev. L. W. Spring, 1868 to 1875, and Rev. George R. 
 W. Scott, D.D. Dr. Scott began his ministry here in 
 the autumn of 1875, and remained in active service till 
 December, 1885, when he was obliged to give up work 
 and seek needed rest. He immediately went to 
 Europe, and Rev. Dr. W. S. Alexander was engaged 
 to supply his pulpit during his absence. Dr. Scott, 
 finding that continued poor health forbade his return 
 to the charge, sent in his resignatiim, which his peo- 
 ple very reluctantly accepted. The present pastor, 
 Rev. Charles S. Biooks, was installed on May 11, 1887. 
 
 Some twenty-five years before the Rollstone Church 
 separated from the parent stem, there was a division 
 of the Calvinistic Congregational Society of a far 
 diSerent character. In 1843 the intense feeling on 
 the slavery question gave rise to this division and re- 
 sulted in the formation and organization of 
 
 The Trinitarian Congregational Society. — 
 This society erected a church building at the corner 
 of what are now known as Main and Church Streets, 
 soon after the secession of its members. Rev. George 
 Clark was the first pastor, and the succeeding pastors 
 were: Revs. Foster Pettibone, Charles Bristol, George 
 Trask and Elnathan Davis. 
 
 The members of this church performed active and 
 earnest work in the interests of the slaves, and 
 through their efforts Fitcliburg became known as one 
 of the stations on the " Underground Railroad to 
 Canada," in the flight of the slave to freedom. The 
 slavery question was the only strong bond of union 
 among these people, and when the slaves were eman- 
 cipated, the object of its organization was gone. Its 
 last sermon was preached on the day when the equal- 
 ity of the negro, before the law, was guaranteed. No- 
 vember 15, 1871, the church building was sold to Mr. 
 John M. Carpenter for fourteen thousand three hun- 
 dred dollars. Chiefly through the eftbrts of Rev. 
 George Trask, the proceeds of the sale were given to 
 the Freedmen's Aid Society, with the exception of 
 the sum of two thousand dollars, which was presented 
 to Rev. Elnathan Davis, a former pastor, as a token 
 of appreciation. Since November 18, 1872, the 
 building has been occui^ied, in part, by the Fitchburg 
 post-office. 
 
 The First Baptist Society. — Undoubtedly there 
 have been Baptists in Fitchburg ever since the 
 incorporation of the town, but no mention is made 
 of the denomination until 1783. In December of 
 that year, " thirteen profest Baptists " sent in a peti- 
 tion to the town, asking that their " minister tax '' be 
 abated. The names of the petitioners were Charles 
 Willard, David Mclntire, Samuel Gibson, David 
 Whittemore, Ephraim Nile, Ephriam Howard, Elijah 
 Willard, Elijah Mclntire, Solomon Gibson, William 
 Haskell, Daniel W^illard, Abraham Willard, Lemuel 
 Haskell, Thomas Gibson, Joseph Policy, Jonathan 
 Page and Simeon Shattuck, 
 
 No special attention seems to have been paid to 
 this petition until May 16, 1787, when there was an 
 article in the town warrant, " To see if the town will 
 abate any of the profest Baptist Minister Rate." 
 Deacon Kendall Boutelle, Daniel Farwell and Wil- 
 liam Brown were chosen to investigate the matter, 
 and reported to the town two days later, when, '■ after 
 some deliberation on s* matter," the town voted "that 
 the people in s* town that are profest Baptists, that 
 petitioned to the town in the year 1784, be discharged 
 from paying the Minister Rate after s"* year." 
 
 In the northtrly part of the town were other Bap- 
 tists, but they were of the 'Free-Will" order, and 
 
254 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 had no connection with the beginnings of the present 
 Baptist Church in Fitchburg. These people built a 
 shabby, barn like meeting-house near the Ashby line, 
 and in June, 1810, "The First Baptist Society of 
 Fitchburg and Ashby " was incorporated, and con- 
 tinued in existence for some years. 
 
 Let us now return to our "seventeen profest Bap- 
 tists " who were e.x'empted from paying a minister-tax. 
 They dwelt in the westerly part of the town, in the 
 vicinity of Dean Hill, and, in conjunction with the 
 Methodists in that locality, utilized the building 
 heretofore spoken of as " The Lord's Barn " as a 
 place of worship. But this society in the west 
 gradually dwindled away and became merged in the 
 other societies in town. 
 
 In 1801, as we have seen, there were, however, a 
 sufficient number of Baptists and Methodists in the 
 town to entitle them to the use of the meeting-house 
 for three Sundays in the year. 
 
 The beginnings of the Baptist Church and Society 
 in Fitchburg were identified with two residents of 
 Leominster, — Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Crocker, — who, 
 about 1828, removed to Fitchburg. March 2, 1831, 
 Mr. Crocker and nine other gentlemen formed the 
 "Fitchburg Village Baptist Society." The society 
 thus antedated the church, which was organized as a 
 branch of the Princeton Church June 8, 1831, on 
 petition of Mr. and Mrs. Crocker, Mr. and Mrs. 
 Stephen Bemis and Mr. Augustus H. Searle. 
 
 For over two years services were held in the old 
 (then new) Academy building hall. New members 
 were rapidly added. The place of baptism, in those 
 early days, was the pond on Punch Brook, just north 
 of Academy Street. For some years this pond has 
 not been in exi^tence. 
 
 In 1833 the society bought a lot and erected a new 
 and commodious church on what is now Main Street, 
 a little west of the Common. The building, now 
 used as a carriage repository, still stands in the same 
 location. November 14, 1833, the building was ded- 
 icated and the branch church was, on the same date, 
 severed from the parent stock. The independent 
 church then had sixty-two members. 
 
 The rapid growth of the society during the next 
 twenty years made it necessary to either enlarge the 
 old church or build a new one. The latter course 
 was wisely decided upon, and March 1, 1854, the 
 present handsome edifice, costing twenty-five thou- 
 sand dollars, was dedicated. 
 
 June 8, 1881, this church observed its semi-centen- 
 nial anniversary, which was largely attended, and 
 proved to be an occasion of great rejoicing. An im- 
 portant feature of this celebration was the reading 
 by the pastor, Rev. I. R. Wheelock, of a valuable 
 historical address, to which the writer of this present 
 history is indebted for much of the foregoing. 
 
 In 1887 the interior of the church was thoroughly 
 renewed, a fine organ put in and a handsome brick 
 chapel erected, largely through the munificence of 
 
 Samuel E. Crocker, Esq., for whom the chapel has 
 been appropriately named. It was dedicated Febru- 
 ary 14, 1888. The total cost of the chapel and im- 
 provements was twenty thousand dollars. 
 
 The First Baptist Society has had fourteen different 
 pastors settled over it since its organization, the long- 
 est pastorates being those of Rev. Kendall Brooks, 
 1855 to 18G5; Rev. Stillman B. Grant, 1867 to 1874 ; 
 and Rev. Isaac R. Wheelock, 1875 to 1885. The present 
 pastor is Rev. Frank Rector, who was installed over 
 this church in November, 1886. 
 
 The First Methodist Episcopal Society. — 
 Fitchburg seems to have been first visited by a Method- 
 ist preacher about 1794, when Rev. John Hill, of the 
 Needham Circuit, came here for a brief season. A 
 small Methodist society was then organized Snd 
 meetings were held from time to time for a few years 
 in the " Lord's Barn," built by Jacob Upton and 
 others in 1786. 
 
 About 1803 several Methodists moved into town, 
 among them Mr. and Mrs. William Walton, who, 
 during their stay of seven or eight years in town, did 
 good work in sowing the seed of Methodism. Services 
 were held from time to time by itinerant preachers. 
 
 No Class was organized in town until March, 1831, 
 at which time Rev. Warren Emerson organized a 
 Class of only three members. It was formed at the 
 house of Mrs. Jane Mack, widow of Thomas Mack, 
 who came to Fitchburg from Ireland in 1824. The 
 leader of this Class was Mr. Samuel Marsh, of Lunen- 
 burg, and the two other members of it were Mrs. Jane 
 Mack and Mrs. Jane McCormick. 
 
 In April, 1831, Mr. Elijah Brigham moved into 
 town from Worcester and was immediately appointed 
 leader of the Class. 
 
 In 1834 Rev. Joel Knight began to labor in Fitch- 
 burg, and in March of that year the Methodist 
 society was organized. Twenty-two members were 
 added during Mr. Knight's first year here. He re- 
 mained another year, during the course of which Mr. 
 Elijah Brigham was licensed as a local preacher. 
 
 In 1836 Fitchburg became a Methodist Station, and 
 Rev. Joseph S. Ellis was appointed pastor of the so- 
 ciety during that year; but the people were not able 
 to support a minister, and no one was appointed to 
 preach in Fitchburg during 1837-8-9. 
 
 In the spring of 1840 the Class was revived, two 
 hundred dollars appropriated by the district, and in 
 the following July Rev. John Tate was appointed to 
 preach here. The hall in the Academy building, 
 where meetings had previously been held during Mr. 
 Knight's ministry, was again hired, and before long 
 was found insufficient to accommodate the rapidly in- 
 creasing attendance. The need of a church edifice 
 was evident, but the people did not feel able to incur 
 the necessary expense. Accordingly, on February 
 15, 1841, the people here had a conference with 
 brethren in Ashburnham and Lunenburg. The re- 
 sult of their deliberation was a resolve " to build a 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 255 
 
 meeting house, 60 feet by 42 feet, provided that fifteen 
 ptrsons could be found to be responsible for building 
 and paying for :lie house."' 
 
 The names of the fifteen persons who became thus 
 responsible are : Major Ephraim Jones, William S. 
 Jones, James Gilchrist and Samuel Marsh, of Lunen- 
 burg ; Eben Frost and Walter Russell, of Ashburn- 
 ham ; James Puffer, of Westminster ; and Elijah 
 Brigham, Daniel Emory, Nahum Wetherby, Nathan 
 Caswell, Roswell Graham, Ebenezer C. Hayden, Ed- 
 ward Aldrich and James Ilartwell, of Fitchburg. 
 
 March 1, 1841, Major Jones and Messrs. Puffer, 
 Brigham, Emory and Graham were appointed a 
 building committee. A site was purchased near the 
 foot of the present Upper Common, and the building 
 erected during the following summer. It was dedi- 
 cated September 14, 1841, Rev. Miner Raymond 
 preaching the sermon. On the next day the first 
 board of trustees was elected, consisting of the fol- 
 lowing : Roswell Graham, William Wilder, Elijah 
 Brigham, Samuel D. Phelps and Daniel Emory. 
 
 Since 1841 this society has prospered, and the orig- 
 inal church edifice, which still stands in its old loca- 
 tion on Main Street, was twice enlarged — onie during 
 the pastorate of Rev. Samuel Tapper, in 1853-54, when 
 an addition of fifteen feet was made to its length, and 
 a second time in 1868, when upwards of four thou- 
 sand dollars were spent in repairs and enlargement. 
 
 In October, 1885, this society purchased of Dr. 
 Thomas S. Blood a lot on the corner of Fox and Elm 
 Streets, and in the course of the next three years 
 erected a large and handsome brick structure on this 
 land. The cost of the edifice was thirty thousand 
 five hundred and eighty dollars, of which amount 
 twenty-five thousand two hundred dollars had been 
 pledged previous to the dedication of the church, 
 which occurred February 29, 1888. The exercises 
 were held on the afternoon and evening of that day, 
 and there was a large and notable gathering each 
 time. Bishop Andrews, of Washington, D. C, 
 preached the sermon, and it is worthy of record that 
 before 10 p.m. that day the entire deficit of five thou- 
 sand three hundred and eighty dollars was pledged. 
 Afier the money had been all pledged, the trustees 
 formally surrendered the church into the hands of 
 Bishop Andrews, who then dedicated it, according to 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church ritual, to the wor- 
 ship of Almighty God. 
 
 The first pastor of this church was Rev. Joel 
 Knight, and since then it has had twenty-seven 
 different pastors settled over it. The present pastor 
 is Rev. Jesse Wagner, who began his work here in 
 April, 1888. 
 
 West Fitchburg Methodist Episcopal So- 
 ciety.— In November, 1874, a Methodist Sunday- 
 school was organized in West Fitchburg, and a 
 chapel was soon after built. November 17, 1881, the 
 West Fitchburg Methodist Episcopal Society was 
 organized. The chapel being found too small, their 
 
 present church was built in 1882, and dedicated May 
 11, 1883. Rev. F. T. Pomeroy was pastor the year 
 preceding the organization, and remained, at the 
 earnest request of the people, till April, 1884. Since 
 then there have been three pastors, the present pas- 
 tor being Rev. W. W. Baldwin, who began his work 
 here in April, 1887. 
 
 The First Universai.ist Society.— One of the 
 chief difficulties with which the Rev. Dr. Worcester 
 had to contend during his pastorate here was a 
 religious sentiment within his flock, denominated 
 " Universalism ; " and it is recorded that the Rev. 
 John I'ayson, Kitchburg's first pastor, was also 
 troubled in spirit from this same cause. All this 
 goes to show that the principles of the Universalist 
 faiih were early developed in this town. 
 
 These sentiments gradually gained adherents, and 
 Universalist meetings were occasionally held. Soon 
 after the old meeting-house was fitted up for a town- 
 house, in 1837, the Universalists began to have 
 meetings in it occasionally, with preaching by min- 
 isters of their faith in neighboring towns ; and as a 
 result, the First Universalist Society of Fitchburg 
 was organized October 9, 1844, after which date 
 services were regularly held in the town-hall each 
 Sunday. 
 
 August 4, 1846, the society appointed a committee 
 to see about building a church edifice, and on Feb- 
 ruary 11, 1847, it was voted " that there is a sutficient 
 amount of funds raised on the subscription paper to 
 take measures to commence building a meeting- 
 house." At the same time Hiram Davis, Everett 
 Sprague, Charlea Upton, Albert C. Upton, Abel 
 Derby, Harrington Sibley and E. S. Bowditch were 
 chosen a building committee, with full authority to 
 purcha>e land and build a church. 
 
 This committee purchased a site at the corner of 
 Main and RoUstone Streets, prepared plans and re- 
 ported their doings to the society a week later. The 
 report was accepted, and work begun at once. The 
 church was of brick and stone, and was completed 
 during 1847, and was at that time considered one of 
 the finest buildings in town. 
 
 For nearly forty years the society continued to oc- 
 cupy this church, but in the summer of 1884 a lot 
 was purchased on the corner of Day and Union 
 Streets, at a cost of three thousand eight hundred 
 dollars; and March 30,1885, it was unanimously 
 voted to proceed at once to erect on this site a church 
 edifice in accordance with plans previously prepared 
 by a committee chosen for the purpose. Rev. F. O. 
 Hall and Messrs. J. S. Wilson, H. L. Rice, F. S. 
 Lovell and J. D. Littlehale were chosen as a building 
 committee. The corner stone was laid June 18, 1885, 
 and during the succeeding eight months their present 
 Hue and attractive house of worship was erected at a 
 cost of thirty thousand six hundred and twelve dol- 
 lars. Its doors were first opened to the public on the 
 evening of February 23, 1886. 
 
256 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Rev. Mather E. Hawes was the first pastor of this 
 society, and continued his ministry until the spring 
 of 1849. Since then the society has had ten pastors, 
 the longest pastorate being that of Kev. Frank Ma- 
 guire,— 1870-79. 
 
 The present pa.stor, Rev. Frank O. Hall, is a grad- 
 uate of Tufts College Divinity School, and began his 
 ministry here on June 1, 1884. 
 
 The First Episcopal Society {Christ Church). 
 — Episcopal services appear to have been first held 
 in Fitchburg during the latter part of 1862, in the 
 lower town-hall, and were conducted by Rev. W. G. 
 Hawkins. 
 
 October 7, 1803, the Episcopal Society was organ- 
 ized here, and one week later the church was duly or- 
 ganized under the statutes of the Commonwealth by 
 the name of Christ Church. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Hawkins preached until April, 1863, when 
 he was succeeded by Rev. Henry L. Jones, of New 
 York City, and on October 14, 1863, Mr. Jones was 
 unanimously chosen the first rector of Christ Church. 
 At the game time the following officers were chosen : 
 Wardens, Alvah Crocker and Augustus Whitman; 
 Vestrymen, C. H. B. Snow, G. F. Fay, L. B. Jaquith, 
 C. L. S. Hammond and Thomas Trees. 
 
 For about five years after Mr. Jones first came to 
 Fitchburg, the society held services regularly in the 
 lower town-hall, but the need of a church home soon 
 became very evident, and about 1806 the society pur- 
 chased of Dr. George D. Colony his estate, situated on 
 Main Street, between Hartwell and Fox Streets, for 
 eight thousand dollars. During 1867 their present 
 fine, stone church edifice was built at an expense of 
 over fifty-three thousand dollars. The corner-stone 
 was laid April 22, 1807, and just one year later, April 
 22, 1868, the handsome and attractive church was 
 consecrated by the Rev. Manton Eastburn, D.D., 
 Bi^hop of the Diocese of Massachusetts. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Jones continued as rector until February, 
 1875. Since then there have been three settled rectors. 
 
 Rev. Charles Morris Addison, the present rector, is 
 a graduate of the Episcopal Theological School at 
 Cambridge, and assumed the charge of Christ Church 
 parish on June 1, 1885. 
 
 Saint Bernard's Parish (Roman Catholic).— 
 Catholic services seem to have been held in Fitchburg 
 as far back as 1842, but no society was organized un- 
 til 1847. In 1848, under the pastorate of Rev. M. F. 
 Gibson, a church was built on Water Street. There 
 were then about eight hundred in the whole parish. 
 
 Rev. Edward Turpin became pastor in 1856, and re- 
 mained ten years. He was succeeded, in 1866, by 
 Rev. C. M. Foley, who, in 1869, built the present 
 brick church edifice, which is one of the finest in 
 town. Rev. P. J. Garrigan took charge of the parish 
 in 1875. He greatly embellished the interior of the 
 church, and dedicated it with imposing ceremonies in 
 1879. Father Garrigan also built the parish house on 
 Water Street, next to the church, and the parochial 
 
 school and convent on First Street. He also pur- 
 chased land and built the Catholic Church in West 
 Fitchburg. 
 
 In the summer of 1888 Father Garrigan was asked 
 to accept the position of vice-rector of the Catholic 
 University recently established in Washington, D. C, 
 and afteV much deliberation concluded to accept the 
 position. He left Fitchburg early in November, 1888, 
 closing a long and valuable pastorate, and will be 
 greatly missed by his parishioners, now numbering 
 over four thousand. 
 
 Since he came to Fitchburg, Father Garrigan has 
 been a prominent citizen. He has been a member of 
 the School Committee, but is chiefly noted, as a public 
 man, for the noble and effective work he has accom- 
 plished here in the cause of temperance. 
 
 West Fitchburg Roman Catholic Parish — 
 Church of the Sacred Heart. — This parish was organized 
 in 1878 in West Fitchburg, and Father Garrigan, as 
 before stated, purchased a lot and built thereon the 
 present neat church edifice. For a time it was sus- 
 tained as a branch of Saint Bernard's Parish, but it is 
 now self-supporting. 
 
 Its first pastor was Rev. James Canavan. He was 
 followed by Rev. James Donahoe. The present 
 pastor. Rev. J. L. Tarpey, began his work here in 
 June, 1886. 
 
 Connected with these two Catholic Churches are 
 twelve different societies, organized in the interests 
 of temperance, doctrinal instruction and charity. 
 
 The French Catholic Society. — This society was or- 
 ganized in 1886. Rev. C. Beaudoin has been its pastor 
 since organization. 
 
 In December, 1886, the society purchased fifty-two 
 thousand feet of land on Walnut Street, and a dwell- 
 ing-house thereon was converted into a parsonage and 
 school. A small chapel was erected, and it is the 
 intention of the society to build a church on this land 
 in the near future. 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 FITCHBURG— ( Continued. ) 
 
 EDUCATIONAL HISTORY. 
 
 The educational history of Fitchburg will, for the 
 sake of convenience, be considered under two heads, 
 viz.: Public Schools and Libraries. Neither of these 
 all-important departments of our history has, as far as 
 the writer is aware, ever been written upon in a way 
 by any means complete. It is therefore proposed, in 
 this history, to give special prominence to the subject 
 of education, and to place before the reader a large 
 number of facts relating to the history of the begin- 
 nings and progress of education in Fitchburg. 
 
 The writer is fortunate in having access to a very 
 large number of reports and original documents aud 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 257 
 
 papers relating to this subject, collected and preserved 
 by his father, Charles Mason, Esq., who has always 
 been deeply interested in the education of youth, and 
 was, for some years, prominent and active in the school 
 and educational affairs of the town of Fitchburg. 
 
 Public Schools. — The early settlers of this town 
 do not seem to have paid much attention, or devoted 
 much money to the fostering of public education. 
 The earliest mention in the town records of any 
 public action respecting the establishment of schools 
 in town occurs in the report of a town-meeting held 
 September 12, 1764, and is as follows : 
 
 Votad, that there be two scools in s'" town and that mr. John fitch and 
 Kindal Boutwell and their neighbors shall have the benititt of their 
 BCoole money in order to provide scooling among themselves, 
 
 Vnted, that eight pounds he raised in order to provide a scoolemaster 
 In 8** town. 
 
 Votedy Amos Kimball Eph™ Whitney and Thos. Dutton be a scoole 
 comite. 
 
 The amount of money appropriated was very small, 
 being equivalent to only a trifle over twenty-six dollars. 
 
 The "two scools" appear to have been kept, how- 
 ever, during the winter of 1764-65, — one in William 
 Chadwick's corn-barn, near the present Pearl Hill 
 School-house, and the other in Samuel Hunt's tavern, 
 — but who the "scoolemaster" was is not stated. 
 
 November 21, 1765, it was voted in town-meeting 
 "to have 2 scools in s'd town and Mr. Poole and Mr. 
 John fitch with their neighbors have the benefit of 
 their scoole money in order to provide among them- 
 selves," 
 
 " Voted, that £3 be raised for scooling. Thomas 
 Cowdin, Kindal Boutell and Jon° Wood Com." 
 
 So the town had only about ten dollars to expend 
 for education in the winter of 1765-66. 
 
 The next fall, however, the people returned to 
 their first appropriation of £8, and voted " that two- 
 thirds be laid out in the middle of the town, and the 
 rest by the Com. as they shall think proper on the 
 outsides of the town." 
 
 During the following three years a like sura was 
 annually appropriated, and equitably distributed. 
 
 January 11, 1770, the town, for some reason un- 
 known, voted " not to have any scoole this winter, 
 but reserve their money till next fall." 
 
 Oct. 1, 1770, the town raised £5 ISs. 4rf. for schools, 
 and the next fall £9 3s. id. ; and October 19, 1772, £20 
 were raised; and it was also voted to build four 
 school-houses in the town, "each quarter of the 
 town to build their own school-house at their own 
 expense, free from any town tax, only that each 
 quarter have their proportion of the Town's Boards 
 and Nails left after finishing the Meeting-house." 
 A committee of five was chosen to fix the location of 
 the school-houses. 
 
 During the next four years the annual appropria- 
 tion was £20. 
 
 October 4, 1774, the following votes are recorded, 
 showing that a sharp lookout was maintained with 
 regard to the expenditure of the school money : 
 17 
 
 Voted, that all the quarters of the town that don't see that their part 
 of the scuol money that is not scooled out within the year be returned 
 into the Town Stoke. (This vote is rather blindly recorded, but one can 
 catch the idea.) 
 
 Voted, to add what Bcool money remains not yet laid out that was 
 raised the last year to the £20 now raised to be laid out in providing a 
 scool or scools. 
 
 In 1777 the appropriation was raised to £30. 
 
 The effect of the depreciation in the currency is 
 seen in the amounts raised for school purposes dur- 
 ing the next three years, which were £200 in 1778, 
 £500 in 1779 and £2000 in 1780. In the hist-named 
 year Thomas Cowdin generously added £500, " to be 
 scooled out in the scool-house sot on said Cowdin's 
 land." 
 
 In 1781 the town raised " £60, hard money, to hire 
 school Master, Masters or Mistresses." The same 
 sum was raised in 1782, but the appropriation for 
 each of the two following years was reduced to £40. 
 
 In 1785 it was voted "to hire a Grammar School 
 Master for the town ; the said Grammar School to be 
 kept four months, and each quarter to have their 
 mouth, the said Grammar School to begin in town 
 before December next." The appropriation this 
 year was £45, and remained at that figure until 1789, 
 when it was increased to £50. 
 
 April 5, 1790, it was voted " to new district the 
 town," and a committee of seven was appointed (or 
 this purpose. September 9, 1790, raised £50, and 
 voted "that the several schools in town be free 
 schools for the use of the town." 
 
 At a later meeting the report of the committee to 
 redistrict the town was rejected, and it was not till 
 1798 that a report on this matter was accepted. The 
 town was then divided into eleven districts. 
 
 In March, 1798, £100 were raised for schools. 
 This was the first year that the annual appropriation 
 was voted at the March meeting. 
 
 It was necessary to build school-houses for the new 
 districts, and at a town-meeting, June 21, 1798, a 
 committee was appointed " to estimate the bigness of 
 the school-houses." The committee reported at the 
 same meeting, and their report was accepted, — " that 
 the houses be twenty-four feet by twenty feet, and 
 finished with Gallery s'^ats ; lathed and plastered 
 overhead, to be glassed with six windows, 12 squares 
 of 7 by 9 glass in each, and to be finished outside and 
 in, all except clap-boarding." The report further 
 provided that the old school-houses be appraised, and 
 their value refunded to the proprietors, and that the 
 building of the new houses be let out to the lowest 
 bidder. A committee of three was chosen to let out 
 and inspect the building of the new school-houses. 
 
 September 17, 1798, the selectmen were appointed a 
 committee to appraise the old houses, and, at an ad- 
 journed meeting, October 8th, reported their valuation 
 as follows : 
 
 The School house nigh ]Mr. Daniel Wetherbee's $92 00 
 
 The .School house nigh Mr. Simeon FarweU's 93 00 
 
 The Schoel house nigh Mr. Amos Lawrence's 9U 00 
 
 The School bouse uigh Mr. Abrahaui FarweU's SO 00 
 
258 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 The School house nigh Mr. Elijah Carter's 80 00 
 
 The School house (frame) nigli Mr. Daniel Harris' 6 00 
 
 At the same meeting it was voted to raise ten hun- 
 dred and eighty dollars to expend in building and 
 furnishing the school-houses. 
 
 In 1799 one hundred and fifty pounds were raised 
 for schools, and the committeemen were directed "to 
 agree with the teachers that they are not to be al- 
 lowed anything for keeping schools Saturdays in the 
 afternoon. " The selectmen were authorized to pro- 
 vide locks and keys and window-shutters for the sev- 
 eral school-houses. 
 
 In 1800 one hundred and fifty pounds were raised, 
 and in each of the three followingyears, five hundred 
 dollars. From 1804 to 1808, six hundred dollars was 
 the sum appropriated ; and in the latter year forty 
 dollars were added " to be distributed among those 
 school districts the selectmen shall think most need 
 it." A committee of eleven was also chosen in 1808 
 to examine schools, and it was voted " that the com- 
 mittee be requested to attend the schools at their com- 
 mencement and close, and it be the duty of the school 
 committeemen to inform the examiners when the 
 school begins.'' It was also voted that the School 
 Committee furnish the selectmen, during the last 
 week in August, an exact return of the number of 
 scholars in their respective districts, so that the 
 school money could be equitably divided. 
 
 In 1809 raised six hundred and forty dollars " to be 
 laid out as last year," and chose a committee consist- 
 ing of Rev. Mr. Barton, Rev. Mr. Bascom, Dr. Peter 
 Snow, Leonard Burbank and Joseph Simonds, to in- 
 spect the schools. 
 
 In 1810 seven hundred dollars were appropriated 
 for schools, and in 1811 six hundred and forty dollars ; 
 and in the latter year, aconimittee of seven was chosen, 
 " to consider the expediency of any alteration in the 
 Middle School District " (District No. 1). At an ad- 
 journed meeting April 1, 1811, this committee reported 
 " that the district should be divided and a new district 
 formed." This new district, as outlined by the com- 
 mittee, corresponded to that portion afterwards called 
 the " Old City." 
 
 The report was accepted, and in the following July 
 it was voted to divide District No. 1, in accordance 
 with the report of the committee, and call the new 
 district No. 12. Also voted to give the new district 
 ninety dollars toward building a school-house. This 
 vote was reconsidered, and it was then voted to pay 
 the sum of ninety dollars for this purpose in March, 
 1815. 
 
 In 1812 the school district boundaries were more 
 accurately defined by a committee chosen for that 
 purpose. The school appropriation that year was 
 seven hundred dollars, and the next year eight hun- 
 dred dollars. 
 
 The foregoing is an abstract of the more important 
 actions of the town in regard to public instruction 
 during its first half-century of existence. During 
 
 the early years of this period the town furnished very 
 meagre facilities for the education of the children ; 
 and, as a matter of fact, the larger part of the in- 
 struction given in those days was furnished by pri- 
 vate teachers. 
 
 For the first few years there were no school-houses 
 even, the schools being kept in vacant rooms of pri- 
 vate houses, or taverns. Fuel was gratuitously sup- 
 plied by the neighborhood, and the teachers " boarded 
 round." The first school-houses were probably built 
 in 1773, — one in the middle of the town and the 
 other three in the west, north and south parts of the 
 township respectively. 
 
 In 1798 there appear to have been five school- 
 houses in town, according to the appraisal report pre- 
 viously cited, and the frame of a sixth in process of 
 erection. 
 
 In 1800 the school-house in the " Center District," 
 or No. 1, stood on what is now Main Street, a few 
 rods west of the present junction of Circle and Main 
 Streets. It was a low, unpainted wooden building, 
 standing with its end to the road. The other ten 
 were in locations probably closely corresponding to 
 those now occupied by our present long-established 
 suburban school-houses. 
 
 In 1812, the year after District No. 1 was divided, 
 a brick school-house was built in the new district. 
 No. 12, and still remains there, forming a portion of 
 a dwelling-houne at the upper corner of Crescent and 
 Blossom Streets. 
 
 In 1815, by vote of the town, a new school-house 
 was built in District No. 1. It was a wooden build- 
 ing, paiuted yellow, and containing two rooms. It 
 stood at the present junction of Main and Mechanic 
 Streets, on the site now occupied by D. H. Merriam's 
 house. 
 
 The early School Committees seem to have been 
 chosen for prudential purposes only, until 1808, when 
 an additional committee of eleven (reduced to five 
 the next ye.ir) was appointed to examine and inspect 
 the schools. After 1826, in accordance with legisla- 
 tive enactment. School Committees were chosen to 
 exercise substantially the same powers and functions 
 as at present. 
 
 This law was passed in 1826, and at an adjourned 
 town-meeting in that year it was voted "that the 
 Selectmen be a committee for the superintendence 
 and regulation of schools agreeably to an act of the 
 General Court passed 1826." Later at the same meet- 
 ing it was voted to add the clergymen of the town to 
 the committee. The first School Committee actually 
 chosen by the town under this law was in 1827, and 
 consisted of Rev. Calvin Lincoln, Rev. Rufus A. Put- 
 nam, Dr. Jonas A. Marshall and Messrs. Ebenezer 
 Torrey, David Brigham, Ivers Jewett and Abel Fox. 
 
 During the second half-century of the town's ex- 
 istence considerable progress was made in educational 
 matters. Fitchburg grew rapidly, and increased ac- 
 commodations and more teachers were necessary, and 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 259 
 
 the people seem to have been willing to appropriate 
 money to meet the increasing needs. 
 
 In 1830 the appropriation was eleven hundred dol- 
 lars, and in 1S40 had risen to fifteen hundred doUurs. 
 
 In 1819 the custom of enumerating the school- 
 children in town May 1st was adopted. 
 
 About 1830 the High School Association, of Fitch- 
 burg, was formed by a number of prominent citizens 
 who were interested in education. The directors of 
 the Association were Benjamin Snow, Francis Per- 
 kins and Dr. Charles W. Wilder, and its secretary and 
 treasurer was Dr. Jonas A. Marshall. This Associa- 
 tion proved to be of very material assistance in pro- 
 moting the cause of education here, and many of our 
 older citizens owe tlieir knowledge of the higher 
 branches of learning to the instruction rendered avail- 
 able by it. 
 
 A building called the Academy was erected in 1830 
 by the Association at a cost of twelve hundred dollars. 
 It stood just in front of the location of the present 
 High School building, on land given for the purpose 
 by Capt. Zaohariah Sheldon. The Academy was let 
 to private persons, who taught therein almost all the 
 higher branches. At one time Hebrew was included 
 in the list of studies. Benaiah Cook, A.B., with Mr. 
 Ezra Reed as his assistant, kept the first school in the 
 Academy, and the building was used for private in- 
 struction until 1849, when the town purchased it of 
 the Association and established a high school in it. 
 
 In April, 1831, a committee of one from each school 
 district was chosen " to examine into the evils of our 
 schools and point out remedies." The report of this 
 committee was read June 11, 1831, and "accepted 
 very unanimously," and it was voted to print and 
 distribute four hundred and fifty copies of it. 
 
 In 1835 the number of children attending the dis- 
 trict schools in Fitchburg was 560 — 289 girls and 271 
 boys — and the teachers employed numbered 25, of 
 whom 14 were ladies. The average wages per month 
 were, in winter, $16.07 ; in summer, $4.30. 
 
 Of the Academy, which was intended only for 
 young persons who had already acquired a common- 
 school education, Mr. Torrey, writing in 1836, says in 
 his " History of Fitchburg ": " It is a commodious, two- 
 story building, situated a few rods easterly of the 
 common. It is furnished with two school-rooms on 
 the lower floor, the former of which will accommo- 
 date 65 scholars, and the latter 30. The average 
 number attending for several years past has been 
 about 30." 
 
 In 1835 an attempt was made to have the higher 
 branches of learning taught in the district schools, 
 but the town refused to sanction any such proceeding. 
 
 In 1840 the need of a new school-house in District 
 No. 1 became very evident. The "yellow school- 
 house," built in 1815, was filled to overflowing, and 
 the pupils were soon all transferred to a new brick 
 school-house — the pride of the town — erected on what 
 is now School Street, near Main Street. This house 
 
 is still standing, and is occupied by schools of the 
 primary grade. During the summer of 1888 an ex- 
 tensive addition was built, reaching nearly to Main 
 Street. 
 
 In 1846 the brick house in District No. 12 was 
 abandoned and the pupils transferred to a new and 
 commodious brick school-house on Day Street. 
 
 The first printed school report of the town of 
 Fitchburg was for the year ending April 3, 1843. It 
 was not printed by vote of the town, but by the sub- 
 scriptions of public-spirited citizens, and is an eight- 
 page pamphlet in large type, bearing the imprint of 
 " W. J. Merriam, Printer, Fitchburg, Mass." 
 
 It contains no tabulated statistics, but deals chiefly 
 with the defects in the school system of that day. 
 Some of the "causes unfavorable and, in some cases, 
 almost ruinous to our schools, which neither good 
 teachers nor faithful committees can obviate " are 
 enumerated as follows : 
 
 First. Bad School Houses.— Vinder this head it is 
 stated that a few of the school-houses in town are good 
 ones, pleasantly located, in good repair and provided 
 with suitable grounds, etc., while the rest are very bad 
 in all these respects. 
 
 Second. Many of our schools suffer from inadequate 
 tuition. 
 
 The committee recommended ai remedies for this 
 evil larger appropriations and a reduction in the num- 
 ber of school districts. 
 
 The irregular attendance of pupils is spoken of as 
 a third serious drawback to the prosperity of the 
 schools, and also the non-attendance of "young peo- 
 ple between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one," of 
 whom there were said to be over two hundred in town, 
 "only eighty of whom attend our public schools at all,'' 
 The report closes with an earnest exhortation that 
 parents and guardians exert their utmost influence to 
 have the young persons under their care attend 
 school. 
 
 No school report was printed the following year, 
 but since then annual reports have been printed, and 
 the writer is fortunate enough to possess a complete 
 set of them, including the report for 1842-43. 
 
 The report (or the year ending March, 1845, was 
 printed by vote of the town. It is a pamphlet of 
 twenty-eight pages, closely printed and containing in 
 addition six tables of attendance, &c. It was prepared 
 by Charles Mason, Esq., chairman of the School Com- 
 mittee, and is an exhaustive document containing 
 much valuable information regarding the conduct and 
 condition of the schools and useful suggestions in the 
 way of their improvement. 
 
 The year 1845 was a lively one in the school affairs 
 of Fitchburg. At the annual town-meeting, March 3, 
 1845, sundry articles iu the warrant relating to the es- 
 tablishment of a town school, new districting, &c., 
 were referred to a committee composed of one chosen 
 from each district, as follows: No. 1, Charles Mason ; 
 2, Robert L. Friar; 3, John Whitcomb ; 4, Abram 
 
260 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Osborn ; 5, Levi Downe ; 6, Ivers Phillips ; 8\ David 
 D. Mclntire; 9, Asa Raymond ; 10, David Lowe; 11, 
 John Andrews; 12, David Boutelle; 13, Isaac B. 
 Woodward. 
 
 This committee met March 18th and thoroughly 
 discussed the subject and adjourned to the morning 
 of April 7th, when a report, prepared by the chair- 
 man, Mr. Mason, was read in committee and unani- 
 mously agreed to. In the afternoon of the same day 
 this report was presented in town-meeting and the 
 measure.s therein recommended were adopted. Of 
 these measures the following were a part: 
 
 That the present di\ision of the town into school districts be discon- 
 tinued, sucli discontinuance to take effect on the 15th day of May next, 
 from and after which day the existing school districts of the town, in- 
 cluding No. Vl}4t shall he abolished ; and that the town purchase of the 
 several districts, at a fair and just appraisal, their respective school- 
 houses, and their right and interest in the land on which the same 
 stand, . . . and that henceforth tho town provide, at the common ex- 
 pense of the town, school-houses for the several school districts that 
 shall be formed within its limits. 
 
 It was the portion of the above relating to school 
 districts that produced contention. No objection was 
 made to the purchase of the school-houses by the 
 town, though it was an unusual proceeding in those 
 days. 
 
 At this meeting, April 7th, a committee was chosen 
 to appraise the school-houses and report their value 
 to the assessors, to be by them credited to the tax- 
 payers in the several districts toward payment of their 
 taxes. This was attended to and the transfer duly 
 made to the town. 
 
 A committee was also chosen at this meeting to 
 divide the town into suitable school districts. This 
 committee performed their duty and presented a re- 
 port at a town-meeting held May 5, 1845. The report 
 was accepted and referred, together with the whole 
 subject matter, to a special committee for revision. 
 This committee, which consisted of Nathaniel Wood, 
 Levi Downe, Ivers Phillips, Abel F. Adams and Levi 
 Kendall, was requested to report August 11, 1845. 
 This date found nothing done by the committee and 
 the four first-named gentlemen sent in their resigna- 
 tions. Charles Mason, John Whitcomb, Dr. Thomas 
 R. Boutelle and William Woodbury were chosen in 
 their places respectively, and the members of this new 
 committee were "authorized to have their Report or 
 Reports printed and distributed among the inhabitants 
 of the town for their examination prior to the next 
 March meeting." 
 
 There resulted from the labors of this committee 
 two reports, — a majority report, signed by Messrs. 
 Mason and Whitcomb and Dr. Boutelle, recommend- 
 ing the division of the town into eight school districts, 
 to be wholly under the supervision of the School 
 Committee ; and a minority report, signed by Messrs. 
 Woodbury and Kendall, recommending the division 
 of the town into ten school districts, each district to 
 
 1 Nos. 7 and 8 were, in 1844, united into one district, called No. 8. 
 
 have entire control of its own school, and the School 
 Committee to serve only for the purpose of examining 
 teachers and occasionally visiting the schools. 
 
 In the majority report was a table of the school 
 districts as then existing, which is, perhaps, worth 
 inserting here: 
 
 District. Name. Established. Hemarks. 
 
 1 Centre 179S. 
 
 2 South Fitchburg ITOb. 
 
 3 Whitcomb's 1708. 
 
 4 Turnpike 1798. 
 
 5 Downe's 1798. 
 
 6 Baldwinville 1798. 
 
 7 Williams' 1798 United with No. 8 in 1844. 
 
 8 Dean's 1798. 
 
 9 Page's 1798. 
 
 10 Phelps' 1798. 
 
 11 Pearl Hill 1798. 
 
 12 Old City 1811 Taken from No. 1. 
 
 Vi.%.., Half District 1836 Taken from Nos. 10 and 12. 
 
 13 Crockerville 1838... .Takenfrom Nos. <!. 
 
 These two reports were read in town-meeting, 
 March 2, 1846, and were both accepted and laid on 
 the table. It was then voted " to adopt the territorial 
 limits for school districts as they existed in 1844, ex- 
 cept the half-district." A committee, consisting of 
 Levi Downe, Abel Marshall and William Carleton, 
 was chosen " to assign the territory which was formerly 
 the half-district, and fix the limits of the old dis- 
 tricts." This committee reported April 6, 1846, and 
 their report was accepted. The town clerk added to 
 the record the following comment: "So ended our 
 great effort to new district the town." 
 
 The year 1845 was also noted in the educational 
 annals of the town because of a very large and suc- 
 cessful Teachers' Institute held here. The Institute 
 began its sessions October 28th and closed November 
 7, 1845. The attendance was fifty males and eighty- 
 five females, most of whom were teachers in Fitch- 
 burg and neighboring towns. 
 
 The following gentlemen contributed their services 
 as lecturers or instructors, or both, during the session : 
 Hon. Horace Mann, Boston ; R. B. Hubbard, Esq., 
 Worcester; W. B. Fowle, Esq., Boston; Thomas 
 Sherwin, Esq., Boston ; Rev. Barzillai Frost, Concord ; 
 N. Tillinghast, Esq., Bridgewater; Amasa Walker, 
 Esq., North Brookfield; George S. Hillard, Esq., Bos- 
 ton ; Charles Mason, Esq., Fitchburg; and Asa Fitz, 
 Esq., Boston. Mr. Hillard was unable to be present, 
 and the lecture prepared by him was read by Charles 
 Sumner, Esq., of Boston, at that time just entering 
 upon his glorious public career. 
 
 The pecuniary means necessary for holding this 
 Institute, as well as three others held at about the 
 same time in Pittsfield, Bridgewater and Chatham, 
 were furnished by Hon. Edmund Dwight, of Boston, 
 who placed in the hands of Hon. Horace Mann, then 
 Secretary of the State Board of Education, the sum 
 of one thousand dollars for this purpose ; and at a 
 special meeting of the Institute, November 7th, a set 
 of resolutions were adopted expressing the obligation 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 261 
 
 and thanks of the memliers to Hon. Edmund Dwight 
 for his munificence, to Hon. Horace Mann and 
 Charles Mason, Esq., "for the efficientservice they have 
 rendered to the cause of popular education by their 
 labors in the establishment of this Institute,'' to the 
 lecturers and instructors for their valuable gratuitous 
 services, and to the citizens of Fitchburg for their 
 hospitality. 
 
 All the local work was performed and arrange- 
 ments made by Mr. Mason, and at the close of the 
 sessions, November 7th, the ladies of the institute 
 presented to him a handsome gold pencil in recogni- 
 tion of his efforts to make the Institute a success. 
 
 In 1845 the School Committee established a small 
 library for the use of the public school teachers. A 
 subscription paper, now in Mr. Mason's possession, 
 was circulated, and the money thus obtained was 
 used for the purchase of some forty books and pam- 
 phlets on educational subjects. These were after- 
 ward presented to the Fitchburg Public Library. 
 
 The town did not vote to print the school report 
 for the year ending March, 1846, and in April of that 
 year a subscription paper, also now in Mr. Mason's 
 po-session, was carried around and $23.16 raised, for 
 which sum the report was printed the following May. 
 
 After 1846 the report was annually printed by vote 
 of the town. 
 
 On several occasions since 1836 there had been 
 articles in the warrants relating to the establishment 
 of a high school in town, but these had always 
 been "passed over." March 5, 1849, however, the 
 town voted " to establish a High School to be kept 
 throughout the year, with suitable vacations, the 
 school committee to put it in operation as soon aa 
 convenient," and eight hundred dollars were appro- 
 priated for this purpose. 
 
 The town purchased the Academy of the High 
 School Association and enlarged it. Mr. Anson S. 
 Marshall was engiged as the first principal of the 
 Fitchburg High School, and in March, 1850, there 
 were eighty-two pupils in attendance. 
 
 The town was now thoroughly awake on the sub- 
 ject of education. During the year ending March 1, 
 1850, over two thousand dollars were e.tpended for 
 new school-houses in South Fitchburg and Crocker- 
 ville and the addition to the Academy building, and 
 about eleven hundred dollars for painting and repair- 
 ing the old houses. The annual appropriation had 
 risen to about four thousand dollars. 
 
 During the next ten years much was done towards 
 bringing the schools into good working condition. 
 The High School was well attended, and proved a suc- 
 cess from the start. The scholars in the school were 
 divided into two grades called the First and Second 
 Departments. This method was retained until the 
 spring of 1855, when the town voted to abolish the 
 Second Department of the High School and estab- 
 lish in lieu thereof three grammar schools — one on 
 Day Street, one on West Street and the third in West 
 
 Fitchburg. ■ These schools were put in operation be- 
 fore the end of April, 1855. 
 
 In 1856 seven thousand dollars were raised, to be 
 equally divided between the high, grammar and dis- 
 trict schools. 
 
 It was becoming very evident that increased ac- 
 commodations would soon be necessary, especially 
 for the High School ; but it was not till 1859 that 
 buildings were actually erected, though in 1858 the 
 South Street house was enlarged at an expense of 
 nearly two thousand dollars. 
 
 In 1859 the East Street School-house was built, and 
 also a new house in District No. 11, the two costing 
 about five thousand dollars. 
 
 In ISfiO what is now the High Street Grammar School 
 building was erected at a cost of about twelve thou- 
 sand dollars. This was a commodious, well-built, 
 brick house, with accommodations for three hundred 
 and sixty scholars; it was heated by furnaces. The 
 High School occupied the upper portion, and several 
 schools of lower grade were kept in the rest of the 
 building. 
 
 The West Fitchburg Grammar School building was 
 also erected in 1860, at a cost of about three thousand 
 three hundred dollars, and furnished accommodations 
 for seventy -two scholars. Both these houses reflected 
 great credit on the building committee, consisting of 
 Edwin Upton, William O. Brown and Arnold 
 Wilson. 
 
 The appropriation for schools in 1860 was seven 
 thousand four hundred and fifty dollars. 
 
 After the removal of the High School to the new 
 building the Academy was used for various purposes. 
 It was here that Mr. E. Butterick began the business 
 of making shirt-patterns. He was successful and 
 later removed to New York City, where he estab- 
 lished one of the largest pattern and fashion houses 
 in the world. About 1865 the town sold the Acad- 
 emy building for seven hundred dollars, and a few 
 years later it was moved, and became a portion of the 
 Rolletone House. 
 
 In 1867 began another period of school-house 
 building. During that year the Middle Street house 
 was erected at a cost of upwards of thirteen thousand 
 dollars. 
 
 In 1868 the town appropriated 816,000 for the 
 support of schools and expended nearly $100,000 for 
 new buildings and alterations and repairs of old 
 houses. 
 
 The High School had outgrown its quarters, and in 
 1868 the erection of a handsome High School build- 
 ing was begun on the old Academy lot. It was com- 
 pleted in 1869, and cost upwards of $.50,000. It still 
 serves the purpose for which it was built, and is a 
 well-arranged, commodious school edifice — an orna- 
 ment and credit to Fitchburg. 
 
 In 1868 the D<iy Street School -house was almost 
 entirely rebuilt and considerably enlarged, at an 
 expense of about $30,000. 
 
262 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Since 1870 much has been done toward improving 
 the facilities for the instruction of the youth of this 
 city. 
 
 Early in 1873 Mr. Eli A. Hubbard, who was prin- 
 cipal of the High School, 1854-57, was secured to 
 fill the newly-established office of superintendent of 
 schools. He began his duties in April, 1873, and 
 held the position about two years, when he resigned, 
 much to the regret of our citizens. In 1875 Mr. 
 Joseph G. Edgerly was elected his successor, and 
 has held the office to the present time. Mr. Edgerly 
 has attended faithfully to his duties, and his annual 
 reports are documents full of interesting and valuable 
 information regarding the progress and needs of the 
 schools of the city. 
 
 The general condition of our public schools since 
 the city form of government was adopted can perhaps 
 best be shown by the following table giving the 
 annual appropriations, number of teachers employed 
 and average daily attendance of pupils from 1873 to 
 1888 inclusive : 
 
 Year. AppropriatioD. No. of Teachers. Avrg. Daily Attend'ce. 
 
 1873 $2!l,000 65 1G86 
 
 1874 35,000 60 1728 
 
 1875 35,000 64 1760 
 
 1876 38,000 67 1783 
 
 1877 3:i,,';(i0 63.! 1868 
 
 1878 32,100 65 1917 
 
 1879 34,140 64 If34 
 
 1880 32,200 55 1771 
 
 1881 33,500 57 1805 
 
 1882 37,200 69 1977 
 
 1883 37,600 69 2IJ94 
 
 1884 40,300 06 2233 
 
 1885 46,470 63 2305 
 
 1886 48,100 07 2306 
 
 1887 .'il.OOO 68 22lH 
 
 1888 65,',00 68 2185' 
 
 The appropriations above given do not include the 
 amounts voted for repairs and new school-houses, 
 but simply the appropriations for teachers' salaries, 
 fuel, care of school-houses and rooms, and minor in- 
 cidental expenses. 
 
 The law passed in 1884, requiring cities and towns 
 in this State to furnish school-books to the pupils, 
 caused an average increase of $4500 in the annual 
 school appropriations for the last four years, and this 
 ia included in the figures for 1885-88 in the above 
 table. 
 
 In 1886 the Catholics established a parochial school 
 here, and converted their old church into a school- 
 house for this purpose. A large proportion of their 
 children attend this school, thus causing a consider- 
 able falling off in the attendance of the public 
 schools. A parochial school building is now in 
 process of erection iu West Fitchburg. 
 
 Our school-houses are kept in good repair, the city 
 making a special appropriation of several thousand 
 dollars annually for this purpose. 
 
 In 1874 the High Street Grammar School building 
 
 1 Spring and summer tei ms of 1888. 
 
 was considerably enlarged, at an expense of $10,000, 
 and within a few years the Day Street house has 
 been much enlarged and improved, at considerable 
 expense. 
 
 During the past five years a number of new and 
 substantial brick school-houses have been built, the 
 most important of which are the Rollstone Street 
 house, erected in 1883, one on Maverick Street and 
 another on Highland Avenue, built in 1885, and the 
 Clarendon Street house, built in 1887. The aggre- 
 gate cost of the four structures was about $50,000, 
 nearly one-third of which was expended on the 
 Clarendon Street house, which has several improve- 
 ments that the older buildings lack. It is said to be 
 the best lighted, best heated and best ventilated 
 building in town. 
 
 The city now owns school property valued at about 
 $250,000. There are twenty school building'', in 
 which are kept forty-nine schools, graded as follows ; 
 one High School, four grammar schools, twelve inter- 
 mediate, twenty-five primary and seven suburban 
 ungraded schools. These are taught by some seventy 
 teachers, most of whom are graduates of our own 
 public schools. Instruction in singing and drawing 
 is also given throughout the school year by two 
 competent teachers. 
 
 For several years past a number of evening schools 
 have been niaiutained during the winter season. 
 
 The passage of the Illiterate Minor Bill by the 
 Legislature in 1887 obliged the city to largely in- 
 crease its provisions for evening schools. During the 
 fall session in 1886, and the two sessions in 1887, 622 
 pupils registered at these schools, though the average 
 nightly attendance was only sixty-three. At the 
 session early in 1888, 588 pupils registered, and the 
 average nightly attendance was 227. 
 
 An evening drawing-school is also maintained every 
 winter, and is very well attended. 
 
 We will conclude this section on the public schools 
 of Fitchburg with a few remarks concerning the High 
 School. The building, which is pleasantly located 
 on a lot bounded by Academy, Davis, Pleasant and 
 High Streets and is surrounded by well-kept grounds, 
 contains one large school-room, one smaller and five 
 recitation-rooms, besides a laboratory, mineralogical 
 cabinet, reception-room, etc., all of which are exclu- 
 sively devoted to the High School. 
 
 The school has prospered and been a credit to the 
 town and city since it was established, in 1849, and 
 has been under the care of competent instructors, 
 both principals and assistants, who have labored 
 faithfully to maintain a high standard of scholar- 
 ship. 
 
 The names and terms of service of the principals of 
 the Fitchburg High School since its establishment 
 are as follows : 
 
 AiiBon Southard Marshall, A. B 1849-51 
 
 Enoch Gihson Hooli, A.B 1851 
 
 Martin Heald Fisk, A. M 1862 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 263 
 
 Bev, Ezekiel Hale Baiatow, A. M 1852-53 
 
 Jonathan Clarkson Blown, A. B 1853-64 
 
 Rev. Milan Hubbard Hitchcock, A. B XS5t 
 
 Eli Andrews Hubbard, A. M 1854-5? 
 
 Hanson Leiand Dead, A. M 1857-C2 
 
 Francis Huntington Snow, A. B 1862-03 
 
 Edward Dorr Pritchard, A. M 1863-04 
 
 Rev. Walter Whitney Hammond, A. M 1864^65 
 
 Ruel Baxter Clark. A. B 1865-76 
 
 Ray Greene Huling, A. M 1876-80 
 
 Herbert William Kittredge, A.M., the present 
 principal, began his duties here in September, 188G, 
 and under his management the school has been satis- 
 factorily carried on since. He is efficiently aided in 
 his work by six assistant teachers — four being ladies 
 and two gentlemen. 
 
 The number of pupils in the High School at the 
 present time (autumn of 1888) is two hundred and 
 .fifty-six — the largest number ever enrolled in the 
 school. 
 
 In one respect, we regret to say, our High School 
 has not kept up the high standing it once had. Fifteen 
 years ago the Fitchburg High School was recognized 
 as an excellent fitting-school for college, and ranking 
 with the High Schools of Worcester, Somerviile and 
 other large cities. During the eight years following 
 1867 thirteen of its graduates entered Harvard College 
 alone, and every one passed through the entrance 
 examin.ations with credit to himself and the school; 
 and during the same eight years as many graduates 
 entered other colleges. 
 
 Since 1875 the school has lo*t its prestige in this 
 respect, not because of lack of ability or desire on 
 the part of the principals of the school to fit boys 
 for college, but because the popular sentiment de- 
 creed that so much time and attention should not be 
 devoted to classical study in the High School ; but it 
 is to be hoped that some time in the future the Fitch- 
 burg High School may regain its former high rank as 
 a fitting school. 
 
 Libraries. — The Fitchburg Public Library, which 
 is one of our most valuable and highly appreciated 
 educational institutions, was not established until 
 1859; but for thirty years previous there was in 
 Fitchburg some description of library, whose vol- 
 umes were more or less accessible to the ciiizens. 
 
 Inasmuch as our present library is the natural out- 
 growth of these early collections of books, it is proper 
 and advisable to give a short history of these efforts 
 of the citizens to get a library together, prior to 1859, 
 when the town came to the re-cue, appropriated 
 money and provided accommodations for a free pub- 
 lic, library. 
 
 The Fitchburg Philosophical Society.— 
 This appears to be the first literary association in 
 Fitchburg of which we have any knowledge. It was 
 organized about 1828 for the purpose of having lec- 
 tures and debates, — what, in the rural parlance of to- 
 day, is called a " Lyceum." It was before this 
 society that Mr. Wood, in 1831, delivered his course 
 of lectures on the early history of Fitchburg. 
 
 It was the intention of this society to accumulate 
 a library, and, with this purpose in view, a number 
 of books were purchased with money subscribed by 
 the member.'*, and Drs. Marshall and Abercrombie 
 kindly furnished accommodations in their office for 
 these books. The principal portion of this early col- . 
 lection consisted of a set of forty-seven large vol- 
 umes, entitled "The Cyclopedia; or. Universal Dic- 
 tionary of Arts, Sciences and Literature." This 
 work was compiled by Abraham Rees, D.D., F.R.S., 
 and comprised forty-one volumes of print, the other 
 six containing maps and plates. These books were in 
 themselves almost a complete library, and must have 
 been quite expensive. The entire set has come down 
 to our day, having been successively the property of 
 the Philosophical Society, Library Association, 
 Athenaium and Public Library. 
 
 At the present time the " Cyclopedia" is in the Wal- 
 lace Library and Art Building, and one day in July, 
 1888, the writer took occasion to go there for the 
 special purpose of seeing this relic of by-gone days. 
 All forty-seven volumes were found packed away in 
 a basement room, and the librarian informed the 
 writer that no one had ever before, to his knowledge, 
 asked to see these books since he became librarian, 
 fifteen years ago. 
 
 The volumes are in an excellent state of preserva- 
 tion, and it seems as if they ought to occupy a place 
 of honor in the library, and be carefully preserved, 
 for unquestionably Rees' " Cyclopedia " may be con- 
 sidered the foundation of the Fitchburg Public 
 Library. 
 
 The Philosophical Society existed until 1838, but 
 did not accumulate much of a library. It was suc- 
 ceeded, in 1838, by 
 
 The Fitchburg Library As.sociATioN.^This 
 was a stock organization, each member thereof hold- 
 ing one or more shares. The Association purchased 
 the books belonging to the Philosophical Society and 
 in the course of the next fourteen years added enough 
 to make, in 1852, a total of about five hundred 
 volumes. 
 
 The library of the Association was kept in Mr. 
 Phineas S. Crocker's book-bindery and stationery 
 store, a small, one-story wooden building on the site 
 now occupied by the Stiles Block. Mr. Crocker was 
 for several years librarian, and some of our older 
 citizens well remember his genial and accommodating 
 manners. George E. Towne, Esq., in his address at 
 the dedication of the Wallace Library and Art Build- 
 ing, July 1, 1885, speaking of Mr. Crocker as a libra- 
 rian, said, "The care bestowed by him upon the few 
 volumes, the satisfaction with which he aided appli- 
 cants in their selections, and the pride he felt in hav- 
 ing been selected as worthy to bear such tremendous 
 responsibility, were something marvelous to see." 
 
 Books were loaned to members, and it is probable 
 that no very strict account of the delivery and return 
 of books was kept, for when the affairs of the Asso- 
 
264 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 ciation were wound up in 1852, eighty volumes, or 
 about one-sixth of the total number, were found to 
 be mif^sing. 
 
 The Fitchburg Library Association cannot be said 
 to have been a flourishing institution. The people 
 _ did not take hold of the enterprise with the enthu- 
 siasm that was essential to make it a success. The 
 membership was not large, there being only thirty- 
 three shareliolders in 1852. 
 
 By that time it had finished its mission of preserv- 
 ing and gradually increasing a collection of books, the 
 nucleus of a future public library, and was ready to 
 give way to, and be absorbed by, a new and stronger 
 library organization, — 
 
 The Fitchburg Athen^um.— December 6, 1851, 
 a number of citizens who were desirous of having a 
 new library association formed in town, met at the 
 Fitchburg Hotel to talk the matter over. At this 
 meeting it was decided to start a subscription paper, and 
 also to confer with the shareholders of the Fitchburg 
 Library Association, and ascertain upon what terms 
 they would dispose of their library to the new associ- 
 ation. A committee of five, consisting of Charles 
 Mason, Rev. C. Woodhouse, Asher Green, W.B. Wood 
 and L. H. Bradford, was chosen to take the matter in 
 charge and report at a future meeting, " to be called 
 at such time as the committee shall see fit." It was 
 also voted that this committee report, at the same 
 time, a plan of organization for the proposed library 
 association. 
 
 It was not until March 4, 1852, that the committee 
 made their report to the citizens interested. The 
 meeting was held in the town-hall and a preliminary 
 report read by Mr. Mason, chairman of the commit- 
 tee. 
 
 The substance of this report was that the names of 
 one hundred and twenty-five subscribers, at five dol- 
 lars each, had been obtained by Mr. William B. 
 Wood ; that the members of the Fitchburg Library 
 Association had voted to transfer their library to the 
 proposed new association, provided each of its mem- 
 bers be entitled to one share in the new association, 
 and become a member of it, with all the privileges of 
 new subscribers. As the membership of the Library 
 Association was thirty-three, and each share in the 
 new association was worth five dollars, this would be 
 equivalent to paying one hundred and sixty-five dollars 
 for the library which contained, as was supposed, 
 about five hundred volumes. The coinmittee consid- 
 ered this a fair price and recommended that the 
 library be purchased on the terms stated. 
 
 The report then proceeded to enumerate the advan- 
 tages that would arise from the institution of such a 
 library in Fitchburg, and marked out, in a general 
 way, a plan of organization and the methods to be 
 used in carrying on the association. Each member 
 (except those who came in from the Fitchburg 
 Library Association) was to pay five dollars, and 
 thereby be entitled to one share in the association 
 
 and to pay one dollar per year, to be applied to the 
 increase of the library. Provisions were also made 
 for officers, board of directors, etc., and .suitable 
 regulations for the loaning and returning of books. 
 
 It was also recommended to have a course of lec- 
 tures each winter, that vigorous efforts be made to in- 
 crease the number of fubscribers and that, "at a proper 
 time, the Association be organized, as Proprietors of 
 a Library, as a corporation, under the provisions of 
 the Revised Statutes." 
 
 This report was printed in full in the Fitchburg 
 Seyitinel of March 12, 1852, and at its conclusion was 
 the following : 
 
 The above report was unanimously accepted and the committee were 
 instructed to present apian of organization at a future meeting and, in 
 the meantime, to take measures to procure additional suljscribers and to 
 obtain suitable accommodatious for the Library in the new Town 
 House. 
 
 In accordance with the last instruction, the matter 
 of providing a room in the town-house, that was to be 
 built immediately, was brought before the citizens at 
 the annual town-meeting, April 5, 1852, and it was 
 voted " that the building Committee be authorized to 
 procure or provide a room for the Library Association 
 in the new Town House." 
 
 Matters progressed favorably in all respects, and by 
 the following autumn the association was about ready 
 to begin its work. The name fixed upon was the 
 Fitchburg Athenajum, and the shareholders were duly 
 organized as a library association under that name. 
 
 One of the first acts of the Athenaeum was to make 
 arrangements for a course of lectures by well-known 
 men during the winter of 1852-53. The committee on 
 lectures was Charles Mason, Rev. John Jennings and 
 Rev. Horatio Stebbins, and no pains were spared by 
 this committee to secure an able and popular course 
 of lectures. 
 
 This was essentially an ^periment, but the citizens 
 appreciated the earnest labor of the committee and 
 made it a success in every way. Season tickets for 
 the course were put at a price certainly within the 
 reach of all, a price that seems ridiculously small in 
 these daj-s, viz., one dollar for gentlemen and fifty 
 cents for ladies. 
 
 In the Sentinel of December 17, 1852, appeared the 
 
 following: 
 
 Fitchburg Atuenjeum Lectures. 
 
 A course of twelve Lectures will be delivered before the Fitchburg 
 AthenaniDi the current winter. The Introductory lecture will be by 
 the Rev. Mark Hopkins, D.D., President of Williams College, on Tuesday 
 evening, Dec. 2l8t, at the Meeting House of the Calvinistic Congrega- 
 tional Society. The e-vercises on the Tuesday evening succeeding will 
 be a Poem, by the Rev. John Pierpont, of Medford. 
 
 The announcement then went on to state that the 
 list had not yet been completed, and mentioned the 
 names of iive prominent lecturers with whom dates 
 had already been arranged. 
 
 The following is a correct copy of the list of lec- 
 turers and the dates on which they appeared before 
 the Fitchburg Athenieum audiences. It is a list with 
 which any lecture bureau might well be satisfied and 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 265 
 
 even be proud of. It is copied directly from the 
 manuscript list in the possession of Mr. Mason, the 
 chairman of the Lecture Committee, who did most of 
 the arranging and corresponding with tho various lec- 
 turers : 
 
 Key. Mark Hopkins, ]).D.,\Viniametown Tuesday, Dec. 21, 1852 
 
 Rev. John Tierpont, Medford Tuesday, Dec. 2S, 1852 
 
 Hon. .losiah Qnincy, Jr., Boston Tuesday, Jan. 4, 1853 
 
 Hon. Horace Greeley (Lecture), NewYorki ™ , , ,, ,„..„ 
 
 „. . „. „ , ,,. !■ Tuesday, Jan. 11, 1853 
 
 Charles Thurber, Esq. (Poem), \\ orcester J 
 
 Eev William Mountford, Gloucester ,Tue8day, Jan. 18, 1853 
 
 Richard H. Dana, Jr., Esq., Boston Tuesday, Jan. 2.5, 1853 
 
 Edwin P. Whipple, Esq, Boston Tuesday, Feb. 1, 1853 
 
 Rev. Theodore Parker, Boston Tuesday, Feb. 8, 1853 
 
 Oliver Wendell Holmes, M.D., Boston Tuesday, Feb. 15, 1853 
 
 Hon. John J. GilchriBt, CharlestowD, N. H Wednesday, Feb. 23, 1853 
 
 Hon. John G. Palfrey, Cambridge Tuesday, Mar. 1, 1853 
 
 Rev. Samuel Osgood, New York Tuesday, Mar. 8, 1853 
 
 The first three lectures were given in the Calvin- 
 istic Congregational Church, but the remaining nine 
 were delivered in the hall of the new town house, as 
 the following extract from the Sentinel of January 7, 
 1853, shows : 
 
 Athen.i:um Lectures. — The remaining nine lectures of the couree 
 will be in the New Town Hall, which will be first used for that purpose 
 on Tuesday evening, Jan. 11th. A lecture will then be delivered by the 
 Hon. Horace Greklet, of the New York Trilmic, and a poem by 
 Ch.\rlE8 TllURRER, Esq., of Worcester. We anticipate seeing the ele- 
 gant and spacious hall filled with an audience of the intelligent citizens 
 of the neighboring towns, aa well as of our own, to enjoy the rich intel- 
 lectual treat which may be expected on the occasion. 
 
 These anticipations were fully realized, for the 
 audience that evening was the largest of any during 
 the course, numbering about nine hundred and fifty. 
 
 That the course of lectures, as a whole, was a suc- 
 cess, financially as well as intellectually, is shown by 
 the following, taken from the " First Annual Re- 
 port of the Board of Directors of the Fitchburg 
 Athenaeum." 
 
 The average attendance upon the lectures was about 750 ; the largest 
 number present at any one time was probably 950, which was on the 
 evening of the fii^t lecture in the new Town Hall. About 725 tickets 
 were sold for the whole course, and about 950, in all, for single even- 
 ings. The gross proceeds of the lectures amounted to SG30.G9, the ex- 
 penses of the course to ?4ll.2o, leaving a surplus of 8219.44 to be applied 
 to the uses of the Library. 
 
 From this same report we also learn that five hun- 
 dred and fifty books were purchased during the year 
 and about forty-five donated ; and these, with the four 
 hundred and thirty-five volumes in the library trans- 
 ferred from the Fitchburg Library Association, made 
 a total of over a thousand volumes, which, thirty-five 
 years ago, might well be considered a very good-sized 
 library. 
 
 At any rate, it is certain that the oflicers and mem- 
 bers of the Fitchburg Athen;eum had every reason to 
 be fully satisfied with the results of the association's 
 first year of existence. 
 
 Lack of space forbids our speaking at greater length 
 of the Athena>um and its work. For several years 
 more it continued in a prosperous condition, and in 
 1858 had a membership of one hundred and sixty, 
 and a library of about fifteen hundred volumes. 
 
 The time was then near at hand for the establish- 
 ment of a free town library; the Athen.Tum, as had 
 been the case with the library associations preceding 
 it, had fulfilled its mission and was soon to be absorbed 
 by a library of larger scope and greater permanency. 
 
 The Fitchburg Public Library. — In 1851 the 
 Legislature enacted a law which provided that any 
 town or city, so desiring, might appropriate a sum, 
 not exceeding one dollar for each ratable poll, for the 
 establishment of a free public library. 
 
 At the time when preparations were making for the 
 organization of the Athena?um, in 1852, some of the 
 citizens were rather in favor of changing the plan and 
 organizing a town library, as provided for by the stat- 
 ute of the preceding year. There was much uncer- 
 tainty, however, as to whether the town would vote 
 the money at that time or not, and the idea was not 
 pushed. 
 
 By 1859 the town of Fitchburg was ready to take 
 measures to secure a free public library. It must be 
 admitted that Fitchburg was rather slow in taking 
 action on this matter. Our neighbor, Leominster, 
 had a public library some three years before ours was 
 established. 
 
 The subject was debated by the citizens of Fitch- 
 burg more or less, but no decisively favorable public 
 action w.as taken in regard to it until the spring of 
 1859. 
 
 The warrant for the annual town-meeting that year 
 was given March 26th, and was the longest warrant 
 since Fitchburg's incorporation. It contained thirty- 
 two articles, the twenty-fifth of which was as follows: 
 
 Art, 25. — To see if the Town will appropriate the amount allowed by 
 law for the establishment of a Free Town Library, or act anything 
 thereon. 
 
 The sentiment of the citizens seeming to be in favor 
 of establishing a free library, the shareholders of the 
 Athenaeum held a meeting March 31, 1859, to consider 
 the expediency of presenting their library to the town. 
 After much discussion it was decided in the negative, 
 by a vote of twenty-five to fourteen. 
 
 Annual town-meeting day in 1859 was April 11th. 
 It was a dull, disagreeable day, but as the citizens 
 were more than ordinarily interested in the municipal 
 proceedings, there was a good attendance. Every one 
 of the thirty-two articles was acted upon in the course 
 of the day, and the people doubtless left the town- 
 house with the firm conviction that they had done a 
 good day's work. And so they had ; for, by voting 
 " to appropriate the sum authorized by law for the 
 establishment of a Free Town Library " (this sum 
 being one thousand, eight hundred and thirty-one 
 dollars in the case of Fitchburg), they pledged their 
 money and best efforts to found and jjerpetuate an 
 institution which has proved to be a great blessing, 
 and whose usefulness and value will Increase as the 
 years roll on. 
 
 At this meeting the citizens also chose the first 
 board of trustees of the Fitchburg Public Library, 
 
266 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 consisting of the following gentlemen : Goldsmith F. 
 Bailey, Joseph W. Mansur, Dr. James R. Wellman, 
 Dr. Jabez Fisher, Dr. Thomas R. Boutelle, Thornton 
 K. Ware, Hanson L. Read, Moses G. Lyon and John 
 J. Piper. 
 
 May 10, 1859, occurred the annual meeting of the 
 shareholders of the Fitchburg Athenfeum; and at 
 this meeting it was voted " to instruct the president 
 and treasurer to sell all the property of the institution, 
 aside from the money in the treasury (about seventy- 
 five dollars), to the town of Fitchburg for four hundred 
 dollars." The town subsequently authorized the 
 purchase of the property for the sum named, and thus 
 cameinto posse^sionof some sixteen hundred volumes, 
 which made quite a nucleus for the public library. 
 Several members of the Athenoeum very generously 
 relinquished their proportion of the sale, to the 
 amount of $160.84, so that the books really cost the 
 town less than two hundred and fifty dollars. 
 
 There was also in town another collection of books, 
 about two hundred in number — the Agricultural 
 Library — which the trustees purchased on very fa- 
 vorable terms. 
 
 The trustees entered upon their work with zeal. 
 It was decided to continue the library in the room 
 previously occupied by the Athenteum, in the town- 
 house (corresponding closely to tlie present o.Bces of 
 the city auditor and mayor), and it was somewhat 
 enlarged by the addition of the room adjoining in 
 the rear. Mr. Daniel Stearns, who had been con- 
 nected with the Athentcuin as its secretary, was ap- 
 pointed the first librarian of the public library, and 
 during the summer and autumn of 1859 the books 
 were placed on the shelves and catalogued, new books 
 purchased and all arrangements perfected; and about 
 the middle of November the following notice ap- 
 peared in the Sentinel: 
 
 Fitchburg Public Library. 
 
 All persons wishing to avail tlieinselves of tlie privileges of the Fitch- 
 burg Public Library are requested to open their accounts at once, as it 
 will be impossible to do so in Library hours after the Rooms are open 
 for the delivery of books. 
 
 The Library will be open for the purpose of opening accounts with 
 such as may desire it, until further notice, during the regular Library 
 hours, viz., — 
 
 From 2 to 5 and 7 to 8 P. M. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and from 
 2 to 5 and 7 to 9 P. M. on Satvn'diiys, holidays e.xcepted. 
 
 -6®" Notice will be given of the time of opening for the delivery of 
 books. 
 
 I>. Stsarns, Librarian. 
 
 Fitchburg, Nov. 16, 1859. 
 
 The first donation to the library was $100 from 
 Thomas Mack, of the firm of C. F. Hovey & Co., 
 of Boston. Mr. Mack was born in Fitchburg, and 
 has, on several occasions, remembered his native 
 town in a similar manner. This generous sum was 
 used for the purchase of the " Encyclopaedia Bri- 
 tannica." Seventy-five volumes were presented by 
 Hon. Eli Thayer, of Worcester, and various citizens 
 of Fitchburg donated books. The trustees pur- 
 chased 1200 volumes; so that in all there were over 
 
 3500 books on the shelves before the library was 
 opened. 
 
 By the last of November, 1859, everything was 
 completed, and the following appeared in the Sen- 
 
 t inel : 
 
 The Fitchburg Public Library will be open for the delivery of 
 books on Thursday, Dec. 1, 1859, at 2 o'clock P. M. 
 
 D. Stkarns, Librarian. 
 
 It is quite evident that the people of the town 
 freely availed themselves of the privileges offered 
 them, for in the Sentinel of December 23, 1859, it 
 was stated that during the three weeks that the li- 
 brary had been open, 2775 volumes had been deliv- 
 ered and 1937 returned. Over 1200 persons had 
 opened accounts. It was further stated that the 
 hours were insufficient, and " while the present de- 
 mand continues " the library would be kept open 
 every evening, except on Sundays and holidays. 
 
 The number of books in the library at that time 
 was given as 3783. 
 
 Since then the number of volumes has steadily in- 
 creased, and the figures, at intervals of five year.j, as 
 given in the Trustees' reports, are 6244 in 1865, 805.'! 
 in 1870, 10,676 in 1875, 12,481 in 1880, 16,146 in 1885 
 and at the pre.«ent time there are upwards of 19,000 
 volumes on the shelves in the handsome and commo- 
 dious Wallace Library and Art Building. 
 
 The number of persons taking out books has in- 
 creased from fourteen hundred and twenty-five in 
 1860, to about nine thousand in 1888. 
 
 Since the founding of the library four catalogues 
 have been issued, viz., in 1859, 1873, 1881 and 1886. 
 The last is in itself quite a large volume. Much 
 time and care were devoted to its preparation by a gen- 
 tleman skilled in such work, and it is a very complete 
 and accurate catalogue. Supplements have also been 
 printed, in the intervals between the issuing of the 
 catalogues, giving the list of books added from time 
 to time. 
 
 As before stated, Daniel Stearns was the first libra- 
 rian, being appointed to the position by the trustees 
 in November, 1859. The names and terms of service 
 of the librarians succeeding Mr. Stearns are as fol- 
 lows : Benjamin P. Todd, from April, 1861, to April, 
 1862; John M. Graham, from April 1862, to April, 
 1865 ; Charles N. Fessenden, from April, 1865, to Sep- 
 tember, 1866; Henry Jackson, from September, 1866, 
 to January, 1873 ; Prescott C. Rice, from January , 
 1873, to the present time. 
 
 The control of the library has, from the beginning, 
 been vested in a board of trustees, chosen annually by 
 the citizens while Fitchburg was a town, and by the 
 mayor and aldermen since the city form of govern- 
 ment was adopted. The number of trustees was nine 
 at first, but later was increased to twelve, the present 
 number. 
 
 It is worthy of note that one of the present trustees 
 was also a member of the first board chosen in 1859 — 
 Judge Thornton K. Ware. Judge Ware has more- 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 267 
 
 over served as a trustee every year since 1859, save 
 one, from April, 1S61, to April, 1862, and since 1875 
 has been chairman. 
 
 In 1861, Rev. William P. Tilden, then pastor of the 
 Unitarian Society here, presented to our library a 
 model of a full-rigged ship of war, of his own con- 
 struction. It was a fine and very perfect piece of 
 workmanship, and for year.s occupied a conspicuous 
 and honored place in the library-room. In 1885 it 
 was transferred to the "Relic Room" in the Wallace 
 Library and Art Building, where it continues to at- 
 tract attention and elicit admiration. 
 
 In 18G1 the town voted to authorize the trustees to 
 invite the officers and soldiers from this town serving 
 in the army to donate any trophies they might obtain 
 and wish to present to the library for preservation, 
 and in response thereto a number of Hags, swords, 
 muskets , shells, etc., were sent by Fitchburg men, 
 and are now to be seen, together with other similar 
 ar icles since contributed (Including the elegant 
 sword, sash and belt presented to Colonel Edwin 
 Upton by the enlisted men of the Twenty-fifth Regi- 
 ment) in the relic room. 
 
 A sum of money sufficient for the maintenance and 
 suitable increase of the Fitchburg Public Library has 
 been annually appropriated by the town and city. 
 
 Hon. William IT. Vose, at the time of his death in 
 1884, left the sum of one thousand dollars to the city 
 of Fitchburg, the income thereof to be paid annually 
 to the trustees and used "for the purchase of periodi- 
 cals or other reading matter for the reading-room." 
 
 The library remained in the rooms first occupied 
 until the latter part of 1879, when it was removed to 
 more commodious quarters provided for its accommo- 
 dation in the extension built just previously on the 
 rear of the City Hall building. Here it remained 
 until the summer of 1885, when it was removed to 
 its present elegant and spacious abode in 
 
 The Wallace Library and Art BuiLDiNCi. — 
 Early in 1884 one of our most prominent and 
 benevolent citizens, seeing and appreciating the fact 
 that our public library was sorely in need of more 
 ample and fitting accommodations, was prompted by 
 his public-spirited benevolence to make to the city of 
 Fitchburg a most generous proposition. 
 
 Before the City Council, in joint convention assem- 
 bled, on the evening of Tuesday, March 25, 1884, ap- 
 peared Judge Ware, who said that he was present at 
 the request of Hon. Rodney Wallace, who, before his 
 departure for the South, a few days previous, had left 
 with him the following communication to be pre- 
 sented to the City Council : 
 
 To HU Honor the Mayor, and (he CUrj Council of the CHij of Fitchburg ; 
 
 GentlemkK:— The subscriber has felt for a long time that a building, 
 with )iroper appurtenances, for our Public Library here in Fitchbuig 
 wag much needed and makes the following proposition, viz. • 
 
 I propose to convey by proper deed to the city of Fitchburg my lot of 
 land situated at the corner of Main Street and Newton Place, and to 
 expend, with the advice and approval of the Trustees of the Public 
 Library, within the next two jeara, a sum not less than forty thousand 
 
 dollars (840,000) in erecting a building on said lot; said building to be 
 under the care and management of the Board of Trustees of the Public 
 Library for the time being, and to be used for a Free Public Library, 
 Reading Rooms and Art Gallery, and for no other purpose. 
 
 And it is understood that the city government, accepting these dona- 
 tions for the above purposes, shall assume and bear the current expenses 
 of said building, grounds and apj'urtenances, after the Library Building 
 shall have been completed and furnished. 
 
 If the above proposition is accepted, I shall proceed to carry out the 
 same as soon as it can conveniently be done. 
 
 Rodney AVallace. 
 
 Fitchburg, March 17, 1884. 
 
 This was a most complete and gratifying surprise 
 to the members of the city government, and also to 
 all the citizens of Fitchbuig when they learned of it, 
 as they very quickly did. 
 
 The following order, introduced by Mayor Davis 
 soon after the reading of the above communication, 
 was unanimously adopted : 
 
 Ordered, Tiiut the city of Fitchburg accepts the donation of Hon. 
 Rodney Wallace of the lot of land on the corner of Jlain Street and 
 Newton Place, and the Library building to be erected by him thereon, 
 upon the conditions and in accordance with the terms an<I provisions 
 contained in his written communication and proposal to the Mayor and 
 City Council ; and places on record its profound appreciation of the 
 public spirit and munificence of the donor, and its recognition of the 
 incalculable benefits which will result to his fellow-citizens and their 
 descendants and successors for all time from this noble gift. 
 
 On motion of Alderman Joel a committee, consist- 
 ing of Mayor Davis, Alderman Joel and Councilmen 
 Flaherty and Parkhill, was appointed to prepare a 
 set of resolutions, thanking Mr. Wallace for his muni- 
 ficent gift; and at a subsequent meeting appropriate 
 resolutions, prepared by this committee, were read 
 and placed on the records, and a copy forwarded to 
 Mr. Wallace. 
 
 At a meeting of the trustees of the Public Library, 
 held April 7, 1884, a resolution was adopted, expres- 
 sive of their hearty appreciation of Mr. Wallace's 
 action, and their desire to co-operate, in every way, 
 with the generous donor in carrying out the details of 
 his proposed undertaking; and a committee, consist- 
 ing of Rev. Philip J. Garrigan, Henry A. Willis and 
 Lewis H. Bradford, was authorized to present a copy 
 to Mr. Wallace. 
 
 On the lot of land donated to the city for the 
 library building stood a mansion-house, for many 
 years familiar to our eyes. For a considerable time 
 it was the residence of Dr. Charles W. Wilder, and 
 later of Otis T. Ruggles, Esq. This house was sold 
 at auction May 5, 1884, and soon moved to the 
 lower part of the city. 
 
 Work was begun on the foundation of the new 
 library building on June 10, 1884, and from that date 
 to the completion of the edifice, early in the summer 
 of 1885, was continued without intermission, and 
 every portion of the work (which, by the way, was 
 mainly done by Fitchburg mechanics and artisans) 
 was done in a most thorough manner. 
 
 The following is a somewhat detailed description of 
 this handsome and substantial building as it stands 
 today. 
 
 It is built of Trenton pressed brick, with brown 
 
268 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 sandstone trimmings and is in the Greek style of 
 architecture. Its frontage on Main Street is seventy- 
 four feet, its depth sixty-five feet, and there is a cen- 
 tral front projection, six by twenty-five feet. 
 
 The front entrance is approached by a wide walk of 
 pressed brick and a flight of twelve steps of dressed 
 granite, between ornamental buttresses of the same 
 material. The front doors are placed in a recess 
 eleven feet wide and six feet deep. Over this recess 
 is a heavy double arch, supported on either side by 
 two columns of polished red granite with carved 
 capitals. Above the arch are three square-headed, 
 single-light windows and the name of the building in 
 raised letters — the word " Wallace " above the 
 middle window, and the words, "Librarj- and Art 
 Building " just under the three windows. Still 
 above are three circnlar windows, set in sandstone 
 and round sandstone columns with carved foliage 
 capitals occupying the spaces between the windows. 
 The whole projection is surmounted by a gable with 
 modillion and dentil cornice, all of copper. In the 
 frieze of this cornice is inscribed " 1884," the date of 
 erection, with scroll-work either side of the inscrip- 
 tion. 
 
 In the window over the doors of the main entrance 
 is the city seal, an exquisite piece of work, upon a 
 plate of Venetian and antique glass, of two thick- 
 nesses, and five feet in diameter ; and in the lower 
 corners of this window are panels of glass emblematic 
 of art and literature. 
 
 Passing through the front doors one enters the 
 entrance hall, floored with Italian marble and wain- 
 scoted with Italian and Tennessee marbles, relieved by 
 rosettes of French red. The ceiling is handsomely 
 frescoed in oil. This hall is lighted by a large brass 
 chandelier. 
 
 From the entrance hall one passes into the waiting- 
 room, which is finished in oak and frescoed in neutral 
 tints. Around the sides are placed oak seats, uphol- 
 stered in brown leather. 
 
 The delivery counter is beneath the arch opening 
 into the main library room. This book-room is 
 twenty-six by seventy feet and sixteen feet in height. 
 It is well filled with neat oaken cases, to hold the 
 many thousand volumes, and at either end of the 
 room are large fire-places of brick, sandstone and 
 marble. Connected with this room, at its southwest 
 corner, is a small room for the librarian's use, and 
 next to that is the elevator, which runs from the 
 basement to the upper story. 
 
 On the left of the waiting-room is the room for 
 books of reference, and on the right the reading- 
 room for magazines. Both of these apartments are 
 simply, yet elegantly, finished in oak, handsomely 
 frescoed, and contain large fire-places. All the 
 furniture is of oak. Connected with, and in front of, 
 the reference-room is a small, well-furnished apart- 
 ment for the use of the assistant librarian. 
 
 Returning to the entrance hall, one sees, on the 
 
 east side, two staircases, — one leading downward to 
 the basement, where is located the public reading- 
 room, which is furnished with a large number of 
 daily and weekly newspapers. In the basement are 
 also the boiler-room and two large apartments used 
 for working-rooms and storage purposes. The other 
 staircase leads upward to the Art Gallery, and is made 
 entirely of marble in the same style as the entrance 
 hall. 
 
 Ascending this really palatial stairway, one comes 
 to the upper vestibule, whose high, arched ceiling 
 is most artistically and elegantly frescoed. It is 
 lighted by a magnificent chandelier, of eight burn- 
 ers, made of brass, copi)er and oxidized silver. 
 
 On the right of the vestibule is the Trustees' Room, 
 which is handsomely frescoed, carpeted, finished in 
 mahogany and heated by an open fire-place. All 
 the furniture in this room is of mahogany. Adjoin- 
 ing it is a toilet-room for the use of the trustee*. 
 
 From the vestibule a door leads directly into the 
 Art Gallery, a room thirty-three by forty-four feet, 
 and thirty-two feet in height. It is lighted entirely 
 from above by corrugated glass panels in the ceiling 
 and windows of the same glass on the four sides of 
 the monitor roof. 
 
 The wood-work of the ceiling is frescoed in dark 
 olive and bronze, and the general effect of the cove 
 beneath is a gold scroll upon a light blue background. 
 In the cove are four large paintings, one on each side 
 of the room — "Apollo Musagetes," "Old Masters," 
 " Arts and Sciences " and " Modern Art." 
 
 The fresco painting of this room is of the pure 
 German Renaissance style, and is remarkably rich 
 and harmonious in color eflfect. The dado is a dark 
 olive, relieved by a band of gilt, and the walls for 
 the oil paintings are a Pompeiian red, surmounted by 
 a frieze of rich color and handsome design. Upon 
 these walls already hang thirteen large and valuable 
 oil paintings, the works of well-known artists. These 
 were all presented to the Art Gallery, most of the 
 donors being citizens of Fitchburg. Two were pre- 
 sented by Thomas Mack, Esq., of Boston, and one 
 each by the late Robert Graves, Esq., of New York, 
 W. G. Beaman, the artist, of Boston and R. Love- 
 well, the artist, of Chelsea. 
 
 At the sides and in the rear of the Art Gallery are 
 four smaller rooms. The west room is devoted to 
 photographs, and contains a valuable collection of 
 about three hundred photographic copies of works of 
 art in European galleries, selected for the library 
 some years ago, by Miss Eleanor A. Norcross, a set 
 of fifty photographic copies of works of art in the 
 Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington, D. C, presented 
 by the Corcoran Art Gallery, beside other photo- 
 graphs that have been purchased or presented. 
 
 The east room is devoted to engravings and water 
 colors, and is already quite well filled with works of 
 various artists. Among the many pictures in this 
 room may be mentioned an " artist's proof" engrav- 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 269 
 
 ing, "The Jersey Beauties," by Douglass, presented 
 by Henry Hale, Esq., of New York ; a water color, 
 " Gathering Sea Weed, Pacific Coast," by F. A. Mc- 
 Clure, presented by Dr. D. B. Whittier, of Fitchburg ; 
 and a pastel, "Woodland Solitude" by our own 
 townsman, Mr. E. H. Kogers, presented by Hon. 
 Eodney Wallace, who is also the donor of many of 
 the paintings, pictures, etc., that adorn the walls in 
 various portions of the library building. 
 
 Of the two rooms in the rear of the Art Gallery, 
 one is used for the exhibition of drawings and other 
 art work by the pupils in our public schools, of which 
 a very creditable display may now be seen there, and 
 the other is the " Relic Koom," tilled with interesting 
 and valuable antiquities and curiosities, collections of 
 minerals, coins, etc., all of which have been donated. 
 The works of art, relics, etc., in the Art Gallery and 
 the rooms adjoining are worthy of a much more ex- 
 tended description than is allowed by the limits of 
 this history. 
 
 All these rooms are open to the public on Wednes- 
 day and Saturday afternoons, and are much frequented 
 and enjoyed by our citizens, as well as by strangers 
 visiting the city. 
 
 The library is open for the delivery of books from 
 9 A.M. to 9 P.M. every week-day, and the reading- 
 rooms are open during the same hours, and also Sun- 
 day afternoons. 
 
 The present librarian, Mr. Prescott C. Rice, has 
 held the position since January 1, 1873, and is aided 
 efficiently by two assistants. Miss Florence R. Dwin- 
 nell, assistant librarian, and Mr. George E. Nutting. 
 The Wallace Library and Art Building was dedi- 
 cated July 1, 1885. The main library room (the book- 
 cases and delivery counter not being at that time 
 placed in position) was used for the exercises, which 
 were attended by a large assemblage of invited guests 
 and citizens of Fitchburg. Mayor Alonzo Davis pre- 
 sided. 
 
 Rev. S. L. Blake, D.D., pastor of the Calvinistic 
 Congregational Society, invoked the divine blessing, 
 after which Mr. Wallace formally presented the 
 building to the City Council in the following words : 
 
 Mr, Mayor and Gentlemen o/ the Ciiij Council: 
 
 In March, 1884, I made to your honorable board a proposition as 
 fuUows: 
 
 To convey to the city, by deed, this lot of land and, with the advice 
 and approval uf the Trustees of the Public Library, to expend, within 
 two years, not less than forty thousand dollars in erecting a building on 
 said lot, to be under the management of the Trustees for the time being, 
 and used for a Free Public Library, Reading Rooms and an Art Gallery, 
 and for no other purpose. The City Government in accepting this shall 
 assume and bear the current expenses of the same. 
 
 All this was accepted with the kindest expressions. 
 
 Plans were prepared and received the approval of the Trustees, and 
 June loth work was commenced upon the foundations of this building. 
 The best materials of all kinds were selected, the best mechanics em- 
 ployed, and more faithful service could not have been rendered had 
 each man employed been the sole owner of the building. 
 
 Our best thoughts have been given to have the building adapted to 
 the purposes for which it was intended, and I have found pleasure in 
 giving it my personal attention. No pains or expense have been 
 spared to make the building fii-gt-class in all respects, and it is nearly or 
 quite fire-proof. 
 
 Cost of building 570 000 
 
 Cost of furniture.. 2 OOO 
 
 Cost of land 12,500 
 
 Total 88-1,500 
 
 In the hands of the City Government and under the management of 
 the Trustees, I have perfect confidence that the building will be well 
 cared for, and, as a home for the Library, Works of Art and Free Read- 
 ing Rooms, it will be of increasing value to our people. With pleasure 
 and the most earnest wish that to many of our people these rooms may 
 prove to be a place of rest and profit, and help make the journey of life 
 more pleasant and useful, I now present to you the deed of this property 
 and keys of the building. 
 
 Mayor Davis, in receiving, as the representative of 
 the city, the deed and keys, responded thus : 
 
 Mr. Wallace : The city council, in behalf of the citizens of Fitch- 
 burg, accept your munificent gift and returu their sincere and heartfelt 
 thanks. You have more than fulfilled your promises to the council in 
 March, 1884. Through your great generosity this community will 
 attain higher degrees of moral and mental worth. May your life be 
 spared many years to witness the noble results you desire. 
 
 Ex-Governor John D. Long then delivered an elo- 
 quent and impressive dedicatory address, the original 
 manuscript of which is now in the " Relic Room." 
 
 Mr. Ray Greene Huling, principal of the Fitchburg 
 High School, then read a poem written for the occa- 
 sion by Mrs. Caroline A. Mason. 
 
 Remarks were then made by Hon. Henry B. Peirce, 
 Secretary of State, representing the Commonwealth. 
 
 Interesting addresses followed, given by Judge Wil- 
 liam S. Shurtleff, of Springfield ; George E. Towne, 
 Esq., of Boston ; and Professor Henry M. Tyler, of 
 Northampton. 
 
 This closed the exercises, which were interspersed 
 with choice musical selections, rendered by the Rus- 
 sell orchestra. 
 
 The day of the dedication of this beautiful and 
 valuable building will ever be regarded as among the 
 most memorable in'the history of Fitchburg. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIIL 
 
 FITCHBURG— ( Continued. ) 
 
 MANUFACTURING. 
 
 Fitchburg has for many years been a manufac- 
 turing place of considerable note, and the varied pro- 
 ducts of her mills, factories and great machine-shops 
 have to-day a reputation which, in many cases, is by 
 no means limited to the United States. 
 
 The origin of all these industries, of which our city 
 is now so justly proud, can be traced back to that un- 
 mitigated nuisance of the early settlers of the town, 
 the north branch of the Nashua ; and to Amos and 
 Ephraim Kimball, who had the temerity, in 1750, to 
 build a dam across this obnoxious stream, belongs the 
 honor of being the pioneer manufacturers of what is 
 now Fitchburg. 
 
 They built this dam just above the location of the 
 present " Stone Mill " dam. At first it wasYrequently 
 
270 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 carried off by freshets, but in a few years a more sub- 
 stantial dam was built of logs and V-shaped. Here 
 the Kimballs erected a siw and grist-mill, which was 
 in operation for many years thereafter. 
 
 It was fortv-four years before a second attempt was 
 made to build a dam across the stream, and one of 
 the daring Kimball family had a hand in the building 
 of it. 
 
 In 1791 the son of Ephraim Kimball (who was also 
 named Ephraim) and Jonas Marshall built the second 
 dam, near the present site of the Pitts Mill, on West 
 Main Street, and erected on this water privilege a 
 saw-mill, and soon afterward clothiers' works and a 
 trip-hammer were built a few rods below it. 
 
 Soon after the close of the Revolutionary War a 
 fulling-mill and clothiers' works, a carding-machine 
 and works for grinding scythes were established on 
 the water privilege of the elder Kimball. 
 
 No further attempt was made during the rest of the 
 century to utilize the water power, and the above- 
 named concerns seem to have constituted the " manu- 
 facturing establi.shments " of Fitchburg up to the 
 year 1804. In that year the third dam was built, 
 and will be spoken of under "paper manufacture." 
 
 This was certainly a very small beginning, but it 
 taught the people here that possibly the river was 
 good for something after all, and that they might 
 make it do enough work for them to pay for all the 
 bridges it had carried away. 
 
 Cotton Manufacturing. — In 1807 there was 
 another Ephraim Kimball (this time a grandson of 
 the first Ephraim) on hand to build a dam, which 
 was the fourth, across the river. On this site was 
 erected a cotton-factory, now a part of the brick mill 
 in Factory Square. 
 
 This was the third cotton-factory erected in the 
 State, and was built and operated by a company of 
 about thirty persons, including the workmen, who 
 were obliged to take shares. The building was of 
 brick, and thirty by sixty feet in size. 
 
 For a time the company did not prosper, but in a 
 few years improved machinery was put in, and the 
 business began to be lucrative. Unfortunately, 
 however, the company had neglected to secure a 
 proper title to the whole dam, and trouble soon 
 began. The builder o( the dam owned the land on 
 the opposite side of the stream, and the line between 
 his property and that of the company ran in the 
 middle of the river. He had lost money in building 
 the dam and demanded four hundred dollars of the 
 company to cover his loss. No notice was taken of 
 this demand, whereupon he informed the company 
 that half of the dam belonged to him, and offered to 
 sell it to them for twelve hundred dollars. This 
 offer being refused, he sold a part of the land and 
 the title to his half of the dam to sundry persons, 
 who immediately began to erect works on the bank 
 across the stream. They freely used the water, and 
 finally cut away their half of the dam. The cotton 
 
 company, then in the enjoyment of a prosperous 
 business, had to suspend operations, and became 
 involved in a lawsuit, which wa^ finally decided 
 again.st them, with heavy damages. 
 
 The result of all this was that in 1816 the company 
 failed, and the property was sold for about one-third 
 of its value to Messrs. Putnam & Perkins, who oper- 
 ated it as a cotton factory until 1822, when they sold 
 it to Messrs. Town & Willis, who converted it into a 
 woolen-mill ; and its history as such for the following 
 sixty-five years will be given under woolen manu- 
 facture. 
 
 In 1887 the Parkhill Manufacturing Company pur- 
 chased the property, enlarged the building and put 
 in cotton machinery, thus restoring to the first cotton 
 f^ictory built in Fitchburg its original industry. 
 
 The second attempt at cotton manufacture in this 
 town was made by Captain Martin Newton, in 1810, in 
 a small building near the site of the present "Stone 
 Mill." He succeeded so well that in 1812, with 
 Solomon Strong and Jonathan Flint, he built a cotton 
 factory on what was afterwards called Newton's Lane. 
 Here cotton manufacture was profitably carried on 
 for over a quarter of a century. Later the building 
 became a part of the Atherton estate, and was used fur 
 manufacturing of various kinds. It is now owned by 
 the Putnam Machine Company. 
 
 The " Red " or " Rollstone " Mill was built in 1813 
 by John and Joseph Farwell and Nehemiah Gile-, 
 on the site of the Kimball & Marshall saw-mill, 
 previously mentioned. Cotton cloth was made here. 
 
 In 1816 the mill was bought by Putnam & Perkins, 
 who soon sold it to General Ivers Jewett, who, in 1833, 
 sold it to Town & Willis. This firm continued the 
 manufacture of cotton goods in this mill, and in 1834 
 secured Mr. Levi Sherwin to manage the business. 
 Mr. Sherwin bought one-quarter interest in the mill 
 in 1843, and the other three-quarters in 1857. In 
 1867, after having had the active management of the 
 mill for thirty-three years, Mr. Sherwin sold it to Mr. 
 Hiram W. Pitts, of Leominster. 
 
 Mr. Pitts built the present substantial brick mill 
 to take its place in 1876. He died a few years ago, 
 and, since 1882, his son, Mr. B. M. Pitts, has operated 
 the factory, which is known as the Fitchburg Cotton 
 Mill, or, perhaps, better as the Pitts Mill. 
 
 Cotton and carpet warps, batting, twine, etc., are 
 produced. There are five buildings, the largest being 
 the brick structure erected in 1876, which is fifty by 
 one hundred feet and three stories high. It is well 
 equipped with machinery, which is run mainly by 
 water-power ; but there is steam-power in readiness to 
 use when the water is too low to be of service. 
 
 The cotton-mill built on Phillips' Brook, about 
 1815, was afterward operated by Perkins & Baldwin. 
 It was swept away in 1850 by the flood caused by the 
 giving way of the Ashburnham reservoir. 
 
 Just above Perkins & Baldwin's factory a small 
 cotton-mill was built by Colonel Ivers Phillips about 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 271 
 
 1845. It was soon converted into a Hannel-mill, and, 
 in 1850, was swept away by tlie flood. It was rebuilt 
 and burnt in 1852. Soon afterwards a mill was 
 erected on the same site, and used by Colonel Phillips 
 for the manufacture of hosiery, etc., and, since 1861, 
 has been operated as a woolen-mill by various par- 
 ties. 
 
 The "Stone Mill," on Laurel Street, was built by 
 Oliver Fox, in 1826. [t was operated as a cotton- 
 mill for a time by Mr. Fox, but he soon leased it to 
 Percy Atherton ; still later it was run by other per- 
 sons and used continuously as a cotton-mill until 
 1868, when it was purchased by Joseph Gushing, who 
 has since operated it as a flour and grain-mill and 
 elevator. 
 
 A curious fact in relation to the couatruction of this 
 massive building is, that no derrick was used to place 
 the huge blocks of granite in position. The-blocks 
 were all hauled up an inclined plane by oxen. 
 
 The Fitchburg Duck Mill in South Fitchburg, now 
 owned by David Nevins, was built about 18-18, and 
 was formerly the property of George Blackburn & 
 Co. Cotton duck is made here and the salesrooms 
 are in Boston. 
 
 The Parkhill Manufacturing Company is by far the 
 largest cotton manufacturing establishment in town. 
 
 In the autumn of 1879 John Parkhill, Arthur H. 
 Lowe and Thomas K. B. Dole formed a partnership 
 and purchased the building long owned and operated j 
 by the late Hon. Alonzo Davis as a chair shop. The 
 firm put in thirty looms, and began the weaving of 
 colored cotton goods in February, 1880. 
 
 In 1882 the firm was dissolved, and the Parkhill 
 Manufacturing Company incorporated with a capital 
 of one hundred thousand dollars. Since then their 
 business has enlarged wonderfully. In 1882 an addi- 
 tion, one hundred and thirty-five by thirty-five feet, 
 and two stories high, was built ; in 1883 a third story 
 was added ; during the next two years another build- 
 ing, one hundred and fifty by fifcy-five feet, three 
 stories high, and a new engine-house were built; in 
 1887 a new dye-house, one hundred and forty by fifty- 
 five feet, two stories high, and an immense steam 
 chimney were put up, and the factory of the Fitch- 
 burg Woolen Mill Company purchased, as has been 
 previously stated. 
 
 This thriving company, of which John Parkhill is 
 president and Arthur H. Lowe treasurer, now ope- 
 rates about one thousand looms, employs about five 
 hundred hands and produces something like nine 
 million yards of cloth annually. The Toile du 
 Nord goods made here have a justly celebrated repu- 
 tation. 
 
 Early in 1888 the company built a causeway from 
 their Circle Street mills across the pond to Rollstone 
 Street, the intention being to fill up most of the pond, 
 and utilize the made land, as the interests of the 
 company may indicate. 
 
 The success of this corporation caused the starting 
 
 of the two following important cotton-mills in Fitch- 
 burg. 
 
 The Cleghorn Mills, incorporated in 1885 with a 
 capital of (me hundred thousand dollars, are located 
 near River Street, and include a brick building, one 
 hundred and seventy by sixty feet, and four stories 
 high, and an annex of wood of the same dimensions, 
 two stories high. 
 
 These mills went into operation in December, 1885, 
 employ over two hundred hands and produce fine 
 dress goods. Andrew Cleghorn is president and A. 
 H. Lowe treasurer. 
 
 The Orswell Mill, ihe latest addition to the cotton 
 industries of Fitchburg, was incorporated in 1886 
 with a capital of two hundred and twenty-five thou- 
 sand dollars. The mill was built in 1886, and is 
 three hundred and forty-six by seventy-eight feet, 
 and four stories high. It has a capacity of twenty 
 thousand spindles, is now in full operation, and pro- 
 duces a fine quality of cotton yarn. Warren M. 
 Orswell is president and manager and Walter F. 
 Stiles, treasurer. 
 
 Woolen Manufacture. — This was early begun 
 here, though in a small way. In 1793 Ephraim Kim- 
 ball had a carding-machine and fulling-mill near his 
 saw and grist-mill, and close by were clothiers' works, 
 where cloth was dyed, fulled and sheared. 
 
 The first woolen-mill put into operation here was 
 the brick building, which, as before staled, was ori- 
 ginally a cotton-factory, and was converted into a 
 woolen-mill in 1822. 
 
 The following concise history of this enterpri.-e, 
 written just previous to his death, in 1884, by Hon. 
 William H. Vose, for thirty-five years manager, and 
 for many years ti'easurer of the company, is well 
 worth preserving here : 
 
 III 1822 Samuel Willis and Abial .1. Town purchased the Brick Cotton- 
 mill in the centre of the then village of Fitchburg, and founded what 
 has ever since been known as the Fitchburg Woolen-BIill. They fur- 
 nished it with two sets of cards and the necessary looms, spinningjen- 
 uies and finishing machinery for the manufacture of cassimeres made 
 exclusively from fine wool. Subsequently Paul Farnum and Daniel 
 Kimball (commission merchants of Boston) became owners in part, 
 Abial J. Town, Samuel Willis, Paul Farnum and Daniel Kimball consti- 
 tuting the Company, and having an equal interest in the business. 
 
 In 18a4. the mill and machinery having been injured to some extent 
 by lire, an addition was made to the main building, other necessary 
 buildings erected, the water-power improved by a new dam and the ca- 
 pacity of the mill increased to three sets of narrow cards with Goulding's 
 improved Condensers and Spinning-Jacks, whereby the process of first 
 carding the wool into rolls and then converting the rolls into roping, 
 on what was called a Bdhj, was ilispensed with, and the wool was 
 taken from the Condenser to the Jacks, without any intervening pro- 
 cess, and spun into yarn. 
 
 The improvements in woolen machinery by Goulding marked an 
 era in the progress of the manufacture of woolens in New England. 
 
 The writer was employed in this mill in 1828-29 as a spinner on 
 a Jenny of 80 spindles. The yarn was wound {as spun) on the spin- 
 dles in "cops," and then "warped" on " warping-bars," consisting 
 of a wood frame with pins in the sides, or posts, on which the fe- 
 male operatives extended tlie yarn by passing to and fro as many 
 times, and using as many pins as would give the required length to 
 the warp, after which the warp was '* sized " in a tub and drawn 
 through a metal tube by hand to press the sizing out, and then 
 stretched out in the sun, or in a warm room, to dry, and was tiien 
 ready to be drawn into the barnesa and reed for the loom. 
 
272 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHTTSETTS. 
 
 Later this primitive process has been superseded by the '* Dresser," 
 as now practised, by which the yarn is warped, sized and dried by 
 one continuous process. 
 
 After the enlargement of the mill in 1834 the proprietorship con- 
 tinued unchanged until the death of Mr. Willis, in 1843, -when the 
 interest belonging to his estate was purchased by Porter Piper, and the 
 interest of Paul Farnum was bought by William B. Towne. The 
 Company, as thus constituted, continued until 1848, when the interest 
 of Porter Piper was bought by William H. Vose, the present treas- 
 urer and manager. William B. Towne died in 1853, when Roby B. 
 Safford became the owner of the one-fourth belonging to his estate. 
 In 1855 Abial J. Town, the senior member, and one of the pioneers 
 of the Company, died, and his interest was purchased by Daniel Kim- 
 ball and William H. Vose, two of the surviving partners. 
 
 In ISCid Daniel Kimball and William H. Vose bought the interest 
 of R. K. SufFord, and became sole owners. 
 
 In 18Ij4 Daniel Kimball sold one-half of his interest to two of his 
 sons, Daniel Kimball, Jr., and Herbert W. Kimball ; and William H. 
 Vose sold one-half of his to his only son, George F. Vose, and the 
 ownership became as follows, viz.: Daniel Kimball, one-fourth ; M'il- 
 liam H. Vose, one-fourth ; Daniel Kimball, Jr., one-eighth ; George F. 
 Vose, one-fourth ; Herbert W. Kimball, one-eighth. 
 
 In 1SG1-G2 the mill was enlarged and new machinery put in, in- 
 creasing its capacity to five sets, and other improvements added, ma- 
 terially increasing its capacity and value. 
 
 In 1866 William H. and George F. Vose purchased the several in- 
 terests of the Kimball family and became sole owners. 
 
 In 1867 George F. Vose died and bis interest was purchased by 
 Kodney Wallace, Rufus S. Frost and Paul R. Hazeltine, and the 
 ownership became as follows: William H. Vose, one-half; Rufus S. 
 Frost, one-eighth ; Rodney Wallace, one-fourth ; Paul R. Hazeltine, 
 one-eighth. 
 
 Paul R. Hazeltine died in 1878 and William H. Vose purchased 
 the interest of his estate in the Company, making the several inter- 
 ests in the following proportions, viz. : William H. Vose, five-eighths; 
 Rodney W'alUce, one-quarter ; Rufus S. Frost, one-eighth. 
 
 The Company has never, from the outset, failed to meet every obliga- 
 tion ; has always maintained a high reputation for the char.acter of its 
 goods— having never used any cotton, slioddy or flocks in them — and for 
 integrity and honorable dealing. Its members have been prominent 
 amongst the business men of the community, connected with its finan- 
 cial institutions, and most of them honored, at various times, with posi- 
 tions of public trust and responsibility. 
 
 The invariable and continued success of the Company affords an ex- 
 ample of what may be accomplished by careful, prudent and economical 
 management of a comparatively small mill, with constiint supervision of 
 the details of its business, without making haste to be rich. 
 
 After Mr. Vose's death the mill was managed for a 
 year by his grandson, William V. Lowe, who was 
 succeeded by Mr. Marcien Jenk^i, and in 1887 the 
 property was sold to the Parkhill Manufacturing Com- 
 pany. 
 
 In 1823 a brick mill was built by Tyler, Daniels & 
 Co., near the location of the present mill of the George 
 W. Wheelwright Paper Company. It was later owned 
 by various parties, who operated it as a woolen-mill. 
 Samuel Slater, a noted mill-owner in those days, pur- 
 chased it about 1830, and although, on account of his 
 death soon after, it was in his possession but a short 
 time, it was for many years thereafter known as the 
 " Slater Mill." It was pulled down some twenty-five 
 years ago. Hon. Joseph W. Mansur, one of the prom- 
 inent men ofFitchburg thirty years ago, was one of 
 its latest owners and occupants. 
 
 In 1832 Hollis Hartshorn built a brick woolen-mill 
 nearly half a mile below the Slater mill. It was in 
 operation for only a few years, being burnt in 1836. 
 
 Between 1801 and 18Go four woolen manufacturing 
 concerns were started here, all in the westerly part 
 
 of the town. Two of them were in Rockville and lo- 
 cated on Phillips' Brook. One was the hosiery-mill 
 previously spoken of as belonging to Col. Ivers Phil- 
 lips. In 1861 it was fitted up as a woolen-mill, and 
 has since been run as such by various individuals. It 
 has been enlarged and additional buildings have been 
 erected For some years the plant Las been known 
 as the Berwick Mills, and is operated by James Mc- 
 Taggart, Jr. The mills consist of three buildings, the 
 main one being of brick and wood, forty by one hun- 
 dred feet, and three stories high, and equipped with 
 suitable machinery. It is run by water-power, but 
 steam-power is in readiness to use if the water gets 
 too low. 
 
 During the summer of 1888 Mr. McTaggart 
 erected, close by the mills, a fine brick building, 
 forty by fifty feet, to be used for a spinning room, 
 and put into it three new Bassett & Jones operators. 
 
 The mill just below this was for some time occu- 
 pied by Whitman & Miles, but in 1803 was converted 
 into a woolen-mill. It became known as the Baltic 
 Mill, and was for some years operated by James 
 Phillips, Jr. In January, 1880, James McTaggart, 
 Jr., acquired possession of it, and ran it in connec- 
 tion with the Berwick Mills. During the summer of 
 1888, however, it was not running. 
 
 In 1864 Alvah Crocker, Charles T. Crocker, George 
 F. Fay and others built a woolen-mill near the junc- 
 tion of Westminster and Sanborn Roads, in West 
 Fitchburg, to which the name of Beoli Mill was 
 given. 
 
 In 1865 Jeremiah Booth & Co. began the manu- 
 facture of woolen goods in a brick mill on West 
 Street, and continued there about ten years. 
 
 The only woolen manufacturers now doing busi- 
 ness here are James Phillips, Jr., and James Mc- 
 Taggart, Jr. Of the mills operated by the latter we 
 have already spoken. 
 
 Mr. Phillips ranks among the heavy woolen manu- 
 facturers of New England. He began business 
 about 1872, in partnership with Edward M. Rock- 
 well. 
 
 In 1872 Messrs. Rockwell & Phillips purchased the 
 Beoli Mill, which at that time contained but twelve 
 looms. In 1875 Mr. Phillips became the sole owner, 
 and since then the business has increased vastly, and 
 the greatly enlarged mills, which are now widely 
 known as the Wachusett Mills, contain 150 broad 
 looms, give employment to some 400 hands and 
 produce worsted coatings and suitings of well known 
 excellence, to the value of over $1,000,000 annually. 
 
 For some years he operated the Baltic Mill, ae 
 has been before stated. 
 
 About 1875 Mr. Phillips began to run the mill pre- 
 viously occupied by J. Booth & Co. It was known as 
 the Booth Worsted Company until 1882, when the 
 Star Worsted Company was organized with a capital 
 of fifty thousand dollars — James Phillips, Jr., presi- 
 dent, and George N. Proctor, treasurer. This com- 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 273 
 
 pany has since continued to run the same mill on 
 West Street — now known as the Star Worsted Mill. 
 Worsted j'arn is here made to the value of about four 
 hundred thousand dollars annually, all of which is 
 u<ed by the Wachusett Mills and the Fitchburg 
 Worsted Company. The Star Mill gives employment 
 to one hundred and twenty-five hands. 
 
 The Fitchburg Worsted Company was incorporated 
 in 1880 with a capital of two hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand dollars — James Phillips, Jr., president, and 
 George N. Proctor, treasurer. The brick mill in South 
 Fitchburg, formerly owned by George Blackburn & 
 Co., was purchased and enlarged, and has since been 
 used by this company for the manufacture of fine 
 worsted suitings. The mill contains two hundred and 
 fifty narrow looms and employs nearly four hundred 
 operatives. The value of the annual product is about 
 one million dollars. 
 
 The cloth made at the Wachusett Mills and the 
 Fitchburg Wors!;ed Company's mill is all of high 
 grade, and is considered equal to any manufactured in 
 the United States. 
 
 The goods made at the Berwick Mills, operated by 
 James McTaggart, Jr., arelikewiseof excellentqaality, 
 and embrace a fine line of fancy cassimeres for men's 
 wear. 
 
 Chaik Manufacturing. — This industry was begun 
 here about 1816, by Levi Pratt. He built two dams 
 on Sand Hill Brook, and at the northerly dam erected 
 a saw-mill, and at the southerly a small shop for the 
 manufacture of chairs. This shop was on the present 
 easterly portion of the Pratt Road, near the house 
 where Andrew Pratt now lives. In this shop and in 
 a larger one, built in 1833, he made chairs for over 
 thirty years. 
 
 John D. Pratt, afterward in company with Alonzo 
 Davis, manufactured chairs here at an early period, 
 his shop being located at the old Punch Brook Dam, 
 near Academy Street. 
 
 In 1845 Alonzo Davis came to Fitchburg, and in 
 company with Augustus Rice began the manufacture 
 of chairs in Newton's Lane. The business was soon 
 removed to the "Newton Factory," adjoining. Mr. 
 Rice retired from the firm and John D. Pratt and 
 Hiram Wood became partners with Mr. Davis. Still 
 later this firm was dissolved and Mr. Davis formed a 
 partnership with Mr. Pratt's sons, Henry T. and 
 Charles E. Pratt. 
 
 In 1855 increase of business necessitated the con- 
 struction of a new factory, which the firm built on 
 what was known as "Tuttle's Flat." It was of brick, 
 one hundred and fifty by forty feet, and four stories 
 high. Here, the firm of A. Davis & Co. carried on 
 the chair business until 1864, when Mr. Davis became 
 sole proprietor. He continued the business until 
 1877, when the depression in trade made it unprofita- 
 ble, and he closed the concern, which, till then, had 
 been a source of profit to himself and a credit to the 
 manufacturing interests of Fitchburg. In 1879 he 
 18 
 
 sold the property to the Parkhill Manufacturing Com- 
 pany. 
 
 At this time there is but one corporation engaged 
 in this industry here — the Walter Heywood Chair 
 Manufacturing Company. This is a representative 
 establishment, one of the largest in the country and 
 widely known in foreign lands. 
 
 The founder of this company was Walter Heywood, 
 who came to Fitchburg in 1841. In company with 
 Leander P. Comee he built the Heywood & Comee 
 block, and for a time the firm dealt in dry goods and 
 groceries in the store now occupied by Leander Sprague 
 &Co. 
 
 In 1844 the firm hired a part of the "Red Mill " on 
 West Street, and began to make chairs. Ten hands 
 were employed at first. The business increased, and 
 two years later was removed to the upper portion of 
 Alvah Crocker's building just erected on the site now 
 occupied by the Fitchburg Steam Engine Company's 
 shop. 
 
 December 7, 1849, this building was entirely de- 
 stroyed by fire, and soon afterward the firm of Hey- 
 wood & Comee was dissolved. 
 
 Mr. Heywood, by no means dismayed, secured tem- 
 porary accommodations fur the business; and as soon 
 a.* Mr. Crocker completed the erection of a new build- 
 ing, one hundred and thirty by forty feet, three stories 
 high, on the site of the one burned, he hired the 
 whole of it. The business prospered, and in 1852 
 Messrs. Alton Blodgett, Lovell Williams and George 
 E. Tovvne were admitted as partners; and soon after- 
 ward the firm leased land belonging to Mr. Crocker, 
 in the rear of the chair-shop, and erected two large 
 buildings thereon. 
 
 In 1856 a foreign trade was opened, which, later, 
 extended to nearly every country in the world. 
 
 In 1864 George H. Spencer was admitted as a part- 
 ner. 
 
 May 31, 1869, the Walter Heywood Chair Company, 
 with a capital of $240,000, was organized as a stock 
 company, under a special act of the Legislature. 
 
 The prosperity of the new company was, however, 
 doomed, in the near future, to meet with a serious 
 check. On the night of July 21, 1870, a fire broke 
 out, which proved to be the most disastrous and costly 
 in the history of Fitchburg, even up to the present 
 time. By it was laid in ruins the entire establishment 
 of this company, as well as several other buildings. 
 The property loss amounted to over $120,000, of 
 which $90,000 fell on the Walter Heywood Chair 
 Company. Their insurance was .152,500. 
 
 This was a severe, but by no means a fatal, blow. 
 Very soon after the fire the members of the company 
 began to look about for a new site, and shortly pur- 
 chased some nine acres of land on River Street, 
 where the erection of the present commodious and 
 well-appointed buildings was immediately entered 
 upon and prosecuted with vigor. 
 
 The plant consists of three large main buildings of 
 
274 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 brick, two stories high, with an attic. Two of these 
 structures are each three hundred feet long and fifty 
 feet wide, and the third is the same length, but ten 
 feet narrower. All of them are located on the west- 
 erly side of River Street, ranging one behind another. 
 Some three hundred men are employed in these 
 shops. 
 
 There is also a handsome brick building, just north 
 of the shops, used for office purposes, besides numer- 
 ous lumber shed^^, stock-hnuses, etc. A railroad 
 track, a quarter of a mile long, owned by the com- 
 pany, connects their premises with the main line of 
 the Hoosac Tunnel Route. 
 
 The company also own mills in Barton, Vt. , where 
 chair stock is prepared. 
 
 This corporation successfully weathered the long- 
 continued depression in trade which began soon after 
 the new buildings were occupied, and at the present 
 time h.as a large and firmly-established business. 
 
 In 1874 Mr. Towne sold his interest to Hiram A. 
 Blood. 
 
 The founder, Walter Heywood, died in 1880, and, 
 in order to settle Mr. Heywood's estate, the company, 
 in 1885, sold out to a new corporation, composed of 
 the surviving members of the old company, known 
 as the Walter Heywood Chair Manufacturing Com- 
 pany, which company carries on the business at the 
 present time, Lovell Williams being the president 
 and George H. Spencer, superintendent and treas- 
 urer. 
 
 Soon after 10 o'clock on the night of April 6, 1888, 
 fire broke out in the shop next to River Street, the 
 eastern of the three main buildings, and for a time 
 threatened to outrival the fire of 1870. The build- 
 ing was used as a paini and varnish- shop, and burnt 
 fast and furiously ; and but for the heroic exertions 
 of the entire Fitchburg Fire Department and the 
 aid of a strong west wind, whicti blew the flames 
 away from the other two huge buildings close behind 
 it, the entire establishment would have been de- 
 stroyed. As it was, the paint-shop was mainly de- 
 stroyed, the loss being twenty-five thousand dollars. 
 It was rebuilt of its former dimensions during the 
 summer of 1888. 
 
 Furniture Manufacturing. — In connection 
 with chair making comes very naturally the manu- 
 facture of furniture. 
 
 Fitchburg has but one establishment devoted to 
 this industry exclusively. The business is con- 
 ducted by Carmi M. Parker, under the name of 
 Parker & Co. Mr. Parker began the manufacture of 
 furniture in Merrimac, N. H., and in 1880 came to 
 Fitchburg, where he has since carried on the same 
 business in a large factory, formerly occupied by the 
 American Rattan Company, in Newton Place. 
 
 The machinery is run by steam, and about forty 
 hands are employed, most of whom are skilled 
 workmen. House and office furniture is here manu- 
 factured from the various ornamental and durable 
 
 woods, and is of excellent quality and finish. Mr. 
 Parker has a .salesroom, under the name of the 
 Fitchburg Furniture Company, on Main Street. 
 
 Mr. Parker has already built up a thriving busi- 
 ness, and his factory has made a place for itfelf 
 among the longer established manufacturing interests 
 of the city. 
 
 Furniture is made to some extf nt by Mial Davis, 
 at his North Street mills ; and the Charles A. Priest 
 Lumber Company make the manufaciure of school 
 furniture one of their specialties, at their factory on 
 Rollstone Street. 
 
 Shoe Manufacturing. — Shoes have, of course, 
 been made here on a small scale since the earliest 
 period of our history as a town. 
 
 The first individual, however, to use machinery in 
 the manufacture of shoes in Fitchburg was Elijah M. 
 Dickinson. He began to make them by hand in 
 Marlboro' in 1842. Twelve years later he removed 
 to Fitchburg, and continued the business in a shop 
 at the corner of Main and Laurel Streets. He soon 
 removed to a shop that he built on Oliver Street. 
 Here he remained about six years, when, needing 
 more room for his increasing business, he hired the 
 factory in Newton's Lane, formerly the property of 
 Captain Martin Newton, but then owned by Shepard 
 F. Atherton. 
 
 Here he first began to use machinery, and soon 
 built up a flourishing busine.-'s, and after remaining 
 in this factory for some ten years, he moved into a 
 building on Summer Street, owned by the Simonds 
 Manufacturing Company. 
 
 During the last few years of his stay in Newton's 
 lyane, Mr. Dickinson was in partnership with Henry 
 D. Goodale, the firm-name being E. M. Dickinson & 
 Co. Nathaniel Corning succeeded Mr. Goodale as 
 partner about the time of the removal of the busi- 
 ness to Summer Street. In 1876 Edgar F. Belding 
 succeeded Mr. Corning, the firm-name remaining E. 
 M. Dickinson & Co. This |)artnership continued 
 some eight years, during which the firm, in 1881, 
 erected the present substantial brick factory on the 
 corner of Main and North Streets. The firm of E. 
 M. Dickinson & Co., as at present constituted, con- 
 sists of Mr. Dickinson and his son, Charles P. Dick- 
 inson, who has been associated with his father since 
 about 1878. 
 
 The firm manufactures a fine grade of misses' and 
 children's shoes, and employs about one hundred and 
 twenty-five hands. The capacity of the factory is 
 one thousand five hundred pairs per day, and the 
 firm's trade is largely in the West and Northwest. 
 
 The Sole-Leather Tip Company, located in this 
 building, is also owned and operated by this firm. 
 Several million pairs of sole-leather tips are annually 
 produced by this company, which are purchased by 
 shoe manufacturers all over the United States and in 
 Canada. 
 
 Mr. Edgar F. Belding, formerly a partner with Mr. 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 275 
 
 Dickinson, began to manufacture shoes on his own 
 account in November, 1885. His business is carried 
 on in the name of E. F. Belding & Co., and occupies 
 the two upper floors of the Fitchburg Steam Engine 
 Company's building. Children's and masses' shoes of 
 a fine grade are here made at the rate of seven 
 hundred pairs per day, and employment is furnished 
 for some eighty hands. 
 
 Mr. Belding intends soon to erect a new factory 
 which will double his present capacity and afford 
 better facilities for carrying on his rapidly increasing 
 business. 
 
 He was one of the first to make and introduce sole- 
 leather tips, and in 1884 the Fitchburg Sole-Leather 
 Tip Company was incorporated with a capital of 
 thirty thousand dollars, Henry A. Willis being presi- 
 dent and E. F. Belding, treasurer and manager. The 
 company does an extensive business in this line, sell- 
 ing their sole-leather tips for children's, misses' and 
 youths' shoes to many of the leading shoe manufac- 
 turers of this country. The company owns valuable 
 patented machinery expressly designed for the manu- 
 facture of thesf tips. 
 
 Paper Manufacturing. — This has been and still 
 is one of the two largest industries of Fitchburg. 
 
 The first paper-mill in town was built by Thomas 
 French in 1804, and stood on the site now occupied 
 by the Rollstone Machine Co.'s works on Water Street. 
 Mr. French also built a dam across the stream at this 
 point. It was the third dam and was constructed in 
 1804. 
 
 General Leonard Burbank was the owner of the 
 mill, which went into operation in 1805 ; and as long 
 as it remained standing it was known as. the Burbank 
 Paper Mill, though it was afterward owned by Crocker 
 & Gardner and still later by Alvah Crocker. For 
 over twenty years it was the only paper-mill in town. 
 Alvah Crocker was the founder of the paper-mak- 
 iu ' industry here, though he did not build his first 
 mill until 1826. This mill was erected in what was 
 then a swamp, difficult of access, as there was at that 
 time no road along the river. It occupied the site of 
 Rodney Wallace's present middle mill. Mr. Crocker 
 expended considerable money on this spot, the dam 
 alone costing fifteen hundred dollars; and in addition 
 to the natural disadvantages of the place, he had 
 other great difficulties to contend with. 
 
 Soon after his mill was built it was badly damaged 
 by a freshet, and before long, to keep up with the 
 times, he had to change from hand-labor to machinery, 
 involving an expense of some ten thousand dollars. He 
 was owing several thousand dollars on his original 
 investment in the dam and mill, and to cap the 
 climax, the commission house in Boston that had 
 taken his paper in exchange for rags, chemica's, 
 etc., informed him that he was in debt to them some 
 four thousand dollars, and refused him further credit. 
 With his characteristic indomitable pluck, Mr. 
 Crocker worked day and night, opened separate 
 
 accounts with his paper customers and exerted him- 
 self to the utmost to pay his debts, both principal 
 and interest. The success of his arduous toil is well 
 known. 
 
 Mr. Crocker was a true business man in every 
 sense of the word — honest, clear-headed and possessed 
 of great foresight. The majority of so-called busi- 
 ness men do not look beyond their own particular 
 line of business, and the advancement of their own 
 interests. 
 
 Fitchburg has been blessed in the past, and is 
 blessed at the present time, with some men who have 
 broader views — who see that whatever advances the 
 public good will be sure, sooner or later, to help them 
 also. Among such the name of Alvah Crocker 
 stands out prominently, and will be long remembered. 
 
 As an instance of his way of doing, the follojving 
 is worthy of preservation. In 1834 the town of Fitch- 
 burg employed Mr. Crocker to secure a road along the 
 Nashua River to the Westminster line. The land- 
 holders on the route of the proposed road refused to 
 part with their land on terms which Mr. Crocker con- 
 sidered just and favorable to the interests of the town. 
 He therefore bought the whole strip of land along 
 the river to the Westminster line himself, and gave to 
 the town what was needed for the Westminster river 
 road. He did this at considerable personal expense, 
 both of money and time, but it proved to be the basis 
 of his financial success, for since then most of the 
 paper-mills of Crocker, Burbank & Co., have been 
 built on this land. 
 
 The building of the Fitchburg Railroad is an- 
 other example of his far-seeing sagacity. 
 
 In 1851 Gardner S. Burbank came to Fitchburg, 
 and went into partnership with Mr. Crocker, thus 
 founding the well-known firm of Crocker, Burbank 
 & Co, Charles T. Crocker was admitted to the firm 
 in 1855, and George F. Fay and Samuel E. Crocker 
 in 1863. Mr. Burbank retired from the firm in 1866, 
 and in 1874 Alvah Crocker died. The business was 
 carried on by the surviving members, under the 
 same firm-name, until about 1879, when two new 
 members were admitted — George H. Crocker, son of 
 Samuel E. Crocker, and Alvah Crocker, son of 
 Charles T. Crocker. 
 
 Since 1872 the office of the firm has been in the 
 brick building formerly occupied by the Fitchburg 
 National Bank. 
 
 During the first twenty years of its existence this 
 firm acquired the control of a number of large paper- 
 mills, of which the following, taken from Mr. Eben 
 Bailey's sketch of Fitchburg in the " History of Wor- 
 cester County," published in 1879, is a brief history: 
 
 The Snow Mill, or Upper Mill, was built in 1839 by Samuel S. 
 Crocker. Benjamin Snow, Jr., bought it in 1847, and Benjamin Snow, 
 Jr., and Samuel Whitney sold it in 1802 to Crocker, Burbank & Co. 
 The Cascade Mill was built about 1847. It was owned in that year by 
 Samuel A, 'Wheeler, George Blown and Joel Davis. It was afterward 
 bought by Franklin Wyman, E. B. Tileston and Jonathan Ware, who 
 sold It to Crocker, Burbank & Co. in 1863, The Upton Mill, on the road 
 
HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 to William Woodbury's, was Irailt in 1851 liy Edwin Upton and Alvah 
 Crocker, and came into the possession of Crocker, Burbank & Co. in 
 lf69. Tho Lj-on Mill was built in 1S53 by M. G. & B. K. Lyon, and 
 bought of Moses G. Lyon by Crocker, Burbank & Co. inl8G9. The 
 Hanna Mill was built by George and .Toseph Brown about 185'2. It was 
 afterward owned by Samuel Hanna, who bought it in IHoli and sold it in 
 180(1 to Crocker, Burbank & Co. The Whitney 31ill, in Rockville, was 
 built by Whitney & Bogart in 1847. It was afterward owned by 
 Crocker, Burbank & Co., then by Samuel Whitney and later by Wil- 
 liam Baldwin, .Jr., who Bold it in 1SG8 to Crocker, Burbank & Co. The 
 Stone Mill, below the Snow and Cascade Mills, was built in 1.S54. One- 
 half of it was owned for some time by Samuel A.Wheeler and Joel 
 Ames, and the other half by Alvuh Crocker. Crocker, Burbank & Co. 
 came into possession of one half in 1864, and Alvah Crocker sold the 
 remaining half to Crocker, Burbank & Co. in 1871. 
 
 The Snow Mill was destroyed by lire, October 15, 
 1884, the lo.ss being thirty-five thousand dollars. All 
 the other mills are in operation at the present lime, 
 and produce about thirty tons of book, card and 
 newspaper every twenty-four hours. 
 
 As is seen by the above list of mills belonging to 
 this firm, there were other persons here engaged in 
 the manufacture of paper prior to 1860. Prominent 
 among them was the firm of Jesse Lyon & Sons. 
 One of their mills came into the possession of 
 Crocker, Burbank & Co., and the other became the 
 basis of the Fitchburg Paper Company. 
 
 December 31, 18G4, Rodney Wallace, Benjamin 
 Snow, Jr., and Stephen Shepley bought this paper- 
 mill, and the Kimball scythe-shop near bx, and began 
 the. manufacture of paper under the firm-name of the 
 Fitchburg Paper Comjiany. Stephen E. Denton was 
 soon after admitted to the firm and took charge of the 
 business at the mill. 
 
 In July, 1865, Mr. Shepley sold his interest to 
 Messrs. Wallace and Snow. Mr. Denton died in June, 
 1866. January 7, 1869, Mr. Wallace bought Mr. 
 Snow's interest, and January 23d of the same year pur- 
 chased the interest of Mr. Denton's estate of Mrs. 
 Denton. Since then Mr. Wallace has been sole pro- 
 prietor of the Fitchburg Paper Company. 
 
 He soon made improvements in his mill whereby 
 its product was incre-tsed from one ton of paper per 
 day to two tons. In 1876 he built a substantial stone 
 dam, and two years later erected a new brick mill 
 just below the old one, thereby increasing the pro- 
 duct to about six tons of paper per day. 
 
 In 1887 he built another large brick mill, near the 
 junction of Phillips' Brook with the Nashua, and the 
 present capacity of the three mills is over twenty tons of 
 hanging, card, coloring and lithographing paperper 
 day. 
 
 Quite a village has sprung up around the tsvo older 
 mills. Just across the river are the tracks of Ihe 
 Fitchburg Railroad, and Mr. Wallace has a freight 
 station of his own, where all the raw material is re- 
 ceived and the finished product shipped. 
 
 The office of the Fitchburg Paper Company is in 
 the Fitchburg Savings Bank block. Mr. Wallace's 
 two sons, Herbert I. and George R. Wallace, are ac- 
 tively associated with him, as is also his brother, Wil- 
 
 liam E. Wallace, in the management of the extensive 
 business and attending to the office duties. 
 
 The mill of the George W. Wheelwright Paper 
 Company, on Fourth Street, was built in 1864, by 
 George W. Wheelwright & Son, and was for some 
 years known as the Rollstone paper-mill. 
 
 The present company was incorporated in 1880 with 
 a capita! of one hundred thousand dollars, and man- 
 ufactures news, card, book and staining paper. The 
 capacity of the mill is about five tons per day. 
 
 The office of the company is on Devonshire Street, 
 Boston. 
 
 The mill of the Falulah Paper Company is located 
 on Scythe-shop road. South Fitchburg. The com- 
 pany consists of Seth L. and Albert N. Lowe. The 
 mill occupies the site of the Richardson scythe-shop, 
 and was built by the Snow Paper Company in 1884. 
 It came into the possession of the Falulah Paper 
 Company in October, 1886. 
 
 Manilla paper is made at this mill at the rate of 
 some three tons per day. 
 
 Iron Industeies.— By far the greater portion of 
 the manu acturing C()mpanies here are engaged in the 
 production of machinery. Though not begun as early 
 as some of the other industries, it has taken deep root 
 here ; and within the last forty years has developed 
 wonderfully. 
 
 The steam-engines and machinery made in Fitch- 
 burg have, we may truthfully say, an almost world- 
 wide reputation. 
 
 It will be impossible to enter fully into the history 
 and details of our many machine-shops, steam-engine 
 manufactories, foundries, etc., in this limited sketch, 
 but an attempt will be made in the following pages to 
 give some idea of our great interests in this line of 
 manufacturing. 
 
 The founders of the iron business here were two 
 brothers, John and Salmon W. Putnam, who, in 1838 
 removed their business from Ashburnham to Fitch- 
 burg. The firm of J. & S. W. Putnam hired a room, 
 twenty by thirty feet, in the old Burbank Paper Mill, 
 then owned by Alvah Crocker, and began, in a small 
 way, an industry that has since then become so large 
 and important as to give to Fitchburg the name of 
 the " Machine City." 
 
 Their business at first was mainly repairing, and 
 furnished employment for themselves only; soon they 
 began to make new machinery for various mills, and 
 were obliged to hire an apprentice, and soon after a 
 journeyman was engaged. The firm then began to 
 make gear-cutting machines after the model of one 
 devised by John Putnam; and this machine is now, 
 nearly a half century later, made by the Putnam 
 Machine Company with very slight change in its 
 mechanism. 
 
 Their business rapidly increased, requiring, from 
 time to time, an addition to their floor-room ; and, in 
 1845, Alvah Crocker erected for them a brick build- 
 ing, one hundred and fifty by forty feet, they occupy- 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 277 
 
 iug the lower floor and Hey wood & Comee the upper 
 portion. 
 
 On the night of December 7, 18-19, this building, as 
 has been before stated, was entirely destroyed by fire, 
 and the machine and chair-malving industries of 
 Fitchburg came very near being snuffed out together 
 in their infancy. The firm of J. & S. W. Putnam 
 lost twelve thousand dollars, the accumulation of 
 over ten years of hard work, and had no insurance ; 
 but two weeks after the fire the brothers were at work 
 again under a temporary covering of boards. 
 
 They paid all their debts and the next year the 
 firm made, as it were, a new start in a building 
 erected for them by Mr. Crocker, and now occupied 
 by the Union Machine Company. 
 
 About this time Charles H. Brown and Benjamin 
 Snow, Jr., were admitted as partners, and the firm- 
 name became J. & S. W. Putnam & Co. 
 
 The Putnam Machine Company. — In 1854 the firm 
 of J. & S. W. Putnam & Co. was increased by the 
 addition of four new members — Messrs. Charles Bur- 
 leigh, John Q. and Sylvester C. Wright and Danvers 
 A. Tenney ; and, on August 10, 1854, these eight 
 individuals were organized as a partnership under the 
 name of the Putnam Machine Company. Four 
 years later, in 1858, the company was incorporated as 
 a stock company, with a capital of forty thousand 
 dollars. In 1866 the capital was increased to one 
 hundred and sixty thousand dollars. 
 
 In 1865 the company began the manufacture of 
 steam-engines. In that year Charles H. Brown brought 
 out a new engine, which was patented by himself 
 and Charles Barleigh. The patent was assigned to 
 the Putnam Machine Company, and the engine, 
 known .as the " Putnam" Engine, has since been, and 
 still continues to be, manufactured by the company. 
 
 In 1866 it became evident that larger accommoda- 
 tions were imperatively needed. Accordingly, the 
 company purchased about twenty-six acres of land, 
 including the Atherton estate in Newton's Lane, and 
 in July, 1866, began the erection of the extensive 
 shops, foundries, etc., now occupied by the company. 
 These buildings were completed during the next two 
 years at a cost of over $200,000, and were admirably 
 arranged for carrying on the company's large busi- 
 ness. 
 
 The main machine-shop, extending along Putnam 
 Street from Main Street nearly to the tracks of the 
 Fitchburg Railroad is a one-story ]brick building, 625 
 feet long and 48 feet wide. In it are seven diflerent de- 
 partments, each being devoted to the manufiicture of 
 special kinds of machinery, but there is no partition 
 throughout its entire length. Along the centre of the 
 shop are thirty-five iron columns which support the 
 main line of shafting, which runs all the machinery 
 in the building. Power is furnished by three large 
 cut-off steam-engines of the company's own manufac- 
 ture. 
 
 Connected with the Main Street end of the main 
 
 shop is the oflice of the company, a handsome brick 
 building of two stories, with a Mansard roof. From 
 the east side of the main shop project five wings, 
 twelve feet square, used as offices for the foremeo of 
 the various departments ; and from the west side ex- 
 tend seven wings, six being 52 by 36 feet, and the 
 seventh 52 by 44 feet, used for the setting up of the 
 machinery made in the seven corresponding depart- 
 ments. 
 
 This extensive building is lighted by about three 
 hundred large windows, and there are five hundred 
 gas-burners ready for use when needed. It is heated 
 by over six miles of steam-pipe, and has a floor-room 
 of 37,000 square feet. In a word, the works, which 
 were built from plans designed by 8. W. Putnam, 
 could not have been more conveniently or effectively 
 arranged. 
 
 Along the west side of the main shop is a roadway 
 with which each of the seven wings communicates by 
 means of large folding doors, so that heavy machines 
 can easily be loaded upon trucks by powerful cranes. 
 
 West of the roadway are located the iron and brass 
 foundries, pattern-shops, store-houses, &c. At the ex- 
 treme southern end of the main shop is the black- 
 smith-shop, with its forges and heavy hammers. 
 
 At the time of the incorporation of the company 
 Salmon W. Putnam was chosen president and man- 
 ager, and continued to conduct the large business with 
 great sagacity and ability for nearly fourteen years. 
 His death occurred February 23, 1872, and was deeply 
 felt by the community as well as the company. The 
 senior member, John Putnam, though not active in 
 the management of the affairs of the company, was for 
 many years a director and one of the largest stock- 
 holders. He was daily at his place, where he was a 
 most energetic and skillful workman up to the time he 
 retired from business, in 1886. Many improvements 
 in the machinery made by the company are due to his 
 ingenuity and skill. He died July 31, 1888, aged 
 nearly seventy-eight years, and his funeral was at- 
 tended by the oflicers and employes of the Putnam 
 Machine Company, whose works were closed during 
 the day. 
 
 On the death of S. W. Putnam, in 1872, the presi- 
 dency of the company was offered to John Putnam, 
 but he preferred to continue his work in the field 
 where he had for so many years searched for mechan- 
 ical secrets rather than to accept an oflice, the duties 
 of which would involve such a radical change, and he 
 used his influence to have the presidential chair of 
 the company given to Charles F. Putnam. 
 
 At the present time the management of the busi- 
 ness is vested in S. W. Putnam's four sons,^Charles 
 F., Henry O., Salmon W. and George E. Putnam, — 
 and the works are in full and prosperous operation. 
 
 Besides steam-engines a very great variety of ma- 
 chines is made by the company, including lathes, 
 drills, bolt-cutters, gear-cutters, planers, car-wheel 
 borers, shafting, water-wheels, wheel-presses, hangers, 
 
HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 pulleys, &c. ; in fact, all kinds of machinery known as 
 machine-shop and special railroad tools. 
 
 To show how far their products go, it may be here 
 stated that the first two machine-shops built in China 
 were entirely furnished with machinery made by the 
 Putnam Machine Company. And it is also worth 
 noting that it was the fortune of this company to 
 make the rock-drills, air-compressors and other ma- 
 chinery which rendered possible the completion of 
 that vast engineering feat, the Hoosac Tunnel. 
 
 The Putnam Tool Company, with works on Walnut 
 Street, was established in 1882 with Salmon W.Put- 
 nam, president, and George E. Putnam, treasurer, and 
 manufactured railroad and machine tools. March 18, 
 1886, it was consolidated with the Putnam Machine 
 Company. 
 
 At the present time the four Putnam brothers and 
 their mother hold a controlling interest in the com- 
 pany, which is officered as follows : President, Charles 
 F. Putnam ; Vice-president, Salmon W. Putnam ; 
 Treasurer, Henry O. Putnam ; General Superintendent, 
 George E. Putnam. 
 
 Each of the seven special departments of manufac- 
 ture has an able man at its head as foreman. Over 
 five hundred hands are employed, many of whom are 
 skilled workmen who have grown old in the employ of 
 the company. 
 
 A New York house is maintained as an* exhibiting 
 and distributing establishment. 
 
 Tlie Fitchburg Steam- Engine Company. — The busi- 
 ness of this company was founded in 1871, under the 
 name of the Haskins Machine Company, and is 
 carried on in a substantial brick building on Water 
 Street, occupying the site of the Heywood chair-shop, 
 burnt in 1870. 
 
 John F. Haskins organized this company and went 
 into the building as soon as it was completed, and on 
 April 4, 1872, he gave a grand ball in honor of the 
 dedication of the building to the uses of the Haskins 
 Machine Company. Mr. Haskins was full of fun 
 and frolic and, though now a resident in lands across 
 the ocean, is well remembered by many Fitchburg 
 people. 
 
 The company manufactured the Blake Patent Pump 
 and the Ellis Vapor Engine chiefly. 
 
 In 1875 Hale W. Page, Frederick Fosdick and 
 Charles Fosdick purchased the entire concern, together 
 with its good-will, and changed its name to the Fitch- 
 burg Steam Engine Company. Mr. Page was president 
 of the company until his death. May 17, 1887, when 
 Frederick Fosdick was chosen to the position. The 
 officers of the company at the present time are : Presi- 
 dent, Frederick Fosdick ; Superintendent, Charles 
 Fosdick ; Treasurer, William E. Sheldon ; Secretary, 
 William J. Clifford. 
 
 This company employs about sixty hands, most of 
 whom are skilled workmen, and manufactures hori- 
 zontal and vertical automatic cut-ofl' engines, electric 
 light engines, boilers, shafting, hangers, pulleys, etc. 
 
 A specialty has been made of the manufacture of 
 the " Fitchburg " steam-engine, the great merits of 
 which have been everywhere acknowledged. 
 
 The products of this company, and particularly 
 their engines, have a wide reputation, and are in 
 use all over the United States. A large foreign 
 trade has also been established, which extends to 
 Central and South America and most of the European 
 countries. 
 
 Careful personal supervision of, and strict attention 
 to, the details of the business, on the part of the 
 Fosdicks, have brought to the company its present 
 well-deserved prosperity. 
 
 Both brothers are active and prominent in public 
 aft'airs, Frederick Fosdick having served as mayor of 
 Fitchburg in 1886-87, and Charles Fosdick as presi- 
 dent of the Common Council in 1886. 
 
 C. H. Brotvn <t Co. — The founder of this well- 
 known steam-engine manufacturing firm came to 
 Fitchburg in 1849 ; and to him may be ascribed the 
 establishment of the steam-engine business of Fitch- 
 burg, which now forms so great a factor in the manu- 
 facturing interests of the city. 
 
 Soon after coming here Mr. Brown bought one- 
 third interest in the firm of J. & S. W. Putnam ; 
 and before long he introduced a new feature into the 
 firm's business,--the making of steam-engines, and 
 took entire charge of this department. 
 
 In 1855, as before stated, he brought out the 
 " Putnam " engine, which was built under his super- 
 vision until 1859, when poor health compelled him 
 to give up active work for a time ; and he soon sold 
 his interest in the Putnam Machine Company. 
 
 After four years' rest Mr. Brown again began bus- 
 iness, in a small way, in Newton's Lane. It soon 
 began to increase, and in 1866 he hired one-half of 
 the second story of the building occupied by the 
 Fitchburg Machine Works, on Main Street (at that 
 time called Summer Street). 
 
 In 1871 he invented a new engine, since well-known 
 as the " Brown " Automatic Cut-off Steam-Eugine. 
 Its great merits and points of superiority over other 
 engines were soon appreciated by the trade, and it 
 was not long before it became evident that better 
 facilities and larger accommodations were necessary 
 in order to supply the demand. 
 
 At this time, and for some years previous, the 
 business was carried on under the firm-name of C. H. 
 Brown & Co., Elbridge G. Stanley being Mr. Brown's 
 partner. 
 
 In 1873 the firm purchased a large lot at the corner 
 of Main and Willow Streets, and erected thereon a 
 commodious and substantial brick building, which 
 has been occupied by C. H. Brown & Co. since 1875. 
 
 The present firm consists of Charles H. Brown and 
 his three sons, Charles H. Brown, Jr., Frank E. and 
 John F. Brown. 
 
 So large and constant is the demand for the 
 " Brown " engine that the firm manufactures that 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 279 
 
 exclusively, employing some sixty hands and turning 
 out the engines at the rate of four per month, on the 
 average ; and, as soon as built, these engines are sent 
 to purchasers in various parts of the United States 
 and Canada, and also in many foreign countries. 
 
 The Fitchburg Machine Works. — The foundation of 
 the business of this company was laid in 1864, by 
 James L. Chapman, who, in the spring of that year, 
 came to Fitchburg and formed a partnership with 
 Sylvester C. Wright, for the manufacture of machin- 
 ists' tools. This was in " war times," and machinery 
 was very scarce and hard to obtain. The firm's outfit 
 was quite meagre, consisting of an old chain lathe 
 from the " Stone Mill ; " an old chain planer from a 
 blacksmith and machine-shop in Townsend ; a second- 
 hand Gould shaping-machine bought in Newark, 
 N. J. ; an old pattern-maker's lathe and second-hand 
 engine lathe from a shop in Newton's Lane. 
 
 This was all the firm could secure, and, with this 
 collection of machines, they started business in the 
 Atherton building, and began to make their own 
 patterns. 
 
 In about a year the firm removed to the corner of 
 Main and Laurel Streets, where I. C. Wright & Co.'s 
 hardware store now is. Here, with more room and 
 improved machinery, they prospered. Hale W. Page 
 and Artemas R. Smith were admitted as partners, and 
 thirty hands were employed. 
 
 February 2, 1866, the firm moved to the present 
 location of the Fitchburg Machine Works. The 
 building belonged to Sylvanus Sawyer, and storfd on 
 what was then called Summer Street. At first the 
 firm hired only the easterly half of the building, but 
 soon bought out Mr. Sawyer and occupied all the 
 building, excepting the portion leased to Charles H. 
 Brown. 
 
 January 1, 1867, a stock company was organized, 
 including the four members of the firm and Eugene 
 T. and Lowell M. Miles, Augustus Whitman and 
 Jared Whitman, Jr., under the name of the Fitch- 
 burg Machine Company, and for ten years the busi- 
 ness was carried on by this company. 
 
 In 1877 this company was dissolved and a new one 
 organized under the laws of general copartnership. 
 The name adopted for the new company was the Fitch- 
 burg Machine Works, and its members were Sylvester 
 C. Wright (superintendent), James L. Chapman 
 (treasurer), Walter Heywood, Harrington Sibley and 
 Joseph S. Wilson. 
 
 On the death of Mr. Wright, in December, 1880, 
 Mr. Cliapman became superintendent as well as 
 treasurer, and since then has had entire charge of the 
 business. 
 
 This company manufactures all kinds of metal- 
 working machinery, including lathes of different 
 varieties and sizes, iron planers, milling machines, 
 shaping machines, drill presses, etc., and employs 
 some fifty hands. 
 
 The products of this company have a well-estab- 
 
 lished reputation, and their purchasers are distributed 
 over a wide extent of territory. 
 
 The Shnonds Manufacturing Company. — The exten- 
 sive buildings occupied by this company are situated 
 at the corner of Main and North Streets. 
 
 Their business was started in 1864 in the scythe 
 shop of Abel Simonds at West Fitchburg. Mr. Si- 
 monds, who, since 1832, had manufactured scythes 
 and edge tools in West Fitchburg, gave up business in 
 1864 and leased the shop to the new firm. His long 
 experience had made him well versed in the working 
 of steel, and he seems to have handed his knowledge 
 down to his sons. 
 
 The firm started under the name of Simonds 
 Brothers & Co., and was composed of George F. and 
 Alvin A. Simonds and Benjamin Snow, Jr. Machine 
 knives, mower and reaper sections, etc., were manu- 
 factured and a prosperous business soon established. 
 
 In 1868 the Simonds Manufacturing Company was 
 incorporated with a capital of one hundred and fifty 
 thousand dollars, and the works were moved from 
 West Fitchburg to their present location. Here the 
 same line of manufacture was continued until 1878, 
 when, on account of a consolidation of the mowing- 
 machine knife and reaper section interests by Western 
 manufacturers, the company sold that department of 
 their business, and began the manufacture of saws by 
 an entirely new method of tempering and straighten- 
 ing. They entered the field in competition with 
 many old established saw manufacturing firms, but 
 the superiority of their product, in every respect, soon 
 enabled them to build up a large business, and that, 
 too, at prices in advance of all competitors. 
 
 The company's branch works at Chicago and San 
 Francisco have been maintained for some years. 
 
 The ofiicers of the company are: George F. 
 Simonds, president; Daniel Simonds, vice-president 
 and treasurer; Edwin F. Simonds, manager of the 
 Chicago works; John Simonds, manager of the San 
 Francisco works. 
 
 The inventive genius of George F. Simonds has 
 brought into the possession of this company many 
 valuable patents covering their processes of manufac- 
 ture and radical improvements in the adjustment of 
 circular saws, etc. 
 
 About two hundred hands are employed at the 
 shops here. 
 
 A speciality is made of the "Simonds" saw,covered 
 by many patents, a circular-saw unequaled in uni- 
 formity and quality of temper, and in its adjustment — 
 facts abundantly attested by the wide sale and uni- 
 versally acknowledged superiority of this saw. Vari- 
 ous other kinds of saws are also made by the company, 
 such as crescent-ground, cross-cut saws, straight- 
 ground gang, mill, mulay and drag-saws, band-saws, 
 etc. 
 
 The "Simonds" knives, planer knives, etc., and 
 every descrijition of pattern knives are also manufac- 
 tured by this company and have a very large sale. 
 
280 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 The Simonds Rolling-Machine Company. — On Wil- 
 low Street, close by the Simonds Manufacturing Com- 
 pany's buildings, are the works of the Simonds Roll- 
 ing-Machine Company. 
 
 This is a comparatively new enterprise, and is 
 wholly due to the inventive genius of George F. 
 Simonds, who, early in 1884, had his attention 
 drawn, by an incident, to the possibility of moulding 
 metal articles of circular shape to any given form, 
 while rotating them on their axes between two 
 surfaces moving in opposite directions. Experiments 
 were made with putty balls between wooden surfaces, 
 and so satisfactory were the results that a substantial 
 machine was constructed, which successfully rolled 
 various small articles, such as spheres, small projec- 
 tiles, machine handles, etc. 
 
 The result of this was the incorporation, in No- 
 vember, 1886, of the Simonds Rolling-Machine 
 Company, of Boston, with a capital of fnur hundred 
 thousand dollar^, and George F. Simonds president. 
 This company has purchased all the patents granted 
 to Mr. Simonds in the United States and Canada, 
 relating to the forging of metal articles by rolling. 
 
 Patents on this new process of metal-working 
 have been secured throughout the principal countries 
 of the world ; and, early in 1886, the Simonds Steel 
 and Iron Forging Company, Limited, with a capital 
 of £150,000 was organized in London, England, by 
 some of the leading British manufacturers. 
 
 The works of the Simonds Rolling-Machine Com- 
 pany, located in this city, are for experimental pur- 
 poses mainly, and about sixty skilled workmen are 
 engaged in te-iting and developing the capabilities 
 of the machine, which seem to be without limit. 
 The products are turned out with marvellous rapidity, 
 and in accuracy and quality are far superior to those 
 made by any other kuown process. 
 
 As an evidence of the importance of this me- 
 chanical discovery, it may be stated that at the last 
 annual meeting of the American Institute of Mining 
 Engineers, held in Boston in February, 1888, the 
 members of the Institute came in a body to Fitch- 
 burg on February 23d, expressly to witness the work 
 of this machine. 
 
 Companies are now being organized to manufacture 
 under these patents in all the large cities of the 
 United States and Canada, and without doubt this 
 process will soon supersede all others in the manu- 
 facture of many articles. 
 
 Fitchburg is justly proud of the fact that a son of 
 hers conceived and perfected this important and valu- 
 able invention. 
 
 The works here are as yet only in embryo, so to 
 speak, and very little manufacturing of products for 
 sale is done. There are, however, a few articles made 
 for sale to a limited extent, such as various kinds 
 of axles, projectiles, machine tool-handles, spindles, etc. 
 
 The Union Machine Co. — This company, whose 
 works are on Water St., was incorporated in 18G7, 
 
 with a capital of $60,000, and at first manufactured 
 machinists' tools. In 1870 the manufacture of hose- 
 carriages and steam fire-engines of the " Jucket " 
 pattern wa^ begun, and continued several years. 
 
 The making of paper-machinery was begun about 
 1873, and since then the company has made this line 
 of work a specialty. 
 
 In 1876 the company transferred its stock, etc., to 
 Crocker, Burbank & Co., who put in new machinery, 
 and continued to build paper-machinery under the 
 old name of the company. 
 
 In 1887 a stock company was formed, with these 
 officers: John Burney, president; Samuel E.Crocker, 
 treasurer; Emmons Crocker, secretary. This com- 
 pany also retained the name of Union Machine Co., 
 and put in new machinery. It ranks to-day among 
 the best establishments of this kind in the country. 
 
 Special attention is paid to the manufacture of 
 large Fourdrinier and cylinder paper-machines, and 
 the company also makes rag and Jordan engines, 
 screen-plates, and all other kinds of paper-mill 
 machinery. 
 
 This line of machinery is also made by several 
 other concerns in town, as a department of their 
 business. 
 
 Francis Sheldon & Co. carry on business as mill- 
 wrights, and also manufacture rag-engines, cylinder- 
 was^hers. rag-cutters and dusters for paper-mills. 
 
 Ezekiel Davis, who owns the shop formerly 
 operated by Alfred White, in Rockville, makes 
 papef-mill bars and bed-plates and rag-cutter-knives, 
 besides all varieties of machine-knives. 
 
 Hardy & Finder make patent cast-metal screen- 
 plates, used in paper-making. 
 
 The Rolhtone Machine Company. — This company, 
 whose works are near those of the Union Machine 
 Company, was also incorporated in 1867 and has al- 
 ways made wood-working machinery, and has built up 
 quite a large business. Machines made by this com- 
 pany are in operation in almost all sections of the 
 United States. 
 
 George L. Stearns is manager and Henry F. Coggs- 
 hall treasurer. 
 
 In addition to wood-working machinery, this com- 
 pany manufactures the following: The C. F. Smith 
 system of ice-making and refrigerating machines; the 
 E. N. Gates system of hot water heating for dwellings, 
 and the Hodges' Universal Angle Union, for plumbers' 
 use, in connection with steam, water or gas-works. 
 
 Beside this company, the following firms and indi- 
 viduals manufacture wood-working machinery : 
 
 A. D. Way mouth &Co., who, for the last forty years 
 have made the well-known Waymouth Lathe. Their 
 shop is in Newton Place, and they are the sole manu- 
 facturers of A. D. Waymouth's new patent self-adjust- 
 ing and self-centreing lathe for wood-turning. 
 
 Charles W. Wilder makes Wilder's Patent Turning 
 Lathe, which was invented by him, and does all kinds 
 of wood-turning at his shop on Water Street. 
 
FITCHBUKG. 
 
 281 
 
 C. H. Cowdrey secured improvements on the original 
 Waymouth lathe and makes lathes of his pattern, and 
 also shafting, pulleys, etc., at his shop on Main Street. 
 
 The Fitehbiirg Adjustable Saw-table Company make 
 saw-tables and adjusters of acknowledged superiority 
 at their shop in Newton Place. 
 
 Franklin S. Lovell has machine works on Boutelle 
 Street, where he manufactures saw-mill, grist-mill and 
 wood-working machinery. He also makes C. M. 
 Flint's patent saw-mills, as well as gingham machinery, 
 dynamos and various kinds of electrical machinery. 
 
 The Burleigh Rock-Drill Company. — Charles Bur- 
 leigh, the inventor of the rock-drill bearing his name, 
 came to Fitchburg in 1850, and soon bjecame a mem- 
 ber of the firm of J. & S. W. Putnam. Later he was 
 prominently identified with the Putnam Machine 
 Company. His death occurred May 28, 1883. 
 
 When work was begun on the Hoosac Tunnel all 
 the rock-tunnelling had to be done by hand. It was 
 slow work, and the danger arising from lack of ven- 
 tilation increased as the work advanced. About 1865 
 the late Alvah Crocker, it is said, applied to Mr. 
 Burleigh to devise some description of power-drill to 
 complete the tunnel, which at that time it seemed 
 almost an impossibility to finish with the methods 
 then employed. 
 
 The result of Mr. Burleigh's study of this difficult 
 problem was the invention by him of the Burleigh 
 Rock-Drill and Patent Air-Compressor, a combination 
 which was cajiable, not only of drilling holes from 
 three-fourths of an inch to five inches in diameter, to 
 a depth of thirty feet, at a rate of from two to ten 
 inches per minute, according to the nature of the 
 rock, but also of thoroughly ventilating the tunnel at 
 the same time, thus obviating this great and fatal 
 source of danger. 
 
 These machines have produced a complete revolu 
 tion in the work of rock-tunnelling. By means of 
 them the completion of the Hoosac Tunnel was ren- 
 dered possible, and since then large use has been 
 made of them, both in this country and abroad. 
 Among the many great engineering feats, where the 
 use of these machines was indispensable, may be men- 
 tioned the Sutro Tunnel, Hell Gate, Brooklyn Bridge 
 and several of the great tunnels in Europe. 
 
 In 1867 the Burleigh Rock-Drill Company was in- 
 corporated, with a capital of $150,000, to make and 
 sell these machines, of which the world is the market. 
 
 In connection with this company is the Burleigh 
 Tunnel Company, incorporated in 1869, with a capi- 
 tal of $50,000. 
 
 Boiler Manufacturing. — David M. Dillon, of Fitch- 
 burg, was the first person to make boilers of steel, and 
 though laughed at by other boiler-makers for trying 
 such an experiment, the success he has made of it 
 and the wide and constantly increasing sale of his 
 boilers have caused a smile to settle on the genial 
 countenance of Mr. Dillon, showing the truth of the 
 adage, '' He who laughs last, laughs best.'' 
 
 He started his business in 1870, in a shop at the 
 corner of Main and West Streets. The people in 
 that previously quiet neighborhood strenuously ob- 
 jected to the noise produced. So, after remaining 
 there two years, Mr. Dillon, finding that he needed 
 more room, and being naturally of an accommodating 
 disposition, moved his works to a shop he had built 
 on Crocker Street, where, for the past sixteen years, 
 he has carried on his rapidly increasing business. 
 
 Boilers are also made to some extent by the Bur- 
 leigh Rock-Drill Company and the Fitchburg Steam- 
 Engine Company. 
 
 Of the several other varieties of iron industries not 
 yet mentioned, we have space to speak of none in 
 detail, except the foundries. A few other iron and 
 steel products made here, that may be mentioned 
 briefly, are files, manufactured by Hon. Eli Culiey, 
 who has carried on this business here since 1868 ; 
 agricultural implements, by R. A. Leonard & Son ; 
 steel horse-collars and boiler-makers' tools, by Alex- 
 ander Thompson ; pneumatic and hydraulic ma- 
 chines, by the Fitchburg Manufacturing Company ; 
 water-motors, by C. A. Sawyer & Co. ; electric 
 machinery, by Irving W. Colburn ; small tools, 
 models, etc., by C. S. Tolman, H. P. Tyrrell and the 
 Fitchburg Novelty Works ; brass finishing, by A. W. 
 Hubbard ; and keys, etc., by S. W. Galpin. Lack of 
 space forbids further enumeration. 
 
 Several residents of Fitchburg, not yet mentioned, 
 have, by their inventions, done much toward the 
 building up of the machinery business here. Among 
 them are the following : Louis D. Bartlett, inventor 
 and perfector of the Bartlett Automatic Cut-off 
 Steam-engine ; Sylvanus Sawyer, inventor of ma- 
 chinery to split rattan into chair cane, and also 
 known for his improvements in rifled cannon projec- 
 tiles and in the manufacture of jewelers' lathes, etc. ; 
 Horace F. Hodges, inventor of Hodges' Universal 
 Angle Union and other ingenious devices ; and 
 George E. Bowers, inventor of Bowers' dynamos. 
 
 Foundries. — Besides those connected with the 
 Putnam Machine Company, there are at present in 
 town four foundries, — three iron and one brass. 
 
 The one longest established is now operated by the 
 firm of Heywood, Wilson & Co. It is located at the 
 lower end of Main Street, and has always been 
 known as 
 
 The Fitchburg Foundry. — This was established by 
 Asher Green about fifty years ago, and for nearly 
 thirty years was located on Water Street, opposite 
 the site now occupied by the Union Machine Com- 
 pany. 
 
 Mr. Green was alone at first but, later, David Ware 
 was in company with him, and, for a time, his son, 
 J. S. Green, was associated with them. 
 
 In 1860 Mr. Green retired and sold his interest to 
 Waldo Wallace, and the business was carried on un- 
 der the name of Wallace, Ware »& Co., until 1864, 
 when Mr. Wallace became sole [iroprietor. 
 
282 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 In 1866 George Wheelock and Joseph S. Wilson 
 bought half the interest, and, upon Mr. Wallace's 
 death the same year, Walter Heywood and Harring- 
 ton Sibley purchased the other half. The business 
 was carried on for about two years under the name of 
 Heywood, Wheelock & Co. 
 
 In 1868 the present foundry buildings were erected 
 and the business removed thereto ; and, about the 
 same time, Mr. Wheelock sold his interest to HaleW. 
 Page, and the name of the firm became Heywood, 
 Wilson & Co. Mr. Page left the firm in 1875, and 
 Mr. Heywood died in 1880, and at the present time 
 the business is carried on by Messrs. Wilson & Sib- 
 ley, who have retained the firm-name of Heywood, 
 AVilson & Co. 
 
 The second oldest foundry is located on Crocker 
 Street, and Las always been known as 
 
 The Rolhtone Foundry. — It was established nearly 
 forty years ago by the firm of Davis, Page & Co., con- 
 sisting of Joel Davis, Hale W. Page and Artemas R. 
 Smith. After a time, Mr. Davis retired, and the firm 
 became Smith, Page & Co., and, still later. Smith & 
 Page. 
 
 On July 21, 1870, the fire which destroyed the 
 Heywood chair-shop also entirely ruined this foundry, 
 causing a loss of twelve thousand dollars. A large 
 brick building was immediately erected on the same 
 site, and the business wa« carried on by Smith & Page 
 until Mr. Smith's death, in March, 1875. 
 
 In 1875 Lyman H. Goodnow removed from Wor- 
 cester to Fitchburg and became an equal partner with 
 Mr. Page in the business ; and, in 1877, Mr. Goodnow 
 became, and has since continued to be, the sole pro- 
 prietor of the Rollstone Foundry. Mr. Goodnow 
 makes a specialty of the manufacture of large fly- 
 wheels and iron fronts for buildings. 
 
 On the night of October 17, 1885, this foundry 
 was again badly damaged by fire, the loss amounting 
 to over fifteen thousand dollars; but the building 
 was soon repaired, and the foundry in operation 
 again. 
 
 M. J. Perault's Iron Foundry is on Water Street. 
 The business was started in 1883, by Marshall & 
 Farnsworth, for the manufacture of fine castings. 
 
 In July, 1884, Mr. Perault, who had been foreman 
 of the Fitchburg Foundry since 1871, bought the 
 establishment, and has since successfully carried it 
 on. 
 
 Brass foundries have been in existence here for 
 over thirty years. In 1858 Messrs. Levi Stevens and 
 George Wheelock had a brass foundry near the 
 Rollstone Foundry. A year or two later the firm 
 dissolved, Mr. Wheelock taking charge of the old 
 foundry and Mr. Stevens starting a new one at the 
 corner of Main and Laurel Streets. 
 
 About 1869 Sargent & Earls operated a brass 
 foundry for a year or two in Newton's Lane. 
 
 At the present time the only brass foundry in 
 town is that of William A. Hardy, on Water Street. 
 
 Mr. Hardy was formerly with Mr. Stevens, and 
 later, in company with George Wheelock, succeeded 
 Mr. Stevens in operating the Laurel Street foundry, 
 under the firm-name of W. A. Hardy & Co. 
 
 About 1872 Mr. Hardy became sole proprietor, 
 and removed the business to his present location, 
 where he has since successfully conducted it. He 
 makes a specialty of machinery castings, and is the 
 inventor of Hardy's Patent Car Axle Boxes, and en- 
 joys a considerable share of railroad patronage. 
 
 A number of manufacturing establishments have 
 been carried on in Fitchburg, which, for various 
 reasons, have been discontinued, or have removed 
 from town. A few of them have been of importance 
 in the business interests of the place in years past, 
 and are worthy of mention in some detail ; and as 
 many of them were engaged in the manufacture of 
 iron and steel products, they come most appropri- 
 ately under the pre.'^eut head of ir.)n industries. 
 
 Scythe Manufacturing. — This long established 
 and, at one time, very important industry has been 
 extinct here only about ten years. 
 
 It was begun in 1796 by John & Joseph Farwell, 
 who had a scythe-shop near the present corner of 
 River and Main Streets. Here they made scythes for 
 a quarter of a century, or so, and the Farwell scythe 
 acquired a considerable reputation. 
 
 About 1830 John T. Farwell and Alpheus Kimball 
 started a scythe-factory just below A. Crocker & 
 Co.'s paper-mill, and began to make scythes of the 
 Farwell pattern. Two years later Mr. Farwell left 
 the firm, and the business was carried on by Mr. 
 Kimball, who later took his three sons, Alpheus P., 
 William and John W. Kimball, into partnership, 
 under the firm-name of A. Kimball & Sons. After 
 the death of Alpheus Kimball, about 1860, the busi- 
 ness was conducted, from 1860 to 1862, by W. & J. 
 W. Kimball, and after 1862 by William Kimball 
 alone, who sold the shop in December, 1864, to the 
 Fitchburg Paper Company. 
 
 Soon after Mr. Farwell dissolved his partnership 
 with Mr. Kimball, he went into company, in 1832, 
 with Abel Simouds, the firm-name being J. T. Far- 
 well & Co. 
 
 This firm built a new scythe-factory farther up the 
 river, above the junction of Phillips' Brook and the 
 Nashua. Mr. Farwell retained the right to the Far- 
 well pattern, and the firm manufactured these well- 
 known scythes for about twenty years. During a 
 portion of this time Leonard C. Sanborn was also a 
 partner. 
 
 After Mr. Farwell retired Mr. Simonds continued 
 to make scythes and edge-tools, his son, Joseph F. 
 Simonds, being in company with him part of the time, 
 until 1864, when he gave up business and rented the 
 shop to the new firm of Simonds Bros. & Co. 
 
 About 1846 Alpheus P. Kimball, in company with 
 John L. Chandler, built a scythe-factory in South 
 Fitchburg, on what is now Scythe-shop road, on the 
 
FITCHBUKG. 
 
 283 
 
 site of the present mill of the Falulah Paper Com- 
 pany. Here scythe-making was carried on by the 
 firm of A. P. Kimball & Co. for a few years. Mr. 
 Kimball soon sold his interest, and for a time the 
 shop was run by Mr. Chandler, in connection with 
 other partners, under the firm-name of J. L. Chandler 
 &Co. 
 
 In 1852 Captain Edwin Richardson took the shop, 
 and manufactured scythes there for about twenty-five 
 years. 
 
 It is evident from the above brief account that 
 scythe-making was at one time an important industry 
 here. Official stati-tics of 1855 show that during that 
 year there were made in Fitchburg seven thousand 
 nine hundred and twenty-five dozen scythes, valued 
 at sixty-two thousand and seventy-two dollars, and 
 that fifty-eight hands were employed in the three 
 scythe fflctories. 
 
 The Whitman & Miles Manufacturing Com- 
 pany. — Among the earliest manufacturers of edge- 
 tools in Fitchburg were Albert G. Page and Alfred 
 White. The firm of Page & White began business in 
 Rockville, where the Berwick Mills now stand, about 
 fifty years ago, and was the origin of the above-named 
 company, one of our most valuable manufacturing 
 establishments, now, unfortunately, not numbered 
 among the industrial firms of Fitchburg. 
 
 Page & White made edge-tools of various kinds. 
 After a few years Mr. White retired from the firm, 
 and began business for himself in a large sho)> in 
 Rockville, farther up on Phillips' Brook, and built up 
 a prosperous business in the manufacture of engine 
 bars and plates, rag-cutter and trimming-knives, 
 shingle-knives, etc. For a time he was in company 
 with Masa Willis, but during a considerable period 
 was alone. He died September 13, 1885, and the 
 business established by him is now carried on by 
 Ezekiel Davis, formerly of the Whitman & Miles 
 Manufacturing Company. 
 
 After Mr. White's withdrawal from the firm, Mr. 
 Page formed a partnership with Messrs. F. Stiles and 
 William E. Taylor, under the firm-name of A. G. 
 Page & Company, and continued business at the same 
 shop. 
 
 About 1847 this firm was dissolved, and Edward 
 Aldrich became Mr. Page's partner, and the business 
 was carried on by Page & Aldrich until 1852, when a 
 new firm, Page, Whitman & Company, was established, 
 still retaining the old shop. This firm was composed 
 of Mr. Page, Augustus Whitman and Calvin Foster, 
 and made a specialty of the manufacture of socket 
 chisels, planing and paper-knives. 
 
 In 1856 this firm was dissolved, and Mr. Whitman 
 and Eugene T. Miles took charge of the establishment 
 under the firm-name of Whitman & Miles. Business 
 prospered, and in 1864 the Whitman & Miles Manu- 
 facturing Company was incorporated, and the works 
 removed to new and commodious shops in West 
 Fitchburg. A very large and rapidly increasing 
 
 business was carried on here for about twelve yeara, 
 mowing-machine knives being the principal product. 
 
 The company had a branch establishment in Akron, 
 Ohio, and in 1876 the Whitman & Barnes Manufac- 
 turing Company was formed, and the Whitman & 
 Miles Manufacturing Company consolidated with it. 
 The works were removed to Akron, and Fitchburg 
 thus lost a valuable and prosperous corporation. 
 
 The American Rattan Co. — This comjiany was 
 incorporated in 1852, with a capital of $46,800, and 
 manufactured chair-cane from rattan. Previously, 
 this kind of work had been done by hand, but this 
 company put in the machines which had recently 
 been invented by Sylvanus Sawyer and his brother, 
 Addison, for splitting cane. 
 
 For many years the American Rattan Company 
 was one of the most prosperous and profitable manu- 
 facturing concerns in the United States. The works 
 were in Newton's Lane. 
 
 After twenty-three years of prf sperity, due largely 
 to the able management of Moses Wood, who was 
 president of the company from its incorporation till 
 his death, in 1869, and also its treasurer from 1855, 
 the company was consolidated in 1875 with the 
 Wakefield Rattan Company, of Boston, and in April, 
 1878, the business was entirely removed from Fitch- 
 burg. 
 
 Some idea of the importance of this company may 
 be obtained by stating the value of its products in 
 difierent years and noting the remarkable increase. 
 
 From official statistics we find that the value of the 
 chair-cane produced by the American Rattan Com- 
 pany in 1855 was $.50,000; in 1865, $212,500; in 1875 
 $340,000. 
 
 The loss of this company, and of the Whitman & 
 Miles Manufacturing Company — two of our heaviest 
 and most prosperous concerns — coming, one so soon 
 after the other, increased, in no small degree, the 
 business depression then existing in Fitchburg. 
 
 The Buckeye Mowing-Machine Company. — 
 This company began business here about 1864, oc- 
 cupying two large wooden buildings in West Fitch- 
 burg, near the junction of Depot road and Westminster 
 river road. In connection with it was the Bay State 
 Horse- Rake Company. Mowing-machines, horse-rakes 
 and laundry-machines were here manufactured and a 
 prosperous business was built up. 
 
 In 1865 oflicial statistics show that eight hundred 
 and fifty mowing-machines were made here during 
 that year, valued at one hundred and twenty-five 
 thousand dollars. The product was greater a few 
 years later. 
 
 September 15, 1873, one of the large buildings 
 occupied by this company was destroyed by fire and 
 the other considerably damaged, the loss being fifteen 
 thousand dollars. The works were rebuilt, and in 
 1876 were purchased by Richard A. Leonard, who 
 continued the manufacture of mowing-machines and 
 also made packing cases there until January 29, 1886, 
 
284 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 when both buildings were burnt. Soon afterward the 
 mowing-machine business was removed to Worcester, 
 Mr. Leonard continuing the making of pacliing cases 
 and agricultural implements in a new factory opposite 
 the site of the old shops. 
 
 Many other industries have been carried on here in 
 the past that are now extinct in Fitchburg. A few of 
 them may be mentioned, as follows : Tanneries were 
 early established here, and the one operated by Cald- 
 well & Sprague a half-century ago nearly, located 
 near the old V. & M. R. R. engine-house, was quite an 
 important concern. Bellows were made here to a 
 considerable extent during the first half of the present 
 century by various individuals, prominent among 
 whom was Dea. Abel Thurston. Hats were also 
 formerly made here. Parts of piano-fortes were made 
 by Hale W. Page ; fan blowers, sewing-machines, etc., 
 by C. P. Marshall ; vises by the New England Vise 
 Co. ; hoop-machines by the American Hoop-Machine 
 Co. Prior to the discovery of petroleum a large 
 number of candles were made here by John P. Sabin. 
 During the war cannon, cannon-balls and bomb-shells 
 were made here to a considerable extent. 
 
 The Grain Bilsiness. — Grist and saw-mills were 
 the first concerns in the manufacturing line started in 
 Fitchburg. We have already spoken of the mill built 
 by the Kimballs about 1750, where for many years 
 the grain for miles around was ground. 
 
 From about 1800 to 1822 there was a grist-mill run 
 in connection with the Parwell scythe shop, near the 
 corner of the present Main and River Streets. 
 
 A little later Sheldon & Pillsbury's grist-mill was 
 built, on the site now occupied by the Star Worsted 
 Company's mill on West Street. In a few years this 
 mill acquired considerable reputation for bolting 
 flour in a superior manner, and grain was brought to 
 it from places quite distant. It was equipped with 
 two runs of stoues, a corn-cracker and flour-bolter, 
 and in 1835, according to Mr. Torrey, the average 
 amount of flour made at this mill was five barrels 
 per day ; and Mr. Torrey was of the opinion that 
 during the year 183G the production would be 
 doubled. 
 
 The mill erected about 1836 by Captain Levi Pratt 
 on River Street was, for a time, used by him for the 
 manufacture of powder kegs, but for many years the 
 site has been occupied as a flour and grain-mill. 
 Several parties have carried on this industry there in 
 years past, among them Franklin Mclntire and Ira 
 Carleton and the Fitchburg Flour Company. In 
 1881 Charles P. Washburn purchased the property; 
 and in 1883 Frederick F. Woodward bought one-half 
 interest, since which time the mill has been success- 
 fully operated by the firm of Washburn & Wood- 
 ward. 
 
 In 1884 a store-house, one hundred by thirty feet, 
 was built to accommodate their increasing business. 
 The firm possesses every fiiciiity for carrying on their 
 large wholesale and retail trade in flour, grain, meal, 
 
 etc. A branch track connects their mill with the 
 main line of the Fitchburg Railroad close by. 
 
 Let us now return to the Kimball saw and grist- 
 mill. On the site occupied by it was built, in 1826, 
 the "Stone Mill," which, for over forty years, was 
 operated as a cotton-mill. In 1868 Joseph Gushing 
 bought the property, and since then the firm of 
 J. Cusliing & Co. has carried on the flour and grain 
 business there. Mr. Cushing's son. Milton M. Gush- 
 ing, was in partnership with him, but died some 
 years ago. 
 
 A very large business is done here, the mill having 
 a grinding capacity of several thousand bushels of 
 corn per day. A track, some six hundred feet long, 
 connects the establishment with the main line of the 
 Fitchburg Railroad. This track was built in 1871, 
 and on September 2d, of that year, the completion of 
 the "Joe Gushing Railroad," as it was called, was 
 the occasion of quite a jollification. 
 
 In connection with his mill Mr. Gushing has 
 several large store-houses, and, by a rather singular 
 coincidence, he has, just across the stream, a saw- 
 mill and lumber-yard. So the first manufacturing 
 industry in Fitchburg is, at the present time, exactly 
 reproduced on the identical site, though on a vastly 
 greater scale. 
 
 The LiTMBER Business. — As before noted, Fitch- 
 burg has had saw-mills located on the various streams 
 and brooks within the limits of the town since the 
 earliest period of its history ; and the lumber busi- 
 ness has always been an important item in the indus- 
 tries of the place. 
 
 It would be useless to try to give, in detail, the 
 history of this business; so we shall content our- 
 selves with simply a brief mention of the more 
 important concerns of this kind that have existed 
 here in the recent past, or are in operation now. 
 
 Some twenty years ago the Fitchburg Lumber 
 Company carried on quite an extensive business at 
 their yards on Water Street. The company was 
 incorporated in 1868, with a capital of $200,000, but 
 was not able to go through the financial depression 
 that came a few years later. 
 
 Alvah A. Beckwith operated au extensive lumber 
 business, and sash and blind shop on Rollstone Street, 
 over a score of years ago ; and after his death, 
 December 17, 1868, the business was carried on by 
 the Beckwith Lumber Company until 1878, when the 
 properly was leased by Charles A. Priest, who subse- 
 quently purchased it. 
 
 Mr. Priest was formerly with the Fitchburg Lum- 
 ber Company, and operated their yard on Water 
 Street after the company gave up business, until he 
 leased the property of the Beckwith Lumber Com- 
 pany. After purchasing it he greatly enlarged the 
 buildings, and established a prosperous business. 
 He died in September, 1887, since which time the 
 concern has been carried on by the C. A. Priest 
 Lumber Company. The plant is now quite exten- 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 285 
 
 sive, and a large business is done in lumber and in 
 the manufacture of doors, sash, blinds, stairs and all 
 kinds of builders' finish. A specialty is made of the 
 manufacture of school furniture. 
 
 For some years Lorenzo Barker had a lumber-yard 
 and sash and blind factory on North Street. The 
 property afterward came into the hands of Deacon 
 Mial Davis, who greatly increased the facilities for 
 bu.siness, and he now operates it a-i a steam mill, 
 manufacturing doors, sash, blinds and all kinds of 
 house finish. Mr. Davis also deals largely in 
 lumber. 
 
 William A. Garno has a steam saw-mill on Lunen- 
 burg Street, where a considerable business is done in 
 getting out lumber and making doors, blinds, etc. 
 
 Frederick A. Beckwith, son of A. A. Beckwith, 
 has a lumber establishment in Newton Place, and 
 does a large business iu building materials, house 
 finish, etc. 
 
 Arthur F. Goodfellow has a genuine old-style 
 saw-mill on Wanoosnac Brook, near the Old Turn- 
 pike road, where he turns out a large supply of 
 boards. 
 
 Of J. Gushing &Co.'8 lumber yard and saw mill we 
 have already spoken. 
 
 W. C. Johnson has a lumber yard in connection 
 with his other business on Water Street. 
 
 Soap and Candle Manufacturing. — This 
 industry dates back to an early period in the history 
 of Fitchburg, for, prior to 1800, there was a soap 
 shop on the site now occupied by Crocker Block, 
 to which tradition says the name "Old Potash'' 
 was applied. 
 
 At the present time there is but one soap manufac- 
 tory in town, — that of Cowdin & Walker. Their 
 business has been long established, having been 
 begun by John P. Sabin over forty years ago. Mr. 
 Sabin was for a time in company with Cahill Tolman 
 and S. H. Evans in the " Old City." The firm carried 
 on the grocery business, and also made soap and 
 candles on a small scale. 
 
 About 1847 Mr. Sabin began the manufacture of 
 these articles by himself, in South Fitchburg, and 
 speedily built up a thriving business. 
 
 Prior to the use of kerosene a large amount of 
 candles was made here. Official statistics show that 
 in 1855 ten tons of tallow candles, twenty-five tons 
 of hard soap and six hundred pounds of soft soap 
 were manufactured here, the aggregate value being 
 eight thousand dollars. In 1865 the production of 
 candles in Fitchburg was only three thousand pounds. 
 
 Natt Cowdin became a partner with Mr. Sabin in 
 the soap business about 18(50, the firm name being J. 
 P. Sabin & Co. Some years ago Mr. Sabin retired 
 from the business, and for the past twenty years or so 
 Mr. Cowdin, in company with C. C. Walker, has car- 
 ried on the concern, the firm name being Cowdin & 
 Walker. A considerable business is done here, chiefly 
 in soft-soap. Mr. Sabin died May 14, 1 885. 
 
 In 1859 Charles Davis began the manufacture of 
 soap in a shop on West Street. He soon formed a 
 partnership with George H. Phelps, and in the course 
 of a few years the firm moved into a new shop on 
 Boutelle Street. 
 
 About 1871 Mr. Phelps sold his interest to Mr. 
 Davis who then formed a partnership with his brother, 
 Joel Davis, under the firm name of C. Davis & Co. 
 For several years following the firm did not run the 
 shop, but leased it to A. B. Gibbs & Co., and later to 
 James Mitchell. C. Davis & Co. operated the shop 
 from 1875 to 1882, when the business was given up. 
 Charles Davis died October 29, 1885. 
 
 The firm of S. M. Brown & Co. had, for several 
 years, a soap shop on Townsend Street near Pearl 
 Street, but about 1881 the firm removed the business 
 to a location near the Westminster depot. 
 
 In 1875 the value of the products of the three soap 
 and candle factories in the city was over twenty-seven 
 thousand dollars. 
 
 The FiTCHBUEr, Railroad Car Shops. — These 
 are located in what is now called East Fitchburg and 
 are in process of construction at the present time. 
 
 The plans prepared provide for six. large buildings. 
 Four of them range side by side, each being one hun- 
 dred by four hundred and eighty feet, anJ covering 
 about an acre of ground. The one nearest the river 
 is to be the paint shop, the next the passenger car 
 shop, the next the freight car shop and the easterly 
 one the oar repairing shop. Each of these immense 
 buildings will be divided by two fire-proof cross walls 
 into three sections. 
 
 Of the two other structures, which run at right 
 angles to the four above-mentioned, one is to be the 
 wood-working shop, sixty by three hundred feet, and 
 the other, parallel with it, is to be the machine shop, 
 sixty by four hundred feet. The wood-working shop 
 will be two stories high and the other five buildings 
 one story. The foundations will be RoUstone graniie 
 and the structures will be built of brick made at the 
 yards of Edwin A. Goodrich, in this city. 
 
 The buildings will be substantial, well-proportioned 
 structures and a credit to the Fitchburg Railroad and 
 the city for which the corporation was named. 
 
 Brick Manufacturing.— Edwin A. Goodrich 
 owns and operates three brick-yards in Fitchburn- — 
 one on Summer Street, one at South Fitchburg, and 
 the Pound Hill yard, in the northwesterly part of the 
 township. He makes several million bricks annually 
 and has a well-established and prosperous business. 
 
 Bakeries. — These have been in existence here for 
 over a century. The first mention of this industry 
 occurs in relation to David Gibson, who, about 1781, 
 built a bake-shop on the site where now stands the 
 house which belonged to the late Ebenezer Torrey, 
 Esq. 
 
 For the last sixty years or more there has been a 
 bakery where the steam bakery of H. B. Boutelle 
 now stands, on Circle Street (originally Baker's 
 
286 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Street). For many years this shop was carried on by 
 William M. Pride. It is now under the proprietor- 
 ship of Henry P. Boutelle, who employs steam-power 
 in the manufacture of bread, crackers, etc., and does 
 a large business, both in this city and in surrounding 
 towns. 
 
 Other bakeries in town are operated by James 
 Brock, Horton & Raymond and Phelps & Cooper. 
 Herbert N. Rugg does considerable fancy baking of 
 cake, etc., in connection with the manufacture of con- 
 fectionery. 
 
 Granite Quaeiiying. — Fitchburg, possessing as 
 it does an almost inexhaustible supply of good 
 granite near the city, in the shape of Rollstone Hill, 
 has made the quarrying and working of granite one 
 of her staple industries. 
 
 For many years this source of profit and employ- 
 ment was comparatively unused; during the past 
 seventy-five years, however, extensive quarrits have 
 been opened and worked on this hill. 
 
 Among the earliest to engage in this business was 
 Samuel A. Wheeler. Fitch Downe, who died recently, 
 was for some years a granite contractor and worker. 
 
 For many years Mr. Wheeler did a large and im- 
 portant business in granite. Most of the time he was 
 in company with others. In 1844 Charles Davis was 
 his partner, and the firm furnished the Rollstone 
 granite of which the Fitchburg Railroad Station in 
 Boston is built, beside filling other large contracts. 
 He was also in company with Joel Davis at one time. 
 
 Most of the dams and the stone-work of the bridges 
 across the north branch of the Nashua, in Fitchburg, 
 were built by S. A. Wheeler & Co., and still stand as 
 a testimonial to the firm's thorough workmanship. 
 
 During the latter part of his business life his son, 
 S. A. Wheeler, Jr., was his partner. Mr. Wheeler 
 died August 30, 1883. 
 
 Wells R. Bardwell is another of the old-time stone- 
 workers. He was at one time a member of the firm 
 of Childs, Bardwell & Co., granite workers, on West 
 Street. 
 
 The well-known granite firm of former year*, Davis, 
 Ames & Co., later Joel Ames & Co., should also be 
 mentioned. 
 
 At the present time the following individuals and 
 firms work quarries on Rollstone : Frederick A. Hale, 
 Sylvester P. Litchfield and F. A. McCauliff & Co. 
 There are also several parties engaged in working 
 granite and as granite contractors, as follows: Henry 
 E. Ames, George Hamilton, Daniel O'Connor, William 
 T. Shattuck and George A. Terrell. 
 
 Large amounts of granite are annually taken from 
 Rollstone and used for under-pinning and building 
 purposes, paving blocks, flag and curb-stones, monu- 
 ment'', etc. The quarries are worked nearly all the 
 year. 
 
 In this connection may be mentioned the industry 
 of marble-working. 
 
 The firm of Hartwell & Reed, on Main Street, car- 
 
 rier on one of the longest established marble-works in 
 the country. The business was begun by Isaac Hart- 
 well in 1831. Some twenty years later George Reed 
 became his partner. Mr. Hartwell died some years 
 ago, aud the business is now carried on by Mr. Reed 
 and his son, Edward H. Reed, the old firm name 
 being retained. 
 
 The FiTCHBURG Gas Company was organized in 
 1852, with a capital of sixty thousand dollars, and has 
 since coniinued to manufacture gas for the illumina- 
 tion of our streets and dwellings. The company, of 
 which Hon. Rodney Wallace is president, and Henry 
 F. Coggshall treasurer, has gas-works near the rail- 
 road, a short distance southeast of the depot, with two 
 gasometers of sixty-five thousand and twenty-eight 
 thousand cubic feet respectively, and maintains about 
 twelve miles of street-mains. 
 
 The Wachu.sett Electric Light Company was 
 incorporated in 1883, with a capital of one hundred 
 thousand dollars, to furnish electricity for lighting 
 purposes. The principal streets in the city are now 
 illuminated by electric lights. 
 
 The central station of the company is on Water 
 Street, and is furnished with a two hundred and sev- 
 enty-five horse-power engine and the usual accom- 
 paniments. The capacity is upwards of one hundred 
 and fifty Thompson-Houston arc lights. 
 
 Beside street-lights the company furnishes light for 
 many of the stores in town, and, in the near future, 
 proposes to furnish electric power for mechanical pur- 
 poses. Arthur H. Kimball is superintendent. 
 
 There is space to speak of only a few more of the 
 many other industries here that have not yet been 
 mentioned. Though they may seem to be small when 
 compared with some of the great corporations in town, 
 yet they are all of importance to the prosjierity of 
 Fitchburg. 
 
 The few we shall mention are the American Prun- 
 ing Company, the Fitchburg Carbonized Stone and 
 Pipe Company, the Fitchburg Enamel Works, Fitch- 
 burg Pipe Covering Company, Fitchburg Spirit-Level 
 Company, J. T. Smith, manufacturer of clothes- 
 dryers, towel-racks, etc.; J. Joel and W. J. & F. C. 
 Wheeler, cigar manufacturers; Marshall & Farns- 
 worth, pulley-covering makers ; H. B. Adams, S. G. 
 Gushing and the Novelty Turning Company, manu- 
 facturers of all kinds of wood-turning, organ materials, 
 etc.; C. L. Tenney, pattern and model-maker; Jonas 
 Whitney, for about half a century a manufacturer of 
 organ materials; S. N. Weston, reed manufacturer; 
 Cyrus Tolman, maker of emery grinders, saw arbors, 
 etc.; besides numerous carriage-makers, carpenters 
 and building contractors, blacksmiths, etc, etc. 
 
 A volume might easily be written on this one sub- 
 ject of the mechanical industries of Fitchburg; but 
 want of space compels the writer to omit much and 
 condense what is written. The intention has bten to 
 treat all fairly, and it is hoped that this result has been 
 accomplished. 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 287 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 FITCHBURG— ( Continued. ) 
 
 COMMERCIAI, HISTORY. 
 
 In a sketch limited as this is we can expect to give 
 only the briefest mention of the more important com- 
 mercial enterprises which make Fitchburg a business 
 centre of considerable note. It is true that the nu- 
 merous large manufacturing establishments, which 
 have been dwelt upon at some length in a previous 
 chapter, are the mainstay of Fitehburg's prosperity; 
 but her business-houses, banks and various other 
 commercial organizations are also of great importance, 
 though in a somewhat different way. 
 
 It seems proper to begin this chapter with a brief 
 account of the railroad corporations, which unques- 
 tionably have been the most important factor in de- 
 veloping our natural resources and mechanical and 
 commercial interests. Each one of these corporations 
 is deserving of a more extended notice, but such 
 would be beyond the scope of the present history. 
 
 Transportation Facilities. — Fitchburg is an 
 important railroad centre. In a previous chapter the 
 opening of the Filchburg Railroad, in 1845, has been 
 spoken of. It was followed three years later by the 
 Yermont and Massachusetts, and about the same time 
 the Cheshire Railroad was put in operation. A few 
 years later the Fitchburg and Worcester Railroad was 
 constructed, and still later the Boston, Clinton and 
 Fitchburg Railroad commenced operations. Of late 
 years railroad consolidation has been the rule, and the 
 roads centreing in this city are no exception to it. 
 
 The Fitchburg and Worcester, and Boston, Clinton 
 and Fitchburg are now divisions of the great system 
 operated by the Old Colony Railroad Company, and 
 give direct communication between this city and 
 Worcester, Boston andall thecitiesof Southern Massa- 
 chusetts, with close connections for New York City 
 and the South. 
 
 The Fitchburg Railroad has grown into the great 
 " Hoosac Tunnel Route," having leased the Vermont 
 and Massachusetts Railroad, purchased of the State 
 its great " bore," the Hoosac Tunnel, and railroads 
 this side of and beyond the Tunnel, and now controls 
 and operates about three hundred and fifty miles of 
 road, most of which is double-tracked. This line gives 
 the citizens of Fitchburg quick and direct communi- 
 cation not only with Boston and the central and west- 
 ern parts of Massachusetts, but also with Chicago, St. 
 Louis and all the great Western cities. It forms one 
 of the trunk lines between the West and the seaboard, 
 and offers great ad■^•antages to shippers of freight. 
 
 The Cheshire Railroad is intact at the present time, 
 though probably, at no distant date, it will be absorbed 
 into the Fitchburg system. This road is operated 
 from Bellows Falls, Vt.,to South Ashburnham, Mass., 
 and reaches Fitchburg over the tracks of the Ver- 
 
 mont and Massachusetts Division of the Fitchburg 
 Railroad. In connection with the Central Vermont 
 Railroad, it offers a through line to all points in Ver- 
 mont and Canada and is the shortest line from Boston 
 to Lake George. Considerable Western freight comes 
 over this road from the Central Vermont and Grand 
 Trunk Railroads. 
 
 Over fifty passenger trains arrive daily at the Union 
 Depot in this city, and heavy freight trains are almost 
 constantly passing through, and it must be evident 
 from this account, brief as it is, that the people of 
 Fitchburg have no reason to complain of the facili- 
 ties afforded them for traveling and transportation. 
 
 In addition to the steam railroads, we have a horse- 
 railroad, recently put into operation by 
 
 The Fitchburg Street-Railway Company. — 
 This company was incorporated April 10, 1886, with 
 a capital of $60,000. Work was at once begun, and 
 so rapidly was track-laying prosecuted, that the road 
 began business July 1, 1886, and has proved a paying 
 enterprise and a great convenience to the public. 
 Henry A. Willis, Esq., is president of the corpora- 
 tion. The road is three and a half miles in length, 
 extending from Sanborn Road, in West Fitchburg, 
 through Westminster, River, Main and Summer 
 Streets to the Fitchburg Park, near the Lunenburg 
 line. Extensions have been authorized, and will be 
 made before long, to Waite's Corner, in West Fitch- 
 burg, and the city farm in South Fitchburg. The 
 road is well supplied with first-class cars, and upwards 
 of forty good horses are owned by the company. 
 
 Banks. — There are at the present time in Fitch- 
 burg eight financial institutions — four national and 
 four savings banks. 
 
 The Filchburg National Bank. — This is the oldest 
 in town and has previously been spoken of as the 
 Fitchburg Bank, chartered in 1832. It was reorgan- 
 ized in 1865 under the National Banking Act. It has 
 a capital of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars 
 and a surplus of one hundred and forty thousand 
 dollars. The bank began business in a small granite 
 building which, in 1853, was replaced by a brick 
 banking-house, where business was carried on until 
 1871. In that year the bank removed to its present 
 commodious, and even palatial, quarters in the Fitch, 
 burg Savings Bank Block. Since 1871 the old brick 
 bank building has been used by Crocker, Burbank & 
 Co. as an office. 
 
 Hon. Ebenezer Torrey was officially connected 
 with this bank from its commencement — the first 
 twenty-seven years as cashier and after 1860 as 
 president. Francis Perkins was the first president, 
 and served until his death, in 1859. Mr. Torrey was 
 elected his successor and held the office until his 
 death, September 3, 1888. October 22, 1888, Brigham 
 N. Bullock was elected president and H. G. Town- 
 end, ca>hier. 
 
 The Uolhione National Bank. — This bank, as stated 
 in a previous chapter, was chartered in 1849 as the 
 
288 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Rollstone Bank. It was reorganized into a national 
 bank in 186.5, and has a capital of two hundred 
 and fifty thousand dollars and a surplus of one hun- 
 dred and forty thousand dollars. Its first banking 
 house was a small granite building, standing on the 
 site now occupied by the present handsome Rollstone 
 Bank block, which was erected in 1869. Since 1869 
 the bank, in connection with the Worcester North 
 Savings Institution, has occupied well-appointed and 
 commodious banking rooms on the ground floor of 
 this block. 
 
 Hon. Moses Wood was the first pre.sident of this 
 bank and served until his death, in 1869. Alvah 
 Crocker was then chosen president and served until 
 January, 1873, wlien Henry A. Willis succeeded him. 
 Mr. Willis still holds this position and has thus been 
 officially connected with this bank for over thirty 
 years, being cashier from 1858 up to tlie time he was 
 chosen president. Wilbur B. Tenney has beeu cash- 
 ier since 1881. 
 
 The Safety Fund National Bank. — This bank was 
 organized April 17,1874. Its capital is $200,000 and 
 surplus $34,500. Business was begun July 1, 1874, 
 in the second story of Bekling & Dickinsons 
 Block, and in March, 1875, was removed to its pres- 
 ent location in Crocker Block. This substantial and 
 handsome block was erected by Hon. Alvah Crocker, 
 under an agreement for a twenty years' lease of the 
 banking rooms to the Safety Fund National Bank. 
 
 The first president was Henry Allison, and the first 
 cashier Frederick F. Woodward. In 1883 Mr. Wood- 
 ward went into the grain business, and resigned his 
 position as cashier. He was succeeded by George 
 K. Tapley, who held the position until his removal to 
 Springfield, early in 1888, to engage in other busi- 
 ness. Joel G. Tyler, who has been identified with 
 this bank, as book-keeper, since September, 1882, 
 was appointed acting cashier until April 30, 1888, 
 when the present cashier, Walter S. Jenks, was 
 elected. 
 
 Mr. Allison has held the position of president up 
 to the present date. Previous to the organization of 
 this bank he was connected with the Fitchburg 
 National Bank for some ten years, and has, therefore, 
 had an experience of twenty-five years in bank- 
 ing. 
 
 The Wachmett National Bank. — This bank was in- 
 corporated May 20, 1875, chiefly through the efforts 
 of Hiram A. Blood. Its capital at the start was 
 $500,000, but was subsequently reduced one-half, 
 leaving its present capital $250,000 and a surplus 
 fund of $250,000. Business was begun June 1, 1875, 
 in the rooms lately vacated by the Safety Fund Bank 
 in Belding & Dickinson's Block. January 1, 1876, 
 the business was removed to their present banking- 
 rooms in the new Wachusett Bank block, at the cor- 
 ner of Main and Day Streets. 
 
 At the pi'esent time Omon H.Lawrence is presi- 
 dent and George E. Clifford, cashier of this bank. 
 
 The Fiichbxirg Savings Bank. — This is by far the 
 oldest savings bank in town, and was incorporated 
 February 12, 184G, and went into operation on the 3d 
 of the following June. Its business was done in the 
 Fitchburg Bank building until 1871. In that year 
 the Savings Bank erected the Fitchburg Savings 
 building, the largest and most costly business block 
 in the city. The Savings Bank has since then occu- 
 pied spacious apartments on the same floor with and 
 adjoining those of the Fitchburg National Bank. 
 
 Its first officers were Francis Perkins, president, 
 and Ebenezer Torrey, treasurer, the same officers as 
 the Fitchburg Bank had. At the present time Hon. 
 Thornton K. Ware is president, Charles J. Billings, 
 treasurerand Andrew Jewett, assistant treasurer. De- 
 posits, October 31, 1888, $2,372,453.45. Number of 
 depositors, 5888. 
 
 Worcester North Savings Institution. — This bank 
 was incorporated May 26, 1868 ; organized June 13, 
 1868; began business July 6, 1868. Hob. Moses 
 Wood was its first president and Henry A. Willis, first 
 treasurer. Its banking-rooms are in the Rollstone 
 National Bank building, in connection with the Roll- 
 stone National Bank. Since Mr. Wood's death 
 Augustus Whitman, Benjamin Snow and Lowell M. 
 Miles have served in the office of president. Mr. 
 Miles resigned in 1886, and Hon. Amasa Norcross 
 was elected to the office, and holds it at present. 
 Henry A. Willis is still the treasurer, and Benjamin 
 F. Wallis is assistant treasurer. Deposits, July 1, 
 1888, $2,593,309.15. Number of depositors, 6795. 
 
 The Fitchburg Co-operative Bank. — This .savings in- 
 stitution was incorporated October 27, 1877, as " The 
 Fitchburg Co-operative Saving Fund and Loan As- 
 sociation,'' but July 1, 1883, this name was changed, 
 by legislative enactment, to the simpler one given 
 above. 
 
 There is not space to give in detail the method of 
 conducting business in this institution, but it is cer- 
 tain that its good influence has been very marked, 
 for many persons have been induced by it to begin 
 the saving of money in a small way. It has tended 
 to encourage industry, economy and thrift, and well 
 deserves the prosperity it has had in the last ten 
 years. 
 
 Dr. Jabez Fisher has been its president from the 
 beginning. George E. Clifford was treasurer during 
 the first four years of its existence, and was succeeded 
 by Charles F. Baker, who has since held the position. 
 Joseph F. Simonds has acted as secretary during the 
 life of the bank. His oflice is in a room of the Roll- 
 stone Bank building, and monthly meetings of the 
 shareholders are held there for the transaction of 
 business. ' 
 
 The Fidelity Co-operative Bank. — Early in the year 
 1888 the idea of starting a second co-operative bank 
 in town took shape, and April 23, 1888, the Fidelity 
 Co-operative Bank was organized. At that time 
 George E. Clifford was chosen president and Frank 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 289 
 
 D. Page treasurer. The bank started with one 
 hundred and forty-nine charter members and one 
 thousand seven hundred shares subscribed for. It 
 has a room for meetings and the transaction of busi- 
 ness in Croclcer block, and is a thriving institution. 
 
 The Ftichburg Post-Office. — The Filchburg post- 
 office was established July 1, 1811, and on that date 
 the first poi^tmaster, Jacob Willard, was appointed. 
 He was succeeded January 1, 1813, by Calvin Wil- 
 lard, who seems to have held the position until 
 November 7, 1825, when' David Brigham was ap- 
 pointed. 
 
 In those early days the post-office was kept in 
 private dwellings. In 1827, when Mr. Brigham was 
 postmaster, the office was in the "Abram Dole 
 house " for a time, and soon afterward was removed 
 to a dwelling-house, further down what is now Main 
 Street. This house now stands in Wesleyan Place, 
 in the rear of the. old Methodist Church, and a trace 
 of its former use can now be found in the letter 
 drop, in what was once the post-office room. A 
 wheel about two feet in diameter, provided with 
 alphabetical divisions for holding letters, was all the 
 equipment used. 
 
 The next postmaster was Mark Miller, appointed 
 by President Jackson, October 9, 1834. He removed 
 the office to his book-store and printing-office, oppo- 
 site the tavern, which occupied the site of the present 
 Fitchburg Hotel. Mr. Miller soon resigned his 
 position, and left town. 
 
 January 21, 1835, Nathaniel AVood was appointed, 
 and held the position upwards of sixteen years. 
 During his service the post-office wa.s twice moved — 
 in 1835 to a building nearly opposite the present 
 Sentinel office, and about 1846 to Shepley's book- 
 store, in the Torrey & Wood block. Call-boxes 
 were first used in the early part of Mr. Wood's 
 service. 
 
 May 3, 1851, Goldsmith F. Bailey, Mr. Wood's 
 law partner, was appointed, and held the position 
 two years. He retained the same location as his 
 predecessor, and Mr. Shepley was his assistant. 
 
 May 4, 1853, President Pierce appointed John 
 Todd postmaster. The office was soon after removed 
 to much better quarters in the new town-hall building. 
 Mr. Todd's assistant was Charles G. Giles. On ac- 
 count of his removal to New York, Mr. Todd resigned, 
 and January 21, 1857, Joseph W. Mansur was ap- 
 pointed postmaster by President Buchanan. He was 
 re-appointed February 21, 1861, but soon after was 
 removed by President Lincoln. Mr. Giles remained 
 his assistant for a while and was succeeded by Henry 
 Allison. 
 
 In 1860 the postmaster's salary was $1727.26 per 
 year. 
 
 September 4, 1861, Thornton K. Ware, Esq., was 
 
 appointed by President Lincoln. His assistant was 
 
 John W. Kimball. Mr. Ware was re-appointed, but 
 
 was soon afterward removed by President Johnson, 
 
 19 
 
 who appointed Colonel George E. Goodrich to the 
 position October 16, 1866. Colonel Goodrich was re- 
 appointed March 3, 1871, and February 24, 1875. His 
 assistants were Alfred A. Marshall and Charles E. 
 Wallace. 
 
 November 18, 1872, the post-office was removed to 
 its present location in John M. Carpenter's building 
 at the corner of Main and Church Streets. It was 
 formerly the "Trinitarian Church," but was pur- 
 chased by Mr. Carpenter in 1871 and entirely re- 
 modeled for the use of the post-office. 
 
 February 10, 1879, President Hayes appointed 
 General John W. Kimball postmaster and he was re- 
 appointed February 7, 1883. He retained Mr. Wal- 
 lace as his assistant through his eight years of ser- 
 vice. 
 
 In 1882 extensive alterations were made whereby 
 much-needed space was added to the post-office 
 accommodations. During the repairs the office was 
 removed to a store in Spaulding's Block, corner of 
 Main and Grove Streets. 
 
 In November, 1884, the free delivery service was 
 begun with five carriers. Many of the call boxes, 
 which were no longer needed, were removed, thus 
 giving more room for the business of the office. 
 
 October 1, 1885, the special letter delivery service 
 was begun. 
 
 The present postmaster, Frederick A. Currier, was 
 appointed February 22, 1887, after a spirited but 
 good-natured contest by four candidates. Mr. Currier 
 retained Charles E. Wallace as assistant postmaster 
 and nearly all the clerks and letter-carriers. An 
 additional carrier was appointed September 1, 1887, 
 and two more August 1, 1888, making eight carriers 
 employed at the present time. 
 
 There are about fi fty street letter boxes, so distribu ted 
 as to accommodate as large a number of people as pos- 
 sible. 
 
 The business of the Fitchburg Post-office is shown 
 by the following items from the returns of the office 
 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1888, which were 
 kindly furnished the writer by Mr. Currier: $24,914.19 
 received from sale of stamps, postal cards and stamped 
 envelopes; gross receipts from all sources $26,222.5U; 
 15,886 money orders and postal notes issued or paid, 
 amounting to $102,625.29; 6761 registered letters or 
 packages handled; 1,917,045 pieces handled by the 
 carriers; 3716 letters advertised; 938 special delivery 
 letters delivered, and 716 special delivery stamps sold. 
 
 There is also a post-office in West Fitchburg. John 
 F. Shea, the present postmaster, has held the position 
 since November, 1885. 
 
 The Fitchbtjkg Board of Trade. — This is the 
 older of the two mercantile organizations in the city, 
 and was formed in May, 1874. In 1876 the Board of 
 Trade moved into its present rooms in the Post-office 
 building. 
 
 TheMerchaj^ts' A.ssociATiON. — This is the young- 
 er and at this time the more active of our two trade or- 
 
290 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 ganizations, and its membership includes about every 
 uierchunt in town. It was organized March 24, 1886, 
 and Daniel Cross, the senior merchant in business 
 here, was its tirst president. Regular monthly meet- 
 ings are held. John F. Bruce is now its president. 
 
 Telephone Exchange. —The FitchV.urg Exchange 
 of the New England Telephone and Telegraph Co. 
 has been established nearly ten years. The use of the 
 telephone was introduced here by Eliot L. Caldwell, 
 who was manager of the Exchange, 1880-82. The 
 central office is now at 162 Main Street, and F. E. 
 Bowker is manager. This Exchange includes, besides 
 Fitchburg, the towns of Leominster, Ashby, Lunen- 
 burg and Townsend, and there are some three hun- 
 dred subscribers. 
 
 The Fitchburg Mutual Fire Insurance Com- 
 pany. — This company was incorporated March 22, 
 1847, organized June 29th, and began busines's Sep- 
 tember 1st of the same year. Its first president was 
 Hon. Nathaniel Wood, who held the position during 
 the next twenty-six years, and was also its treasurer 
 for twenty-four years. 
 
 For nearly twenty-five years the company's office 
 was in the Torrey & Wood block ; but soon after the 
 completion of the Fitchburg Savings Bank block, 
 the office was removed to the fine suite of rooms at 
 present occupied by the company in that building. 
 Hon. Amasa Norcross is now president, and Edward 
 P. Downe, secretary. 
 
 The Massachusetts Mutual Aid Society. — 
 This is strictly a Fitchburg institution, as far as its 
 officers and management are concerned, though its 
 certificates are now spread over a wide extent. It was 
 among the first mutual benefit societies started in this 
 State, and was incorporated February 17, 1879; and 
 its tirst certificate was issued March 26, 1879. It is a 
 purely mutual association. It has an emergency fund 
 of over $5,000, over 2,500 outstanding certificates in 
 force, representing nearly $5,000,000 of insurance, 
 and has paid about $200,000 on account of death 
 claims. Its membership has grown steadily, and the 
 society has a high standing in insui'ance circles. From 
 the first, it has been managed by prominent business 
 men in this city. Henry A. Willis, its first president, 
 served five years. He was succeeded by Henry F. 
 Coggshall, who served three years. Henry A. 
 Goodrich succeeded him and still holds the office. 
 Festus C. Currier has held the office of secretary 
 since the society was incorporated, and his efficient 
 work has contributed greatly to its prosperity. 
 
 The United States Masonic Accident Asso- 
 ciation. — This association, incorporated September 
 1, 1887, insures only Masons between twenty-one and 
 sixty years of age. Its membership, at the present 
 time, is about five hundred. Hon. Eli Culley is 
 president; General John W. Kimball, vice-presi- 
 dent; Charles S. Perry, secretary, and Joel G. Tyler, 
 treasurer. 
 
 Hall's Commercial Business College. — This 
 
 was recently started in town by Mr. A. O. Hall, who 
 secured rooms in Wixon's block for the purpose. The 
 present regular college year began September 4, 1888 
 with a good attendance. Instruction is given by Mr. 
 Hall and competent assistants in book-keeping, 
 banking, commercial law, short-hand, type-writing, 
 telegraphy, &c., and the college has already made a 
 very prosperous start. 
 
 The foregoing comprise the most important financial 
 and commercial institutions and organizations at 
 present existing in the city, and are all that we 
 have space to mention in this chapter. 
 
 We will now briefly take up the business houses in 
 the most important lines of trade in Fitchburg. It 
 is, of course, not expected that a complete directory 
 of all who are engaged in the different branches of 
 trade will be given in the succeeding pages, but only 
 a brief account of the business houses that have, for 
 a considerable length of time, been identified with 
 the commercial interests of the town and city. 
 
 Gentlemen's Furnishings.— We will begin with 
 this line of trade because one of its representative^, 
 Daniel Cross, is, as has been before stated, the senior 
 merchant in active business in Fitchburg. Mr. Cross 
 was born in Swanzey, N. H., and came to Fitchburg 
 in 1833, when about twenty years of age. He estab- 
 lished his business as a merchant tailor, in a small 
 building where the City Hall now stands. At that 
 time the only merchants in business here were Kim- 
 ball & Farwell, dry goods and groceries, in the 
 lower story of the present Sentinel building; E. F. 
 Bunnell, dry goods, on the corner of what are now 
 Main and Central Streets; and Silas H. Goodnow, 
 who had a jewelry store in the same building with 
 Mr. Bunnell. 
 
 In 1834 Mr. Cross removed to rooms over the store 
 of Kimball & Farwell, where he remained eight years. 
 He then moved into Heywood & Comee's Block, 
 across the street, and was in the store now occupied 
 by John F. Bruce & Co. until about 1876, when he 
 took possession of his present commodious store in 
 the Stiles Block. 
 
 Mr. Cross bears his years remarkably well, and is 
 still as active as ever. He was the first president of 
 the Merchants' Association, and in January, 1888, 
 the Association tendered him a complimentary dinner. 
 
 Henry A. Goodrich, senior member of the firm of 
 H. A. Goodrich & Co., ranks next in this line. A 
 sketch of Mr. Goodrich appears iu another portion of 
 this volume. Mr. W. L. Humes is now the junior 
 partner. 
 
 Three merchants, now in the same line of business 
 in Fitchburg, received their training as salesmen in 
 Mr. Goodrich's store, viz.: E. H. Spencer, A. J. 
 Litchfield and Elijah Stebbins, Jr. ; and not a few of 
 his former salesmen have made names for themselves 
 in other cities, notably E. B. Sears, now in the fur 
 business on Summer Street, Boston ; Robert Brooks, 
 head salesman with Max Stadler & Co., New York ; 
 
FITCHBUKG. 
 
 291 
 
 and J. R. Wood, now furnishing salesman in 
 Chicago, 111. 
 
 The other leading dealers in gentlemen's furnish- 
 ings in town, in the order of their establishment, are 
 E. H. Spencer, Farnsworth Brothers, Albee & 
 Lyons, Edward Connor, Litchfield & Stebbins, U. E. 
 Cleveland, the Globe Clothing Store, H. E. Goodere 
 and H. F. Leonard. 
 
 DRY-GooDS.-James F. Stiles isnow the senior mer- 
 chant in active business in this branch. He was 
 born in Cavendish, Vt., and came to Fitchburg in 
 March, 1841. After spending three years in the em- 
 ploy of Thomas C. Caldwell, the grocer, he went into 
 the dry-goods business for himself For the first two 
 years he occupied the store in the Torrey & Wood 
 block, where R. R. Conn's jewelry-store now is ; he 
 then removed a little farther up street, to what is now 
 Warren Upton's market, and soon afterward moved 
 across the street to the store next to the Sentinel 
 buildiug and under the Calvinistic Congregational 
 Church. Here he remained ten years, when he re- 
 moved to Central block, where he had his store until 
 January 1, 1876, when he moved into his present 
 well-appointed and commodious store in the Stiles 
 block, which he built the year previous. 
 
 Leander Sprague ranks next to Mr. Stiles. For a 
 , few years he was in partnership with Mr. Stiles, under 
 the firm-name of J. F. Stiles & Co. About 1852 the 
 firm of L. Sprague & Co. was formed, consisting of 
 Mr. Sprague and Timothy S.Wilson. The firm occupied 
 a store in the Heywood & Comee block, and their 
 business has been carried on there since. Mr. Wilson 
 retired from the firm some years later, and for the last 
 twenty years and more the firm has consisted of Mr. 
 Sprague and Mr. Francis H. Colburn. In addition 
 to dry-goods, this firm has, from the beginning, dealt 
 largely in carpets, crockery &c. 
 
 Andrew B. Sherman started in the dry-goods busi- 
 ness here in 1855. A sketch of Mr. Sherman is given 
 elsewhere, to which the reader is referred. 
 
 The "'L. J. Brown Store," latterly the leading dry- 
 goods house in Fitchburg, was established by Luther 
 J.Brown. For an account of it under his manage- 
 ment the reader is referred to a sketch of Mr. Brown 
 in another portion of this volume. 
 
 Since October 1, 1884, it has been managed by 
 Frank I. Nichols and William A. Frost, under the 
 firm- name of Nichols & Frost. This firm now owns 
 the whole establishment, and carries on a very large 
 and prosperous business. 
 
 Among the leading dry-goods stores, which have 
 been more recently established in town, may be meu- 
 tioned those of L. U. Hammond, E. G. Stowe, Girard 
 & Irish, E. J. Moore & Co., the Boston Dry-Goods 
 Store (E. E. Staples), Chamberlain, Huntress & Co., 
 the Northern Supply Company, and J. L. Clark, in 
 the city proper, and H. J. Lacey, G. A. Whitney and 
 M. A. Shea & Co., in West Fitchburg. 
 Groceries. — The oldest store in the city at this 
 
 time is ihat occupying the first story of the Sentinel 
 building, and, as far as the writer can learn, it has 
 always been occupied as a grocery store. For some 
 years previous to 1835, Kimball & Farwell had a 
 grocery and dry-goods store there. In April, 1835, 
 David F. Mclntire and Thomas C. Caldwell took the 
 business, and the latter continued there until October, 
 1884, — a half-century, lacking six months. He then 
 sold out to Warren S. Harris, and removed to Dor- 
 chester, where he still resides, though his familiar 
 face is frequently seen in Fitchburg. Mr. Harris 
 kept the store until the spring of 1888, when he dis- 
 posed of it, W. M. Gray, of Gardner, being the pur- 
 chaser. The passer-by now sees on the building a 
 brilliant sign, recently put up, bearing this inscrip- 
 tion : 
 
 T. C. Caldwell Grocery. 
 W. M. Gray, Proprietor. 
 
 Two of the leading grocers in town now, M. N. Ben- 
 jamin and E. M. Read, received their business train- 
 ing at the hands of Mr. Caldwell. 
 
 The grocery business now conducted by S. D. 
 Baldwin, under the Calvinistic Church, has been long 
 in existence, having been established, in 1837, by his 
 father, Joseph Baldwin, one of the old-time grocers, 
 who died a few years ago. 
 
 The store of H. J. Lacey (who deals in groceries as 
 well as dry-goods) in West Fitchburg, known as the 
 " Old Baldwin Store," has also been long established. 
 
 The oldest established groceryman still in active 
 business here is Mr. Henry A. Hatch, who began 
 business in 1844, in the old RoUstone block, occupy- 
 ing that portion which is now George H. Chap- 
 man's shoe-store. In 1870 he built Hatch's block, at 
 the corner of Main and Prichard Streets, where his 
 business has since been carried on. For some years 
 past, Perley Holmes has been in partnership with Mr. 
 Hatch, under the firm-name of H. A. Hatch & Co., 
 but in the spring of 1888 the partnership was dis- 
 solved, though Mr. Holmes still remains in the store. 
 
 There are now thirty-seven grocers in business 
 here. Beside those we have mentioned a few may be 
 noted as having been established for a goodly number 
 of years and having a large family trade, viz.: Josiah 
 Spaulding, J. F. Bruce & Co., A. L. Williams, & Co., 
 C. R. Conn, J. A. Joslin, G. H. & T. Cutler, W. P. 
 Guy, C. A. Cross, (wholesale), Daniel Boyle and T. H. 
 W. Rice & Co. 
 
 Meats and Provisions. — There are at the pres- 
 ent time thirty meat and provision markets in Fitch- 
 burg. William C. Emory is the senior in this line, 
 having been in the business here upwards of thirty 
 years. Lowe Brothers & Co., however, represent the 
 oldest established business. This firm and the branch 
 house of Armour & Co. are wholesale dealers. 
 Among other jjrovision dealers who have been estab- 
 lished in business here for a considerable number of 
 years may be mentioned H. W. Emery, G. H. Ran- 
 
292 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 del, J. F. Jaseph, H. P. Blood, W. W. Lamb and 
 Frank A. Wood. 
 
 Hardware. — The hardware firm of Wright, 
 Kendall & Co. was formed about 1857, and consisted 
 of Isaac C. Wright, L. J. Kendall and J. H. Fair- 
 banks. Mr. Wright is still in the same business and 
 at the head of the large hardware firm of I. C 
 Wright & Co., the other members of the firm being 
 M. B. Damon and R. D. Gould. 
 
 George B. Knowlton was for some time in the 
 hardware store of Waldo Wallace, but for upwards 
 of twenty years has been in business for himself, and 
 for some years past has carried on a large hardware 
 business in one of the fine stores in tbe Fitchburg 
 Savings Bank Block. The other important bouses 
 in this line in town are those of A. B. Lawrence & 
 Co., and Baker Brothers & Co. 
 
 For some thirty-five years or more, Lyman Patch 
 has manufactured tinware and dealt in stoves at bis 
 present store in the old Town & Piper Block. 
 
 Tbe foregoing comprise some of the more important 
 and most numerously represented commercial inter- 
 ests of Fitchburg, and we will close this chapter with 
 a mere mention of a few of the longest established 
 housesinsomeof the lines of business not yet alluded to. 
 
 E. W. Willis & Co. represent tbe oldest furniture 
 house, tbe business having been founded in 1845 by 
 Sidney D. Willis. 
 
 Martin Webber has been in this line since 1876, and 
 the Fitchburg Furniture Company has had a retail 
 store here since 1884. 
 
 J. F. D. Garfield is the senior in tbe coal business, 
 having begun it in April, 1864. Two years later tbe 
 firm of Garfield & Proctor was formed. Recently the 
 Garfield & Proctor Coal Company was incorporated 
 and continues to carry on business at the old stand. 
 Of tbe other eight coal dealers now in town A. R. 
 Ordway and G. E. Waite & Co. have been the longest 
 established. 
 
 Of the four confectionery manufacturers Herbert 
 N. Rugg is the senior, his business having been estab- 
 lished in 1871. 
 
 Among tbe booksellers and stationers Baker Broth- 
 ers represent tbe longest established business — that of 
 Stephen & Charles Shepley, founded in 1845. J. 
 E. Thompson is the leading one among the other 
 seven dealers in stationery, etc. 
 
 J. C. Sanborn keeps a well-stocked and attractive 
 art store and W. A. Dunn deals largely in pictures 
 and picture- frames in addition to stationery. 
 
 Of the twelve druggists in town Colonel H. G. 
 Greene and W. A. Macurda have been the longest 
 established— both having begun business for them- 
 selves in 1868. The " Old City " drug store, of which 
 Colonel Greene is proprietor, and the " J. B. Lane '' 
 drug store, of which W. D. Curtis is now proprietor, 
 are the two oldest in town. H. F. Rockwell, A. H. 
 Burgess and H. A. Estabrook may be mentioned as 
 having been in this line for some years. 
 
 J. C. Moulton is the oldest established photographer 
 in the city, having l)een in business here since 1848. 
 Kimball Brothers have been in this line for some 
 years, and E. E. Howard has been more recently 
 located here. 
 
 Samuel P. Durant takes the lead among the house 
 painters, having been in the business some thirty-five 
 years. 
 
 R. R. Conn, watch-maker and jeweler, is the oldest 
 in his line, having begun business here in 1855. 
 James H. Fairbanks, Oran S. Rice and L. N. Wilbur 
 have been the longest established of the other seven 
 jewelers in town. 
 
 George H. Chapman is the senior in the boot and 
 shoe trade in Fitchburg, and Horace Hayward, who 
 is in his employ, has probably been connected with 
 this line of business longer than any other person in 
 town. 
 
 S. G. Frost is the veteran harness-maker and Peter 
 B. Howard tbe veteran hair-dresser. 
 
 The following are also seniors in their respective 
 lines of business : J. Gushing & Co., flour and grain ; 
 S. A. Childs, real estate; Charles Mason, insurance; 
 George Reed, marble-work ; F. A. Beckwith, lumber; 
 George Robbins, plumbing ; J. E. Grant, mason ; 
 Silas Whitney, jobber. 
 
 Doubtless some individuals and firms have been 
 omitted in tbe foregoing who deserve mention ; but it 
 must be borne in mind that it is impossible, in the space 
 allotted to this department, to speak of all. The writer 
 has endeavored to use his best judgment in selecting 
 and to be impartial, and to give to readers of this work, 
 outside of Fitchburg, a fair representation of the com - 
 mercial interests of the city. 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 FITCHBURG— (Co«//««f(/.) 
 
 HOTELS, PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND BUSINESS BLOCKS. 
 
 There are at present ten hotels in Fitchburg, and 
 two of them — the Fitchburg Hotel and American 
 House — occupy the sites of early taverns. Over a cen- 
 tury ago, Cowdin's tavern stood where the American 
 House now is. The Fitchburg Hotel site has not been 
 so long occupied for this purpose, but there has been 
 a public-house there since early in the present cen- 
 tury. 
 
 The American House was built in 1845 by David 
 Boutelle and the easterly wing was erected in 1856. 
 The property has passed through the bands of several 
 individuals since then. Geo. H. Cole & Son conduct 
 the business at present. 
 
 The Fitchburg Hotel was built about 1850 by the 
 Fitchburg Hotel Company, of which Colonel Ivers 
 Phillips was president. Dana L. Fuller now owns the 
 hotel property and F. W. .ludkins is tbe proprietor. 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 293 
 
 The location of the present National House is a 
 comparatively old tavern site. The base of one of the 
 original granite pillars in front bears the date 1831, in 
 which year the house was erected. In those days it was 
 known as the " upper tavern," while the house where 
 the Fitchburg Hotel now is was called the "lower 
 tavern." For some years the "upper tavern" had 
 the name of Washington Hotel, and Daniel Moulton 
 was proprietor. After a time the name was changed 
 to Rollstone House, and within a few years another 
 change has been made, and it is now the National 
 House. P. J. Kehoe is the present proprietor. 
 
 The remaining hotels are of much more recent 
 origin and are as follows : Citizens' House, Derby 
 House, Driiry House, Emory House, Hotel West- 
 moreland, Manchester House and Old Colony House, 
 
 Of most of the public buildings in the city more or 
 less mention has already been made in preceding por- 
 tions of this sketch. Only a brief summary of them 
 will therefore be given in this chapter. 
 
 The finest and in every sense the most valuable 
 public edifice in the city is the Wallace Library and 
 Art Building, Hon. Rodney Wallace's gift to Fitch- 
 burg. It has been fully described in the section on 
 " Libraries." It is located on Main Street nearly 
 opposite Monument Park — one of the best situations 
 in town — and is easily accessible to citizens in all 
 parts of the city. 
 
 Plainly visible from the front windows of the 
 library is the County Court House, a granite building 
 of noble proportions standing in the rear of Monu- 
 ment Park. It was built in 1871 at a cost of about 
 one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. 
 
 In the vicinity of these two fine buildings is the 
 post-ofiice, on Main Street, a neat brick edifice. The 
 post-office and a small news-room occupy the lower 
 floor, and in the upper portion of the building are 
 the rooms of the Board of Trade and the Park Club, 
 and also several offices. 
 
 A little farther up Main Street is the City Hall 
 building, standing on the south side of the street. It 
 is a large brick structure erected in 1852, the entire 
 upper story of which is devoted to a hall — the largest 
 in the city — while on the first floor are the various 
 city offices. A police station occupies part of the 
 basement. 
 
 On the north side of Main Street, near Prichard 
 Street, is Whitney's Opera House building, which con- 
 tains the only theatre in town. Andrew Whitney 
 built and owns this block. The lower story is devoted 
 to stores and the theatre occupies the upper portion. 
 The auditorium has a seating capacity of about one 
 thousand. This theatre was first opened to the public 
 October 20, 1881, and has enjoyed a good patronage 
 since. 
 
 Among other public buildings mention may be 
 made of the fine Union Passenger Station, the High 
 School building, on High Street, the County Jail, a 
 handsome and substantial brick structure, in South 
 
 Fitchburg, and the Almshouse, also in South Fitch- 
 burg, a pleasantly located and well-conducted public 
 charitable institution maintained there since 1828. 
 
 Most of the business blocks have been spoken of in 
 the early part of this sketch. By far the handsomest 
 and most costly building in town is the Fitchburg 
 Savings Bank block, which was built in 1870-71 by 
 the Fitchburg Savings Bank. It is situated on Main 
 Street, nearly opposite the City Hall building, and 
 has a frontage on the street of one hundred and eight 
 feet. The front is built of Fitzwilliam granite and is 
 four stories high. The ground floor is divided into 
 four stores, as commodious and well-appointed as any 
 in Worcester County. On the second floor, which is 
 reached by a wide entrance and stairway in the centre 
 of the block, are the banking rooms of the Fitchburg 
 National and Fitchburg Savings Banks, the office of 
 the Fitchburg Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and 
 several law-offices. The two upper stories are occu- 
 pied by the Masonic organizations in town. Their 
 lodge-room and apartments are among the finest in 
 the State. 
 
 The cost of this magnificent block was nearly two 
 hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 The Rollstone National Bank building is a fine 
 brick and freestone structure, four stories high, on 
 Main Street, near the railroad station. On the ground 
 floor are the banking-rooms of the Rollstone National 
 Bank, and the Worcester North Savings Institution, 
 and the large dry-goods store of A. B. Sherman. In 
 the upper portion, the Odd Fellows and Grand Army 
 Post have commodious lodge-rooms and apartments. 
 
 This block was built in 1869 at a cost of sixty thou- 
 sand dollars. 
 
 There are many other business blocks in town, 
 among which may be mentioned Central, Goodrich, 
 L. J. Brown, Belding's, Crocker, Hatch's, Wachusett 
 Bank, Opera House, Stiles', Torrey & Wood, Wixon's, 
 Union, Cushing's, Coggshall & Carpenter's and Dick- 
 inson's blocks. 
 
 The ground floor of the Fitchburg Hotel and of the 
 American House wing is in each case used for mer- 
 cantile purposes. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI. 
 
 VrrCKBVRG—iCouiiiiued. ) 
 
 CITY DEPARTMENTS. 
 
 In this chapter will be given a short account of 
 the various departments maintained by the city for 
 the benefit and protection of the citizens. 
 
 Fitchburg Water- Works. — The Water Depart- 
 ment dates back to the year 1870, when the first 
 Board of Water Commissioners was appointed. 
 Previous to this time the people had obtained water 
 from wells or springs, and the only public action of 
 
294 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 the town had been to establish the town pump, 
 sundry reservoirs for use at fires and to authorize the 
 establishment of two public watering troughs, which, 
 however, were not erected for some years. 
 
 During the six years preceding 1870, the subject 
 of furnishing the town with an abundant supply of 
 pure water was pretty thoroughly discussed. April 
 11, 1864, the town appointed Alvah Crocker, Lucius 
 Aldrich, Alpheus P. Kimball, Charles Burleigh and 
 James B. Lane a committee to ascertain " the best 
 method of furnishing its more elevated streets with a 
 proper supply ot water in case of fires, and hydrants 
 to conduct and distribute the same." 
 
 Nothing was heard from this committee until the 
 annual town-meeting, April 9, 1866, when a report 
 was made to the effect that they had secured an act 
 of incorporation, and purchased land covering the 
 necessary sites for dams, etc. This land comprised 
 about one hundred and seventy-five acres in the 
 vicinity of Scott, Shattuck and Falulah Brooks, and 
 the price paid for it by the committee was $6612.70. 
 The report also presented a plan providing for two 
 reservoir-", having a storage capacity of about three 
 hundred million gallons and estimates in regard 
 to the cost of laying the necessary mains. 
 
 This report was accepted and ordered to be printed 
 together with the act of incorporation. By this act 
 the five members of the committee were made a 
 corporation under the name of the Pearl Hill Water 
 Company, to furnish the inhabitants of Fitchburg 
 with pure water. No further action was taken by 
 the town in regard to the report or the act of incor- 
 poration. 
 
 At this same meeting, April 9, 1866, a committee 
 of twenty-five was raised to take the whole matter 
 into consideration and report at an adjourned meet- 
 ing. May 7, 1866, this committee reported, recom- 
 mending that a committee of five be appointed, and 
 authorized to employ an engineer to make a survey, 
 and present to the town plans and estimates. The 
 report was accepted, and Eugene T. Miles, Dr. 
 Alfred Hitchcock, Louis D. Bartlett, Abel F. Adams 
 and Eodney Wallace were appointed as the com- 
 mittee. 
 
 August 25, 1 866, this committee made an elaborate 
 report, in which provision was made for two reser- 
 voirs on Falulah Brook, and estimates of the cost of 
 the necessary mains and two reservoirs were given, 
 varying from .$116,000 to $153,000, according to the 
 height of the dams. This report was accepted, and 
 the subject indefinitely postponed. 
 
 April 8, 1867, it was voted to print this report, at 
 an expense not exceeding $100, and circulate it 
 among the citizens. 
 
 May 6, 1867, the selectmen and fire engineers were 
 authorized to purchase Durant Pond for fire purposes, 
 but no action was ever taken in regard to it. 
 
 The selectmen in 1868 tried in vain to secure water 
 supply for public watering troughs; but in 1869 the 
 
 town purchased wafer rights of Daniel Messinger, 
 and voted, August 30th, that the selectmen be au- 
 thorized to purchase land for storage purposes. The 
 land was bought and pipe provided, but not until it 
 was too late in the season to begin work, and nothing 
 further appears to have been done about it. 
 
 November 2, 1869, the subject of a general water 
 supply was again brought before the town, and a 
 committee, consisting of Hon. Alvah Crocker, Hon. 
 Ebenezer Torrey and Moses G. Lyon, Esq., was ap- 
 pointed to obtain from the Legislature a charter for 
 supplying the town with pure water. 
 
 March 19, 1870, an act was approved, by virtue of 
 which the three above-named gentlemen were made 
 a corporation, under the name of the Fitchburg 
 Water Company, to provide the town with a water 
 supply, and specifying that the town might at any 
 time, within one year from the passage of the act, 
 a.ssume all the rights and privileges of the corpora- 
 tors, by a majority vote in town-meeting. 
 
 April 25, 1870, the town refused to accept this 
 charter by a vote of 236 to 226. A week later a 
 motion to reconsider this vote was lost, 334 to 309. 
 The vote was very close, which encouraged the 
 friends of the measure and forced its opponents to 
 take active means to defeat it. 
 
 June 18, 1870, Messrs. Salmon W. Putnam, Walter 
 Heywood, Joseph Cushing, Lyman Patch and 
 Dr. Thomas Palmer were appointed a committee to ex- 
 amine " Meeting-House Pond," in Westminster, and 
 authorized to make a survey if it seemed to 
 them feasible to secure water rights there. On the 
 16th of the following July this committee reported 
 that water rights could not be obtained there upon 
 any terms that would justify making a survey. 
 
 August 6, 1870, the question again came before the 
 town. A preliminary resolution " that this Town is 
 in favor of the introduction of water from some source," 
 was introduced and carried by a vote of one hundred 
 and ninety-six to six. A ballot was then taken on the 
 question whether the town would assume the provisions 
 of the charter, which was carried in the affirmative by 
 a vote of four hundred and nineteen to one hundred 
 and twenty-six. ' 
 
 In accordance with the provisions of the act, the 
 selectmen appointed the first Board of Water Commis- 
 sions, consisting of Jabez Fisher, Joseph Cushing, 
 Alpheus P. Kimball, Thomas Palmer and Lucius Aid- 
 rich, and this board was duly organized August 17, 
 1870. 
 
 April 5, 1871, a contract was signed with George H. 
 Norman, of Newport, R. I., for the construction of the 
 water-works. As soon thereafter as the weather would 
 permit work was begun, and at the end of the season 
 Overlook and Marshall reservoirs were completed, 
 about nine and a half miles of cement-lined water- 
 mains laid, and seventy-one gates and ninety-four hy- 
 drants set. Hydrant water was first used at a fire on 
 Summer Street, January 5, 1872. 
 
FITCHBUKG. 
 
 295 
 
 In the early part of 1872 a second contract was made 
 with Mr. Norman for water-main extension. This 
 contract was completed before winter, and on Decem- 
 ber 1, 1872, there were a little over fourteen miles of 
 water-mains laid, and one hundred and thirty hydrants 
 
 Sv,t. 
 
 Mr. Norman's work was well done, and the Water 
 Commissioners were entirely satisfied with the manner 
 in which both his contracts had been carried out. 
 
 The total cost of the Water- Works up to the time 
 when Fitchburg assumed the city form of government 
 is shown by the following summary : 
 
 Amount of George H. Norman's contract, 1871 8180,608 76 
 
 Amount of George H. Norman's contract, 1872 3,% 741 68 
 
 Discount on bonds 9,605 82 
 
 Maintenance, land, service-pipe, etc 61,566 12 
 
 Total cost to January 6, 1873 8287,422 38 
 
 A sufficient account has already been given, in the 
 section on the history of the city, of the extension of 
 the water supply during the p;ist fifteen years. Statis- 
 tics of this department, November 30, 1887, show the 
 following: Fourteen miles of cement mains, twenty- 
 one miles of iron-mains, twenty-seven miles of service- 
 pipe, two hundred and fifty-six hydrants, five hundred 
 and forty-five meters, two thousand nine hundred and 
 seventy-eight families, stores, manufactories, etc., sup- 
 plied with water, and a total cost of the works to date 
 of $621,701.32. 
 
 Two more reservoirs have been constructed since 
 1873 — Scott and Falulah — making four in all, with a 
 total capacity of over 300,000,000 gallons. The height 
 of these several reservoirs above the tracks of the 
 Fitchburg Railroad at Water Street is : Scott, 450 
 feet; Overlook, 405 feet; Falulah, 236 feet; and 
 Marshall, 216 feet. 
 
 The Board of Water Commissioners, as at present 
 constituted, consists of three members. The term of 
 service is three years, and one member is elected in 
 January of each year by the City Council in joint 
 convention. The members of the board for 1888 are 
 Charles H. Brown, Thomas C. Lovell and Samuel D. 
 Sheldon. 
 
 Thomas C. Lovell, the present superintendent of 
 the water-works, has held the position since 1875, and 
 has also been city engineer since 1880. Arthur W. 
 F. Brown has held the position of water registrar 
 since January, 1885. Both these officers are elected by 
 the Board of Water Commissioners. 
 
 Fitchburg Fire Department. — Most of the 
 facts in the following account of the Fire Department 
 are taken from a very instructive pamphlet entitled, 
 " The Fire Service of Fitchburg,'' which was pub- 
 lished early in 1888 by the Fitchburg Firemen's Fund 
 Association. 
 
 The first fire-engine, as was stated in a previous 
 chapter on the early history of the town, was pur- 
 chased by vote of the town In 1823, and was located 
 on what is now Day Street. A few years later a 
 
 second engine was purphased — probably the old 
 " Fitchburg " — and was located in a house on what is 
 now Academy Street. These two " tubs " appear to 
 have answered the purpose of the town for several 
 years. 
 
 About 1835 a new engine was purchased, and the 
 " Fitchburg" given to the youth of the town, who 
 formed a company and, by the aid of subscriptions 
 from the citizens, ran it for some years. This was in 
 the boyhood days of some of our present citizein who 
 belonged to this company, and can relate pleasing 
 reminiscences of the by-gone days when they attended 
 " firemen's musters," or carried the " whiskey-pan," 
 which was as much an essential to the proper working 
 of the " Department '' as were the buckets with which 
 the old hand-machine was fed with water. 
 
 About 1845 two more engines were bought, which 
 were built exactly alike and were the pride of their 
 respective companies. One of them was called " Con- 
 queror, No. 1,'' and was located on West Street, and 
 the other, " Washingtonian, No. 2," replaced the old 
 machine on Day Street. 
 
 In the spring of 1851 what was then considered a 
 very extravagant purchase was made. A new and 
 large engine was bought, costing $1500, of which 
 amount the town paid $1000, and $500 was subscribed 
 by the citizens. This was named " Mazeppa, No. 3," 
 and a new engine-house was built for its accommoda- 
 tion in Factory Square. One of the old machines had 
 been placed in West Fitchburg and another in 
 Crockerville, so that at the time the act establishing 
 a Fire Department in the town of Fitchburg was ap- 
 proved, in April, 1851, the fire apparatus of the town 
 consisted of five hand-engines, named as follows: 
 Conqueror, No. 1 ; Washingtonian, No. 2 ; Mazeppa, 
 No. 3 ; Alert, No. 4, West Fitchburg ; Veteran, No. 
 5, Crockerville. 
 
 In accordance with the provisions of the Act re- 
 lating to Fire Departments, the selectmen of Fitch- 
 burg, on April 12, 1851, appointed the first Board of 
 Engineers of the Fitchburg Fire Department. It 
 consisted of twelve members, as follows : Kilburn 
 Harwood, Ebenezer Torrey, Jonas A. Marshall, John 
 H. Wheeler, Chedorlaomer Marshall, John Caldwell, 
 .John Clark, Alpheus Kimball, Ivers Phillips, Levi 
 Sherwin, Salmon W. Wilder and Alvah Crocker. One 
 week later this board was duly organized by the choice 
 of the following officers : Kilburn Harwood, chief en- 
 gineer; Ivers Phillips, first assistant engineer; Jonas 
 A. Marshall, second assistant engineer ; John Cald- 
 well, third assistant engineer; Ebenezer Torrey, clerk 
 of the board. 
 
 No special changes occurred in the apparatus for 
 some years, except that the name of engine No. 2 was 
 changed from Washingtonian to Fire King. In 1868 
 Alert, No. 4, was put out of service and a new engine, 
 Undine, No. 4, was purchased at a cost of ten hun- 
 dred and twelve dollars. In the same year a small 
 hose-carriage, made by Charles Fessenden, was pur- 
 
296 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 chased at a cost of two hundred and forty-three dol- 
 lars. About this time also the first hook-and-ladder 
 truck was bought. 
 
 lu 1859 the first horses were bought for the use of 
 the department. 
 
 In 1865 the first steam fire-engine, Wachusett, No. 
 1, was purchased at a cost of about four thousand 
 dollars, and a year or two later a second steamer, 
 Eollstone, No. 2, costing nearly five thousand dollars, 
 was bought; and in 1809 steamer Wanoosnac, No. 3, 
 costing four thousand dollars, was bought and placed 
 in its new brick house in West Fitchburg. The hand- 
 engines were gradually replaced by hose-carriages 
 built by the Union Machine Company of this city. 
 
 In 1870 the Gamewell fire-alarm was introduced at 
 an expense of eight thousand dollars. It was a two- 
 circuit repeater, and strikers were placed on three 
 bells in town, — the Unitarian, Baptist and Rollstone 
 Church bells. In 1888 a new system was ordered, 
 which was put up during the summer of 1888. It is 
 a six-circuit repeater of the Gamewell pattern. 
 
 Firemen's musters have frequently been held in 
 Fitchburg, and on October 10 and 11, 1871, one of 
 the largest musters ever held in New England oc- 
 curred here. 
 
 The apparatus in service at the present time consists 
 of two steam fire-engines, one two-horse hose-reel, one 
 two-horse hose-wagon, two one-horse hose-reels, two 
 two-wheeled hose-tenders, two two-horse hook-and- 
 ladder trucks, one exercise sleigh, and one large sled 
 for Hook-and-Ladder No. 1, in active service ; and one 
 second-class steamer, one two-horse hose-reel and 
 two two-wheeled hose-tenders in reserve. 
 
 The department has in service 7,960 feet of rubber- 
 lined cotton hose, 1,550 feet of linen hose, and 150 
 feet of old leather hose. 
 
 The value of this department is, and has been, fully 
 appreciated by our citizens, and ample provision is 
 willingly made for all its needs. At the present time, 
 the numerous hydrants in all parts of the city, the 
 forty fire-alarm boxes, and the promptness and 
 efficiency of the engineers and firemen, render it 
 difficult for afire to get much headway in Fitchburg. 
 In the following table are given statistics in regard 
 to the fires with which the department has had to 
 contend during the last quarter century where the 
 damage was $10,000 or over : 
 
 Date. Property. Lobb. 
 
 Jan. 2, 1805 Paper-mill of Crocker, BurbaDk & Co 820,000 
 
 Oct. 8, 18C5 Vt. & Mass. K. R. repair-shop 13,000 
 
 Juue 23, 18G9 Lorenzo barker's lumber-yard 13,000 
 
 f llcywood Chair Co.'b chair-shop 90,000 
 
 July 21, 1870, J Alvah Crocker's buildings 19,000 
 
 [ Smith, Pago & Co., iron-foundry 12.000 
 
 March 7, 1871 Paper-mill of Crocker, Burbank & Co 18,000 
 
 March 6, 1872 American Rattan Co-'s stock house 14.000 
 
 Feb. 3, 1873 L. B. Farnsworth's clothing store 16,000 
 
 Sept. 15, 1873 Buckeye Mowing-Machine Co.'sshop 15,000 
 
 July 9, 1870 County Jail at South Fitchburg 40,000 
 
 Oct. 15,1884 Crocker, Burbank & Co.'s "Snow Mill," 35,000 
 
 Oct. 17, 1886 L. H. Gooduow ^Rollstone Iron Foundry) 15,560 
 
 Oct. 20, 1885 1. A. Lowe & Co.'s pork-packing establ'nit... 24,657 
 
 Jan. 29, 1886 " Buckeye Shops " 11,700 
 
 April 6, 1888 Walter Heywood Chair Mfg. Co. (1 blJg.)... 26,000 
 
 The Board of Engineers consists, at the present 
 time, of a chief, four assistants and the superintendent 
 of the fire alarm, who are chosen annually by the City 
 Council in convention in November. The members of 
 the Board for 1888 are, David W. Tinsley, chief; Geo. 
 H. Kendall, first assistant; Boardman Parkhurst, sec- 
 ond assistant ; James N. Whiting, third assistant ; Geo. 
 E. Wellington, fourth assistant; and John W. Rand, 
 superintendent of the fire-alarm telegraph. There are 
 upwards of sixty firemen attached to the several com- 
 panies. 
 
 December 12, 1879, the Fitchburg Firemen's Fund 
 Association was incorporated for the purpose of mutual 
 aid and relief in cases of accident or injuries received 
 by its members while discharging their duties as fire- 
 men. Every member of the department belongs to it, 
 and the funds in the treasury now amount to about 
 $1500. Frank C. Foster, foreman of Hose 1, is now 
 its president. 
 
 The following is a list of those who have served as 
 chief engineers since the department was organized : 
 Kilburn Harwood, 1851; John H. Wheeler, 1852-54; 
 James B. Lane, 1855; Alpheus P. Kimball, 1856-59; 
 Lucius Aldrich, 1860-64; Francis Sheldon, 1865-66; 
 Eugene T. Miles, 1867 ; Lucius Aldrich, 1868-73; Geo. 
 H. Manchester, 1874-76; A. J. Green, 1876-77; Geo. 
 Reed, 1877-84 ; David W. Tinsley, 1884 to the present 
 time. 
 
 Police Department. — About 1839 there was or- 
 ganized in Fitchburg a "Society for the Detection of 
 Thieves." Ebenezer Torrey was then president, Sam- 
 uel Willis, treasurer, and Asa Partridge, secretary, of 
 this society. There was a standing committee of twelve 
 members and a " pursuing committee," also number- 
 ing, twelve. This society lasted some time, and did 
 good work in breaking up several bands of thieves. 
 
 Up to the year 1869 all police work in Fitchburg 
 was done by a few constables and private enterprise ; 
 but on September 23, 1869, a Police Department was 
 regularly organized, consisting of a chief and five po- 
 lice officers. Charles E. F. Hayward was the first 
 chief of police. 
 
 During the first six months of the existence of this 
 department one hundred and thirty-one arrests were 
 made, and during the next year (ending March 31, 
 1871) three hundred and ninety -one arrests were made, 
 showing conclusively the need of a police force. 
 
 Under the city form of government the chief of 
 police and members of the department are appointed 
 annually in January by the mayor and aldermen. 
 For 1888 the 2)olice force consists of Sumner P. Law- 
 rence, chief; Asahel Wheeler, captain ; and fourteen 
 patrolmen. This is by no means a large force con- 
 sidering the population of the city ; but it is in an 
 excellent state of discipline and has always proved 
 amply sufficient to maintain public order. 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 297 
 
 Fitchburg has always been singularly free from 
 crimes of a serious nature, and the number of arrests 
 made annually is not much larger now than it was 
 fifteen years ago, though, in the meantime, the city 
 has nearly doubled in population. 
 
 During the past few years the temperance senti- 
 ment has predominated among our citizens, and the 
 police officers have done good work in suppressing the 
 sale of intoxicating liquor. 
 
 The following is a list of those who have served in 
 the office of chief of police since the organization of 
 the department: Charles E. F. Hayward, 18G9-71 ; 
 M. Edwin Day, 1872; Russell O. Houghton, 1873-74; 
 Alpheus P. Kimball, 1875; Aaron F. Whitney, 1876- 
 81 and 1883-85; William Gilchrist, 1882; Charles H. 
 D. Stockbridge, 1886-87; Sumner P. Lawrence, from 
 January, 1888, to the present time. 
 
 Highway Department. — Enough has been said 
 in the chapters on the history of the town to show- 
 that from the very first the people of Fitchburg have 
 had more than ordinary difficulties to contend with in 
 keeping their streets, bridges, etc., in a tolerable state 
 of repair. The selectmen had charge of all these 
 ' aflairs up to January, 1873 ; and since then five sub- 
 committees, appointed annually from among the 
 members of the Board of Aldermen and Common 
 Council, have had the general charge of the various 
 portions of the work of the Highway Department. 
 A superintendent of streets is elected annually by the 
 City Council, who has the immediate control and 
 direction of all thje work done in the Highway Depart- 
 ment. 
 
 The following is a list of those who have held the 
 position of superintendent of streets since Fitchburg 
 became a city: George W. Holman, 1873-74; Joel 
 Davis, 1875-77; F. W. Aldrich, 1878-82; Abram G. 
 Lawrence, 1883-86 ; Thomas Larkin, Jr., from Janu- 
 ary, 1887, to the present time. 
 
 Poor Department. — The selectmen acted as 
 overseers of the poor up to within a few years of 
 our incorporation as a city. During the last few 
 years of town government a Board of Overseers, con- 
 sisting of three members, was chosen at the annual 
 town-meeting. Under the city form of government, 
 the Board consists of the mayor and j'resident of 
 Common Council, ex officio, and three members 
 chosen in January by the City Council, in the same 
 way as the water commissioners are chosen. 
 
 The Board for 1888 is as follows: Hon. Eli Culley, 
 mayor ; Henry F. Rockwell, president of the Com- 
 mon Council ; Samuel S. Holton, Isaac C. Wright 
 and Aaron F. Whitney. 
 
 The city farm is very pleasantly located in South 
 Fitchburg, and has, for several years, been under the 
 efficient supervision of Mr. Norman B. Stone, super- 
 intendent, and Mrs. E. T. Stone, matron. The value 
 of the city farm and personal property thereat is 
 now over thirty-three thousand dollars, and there are 
 between fifty and sixty inmates. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 FITCHBURG— (Co«//;/«crf.) 
 
 ORGANIZATIONS AND SOCIETIES. 
 
 In this section will be given short accounts of the 
 most important of the many organizations and socie- 
 ties of various kinds at present existing in the city. 
 
 The organization in which the people of Fitchburg 
 take the most pride is 
 
 The Fitchburg Military Band. — The origin of 
 this band dates back to January 4, 1868, when eight 
 gentlemen met in an unfinished room in the then 
 new Belding & Dickinson's block, and organized 
 "The Musical Club." Through the eftbrts of these 
 gentleman was organized, on March 26, 1868, the 
 Fitchburg Cornet Band, with thirty-three members, 
 and Mr. George Rich, leader and director. 
 
 The first public appearance of this band was on 
 May 27, 1868, with the Fitchburg Fusiliers. During 
 the balance of that year thirty-one engagements 
 were filled. The band prospered and improved until 
 Mr. Rich left his position, January 16, 1871. 
 
 March 11, 1871, Ira W. Wales, of Abington, was 
 elected leader of the band, but held the position only 
 about a month, and on April 19th, owing to some 
 trouble or other, it was voted to discharge the leader 
 and disband the organization ; but on the 3d of the 
 following May nine of the members met and re- 
 organized the band, and chose Mr. Rich leader. For 
 some reason matters did not go on satisfactorily, and 
 in the latter part of 1871 the band went to pieces 
 and came near utter extinction. Five plucky mem- 
 bers were resolved to have a band in Fitchburg if it 
 were a possibility, and through their efforts Mr. 
 Warren S. Russell, a gentleman of well-kuown musi- 
 cal ability, was secured as leader. The band was 
 again re-organized January 11, 1872, and under the 
 faithful and skilful management of Mr. Russell, at- 
 tained almost the highest rank among the musical 
 organizations in New England. In the course of a 
 few years the name of the band was changed to the 
 " Fitchburg Military Band." 
 
 For thirteen years this band filled engagements for 
 the summer at Lake Pleasant, near Greenfield, Mass., 
 and was one of the chief attractions of the place. 
 During the two past seasons it has been engaged to 
 furnish music for the Carnival Club at Cottage City, 
 Martha's Vineyard, for the entire summer, and has 
 won the highest praise of the many musical critics 
 there assembled. 
 
 In March, 1884, the city, and especially the Fitch- 
 burg Military Band, suffered a very great loss in the 
 death of Mr. Russell, who was then in the prime of 
 life. His funeral occurred March 18, 1884, and was 
 very largely attended. Business was generally sus- 
 pended in town during the afternoon of that day, and 
 
298 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTr, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 all united to pay honor to the dead musician. Mr. D. 
 W. Reeves, always a warm friend of Mr. Russell, was 
 present at the funeral, with his well-kuown American 
 Band of Providence, R. I., whose members volunta- 
 rily tendered their services for the sad occasion gratu- 
 itously, and there were many beautiful floral tributes 
 from musical organizations throughout New England. 
 
 After Mr. Russell's death the business management 
 of the band was put into the hands of a committee of 
 five, chosen annually by the active members, from 
 both active and honorary members. In June, 1884, 
 this committee, very fortunately, secured as leader 
 and director Mr. G. A. Patz, formerly leader of the 
 celebrated Gilmore's Band, of Boston, and under his 
 leadership our band has maintained its former high 
 standing, and become widely known and appreciated- 
 The band has a very large and complete library, con- 
 taining the works of all the noted composers. 
 
 In the spring of 1888 some changes were made in 
 the band, and at the present time all the active mem- 
 bers of the organization are residents of Fitchburg. 
 Mr. J. L. Miller was chosen agent and treasurer, and 
 the general management of the business of the band 
 was placed in the hands of a committee of three. At 
 the present time the band consists of G. A. Patz, 
 leader, and twenty-three active members, each one of 
 whom is a musician skilled in the use of his own 
 special instrument. Connected with the band is an 
 orchestra of high standing, and named, out of respect 
 to the former director, the Russell Orchestra. 
 
 December 27, 1887, the band suffered a serious loss 
 in the death of Charles A. Dadniun, who played the 
 tuba and was the efficient agent and treasurer of the 
 organization. 
 
 The Fitchburg Military Band is now one of the 
 permanent institutions of the city, and is held in the 
 highest esteem by our citizens, who, by their gener- 
 osity, have enabled the organization to maintain its 
 high reputation; and the fine open-air concerts wliich 
 the band gives from the band-stands on tlie Upper and 
 Lower Commons during the early summer and autumn 
 evenings, as often as engagements permit, amply re- 
 pay the citizens for all they have done to assist the band. 
 
 Edwin V. Sumner Post 19, Geand Army of 
 THE Republic. — This was organized as an encamp- 
 ment August 16, 1807. It was later called a post, and 
 the name Edwin V. Sumner was adopted September 
 8, 1868. 
 
 Charles H. Foss was elected the first commander ; 
 since then thirteen members have held the position, 
 the present commander being Charles H. Glazier. 
 
 The post has been active in all good works, and by 
 means of the fund that has accumulated during the 
 last twenty years has accomplished much for the re- 
 lief and benefit of its members, the amount expended 
 for relief and sick benefits, from its organization to 
 the present time, being about ten thousand dollars. 
 In order to maintain and increase its fund for this 
 charitable work the post has held fairs, had lecture 
 
 courses, etc., which have always been well patronized 
 l)y our citizens. 
 
 At the time of the establishment of the Soldiers' 
 Home in Chelsea, a few years ago, it gave more than 
 any other post, in proportion to its numbers and 
 means,— $1,083.18. 
 
 In 1883 the post moved into its present elegant and 
 commodious rooms in the Rollstone National Bank 
 building. At some future time the members hope to 
 have a building of their own ; and witli this idea in 
 view, the Edwin V. Sumner Building Association was 
 incorporated a few years since for the purpose of 
 holding real estate, and now owns a " cottage" in the 
 city. 
 
 Upon the roster of Post 19 are about five hundred 
 and thirty names, and the present membership is 
 about two hundred and fifty. 
 
 This post has always been rated high at department 
 headquarters, and has had its share of State and 
 National honors. Two department commanders of 
 Massachusetts have been taken from its ranks, — John 
 W. Kimball and Charles D. Nash — and a commander 
 of the Department of Ohio, Daniel C. Putnam, a 
 native of Fitchburg. 
 
 In the latter part of 1877 the post appointed a com- 
 mittee to consider the matter of inviting the ladies to 
 form a Relief Corps, and as a result the Edwin V. 
 Sumner Relief Corps, No. 1, was organized in January, 
 1878, and has since then effectually aided the post on 
 many occasions. 
 
 In July, 1883, Clark S. Simonds Camp, No. 28, Sons 
 of Veterans, was organized, and one of its past cap- 
 tains, Colonel Nathan C. Upham, of this city, has 
 already attained prominence in the State and National 
 organizations. 
 
 There was, for a short time, in Fitchburg an organi- 
 zation which may fairly be regarded as the origin of 
 the present widespread and powerful Grand Army of 
 the Republic. Its name was 
 
 Taylor Union, No. 1, Army and Navy Veter- 
 ans. — One evening in the latter part of May. 1865, five 
 army veterans — Richard Tucker, Robert Elliott, W. A. 
 Hardy, S. W. Harris and W. S. Hersey — met casually 
 on Main Street, and in the course of conversation the 
 subject of forming an association for taking care of 
 sick or disabled comrades was broached. The result 
 was that a few nights later a meeting was held in 
 Washington Hall, and the " Army and Navy Veterans' 
 Union '' was organized. At a subsequent meeting it 
 was voted to change the name to "Taylor Union, No. 
 1, Army and Navy Veterans," in remembrance of 
 George C. Taylor, Company B, Fifteenth Regiment, 
 who fell at Ball's Blulf, and was the first Fitchburg 
 volunteer killed in battle. 
 
 This organization was chartered January 2, 1866, 
 with twenty-one charter members. 
 
 During 1865-66 some eighteen unions were organized 
 in towns in this vicinity — Leominster, Gardner, Tem- 
 pleton, etc. 
 
FITCHBUKG. 
 
 299 
 
 A purchasing agent from Illinois was in Fitchburg 
 during the latter part of 1865, and became much inter- 
 ested in Taylor Union. He carried a copy of its by- 
 laws home with him, and soon after sent for five more 
 copies ; and in February, 186(3, Dr. Stephenson, of 
 Illinois, suggested the formation of the Grand Army 
 of the Republic. Whether or not the idea was ob- 
 tained from the copies of the by-laws sent there is not 
 known, but it is, to say the least, a remarkable coinci- 
 dence. 
 
 Taylor Union naturally gave way to this new and 
 stronger association and became merged in the pres- 
 ent Edwin V. Summer Post 19. 
 
 A "Dorcas Union" was also instituted in 1866, 
 and was probably the origin of the present Relief 
 Corps. - 
 
 The Worcester North Agricultural Society 
 was organized in 1852 and includes the city of Fitch- 
 burg and the towns of Leominster, Sterling, West 
 Boylston, Princeton, Lunenburg, Ashburnham, West- 
 minster, Gardner, Templeton and Royalstou, in Wor- 
 cester County, and the town of Ashby, in Middlesex 
 County, though persons in any part of the State may 
 become members. 
 
 This society formerly owned fair grounds on Sum- 
 mer Street comprising some ihirty acres of land, and 
 provided with a half-mile track, suitable exhibition 
 buildings, sheds, etc. The annual fair is still held on 
 these grounds the last Tuesday and Wednesday in 
 September, though for the past year or tsvo the prop- 
 erty has been owned by 
 
 The Fitchburg Park Company, which was organ- 
 ized May 18, 1887, with a capital of eleven thousand 
 dollars, for the purpose of purchasing these grounds 
 and improving them for use as a park. 
 
 The Fitchburg Agassiz Association. — This is 
 Chapter 48 of the National Association, and was 
 formed in January, 1886, by the union of four chap- 
 ters of the Agassiz Association and the Young Ameri- 
 can Industrial Society. It is doing a good work 
 among the young people in the city, by training them 
 to become careful observers of natural phenomena^ 
 Many valuable papers, on various scientific subjects, 
 have been prepared by the members, and some have 
 been published. In April, 1888, this Association be- 
 gan the publication of a monthly journal, Tlie Scien- 
 tist. 
 
 The Young Men's Christian Association was 
 organized in October, 1886, and, December 27, 1886, 
 took possession of their present convenient and pleas, 
 ant rooms in Twitchell's block. The membership is 
 upwards of three hundred, and the association is do- 
 ing much good among the young men of the city. A 
 monthly organ is published, The Beacon Light. Some 
 twenty years ago there was a Young Men's Christian 
 Association, which flourished for a time, but disband- 
 ed after a few years' existence. 
 
 The Fitchburg Benevolent Union was organ- 
 ized March 6, 1876, and incorporated February 10, 
 
 1886, and includes in its membership many of the 
 benevolent and philanthropic citizens of Fitchburg. 
 It is entirely unsectarian, and its object is to distrib- 
 ute charity wisely and to help the poor to help them- 
 selves. 
 
 The Fitchburg Home for Old Ladies sprang 
 from the " Ladies' Union Aid Society," and was 
 made a corporation in 1883. A house on the corner 
 of Summer and Beacon Streets was purchased and 
 furnished for a home and was opened for use in June, 
 1886. The bequest of Mrs. Elizabeth Boutelle Rob- 
 inson, a life-member of the corporation, who died in 
 August, 1885, rendered it possible to purchase this 
 house. The president of the corporation, Dr. A. W. 
 Sidney, has also done much to establish the home. 
 
 The Union Aid Hospital of Fitchburg was 
 incorporated March 26, 1885. The need of a hospital 
 in this city has been evident for some years, and the 
 object of this corporation was to arouse public senti- 
 ment and accumulate enough money to start a hospi- 
 tal on a small scale. The late Gardner S. Burbank 
 appreciated this need and left an ample sum, which, 
 at some future time, will establish here a large hospi- 
 tal. 
 
 The Firemen's Relief Association has been 
 spoken of in the chapter on city departments. 
 
 Of the many other organizations existing in Fitch- 
 burg for the public good or social intercourse we 
 have space merely to mention the names of a few. 
 
 The Park Club and Windsor Club are both social 
 organizations; the Chapin Club, a social and literary 
 society connected with the First Universalist Church ; 
 the Arlington Club, social and beneficial ; Fitchburg 
 Congregational Club ; French Literary Club ; Fitch- 
 burg Harvard Club, composed of graduates of Har- 
 vard College residing in the city; Railroad Men's 
 Relief Association ; Railroad Men's Christian Asso- 
 ciation ; Fitchburg Teachers' Association and the 
 Fitchburg Woman's Suff'rage League. 
 
 Temperance Organizations. — The Fitchburg 
 WomanH Christian Temperance Union began its exist- 
 ence in January, 1875, and has ever since kept up its 
 practical temperance work, which, though quietly 
 done, has proved very efiective. Among the most 
 important results achieved by the Union was the 
 formation, in January, 1876, of 
 
 The Fitchburg Reform Club. — By invitation of the 
 Union, Dr. Henry A. Reynolds visited Fitchburg and 
 organized this club, its object being to reclaim men 
 who were addicted to the use of liquor and make 
 them respectable citizens. This work the club has 
 faithfully performed during all the years of its exist- 
 ence, and with a fair degree of success. 
 
 The Fitchburg Young Woman's Christian Temperance 
 Union was organized in November, 1885. It is com- 
 posed of young ladies belonging to the various re- 
 ligious societies in the town and accomplishes much 
 in aid of the temperance cause. 
 
 The other temperance societies and orders in Fitch- 
 
300 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 burg are the Unity Temperance Society, connected 
 with the First Parish ; St. Bernard's Temperance 
 Lyceum ; St. Bernard's Total Abstinence and Mutual 
 Aid Society ; Monadnock Temple of Honor, No. 17; 
 Aquarius Council, No. 10, Select Templars ; Falulah 
 Lodge, No. 11, I. 0. of G. T. : Henry A. Reynolds 
 Lodge, No. 81, I. O. of G. T.; Wendell Phillips Di- 
 vision, Sods of Temperance and Silver Spray Temple 
 of Honor, No. 3. 
 
 Secret Societies. — Five of the largest and most 
 wide-spread strictly secret organizations have flour- 
 ishing representative bodies in this city, — the Masons, 
 Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, American Me- 
 chanics and Red Men. 
 
 Masonry is represented by the following four 
 bodies : 
 
 Aurora Lodge, F. and A. M., instituted June 9, 
 1801, at Leominster, and removed to Fitchburg March 
 17, 1845. 
 
 Charles W. Moore Lodge, F. and A. M., instituted 
 October 9, 1856. 
 
 Thomas Royal Arch Chapter, instituted at Princeton 
 December 21, 1821, and removed to Fitchburg No- 
 vember 13, 1847. 
 
 Jerusalem Commandery, K. T,, instituted October 13, 
 18(35. 
 
 The Odd Fellows also have four organizations in 
 town. 
 
 Mount Rollstone Lodge, No. 98, I. 0. 0. F., instituted 
 December 12, 1845. 
 
 Pearl Hill Degree Jjodge, No. 47, Daughters of Re- 
 bekah, I. 0. 0. F., instituted October 14, 1885. 
 
 King David Encampment, No. 42, /. 0. 0. F., insti- 
 tuted October 18, 1870. 
 
 Grand Canton Hebron, No. 4, Patriarchs Militant, 
 instituted March 4, 1886. 
 
 The Knights of Pythias have the two following or- 
 ganizations : 
 
 Alpine Lodge, No. 35, K. of P., instituted March 12, 
 1879. 
 
 Med Cross Division, No. 7, Uniform Rank, K. of P., 
 instituted January 11, 1887. 
 
 The Order of United American Mechanics, a 
 strictly American secret organization, is represented 
 in town by Wachusett Council, No. 21, O. U. A. M., 
 instituted February 21, 1883. 
 
 The Improved Order of Red Men is represented by 
 Nashua Tribe, No. 37, I. 0. R. M., instituted Febru- 
 ary 23, 1887. 
 
 The Masons have very fine lodge apartments in the 
 Fitcliburg Savings Bank Block; the Odd Fellows' 
 lodge-rooms are in the Rollstone National Bank 
 building; the Knights of Pythias hold their meetings 
 in Pythian Hall, Crocker Block; and the American 
 Mechanics and Red Men hire Pythian Hall of Alpine 
 Lodge, K. of P., and use it as a council chamber and 
 wigwam respectively. 
 
 An organization of the Ancient Order of Hiber- 
 nians was incorporated in Fitchburg in June, 1869. 
 
 Fraternal Insurance and Mutual Benefit Orders. — 
 Of these there are a great many in Fitchburg, and 
 we have space only to mention their names, as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 Fitchburg Associates, No. 22, N. M. R. A. ; Fitch- 
 burg Lodge, No. 797, K. of H. ; Roumania Lodge, No, 
 312, K. andL. of H.; Overlook Council, No. 972, A. 
 L. ofH. ; Fitchburg Council, No. 777, Royal Arca- 
 num; Caslle Fitchburg, No. 195, Knights and Ladies 
 of the Golden Rule; Local Branch, No. 390 and Sis- 
 terhood Branch, No. 595, Order of the Iron Hall; 
 Plymouth Colony, No. 97, United Order Pilgrim Fa- 
 thers; Watatic Lodge, No. 31, New England Order of 
 Protection ; Union Assembly, No. 170, Royal Society 
 of Good Fellows; Shakespeare Lodge, No. 121, Sons 
 of St. George ; Georg Loge, No. 538, German 
 Order of Harugari ; Society St. Jean Baptiste de 
 Fitchburg ; Wachusett Division, No. 191, Brother- 
 hood of Locomotive Engineers; W. A. Foster Lodge, 
 No. 216, Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen ; Fitch- 
 burg Lodge, No. 1, Brotherhood of Section Masters, 
 and E. A. Smith Division, No. 146, Order of Railway 
 Conductors. 
 
 No attempt has been made in this chapter to give 
 a complete list of the multitudinous societies in 
 town ; but we have tried to speak of all the more 
 important organizations, which is all there is room 
 for in this history. 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIII. 
 
 VYtQ-HSU-R-G— {Continued.) 
 
 PROFESSIONAL. 
 
 The pastors of the various religious societies in 
 Fitchburg have already been spoken of in the eccle- 
 siastical history and no further mention of them will 
 be made in this chapter. There remain the dentists, 
 lawyers and physicians to be spoken of and we shall 
 give only a mere catalogue of those now in practice 
 here, with perhaps a brief account of some of the 
 more prominent lawyers and physicians of past time. 
 
 Dentists. — Dr. Thomas S. Blood is the senior 
 dentist in town. He was born in Sterling, June 23, 
 1810; studied dentistry in Worcester with his brother. 
 Dr. Oliver Blood, who was the first dentist settled in 
 that town ; at the same time took a course at the 
 Harvard Medical School, where he graduated in 
 1838; practised dentistry for a short time at Nan- 
 tucket and in New York City; came to Fitchburg in 
 1840, and since then has been in active practice 
 here. 
 
 Dr. Blood has always been identified with temper- 
 ance work in Fitchburg and has been, in years past, 
 quite closely connected with our educational aflairs. 
 
 Dr. Thomas Palmer began the practice of dentistry 
 in Fitchburg in 1844. He soon afterward built the 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 301 
 
 brick "octagon house" on Main Street, where he has 
 since lived and been engaged in the active practice 
 of his profession. For the past sixteen years his son, 
 Dr. Joseph W. Palmer, a graduate of Harvard Col- 
 lege in the class of 1872, has been associated with him 
 under the name of Palmer & Palmer. 
 
 The other dentists in town who have begun prac- 
 tice more recently are Drs. F. H. Joy, A. E. Horton, 
 E. G. Dwyer, F. A. Damon and the firms of Parker & 
 Ross and Stone Brothers. 
 
 Lawyehs. — Of the many legal practitioners who 
 have lived and practised in Fitchburg in past time, 
 we have space to speak of but four of the most promi- 
 nent. 
 
 Hon. Nathaniel Wood was barn in Holden, Mass., 
 August 29, 1797 ; graduated at Harvard College in the 
 class of 1821 ; studied law in Boston, and was ad- 
 mitted to the bar; came to Fitchburg, and in Febru- 
 ary, 1827, formed a partnership with Ebenezer Tor- 
 rey, and for many years the firm of Torrey & Wood 
 took high rank among the prominent legal firms of 
 the Worcester County bar. Mr. Wood, however, at- 
 tended to most of the legal business. In 1818 Gold- 
 smith F. Bailey became a partner with Mr. Wood 
 under the firm-name of N. Wood & Co. 
 
 Mr. Wood was for fifty years prominent in the town 
 affairs and business interests of Fitchburg. He was 
 often chosen moderator at town-meeting; was post- 
 master for sixteen years ; president of the Fitchburg 
 Mutual Fire Insurance Company twenty-six years, 
 and its treasurer twenty-four years, besides holding 
 other positions. 
 
 In politics Mr. Wood was a Democrat, and wag 
 elected to the lower branch of the Legislature in 1839, 
 '47 and '60. He was once chosen Senator, and in 
 1841 was the candidate of his party for Congress. 
 
 Mr. Wood was a strong Unitarian, and took an ac- 
 tive interest in the First Parish during his long life in 
 Fitchburg. He died August 3, 1876, after an illness 
 of nearly two years. 
 
 Hon. Ebenezer Torrey was born in Franklin, 
 August 16, 1801 ; graduated at Harvard College in 
 the class of 1822 ; came to Fitchburg and studied law 
 with John 8hepley, then a leading lawyer here, but 
 who soon after removed to Maine. Mr. Torrey was 
 admitted to the bar in 1825, and two years later en- 
 tered into partnership with Nathaniel Wood. Mr. 
 Wood conducted most of the firm's cases in court, 
 while Mr. Torrey turned his attention more particu- 
 larly to financial matters, and acquired a very high 
 reputation as a safe and skilful financier. His con- 
 nection with our banking interests has been already 
 spoken of. For thirty successive years Mr. Torrey 
 wa.s town or city treasurer, declining further re-election 
 in January, 1874. 
 
 In 1829 he was chosen a director of the Worcester 
 Mutual Fire Insurance Company, which position he 
 continued to hold during the rest of his life ; and from 
 1879 was president of the same company. 
 
 Mr. Torrey, in politics, was opposed to his partner, 
 Mr. Wood. He was a strong Whig, and later, as 
 strong a Republican. He was in the lower branch of 
 the Legislature in 1831 and 1847, and in 1849 was one 
 of the five Senators elected at large from Worcester 
 County. In 1853 and 1854 he was a member of the 
 Governor's Council. 
 
 Mr. Torrey was a life-long Unitarian, and to the last 
 a most constant attendant at the First Parish Church, 
 in which he took great interest. 
 
 He died September 3, 1888, after a few days illness, 
 leaving a widow, a daughter, the wife of Hon. Hiram 
 A. Blood, of this city, and a son, George A. Torrey, of 
 Boston, corporation counsel fur the Fitchburg Rail- 
 road Company. 
 
 Hon. Charles H. B. Snow was a son of Dr. Peter S. 
 Snow, and was born in Fitchburg, August 7, 1822 ; 
 graduated at Harvard College in the class of 1844; 
 studied law with Torrey & Wood, and was admitted 
 to the bar in 1848 ; was for some years a law-partner 
 with Hon. Amasa Norcross, but for the last eleven 
 years of his life was with Judge Thornton K. Ware, 
 under the firm-name of Ware & Snow. 
 
 Mr. Snow was elected to the Legislature, and was 
 State Senator from this district at the time of bin 
 death. He was prominent in the educational interests 
 of his native town, and her chosen centennial cele- 
 bration orator. He was a very active and zealous 
 member of Christ Church. 
 
 He died, September 18, 1875, after four months' ill- 
 ness, leaving his aged parents, a widow and two 
 daughters. 
 
 Hon. Goldsmith F. Bailey was born in East West- 
 moreland, N. H., July 17, 1823, and his widowed 
 mother removed with her family to Fitchburg three 
 years later. In 1845 he began the study of law, com- 
 pleting his course with Torrey & Wood. In 1848 he 
 was admitted to the bar, and became a partner in the 
 firm q^ N. Wood & Company. He was Representative 
 from Fitchburg in 185(i, and State Senator in 1857 
 and 1859. In the fall of I860 he was chosen by the 
 Republicans of the Ninth Congressional District to 
 represent them in Congress. But that terrible disease, 
 consumption, had fastened itself upon him. He went; 
 to Florida, and on his return took his seat in Congress 
 during the extra session. In December, 1861, he 
 went back to Washington, but was soon obliged to 
 return to Fitchburg, where he died, May 8, 1862. His 
 widow, who wasoneof the well-known Billings family, 
 of Woodstock, Vt., is now the wife of Hon. Rodney 
 Wallace, of Fitchburg. 
 
 The senior lawyer at present living in Fitchburg, 
 though not now in active practice, is Charles Mason, 
 Esq. 
 
 Mr. Mason was born in Dublin, N. H., June 3, 1810 ; 
 graduated at Harvard College in 1834, came to Fitch- 
 burg in September, 1842, and has since resided here; 
 has practised law and latterly has been interested in 
 insurance business; was secretary of the Fitchburg 
 
302 
 
 HISTOEY OF WORCESTEK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Mutual Fire Insurance Company, 1864-69 ; represen- 
 tative to the Legii-lature in 1849 and 1851, and a 
 member of the Constitutional Convention in 1853. 
 
 He has always been deeply interested in education, 
 and was for some years chairman of the School Com- 
 mittee of the town. He was also active in starting 
 and sustaining the Fitchburg Athenteum. He has 
 preserved a very complete collection of town and city 
 reports and documents, from which much of this 
 present history has been compiled. 
 
 The firm of T. K. & C. E. Ware consists of Judge 
 Thornton K. Waie and his son, Charles E. Ware. 
 
 Judge Ware is a native of Cambridge ; graduated 
 at Harvard in 1842 ; came to Fitchburg in 1846 ; has 
 been in partnership with Hon. C. H. B. Snow and 
 George A. Torrey ; was representative in 1850 and 
 1854; postmaster, 1861-06; justice of the Police Court 
 since it was established and a trustee of the Public 
 Library since its establishment, with the exception of 
 one year, and chairman of the trustees since 1875. He 
 is president of the Fitchburg Savings Bank and a di- 
 rector of the Fitchburg National Bank. 
 
 Charles E. Ware is a native of Fitchburg ; gradu- 
 ated at Harvard in 1876, and has been associated with 
 his father since July, 1879. 
 
 The firm of Norcross, Hartwell & Baker consists of 
 Hon. Amasa Norcross, a native of Rindge, N. H., the 
 first mayor of Fitchburg ; representative in 1858-59 
 and 1SG2 ; State Senator, 1874; representative to Con- 
 gress, 1876-82. He has been prominent in financial 
 and educational interests, and in many other public 
 positions. 
 
 The second member of this firm, Hon. Harris C. 
 Hartwell, is a native of Groton ; graduated at Har- 
 vard in 1869 ; since 1874 a partner with Mr. Norcross i 
 representative, 1883-85, and State Senator, 1887-88 . 
 city solicitor of Fitchburg from 1877 to 1886. 
 
 The third member, Charles F. Baker, Esq., is a 
 native of Lunenburg ; graduated at Harvard in 1872; 
 in the office of Norcross & Hartwell since 18ft, and 
 became a member of the present firm January 1, 
 1887. 
 
 Hon. David H. Merriam is a native of Essex, N.Y., 
 where he was born July 3, 1820; came to Fitchburg 
 in July, 1829; in 1847 began the study of law with 
 Torrey & Wood ; representative in 1861 ; provost 
 marshal of the Ninth District of Massachusetts 1863- 
 65; special justice of the Fitchburg Police Court since 
 1868; city solicitor of Fitchburg 1874-6; mayor in 
 1877 and 1878.^ 
 
 The other lawyers in tawn are Stillman Haynes, 
 Esq., a native of Townsend, who has practised here 
 since 1868, and served several years on the School 
 Board; Charles S. Haydeu, Esq., a native of Har- 
 vard, read law with Wood & Torrey, and has prac- 
 tised here since 1871, and has been special justice of 
 the Fitchburg Police Court since 1879 ; Samuel L. 
 
 1 Mr. Merriam died October 11, 1888. 
 
 Graves, Esq., a native of Groton, graduated at Am- 
 herst in 1870 ; read law with Wood & Torrey, and has 
 been in practice here since 1873 ; Harrison Bailey, 
 Esq., a native of Fitchburg, graduated at Amherst in 
 1872, and at Harvard Law School in 1874, read law 
 with George A. Torrey, Esq., and has practised here 
 since 1874; James H. McMahou, E.sq., a native of 
 Ireland, read law with E. B. O'Connor, of Boston, 
 and James M. Woodbury, of Fitchburg, has prac- 
 tised here since September, 1877 ; Edward P. Pierce, 
 Esq., a native of Templeton, graduated at Harvard 
 Law School in 1877; has practised here since; in 
 1882 formed a partnership with James A. Stiles, Esq., 
 under the firm-name of Pierce & Stiles, Mr. Stiles, 
 having an office of the firm in Gardner. Mr. Pierce 
 has been city solicitor of Fitchburg since .January, 
 1887 ; Thomas F. Gallagher, Esq., a native of Lynn, 
 graduated at University of Notre Dame, Indiana, in 
 1876, read law with Hon. William D. Northend in 
 Salem; has been in practice here since December, 
 1881 ; Charles H. Blood, Esq., a native of Fitchburg, 
 graduated at Harvard in 1879, read law with Attor- 
 ney-General Marston and at Boston University Law 
 School, in practice here since 1883, and since 1884 
 has been in partnership with David K. Stevens, Esq., 
 under the firm-name of Blood & Stevens, Mr. Stevens 
 maintaining an office of the firm in Boston; Charles 
 A. Babbitt, Esq., began practice here in the spring of 
 1888. 
 
 Physicians. — A brief mention will be made of a 
 few of the former physicians of the town, which will 
 be followed by a summary of those now in practice 
 here and an account of medical organizations in this 
 vicinity. 
 
 Dr. Thaddeus McCarty was the first settled physi- 
 cian, and came here from Worcester prior to the 
 Revolution. He was a skilful physician, but re- 
 mained here only a few years, returning to Worces- 
 ter in 1781. 
 
 Dr. Jonas Marshall settled here soon after the 
 Revolution on the same farm now occupied by his 
 grandson, Mr. Abel Marshall. He practised here 
 many years. 
 
 Dr. Peter Snow succeeded Dr. McCarty, coming 
 here in 1782. For over forty years he was a leading 
 physician here, and also held important town offices. 
 
 Dr. Peter S. Snow, eldest son of the above, began 
 practice in 1815, but retired in 1831 on account of 
 poor health. For many years thereafter he was a 
 valuable member of the School Committee. He died 
 here November 25, 1884, aged ninety-two. 
 
 Dr. Jonas A. Marshall was for forty years a physi- 
 cian here, and served the town also for twenty-four 
 successive years as town clerk. He died in Charles- 
 town, February 25, 1887, aged nearly eighty-seven 
 years. 
 
 Dr. Thomas R. Boutelle graduated at the Medical 
 Department of Yale College in 1819, and soon began 
 practice in New Braintree ; removed to Leominster 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 303 
 
 in 1824, and to Fitchburg in 1833, where he practised 
 the rest of his life. He was a physician of high 
 standing, and was honored with many oiHces in 
 medical and other organizations. During the War 
 of the Rebellion he was chainiKin of the Relief Com- 
 mittee of the town, and labored incessantly for the 
 comfort of soldiers' families. He died, universally 
 lamented, July 13, 1869, aged seventy-four years. 
 
 By far the most widely-known and remarkable 
 member of the medical profession ever settled in 
 Fitchburg was Dr. Alfred Hitchcock. He graduated 
 at the Dartmouth Medical College, and later received 
 a diploma from the Jefferson Medical College, Phila- 
 delphia. He settled in Ashby in 1837, but .at the 
 written request of many prominent citizens of Fitch- 
 burg, came here in April, 1850, and spent among us 
 the balance of his useful life. 
 
 As a practitioner of medicine and surgery Dr. 
 Hitchcock had no peer in this vicinity, aiid his medi- 
 cal brethren far and near sought his services in all 
 doubtful and severe cases. Of what he did in the 
 war period we have not space to tell ; we can only say 
 that during the whole course of the war nearly one- 
 quarter of his time was given to the care of the sick 
 and wounded Massachusetts soldiers in the iield and 
 at home. 
 
 Dr. Hitchcock was prominent also in public affairs, 
 and held various offices of trust, which we have not 
 space to enumerate. Perhaps the most important 
 was his position in the Executive Council of the 
 State, to which he was elected three times in succes- 
 ^ion, — in 18G1-62-63. He was also on the Board of 
 Overseers of Harvard College from 1857 to 1865. 
 
 In addition to his skill, knowledge and good judg- 
 ment, Dr. Hitchcock possessed those finer qualities of 
 mind and heart characteristic of the true gentleman. 
 He was entirely free from dogmatism and pride of 
 the schools, and his uniform gentleness and courtesy 
 endeared him to the people of Fitchburg — rich and 
 poor. His death occurred March 30, 1874, at the age of 
 sixty years, five months and thirteen days. His fun- 
 eral at the Rollstone Church, April 3d, was very 
 largely attended. 
 
 Dr. Alfred Miller graduated at the Vermont Medi- 
 cal College, and began practice in Ashburnham in 
 1845. In 1863 he removed to Fitchburg to remain 
 permanently. 
 
 He was a good physician and genial gentleman, and 
 was prominent in school matters. He was also a 
 Representative to the Legislature from this city at 
 one time. 
 
 He died, universally regretted by the citizens of 
 Fitchburg, November 15, 1877, aged sixty-two years. 
 
 All the above-named physicians were members of 
 the Massachusetts Medical Society, with the excep- 
 tion ot the very first, who practised before the society 
 came into existence. 
 
 We will now give a brief summary of those phy- 
 sicians now in active practice here who are 
 
 Members of the Massachusetts Medical Society. — Dr. 
 Levi Pillsbury is the senior practising physician in 
 Fitchburg. He graduated at the Dartmouth Medical 
 School in 1842, and settled here May 1, 1844 ; is at 
 present a member of the United States Examining 
 Board for Pensions. 
 
 Dr. George Jewett graduated at the Berkshire 
 Medical College in 1847, and coutinued his studies 
 for a time at the Harvard Medical School, being a 
 pupil of Dr. Jacob Bigelow. He practised in Tem- 
 pleton and Gardner, and came to Fitchburg in 1858 ; 
 was surgeon in the army, and from 1864 to 1886 was 
 examining surgeon for pensions ; is at present vice- 
 president of the Massachusetts Medical Society. He 
 is a trustee of the Public Library, beside holding 
 other public offices. 
 
 Dr. George D. Colony graduated at Dartmouth Col- 
 lege in 1843 ; studied medicine with Dr. Amos Twitch- 
 ell, of Keene, N. H. ; graduated from the Medical De- 
 partment of the University of Pennsylvania in 1846, 
 and immediately began practice at Athul ; removed 
 to Fitchburg in May, 1861, where he has since con- 
 tinued in active business. 
 
 Dr. Austin W. Sidney began practice as an eclectic 
 physician in Sterling in 1860; came to Fitchburg in 
 1866; later took a course at the Dartmouth Medical 
 School, graduated there, and joined the Massachusetts 
 Medical Society. He is president of the Old Ladies' 
 Home corporation. 
 
 Dr. Charles H. Rice graduated at the Harvard and 
 Dartmouth Medical Schools ; settled in Fitchburg in 
 1866 ; is surgeon of the Sixth Regiment, M. V. M., 
 a member of the School Committee, and a trustee of 
 the Public Library ; was city physician 1873-75. 
 
 Dr. Frederick H. Thompson graduated at the 
 Harvard Medical School in 1870 ; settled in Lancas- 
 ter ; removed to Fitchburg in May, 1874 ; was city 
 physician in 1877, and has been on the School Com- 
 mittee and a trustee of the Public Ijibrary ; was 
 surgeon on General Kimball's staff in 1877-78. 
 
 Dr. Dwight S. Woodworth graduated from the Col- 
 lege of Physicians and Surgeons in 1876 ; has prac- 
 tised in Fitchburg since ; was city physician 1879-81, 
 and 1884-86 ; is prominent in various fraternal orders ; 
 has been medical director of the Massachusetts 
 Mutual Aid Society for some years ; and on the 
 School Board, 1879-82. 
 
 Dr. Ernest P. Miller, son of Dr. Alfred Miller, 
 graduated at Harvard College in 1872 and at the 
 Harvard Medical School in 1876, and has practised in 
 Fitchburg since; has been medical examiner since 
 1877 and was city physician in 1880 and 1883; is 
 one of the United States E,xamining Board for 
 Pensions. 
 
 Dr. Herbert H. Lyons graduated at Boston College 
 in 1878 and at the Harvard Medical School in 1881 ; 
 has practised in Fitchburg since September, 1881 ; is 
 the third member of the United States Examining 
 Board for Pensions in this citv. 
 
304 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Dr. Atherton P. Mason, a native of Fitchburg, 
 graduated at Harvard College in 1879 and at the Har- 
 vard Medical Scliool in 1882; has been in practise 
 in Fitchbura; since March, 1884; is secretary of the 
 Worcester North District Medical Society. 
 
 Dr. John I). Kielty, a native of Fitchburg, gradu- 
 ated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, 
 Boston, in 1883, and from the Bellevue Hospital 
 Medical College, New York, in 1884, and in June, 
 1884, began practise in Fitchburg. He has been city 
 physician since January, 18S7. 
 
 Dr. Clarence W. Spring graduated at Dartmouth 
 College in 1880 and at the Harvard Medical School in 
 1884. He began practise in Fitchburg in February, 
 1885. 
 
 Dr. Emtace L. Fiske graduated at the Harvard 
 Medical School in 188(5 and began practise in Fitch- 
 burg in September, 188S. 
 
 Dr. Emerson A. Ludden graduated at the Albany 
 Medical College in March, 1888, and settled in Fitch- 
 burg the following September. 
 
 Dr. Henry W. Pierson, though not a member of the 
 Massachusetts Medical Society, is a regular physician 
 and has been in i)ractise in West Fitchburg since 1884. 
 
 Homceopatliic Pliyslclans. — Dr. Daniel B. Whittier 
 studied at the Harvard Medical School and later at 
 the New York Homreopathio College in 1863. He 
 soon settled in Fitchburg, where he has since been in 
 active business. He has been president of both the 
 State and County Homoeopathic Societies, and has 
 served the city as a member of the School Committee. 
 
 Dr. HoUis K. Bennett graduated at the Pennsylva- 
 nia Medical University. He practised in Hartford, 
 New York, and in Whitehall, and came to Fitchburg 
 in October, 1872, where he has since continued to 
 practise. Dr. Bennett is a member of all the prin- 
 cipal homreopathic societies. 
 
 Dr. Ellen L. Eastman graduated at the Bo.ston 
 University Medical School in 1880. She began prac- 
 tise in Fitchburg, but, in 1884, removed to Wollaston. 
 In the autumn of 1887 she returned to this city and 
 resumed practice here. 
 
 Dr. J. Everett Luscombe graduated at the Boston 
 University Medical School in 1885, and settled here 
 the same year; is a member of the Worcester County 
 Homoeopathic Medical Society. 
 
 Dr. Oliver Ij. Bradford formerly practised in An- 
 dover, but removed to Fitchburg some years ago. 
 
 Dr. Hubljard H. Brigham is an eclectic physician, 
 a graduate, in 1855, of the Worcester Eclectic Medi- 
 cal College. He has practised in Fitchburg since 
 1845. 
 
 There are also three French physicians in town. 
 
 Medical Societies.— The Worcester North Dis- 
 trict Medical Society was chartered by the president 
 and councillors of the Massachusetts Medical Society 
 May 28, 1858, and organized on the 5th of the fol- 
 lowing June. Dr. William Parkhurst, of Petersham, 
 was elected its first president. 
 
 Its membership comprises all Fellows of the Massa- 
 chusetts Medical Society practising in Fitchburg and 
 towns in the northern part of Worcester County and 
 in the towns of Ashby, Shirley and Townsend, in 
 Middlesex County. 
 
 Meetings are held at Fitchburg on the fourth 
 Tuesday of January, April, July and October, the 
 annual meeting being in April. The society now 
 has over forty members. 
 
 The Fitchburg Society for Medical Improvement 
 was organized in July, 1874, and includes in its mem- 
 bership Fellows of the Massachusetts Medical Society 
 residing in Fitchburg and towns adjoining. 
 
 This society holds meetings the third Tuesday of 
 each month at the houses of the members. It is the 
 hope and intention of the society, in conjunction with 
 the district .society, to obtain rooms, in the near fu- 
 ture, and fit them up for the purpose of holding both 
 local and district meetings therein, and also for ac- 
 commodating the library of the district society. 
 
 The Worcester North Eclectic Medical Society was 
 organized in July, 1801. Meetings are held at Fitch- 
 burg on the last Tuesday of each month, the annual 
 meeting being held in July. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 -BirCilBU'SiG— {Continued.) 
 
 LITERARY AND ARTISTIC. 
 
 Among the residents or natives of Fitchburg who 
 in the past have had a name for literary work, we 
 shall mention in this chapter only two. 
 
 Rev. Asa Thurston was born in Fitchburg in 1787. 
 He took a course of study at Yale College and the 
 Andover Theological Seminary, and in 1819 sailed 
 for the Sandwich Islands as a missionary. He re- 
 mained there till his death, March 11, 1868, and the 
 value of his life-work for humanity can never be esti- 
 mated. He compiled a valuable dictionary and 
 grammar of the Hawaiian language. 
 
 Hon. Rufus Campbell Torrey was a younger broth- 
 er of Hon. Ebenezer Torrey. He was for some 
 years a resident of Fitchburg, editing a newspaper 
 and teaching in the Fitchburg Academy. In 1836 
 he wrote the " History of Fitchburg." He afterward 
 removed to Alabama, and became prominent as a 
 lawyer. He died in Claiborne, Alabama, September 
 13, 1882. 
 
 Several natives and residents of Fitchburg, now 
 living elsewhere, deserve at least a passing notice in 
 this chapter. 
 
 Mary Caroline (Underwood) Dickinson, now of 
 New York, was born in Fitchburg. She was a 
 teacher in the schools here, later in Boston and New 
 
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FITCHBUKG. 
 
 307 
 
 former Courier office, and the next week a slightly 
 smaller paper was issued, called the Filchburg 
 Worcester County Courier. Mr. William S. Wilder 
 was engaged as editor, and the paper flourished until 
 the winter of 1838, when, during Mr. Garfield's 
 absence from town, the editor converted the paper 
 from a neutral to a Democratic sheet. This appears 
 to have been disastrous, for the publication of the 
 Courier ended March 9, 1838. Mr. Garfield con- 
 tinued to occupy the office for job-printing and for 
 a few months issued a small weekly paper called the 
 Times. 
 
 During the four or five months preceding Decem- 
 ber, 1838, there was no paper published in town ; but 
 on the 20th of December, 1838, a new and prosper- 
 ous era was begun in the journalism of this town by 
 the starting of 
 
 The Fitchburg Sentinel. — On the date above- 
 mentioned the first number of this newspaper ap- 
 peared. John Garfield printed it, and Ezra W. 
 Reed was the editor. In politics it was neutral. 
 
 About this time there were in town several writers 
 who contributed to the columns of the Sentitiel en- 
 livening and spicy articles. Prominent among them 
 was a lad of sixteen, who afterward became well- 
 known as an author and poet. This was Augustine 
 Joseph Hickey, an apprentice in the Sentinel office. 
 He was born in 1823, and, owing to a separation be- 
 tween his parents and the death of his mother soon 
 after, was placed in an orphan asylum in Boston at 
 an early age. In 1839 John Garfield, of Fitchburg, 
 then proprietor of the Sentinel, took him from this 
 asyluur, and he went to work in the printing-office. 
 He soon developed aii extraordinary love for books, 
 and began to write anonymously for the Sentinel. 
 He soon wrote a poem, entitled " Slander," which 
 was duly printed in the paper. This poem had a 
 Latin quotation prefixed, and was signed " Julian." 
 
 "About this time one Patterson, an employe of 
 the woolen-mill, under the signature of ' Syphax,' 
 criticised 'Conrad,' another local literary light, for 
 misquoting Byron, whereupon 'Julian' took a hand 
 in the discussion, creating an unusual interest for 
 several weeks." 
 
 Hickey wrote the communications signed "Julian," 
 and his intimate friend. Goldsmith F. Bailey, copied 
 them and dropped them into the post-office ; so the 
 identity of "Julian '' was wholly unknown even to 
 the proprietor of the Sentinel. These communica- 
 tions showed a considerable amount of geniui and 
 learning, and were generally ascribed to some of the 
 professional, educated men in town at that time. 
 
 When about twenty-one years of age Mr. Hickey 
 left Fitchburg and went to Boston, and not long after 
 removed to New York City, where he remained the 
 rest of his life. 
 
 His mother, who was the daughter and heiress of a 
 wealthy French family, but was disowned after her 
 clandestine marriage to Mr. Hickey, left her son a 
 
 dying request that he should assume her maiden 
 name, and in accordance with this request his name 
 was changed, by act of the New York Legislature, to 
 Augustine J. H. Duganne. 
 
 He soon became a prominent writer both of prose 
 and poetry, and a mere list of his productions would 
 fill considerable space. 
 
 He was very active during the war and raised sev- 
 eral regiments. He was colonel of the One Hundred 
 and Seventy-sixth New York Regiment, went to the 
 front, was captured, and for some time held prisoner 
 by the rebels. 
 
 Colonel Duganne died at his home in New York, 
 October 20, 1884. 
 
 Let us now return to the Sentinel. It continued to 
 prosper and was published by Mr. Garfield until 
 March, 1841, when William J. Merriani purchased 
 the office and paper. During his proprietorship the 
 Sentinel was twice enlarged, and in February, 1849, 
 the office was removed to its present location, in what 
 is now known as the Sentinel building and was then 
 owned by Crocker & Caldwell. 
 
 In December, 1850, Elisha and John Garfield 
 bought out Mr. Merriam. In September, 1852, Mr. 
 James F. D. Garfield bought John Garfield's interest 
 and, with his brother, Elisha, published the paper 
 until October, 1860; and for the fdlowing three and 
 a half years Elisha Garfield conducted the business 
 alone. In April, 1864, John Garfield again pur- 
 chased half the interest, and in September, 1864, be- 
 came sole owner of the paper. Six months later Mr. 
 James M. Blancbard became his partner and con- 
 tinued so until MarchJ 1867, when Mr. Charles C. 
 Stratton, who has ever since been connected with the 
 paper, succeeded him as partner. 
 
 In January, 1870, Mr. Bourne Spooner bought one- 
 third of the interest, and in January, 1871, Mr. Gar- 
 field sold his interest to Messrs. Stratton & Spooner. 
 In March, 1873, the Sentinel Printing Company was 
 formed, and Mr. John E. Kellogg admitted as part- 
 ner in the new firm. In July, 1873, Mr. Thomas 
 Hale, formerly editor of the Keene Sentinel, purchased 
 Mr. Spooner's interest and continued a member of 
 the firm for about two years. Since 1875 Messrs. C. C. 
 Stratton and J. E. Kellogg have constituted the Sen- 
 tinel Printing Company, and have conducted both the 
 weekly and daily Sentinel. 
 
 During all these years the paper prospered and 
 was enlarged as occasion required ; and early in 1873 
 the proprietors resolved to make a venture, which 
 proved to be entirely successful, by starting the 
 Filchburg Daily Sentinel. This has always been an 
 evening paper, and the first number was issued May 
 6, 1873, and its size was twenty-one by thirty inches. 
 Since then it has been enlarged three times, and is 
 now twenty-seven by forty-four inches, the same size 
 as the weekly edition. The Daily Sentinel has made 
 a prominent place for itself, and has a large circula- 
 tion in town and many subscribersoutsideof Fitchburg. 
 
308 
 
 HISTOKY OF WOKCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 We will now speak of a few of the many papers that 
 have been started since the publication of the Sentinel 
 was begun. 
 
 In January, 1845, the Wachuselt Independant was 
 started. The first issue was dated January 18, 1845, 
 and was printed by E. R. Wilkins in Mark Miller's 
 old printing-oifice. William S. Wilder, formerly of 
 the Courier, was the editor. The office was .soon re- 
 moved to the building now called the Citizens' Housei 
 and was the first printing-office established in that 
 part of the town. The Independant lived only six 
 months. 
 
 January 21, 1852, appeared the first issue of the 
 Fitchburg News, Dr. Charles Robinson, editor and 
 publisher. It was printed in an office in the old 
 Rollstone block, formerly occupied by the Fitchburg 
 Tribune, a paper published by Mr. George A. White 
 for a few months in 1847. 
 
 Under Dr. Robinson's management the News pros- 
 pered, but in January, 1853, he sold the paper to the 
 firm of Rollins & Knowlton, of Winchendon, and its 
 publication was suspended during the following June. 
 Dr. Robinson soon removed to Lawrence, Kansas, 
 and later became Governor of Kansas. 
 
 March 31, 1852, appeared the first number of the 
 Fitchburg i2evei?/e, a semi-weekly paper, printed in an 
 office in the upper story of Central Block. Mr. John 
 J. Piper was editor and publisher, and for nearly 
 seventeen years he conducted the Reveille with signal 
 success and made it well-known as a stanch Repub- 
 lican newspaper. It was three times enlarged, and 
 in April, 1869, was a thirty-two column paper, twenty- 
 seven by forty-one inches. Up to October, 1861, it 
 was a semi-weekly, but after that was issued weekly. 
 
 John J. Piper died February 3, 1869, and the 
 publication of the Reveille was continued by his two 
 brothers, Joseph L. and Henry F. Piper, who soon 
 after removed the office to the new Rollstone National 
 Bank building. In May, 1874, J. L. Piper retired and 
 the paper was conducted by H. F. Piper alone till 
 May, 1875, when Frank L. Boutelle became a partner. 
 The firm of Piper & Boutelle was dissolved in August, 
 1876, and the Reveille was for a few months longer 
 published in the old Rollstone Block Printing Office 
 by Col. Ezia S. Stearns, who at that time published 
 the Daily Chronicle there. February 15, 1877, the 
 publication of both papers was suspended. The ex- 
 istence of the Reveille covered a period of almost a 
 quarter of a century, and during the major portion 
 of this time it was a prominent paper not alone in 
 Fitchburg, but also in Worcester County, and its de- 
 cline and suspension were much regretted. 
 
 In March, 1857, appeared the first issue of a small 
 monthly advertising sheet called The Inkstand. It 
 was published at the furniture store of Sidney D. 
 Willis and was continued only a few months. Men- 
 tion is made of it because it was the pioneer of the 
 large number of advertising papers that have been 
 printed here since. 
 
 In January, 1881, the Fitchburg Tribune was started 
 by William M. Sargent. It was a weekly paper of 
 good appearance and was printed in an office in 
 Goodrich Block. A daily edition was begun in the 
 following March, which will be noticed further on. 
 The Tribune was continued under several diflerent 
 proprietors until February, 1885, when Albert G. 
 Morse, then the publisher, changed the name to Fitch- 
 burg News. In May, 1885, Mr. Joseph H. White be- 
 came the publisher of the News and continued it 
 until February, 1886, when he changed it to a monthly 
 paper with the name Monthly Visitor. Mr. White has 
 continued its publication, but the name of the paper 
 now is the Ladies' Home Visitor. 
 
 In December, 1880, Thomas C. Blood started an 
 advertising paper, called the Fitchburg Enterprise. 
 Since then it has been published about once in three 
 months. It is well patronized by advertisers, and 
 contains some interesting reading matter in each 
 issue. The paper is printed at the Sentinel office, and 
 about three thousand copies are struck off each time. 
 
 In June, 1885, Hubert C. Bartlett began the publi- 
 cation of a monthly paper, devoted to temperance, 
 health and the home, and having the name United 
 States 3Ionihly. This paper has continued to be pub- 
 lished since, and has done good work for the temper- 
 ance cause. It is a well printed and ably conducted 
 sixteen-page paper, and since February, 1887, its 
 price has been twenty-five cents per year. 
 
 Since September, 1887, the Young Men's Christian 
 Association have issued a small monthly paper, de- 
 voted to the work of the association. Its name is The 
 Beacon Light. 
 
 The Parish Helper is a little monthly published in 
 the interests of the parish of Christ's Church, and 
 was started in October, 1887. 
 
 Good Luck is the name of a sixteen-page monthly 
 paper, started in the autumn of 1887. It is chiefly 
 devoted to advertising. 
 
 The Scientist is the title of an eight-page monthly, 
 issued by Chapter 48, Agassiz Association of Fitch- 
 burg. The first number appeared in April, 1888. E. 
 Adams Hartwell, A.M., and Mr. William G. Farrar 
 are the editors. 
 
 The five last-named publications were the only 
 ones, beside the weekly and daily Sentinel, published 
 in Fitchburg until recently, when the Evening Mail 
 was started. 
 
 Daily Papers in Fitchburg. — The first attempt 
 to start a daily paper here was made in October, 1854. 
 The Fitchburg Daily was the name given it by the 
 publishers, Messrs. Plaisted & Baxter. It was printed 
 in the office in Rollstone Block, was eighteen by 
 twenty-four inches in size, and had an existence of 
 just three days. 
 
 The next venture in this line was the Fitchburg 
 Daily Sentinel, which has previously been sufficiently 
 noticed. 
 
 November 24, 1875, appeared the first number of 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 309 
 
 the Fitchbtirg Daily Press. This was an evening 
 paper published by Piper & Boutelle, in connection 
 with the Reveille. Its size was twenty-one by thirty- 
 one inches. It lived less than a year, the last issue 
 being early in August, 1876. 
 
 The Fitchburg Eoening Chronicle took the place of 
 the Press, being issued from the Reveille office under 
 the editorship of Colonel Ezra S. Stearns, who con- 
 tinued to conduct both this paper and the Reveille 
 until February 1.5, 1877, when both papers were sus- 
 pended, as has been previouslj' stated. 
 
 In March, 18S1, Mr. W. M. Sargent, publisher of 
 the Fitchburg Tribune, began the publication of a 
 daily paper, the Daily Evening Tribune. It was 
 eighteen by twenty-five inches in size, and in the fol- 
 lowing summer was enlarged to twenty-two by thirty 
 inches. 
 
 Mr. Sargent sold his interest in the paper to J. W. 
 EUam, of Clinton, in July, 1882, who continued both 
 daily and weekly. He was succeeded by Mr, E. A. 
 Norris, in April, 1883, who published both editions 
 until September, 1884, when Albert G. Morse became 
 the publisher. Mr. Morse discontinued the Daily 
 Tribune in February, 1885. 
 
 The first issue of The Evening Mail, the new daily 
 paper, appeared October 3,1888. It is a well-printed 
 and very readable sheet, a trifle smaller than the 
 Sentinel. 
 
 It is published by the Evening Mail Company, of 
 which Mr. H. L. Inman, formerly of the Keene Ob- 
 server, is president ; Dr. G. D. Colony, treasurer ; and 
 M. F. Jones, secretary. 
 
 The company has purchased the plant of J. H. 
 White, on Day Street, added new presses, type, etc., 
 and hopes to make the new daily a permanent and 
 prosperous enterprise. 
 
 Politically, The Evening Mail will be independent 
 
 CHAPTER LI. 
 
 VYiCU.'RVBiG— {Continued.) 
 CEMETERIES. 
 
 It seems fitting to close this sketch with a chapter 
 on the cemeteries of Fitchburg, — the " resting- 
 places " where have been laid the mortal remains 
 of those men and women whose energy and good 
 works have contributed so largely to the growth and 
 prosperity of the town. 
 
 It is a matter of regret that sufficient attention is 
 not devoted to caring for and beautifying our ceme- 
 teries. At least two of them are finely located and 
 capable of being made much more attractive. 
 
 Let us once more return to the past and note briefly 
 the provisions made by the early settlers of Fitchburg 
 in regard to the interring of the dead. 
 
 During the first three years of its corporate eiist- 
 
 ence there was no burying-ground within the limits 
 of Fitchburg, the dead being carried to the grave- 
 yard in Lunenburg, nearly seven miles distant. De- 
 cember 12, 1764, however, the town took steps to- 
 wards securing a burying-ground of its own by choos- 
 ing Amos Kimball, Ephraim Kimball and Thomas 
 Dutton a committee "to provide a Bueering-yard." 
 This committee did not report until November 21, 
 1765, when the report was accepted. , March 3, 1766, 
 this vote was reconsidered, and the town voted " to 
 accept one acre of land of Amos Kimball for a Buer- 
 ing-yard." This spot is now known as the South 
 Street Cemetery, and has not been used as a burial- 
 place for many years. For over a quarter of a cen- 
 tury it was the only cemetery in town, and in it are 
 the tombstones erected over the graves of many of 
 the early citizens of prominence in the town. 
 
 Although the town voted to accept Deacon Kim- 
 ball's gift in 1766, the deed of the land does not ap- 
 pear to have been passed over until the latter part of 
 1769. In the mean time the town voted. May 11, 
 1767, to purchase an acre of land belonging to Thomas 
 Cowdin " lyeing on the north side of the Meeting- 
 house for a buering-yard."' On December 16, 1767, it 
 was voted " to give back the deed of the acre of land 
 deeded to the town by Thos. Cowdin for a burying- 
 yard." The few bodies there buried were exhumed 
 and reinterred in the spot given the town by Deacon 
 Kimball. 
 
 In 1775 Solomon Steward was chosen to dig graves. 
 May 13, 1800, the town voted to purchase of Jacob 
 Upton an acre of land for a burying-ground. This 
 was used as a cemetery by the people in the westerly 
 part of the town for many years. It is located not far 
 from the present Dean Hill School-house, and is now 
 pretty well overgrown with trees. 
 
 In the latter part of 1800 a committee was chosen 
 to select a place for a new burying-ground in the 
 middle of the town. In accordance with the recom- 
 mendation of this committee, the town purchased, 
 within a year or two, the plot of ground which now 
 forms the easterly end of Mount Laurel Cemetery. 
 Additional land has been appropriated to burial pur- 
 poses from time to time, and this cemetery now covers 
 nearly the whole hill, forming a veritable city of the 
 dead overlooking the city of the living. More care 
 and a larger outlay of money would make this natu- 
 rally picturesque situation still more beautiful and 
 attractive. 
 
 In 1806 the town voted to purchase a two- wheeled 
 hearse, and in 1808 voted to build a hearse-house. 
 
 In 1856 the town purchased of Charles Gerry, 
 Silas Hosmer and Levi Downe about fifty acres of 
 land situated on Mt. Elam Road, in the southerly 
 part of the town, at a cost of a little over two thou- 
 sand dollars. Work was soon begun upon clearing 
 and laying out the grounds, and at the present time 
 Forest Hill Cemetery, as it is named, is an attractive 
 and well-kept burial-place. 
 
310 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 St. Bernard's Cemetery, on St. Bernard Street, in 
 the easterly part of the town, is owned by St. Ber- 
 nard's Parish, and has been in use for some years. 
 
 There are several small burying-grounds in various 
 parts of the township, which have not been used for 
 burial purposes for many years. 
 
 In concluding this sketch, the writer desires to ex- 
 press his thanks to all who have, in any way, assisted 
 him in its preparation. To the librarian of the 
 Fitchburg Public Library, Mr. Prescott C. Rice, and 
 his assistants, the writer feels especially indebted for 
 their uniform courtesy and efforts to aid him in col- 
 lecting material from the manifold resources of the 
 library. 
 
 The sketch is necessarily condensed and incom- 
 plete. Doubtless some facts of importance and de- 
 serving of mention have been inadvertently omitted ! 
 for, to condense the history of a place like Fitch- 
 burg, for a period of a century and a quarter, into the 
 space allowed in this volume, without making some 
 omissions, would be almost an impossibility. 
 
 It is to be hoped that the writer's intention of giv- 
 ing, in the foregoing, a fair account of the history of 
 Fitchburg, from its incorporation to the autumn of 
 1888, has been accomplished, and that the future 
 historian of the city may obtain from it numerous 
 facts never before published, which are well worth 
 elaborating in the more ample space that will be 
 given to the " History of Fitchburg " which, sooner or 
 later, must be forthcoming. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 ALVAH CROCKER. 
 
 Alvah Crocker, of Fitchburg, Mass., was born at 
 Leominster October 14, 1801. His father, Samuel 
 Crocker, was born March 22, 1774, and his mother 
 (n£e Comfort Jones) on the 23d of August, 1777. 
 Mrs. Crocker was a descendant of the celebrated 
 Adams family, and inherited all its self-reliance and 
 independence of character. Nobly struggling under 
 adverse circumstances, and unwilling to receive as- 
 sistance not absolutely necessary, she aided to nur- 
 ture the children in habits of honest industry, and to 
 accustom them to exertion, not only from necessity, 
 but also from choice. Such an education as they 
 received proved to be a greater instrument of tem- 
 poral success than large fortunes in the hands of 
 numberless children of luxury and ease. 
 
 From this sensible and energetic mother young 
 Alvah derived his most prominent characteristics. 
 
 In his father the spiritual element was more pro- 
 nounced than the secular, and revealed itself in a 
 remarkably unselfish, devoted and consistent life. 
 An earnest Christian, of the Baptist denomination, 
 
 he rarely entered into conversation without intro- 
 ducing the subject of religion. 
 
 With such a nature, developed under such influ- 
 ences, worldly success was simply a question of time 
 to the aspiring boy. Its beginnings, like those of 
 most American monarchs of industry, were suffi- 
 ciently humble. 
 
 His father's occupation was that of a vatman, in 
 the employ of Nichols & Kendall. He himself was 
 sent to work in the mills at the early age of eight 
 years. Being of studious turn, and eager to avail 
 himself of every opportunity of acquiring useful 
 knowledge, he gladly utilized the privilege of access 
 to Mr. Nichols' library, and stored up in bis memory, 
 for future use, many facts and principles ; thus 
 laying, broad and deep, the foundation for a 
 coming superstructure of imposing grandeur and use- 
 fulness. 
 
 Having once tasted " the Pierian spring," Alvah 
 Crocker's thirst became insatiable. All his energies 
 were taxed, that he might earn and accumulate 
 enough money to defray the expenses of a coveted 
 collegiate education : a plan in which he received no 
 encouragement from his father. At the age of six- 
 teen he had saved the sum of fifty dollars, with 
 which he entered Groton Academy. There he re- 
 mained for several mouths until necessity obliged 
 him to resume labor for the acquisition of further 
 funds. He did not, however, relinquish his studies, 
 but prosecuted them in the evening as diligently as 
 he attended to business during the day, and triumph- 
 antly kept pace with his class in the academy. 
 
 In 1820 the persistent youth went to work in a 
 paper-mill at Franklin, N. H., and three years after- 
 ward removed to Fitchburg, Mass., where he entered 
 the employ of General Leonard Burbank, who was 
 the pioneer of the paper manufacture in that sec- 
 tion of the State. The mill was situated where the 
 works of the Rollstone Machine Company are now 
 located, and in the midst of surroundings marvel- 
 ously different from those which encircle the latter 
 establishment. 
 
 Conscious of his own powers and laudably ambi- 
 tious to create, direct and acquire on his own account, 
 he next determined to embark in independent enter- 
 prises. In 1826, aided by borrowed capital, he erected 
 a paper-mill in a birch swamp in that part of West 
 Fitchburg subsequently known for many years as 
 Crockerville. 
 
 Hopeful, prudent and pertinacious, he never lost 
 courage, but toiled with unflagging energy and zeal 
 until he had accomplished his purposes. From this 
 epoch until 1830 life was a continuous struggle to 
 meet his many obligations. The times were hard ; 
 he W.1S in debt; a freshet injured his mill ; the mode 
 of paper manufacture changed from manual to me- 
 chanical; machinery was required for successful com- 
 petition with his rivals, and the necessit.ited outlay 
 demanded increased caiiital. Difficulties gathered 
 
Mem:pDlir.aiiRil!li=-niri; S'Xii°ra.\riiLCcoBT3Stoii- 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 311 
 
 thick and fast; but courage and force carried him 
 safely through all. 
 
 Keen to perceive in what measures his own inter- 
 ests lay, and prompt to act upon clear convictions, 
 Mr. Crocker soon abandoned the practice of consign- 
 ing his products to commission merchants for sale, 
 and took the whole of affairs into his own hands. 
 Sending his paper by his own teams into Boston, he 
 also sold it directly to customers. In truth, his finan- 
 cial situation was such as to demand the clearest 
 foresight and the shrewdest economy. He was still 
 owing twelve thousand dollars of the sum borrowed 
 for the original investment, and also four thousand 
 dollars to his commission merchants ; ten thousand 
 dollars more must be obtained for the purchase of 
 machinery to put him on equal terms with his com- 
 petitors. The great majority of men would have de- 
 spaired under such circumstances; but his strength 
 was equal to the burden, and the possibility of fail- 
 ure was not allowed to number in the factors of his 
 calculations. The capital desired was secured, busi- 
 ness prospered, debts were paid, the shoals and rocks 
 were passed, and his bark rode gallantly on the deep 
 waters. 
 
 Continuous prosperity and enlarging business in- 
 duced Mr. Crocker to build additional paper-mills, 
 and also to increase and diversify his activities by 
 entering into the construction of railroads. In 1850 
 the firm of Crocker, Burbank & Co. was organized. 
 This firm — of which the son of Mr. Crocker is a 
 prominent member — owns, at the present time, seven 
 paper-mills, and produces about fifteen tons of paper 
 daily. The Snow, or Upper Mill, was built in 1839, 
 and, after passing through several hands, came into 
 possession of Crocker, Burbank & Co. in 1862. The 
 Cascade Mill was erected in 1847, and was purchased 
 by the firm in 1863. The Upton Mill was built in 
 
 1851, and was purchased in 1859. The other mills 
 belonging to the firm were built in the following 
 order, — the Whitney Mill in 1847, the Hanna Mill in 
 
 1852, the Lyon Mill in 1853 and the Stone Mill in 
 1854, and were purchased, respectively, in 1868, 1860, 
 1869 and 1871. 
 
 Of brilliant practical endowments, ])ublic-<pirited, 
 and prone to large undertakings, Mr. Crocker clearly 
 identified his private interests with the welfare of his 
 adopted town. He thoroughly understood that what- 
 ever would increase the population, the wealth, or the 
 resources of Fitchburg, would directly or indirectly 
 be of service to each of its citizens, and would amply 
 repay the expenditure of time and money in cordial, 
 intelligent co-operation. The town had entered upon 
 a career of substantial prosperity about the year 1833, 
 and was proud of its mills, its academy, its news- 
 papers, its three churches, and prouder still of a 
 goodly number of wise and enterprising men. The 
 immense advantages of railroad transportat^/ were 
 more or less appreciated, and by none more tl / than 
 by Mr. Crocker, who bent all his disciplined ea .gies to 
 
 the construction of a railroad from Fitchburg to Bos- 
 ton. This was in 1834, at which time he prepared the 
 way for himself, and for many others, to distinction 
 and fortune. Being employed by the town of Fitch- 
 burg to build a road farther up the Nashua Valley, he 
 found the land-owners on the proposed extension 
 opposed to it, and demanding exorbitant prices for 
 the ground required ; but, nothing daunted, he bought 
 the whole Nashua Valley as far as the Westminster 
 line at the prices asked, gave the necessary land for 
 the new road, and reaped for himself and the public 
 the benefits afforded by new and improved means of 
 communication. 
 
 Such services as these very properly commend him 
 who renders them to the good graces of his fellow- 
 citizens, and distinguish him as a fitting repository of 
 public trusts. The sharp-sighted electors of Fitch- 
 burg, with these convictions, elected Mr. Crocker to 
 the lower house of the Massachusetts Legislature in 
 1835. His beneficent action in that body justified 
 the sagacity of his constituents. In 1836 he voted 
 tor the subscription by the State of one million dol- 
 lars to the completion of the Western Railroad. But 
 for his zealous advocacy, it is more than probable 
 that the subscription would not have been made — 
 certainly not at that time. Returning home, he began 
 to arouse the people of Fitchburg and the contiguous 
 towns to the incalcuable importance of direct railroad 
 communication with Boston, and did not cease to 
 agitate the subject until his wishes were realized in 
 the finished structure. His abiding conviction was 
 that Northern Massachusetts must have communica- 
 tion by rail with the tide-water, or pale into utter 
 insignificance. At first he aimed simply to secure a 
 branch road from either Worcester or Lowell ; but 
 wider kuowledge impelled him in 1842 to boldly ad- 
 vocate an independent route from Fitchburg to Bos- 
 ton. His pecuniary resources were laid under liberal 
 contribution for necessary surveys, and both the 
 routes he then selected have since been followed by 
 railroads. 
 
 In 1842 Mr. Crocker was again elected to the pop- 
 ular branch of the Legislature, and again toiled with 
 wonted zeal and efficiency for the accomplishment of 
 his favorite project. A charter was finally obtained, 
 in the presence of much ridicule and opposition, and 
 work on the Fitchburg Road was speedily begun. 
 While the new enterprise was in progress of construc- 
 tion, he went to England to buy iron and other 
 materiaW, and in different ways to foster its interests. 
 His interest in the orogress of the work, from the 
 hour that the first pick was struck into the earth un- 
 til its completion, was unfailing, and on the 5th of 
 March, 1845, he enjoyed the pleasure of riding into 
 Fitchburg on the first locomotive that ever passed 
 over the road. That was one of hi-i proudest and 
 happiest journeys. His election as first president of 
 the railroad company fittingly followed. In June the 
 same year he resigned his ofiice to enter upon the 
 
312 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 presidency ofthe Vermont and Massachusetts Bailroad 
 Company, which he continued to hold until the com- 
 pletion of the road to Brattleboro', Vermont. 
 
 Mr. Crocker's financial condition at this time was 
 one of soundness and healthful growth. 
 
 The fortitude, the heroism, the generalship of 
 former years had brought him rich substantial re- 
 ward. The construction of the Fitchburg Railroad, 
 in particular, greatly benefited both himself and the 
 town. The massive stone depot, built on thecompletion 
 of the road, was placed on land owned by him in what 
 was known as Old City. This was contrary to the 
 expectation of a large number of people, who had 
 supposed that it would be located on higher ground, 
 and that, because of the heavy grade, the road could 
 not be extended farther to the West. The citizens of 
 the upper part of the town had also desired to have 
 the depot in their neighljorhood, and were by no 
 means pleased with its location in the Old City. 
 
 "Crocker, you can never get your road out of 
 Fitchburg," his friends were wont to remark. But 
 little was said in reply. He quietly continued to 
 labor, and in less than three years work was com- 
 menced on the Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad 
 from Fitchburg to Greenfield. The latter artery of 
 social and commercial life was duly perfected ; and, 
 as we have seen, he had the honor of being its first 
 president, and held that office two years. 
 
 Mr. Crocker was afterward largely engaged in rail- 
 road operations in different parts of the State, and was 
 especially interested in the Troy and Greenfield Rail- 
 road and in completion of the Hoosac Tunnel. In 
 their behalf he delivered several hundred lectures in 
 the years 1847 and 1848, and probably did as much 
 or more than any other man in Massachusetts to make 
 the piercing of the Hoosac Mountain an engineering 
 and transportational success. When the latter work 
 fell into the hands ofthe State he was one of the com- 
 missioners charged with its administration. Nothing 
 likely to conduce to the public good seems to have 
 escaped his notice. He was prominent in bringing 
 before the citizens of Fitchburg the importance of a 
 complete system of water-works, and contributed in 
 no small degree to the embodiment of his own recom- 
 mendations. He also raised buildings for the manu- 
 factures diverse from his own specialty, and thus 
 established new branches of industrial art in the 
 town, thereby adding to its population, wealth and 
 resources. 
 
 The leading ambition of Mr. Crocker's life, so far 
 as corporate growth is concerned, was, however, less 
 in Fitchburg than in Turner's Falls. The pros- 
 perity of the latter town was what he desired more 
 than that of any other. Without loving the first 
 less, he loved the latter more. He wished to see it 
 rival Lowell, Holyoke and other manufacturing 
 cities in size and commercial importance, and even 
 to excel them; and to that end he spared nothing in 
 his wonderful genius and manifold resources. While 
 
 searching for a more direct route between Miller's 
 Falls and Greenfield than the one pursued by the 
 Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad, he had been 
 called to observe the magnificent water-power pos- 
 sessed by the Connecticut River at Turner's Falls. 
 Charmed by its natural advantages, and perceiving 
 the possibilities of a great manufacturing city around 
 the spot, he conceived the project of converting pos- 
 sibility into actuality, and, with the characteristic 
 promptitude and decision, threw himself into its exe- 
 cution. Thenceforward this gigantic .scheme took 
 almost exclusive possession of his mind. In com- 
 pany with other capitalists, whom he invited to join 
 him, he organized the Turner's Falls Company in 
 1866. The new corporation purchased the rights 
 and franchises of an old organization, known as 
 "The Proprietors of the Upper Locks and Canals on 
 the Connecticut River, in the County of Hamp- 
 shire," and proceeded to carry out their plans. 
 They also purchased largely of the lands in Mon- 
 tague, lying on the river front, near the falls. A 
 dam having a fall of thirty feet and a capacity of 
 thirty thousand horse-power, was next constructed, 
 and the water-power thus rendered available for use. 
 
 From 1866 until the time of his death the daring 
 projector worked hard for the prosperity of the new 
 town, spending large sums of money in the promo- 
 tion of its interests, and enlisting the aid of others in 
 the great undertaking. 
 
 What Mr. Crocker would have achieved in the wise 
 and energetic prosecution of his plans at Turner's 
 Falls, had his life been spared, is matter of probable 
 conjecture. Reasoning from the great results he had 
 effected in the few years devoted to the task, he would 
 doubtless have left it a splendid monument of his 
 genius and creative power. But in the midst of his 
 hopes and ambitions, and while contriving and striv- 
 ing to compass his end, he was suddenly cut down, 
 and the realizalion of his schemes devolved upon his 
 associates. The plan of a public library and of similar 
 beneficent institutions had taken definite shape in his 
 mind, and was prevented from passing into concrete 
 form by his lamented death. There are two banks in 
 Turner's Falls, — the Crocker National Bank and the 
 Crocker Institution for Savings, — both of which he was 
 instrumental in organizing. In the Crocker National 
 Bank, his son, Charles T. Crocker, is a director, and 
 of the Savings Institution he is a trustee. 
 
 Mr. Crocker was also one of the originators of the 
 Rollstone Bank at Fitchburg, in 1849, and held the 
 office of director from that time to the day of his death. 
 In 1870 Mr. Crocker was elected president ofthe bank. 
 Throughout the whole of these terms of valuable 
 service he labored incessantly for the adoption of 
 measures intended to develop the resources of North- 
 western Massachusetts. His conspicuity in this par- 
 ticular suggested the propriety of his being chosen to 
 fill the unexpired term in Congress of the Hon. Wil- 
 liam B. Washburn, who had been elected Governor of 
 
s 
 
 :> 
 
 \ 
 
<s l 
 
 /,^c^<^ /-"/-c^^ y. 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 313 
 
 the State. Mr. Crocker — a Republican in politics — 
 was accordingly elected to the vacant post, and took 
 his seat in the National House of Eepresentatives on 
 the 2d of January, 1872. He was re-elected to the 
 Forty-third Congress, — receiving 14,919 against 4,588 
 cast for his Democratic competitor, — and served from 
 January 14, 1872, until December 26, 1874, on which 
 day he died, very unexpectedly, at the age of seventy- 
 three years, two mouths and twelve days. The ordi- 
 nary bound of human life had been passed, and yet 
 there were strong probabilities of fruitful years to come. 
 But on the 19th of December — a week preceding his 
 decease — he was seized by a peculiar kind of cold, 
 epidemic at Washington, and left the capital for the 
 home in which he was so soon to die. The funeral 
 services were celebrated at Christ Church, in which an 
 appropriate sermon was delivered by a former pastor, 
 the Rev. Henry L. Jones, of Wilkesbarre, Pa. 
 
 Mr. Crocker was married three times. His first 
 wife, nee Abigail Fox, and he were united on August 
 14, 1829. She died August 21, 1847, leaving five 
 children. Miss Lucy A. Fay became his second wife 
 on the 9th of April, 1S51, and died on the 29th of 
 January, 1872. On the 20thof November of the same 
 year he was again married, to Miss Minerva Gushing. 
 Of his four daughters and one son, children of his first 
 wife, only one daughter and the son are now living. 
 
 EBENEZER TOEREYl 
 
 Ebenezer Torrey was born at Franklin, Mass., 
 August 16, 1801, and died at Fitchburg September 3, 
 1888. He was the son of John and Sally (Richard- 
 son) Torrey. He fitted for college at the academies at 
 Leicester and Lancaster, Mass.. and entered Harvard 
 University at the age of seventeen years, graduating 
 in 1822. He then went to Fitchburg and studied law 
 with John Shepley, a leading member of the Worces- 
 ter County bar, and was admitted to the bar in 1825. 
 In 1827 he formed a partnership with the late Na- 
 thaniel Wood, which continued for nearly fifty years, 
 and was one of the leading firms of lawyers in the 
 county. In 1832, upon the incorporation of the Fitch- 
 burg Bank, Mr. Torrey was chosen cashier, and, 
 although he still continued his connection with the 
 firm of Torrey & Wood, he devoted the greater part 
 of his time to the business of the bank. In 1859 he 
 was elected president of the bank, which otflce he 
 retained during the remainder of his life. 
 
 The Fitchburg Savings Bank commenced business 
 in 1846. Mr. Torrey was its first treasurer, and after- 
 wards became its pre-ident. In 1831 he was chosen 
 a director of the Worcester Mutual Fire Insurance 
 Company, and served in that position during the 
 remainder of his life, having been elected president 
 of the company in 1879. He was treasurer of the town 
 and city of Fitchburg continuously from 1840 to 1874, 
 inclusive, when he declined are-election, and was the 
 first treasurer of the Cashing Academy of Ashburn- 
 
 ham. In 1831 and 1847 he represented the town of 
 Fitchburg in the Legislature, and in 1849 was one of 
 the five Senators from Worcester County. In 1852 he 
 was chosen a Presidential elector, and voted for Gen. 
 Winfield Scott. In 1853 he served in the Executive 
 Council with Governor Cliflbrd, and during the suc- 
 ceeding year with Governor Emory Washburn. In 
 1825 he married Frances Houghton, of Fitchburg, who 
 died in 1831, leaving two daughters, the elder of whom 
 was the wife of George A. Cunningham, of Boston, and 
 the younger is the wife of Hiram A. Blood, of Fitch- 
 burg. In 1832 he married Sarah Arnold, of Ux- 
 bridge, who, with their only son, George A. Torrey, of 
 Boston, survives him. 
 
 In the words of Rev. Mr. Pierson, who preached his 
 funeral discourse, "The key-note of Mr. Torrey's char- 
 acter was personal honor and uprightness. He was 
 a man to be depended upon. You could trust him in 
 all relations and emergencies. His lite and action 
 moved on like clock-work — the regulation and routine 
 of good habits. From early manhood to old age he 
 scarcely took an extended vacation. More than many 
 men he seemed to have the capacity for continuous 
 work. His was a busy, active, industrious life. 
 
 " Another secret of Mr. Torrey's sanity of mind and 
 body was his commingled intelligence and humor. He 
 had at once wisdom and wit. This humor was not oc- 
 casional with him. It was habitual. It was ingrained 
 in his temperament. He saw the ludicrous as well 
 as the sublime side of things. He chose the sunny, 
 rather than the shady paths of life." 
 
 EUGENE T. MILES. 
 
 Hon. Eugene Temple Miles, second mayor of the 
 city of Fitchburg. familiarly known in Fitchburg as 
 Captain Miles, was born in Framingham, Mass., Au- 
 gust 26, 1826. He was the son of Jonas M. and Anstis 
 (Kendall) Miles. 
 
 His father, Dea. Miles, was a resident ofShrewsbury 
 for many years, but the family were temporarily residing 
 in Framingham at the above-named date. The name of 
 Miles, or Myles, as it frequently appears upon the an- 
 cient records, belongs to a family of honorable men- 
 tion in the annals of the Commonwealth. John Miles, 
 the emigrant ancestor, was a resident of Concord as 
 early as 1637, and in that town, or immediate vicinity, 
 he was succeeded by his son Samuel, while his grand- 
 son Samuel removed in 1729 to Shrewsbury, from 
 whom the deceased was the fifth generation in descent, 
 and the seventh generation since the emigration to 
 New England. 
 
 In early manhood Mr. Miles was several years in 
 the hardware trade in Worcester, as clerk, and for a 
 short time the junior partner of Poole & Miles. In 
 January, 1856, he removed to Fitchburg, where he 
 continued to reside until his death. During the first 
 few months of his residence here he w.ts associated in 
 business with A. G. Page at West Fitchburg, but in 
 
314 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 July of the same year (1856) Mr. Papesolrl his inter- 
 est to Augustus Whitman, and the firm of Whitman 
 & Miles entered upon a long and highly .successful ca- 
 reer. The business, as is well known to all our resi- 
 dent readers, was the manufacture of cutting-knives, 
 including a variety of edge tools and kindred wares. 
 Under skillful management the business constantly 
 increased until an annual business of from $100,000 to 
 $250,000 has been done, and in a few instances the 
 larger sum has been exceeded. 
 
 In 1869 extensive branch works were established in 
 Akron, Ohio, and in 1864 the firm was succeeded by 
 a stock company, but the name was little changed, 
 and the name of the deceased has been honorably 
 and prominently connected with the business for 
 twenty years, being president of the company from 
 the date of its incorporation until his death. 
 
 He was connected with a number of other manu- 
 facturing companies in Fitchburg, and also at Akron, 
 Ohio. 
 
 Large and intimate as have been his business con- 
 nections with Fitchburg, Mr. Miles has been inti- 
 mately associated with the civil and monetary afi'airs 
 of the town for many years, and has frequently been 
 chosen to positions of responsibility and trust. 
 
 He was a member of the Board of Selectmen in 
 1864, '65, '66 and '72, and mayor of the city in 1875. 
 He was one of the directors of the Fitchburg 
 National Bank, and one of the trustees of the Fitch- 
 burg Savings Bank. 
 
 He was also president of the Worcester North 
 Agricultural Society, and a member of the State 
 Board of Agriculture, and one of the vice-presidents 
 of the Fitchburg Board of Trade since its organiza- 
 tion. 
 
 In all these positions of trust he evinced rare good 
 judgment and executive ability. It has been re- 
 marked by a gentleman who knew him intimately, 
 that whatever he did, he did well. 
 
 In habits of thought he was rapid but exact, and 
 much of his influence and ability to put into success- 
 ful operation what would be mere day-dreams in the 
 minds of others were the result of a faculty of 
 swiftly weighing and passing judgment upon ques- 
 tions of moment that claimed his attention. His 
 impulses were generous and lofty, his manners urbane, 
 and his treatment of his associates kind and con- 
 siderate. 
 
 Captain Miles was an earnest supporter of the 
 Union Army during the late war; ever ready to aid 
 the soldiers and their families. 
 
 He enlisted early in the war, but the health of his 
 partner failed, which left the sole management of a 
 very extensive business entirely to his care, compell- 
 ing him to resign his commission as captain of Com- 
 pany A, Fifty-third Regiment of Massachusetts 
 Volunteers, before the regiment left its quarters in 
 New York for active service in the field. At the 
 close of the war he was captain of the Fusileers one year. 
 
 His labor in connection with the soldiers' monu- 
 ment and the beautiful square in which it stands, and 
 the admirable report which in behalf of the commit- 
 tee he made at the time it was formally presented to 
 the city, are subjects of record, and will long remain 
 an enduring inscription to his memory, announcing 
 at once his patriotic interest in the work, and his abil- 
 ity to give efficient shape to lofty impulses. 
 
 In the very meridian of his manhood and in the 
 midst of usefulness he was called from the scenes of 
 this life. He died very suddenly at his residence on 
 Blossom Street, June 26, 1876. Better known to all 
 the citizens of Fitchburg, both rich and poor, than al- 
 most any other man, and bound up as he was with so 
 many of the mercantile interests of the city, his loss 
 was severely felt. 
 
 His characteristics were a devotion to the welfare of 
 his adopted city, honesty of official life as well as in- 
 tegrity in business affairs of every description, and the 
 exercise of those estimable qualities that go to make 
 up the companion and friend ; and it may be truly 
 said of him that in his death the poor man, the sol- 
 dier and the soldier's family lost a sincere friend. 
 
 GARDNER S. BURBANK. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was born in Montpelier, 
 Vt., July 22, 1809. He was a son of Silas and Bath- 
 sheba (Egery) Burbank, and the youngest of a family 
 of eleven children. 
 
 Mr. Burbank was educated in the schools of his 
 native town, but at a comparatively early age en- 
 tered upon an occupation that seems to have been 
 hereditary in the family — that of paper-making. 
 
 His grandfather, Abijah Burbank, lived in Mill- 
 bury, Mass., and erected and operated in that town 
 the first paper-mill in Worcester County, and one of 
 the first built in this State. Almost all of Abijah Bur- 
 bank's children and grandchildren were paper manu- 
 fiicturers. General Leonard Burbank, who operated 
 the first paper-mill in Fitchburg, was his grandson 
 and a cousin of Gardner S. Burbank. 
 
 Gardner S. Burbank began paper-making in Mont- 
 pelier, Vt., but in 1827 went to Millbury, Mass., 
 where, for seven years, he was associated with his 
 uncle, (xeneral Caleb Burbank, in the paper business. 
 He then went to Worcester, where, for eleven years, 
 he operated a paper-mill, formerly owned by another 
 uncle, Elijah Burbank. 
 
 In 1846 he moved to Russell, and formed a partner- 
 ship with Cyrus W. Field and Marshall Fales. The 
 firm erected a large paper-mill and ran it for about 
 five years, at the end of which time Mr. Burbank, 
 being in poor health, withdrew from the firm, and 
 in October, 1851, came to Fitchburg. He then formed 
 a partnership with the late Hon. Alvah Crocker, at 
 whose earnest solicitation he came to this town, under 
 the name of Crocker & Burbank. C. T. Crocker was 
 admitted to the firm in 1855, and G. F. Fay and S. 
 

oil'yv) S^'^yfiWba 4rb 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 315 
 
 E. Crocker in 1S63, and the paper manufacturing firm 
 of Crocker, Burbank & Co. developed into the leading 
 one in Fitchburg during Mr. Burbank's fifteen years' 
 connection with it. 
 
 In 1866 he disposed of his interest in the firm and 
 retired from active business; but his sterling integrity 
 and sound judgment made him the recipient of many 
 offices of trust. In addition to many important pri- 
 vate trusts, he was a director of the Fitchburg Na- 
 tional Bank from 1871 till his death ; a director of the 
 Fitchburg Mutual Fire Insurance Company since 
 July, 1876; a trustee of the Fitchburg Savings Bank 
 since June, 1875; and a member of the board of in- 
 vestment of that institution from 1875 to 1885. 
 
 Mr. Burbank married, at Auburn, May 23, 1837, 
 Mary Siblev, who died at Worcester December 4, 
 1839. On May 27, 1841, he married Sarah W. Grout, 
 who survives him. Their three children are all de- 
 ceased. Edwin H. died August 18, 1855, at the age 
 of thirteen ; Mary J. died August 26, 1861, aged six- 
 teen years; and Sarah F., wife of Dr. F. B.Joy, 
 died February 10, 1879, at the age of twenty-nine 
 years. 
 
 His modesty led him to decline public positions 
 during his many years of residence in Fitchburg, and 
 the only times that he has consented to be a candi- 
 date for public office have been when his name would 
 add .strength to the weaker, and what he considered 
 the better, cause. While residing in Russell he 
 represented the town in the Legislature in 1849 and 
 1850. 
 
 Mr. Burbank was always deeply interested in what- 
 ever tended to increase the prosperity of Fitchburg, 
 and his wish and decree as to the ultimate disposal 
 of his large property show not only his great regard 
 for the city of his adoption, but also his warm, gen- 
 erous heart and his love for humanity. During his 
 life also he was constantly aiding the poor, the unfor- 
 tunate and the struggling ; but the amount of good 
 he thus accomplished can never be known, as he 
 carefully avoided publicity and sought methods of 
 assisting others which would not meet the public 
 eye. 
 
 Many a timely loan has he made to young men 
 who were striving to establish themselves in business, 
 or acquire an education ; and oftentimes the only 
 security that could be given was the honor of the 
 recipient. 
 
 Mr. Burbank's excellent habits and strong will un- 
 doubtedly prolonged his life many years. From 
 early childhood his health was not good, and since 
 middle life has been seriously impaired. He closed 
 his long and useful life on the 7th of February, 
 1888. 
 
 His bequest, so generous and ample, to the city of 
 Fitchburg, which will cause his memory to be 
 blessed for generations to come, cannot be better 
 spoken of than by quoting the following extracts 
 from his will. 
 
 After providing for certain bequests, the residue of 
 the property is placed in the hands of trustees, and, 
 after paying some annuities, the income is given to 
 Mrs. Burbank for life. At her decease the following 
 clauses become operative : 
 
 " And the remainder of said principal not herein- 
 before disposed of under the preceding provisions of 
 this will, I direct my trustees to pay over to the city 
 of Fitchburg, as far as, and as fast as, it is released 
 from the charges and annuities hereinbefore created, 
 for the founding and maintaining of a hospital for 
 the care of the sick. And while I do not wish to 
 embarrass this gift with provisions and restrictions, 
 but desire that the city shall carefully and consider- 
 ately carry my plan into execution, believing that 
 founders of benevolent institutions like the one I 
 contemplate often create great difficulties by endeav- 
 oring to settle in advance the details of the work 
 they have projected, still I wish to indicate, in gen- 
 eral terms, two purposes which I desire to have ex- 
 ecuted. 
 
 " First, I desire that a substantial and commodious 
 hospital building shall be erected, and as I trust that 
 my charity may survive and do good to the poor and 
 sick for many generations, and also believe that the 
 City of Fitchburg will in time be a large and prosper- 
 ous city, I would suegest that the sum of at least $100,- 
 000 be devoted to the purchase of the necessary land 
 and the erection of the structure. And I also request 
 and direct that while those who are able to pay 
 for the services rendered them in the hospital may be 
 subjected to such moderate and reasonable charge as is 
 usual in such cases in similar charitable institutions, 
 those, on the other hand, who are in poverty and sick- 
 ness shall ever be received and cared for kindly and 
 tenderly, ' without money and without price,' and 
 without regard to color or nationality. 
 
 " It is by the request of my wife, whose good judg- 
 ment has so greatly aided me in all the affairs and 
 purposes of my life, that I was led to make the fore- 
 going provision for the foundation of a huspital." 
 
 This bequest will be ample to insure to Fitchburg, 
 at some future time, an excellent hospital, which will 
 be at once a lasting memorial to the munificent 
 founder and a great blessing to the community. 
 
 JOHN PUTNAM. 
 
 John Putnam, the founder of the Putnam Machine 
 Company, and the pioneer of the machine business in 
 Fitchburg, was born in Peterboro', N. H., October 14, 
 1810. 
 
 He was a descendent, in the seventh generation, of 
 John Putnam, who, with his wife, Priscilla, came 
 from Abbot-Aston, near Aylesbury, England, in 1634, 
 and settled in Salem, Mass. John's eldest son, Thomas, 
 first settled in Lynn, but soon removed to Salem Vil- 
 lage (now Danvers.) The next in line was Edward, 
 whose son, Elisha, removed iu 1725 to Sutton, Mass. 
 
316 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 — incorporated teu years before — where he purchased 
 a large tract of land for a farm. Elisha's son, John, 
 spent his life in Sutton, and was a scythe-maker. His 
 son, John, the father of John — the subject of this 
 sketch — was also a scythe-maker. 
 
 Mr. Putnam was closely connected in descent with 
 General Israel Putnam, and also with General Rufus 
 Putnam, wlio was commissioned lieutenant-colonel at 
 the beginning of the Revolutionary War, and super- 
 intended the construction of fortifications at Brook- 
 line, Roxbury and Dorchester Heights. In August, 
 1776, he was appointed chief engineer of the Conti- 
 nental Army, with the rank of brigadier-general, and 
 superintended the construction of fortifications at 
 West Point, the most important one — Fort Putnam — 
 being named for him. He enjoyed the confidence 
 and esteem of General Washington. 
 
 General Rufus Putnam was one of the earliest set- 
 tlers of Ohio, and in 1788 fouuded the city of Mari- 
 etta, the first permanent settlement made in that 
 State. 
 
 John Putnam, during early life, assisted his father 
 at scythe-making. When fourteen years old he be- 
 came an apprentice at the shop of Loammi Chamber- 
 lain, a machinist at Mason Village (now Greenville), 
 N. H., where he served five years, working fourteen 
 hours per day. He had the privilege of four weeks' 
 schooling each year, working before and after school- 
 hours. 
 
 After completing his apprenticeship with Mr. 
 Chamberlain he continued in his employ, receiving 
 one dollar per day as wages, and in 1835 he hired a 
 part of his employer's shop and tools and began the 
 manufacture of cottou-machinery. At this time his 
 younger brother, Salmon W. Putnam, then nineteen 
 years old, began working for him as an apprentice. 
 
 In 1830 he went to Trenton, N. J., and made ar- 
 rangements to start a machine-shop there, and on his 
 return to Mason Village he set about making the ma- 
 chinery and necessary tools for his future business. 
 His plan of going to Trenton was, however, destroyed 
 by the panic of 1837, the parties who had agreed to 
 erect a building for him there deciding it was inex- 
 pedient to do so. 
 
 Mr. Putnam, after storing the machines and tools 
 he had made, sought employment elsewhere and soon 
 obtained a situation as repairer of machinery at 
 Deacon Smith's cotton-factory at East Wilton, N. H. 
 Shortly thereafter the mill was burned and Mr. Put- 
 nam obtained another situation in Samuel Wood's 
 cotton-factory in Ashburnham, Mass. After working 
 there some months he hired a room in Mr. Wood's 
 factory, and moving his tools, etc., from their place of 
 storage in Mason Village, set them up there. He then 
 took his younger brother, who was without capital or 
 experience in the business, as an equal partner, and 
 began business under the style of J. & S. W. Putnam. 
 
 The tools with which the firm started in 1837 con- 
 sisted of one 24-inch swing lathe, two small screw- 
 
 cutting lathes, one chucking and one polishing lathe, 
 an upright drill and gear-cutter, two die-stocks, taps, 
 dies, reamers and mandrels. 
 
 After having remained in Ashburnham nearly a year 
 and not being satisfied with their prospects in that 
 place, the brothers removed to the neighboring town 
 of Fitchburg, which then had a population of a little 
 over two thousand inhabitants. 
 
 The history of the firm and of its great successor, 
 the Putnam Machine Company, is fully given in the 
 section on Iron Industries in thesk°,tch of Fitchburg. 
 
 John Putnam was extremely ingenious and a very 
 skilful workman. Much of the new kinds of machin- 
 ery made by the firm was devised by him ; and from 
 the first and for many years he made all the patterns 
 and forgings used in their business. Gear-cutting 
 machines, new machinery for paper-making, gauge 
 lathes for making bobbins, etc., may be mentioned 
 among his many inventions. 
 
 In the early years of the business Mr. Putnam, 
 being the only one competent to superintend the me- 
 chanical part of the enterprise, devoted his entire ener- 
 gies to make it a success, denying himself and his 
 family, in a great measure, that he might put every 
 dollar derived from the business back into it. He 
 became so engrossed in its management, never allow- 
 ing a moment of recreation to himself, that he gave 
 slight heed to the outside and pecuniary part of the 
 business, which he entrusted to his younger brother, 
 Salmon W. Putnam. He did more hard work and 
 furnished more capital toward building up the enter- 
 prise than any one else; and the business of the Put- 
 nam Machine Company of to-day represents the 
 growth of an enterprise established mainly by his 
 skill and untiring energy through long years of unre- 
 mitting toil and self-denial. 
 
 Soon after the decease of S. W. Putnam, February 
 23, 1872, the presidency of the Putnam Machine 
 Company was offered to John Putnam ; but, having 
 been confined to the mechanical part of the business 
 ail his life, and not wishing, at that late day, to as- 
 sume the responsibilities involved, he declined the 
 position and used his influence to place Charles F. 
 Putnam in the president's chair. 
 
 Up to the time of his death Mr. Putnam was a 
 heavy stockholder, and for many years a director in 
 the Putnam Machine Company ; and until he retired 
 from business, in 1886, he energetically kept at work 
 with unimpaired skill, and was daily found in his 
 apartment. 
 
 Mr. Putnam married, in 1834, Miss Sophronia 
 Chapman, of Cambridge, Mass. She died February 
 14, 1866, leaving three sons, — John L., H. Marshall 
 and Charles W., — all of whom follow the business of 
 their father, and two daughters, now Mrs. C. C. Strat- 
 ton and Mrs. Edward Newitt. 
 
 In 1879 he married Mrs. Helen Domett, of Hyde 
 Park, Mass., who survives him. 
 
 Mr. Putnam was one of the first members of the 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 sn 
 
 Methodist Episcopal Society in Fitchburg. He was 
 always deeply interested in the welfare of the church 
 and contributed generously toward its support. He 
 was trustee Irom 1858 till his death, July 31, 1888, and 
 one of the largest donors to the building fund for the 
 handsome and substantial Methodist Church recently 
 erected in this city ; and his pledge of two thousand 
 dollars was at once the incentive and nucleus around 
 which gathered the means that insured its erection ; 
 and he afterwards made liberal contributions to the 
 same worthy object. 
 
 Mr. Putnam was one of our oldest citizens, and 
 much respected for his great mechanical skill, his 
 strict integrity and his pleasant, unostentatious man- 
 ners. At the time of his death he was nearly 
 seventy-eight years old ; he had been a resident of 
 Fitchburg for just half a century, and lived to see 
 the machine business of this place increase from the 
 accommodations of the twenty by thirty room that he 
 and his brother hired in 1838, in the " Burbank Paper- 
 Mill," to its present enormous proportions. 
 
 LTJTHEB JULIUS BEOWN. 
 
 Luther J. Brown was born in the town of Eden, 
 Vermont, on December 31, 1827, and was the oldest 
 of a family of four children. His parents were Luther 
 H. and Bersheba (Shattuck) Brown. 
 
 His early education was acquired in the district 
 schools of his native town and at the academy in 
 Johnson, Vt. ; and later he was a student at Appleton 
 Academy, New Ipswich, N. H. He was fond of study 
 and fitted for college, but financial reverses obliged 
 him to give up his intention of obtaining a collegiate 
 education. 
 
 His father kept a dry-goods and grocery store in 
 Eden, and for a time the young man was engaged in 
 this store, where he gained his first experience in 
 mercantile business. 
 
 In May, 1843, his mother died, and in June, 1845, 
 the family removed to Manchester, N. H. During 
 the greater part of this interval of two years young 
 Brown was iu Hyde Park, in the employ of Noyes 
 Brothers, who kept a large country store. In Man- 
 chester he worked in one of the mills and was also 
 employed part of the time in a hardware store. 
 
 In 1850, when twenty -three years of age, Mr. Brown 
 went to Boston and became a clerk in the large whole- 
 sale and retail dry-goods house of Brett, Ellis & Co., 
 located on Federal Street. He remained in their 
 employ several years and acquired a thorough and 
 valuable knowledge of the business. For a year he 
 had charge of a branch store of the firm in Natick. 
 
 In August, 1855, Mr. Brown came to Fitchburg to 
 locate permanently, as it proved. He very soon 
 formed a copartnership with A. B. Sherman in the 
 dry-goods business, and the firm, whose store was in 
 the building next below the present Rollstone Bank 
 block, enjoyed a flourishing trade. The partnership 
 
 lasted about three years. During this period he mar- 
 ried, January 13, 1856, Miss Sarah P. Harding, of East 
 Medway, who, by her tact, courtesy and ability, con- 
 tributed essentially to the marked success which ere 
 long crowned her husband's mercantile life in Fitch- 
 burg. 
 
 In 1860 Mr. Brown formed a partnership with 
 Charles Kimball, of Haverhill. The firm of Kimball 
 & Brown occupied a store located on the spot where 
 now stands the handsome structure known far and 
 near as the " L. J. Brown Block." 
 
 It was about this time that Mr. Brown performed a 
 feat that attracted widespread attention. In the fall 
 of 1860 there was a sharp and spirited contest over 
 the Representative to Congress from this district, 
 which resulted in the election of Hon. Goldsmith F. 
 Bailey, of Fitchburg, over Hon. Eli Thayer, of Wor- 
 cester. Mr. Brown favored Mr. Thayer and entered 
 into an agreement with Mr. Silas Buggies, a druggist 
 here, who favored Mr. Bailey, that the one favoring 
 the defeated candidate '" should wheel in a barrow 
 from his place of business in Fitchburg to the hotel 
 in Leominster a well-known gentleman of the 'colored 
 persuasion,' named Ben. Franklin." Mr. Brown's 
 candidate being defeated, in accordance with the 
 agreement, he began his arduous task at one o'clock 
 Thursday afternoon, November 8, 1860. Over a 
 thousand people were present to see him start .and the 
 Leominster Baud furnished music. Mr. Brown ac- 
 complished the journey of five miles in two hours and 
 a quarter, with but seven rests, which was doing 
 pretty well, as the negro weighed one hundred and 
 sixty-five pounds. About a thousand people wel- 
 comed Mr. Brown on his arrival at Leominster. In 
 the evening Mr. Brown gave a supper to some twenty- 
 five of his friends. The fulfilment of this novel bet 
 created quite a sensation at the time. 
 
 In 1862 Mr. Brown bought Mr. Kimball's interest 
 in the firm, and in April of that year commenced 
 business on his own account, having his wife and a 
 boy to assist him. He soon built up a large trade, 
 purchased the building and enlarged it at five diflerent 
 times. In 1882 he built the present handsome brown- 
 stone front. 
 
 Mr. Brown began with dry-goods and cloak -mak- 
 ing, but dress-making was soon added. The carpet 
 department was established in 1882 and the millinery 
 parlor the year following. At the time of his death 
 over fifty people were employed in the store. 
 
 Mr. Brown's death, September 29, 1884, was keenly 
 felt by the citizens and was a severe loss to the city. 
 The sincere grief of the community was evinced by 
 the profusion of mourning emblems visible on every 
 side. 
 
 Private funeral services were held at the family 
 residence on Blossom Street early in the afternoon of 
 October 1st. Later in the day public services were 
 held in Christ Church (Episcopal), under the direc- 
 tion of Jerusalem Commandery, K. T., and King 
 
318 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 David Encampment, I. O. O. F. Thousands of people 
 passed through the church to look for the last time 
 on the face of the dead merchant. The floral offer- 
 ings of friends, employes and organizations were pro- 
 fuse and elegant. 
 
 All the places of business throughout the city were 
 closed for the day at noon out of respect for the de- 
 ceased. 
 
 Mr. Brown was a thorough business man. In addi- 
 tion to his large establishment here he had, for three 
 years, a branch store at Shelburne Falls. His promi- 
 nence was, however, by no means confined to his 
 special line of trade. He held many positions of trust 
 and honor. He was a director in the Wachusett 
 National Bank from its organization in 1875 ; vice- 
 president of the Worcester North Savings Institution, 
 and trustee since its incorporation ; president of tlie 
 Wachusett Electric Light Company from its organiza- 
 tion, and the first president of the Old Ladies' Home. 
 He represented Fitchburg in the Legislature in 1878- 
 79. He was a prominent Mason and Odd Fellow, and 
 a vestryman of Clirist Church. 
 
 Mr. Brown's social qualities gained him many warm 
 personal friends ; he was of a benevolent disposition, 
 and always ready to aid any worthy object. The 
 hall in bis block was freely opened for all meetings — 
 political, religious or temperance — and for several 
 years he furnished the hall, warmed and lighted, 
 for meetings of the Railroad Men's Christian Asso- 
 ciation. 
 
 He was active in whatever tended to promote the 
 growth and prosperity of Fitchburg, and it is safe to 
 say that the death of no other citizen could have pro- 
 duced a profounder sensation or more sincere sorrow 
 than did that of Mr. Brown. 
 
 CHARLES BURLEIGH. 
 
 Mr. Burleigh was born in Watnrville, Me., August 
 30, 1824, and was one of a large family. 
 
 He attended the schools of his native town, and 
 early showed a natural aptitude for mechanical pur- 
 suits. When a boy, he entered the shop of Mr. 
 William Brown, a blacksmith of the town, wliere he 
 was employed in ironing carriages and doing similar 
 work, displaying great aptness and ingenuity. 
 
 He worked here until he was eighteen years old, 
 when, from a youthful love of adventure, and desire 
 to look abroad, he left home for a wlialing voyage of 
 three years, during which time he visited all quarters 
 of the globe. 
 
 Soon after his return from tlie voyage he went to 
 East Boston, where, for several years, he was in the 
 employ of Otis Tufts. 
 
 In 1850 he married, and in October of the same 
 year came to Fitchburg, wliere lie continued to 
 reside until his death, which occurred May 28, 1883. 
 
 Immediately after arriving in Fitchburg he entered 
 the employ of J. & S. W. Putnam & Co., and soon 
 
 became a member of the firm ; and when the Putnam 
 Machine Company was organized, four years later, he 
 became one of the stockholders, and continued to be 
 largely interested in the company during the rest of 
 his life. For more than twenty years he was a direc- 
 tor in the company. 
 
 For several years prior to 186& he was one of the 
 superintendents of the Putnam Machine Company, 
 but his other important business interests outside the 
 works obliged him to give up the position. 
 
 About 1865 Mr. Burleigh, appreciating the difficul- 
 ties that were being encountered in the eflbrt to com- 
 plete the Hoosaic Tunnel by the use of hand-drills, 
 applied himself to the arduous task of perfecting a 
 power-drill, former efforts in this direction having 
 proved wholly unsuccessful. The result was the Bur- 
 leigh Rock-drill and Air-compressor, and to these two 
 machines the successful completion of this great work 
 may unquestionably be ascribed. 
 
 In 1867 Mr. Burleigh founded the Burleigh Rock- 
 drill Company, with a capital of $150,000, to manu- 
 facture these machines and place them on the market; 
 since then they have found a ready sale in nearly all 
 portions of the world, and have made a most impor- 
 tant addition to the machinery interests of Fitchburg. 
 These machines have since been used for the success- 
 ful completion of various difficult engineering feats, 
 and their advent marked a new era in the history of 
 the development of mines. In connection with these 
 two important inventions Mr. Burleigh's name has 
 become widely known. 
 
 Mr. Burleigh made many valuable inventions, and 
 various improvements in other departments of me- 
 chanics, and secured a large number of patents. 
 
 Later in life he became interested in railroads, and 
 was a director of the Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and 
 New Bedford Railroad for several years previous to its 
 consolidation with the Old Colony Railroad, and after 
 the disasters of 1877 he rendered signal service in 
 saving the common stock from wreck, and in placing 
 the preferred stock on a basis which secured to the 
 creditors who accepted it more than the full amount 
 of their claims. 
 
 He was also one of the promoters of the New York 
 and Boston Inland Railroad. 
 
 His large business interests caused him to be inti- 
 mately connected with banking organizations in town, 
 and he was a director of the Wachusett National Bank 
 from its organization. 
 
 Charles Burleigh was, in the true sense of the word, 
 a self-made man. He possessed an acute, well-fur- 
 nished mind, and had acquired a large fund of infor- 
 mation on a wide range of subjects, especially those 
 connected with mechanical and mining industries. 
 The position lie achieved in the various spheres of 
 usefulness was not the result of accident or chance, 
 but the legitimate fruit of a life of hard work, patient 
 industry and untiring perseverance. 
 
 It may justly be said of him that he did not trifle 
 
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FITCHBUKG. 
 
 319 
 
 with the work he had in hand, but entered upon his 
 every-day life thoroughly equipped for the struggle, 
 and he fought hard and long for success, always using 
 unimpeachable methods to attain the desired end. 
 
 RODNEY WALLACE. 
 
 Rodney Wallace was born in New Ipswich, N. H., 
 December 21, 1823, the son of David and Roxauna 
 Wallace. At the age of twelve he left his home to 
 work for a farmer for the sum of forty dollars for the 
 first year, with the privilege of attending school eight 
 weeks in the winter. At the age of eighteen he was 
 driving freight teams from various places in New 
 Hampshire and Vermont to Boston, and in 1843, at 
 the age of twenty, he entered the employ of Dr. 
 Stephen Jewett, of Rindge, N. H., and traveled 
 through five of the New England States selling Jew- 
 ett's medicines, then well-known and celebrated. He 
 remained here until 1853, when he came to Fitch- 
 burg and formed a copartnership with Stephen Shep- 
 ley, known as Shepley & Wallace. The firm were 
 wholesale dealers in books, stationery, paper and 
 cotton waste, and continued under that name and the 
 name of R. Wallace & Co. until July 1, ISiio. On this 
 day the firm was dissolved and the business divided, 
 Mr. Wallace taking the cotton waste department, 
 which he still carries on. 
 
 The business has grown, and now he handles 
 about one-quarter of a million dollars' worth of 
 waste a year. 
 
 December 31, 18t?4, Stephen Shepley, Benjamin 
 Snow and Rodney Wallace bought the Lyon Paper- 
 Mill and Kimball Scythe-Shops, at West Fitchburg, 
 and began the manufecture of paper under the name 
 of the West Fitchburg Paper Company, which name 
 has been retained to the present time. Mr. Wallace 
 purchased the interest of his partners, and in Janu- 
 ary, 1869, became sole proprietor of the property. 
 Since becoming sole owner he has added largely to 
 the original plant, erected many dwellings, a depot 
 and two new mills, complete with all the most mod- 
 ern improvements, and now produces thirty thou- 
 sand pounds of paper every twenty-four hours. 
 
 Since 1864 he has been president and director of 
 the Fitchburg Gas Company; a director of the Put- 
 nam Machine Company since the same year; a di- 
 rector of the Fitchburg National Bank since 1866 ; 
 a partner in the Fitchburg Woolen-Mill Company 
 since 1877 ; and a trustee of Smith College, North- 
 ampton, since 1878. He is a director of the Fitch- 
 burg Mutual Fire Insurance Company ; a trustee of 
 the Fitchburg Savings Bank ; a director of the 
 Fitchburg Railroad Company ; a director of the 
 Springfield Trust Company ; and a large stockholder 
 in the Parkhill Manufacturing Company. Besides 
 these he has had the settlement of several large and 
 important estates. 
 
 For politics Mr. Wallace has had but little ambi- 
 
 tion. He was selectman of the town during the 
 years 1864, '65 and '67. 
 
 He was representative to the General Court in 
 1873, and was unanimously renominated the next 
 year, but declined a re-election on account of ill 
 health. He served as councilor throughout the en- 
 tire administration of Governor Long, during the 
 years 1880, '81 and '82, and in 1888 was elected to 
 represent the Eleventh District in Congress. 
 
 July 1, 1885, was dedicated the Wallace Library 
 and Art Building. This building was erected by Mr. 
 Wallace, at an expense of eighty-four thousand dol- 
 lars, and presented by him to the city of Fitchburg 
 free from all conditions except that " it should be 
 under the care and management of the Board of 
 Trustees of the Public Library for the time being, 
 and to be used for a Free Public Library, Reading- 
 Rooms and Art Gallery, and for no other purpose." 
 The building is admirably adapted to the use for 
 which it was intended, and is a continuous source of 
 profit and pleasure to all classes of citizens. 
 
 Mr. Wallace married, December 1, 1853, Sophia 
 lugalls, daughter of Thomas Ingalls, of Rindge, 
 N. H. She died June 20, 1871, leaving two sons — 
 Herbert I. and George R. Wallace. They are asso- 
 ciated with their father in the management of his 
 business. December 28, 1876, Mr. Wallace married 
 Mrs. Sophia F. Bailey, of Woodstock, Vt. 
 
 GEORGE JEWETT, M.D. 
 
 George Jewett, M.D., of Fitchburg, Mass., was 
 born in Rindge, N. H., April 28, 1825. The ances- 
 tors of the Jewett family, the brothers Maximilian 
 and Joseph Jewett, came to this country in 1638 from 
 Bradford, Yorkshire, England, with about sixty other 
 families, who settled the town of Rowley, Mass. The 
 descendants of these brothers, under various forms 
 of the name, are found in nearly every State and 
 Territory in the Union. The Rindge branch of the 
 family has been identified with the history of the 
 town from its settlement. Many of the family 
 throughout New England, including several near 
 relatives of the subject of this sketch, have chosen 
 the medical profession. His father, Thomas Jewett, 
 M.D., was for many years a highly-esteemed practi- 
 tioner in Rindge. 
 
 George Jewett received his early education in the 
 schools of his native town, at the Appleton Academy, 
 New Ipswich, and at the academy at Hancock, N. H. 
 Being led both by natural preference and paternal 
 example to select the medical profession as his future 
 field of usefulness, he matriculated at the Vermont 
 Medical College in Woodstock, Vt., in 1845. There 
 he attended two courses of lectures. Thence he re- 
 paired to the Berkshire Medical School, from which 
 he graduated in 1847. Subsequently he attended 
 another course at Harvard Medical College, in which 
 he had the privileges of hospital practice, under the 
 
320 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 tuition of the late eminent Dr. Jacob Bigelow, of 
 Boston. 
 
 Dr. Jewett entered upon the practice of his profes- 
 sion in the latter part of the year 1847, at Baldwins- 
 ville, Mass., where lie resided till the summer of 1853, 
 when he removed to Gardner and practiced success- 
 fully in that town for about five years. 
 
 In 1858 he sought and found a wider field for 
 energy and skill in Fitchburg, where he now resides. 
 During the war for tlie preservation of the Union he 
 entered the service of the United States in January, 
 1862, as assistant surgeon of the Tenth Massachusetts 
 Volunteer Infantry. He was in General McClel- 
 lan's army through the disastrous campaign of the 
 Peninsula. During the summer, on the banks of 
 the Chickahominy, sickness prevailed to such an ex- 
 tent, that at one time he was the only commissioned 
 medical officer on duty in his brigade. At the battle 
 of Yorktown he received an order to take charge of 
 a hundred wagons, to collect and carry to Yorktown 
 all the sick and vcounded left behind on the advance 
 of the army. In this trying and arduous service he 
 removed the sick from the camp to the wagons, .some- 
 times only with the help of a female nurse, being 
 obliged to carry them on his back. On the arrival of 
 the hospital train at Yorktown he was detailed for 
 liospital duty. Soon after he was ordered in charge 
 of hospital steamer "Arrowsmith." In this position 
 his duty brouglit him much into the company of 
 medical officers of the Navy. He carried the 
 wounded and sick from various camps on the Pa- 
 munky and James Rivers to Annapolis, Baltimore 
 and other sanitaria. He was ordered to join his reg- 
 iment at the commencement of the "seven days' 
 fight" in front of Richmond, and at the battle of 
 Malvern Hill volunteered, with two other medical 
 officers, to remain behind as prisoners of war in care 
 of the wounded. On this occa.sion Dr. Jewett was 
 selected to surrender the medical stores and supplies 
 which were left by our retreating army, and also the 
 wounded soldiers and medical officers in charge, to 
 General A. P. Hill, of the Confederate Army, by 
 whom they were paroled. 
 
 After a great variety of service in the Army of the 
 Potomac he was promoted by Governor Andrew, and 
 commissioned surgeon and major of the Fifty-first 
 Massachusettts Volunteers, General A. B. R. Sprague, 
 of Worcester, commanding, and ordered to the De- 
 partment of North Carolina. After some months of 
 service in camp he was ordered to duty as post-sur- 
 geon at Morehead City, on the coast. After a short 
 service at this point he joined his regiment, which 
 was ordered to Harper's Ferry, there to unite with 
 the array of General Meade, after the battle of Get- 
 tysburg. At this period matters liegan to assume a 
 threatening attitude in New York City, where his 
 regiment was ordered for service, camping at Castle 
 Garden. He was honorably discharged with the 
 regiment at the expiration of the term of enlistment. 
 
 July 27, 1863, having been in constant active service, 
 in places of danger from disease or battle, during the 
 whole period. 
 
 On his return from military service he resumed 
 practice at Fitchburg, and continued therein until 
 the latter part of 1867. He then made an ex- 
 tensive tour, covering portions of Europe, Egypt, 
 Palestine, Turkey, etc., spending considerable time in 
 European hospitals, and returned home in 1868, with 
 enlarged professional knowledge, powers strength- 
 ened and disciplined by unwonted contact with men 
 and things, and complete adaptation to the needs of 
 suffering humanity. 
 
 Dr. Jewett ranks with the leaders of the medical 
 fraternity in AVorcester County, and has acquired an 
 enviable surgical reputation. Zealous and diligent 
 in all that pertains to the science and art of medicine 
 and surgery, he has frequently contributed to the en- 
 richment of medical literature. 
 
 Among his writings areapaper'on "Surgical Injuries 
 of the Head," that was read before the Massachusetts 
 Medical Society, at its annual meeting in 1877 ; and 
 also an article on "The Use of the Aspirator in the 
 Bladder," describing an original mode of treatment 
 adopted in the first operation of the kind known in 
 that section of the State. It was published in the 
 Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. 
 
 Dr. Jewett i< a member of the Massachusetts 
 Medical Society, and also of Worcester North Dis- 
 trict Medical Society, and has been honored in many 
 ways by his associates in the medical profession ; he 
 was elected president of the latter society, and, 
 during the years of 1877 and 1878, discharged the 
 duties of this office honorably and well. For many 
 years he has been councilor of the Massachusetts 
 Medical Society, and, in May, 1888, became vice- 
 president of the same. 
 
 He was called to the management of the Hospital 
 Cottages at Templeton in June, 1886, and, as the 
 president of this institution, has been untiring in his 
 efforts, and under his able administration of its 
 affairs, the pro.sperity and usefulness of this institution 
 has been nearly doubled. 
 
 At the close of the war he was appointed United 
 States examining surgeon for pensions, which office he 
 still holds. He held for three years a commission as sur- 
 geon and major of the Tenth Massachusetts Infantry, 
 resigning in 1872. He has also been much interested 
 in agriculture, especially in the department of horti- 
 culture, and was president of the Worcester North 
 Agricultural Society during the years 1878 and 1879. 
 In September, 1874, he was appointed physician of 
 the county jail at Fitchburg, which position he now 
 fills. 
 
 Dr. Jewett has also taken much interest in the cause 
 of education. From 1869 to 1876 he was a member 
 of the Board of School Committee, and was mainly 
 instrumental in the establishment of the Scientific 
 Department of the High School. 
 
^-^ii- 
 
 r^l-^J^W 
 
-d-^/J^. 
 
 TZ-^i^-ti^ 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 321 
 
 In 1848, November 15th, he was married to Mary 
 E. Sanders, of New Ipswich, N. H. She died in June, 
 1867, and December 17, 1868, he was married to Mary 
 Brooks, of Roxbury, Mass. Four children of the first 
 marriage, having died in early childhood, sleep with 
 their mother on Laurel Hill. One sou, Walter 
 Kendall, born October 12, 1869, is now in the 
 sophomore class at Brown University. 
 
 CHARLES H. BKOWN.' 
 
 The leading industries of Fitchburg have had their 
 origin in modest and unpretentious beginnings. The 
 pioneers builded better than they knew. In all in- 
 stances the foundations were laid in toil, and sus- 
 tained by self-accumulated capital. The unequal 
 growth of the structures has been measured by the 
 genius and the courage of a generation of whom few 
 remain. The founders were men of enterprise, who 
 displayed a sagacity that met the present and antici- 
 pated the future. They have builded a city and 
 given an individuality to its business interesta. 
 Others of the present and of the future may follow 
 in the beaten track, reaping the fruit of their indus- 
 try and sagacity ; but few can wear the laurels of the 
 pioneer or share the honors of the founders of our 
 prosperous city. Younger than many, yet asso- 
 ciated with some of the earlier and prominent busi- 
 ness men of the city, is the subject of this sketch, 
 who has founded an important industry, and whose 
 enterprise has contributed to the material interests of 
 the city. 
 
 Charles H. Brown, son of Charles and Nancy 
 (Hall) Brown, was born in Mendon, March 9, 1820. 
 The south part of Mendon, including his native vil- 
 lage, now constitutes the thrifty town of Blackstone, 
 in the extreme southeast part of Worcester County. 
 During his childhood and youth his parents resided 
 in Mendon, in Leyden, Lewis County, N. Y., and in 
 Burrillville, R. I. The circumstances of his youth 
 did not permit him to pursue an advanced course of 
 study ; yet he enjoyed and fully improved the ordi- 
 nary school privileges common to the youth of his 
 time. If he was denied many opportunities his early 
 ambition craved, he was trained in habits of indus- 
 try, and was taught the rigorous lessons of self-reli- 
 ance. At sixteen years of age he sought and obtained 
 employment in a machine shop near Greenville, R. I. 
 Subsequently he was employed in the manufacture 
 of a variety of machinery in Blackstone, Providence, 
 R. I., Newton, Whitinsville and in Northford and 
 Waterbury, Conn. In this initial work of his life he 
 acquired skill and developed a native ability which 
 have given him a foremost rank among the practical 
 machinists of his time. 
 
 In 1846 Mr. Brown removed to Boston and after a 
 brief connection with Otis Tufts he removed to 
 
 1 By Ezra S. Stearns. 
 
 21 
 
 Fitchburg in 1849. Here the mission of his life in- 
 vited him to renewed effort and enlarged opportuni- 
 ties. The discipline and preparation of early toil 
 were quickly rewarded by the early achievements of 
 a successful career. 
 
 At this time he purchased of John and Salmon W. 
 Putnam one-third interest of an established business 
 in repairing and manufacturing machinery. For 
 several years the firm was known as J. & S. W. 
 Putnam & Co., and was highly successful. Having 
 acquired a practical knowledge of the steam-engine 
 while in the employ of Mr. Tufts, a celebrated builder 
 at that time, Mr. Brown early directed his attention 
 to this line of manufacture. In 1850 the first steam- 
 engine built in Fitchburg was constructed after his 
 designs and under his supervision. In 1856 a work- 
 ing model, with substantial improvements, was made 
 and patented by Mr. Brown and Mr. Charles Burleigh. 
 The patent was assigned to the firm and it has been 
 long and favorably known as the " Putnam Engine." 
 Mr. Brown continued in the management of this de- 
 partment of the business of the firm until failing 
 health compelled him to retire, for a season, from 
 active pursuits. 
 
 In 1859 he sold his interest in the Putnam Machine 
 Company, which had been incorporated the previous 
 year, and four years later he commenced business in 
 Newton Lane. In 1866 he sought enlarged facilities 
 in the block on Main Street, now occupied by the 
 Fitchburg Machine Works. In 1871 Mr. Brown per- 
 fected and invented " The Brown Automatic Cut-Off 
 Engine.'' This invention has won success. To this 
 time its reputation has been increased and its demand 
 has been enlarged. The secret of Mr. Brown's suc- 
 cessful business career is discovered in the unremitted 
 care bestowed upon the minutest detail of the manu- 
 facture. In all his work everything conforms to his 
 exacting taste for a finely-finished surface and a 
 comely outline of form and proportion. In 1873 en- 
 larged facilities were again demanded and a spacious 
 building lot on the opposite side of Main and corner 
 of Willow Street was purchased, and the present sub- 
 stantial block was erected and fully occupied in 
 1876. 
 
 Two sons have been admitted to an interest in the 
 business, and the present firm of C. H. Brown & Co. 
 includes Charles H. Brown, Sr., Charles H. Brown, 
 Jr., and Frank E. Brown. 
 
 Mr. Brown is a man of positive traits of character. 
 He is zealous and independent. His perception is 
 quick and accurate, his judgment is sound and his in- 
 telligence is clear and comprehensive. His opinions 
 are well-matured, and are always expressed with con- 
 ciseness and precision. Mr. Brown has no ambition 
 for political preferment, yet he has manifested a com- 
 mendable interest in public and in municipal affairs. 
 He was a member of the Common Council two years 
 immediately succeeding the incorporation of the city, 
 and for many years he has been the efficient chairman 
 
322 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 of the Board of Water Commissioners. He is a di- 
 rector of the Rollstone National Bank. 
 
 Mr. Brown married, May 24, 1847, Miss Emeline J. 
 Hubbard, daughter of Harvey Hubbard, of Berlin, 
 Conn. They have four sons, two of whom are in 
 business, as stated ; John F. is a graduate of Harvard 
 Law School and has recently been admitted to the 
 bar ; and William A. is now a student in Yale Col- 
 lege. 
 
 JABEZ FISHER, M.D. 
 
 Jabez Fisher, M.D., was born in Cambridgeport, 
 Mass., April 30, 1824, where he received only the 
 education afforded by the common schools of the time. 
 Engaging in his youth in mechanical pursuits, he 
 found his development limited thereby, and at the 
 age of twenty-three commenced the study of medi- 
 cine. In 1850 he received the degree of M.D. from 
 Harvard College, and began practice in his native 
 town. In May, 1851, he removed to Fitchburg, and 
 continued practice there until the autumn of 1855. 
 In the mean time his early love of horticulture and 
 especially the charms of fruit-growing so urged him 
 forward that he bought the farm on which his life 
 since 1856 has been spent. His fellow-citizens, appre- 
 ciating his abilities, designated him as a candidate of 
 the new American movement, and he was chosen in 
 the election of 1854 as one of the five Senators from 
 Worcester County. At the election of the following 
 year he was again returned, this time by the Repub- 
 lican party. The demands upon his time by legisla- 
 tive service, together with his increasing interest in 
 rural pursuits, determined him to give up the practice 
 of his profession, and he removed to his farm in the 
 autumn of 1856. 
 
 Giving his whole time and energies at once to his 
 business, he soon became noted, and an authority in 
 his specialty. After serving two years as secretary 
 he was twice chosen as president of the Worcester 
 North Agricultural Society, and as a delegate of the 
 society to the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture he 
 served two terms of three years each. While a mem- 
 ber of that board, and afterward, he was often called 
 upon as a lecturer before farmers' clubs and people 
 interested in fruit-growing. In 1869 he gave a 
 course of lectures on market gardening before the 
 students of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, 
 and again in 1870. 
 
 He was one of the first to appreciate the merits 
 of the Concord grape, and, by his successful manage- 
 ment, demonstrated its value, and was largely instru- 
 mental in extending its cultivation in his region. He 
 was never s.itisfied with any short of the best results; 
 hence his products were always in demand at the 
 highest prices, and were, in consequence, widely 
 known. He has often said that if there were any 
 profit in his or any other business — -especially that 
 which dealt in the luxuries of life — it must be found 
 in furnishing the best. Any one could produce medi- 
 
 ocrity, but only skill and care could approach per- 
 fection. He had no secrets in his operations. Any- 
 thing that he had discovered or become possessed of 
 was at the disposal of any one who chose to inquire. 
 He gave an address on grape culture before the Board 
 of Agriculture at its country meeting at Fitchburg in 
 1874, alsoone on injurious insects at Hingham in 1878. 
 He was an early investigator and an advocate of what 
 is now denominated commercial fertilization. Read- 
 ing with avidity the first publications of the great 
 Baron Liebig and others upon this subject, and 
 through his knowledge of chemistry, to which he de- 
 voted much attention in connection with the study of 
 medicine, he was able to keep fully abreast of the de- 
 velopments of the time. 
 
 His home, which he calls " Pomoland," or Pomo- 
 na's Land, is beautifully situated on an elevation at 
 the base of Pearl Hill, surrounded by higher land, 
 except a picturesque valley reaching out southeasterly, 
 and lying about a mile and a half north from Fitch- 
 burg Centre. The whole place is a type of the man 
 who made it what it is, and will well repay any one 
 the trouble of a visit. 
 
 Notwithstanding Dr. Fisher's devotion to his home 
 and pursuits, he has found time to serve his townsmen 
 in various capacities in addition to his legislative ex- 
 perience. He has been upon the School Committee, 
 was one of the first board of trustees of the Public 
 Library, was several times a selectman and once chair- 
 man of the board. He was chairman of the Board of 
 Water Commissioners while the original works were 
 being constructed, and served for several years after- 
 ward. He has been president of the Fitchburg Co- 
 operative Bank from its organization in 1877, giving 
 to it much thought, and no small portion of its suc- 
 cess is to be attributed to his oversight. 
 
 In politics he was originally a Liberty party man, 
 then a Free-Soiler, next an American, then a Repub- 
 lican, and when the Republicans halted on the tem- 
 perance question, a Prohibitionist. He says that he 
 has been a Woman Suffragist since his acquaintance 
 with his mother. He hates shams under any and all 
 circumstances, and his sympathies are ever with the 
 weak and oppressed. 
 
 Music has been quite a source of recreation, he 
 having played the organ in church some thirty years. 
 He trained the Fitchburg contingent in preparation 
 for the great Boston Peace Jubilee of 1872 to very 
 good acceptance, and also directed the same chorus 
 for a number of concerts at home. 
 
 He has always been much interested in meteor- 
 ology, and has kept a continuous record since Jan- 
 uary, 1857, which possesses much value, and is often 
 consulted. 
 
 Jabez Fisher married Roxanna Betton October 8, 
 1845, from which union two children survive, viz. : 
 Mary L., born November 14, 1846, who married 
 James A. Morton January 1, 1874; and Jabez F., 
 born August 30, 1850, who married Clara A. Ber- 
 
■^^'- 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 323 
 
 nard August 20, 1879. A second marriage was con- 
 summated, February 12, 1860, with Lucy B. Hosmer. 
 In relifrious belief be is a Universalist. His years 
 set easily, and he serenely awaits the time when his 
 opportunities will be enlarged and his comprehension 
 clearer. 
 
 ELI CULLEY.' 
 
 Eli Culley, a son of Edward C. and Eliza (Mayall) 
 CuUey, was born near Bath, England, February 4, 
 1840. At the age of fifteen years he came to this 
 country, and found employment in a file manufactory 
 in the city of Lowell. Subsequently he removed to 
 Boston, and while residing there be enlisted in the 
 Forty-third Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, a 
 nine months' regiment, and a military organization 
 of good repute. He was mustered out with the regi- 
 ment at the expiration of the term of service, in the 
 autumn of 1803. 
 
 Recovering from the debilitating effect of a ma- 
 larial fever, which was contracted in the service, Mr. 
 Culley removed to Weymouth, and there manufac- 
 tured files on his own account. In 1868 he removed 
 the business to Fitchburg, and from that time he has 
 been an honored resident of this city. His industry 
 and close application to business have been rewarded, 
 and among his fellow-men he is held in high es- 
 teem. 
 
 The partiality of his fellow-citizens has found fre- 
 quent and repeated expression in his election to 
 positions of honor and responsibility. In 1875 he 
 was a member of the Common Council, and was 
 president of the body. In 1877 and '78 he was a 
 member of the Board of Aldermen, and each year he 
 was assigned to important positions on the standing 
 committees. 
 
 At the city election in December, 1879, after an 
 animated contest, Mr. Culley was elected mayor, and 
 was re-elected the following year. Succeeding these 
 years of service, his friends did not suffer him to long 
 remain among the retired executive officers of the 
 city. 
 
 Again he was elected mayor for the year 1888, and 
 has been chosen for the fourth time and for the year 
 1889. No other citizen of Fitchburg has been called 
 to the executive chair an equal number of times, 
 and no other has filled all the positions here named. 
 In 1880 Mr. Culley was a member of the House of 
 Representatives. 
 
 If briefly narrated, the public service of Mr. Culley 
 hiis been efficient and honorable. The elements of 
 his successful career are found in his sincerity, the 
 unequivocal expression of his convictions and in his 
 direct methods of speech and conduct. In public 
 affairs and in business he has been industrious, and a 
 life of toil and honest effort has been rewarded with 
 the confidence and esteem of his fellow-men. His 
 
 IBy Kzra S. Stearns. 
 
 success has been earned. Alone in the world at 
 fifteen years of age, his only capital was courage and 
 a willingness to work. Among a nation of strangers 
 he found in our American institutions and our New 
 England customs a welcome denied to the foreigner 
 in every other land. Young Culley appreciated the 
 conditions, and from that hour, in every thought, 
 aspiration and purpose, he was as thoroughly an 
 American as any native born. Mr. Culley is pre- 
 eminently one of the products of a benign and liberal 
 government and the type of a successful career, the 
 counterpart of which is not found elsewhere. The 
 poor boy, unaided by friends and the supporting in- 
 fluences of wealth, seldom succeeds in any other 
 country, and only in America does the invitation to 
 industry, morality and good citizenship extend to 
 the ambitious youth of every land. 
 
 In characteristics Mr. Culley is free from ostentation 
 and is frank and direct in his methods. His impulses 
 are quick and generous, his sympathies are universal, 
 and his affections are tender and loyal. While toler- 
 ant of the opiniou and liberal in his estimate of other 
 men, he adheres closely to his own conclusions, and 
 in his administration of public affairs he has been 
 conservative and safe. Unconsciously these outlines 
 present many traits and elements of a model citizen, 
 and in his success is found an incentive to an honest 
 purpose, to loyalty to friends aod to country, and to 
 faithfulness in the discharge of public trusts. 
 
 In his domestic relations Mr. Culley has been fortu- 
 nate and happy. He married, October 5, 1862, Martha 
 A. Redman. They have six children — three sons and 
 three daughters— aged from twelve to twenty-four 
 years. 
 
 Mr. Culley became connected with the Masons in 
 1866, and with the Odd Fellows in 1862, and has been 
 a prominent member of both fraternities. In both 
 organizations he has been honored with the post of 
 District Deputy Grand Master. 
 
 SYLVANUS SAWYER. 
 
 Sylvanus Sawyer, an eminent inventor and mechan- 
 ical engineer, was born in Templeton, Massachusetts, 
 April 15, 1822. •"The family is of Saxon ancestry, who 
 came to England with William the Conqueror." The 
 name, it is claimed, is derived from the invention and 
 introduction of mills to saw by power, and in America 
 the name of Sawyer has been associated with mills 
 and a variety of manufactures in every generation. 
 The emigrant ancestor, Thomas Sawyer, settled in 
 Charlestown (now Somerville) and removed to Lancas- 
 ter about 1650. He married Mary Prescott and died 
 1706. His son, Thomas Sawyer, Jr., born 1648, lived 
 in Lancaster, where he died 1736. In 1705 Thomas 
 Sawyer, Jr., and his son Elias were captured by the 
 Indians and taken to Canada. The mechanical genius 
 of the family secured the freedom of the captives. 
 Here the elder Sawyer observed, on the river where 
 
324 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 they were confined, fine seats for mills, and propo.-ied 
 to the French Governor that he would build arpill on 
 condition the captives were released. This arrange- 
 ment was consummated and the Sawyers returned to 
 Lancaster. Elias Sawyer, a descendant of the genera- 
 tions named, removed to Templeton, where, following 
 the proclivities of his family for mechanical pursuits, 
 he built one of the early mills of the town. His son, 
 John Sawyer, the father of Sylvanus, was a farmer 
 and a lumber dealer, but also owned and conducted a 
 mill. He was a natural mechanic, doing his own car- 
 pentering, coopering and stone work, and later he sup- 
 plemented his facilities for miscellaneous work with 
 a lathe and a forge. Tn the midst of such influences 
 and surroundings Sylvanus at an early age manifested 
 a predilection for mechanics and invention. With 
 equal aptnesss he designed and made many articles of 
 utility and the playthings and trinkets of youth. 
 One of the results of his earlier studies was a water- 
 wheel which has since been made and sold under 
 another name. This was followed by designs for a 
 reed organ, a screw propeller, a hand car operated by 
 foot-power, a steam-engine and many minor inven- 
 tions. Having neither means nor experience to utilize 
 the iruits of his early thought, the most of them still 
 slumber in his mind. 
 
 In youth his health was feeble, and in search of 
 some light employment he went to Augusta, Me., at 
 the age of seventeen and began work in a gun-smith 
 shop. Ill health compelled him to return home, but 
 he brought with him some knowledge of a trade which 
 found exercise in the manufacture of guns and 
 pistols and some of original design. With such em- 
 ployments and assisting as health permitted in the 
 work on his father's farm, he reached his majority. 
 His early educational advantages were limited, but 
 with habits of study and research and by working 
 out his own problems, aided by a judicious selection 
 of books, he is well equipped for the duties of life 
 and easily excels in his favorite lines of research. In 
 his early experience, in the denial of privileges in his 
 youth and in the many embarrassments in his way, 
 Mr. Sawyer has found an apprenticeship which has 
 given him discipline and courage that has led the 
 way to the substantial achievements of his life. 
 
 In 1844, or soon after he had reached his majority, he 
 sought employment in Boston and was employed for 
 a short time in a copper-smith shop. Subsequently 
 he remained a year with Jones & Hobbs, manufac- 
 turers of locks and house trimmings. Here he de- 
 vised improvements in several processes of the manu- 
 facture, and to him was entrusted the manufacture of 
 the tools peculiar to the work, and which formerly 
 had been made by specialists at considerable expense. 
 Returning to his home in Templeton, his attention 
 was first called to the cane or rattan business in the 
 winter of 1845-46. Mr. William Wood, a cane-worker 
 of Phillipston, seeking the services of an expert in 
 the manufacture of some tools peculiar to the pro- 
 
 cesses then employed in working the cane, came to Mr. 
 Sawyer for advice and assistance, Comprehending 
 the matter at once, Mr. Sawyer informed his visitor 
 the process then employed was faulty, that all the 
 operations could be performed at once, and with a 
 machine operated by power. To this broad assertion 
 Mr. Wood replied that it could not be done, that the 
 ingenuity of many skilled mechanics had been ex- 
 hausted, and thousands of dollars had been expended 
 in useless and unproductive experiments. The faith 
 of Mr. Sawyer remained unimpaired. In his mind 
 the problem had been solved already. With a clear 
 conception of the working principles of the future 
 invention, Mr. Sawyer visited the shop of Mr. Wood 
 and witnessed the different ojierations employed in 
 reducing a stick of cane to the finished product. 
 Beside scouring, straightening, and the slow whit- 
 tling at the joints, there were eighteen manipulations. 
 While witnessing these slow and laborious operations, 
 to his former conception he added a device for scraping 
 the joints in the strand, instead of whittling them off 
 in the slick, and combining it with the process of 
 gauging. This last device was immediately expressed 
 in a machine which was a success, and which saved 
 annually one hundred dollars on aman's labor. While 
 he was maturing plans and making application of his 
 conception of the more important machine for split- 
 ting cane, of which the scraper was to be a sectional 
 part, he made and sold several of these machines lor 
 scraping the strand. Having matured the designs, 
 and realizing the need of greater skill and experience 
 as a machinist, before putting them into practical 
 form, Mr. Sawyer sought and obtained employment 
 in the then celebrated steam-engine manufactory of 
 Otis Tufts, in Boston. Here he secured the confi- 
 dence of his employers and the esteem of his asso- 
 ciates, and soon was placed in charge of the most 
 important work, with men under him many years his 
 senior in experience. In this service his ingenuity 
 and his ability to abridge processes found frequent 
 exercise. At the completion of the stipulated term 
 of service, he returned to Templeton to prosecute his 
 invention. At this time, the winter of 1848-49, his 
 elder brother, Joseph B. Sawyer, who was then em- 
 ployed in a mill and machine-shop at Palmer, Mass., 
 for an interest in the patents, proposed to furnish 
 needed funds aud to assist in the construction of 
 models and experimental machines. The proposition 
 was accepted. In the autumn of 1849 he returned to 
 Templeton, bringing with him a set of cutting- 
 machines and models of the same, and an experi- 
 mental scraper. The patent was issued November 13, 
 1849, and a half-interest was assigned to his brother. 
 The machines were set up for exhibition in the shop 
 of his father. For motive-poWer, a man was employed 
 to turn a crank. 
 
 The scraper made at Palmer proved defective. Un- 
 daunted, Mr. Sawyer immediately made new drawings, 
 and at Athol constructed another machine after his 
 
^^^z^^ 
 
 '"^ ^ 6^-'^.c>-^^i^-e.^ 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 325 
 
 original design. The machines with this scraper 
 were successfully operated until they were worn out 
 beyond repair, and success crowned the issue. The 
 prophecy of Mr. Wood and other cane-workers that 
 this end could not be reached had come to naught. 
 The early experimenters had vainly attempted to cut 
 down and through the hard, siliceous enameled sur- 
 face of the cane with saws, spurs, loups and dies. The 
 result was that the cutting points, in the pa«sage at 
 fair speed of a stick of cane, became hot, and soon cut 
 off and the saws worn smooth. The invention of Mr. 
 Sawyer, assisted by many niechauical devices, them- 
 selves inventions, is founded upon the device of cut- 
 ting under the enamel and outward, raising the 
 strand so that when the receding edge of the spur or 
 lip, that divides the surface into strands, reaches the 
 surface, the enamel already has been parted 
 without injury to the cutting points. Here is found 
 the key to the situation. This idea dominates all 
 chair cane-cutting machines, including the tubular 
 spurred cutter, as firmly as the Howe method of put- 
 ting the eye in the point of the needle dominates all 
 cloth-sewing machines of the past and the present. In 
 the spring of^l850 Mr. Sawyer invented another ma- 
 chine for cutting cane, which he judged might have 
 some advantages over his first method. Having con- 
 structed an apparatus to test his invention, he put it 
 aside for future consideration. In the mean time 
 many interested parties had been accorded the privi- 
 lege of examining the new invention, and among 
 these were Levi Heywood, of Gardner, and an uncle, 
 Joseph Sawyer, of Eoyalston, who subsequently ap- 
 plied for a patent. 
 
 Mr. Sawyer immediately proved a priority of inven- 
 tion, and to him a patent was issued June 24, 1851, 
 while the application of his uncle was rejected. As 
 an item of history in connection with these patents it 
 is necessary to add that, upon a modified claim, a 
 patent was issued to the uncle in 1854, which failed 
 to meet the purpose of its design. With his attention 
 continually directed to this business, Mr. Sawyer 
 devised a machine for scouring cane in large quantity 
 by power, which superseded the former process of 
 scouring small quantities with broom, soap and sand. 
 In the autumn of 1850 the brothers, Sylvanus and 
 Joseph B. Sawyer, rented a shop with power in East 
 Templeton, and, with their new machinery, began the 
 manufacture of cane for the use of chair-makers. In 
 1851 Sylvanus invented a new machine for shaving 
 the strands and trimming the edges with great rapidity. 
 It was subsequently modified and adapted to the 
 tubular spurred cutter mentioned hereafter, and 
 patented December 12, 1854. The enterprise at East 
 Templeton established the merit of the machines, and 
 from a business standpoint they were successful and 
 remunerative. A stock company was organized in 
 April, 1852, known as the American Rattan Company, 
 aud the business wa-s removed to Fitchburg. The 
 Sawyer patents were assigned to the corporation, and 
 
 an extensive business was continued under the super- 
 intendence of Mr. Sawyer, who also was one of the 
 directors. About this time a rival company was 
 organized by Levi Heywood itnd others, and began 
 business, with the Uncle Joseph patents, in Boston. 
 By a vote of a majority of the American Rattan 
 Companj' the two companies were consolidated. This 
 action was strenuously opposed by Mr. Sawyer and 
 others, and in the end their judgment was sustained 
 by the facts. The machines of the Boston company 
 were of little value, the manufactured cane was com- 
 paratively worthless, and an inheritance of debt was 
 the prominent item of the assets which the Boston 
 company brought to the treasury of the Ameiican 
 Rattan Company. By this arrangement the stock of 
 the old company was doubled and no material benefits 
 were secured. March 7, 1854, a patent on a tubular 
 spurred cutter was issued to Addison M. Sawyer, the 
 youngest brother of Sylvanus. He bad been employed 
 by his elder brothers at Templeton, and subsequently 
 by the American Rattan Company, at Fitchburg. 
 
 It appears that each of the three brothers had been 
 conducting experiments in this direction, but Addi- 
 son claimed and probably was entitled to priority, and 
 to him the patent was issued. A third interest was 
 immediately assigned to the brothers named. In 
 connection with the machines owned by the Ameri- 
 can Rattan Company, this patent would be valuable, 
 and doubly so, if a shave could be adapted to com- 
 plete the work; but of little value to the brothers 
 without the company's scraper and such a shave. 
 Mr. Sawyer at once went to the shop in Athol, where 
 he had solved many problems, and there remodeled 
 the shave to meet the new demand. As previously 
 stated, the remodeled shave was patented in 1854. 
 The improvements he introduced at this time in- 
 cluded another knife, which reduced the strand for the 
 shaving-knife, and a scraper with a spring weighted 
 block, which pressed the strand upon the cutter. At 
 this time he devised a feeding apparatus for the cutter 
 and a new guide to present the stick of cane centrally 
 to the cutter and other improvements for handling 
 the strands parted by the cutter. 
 
 With these improved equipments the three brothers 
 — Sylvanus, Joseph B. and Addison M. Sawyer — re- 
 sumed business at East Templeton, but they soon sold 
 the business and assigned the new patents to the 
 American Rattan Company. Mr. Sawyer again re- 
 moved to Fitchburg, and assumed the oversight of the 
 setting up of the new machines and the training of 
 the help in the new processes. In June, 1855, he re- 
 ceived a patent on an invention for splitting the rod 
 of cane into sectional strips, removing the strand 
 from each strip and rounding for reeds the triangular 
 part remaining. Having realized his most sanguine 
 expectations, Mr. Sawyer retired from the active man- 
 agement of the business and directed his attention 
 mainly to other fields of study and investigation. As 
 early as 1853 he had invented improvements in rifled 
 
326 
 
 HISTORY OF WOKCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 cannon projectiles, which were patented in 1855, 
 and subsequently were patented in England and in 
 France. 
 
 These embrace the placing a coating of lead, or 
 some softer metal than that of which the iron body is 
 composed, on the rear or frusto-conical end of the shell, 
 and the same extended, or not, over the sides of the 
 same, which is expanded laterally by the discharge, 
 and preventing "windage" on the passage of the gas 
 by the projectile, also filling the grooves of the rifling 
 and obviating the necessity of helical projections; and 
 the arrangement in the point of a percussion cap or 
 fuse so as to insure the explosion of the shell on im- 
 pact and the soldering of the soft metal to the shot. 
 
 In 1857 and 1858 Mr. Sawyer, with his brother Ad- 
 dison (to whom an interest in the patents had been 
 conveyed), conducted experiments on his inventions 
 at their own expense, in order to demonstrate the 
 practicability of rifled cannon and projectiles to the 
 United States Ordnance Bureau, the Chief of Ordnance 
 refusing to be at any expense, sayiug that they had 
 already spent mints of money on these visionary 
 schemes, ihat the subject was exhausted, and that 
 rifle cannon was impracticable; but after learning of 
 their previous tests, and that they had their own guns 
 and ammunition, he readily ordered a trial and an in- 
 vestigation of Mr. Sawyer's invention, which, after 
 thorough test, proved eminently successful, the Secre- 
 tary of War (who witnessed two trials) declaring 
 that the practicability of rifle cannon and i)rojectiles 
 had at last been demonstrated. This trial resulted in 
 the ordering of another trial, with heavy ordnance, at 
 Fortress Monroe, before a board of government oiB- 
 cers, and a report was submitted recommending 
 in view of the superiority of the Sawyer projectile in 
 accuracy over all others of which official information 
 had been received, and of its simplicity and the cer- 
 tainty of the fuse bursting the shell after penetration, 
 that four field-guns be issued to one or more batteries 
 for practice with the Sawyer projectiles for one year; 
 but before this order was carried into eflTect the Civil 
 War was upon us, and these experimental guns were 
 turned upon the enemy with great efl'ect. The forty- 
 two-pounders (rifle) columbiads were mounted at New- 
 port News and ui)(>n the Rip Raps (Fort Wool), the 
 latter being the only guns there that could reach 
 Sewell's Point Battery, a distance of three and one- 
 half miles, which they did with great accuracy, and 
 made fearful havoc with the railroad iron-clad bat- 
 teries at the capturing of Sewell's Point, Norfolk, 
 Gosport, etc., and an eightecn-pounder Sawyer rifle 
 did great execution on board the steamer " Fanny." 
 
 Notwithstanding the great range and accuracy of 
 the Sawyer guos and projectiles, and the certainty of 
 the operation of their fuse, the ordnance officers did 
 not seem to manifest that enthusiasm that was exhib- 
 ited by the old artillery officers, and they seemed to 
 rather stand aloof, and look askance upon Mr. Sawyer's 
 invention. 
 
 This state of affairs was soon explained by an ord- 
 nance officer, who was later on appointed chief of 
 the Ordnance Bureau at Washington, coming for- 
 ward to compete before the Sawyer board with a pro- 
 jectile that directly infringed the Sawyer patent. 
 They evidently did not mean to have their old ord- 
 nance theories overthrown and be left out in the cold. 
 Hence the Chief of Ordnance, of both the army and 
 navy, soon commenced to make, or have made, large 
 quantities of projectiles (principally shells) for the 
 army and navy, the former having his made by a 
 Mr. Knapp, of Pennsylvania, and the latter at the 
 Navy Yard at Washington, and both of them infring- 
 ing Mr. Sawyer's patents, or, as Government So- 
 licitor Whiting said, " It is an adoption of the Sawyer 
 patent." This action of the chiefs of the Ordnance 
 Bureaus was very unfortunate for Mr. Sawyer, who 
 was accorded little or no credit for his inventions, or 
 for his " practical demonstrations," which were made 
 at a heavy cost to himself of both time and money, 
 and almost practically barred him out from govern- 
 ment patronage, except orders from department com- 
 manders who insisted upon having the Sawyer guns 
 and ammunition, for whom he made quite a number 
 of batteries of cast-steel guns, with shot and shell, 
 besides longer guns. He appealed to the Assistant 
 Secretary of War, Mr. Watson, and to the Govern- 
 ment Solicitor, Mr. Whiting (both former patent 
 lawyers). They admitted that they were using his 
 patents, and stated that under martial law the gov- 
 ernment had a right to take and use what they 
 pleased by recompensing the owner ; " but this did not 
 apphj to fjficers as individuals," and advised him to 
 wait till the war was over and then seek redress, his 
 claim being good for six years thereafter ; but Chief 
 Dahlgreu, of the navy, died during, or soon after, the 
 war ; Chief Dyer died a little later, and Mr. Knapp, 
 who made the ''Dyer projectiles'' /o;- /;/>«, followed 
 soon after, so that there was no one left whom he 
 could prosecute for these infringements, or compel 
 the yielding of the credit that belonged to him. In 
 1861 Mr. Sawyer invented a Fuse Hood for centra- 
 ting fire upon a time fuse, also a Ijoading Mandrel 
 for filling case shot, both of which were patented 
 December 24th the same year, and in August, 1862, 
 he and his brother, Addison M., took out a patent 
 jointly for a Combination Fuse, and on December 17, 
 1862, he bought his brother's interest in his patents. 
 
 In 1864-65 Mr. Sawyer built a large brick shop 
 which he designed mainly for the manufacture of 
 ordnance, and was negotiating with Mexico, Brazil 
 and Chili, as well as our own country, for ordnance 
 supplies; but all four of the wars ended about the 
 same time and the shop is now occupied by the 
 Fitchburg Machine Works. 
 
 In 1867 he took out a patent on Dividers and Cali- 
 pers, and March 3, 1868, a Steam Generator ; May 
 26th, same year, an improved Rattan Machine, and 
 July 7, 1868, he took another for Calipers and 
 
'ez-^x-^ 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 327 
 
 Dividers. In 1876 Sawyer & Esty patented a Sole 
 Sewing Machine. About this time Mr. Sawyer com- 
 menced to start a watch factory in Fitchburg and 
 had got considerable of the stock taken in the enter- 
 prise and the tools substantially done when the 
 " hard times " set in, which compelled many to with- 
 draw their subscription ; hence he concluded to give 
 up the enterprise and turned his attention to the 
 manufacture of watch tools, in which business he 
 continued till he moved the business to New York 
 and formed a stock company, in 1881, and subse- 
 quently sold out his interest. On July 10, 1882, a 
 patent was issued to him for a Centring Watchmaker's 
 Lathe, which he manufactured in connection with 
 other tools. 
 
 Resting from his labors, Mr. Sawyer has practically 
 retired from active business, renting his shops. He 
 has manifested a love for horticultural pursuits and 
 a deep interest in progressive farming. His labor 
 has been onerous and his achievements substantial. 
 Through many years of constant use his inventions 
 in cane machinery have permitted no improvements 
 and still remain substantially as they left his hand. 
 They have revolutionized an important industry and 
 transferred it from the pestilential climate of South- 
 ern India and from Japan and Holland to this coun- 
 try, offering ample dividends to capital employed and 
 aflording employment to many people. And we may 
 add that his inventions in rifle cannon and projectiles 
 has been perhaps equally revolutionary. 
 
 ANDREW B. SHERMAN. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was born in Plympton, 
 Mass., April 10, 1829. His father, Capt. Zacchseus 
 Sherman, followed the sea fourteen years, and com- 
 manded a vessel about twelve years. 
 
 Capt. Sherman was twice married. His first wife 
 was Jane Bradford, by whom he had two sons and two 
 daughters ; the second wife was Nancy Bartlett, of 
 Plymouth, by whom he had two sons, Andrew B. and 
 Algernon Sidney. 
 
 Andrew B. Sherman was educated in the district 
 and private schools of his native town, and, after 
 reaching the age of eight years, worked diligently dur- 
 ing vacations — in summer on the farm and in winter 
 in the saw-mills, and helping team lumber, &c., in 
 which his father then dealt extensively. 
 
 With the exception of one winter, during which he 
 worked in the store of his uncle, the late Zacchreus 
 Parker, he passed his time thus until the age of 
 twenty, acquiring the habits of industry which have 
 so strongly characterized his whole business career. 
 
 In 1849 he left home and entered the country store 
 of J. M. Harrub, of North Plympton, where for two 
 years and ten months he worked from fourteen to six- 
 teen hours per day, attending carefully to all parts of 
 the business. He rendered valuable assistance in 
 keeping the books and also in attending to finishing 
 
 and shipping goods in the shoe manufactory which 
 Mr. Harrub operated. 
 
 Though the original engagement with Mr. Harrub 
 was but for a few months, Mr. Sherman's interest in 
 the business was so great and his services so valuable, 
 that his employer induced him to remain with him 
 for the period above mentioned, at the expiration of 
 which time Mr. Sherman, having determined to make 
 the dry goods trade his business, went to Boston to 
 endeavor to secure a position where, with much better 
 opportunities to learn the whole business, he might 
 fit himself to enter upon it on his own account, if he 
 so desired. 
 
 Upon his arrival in Boston he called on Mr. Wil- 
 liam F. Brett, who introduced him to his recent part- 
 ner, Mr. Samuel Ellis, of Samuel Ellis & Co., 131 and 
 133 Federal Street, and Mr. Sherman at once entered 
 the employ of this firm. Here he formed the acquaint- 
 ance of Mr. Luther J. Brown, who later came to Fitch- 
 burg, but who was then in the employ of Samuel Ellis 
 &Co. 
 
 About this time the firm began to close out the 
 stocks of several out-of-town stores owned by them, 
 and also to dispose of superfluous stock. Mr. Sher- 
 man was soon sent to Medford with a stock. Here 
 he remained six months, applying himself early and 
 late, sleeping in the store most of the nights. 
 
 From Medford he went to Duxbury, where he 
 stayed about the same length of time, meeting with 
 good success in both places, selling a large amount of 
 goods and making money, while one of his employ- 
 ers, Mr. Moore, with an assistant, sold a less amount 
 and lost money at a store in South Abington. 
 
 Mr. Sherman then took charge of the East Abing- 
 ton store for the next two years, as general salesman 
 in dry goods, carpets, clothing, millinery, furniture, 
 crockery, etc. 
 
 At the expiration of this time, the firm being finan- 
 cially embarrassed, Mr. Sherman went to Dover, N. 
 H., with a large stock of dry goods. Here he stayed 
 six months, sending to the firm one-third more 
 money per week than had been calculated upon. 
 
 In Dover Mr. Sherman, by close attention to busi- 
 ness and unostentatious manners, gained the respect 
 and formed the acquaintance of nearly all in the 
 front ranks of business and society in the place. As 
 an expression of regard at the time he left Dover, he 
 was tendered a reception and presented with a hand- 
 some gold seal-ring, upon which was inscribed the 
 names of some of the prominent young men of the 
 place ; and since then this pleasant friendship has 
 been kept up by both parties. 
 
 Mr. Sherman then engaged as general salesman at 
 the East Abington store for about a year, and in 
 February, 1855, came to Fitchburg to dispose of a 
 stock of dry goods. Here, although located in the 
 " Old City," a half-mile from the other three dry-goods 
 stores in town, he was fairly successful, and enjcjyed a 
 liberal share of the trade from all parts of the town. 
 
328 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 At the end of six months, believing that Fitchburg 
 would in time be a prosperous city, Mr. Sherman 
 purchased the stock of goods of his employers, and, 
 with what money he had saved during his clerkship, 
 commenced on his own account. 
 
 One of his salesmen was Mr. L. J. Brown, with 
 whom he soon formed a partnership, which lasted 
 about three years. In the meantime Mr. Brown 
 married, and it was thought best to dissolve the part- 
 nership ; and for the past thirty years Mr. Sherman 
 has carried on his prosperous business alone. 
 
 He paid close attention to his business, and the 
 opportunities made possible by the condition of the 
 markets during the Civil War made it quite profitable, 
 —buying largely when goods were offered at less than 
 it was then possible to make them, storing them and 
 selling on a high market. As profits accumulated, he 
 invested tbem in securities, v/hicli, in most cases, 
 appreciated as well as paid interest. 
 
 At several different times, as more room was needed, 
 the store was enlarged, until 1870, when he moved 
 into his present commodious store, in the then new 
 Rollstone Bank building. At that time he added a 
 stock of carpets, to which he gave much study and 
 attention. 
 
 In November, 1867, he established a dry-goods 
 store in Wincheudon, which was profitably operated 
 until November, 1885, when it was sold to W. A. 
 Sanford & Son, of Brockton, being then located in 
 the I. M. Murdock block. 
 
 Mr. Sherman has, at times, invested the earnings 
 of his business in shipping, having been part owner 
 in eight diflerent three-masted schooners engaged in 
 the coasting trade, one of them bearing his name. 
 
 He has always manifested kind feelings towards his 
 competitors and neighboring merchants, and has at 
 various times, aided tbem without extra remunera- 
 tion. 
 
 In 1878 Mr. Sherman married Miss Clara Belle, 
 daughter of Mr. Jonathan Moody, of Claremont, 
 N. H., and has three fine boys. 
 
 He has, for many years, been a trustee of the Wor- 
 cester North Savings Institution, and a director of 
 the Wachusett National Bank since its incorporation, 
 and one of its largest stockholders. 
 
 Mr. Sherman served one year in the Common 
 Council, and two years in the Board of Aldermen. 
 He has, during his long residence in Fitchburg, 
 gained the respect and esteem of the community, 
 which he well deserves. 
 
 H. A. BLOOD. 
 
 Hiram Albro Blood was born in Townsend, Mass., 
 February 3, 1833, and was the son of Ezra and Lydia 
 Ann (Jefis) Blood ; received an academical educa- 
 tion in the town of his birth, and lived thereuntil the 
 age of eighteen, at which age he went to Worcester in 
 search of employment. 
 
 At the age of twenty he entered the commission- 
 house of Bliss, Sutton & Co., in Worcester, Mass., as 
 a clerk, and became a member of the firm in 1854, at 
 which time he opened a branch house in Fitchburg, 
 and went there to live and has resided there ever 
 since. 
 
 In 1857 he dissolved his connection with Bli.ss, Sut- 
 ton & Co., and entered into a copartnership with 
 William 0. Brown, of Fitchburg, under the name 
 of Blood & Brown, which existed until 1860, when 
 Mr. Brown withdrew to enter the United States 
 army, becoming a major of the Twenty-fifth Regi- 
 ment, and a new firm was formed under the name of 
 H. A. Blood & Co., which continued to carry on the 
 business. 
 
 In 1865 Mr. Blood withdrew from all mercantile 
 pursuits and became entirely interested in railroads, 
 to the construction and operation of which he has 
 ever since given his time and attention. 
 
 In 1865 he became connected with the Fitchburg 
 and Worcester Railroad as a director and as its super- 
 intendent and general manager. 
 
 He afterwards built, or was largely instrumental in 
 building, the Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg, the 
 Framinghara and Lowell, the Mansfield and Fram- 
 ingham, and the Fall River Railroads, of which he 
 successively became superintendent and general man- 
 ager, and afterwards united and consolidated them, to- 
 gether with the New Bedford and Taunton, and the 
 Taunton Branch Railroads, into one system, under the 
 name of the Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and New 
 Bedford Railroad Company, reaching from Fitchburg 
 and Lowell in tlie north, to Mansfield, Taunton, New 
 Bedford and Fall River in the southern part of the 
 State. 
 
 This system of railroads was for a time operated by 
 Mr. Blood as general manager, and was afterwards 
 united and consolidated with the Old Colony Railroad 
 Company, of which it now forms an important part. 
 
 In the construction of these railroads, and in their 
 subsequent operation and consolidation, Mr. Blood 
 was the moving and directing spirit. 
 
 In 1875 he procured the charter for the Wachusett 
 National Bank, of Fitchburg, obtaining all the sub- 
 scriptions to its capital stock, established the bank 
 and liecame its first vice-president. 
 
 He was the third mayor of Fitchburg, and was first 
 elected by the Boardof Aldermen and Common Coun- 
 cil November 2, 1875, to fill out the unexpired term 
 of Eugene T. Miles, and, at the subsequent annual 
 election in December, he was elected by the people, 
 and was inaugurated January, 1876, and filled the 
 office of mayor for one year and two months. 
 
 He is now chiefly interested in railroads in the 
 State of Ohio, being tlie president of the Cleveland 
 and Canton Railroad Company in that State, which 
 position he has held since May, 1884, but he still re- 
 tains his residence in Fitchburg, where he has an 
 office as well as an office in Boston, Mass. 
 
FITCHBURG. 
 
 329 
 
 It can truly be snid of Mr. Blond, that he is one of 
 Worcester County's representative men. 
 
 HENRY A. GOODRICH. 
 
 The name of Goodridge, or, as it is now commonly 
 spelled, Goodrich, has been very closely identified 
 with the history of Fitchburg ever since the incor- 
 poration of the town. 
 
 David Goodridge, one of the original settlers of the 
 town, was deacon of the First Church in Fitchburg 
 and a member of the First Provincial Congress. Like 
 most of his fellow-townsmen, he was possessed of but 
 limited means, but his sterling worth and integrity 
 and his belief in the dignity and efficacy of honest 
 toil made him an influential citizen and caused him 
 to be often called to fill positions of trust and honor 
 in the little colonial town of Fitchburg. Succeeding 
 generations have kept the family name in the same 
 good repute, and two of Deacon Goodridge's great- 
 grandsons — Alonzo P. and John Goodrich — have spent 
 their long and honorable lives of usefulness in our 
 midst. The former is still with us in the enjoyment 
 of a hale and hearty old age, but John Goodrich, the 
 father of the subject of this sketch, died in this city 
 in April, 1888, at the age of nearly eighty years. 
 
 Henry A. Goodrich, the eldest son of John and 
 Mary A. (Blake) Goodrich, was born in Fitchburg, 
 November 22, 1830. His early education was ob- 
 tained in the district schools of the town, and later 
 he attended the Fitchburg Academy and the Fitch- 
 burg High School. 
 
 He was one of the eight boys who attended during 
 the first term of the High School, and the only one of 
 the eight who remained permanently in Fitchburg. 
 In 1849 he took a position as overseer in a woolen- 
 mill, and in the course of the next four years saved 
 money enough to start in business for himself. 
 
 In January, 1855, he entered upon his successful 
 mercantile life by buying out a hat and furnishing 
 store under the Fitchburg Hotel. Here he remained 
 until 1869, when he removed to his branch store, es- 
 tablished some years previously, in Belding & 
 Dickinson's Block. He had also, in the mean time, 
 started another branch store in Brattleboro', Vt. In 
 January, 1885, he moved into his present elegant and 
 commodious quarters in E. M. Dickinson's new brick 
 block, where, as senior partner, we now find him at 
 the head of one of the finest and best regulated 
 clothing and furnishing establishments in New Eng- 
 land. 
 
 Mr. Goodrich married, in December, 1856, Miss 
 Harriet Stebbins, daughter of John Stebbins, Esq., of 
 Vernon, Vt. He has one son, William Henry, and 
 one daughter, Mrs. W. L. Humes. 
 
 In addition to his mercantile pursuits, Mr. Good- 
 rich has been largely interested in real estate opera- 
 tions in Fitchburg. He was, at one time, half owner 
 of the "L. J. Brown Block,'' and sold his interest to 
 
 Mr. Brown. In 1868 he bought the American House 
 property, and later erected two large blocks on Day 
 Street, one of which bears the name of " Goodrich 
 Block." He sold the American House in 1874, and 
 became a stockholder and director in the Haskins 
 Machine Company, which proved to be a disastrous 
 venture. 
 
 Like many other active and ambitious men, he has 
 encountered reverses, but, by energy, perseverance and 
 industry, has quickly overcome them, and started 
 anew with a fresh determination to win success. 
 
 During the War of the Rebellion Mr. Goodrich was 
 the treasurer of the Fitchburg " Bounty Fund,'' and 
 collected and disbursed over $20,000, the greater por- 
 tion of which was afterward refunded by the town. 
 After the terrible battles of the Wilderness in 1864 
 he was sent by the town, with Dr. Alfred Hitchcock 
 and E. B. Hayward, to look after the sick and 
 wounded Fitchburg soldiers in the hospitals at Fred- 
 ericksburg and Washington. A reference to the files 
 of the Fitchburg Sentinel about that time will show 
 how thoroughly and conscientiously he performed his 
 full share of the sad duty. 
 
 Mr. Goodrich has also been for many years a fre- 
 quent contributor to the press on current topics. 
 During the great "Silver Discussion," in 1878, he 
 wrote a series of communications, which appeared in 
 the Fitchburg Sentinel over the signature of " Inquirer," 
 favoring the passage of the Bland Silver Bill. These 
 communications were written in a clear and forcible 
 style, and showed a thoroughly business-like familiar- 
 ity with, as well as careful study of, the subject in 
 hand. A correspondent of the Boston Herald said of 
 these articles at the time, — " Our bankers and busi- 
 ness men are considerably exercised at the appearance 
 of a series of letters in the Sentinel, the past week or 
 two, favoring the passage of the Bland Silver Bill. 
 The Sentinel opposes the sentiments of these commu- 
 nications editorially, but it is beginning to be evident 
 that the unknown writer is more than a match for the 
 newspaper men, at least in vigorous style, mastery of 
 the arts of logic and power of special pleading.'' 
 
 In politics Mr. Goodrich has never been, in any 
 sense, an extreme partisan. In early life he was a 
 stanch believer in, and advocate of, anti-slavery prin- 
 ciples. He served on the first " Free-Soil Town Com- 
 mittee" with Moses Wood, Charles Mason and Henry 
 A. Willis. His first vote was for John P. Hale for 
 President. He has been a Republican since the party 
 was organized ; but, being naturally independent, has 
 not always fully acquiesced in every political measure 
 advocated or adopted by that party. As a rule he has 
 supported Republican candidates. 
 
 In 1869 and 1870 Mr. Goodrich represented his 
 native town in the Legislature, being elected thereto 
 as the Republican candidate, and served two years on 
 the Hoosac Tunnel committee during the most im- 
 portant epoch in the history of the great tunnel enter- 
 prise. 
 
330 
 
 HISTOKY OF WOKCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 At the organization of the city government he 
 served on the Board of Assessors, and for several j-ears 
 was one of the trustees of the Public Library. In 
 1885 he was the Citizens' candidate for mayor, though 
 practically a temperance man, but shared the fate of 
 the entire Citizens' ticket, which was that year swept 
 away by a tidal wave of radical prohibition. 
 
 He was active in organizing the Fitchburg Board 
 of Trade, and was one of its first vice-presidents. He 
 has been one of the managers of the Massachusetts 
 Mutual Aid Society from its organization, and in 1887 
 was elected its president. In 1887 he was also presi- 
 dent of the Merchants' Association and of the Ameri- 
 can Pruning Company. 
 
 He is one of the trustees of the Worcester North 
 Savings Institution, and a director of the Fjtchburg 
 Park Association. 
 
 Mr. Goodrich has always led a busy, active life, and 
 has ever been ready to aid in the forwarding of all 
 projects tending to increase and strengthen the pros- 
 perity of his native town ; and his high mercantile 
 and social standing is the result of integrity, energy 
 and perseverance. 
 
 CHAPTER LII. 
 BARRE. 
 
 BY MATTHEW WAI,KER. 
 
 Bahre is situated in the westerly part of Worcester 
 County, about twenty-one miles northwesterly of 
 Worcester, and is fifty-six miles from Boston by an 
 old turnpike road, or by the Central Massachusetts 
 Railroad sixty-one miles. It is in forty-two degrees 
 and twenty-six minutes north latitude, and the eleva- 
 tion of its Common in the centre of the town is nine 
 hundred and ten feet above the mean level of the sea. 
 The towship is nearlydiamond shaped, its sides being 
 very regular, two of them being about six and one- 
 half miles long each, the other two about six and 
 one-fourth miles each, containing an area of about 
 torty-one square miles. This very regular plot seems 
 to have been educed from the similar shape of the 
 original grant of land of which it forms a part. 
 
 The early records inform us that the proprietors of 
 Rutland voted, in 1715, to survey and set off into lots 
 the contents of six miles square, to be granted to 
 settlers in order to secure the performance of the 
 conditions in the original confirmation of the title. 
 
 The surface is hilly, its soil a subsoil of clay with a 
 loamy overlaying, thus forming a compact stratum 
 of the nature of hardpan ; it is very fertile, mak- 
 ing it desirable, productive and valuable. In popu- 
 lation, according to the census of 1885, it ranks 
 thirty-second in the county, while in the relative 
 proportion of its farm products it is third in rank, 
 Worcester and P'itchburg surpassing it. It is es- 
 
 sentially an agricultural town, the formation of the 
 soil being such as admirably fits it for tillage, mow- 
 ing and pasturage, the hay crop amounting in value 
 to about seventy-five thousand dollars per annum, 
 and its dairy products to an equal sum, or, for the 
 year 1885, to seventy-five thousand nine hundred and 
 sixty-seven dollars. The valuation of the town, as 
 returned by the assessors for 1888, is one million 
 three hundred and eighty-five thousand and seventy- 
 five dollars. 
 
 Its undulating surface affords picturesque views, 
 and the highways, hard and well cared for, furnish 
 fine drives, showing the well-preserved farm-houses 
 and other buildings, as well as the beautiful struc- 
 tures of the centre village and the more thickly- 
 settled portions of the town, buildings kept neatly 
 painted, and, with a background of living green, 
 presenting an attractive appearance. 
 
 The town is well wooded and watered, the princi- 
 pal streams being the Ware River, which runs through 
 the east and southerly portions, furnishing a water- 
 power of considerable capacity ; the Cannestow and 
 Burnshirt Rivers in the east part, the latter having 
 several mill powers ; Pleasant Brook, a romantic and 
 beautiful stream, partially concealed by forests, then 
 leaping forth and glittering in the sunlight, and with 
 its rugged bed and stony or mosiy banks, attracting 
 the gaze of the saunterer and inviting him to follow 
 its windings; Prince River, which has its source in 
 the north part, small streams flowing into and form- 
 ing an artificial reservoir, covering about sixty acres, 
 running almost directly south, having a number of 
 water-powers which are used for various purposes ; 
 Dick's Brook, near the centre, flowing southerly and 
 easterly, presenting a wild and romantic view as it 
 turns with its swift current and considerable fall, 
 leaping onward to Prince River ; Hill Brook, Silver 
 Brook and other small streams, from their rugged 
 and picturesque surroundings, serving to attract the 
 attention of the mere stroller or the disciple of the 
 piscatorial art ; Moose Brook, in the westerly part, 
 rising to the north and flowing southerly through a 
 number of fertile and highly cultivated farms, pre- 
 senting to the lover of nature opportunities for a 
 stroll upon its banks that will repay him for his time 
 and exertion. All these streams find their way into 
 the Ware River. 
 
 In 1853, to increase the water-power of Prince 
 River, a reservoir was constructed in the north part 
 of the town ; in 1868 the dam gave way, the most 
 commonly accepted opinion being that it resulted 
 from the efi'ccts of lightning, the heavy body of water 
 sweeping away in its course most of the manufac- 
 tories on the banks of the stream, only a part of 
 which have been rebuilt. A loss of about two hun- 
 dred thousand dollars was entailed upon the town 
 in the destruction of roads and bridges and upon 
 individuals by the carrying away of their property. 
 
 The geology of the town is not different from that 
 
BARKE. 
 
 331 
 
 of the surrouuding country, the rocks belonging to 
 the Eozoic system. Bowlders abound here and there, 
 and gneiss, granite and granitic gneiss form a large 
 part of our natural scenery. In tlje north and 
 westerly portions of the town runs a vein of stratified 
 rock, which is utilized in foundations for buildings 
 and for constructing walks. In the eastern and 
 southern portions the division of the hills, forming a 
 course for the Ware River, presents an interesting 
 view to the trained or untrained eye. The wild and 
 romantic scenery of the east part is worth more 
 than a passing visit, and the water, dashing along its 
 channel many feet below the roadway, with the sur- 
 rounding wooded tracts and the green herbage, leads 
 the thinking mind to a contemplation of grand and 
 noble subjects. 
 
 While our geological formation is leading us to an 
 analysis of its construction, we may find, in sep- 
 arate forms, some of the minerals that constitute our 
 granite. We have mica, feldspar, iron pyrites, beryl 
 and garnets, and of the latter some beautiful speci- 
 mens have been obtained. Fine specimens of rutile 
 were formerly obtained in the north and west parts, 
 but of late years the diligent searches of the ama- 
 teur mineralogist have gone unrewarded, so far as 
 this interesting mineral is concerned. 
 
 In the northerly part of the town is an extensive 
 deposit of plastic clay, of a rich variety, tending sime- 
 what to marl. Bricks were made of this quite exten- 
 sively some sixty and more years ago, but as no sand 
 of the proper quality with which to temper the clay 
 could be obtained, except by trucking it a distance of 
 several miles, the cost of manufacture was so great 
 that, in the competition of trade in other towns, the 
 business here became unprofitable, and was aban- 
 doned. In the south part of the town a bed of clay 
 was worked to great advantage fifty to sixty years ago, 
 the sand required for its manufacture into bricks being 
 found a short distance easterly ; but this bed ceased 
 to yield a proper amount of clay, and was finally 
 abandoned as " worked out." A short distance from 
 this old bed it is shrewdly surmised that another de- 
 posit exists, and, at a favoring time, trials will be 
 made of the quality of the material. 
 
 Under the head of topography we must refer to the 
 forests of the town. The somewhat broken surface of 
 the land, the natural quality of the soil, including its 
 rocks, and the general inclination and the number of 
 its water-courses, lead us to adopt the theory that this 
 was not, in its primitive days, an unbroken wilder- 
 ness ; that the land in a large proportion of the pres- 
 ent township was well wooded is indisputable, and the 
 early settler here found his way hither, and by mark- 
 ing trees could retrace his path with much less diffi- 
 culty. In subsequent years the forests became one of 
 the sources of a livelihood in the way of clearing the 
 timber, not only for obtaining improved land, but for 
 the manufacture of pot and pearl-ashes, and these were 
 made in considerable quantities, the towns to the south 
 
 of us furnishing excellent markets for these pro- 
 ducts. 
 
 The elevation of the town from its southern to its 
 northern extremity is quite marked, the difi'erence in 
 height between the Plains and the " Common " at the 
 centre being, as furnished from the minutes of rail- 
 road surveyors, about three hundred feet, or an aver- 
 age of about one hundred feet to the mile, and from 
 the " Common " to the northerly limits ot the town, 
 the ascent, though less marked, is about two hundred 
 feet additional, thus making a difference in our eleva- 
 tion between the extreme northern and southern 
 boundaries of about five hundred feet. While there 
 is so great a difference in the elevation from north to 
 south, the difference from the extreme eastern to the 
 western corner is but slight; hills abound from east 
 to west, but the elevation finally assumed is nearly 
 the same. In the north part of the town is Hawes' 
 Hill, which, next to Mt. Wachusett, is the highest 
 point of land in the State east of the Connecticut 
 River. 
 
 With the town of to-day so well laid out, with its 
 good and numerous highways, its well-constructed 
 and beautiful houses, its fertile fields and farms, and 
 with a people, social, thrifty and hospitable, engaged 
 in farming and business ventures of various kinds, 
 the contrast now with the wooded and unsettled ter- 
 rit«ry of two hundred years ago exhibits wonderful 
 changes. The first time any white man traversed 
 this section was in 1635, when an expedition was sent 
 westerly from the Plymouth colony and penetrated 
 as tar as the Connecticut River. It is very probable 
 that the report of this expedition referred to the 
 meadow lands and to the natural fertility of the soil, 
 and, in after-years, as the settlers in the east increased 
 in numbers, they coutinued to move farther westerly, 
 and settled various townships in what is now Worces- 
 ter County, the first settlement being at Lancaster, in 
 1743. Brookfield was settled in 1073-74, and, in 1681, 
 the General Court appointed a committee, who pur- 
 chased a portion of the southern part of the present 
 Worcester County ; December 22, 1686, old style, or 
 January 2, 1687, of the present style of reckoning 
 dates, the territory which now embraces Rutland, 
 Oakham, Barre, Hubbardston and portions of Paxton 
 and Princeton, was purchased of five Indians " dwell- 
 ing in His Majesty's territory iu America," by Henry 
 Willard, Joseph Rowlandson, Joseph Foster, Benja- 
 min Willard and Cyprian Stevens, "in consideration 
 of twenty three pounds in hand paid, and for them- 
 selves and all of their heirs, executors, administrators 
 and assigns, freely, fully and absolutely give, grant, 
 bargain, sell, alien, enfeoffe, make over and confirm 
 unto the above-named Willard and others, a certain 
 tract of land, meadows, swamps, timbers, intervales, 
 containing twelve miles square," the buunds being 
 carefully described in the deed, and these Indians 
 covenanted that they were the lawful owners of all 
 the lands, " or any other matter, be it mine or mines. 
 
332 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 or any ore falling within this tract according to the 
 butts and bounds mentioned." This was a deed of 
 warranty, and was written in strong and comprehen- 
 sive terms, and was acknowledged by the parties to 
 the contract March 15, ltj87.' 
 
 This purchase from the Indians was undoubtedly 
 made to quiet and pacify them, the war of King 
 Philip, and the massacre at Brookfield but a few years 
 previously, having evidently taught the white people 
 that measures of this kind were matters of policy. 
 The settlers were aware that the Indians could have 
 no legal title to the land, and so little value, other- 
 wise than as a measure of peace and policy, was 
 placed upon the deed at that time, that it was not re- 
 corded for more than twenty-five years subsequently, 
 or not until April 15, 1714, and then not until appli- 
 cation had been made to the General Court for a con- 
 firmation of the title, which act of confirmation was 
 obtained February 23, 1713, but on condition that 
 within seven years sixty families should be settled in 
 the territory, a quantity of land to be set apart for 
 the location and support of the church and schools, 
 and that this grant should not encroach on any 
 former grants. It will be noticed that this was not an 
 act of incorporation, but merely one of confirmation 
 of the title. 
 
 Now our predecessors were in full and legal posses- 
 sion of their purchase, subject to the prescribed mn- 
 ditions; and to fulfill the requirements of the act so 
 far as to induce the settlement of sixty families 
 within the limits of the grant within the time speci- 
 fied, the purchasers formed an association, or Pro- 
 prietry, as it afterwards became to be called, by join- 
 ing with themselves others who were persons of 
 energy and influence. The association was divided 
 into thirty-three shares, each proprietor having sne, 
 except Joseph Foster, who had two ; the names of 
 the original proprietors in this association were Jo- 
 seph Foster, Mrs. Cyprian Stevens, Marj' Willard's 
 heirs, Joseph Rowlandson's heirs, Simeon Willard, 
 John Willard, Benjamin Willard, Joseph Willard, 
 Josiah Willard's heirs. Rev. Samuel Willard's heirs, 
 Henry Willard's heirs, Daniel Willard's heirs, Jona- 
 than Willard's heirs, Thomas Brintnall, Nathaniel 
 Howard's heirs, Robert Blood's heirs, Joshua Ed- 
 mund's heirs, William Tyler, Penn Townsend, Paul 
 Dudley, Addington Davenport, Adam Winthrop, 
 Thomas Hutchinson, Thomas Fitch, Thomas How, 
 John Chandler, William Dudley, John White, John 
 Farnsworth, Peter Buckley's heirs, Moses Parker and 
 Jacob Stevens. In December, 1715, these proprie- 
 tors voted to survey and set oflf into lots sections of 
 six miles square, these plats to be granted to settlers, 
 
 iThis deed is a document of much value and importance, showing some- 
 what tlie customs of the times, and also the clearness and sagacity with 
 which the instrument is drawn ; it is too lengthy a document for inser- 
 tion here ; the recorded ropy niay lie seen in the Registry of Deeds for 
 Middlesex County, book Ifi, page .SlI, Worcester County not being in- 
 corporated until 1731. 
 
 in order to secure the performance of the conditions 
 in the original act of the confirmation of the title; 
 the first part set off contained what is now Rutland 
 and a portion of Paxton, being one-fourth of the 
 twelve miles square, and which had been surveyed 
 the previous October by William Ward. In this por- 
 tion sixty-two house lots of thirty acres each were 
 laid out, which were offered to permanent settlers at 
 nominal rates, and promises were given to divide the 
 remainder of the land amongst them, provided that 
 sixty families should settle there within the prescribed 
 seven years, reserving, however, sufiicient lands for 
 the use and support of the ministry and school, and 
 one thousand acres, which had previously been 
 granted by government to Samuel Sewall. 
 
 When the seven years had transpired the require- 
 ments had been consummated, the settlers coming 
 from Boston, Lexington, Concord, Sudbury, Marl- 
 borough, Framingham, Lancaster, Brookfield, and 
 from Ireland. The condition of the grant having 
 been fulfilled, the proprietors petitioned the General 
 Court, which commenced its session the last Wed- 
 nesday of May, 1722, for an act of incorporation, 
 and, on the 18th of the following month, a bill 
 was passed for further establishing the town of Rut- 
 land, and empowering them to choose all proper 
 officers, also empowering them to raise and collect 
 money for defraying the necessary charges of the said 
 town. 
 
 This part of the territory was afterwards called the 
 "settled part" of Rutland, and the proprietors, ful- 
 filling their promises to the settlers, ceased to have 
 any authority over it; the other three-fourths of the 
 grant was still held by them, and was under their 
 authority and jurisdiction, and to this portion their 
 immediate attention was now given, and efforts 
 were made to Induce families to settle in the north 
 and northwest sections. Some of the families had 
 settled westerly of the first section, and were living 
 in the " Northwest Quarter," as it began to be called, 
 and others, from time to time, came to the same 
 vicinity. 
 
 Tradition says that some were induced to locate 
 here by reason of the fertile meadows, where their 
 cattle could graze in summer and sufficient hay be 
 cut and placed in stacks for their winter's support, 
 and the same tradition relates that some of the Irish 
 emigrants of Scotch descent, who had settled in and 
 around Worcester, were of those who came into what 
 is now Barre. It is a matter of record that James 
 Caldwell was here June 6, 1739, representing the 
 ownership of Great Farm No. 9, which was in the 
 east part of the town, lying on the banks of the 
 Cannestow and Ware Rivers. He was the eldest son 
 of William and Sarah (Morison) Caldwell, who had 
 emigrated from Ireland about 1719, and settled in 
 Worcester, where they remained but a few years, for 
 prior to 1730 they had come into this "Northwest 
 Quarter." 
 
BARRB. 
 
 333 
 
 Tradition saya that James came here before his 
 father, having driven cattle hither, and remaining with 
 them during the following winter, living alone and 
 finding shelter under a shelving rock, which is still 
 seen on the farm which was the last residence of the 
 late Caleb Harwood. He soon built for himself a 
 cabin of atone, against which, as a protection from the 
 elements and from wild beasts, he made a kind of 
 palisade of split logs, and later, in 1754, built the first 
 frame house ever erected in this section ; this is a 
 large, two-storied house and still stands, and is in a 
 good state of preservation, being located but a short 
 distance from the shelving rock, or from where was 
 his cabin. The Caldwells were men of rare worth 
 and influence in the community ; James was killed 
 in 1763, he, with one of his slaves, having t;iken 
 refuge under a tree during a heavy thunder-shower. 
 The tree was struck by lightning, and falling, killed 
 him and broke a thigh of the negro. The spot where 
 he died is marked by a stone on which the following 
 inscription, now nearly illegible, waa carved : " This 
 stone is erected in memory of the time when and 
 place where Mr. James Caldwell died, which happened 
 by the falling of a tree, July 18, 1763, in the 52d year 
 of his age." 
 
 As early as 1720 families, or representatives of fam- 
 ilies, had gone nearly to the western limits of this 
 Northwest Quarter. In 1726 the first known deed 
 of land in this section was given, it being for a strip 
 near the present residence or farm of Mr. J. N. Pat- 
 terson. A few families having settled here, their 
 number was increasing. November 7, 1733, by virtue 
 of a warrant issued by Joseph Wilder, justice of the 
 peace, the proprietors met at the Royal E,xchange 
 Tavern, in Boston, and, on the fourth article in the 
 warrant, voted "that the north half of said township 
 (Rutland) be divided into two equal parts by a plain 
 line running across the breadth of the same, and that 
 the proprietors will proceed to divide the western 
 part of said north half into lots, and that sixty-six 
 other lots of good land of fifty acres each, as near as 
 may be to the spot for a meeting-house, be htid out for 
 homesteads ; and, wherever any of said sixty-six lots 
 fall short in quality to be made up in quantity, and 
 said sixty-six lots to be numbered, in ord^^ to be 
 drawn for inconvenient time; and that convenient 
 highways be at the same time laid out, so as to accom- 
 modate the several lots ; and that a fair and regular 
 plot of the said west part of said north half be, with 
 the several lots and highways, delivered in as soon as 
 may be to the proprietors at their meeting for their 
 acceptance." At this meeting a tax of three hundred 
 and thirty pounds was laid upon the proprietors to 
 defray the expenses. Henry Lee, of Worcester, made 
 application for appointment as surveyor, offering to 
 do the work for one hundred pounds, but the work 
 was given to Samuel Willard, a relative of some of the 
 proprietors, who, in company with Lee, made the 
 survey, and when completed, each signed the plans. 
 
 In addition to the sixty-six lots of fifty acres each, 
 the lot for a meeting-house and for the school, thirty- 
 three Great Farms of five hundred acres each were 
 plotted out, an additional number of acres being al- 
 lowed to such of those where the land was of inferior 
 quality. 
 
 John Butolph, of Boston, was appointed collector 
 of the tax from those of the proprietors who lived 
 near Boston, he being authorized to collect the sum 
 of i;248 8«. lid., and Phineas Brintnall, of Sudbury, 
 was authorized to collect the balance, or £81 lis. Id. 
 These Great Farms, as well as the house-lots, exceeded 
 in acres the specified number, not only because some 
 of the land might be of inferior quality, but also be- 
 cause a desire had been expressed that good measure 
 be invariably given. 
 
 The proprietors of this Northwest Quarter now drew 
 for their lots. Joseph Foster, holding two shares in 
 the proprietry or association, drew Great Farm No. 
 9, in the east part of the town, and No. 13, which 
 lay in the north part and included the land where 
 now is the reservoir which supplies Prince River, and 
 other land suflicient to make five hundred and sixty 
 acres in each plot ; it was a part of Foster's share of 
 No. 9 which was afterwards represented by James 
 Caldwell. 
 
 All these Great Farms were offered for sale, and 
 strenuous efforts were made to induce settlers to locate 
 upon them. In 1735 a farm of two hundred and fifty 
 acres was offered to the first orthodox minister who 
 would settle here, provided he would continue in the 
 ministry for seven years, or until his death, if that 
 should sooner happen. Land was also tendered to 
 parties provided they would build and occupy a house 
 thereon, of certain dimensions and within a specified 
 time, the usual dimensions being twenty feet long 
 and eight feet studs, the houses to be made habitable 
 by the following winter and to be occupied by the 
 builder or his heirs for at least five years ; provision 
 for travelers was anticipated and a tract of land was 
 offered to any one who would build a house of enter- 
 tainment thereon and keep it for that purpose for at 
 least seven years. The terms of the proprietors were 
 most liberal, and if the conditions on which the 
 settlers took lands were not all fulfilled at the ex- 
 piration of the times specified, the privileges were 
 continued to such of those as had exhibited a dis- 
 position to comply with the terms imposed, but who 
 had been prevented by some untoward event ; those 
 who had received lands and had failed to fulfill their 
 conditions through neglect or want of energy, were 
 dispossessed of them and the property reverted to the 
 proprietors. Thus plans were laid for a thrifty and 
 energetic population ; to still further encourage immi- 
 gration roads were projected and built from the settled 
 part of Rutland to Nitchewag (now Petersham). A 
 "great bridge" was built over the Ware River near 
 where is now the Baptist Church ; this was destroyed 
 by a forest fire in 1740, but was rebuilt the following 
 
334 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 year, logs being thrown across the stream, as in the case 
 of the former bridge, and this time gravel was carted 
 on to prevent the recurrence of such a mishap and 
 also as a protection to guard against its being washed 
 away by any sudden rise of the water. 
 
 With a road, rough thougli it might be, built from 
 east to west, nearly through the centre of the North- 
 west Quarter, better facilities were afforded for the 
 incoming of settlers; and they came, — energetic, rug- 
 ged, honest men, who did much to aid and encourage 
 the little band already here, and who later filled many 
 offices of trust in the direction of affairs here. The 
 Rices, the Holdens, the Wallaces, the Nourses, the 
 Aliens, are some of the prominent ones who now 
 came, all of whom left descendants who still dwell 
 with us and fill honorable and responsible places in 
 our midst. 
 
 For such a people the proprietors desired more and 
 better conveniences^ and at their meeting held at the 
 Light-House Tavern in Boston, December 5, 1748, a 
 committee of their number was requested to petition 
 the General Court, as soon as may be, that the North- 
 west Quarter of the township of Rutland may be 
 made a town of itself, or be a separate district, with 
 all the privileges of a town. This petition was drawn 
 up, and is as follows : 
 
 Petition. 
 
 To His Excellency, W™. Shirley, Esq., Captain General A Governour 
 in Cheefe in & over His Majeatya Province of Massachusetts Bay in New 
 England & Vice Admiral of the Biime & to the Honourable His Majsty 
 Couutil & Hcuse of Representatives in Geneiul Court assembled. 
 
 The petition of the Connnittee of the Proprietors of the Township of 
 Rutland (the Original Settlers part excepted) in the County of Worces* 
 terin sd Province in behalf of themselves it sd proprietors & accord- 
 ing to their votes A direction8,.Humbly sheweth That the sd Proprietors 
 have been for above these fifteen Years at great & Constant Pains & Ex- 
 pense of time and many hundred Pounds in Running the Bounds, sur- 
 veying. Dividing & Laying out Lots, finding out A' clearing Roads, 
 Building of Bridges, settling Inhabitants & paying for Preaching in the 
 Northwestern qviarter of th<* Township of Rutland. That the sd North 
 Westerly Quarter is about the Quantity of six miles Square more or less, 
 according to the jdaii herew'*" exhibited, bound East North Easterly 
 about six miles on the North Easterly Quarter of said Township, South 
 South Easterly aboute six miles, partly on the original settlers Quarters & 
 partly on the West wing of sd Township. West South Westerly about 
 six miles partly on Braintree Grant & partly on Hardwick, North North 
 Westerly on Nichaway so-called. That there are now settled in sd 
 Quarter nearly Thirty familiys consisting of above one hundred souls 
 who stand in need of a Settled Gospel Ministry &, Ordinances, and the 
 Adult are Earnestly Deiwirous of them, but cannot obtain them without 
 a proper Encouragement by your Excellency & Honours. That the sd 
 proprieters in view of sd Quarter being erected into a Town have given 
 Laid out & set apart a fifty acre lot of Choice Good Land & another Farm 
 of Two Hundred Forty seven Acres for the first Orthodox Uliuiuter that 
 shall be ordained there, and a fifty acre Lot for the use •f a School there 
 forever. And Therefore your Petitioners Earnestly Desire That yr Ex- 
 cellncy and Honours would in your great wisdom set off & Erect the sd 
 North Western Quarter with all the Inhabitants into a Town or other- 
 wise into a separate District with all the priviledges A powers of a Town 
 so far as to Chusn All sorts of Town Officers among themselves & make 
 all kinds of Rules on the Inhabitants of sd District for building houses 
 for Publick worship settling & maintaining ministers laying out & mak- 
 ing Roads & for all other Services of a Publick Nature which any Towns 
 inithe Province, are by Law Enabled to do, only Reserving to themselves 
 the Liberty allowed, by Charter &t lie Laws of joining in Common with the 
 other freeholdera of sd Township in chusing & being Chosen Represen- 
 tatives to servo in the gen' assembly as also desiring the Power of assess- 
 ing Levelling & Raising a Tax of sixpence old Tenor upon every Stand- 
 ard acre in sd District for the first five Years next Ensuing annually for 
 
 Propria* 
 Committee, 
 
 the puriwaes above eaid Excepting only sd land granted to sd miuisters 
 
 & school wh. said Tax in their present Infant & feeble state of ieas than 
 Thirty Families is of absolute necessity for them. And your petitioners 
 might humbly offer the following among other Weighty Reasons 1 The 
 sd Quarter is nearly a Square body of generally good Land suitable & 
 sufficient for ^uch a Town or District. 2 The Centre of sd (Juarter is 
 about Ten Miles distant from tlie place of Worship of the Original set- 
 tlers & some parts of sd Quarter aboute fourteen miles off, a very heavy 
 Inconvenience either to bu warned to their common Town Meetings or 
 to attend them or to serve as Town Officers for so great an Extent & 3 
 The Inhabitants of the Original Settlers part are so sensible of this hard- 
 ship as they liavc expressed their willingness above four years and nine 
 months ago of the sd North Westerly (Quarter being deteeshed from them, 
 as appears by their attested vote herewith offered. 4 .t Lastly, Upon 
 your Excellency & Honours now granting the sd District there are so 
 many people straitened in other places ready to move into this as afford 
 a most rational prospect that in case of another war the sd Quarter will 
 grow 80 full of people as instead of needing soldiers stationed among 
 them at the Publick charge for their Defence, they will not only be suf- 
 ficiently able with the Divine help to Defend themselves but also have 
 numbers to spare for the Defence of other places above them. And your 
 Petitionee shall ever pray as Bound &c 
 
 Thomas Prince 
 Jonas Clarke 
 Thomas Hcbbard 
 Cornelius Waldo 
 
 Twenty-eight of the inhabitants further manifested 
 their desire by signing this petition. This was pre- 
 sented in April, 1749, and on the 14th of that month 
 it was read in the House of Representatives, and or- 
 dered granted, so far as to be erected into a separate 
 district with full power to choose town oflicers, and 
 have all the other rights and privileges of a town, 
 excepting that of sending representatives to the Gen- 
 eral Assembly ; but permission was granted to join 
 with Rutland for this purpose, and an inhabitant of 
 this quarter was eligible to the office ; the petitioners 
 were ordered to notify the non-resident proprietors by 
 public advertisement, by inserting in the Boston 
 Gazette so much of said petition as related to the tax. 
 This notice having been given and so certified, the 
 petition came up in the Council, June 13th, and was 
 read again, when it was ordered that the tax be "one 
 penny half-penny of the last emition per acre annu- 
 ally,'* except the land for the minister andlheschool, 
 for the term of five years. 
 
 The bill was sent to the House for concurrence, 
 and, in Council, June 20th, it was agnin read and con- 
 curred in, and that day it received the approval of 
 Governor Shirley. 
 
 In 1749, then, the Northwest Quarter of Rutland 
 was created a district, and, passing out of the control 
 of the proprietors, became subject to the authority of 
 a local board of officers having the same rank and 
 titles as those connected with a town. 
 
 The history of the first church is nearly coeval 
 with the settlement of the territory, a part of which 
 is now the town of Barre. November 7, 1733, at a 
 meeting of the proprietors, held at the Royal Ex- 
 change Tavern, in Boston, it was voted " that some 
 spot, as near the centre of said western part as con- 
 venience allows, be found and pitched upon for setting 
 a meeting-house, in the middle of some considerable 
 quantity of good land fit for settlement, and that one 
 lot should be for the first minister ordained there ; " 
 
BARRE. 
 
 335 
 
 they ordered that the lot for the minister should con- 
 sist of fifty acres conveniently near to the meeting- 
 house. A division of the land was made, and the 
 place assigned for the meeting-house was near the 
 dwelling now owned by Mr. D. B. Olin. It was the 
 intention of the proprietors that the meeting-house 
 should be built at as early a day as possible, and, in 
 1739 a plot of the Northwest Quarter was returned by 
 Abner Lee, a surveyor, and June 6th accepted and 
 placed on record. A meeting of the proprietors was 
 called, to be held at the Liglit-House Tavern, in King 
 Street, Boston, on the 9th day of June, 1742, the war- 
 rant being dated May 4th. After electing a moderator, 
 the first matter under consideration was " to agree 
 with some suitable person to prepare and raise the 
 frame of a meeting-house within the Northwest Quar- 
 ter, of such dimensions as the proprietors shall deter- 
 mine," and, secondly, "to give some encouragement 
 for obtaining occasional preaching." 
 
 The prominent step taken towards erecting the 
 meeting-house at this session was that Col. Samuel 
 Willard was desired to purchase of the heirs of 
 Robert Blood a portion of their farm on reasonable 
 terms, in behalf of the proprietors, that they might 
 erect a saw-mill. (This land lies on Prince River and 
 is a part of the farm now owned by Nelson Loring.) 
 This meeting was adjourned to August 25th, when 
 they met and agreed with Jonas Clarice to build a saw- 
 mill on this land. At an adjourned meeting held on 
 the first Wednesday of June, 1743, sixteen pounds, 
 old tenor, was voted to be allowed and paid John 
 Caldwell to defray the charge of a minister's preach- 
 ing to the inhabitants of the Northwest Quarter one 
 month the preceding winter. This is the first inti- 
 mation that we have of religious services being held 
 here; we have no record in what part they were held, 
 but as John Caldwell lived some distance easterly 
 from what is now the centre of the town, and a num- 
 ber of the other settlers were in his immediate vicinity, 
 it is highly probable that the preaching was at his 
 house, about two miles from what is now the centre 
 of the town. 
 
 September 1, 1743, it was voted that, as some of the 
 settlers had represented the great difficulty they 
 labored under by reason of their distance from all 
 places of public worship, and desired the assistance 
 of the proprietors towards procuring preaching among 
 themselves, eighty pounds, old tenor, be allowed them 
 for obtaining preaching for one year, next coming, 
 and this amount should be paid to such a committee 
 as the settlers miglitchoose ; December 12, 1744, forty- 
 eight pounds was allowed and paid to the inhabitants 
 that they might have a minister for twelve weeks; 
 the two subsequent years sixty pounds were appro- 
 priated each year for the same purpose; in .Tune, 
 1748, one hundred pounds was allowed ; June 7, 
 1750, it was voted that twelve pounds, old tenor, be 
 allowed and paid to John Caldwell, one of a com- 
 mittee for erecting a meeting-house in the North- 
 
 westerly District of Rutland, and to be by him 
 applied towards the charge of erecting the same. In 
 1744, seventy pounds, old tenor, had been appropri- 
 ated, and it was voted that Samuel Willard should 
 build a saw-mill in the Northwest Quarter, and 
 that he keep it iu repair for fifteen years and furnish 
 boards to build a meeting-house and house for the 
 minister at three pounds, old tenor, per thousand 
 feet, and that individuals should pay four pounds per 
 thousand feet. 
 
 Here, then, were the forceful steps taken for the 
 erection of a meeting-house, and for regular, in 
 place of occasional, worship ; funds were provided 
 for with which to purchase tlie boards, the labor and 
 timber being presumed to follow as needed ; the de- 
 termination of the inhabitants soon became manifest 
 to erect the building at the earliest practicable mo- 
 ment. 
 
 From 1750, when the vote was passed to allow 
 John Caldwell funds for building tlie house, we can 
 see that due haste was made in prosecuting the 
 work; notwithstanding all the difficulties they la- 
 bored under, three years later the building was occu- 
 pied for worship, and July 29, 1753, a church was or- 
 ganized, and the following October Rev. Thomas 
 Frink was installed as pastor of " the Congregational 
 Church and Society in Rutland District." 
 
 In those days the parish was bounded by the same 
 geographical lines as was the town or district, and, 
 while the church and society were at liberty to es- 
 tablish their rules and choose their officers, the dis- 
 trict or town supported the minister and paid the 
 necessary incidental or contingent charges that per- 
 tained to the care and repairs of the house, raising 
 the funds therefor by a tax on the property and polls 
 of all the people. 
 
 Although the meeting-house was used as a place 
 of worship, it was not a completed building, merely 
 sufficient work having been done to permit the peo- 
 ple to assemble there for worship. It was evidently 
 expected that the district would increase in popula- 
 tion ; and it did increase, and as hiore seats or pews 
 became necessary, additional pews were placed iu the 
 gallery ; these places for pews and privileges of 
 building them were generally sold to the highest bid- 
 der. In 17()5 several spots were sold, and it was" 
 specified that the size of the pews to be made should 
 be " 6 ft. wide, east and west, and 7 ft. long, north 
 and south," and the floor of the pews should be a 
 few inches above the floor of the gallery. The 
 meeting-house w as used, also, for municipal purposes, 
 all the town-meetings being held there. This house 
 was not built on the lot originally assigned for it in 
 the proprietor's plan, but was located nearly opposite, 
 where our post-office now is. We find no definite 
 reason for this change, but attribute it to the fact 
 that here the ground was nearer a level, and that 
 this location was more central, the larger part of the 
 inhabitants living in the eastern and southerly por- 
 
336 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 tions of the district, where there were better roads, 
 while in the westerly part the residents were less in 
 numbers, and no roads had been constructed. 
 
 Mr. Frink was a native of Massachusetts and in 
 the fiftieth year of his age; a man of vigorous intel- 
 lect and strong opinions, both theological and other- 
 wise, and, in addition to his imperious will, a man of 
 great irritability. His annual salary was £53 8s. GcL, 
 the pound being equivalent to three and one-third 
 dollars of the present currency ; this salary was not 
 always paid when due, at times the arrearages ex- 
 tending over a period of several years, but after 1763 
 and until his dismissal it was paid him regularly. His 
 arrogance and infirmity of temper unfitted him for 
 hi< sacred duties, being productive of dissensions of 
 great bitterness, and these became so intense that a 
 mutual council was called to decide where the fault 
 lay in the unhappy controversy which bad arisen, 
 and to advis-e as to the future course to be pursued. 
 This council was an able one, consisting of well-known 
 pastors and lay delegates fri.m the most important 
 churches of the province, coming here from Spring- 
 field, Amherst, Watertown and Boston. It was in 
 session six days, investigating the difficulties. 
 
 The task was a perplexing one ; the determined 
 spirit of the people on the one hand and the equally 
 strong course of the minister on the other had pro- 
 duced such a bitterness of feeling that only a calm 
 and searching investigation could allay the excite- 
 ment. 
 
 June 18, 1766, the council reported its findings, 
 which were signed by all the members. It was a 
 lengthy document and on nearly every point sustained 
 the complaints of the people. It found that Mr. Frink 
 had acted in a very arbitrary manner towards mem- 
 bers of the church, commanding some to abstain from 
 the communion for what he termed their perverse- 
 ness, speaking of them, both publicly and privately, 
 in hard, abusive and scurrilous language; that he 
 had interfered in the private and domestic concerns 
 of others; that he had claimed and had exercised the 
 power to summarily adjourn a- church-meeting con- 
 trary to the wishes of those present; that he had de- 
 nied the right and privilege of certain members either 
 to speak or to vote in these meetings; that he had 
 'defamed many of the other regular ministers of the 
 county ; and that his example had engendered pride 
 and wrath. In view of these and other findings, the 
 council recommended " that the pastoral relation be- 
 tween the Rev. Mr. Frink and the Church in Rutland 
 District should be dissolved." 
 
 On the part of the people another step was neces- 
 sary. A town-meeting was held July 16th to see 
 whether the district would acquiesce with and accept 
 the "result" of the council. The meeting was a 
 stormy one. John Caldwell was the moderator, and 
 at his request the meeting was adjourned for one 
 hour, and the people were requested not to leave the 
 house; private consultation was desired, and it was 
 
 deemed the part of wisdom to devise some plan that 
 would allay the excitement and anger everywhere 
 visible, and endeavor to obtain a better outcome of 
 their deliberations than now seemed possible. After 
 again coming to order, the district finally voted to 
 accept the findings and to comply with the advice of 
 the council that the pastoral relation should be 
 dissolved. 
 
 This vote was passed by a large majority ; in the 
 district records is the following entry: "N. B. Some 
 people said the meeting-house was so full of people 
 that they desired the moderator would draw the peo- 
 ple, that were voters, out of the meeting-house into a 
 ring abroad, which was immediately done; and it was 
 openly declared and desi/ed by the moderator that 
 there might be two rings of the people drawn up, and 
 if there were any in favor of Mr. Frink, that they 
 would draw into a ring at the westerly end of the 
 house, and all that were for voting Mr. Frink's dismis- 
 sion to make a ring towards the easterly end of said 
 house." The record further states that the people 
 went almost unanimously into the ring at the east end. 
 
 Mr. Frink was not disposed to accept this finding of 
 the council and its endorsement by the people; there 
 were a few who, in the main, approved of his course. 
 
 Dr. Thompson, in his semi-centennial sermon, re- 
 calls the story that the next Sabbath Mr. Frink at- 
 tempted to enter the pulpit, but was prevented by 
 John Caldwell, who took him by his coat-collar and 
 led him to the door of the house. 
 
 Mr. Frink preached a short time to his partisans 
 here, and afterwards was an attendant at the church 
 in Petersham, but soon returned to Rutland, where he 
 died in the seventy-third year of his age. He brought 
 an action against the district which was decided 
 against him in the Court of General Sessions in No- 
 vember, 1767. The following April he brought another 
 for trespass, and again the district was triumphant, 
 but Mr. Frink entered an appeal. The decision of the 
 Superior Court of Judicature was adverse to him, and 
 he now agreed that henceforth there should be a bar 
 to all further legal proceedings. 
 
 Immediate steps were taken to secure regular 
 preaching again. In September, 1766, eighty pounds 
 was appropriated for defraying the charges of preach- 
 ing, and a committee was chosen to supply the 
 pulpit. A pastor was soon found in the person of Rev. 
 Josiah Dana ; in his few sermons that he had delivered 
 here the people recognized his worth and had become 
 attached to him, and in April, 1767, the church gave 
 him a call to settle over it; the district almost unani- 
 mously ratified the action of the church, and he ac- 
 cepted the call tlie following July. In his letter of 
 acceptance, stating that he felt that the people would 
 desire him to be as free from secular care as possible, 
 he " must beg leave to desire, expect and depend upon 
 being provided yearly with a suificient quantity of 
 fire-wood, fit for use, at the place of my abode, if 
 Providence should put me into a family state." The 
 
BARRE. 
 
 337 
 
 sum of £66 13«. 4rf., lawful money, was voted as his 
 annual salary, together with a very liberal sum to 
 defray the expenses of his settlement, but his fire- 
 wood at the expense of the district was refused. He 
 was installed the first Wednesday of the following 
 October, his salary dating from the 9th day of July 
 previous, that being the date of his acceptance of the 
 call. 
 
 In the troublesome times of the Revolution Mr. 
 Dana found his salary inadequate to his support ; he 
 asked for an increase of compensation, and ao;ain, 
 that his firewood might be furnished him. These 
 requests were passed over in town-meetings on several 
 occasions, and the feeling spread that it would be 
 advisable to dissolve the p.astoral relation. After a 
 time this feeling subsided, and his salary was in- 
 creased and firewood furnished, and subsequently, 
 partly on account of the depreciation in the value of 
 the currency, and the increasing wants of his large 
 family, his compensation was made still larger. He 
 continued aa pastor of the church for thirty-four 
 years, or until his death, in 1801. He is remembered 
 by persons still living here, and they speak of him 
 as a benevolent and kind-hearted man, dignified, yet 
 attractive and pleasant to the young, and one who 
 had the respect of the whole community. His re- 
 mains were interred in the burial-ground near his 
 residence. During his pastorate his dwelling-house 
 was destroyed by fire ; it w.as soon rebuilt, partly 
 with funds raised by subscription, and the balance 
 by a tax laid upon the town. The town voted to 
 have published three hundred copies of the sermon 
 which was preached at his funeral, this being de- 
 livered by Rev. Ephraim Ward, his classmate in 
 college. Mr. Ward says of him, " He was possessed 
 of natural firmness of mind, of a sprightly imagina- 
 tion, and an easy and happy elocution ; his utterance 
 was solemn and manly, which added dignity to his 
 address, and his preaching was serious, instructive 
 and practical.'' 
 
 In 1783, on a petition of a number of the inhabit- 
 ants a meeting was held to see if the town would 
 enlarge the meeting-house or build a new one. A 
 committee was appointed to investigate the question; 
 they reported that it was advisable to build a new 
 house, but as the news of a treaty of peace being 
 made had spread abroad, they recommended a post- 
 ponement of the subject until another meeting, as 
 then the cessation of war would "make a very con- 
 siderable alteration in the circumstances of men and 
 things." 
 
 In April, 1785, the matter was again brought before 
 the town, when it was voted to erect a new house ; a 
 committee of seven men was chosen to draw a plan 
 of the proposed building, which they did, and their 
 report accompanying the plan was accepted. The 
 dimensions of the house were to be sixty-eight 
 by fifty-four feet, which size was adopted, and it was 
 also voted to increase the size of the grounds, which 
 
 were now about one and one-half acres in extent ; 
 more land was purchased and the area was now about 
 two and one-fourth acres. Measures were adopted 
 towards commencing work on the new edifice. The 
 town voted to sell the pews in the contemplated build- 
 ing, and if suflicient funds were not procured from their 
 sale, a tax for the balance of the money needed for 
 construction should be levied upon the town. Eighty- 
 six pews were sold for £1184 6s., the conditions being 
 that each purchaser should give his note for the 
 amount he had promised to pay for the pew, of 
 which a third should be payable in building materials 
 on demand, a third in cash at the time of "raising 
 the house," and the remainder three months after- 
 wards; and any person who should not fulfil his 
 agreement should forfeit and pay fifteen per cent, of 
 his bid to the town and the ownership of the pew 
 should revert to the committee. The house was to be 
 built in the Ionic and Doric order of architecture. 
 The report of the committee not being satisfactory as 
 to the price of the material, the number was increased 
 and the estimates revised. A schedule of sizes and 
 prices of each piece of timber and lumber, of stone 
 and of lime was made, and this report was accepted. 
 Some of the materials for the building bad been de- 
 livered on the ground ; but the process of construc- 
 tion was delayed, some of the purchasers of the 
 pews being unable to fulfill their agreements ; in con- 
 sequence there was a postponement of the work, "the 
 great scarcity of cash, and the load of debts, both 
 public and private," making this course indispensa- 
 ble. 
 
 But the people felt that a new house was a ne- 
 cessity and further efforts were made towards its 
 construction. Success soon crowned their endeavors, 
 and in October, 1790, the edifice was so far completed 
 that the town voted to worship in the house from and 
 after the first Sunday in November. After collecting 
 the sums, so far as possible, for which the pews were 
 sold and from the sale of the old house, a debt of 
 about ten pounds stood against the committee, the 
 cost of the house having been £1201 Is. Qd. 
 
 It was desirable that every outstanding claim 
 should be settled before occupying the house, and 
 strenuous efforts were made for this purpose, but it 
 was nearly two years before they succeeded in raising 
 the required sum. 
 
 The people had a justifiable pride in their new edi- 
 fice, and, for those times, it was an imposing build- 
 ing ; it was located on the Common, where now is the 
 North Park, a part of the building extending beyond 
 the south limits ; from its height and style of archi- 
 tecture it attracted much attention. Whitney says 
 of it, in 1793, in his " History of Worcester County," 
 that it was the largest meeting-house in the county ; 
 he gives its dimensions as fifty-six by seventy-four 
 feet. 
 
 This building was kept well-painted and in proper 
 repair ; the society was prosperous, the town num- 
 
338 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 bering in population upwards of sixteen hundred, 
 the minister respected and beloved, and his relations 
 with the people harmonious. The church and town 
 acted in unison, the town willingly supplying the 
 pulpit during any temporary sickness of the pastor. 
 
 After the death of Mr. Dana, in 1801, the church 
 was without a regular pastor for upwards of two 
 years. During this time several ministers had been 
 called to preach as candidates for the vacancy. No- 
 vember 28, 1803, the town voted unanimously to 
 unite with the church and invite Rev. James Thomp- 
 son to the pastoral charge, and a committee of seven 
 members was appointed to wait upon him and inform 
 him of the proceedings of the town and see if there 
 was a prospect of his settling here in the ministry. 
 December 2d this committee reported that there was 
 a probability of Mr. Thompson settling here if agree- 
 able offer.s should be made. The town at once voted 
 five hundred dollars as an annual salary so long as 
 he should continue to be their minister, and four 
 hundred dollars for a settlement. The records state 
 that "Mr. Thompson came into the meeting and de- 
 clared his acceptance cheerfully." A committee of 
 five was chosen to provide for his installation, and 
 this took place January 11, 1804. 
 
 The church was pleased with its new pastor; he 
 was young, not yet twenty-four years of age, talented, 
 social, yet dignified, and a favorite with the young as 
 well as with the older part of his charge. He took 
 an active part in the various plans and schemes for 
 improving the society of the town and for its welfare 
 in every regard, and he not only participated in these 
 movements, but of many of them he was the origi- 
 nator and leader. He was a member of the School 
 Committee for forty years, assuming most of the bur- 
 dens himself, serving most of the time without com- 
 pensation, and laying down the burden only on ac- 
 count of the increasing cares and troubles incident to 
 old age. As a preacher he was favorably known far 
 beyond the limits of his own parish, and an installa- 
 tion of a minister in any other town for miles around 
 was hardly thought complete without his participa- 
 tion. He was a man of imposing presence, yet easy 
 of approach, a good and fluent speaker, not one who 
 dwelt upon abstract subjects, but one whowould hold 
 the attention of his audience and bring them into 
 sympathy with himself; his sermons never seemed to 
 weary his hearers, nor did they become weary of him. 
 
 Although a great reader and an original writer, it 
 may be a question whether he was a deep thinker, 
 but he was considered the best preacher in Worcester 
 County. In 1813 he was afflicted with a stroke of par- 
 alysis, which, to some extent, affected his efforts of 
 after-years, but his natural vigor and strong will-power 
 led him on to a long and useful career. The impress 
 of his labors in the community was great, and, to-day, 
 although nearly forty years have elapsed since his 
 death, he is still spoken of by the older part of our 
 people with feelings of deep respect and love. 
 
 After preaching here for more than forty years, 
 June 9, 1845, keenly noticing the effects of his early 
 affliction and the encroachments of age, he desired 
 the parish to release him from the active duties of 
 pastor, in consideration of which he offered to relin- 
 quish his salary. The parish complied with his re- 
 quest, and the next January Rev. Henry F. Bond was 
 installed as his colleague. Mr. Thompson continued 
 as the senior pastor until his death, May 14, 1854. 
 January 11th of that year he delivered a discourse at 
 the end of a ministry of fifty years among our people 
 to a house filled to overflowing, and the heartiest 
 testimony as to his worth and influence were made 
 manifest. Dr. Thompson was a graduate of Brown 
 University and from his Alma Mater received the de- 
 gree of Doctor of Divinity. 
 
 Early in the century the parish desired to make its 
 meeting-house still more attractive, and in 1806 the 
 town appropriated a sum of money to build a hand- 
 some tower and cupola, provided individuals would 
 give sufhcient money for the purchase of a bell and 
 clock; this money was soon raised by subscription, 
 and, with the thousand dollars in the town treasury, 
 the work was entered upon with much spirit and en- 
 thusiasm ; this addition to the house was soon com- 
 pleted, but the cost was greater than had been antici- 
 pated, being more than the original edifice had cost; 
 in September, 1807, one thousand dollars additional 
 was appropriated to pay the expense. 
 
 From this time until 1812 the usual order of afl'airs 
 prevailed. Under the pastorate of Dr. Thompson the 
 church was prosperous and the number of members 
 and attendants had increased. Nearly all the people 
 had been united in one parish, holding to the pre- 
 vailing theological (Congregational) belief of the day. 
 In the east part of the town a few of the more promi- 
 nent men had banded together to uphold and promote 
 the Baptist scheme, and a number withdrew from 
 the church here to unite with those of the eastern sec- 
 tion ; in the south part, in 1820, a few had organized and 
 formed aUniversalist society, attracting to themselves 
 other attendants of the original church. One reason 
 assigned by those of the Baptist persuasion for their 
 withdrawal was the excessive taxes that were assessed 
 for the ministerial support. As at this time the 
 town was legally a whole and united parish, and all 
 were liable to be assessed for the support of the one 
 church, their method of withdrawal was somewhat 
 unique. A committee of the church which they de- 
 sired to attend certified to the town clerk this fact, the 
 usuil form of certificate being as follows : " We certify 
 that A. B. of the town of Barre is a member of the re- 
 ligious society of the town of Barre called Baptist (or 
 Universalist, as the case might be) and doth associate 
 with them in public worship." This, signed by the 
 church committee and entered upon the town records, 
 was presumed and tacitly acknowledged as a release 
 from their obligations in aiding to support and main- 
 tain the original church. 
 
BAREE. 
 
 33'J 
 
 With other forms of belief, and with a more liberal 
 as well as with a closer construction of the doctrines 
 set forth, bitter controversies became prevalent. The 
 church in the centre of the town adopted the liberal 
 scheme, but many refused to adhere to this party, and, as 
 was to be foreseen, could not act in harmony with them. 
 They withdrew, and Augu-it 15, 1827, were organized 
 by an ecclesiastical council, called for that purpose, 
 as the Evangelical Congregational Chuich in Barre. 
 Aside from the friction of a separation, harmony be- 
 tween these two organizations was somewhat inter- 
 rupted, but the discords were afterwards allayed and a 
 friendly rivalry sprang up between them. 
 
 In continuing the history of the original parish, or 
 the First Parish in Barre, as it became to be called, 
 as early as 1818, notwithstanding the withdrawal of a 
 number of its members at different times, and more 
 especially those in 1827 who had formed the Evangel- 
 ical Church, and of the secession of others from 1834 
 to 1841, the parish prospered. In 1827 a number of 
 the inhabitants who attended its services petitioned 
 that, as the sutferings of the people who attended 
 public worship in the parish during the cold season 
 of the year were very great, the parish should pro- 
 cure a stove, or stoves, with sufficient pipe to warm 
 the meeting-house. This was a decided innovation, 
 but the matter was pressed, and in November it was 
 finally decided to raise one hundred and fifty dollars 
 to defray the expense of stoves and pipe and ground 
 for their location, and a committee of three was chosen 
 to superintend the business of placing them in the 
 house ; this was soon done, and from the year 1827 we 
 may date the introduction of stoves into the churches 
 of the country towns ; these may have been intro- 
 duced in some other towns at an earlier date, but 
 none of the adjoining ones preceded Barre in this re- 
 spect. 
 
 In 1848-49, the meeting-house having become 
 somewhat antiquated, and being located in a place 
 deemed worthy of improvement, such as enlarging 
 and beautifying the Common, a new church building 
 was erected a short distance northerly of the old one. 
 It is of Gothic order of architecture, neat and attrac- 
 tive, and with a seating capacity of about five hun- 
 dred. In its tower still runs the public clock. The 
 old church was sold to private individuals and trans- 
 formed into a building for offices and shops ; from its 
 magnitude, its pillars and general appearance it re- 
 ceived the name of the Colonnade, it having been moved 
 from its original site, where it continued to be an or- 
 nament to the town until its destruction by fire in 
 1862. A large brick structure was erected in its place, 
 this being occupied to-day by the National and Sav- 
 ings Banks, store, printing-office, &c. 
 
 The various pastors of this society since its organi- 
 zation have been Rev. Thomas Frink, from October, 
 1753, to June 18, 1766 ; Kev. Josiah Dana, October 7, 
 1767, to October 1, 1801; Rev. James Thompson, 
 January 11, 1804, to May 14, 1854 ; Rev. Henry F. 
 
 Bond, as colleague, Jan\iary 7, 1846, to December 30, 
 1850 ; Rev. Charles E. Hodges, as colleague, from 
 June 11, 1851, to March, 1854; Rev. William A. Ful- 
 ler, January 3. 1855, to March 28, 1859 ; Rev. Henry 
 Westcott, June 14, 1860, to April 1, 1864; Rev. John 
 B. Beach, November 9, 1865, to March 27, 1869: 
 Rev. Henry R. Smith, September 1, 1869, to October 
 1,1878; and Rev. Alvin F. Bailey, the present pas- 
 tor, who was installed May 7, 1879. 
 
 The membership of this church is by many con- 
 sidered coextensive with the members or families of 
 the parish. It draws its worshippers from the remote 
 parts of the town as well as from the immediate vicin- 
 ity of the church edifice. The membership of its Sun- 
 day-school is about one hundred. 
 
 The Evangelical Congregational Church at the time 
 of its organization, in 1827, consisted of thirty-two 
 members who had withdrawn from the First Parish, 
 then under the charge of Rev. Dr. Thompson, who 
 had adopted the Unitarian doctrine. The Articles 
 of Faith agreed upon were moderately Calvinistic, 
 containing but little more than the doctrines generally 
 assented to by the various evangelical denominations. 
 During the sixty years of its history the church has 
 had the following pastors : Rev. John Storrs, Janu- 
 ary 14, 1829, to April 24, 1832 ; Rev. Moses Grosve- 
 nor, November 13, 1832, to May 4, 1834 ; Rev. .Tohn 
 F. Stone, October 26, 1834, to November 17, 1836 ; 
 Rev. Samuel A. Fay, May 10, 1837, to July 1, 1840; 
 Rev. Erasmus D. Moore, July 1, 1840 to October 19, 
 1842; Rev. Amos Bullard. October 26, 1843, until his 
 death, August 21, 1850; Rev. C. M. Nickels, May 7, 
 1851, to June 17, 1856; Rev. George Denham, Decem- 
 ber 3, 1856, to May 2, 1860 ; Rev. Divid Peck, April 
 16, 1861, to Nov. 19, 1867; Rev. Edwin Smith, Octo- 
 ber 29, 1868, to April 24, 1879, and Rev. Joseph F. 
 Gaylord, the present pastor, who was installed Sep- 
 tember 18, 1879. 
 
 This church has always taken a decided stand 
 against intemperance, having, as early as 1830, de- 
 clared that it would not receive to its communion any 
 who used ardent spirits except for medicine. In 1837 it 
 adopted a series of rules, among which is the fol- 
 lowing: 
 
 " Those who become members of this church are 
 required not to traffic in ardent spirits, or use it as a 
 drink, and it shall be the duty of the standing com- 
 mittee to inform all persons offering themselves for 
 our communion of this rule, and to obtain from them a 
 pledge of its observance ; and whenever any person is 
 proposed it shall be understood that he stands thus 
 pledged to the committee and the church." 
 
 In recent years the church has taken ground against 
 the use of, and traffic in, fermented intoxicants as well 
 as ardent spirits. 
 
 In the conflict with slavery the church also took a 
 strong position, declaring, in 1842, " that we cannot 
 hereafter receive to our pulpit or communion any 
 minister or layman who holds his fellow-men in 
 
340 
 
 HISTOEY OF WOKCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHTTSETTS. 
 
 slavery, and who encourages and upholds those who 
 do." The church has had two church edifices, one 
 known as the brick meeting-house, in the west part of 
 the village, which was erected in 1828, and the other, 
 its present place of worship, built in 1848-49, and 
 which has a seating capacity of over five hundred. 
 After the present church building was occupied by 
 the society, the brick meeting-house passed into pri- 
 vate hands and was transformed into tenements. 
 
 The church, at various periods of its history, has 
 been favored with powerful revivals of religion, which 
 have greatly promoted its growth, and to-day its posi- 
 tion is .>-trong in its influence and work, and in its 
 membership, which numbers one hundred and sixty- 
 one, of whom twelve are non-residents of the town, 
 the membership of its Sabbath-school being about 
 one hundred and thirty-five. 
 
 Soon after the organization of the church the society 
 connected with it was formed, under the name of the 
 Evangelical Congregational Society, in the town of 
 Barre. This society was formed November 17, 1827, 
 and in February, 1829, was incorporated by a special 
 act of the Legislature. The relations between the 
 church and society have always been harmonious, the 
 church taking the initiative in selecting a pastor, but 
 the relation is not established without the concur- 
 rence of the society, which determines also the salary 
 of the pastor and provides for its payment. It also 
 has charge, under certain limitations, of the church 
 edifice. In 1888 the society adopted a carefully-pre- 
 pared set of by-laws, and in the same year rules for 
 the concurrent action of church and society were 
 adopted by both of these organizations, such action 
 having previously been guided by tradition rather 
 than by specific regulations. 
 
 The date of the introduction of the Universalist 
 creed to this town is 1820, in which year a spot of 
 land nearly opposite the B. & A. R' R. depot on the 
 Plains, and now occupied by a brick dwelling-house, 
 was purchased, and the erection of a church edifice 
 thereon was contemplated. Ministers prominent in 
 that denomination in other towns were obtained to 
 preach that doctrine, and to arouse such an enthusiasm 
 as should result in the establishment of a church and 
 society. 
 
 Public worship was held for several years in a hall 
 and dwelling-houses, but gradually, chiefly on account 
 of the depression in agriculture and of the scarcity of 
 money, the people considered it impossible to raise 
 funds for a church building, and the project was aban- 
 doned, and soon all interest in the matter was appa- 
 rently lost. In 1838, and for two or three years pre- 
 viously, a number of persons had become dissatisfied 
 in the First Church, and filed certificates of withdrawal. 
 April 9th a few of these associated themselves, and 
 formed the First Universalist Church of Barre, and 
 some from the south part of the town, who had been 
 interested in the scheme of 1820, joined them. The 
 next year they purchased a building lot at the south 
 
 end of the Common, and erected a building which 
 was dedicated in April, 1840. 
 
 This society was never a strong one, but it held 
 together as an organization for about ten years, when 
 their interest waned and dissensions arose among 
 them, which soon resulted in their disintegration, and 
 June 6, 1851, their edifice was sold to a board of trus- 
 tees for the Methodist Episcopal denomination, and, ■ 
 after some necessary repairs and changes in construc- 
 tion, was dedicated the following 17th of September 
 to worship in accordance with the usages of that faith. 
 
 Although there had been desultory Methodist 
 services in town as early as 1823, this denomination 
 did not obtain a foothold here until 1842, when ser- 
 vices were held in the town-hall ; under the foster- 
 ing care of various clergymen and prominent laymen 
 of their faith their congregations increased, and in 
 ]8j0 they took into serious consideration the matter 
 of erecting a house for worship. A spot for a build- 
 ing was obtained, but when it was found that the 
 Universalist edifice could be purchased, that was 
 bought, and the building-lot sold to its previous 
 owner. Since 1844, when the first pastor was as- 
 signed to this church, twenty-seven ministers have 
 been sent by the Conference to its pulpit, but two of 
 whom have remained for three years. 
 
 The present pastor is Rev. Charles Nicklin, who 
 was located here in 1888. This church is in a pros- 
 perous condition, and, though not so strong as 
 twenty years ago, is now increasing in the number of 
 its attendants and its influence; its meriibership is 
 about seventy-five, and of its Sabbath-school about 
 seventy ; the building has a seating capacity of about 
 three hundred. 
 
 The first services under the auspices of the Ro- 
 man Catholic persuasion were held about 1852, pri- 
 vate houses being first used, and afterward the town- 
 hall was occupied for this purpose. In 1856 services 
 were held in the chu;-ch building now owned by 
 them, located souUijOf \he~^ommon, and which was 
 then a dwelling-hoift^,- ^l^ough it had been built 
 for, and pre\^wusly occupied as a country store. 
 The Catholics^aif Barre were then a component part 
 of the Worcester Mission ; in 1860 they were consti- 
 tuted a parish, and connected with Templeton, and 
 afterwards with Ware'and North Brookfield, and now 
 with Otter River. In 1858 they purchased the brick 
 dwelling-house, and remodeled it into a church 
 building; about seventy-five families are connected 
 with this parish, which is under the charge of Rev. 
 Father Raynolds, and services are held bi-monthly. 
 In accordance with the custom of the denomination, 
 the church property is in the possession of Bishop 
 O'Reilly, of Springfield, this parish being in that 
 diocese. The house of worship is pleasantly located, 
 and has a seating capacity of about four hundred. 
 
 In 1854 another church organization was effected 
 under the title of the Free or Independent Church. 
 Rev. Marshall G. Kimball was their pastor, the ser- 
 
BARRE. 
 
 341 
 
 mon at his installation being preached by Theodore 
 Parker. This society prospered for a while, but, for 
 want of sufficient cohesive power, gradually faded 
 away. It was in existence about five years; its pas- 
 tor was a young and popular man ; at the dissolution 
 of the society he entered upon educational wort in 
 the West. 
 
 Early in the century several families came to the 
 east part of the town from Sutton ; their predilections 
 were for the Baptist form of belief; as no denomina- 
 tion of that kind existed here, they attended upon 
 that form of worship in the town of Templeton. 
 As they increased in numbers, and the distance to 
 Templeton was considerable, they desired to be or- 
 ganized into a church here. Accordingly, the officers 
 of the Templeton Church came to the east part of 
 the town, and August 21, 1811, a society was formed 
 at the house of Elias Chase ; this society was consid- 
 ered a branch of the Templeton Church rather than 
 as an independent organization, and services were 
 held in dwelling-houses for a number of years. In 
 1813 they were much strengthened in numbers by 
 withdrawals from the First Parish or Old Church, 
 the ministerial tax in that parish being consid- 
 ered burdensome. Notwithstanding that they con- 
 sidered themselves members of a distinct parish, 
 the tax for the old parish was still levied and 
 collected from them, this being assessed in con- 
 nection with the town taxes. In 1816 the church 
 protested against this tax, served notice on the town 
 to that effect and that they should apply for an act 
 of incorporation. This subject was freely discussed 
 in town-meeting, when it was at length decided to 
 pay no attention to their protest as regarded the tax, 
 and not to oppose their incorporation. In 1817 the 
 matter of taxation again came up, when a committee, 
 on the part of the town, was appointed to consider 
 the subject. They reported that they considered it 
 unjust for the members to aid in supporting two or- 
 ganizations, and recommended that the voters of the 
 old church choose their necessary parish officers, and 
 grant and raise money for their own ministerial sup- 
 port. In a few years this was done, and harmony 
 prevailed. No pastor was installed over the Baptist 
 Church, but preaching was pretty constant. Rev. 
 Mr. Leonard, who afterwards became a noted clergy- 
 man, was one of their early ministers, preaching for 
 them about 1817 ; he was followed by other earnest 
 workers, who so built up this mission and gave it 
 such strength that it was deemed wise to erect a 
 church edifice. This was accomplished in 1832-33, 
 their first house being situated nearly opposite where 
 Mr. Samuel Adams now lives. In 1832 the church 
 was incorporated, and became a regularly organized 
 body. 
 
 Previous to 1836 Rev. John Walker had preached 
 occasionally for them and was their regular pastor 
 from 1837 to 1844. During his pastorate a feeling 
 prevailed that it was advisable to have their edifice in 
 
 the village of Coldbrook, and plans were formed to 
 move there ; but when it was suggested that by so 
 doing they would be in the town of Oakham, and their 
 charter had incorporated them iis a church in Barre, 
 they obtained land westerly of the village and within 
 the Barre boundary. In 1842-43 their new house 
 was erected and in the winter of 1843-44 was dedi- 
 cated. Their old house was soon afterward taken 
 down and carried to Oakham, where it was re-erected 
 and used for a number of years by the Methodists. 
 Since 1837 their regular ministers have been Rev. 
 John Walker, from 1887 to 1844 ; Rev. George W. 
 Cate, September 8, 1845, to May 13, 1849;- Rev. Lewis 
 Holmes, June 1, 1849, to August 8, 1853; Rev. Payson 
 Tyler, July 9, 1854, to August 17, 1856 ; Rev. L. Tan- 
 dy, October, 1856, to November 28, 1858 ; Rev. D. 
 Avery, April 1, 1859, to March 30, 1862 ; Rev. Joseph 
 Shepardson, May 4, 1862, to January 18, 1863 ; Rev. 
 George L. Hunt, June 3, 1863, to March 27, 1864 ; 
 Rev. E. J. Emery, April 1, 1865, to January 28, 1866; 
 Rev. C. D. R. Meacham, September G, 1870, to August 
 9, 1874; Rev. K. Holt, March, 1877, to June 4, 1882 ; 
 Rev. Philander Perry, September 3, 1882, to May 1, 
 1884 ; Rev. Henry H. Mansur, July 8, 1884, to March 
 26, 1888, and Rev. William Read, the present pastor, 
 who was installed June 3, 1888. The seating capacity 
 of the building is about three hundred and its services 
 are well attended ; the number of its church members 
 is forty-five and of its Sabbath-school one hundred. 
 
 Leaving now this sketch of the church and return- 
 ing to the period anterior to the incorporation of the 
 town, we can form some idea of the trials of the inhab- 
 itants, struggling under many untoward circumstances 
 to bring order out of confusion and have a well-dis- 
 posed and well-regulated form of local government. 
 The schools, crude as they were and maintained under 
 many difficulties, were cherished as the bulwark of a 
 future nation. Highways, too, were demanding much 
 consideration. 
 
 FroTi a mere handful of individuals, at the time 
 when the proprietors of this Northwest District had 
 assigned certain localities for roads, the inhabitants 
 had so increased in number that it became necessary 
 that additional paths for travel should be constructed 
 to accommodate the passing to and from the places 
 where the meeting-house and schools had been eotab- 
 lished and for transaction of business, or for social 
 relations one with another, or to render and receive aid 
 in case of sickness or other troubles, or to pay such 
 slight visits of courtesy as the times demanded. Mat- 
 ters of state were coming to a crisis. May 20, 1772, 
 a warrant for a town-meeting was issued to Noah 
 Mandell, requiring him " forthwith, in His Majesty's 
 Name," to warn all the freeholders and other inhabit- 
 ants qualified to vote in town affairs to meet at the 
 meeting-house, June 3d, there to act on certain arti- 
 cles. The voters assembled at the time and place, 
 and after organizing the meeting, electing a grand 
 juryman for the year to serve at the Court of Quarter 
 
342 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Sessions and choosing a committee to repair the "great 
 bridge "over the Ware River, they voted to pa«sover 
 three of the articles in the warrant and also voted 
 that they be not entered upon the records. What 
 these articles were might be a matter of greater con- 
 jecture, did not contemporaneous history reveal the 
 existing state of affairs. The people were becoming 
 restive under the restraints imposed upon them by 
 foreign rulers, and the determination to have these 
 burdens modified or to be released from such .servi- 
 tude was every day becoming more apparent. Feb- 
 ruary 2.3, 1773, another meeting was held " to hear 
 and consider of a Circular Letter from the town of 
 Boston, dated November 20, 1772, containing the 
 States and Rights of this Province in particular, etc." 
 
 A committee of five members, with John Caldwell 
 as their chairman, was chosen to take this letter into 
 consideration; they soon reported "that upon a full 
 conviction of the propriety and expediency of the 
 measure, they recommend the inhabitants of said 
 District to pass the following resolves: 1. That the 
 rights of the Colonists, and of this Province in par- 
 ticular, as stated by their respectable brethren of the 
 metropolis of this Province, are agreeable to the real 
 sentiments of the inhabitants of this District, and 
 that it is of the utmost importance that the inhabit- 
 ants of this Province stand firm, as one man, to sup- 
 port and maintain all their just rights and privileges. 
 2. That the inhabitants of this and the other British 
 Provinces have an equal right with the people of 
 Great Britain to enjoy and dispose of their own prop- 
 erty, and the same cannot be taken from them but by 
 their own consent. 3. That the Parliament of Great 
 Britain have passed several acts in the execution of 
 which American subjects are burdened with uncon- 
 stitutional taxes. 4. That to render the Governor 
 and Judges of the Supreme Court of this Province 
 independent of the grants of the General Assembly 
 is an innovation and infraction on the Charter Rights, 
 as it destroys that check which should remain in the 
 hands of the people. 5. That the thanks of this Dis- 
 trict be given to the town of Boston for their zeal 
 shown in the defence of their Charter Rights." This 
 report was unanimously adopted, and a copy was sent 
 to the Committee of Correspondence and Communica- 
 tion at Boston. 
 
 A movement to throw oEf some of their burdens wvs 
 now inaugurated, and a closer union of the people 
 and a firmer binding together of the common interests 
 made it imperative that the district should have a 
 more united organization. The shackles of a greater 
 power being distasteful, it is no wonder that the lesser 
 authority of the district should be considered as 
 tending to divert their cares and energies, and with 
 the people working together for the common good, an 
 organization as a town was felt necessary. 
 
 Accordingly, at a meeting held April 5, 1773, for 
 that purpose, it was decided to petition the General 
 Court to be set off as a town, and John Caldwell, 
 
 Asa Hapgood and Nathan Sparhawk were chosen a 
 committee for that purpose. This petition appears 
 on the House Journal, June 22, 1773, and an order 
 of notice was sent to the adjoining towns in relation 
 to it. No further steps were taken in regard to it 
 until the following February, when the petition was 
 again brought to the attention of the General Court, 
 again read and then ordered that the prayer be .so far 
 granted that the petitioners have leave to bring in a 
 bill. This was sent down for concurrence and on 
 the 16th of the same month a bill for incorporat- 
 ing the district into a town by the name of Barre 
 wiis pa.ssed to be engrossed, but one week from that 
 date the bill was ordered to be laid on the table. No 
 reason is given for recalling the bill, but it is certain 
 that Governor Hutchinson, in power by the authority 
 of King George the Third, was a pliantand willing tool 
 in the hands of his royal master, and a rebuke and 
 punishment must be administered the people, in part 
 and as a whole, for their participation in such stirring 
 events as the Boston Massacre in 1770, the destruc- 
 tion of the tea in the harbor in 1773, and their ap- 
 parent restiveness under the many restraints imposed 
 upon them. May 13, 1774, Thomas Gage succeeded 
 Governor Hutchinson, and on the 25lh of this 
 month the government was reorganized. In the 
 Governor's opening address he declared his inten- 
 tions, in accordance with the instruitioiis of the 
 King, to remove the General Cuurt to Salem. This 
 met there the 7th of June, and on the following day 
 is recorded "a bill to incorporate Rutland District 
 as a town." The following day the bill was read for 
 the third time and passed to be engrossed, and on the 
 14th it was passed to be enacted. The records 
 of the Commonwealth do not give the date when the 
 bill was signed by the Governor. On the 17th of 
 June the doors of the House were closed for a secret 
 session, the members having assembled to consult 
 upon the course of the Governor, his bearing towards 
 the House and the condition of the Province ; the 
 Governor, having been informed of these proceedings, 
 at once sent his secretary to di.ssolve the General 
 Court ; the House took no notice of this messenger, 
 but proceeded with its business, which, however, did 
 not relate so much to the affairs of the Province as 
 to the existing general condition of matters. 
 
 On the authority of the Massachusetia Spy we have 
 the information that the Governor then proceeded to 
 the House and demanded admittance ; this was re- 
 fused ; he immediately dissolved the General Court, 
 having previously stated what bills he had signed 
 that morning, among which was the one incorporating 
 this town. In place of Barre the name of Hutchin- 
 son had been inserted ; no reason is given for this 
 change, but it is believed to have been made in the 
 Council at the command of Gage, that thereby he 
 might aid in perpetuating the name of his imme- 
 diate predecessor. In August, 1774, a committee 
 consisting of Asa Hapgood, Nathan Sparhawk, 
 
BARKE. 
 
 343 
 
 Andrew Parker, John Mason and Peter Fessenden 
 were chosen to meet committees of other towns at 
 Worcester to take into consideration the existing 
 condition of the Province; at an adjourned meeting 
 held in September the committee made their report, 
 a part of which was accepted ; it does not appear 
 what this was ; with the spirit of freedom at work, a 
 certain degree of secrecy was necessary. 
 
 The first warrant of the town for a town-meeting 
 was issued December 20, 1774, notifying the inliabit- 
 ants to assemble at the meeting-house the following 
 10th of January to choose a representative to the 
 Provincial Congress, to be Jield at Cambridge, Feb- 
 ruary Ist, and to choose a committee to give the rep- 
 resentative instructions as to his course. John 
 Mason was chosen representative, and at an adjourned 
 meeting the committee's instiuctions were read and 
 accepted by the town. They were in accord with 
 the prevailing sentiments of the people; they desired 
 Mason to stand for and to vindicate, in every consis- 
 tent way, in a firm, steady and uniform manner, their 
 rights; to act in accord with the Continental Con- 
 gress, and to coincide with its determination in gen- 
 eral, unless sad necessity should compel him to do 
 otherwise. Notwithstanding his instructions, much 
 was left to his discretion, the well-known character 
 and ability of the man evidently convincing his fel- 
 low-townsmen that they had made choice of an hon- 
 orable and able representative to an important assem- 
 blage. At the meeting of January 10th the patriotism 
 of the town and their determination to resist the en- 
 croachments of Great Britain are still further shown 
 when it was voted that the town would "indemnify 
 the constables from paying any more money to Har- 
 rison Gray, the former treasurer of the Province, but 
 that they should pay the said money to Henry Gard- 
 ner, now treasurer." This vote was passed in accord- 
 ance with the advice and resolve of the Provincial 
 Congress. The times were eventful ; the resistance 
 to oppression had increased, and the necessity of act- 
 ing in unison was apparent. August 1, 1774, the 
 district met to take action on several papers sent 
 hither in regard to the Boston Port Bill ; after con- 
 siderable deliberation they decided that their share or 
 proportion of the money now in the district treasury 
 should be paid towards the support of the Congress 
 to be held at Philadelphia. Affairs were assuming 
 conflicting aspects. Here, and now, as elsewhere, a 
 few stanch men were vigorously endeavoring to 
 have their more timid or cautious associates take 
 more pronounced positions on the questions of the 
 day. The officers of the militia had resigned their 
 posts, '"throwing the militia of the town, as it were, 
 into a state of nature." The Committee of Corre- 
 spondence for the County of Worcester had recom- 
 mended that every town in the county should meet at 
 once and choose officers to lead them wherever they 
 might be called, until the government should be 
 brought under proper regulations. In cousequeuce 
 
 of this, it was decided to form two companies of 
 militia, one to be under the command of Captain 
 Ezra Jones, the other under Captain William Buck- 
 minster. These companies were not to exceed fifty 
 men each, including officers, and a proper allowance 
 of money was recommended to remunerate them for 
 each half-day that they should be required to be 
 under arms for the purpose of drill and discipline, 
 these half-days to be two in each month for the next 
 eight months, unless the town should hereafter con- 
 sider it unnecessary, or unless the Committee of 
 Safety for the Provinces should, within that time, call 
 them to march to any part of the Provinces, when 
 their pay, so far as the town was concerned, should 
 cease. In April, 1775, "the alarm" was sent out 
 from Boston of the great need of militia. Twenty- 
 one men marched from this town to do battle in their 
 country's cause; they were attached to Colonel 
 Brewer's regiment, and, under the immediate com- 
 mand of their own townsman. Captain John Black, 
 did their duty at the battle of Bunker Hill. Buck- 
 minster was appointed lieutenant-colonel of this regi- 
 ment; he received a severe wound in the engagemetit 
 and was disabled from further military duty. He 
 returned to his farm, but did not forget the needs of 
 his country. His patriotism and enthusiasm were of 
 great value in aiding and filling the quotas subse- 
 quently demanded from this town. Colonel Buck- 
 minster lived to see the end of the struggle, but his 
 wound wore upon his stalwart frame, and June 22, 
 1786, he passed away, not fifty years of age. 
 
 These twenty-one men did not enlist in the army, 
 but soon returned home. Subsequent events called 
 for more aid, and in a short time fifty-eight men, in- 
 cluding a number of those who were at Bunker Hill, 
 enlisted under Captain Black for a term of eight 
 months. Samuel Lee, born here in 1767, enlisted at 
 the age of thirteen, and was attached to the army at 
 West Point; he served during the remainder of the 
 war, and was in many important engagements; re- 
 turning to his home, he obtained an education, and 
 became a prominent man in the town, holding 
 many State and town oflices. He was a man whose 
 integrity and sound judgment were never questioned, 
 and whose opinion was sought on many points. He 
 died here at the age of seventy-two. An oil-painting 
 of him adorns the walls of our Public Library. 
 
 By the demands of the country, ably seconded by 
 a Jones, a Black, a Buckminster, a Sparhawk and 
 others, the patriotic spirit prevailed ; the wavering 
 gradually sinking their objections to armed resistance, 
 realizing that the power of tyranny was endeavoring 
 slowly to tighten the cords which were being then 
 thrown about them. Firm and decisive measures were 
 necessary that the people might act together and in a 
 spirit of accord, that they should encourage the fickle, 
 take counsel one with another, and resist all overtures 
 from royalty to consider in convention how peace 
 might be obtained. 
 
344 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 For the support of the militia money was essen- 
 tial ; struggling with poverty, yet resolute and un- 
 wavering, the strictest economy was necessary to 
 maintain their position. Schools and highways were 
 now of secondary importance ; no funds could be 
 spared for support or repair; the minister's salary 
 went unpaid ; every effort of the people seemed given 
 to the one cause. But this condition of affairs could 
 not long exist; money must be obtained, and finally 
 it was voted to sell some of the land about the 
 meeting-house and the old proprietors' roads, and 
 devote the proceeds to the use of the schools, as they 
 recognized their great importance. 
 
 At this time another incident occurred, which still 
 further illustrates the patriotism of the people. Thus 
 far the town had been known as Hutchinson. The 
 firm adhesion of ex-Governor Hutchinson to the au- 
 thority of Great Britain, he being a strong believer 
 in, and upholder of, royal prerogatives, had rendered 
 the name obnoxious to the inhabitants. Smarting 
 under the insult inflicted by the name, they resolved 
 to apply to the General Court for an act authorizing 
 the town to be named anew. January 17, 1776, it was 
 voted to petition for authority to change the name 
 from Hutchinson to that of Wilkes. John Caldwell, 
 Nathan Sparhawk and John Mason, of the selectmen, 
 and Andrew Parker and Asa Hapgood, of the Commit- 
 tee of Correspondence, were chosen to act for the 
 town. Their petition stated that, having formerly 
 been known by the name of Rutland District, in 1773 
 they applied for an act of incorporation as a town, 
 which was granted by both Houses, but non-concurred 
 in by Governor Hutchinson, unless he could have the 
 privilege of naming the town ; but the Housedissented, 
 and the matter was not completed until Gage became 
 Governor, "who very soon after gave us a specimen of 
 what he was, or intended to be to the colony, by fill- 
 ing up the blank with that obnoxious name, Hutchin- 
 son, that well-known enemy of the natural and stipu- 
 lated rights of America, which gave us a very disa- 
 greeable sensation of mind, not being able to speak 
 of the town in which we live, but our thoughts were 
 necessarily turned upon that ignominious enemy of 
 mankind, and, in a measure, filled with shame to tell 
 where we lived, when requested," and the petitioners 
 desired that the obnoxious name of Hutchinson be 
 canceled, and that the name of Wilkes, " that ever- 
 memorable friend to the rights and liberties of 
 America, would give conteat to the iuhabitants." 
 
 The committee who had this petition in charge was 
 made up from the be^t minds in town, — men com- 
 manding respect for their attainments and force of 
 character. 
 
 The Legislature at this time was not in session, it 
 having assembled on the last Wednesday of the pre- 
 ceding May, but it might be convened again and on 
 any day, as at this time it held several session* each 
 year. John Caldwell was the representative at this 
 time and was a member of the Provincial Congress 
 
 that had sat at Watertown the previous summer ; he 
 was prepared to present the petition at the earliest 
 practicable moment, it having been signed February 
 5th. But the Legislature was not again convened, 
 and as its term would expire on the day next pre- 
 ceding the last Wednesday of May, on the 20th of 
 February a town-meeting was held, and John Mason 
 was chosen representative for the ensuing year. Soon 
 after the next Legislature met the petition was pre- 
 sented, but, on account of an adjournment and other 
 circumstances which were daily affecting the situation 
 of affairs, it was not reported back to the House for 
 some time, and it was not until the 7th of next 
 November that the bill was passed, and which reads 
 as follows : 
 
 In the year of our Lord 1776. 
 
 An .\ct for discontinuing the name of a town in the County of Wor- 
 cester, lately incorporated by the name of Hutchinson, and calling the 
 name Barre. 
 
 Whereas, the Inhabitants of the Town of Hutchinson have by their 
 Petition Represented to this Court, that in June, 1774, when the said 
 Town was incorporated, General Gage, the then Governor, gave it the 
 name of Hutchinson, in honor to and to perpetuate the memory of 
 Thomas Hutchinson, his immediate predecessor in the Chair of Govern- 
 ment, whom they have justly styled the well-known enemy of the nat- 
 ural and Stipulated Rights of America, and at a Town Meeting notified 
 for that purpose, they Voted unanimously to petition, and accordingly 
 have petitioned the General Court, that the name of the said Town 
 might be altered, and that it might no longer bear the Disgraceful name 
 of Hutchinson ; 
 
 And, WHEREAS, there is a moral fitness that Traitors and Parricides, 
 especially such as have remarkably distinguished themselves in that 
 odious Character, and have long laliored to deprive their native Country 
 of its most valuable rights and privileges, and to destroy every Constitu- 
 tiuiuil Guard against the evils of an all-enslaving Despotism, should be 
 held up to view in their true Character to be execrated by mankind, and 
 there should remain no other memorial of them than such as will trans- 
 mit their names with Infamy to posterity ; 
 
 And, WHEREAS, the said Thoma.s Hutchinson, contrary to every obli- 
 gation Of duty and gratitude to tftis, his native Country, which 
 raised him from private life to the highest and most hicrative Offices 
 in the Government, has acted towards her the part of a Traitor and 
 Parricide, as above described, which has been clearly manifested to the 
 world by his Letters lately published, and by his having thus acted, it 
 has become tit and just that every honorable memorial of him should 
 be Obliterated and ceiise. 
 
 Therefore — Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives 
 of the State of Massachusetts Bay, in General Court assembled, and by 
 the authority of the same, that the land lying in the County of Worces- 
 ter, formerly called Rutland District, and in June, 1774, incorporated 
 into a town by the name of Hutchinson, shall no longer bear that 
 name, but henceforth shall be called and known by the name of 
 Babre, the aforesaid Incorporating act notwithstanding, and all Offi- 
 cers in the said town shall hold and exercise their Offices respectively in 
 the same manner as they would have done, had not the name of the said 
 town been altered. 
 
 In the House of Representatives, Novm. 7, 1776. 
 
 This Bill having had three several readings, passed to be enacted. 
 Sent up for Concurrence. 
 
 T. Dalton, Speaker ProUm. 
 In Council, Novm. 7, 1776. 
 This Bill having had two several readings, passed to be enacted. 
 
 John Avery, Dep^y Secretary. 
 Consented to by the Major part of the Council. 
 A true Copy, Attest, John Avert, Dej»'?/ Secretary. 
 
 The name of the town had been changed to Barre 
 instead of Wilkes, as the people had desired in their 
 petition. Wilkes and Barre at this time were mem- 
 bers of the same Parliament, and each was an ardent 
 defender of what he considered the liberties and 
 
BARRE. 
 
 345 
 
 rights of the people of the Provinces. For some 
 years preceding Wilkes liad acquired some notoriety 
 by his writings and course of conduct, and had, at 
 one time, been expelled from Parliament and placed 
 under arrest, convicted and sentenced to imprison- 
 ment and heavy fine. What many of the English 
 people considered as an act of oppression towards 
 him had turned the current of popular opinion in his 
 favor ; the people of America were dazzled by his 
 public course, and their desire to honor him and his 
 name was but natural. 
 
 By whom the name of Barre was given to the town 
 is not known, but it is evident that, as a blank for 
 the name was left in the act, it was inserted in the 
 House and acceded to in the Council. 
 
 Isaac Barr(5, after whom the town was named, was 
 at that time attracting much attention and commenda- 
 tion from the Americans for his efforts in their behalf 
 in the British Parliament ; he was born in Dublin, 
 of French parentage, in humble circumstances, in 
 1726 ; it was intended that he should study law, as in 
 his career at Trinity College, which he entered at the 
 age of fourteen, he had exhibited marked ability as a 
 student and debater; disliking that profession, he 
 enlisted in the British Army with the rank of ensign 
 in 1746. He was in the service for fourteen years on 
 the Continent fin 1 in Canada, where, under Gen. 
 Wolfe, he rose to the rank of adjutant-general. He 
 was severely wounded in his eyes in the same engage- 
 ment where Wolfe was killed. At the surrender of 
 Montreal in 1760, Lord Amherst sent him as bearer 
 of despatches to the home government ; he remained 
 in London to obtain relief from his injuries, in which 
 he was but partially successful. The next year he 
 was elected to a seat in Parliament, where he dis- 
 tinguished himself in debate and became a powerful 
 champion of the American people, denouncing the 
 oppression of the British government and contending 
 for the rights of the people. His career in Parlia- 
 ment attracted the attention of the Americans, and 
 they acknowledged him as a powerful friend and ad- 
 vocate in their behalf. The title of colonel, which 
 was at times applied to him, is incorrect, as he arose 
 only to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In conse- 
 quence of the wounds he received at Quebec in 1759, 
 he became blind when about sixty years of age. He 
 died in London, July 20, 1802. An oil painting of 
 Barre, after one by Stuart, hangs in our Public Library. 
 
 The representative to the body sitting at Water- 
 town, Dea. John Mason, a man specially fitted to the 
 times, kept the people informed of the condition of 
 affairs, and largely through his influence they were 
 led to act in advance of some of ihe neighboring 
 towns and to preserve and strengthen the determina- 
 tion against yielding to any usurpation of their rights. 
 What wonder, then, that when they were summoned 
 to a town-meeting to act upon a resolve emanating 
 from the representative body of the Colony of Miissa- 
 chusetts Bay, asking them to advise their representa- 
 
 tive that, if the Congress should declare them inde- 
 pendent of Great Britain, he should pledge the in- 
 habitants to solemnly engage with their lives and for- 
 tunes to support them in this measure, they unani- 
 mously so instructed their representative, Dea. Mason. 
 And they went still farther: they desired every male 
 inhabitant of the age of sixteen years and upwards to 
 be enrolled, that each and every one might contribute 
 his share in the struggle for liberty. They desired 
 their representative to act his part in agreeing upon 
 and enacting a Constitution and form of government 
 for the State such as should conduce to the safety and 
 happiness of its inhabitants. To a people thus 
 pledged to independence it must have seemed a direct 
 insult to be petitioned into a town-meeting to take 
 into consideration a circular from the King's Com- 
 missioners, Lord Howe and his brother, Gen. Howe, 
 proposing measures of settlement, this proposition 
 stating that all the acts that the people complained of 
 as grievous should be righted, that they would be 
 repealed, and their rights and privileges established. 
 This petition for thetiwn-meeting stated that " as all 
 proposals must begin somewhere, we think it is time 
 to know whether the people in this town mean to 
 fight Great Britain only for independency, and if not, 
 that their minds may be kn iwn thereon." The meet- 
 ing was held December 30, 1776; the gilded bait of 
 compromise was not acceptable; the meeting was of 
 short duration ; after a spirited discu-sion they de- 
 cided not to actupon the warrant and it wasdisiolved. 
 Another result of this meeting was that much indig- 
 nation was aroused against the signers of this petition, 
 John Caldwell, Ezra Jones, JIatthew Caldwell, Noah 
 Mandell, George Caldwell, William Caldwell and 
 Thomas Holden, and t,heir adherent*, and so strong 
 did this feeling become that a town-meeting was called 
 by a warrant signed by but two of the five selectmen, 
 and held January 20, 1777. Capt. John Black was voted 
 " out of all office in town," and Col. Buckminster was 
 removed from his position as town treasurer. When 
 we consider the strength of these men in local affairs, 
 their power in debate, their superior judgment and 
 their valiant and valuable services on the field of bat- 
 tle, we can but feebly realize the force of that wrath 
 that was visited upon them by tho.-e of their towns- 
 men who, once having decided to contend for liberty, 
 were unwilling to retrace a single step. 
 
 Notwithstanding this episode in their affairs, the 
 spirit of patriotism was progressing. At succeeding 
 town-meetings the people gladly voted to raise their 
 quota of men for the fifteen battalions called for by 
 the Continental Congress and appropriate a bounty 
 of twenty pounds to each one who enlisted in the 
 Continental Army; they also voted to consider those 
 who acted as substitutes for such of the citizens as 
 could not go to the war as inhabitants of Barre and 
 placed them on the same footing, as to bounty, as 
 were those who had previously enlisted for service at 
 Ticonderoga or elsewhere. 
 
346 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Another element was now a source of discomfort; 
 bills of credit had been issued by the State, and al- 
 though its faith was pledged for their redemption, 
 their value was constantly depreciatng. This was 
 productive of hardship and suft'ering; these circum- 
 Btances and the absence of many of the men had 
 made the situation depressing; agriculture was ne- 
 glected, specie had disappeared and nearly every one 
 was unwilling to receive the currency for debts due 
 them, and it was nearly impossible to procure with it 
 many of the necessities of life. A meeting was held 
 to see if the people would petition the General Court 
 for a repeal or alteration of the act in regard to the 
 bills of credit, and they voted against such a course, 
 preferring hardship rather than to do aught that 
 might weaken their hopes for independence, and pre- 
 ferring to co-operate with the General Court in all 
 measures that it should consider necessary for the 
 success of their cause. (In January, 1777, these bills 
 of credit were about five per cent, below par, and in 
 January, 1778, they were worth only about three and 
 one-half per cent, of their face value.) 
 
 The people were ever in accord with the spirit of 
 the times, town- meetings were of frequent occurrence 
 and the condition of the colonies was demanding 
 constant attention. At times a feeble minority would 
 petition for an abrogation of certain measures, but 
 the stern, unyielding sense of the majority, alter a 
 spirited discussion, would prevail ; on some occasions, 
 when meetings had been called on the petitions of 
 this minority, discussion would be avoided by refus- 
 ing to act on the articles, and in May, 1778, the town 
 showed its spirit so strongly as to vote " to throw out 
 a petition of twelve signers of the inhabitants of 
 Barre in every part and paragraph." 
 
 This petition was for the reconsidering of a previous 
 meeting's vote by which a bounty had been granted 
 to those who should enlist in the Continental Army. 
 In April of 1778 the town held a meeting to see 
 whether it would ratify a Constitution or mode of 
 government sent out by the General Assembly. This 
 form was unsatisfactory, and by a strong majority 
 they refused to ratify it as it then stood, the vote be- 
 ing eleven for to seventy-six against it. Realizing, 
 however, that a stable form of government was essen- 
 tial, a committee was chosen to report such amend- 
 ments as they thought fitting and proper, lay them 
 before the town for its acceptance and instruct the 
 representative iu regard to them. This Constitution 
 was the outcome of a recommendation of the House 
 of Representatives, September 17, 1776, that the 
 voters of the different towns assemble and determine 
 whether they would give their consent that the 
 House and Council should enact such a form of gov- 
 ernment for the Slate as would seem best ; the towns 
 generally voted unanimously to accede to this re- 
 quest, but when the proposed Constitution was sub- 
 mitted to them it was rejected. 
 
 In April, 1779, a convention of delegates was called 
 
 to assemble at Cambridge to prepare another draft of 
 a Constitution, to which Barre sent as delegates John 
 Mason, Andrew Parker and Asa'^apgood. The 
 work of this convention was no more favorable than 
 before, for this draft also was rejected. When, in 
 May of 1780, it came before the town for its consider- 
 ation a committee of seven was appointed to exam- 
 ine and report upon this draft. Rev. Josiah Dana, 
 the chairman, reported that it was imperfect and rec- 
 ommended these amendments : 
 
 1. No one, not of the Proteetaut religion, should be eligible to any 
 ofiice from Governor to Representative ; 2. No person shall be eligible 
 to any office in the Legislature who does not contribute to the support 
 of the civil government iu the way of taxation, giving as a reason that 
 he who pays a part of the charges would be more likely to spend our 
 money frugally ; 3. That the chief officers of the State should not 
 serve more than four years out of seven, as this might be a check on en- 
 terprising, designing men, and of consequence, a tendency to serve the 
 liberties of the people and render the Commonwealth safe; 4. That no 
 person should have a seat in the Congress and the State Legislature at the 
 same time, as such a practice would give a way for some pereou to have 
 an undue influence in government and be derogatory to the liberties of 
 the people ; 5. That a particular day should be appointed for the choice 
 of representatives, as it would save the trouble and expense of an annual 
 precept; G. Each town should have the privilege of nominating one 
 justice of the peace, it being the opinion that the towns entitled to 
 choose a representative were under greater advantage to determine the 
 qualifications and ability of their townsmen than the Governor of the 
 Commonwealth could be. 
 
 The town, by a vote of one hundred yeas to four 
 nays, accepted the draft with these amendments, and 
 ordered their delegates to attend the convention at 
 its adjourned meeting in June, to present them for 
 consideration and to agree upon a time when the 
 instrument should take effect, if accepted by a two- 
 thirds vote of the people. Nothing resulted from 
 these proposed amendments ; but during this sitting 
 a revised draft was brought before the convention 
 and adopted, and, on being submitted to the inhabit- 
 ants, was ratified; on the declaration of the conven- 
 tion that more than two-thirds of the voters of this 
 Province had signified that they were in favor of it, 
 the Constitution was declared accepted. 
 
 Barre was still contributing its proper portion of 
 men and supplies for the army. Attempts were 
 made to equalize the compensation of those who had 
 labored for, and who were still in, the Continental 
 army. As each member of the militia was, to a con- 
 siderable extent, a judge of the value of his eflbrts, 
 these attempts were not always productive of the 
 best results ; local jealousies and personal piques 
 were as prominent as before or since that time, and 
 when endeavors were made to liave each free-holder 
 pay a proportionate amount of the expense incurred, 
 they would vigorously protest ; but in the end their 
 sense of right and justice would prevail. 
 
 The depreciation of the currency was a source of 
 much trouble in this matter. Hours were spent in 
 discussion, votes were passed and reconsidered, and 
 at length the matter would be left to adjust itself. 
 One proposition made at this time was to settle with 
 the men for their services by paying them with bills 
 of credit at "ninety for one," that is — that ninety 
 
BAKRE. 
 
 347 
 
 dollars in such bills should be considered as the 
 equivalent in value of one Spanish milled dollar. 
 
 In this year, 1780, the town was called upon for a 
 supply of beef for the army, the amount required 
 being nine thousand nine hundred and sixty pounds; 
 the town voted to raise £20,100, with which to pur- 
 chase this beef. Additional men for the army were 
 also called for, and committees were chosen to supply 
 these calls. For the purpose of more easily and 
 readily obtaining the men the town was divided into 
 classes or districts; one man was taken from each 
 district, either by his enlisting or, in some few cases, 
 by hiring a substitute; sometimes one would be 
 drawn by lot, when, if he retused to serve, the dis- 
 trict in which he lived was assessed in a sufficient 
 sum to procure a substitute. Twenty men marched 
 from Barre, June 5, 1780, having enlisted for a term 
 of six months' service. More men and more beef 
 were still called for. In 1781 seven thousand eight 
 hundred and ninety-three pounds of beef were called 
 for for the army ; the town voted to give John Cald- 
 well forty-two shillings, currency, per one hundred 
 pounds, or £165, "hard money," for the whole 
 amount, and which he furnished. 
 
 After this time we have but little evidence that the 
 State was still calling for aid, although in August of 
 1782 the town voted to use their best endeavors to 
 collect a sum of money in compliance with a "press- 
 ing requisition " from the Geueral Court. The last 
 requisition for men had been made in March, but this 
 and some of the preceding calls had not been based 
 upon population, but on property according to the 
 valuation. 
 
 There is no complete record of the names or num- 
 ber of men from this town who served in the Revolu- 
 tionary struggle, but it has been asserted that about 
 one-sixth of the inhabitants did military duly during 
 the war ; if this be so, then our town should be 
 credited with sending out more than two hundred 
 men to contend for their liberties. 
 
 The war was approaching its close ; the campaigns 
 of this year were destined to virtually decide the 
 issues in favor of a long-suffering and much-enduring 
 people. Amid deprivations and some internal dissen- 
 sions they had worked steadily in answering calls for 
 men and supplies for the force in the field, and now 
 they could devote their time and attention to peace- 
 ful pursuits; town-meetings were less frequent, the 
 business to be transacted relating more generally to 
 the proper functions of a town. The church and 
 schools and highways now received the attention they 
 needed, and much time and care was bestowed upon 
 them. One subject connected with the war was a 
 source of much difficulty: some of the men con- 
 sidered that they had done more than their part in 
 aiding to prosecute the war, and charged others with 
 having shirked their duties. This was a subject of 
 constant controversy, and so great was the excitement 
 that the town endeavored at different times to equal- 
 
 I . 
 
 ize the value of the services of each one. Commit- 
 tees were appointed for this purpose, reports made 
 and rejected; finally a committee reported that they 
 had examined into the past services done in the war 
 with Great Britain by individuals, and desiring to use 
 their best endeavors to have every man's money made 
 good that he had advanced for the support of the war, 
 and also taking into view their personal services, they 
 submitted a statement showing what each man had 
 advanced and done by way of credit, and another 
 statement showing by the valuation what each one's 
 proportion should be ; this report was accepted. 
 Two hundred and sixty five names appear upon this 
 schedule, about one-half of whom were credited with 
 having done more than their part ; the delinquents 
 were expected to pay the balance against them into 
 the town treasury, but as this balance varied from a 
 few pounds to several hundred, it was very evident 
 that some would he unable to pay such sums, and 
 others flatly refused to do so ; numerous devices were 
 resorted to to effect a settlement, and threats were 
 made of invoking legislative interference ; in the end 
 a few settled the balance against them and the matter 
 was allowed to drop. 
 
 In 1782 the people were so engrossed in their home 
 affairs that they neglected to send a Representative to 
 the General Court. The Legislature called the town 
 to account for this neglect of their duty, but it de- 
 clined to assign any reason for its course. So imper- 
 ative were the demands of the State that the town 
 should do its duty, the next year Colonel Nathan 
 Sparhawk was chosen Representative. Matters of 
 great importance to the condition and welfare of the 
 country, in a civil rather than a military line, were 
 coming forward and demanding settlement. A treaty 
 of peace between the colonies and Great Britain had 
 been arranged and preliminary articles signed. The 
 town, to some extent, realized how great might be the 
 benefits that would accrue to it from independence, 
 and they eagerly desired that time to come when they 
 might enjoy the fruits of their struggles and sacrifices. 
 Nearly impoverished in helping to maintain an army 
 scattered over a large territory by sending forward 
 men and supplies, their farms sufl^ering for want of 
 proper care, in some instances having been carried 
 on by the boys and girls of the household, the dawn 
 of peace was gladly hailed. Resolved that nothing 
 should be wanting on their part, they chose a strong 
 committee, who should obtain the general sentiment 
 of all the people, and from this formulate instructions 
 by which their Representative in the General Court 
 should be guided. 
 
 These instructions were drawn up ; they expressed 
 confidence in the integrity and good understanding of 
 their representative to conduct public affairs in such 
 a way as to promote the intere-ts of the Common- 
 wealth and this town in particular; they desired him 
 to bear in mind that the State was free and independ- 
 ent, and retained every power, jurisdiction and right 
 
348 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 that had not been specially delegated to the Congress, 
 and that the foundation of good government rested 
 on piety, religion and morality ; that these, with mod- 
 eration, justice, temperance, industry and frugality, 
 were necessary to preserve our liberty, and that all 
 laws must be based upon them ; that the Constitution 
 and Declaration of Rights were worthy of his fre- 
 quent perusal, and that iu public doings he should be 
 he largely guided thereby. In regard to the treaty 
 of peace, they say "our iadependeuce is confirmed, a 
 blessing for which patriots have long toiled and 
 heroes fought aud bled. Posterity can never justly 
 charge us with surrendering their rights. We and 
 they shall be free so long as we deserve freedom 
 It will depend upon our virtue." 
 
 The fifch article of the treaty of peace was unsatis- 
 factory and distasteful. This article provided that the 
 Congress should recommend to the Legislatures of the 
 several States that they provide for the restitution 
 of all the estates, rights and properties that had 
 beeo confiscated from British subjects during the 
 war, and likewise for the restoralioa of the estates 
 and rights of persons resident here or el-ewhere who 
 had not borne arms .against the country, but preferred 
 to retain their loyalty to the King. The instructions 
 on this point said, " we cannot help feeling anxious 
 for the event of the fifth article, which respects those 
 men who fled from their country when its liberties 
 were invaded, and took refuge in the dominions 
 of the invader. Congress can only recommend. 
 It will not obtrude citizens in any of the States, 
 much less declared traitors. Agreeable to the treaty 
 of peace, the town wishes for no recollection of past 
 dispute with Great Britain, no repetition of past in- 
 juries, but the seeds of discord being excluded, that 
 a beneficial intercourse may be established between 
 the two countries, so as to promote and serve to per- 
 petuate peace and harmony, which would be ex- 
 tremely difficult were these persons to reside among 
 us whom this country regards as the occasion of inter- 
 rupting that intercourse formerly, and the cause of 
 this suffering ; especially as these wretched beings 
 have already begun (piarrelswith that peace and those 
 who made it, which terminates a long, bloody, unna- 
 tural war. Therefore, in the opinion of this town, the 
 happiness, the liberties, interest and safety of these 
 States forbid us to suffer persons of the above descrip- 
 tion to become the subjects of, and to reside in, this gov- 
 ernment;'' they further instructed him that it would 
 be dangerous to admit them, or to have them forced 
 upon us. They enjoined upon him unremitting atten- 
 tion to business, and stated that it was their right to 
 communicate to him their sentiments whenever they 
 should judge it necessary or convenient, and they 'ex- 
 pected him to hold himself bound at all times to 
 attend to and observe them. 
 
 Here is exhibited the spirit of our town in the 
 struggle for its liberties. By their inflexible deter- 
 mination as a body corporate, by their material and 
 
 moral support, they had conquered a peace, and no act 
 or surrender of any principle should now put in jeop- 
 ardy their rights. For neglecting to send a repre- 
 sentative to the General Cuurl in 1782, the Legislature 
 had imposed upon the town a fine of fortj'-nine pounds, 
 ten shillings. In May of 1783 a town-meeting was 
 held to petition for a remission of this fine ; a com- 
 mittee was chosen to prepare the petition, which is 
 as follows : 
 
 Commonwealth of Maasachusetts : To the Honorable, the Senate and 
 House of Representatives in General Court assembled. The petition of 
 the town of Barre humbly showeth that whereas said town is fined 
 £49 10s. for not sending some person to represent them in the Great 
 and General Court the last year, pray that the same may be Uiken off ; 
 and they flatter themselves that honorable Court will be convinced of 
 the reasonableness of the petition when they consider this is the only 
 instance of the like kind that they have failed in since they have been 
 a town, and even in this, when it was tried to know whether they 
 should send or not, there appeared but two or three votes majority in 
 the negative, so that near one-half of the inhabitants are punished for 
 what they must call their misfortune, not their crime ; and it wiy ap- 
 pear further reasonable if the honorable Court will please to consider 
 that the town of Barre, as they humbly conceive, has stood for some 
 years past, and now stiinds as high on the State valuation according to 
 its interest, than perhaps any town in the County, so that they feel, in 
 a peculiar manner, the weight of their taxes. They have hitherto 
 stifled every groan, that they might not seem to discourage the common 
 cause in which they considered themselves so nnich interested, but for 
 the future must beg leave to complain unless the proportion is altered 
 between some towns with which they think they are well qualified to 
 compare themselves. There is another reason which is of singular 
 force with the town, and they hope it will have its due weight with the 
 honorable Court, viz.; that besides the last Continental tax, the whole 
 of which remains unpaid, they find themselves in debt between one 
 hundred and two hundred pounds more than the town's proportion in 
 the present State tax, all which, with the addition of fine upon fine, 
 makes it appear to them a burden almost insupportable. 
 
 This petition probably had the desired effect, as 
 we find no record of the fine having been paid. 
 
 The depreciation of the currency and the unset- 
 tled condition of the country were still weighing 
 heavily upon the inhabitants, and were productive 
 of deep and wide-spread suffering. Credit was ex- 
 tinct, the temporary act of 1782 making property a 
 legal tender for debts due had proved a failure, as it 
 still further postponed collections. Suits-in-law be- 
 tween neighbors and between individuals and the 
 town were numerons ; the town annually apjwinted 
 an agent to defend such suits as were brought 
 against it, trusting that a judicial hearing might be 
 beneficial, both in the way of bringing the matter 
 forward for a general discussion, aud by the decision 
 of the court, reducing the amount which had been 
 claimed as due ; the administration of the State 
 government was arraigned, and the town was re- 
 quested by petition to take measures that would re- 
 sult in changing the state of aft'airs for the better ; 
 this petition had no further effect than to elicit the 
 reply that time would eventually make the matter 
 right; other towns taking a similar stand, a conven- 
 tion was called to sit in Worcester in April to con- 
 sider the grievances the people labored under, and to 
 petition the General Court for redress. Barre and 
 twenty-five other towns of the county were repre- 
 sented in this convention ; the difficulties of the peo- 
 
BARKE. 
 
 349 
 
 pie were freely and fully discussed, and the outcome 
 of the meeting was, that the various representatives 
 to the General Court should be instructed to procure 
 a change in certain laws and customs, prominent 
 among which were that there should be immediate 
 settlements with all officers having charge of the 
 State funds, a reduction of lawyers' fees and a set- 
 tlement of accounts between the State and the Con- 
 gress. Here was the entering wedge for what 
 proved afterwards a blot on our escutcheon. The 
 difficulties increased daily. 
 
 In 178i a town-meeting was held on the 1st day of 
 March to see if the town would choose a committee 
 to sit in convention at Worcester on the third Tuesday, 
 in conformance with the request of a circular letter, 
 signed by Willis Hall, of Sutton, by the order of nine 
 towns in the southeast part of the county. The sub- 
 stance of this letter was to have a discussion and con- 
 sideration of their grievances, in regard to an impost 
 being granted for twenty-five years. Nathaniel Jen- 
 nison was the delegate from Barre ; thi-t convention 
 being productive of no more satisfactory results than 
 that of two years previous, another convention 
 assembled in Leicester in June of 1786, to which this 
 town sent William Henry as its delegate. Thirty- 
 seven towns were represented ; the distress of the 
 people, and how to relieve it, were the chief topics 
 for consideration ; these deliberations were productive 
 of no good result. The following September some of 
 our citizens united with bodies from other towns in 
 revolt against the laws and courts. On the evening 
 of the 4th they entered Worcester and took possession 
 of the court-house; amongst these was Lieutenant 
 Moses Smith, of Barre, now claiming the rank of 
 captain. 
 
 Chief Justice Ward, a man of much dignity, firm- 
 ness and courage, and who had been a general in the 
 Revolution, demanded an explanation of the proceed- 
 ings ; one of the leaders of the mob replying that 
 they had come for a redress of grievances. Judge 
 Ward informed them that their complaints were with- 
 out any substantial foundation. Captain Smith replied 
 that any communication from him to them must be in 
 writing. 
 
 The judge refused to so communicate with them, 
 and soon afterwards was allowed to address them, 
 when he spoke for about two hours with good effect. 
 The next day Captain Smith unceremoniously intro- 
 duced himself to the judge, and with his sword drawn, 
 ofiered him a paper purporting to be a petition of the 
 body of people "now collected for their own good and 
 that of the commonwealth,'' requiring an adjournment 
 of the courts without day, and demanded an answer 
 within half an hour. 
 
 The judge at once replied, telling him that no an- 
 swer would be given, when Smith retired. In this 
 condition of affairs it was found impossible to hold 
 sessions of the courts, and they were adjourned until 
 November, in hopes that the mob would see its use- 
 
 lessness and disperse. But the infection was too 
 extensive ; on the 29th of November, Captain Smith 
 and others from this town were still taking a promi- 
 nent part in what was now known as the Shays' 
 Rebellion. How this rebellion ended is a matter of 
 history. Smith, with his company of Barre men, after 
 parading through the main street of Worcester, 
 marched home on Saturday, the 9lh of December. 
 
 The feeling in Barre was intense. The community 
 was divided in opinion in regard to this affair, a large 
 minority upholding the insurgent course and many 
 bitter feelings were engendered. Even the church 
 was disturbed, and one of the more offending mem- 
 bers was the subject of a number of meetings, the 
 result of which was his suspension ; but, finally apol- 
 ogizing for his indiscretions, he was reinstated in his 
 church membership. 
 
 In town affairs the excitement was of long-con- 
 tinued duration. About this time it was discovered 
 that the town's ammunition had been stolen. A 
 committee of nine was chosen to make immediate 
 search for it. Lieut, (or Capt.) Moses Smith and 
 Richard Mills (both of whom had been officers with 
 the insurgents and were suspected of knowing con- 
 siderable about it) were placed on this committee. 
 After much labor and anxiety on the part of the com- 
 mittee, and by virtue of several search-warrants, the 
 ammunition was found' in the barn of a well-known 
 citizen, Joseph Smith. The excitement increased, 
 and Smith was prosecuted for the theft. He presented 
 his case in a long petition to the town, stoutly affirm- 
 ing his innocence and declaring that he had no 
 knowledge, directly or indirectly, how the powder 
 came to his barn. He appealed for clemency and 
 asked that the suit might be withdrawn. A number 
 of town-meetings were held in regard to his case and 
 the matter was finally allowed to drop, he being 
 compelled to pay all the expenses that had accrued. 
 Subsequent developments pointed strongly to Mills 
 as the parly who stole the ammunition, he having 
 been encouraged in the theft by Lieut. Smith, and to 
 throw any suspicion from himself, when the insur- 
 gents had no use for the powder, he concealed it in 
 Josiah Smith's barn. 
 
 January 1, 1787, the town decided to petition Gov- 
 ernor Bowdoin for relief from the causes that were 
 generally assumed to be the cause of the revolt and 
 that this outbreak might be condoned. In this peti- 
 tion the inhabitants represented that application 
 having been made to the town by a number of its 
 disaffected citizens, called insurgents, and desiring 
 the town to take up the matter as mediator between 
 government and the disaffected citizens of said town, 
 they, the petitioners, deplored the situation and dep- 
 recated the horrors of bloodshed, " more especially 
 town and neighbor against each other, and, to close 
 all with accumulating horror, an armed force, ready 
 to march from the town at the call of government, 
 while a party is ready to march in opposition," and 
 
350 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 besought His Excellency to desist from prosecuting 
 the affair with rigor until every conciliatory measure 
 had been used that was consistent with the good, the 
 safety and the dignity of the Commonwealth; and 
 if His Excellency would desist they pledged them- 
 selves that the insurgents among our people would 
 promise that the Courts of Common Pleas and of 
 General Sessions of the Peace should not be ob- 
 structed in their business until after the next session 
 of the Legislature, provided their lives and property 
 should be safe from seizure in consequence of their 
 hitherto illegal acts. 
 
 One of the conventions that had previously been 
 called had never dissolved, but had held numerous 
 sessions from time to time, discussing the condition of 
 the Commonwealth and endeavoring to devise means 
 for a settlement of the difficulties. This convention 
 was now in session, and notwithstanding that the ma- 
 jority of our people professed penitence for the course 
 that had been pursued here, and had petitioned the 
 Governor to desist from measures which would sub- 
 due the insurgents, they would not recall theirdelegate 
 from Worcester. The insurgent minority had consid- 
 erable power in town, and were not yet disposed to 
 abandon their course in regard tothe results that they 
 hoped might be obtained from the deliberations of the 
 convention, considering that by so doing they would 
 be deprived of the right of petition, which they be- 
 lieved to be one of their inherent rights. They ex- 
 pected, too, thata continual agitation of the grievances 
 would tend to bring an early relief to their sufferings. 
 The whole town was considerably excited, but after 
 the defeat of Shays the feeling gradually subsided. 
 
 The climax came at a town-meeting held July 6, 
 1787. The subject of the amount of costs incurred in 
 regard to the procedures and search for the stolen am- 
 munition was under discussion. Lieut. Moses Smith 
 had been chosen moderator and a part of the business 
 had been transacted. The debate over the ammuni- 
 tion was heated, and an attempt was made to suppress 
 it, Lieut. Smith and his followers being in the major- 
 ity. To offset their strength, a protest, signed by 
 fourteen voters, all prominent men, was presented to 
 the meeting. This protest was as follows: We, whose 
 names are underwritten, protest against the proceed- 
 ings of the town, in town-meeting now assembled, and 
 declare that we will not pay one farthing of any cost 
 or any charges that may arise to the town, either di- 
 rectly or indirectly, in consequence of the illegality of 
 the same. The reason that we assign for this protest 
 is that Lieut. Moses Smith, the moderator, has acted as 
 an officer in the army of Captain Shays, in the rebellion 
 against government in Massachusetts, and has not 
 made it manifest that he has taken the oath of alle- 
 giance agreeable to the act of court. 
 
 Smith then resigned the office of moderator, which 
 resignation was accepted. The record further states : 
 " Then, after considerable altercation among the in- 
 habitants of the town then assembled, the inhabitants 
 
 dismissed without passing any further vote upon the 
 articles contained in the warrant, leaving the select- 
 men and town clerk in the meeting-house without one 
 inhabitant of the town with them, and said selectmen 
 and town clerk, after waiting till the dusk of evening, 
 retired." 
 
 Lieut. Smith was an iunholder. His first location 
 was easterly of where Mr. W. E. Hemenway now lives, 
 and on the opposite side of the highway. This was 
 not a tavern, but a house of entertainment. He gave 
 this to his son, and soon afterwards, in 1801, erected a 
 tavern, of which he had the charge for about twelve 
 years. This house is now used as a dwelling-house> 
 and is opposite the school-house in old District 
 No. 9. 
 
 After the excitement of the rebellion had subsided, 
 Lieut. Smith held various town offices for a number 
 of years, being treasurer in 1792. His wife died about 
 1800, and at her grave he placed a head-stone. He 
 afterwards placed his property in the hands of some 
 friends, on the guaranty to support and care for him 
 for the remainder of his life. He died in 1815, seventy- 
 six years of age, and was buried by the side of his 
 wife, but no stone ever marked his last resting-place. 
 
 He was a man of much force of character and kind 
 and indulgent to his family. 
 
 At one time in our history there were nine public 
 places in town, some of which were taverns, the others 
 houses of entertainment, the distinction between the 
 two being that a tavern was obliged to be licensed, 
 and intoxicating liquors were sold there, while for a 
 house of entertainment no license was required, and no 
 liquors were supposed to be obtainable. The most 
 noted tavern of the day in the last century was that of 
 Jonathan Nourse, which stood where now is the Metho- 
 dist Church. Another tavern was located where now 
 is Smith block, and was maintained as such for some 
 years in the present century. Still another was near 
 the residence of Lemuel P. Rice. It is on record in 
 the proceedings of our town-meetings of the last cen- 
 tury that frequently the town would vote for an ad- 
 journment of five or ten or twenty minutes, then to 
 reassemble at Landlord Nourse's. 
 
 Peace at home was now thoroughly established, 
 and, although various primitive business enterprises 
 had been established, farming was still the chief oc- 
 cupation ; still struggling under many difficulties, the 
 political condition of the town and nation was an 
 object of much solicitude ; altera few years of quiet, 
 another war with Great Britain was believed to be im- 
 minent. When, in 1807, the Congress had passed 
 the "Embargo law," the people were much concerned, 
 and, as its effects gradually developed, the stringency 
 in the scanty markets of the day was everywhere 
 manifest; the distress that first appeared at the ship- 
 ping centres soon extended to the interior towns. So 
 marked was this here, a town-meeting was held in 
 September, 1808, to take the matter into considera- 
 tion, and an address or petition to President Jefferson 
 
BARKE. 
 
 351 
 
 was adopted, praying for a repeal of the law, after 
 reciting tlie distress tliat had fallen upon the people 
 through its enforcement. It is highly probable that 
 this law and the war rumors of this and two or three 
 succeeding years had much to do in arousing a feel- 
 ing of opposition to the War of 1812. The sympa- 
 thies of the town were rather in consonance with the 
 Peace Convention of Hartford ; from Hartford and 
 from Boston many circulars and posters were sent 
 here, addressed mostly to the Federalists, showing, in 
 various partisan ways, the attitude of the national 
 administration. These aroused much discontent, and 
 this trouble, with the increased scarcity of currency, 
 added to the hardships of the people. 
 
 Our records in regard to this war are very scanty, 
 but two allusions to it appearing. When a call for 
 troops was made we have no records of any volunteers 
 for the ranks, but it is evident that one draft for men 
 was made. In August, 1814, a number of the people 
 petitioned the town to grant such men as were or 
 might be drafted into the service a compensation in 
 addition to that allowed by the government, but the 
 town refused to do this; in May, 1815, the town 
 voted " to grant four dollars per month to those per- 
 sons who, being inhabitants of the town, were drafted 
 from the militia the last summer, and marched into 
 the service of the State, or who hired substitutes." 
 
 The war with Mexico received but little sympathy 
 here ; it was fully realized that the idea of the exten- 
 sion of slave territory was the cause of this conflict, 
 and to this extension our people were much opposed. 
 The anti-slavery feeling had been growing for a num- 
 ber of years and was increasing, a few brave men 
 standing by their convictions and aiding in forming 
 that party which, twenty years afterwards, saved and 
 perpetuated that Union for which their ancestors had 
 80 nobly contended in the last century. In 1840 the 
 Presidential electors of the so-called Free-Soil party 
 received but one vote in the fall election ; iu 1844 the 
 number had increased to thirteen, and, in 1848, to 
 forty-one. The only resident or native of Barre, of 
 whom we have any record, who enlisted for service 
 in this war, was George Field, who was a member of 
 Company E, First Regiment Massachusetts In- 
 fantry. 
 
 Another terrible struggle was to come ; the en- 
 croachment of slavery had been increasing, and, when 
 a change in the national administration had come, in 
 1861, the conilict was precipitated. The firing upon 
 Sumter was the tocsin that aroused the whole North- 
 ern people; united as never before, all petty jealous- 
 ies dropped for the time, men of all shades of politi- 
 cal belief and of various nationalities gallantly and 
 promptly responded to their country's call; the old 
 spirit which animated our Revolutionary sires burned 
 anew. The young man, and the middle-aged, left 
 his studies, his mercantile pursuits, the bench and 
 the farm, and, cheered on by father and mother and 
 sister, enlisted to do battle and to die, if need be, 
 
 that his country might live. During that four years' 
 struggle three hundred and nineteen men were en- 
 listed as our quota, and engaged in the stern duties of 
 the period, and saw many a bloody battle-field. At 
 their enlistment the town and individuals pledged 
 themselves to protect and guard the interests of their 
 families or dependent relatives, and well did they per- 
 form that duty. The names of those three hundred and 
 nineteen noble and brave men are cherished as one 
 of our sacred records, and, though nearly a quarter of 
 a century has elapsed since they proved their hero- 
 ism, yet, to-day, their patriotism and their determi- 
 nation to guard the heritage entrusted to us to care 
 for and perpetuate are held in high esteem by those 
 for whom their efforts accomplished so much in pre- 
 serving and maintaining this Union. Many of these 
 men never returned to their homes, — the deadly rifle- 
 ball, or disease contracted in the discharge of their 
 duty, filling a grave near many a battle-field. The 
 town was generous to its nation's defenders, and still 
 recalls with pride, and will forever cherish, their 
 brave deeds. 
 
 In 1866 the town erected a monument in honor of 
 those who gave their lives for their country ; this 
 granite base and marble shaft stands as a grand me- 
 mento in the north park, with Gettysburg, Newbern, 
 Port Hudson and Antietam inscribed thereon, and 
 there are the names of fifty-nine true men wjio died 
 for their country, but who "still live" in the affec- 
 tions of a grateful people. 
 
 In the year following the adoption of the State 
 Constitution the " Barre Slave Case" attracted much 
 attention. James Caldwell had bought in 1754, at Rut- 
 land, a negro man, named Mingo, about twenty years 
 of age, a woman, named Dinah, about nineteen years 
 old, and their child, named Quako or Quork, about 
 nine months old, for £108. By the death of Caldwell 
 in 1763 a settlement of his estate became necessary ; 
 Quork, as a part of the personal property, was assigned 
 to Mrs. Caldwell. She married Nathaniel Jennison 
 in 1769 and died in 1774; at her death Jennison as- 
 sumed the ownership of Quork, and Quork continued 
 to live and work for Jennison. In April, 1781, Quork 
 was enticed from Jennison 's service by John Cald- 
 well, a brother of James, who told him that he was 
 a free man and not subject to Jennison's authority; 
 the negro at first refused to leave his supposed master, 
 but on Caldwell's representations that he would fur- 
 nish work for him, pay him for his services and pro- 
 tect him, he left Jennison for Caldwell, who set him 
 at work in his fields. Jennison missed his slave and, 
 suspecting where he might be, went to Caldwell's and 
 found Quork harrowing; he commanded the negro to 
 return to his own house ; Quork refused and was then 
 attacked and beaten by Jennison and others who had 
 gone with him, and was shut up for about two hours. 
 By Caldwell's eflbrts the man in whose charge Quork 
 had been placed was induced to release him, and 
 through his influence, too, the case came before the 
 
352 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 County Court, which was really a three-fold one. 
 May 1, 1781, Quork, or Quork Walker, as he was now 
 called, brought an action against Jennison for tres- 
 pass, which was tried at the June term. The defense 
 was that Quork was the proper slave of Jennison, and 
 as such he had the control and possession of his body, 
 and no action for trespass could hold, to which Quork 
 joined issue, denying that he was his proper slave. 
 
 The case was tried in the Court of Common Pleas, 
 and a verdict for plaintiff with damages in the sum 
 of fifty dollars was awarded him. An appeal was 
 was taken to the Superior Court, but was there de- 
 faulted. In the same month of May Jennison 
 brought suit against John and Seth Caldwell for en- 
 ticing his negro man from his service and business ; 
 he obtained judgment in the sum of twenty-five dol- 
 lars ; this case, too, was appealed to the higher court, 
 and at the September term they were declared not 
 guilty and recovered judgment and costs against the 
 plaintiff. At this term of court Jennison was in- 
 dicted for assault and battery and illegal imprison- 
 mentand on trial was found guilty and ordered to pay 
 a fine and the costs of prosecution. 
 
 The que-tion of slavery was not yet settled ; this 
 was sent up to the Supreme Judicial Court, but did 
 not come to trial until the April term of 1783, when 
 it had its hearing before the full bench. The case 
 was ably argued and the decision of the court was 
 pronounced by Chief Justice Cushing. This was the 
 first and only trial of the question of slavery under 
 our State Constitution, and it was then established 
 that slavery in this Commonwealth was abolished by 
 the Declaration of Rights, which prefaced the Con- 
 stitution. Cushing, after rehearsing the case and 
 explaining the previous situation, and remarking 
 that the defendant in this case relied upon some 
 former law of the Province which would tend to up- 
 hold the claim that Quork was the slave of Jenni- 
 son, says, " as to the doctrine of slavery and the 
 rights of Christians to hold Africans in perpetual 
 servitude, and sell and treat them as we do our 
 horses and cattle, that (it is true) has been here- 
 fore countenanced by the Province laws formerly, 
 but nowhere is it expressly enacted or established. 
 It has been a usage which took its origin from the 
 practice of some of the European nations and in the 
 regulations of the British government respecting the 
 then Colonies for the benefit of trade and wealth. 
 But whatever sentiments have formerly prevailed in 
 this particular, or slid in upon us by the example 
 of others, a dift'erent idea has taken place with the 
 people of America, more favorable t^) the natural 
 rights of mankind and to the natural innate dfsire 
 of liberty with which Heaven, without regard to 
 color, complexion or shape of noses (features), has 
 impressed all the human race, and upon this ground 
 our Constituiion of Government, by which the peo- 
 ple of this Commonwealth have solemnly bound 
 themselves, sets out with declaring that all men are 
 
 born free and equal, and that every subject is en- 
 titled to liberty and to have it guarded by the laws, 
 as well as life and property — in short, is wholly re- 
 pugnant to the idea of being born slaves. This 
 being the case, I think the idea of slavery is incon- 
 bistent with our own conduct and Constitution, and 
 there can be no such thing as perpetual servitude of a 
 rational creature, unless his liberty is foifeited by 
 some criminal conduct or given up by personal con- 
 sent or contract." ' 
 
 Slavery, then, in this State, no longer existed. 
 Some families had previously given their slaves their 
 liberty, or tacitly acknowledged that they were free. 
 After their freedom the negroes, in some cases, re- 
 mained in the houses of their former masters, but 
 worked wherever they desired or could find employ- 
 ment. Others formed homes in a little colony by 
 themselves, and a number took up their abodes in the 
 west part of the town, whence aro^e the name of 
 Guinea, or Guinea Corner, which name is even now 
 sometimes applied to old School District No. 10. 
 Quork remained in town, and died here at an advanced 
 age. 
 
 It is related that Jennison took the younger portion 
 of his slaves to Connecticut and sold them there, and 
 that one of them. Prince Walker, a brother of Quork, 
 escaped and returned here ; by some means he obtained 
 some land in the east part of the town, where he lived 
 and died. He married here and reared a large family. 
 He died April 21, 1858, aged eighty-four years, as is 
 supposed ; a stone with his name and supposed age 
 inscribed thereon marks his grave, by the side of 
 which are five other graves of members of his family ; 
 the land, which passed out of his possession before his 
 death, now belongs to the heirs of the late Larned 
 Kice. " Stip," another slave, died here about 1845, 
 supposed to be nearly ninety years of age. Annis 
 Ring, another former slave in this town, died in Boston 
 early in the present century. She married Pompey, 
 who had been a slave inthefamily of Jonathan Allen; 
 Pompey died in 1812, a decrepit, broken-down old 
 man, breathing his last in a field in the north part of 
 the town, from which circumstance the field is still 
 known as the " Pomp lot." 
 
 In accordance with the laws of the Province, early 
 attention was paid to education. These laws provided 
 that this education should include the ability to read 
 the English language and a knowledge of the principal 
 laws, and that religious instruction should be joined 
 therewith. Here was a three-fold system — intellectual, 
 political and moral or religious— any one branch of 
 which was within the power of the early settlers to 
 cherish and promote. As the district or town was 
 large or small, so far as relates to the number of its 
 inhabitants, so were the requirements for schooling 
 graded ; a town of fifty families was required to fur- 
 
 1 See " Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society," 1855-58, 
 also 18Y4, January to June. 
 
BARKE. 
 
 353 
 
 nish instruction in the elementary branches only, 
 while one of a greater number of inhabitants was 
 required to maintain a grammar school, or one of a 
 high grade. That the proprietors were aware of these 
 laws, and were disposed to observe them, is evidenced 
 when, at their meeting in 1733, they voted to assign a 
 lot for a school. What was done in the matter of 
 instruction from that time until 1749 is not on record, 
 and after 1749, when the district passed out of the 
 proprietors' possession, until 1763 there are no record.s, 
 they having been destroyed in a fire which consumed 
 the house of John Caldwell, the clerk of this Rutland 
 District. But that schools had been established and 
 supported previous to 1763, is manifest from the 
 following vote of the district, passed April 11th of 
 that year : " Voted that £26-13-4 be assessed on said 
 District for the present year, and that the school be 
 kept at the same places and in the same manner that 
 it was the last year." 
 
 Here is evidence of the early establishment of 
 methods of instruction, and that at least one building 
 had been erected and used as a school-house is shown 
 by the proceedings of the district the following year, 
 as they voted " that school be kept in ten places this 
 present year," and specified the places where the 
 school or schools should be held, all but oiie being 
 located in or near certain dwellings, that one to be 
 " at the school-house," and forty pounds was raised by 
 tax for their support. 
 
 It is not on record how long a term of instruction 
 was given; the schools were not always held at oi 
 near the same dwellings, each year the district decid- 
 ing on the number there should be, and where they 
 should be held, and thus the various sections of the 
 district were accommodated from year to year. 
 
 Individuals in certain localities had erected or ar- 
 ranged small buildings on their premises as temporary 
 school-houses, for, in the vote above quoted, one 
 school was to be held at or near John Fessenden's 
 house; in 1766 forty pounds were raised for the sup- 
 port of the school, which was to be kept at .six places, 
 as in the preceding year, one place at the Centre school- 
 house, one at John Caldwell's school-house, so-ca/led, 
 one at Asa Hapgood's school-house, one at Joseph 
 Robinson's house. There were not as many different 
 teachers as there were schools authorized, so that it 
 would appear that a teacher, after holding a school a 
 certain number of weeks in one locality, was then 
 transferred to another place, the length of the terms 
 depending somewhat upon the valuation of the par- 
 ticular locality in which they were held. 
 
 The first record we have of the town proposing to 
 build a school-house is in May of 1783, when it was 
 voted "to sell the school-house that stands on the 
 Common near the meeting-house and that the center 
 quarter have liberty to set up a new school-house on 
 the [same] ground." This school-house stood where 
 the town-hall now stands. 
 
 The town had increased in population, and in ac- 
 
 cordance with the laws of the Commonwealth, better 
 facilities for instruction must be provided. 
 
 In November, 1784, two articles appeared in the 
 warrant for town-meeting, — one to see if the town 
 would provide and maintain a grammar-school, the 
 other to see if it would build one or more houses for a 
 grammar-school or schools, and make any alterations 
 in the school districts by enlarging or forming anew; 
 the matter of establishing a grammar-school was 
 passed over, but a committee was appointed to con- 
 sider in regard to erecting school-houses; this com- 
 mittee reported that eight buildings should be erected, 
 the dimensions of eacli of which were specified and 
 their locations named. The usual term applied to 
 each district was "squadron." 
 
 The war was now over, and the need of a return to 
 a peace basis was weighing heavily upon the inhabit- 
 ants and the distracted and uncertain condition of the 
 country claimed their attention. With these weights 
 upon them the matter of building the houses was 
 postponed to a time in the future. Nothing more 
 was done in regard to the houses until 1790, when it 
 was voted to divide the town into eight squadrons 
 and to build a house in each and their locations were 
 again assigned, but if the residents of any of these 
 districts were dissatisfied with the site, and they could 
 agree upon any definite place, permission was given 
 to locate the building on the spot agreed upon ; other- 
 wise a committee should locate the house wherever, 
 in their judgment, would best serve the interests of the 
 people. After the town had been divided into dis- 
 tricts and the building spots assigned, complaints were 
 numerous ; after these had been discussed in town- 
 meeting the voters ordered that the house in the 
 Centre should be erected immediately and should be 
 thirty feet square. This was done, but its dimensions 
 were changed to twenty-nine feet by thirty -two feet; 
 house No. 2 was built at or near where the correspond- 
 ing one now is ; No. 3 was in the east part of the town 
 on an old road leading to Hubbardston, from where 
 the Sil.is Harding farm-house now stands; No. 4 
 was "about twelve rods southerly of David Under- 
 wood's dwelling house" (this dwelling was afterward 
 known as the Marcus Spooner place, and has lately 
 disappeared) ; No. 5 was nearly opposite where the 
 present No. 5 house stands ; No. 6 was where the 
 present No. 6 stands ; No. 7 was located on an old 
 road leading to what is now known as the Williams 
 place, and about midway between there and the pres- 
 ent residence of Mr. Franklin Babbitt ; No. 8 was 
 located about fifteen rods easterly of the bridge over 
 the Ware River at Barre Plains and on the north 
 side of the present highway. The inhabitants of 
 District 7 objected in vigorous language to the loca- 
 tion of their house. After much talk a vote was 
 passed in town-meeting to notify them to agree by a 
 majority where the house should stand. This build- 
 ing was at length erected southerly of the place 
 assigned ; but this location was not satisfactory and 
 
354 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 afterward the town gave the inhabitants permission 
 to move it. In 1791 the town raised four hundred 
 pounds to erect these houses and notified eacli tax- 
 payer in the varions districts to bring on to the 
 grounds their proportion of the building material, 
 they being credited in the tax-list for the value of the 
 material furnished. The houses were soon erected, 
 but the cost had been more than was anticipated. In 
 1792 the selectmen were requested to employ " a 
 grammar-school master and direct him to the several 
 districts in rotation " and to hold a school in each 
 district so long as the proportion. of the school funds 
 should be sufficient to pay the expense. In 1796, the 
 population of the town having increased, additional 
 schools were needed and another district was estab- 
 lished, being what is now known as No. 9. In after 
 years other districts were formed, in some instances 
 by dividing the former districts and in other cases by 
 establishing new ones in the remoter parts of the town, 
 and houses were erected in some central location. 
 These buildings were small and of one story, usually 
 about twenty-five feet square, built plainly and with- 
 out regard to any rules of architecture, and not a great 
 protection from storms or cold. They answered the 
 purpose for which they were intended and were proba- 
 bly in keeping with the quality and quantity of in- 
 formation imparted. From 1763, which is as far back 
 as our records of Rutland District extend, annual 
 appropriations were made for the support of the 
 schools, usually forty pounds, until 1775, when the 
 energies of the people were otherwise concentrated 
 and the schools were passed by. After that year the 
 appropriations were resumed and increased each year 
 until in 1781 the amount appropriated was three 
 thousand pounds. Large as this seems, it w:is but 
 little larger than some of the preceding grants, as the 
 currency had so depreciated in value that it was 
 equivalent to not more than seventy-five pounds 
 when we compare its value with that of the Spanish 
 milled dollar. In 1782 the amount appropriated was 
 sixty pounds, and from then until 1803 the amount 
 varied from sixty to two hundred pounds. In 1804 
 the grant was seven hundred dollars, this being the 
 first year that our national word, or character for, 
 dollars was used in our official capacity as a town. 
 
 The schools were held in different parts of the town 
 in terms of various lengths, each year a committee 
 being chosen to lay before the assessors a list of all 
 the ratable polls in each district, the valuation and 
 number of polls being used as a basis for determin- 
 ing the number of weeks of school that should be 
 held in each district. Instruction was not limited to 
 ages ; in the same room would be found scholars 
 varying in age from five or six years to, in some in- 
 stances, twenty-five years ; the older ones appreciated 
 the value of the meagre instruction of the day, and 
 efforts were made to extend the school facilities. 
 
 In 1798 the necessity of an academy was freely and 
 fully discussed in town-meeting; while this plan was 
 
 finally postponed, it had the effect of placing before 
 the people the situation of educational matters and 
 the unsatisfactory condition in which the schools 
 were, exhibiting the autocratic form of government 
 and the lack of uniformity in the methods of 
 teaching. 
 
 The laws of the Commonwealth were defective ; 
 there was no supervision of schools, parents seldom 
 visited them, and each was conducted according to 
 the plans or fancies of the teacher, who, in many in- 
 stances, had obtained the position for other reasons 
 than for proper qualifications. The defects of this 
 system were soon made apparent, and the necessity 
 of uniformity in instruction and proper qualifications 
 on the part of the teacher began to be realized. 
 
 In 1798 a committee was chosen, for the first time, 
 to visit the schools and have supervision of them. 
 This committee consisted of Rev. Josiah Dana, Seth 
 Caldwell and Jonas Eaton, men of education and 
 energy, and under their guidance and by their influ- 
 ence the cause of education was advanced. This 
 committee received no compensation for their ser- 
 vices, but freely and willingly gave their time for 
 this purpose ; but the people were not yet fully edu- 
 cated to the plan of choosing a School Committee 
 annually, for no other board was chosen until 1804, 
 although an article on this subject had been each 
 year inserted in the warrant. 
 
 In this year Rev. James Thompson and Samuel 
 Bigelow were chosen, and each subsequent year the 
 office was filled, some years consisting of but two 
 members, and, at other times, in connection with 
 Rev. Dr. Thompson, who was chairman of the board 
 for nearly forty years, one from each district was 
 chosen. In 1810 the district, or " school ward," in 
 the west part of the town was established, which was 
 designated No. 10, and thirty dollars was appropri- 
 ated for building the school-house. 
 
 Under the efficient management of the School 
 Committee and the fostering care of the people, the 
 cause of education was elevated, and as better and 
 additional facilities were needed, the number of dis- 
 tricts was increased until, in 1845, they numbered 
 sixteen. 
 
 Previous to 1815 the schools had been entirely 
 under the control of the town as a unit. In that 
 year an agent in each district was chosen " to certify 
 money which shall become due." The explanation 
 of this vote is that the people in the various districts 
 were taking more interest in educational matters, and 
 were desirous of bringing their schools more directly 
 under their control and regulating the length of the 
 terms. While they should remain under the general 
 supervision of the regular school Committee, it was 
 believed that some local authority would be more 
 conducive to their interests. This was the beginning 
 of a plan which was adopted in later years, both 
 here and elsewhere. In 1828 the town voted that 
 each district should chose its own agent or prudential 
 
BAKKE. 
 
 355 
 
 committee. This agent had authority to engage the 
 teacher and regulate the contingent expenses of the 
 district in regard to the school, subject, however, to 
 some control by the general committee. 
 
 The friends of education did not rest in their en- 
 deavors to improve the common-school system. Its 
 wants and defects were closely observed and studied. 
 In 1838 Rev. Mr. Fay, pastor of the Evangelical 
 Church, who took a deep interest in the schools, and 
 entered with much enthusiasm into all plans for their 
 improvement, ably seconded the eflbrts of Rev. Dr. 
 Thompson and others in this direction. The improve- 
 ment of the schools of the Commonwealth had been 
 agitated by Hon. Horace Mann, secretary of the State 
 Board of Education, and, as one of the results of this 
 movement, a convention of the friends of education 
 was held in this town, at which were present, as active 
 participants, Rev. Dr. Thompson, Rev. Mr. Fay, Rev. 
 Luther Wil«on, of Petersham, Rev. Joaiah Clark, of 
 Rutland, and many others, and from this and similar 
 meetings in various parts of the State there resulted 
 the establishment of Normal Schools, the second of 
 which was opened here in September, 1839; this 
 school occupied the second story of the town-hall 
 building, which had been in process of construction 
 for about two years, and had been completed the pre- 
 vious winter. Its principal was Rev, S. P. Newman, 
 a professor in Bowdoin College. On account of the 
 location of the town, access to which was then diffi- 
 cult, it was not well patronized, and was suspended in 
 1841, greatly to the regret of the people. 
 
 In 1852 a High School was established, and since 
 then has been well maintained, being well-attended 
 and in charge of well-trained and conscientious 
 teachers. The languages, higher mathematics and 
 kindred studies are pursued ; young men have been 
 fitted for our colleges, and besides imparting instruc- 
 tion to the youth of our own town, it is patronized to 
 some extent by scholars from other municipalities. 
 
 In 1869 the district system was, by State enactment, 
 abolished, the school property appraised, and the 
 amount remitted to each district; since then the gen- 
 eral School Committee have had the control of the 
 whole system. 
 
 As we look back to the schools of the early settlers, 
 with their limited instruction, and an annual appro- 
 I>riation of £40 or less, and then turn to our system 
 of to-day, with its division into grades, from the pri- 
 mary to the high, with an annual appropriation of 
 nearly five thousand dollars, and where all can obtain 
 an education according to their taste or inclination, 
 we can truly say, " Our lines are cast in pleasant 
 places," and we fully realize the necessity of sustain- 
 ing this system, and of making all possible advance- 
 ment, so that the writer of our history, a century 
 hence, shall say of us, as we record of our predeces- 
 sors, " Well done.'' 
 
 The most noted and worthy establishment in town 
 is the Private Institution for the Education of Feeble- 
 
 Minded Youth. This was established here in June, 
 1848, by Dr. Henry B. Wilbur, a graduate of Am- 
 herst College, and of the Berkshire Medical College, 
 who had practiced medicine in Lowell previous to 
 his coming to Barre in 1845, from which time he con- 
 tinued the practice of medicine. 
 
 At this time there was no provision in this country 
 for a class deemed incapable of improvement ; but 
 Dr. Wilbur, becoming deeply interested in efforts of 
 European philanthropists, resolved to join their 
 ranks, a resolve in which he was ably seconded by 
 his young wife, a woman of great tact and untiring 
 energy and self-devotion. Dr. Wilbur was a man of 
 versatile genius, broad intellectual attainments, and 
 a believer in the divinity that presides over the 
 feeblest humanity. Gifted with large enthusiasm, 
 and possessor of an indomitable will, he won success 
 in spite of the obstacles that ever oppose a novel 
 undertaking. Called in September, 1851, to preside 
 over an experimental State School in Albany, N. Y., 
 he left his Barre pupils in a dwelling on the corner of 
 Pleasant and High Streets, under the care of Dr. 
 George and Mrs. C. W. Brown. 
 
 The increasing number of pupils soon requiring 
 more house-room and ground for out-door living, the 
 residence of Mr. Willard Broad was. purchased, en- 
 larged and adapted to special needs, and the institu- 
 tion removed to that location in January, 1853. Since 
 that date its growth has been continuous, comprising 
 now seven dwelling-houses, with a fine gymnasium, 
 stables, &c., surrounded by about two hundred and 
 fifty acres of land. These cottages, sufficiently con- 
 tiguous for supervision, have ample grounds for each 
 classified group of pupils, and all financial receipts 
 have been devoted to making attractive homes for 
 these unfortunates. For some time the only private 
 institution in the country, still the largest, pupils 
 have been received from all parts of the United 
 States, Canada and the Sandwich Islands, whilst ap- 
 plications have come from South America and Aus- 
 tralia. To the upbuilding ot this institution Dr. 
 and Mr.-". Brown, assisted since 1884 by their son, Dr. 
 George A. Brown, have given their undivided efforts, 
 personal supervision and mental ability, making the 
 standard of family organization, as to care, mental 
 improvement and iesthetic surroundings, high enough 
 to receive from a European specialist of wide expe- 
 rience the title of an " Ideal Institution." 
 
 " Here boys and girls have come with all their 
 senses perfect, but connected with nothing within 
 telegraphing no communication to or fro, reaching in- 
 ward only to dumb inanition. Was there a mind hid 
 away there ? Were there elements out of which a 
 mind could be formed? Was it possible to find a way 
 into that empty space, to pick up the buried germs of 
 mental faculty, if such there were, attach them to the 
 delicate wire of some sense and thus open a commu- 
 nication between the world within and the world 
 without? This was the problem which the institu- 
 
356 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 tion here, with kindred ones in other lands, has, with 
 a sublime faith, attempted to solve ; and the result 
 has been such as to fill all observers with admiration. 
 A work has been wrought in our village scarcely less 
 wonderful than the creation of a human mind." ' 
 
 At the opening of the present century the popula- 
 tion of the town had increased from thirteen hundred 
 and twenty-nine in 1776 and now numbered nineteen 
 hundred aud thirty-seven. Farming still continued 
 the chief occupation, attention more particularly being 
 given to raising such crops as wheat, potatoes, corni 
 fla.K and hemp. Whitney, in his " History of Worcester 
 County," published in 1793, says, "here they have 
 many and large dairies, and it is supposed that more 
 butter and cheese is carried annually into market than 
 from any other town of the same extent." A circu- 
 lating medium was almost unknown, a majority of the 
 inhabitants seeing no currency, or only at rare inter- 
 vals, and rather as a curiosity than otherwise. Such 
 articles of food as were not produced on the farm were 
 obtained at the small country store in exchange for 
 home products. Their clothing was made at home, 
 the wool shorn from the sheep's back, carded by hand, 
 spun into yarn and woven on the old lumbering loom, 
 or the flax was pulled in the field, hetchelled, and 
 finally made into garments or bed-linen, most of this 
 work being done by the women of the household, the 
 men attending to the out-door and more laborious 
 duties. Consider.able flax and hemp were raised, aud 
 were considered so important crops that inspectors 
 were annually chosen to decide as to its quality and 
 value, as in such a time of exchange and barter it was 
 deemed necessary that disinterested parties should 
 affix a value. Although the people were struggling 
 for a livelihood and were dependent one upon an- 
 other, yet a spirit of sociality prevailed, notwithstand- 
 ing the question of their existing required hard and 
 long hours of labor. Mills for grinding their corn 
 and wheat had been built in several places, but all 
 of these were of the old colonial style. The construct- 
 ive and inventive faculty which this town so fully ex- 
 hibited at a later day was here, and early began to 
 manifest its outgrowth. 
 
 The raising of flax, to be more profitable, required 
 mills to return to the people the full benefit of the 
 crop, and two were soon established for crushing or 
 grinding the seed and obtaining the linseed oil ; one 
 of these was on Prince River, at what is now Heald 
 Village, and the other was in the east part of the 
 town. With this oil and pigments their houses were 
 kept neatly painted ; clothier's mills, as they were 
 termed, were established and tanneries erected in 
 various parts of the town; the manufacture of brick, 
 which had been pursued previous to 1800, had been 
 abandoned, the yards near where now live Nathaniel 
 Holland and the heirs of Lysander Crawford having 
 become " worked out," while the one near Charles S. 
 
 1 Bev. Dr. Thompson in Centennial Discourse. 
 
 Holland's present residence was closed. About 1828 
 this industry was resumed at the latter yard, and in 
 the south part of the town, at the Plains, a new yard 
 was opened. These yards were worked lor about ten 
 years, when the business again ceased. 
 
 Saw-mills had been established as early as 1753, 
 but from their rough construction had continued but 
 for a short time. In the latter years of the last cen- 
 tury and early in the present one a number of these 
 mills were erected on the various streams. Perhaps 
 the mo.st business enterprise existed in the south 
 part of the town, this being favored and promoted by 
 the abundant water-power in that section. 
 
 There was a saw-mill at what we now term the 
 Powder Mills early in the century. At the Plains 
 Seth Pratt conceived the idea of diverting the water 
 from the Ware River by means of a canal and form- 
 ing a pond, throwing a dam across the river from 
 land on the south side, now owned by Mr. A. F. 
 Adams. This canal was excavated in 1808 ; subse- 
 quently the dam was moved farther up the river and 
 the canal extended. 
 
 In 1810 Phineas Heywood, who, with his father, 
 had come here from Shrewsbury, and who was a son- 
 in-law of Pratt, having previously obtained consider- 
 able land in that vicinity, sold land and water-rights 
 for manufacturing purposes. In addition to the 
 grist-mill and saw-mill, which had been for a year or 
 more in operation here, two tanneries were built by 
 Parker & Pratt, and in the sanle year Phineas Hey- 
 wood commenced work in a clothier's mill ; nearly 
 all the grinding of grain and the fulling and finishing 
 of the woolen cloth was now done at the Plains. 
 This clothier's mill continued the business, with 
 changes adapted to the times, until about 1870, the 
 manufiicture of yarn and coarse woolen cloth having 
 been adopted a number of years previously. Hey- 
 wood, who was of an ingenious and inventive turn of 
 mind, succeeded in operating, in a crude way, a cot- 
 ton-spinning machine about 1814 and a woolen-card- 
 ing machine about 1816. In 1827 he erected a larger 
 mill; this has been moved from its original site and 
 is now used for other purposes. 
 
 David Wadsworth erected a scythe manufactory a 
 short distance easterly from where the Messrs. Stet- 
 son now live, and its production was considerable. 
 About 1830 a company, prominent in which were 
 Henry Holbrook and Hiram and Paul Wadsworth, 
 purchased of John Wadsworth a lot of land border- 
 ing on the Ware River and erected a brick building 
 for the manufacture of woolen cloth, and a pleasant 
 little village was built up. This company did not 
 succeed in the woolen business, and were soon fol- 
 lowed by Jonathan Wheeler, who was favored in his 
 venture, but who was compelled to close the works 
 by the financial panic which existed from 1837 to 
 1842; he sold the property to Wright & Farnum, 
 whom a Mr. Fisher soon succeeded. He was fol- 
 lowed by Edward Denny, who purchased the property 
 
BARRE. 
 
 357 
 
 ia 1844 and who continued engaged in the manufac- 
 ture of various liinds of woolen goods, conducting the 
 business with success until about 18G7. In 1871 the 
 property was leased to C. T. Deacon & Co., who soon 
 failed in the business. The factory was destroyed by 
 fire in the winter of 1857-58; another one of the 
 same dimensions, eighty-two by forty-four feet, and 
 fourstories in height, was erected the following summer- 
 
 At Mr. Denny's death, in 1874, the property passed 
 into other hands, meeting with varying fortunes. A 
 company with the firm-name of the Ware River 
 Woolen Company, purchased it in 1880, and after 
 operating it for about two years, finding the business 
 unprofitalile, sold it to James E. Crossley. In 188S 
 the mill was again destroyed by fire and has not 
 been rebuilt. 
 
 During, or a little previous to, 1825, Silas Bemis 
 and Benjamin Clark each and separately conceived 
 the idea of erecting a cotton-mill and each made 
 strenuous efforts to complete the first dam. Mr. 
 Clark, having obtained control of the water privi- 
 lege by purchasing it and a considerable lot of land 
 of the heirs of Matthew Caldwell, ei'ected a brick 
 factory, which at that time was the first of any im- 
 portance in this section of the State ; by the erection 
 of this and the necessary tenement -houses he be- 
 came financially embarrassed, but he soon organized 
 a stock company, consisting of Messrs. Mixter, Woods, 
 Bowman and others, by whom the work was carried 
 on and the manufacture of cotton commenced; Mr. 
 Clark, becoming involved in a lawsuit growing out 
 of a claim for priority of rights to the water privilege, 
 became insolvent and retired from the manfacturing 
 business. The success of the company, under the name 
 of the Boston and Barre Manufacturing Company, was 
 not at first propitious ; they entered into a contract 
 with Mr. John Smith, who was a practical manu- 
 facturer, to take the mill and make the cotton cloth at 
 a certain price per yard, in which he was successful, 
 making the business remunerative for himself and 
 the stockholders. While the business was thus 
 prosperous the factory was destroyed by fire ; the 
 company, not desirous of rebuilding, sold out by 
 auction, the land, buildings and water privilege be- 
 ing purchased by Mr. Smith for himself and four 
 others; subsequently purchasing their shares, he 
 erected a new mill, which he managed with signal 
 success until his death, in 1859, when the business 
 passed into the hands of his two sons, by whom it was 
 profitably carried on under the firm-name of C. W. 
 & J. E. Smith. On the death of Charles W. Smith 
 a few years ago and the settlement of his estate, J. 
 Edwin Smith became sole owner, by whom some 
 needed repairs and alterations were made, and now 
 the establishment is in successful operation. The vil- 
 lage, now and for many years known as Smithville, 
 is a model factory village and with its neatly-painted 
 houses, broad street and abundant and beautiful 
 shade trees presents an attractive appearance. 
 
 On the Ware River, about midway between Smith- 
 ville and the woolen-factory village, buildings and 
 mills for the manufacture of gunpowder were erected 
 about 182G by Silas Bemis, one of the early settlers, 
 and his son-in-law, Charles Bemis, and others, and 
 did a good business under various ownerships until 
 1865, when this industry left the town. Here is a 
 good water privilege awaiting utilization. 
 
 In the centre of the town manufacturing interests 
 have been varied. Thirty-five years ago the Barre 
 Boot Company carried on a large business, employing 
 many hands ; they were followed by J. W. Rice & ' 
 Son, who continued in this industry until about 1876, 
 when they ceased, unable to compete with the large 
 establishments of the Brookfields and other towns. 
 From 1850 to 1865 the manufacture of " Shaker- 
 hoods," or bonnets made of palm-leaf was extensively 
 carried on, furnishing employment to many women 
 and children in weaving the leaf into the strip of 
 which the hoods were made, but by the demands of 
 fashion, this business became of the past. The intro- 
 duction of the palm-leaf business into Barre is some- 
 what singular. About 1829 some hats were imported 
 into this country, made of a material that was unknown 
 here. A Boston merchant, attracted by their apparent 
 durability, imported a few bales of the raw material 
 from Cuba. A woman in Dedham was engaged to 
 take one of the hats to pieces, learn its construction 
 and endeavor to imitate it. She succeeded, and 
 taught the art of making these hats to a woman of 
 Petersham, by whom women in this town were 
 taught. Braiding these hats became an extensive 
 business, and a source of some income to many fami- 
 lies here and elsewhere. The hats thus made were 
 rough ; as they needed smoothing and shaping, they 
 were at first pressed by hand with hot irons, and by 
 those, who made them. As the industry grew, men's 
 help was obtained to do the pressing. Mr. John W. 
 Weston engaged in the business in a dwelling that then 
 stood northerly of the Lincoln burial-ground. After- 
 wards machinery was devised for the purpose, and a 
 small shop was built on Prince River by Mr. Chester 
 Gorham. The business was carried on at this place 
 for about thirty-five years. Dexter Dennis succeeding 
 to it and enlarging the plant, which also accommo- 
 dated other kinds of manufactures. 
 
 A short distance down the stream is a water 
 privilege which, as early as 1750, the proprietors con- 
 sidered the second most valuable one in the territory, 
 and they proposed to have a saw-mill erected there; 
 but as the mill already built could furnish all the 
 boards that were then required for building purposes, 
 this project was abandoned. In the latter part of the 
 last, or early in the present century, a clothier's mill 
 was built on this privilege, where the fulling and fin- 
 ishing of the homespun cloth was carried on for a 
 number of years. Woods & Field purchased this 
 building about 1840, and, remodeling it, commenced 
 the business of pressing and finishing palm-leaf hats ; 
 
358 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 they continued in this but a few years, when they sold 
 to Carlos Gambol, who had superintended the work 
 for them. He soon sold the property to Spencer 
 Field, who ran it for a few years, and about 1854 sold 
 it to Jason Desper. None but palm-leaf hats were 
 finished at this time, nor was it until about I860 that 
 other kinds of hats came to these works. Only ten 
 hands were employed at this time, and from forty to 
 eighty thousand dozens were finished each year, the 
 number varying with the different years. Mr. Desper 
 carried on this business, enlarging the works from 
 time to time, until about 1874, when J. F. Snow and 
 J. Andrew Rogers became associated with him. 
 
 At the death of Mr. Snow the following year, Jesse 
 A. Rogers became a member of the firm, which was 
 now known as Desper, Rogers & Co. The plant was 
 still further increased from time to time to accom- 
 modate the additional work that came in upon them ; 
 the manufacture of hats was adopted, and has proved 
 a profitable branch of the business. In 1888 Mr. 
 Desper, who had begun to feel the weight of advan- 
 cing years, sold his interest to W. H. Osgood, and a 
 new firm was formed under the name of the Rogers- 
 Osgood Co. For the last eight or ten years about 
 forty women have been employed in running sewing- 
 machines, making the hats from braid bought in the 
 markets. At the commencement of this business in 
 1840 but little finishing was done; now that branch 
 is much more elaborate, the hat going direct from 
 the manufactory to the salesman, and thence to the 
 consumer. Seventy men are employed, and the an- 
 nual output is now upwards of two hundred thousand 
 dozens of hats per annum. 
 
 Farther up the stream and about half a mile east- 
 erly of the Common is an extensive foundry and 
 machine-shop owned and conducted by Mr. L. S. 
 Heald. This business was established in 1830 by 
 Stephen Heald. Previous to this time a grist-mill 
 and another small building had been erected, in 
 the former of which wood-turning was carried on, 
 Charles Rice having improved the water privilege 
 by constructing a more extensive dam and exca- 
 vating another pond and canal that he might get 
 out carriage wood-work by machinery. Stephen 
 He.ild, who came to town in 1826 entered his em- 
 ploy, poor in purse but full of energy ; soon after- 
 wards engaging in the iron business, he built up 
 a considerable establishment, where he was suc- 
 cessful. In 1850 all of his shop buildings were de- 
 stroyed by fire and his capital swept away. By 
 the encouragement of individuals he was induced 
 to rebuild, which he did on an enlarged scale, 
 and with better accommodations found his busi- 
 ness increasing. In 18G5 two of his sons became 
 co-partners with him. The manufacture of agri- 
 cultural implements was one of their specialties 
 in which they did a large amount of work. Wood- 
 working and other machinery of various kinds have 
 been an extensive part of thoir manufactures, which 
 
 have found a market in remote as well as near sec- 
 tions of the country. About these works a pretty 
 little village sprang up, which for many years has 
 been known as Heald Village, At Mr. Heald's 
 death, in 1887, at the age of nearly eighty-eight 
 years, the larger part of the property passed into 
 the hands of his son, L. S. Heald, who carries on the 
 works. Among the agricultural implements that 
 have been made here was a h.iy-tedder, invented 
 by Mr. E. W. Bullard, of this town, which was 
 the first machine ever constructed for turning hay 
 in the field. Amongst other machinery Mr. Heald 
 is now making an improved tedder of his own in- 
 vention. 
 
 Wagon manufiicturing has been another branch 
 of industry in this vicinity ; the making of scythes 
 by two different establishments at the same time 
 formerly gave employment to a number of hands, 
 but these trades have passed from among us. 
 
 About twenty-five years ago a horse hay-rake, the 
 invention of S. R. Nye, of this town, was made here 
 to a considerable extent, but, partly on account of the 
 breaking away of the reservoir, this business was dis- 
 continued here. Fifteen years ago another horse- 
 rake, the combined invention of C. M. Lufkin, and 
 Charles G. Allen of Barre, was placed upon the 
 market, since which time Mr. Allen has built up an 
 extensive plant, and is successful in his invention 
 and manufacture. Each year a large number of 
 these rakes are made, finding a market in all the 
 New England and some of the other States. Other 
 industries on this stream are planing and saw-mills. 
 
 In the north part of the town, known as Rice 
 Village, the wagon-making, carried on for many 
 years by Charles Rice and others, was from its ex- 
 tensiveness an important factor here, but for the 
 past few decades nothing has been done in this line. 
 Near the centre of the town the manufacture of 
 packing boxes and mattresses, and of preparing 
 palm leaf for braiding into hats was very prominent ; 
 of these the mattress business alone remains with 
 us. 
 
 From the location of Barre, it was, before the 
 days of railroads, a prominent thoroughfare for the 
 stage-routes from Boston to New York, Albany, 
 Keene, Brattleboro' and other places; prominent 
 among those old-time driver.-i, which was then con- 
 sidered a responsible berth, was the late Hon. 
 Ginery Twichell. Coming here a young man, about 
 1830, full of energy, genial, affable and always thor- 
 oughly reliable, he made friends of all, and always 
 had a deep interest in the town and its welfare. To 
 him the town was indebted to some extent for better 
 accommodations for travel. Deeply interested in the 
 railroads projected around us, he left the staging 
 business and entered the employ of the Boston and 
 Worcester Railroad, where he was soon after chosen 
 as its superintendent, and afterwards elected to its 
 presidency. On the consolidation of that road with 
 
/U^AyC 
 
 C^Ccot:^. 
 
 ^^^4- 
 
4 
 
BARRE. 
 
 359 
 
 the Western, he retired for a while from active rail- 
 road life, but never lost his interest in it, and it was 
 one of his hopes that Barre should be connected 
 with the cities by steam communication. Having 
 chosen Brookline as his residence, he was elected to 
 the national House of Representatives from the 
 Congressional district in which he resided, where he 
 served a number of years, greatly to his own honor 
 and that of his constituents. On his retirement 
 from Congress his active spirit led him to assume the 
 presidency of a short line of railroad, the Boston, 
 Barre and Gardner, then struggling under many diffi- 
 culties. Always a friend to Barre, in preceding 
 years he had advocated the construction of a road to 
 and through this town, and it was due somewhat to 
 him that our people began to consider this matter so 
 early as they did. As early as 1840 the subject be- 
 gan to be agitated here. In 1845 the town voted to 
 raise a sum not exceeding three hundred dollars, for 
 the survey of a route from Worcester through this 
 town to the Miller's River. This route being found 
 impracticable, the matter rested for a few years. 
 About 1850 the agitation again began, this time in 
 connection with towns southerly of us. A line was 
 considered, under the name of the Ware River Rail- 
 road, to extend from Palmer to Winchendon, but, 
 mainly through the opposition of the Western road, 
 this road was not constructed for a number of years. 
 A charter was obtained, and renewed from time to 
 time as circumstances demanded. The first section, 
 from Palmer to Gilbertville, was built in 1869, and 
 in 1870 ground was broken in Barre for its exten- 
 sion to Winchendon. The work of grading and 
 track -laying progressed but slowly, but the road was 
 at last completed, and in October, 1873, it w;is 
 opened for travel to Barre Plains. In 1854 the town 
 voted to petition the Legislature for permission to 
 loan its credit to the amount of five per cent, of its 
 valuation for aiding in building a railroad from North 
 Brookfield to Barre; the necessary surveys were 
 made, but for want of sufficient encouragement the 
 scheme was abandoned. 
 
 In 1847 a company was chartered under the name 
 of the Barre and Worcester Railroad Company. This 
 road was intended to run from some point on the 
 Worcester and Nashua road to some convenient place 
 in the centre of Barre. This project was kept alive 
 by renewals of its charter, but when it was constructed, 
 in 1870-71, it ran from Worcester to Gardner. 
 
 In 18G9 the town became deeply aroused to the ne- 
 cessity of a railroad, and entered with much enthu- 
 siasm into the project of the JIassachusetts Central 
 Railroad, and, to further aid the enterprise, took stock 
 of the company to the amount of ninety thousand 
 dollars, or five per cent, of its valuation, while indi- 
 viduals took about fifty-five thousand dollars' worth 
 additional. From lack of necessary funds this road, 
 which was to extend from a point on the Boston and 
 Lowell road near Boston, passing through Barre and 
 
 forming a " through line " to the West, was not con- 
 structed for a number of years. Its financial troubles 
 were great, but finally becoming reorganized under the 
 name of the Central Massachusetts Railroad, it was 
 completed, and in December, 1887, trains commenced 
 running from Boston to Northampton, although pas- 
 senger trains had run from Boston as far as Ware in 
 July. 
 
 The culture of the town has always been noteworthy. 
 In May of 1834 a weekly newspaper, with the name 
 of the Farmer's Gazette, was established by C. C. P. 
 Thompson. He continued as its proprietor until his 
 death, a few years afterwards, when it passed into the 
 hands of Albert Alden, the name being now changed 
 to that of the Barre Gazette. Soon afterwards Walter 
 A. Bryant assumed its ownership and management. 
 In 1844, the political feeling running high, the Barre 
 Patriot, upholding the tenets of the opposite party, 
 was established by his brother, N. F. Bryant. Both 
 of these papers flourished for several years, but about 
 1856 they were merged in one, under the name of the 
 Barre Gazette, and since then it has prospered. It is 
 now in its fifty-fifth volume, and under the ownership 
 and control of Henry H. Cook, although there have 
 been two or three changes of proprietorship since the 
 consolidation of the two papers. 
 
 In October, 1858, N. F. Bryant issued a magazine 
 with the title of the Household Monthly. This was 
 discontinued at the end of a year and a half. Previous 
 to this he had published the Wachusett Star. This 
 continued but about a year. Bryant's Messenger was 
 another paper, of short duration, that was issued. 
 
 In 1866 R. W. Waterman commenced the publica- 
 tion of the Worcester West Chronicle. After issuing it 
 here for about one year the establishment was re- 
 moved to Athol. Various amateur journals have been 
 put forth, but these were ephemeral. 
 
 In 1888 the Central County Courier was introduced, 
 under the management of S. H. Ingersoll. This pa- 
 per is printed in one of the neighboring towns, but 
 has a creditable foothold here. 
 
 Previous to 1857 we had a small library, but under 
 no competent management. In that year Samuel 
 Gates, a farmer of small means, left by his will five 
 hundred dollars to the town for a free public library, 
 on condition that an equal amount should be given by 
 the town. This condition was complied with. Cases 
 were obtained for the books and the unexpended bal- 
 ance of the town's ajjpropriation added to Mr. Gates' 
 bequest increased the fund to seven hundred dollars. 
 This was placed in the town treasury, and the interest 
 of it, at six per cent., is annually expended for books. 
 
 In 1866 a Central Pacific Railroad bond of the de- 
 nomination of one thousand dollars was given to the 
 library by a native of Barre, the income of which was 
 to be used for books, For a number of years the li- 
 brary had its home in the post-ofiice rooms, and in 
 time outgrew its limits. 
 
 In 1885 the Barre Library Association was incor- 
 
360 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 porated, one of its obiects being to procure a building 
 suitable for the library and for kindred purposes. In 
 1886 Mr. Henry Woods, a native of Barre, purchased 
 land and erected thereon, at an expense of upwards of 
 twenty thousand dollars, a brick building which, 
 under the name of the "Woods Memorial Library 
 Building," commemorative of his deceased parents 
 and brothers, and as a token of his kindly and sub- 
 stantial interest for the welfare of the town, he pre- 
 sented to the association, this corporate body hold- 
 ing it in trust for the benefit of the whole community. 
 He also established the " Edwin Woods Fund " of 
 five thousand dollars, the annual income of which 
 (two hundred and fifty dollars) is to be expended for 
 books of permanent value. 
 
 The library, well arranged and cared for in its new 
 home, now numbers upwards of thirty-five hundred 
 volumes, and is pronounced a valuable collestion. In 
 connection with the library proper are a reading-room, 
 rooms for the directors of the association, for assem- 
 blies and for a museum. 
 
 The agricultural interests of the town have always 
 been active. Large amounts of butter and cheese 
 have been made in previous years. There are two 
 cheese-factories or establishments for the manufacture 
 of cheese, their aggregate capacity being upwards of 
 two thousand pounds per day. These are temporarily 
 closed, the farmers considering it more to their pecu- 
 niary advantage to send their milk to the Boston 
 market, it being transported thither by both of our 
 railroad corporations. 
 
 An agricultural society, with the name of" Worces- 
 ter West,'' was chartered and established in 1851. It 
 holds its annual fair the last Thursday of September, 
 and is one of the best, if not the best, in the State. 
 It has extensive and well-arranged grounds, on which 
 is a half-mile track for exhibiting and speeding 
 horses, and a large building for display and for 
 dining purposes. The society is free from debt and 
 offers annually for premiums upwards of fifteen hun- 
 dred dollars. 
 
 The town has a national bank, with a capital stock 
 of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and a 
 savings liank, each of which is in a prosperous condi- 
 tion. The telegraph and telephone furnish instanta- 
 neous communication with the great centres of busi- 
 ness and commerce. Our postal accommodations 
 are good, three through and two local mails arriving 
 and departing daily. 
 
 There are two hotels at the centre of the town and 
 another, to be more extensive, in process of construc- 
 tion, which is under contract to be open for business 
 early in 1889. At Barre Plains is another hotel. The 
 town is noted for its temperance and good order; no 
 intoxicating liquors, except for medicine, are allowed 
 to be sold. 
 
 In 1885 the population of the town was not so large 
 as in 1880, on account of the temporary suspension 
 of manufacturing in the southern portion. Since 
 
 then the cotton industry has been resumed and the 
 population has increased. At diflerent periods the 
 population has been as follows: In 1776, 1329; 1790, 
 1613 ; 1800, 1937 ; 1810, 1971 ; 1820, 2077 ; 1830, 2503 ; 
 1840,2751; 1850,2976; 1855,2787; 1860, 2973 ; 1865, 
 2856; 1870, 2572; 1875, 2460; 1880, 2419; 1885, 
 2093. 
 
 On a sightly eminence, about two miles southerly 
 of the centre, is the Almshouse, with which is con- 
 nected a large farm for the .support of the town's Door. 
 This house was built in 1873, in place of one destroyed 
 by fire the same year. Its size and style of architecture 
 attracts much attention, and the stranger to the town 
 would receive no intimation from its appearance as 
 to the purposes for which it is used, but would rather 
 consider it the residence of some prosperous farmer. 
 The number of pauper inmates is very few, the gen- 
 eral thrift and temperance sentiment of the people 
 acting as a preventive of pauperism. The farm for 
 the support of the poor was purchased in 1844, but 
 has since been enlarged by obtaining an adjoining 
 farm. Previous to 1844 the poor had been cared for 
 in families, bids for their support being received by 
 the town, and the lowest offer for their maintenance was 
 accepted, the party taking them being expected to 
 furnish their board and lodging, clothing, necessary 
 medical attendance and nursing. 
 
 In addition to several literary societies or gatherings, 
 the town contains a lodge of Free Masons, of the 
 Grand Army of the Republic, of Good Templars and 
 a Grange, P. of H. 
 
 From the elevated location of the town and its beau- 
 tiful scenery and surroundings, its health is greatly 
 enhanced. Piobably no town in the Commonwealth 
 has so large a percentage of old people as Barre; men 
 and women from eighty to ninety years of age are not 
 uncommon, and there live here to-day, hale, active 
 and well-preserved, two persons in the ninety-sixth 
 year of their age. In 1867 James Piper died at the 
 age of nearly one hundred and five years; in 1872 the 
 death of Mary A. Boney is recorded at the age of one 
 hundred and three, and in 1888 Timothy Bacon died 
 in the one hundred and second year of his age. If J 
 we turn to the record of deaths for the past one hun- f 
 dred years, we find the same remarkable longevity as 
 now. The most notable instance of this is in the fami- 
 lies of two brothers, who came here about 1750, Ne- 
 hemiah and Jonathan Allen. Jonathan lived on the 
 same farm and with the same wife for over sixty years; 
 Jonathan sat out the first orchard in the town, having 
 brought from Sudbury forty apple trees and a young 
 wife on the back of his horse; he died at the age of 
 ninely-two, his wife at eighty-seven; they had six 
 children, whose average age at death was eighty years. 
 This farm has never passed out of the Allen family, 
 it now being in the possession of George E. Allen, the 
 great-grandson of Jonathan; on this farm it is said 
 that the fourth framed house in town was erected, but 
 this is not now standing. Nehemiah Allen had ten 
 
z^^^yi^-^' 
 
t 
 
 ^^^^^^<-.^ 
 
 /?T>t 
 
BARRE. 
 
 361 
 
 children, the oldest of whom died at the age of ninety- 
 six, the youngest at seventy-eight; their average age 
 at death was eighty-seven. In view of the remarkable 
 longevity of our people, now and in former years, the 
 compiler of this history can desire no better verifica- 
 tion of the healthfulness of our surroundings than 
 these advanced ages will testify to. But younger and 
 more vigorous energies are not wanting, and as in the 
 years past we have built up a thriving, healthy and 
 attractive town, so in the time to come will we add to 
 what has been done and enlarge and render still more 
 beautiful that which has been bequeathed to us. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 LUKE ADAJIS. 
 
 Luke Adams, who was one of Barre's most substan- 
 tial farmers, was born in New Braintree, January 20, 
 1801 ; hp was the son of Jonathan Adams, formerly 
 of Northboro', and Dorothy, daughter of Dr. Edward 
 Flint, of Shrewsbury. His parents came to the ad- 
 joining town of Barre in 1808, and located upon the 
 farm in the southern portion, which is now the 
 residence of his son, Austin F. Adams. Mr. Adams' 
 father dying when he was but about twelve years of 
 age, the farm passed into the management of strangers' 
 hands, by whom it was carried on for several years. 
 Mr. Adams lived with his mother and sister during 
 this time, attending the common school, and obtain- 
 ing such an education as the instruction of those days 
 could furnish. At the age of eighteen that spirit 
 which marked his after-life began to assert itself; 
 purchasing stock and farming implements, he began 
 farming for himself on the old farm, although owning 
 but a half-interest in the place. At this time the 
 buildings were out of repair and the land badly run 
 down ; with this discouraging outlook he began his 
 life-work in earnest, and met with signal success. He 
 soon erected new buildings, and so improved the farm 
 that its capacity and value were much increased. He 
 took a great interest in all practical farm machinery, 
 and was among the first to make use of the tedder, 
 spreader-cart, horse-rake, etc. ; it was upon his farm 
 that the inventor of the first successful tedder experi- 
 mented with his invention, and by him the inventor 
 was financially aided in obtaining his patent. Mr. 
 Adams was conservative in his operations, firm and 
 decided in his opinions, and of sound and practical 
 judgment. He was a valued member of the Boards 
 of Selectmen , Overseers of the Poor and Assessors, and 
 a trustee for many years of the Barre Savings Bank ; 
 he filled many places of trust and responsibility, but 
 never neglected his farm, which to-day ranks high. 
 The utmost confidence was placed in his tound judg- 
 ment and strict integrity. He died October 25, 1884, 
 leaving a widow, a son and daughter. 
 
 PETER M. HARWOOD. 
 
 Peter Mirick Harwood was born in' Barre June 10, 
 1853. His ancestry in direct Harwood line is Peter 
 (1804), Peter (1763), Daniel (173fi), David (1708), 
 David (16G8) and John (1630), who is supposed to 
 have been a son of Henry, who came from England 
 in fleet with Winthrop. His mother, whose maiden- 
 name was Eunice Jones Mirick, was a descendant of 
 Abrani and Eunice (Jones) Garfield, who were also 
 ancestors of the late President Garfield. 
 
 Mr. Harwood's early days were spent on the farm 
 where he now lives. He attended the district school, 
 the Barre High School and the Massachusetts Agri- 
 cultural College at Amherst, from which he was grad- 
 uated in 1875. While in college he had the honor of 
 winning the first Farnsworth Rhetorical gold medal. 
 At the death of his father (1876) he assumed the 
 management of the homestead, and began business 
 life as a farmer and breeder of fine stock. In 1877 
 he was elected a member of the Board of Selectmen, 
 being the youngest man ever on the board. In 1879 
 he was made a member of the School Board ; again 
 elected in 1884, he has held that office ever since, 
 being its chairman three years. He was lecturer of 
 Barre Grange, P. of H., in 1877, '80, '81 and '82, and 
 master in 1883, '84 and '85, during which period 
 the organization reached the largest membership in 
 its history ; he was lecturer of the Massachusetts State 
 Grange in 1886 and '87 ; he was secretary of the 
 Massachusetts Agricultural College Alumni Associa- 
 tion for several years, and its president in 1886-87, 
 and presided at the great banquet on the occasion of 
 the twenty-fifth anniversary of the college. He was 
 for several years a director, and in 1887 and '88 presi- 
 dent of the Barre Central Cheese Company, .and presi- 
 dent of Worcester County West Agricultural Society 
 in 1887 '88 and '89. He married Mary Ann Wallace 
 December 13, 1884, from which union two children 
 have been born, — Eunice Frances (July 18, 1886) and 
 Mary Louisa (February 29, 1888). Mr. Harwood has 
 been engaged for several years in the breeding of Hol- 
 stein-Friesian cattle, and has developed one of the 
 finest herds in the State. He enjoys a wide and hon- 
 orable reputation, both as a public officer and as a 
 business man. 
 
 CHARLES ROBINSON. 
 
 Charles Robinson is a native of the town of Barre, 
 where be was born July 29, 1834. His early days 
 were spent on the farm ; at the age of seventeen years 
 he obtained a position in a general country store in 
 his native town as a clerk, attending school in the 
 mean time. Leaving Barre in 1856, he started his busi- 
 ness life in the dry-goods and grocery business in 
 Wilmington, of this State, where he remained for 
 about two years. Not finding the business congenial 
 to his taste, he returned to Barre, and began the manu- 
 facture and sale of boots and shoes, in which he con- 
 tinued until 1862, when he enlisted in th.e Fifty-fourth 
 
3G2 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, from which he 
 was soon transferred to tlie Forty-second Regiment. 
 From this regiment he was detailed into the Engineer 
 Corps, where he did efficient service as pontonier at 
 Donaldsonville, Port Hudson and other places. At 
 the expiration of his term of service he returned to 
 Barre and re-engaged in the boot and shoe business. 
 In 1871 he resumed farming, making market-garden- 
 ing his specialty, and followed this for about ten yeara. 
 In 1875 his attention was drawn to the superiority of 
 the Holstein Friesian breed of cattle, and, after thor- 
 oughly investigating their merits, in 1880 engaged in 
 breeding and raising this fine class of stock, since 
 which time he has devoted his whole attention to it. 
 His sales of these cattle, which are numerous, have 
 been mostly in the New England States, although some 
 of his stock has been sold to go as far south as North 
 Carolina. His farm consists of about seventy acres, 
 and is in a high state of cultivation and, with the aid 
 of a silo, of which he is an enthusiastic advocate, will 
 keep through the year fifty head of cattle. His crops 
 are mostly corn and hay, which, with purchases of 
 hay and grain, is fed out to a herd of one hundred and 
 four Holstein Friesians, all of which are registered 
 stock. A son of Mr. Robinson is associated with him 
 in the business of breeding and managing this fine 
 collection; besides these, four men are employed on 
 the farm throughout the year. 
 
 CHAPTER LIU. 
 
 WEBSTER. 
 
 BY WII<I,IAM T. DAVIS. 
 
 In the town of Helper, Derbyshire, England, on the 
 9th of June, 1768, Samuel Slater, the founder of the 
 town of Webster, was born. On the 28th of June, 1782, 
 at the age of fourteen, he was apprenticed for seven 
 years to Jedediah Strutt, a partner of Arkwright, to 
 learn the business of manufacturing cotton. At about 
 the time of the close of his apprenticeship he saw an 
 advertisement of a premium for the introduction of 
 Arkwright machinery into the United States, and 
 being familiar with the methods used by his employer, 
 he determined to seek his fortunes in the New World. 
 On the 1st of September, 1789, he left Derbyshire for 
 London, and on the 13th of the same month sailed for 
 New York, where he arrived after a sixty-six days' 
 passage. He at first engaged his services to the New 
 York Manufacturing Company, but, after a few weeks, 
 hearing of Moses Brown, of Providence, he wrote to 
 that gentleman on the 2d of December, offering his 
 services in the line of his trade. On the 10th of De- 
 cember Mr. Brown replied, inviting him to Providence, 
 to which place he removed in January, 1790. On the 
 5th of April in that year he signed a contract to con- 
 
 struct machinery after the plan of that with which he 
 had become familiar during his apprenticeship. He 
 soon became engaged in Pawtucket, R. I., in the suc- 
 cessful manufacture of cotton-yarn, which was sold 
 to be woven on hand-looms into cloth by domestic 
 labor. 
 
 While engaged in this business, Mr. James Tiffany, 
 of the town of Wales, in Massachusetts, then known 
 as South Brimfield, became acquainted with Mr. Sla- 
 ter in his trading expeditions to Pawtucket, and at his 
 request Mr. Slater took his two sons, Lyman and Bela 
 TiffaJiy, into his employ. Through Mr. Tiffany, Mr. 
 Slater was informed of the existence of water-power 
 in what is now Webster, and in 1811 Bela Tiffany was 
 sent to examine it. In a letter, dated May 27, 1811, 
 Bela Tiffany wrote to Mr. Slater that he had found 
 on the examined premises a two-story house un- 
 finished, a grist-mill with two sione.s, a good saw-mill, 
 a trip-hammer shop, thirteen or fourteen acres of land, 
 one-half of which was swamp, and water-fall sufficient 
 for all practicable purposes. He added that the re- 
 gion was a most benighted one, four miles from Ox- 
 ford, three miles from Dudley and six and one-half 
 miles from Thompson, in Connecticut. The price 
 asked was $4000, and he wrote that he had secured a 
 refusal of the property until the 20th of June. The 
 result of the examination was the purchase of the prop- 
 erty in the name of Bela Tiffany, and this purchase 
 was followed by others, including a farm of two hun- 
 dred and twenty acres, with a house and barn, nine 
 and one-half acres bought of Elijah Pratt, and before 
 the close of the year 1812 about two hundred and sixty 
 acres more from various persons. In December, 1812, 
 Mr. Tiflany transferred to Mr. Slater five-sixths of the 
 property, retaining one-sixth as his own interest in 
 the enterprise. 
 
 Mills were at once erected, and in 1813 Slater & 
 Tiffany began in what is now Webster the manufac- 
 ture of cotton yarn. At the same time a dye and 
 bleaching-house was erected and placed under the 
 charge of John Tyson, who took an interest in the 
 business. Mr. Tyson died August 2, 1821, and his 
 interest passed into the hands of Mr. Slater. Other 
 purchases of land were made by Slater & Tiffany in 
 1814 and 1815, but on the 27th of November, 1816, 
 during the depression in manufactures which followed 
 the War of 1812, Mr. Tiffany sold his interest to Mr. 
 Slater for $8400. During the war the company be- 
 gan the manufacture of broadcloth under the super- 
 intendence of Edward Howard, a Yorkshireman, who 
 had at home been engaged in the business. 
 
 Up to 1821 the business of Mr. Slater was con- 
 ducted on a stream which runs from Chaubunnag- 
 unganugPond, but in that year, through Mr. Howard, 
 a location was made on French River, where prop- 
 erty was bought at a cost of twelve thousand dol- 
 lars. In 1822 Mr. Howard transferred one-half 
 interest to Mr. Slater for six thousand dollars, and in 
 that year, while the woolen-mill was there building, 
 
WEBSTER. 
 
 363 
 
 the old woolen-mill was burned. Additional pur- 
 chases of land on French River were made by Slater 
 & Howard between 1822 and 1824, including about 
 four hundred and twenty-five acres, and still other 
 purchases were made at later dates. 
 
 On the 2d of January, 1829, Mr. Howard sold his 
 interest to Samuel Slater and his sons, George B. 
 Slater and Horatio Nelson Slater, who thus, as Samuel 
 Slater & Sons, became the owners of all the prop- 
 erty which had been puchased since 1811, includ- 
 ing all the water-power supplied by French 
 River within the limits of what is now Webster and 
 by Chaubunnagunganug Pond. During the year 
 immediately following the purchase of the entire 
 property the firm of Samuel Slater & Sons became 
 involved in embarrassments, from which they were, 
 however, happily and entirely extricated. Mr. 
 Slater died in Webster April 20, 1835. He married, 
 October 2, 1791, Hannah, daughter of Oziel Wilkin- 
 son, who died in 1812, and about 1817 he married 
 Esther, daughter of Robert Parkinson, of Philadel- 
 phia. His children, all by his first wife, were : Wil- 
 liam, born August 31, 1796, died January 31, 1801 ; 
 Elizabeth, born November 15, 1798, died November 
 4, 1801; Mary, born September 28, 1801, died 
 August 19, 1803 ; Samuel, born September 18, 1802, 
 died July 14, 1821; George Bassett, born February 
 12, 1804, died November 15, 1843 ; John, born May 
 23, 1805, died January 23, 1838; Horatio N., born 
 March 5, 1808, died August, 1888; William, born 
 October 15, 1809, died September, 1825; Thomas 
 Graham, born September 19, 1812, died 1844. 
 
 After the death of Mr. Samuel Slater, in 1835, the 
 business was carried on by George B. Slater and Ho- 
 ratio N. Slater until the death of the former, in 1843, 
 after which date Mr. Horatio N. Slater conducted 
 the business until his death, in August, 1888, and was 
 succeeded by his son, Horatio N. Slater, who is the 
 present manager. The three establishments belong- 
 ing to the concern are the H. N. Slater Manufactur- 
 ing Company at the North Village, incorporated in 
 1836, manufacturing cotton dress-goods, checks, lawns, 
 silesias, jaconets, etc. ; the H. N. Slater Manufactur- 
 ing Company at the East Village, employed in the 
 finishing of cambrics, silesias, cotton dress-goods, 
 lawns, etc., and the Slater Woolen Company at the 
 East Village, incorporated in 1866, manufacturing 
 broadcloths, flannels, tricots and doeskins. In the 
 three about fifteen hundred hands are employed. The 
 cotton and woolen factories are located on French 
 River and the finishing factory on the outlet from the 
 pond. The water with which the inhabitants of the 
 town and the Fire Department are supplied is furnished 
 from a reservoir belonging to one of these establish- 
 ments, through pipes of the town water-works, first 
 laid in 1867, for which an annual rental is paid by 
 the town. 
 
 Not long after the recovery of Mr. Slater from his 
 embarrassments the question of the formation of a 
 
 new town began to be agitated. His property and 
 interests lay, for the most part within a territory made 
 up of a part of Dudley, a part of Oxford and what 
 was calif d Oxford South Gore, which was a tract of 
 land included in no incorporated town. There were 
 eleven hundred and sixty-eight inhabitants living on 
 this territory, whose wishes in the premises were ex- 
 pressed in a petition to the General Court, which may 
 be found at length in another part of this sketch. An 
 act of incorporation was passed March 6, 1882, ol 
 which the following is the text: 
 
 AN ACT TO INCORPORATK THE TOWN OF WEBSTER. 
 
 Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in 
 General Court assembled and by the authority of the same, That the 
 territory in the Southerly part of tlie County of Worcester comprised 
 within the following limits that is to say beginning at the southwest cor- 
 ner of said territory where the line between Massachusetts and Connec- 
 ticut intersects French Kiver ; thence running easterly by said line to 
 the southwest corner of Douglas ; thence nortlierly by the line which 
 divides Douglas from Oxford South Gore until it intersects the line be- 
 tween Oxford and Douglas ; thence due west two and three-fourths miles 
 and thirty rods to a stone monument about eighty-eight rods west of 
 French River; thence Southerly in the direction of a stone monument 
 in the line of Oxford and Dudley near the house owned by Daniel Green- 
 wood and Samuel Slater to the middle of said river ; thence southerly by 
 said river to the fiiBt mentioned corner together with all the inhabitants 
 dwelling thereon be and they hereby are incorporated into a town by the 
 name of Webster and vested with all the powers, privileges and immuni- 
 ties and subject to all the duties and requirements of other incorporate 
 towns agreeably to the constitution and laws of this Commonwealth. 
 
 Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, That the inhal)itjints of said town of 
 Webster shall be bolden to pay all arrears of taxes which have been le- 
 gally assessed upon them by the towns of Oxford and Dudley before the 
 passing of this act ; and all taxes assessed and not heretofore collected 
 shall be collected and paid to the treasurer ol the towns of Dudley and 
 Oxford respectively in the same manner as if the act had not been passed. 
 
 Sec. 3. Be it further enacted, That the said town of Webster shall 
 hereafter be liable to pay two-seventh parts of the expenses necessarily 
 to be incurred in the support of all i»auper^ who at the time of the pass- 
 ing of this act were actually in need of relief and were receiving support 
 from the town of Dudley and one-fourth part of the expenses so to be 
 incurred by the town of Oxford in the support of paupers at present re- 
 ceiving relief from the said town of Oxford. ,\nd that in all cases of 
 paupei-s who shall hereafter stand in need of relief as paupers whose set- 
 tlements have been derived or obtained in either of the towns of Oxford 
 or Dudley previous to the passing of this act the said paupers shall be 
 supported by the town within the territorial limits of which such settle- 
 ment was gained, the said town of Webster being required to support all 
 such as have acquired or shall hereafter acquire a settlement within the 
 territory herein described. 
 
 Sec. 4. Be it further enacted. That the said town of Webster shall he 
 holden to pay .and discharge two-seventh parts of all expenses which 
 may accrue to the s-aid town of Dudley in the construction of a county 
 road leading from a point near the dwelling-house of Ralph Vinton to 
 the line of Oxford, which the county commissioners for the county of 
 Worcester have heretofore located and ordered to be wrought ; and shall 
 also pay and discharge two-seventh parts of all debts and obligations duo 
 and incurred by the town of Dudley before the passing of this act by vir- 
 tue of any contract a'ready executed and shall be holden in the same 
 proportional amount for all legal liabilities heretofore incurred by the 
 said town of Dudley not otherwise provided for in this act, Provided, 
 nevertheless that all monies now in the treasury of the said town of Dud- 
 ley or which may hereafter be paid into the same as the proceeds of 
 taxes already assessed or of obligations now due or owing to the said 
 town of Dudley shall first be applied to the payment of the debts and ex- 
 penses and the discharge of the liabilities due from or incurred by the 
 town of Dudley as aforesaid. 
 
 Sec. 5. Be it further enacted, That the bridge over French River near 
 Preston's cotton-mill and the bridge on the same stream near Slater's 
 cotton thread-mill shall forever hereafter be maintained and kept in re- 
 pair by said town of Webster and that the bridge on said river near the 
 line of the State of Connecticut shall be maintained and kept in repair 
 by said town of Dudley ; and that the said bridges in regard to all legal 
 
364 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 liabilities shall be reBpectively deemed and takun to be within the limits 
 of the towu which by this act is required to maintain and repair the 
 same. 
 
 Sec. 6. Bo it further enacted, That of all state and county taxes which 
 shall be required of said towns previous to a new valuation the said town 
 of Webster shall pay thereof in the proportion in which the said town of 
 "Webster is liable as aforesaid to the payment of expenses to be incurred 
 as aforesaid in the support of paupers now chargeable to the towns of 
 Oxford and Dudley. 
 
 Sec. 7. Be it further enacted, That any justice of the peace for the 
 County of Worcester, upon application therefor is hereby authorized to 
 issue his warrant directed to any freeholder in the said town of Webster 
 requiring him to notify and warn the inhabitants thereof to meet at such 
 time and place as may bo appointed in said warrant for tlie choice of all 
 such towu oflRcers as towns are by law required to choose at the annual 
 t«wn meetings. 
 
 On the 27th of February, 1841, an act was passed 
 by the General Court providing that *'from and after 
 the passage of this act the boundary line between 
 Webster and Douglas is hereby coofirmed aud es- 
 tablished as follows, viz.: beginning at Nipmuc cor- 
 ner on Oxford line; thence running south seven 
 and a quarter degrees, east one thousand five hun- 
 dred and seventy-eight rods to the Bald Hill monu- 
 ment on Connecticut line erected by the commis- 
 sioners of Massachusetts and Connecticut in the 
 year one thousand seven hundred and twelve." 
 
 The following is the text of the petition on which 
 the act of incorporation was based: 
 
 To the Senate and House of Representatives of the General Court of 
 the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 
 
 The undersigned iuhabitants of Dudley Oxford and Oxford South Gore 
 BO-called in the County of Worcester represent that they are residents 
 within a territory containing about ten thousand acres of land bounded 
 as follows beginning at the south west corner where the lino between 
 Massachusetts and Connwcticut intersects French River thence Easterly 
 by said line which divides the States to the south west corner of Douglas 
 thence Northerly by the line which divides Douglas from Oxford South 
 Gore till it intersects the lino between Oxford and Douglas thence due 
 west to French River and thence d^-wn said river to the piece of begin- 
 ning that said Gore which is not within the limits of any municipal cor- 
 poration contains about four thousand five hundred acres ; that about 
 three thousand five hundred acres are within the limits of Dudley and 
 about two thousand acres witliin the limits of Oxford, that the whole 
 population is 8upi)0sed to be from fifteen to sixteen hundred from seven 
 to eight hundred uf which is in Dudley frOm five to six hundred in Ox- 
 ford tSc from one hundred to one hundred and fifty in said Gore that said 
 territory was rough and very thinly inhabited until the water-power af- 
 forded by said river and a large natural pond invited the enterprise of 
 manufacturers and mechanics from which time it began to fiuurish vig- 
 orously and is destined undoubtedly to increase in capital & business and 
 to afford at no distant period a support to a much more numerous 
 population — that there are withiu said territory two religious societies 
 each of which has a meeting-house also a post-office five cotton-mills 
 three woolen-mills ajmachine-sliop, five forge-shops, boe & scythe-shop, 
 a^dyeing and bleaching establishment and six stores in all which ex- 
 tensive and active business ia carried on, that most of said iiopulation 
 is distant from Dudley from three to four miles — from Oxford from 
 fuur to five miles, that the great public highways leading to Boston 
 to Hartford to Providence and other large towns do not pass through 
 Dudley or Oxford so that said population has little nutural connec- 
 tion or connection in business with the villages in the c(;n(ro uf those 
 places, that it is burdensome and inconvenient to travel so great a 
 distance to attend town-meetings and fur other town purposes that it 
 would greatly promote the prosperity happiness and convenience of 
 said population to be admitted to separate municipal privileges, as 
 nearly one-half of said territory has hitherto been denied all pai'tici- 
 pation in such rights and the other half is so situated as to be sub- 
 jected to unreasonable expense and loss of time in obtiining them — 
 that a separation would not be injurious to Dudley or Oxford as each 
 would be left with a large population and territory. Your petitioners 
 therefore pray that they may be incorporated into a town with the 
 
 limits aforesaid or such other limits as you shall see fit to assign 
 them. And as in duty bound will ever pray. 
 
 This petition was signed by George B. Slater and 
 one hundred and fourteen others of Dudley, William 
 Kimball and thirty-six others of Oxford, and Para- 
 clete Morris and twenty-one others of Oxford ISouth 
 Gore. It bears no date, but was presented to the 
 General Court in 1831, and referred, June 3d of 
 that year, to the Committee on Towns. On the 8th 
 of June that committee reported through its chair- 
 man, David Wilder, that a copy of the petition '* be 
 served on the town clerks of the towns of Oxford 
 aud Dudley, and be published three weeks succes- 
 sively in the Massachusetts Spy and National JEgis^ 
 two newspapers published in Worcester, and that 
 Messrs. John Wyles of Brimfield, Elijah Ingraham of 
 Pawtucket, and William J. Otis of Boston be a com- 
 mittee to view the premises at the expense of the pe- 
 titioners and report to the nest General Court. This 
 report was accepted, and the matter went over to the 
 Legislature of 1832, and the petition was then re-en- 
 forced by another dated December 31, 1831, and 
 signed by Joseph Bracket and five others, who claimed 
 to be residents in Oxford, Dudley and Oxford South 
 Gore. 
 
 Another petition, dated Dudley, December 14, 
 1831, was presented to the General Court of 1832, of 
 which the following is the text : 
 
 Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 
 To the Honorable the Senate nud H"use of Eepresentativea to be assembled 
 on the Jiret Wednesday of January, A. I). 1832 : 
 The subscribers, inhabitants of the town of Dudley, in the County of 
 Worcester, beg leave to represent to your honorable body that whereas 
 George B. Slater and a number of other persons, inhabitiints of the town 
 of Oxford and Dudley, and Oxford South Gore, did, at the last session of 
 the General Court of said Conunonwealtb, held on the last Wednesday 
 of May last, present a petition, praying that all of that part of Dudley 
 lying Easterly of French or Stony Kiver, and a part of Oxford de- 
 fl(?ribed in said petition, together with siiid Oxford South Gore, might be 
 incorporated into a Town, aud whereas there was an order of notice is- 
 sued on eaid petition, returnable to the next General Court, to be held 
 on the first Wednesday of January, then next following ; we therefore 
 humbly pray that if your Honorable Body shall see fit and proper to 
 grant the prayer of the aforesaid George B. Slater and others, that the 
 following described tract of land, lying in Dudley aforesaid, and west- 
 erly of the aforesaid Kiver (containing by estimate eight hundred acres, 
 bounded as follows), viz. : Beginning on the west bank of siiid River 
 being at the southeast corner of the farm formerly owned by Nathan 
 Ward, but now by Zera Prcstou and Joseph Scholfield ; thence on the 
 soutli line uf sjiid farm, westerly about eighty rods, to the southwest 
 corner of said farm ; thence northerly on the west line of said farm to 
 the northwest corner of the same ; thence in a northerly direction to the 
 outlet of Peter Pond (so-called) ; thence in a straight line to a monu- 
 ment on Oxford old line, where Dudley projects northerly into Charl- 
 ton ; from thence, on Oxford old line, easterly about two hundred rods, 
 to a monument northerly of Olney Esten,in Oxford ; thence southerly, on 
 Oxford line, to the River aforesaid, and down said River to the first-men- 
 tioned corner, may be incorporated into the same Town, and be a part 
 thereof as fully and effectually asif the same had been included in the 
 aforesaid petition. Our reasons for earnestly requesting that our peti- 
 tion may be granted are that we are owners of land on both sides of the 
 aforesaid River; that we live from two and one-half to three and one- 
 half miles from the centre of the Town in Dudley, where public busi- 
 ness is done ; that we are but from half a mile to a nnle from the centre 
 of population of the contemplated new Town, and where it is contem- 
 l>lated that the town business will be di>ne. That three or four years 
 ' since, we, together with a number of inhabitants on the easterly side of 
 
WEBSTEE. 
 
 365 
 
 said River, composing a large and respectable School District, erected a 
 larj;;e and commodious stone school-house on the westerly line of said 
 River ; that if the Town is divided by saiil River, our School District 
 will be SLi small that we shall receive but very little advantage of school- 
 ing. That our business is almost wholly connected with the first-men- 
 tioned petitioners, having very little intercourse with the Town of Dud- 
 ley, most of us, that we are almost wholly connected, and attend reli- 
 gious meetings at the houses of public worship, east of said River, we 
 therefore humbly beg that your Honorable Body will take this, our 
 petition, under your consideration, and act thereon as you, in your 
 wisdom, shall see fit and proper. 
 
 Signed by JnriiTHAH Bacon, 
 
 John Brown, 
 Nathaniel Lyon, 
 Chester Clesians, 
 George B. Slater, 
 Joseph Scholfield, 
 Palaski Bacon, 
 Jephthah Bacon, Jun., 
 William Wakefield. 
 
 On the 17th of September, 1831, a legal meeting of 
 the inhabitanta of the town of Oxford was held, and 
 Ira Barton, Stephen Davis and Kichard Stover were 
 appointed a committee to confer with the committee 
 appointed by the General Court, and a remonstrance 
 against the petition of George B. Slater, presented by 
 Mr. Barton, was adopted. 
 
 At the same date, a meeting of the inhabitants of 
 Dudley was held, and a committee, consisting of 
 George A. Tufts, Morris Larned, John Eddy, William 
 Hancock and Joseph H. Perry, was chosen to oppose 
 the petition for a new town. On the 14th of Novem- 
 ber, in the same year, another meeting was held in 
 Dudley, and a remonstrance prepared by the com- 
 mittee chosen in September was adopted. 
 
 Another remonstrance was presented by Joseph 
 Kingsbury, who represented himself to be a resident 
 in the territory proposed to be incorporated, and 
 asked that he, together with his estate, might remain 
 in the town of Oxford. 
 
 The committee appointed by the General Court at 
 the session of 1831 made a report dated September 
 SO, 1831, which, on the 17th of January, 1832, was 
 referred to the Committee on Towns of the General 
 Court of that year. The committee stated that the 
 territory within the towns of Oxford and Dudley and 
 Oxford South Gore contained 39,943 acres, of which 
 Oxford contained 18,250, Dudley 17,200, and the 
 Gore 4,493. The territory included in the petition 
 would take 1,350 acres from Oxford, 3,280 from Dud- 
 ley, and the whole of the Gore, thus constituting a 
 town of 9,123 acres, and leaving to Oxford 16,900 
 acres, and to Dudley 13,920 acres. 
 
 As regards population, they stated that Oxford 
 contained 1900 inhabitants, Dudley 2155, and the 
 Gore 134, making a total of 4189. The town peti- 
 tioned for would take 312 inhabitants from Oxford, 
 722 from Dudley, and all the inhabitants of the Gore, 
 making a total of 1168, leaving in Oxford 1588, and 
 in Dudley 1433. They also stated that in 1731 a 
 portion of the Gore had been annexed to Oxford, 
 and ia 1887 another portion, and that the school 
 ID the Gore wjas supported by voluntary contribu- 
 
 tion. The taxable property in Oxford in 1830 was 
 $693,333, of which $90,200 belonged to the proposed 
 town, and was owned — by Samuel Slater, $54,450; 
 George and John Slater, $12,316. The valuation of 
 real and personal estate in the Gore for the same 
 year was $28,034. In the part of Dudley proposed 
 to be included in the new town there were twenty- 
 four "eehoklers, with real estate valued at $41,624.40; 
 the Slaters owned real estate in it valued at $63,374, 
 and the personal estate in that portion, including 
 that owned by the Slaters, was valued at $53,886. 
 The committee also stated that the inhabitants of the 
 South Gore in 1831 petitioned for certain highway 
 and school privileges analogous to those of incorpo- 
 rated towns, and that fourteen of the remonstrants 
 were now petitioners for the new town. The com- 
 mittee stated in conclusion, "that, all things consid- 
 ered, the towns of Oxford and Dudley and Oxford 
 South Gore are well calculated to constitute three 
 convenient towns, and that the prayer of the peti- 
 tioners ought, in the deliberate opinion of the com- 
 mittee, to be granted." 
 
 The Committee on Towns, in accordance with the 
 recommendations of the foregoing report, reported 
 the bill, the text of which has been already quoted, 
 and the bill was duly passed, as before stated, March 
 6, 1832. 
 
 It ia only necessary to refer in this sketch to that 
 part of the town of Webster which was popularly 
 known for many years as Oxford South Gore. The 
 remaining portions of the town, prior to the incorpo- 
 ration of the town of Webster, will be appropriately 
 treated in the histories of the towns of Oxford and 
 Dudley. This Gore was simply a tract of laud which 
 had been included in grants to individuals, but in 
 the formation of towns had never been included 
 within their boundaries. In 1831, when surveyed 
 under a resolve of the Legislature, it contained, as 
 already stated, four thousand five hundred and ninety 
 acres, was irregular in shape, and was bounded by 
 lines running in seven different courses, and by the 
 irregular margin of a part of Chaubunnagunganug 
 Pond, which separated it from Douglas, Dudley and 
 Oxford. It is largely covered by either woods or 
 water, and possesses a soil which did not, in tlie crea- 
 tion of early towns, make it a desirable possession. 
 On the 8th of December, 1731, a small portion of the 
 Gore was annexed to the town of Oxford, in reference 
 to which the following extract from the records of 
 the General Court may not be without interest : 
 
 WEPNESDAy, December 8, 1731. 
 A petition of Isaac Larned, in behalf of the town of Oxford, show- 
 ing that Jogiah Kingsberry and Theodore Kingsberry live upon a farm 
 adjacent to the said town of Oxford, and nearer to the meeting-house 
 there than to any. other meeting house, and are very desirous to be 
 annexed to the said town. Therefore praying that the said farm be- 
 tween the south end of O.xford village and Chaubunnagunganug pond 
 6o running westward till it comprehends all the said farm and the land 
 of the said Isaac Larned lying eiist of the Road passing from Oxford to 
 Woodstock, be annexed to the said town of Oxford, the saitl petition 
 
3G6 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 being signed by the said Josiah and Theodore Kingsberry as approved 
 by them. 
 
 In the House of Representatives read and ordered that the petitioners 
 witli their lands within mentioned, be and hereby are to all intents and 
 purposes whatsoever annexed to the town of Oxford. 
 
 In Council read and concurred. Consented to J. Belcher. 
 
 On the 6th of February, 1807, another portion of 
 the South Gore was annexed to Oxford, as described 
 in the following act : • 
 
 An act to annex a part of a tract of land commonly called The Ox- 
 ford South Gore, with the inhabitants and estates thereon to the town 
 of Oxford. 
 
 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General 
 Court assembled, and by the authority of the same. That Lemuel 
 Cudworth, Craft Davis, K/.ekiel Davis, David Fitts, Abijah Harris, 
 Joseph Kingsben-y, Epliraim Kingsberry, Samuel Kingsberry, Jere- 
 niiah KingsVierry, Jr., John Larned, John Larned the 3d, living on or 
 being owners of a tract of land lying between the towns of Dudley, 
 Douglas and Oxford, commonly called The Oxford South Gore, together 
 with James Wallis, of Dudley, and all others, the inhabitants living on 
 or owning lands in that part of said Gore hereby set off with th*-ir fann'- 
 lies and estates, although not particularly named in this act and witlu)nt 
 the line of the town of Oxford, as the same is described by the following 
 bounds, be, and hereby are, annexed to and made a part of the said 
 town of Oxford, viz.; Beginning at the line at the southeast corner be- 
 tween Dudley and Oxford, and running north thirty-four degrees west 
 three hundred and twelve rods ; thence east eight degrees north two hun- 
 dred and ten rods; thence north eight degrees and twenty minutes west 
 two hundred and thirty-two rods; thence east eighteen degrees north 
 three hundred and eighty -eight rods; thence s-JUth two degrees and forty 
 minutes west one hundred and thirteen rods; thence west two degrees 
 and forty-five minutes north eighty-five rods; theuce south twenty-one 
 degrees and forty-five minutes west four hundred and thirty rods; thence 
 south eight degrees and twenty minutes east eighty-nine rods to the cor- 
 ner first mentioned. 
 
 At the time of the incorporation of the town of 
 Webster there were within its territorial limits a Bap- 
 tist and a Methodist Episcopal Society. The Baptist 
 Society had its origin at an early period in that part 
 of Dudley which was included in the town of Web- 
 ster, probably as early as 17-14, though it was not 
 formally organized as a religious body until October 
 26, 1814. It was then called the Baptist Church of 
 Dudley, and consisted at the time of its organization 
 of twenty- seven males and twenty-eight females. 
 The organization was formed in the district school- 
 house by an ecclesiastical council consisting of Rev. 
 P. Crosby, of Thompson, Conn.; Rev. William Bent- 
 ley, of Worcester ; Rev. James Boomer, of Charlton ; 
 Rev. Z. L. Leonard, of Sturbridge ; Rev. James Grow, 
 of Pomfret, Conn. ; Rev. Luther Goddard and Messrs. 
 Jeremy F. Tolman and John Walker. Rev. Mr. 
 Bentley was chosen moderator, and Rev. Mr. Leonard 
 scribe, and the sermon was preached by Rev. Mr. 
 Grow. The members of the society as then organized 
 were Smith Arnold, John Baker, Stephen Bartlett, Jr., 
 Stephen Bracket, Thomas Brown, Esek Brown, Nathan 
 Cody, Nathaniel Crosby, David Freeman, Michael 
 Hill, Liberty Ide, William Leonard, John Larned, 
 Eliakim Robinson, John Stockwell, John Stone, 
 Gardner Stone, Jubal Wakefield, Aaron Wakefield, 
 Joel Wakefield, Simeon Wakefiel.l, Luther Whitman, 
 William W. Webster, Nathan Wood, Luther Wood, 
 Lucy Arnold, Lucina Bartlett, Catherine Bartlett, 
 Fanny Bracket, Phebe Brown, Jerusha Bracket, 
 
 Sally M. Crosby, Dolly Freeman, Taman Freeman, 
 Araminda Freeman, Rosella Greenwood, Mary B. 
 Hill, Abigail Humphrey, Lavina Ide, Abigail Lar- 
 ned, Sibyl Moore, Anna Robinson, Ruth Stone, Sarah 
 Wakefield, Betsey Wakefield, Mehitable Wakefield, 
 Mary Whitmore, Lucinda Wood, Charlotte Wood, 
 Eunice Wood, Adamira Wood and Betsey Wright. 
 
 On the 8th of November, 1814, Mr. Stephen Bart- 
 lett and Mr. Nathaniel Crosby were chosen deacons, 
 and on the 15th of June, 1815, Mr. Esek Brown, who 
 had been a deacon of the Sutton Church, was invited 
 to become pastor. The ordination was conducted in 
 a tent, and Rev. Samuel Waters and Rev. Zenas L. 
 Leonard were chosen moderator and scribe of the 
 council. Rev. Mr. Leonard, then of Sturbridge, 
 preached the sermon ; Rev. James Grow, ot Pomfret, 
 made the ordaining prayer ; Rev. Samuel Waters, of 
 Sutton, the charge; Rev. William Bentley, of Wor- 
 cester, gave the right hand of fellowship, and Rev. 
 Isaac Dwinell, of Auburn, made the concluding 
 prayer. In September, 1818, Mr. Brown removed to 
 the Baptist Church in Lebanon, Conn., and until the 
 spring of 1826 the society was without a pastor. At 
 that time Rev. John B. Ballard was settled and served 
 until the spring of 1828. Mr. Ballard was born in 
 Dudley, October 25, 1795, and was a graduate of the 
 Hamilton Theological Institute in 1820. Before his 
 settlement in Webster he was settled in Masonville, 
 whore he was ordained November 13, 1823. After 
 leaving Webster he was settled in Bloomfield, Conn., 
 and for thirteen years lie was the agent of the Ameri- 
 can Sabbath-School Union. He died in the city of 
 New York, January 29, 1856, while in the service of 
 the Tract Society. In the year of his settlement the 
 first meeting-house was erected and dedicated on the 
 26th of December of that year, on which occasion 
 Elder Jonathan Going, of Worcester, preached the 
 sermon. 
 
 In 1828 Rev. Joshua Eveleth was ordained and 
 served one year, when he was succeeded by Rev. 
 Hubbard Loomis, who also served one year. Mr. 
 Loomis had been tor twenty-four years a settled Con- 
 gregational minister in Wellington, Conn., and in 
 1832, after leaving Webiter, he founded the Theo- 
 logical Seminary in Alton, Illinois. Rev. Thomas 
 Barnett, a native of Belchertown, succeeded Mr. 
 Loomis in 1830, and served two years and five months. 
 During his pastorate Webster was incorporated, and 
 the church became by name the Baptist Church in 
 Webster. In December, 1832, Rev. Abiel Fisher was 
 ordained and served one year and six months. Mr. 
 Fisher was born in Putney, Vermont, June 19, 1787, 
 and graduated at the Burlington University in 1812. 
 He studied theology with Rev. Nathaniel Kendrick, 
 of Middlebury, Vermont, and was licensed to preach 
 June 18, 1813. In January, 1816, he was ordained 
 pastor in Bellingham, where he served twelve years. 
 In September, 1828, he went to West Boylston, where 
 he preached three years, and then to Sturbridge, 
 
WEBSTEK. 
 
 367 
 
 After leaving Webster he was settled in Pawtucket, 
 Rhode Island, and Swansea and Sutton, and died at 
 West Boylston, March 26, 1862. 
 
 In April, 1834, Rev. James Grow was settled and 
 remained one year. Mr. Grow died in Thompson, 
 Conn., March 17, 1859, at the age of ninety years. 
 Rev. Loorais G. Leonard, a graduate of the Newton 
 Theological Institute, succeeded in September, 1836, 
 and served six years and seven months. He was dis- 
 missed, at his own request, March 3, 1843, and re- 
 moved to Thompson, Conn., and afterwards to New 
 London, and to Zanesville, Marietta and Lebanon, 
 Ohio. Rev. John F. Burbank was settled in April, 
 1843, and served three years and five months. He 
 graduated at the Newton Theological Institute in 
 1840, and died in Worcester November 22, 1853, at 
 the age of forty-two years. Rev. Lyman Jewett, also 
 a graduate of the Newton Theological Institute, suc- 
 ceeded Mr. Burbank, in March, 1848, and Rev. Jo- 
 seph Thayer, of South Sutton, followed, in April, 
 1849. Mr. Thayer afterwards was settled as a Free- 
 will Baptist minister in Mendon, and finally removed 
 to Minnesota. Rev. Frederick Charlton, of Plain- 
 field, was settled in April, 1850, and served three 
 years. After leaving Webster he removed to Wil- 
 mington, Del., and finally was settled in Sacramento, 
 Cal. In April, 1853, Rev. George W. Dorrence, who 
 had been a chaplain in the navy, was settled, and 
 preached two years, followed in March, 1856, by Rev. 
 J. L. A. Fish, who served seven years and three 
 months. Mr. Fish was a graduate of the Newton 
 Theological Institute. He resigned in June, 1863, 
 and removed to East Tisbury. In April, 1863, Rev. 
 Charles W. Reding was settled, and preached six 
 years, followed by Thomas T. Tilman, in August, 
 1869, who still remains. During the pastorate of Mr. 
 Reding the present stone meeting-house was built at 
 a cost of $31,067. During his pastorate also the 
 fiftieth anniversary of the formation of the society 
 occurred on the 30th of October, 18fi4, on wliich oc- 
 casion he delivered a commemorative address. 
 
 The Methodist Episcopal Church was organized 
 in September, 1823. Samuel Henderson and John 
 McCausland came from Ireland and settled within 
 the territory afterwards included in the town of 
 Webster. They established class meetings, and in the 
 same year founded a society together with Samuel 
 J. Booth, William Archer, Parsons Tourtellot, Olney 
 Esten, Ebenezer Pluramer, William Harbenson, Wil- 
 liam Hurd, Hezekiah Davis, Calvin Aldrich, Charles 
 Wait, Henry Davis, John Dixon, William Andrews, 
 Daniel Dwight, Oliver Adams, Jr., ai)d Jeremiah 
 Upham. 
 
 Rev. Elias Marble was settled as the fir=t min- 
 ister. His successors were as follows; 
 
 1825. Rbt. John W. Hardy. 
 1S2C. Key. John W. Chase. 
 
 1827. Rev. Hemiin Perry. 
 
 1828. Bev. Groorge Southerland. 
 
 1829. Rev. Isaac Bonny. 
 
 1830. Rev. John Lorejoy. 
 
 1831. Eev. 0. Rolibins. 
 
 1832. Rev. Peter Scibin. 
 
 1833. Rev. Isaac Jennison. 
 
 1834. Rev. Ira M. Bidwell. 
 
 1835. Rev. Jonathan Cady. 
 1836-3T. Rev. Isaiic Stoddard. 
 1838-39. Rev. Joseph A. Merrill. 
 1840. Rev. Isaac Sanbonrn. 
 1841-42. Rev. Abra'm D. Merrill. 
 1843-44. Kev. Leonard B. Griffln. 
 1845-46. Rev. Mark Staple. 
 1847-18. Rev. C. S. McRedding. 
 1849-50. Rev. Joseph W. Lewis. 
 1851-52. Rev. D. E. Cliapin. 
 185.3-54. Rev. Union Ward. 
 18.55-50. Rev. Samuel Tupper. 
 1857-58. Rev. J. S. Uaniford. 
 1859. Rev. Abraham S. Dobbs. 
 
 1860-61. Rev. Pliny Wood. 
 1862. Rev. Jcseph C. Cormack. 
 ]863-«4. Rev. Cyrns L. Eastman. 
 1865. Rev. James W. Murray. 
 18CC-67. Rev. Edward S. Best. 
 1868-70. Rev. A. O. Hamilton. 
 1871-72. Rev. Le Roy S. Brewster. 
 1873-74. Rev. Wm. J. Pomfret. 
 1875-76. Rev. Daniel Richards. 
 1877-79. Rev. S. B. Sweetser. 
 1880-83. Rev. Samuel Jackson. 
 1883-85. Rev. Charles F. Rice. 
 1886-88. Rev. W. E. Knox. 
 1888. Kev. T. B. Smith. 
 
 The first meeting-house of this society was erected 
 in 1828 and dedicated June 29th of that year. 
 Its cost was $1,467.40. A second and larger meeting- 
 house was built in 1833 and dedicated January 14, 
 1834. Its cost was $4,626. A third meeting-house, 
 larger and more commodious as the growing necessi- 
 ties of the society demanded, was built at a cost of 
 $22,000, including land, organ and fixtures, in 1866, 
 and dedicated September 12, 1867. 
 
 The above two societies — the Baptist and the 
 Methodist Episcopal — were the only religious socie- 
 ties existing in Webster at the date of its incor- 
 poration, March 6, 1832. The first religious society 
 organized alter its incorporation was the First Con- 
 gregational Church and Society, which was formed 
 Juae 13, 1838, with a membership of forty-one per- 
 sons, most of whom had previously been attendants 
 on public worship in the Baptist Church. At the 
 first meeting of this society Jonathan Day was 
 chosen moderator, and James J. Robinson, clerk, 
 and George B. Slater, Dexter W. Jones and Ly- 
 man Johnson, assessors and standing committee. Its 
 first services were held in the old meeting-house of 
 the Methodist Episcopal Society, where they con- 
 tinued to be held until the present meeting-house 
 was built in 1842. The new house of worship soon 
 proved too small for the needs of the society and was 
 enlarged in 1849. 
 
 The first minister of the society was Rev. Sidney 
 Holnian, who was installed October 31, 1838, and 
 served until May 4, 1840; Rev. Hubbard A. Reed 
 served from May 6, 1841, to November 5, 1844 ; Rev. 
 Lorenzo Cary from August 14, 1845, to June 29, 
 1852; Rev. S. C. Kendall from March 29, 1854, to 
 March SO, 1857, and from November 8, 1860, to July 
 22, 1868; Rev. David M. Bean from December 10, 
 1868, to May 25, 1871 ; Rev. J. S. Batchelder from 
 December 6, 1871, to September 7, 1874 ; Rev. H. M. 
 Rogers from December 9, 1874, to September 28, 
 1876 ; Rev. B. F. Parsons from 1876 to 1881 ; Rev. 
 John G. Leavitt from 1881 to his death, in October, 
 1886 ; Rev. W. W. Sleeper from 1887 to his resignation, 
 in August, 1888. The society is at present, in Octo- 
 ber, 1888, without a pastor. 
 
 The Catholic Church and Society was organized in 
 1844, and placed under the charge of the pastor of St. 
 John's Church at Worcester. The foundations ol 
 the St. louis Church edifice were laid in 1853, while 
 
368 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 the society was under the ministrations of Rev. Mr. 
 Gib^^on, and cost eight thousand dollars. It was built 
 of brifk, but soon proving too small, was enlarged in 
 1865 at a cost of twenty thousand dollars,,and soon 
 after a parish-house was built at a cost of seven thou- 
 sand five hundred dollars. Mr. Gibson was suc- 
 ceeded by Rev. Napoleon Magnault, and in 1858 Rev. 
 James Quan became pastor and still remains. The 
 large number of Catholic French belonging to the 
 church, who could with difficulty speak and under- 
 stand the English language, soon rendered the forma- 
 tion of a new society desirable, and in 1870 the 
 French-speaking portion of the St. Louis Church or- 
 ganized the Parish of the Sacred Heart in the old 
 Methodist Episcopal meeting-house, which they 
 bought and enlarged, with Rev. J. Cosson as their 
 pastor. Mr. Cosson left in 1871, and was succeeded 
 by Rev. A. A. Landry, of North Adams, who remained 
 until his death, in 1885. He was succeeded by Rev. 
 H.H.Landry in 1885, who was followed in 1887 by 
 Rev. Joseph A. Legris, the present pastor. 
 
 The Webster Universalist Society was organized 
 April 22, 18(51, and on the 1st of May, 1864, Rev. 
 George J. Sanger was ordained as its pastor. On the 
 2d of June, 1866, the society was incorporated under 
 the General Laws. In that year and the next, their 
 meeting-house was built at a cost of about twenty 
 thousand dollars, and dedicated August 21, 1867. 
 Mr. Sanger was followed in 18G9 by Rev. J. W. Keyes, 
 and in 1874 Rev. J. W. Moore was settled and served 
 until 1877. In September, 1878, Rev. J. F. Simmons 
 became pastor, during whose pastorate Mrs. Julia 
 Clemens Murdock, a devoted friend of the society, 
 died on the 27th of April, 1879, and gave to it by her 
 will a bequest of several thousand dollars in value. 
 Rev. Edgar W. Preble is the present pastor, and suc- 
 ceeded Bev. Mr. Simmons in January, 1887. 
 
 There is also a Polish Catholic Society, who.se 
 church was dedicated on the 1st of April, 1888, of 
 which Rev. Franz S. Chalupka is the pastor. 
 
 The Protestant Episcopal Church of Webster held 
 its first service in the town-hall at East Webster, July 
 18, 1869, with Rev. William H. Brooks, D.D., rector 
 of Grace Church, at Oxford, as the oflBciating clergy- 
 man. On the 3d of January, 1870, a parish was 
 formed under the name of the Church of the Recon- 
 ciliation. On the 23d of January, 1870, the church 
 held services in Webster Hall, and on January 30th 
 in Good Templars' Hall, where it continued to hold 
 services until April 10th of that year, when it occu- 
 pied the Congregational Chapel, which it continued 
 to occupy until its church edifice was erected. On 
 July 18, 1870, the corner-stone of its church was laid 
 on land presented by Mr. William 8. Slater, and on 
 the 3d of January, 1871, it was dedicated by cere- 
 monies conducted by Right Rev. Mantou Easthurn. 
 At the laying of the corner-stone. Dr. Brooks offici- 
 ated, on which occasion Rev. Thomas L. Randolph, of 
 St. John's Church, of Wilkiusville, made the prayer, 
 
 Rev. William N. Ackley, rector of Trinity Church, 
 at Newtown, Conn., delivered the address, and Rev. 
 James W. Clark, of St. Philip's Church, at Putnam, 
 Conn., made the concluding prayer. 
 
 Rev. Doctor Brooks, the rector of Grace Church, 
 at Oxford, held one service in Webster, after the 
 formation of the society, until October 1, 1869, and 
 after that date until April 1, 1870, he devoted his 
 whole time to the interests of the society at its urgent 
 request. On the 19th of March, 1870, he was called 
 to the rectorship, and accepted the call at the termi- 
 nation of his temporary service on the 1st of April, 
 serving as rector until his resignation, April 2, 1872. 
 He was a graduate of the Theological Seminary of 
 the Protestant Episcopal Church of Virginia, July 15, 
 1852, and was ordained deacon by Right Rev. William 
 Meade, D.D., in Christ Church, Alexandria, Virginia, 
 the next day. On the 13th of January, 1855, he was 
 ordained priest by Right Rev. Alfred Lee, D.D., in 
 St. Thomas' Church, Newark, Delaware. Before his 
 pastorates in Oxford and Webster he was for a time 
 rector of Christ Church, in Plymouth, and is now 
 rector of St. Andrew's Church at Hanover, Mass. 
 
 Rev. Roger S. Howard succeeded Dr. Brooks, and 
 resigned in January, 1879. He was followed in 1880 
 by Rev. Langdon C. Stewardson, who served until 
 1884, when Rev. A. U. Stanley officiated until 1887, 
 who was succeeded by Rev. J. Eldred Brown, the 
 present pastor. 
 
 The Reformed Methodist Church of Webster was 
 organized in 1872, under the direction of Rev. Harvey 
 Wakefield. In 1872 its meeting-house was built at a 
 cost of two thousand five hundred dollars, and dedi- 
 cated January 1, 1873. Ou the occasion of its dedi- 
 cation the dedicatory pr.ayer was made by Rev. Mr. 
 Wakefield, and the sermon was delivered by Rev. 
 William H. Kirk. Mr. Wakefield still has charge of 
 the pulpit of this society. 
 
 The Second Advent Society was established in 1883. 
 Rev. J. E. Cross served as its pastor from 1884 to 1886. 
 Rev. D. Matherson from 1886 to 1887, and its present 
 pastor is Rev. George D. Smith. 
 
 The public schools within the territory of Webster 
 were far from being in a satisfactory condition at the 
 time of its incorporation. At a town-meeting held 
 April 23, 1832, a committee consisting of the Board 
 of Selectmen, with Dexter Rawson and Turner Cud- 
 worth added, was appointed to divide the town into 
 school districts. At a meeting held on the 28th of 
 May, the committee reported the formation of five 
 districts, as follows : 
 
 No. 1. All that part of the town formerly a part of 
 Oxford, and east of French River, including the 
 Oxford South Gore, which lies north of the farm of 
 John Rawson, and a line extending easterly to the 
 Douglas line. 
 
 No. 2. All the remainder of the Gore bounded east 
 by Douglas, south by District No. 1, west by what 
 wasDudley east line, and south by the Connecticut line. 
 
WEBSTER. 
 
 369 
 
 No. 3. That part of Dudley bounded east by what 
 was the Gore west line, north by the road leading 
 from Unionville to the four corners near the house of 
 Eev. Thomas Bassett, west by the road leading south- 
 erly from said four corners to the Thompson road, and 
 by said Thompson road, including the farm on the we^t 
 side thereof and adjoining the same, and south by the 
 Connecticut line. 
 
 No. 4. The territory bounded east by District No. 
 3, north by the road leading from the Thompson 
 Road, west to the central turnpike and a line extend- 
 ing therefrom in the same direction to the French 
 River, and west by said river and south by the Con- 
 necticut line. 
 
 No. 5. The remainder of the town bounded east 
 and north by Districts 3 and 1, including the ter- 
 ritory that was formerly a part of Oxford, situated 
 on the west side of French River, west by said river 
 and south by Districts 3 and 4. 
 
 The district system was abolished in 1867 by law, 
 and since that time.a steady improvement has marked 
 the schools of the town. There are now fourteen 
 schools besides an evening school. There are a High 
 School with an average attendance of 47, a High 
 Grammar School with an average attendance of 34, 
 the No. 1 Centre School with an average attendance 
 of 34, the Fenner Hill School with an average attend- 
 ance of 29, the Prospect Street Intermediate with an 
 average attendance of 27, the Prospect Street Primary 
 School with an average attendance of 31, a Grammar 
 School with an average attendance of 34, the Gore 
 School with an average attendance of 10, the Kings- 
 bury School with an average attendance of 7, the 
 First Primary, No 4, with an average attendance of 
 ;17, the Second Primary, No. 4, with an average at- 
 tendance of 38, the Intermediate, No. 4, with an aver- 
 age attendance of 29, the Grammar Room, No. 4, with 
 an average attendance of 33 and the North Village 
 School with an average attendance of 29. 
 
 To support these schools appropriations were made 
 at the annual meeting of 1888 of $2000 for the High 
 School, §4200 for the common schools, SIOOO for 
 school incidentals, $300 for books and supplies and 
 $400 for evening schools. 
 
 The appropriations for other purposes made at the 
 same meeting, which may properly be mentioned in 
 this place, were: For roads, $2200; sidewalks, $1500 ; 
 repairing sidewalks, $G00 ; Fire Department, $2000 ; 
 water supply, $.565; hook-and-ladder truck, $1000; 
 Memorial Day, 1100; street lights, $1500; salaries, 
 $1500 ; interest, $500 ; insane poor, $4400 ; Poor Farm, 
 $1200 ; railings for dangerous places, $150 ; snow, ice 
 and gutters, $300 ; town incidentals, $2000 ; buildings 
 at town farm, $2600, and repairs of Harris Street, 
 $1000 — -making the total appropriation for the year 
 $30,265, or a valuation of $2,290,844. 
 
 During the War of the Rebellion the inhabitants 
 of Webster faithfully performed their duty in the 
 enliijtment of soldiers and in the appropriation of 
 24 
 
 money. There was no military company within the 
 limits of the town and consequently the patriotic 
 rather than the mere military spirit of the young 
 men inspired enlistments in the service. These en- 
 listments began at the earliest period of the war and 
 were kept up with vigor as long as demands were 
 made on the town for recruits. At the close of the 
 war it was found that Webster had furnished three 
 hundred and sixty-seven men, a surplus of fifty-seven 
 over its required quotas. 
 
 On the 29th of April, 1861, at a legal town-meet- 
 ing, it was voted "to pay each volunteer, belonging 
 to Webster, five dollars a month while in active ser- 
 vice, and to his wife and mother, dependent upon 
 him for support, one dollar and a half per week, and 
 to each child fifty cents per week, and if the family 
 should need more the amounts to be increased at the 
 discretion of the Selectmen." It was also voted to 
 pay volunteers one dollar per day while drilling, the 
 aid to families beginning when the soldiers were 
 sworn into service. At the same meeting the sum of 
 four thousand dollars was appropriated for the estab- 
 lishment of a war fund. 
 
 On the 6th of July, 1861, the town voted " to fur- 
 nish the Slater Guards, then drilling, with uniforms 
 preparatory to its entering the service as Company I 
 of the Fifteenth Massachusetts Regiment of Infantry." 
 On its departure a dinner and the sum of one thou- 
 sand dollars were given to the men, and swords and 
 belts to the officers. The ladies of the town gave 
 also to each man mittens and socks, and William T. 
 Shumway presented the company with a flag. 
 
 On the 5th of November the town voted " that we 
 hereby tender our thanks to the Slater Guards for 
 their bravery at the battle of Ball's Bluff." On the 
 10th of July, 1862, it was voted " to pay a bounty of 
 one hundred dollars to each soldier enlisting for three 
 years on the quota of the town." On the 8th of De- 
 cember, 1863, the sum of six thousand dollars was 
 appropriated for a war fund and a like sum for re- 
 cruiting purposes. On the 14th of July, 1864, it was 
 voted to increase the bounty to one hundred and 
 twenty-five dollars. The money appropriated by the 
 town during the war for war purposes, exclusive of 
 State aid, was $28,674.61, and the amount paid for 
 State aid was $18,920.63. 
 
 The following is a list of the soldiers furnished by 
 the town with the terms of their enlistments and the 
 organization to which they belonged. The terms of 
 enlistment of those not marked were, in each case, 
 three years, those marked (') enlisted for nine 
 months; those marked (^) for one hundred days; 
 those marked {') for one year; and those marked (*) 
 for three months. 
 
 Name. Begiment. 
 
 Henry L. Amniidon 15th 
 
 Marcus M. Aldricli lottl 
 
 Wm H. AmmidoD 15th 
 
 Peter Agnew 
 
 Luke Agnew 30th 
 
 Name. Regiment. 
 
 George C. Aiden^ 5l8t 
 
 Samuel G. Alden^ .5l6t 
 
 Joseph C. Allardi 51st 
 
 Marcus M. Allard' 51st 
 
 Isaac L. Amniidon I olst 
 
370 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Name. Rfgiment. 
 
 Asahel AWrich 25th 
 
 Harrison G. 0. Aldrich..2d U. Art. 
 
 Taylor Anderson 4th Cav. 
 
 Samuel Armer 
 
 William Armer 2d 
 
 Edwin Alden2 42d 
 
 Amos Bartlett (2d) IMh 
 
 Thomas Blasland 15th 
 
 Whitman W. Buaworth 15th 
 
 Henry Butler 15th 
 
 Cornelius W. Briggs 15th 
 
 Lucius H. BriggB 15th 
 
 Elisha T. Bigelow 16th 
 
 Goorge Butler 15th 
 
 William Brandis 15th 
 
 Jacob Bender, Jr 15th 
 
 James Barker lOth 
 
 Charles E. Buck l"th 
 
 Alexander Bryson 15th 
 
 Stephen W. Burrill 15th 
 
 Fred. H. C. Bengen 21st 
 
 Lewis J. Bengen 2l8t 
 
 Thomaa A. Bryden 2l8t 
 
 George L. Brackett 2l8t 
 
 Culbert Burke 9th 
 
 Henry Blanchard i>th 
 
 H. G. 0. Bacon 34th 
 
 James Buckley 34th 
 
 Dennis Breen 34th 
 
 Wm. H. Briggsi Slst 
 
 Horace S. Briggs^ 5lBt 
 
 Elmer Bugbee^ 5lBt 
 
 Solon U. Busheei 5l8t 
 
 George W. Bluckraani 5lst 
 
 Frank S. Bixby 15tli 
 
 Herbert 0. Bixby 1st N. Y. 
 
 Henry L. Brown 25th 
 
 Wilson Bryden 
 
 Gustavus Bates 
 
 William Blute 
 
 John W. Bixby 2d H. Art. 
 
 Benjamin Baxter 14th H. Art. 
 
 Joseph E. Bowman 5th Cav. 
 
 James E. Bacou ^ 
 
 William Bococb 37th 
 
 Elmer Bowles 25th 
 
 Luther Briggs Ist U. S. Art. 
 
 Marvin G. Bates^ 4th H. Art. 
 
 Paul Baker3 4th H. Art. 
 
 Judson A. Bates 3 4th H. Art. 
 
 Lucian Batea^ 4th H. Art. 
 
 James T. Bigelow-"* 4th II. Art. 
 
 Henry Brantes^ 4th H. Art. 
 
 Owen A. BigelowS 42d 
 
 Henry H. Clapp 15th 
 
 Wm. F. Converse 15th 
 
 Myla S. Convertje 15th 
 
 Leeman B. Cummins 15th 
 
 Rufus E. Corbiu 15th 
 
 Michael Cunningham 16th 
 
 Jama's H. Chadwick 15th 
 
 Marcus M. Corbiu 2l8t 
 
 Horace Clapp 21st 
 
 Patrick Coffee 34th 
 
 Edward Cahel 
 
 Noel E. Converse ^ 5l8t 
 
 Samuel B. Childs^ 5lBt 
 
 Amasa Copeland i Slat 
 
 Orin W. Cutter 25th 
 
 Frederick C. Childs 
 
 Julius A. Cummings 25th 
 
 Michael Cutler 9th 
 
 Lewis J. Crosby 2Sth 
 
 Wm. K. N. Cody 
 
 Vernon Chaffee 4th Cav. 
 
 George W. Cuzzens 2lBt 
 
 Name. Regiment. 
 
 George M. Clark. ..15th N. Y. Cav. 
 
 Thomas Comaford 34th 
 
 John Cassidy 4th Cav. 
 
 Monroe H. Corbin 5Gth 
 
 Daniel Carey 4th Cav. 
 
 John Ohaffeny 2d Inf. 
 
 Edward Daley 15th 
 
 Gustave H. Dabere 15th 
 
 Daniel L. Dow 15th 
 
 Asa Francis Day 15th 
 
 Francis N. Davis 15th 
 
 Lewis S. Dunbar 21st 
 
 Louis Duprey 21st 
 
 Peter Dowd ilth 
 
 Joseph Duprey 34th 
 
 Albert Duprey 34th 
 
 Rufus L. Dayi 5l8t 
 
 Wm. H. Dixon 1 51st 
 
 John Delaney 21st 
 
 Hezekiah W. Dorous 2d H. Art. 
 
 Lewis Daley 
 
 Henry F.DavisS 4th H. Art. 
 
 Elias Ellis .... 4th H. Art. 
 
 Samuel Emerson 
 
 Hiram P. Emerson 2l8t 
 
 Wm. A. Emerson 1 51st 
 
 Thomas Egan 4th Cav. 
 
 Frank W. Emerson 3....4thH. Art. 
 
 Charles G. Foster 15th 
 
 Daniel W. Freeman 16th 
 
 Albro Freeman 2nth 
 
 Horace Floyd 
 
 Lawrence Fagan 
 
 Levi Flagg 4th Cav. 
 
 J. Augustus Fowler3.„4th H. Art. 
 
 Edward Farrell 7th R. L 
 
 Pliny M. George 15th 
 
 Jonathan I. Geary 15th 
 
 Henry Groh l-'th 
 
 Francis Gallen 15th 
 
 James Gardner 15th 
 
 John Grady 15th 
 
 Charles T. Gage loth 
 
 Joseph Gill 9th 
 
 Martin Grady 34th 
 
 John Gilroy 2d Inf. 
 
 George L. Googins^... 51st Inf. 
 
 Eugene Googins 2dR. I. 
 
 John George 2d H. Art. 
 
 Frank Gould 
 
 Thomiis Griffin 2d Cav. 
 
 Henry S. Gilmore^ 1st H. Art. 
 
 Harris Gleason^ 42d 
 
 Joseph Holland 15th 
 
 Wm. T. Harding I6th 
 
 Carlos Holt 21st 
 
 Jeremiah Harrington 2lBt 
 
 Barlow Hoyle^ 51st 
 
 George Hadfield 15th 
 
 Thomas Henry 15th 
 
 John Hollen. 15th 
 
 Patrick Healey 15th 
 
 Andrew Hoyle 34th 
 
 Allen Uowland 43d 
 
 Charles H. Humes 7th R. I. 
 
 Thomas Hay 
 
 Thomas Hoolahan 
 
 John H.Harrington 
 
 John Houghton 2d H. Art. 
 
 Emory Humes 7th R. I. 
 
 George Heyman 4th Cav. 
 
 Henry Ilauviu 2d Inf. 
 
 Thomas Higgins 2d Cav. 
 
 Louis Heudrick 5Gth 
 
 Christian Holly3 4th H. Art. 
 
 John E. Holland Ist H. Art. 
 
 Name. Regiment. 
 
 Albert M. Harrington 2 42d 
 
 John Irving 15th 
 
 Monroe W. Ide 2d R. I. Bat. 
 
 Samuel E. Joy 3 
 
 Vernon M. Jepsini 5l8t 
 
 Peter Johnson 15th 
 
 Emory W. Joy 15th 
 
 Wm. H. Joy 15th 
 
 Jacob E. Judd 2l8t 
 
 Warren B. Johnson 21flt 
 
 Sihia S. Joyi Slst 
 
 Henry Kassack Ifth 
 
 John Kelley 15th 
 
 Oliver King 15th 
 
 Frank S. Kelley 15th 
 
 Daniel Kenney 9th 
 
 Earnest Kaulke^ 51st 
 
 George Frank Keith ^ 51st 
 
 Wm. Kelley 15th 
 
 Cornelius Kenney 13th 
 
 Victor King 57th 
 
 George W. Lewie 15th 
 
 Patrick C. Lanning 15th 
 
 Robert T. Laverty 15th 
 
 Frederick Levoice 21st 
 
 Anthony Little .30th 
 
 John Ledworth 
 
 Wm. N. Leavens^ olst 
 
 George Leary lilst Conn. 
 
 Patrick Mahan..., 15th 
 
 Thomas P. Muuyan 15th 
 
 Jolm Maguire I5th 
 
 Wm. H. Mitchell 15th 
 
 Charles H. Mellen 15th 
 
 John Maly 15th 
 
 James Mahoney 15th 
 
 Samuel Marsh 34th 
 
 John McLaughlin 2d Inf. 
 
 Samuel P. Morris^ 51st 
 
 John Maguiuess Navy 
 
 Wells C. Munyani 42d 
 
 Wm. Muller 9th 
 
 John G. Murphy Eng. Corps 
 
 Michael Mahon 34th 
 
 Wm. H. Mealey 11th U.S. 
 
 Albert E. Morri 13th 
 
 Roawell S. Miner^ 4th H. Art. 
 
 Jerome Mil rah 2d H. Art. 
 
 George A. Munyan 4th Cav. 
 
 Thomas Meehen 2d Inf. 
 
 George Masters. 2d Inf. 
 
 Pliny S. May Ist R. I. Cav. 
 
 James McGovern 9th 
 
 Chailes McLean 54th 
 
 James May 2d Inf. 
 
 John Nichols 
 
 Wm. H. Nichols 2l8t 
 
 Lucius Vernon Negus 15th 
 
 Aaron S. Nichols^ 42d 
 
 John O'Brien 9th 
 
 Thomas O'Connor 15th 
 
 Wm H. Palmer 15th 
 
 Jac:k8on Pool 15th 
 
 Edwin L. Parmenter 15th 
 
 Aiitoine Phillips 15th 
 
 Mitchell PrevoBt 9th 
 
 Juseiih Plant 0th 
 
 Patrick Powers 9th 
 
 Michael Powers 15th 
 
 Solomon Pepper. 
 
 Patrick Pi-ndergrast ,15th 
 
 Edward Pendergrast 34th 
 
 Norman Perry ^ 5l8t 
 
 Lewis S. Prince 1 51st 
 
 Martin L. Purmenter 25th 
 
 Lewis E. Patterson 5th Bat. 
 
 Name. Regiment. 
 
 Alexander Patterson 54th 
 
 Lewis Perrin 34th 
 
 Alfred M. Pettis 
 
 Wm. Page 2 42d N. H. 
 
 Cliarles Quinu, Jr 12th 
 
 Lewis 0. Riley 15th 
 
 Gottfried Reidman 15th 
 
 Hiram J. Raymond 15th 
 
 Itufiis F. Raymond .15th 
 
 Thomas Redfein 15th 
 
 John T. Raymond 15th 
 
 George 0. Raymond 16th 
 
 John D. Reynolds 2l6t 
 
 John Ryan (2d) 9th 
 
 Patrick Ryan 9th 
 
 Malaky Ryan 24th 
 
 Robert Robertson 
 
 Augustus Renway 9th 
 
 Augustus Renway (2d) 15th 
 
 John F. Rawson i 51et 
 
 Evander T. Rawson ^ Slst 
 
 John Regnal 
 
 Wm. H. Ryan 4th Cav. 
 
 Stephen L. Robbins 2d H. Art. 
 
 Abijah Richardson 2d H. Art. 
 
 John lleed 2d Inf. 
 
 Michael Reed3 4th H. Art. 
 
 Nelson Ross. 
 
 Wm. Scott 15th 
 
 Albert H. Slater 15th 
 
 Egbert M. Stevens 
 
 Joseph D. Scholfield 
 
 James Stevens I5th 
 
 Joseph Sandback, 15th 
 
 Frederick Soden 15th 
 
 John Sclierler 15th 
 
 Emerson Samuel 15th 
 
 Abram Sargent loth 
 
 Albert H. Stiow 15th 
 
 Francis Santuru 15th 
 
 Frank K. Snow 15th 
 
 James Slattery 9th 
 
 Paul Subraup 
 
 Ezra Spencer* 
 
 Emery Sibley, (2d) i 51st 
 
 George Smith^ 5l8t 
 
 Charles O. Storrsi 61st 
 
 Andrew R. Snow' 51st 
 
 Harrison Seuler^. 51st 
 
 Wm. E. Sharpies' 51st 
 
 Samuel G. Slater^ 51st 
 
 George A. Slater! sigt 
 
 Amos D. Shumway 7th R. I. 
 
 Frederick Stan ten 
 
 William L. Sholee 
 
 Thomas W. Scott 2d H. Art. 
 
 Robert Steel 4th Cav. 
 
 Wm. R. Saunders 
 
 J. W. Savage 25th 
 
 Warren B. Sargent^ 4th H. Art. 
 
 Simon D. Sihley^ 4th H. Art. 
 
 Otis P. StoneS 4th H. Art. 
 
 Riley Thayer 15th 
 
 Alfred Tourtellotte 15th 
 
 George A. Tanner 15th 
 
 Edwin H. Tanner 16th 
 
 Wm. J. Taylori 5l8t 
 
 Lucian K. Thayer' 5l8 
 
 Owen Taylor'* 5th 
 
 Thomas Tobin 4th Cav. 
 
 Jeremiah Toohig 2d Inf. 
 
 George D. Thayer^ 
 
 Thomas Thompson lUh U. S. 
 
 Thomas Tomliuson^ 4th H. Art. 
 
 Thomas J. Thomp9on3..3d H. Art. 
 John Vickerss ..4th H. Art. 
 
WEBSTER. 
 
 371 
 
 Name. Regiment. 
 
 Moses J. Warreu 15th 
 
 Joseph H. Wood IMh 
 
 Elias B. Wakefield 15th 
 
 Moses Woods 15th 
 
 George Wiilker 15th 
 
 Henry A. Webster 15th 
 
 John Wctherington 2lBt 
 
 Oliver P. Wade 2l8t 
 
 Reuben K. Waters 21st 
 
 Lorin D. Waters 2l6t 
 
 Lewis Wakefield! 51st 
 
 Edward Warren l 5l8t 
 
 Francis Wakefield' 5l8t 
 
 Simeon 1). Wbeelock' 51st 
 
 Name. Regiment, 
 
 Joseph E. Wetheringtoni 5ist 
 
 Wm. II. Wood 22d 
 
 George Waters 2d Inf. 
 
 Ira Wakefield let R. I. Cav. 
 
 Christopher VVetherington 9th 
 
 Joseph White 2d H. Art. 
 
 Thomas Whalen 4th Cav. 
 
 James E. Wilson 2d Inf. 
 
 Wm. Wilson 3d Art. 
 
 Joseph S. Wctherington 2 42d 
 
 Frank II. Young 15th 
 
 A. P. Young 15th 
 
 Aaron P. Y'oung a 4th H. Art_ 
 
 Of the above list the following were either killed, 
 or died while in the service : 
 
 AsHhel Aldrich, killed at Cold Harbor, Va., June 2, 1S04. 
 
 Harrison G. 0. Aldrich, died at Newbern, N.C., 1864. 
 
 Henry L. Amniidun, killed at Antietani, Md., September IG, 1862. 
 
 Elisha T. Eigelow, died at Harrison's Landing, Va., July 7, 1862. 
 
 Thomas Blasland, died December 25, 18G3. 
 
 William Brandis, killed at Gettysburg, Pa., July 2, 1863. 
 
 Dennis Breen, killed at Lynchburg, Va., June 18, lSi)4. 
 
 Lucius H. Briggs, killed at Antietam, JId., September 16, 1862. 
 
 Charles E. Buck, died September 27, 1862. 
 
 George Butler, killed at Antietam, September 16, 18C2. 
 
 Henry Butler, died November 14, 1862. 
 
 Wm. K. N. Cady, died a prisoner. 
 
 John Cassidy, died at Hilton Head, August 5, 1864. 
 
 Frederick C. Childs, killed at Laurel Hill, Va , August 10, 1S64. 
 
 William I. Converse, died a prisoner in Richmond, Va., February 13, 
 
 1862. 
 Marcus M. Corbin, died at Newbern, N. C. 
 Louis Dupey, killed at Cold Harbor, June 2, 1864. 
 Samuel Emerson, died at Antietam, September 26, 1862. 
 Charles G. Foster, died at .\ntietam, September 17, 1862. 
 John George, died a prisoner, 1864. 
 John Grady, killed at Gettysburg, Pa., July 3, 1863. 
 John E. Holland, died November 29, 1864. 
 Joseph Holland, died at Alexandria, Va., November 28, 1862. 
 William Kelley, died at City Point, Va., June 25, 1864. 
 Frederick Levoice, killed at Chantilly, Va., September 1, 1862. 
 Thomas P. Mungan, died of wounds received at Antietam, Md., October 
 
 17, 1864. 
 John Nichols, died a prisoner. 
 
 William H. Palmer, killed in the Wilderness, Va., May 6, 1864. 
 Edwin L. Parmenter, died of wounds received at Antietam, October 14, 
 
 1862. 
 Antoine Phillips, died at Andersonville. 
 Mitchell Prevost, killed at Malvern Hill, Va., July 1, 1S62. 
 George O. Raymond, died of wounds received at Gettysburg, Pa., July 
 
 22, 1863. 
 Gottfried Reidman, died of wounds received at Antietam, Md., Septem- 
 ber 30, 1862. 
 John D. Reynolds, killed at Cold Harbor, Va., May 30, 1864. 
 Francis Sarturn, killed at Gettysburg, Pa., July 3, 1863. 
 Abraham Sargent, killed at Antietam, Md., September 16, 1862. 
 Joseph D. Scholfield, died at Fort Lyons, Va., February 16, 1863. 
 William Scott, drowned at Ball's Blufr, Va., October 21, 1861. 
 William L. Sholes, killed at Antietam, Md.. September 17, 1862. 
 Albert H. Snow, died of wounds received at Gettysburg, Pa., July Id 
 
 1863. 
 Frederick Soden, killed at Ball's Bluff, Va., Oct. 21, 1861. 
 Frederick Stanton, killed at Gettysburg, Penn., July 3, 1863, 
 Egbert M. Stevens, died Feb. 8, 1863. 
 James Stevens, killed at Ball's Bluff, Va., Oct. 21, 1861. 
 Alfred Tourtellote, died of wounds received at Antietam, Md., Oct. 
 
 26, 1862. 
 John Vickers, died Sept. 2.1864. 
 
 Edward Warren, killed at Webster by the cars while in service. 
 Moses J. Warren, died of wounds received at Ball's Blulf, Va., Oct. 25, 
 
 1861. 
 Moses Wood, killed at South Mountain, Md., Sept. 12, 1862. 
 
 The first meeting of the town was held under a 
 warrant issued by Charles Allen as justice of the 
 peace, and directed to Jonathan Day, one of the free- 
 holders of the town of Webster, requiring him to no- 
 tify and warn the freeholders and other inhabitants 
 of the town qualified to vote in the choice of town- 
 officers to meet at the Baptist meeting-house on the 
 2d day of April, at two o'clock in the afternoon, to 
 choose all necessary oiHcers. The warrant was dated 
 March 7, 1832. On account of the sickness of Judge 
 Allen the meeting was called to order by Ira M. Bar- 
 ton, a justice of the peace, who read the act of incor- 
 poration and then put the question to the town, " Will 
 you now proceed to the choice of a clerk '? " which was 
 responded to unanimously in the affirmative. Mr. 
 Barton then read the law prescribing the qualifica- 
 tion of voters, and the election followed, which re- 
 sulted in the casting of oue hundred and three votes, 
 eighty-four of which were for Charles P. Baldwin, and 
 nineteen for Charles Waite, and Mr. Baldwin was 
 chosen. 
 
 The selectmen chosen at the meeting and at each 
 annual meeting since may be found in the following 
 list: 
 
 1838. 
 
 George B. Slater. 
 
 1841. 
 
 Jonathan Day. 
 
 John H. Day. 
 
 
 Solomon Robinson. 
 
 JoliD Learned. 
 
 
 Lathrop Clark. 
 
 Benjaniia Wakefield. 
 
 
 John Di.von. 
 
 Nathan Cady. 
 
 
 Eden Davis. 
 
 George B. Slater. 
 
 1842. 
 
 Nathaniel Hnnt. 
 
 Samuel C. Butler. 
 
 
 Asahel Mansfield. 
 
 Dexter Rawsoo. 
 
 
 Edwin May, 
 
 AlansoD Bates. 
 
 
 Ei-astiiB Spaulding. 
 
 Charles Tucker. 
 
 
 Wymau Perry. 
 
 George B. Slater. 
 
 1843. 
 
 Dyer Freeman. 
 
 Samuel C. Butler. 
 
 
 .\sahel Mansfield. 
 
 Dexter Kawsoo. 
 
 
 Erastus Spauhling. 
 
 Wm. Andrews. 
 
 1844. 
 
 Erastus Spaulding. 
 
 Jolm H. Day. 
 
 
 Asahel Mansfield. 
 
 George B. Slater. 
 
 
 Chandler Fay. 
 
 Alanson Bates. 
 
 1845. 
 
 J. W. Tenney. 
 
 John Learned. 
 
 
 John Dixon. 
 
 Wm. Andrews. 
 
 
 Amos Bartlett. 
 
 Parker Palmer. 
 
 1846. 
 
 Same. 
 
 George B. Slater. 
 
 1847. 
 
 Edwin May. 
 
 Samuel C. Butler. 
 
 
 Amos Bartlett. 
 
 Charles Yeomans. 
 
 
 Solomon Robinson. 
 
 Solomon Robinson. 
 
 1848. 
 
 Iliram Allen. 
 
 Erastus Spauldlng. 
 
 
 Chandler Fay. 
 
 J. P. Stock well. 
 
 
 George Dixon. 
 
 Charles Yeomans. 
 
 1849. 
 
 Same. 
 
 Alanson Bates. 
 
 1850. 
 
 Erastus Spaulding. 
 
 Nathaniel Hunt. 
 
 
 Edward Lippitt. 
 
 Elisha Kingsbury. 
 
 
 Chandler Fay. 
 
 George B. Slater. 
 
 1851. 
 
 Chandler Fay. 
 
 Nathan Cady. 
 
 
 Hiram Allen. 
 
 Charles Yeomans. 
 
 
 George Dixon. 
 
 Solomon llobinson. 
 
 1852. 
 
 Hiram Allen. 
 
 Piiinehiis Houghton. 
 
 
 George Dixon. 
 
 Charles Yeomans. 
 
 
 Emery Sibley. 
 
 Nathan Cady. 
 
 1853. 
 
 Erastus Spaulding. 
 
 Nathaniel Hunt. 
 
 
 Emery Sibloy. 
 
 Benjamin Wakefield. 
 
 
 James D. Tourtellotte 
 
 Nelson Bates. 
 
 1854. 
 
 Hiram Alien. 
 
 George B. Slater. 
 
 
 George H. Bacon. 
 
 Solomtpn Robinson, 
 
 
 Ezek. Mowrey. 
 
 Lathrop Clark. 
 
 1855. 
 
 Emery Sibley. 
 
 John Dixou. 
 
 
 Asahel Mansfield. 
 
 Eden Davis. 
 
 
 Erie Walker. 
 
372 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 1857. 
 
 ISGI. 
 
 1862. 
 
 1863. 
 
 1864. 
 
 1870. 
 
 1871. 
 
 Henry E. Bugbee. 
 
 Emery Sibley. 
 Solomon Robinson. 
 Henry E. Bugbee. 
 Eraery Sibley. 
 
 B. A. Corbin. 
 Emery Sibley. 
 W. H. T>avi8. 
 E. W. Mixer. 
 Emery Sibley. 
 Asahel Mansfield. 
 
 E. \V. Mixer. 
 Henry E, Bugbee. 
 
 C. E. Brown. 
 Aealiel Munsfielil. 
 Henry E. Bugbee. 
 Lyman Sheldon. 
 Nathan Joslin. 
 Hiram Allen. 
 Nathan Joslin. 
 Nathan Chamberlain. 
 Nathan Joslin. 
 Emery Sibley. 
 
 B. A. Corbin. 
 Emery Sibley. 
 B. A. Corbiu. 
 
 F. D. Brown. 
 F. D. Brown. 
 John F. Hinds. 
 Solomon Robinson. 
 W. H. Davis. 
 Wilson Cutler, 
 Wm. W. Holmes. 
 Wm. W. Holmes. 
 Wileon Cutler. 
 Henry R. Smith. 
 Wm. W. Holmes. 
 James D. Tourtellotte. 
 James H. Howe. 
 James H. Howe. 
 James D. Tourtellotte. 
 Hiram Allen. 
 James H. Howe. 
 James D. Tourtellotte. 
 Andrew G. Waters. 
 James H. Howe. 
 Leonard Barnes. 
 
 1877. 
 1878. 
 
 1879. 
 
 1881. 
 
 1882. 
 
 1883. 
 1884. 
 188o. 
 
 1888. 
 
 Thomas McQuaid. 
 Edward S. Bradford, 
 James D. Tourtellotte. 
 James Johnson. 
 Edward S. Bradford. 
 James D. Tourtellotte. 
 George Tracy. 
 George Tracy. 
 Frederick T. Chase. 
 Richard Thompson. 
 James H. Howe. 
 Frederick T. Chase. 
 Richard Thompson. 
 James H. Howe. 
 W. T. Shumway. 
 Cyrui Spaulding. 
 Same. 
 
 James H. Howe. 
 W. T. Shumway. 
 Asher T. Moore. 
 Amasa Davis. 
 F. T. Chase. 
 James H. Howe. 
 James H. Howe. 
 F. T. Chase. 
 Elisha G. Burnett. 
 Asher T. Moore. 
 Richard Thompson, 
 Cyrus Spaulding. 
 Asher T. Moore. 
 John F.Hinds. 
 John Flint. 
 Same. 
 Same. 
 
 Charles A. Hodges. 
 James H. Lynch. 
 Asher T. Moore. 
 Asher T, Moore. 
 Charles A. Hodges. 
 Patrick Condren. 
 Charles A. Hodges. 
 Patrick Condren. 
 Austin C. Burnett. 
 Austin C. Burnett. 
 Lyman R. Eddy. 
 Patrick Condren. 
 
 The following list will show the persons who have 
 been chosen moderators, clerks and treasurers at the 
 annual lown-meetings since the incorporation of the 
 town • 
 
 Year 
 
 Moderator. 
 
 aerk. 
 
 Treasurer. 
 
 18.32. 
 
 Ira BI. Barton. 
 
 Charles P. Baldwin. 
 
 Charles Tucker. 
 
 1833. 
 
 George B. Slater. 
 
 Charles P. Baldwin. 
 
 Charles Tucker. 
 
 1834 
 
 George B. Slater. 
 
 Wm. E. Starr. 
 
 Loring Leavens. 
 
 1835. 
 
 George B. Slater. 
 
 Charles Waite. 
 
 John W. Tenney. 
 
 1836. 
 
 George B. Slater. 
 
 Charles Waite. 
 
 Charles Yeomans 
 
 1837. 
 
 George B. Slater. 
 
 John P. Stockwell. 
 
 Charles Yeomans. 
 
 1838. 
 
 George B. Slater. 
 
 Harvey Conant. 
 
 Charles Yeomans 
 
 1839. 
 
 Jonathan Day. 
 
 Wm, H. Bigelow. 
 
 Alanson Bates. 
 
 1840. 
 
 George B. Slater. 
 
 John Dixon, Jr. 
 
 John W. Tenney. 
 
 1841. 
 
 Jonathan Day. 
 
 John Dixon, Jr. 
 
 John W. Tenney. 
 
 1842. 
 
 John W. Tenney. 
 
 John Dixon, Jr. 
 
 John W. Tenney. 
 
 1843. 
 
 Wm. Crossman, 
 
 John Dixon, Jr. 
 
 John W. Tenney. 
 
 1844. 
 
 Jonathan Day. 
 
 John Dixon, Jr. 
 
 John P. Stockwel 
 
 1845. 
 
 Hiram Allen. 
 
 John Dixon, Jr. 
 
 John W. Tenney. 
 
 1846. 
 
 John W. Tenney. 
 
 John Dixon, Jr. 
 
 Juhn W. Tenney. 
 
 1847. 
 
 Hiram Allen. 
 
 Edward Rogers. 
 
 John W. Tenney. 
 
 1848. 
 
 Hiram Allen. 
 
 Edward Rogers. 
 
 John W. Tenney. 
 
 1849. 
 
 Hiram Allen. 
 
 Edward Rogers. 
 
 John W. Tenney. 
 
 1850. 
 
 Edward Lippitt. 
 
 Liberty Lamb, Jr. 
 
 Joseph Ireson. 
 
 1851. 
 
 Herbert A. Read. 
 
 F. H. Underwood. 
 
 Joseph Ireson. 
 
 1852. 
 
 Edward Lippitt. 
 
 Edward Rogers. 
 
 Joseph Ireson. 
 
 1853. 
 
 George Hews. 
 
 John Q. Adams. 
 
 - Joseph Ireson. 
 
 Tear. 
 
 1854. 
 1855. 
 1856, 
 1867, 
 1858. 
 1859. 
 1860. 
 1861. 
 1862. 
 1863. 
 1864. 
 1865. 
 1866. 
 18G7. 
 1868. 
 1869. 
 1870, 
 1871. 
 1872. 
 1873. 
 1874. 
 1875. 
 1876. 
 1877. 
 1878. 
 1879. 
 1880. 
 1881. 
 1882. 
 1883. 
 1884. 
 1885. 
 1886. 
 1887. 
 1888. 
 
 Moderator. 
 George Hews. 
 Joel Goddard. 
 Henry E. Bugbee. 
 Henry E. Bugbee. 
 Newton Tourtellotte. 
 Hiram Allen. 
 Hiram Allen. 
 Amos Bartlett, 
 Hiram Allen. 
 Horace I. Joslin. 
 Horace I. Joslin. 
 Horace I. Joslin. 
 Hiram Allen. 
 Horace I. Joslin, 
 Hiram Allen, 
 Hiram Alien, 
 Horace 1, Joslin, 
 Henry E, Bugbee, 
 Horace I. Joslin. 
 Horace I. Joslin. 
 Amos Bartlett. 
 Horace I. Joslin. 
 Horace I. Joslin. 
 Horace I. Joslin. 
 Horace I. Joslin. 
 Horace I. Joslin. 
 Horace I. Joslin. 
 Horace I. Joslin. 
 Horace I. Joslin, 
 Horace I. Joslin. 
 F. D. Brown. 
 r. D. Brown. 
 John J. Love. 
 John J. Love. 
 Maurice P. Chase- 
 
 Clert. 
 John Q. Adams. 
 John Q. Adams. 
 Newton Tourtellotte. 
 P. \V. Bruce. 
 P. W. Bruce. 
 P. W. Bruce. 
 P. W. Bruce. 
 S. A. Tingier. 
 S. A. Tingier. 
 S. A. Tingier. 
 S. A. Tingier. 
 S. A, Tingier. 
 S. A. Tingier. 
 S. A. Tingier. 
 S. A. Tingier. 
 S. A, Tingier, 
 S, .\. Tingier. 
 S. A. Tingier. 
 S. A. Tingier. 
 S. A. Tingier. 
 Cortland Wood. 
 Cortland Wood. 
 Cortland Wood. 
 Cortland Wood. 
 Cortland Wood. 
 Cortland Wood. 
 Cortland Wood. 
 Cortland Wood. 
 Charles H. Burr, 
 Louis E, Denfield, 
 Edward P. Carter. 
 Edward P. Carter. 
 Edward P.Caiter. 
 Edward P. Carter. 
 Edward P. Carter. 
 
 Treasurer. 
 Joseph Ireson, 
 Liberty Lamb, Jr. 
 Liberty Lamb, Jr. 
 Liberty Lamb, Jr, 
 Liberty Lamb, Jr, 
 Wm. T, Shumway, 
 Wm, T. Shumway. 
 Wm. T. Shumway. 
 Wm. T. Shumway. 
 Wm. T. Shumway. 
 Wm. T. Shumway. 
 Wm. T. Shumway. 
 Wm. T. Shumway, 
 Wm , T. Shumway. 
 Oscar Shumway. 
 Oscar Shumway. 
 Oscar Shumway. 
 Oscar Shumway. 
 Oscar Shumway. 
 Oscar Shumway. 
 Oscar Shumway. 
 Oscar Shumway. 
 Oscar Shumway. 
 Oscar Shumway, 
 Oscar Shumway. 
 Oscar Shumway. 
 Oscar Shumway. 
 Oscar Shumway. 
 Ostnir Shumway. 
 Oscar Shumway. 
 Oscar Shumway. 
 Oacar Shumway. 
 Oscar Shumway. 
 Oscar Shumway. 
 Oscar Shumway. 
 
 John Dixon, Jr 1846 
 
 John W. Tenney 1847 
 
 None 1848 
 
 John Dixon 1849 
 
 None 1850 
 
 Nathan Cody 1851 
 
 Chandler Fay 1852 
 
 None 1853 
 
 Elias Jacobs 1854 
 
 George H. Bacon 1855 
 
 Parmenus Keith 1856 
 
 Henry E. Bugbee 1867 
 
 The following persons have served as Representa- 
 tives from Webster in the General Court in the years 
 set against their names, down to the representation of 
 districts, in 1858 : 
 
 John Slater 1833 
 
 Charles Tucker 1834 
 
 Charles Tucker 18.35 
 
 John W. Tenney 1836 
 
 Horace Whitaker 1837 
 
 None 1838 
 
 Solomon Robinson 1839 
 
 Lathrop Clark 1810 
 
 Joseph Ireson 1841 
 
 Eden Davis..' 1842 
 
 Joseph Ireson 1843 
 
 Solomon Robinson 1844 
 
 Solomon Robinson 1845 
 
 By an amendment of the Constitution, adopted 
 by the Legislatures of 1856 and '57, and ratified by 
 the people May 1, 1857, it was provided that a census 
 of the legal voters in the Commonwealth, on the 1st 
 of May, 1857, should be taken, and returned to the 
 Secretary of the Commonwealth on or before the last 
 day of June, on the basis of which census the Legis- 
 lature should create representative districts. Under 
 the new arrangement Webster and Douglas formed 
 the Twenty-second Worcester District, which was 
 represented as follows : 
 
 1858. — Lyman Sheldon, of Webster. 
 1859. — Asher Joslin, of Webster. 
 I860.— John Abbott, of Douglas. 
 1861.— Emory Sibley, of Webster. 
 1862.— Albert Butler, of Douglas. 
 1863.— r. D. Brown, of Webster. 
 
WEBSTEK. 
 
 373 
 
 1864. — Charles Hutchins, of Douglas. 
 1865.— Prince Brackett, of Webster. 
 1.S66. — Gardner Chase, of Doughis. 
 
 Under the census of 18G5 a new apportionment was 
 made, and the Sixteenth Worcester District, includ- 
 ing Douglas, Webster, Dudley, Oxford, Sutton and 
 Millbury, was entitled to three Representatives, as 
 follows : 
 
 18fi7. — Benjamin A. Corbin, of Webster ; Solomon D. King, of Sutton 
 Henry E. Rockwell, of Millbury. 
 
 1808.— Lament B. Corbin, of Oxford ; Silaa Dunton, of Millbury 
 Wm. D. Jones, of Douglas. 
 
 1809.— George J. Sanger, of Webster ; James M. Cunitf, of Sutton 
 Marcus M. Luther, of Douglas. 
 
 1870. —Charles H. Page, of Webster ; John Rhodes, of Millbury 
 Moses W. Mclutire, of O.xford. 
 
 1871.— Wm. L. Davif, of Dudley ; Edwin H. Hutchinson, of Sutton 
 Thomas H. Meek, of Douglas. 
 
 1872. — Horace I. Joslin, of Webster ; E. Harris Howland, of Oxford 
 Irving B. Sayles, of Millbury. 
 
 1873.— C. D. Morse, of Millbury ; Andrew J. Waters, of Webster 
 Samuel W. Heath, of Douglai?. 
 
 1874. — James B. Williams, of Douglas ; George Hodges, of Oxford 
 Wm. Abbott, of Sutton. 
 
 187.1.— M. M. Hovey, of Sutton; C. W. Duggan, of Millbury ; E. F, 
 Smith, of Dudley. 
 
 1876 —Frederick T. Chase, of Webster; Francis Bugbee, of Webster 
 George F. Daniels, of Oxford. 
 
 Under the apportionment based on the census of 
 1875, Webster, Douglas and Dudley formed the 
 Fourteenth Worcester District, with one Representa- 
 tive, as follows : 
 
 1877. — Francis M. Draper, of Douglas. 
 1878. — Josiah Perry, of Dudley. 
 1879.— Robert Humphrey, of Webster. 
 1880.- Wm. W. Brown, of Douglas. 
 1881.— John J. Love, of Webster. 
 1882. — Edwin Moore, of Douglas. 
 1883.— Butler Bates, of Webster. 
 1884. — George A. Gleason, of Douglas. 
 1885.— Philip Smith, of Dudley. 
 1886.— Julius P. Freeman, of Webster. 
 
 Under the apportionment based on the census of 
 1885, Webster, Oxford and Auburn constituted the 
 Eighth Worcester District, with one Representative, 
 
 as follows : 
 
 1887.— Henry Brandes, of Webster. 
 1888.- John J. Allen, of Auburn. 
 
 Besides the Slater factories there are only a few 
 other manufacturing industries worthy of mention : 
 A. J. Bates & Co. employ about one hundred and 
 fifty hands, and B. A. Corbin & Son about three hun- 
 dred and fifty hands in the manufacture of men's and 
 youths' shoes. The Webster Gas Light Company be- 
 gan business in 1865; and is controlled by the Stevens 
 Linen Works, in Dudley, on the other side of French 
 River. Among the institutions may be mentioned 
 the First National Bank of Webster, incorporated in 
 1875, and having a capital of one hundred thousand 
 dollars. Its present officers are Chester C. Corbin, 
 president ; E. L. Spaulding, cashier ; and C. C. Cor- 
 bin, Cyrus Spaulding, Josiah Perry, J. M. Morse, 
 L. R. Eddy, George Tracy and E. L. Spaulding, di- 
 rectors. The Webster Five Cent Savings Bank was 
 
 incorporated in 1868, and had, at the time of its last 
 report, deposits of $683,091, undivided earnings of 
 $7,118.16. and a guaranty fund of .$11,336.26. Its of- 
 ficers are Cyrus Spaulding, president; Waldo John- 
 son, John F. Hinds, Darius Wood and E. P. Morton, 
 vice-presidents; F. A. Stockwell, treasurer; and L. E. 
 Pattison, secretary. In 1869 the Webster Mutual 
 Fire Insurance Company was incorporated, but was 
 never organized. 
 
 The following societies are now in existence in the 
 town: The Sovereigns of Industry; the Webster 
 Lodge, A. F. and A.M. ; the Webster Lodge, No. 56, 
 A. O. U. W. ; the Sigel Lodge, No. 93, D. O. H. ; the 
 Benjamin Franklin Council, No. 333 ; the Loyal Or- 
 der of Tonti, No. 107 ; the Maanexit Lodge, No. 117, 
 I. O. 0. F. ; the Nathaniel Lyon Post, G. A. R. ; the 
 Assembly, No. 4060, K. of L. ; the Royal Arcanum 
 Relief Association ; the St. Jean Baptiste Society ; La 
 Ligue Du Cffiur de Jesus ; the Gesangverein Deut- 
 schen Liederkranz; the Deutsch Dramatischen 
 Verein ; the Deutsche Liederkranz Band ; the Turn- 
 verein Vorwiirts ; the Deutsehen Theater Club ; the 
 St. Patrick's Temperance Society ; the Sodality of the 
 Sacred Heart ; and the Ladies of St. Ann. 
 
 The post-office, now located at the main village of 
 Webster, was located at the time of the incorporation 
 of the town and had been for some years at the east 
 village and was called the South Oxford oifice, but, in 
 1841, nine years after the incorporation, was moved 
 to its present location. The main, or depot village, 
 as it is called, shows many signs of prosperity. It is 
 the chief business section, and there are located the 
 banks, the town offices, the apparatus of the Fire De- 
 partment, the hotel, and most of the stores. It lies 
 on the Southbridge section of the Boston and New 
 England Railroad, and also on the Norwich and 
 Worcester Railroad, thus having easy access to Bos- 
 ton by two routes, and also to Providence, Worcester 
 and New York. It not only enjoys its own local trade 
 but the people in the settlements at Jericho, Marino 
 Village, Chaseville and Perryville, in Dudley, across 
 the river, not inconsiderable in numbers, patronize 
 its shops, its shows, its various societies, and attend 
 its churches. The population of the town, which, at 
 the time of its incorporation, was 1168, increased to 
 1403 in 1840, to 2371 in 1850, to 2912 in 1860, to 4763 
 in 1870, to 5696 in 1880, and to 6220 in 1885. The 
 valuation, which was $277,118 at the time of the in- 
 corporation, increased to $2,466,428 in 1885. 
 
 According to the census of 1885, the agricultural 
 products and valuations were as follows : 
 
 Animal products f.3,720 
 
 Dairy products 22,0.59 
 
 Food products 730 
 
 Green-house products 1,200 
 
 Hot-house products 445 
 
 Poultry products 3,332 
 
 Wood 10,163 
 
 Cereals 2,225 
 
 Fruits, berries and nuts 3,058 
 
 Hay, straw and fodder 14,632 
 
374 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Meats and game 2,476 
 
 Vogetables C,089 
 
 Land 144,828 
 
 Buildings 92,145 
 
 Machines and implements 7,642 
 
 Domestic animals ]r>,985 
 
 Fruit-trees and vines 9,763 
 
 Two newspapers are published in Webster, The 
 Webster Times and the Worcester County News, biith 
 published weekly in Webster and both are enter- 
 prising and successful journals. The former is 
 edited by John Cort and the latter by John T. 
 Miniter, and a job printing office is connected with 
 each. 
 
 In concluding this sketch the following list of the 
 present town officers is added : Selectmen, Charles 
 A. Hodges, Patrick Condren, Austen C. Burnett; 
 Town Clerk, Edward P. Carter; Treasurer, Oscar 
 Shumway ; Overseers of the Poor — for three years, 
 John Flint ; for two years, Elisha N. Bigelow ; for 
 one year, John F. Hinds; Assessors, William F. 
 Gale, William Shanley, Monroe H. Corbin, Michael 
 Scholfield, Russell B. Putnam ; Auditors, James 
 Maguire, James Cocks, John B. McQuaid ; School 
 Committee — for three years, Edward P. Carter; 
 for two years, Henry F. Thompson ; for one year, 
 Charles B. Kendrick ; Constables, Thomas Farrell, 
 William Hanley, Joseph C. Spaulding, Patrick H. 
 Grimley, O. W. Emerson, John J. Dwyer, Uzziel 
 Gleason, Joseph P. Love, Daniel G. Blackman> 
 Solomon Shumway, George D. Adams, John Sullivan, 
 Collector, Charles E. Brown ; Deputy Sheriff, Solomon 
 Shumway. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 FREDERICK D. BROWN, M.D. 
 
 Frederick Davis Brown, M.D., was born in the town 
 of Sutton, Mass., on September 5, 1824. His early 
 life was in many respects similar to that of most coun- 
 try boys of the period, working on the farm in the 
 summer and attending the district school in the winter. 
 But, unlike many of his boyhood associates, he was 
 not "bound out" for a term of years to the farmer or 
 the blacksmith, but was given the opportunity of pur- 
 suing such course of study as best suited his inclination. 
 He chose that of medicine, and at the age of seven- 
 teen entered the office of Dr. George Rawson, of 
 Grafton. Reading with a country doctor of that time 
 meant chiefly the care of the doctor's horse, doing the 
 numerous chores about the premises, assisting his in- 
 structor in gathering and drying the herbs and simples 
 80 commonly used in those days, and in preparing the 
 powders and pills, and on rare occasions helping the 
 doctor in some minor surgical operations. 
 
 After two years of such training he removed to 
 Worcester and entered the Baptist Academy. He 
 did not, however, abandon his medical studies, but 
 
 continued them with Dr. Samuel Green, until the 
 doctor accepted the position of medical missionary to 
 Ceylon, tendered him by the Board of Foreign Mis- 
 sions. Dr. Green placed his young charge in the care 
 of his relative, Dr. John Green, at that time the most 
 eminent physician in the county. After two years' 
 reading with this learned preceptor he continued his 
 studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and at 
 Castleton (Vt.) Medical College, where he was gradu- 
 ated in 1849. He served for about a year at the 
 Bloomingdale Asylum Hospital in New York, and in 
 1850 located in Webster, when he at once entered 
 upon an active professional career, which he followed 
 with unremitting energy for thirty-six years. 
 
 He was widely known throughout the southern 
 part of Worcester County as a most devoted and suc- 
 cessful practitioner, gaining the confidence and es- 
 teem of all with whom he came in contact. He was a 
 zealous member of the Massachusetts and the Wor- 
 cester District Medical Societies, at one time being 
 president of the latter. His close application to his 
 practice did not debar him from taking an active 
 part in the affairs of his town, and he identified him- 
 self with many of its political and social organiza- 
 tions. For nearly twenty consecutive years he was 
 elected to the office of School Committee. In 1864-65 
 he served on the Board of Selectmen ; in 1863 he 
 represented his district in the Legislature, and in 1868 
 was sent to the State Senate. 
 
 During his term of service in the latter body he 
 was instrumental in securing the incorporation of the 
 Webster Five Cent Savings Bank, of which he was 
 president at the time of his death. To him work was 
 never a hardship, but a pleasure ; its perplexities 
 only added to his zeal and stimulated his ambition. 
 His ready willingness to do what was asked of him, 
 and the liberality of his views, made him the coun- 
 selor of many. 
 
 Probably no citizen devoted more time and work 
 for the welfore of his town than he, or with less per- 
 sonal interests. 
 
 His death, sudden and unexpected, occurred No- 
 vember 8, 1886. 
 
 CHAPTER LIV. 
 
 MENDON. 
 
 PIONEER LIFE. 
 
 BY G. B. WILLIAMS. 
 
 Mendon the Mother of Towns — Comparative Antiqititjj — Number of Towis 
 once a Part of Mendon — Thc First Hlovemenl for a New Plantation — The 
 Deed from the Indiaiu— Dioifion of Land — Names of Proprietors — The 
 First Map — Incorporation — The Town in 1 675 — The Nipmucks' Attack — 
 Tlie SeUlers' Retiini. 
 
 On the 15th day of May, 1867, in a small town iu 
 the southeastern part of Worcester County, ''a vast 
 assemblage," as one of those addressing it justly de- 
 
MENDON. 
 
 375 
 
 scribed it, were gathered together. Orators, poets, 
 distinguished jurists, clergymen, statesmen and men 
 of military renown were present, or regretfully sent 
 excuses for their absence. The inhabitants of Mil- 
 ford, Blackstone, Uxbridge, Northbridge, Upton and 
 Bellingham, with hundreds from more remote parts of 
 the State and nation, had met to celebrate the two 
 hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of what 
 they lovingly called the "Mother Town of Mendon." 
 The distinguished speakers seemed to feel it a high' 
 privilege to recount the story of the ancient town, 
 and found the day far too short for their purpose. 
 Several of them had names borne by six generations 
 of Mendon's inhabitants now passed away, as well as 
 by many of its present citizens, and they felt they 
 were telling the story of their ancestors as they nar- 
 rated how the Aldrichs, Staples, Holbrooks, Thomp- 
 sons, Chapins, Tafts and others painfully made their 
 way from the coast to this fertile, hilly region, estab- 
 lished homes, church, schools, and laid the foundation 
 for all the abounding life of these busy towns of 
 to-day. 
 
 Mendon, next to Lancaster in antiquity among 
 Worcester County towns, was and is, well deserving 
 of noticehistorically. Eighteen of these are at least 
 a hundred years younger than she. The town of 
 Worcester was incorporated sixteen years later than 
 Mendon, and she is more than forty-five years older 
 than any other town in the county, except Lancaster, 
 and sixty-three years older than the county itself. 
 
 Her original territory is now held by eight Massa- 
 chusetts towns, but she still retains the spot first 
 settled on her ancient possessions, and her people 
 believe it one of the most fertile and beautiful of 
 all. 
 
 In 1659, eight years before Mendon's incorporation, 
 the records of the General Court of Massachusetts 
 show that the people of Braintree and Weymouth 
 had expressed a desire for " a new plantation ;" 
 " whereupon the Court judgeth it meet to grant them 
 liberty to seek out a place and present their desires, 
 with the names of such persons as will carry out the 
 work, unto the next session of this Court." Accord- 
 ingly, in 1660, upon a petition by seven of the in- 
 habitants of Braintree, a committee of five was em- 
 powered to accept persons for the settlement, which 
 was to be eight miles square, and four commissioners 
 were authorized " to make a valid act there." It was 
 nearly two years later. May 22, 1662, before the com- 
 missioners reported their rules and regulations for the 
 " Plantation at Netmocke," with the names of persons 
 then accepted, viz.: thirteen of Braintree and ten of 
 Weymouth. Moses Payne and Peter Brackett had 
 already secured a deed of Netmocke from the Indians 
 and a double allowance of land for themselves. They 
 never settled there, but, after the incorporation, trans- 
 ferred their rights under the deed to the town by a 
 writing dated December 9, 1669. 
 
 This deed was executed by five Indians designated 
 
 both by Christian and Indian names, and the land 
 was described as eight miles square, lying about 
 fifteen miles from Medfield, " and is to lye to the 
 south or southward of the Parth to Nipmugg Great 
 Pond and five milles on the other side of that Parth 
 north or northwards." The deed has always been 
 supposed destroyed when the town was burned by 
 the Indians in 1676. 
 
 By the committee's rules each settler was to have 
 for " one hundred pounds estate '' thirty acres " to 
 the home lot," ten of meadow, five of swamp and one 
 hundred and five for"greate lott." This was assigned 
 by the committee, but later divisions, some eleven in 
 all, proportioned to the amount of land first held, 
 were made by lot and made up the " Doubling Lot." 
 
 Before July 7, 1663, John Moore, George Aldrich, 
 Matthias Puffer, John Woodland, Ferdinando Thay- 
 er, Daniel Lovett and John Harber had settled at 
 Nipmugg, Netmocke or Squinshepauge, for all these 
 names written variously by diflferent authors, were 
 now applied to the plantation, probably the last most 
 generally. Before March 24, 1664, John Gurney, 
 Walter Cook, Joseph White, John Thompson, Abra- 
 ham Staples, Joseph Aldridge, John Jepson and John 
 Rockett had settled, making fifteen families in all. 
 There are no means of knowing what took place from 
 1664 to 1667. Joshua Fisher's map was filed in April, 
 1667, in the General Court, a copy of which, with 
 title and " explanation," are printed below. 
 
 SURVEY OF THE PLANTATION (1667). 
 The desire of the inhabitants to tliis Honered Courto is that they 
 would .iccept of this Retourne of their Plott of theire Plantation wich is 
 layd according to their Graicte of eight Miles square by Joshua iBaher. 
 
 Country land. South line 8 miles. 
 
 The A A A Towne 
 A A 
 
 The line between Ded- 
 
 ham and Quinsliepauge 
 Running North and B 
 South, 4r miles and 40 
 Roda. 
 
 :^ 
 
 Country land, North line, 
 
 4 milea want. 40 Rods. 
 
 e~~% Parcel of Meadow. 
 
 An explanation of this Plott, being the Township of Sqninehapauke ad 
 it WRB hiyd out according to the Grant of the Generall Courte by ma, 
 Joshua ffisher, Aprill 1GG7. 
 
 from A to B is bounded by Charlea River, a white oake beinge marked 
 on the south side of Charles River at A, a Black oake on the north side 
 of Charles Ri^ er at B, and a line of marked trees and heapes of etones to 
 C, from C to D a line of marked trees and heapea of stones, to C, from C 
 to D a line of marked trees and heapes of stones, and aoe from 
 D to E and from E to F, a line from F to A of Marked Trees ; And from 
 A to B is one mile Runninge according to the River Eaat and West, from 
 
376 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 B to C is fower Miles wantinge forty Kodd, Runninge from B North, 
 from C to D eiglit miles and halfe west, from D to E eigbl miles South, 
 from E to F seven miles and half East, from F to A ffower Milles and 40 
 Kods. 
 
 At O is a parcell of Meadow that the Towne Petitioned for of about 
 thirty Acors by estimation upon the North line from Charles River. 
 
 This Courte Approves of this Plott as it is Returned. 
 
 as attest, Edw. Rawson, Secrty. 
 
 The incorporation of the town of Mendon followed 
 May 15, 1667. The name undoubtedly was taken 
 from Mendham, the name of an ancient English town, 
 and years after the incorporation the name Mendham 
 was applied to Mendon in military reports and in 
 various records. The Indian titles seem to have been 
 seldom used later than 1667. 
 
 The town clerk of the new town, Colonel William 
 Crowne, in the preamble to his records, sets forth the 
 title of the inhabitants as based on the Indian deed as 
 well as on the authority of the " Honoured Generalle 
 Courte," and say.i the court had "adorned " the town 
 "wth severall large Priviledges." It was indeed a goodly 
 land. Meadows, springs, brooks, rivers and noble 
 forests abounded. The Blackstone River, entering its 
 northwest corner, crossed to its southeastern portion, 
 now in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. The West River, 
 the Mumford, with many smaller tributaries of the 
 Blackstone, were largely or wholly within its limits, 
 and the Charles crossed its eastern portion. High 
 hills with commanding prospects — Wigwam, Misquoe, 
 Calebs, Magormiscock, Goat Hill and others — with the 
 numerous meadows, upon whose grassy products the 
 early settlers greatly relied, added their charms to the 
 scene two hundred and twenty-one years ago. All 
 was peace and hope. The records of 1667 and years 
 following to 1675 are filled with interesting incidents 
 of the settlers' pioneer life, so soon to be broken up 
 by the Indian's torch and tomahawk. 
 
 The minister, Rev. John Rayner, had been secured, 
 the meeting-house and parsonage built, land set off for 
 the use of the ministry and for school purposes, roads 
 had been laid out, some of them ten rods wide, pro- 
 visions made for exterminating wolves, for establish- 
 ing the town's boundaries, for compelling observance 
 of the Lord's day, and the performance by each man 
 of his share of the public works, for punishing the 
 refractory, for procuring more meadow land with 
 which, in their view, they were as yet but " meanly 
 provided," and everything needful for securing Chris- 
 tian homes in an orderly. God-fearing community. 
 In 1672 the fifteen families of five years before had be- 
 come thirty-four, and in the list of proprietors receiv- 
 ing swamp lands at that date are found the namts 
 Hayward, Holbrook, Read, Bartlett, Tiler, Gurney, 
 Juell (Jewell), Sprague and Peck. A few others came 
 before 1675, but several best-known in the later his- 
 tory of the town not much, if any, earlier than 1680, 
 among them, Josiah Chapin and the brothers Robert 
 and Matthew Taft. 
 
 July 14, 1675, King Philip's War commenced with 
 an attack on this peaceful settlement, in which four 
 
 or five persons were slain. Later the Indians killed 
 Matthias Puffer's wife and child, possibly others. Hos- 
 tilities had been dreaded by the colonial authorities 
 for some days preceding and scouting-parties ordered 
 out. Mendon was located in the midst of the country 
 of the Nipmuck Indians, and from the beginning had 
 taken special precautions to secure friendly relations 
 with them. 
 
 Thelaborsof theapostleEliothadbeen untiring, and 
 bands of praying Indians had been organized at Wac- 
 antuck (now Uxbridge), Hassanamisco (Grafton) and 
 elsewhere. One indication of Eliot's influence is 
 probably seen in the Indians' signatures to the Men- 
 don deed by such names as William, John and Jacob, 
 to which signatures, indeed, the Eliots, senior and 
 junior, are witnesses. 
 
 In 1668 the Nipmucks in the vicinity of Mendon 
 and Marlborough had executed a formal submission 
 in writing to the government of the colony, in which 
 is found a solemn promise to obey God and do Chris- 
 tian duty. After the slaughter in July, the settlers 
 exerted themselves to secure the removal of the 
 Grafton Indians, with their weapons and supplies, to 
 Mendon. The effort failed. The records show colo- 
 nial soldiers attacking the Nipmucks at Grafton, in 
 November, 1675. The Indians soon after abandoned 
 Grafton, or Hassanamisco, and, doubtless with the 
 Nipmucks generally, aided King Philip and the Nar- 
 ragansetts against the English. Immediately after 
 the first attack, of which Cotton Mather is quoted as 
 saying, '" Blood was never shed in Massachusetts 
 colony in a way of hostility before this day," many 
 Mendon settlers fled. By November, we are told in 
 military reports, those remaining had been "drawn 
 into two houses." A fortified garrison had been es- 
 tablished, from which raids upon the Indians were 
 made. The Colonial Council, November 2, 1675, 
 ordered " that the people of Mendon should not re- 
 move from the place without leave, and that those 
 who had done so should immediately return ; " but 
 neither the presence of soldiers, nor the promises, 
 orders nor threats of colonial authority, proved suffi- 
 cient to overcome the dread of the Indians, and, prob- 
 ably before Christmas, 1675, the town was com- 
 pletely abandoned. During that winter the enemy 
 burned all the buildings. The town records, though 
 all preserved, so far as we know, make no mention of 
 the war, but it is evident, from records of births, that 
 soon after King Philip's death, in August, 1676, some 
 of the fugitives returned, probably not, however, till 
 the Nipmucks had at Boston again submitted formally 
 to the English, and by their own hands, under colo- 
 nial authority, executed Mattoonas, the Nipmuck 
 leader of the July attack. We know that at least 
 twenty out of the thirty-eight escaping families had 
 returned to Mendon at the beginning of 1680. 
 
MENDON. 
 
 377 
 
 CHAPTER LV. 
 
 WE'N'DOT<!—{Con(ifiued.) 
 
 TERRITORIAL AND POLITICAL CHANGES. 
 
 Tilt ToKn's Poverty After the War—Claimi of Rhode Inland Territory— The 
 ^* North Purchaae^^ ^Annex4Uion of " The Farms ^^ — Towns Claiming 
 to be " Children of Mendon " — Mendan to-day. 
 
 For several years after 1680, Mendon was con- 
 sidered as a frontier town, and its poverty, even in 
 comparison with other Massachusetts towns of the 
 time, was notorious. The proprietors of nearly half 
 iis lands never returned after the war, and delayed or 
 refused payment of taxes levied on their property. 
 Repeated petitions were sent to the General Court 
 asking for compulsory action against these absent 
 owners, and for relief from colony taxes. Most of the 
 petitions were granted. In spite of this poverty, 
 within ten years from the close of the war about fifty 
 families had settled in Mendon, and began to feel 
 crowded and seek additional territory. The southern 
 boundary was not well defined, and was later a subject 
 of much controversy, which continued till 1725. The 
 second map, made by Sergeant Ellis in 1683, and 
 numerous records, show that Mendon claimed much 
 of what was finally yielded to Rhode Island, including 
 the " Falls," now in Woonsocket, and what is known 
 as ''The Branch." In 1692 about three square miles 
 lying on the northern boundary, now in Milford, and 
 still known as the " North Purchase," were bought 
 from the Indians. In 1685 Edward Rawson, secretary 
 of the colony, had become owner of about two thou- 
 sand acres, now wholly or partly in Bellingham. He 
 held title by deed from the Indians as well as a grant 
 from the colony. Till 1710 he escaped taxation by 
 town or county, paying tribute to the colonial treasury 
 only, but in that year the Farm, as the tract was then 
 called, was annexed to Mendon. 
 
 In 1719 thirteen families occupying this farm, or 
 " The Farms," four dwelling on other land in Mendon, 
 and twenty-three families of Dedhara, asked the 
 General Court for incorporation as a town. Their 
 petition was granted, November 27, 1719, against the 
 protest of Mendon, however, and Bellingham became 
 a town. 
 
 As early as 1720 the settlers in Waentuck, or 
 Wacantuck (now Uxbridge), agitated the question of 
 separation. Their efforts were renewed in 1722, voted 
 on and rejected in 1726, but Uxbridge was neverthe- 
 less incorporated in 1727, taking about four miles in 
 width from the western portion of Mendon. 
 
 Upton, at its incorporation in February, 1735, took 
 a small part of the remaining territory and the same 
 year the inhabitants of what is now Milford and 
 Hopedale sought separate town existence. All these 
 attempts were resisted by dwellers in the original set- 
 tlement, and in the last case successfully for about 
 forty-five years, or till April 11, 1780, when Milford's 
 
 existence as a town, by full agreement of all parties 
 interested, began. She had formed a separate parish 
 precinct in Mendon, known as the Easterly or Mill 
 River Precinct for thirty-nine years. 
 
 Mendon also stoutly opposed her separation from 
 Suffolk and assignment to Worcester County, which 
 took place February IS, 1730. As late as 1734 she 
 voted a petition to the court to be joined with Ded- 
 ham in a new county, then in 1798 in favor of divid- 
 ing Worcester County. It may be here noted that 
 Mendon, duringthe first four years of town existence, 
 was a part of Middlesex County. In 1671 she was 
 decreed, evidently in harmony with her own wishes, 
 "to be and belong to ye county of Suffolk." 
 
 After the incorporation of Milford no serious at- 
 tempt to secure a further division of Mendon is 
 known to have been made till 1816, when ten inhabit- 
 ants of the South Parish (now Blackstone) petitioned 
 the town, without avail, to vote that that precinct be 
 set off as a town. It had continued in apparent con- 
 tent as a parish in Mendon since 1766, though in 
 1779 we find record of one feeble movement for divis- 
 ion. In 1823, and during the four succeeding years, 
 the South Parish sought for separate existence, ap- 
 pealing in vain to the town and to the Legislature. 
 Again, in 1843, the vexed question arose and was dis- 
 cussed at brief intervals with great bitterness till the 
 division was effected and Blackstone incorporated 
 March 25, 1845. The petitioners therefor numbered 
 seven hundred and sixty-seven, the remonstrants 
 three hundred and fourteen, and they were divided 
 on other than local or usual lines. In fact, strange 
 to say, it appears that very probably a large majority 
 living in what is now Mendon desired division, while 
 divisionists were so unpopular in Blackstone as to be 
 excluded from town office at the first town election. 
 Closing the story of the construction of towns from 
 Mendon's territory, it should be observed that the 
 town of Northbridge was taken from Uxbridge in 
 1772, and Hopedale from Milford in 1886, and can 
 both claim Mendon as their mother or, perhaps, with 
 more accuracy, their grandmother town. By this 
 course of disintegration, not, however, likely to be 
 extended further, forty thousand acres and more, her 
 original holding, with its substantial additions by 
 annexation, have beeu reduced to eleven thousand 
 three hundred and seventy-five acres. 
 
 Mill River alone is the only considerable stream 
 which crosses the Mendon of to-day, but the Charles, 
 as of old, forms a part of its eastern boundary and the 
 lovely " Nipmuck Great Pond " is still retained with- 
 in its limits, with shores now somewhat famous as a 
 summer resort. Pond Hill remains, also Wigwam 
 Hill in the south and Misquoe in the north, both dis- 
 tinguished for magnificent views. Mendon shares 
 with Blackstone at the south a right in Daniels or 
 Southwick Hill, and with Hopedale on the east it 
 claims jurisdiction over Neck Hill. Muddy Brook 
 flows between the elevation last named and the beau- 
 
378 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 tiful summit on which is the principal village which 
 stands, deeply shaded, just where the settlers had 
 their house-lots in 1663. 
 
 The above glimpse of Mendon as it now is must 
 suffice till its manufacturing, military, educational 
 and ecclesiastical history have been outlined. 
 
 CHAPTER LVI. 
 
 MENDON— ( Continued. ) 
 
 MANUFACTURES. 
 
 T\e Firtt Oritt-MiU and Saw-MUl—The Successive Occupants of the Old 
 Griat'Mill 9lte — Contracts leith Milters and Blacksmiths — Torrey antl 
 Warjield Saw-Milts — Factories, Miscellaneous and Modem. 
 
 In Mendon's colonial life early efforts were made 
 to utilize its water-power. In the beginning of 
 1664 the committee conditionally granted to Benja- 
 min Albee twenty acres on the town site and fifty 
 acres near the proposed mill, to encourage him to 
 establish a " come mill " on Mill River, near 
 Hopedale's present town line. It was probably built 
 in 1672, and till then the settlers ground their grain 
 at Wrentham or Medfield, twelve or fifteen miles dis- 
 tant. 
 
 Ten years later Josiah Chapin had eighty acres 
 granted him near the village and east of Muddy 
 Brook, for his encouragement to build on that 
 treacherous stream the first saw-mill. April 24, 1668, 
 the town voted to build its fir.-t meeting-house 
 " neere to Joseph White's saw-pit, in his house-lott." 
 There can therefore be little doubt that for the first 
 ten years, and till Chapin's mill was started, all 
 boards were manufactured in the primitive manner of 
 pit-sawing. 
 
 In 1684 Matthias Puffer's corn-mill was built on 
 the site of Albee's, destroyed by the Indians. Three 
 years later his son James occupied it; and we can 
 trace an occupation of this place for the same pur- 
 pose for more than one hundred and seventy-five 
 years, and for more than a hundred years the town 
 appears to huve exercised control over it through 
 conditions under which both Albee and Puffer and 
 their succe.s-iors held their rights. It is not impor- 
 tant to name all the millers, but David How, 1724, 
 Lieut. Wm. Shefiield, 1735-70, after him Jeremiah 
 Kelley, 1779, then one Ellis and finally Nathan and 
 Alvin Allen, occupied the place. 
 
 In 1727 there was a fulling-mill near the grist- 
 mill, which was used many years 
 
 The latter mill became a ruin about 1847, and the 
 town claimed a forfeiture in consequence, under the 
 contract of 1662. There was a vote to investigate, 
 but the claims were never pressed in court. 
 
 James Bick's contract, made in 1686, somewhat re- 
 sembled Albee's. He was " to doe the town's smith- 
 
 ery work for the next ten years upon reasonable 
 conditions, unless death or disablement hinder,'' 
 otherwise the land granted was to revert or fifteen 
 pounds to be paid. Long wrangling between Bick 
 and the town followed ; he would neither do the 
 work, vacate the premises, nor pay the forfeiture; but 
 finally, in 1695, he left the town, and some years 
 after, 1713, it seems the eminent Quaker, Moses Al- 
 drich, was the town blacksmith. 
 
 In 1691 Josiah and Angel Torrey were authorized 
 to build a saw-mill dam upon the town's land, be- 
 tween School Meadow and Rock Meadow, and were 
 granted necessary land therefor, so long as they 
 maintained the mill. A mill on this spot, which is 
 not far from P. W. Taft's residence, and two miles west 
 from the village, was used till within a very few 
 years. 
 
 In 1711 Samuel Warfield was granted land near 
 the old saw-mill on "Fall Brook," an uncertain loca- 
 tion, but probably on Mill River, in Hopedale, near 
 Spindleville Shop. 
 
 There were " Iron-works" (probably a smelling fur- 
 nace) and a saw-mill at or near "The Falls" (Woon- 
 socket) in 1698, and iron-ore had been found at or 
 near East Blackstone. 
 
 A saw-mill and a grist-mill had been started, in 
 1712, on the Charles River, and one in Uxbridge, on 
 the Mumford, many years prior to the incorporation 
 in 1727. 
 
 Samuel Thompson's grist-mill, on the Blackstone, 
 where Millville village now is, was begun about the 
 same time ; as also iron-works and perhaps mills at 
 Whitinsville. 
 
 Before 1800, within the present limits of the town, 
 there were two or more establishments for making 
 potash, several small distilleries and some brick-kilns. 
 One of the last-named, near Albeeville, was used 
 within forty or fifty years. All the others were aban- 
 doned many years before. 
 
 Manuflxcturing, as the term is generally understood 
 and applied, never long flourished here and is now 
 almost extinct. From 1845 to 1878 there were im- 
 portant boot-factories in operation. One Leiand, W. 
 H. Comstock and Dennis Eames each had a factory 
 before 1850. Enos T. Albee and Edward Davenport 
 were not much behind these. After them came J. R. 
 Wheelock & Co., who for a year or two produced in 
 their large shop, then new, some three or four hun- 
 dred cases of boots weekly. 
 
 Albee maintained his business, averaging about 
 sixty cases a week, for twenty years or over, ending in 
 1870. N. R. & J. A. George began boot manufactu- 
 ring in the Wheelock shop in 1863, but the partner- 
 ship was brief. J. A. George continued the business 
 till 1879. Charles H. Albee has within a few years 
 been engaged in making boots and shoes in the build- 
 ing occupied by his father, which is in Albeeville, 
 about two miles southwesterly from the Centre Vil- 
 lage, where all the other boot-makers named had 
 
MENDON. 
 
 379 
 
 their factories. Those factories have one by one been 
 removed or converted to otlier uses, and no boots nor 
 shoes have been made in Mendon for several years. 
 The largest factory built by the Wheelocks was torn 
 down the present year (1888). 
 
 George R. Whiting in 187.3 bought the ancient 
 Albee "privilege," erected a new dam and a_ mill near 
 the one first built in 1682, remains of which still ex- 
 ist, and with some interruptions has ever since util- 
 ized the property for shoddy-making. His buildings, 
 burnt in 1887, have been replaced by improved ones 
 made of brick. 
 
 W. H. Swan has made shoddy on Muddy Brook for 
 about twenty years. He has a steam-engine as well 
 as water-power, and formerly sawed lumber and made 
 boxes— and for a time boats. 
 
 Samuel G. Wilcox made boot and .shoe-boxes at the 
 junction of Muddy Brook and Mill River, using 
 water-power from both, for over forty years, and since 
 his death, in 1882, his son. Hamilton C. Wilcox, has 
 carried on the business at the old stand. 
 
 Samuel W. Wilcox, another son of S. G. Wilcox, 
 has a steam-mill near the last-named, where for ten 
 years he has made cigar-boxes. 
 
 All these manufacturing establishments now in 
 operation are near each other in the southeasterly 
 part of the town, and their production is small. 
 
 CHAPTER LVII. 
 
 MENDON— (Co«//«tf(?a'.) 
 
 MILITARY HISTORY. 
 
 Mendon in the French and Indian War — The Revolution — Shaye^ Rebellion — 
 War o/ 1812— We RehelUon. 
 
 In the French War, 1755-63, Mendon furnished 
 her full quota of soldiers. There were forty-one in 
 one company, serving in 1759 in the expedition to 
 Ticonderoga and Crown Point; many more served 
 during the war, but the town records do not reveal 
 much concerning the popular feeling nor town action 
 on military matters. The lists of soldiers contain 
 many names familiarly known all through the town's 
 history. We only know the people did their part 
 well and loyally, scant though the record may be. 
 
 There is much more known of the Revolutionary 
 period. The first mutterings of discontent with British 
 rule found an echo in Mendon. Its inhabitants ap- 
 proved the action of those who were willing to pay 
 the damage done by the mob to Governor Hutchin- 
 son's property in 1765, but were eager to pardon the 
 rioters, although later, in general terms, they de- 
 nounced such riots. They voted, in 1767, to concur 
 with the men of Boston in their famous agreement 
 not to sell or use any article, tea in particular, on 
 
 which Parliament should lay a tax ; indeed, their 
 records are crowded with patriotic utterances ; nine- 
 teen resolutions denouncing British wrongs to the 
 Provinces, and declaring in sounding terms their 
 " Rights and Liberties," " The gift of God Almighty," 
 were discussed and passed March 1, 1773. About a 
 year later three more stirring resolutions were passed, 
 suspending intercourse with Great Britain, and refus- 
 ing to buy or use her goods while Boston is blockaded, 
 and until a " Restoration of our charter-rights be 
 obtained," and denouncing as " inimical to their 
 country" all persons acting otherwise. A Committee 
 of Correspondence was chosen to confer with similar 
 committees in other towns, and the selectmen were 
 authorized, in their discretion, to add to the town's 
 stock of arms and ammunition. September 28, 1774, 
 Joseph Dorr, Esq., was chosen delegate to the Pro- 
 vincial Congress, to be held in Concord, October 11th. 
 
 Dr. William Jennison gave the town a six-pounder 
 field-piece about the same time, and two more, with 
 other arms, were purchased by the town. One-third 
 of the soldiers on the military list were enlisted as 
 minute-men, and made ready to march at a moment's 
 notice. 
 
 In common with other towns, Mendon contributed 
 in aid of blockaded Boston and Charlestown, and 
 promptly sent delegates to every convention called to 
 organize colouial strength, or declare or guide colonial 
 sentiment. 
 
 In 1775 the town was ready with arms and men. 
 Promptly following the battle of Lexington, one 
 hundred and sixty-two men in four companies were 
 in arms, and one hundred and sixteen men appear to 
 have enlisted for the three months ending August, 
 1775. Mendon, with Concord and other towns, had 
 been designated as a place of deposit for army sup- 
 plies. 
 
 Till the spring of 1776 every town-meeting since 
 1667 had been loyally called in His Majesty's name ; 
 but now Mendon's liberty-loving people openly dis- 
 carded his authority, and met " in the name of the 
 Government and People of the Massachusetts Bay," 
 and thereupon voted " that the town advise and in- 
 struct their Representatives to acquaint the General 
 Assembly, that if the Honorable the Continental 
 Congress shall think it for the benefit and safety of 
 the United American Colonies to Declare them inde- 
 pendent of Great Britain, said Town will approve the 
 measure and with their lives and fortunes support 
 them therein." The immortal Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence passed soon after and appears in full with 
 the town's approval upon its records. Through all 
 the years of the great contest, all testimony goes to 
 show that no community surpassed this in devotion to 
 liberty, influence in the colony or in patriotic service. 
 Men of Mendon fought at Bunker Hill, marched to 
 Canada with Arnold and were at Long Island, Valley 
 Forge, Bennington, Saratoga and Yorktown. 
 
 Edward Rawson, a descendant of Secretary Raw- 
 
380 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 son, Judge Joseph Dorr, Jr., the son of the minister, 
 Thomas Wiswell, Lieutenant Benoni Benson and se- 
 veral others appear to have enjoyed the coofldence of 
 the colonial authorities in a high degree. Judge Dorr 
 was especially prominent, and from his pen came 
 many of the patriotic utterances on the records. 
 
 We note some miscellaneous matters apparently 
 worth recording as illuminating somewhat the history 
 of the period. A few years before the Revolution 
 the town had been compelled to receive several of the 
 French neutrals cruelly driven from Nova Scotia in 
 1755 by English authority represented by General 
 John Winslow, descendant of the Pilgrim Governor. 
 The same British power in 1775 turned its cruelty 
 against Charlestown, and by order of the Provincial 
 Congress, Mendon was " to take thirty of the people 
 of Charlestown," made homeless by the burning of 
 their town. Eleven years before, five of the banished 
 Acadian French were still living in Mendon. If they 
 saw the thirty homeless Charlestown people entering 
 Mendon, and we have no reason to suppose they did 
 not, they must have thought it savored of retribution. 
 
 In 1776 seven officers of the Seventy-flrst British 
 Regiment Highlanders, supposed taken prisonei's at 
 sea, were quartered in Mendon. They forwarded 
 many complaints to the Colonial Council of abusive 
 treatment from the inhabitants, especially of language 
 reflecting on the prowess of British soldiers generally 
 and that of the prisoners in particular. There was 
 also complaint of tyrannical treatment in many re- 
 spects, and the citizens complained on their part of 
 being obliged to keep the officers' servants, and ex- 
 pressed suspicions of the prisoners conspiring with 
 Tories. Captain Colon McKenzie was the chief offi- 
 cer. How long they remained is not known — perhaps 
 till exchanged. 
 
 A bitter quarrel arose between Uxbridge and Men- 
 don members of the Third Massachusetts Regiment 
 concerning the election of field officers. It could 
 only be settled by a committee from the Colonial 
 Council and an order on their report for a new elec- 
 tion and an assignment of the Uxbridge soldiers, 
 who were from the first in a minority, to another 
 regiment. This was in 1776. 
 
 A census, taken January 1,1777, gives Mendon five 
 hundred and seventy-two male inhabitants, sixteen 
 years old and upwards. She had seventy-five sol- 
 diers in the field in March, 1778. During the year 
 1776 twenty-eight had enlisted for three years. In 
 1779 there is a list of thirty-three nine-months' men 
 in the Rhode Island service, but neither State nor 
 town records enable us to make complete military 
 lists or give the town exact credit lor its labors and 
 losses in the cause of liberty. Tradition has brought 
 down the names of but one or two Tories in the whole 
 town. Some were suspected of disloyalty, and peti- 
 tions for stringent laws against them went from Men- 
 don, whose Committee of Safety never relaxed in 
 vigilance, if we may trust the records. 
 
 Those records also show with what wise adjust- 
 ments of business the evils of the depreciated cur- 
 rency were met, and the careful attention given to 
 their regular municipal affairs. Throwing aside the 
 old-time local strifes, Mendon voted at last that the 
 East Precinct, Milford, might become a town. The 
 new Constitution of Massachusetts was laboriously 
 and fully discussed, article by article, the voters 
 amending, rejecting or adopting, as if on them alone 
 depended the making of the organic law of the 
 Commonwealth, and, finally, as the clouds of war 
 rolled away, they set themselves resolutely at work to 
 do their part as an important town in the new State 
 of Massachusetts. 
 
 No proof is found of any Mendon citizens taking 
 part with Shays in his rebellion, in 1786, though pe- 
 titions with lists of grievances uncounted went to 
 the General Court. Among the complaints were 
 named the sitting of the General Court in Boston, 
 the want of a circulating medium, the exorbitance 
 of the lawyers' " fee-table," the doings of the Court 
 of Common Pleas, " too many office-holders, and 
 their salaries too large," etc. 
 
 But the town, nevertheless, furnished its quota of 
 men, sixty in all, to march against Shays, and seems 
 to have had no thought of resisting the government, 
 imperfect as it was, which had cost so much. 
 
 In 1797 fears of a war with France arose. While 
 Milford was plainly of a martial spirit, Mendon 
 appears memorializing Congress against arming ships, 
 and expressing its dread of the horrors of war. 
 
 There is nothing to show the town's zeal in the War 
 of 1812, unless it be that it voted seven dollars per 
 month extra pay to such of its militia as should be 
 called into actual service. Six officers and twenty-six 
 enlisted men of Mendon were paid by the United 
 States in 1814 for service in the army. According to 
 " Ballou's History," Milford was earnestly in favor of 
 the war, and furnished many men. 
 
 Nothing has been found showing any popular in- 
 terest in the Mexican War, or any men from Mendon 
 serving therein. 
 
 When the great Rebellion broke out this town took 
 its stand promptly, and, with a spirit which never 
 faltered, sent men and expended money most freely 
 to crush out traitors. In 1861, after a preamble de- 
 claring loyalty, and their duty and purpose to sustain 
 the government, the voters unanimously passed reso- 
 lutions appropriating five thousand dollars in aid of 
 the families of volunteers. In 1862, while adopting 
 patriotic resolutions, they voted to pay a bounty of 
 one hundred and fifty dollars to each soldier volun- 
 teering, and later they increased it to two hundred 
 dollars. This action was in harmony with their 
 course to the end of the war, and when President 
 Lincoln was assassinated, the town records show the 
 horror of the citizens. The votes and resolutions 
 passed in relation to the Rebellion were generally 
 passed unanimously. Aside from town action, the 
 
MENDON. 
 
 381 
 
 people called meeting after meeting to encourage 
 enlistments, volunteers were honored, their families 
 aided, and, if a word in defence of the rebels was 
 ventured, the overwhelming popular sentiment in 
 opposition prevented its repetition. In Mendon, from 
 1861 to 1888, traitors and copperheads have always 
 heen odious, as Tories were to the fathers. 
 
 The town's ordinary appropriations were little over 
 five thousand dollars a year, but it paid in bounties 
 over sixteen thousand dollars, of which the town fur- 
 nished all but about twenty-five hundred dollars, 
 which was raised bw subscription. The State's records 
 show one hundred and fifty-six residents of Mendon 
 who served in the army or navy from 1861 to 1865, 
 and one hundred and thirty-two are credited on her 
 quotas, being sixteen over all calls to which she was 
 required to respond. Nineteen were killed or died in 
 service, namely, — Franklin B. Wilcox, Charles H. 
 Wheelock, Juba F. Pickering, Alanson E. Bathrick, 
 Samuel Hall, John B. Rockwood, Martin S. Howe, 
 George W. Wilcox, David 8. Thurber, Lawrence B. 
 Doggett, William Cosgrove, Albert Cook, Patrick 
 Wallace, Robert Wallace, Samuel Everton, Franklin 
 Freeman, Anthon C. Taft, Benjamin H. Smith and 
 James Burns. 
 
 \ 
 
 CHAPTER LVIII. 
 
 MENDON— ( Continued.) 
 
 ECCI,ESI.\STIC.\I, HISTORY. 
 
 Ministers and Mseting-HoKsee, 1663 to 1818 — The Change to UnUaHanism — 
 The Meeting-Home of 1S20 — Pastors to ISHS—Tlte yorth Congregational 
 Church and Pantora — The Methodists in Mendon — The Quakers. 
 
 Like every New England settlement of its time, 
 Mendon was founded on the idea that religious wor- 
 ship and religious life should be established and 
 maintained at every sacrifice. Grants of privileges 
 to establish a plantation or incorporate a town or 
 precinct were made on the express condition that the 
 inhabitants settle and support "a learned Orthodox 
 Minister of good conversation," which, indeed, in 
 every case they promptly did. 
 
 Rev. John Rayner was accepted as a settler by the 
 committee ou the Mendon plantation May 22, 1662, 
 and in 1667 is recorded as having an allotment of 
 meadow land. In 1669, in a petition to the General 
 Court, he is named in terms showing plainly that he 
 was the minister then preaching in Mendon. 
 
 Mr. Benjamin Eliot, son of the apostle Eliot, re- 
 ceived a call in 1668 to settle there, but it was not 
 accepted. Late in 1669 the church appears to have 
 been fully organized and the Rev. Joseph Emerson 
 made the first settled minister of the place. 
 
 At the beginning land had been set apart for the 
 ministry and for schools, and when divisions of the 
 common lands were made, the same allotment was 
 
 made to them as to individual proprietors. Before 
 Mr. Emerson came, the minister's house was ad- 
 vanced towards completion. It evidently, as well as 
 the early meeting-houses, was built by the combined 
 labor and gifts of the settlers. The town voted to 
 build, and the selectmen employed a master workman 
 who supervised the labori* of the workers. Several 
 records concerning the obstinate and sometimes in- 
 sulting refusal of one Job Tiler to work on Mr. 
 Emerson's house at the summons of the selectmen, 
 their threats to report him to the Colonial magis- 
 trates, and his final surrender and giving satisfaction 
 "for that offence" with others, make up a curious 
 comment on the management of an early New Eng- 
 land town. 
 
 Mr. Emerson fled with his people from the Indians in 
 1675, and died in Concord June, 1680. He was the an- 
 cestor of Ralph Waldo Emerson. His house and the 
 first meetinghouse were burned with the rest. It is 
 supposed his house stood on the Caleb Hayward 
 place. The first meeting-house, which stood near the 
 building now occupied by the Taft Public Library, is 
 described in the quaint language of the time as " the 
 breadth 22 foote square, 12 foote studd, the Ruffe 
 gathered to A 7 foote square w"" A Turrett." It was 
 built under the direction of Deacon Job Hide in 
 1668. 
 
 The first town-meeting after the settlers' return was 
 held January 3, 1680, and at the second, held ten 
 days later, it was voted to build for the minister " A 
 house 26 foot in length 18 foot In bredth, 14 foot be- 
 tween joj'nts a girt house and a gabell end In the 
 Roofe and a Leantowe att one end of the house the 
 breadth of it." 
 
 January 17, 1680, Samuel Hayward had agreed 
 with the selectmen to "begine and manige the frame 
 of a meeting-house, 26 feet in length and 24 foot in 
 breadth, a girt house 14 foot between joynts." 
 
 October 4, 1680, "the towne Agreed, and it pased 
 by a clere vote, that they would give Mr. Grindall 
 Rawson a call to the work of the ministry for this 
 yere In order to his further settlement; for j£20 in 
 money, his bord and a hors to be kept for his servis." 
 After three years of preaching, he was settltd April 
 7, 1684, at £55 a year, with house and forty-acre lot. 
 
 The third meeting-house, thirty feet square, with 
 sixteen-foot posts, was built 1690, "by subscriptiou," 
 doubtless under town control, at a point not now 
 known. Four years later the old one was sold. 
 None of these meeting-houses had pews, seats being 
 assigned by a committee, of whom the pastor was 
 one. In 1709 the town voted to enlarge the meeting- 
 house by an addition of ten feet at each end, with 
 changts in the galleries, new floors and seats, and it 
 appears the minister and a few others had pews 
 therein built by themselves. In 1737 " Pew Room " 
 was sold, the elderly men paying most for church 
 matters to have first choice. 
 
 Mr. Rawson died in 1715, aged fifty-seven, after 
 
382 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 preaching in Mendon thirty-five years. He was 
 twelfth son of Secretary Rawson. His body, with 
 that of his widow, who died in 1748, lies in the town's 
 ancient burial-place. In 1744 the town made pro- 
 vision for the memorial stone at his grave. He was 
 a class-mate and friend of Cotton Mather, and re- 
 nowned in the Colony for his learning. He kn>-w 
 the Indian language well, and preached regularly in 
 different parts of the town week-days as well as on 
 the Sabbath, to Indians and whites with equal 
 fidelity. 
 
 Rev. Joseph Dorr was settled in 1716 at a salary of 
 seventy pounds for the first year, and seventy-five 
 pounds after ; " and for settlement or encouragement, 
 the sum of one hundred and sixty pounds, — one hun- 
 dred pounds in money." He also was a distinguished 
 divine ofgreat discretion, and during the controversies 
 with the East Precinct, which long agitated the town 
 and forced him to self-defence in the town-meetings, he 
 appears to have behaved with great wisdom, and 
 finally to have won general approval. His wife was 
 Mr. Rawson's daughter. His son. Judge Joseph 
 Dorr, Jr., widely esteemed during the Revolution, has 
 been already mentioned. His pastorate continued 
 fifty-two years, till his death, March 9, 1768, and his 
 body lies near that of Mr. Rawson. In 1730 the 
 fourth meeting-house was begun. "Towards the 
 raising," thetown voted to " provide a barrel of Rhum." 
 This house was fifty feet long, forty-five feet wide, 
 twenty-four feet high, and remained till 1816. Con- 
 troversies about its location lasted for years, and even 
 after its erection. The opponents to the location, 
 finally established near the old burying-ground, even 
 tried to cut down the frame, and a hundred and six- 
 teen years later the marks of their axes on the south- 
 west corner-post were plainly seen. It was seven 
 years before its final completion, and soon afier, in 
 1741, the East Precinct, doubtless in consequence of 
 differences concerning the new meeting-house, was 
 organized. November 8, 1751, the four pastors, re- 
 spectively settled in Milford, Upton, Uxbridge and 
 Mendon, united in an association which has ever 
 since continued. Mr. Dorr was long its moderator, 
 and apparently its master-spirit. It gradually en- 
 larged its field of work and membership, and is now 
 called the Mendon Conference, instead of the Mendon 
 Association, as at first. Toward the close of Mr. 
 Dorr's life, Rev. Benjamin Balch preached in Mendon 
 for a few months on account of Mr. Dorr's disability, 
 but before the end of 1768 he was ordained at the 
 South Parish, "Chestnut Hill," where a new meet- 
 ing-house, still standing, was erected the next year. 
 He was followed in Mendou by Mr. Pennimau, Mr. 
 Messenger and perhaps others. 
 
 April 17, 1769, Rev. Joseph Willard was settled. 
 He proved to be an earnest, out-spoken man and a 
 zealous patriot during the war, but difficulties arose 
 between him and his people, and he was dismissed in 
 1782. Rev. Caleb Alexander was settled from 1786 to 
 
 1802. He afterwards became a distinguished writer 
 and teacher in Onondaga, New York. Mr. Alexander 
 disciplined the Mendon Church much more than 
 former pastors, and had many contests in consequence. 
 He died in Onondaga in 1828. 
 
 In 1805 Rev. Preserved Smith became pastor over 
 the Mendon First and Third (South) Parishes, and 
 labored till 1812. He had formerly preached in Rowe, 
 Mass., and returned thither, preaching in that place 
 thirty-five years in all. He died 1834 in Warwick, 
 Mass. In his youth he served five campaigns in the 
 Continental Army, and was present at Burgoyne's sur- 
 render. As a minister he was popular and influential, 
 with liberal tendencies in his religious thought. 
 
 Rev. Simeon Doggett succeeded him in 1814, and 
 in 1818, after much controversy, led a majority of his 
 people to adopt Unitarian views. Mr. Doggett was 
 dismissed in 1837, and died in Raynham in 1852, aged 
 eighty-seven. He was much esteemed as a teacher, 
 and maintained an academy in Mendon many years. 
 In 1820 the First Parish Church, still used as a hou.?e 
 of worship, was built on land given by Seth Hastings, 
 Esq. It was then considered one of the finest in the 
 county. 
 
 Rev. Adin Ballou, the venerable pastor, so long set- 
 tled in Hopedale, was the minister in Mendon from 
 1831 to 1842. Since his service, with the single ex- 
 ception of Rev. George F. Clark, preacher from 1871 to 
 1883, all the ministers in Mendon have otiSciated for 
 only brief periods, which, as regards the First Parish, 
 are as follows: Rev.s. Linus B. Shaw, 1842 to 1844; 
 George M. Rice, 1845 to 1847 ; George G. Channing, 
 1847 to 1849; William H. Kinsley, 1850 to 1851; 
 Robert Hassall, 1852 to 1856 ; Stillman Barber, 1856 
 to 18G0; William T. Phelan, 1863 to 1866; Richard 
 Coleman, 1866 to 1868 ; David P. Lindsley, 1868 to 
 1871 ; George F. Clarke, 1871 to 1883 ; Aaron Porter, 
 1883 to 1885 ; James Sallaway, 1885 to 1887; Walter 
 C. Pierce, 1888. 
 
 It is noticeable that since Rev. Joseph Dorr's 
 death, in 1768, out of the very long list of his sue-, 
 cessors, no minister of the parish has died in Mendon 
 except Rev. William H. Kinsley, who died in 1851. 
 
 With the diminution of population the attendance 
 on religious worship has steadily diminished, and few 
 now congregate where so many generations have suc- 
 cessively assembled ; but the parish, incorporated 
 separate from the town in 1784 and perfected 1792, 
 still exercises its corporate powers and retains its 
 property. 
 
 There were many who did not accept the Unitarian 
 views adopted by Mr. Doggett's followers, and in 1828 
 they organized the " North Congregational Church," 
 adopting in substance the creed and covenant dis- 
 carded or modified by the First Church. A meeting- 
 house was built in 1830 on Main Street, and Rev. 
 John M. Perry was ordained 1831. Rev. Thomas 
 Riggs had preached prior to this. Mr. Perry re- 
 signed in 1835 to become a missionary, and soon after 
 
MENDON. 
 
 383 
 
 he and his wife died in Ceylon of cholera. Rev. 
 Thomas Edwards was ordained 1836 and dismissed 
 1840. Rev. Andrew H. Reed preached from 1841 to 
 1848, followed for ahout three months by Rev. 
 Dwight. Rev. Charles Chamberlin was pastor from 
 1848 to 1851, when Methodist pastors were employed 
 till 18.53, followed by Rev. Demis for a brief period, 
 and the last pastor. Rev. E. Deraond, closed his labors 
 October 31, 1858, after about three years of labor. 
 The last two were Congregationalists. 
 
 The records of this church and society are very few. 
 It was always feeble. Their meeting-house was sold 
 in 1865 to the Methodis-t Episcopal Society, which many 
 of the North Church members had already joined. 
 
 The weakness of the North Church was so apparent 
 in 1851, that the hiring of a Methodist preacher was 
 generally approved by the society, and thereby much 
 support was gained. In 1853 this plan was abandoned 
 and the Methodists forced to leave. They accordingly 
 held their first meeting June 2, 1853, in the town 
 hall, organizing as a society June 9th. Immediate 
 eftbrts were made to raise funds to build a meeting- 
 house, and land had been bought and foundations 
 laid before 1855. During that year the walls were 
 raised seven feet, but the material was such that dur- 
 ing the winter following, it was greatly injured by the 
 weather. 
 
 Financial misfortunes to the manufacturing in- 
 terests of the place followed, resulting in a loss of 
 population and confidence severely felt by this society, 
 which had but from thirty-five to forty members from 
 the first — and in 1859 its creditors brought a suit, 
 settled only by a sale of its property. 
 
 From this misfortune recovery was slow, and it was 
 not till 1865 that they were able to buy the old North 
 meeting-house, which was repaired, remodeled and 
 dedicated in 1866. The church and society did not 
 continue to flourish, though preachers were regularly 
 sent for many years, closing in 1879. The pastors in 
 adjoining towns have, however, from time to time for 
 a few weeks, held services in the church, but not since 
 1886. The list of Methodist preachers is as follows. 
 Rev. C. S. McReading, located in 1851; Rev. G. 
 L. Hanaford, 1852; Rev. John L. Day, 1853; Rev. 
 Wm. Pentecost, 1854; Rev. G. R. Bent, 1856; Rev. 
 J. Emory Round, 1858 ; Rev. VV. A. Clapp, 1860 ; 
 Rev. L. B. Sweetser, 1861 ; Rev. W. M. Ayers, 1862 ; 
 Rev. Augustine "Caldwell, 1866; Rev. J. Mosely 
 Dwight, 1868; Rev. J. W. Coolidge, 1869; Rev. John 
 L. Locke, 1871 ; Rev. Joseph Williams, 1872; Rev. 
 Elisha Brown, 1873 ; Rev. Phineas C. Sloper, 1876 ; 
 Rev. George E. Hill, 1879. There was no pastor for 
 a part of 1862, and none during most of the time 
 between April, 1874, and April, 1876. 
 
 Each of the religious societies organized a Sunday- 
 school in connection with its other work, and some 
 have been formed in diflerent school district-*. That 
 of the First Parish is still doing its work, but there 
 has been no other in town for several years. 
 
 The Quakers maintained a meeting in Mendon vil- 
 lage from 1729, when their house was built, till 1841. 
 It is indeed likely they had meetings some years prior 
 to 1729. The East Blackstone Friends' Meeting- 
 House, at first known as the South Mendon Meeting- 
 House, was built in 1812. If Quakers were ever per- 
 secuted in Mendon, of which there are a few traditions 
 of doubtful authenticity, they appear to have been 
 generally well esteemed and their scruples duly re- 
 garded. In 1758 thirty-two were exempted from 
 military duty, in which list we find, among other names 
 well known, Aldrichs, BuflTums, Farnums and South- 
 wicks. In 1742 the town voted to grant the Quakers, 
 for the enlargement of their meeting-house yard, a 
 strip of land two rods wide, to be taken from the ten- 
 rod road, and there are other instances on record show- 
 ing similar regard for them. Moses Aldrich, 1690-1761, 
 was one of their noteworthy preachers laboring at 
 home and abroad. He was a descendant of one of the 
 early settlers and lived and died in Mendon. The old 
 meeting-house was sold, taken down and removed 
 in 1850. 
 
 CHAPTER LIX. 
 
 MENDON— (ro«////«t'(/.) 
 
 EDUCATIONAI, HISTORY AND CLOSING REMARKS. 
 
 Early Itecords and Tradition Concerning Schools — Notices of the Earliest 
 Teachers and School-Houses— School-Dames — TJte District System — The 
 Jlitjh'Sclmol — Some Noteworthy Ecents in Slendon^g Recent History and 
 its Pi-esent Status. 
 
 The early records in regard to schools are scanty. 
 The first is as follows : 
 
 1G07, July Hit. At A Generall Town Meetinge Grainted then to Coll. 
 William Crowne and to hi8 assigns and the present fliinister there shares 
 of meadow in that w** is called the Kucke Meadow, it they will hould out, 
 and v/^ is beyond Goodman Moore's Lott ; And the Scoole Meadow is 
 Reserved and soe ordered pte for A Scoole when y" Place is ahle to Blayn- 
 taine one, as alsoe that pte w*" is to be sutt out for the Oleeb Lott ia to 
 be there, but that pte of Meadow w^*" is for the scuol is Lieft to be agreed 
 on for ye quantity, and then if y* Coll. and Minister's sharesiu the Rock 
 Meadow want is to be made up here or In the North Meado not exceed- 
 ing 10 Acors. 
 
 In 1672 the town voted that a twenty-acre lot, 
 "with all the privileges that other lots of that size 
 have," be laid out near the ministry lot for the 
 school. In 1674 the school-master's home lot was 
 " laid out between John Aldrich's house lot and the 
 ten-rod highway that leads to the mill.'' The fatal 
 Indian attack soon followed, and no record of im- 
 portance of the year 1675 is found nor any at all after 
 that date till 1680. Even before 1675 there may have 
 been public school instruction, and it is hard to be- 
 lieve, as some do, there was none in Mendon till 
 1701. 
 
 There is, however, no definite record till the follow- 
 ing in that year, which shows that March 3, 1701, the 
 town passed a vote directing the selectmen, with Mr. 
 Grindal Rawson, the mini.-ter, " to treat with Dea- 
 
384 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 con Warfield, upon his refusal, with some other per- 
 son whom they shall judge suitable, to be a Schoole 
 Master to teach the children of thetowne to read, and 
 for this or any other person's encouragement in said 
 work the town shall pay ten pounds in good current 
 pay at money price, and each person sending children 
 to schoole to pay one penny a week." Thereupon 
 agreement was made with Deacon Warfield and 
 recorded. He was " to keep scool half a yeare and 
 to begin on Munday ye 14th of April next, and for 
 his pains to have five pounds in good current pay at 
 money price, and one penny a week for every child 
 that corns to scoolle." John Warfield, Sr., and 
 John Warfield, Jr., are both named in list of 1685, 
 and at a later date we know they occupied the lot 
 called in 1774 the " Schoolmaster's home lot." The 
 elder Warfield died April 12, 1692. 
 
 Deacon Warfield, the schoolmaster of 1701 and the 
 first known as such with certainty, held the position 
 till 1709 at least, and, perhaps, till 1712. January, 
 1709, the town voted to build its first school-house 
 twenty feet by sixteen and seven feet between joints. 
 It stood near Deacon Warfield's home lot, and most 
 likely where is now the George family cemetery. In 
 March of that year Rev. Grindal Rawson offered to 
 board A Latin scoolle master for four years" if the 
 town "would retain him," upon which the town 
 voted " that the towue accept of sd offer " and 
 "to give twenty pounds a year for that service." 
 Whether one was employed or not is not known. 
 
 November 12, 1712, the selectmen met in order to 
 procure a " Scoole Master, the Towne being destitute 
 of one," and met again December 13th, when Robert 
 Husse, from Boston, was hired. He came to Mendon 
 December 12th, and was to teach till May 1, 1713, for 
 which " he shall have," says the record, " five pound 
 paid him for his service and his Diet the s'' time, and 
 to begin" (boarding?) "at John Farnum's and ther 
 continue untill the 28th of January." 
 
 Martin Pearse was hired by the selectmen, in 1714, 
 to keep school at seventeen pounds for one year, with 
 " board and Dyett." 
 
 William Boyce followed in 1717, at twenty-eight 
 pounds a year. He continued till 1728. In 1721 his 
 contract contained the curious provision that he was 
 to keep a " Reading and Wrighting school during the 
 year, unless the Town should be presented lor want 
 of a Grammar School," when he was to " cease keep- 
 ing at ye Selectmen's order." ' A year later and 
 doubtless thereafter, the town apparently not having 
 been summoned before the grand jury, he continued 
 teaching at four places alternately, viz. : " At the 
 school-house, over the Mill River, at ye south end of 
 the town, and about the Great River" 
 
 1 The Province Acts of 161I2-9J fined towns with fifty householders 
 twenty pounds for failure to employ a niMter to teach reading and 
 writing. Those having one hundred householders were required to 
 employ a " grammar-school master," '* well-instructed in the tongues." 
 lu 1721 undoubtedly the selectmen believed there were in Mendon one 
 hundred householders. 
 
 Mr. Grindal Rawson, perhaps the first resident in 
 Mendon to graduate from Harvard College, was en- 
 gaged for six months after October 24, 1728, for a 
 salary of twenty-two pounds ten shillings. He was 
 the eleventh child of Rev. Grindal Rawson, had re- 
 cently left college and taught in 1729 and 1730. It is 
 probable he was the first to teach more than reading 
 and writing. He was afterwards minister at East 
 Haddam, Conn., dying there in 1777. His cousin, 
 Capt. William Rawson, an earlier graduate of Har- 
 vard, taught the Mendon school in the winter of 1729 
 -30, at the rate of forty-five pounds per year salary. 
 
 Samuel Terry taught a grammar school in 1733. 
 May 15, 1732, "School Dames" were authorized "to 
 keep school in the Outskirts of the Town," and thirty 
 pounds were appropriated for the purpose. These 
 were the first of the long list of women who have 
 adorned and elevated Mendon's public schools. 
 
 John Field followed Mr. Terry, teaching from 1735 
 to 1737 ; salary, forty- five pounds per year. He was 
 succeeded by Capt. William Rawson, 1735 to 1742, at 
 fifty pounds ; but after him Josiah Marshall taught at 
 nineteen pounds a year in bills of the " last emission." 
 The fluctuations of the colonial currency, or bills of 
 credit, make the rates of wages misleading. 
 
 By vote of the town, no schoolmaster was hired in 
 1743; but Mr. Mar,<hall taught again in 1744, and it 
 would appear continuously till the spring of 1747, 
 when the town voted not to employ him, and sold 
 their school-house for fourteen pounds, " old tenor." 
 In the autumn they voted to build a new one, the 
 same size as the first, at the north end of the Training 
 Field. This house stood near the present location of 
 A. W. Gaskill's barn, and was completed in 1749. 
 
 Mr. Marshall taught but four months in 1748, and 
 that in the old school-house. 
 
 In 1749 there was also a vote that the Grammar 
 School should not be kept in the new school -house, 
 and the next year there was a nearly unanimous 
 vote not to have Mr. Foster for their teacher, and to 
 have Mr. Dorr's son, Joseph, and Capt. Eleazer 
 Taft s son, Moses, " Keep school by Spells, as they 
 can agree." The same arrangement in substance 
 continued the next year, but with an added declara- 
 tion in favor of having Joseph Dorr when possible. 
 Both these teachers were Harvard graduates. 
 
 Between 1757 and 1760 the town's control of the 
 schools seems relaxed, and signs of a new system ap- 
 pear. The town left the settlement of school matters, 
 heretofore controlled by direct vote, to the selectmen, 
 and in 1760 we discover the existence of eleven 
 school districts, drawing, and doubtless expending, 
 the money they raised for schools under town au- 
 thority. 
 
 As late as 1751 there were but two school-houses, 
 that in the East Precinct (Milford) having been 
 built in that year. But it is clear that the several 
 districts took complete control of their schools after 
 1771, perhaps a little earlier. Little is to be learned 
 
MENDON. 
 
 385 
 
 of their progress from that time to 1790. In 1789 a 
 statute made it the duty of the ministers and select- 
 men to visit scliools and advise and examine the 
 scliolars. Their authority was not well defined, and 
 though they were doubtless interested and useful, 
 their position was one of honor and dignity rather 
 than of direct responsibility. From forty to one 
 hundred pounds were annually raised for schools, 
 and it is quite probable most of the schools were 
 taught in private dwelling-. In 1789 the town voted to 
 sell the old school-house on the " Training Field," and 
 in 1794 voted to raise six hundred pounds to build a 
 school-house in each district. Later this was re- 
 duced to a grant of three hundred pounds, for build- 
 ing and repairing school-houses. This was in- 
 creased by one hundred and fifty pounds in 1795, 
 and that in turn voted down, but finally, in 1797, six 
 hundred and sixty-six pounds were granted for 
 building and furnishing school-houses, committees 
 meanwhile having been chosen to supervise the 
 work, all of which shows a strong probability that 
 before 1800 each district had a school-house. In 
 1796 the first School Committee was chosen, but it is 
 not plain that the town did this every year after. It 
 was probably preferable for the most part to have 
 the ministers act. They generally had students fit- 
 ting for college or studying theology under their 
 tuition from 1700 to 1830, sometimes, as in Mr. Dog- 
 gett's case, maintaining an academy ; and their ap- 
 proval of students and teachers, too, was much de- 
 sired. Indeed, after 1789, teachers not college gradu- 
 ates must have it before they could lawfully teach. 
 
 From 1800 to 1827 from $600 to $800 was annually 
 raised for schools, and from $1200 to $1800 from 1827 
 to 1844. The income of proceeds of sales of school 
 lands made prior to 1727 had been applied to the 
 support of schools for a period not now known, but 
 it must have been an insignificant sum. After 1837 
 the income of $6927.64, received from the United 
 States out of the "surplus revenue," was also thus 
 applied till Blackstone was incorporated, in 1845, 
 when only $2118.19 was left for Mendon, and in 1880 
 this was used to reduce the town's general indebted- 
 ness. 
 
 The statute of 1826 introduced the effectual con- 
 trol of public schools by the School Committee. 
 They were first paid in Mendon in 1832, when $10.00 
 was voted them, " providing they are prompt and 
 regular in visiting the schools." The people clung 
 tenaciously to the district system, and jealously re- 
 served all possible control of the schools to the dis- 
 trict or prudential committees down to 1869, when 
 the system was abolished by law. Any fancied as- 
 sumption of undue control on the part of the town 
 committee was likely to be followed by the election 
 of a new board at the next town-meeting. 
 
 The school:!, however, progressed steadily, and from 
 the time of Grindal Rawson's graduation, in 1728, Men- 
 don has sent out students who have won scholarly fame 
 25 
 
 from New England colleges. Dr. Metcalf, in his "An- 
 nals," gives us the names of ten such graduates, all from 
 Harvard before 1800, and twenty-three graduates of 
 colleges or professional schools between 1800 and 1860. 
 After an apparent lull in educational interest, a new 
 zeal appeared to arise in the winter of 1867-68. It 
 manifested itself in a school, gathered by consent of 
 the school authorities, in the smallest school-house 
 and one of the most remote in situation in town, where 
 some of the more advanced pupils of various and dis- 
 tant schools assembled, and where they enjoyed in- 
 struction in studies more advanced than usual in such 
 schools. In view of the progress thus made and the 
 ambition aroused, the town voted in 1868 "to establish 
 a high school for the benefit of all the inhabitants " 
 to be kept in the town hall during the fall and winter 
 following. 
 
 Mr. Henry Whittemore, afterwards a successful 
 teacher and superintendent of schools in other towns, 
 achieved such a success here that the school was con- 
 tinued and has been ever since, though sustained by a 
 voluntary expenditure on the part of the town andoften 
 suffering from insufficient support and the errors of 
 inexperienced or ignorant instructors. But the in- 
 fluence of the school, imperfect though it be, has been 
 very great and has decidedly elevated educational 
 standards throughout the town. It may be worth not- 
 ing that the " Grammar School " of 1729-69, with its 
 instruction in mathematics and " the tongues," out- 
 ranked the common and " Dame" schools, was for the 
 benefit of the townspeople generally, and ended with 
 or about the time of the advent of the district system. 
 As that disappeared the town again assumed full con- 
 trol, and in its High School restored the ancient Gram- 
 mar School in a modernized form. The tenth anni- 
 versary of the High School was celebrated in 1878, 
 when the public testimony of its former members was 
 strongly in its praise as a power for good in their lives ; 
 later evidence is to the same effect. For the last fif- 
 teen years a majority of the town's teachers have been 
 taken from its High School. It is doubtful if, during 
 the ten years prior to its establishment ten of the 
 Mendon pupils of the common schools sought any 
 education in schools of higher grade, while in twenty 
 years since 1868 more than forty entered such higher 
 schools or colleges after taking the opportunities of- 
 fered in the Mendon High school. Of these at least 
 twenty have taken or will soon take diplomas from 
 such institutions. Among them are graduates from 
 Harvard, Dartmouth, Amherst, the Worcester Poly- 
 technic School, the State Normal Schools and schools 
 of law and medicine. 
 
 Such a record shows the town has not fallen back 
 in ambition or achievement in the line of educating 
 its children. 
 
 The names of teachers of Mendon High School and 
 time of service are : Henry Whittemore, 1868-70 ; Dan- 
 iel N. Lane, Jr., 1870-74; Benjamin F. Harmon, 
 1872: Ernest L. Scott, 1874-75 ; Parker P. Simmons, 
 
386 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 1875-76; Frank C. Meserve, 1877-78; F. A. Holden, 
 1878-79; Walter M. Wheelock, 1879-80; J. A. Joy, 
 1880-81 ; John C. Worcester, 1881-82 ; Walter S. 
 Bosworth , 1882-83 ; S. W. Ferguson, 1883-84; N. 
 Currier, 1884-85; O. C. B. Nason, 1885; Volney B. 
 Skinner, 1886; J. Q. Hayward, 1886-87; Hill Wil- 
 liams, 1887-88 ; Wendel Williams, 1888. 
 
 Closely allied to the educational history of Mendon 
 is the story of. the founding of the Taft Public Libra- 
 ry in 1881, by Mrs. Susan E. (Lee) Huston, late of 
 Providence, Rhode Island. Born in Mendon, July 
 17, 1824, and early orphaned, Mrs. Huston had es- 
 ' ceedingly limited opportunities for reading and but 
 little school education. Whatever advance she made 
 in learning she was wont to attribute to the influence 
 and aid of her older half-brother, Putnam W. Taft, 
 late of Worcester, but also a native of Mendon. At 
 his death Mrs. Huston received a share of his estate 
 and unselfishly determined to apply a large portion 
 thereof so that the people of her native town might 
 ever after enjoy what in her early days had been 
 denied to her, — an abundance of good books. To 
 this end she gave the town one thousand dollars to es- 
 tablish a free public library to be at once useful to the 
 living and a memorial of her brother, whose name it 
 bears, and who, in his lifetime, had expressed a desire 
 to do something of the kind. By the terms of the 
 gift the town is to provide a place for the library and 
 yearly add new books to the value of seventy-five dol- 
 lars, at least. This it has done, and after Mrs. Hus- 
 ton's death, July 4, 1884, unanimously voted to erect 
 a tablet to her memory iu its library building, already 
 adorned with her portrait and that of her brother. 
 The library has received gifts from time to time, and 
 now has over twenty-five hundred volumes, largely 
 standard works. It is very freely used, is greatly 
 valued and its founder held in grateful and loving re- 
 membrance. 
 
 No sketch of Mendon's history would be complete 
 ■which did not'notice a few events of minor importance 
 perhaps, but which, at the time of their occurrence, 
 attracted great and general interest. 
 
 Such was the erection in 1840 of Harrison Hall and 
 school-rooms beneath, and its purchase in 1849 by 
 the town, connected with which many acrimonious 
 contests and more than one lawsuit arose. Happily, 
 though in constant use ever since, the building, with 
 its lot recently enlarged, still remains, is in good repair 
 and useful as ever, while the bitter strifes of which it 
 was the occasion exist as faint memories alone. 
 
 Pleasanter recollections follow the town's bi-centen- 
 nial celebration in 1867, of which mention has been 
 made. Rev. Carleton A. Staples, one of the town's 
 favorite sons, now of Lexington, was orator of the day, 
 and Judge Henry Chapin, of Worcester, the poet; 
 General J(jhn M. Thayer, of Nebraska; Rev. Adin 
 Ballou, of Hopedale; Putnam W. Taft, Hons. Ira M. 
 Barton, E. B. Stoddard, Judge H. B. Staples, of Wor- 
 cester; Francis Deane, Esq., of Uxbridge; Rev. Lewis 
 
 F. Clarke, of Northbridge; Dr. M. D. Southwick, of 
 Blackstone; Hon. George B. Loring, of Salem, and 
 others, delivered addresses or read poems. There 
 were letters of regret read from Governor A. H. Bul- 
 lock, General B. F. Butler, Hons. Levi Lincoln, John 
 H. Clifford, George S. Boutwell, Emory Washburn, 
 Stephen Salisbury, Judge Charles Devens and others. 
 
 October 31, 1877, some hundreds of people assem- 
 bled to commemorate the one hundred and seventy- 
 fourth anniversary of the death of the pioneer. Ser- 
 geant Abraham Staples. Two of his descendants. 
 Rev. C. A. Staples and Judge H. B. Staples, on this 
 occasion dedicated a granite monument to his memory 
 and, with others of this well-known family, delivered 
 appropriate addresses. 
 
 There is in Mendon's old burying-ground, where this 
 Staples' monument stands, a stone bearing the name 
 of Deborah Read, and the date 1702, and one with the 
 name of Abraham Staples, and the date October 20, 
 1704, is next in antiquity. On the authority of Judge 
 Staples there are but five older ones known in the 
 county, all in Lancaster. 
 
 Another memorial stone, and very useful, also, in 
 the form of a large watering basin, highly finished, 
 and suitably inscribed in memory of Hon. David Joy, 
 originally from Nantucket, was given to the town by 
 his widow. It stands at the junction of Main and 
 Hastings Streets. Mr. Joy lived in Mendon, for seve- 
 ral years and died abroad in 1876. The basin was not 
 fully made over to the town till 1884, since which date 
 the town has kept it supplied. It was set up in 1877. 
 
 It is apparent that from the beginning what is now 
 Mendon always had a moderate growth in population. 
 From 1840 to 1875 it was probably about stationary, 
 having not far from twelve hundred inhabitants. 
 
 Compelled to rely upon its fertile farms, like 
 similar Massachusetts towns, it has long seen its sons 
 going to swell the population of larger places, but it is 
 still strong in self-respect and is evidently as much re- 
 spected as ever. Surrounded by the busy towns form- 
 erly within its limits, it seems content, in some mea- 
 sure, with thetraditions of its past, and to look on the 
 turmoil around something as a mother on her child- 
 ren .at play, without taking much part in their restless 
 activity. Its population in 1885, numbering only nine 
 hundred and forty-five, is largely of pure New Eng- 
 land stock, and it may be doubted if, in any town in 
 Worcester County, the people retain more of the habits 
 and sterling character of their New England ancestors.' 
 
 BIOGR.\PHIC.\L. 
 
 OBADIAH WOOD. 
 
 Mr. Wood was born in Uxbridge, Mass., March 16, 
 1773. He was the son of Solomon and grandson of 
 
 1 In tlie preparation of the foregoing, the " .\nnals of Mendon," com- 
 piled by Dr. Jolin G. Metcalf, and published by the town of Mention, 
 IStiO, uUo the published historical discourses of Rev. 0. A. Staples, have 
 beeu freely used. 
 
.*«*t5)k.'^\5H^ 
 
 ;^^v^^ 
 
 i^^i^^^^ 
 
BERLIN. 
 
 387 
 
 Obadiah. The subject of this sketch married Abey, 
 daughter of Israel Mowry, of Rhode Island, by whom 
 he had nine children. The early life of Mr. Wood 
 was spent as a farmer in the towns of Uxbridge and 
 Jlendon. He then learned the trade of a mechanic, 
 that of a wood-workman. The first of his work in 
 this line was the manufacture of chairs and spinning- 
 wheels. After the establishijient of factories along 
 our streams, Mr. Wood found his occupation partly 
 gone. He was next employed in some of these fac- 
 tories in the region where he li^ed in other lines of 
 wood-work. It is claimed for him that he wa- the 
 first bobbin-maker in this country, his orders coming 
 from all parts of the United States as time rolled on. 
 His bobbins also found their way to the South Ameri- 
 can States, — he was quite successful in this business. 
 While a resident of the. town of Mendon he was 
 honored by being chosen to fill all of the important 
 offices in the place. He was elected to the Legisla- 
 ture from Mendon in 18-35, and again in 1836. While 
 a member of that body he introduced a bill to reduce 
 the number of members to be chosen annually as mem- 
 bers of the House of Representatives. The bill was 
 favorably received, and became a law. He was at 
 one time chosen one of the State directors of what is 
 now the Boston and Albany Railroad. Mr. Wood was a 
 man of strong will-power, earnest in what he thought 
 to be right. In politics he was originally a Jackson- 
 ian Democrat, but, with the rise of the Republican 
 party, he saw the opportunity to do something to 
 check the advance of the slave power. Believing in 
 equal rights for all men, he united himself with the 
 new party, as the best means to accomplish the end 
 desired. 
 
 He was a man of sterling integrity, ever laboring 
 for the public good. All matters brought to his no- 
 tice were carefully weighed, and his decisions were 
 generally found to be correct, and in accordance with 
 right and justice. He is remembered as a lover of 
 books and as a skillful mechanic, who did much in 
 those early days of our history to advance the pros- 
 perity of the towns and county in which he lived, 
 leaving behind footprints not yet effaced. 
 
 He died July 29, 1852, at the ripe old age of 
 seventy-nine, respected by all who knew him. 
 
 CHAPTER LX. 
 BERLIN. 
 
 BY REV. W. A. HOUGHTON. 
 
 Ik introducing our modest little town to Worcester 
 County we have to say that we ought to have been 
 much larger. A line on the map touching Boston 
 and Albany justifies the scheme of some shrewd 
 capitalists of sixty years ago, of connecting the two 
 cities by canal (d la Erie), which would have divided 
 
 our town in halves. A speaker of our House of Rep- 
 resentatives lately said that had the project been 
 consummated, Boston would have been the metropolis 
 instead of New York. The Central Massachusetts 
 Railroad has, by nature, the pre-eminent " right of 
 way,'' which it has taken through Worcester County. 
 But other considerations besides directness determine 
 such issues. So, too, had Lancaster, when we were a 
 part of it, only accepted the county-seat, how differ- 
 ent would we have been, and all the northern Wor- 
 cester County towns ; great results follow inconsider- 
 ate action ! 
 
 As it is, Berlin is one of the eight towns of the 
 county having less than a thousand in population, 
 and two of these towns join us. Berlin, now bounded 
 north by Bolton, east by Hudson and Marlboro', 
 south by Northboro' and west by Boylston and Clin- 
 ton, is, territorially, a section of the original " ten 
 miles square" of Lancaster, and the southeast corner 
 of it. 
 
 From 1643 to 1738 we were of Lancaster,— almost 
 a century. We had two or three houses on Berlin 
 soil before the massacre of 1676, — one as early as 
 1665. That was John Moore's, who located southeast 
 of Wataquadock Hill. In the re-settlement of 
 Lancaster, the families clung to the Nashua River. 
 Berlin territory was not inhabited again probably 
 til! about 1700. Garrisons were maintained up to 
 1720. Bolton had two or three. Our territory had 
 none ; but several families had ventured within our 
 pre-sent bound-i about 1700. 
 
 Of early landholders of Berlin, of noticeable ex- 
 tent, were the Johnsons, of Woburn, who settled 
 on the south. Captain Edward Johnson, famous in 
 Woburn as one of its founders, was virtually court 
 surveyor under Governor Winthrop. With two others, 
 he was appointed to supervise the affairs of Lancaster, 
 when not enough " freemen " could be enrolled to do 
 it, not being church members. Hence, probably, his 
 acquaintance with Lancaster lands. 
 
 A great-grandson of his settled three sons, Edward, 
 Joshua and Eleazer, on farms which included most of 
 what is now South Berlin. Of these three brothers, 
 two of them married two sisters, daughters of James 
 Ball, of "Ball Hill," and sisters of the first of the 
 three celebrated doctors Stephen Ball, of Northboro'. 
 The other brother married a cousin of theirs, daughter 
 of Nathan Ball, brother to James, on the same hill, 
 Westboro' then, Northboro' now. The Johnsons were 
 prominent in the early history of Bolton and Berlin. 
 They came upon the stage about the time of the sep- 
 aration of Bolton from Lancaster, 1738. Dr. Joshua 
 Johnson, late of Northboro', was one of the last of 
 this family line in this vicinity. The name stood 
 strong in Berlin for a hundred and fifty years. An- 
 other branch settled in Leominster. The Lancaster 
 Johnsons were from Watertown. Our line stands 
 Edward, William, Edward, Edward, Jr., who located 
 here his sons. 
 
388 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Samuel Jones, Jr., a grandson of Josiah Jones, of 
 Watertown, progenitor, according to Bond, of the 
 American families of the name, was connected with 
 the Johnsons in Woburn by marriage, and settled near 
 them on the Assabet River, near our Marlboro' and 
 Northboro' lines. The Joneses were a family of like 
 standing, apparently, with the Johnsons. Here the 
 Joneses became more numerous for many years than 
 any other family. Samuel (2d), and third of the line, 
 bought of Benjamin Bailey one hundred and forty- 
 seven acres, 1748, covering all our present centre. One 
 single dwelling of account seems to have been in- 
 cluded. This became a hotel, an " inn " in those 
 days. Children and children's children came upon the 
 stage. They established homes mainly upon the first 
 purchase. The third and fourth Samuels raised here 
 their families. The third Samuel was "senior" as to 
 Berlin. The first two were of Concord and Woburn. 
 
 Two large families, Samuel (5th) and William, re- 
 moved to Marlboro'. N. H., 1810 and 1825. They 
 have well maintained the family name and character. 
 At present Mr. Ira Jones is sole male representa- 
 tive of the several energetic founders of Berlin. 
 
 Our Samuel, Sr., gave to the town its parish com- 
 mon and ground for cemetery. He was a valiant 
 patriot and " militant '' in any good cause. In the 
 ecclesiastical conflict between Rev. Mr. Goss and the 
 town, who desired to settle Mr. Walley, " Land'rd 
 Jones" was reported as praying that the Lord would 
 " overturn and overturn 
 
 Till Goss should lose his case 
 And VVftlley have his place." 
 
 In some way " Constable Jones " served in the ex- 
 ecution of Mrs. Spooner, in Worcester, 1778. So tra- 
 dition has it. 
 
 On the east of the town Stephen Gates and sons 
 held several hundred acres, including our principal 
 pond, bearing his name. Gates came from England, 
 1638, by way of Hingham and Cambridge to Lancas- 
 ter. Our Lancaster historians represent the family as 
 decidedly "tropical" in blood. Daughter Mary con- 
 fronted the minister in the public assembly. Prose 
 cuted, she shook oti' the dust of her feet and married 
 John Maynard, of Sudbury, and from them came 
 several good-blooded Maynard families to Berlin. But 
 the Gates name subsided. Some settled in Stow. The 
 Gateses were patriots in the wars. 
 
 Between the Gates lands on the east of the town 
 and Johnsons on the south came in John Wheeler 
 and John, Jr,, from the Concord Wheeler hive. They 
 have multiplied, " and still increase." The name, of 
 Jate years, has represented more families and persons 
 than any other. Their first home was on the south 
 of Sawyer Hill. Now they have a hill of their 
 own in the north part of the town. They have been 
 connected mostly with the Quakers, whose meeting- 
 house stands just over the Bolton line in Fryville. 
 
 The original Wheeler purchase was three hundred 
 and sixty-two acres in Marlboro'. The Assabet 
 
 Meadow is named. This of Thomas Henchman, by 
 " John Wheeler, of Concord, son of Obadiah Wheeler, 
 late of Concord, deceased." This John Wheeler died 
 in Marlboro', 1721. His son, John, about that time 
 moved on into Shrew.sbury (now Boylston), where he 
 died, leaving estate to his son John. 
 
 On the Marlboro' homestead, now in Berlin, Jona- 
 than, son of John, Jr., Appears with family, 1752. He 
 is the hTead of the Berlin families. George Tol- 
 man, of Concord, has made a thorough development 
 of the Concord Wheelers from their immigration, cor- 
 recting many errors. 
 
 Sons Jonathan, Jr., Stephen and Levi settled in 
 Berlin; Perigrine in Richmond, N. H.; Jonathan, Jr. 
 married Mary Buffum, of which blood all her descend- 
 ants think very much ; they hold a yearly picnic the 
 day after the August " Quarterly Meeting." 
 
 Berlin on the west was peopled by Lancaster 
 inhabitants from the Nashua. Philip Larkin, of 
 Irish descent, established our " Larkindale." Sin- 
 gularly there gathered round him othf-r nationali- 
 ties till the region was known as the "Six Nations." 
 Philip left a vigorous posterity, well represented as 
 yet. But he disappeared in early old age, leav- 
 ing for Baltimore. No further trace of him 
 from about 1750 till a Berlin soldier came across 
 his grave and tablet in Poolesville, Md., 1862. He 
 owned here several hundred acres of land, which he 
 distributed mostly among his sons. His neighbors 
 suggested tiiat he left to have, at last, the offices of 
 the Catholic Church. There was no such church 
 nearer at that date. The suggestion has reason in 
 it. Tradition has it that Philip, by collusion with 
 the captain of the ship, evaded his military enroll- 
 ment in the King's army. He found employment 
 with Rev. John Prentice, of Lancaster. On the 
 north, almost the entire section of the town was 
 owned by the Lancaster Houghtons. John Hough- 
 ton, born in England, was among the first proprie- 
 tors of the " ten miles square '' of Lancaster. Be- 
 fore the Rowlandson massacre, 1675, he had land 
 three miles from the home settlements. His sons 
 succeeded to the same after his death, 1684. Two of 
 the sons settled on Berlin territory. Some of that 
 land was in the same name for six generations, 
 1675-1825. The writer of this now alone represents 
 that name in Berlin. The Houghtons vied with the 
 Wilders and Willards in Lancaster as to numbers. 
 John Houghton, second born, 1650, died 1737, was 
 one of Lancaster's most noted citizens. A majority, 
 perhaps, of the Lancaster Houghtons fell into 
 Bolton, 1738. Robert, son of John, Sr., was the 
 progenitor of the principal Berlin line. The fore- 
 going were our earliest settlers. 
 
 Some other names will appear in their special lo- 
 calities. In point of time as to settlement. Sawyer 
 Hill is first. Gates Poud lies at its eastern base. 
 Josiah Sawyer, grandson of the famous Thomas Saw- 
 yer, Jr., of Indian fame and captivity, who redeemed 
 
BERLIN. 
 
 389 
 
 himself and sou by introducing into Canada the first 
 Baw-mill, settled on Gates Hill, now Sawyer Hill, 
 about 1740. 
 
 Here he reared, and nurtured in all good training, 
 a large family. He was first deacon of the Berlin 
 Church. At last he divided his estate among his four 
 sons, William, Aholiab, Josiah and Silas. The hill 
 is still represented by a great-grandson, Jonas Sawyer. 
 One of the homesteads has of late been the residence 
 of Madam Rudersdorf, the famous teacher of music 
 and voice culture. " Lake Side " she called it, for its 
 view of the lake and many distant mountains. Ber- 
 lin Centre lies in the valley on the west of the hill. 
 The Sawyer name has ever been largely represented 
 in Berlin, socially and religiously. 
 
 William Sawyer, son of Deacon Josiah, was a 
 thorough patriot. He married into the prominent 
 Barrett family, of Bolton. William Sawyer Newton, 
 town clerk of Brattleboro', grandson of Cotton New- 
 ton, of the Marlboro' and Northboro' line, an early 
 settler here, represents the Sawyer and Barrett fami- 
 lies in Vermont. 
 
 Major Oliver Sawyer, deacon of the Orthodox Church 
 in Berlin, and Amos, his brother, deacon of the Uni- 
 tarian Church, both reared here influential families. 
 They were sons of William Sawyer and Hannah Bar- 
 rett. Amos, Jr., was thirty years chorister in the 
 same house of worship, also several years a Repre- 
 sentative in the Legislature. Two sons of Dea. Oliver 
 also repeatedly served the town in this capacity. 
 
 Hon. Henry O. Sawyer, merchant, of West Boylston, 
 and his partner, Walter Barrett Sawyer, are grand- 
 sons of Dea. Oliver. Their father, Oliver Barrett 
 Sawyer, was their predecessor in their business. 
 
 Wheeler Hill, named from early settlers and con- 
 tinued occupancy, is an offshoot from the Bolton and 
 Indian Wataquadock. It is within bugle-sound of 
 Sawyer Hill and several others partially encircling it, 
 Jonathan Wheeler, Jr., of the fourth generation, was 
 its first occupant, 1778. 
 
 Baker Hill is another spur of Wataquadock, more 
 westerly. Hon. Samuel Baker, associate judge of the 
 Court of Common Pleas and fourteen years a Senator, 
 settled on the hill in 1765. The hill is now in occu- 
 pancy of a great-grandson, Alden Sawyer. Samuel 
 Baker is the only family name in Berlin which we 
 cannot trace back a single link. To us he is a genuine 
 Melchisedec. We can do something with John Smith, 
 but Samuel Baker we surrender; yet his name has 
 honored the town more, perhaps, than any other. 
 
 Barnes Hill is our western outlook. A finer view is 
 seldom obtained. Doubtful if any other such fine 
 view of Wachusett and intervening hills can be named. 
 Fortunatus Barnes, of Marlboro', settled on this out- 
 look, 1765. He cleaned up the hill of all squatters, 
 settlers and owners, save one, Phineas Howe, whose 
 great-grandson still "holds the fort," Silas Sawyer 
 Greonleaf. None but these two homesteads have ever 
 had a footing on this most sightly crest. In 1805 the 
 
 Centennial was pleasingly observed. The Barnes' 
 hospitality was abundant and fully appreciated. 
 
 Hon. Charles Hudson, whose father had lived within 
 musket range, on Ball Hill, partly in Berlin and partly 
 in Northboro', honored the occasion by an address. 
 
 Berlin cherishes the names of Fortunatus Barnes 
 of Marlboro' and Persis Hosmer of Concord, both of 
 historic families. They have largely contributed to 
 our character and standing. Their son, Capt. William 
 Barnes, married into the vigorous Goddard stock, then 
 already established on the eastern slope of Barnes Hill- 
 The son did honor to the family name, and maintained 
 the paternal acres in the best order of husbandry till 
 his death, 1851. No fruit to-day excels the product of 
 Barnes Hill. 
 
 Artemas Barnes, only son of Captain William and 
 Hannah (Goddard) Barnes, generously erected, 1876, 
 a costly monument to the memory of Rev. Dr. Puf- 
 fer; also to Lieut. Timothy Bailey, who died in the 
 Revolutionary service. He gave also the site on 
 which our town-house stands. His life-size portrait 
 adorns the Town Hall. He married Nancy Meriamt 
 a lateral branch of the Lexington and Berlin stock. 
 He died in Worcester, 1877, aged eighty years. 
 
 Before naming other families, a view from Barnes 
 Hill may give us the best idea of the town territori- 
 ally. On the west the land rises from the Nashua 
 River, in Clinton, so that it sheds its water not into 
 the river near by, but carries it across the township 
 into the Assabet. The surface is generally uneven, 
 but of a more than ordinary fertility. 
 
 Berlin streams are small, except the Assabet, which 
 flows through the southeast border and receives afflu- 
 ents from other towns. The Centre and the South 
 village are not an intervale proper, but from Barnes 
 Hill seem bounded by it and Baker Hill, Wheeler 
 Hill and Sawyer Hill. North Brook, formed by 
 streams from the north part of the town, and Larkin- 
 dale, divides the lower area, tending to the Assabet. 
 The Centre contains three churches, town-house, 
 school-house, post-oflSce and a store of common va- 
 riety. A hotel was burned 1883. 
 
 This valley, to the Assabet, is dotted with farms, 
 farm-houses and Old Colony Railroad station. South 
 Berlin village, at the south end of the valley, is quite 
 a flourishing part of the town. West Berlin, at the 
 northeastern foot of Barnes Hill, is the most active 
 business point of the town. The Old Colony Railroad 
 has given it life and energy. The C. M. Railroad 
 makes there a junction with it. The iron bridge of 
 the latter, spanning Felton's mill-pond and the O. C. 
 Railroad, is a very fine structure. 
 
 Carterville is a cluster of a score of houses, store, 
 &c., just north of the churches. Here, too, is the C. 
 M. Railroad station. Very few localities present 
 such a horizon-view as Barnes Hill in Berlin. 
 
 We waited long for the Rail, but it came at last. 
 Four trains for Boston daily and return on the O. C. 
 and three on the C. M. On the latter one hour plus 
 
390 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 by way of Hudson, Wayland, Waltham, &c. By the 
 game road, within one hour of Worcester, by way of 
 Oakdale and the Nashua, three times daily. The 
 O. C. Northern Division embraces Fitchburg, Leo- 
 minster, Clinton, Berlin, Northboro', Marlboro', 
 Southboro', Framingham, &c. We look for " Berlin 
 Junction," now partial, at West Berlin. Few towns 
 have better railroad facilities. Very few, within 
 thirty miles of Boston, have more enjoyable scenery. 
 We have also daily stage express to Hudson Station 
 on the Fitchburg. 
 
 Returning to family names, Benjamin Bailey, ad- 
 joining the Johnsons, and of whom Samuel Jones 
 bought what is now Berlin Centre, owned much be- 
 sides ; six hundred acres at least. He bought " rights," 
 exchanged and consolidated, till he held in one solid 
 block, apparently, a third part of our jnesent town- 
 ship, and that nearly in the centre. He came in from 
 Marlboro', 1718; was a descendant, probably, of Rev. 
 Thomas Bailey, of Watertown. Rev. Benjamin Bai- 
 lay, of Portland, Marblehead, now of Maiden, is of 
 the fourth generation from Benjamin, of Berlin, "The 
 places that know them shall know them no more." 
 Sons and sons' sons were many years leading citizens 
 here. For forty years the name has not been enrolled 
 in Berlin, save as adopted by a lateral descendant to 
 keep it up. A brother of Benjamin, Barnabrs Bailey, 
 had a large farm, including, at his door, what is now 
 the Old Colony Railroad Station for Berlin Centre and 
 South Berlin. Col. Silas Bailey v/as a younger brother. 
 His son. Lieutenant Timothy, died in the Revolu- 
 tionary service. The colonel got somewhat into sym- 
 pathy with the Shays' Rebellion. 
 
 William Babcock, of the Dedham and Marlboro' line, 
 settled here about 1770. He was our only Cincinnatui, 
 so far as we can affirm, who left his plough in the 
 furrow, and hastened to Lexington at the alarm gun 
 fired from the "Jones tavern." The Babcock name 
 has ever headed our list of citizens, the letter A re- 
 fusing, almost wholly, to serve us till lately. Five 
 generations from William, inclusive, are on our re- 
 cords and still well represented. Reuben Babcock, 
 father of William, lived in Marlboro', Westboro' and 
 Northboro', without moving, near the present Corey 
 farms. 
 
 Adam Bartlett, of Marlboro', with wife, Persis Bab- 
 cock, sister of William,'of Northboro', took possession 
 of the " Stone-house," Baker Hill, about 1808. Sons 
 and daughters were born to them, ten in number, but 
 the one destroyer has left us but one representative, 
 Amory Adam,of the fourth generation. A Sawyer and 
 Bartlett Association hold annual picnic meetings at 
 the Stone-house about the 1st of September. 
 
 The name Bassett is modern in I3erlin, but honor- 
 ably represented. Three brothers came from Rich- 
 mond, N. H., 185(;, with their venerable parents, of 
 the Society of Friends. Elisha settled on one of our 
 best farms, on the Assabet ; William, in the same 
 vicinity ; Ahaz settled in Hudson. Hon. William 
 
 Bassett is the author of a comprehensive history of his 
 native town, Richmond, N. H. He was Senator of 
 his district, 1864. 
 
 Thomas and Samuel Brigham came in from that 
 most numerous stock of Marlboro', and traceable to 
 Thomas, of Watertown, 1635. Samuel left no son. 
 Thomas and wife, Asuba Babcock, left Thomas and 
 Paul. No son succeeded these. They both lived by 
 the present central station of the Old Colony Railroad. 
 
 The Barber mills (Nathan) were a focus of promi- 
 nent interest from 1777-1812. Later they were the 
 Carter mills, Polland mills, now Felton's, West Berlin. 
 Whence Barber cime is not indicated. The family 
 ceased from our records sixty years ago. 
 
 Bride, formerly McBride, is a name first represented 
 here by Alexander, from Ireland and Charlestown, 
 174-5-50. The families were numerous fifty years 
 ago. Only two at present in Berlin. All the sons- 
 John, James and Thomas — were more or less in the 
 colonial armies. 
 
 Bruce is Scotch. Our records have borne the name 
 a hundred and fifty years. They were a family of 
 soldiers, in the Freuch and Indian Wars, also in the 
 Revolution. They came from Sudbury. John and 
 Roger, of Marlboro', jsreceded Daniel, the head of 
 Berlin families. We cannot give the date of immi- 
 gration. 
 
 James Butler was of Woburn and Lancaster. 
 James, Jr., without moving, was of Lancaster, Bolton 
 and Berlin. The name was but a few years on Ber- 
 lin records till recently. Lancaster, Bolton and Leo- 
 minster took in most of them. Their Lancaster 
 homes were west of Clam-shell Pond. 
 
 Christopher Banister Bigelow,of the Marlboro' line, 
 so ancient, reared a large family, five or six of whom 
 have reared other families within our borders. One 
 only on our records at present. Abraham Bigelow, 
 of Northboro', is son of Christopher. 
 
 The Carter families of Berlin, always relatively nu- 
 merous, are of the Woburn stock. Rev. Thomas 
 Carter was first minister of that enterprising town. 
 The Carters were early settlers in Lancaster, and of 
 the most vigorous blood. A full score of the families 
 have made their homes on Berlin territory down to 
 the ninth generation from Rev. Thomas. Chandler 
 Carter, late benefactor of the town, has a personal 
 record on another page. 
 
 Cartwright, Francis James, came from England 
 about 1840, with sons Daniel and Algernon, and 
 daughter Elizabeth. Parents and daughter have de- 
 ceased. 
 
 Carley, Job and Silas, were transferred to Berlin 
 from Marlboro' in the construction of the town- 
 Kerley was the original form of the family name, 
 pronounced Karley,— hence Carley. Their home 
 was on the Assabet. The progenitor was William, of 
 Watertown, 1G42, He was an original j'roprietor of 
 lands both in Marlboro' and Lancaster. In Lancas- 
 ter he married, second wife, the mother of Minister 
 
BEELIN. 
 
 391 
 
 Eowlandson. His brother Henry's family were 
 killed in the Eowlandson massacre. This brought 
 Henry back to the Assabet, where he settled. The 
 Berlin Carleys were his descendants. Their early 
 connections were in the best families of Marlboro' 
 and Lancaster. Job Carley, the last on our records, 
 died here 185(5, not of "small-po.K," as put on record. 
 That visitation of the family was fifty years earlier. 
 
 Cotting, George A., resident in Berlin, Boylston, 
 now of Hudson, has honored his ancestry in erecting 
 in Berlin's new cemetery a sightly and impressive 
 granite monument bearing the Cotting genealogy of 
 his line from the immigration. Josiah, of Roxbury, 
 1637, heads the line, later of Lancaster. Others of 
 kin settled in Kew York City, and appeared under 
 the name of Cutting. Cotting is the original. Jo.siah, 
 Jr., was a Revolutionary soldier of Sterling; Josiah 
 (3d) was physician of Southboro'; Josiah (4th) married 
 daughter of Capt. William Barnes, of Berlin ; George 
 A. is their son. 
 
 Coolidge : Many in the region, Bolton and Hudson. 
 John, of Watertown, 1636, is counted as head of the 
 
 American families. His wife was Mary . Had 
 
 Mary, Sarah, Stephen and Jonathan, and John, Jr., 
 who settled in Sherborn. Berlin families have been 
 Stephen, Moses, Josiah, Caleb. 
 
 A branch of the Northboro' Fays, descendants of 
 John, of Boston, 1656, settled in Berlin, 1804. Dexter 
 was deacon of the church. His children and children's 
 children still abide. He owned a fine farm on the 
 height of land next to Northboro' line, till of late in 
 the family name. It is now a "gilt edge" butter 
 dairy. The Morse family has been represented in 
 Berlin for fifty years. Aaron Ward, of Marlboro', 
 descendant of Joseph, of Watertown, 1635, settled 
 hers 1837; was succeeded by his son Symon on the 
 Assabet, one of the best farms of the region. Wins- 
 low B. Morse, on the old " Brigham place," Old Colony 
 Station, is of a collateral branch. Amory C, de- 
 ceased, was his brother. 
 
 Feltons in Berlin are modern and came from Marl- 
 boro' 1830— iO. Jacob and sons, Otis and Merrick. 
 Two brothers from Scotland by the name of Fife 
 came over about 1730. They located as neighbors in 
 Lancaster, but territorial divisions left one family in 
 Bolton the other in Berlin. The Berlin branch, by 
 James, became numerous. They were enterprising 
 and scattered themselves in several States. Dr. John 
 William Fyfe, of Saugatuck, Conn., is their genealo- 
 gist. The William Fyfe line, much esteemed, is 
 represented solely by William E. Fyfe, of Clinton, 
 Mas^., the fourth William and fourth generation. 
 
 The Fo'igateg for a hundred and fifty years have 
 clung to Gates Pond, in East Berlin. We trace to 
 Robert, sometimes of Jlarlboro', sometimes of Bolton. 
 Back of Robert the ancestry is obscure. It is the only 
 ancient family among us who still hold their own in 
 a half-score of families. 
 
 Five generations of the well-known Goddard family 
 
 have dwelt among us; all descended from Edward, a 
 stanch old Puritan in days of the hated Charles I. 
 Edward " lost all things " for liis religion. William, 
 his son, lost all by the London fire and speculation 
 in New England investments. Josiah, son of William, 
 made a good farmer in Watertown, and William, his 
 son, made a good miller on North Brook, now South 
 Berlin. One name alone, Marcus Morton Goddard, 
 represents, to-day, in Berlin, all these generations. 
 They were among our earliest and most vigorous 
 families. 
 
 A family of genuine vigor were the Fairbanks. 
 Jonas was a first proprietor of Lancaster. His son 
 Jabez become a terror to all Indians within scouting 
 distance. Jabez, Jr., and a son of his settled on 
 Berlin premises. TheGoddards and Fairbanks joined 
 hands in the marriage of James Goddard, Jr., of the 
 sixth generation, and Keziah Fairbanks, great-grand- 
 daughter of Jabez, Sr., in 1785. 
 
 Hartshorn was a name unknown in Berlin up to 
 1840. Dr. Edward, son of Rev. Levi Hartshorn, 
 who died at Gloucester in early prime, came to Ber- 
 lin after his graduation at Harvard Medical College. 
 He was then the youngest practicing physician in 
 Worcester County. He married a daughter of Solo- 
 mon Howe, Esq., and settled in professional life. 
 Besides laborious practice, he did much to improve 
 the town by various enterprises. He was chairman 
 in committee for building the present tasteful and 
 becoming town-house, 1869. 
 
 Dr. H.artshorn was for seventeen years superin- 
 tendent of the Congregational Sunday-school. He 
 sold his professional interests in the town, 1854, and 
 with his two sons engaged in the manufacture of 
 family medicines, which business he removed to 
 Boston and followed with his family, 1871. 
 
 Edward Howe, son of Dr. Hartshorn, retained his 
 home in Berlin and succeeded his father as superin- 
 tendent of the Sabbath-school sixteen years. Death 
 severed the connection. He married the daughter of 
 Rev. Wm. A. Houghton, 1869. She died 1876. Sec- 
 ond, he married a daughter of R. S. Hastings. He 
 died June 8, 1887, at forty-four years. He repre- 
 sented his district, embracing Berlin, Clinton and 
 Bolton, in Legislature, 1869 ; was the youngest mem- 
 ber, save one, in the House. The first marriage of 
 Edward H. Hartshorn and that of his only brother 
 to only daughter of James Mayuard, of Clinton, were 
 on the same day ; being the silver wedding of Rev. 
 W. A. Houghton and wife. A great concourse of 
 people were present. The elder brother and the 
 mother of his first two children now lie side by side 
 in the silence of the grave, under the national flag. 
 
 Hastings : Four branches of this family of ancient 
 history have given character to Berlin. It is pleasant 
 to know that we have some early blood in America 
 besides the British and the Irish. No doubt the 
 Hastings are true Danes. Mrs. Lydia Nelson (Hast- 
 ings) Buckminster, of Framingham, the family gene- 
 
392 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 alogist, gives us — 1664-1864 — about one thousand of 
 the name and three times as many of the blood, hav- 
 ing " homes from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, 
 and from the Gulf of the St. Lawrence to the tropical 
 regions of South America." Thomas, born in Eng- 
 land, 1605, and Margaret Cheney, of Roxbury, are 
 the progenitors. Nathaniel, Jr., of the fourth genera- 
 tion, was first on Berlin territory about 1765. He had 
 a large family. His wife was Elizabeth Goodnow. 
 He was a soldier in the French War — 1755-62 — also 
 in Revolutionary service. 
 
 Ephraim Hastings, of the fifth generation, married 
 Achsah Sawyer, of Lancaster, and settled in Boylston, 
 where his children were born, and where his wife, 
 Achsali, died. He married (2d) Almira, daughter of 
 Rev. Dr. Puffer, of Berlin. He bought the Edward 
 Johnson homestead, where he died, 1855. His only 
 son, Captain Christopher Sawyer, at the outbreak of 
 the Rebellion, though exempt by age from military 
 service, voluntarily organized a company and ottered 
 himself for service. He was in the battle of Fred- 
 ericksburg, Vicksburg and at the capture of Jackson, 
 Miss. Smitten by the small-pox, he rallied and 
 reached Mound City Hospital, 111., where he died 
 of malarial fever, September 8, 1863. He was buried 
 with civic and military honors beside his own home- 
 stead, in our new cemetery, which he had done much 
 to adorn. 
 
 Captain Hastings was a man of public enterprise, 
 and executed many important trusts of the town. 
 The trees of the highway, from his own domicile to 
 his final resting-place, bear witness to his public 
 spirit. His farm of generous acres, in the hands of his 
 sons, represents, perhaps, the best specimen of mod- 
 ern agriculture and gardening of this vicinity. The 
 family have presented to the G. A. R. Post his life-size 
 likeness in crayon. 
 
 Rufus S. Hastings, twenty-five years merchant and 
 postmaster in Berlin, was separated from the -other 
 Berlin Hastings families in the third generation. His 
 father. Major Rufus, and grandfather, Colonel Ste- 
 phen, were of the most prominent farmers of Sterling, 
 and just south of Washacum Ponds. Their line con- 
 nected them with the Northboro' Balls of Ball Hill, 
 from Watertown, and with Deacon Jona. Livermore, 
 the centeuarian, who lived in three centuries — died 
 1801. Samuel Hastings, of the second generation, 
 and Sarah Coolidue were their progenitors. Thomas 
 and Margaret (Cheney) Hastings were before these. 
 
 Thomas Holder, son of Thomas, direct from England 
 married, in Mendon, Sarah Gaskill, 1777, and came to 
 Berlin. Both were effective preachers, of the Quaker 
 persuasion. Four sons honored their name and Chris- 
 tian faith: Daniel and Thomas, of Berlin, Joseph, of 
 Bolton, and David, of Clinton. All are deceased. I 
 find the names Gaskill and Holder among the Quakers 
 in their persecutions in the old Bay Colony. Samuel 
 Gaskill, 1662, married Provided Southwick, daughter 
 of Lawrence and Cassandra. 
 
 John Hudson, father of Hon. Charles, preacher and 
 legislator, was a member of Berlin Church, and died 
 here 1799. The Hudsons were a family of patriots, and 
 soldiers as well. 
 
 Phineas Howe, of the Marlboro' John Howe line, 
 came in by way of Shrewsbury, then Boylston, about 
 1760. His daughter Polly, who married Abel Baker, 
 son of Judge Baker, raised, in Concord, N. H., a 
 family remarkable for physical development. One 
 son measured six feet, nine and one-half inches in his 
 stockings. Ata recent silver wedding of Silas Green- 
 leaf, a great-grandson of Phineas, on the ancestral 
 spot, the trait was observable in the sixth generation, 
 grandsons of Mr. Greenleaf. 
 
 Solomon Howe, also of Marlboro', came much later, 
 1803 ; bought of the Joneses most of what is now Ber- 
 lin Centre. He kept a store, also a public " Inn." It 
 was the dining-place for stage passengers between 
 New Braintree, Barre, Rutland and Boston, 1827-40. 
 
 Berlin Howards are of Shrewsbury — Timothy, Tim- 
 othy, Jr., and sons. 
 
 The name Jewett has an abiding- place in Berlin 
 records for a hundred years. Jesse, probably from 
 Rowley, with the Spaffords, settled here 1779 ; married 
 into the Johnson family. The third and fourth gene- 
 rations survive. A son of Jesse, Jr., was major in the 
 New Jersey militia in the late war, suffered a severe 
 wound in the "sword-arm," as he was leading his men 
 in battle. 
 
 The Keyes name is modern in Berlin, represented 
 by David, Ziba and their children. Their remotest 
 American ancestor was Robert, of Watertown, 1633. 
 Several of the family name settled in Shrewsbury and 
 Boylston. The Berlin families are of the Shrewsbury 
 branch, Dea. John Keyes. His son Thomas married 
 into the Livermore family, of Ball Hill. Thomas, Jr., 
 was father to David and Ziba. 
 
 The Maynards are of most ancient lineage. Our 
 families are traceable to John, of Sudbury, 1638, and 
 Mary Gates, of Lancaster, who confronted the minis- 
 ter. Barnabas, Jotham and Jotham, Jr., were life- 
 long citizens. Two other Maynard families succeeded 
 them, — George, of Marlboro,' and George W., from 
 Great Bend, Pa. George W. represented his district 
 in the Legislature, 1859. 
 
 The Meriams were influential here from 1765 to 
 184.5-50. Amos, from Lexington, of the well-known 
 Concord family, married into the Danforth family, of 
 "Cambridge Farms." Joseph Meriara, Esq., of New 
 Yiirk City, is their genealogist (manuscript). 
 
 Jonathan Moore, of the John Moore line, of Sud- 
 bury, 1650, has been followed in Bolton and Berlin by 
 seven generations. Warren E. Moore and brothers, 
 of Northboro', are the later representatives of Bei-lin 
 origin. 
 
 James R. Park, of Holliston, descended of Richard, 
 of Watertown, 1636, became the owner of the God- 
 dard mills and other estate in South Berlin, 1790,— a 
 family of respectability and good influence in Berlin 
 
BERLIN. 
 
 393 
 
 for three generations. His son, Colonel Joseph, sev- 
 eral years Bepresentative to the Lefrislature, and his 
 only ?on, Russell, returned to Holliston, where the 
 father died. 
 
 The Berlin Pollards were of Billerica, and descend- 
 ants of William and Anna, from Coventry, England, 
 1638. The Berlin families appear about 1720-30, 
 then a part of Bolton, where a majority have since 
 lived. Anna Pollard, wife of William, was the first 
 female who set foot on Boston soil. She lived to her 
 hundred and fifth year. Her portrait is in the Old 
 South Church, Boston. 
 
 Joseph Priest and wife Hannah, born 1GS4, are the 
 eldest born of any in Berlin Cemetery — -just two hun- 
 dred years before our incorporation as a precinct. He 
 was from W^oburn, and came by way of Lancaster. 
 Had a large family, which was represented in three 
 or four succeeding generations. A son of his, Joseph, 
 Jr., gave the town, by will, five hundred dollars, our 
 first school fund, to be appropriated to schools alone. 
 
 Captain Henry Powers, of unknown lineage, was an 
 early settler on Baker Hill, about 1770. Had a large 
 family, but they did not tarry after the second genera- 
 tion. A grandson of his was killed by murderous 
 assault in Grafton, 1840. 
 
 Solomon Rathburn, from Rhode Island, settled in 
 Berlin about 1840. His son, Thomas, was the first 
 enrolled soldier of Berlin in the late war ; the first 
 also of Berlin soldiers to die in the high calling. 
 Another son, James, also entered the service. Charles 
 B. is of our progressive farmers on Baker Hill. 
 
 Of Southwicks — historic name of Puritan days — 
 we have several families, veritable descendants of 
 Lawrence and Cassandra, the first to suffer persecu- 
 tion here for opinion's sake; more accurately, per- 
 haps, for opposing others' opinions and refusing to 
 conform to the arbitrary laws on religious matters. 
 Lawrence and Cassandra were certainly inoffensive, 
 except in non-conformity. Had the defiers of mar- 
 tyrdom been like them, none would have been hung, 
 defiling the history of the Colony and shaming the 
 Puritan posterity. It is humiliating to read the 
 atrocities inflicted in the name of the law, and sad 
 to know the frenzy of honest souls in the name of 
 religion. 
 
 One of the fifth generation — David — and Mary 
 Sweet located on Berlin soil about 1780. They had 
 a most worthy family of thirteen children. Three 
 families of grandchildren of like character abide 
 with us. 
 
 The SpaflTord name has stood by us from the first 
 up to date. The name is the oldest, historically, of 
 any on our records. Our Lancaster " Book of Lands" 
 seems to us quite ancient. But the veritable Spaf- 
 ford name is in the "Doomsday Book" of William 
 the Conqueror, of England, lOCG. (See SpafJbrd Me- 
 morial, Aphia T. Spofford, Groveland, Mass., 1888.) 
 Rowley was the American family hive, then compri- 
 sing Georgetown, Groveland and other places. From 
 
 1638 to 1888 about fifty-five hundred names are 
 registered. The Berlin line stands, — John, John (2d), 
 Samuel of Lancaster (now Boylston), his two sons, 
 Job and Samuel, settling here in our early town life. 
 Samuel is still represented in grandchildren. 
 
 Shattuck, Elijah C, representative 1875, is our 
 only citizen of the name. 
 
 Young is a name duly cherished in Berlin. The 
 Berlin family originated in Phillipston, children 
 of Oliver and Grace (Kelly) Young. Miss Nancy 
 Young, of her own earnings and frugality, bequeathed 
 to our town fifteen hundred dollars as a school fund. 
 She and an unmarried brother died on the old South- 
 wick homestead, now Paul Randall's, who came in 
 from Boltoa. 
 
 The name of Tyler is among the more recent in 
 Berlin. They were of Warwick, and connected with 
 the Bassetts. They represent our best stock-raisers 
 and dairying. Their brother-in-law, William Lawson, 
 has erected the finest mansion in the town, on 
 Sawyer Hill, the " Lakeside " home of the late Madam 
 Rudersdorf. 
 
 The geology of Berlin has never been scientifically 
 stated. We surrender, for prudential reasons. 
 
 The Central Massachusetts Railroad opened inter- 
 esting specimens. One was a large vein of graphite. 
 The northwest part of the town is unequaled in 
 boulders short of Cape Ann. A single rocker of 
 many tons lies on a ledge by Clam-shell Pond. Some 
 years ago a woman could put it in motion. Too 
 much rocking has worn it down till only a slight 
 motion can be easily effected. About the pond, on 
 the Larkin lands, numerous Indian relics indicate 
 that some tribe dwelt on the pond borders. Perhaps 
 it was a resort of the Is ashaways. 
 
 Water-Ways. — Of water-ways we can claim 
 about a mile of the Assabet River. This we got by 
 grant of the Great and General Court. Marl- 
 borough had swooped in seven miles of that stream 
 and its intervales. Lancaster surveyors set their 
 starting-stake too far east, and so run against Marl- 
 borough. That made the Lancaster " Square " a 
 trapezoid. Lancaster settlements began len years 
 earlier than Marlborough, but Marlborough was 
 awake and got her stakes down first. She probably 
 thought that Lancaster ought to be satisfied with the 
 '• Nashaway," of which they boasted so much. 
 Several hundred acres of Marlborough, west of the 
 Assabet, were granted to Berlin, crossing the Assabet 
 at Lancaster, southeast corner, because some of our 
 families owned land on the east beyond the river. 
 Assabet has been variously spelled (Hist. North- 
 borough, Joseph Allen, D.D), sometimes Elizabeth, 
 but the Indian name has gained its standing. It af- 
 fords Berlin no water-power; the only stream that does 
 is a western tributary to the Assabet, with the modest 
 name of " North Brook,'' its sources being in the 
 north part of the town. Earliest deeds call it the 
 "Great Brook." This is the stream that fascinated 
 
394 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY", MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 AVilliam Goddard, 1727. At much cost, for the day, 
 he established a saw and grist-mill, 1752-GO. The 
 " power '' is better at flood than the supply for the 
 year. Another mill was set up by Nathan Barber, 
 two miles above, 1777 ; another just above that, 
 about 1810, by Thomas Pollard for his son Stephen. 
 Nothing else of permanent water-power has aided 
 Berlin in her industries. Other streams are few and 
 small. Foundations have been laid for another power 
 near Berlin Station, O. C. R. R. Two ponds, "Clara- 
 shell,'' at the extreme west, and " Gates' Pond," at 
 the extreme east, are all we can boast in this matter, 
 except that " Gates' Pond," in Fosgate ownership, is 
 the finest summer resort of the region. Several sum- 
 mer cottages have been built on its eastern shore. 
 The pond is the source of the Hudson water supply, 
 at which many Berlin citizens are very indignant. 
 No man Gates was ever drowned in our pond for the 
 sake of giving his name to it. Stephen Gates was its 
 earliest personal owner, with much land about it. Our 
 denizens stoutly refuse the proposal to call it " Lake 
 Assabet," at Madam Budersdorf 's suggestion. " Clam- 
 shell '' Pond is its own interpreter. 
 
 Roads. — From the beginning Berlin has held one 
 good mark of " civilization " in its roads. Some 
 citizens here, especially the Meriams, caught the 
 spirit and views of Colonel Ezra Beaman, of Boylston. 
 We did not take to " turnpikes," but from the town to 
 its contiguous neighbors, the fathers were ambitious 
 of good highways. Many petitioners for an open road 
 to their own home had to accept a " bridle-way," for 
 the sake of more public liberality. The main roads 
 were open, of course, while we were yet of Bolton, 
 1738 to 1784. 
 
 Favored in respect to bridges, our taxes have not 
 been excessive. The first and only iron bridge has 
 recently been constructed to span the Assabet between 
 South Berlin and Marlboro'. 
 
 The town has not settled upon any one method of 
 keeping up the highways. The old "highway sur- 
 veyor '' has been supplanted — once by a single com- 
 missioner. Many still advocate the same, but of late 
 the commissioners are chosen for districts. Berlin is 
 very jealous of concentrated power. The majority 
 are not " Democrats," but all are very democratic. 
 The highway discussions are among the most animated 
 in town-meetings. So they were in the '"twenties." 
 
 Roads suggest vehicles, and vehicles adapted to the 
 roads. In 1734 Jonas Houghton, the "Lancaster 
 Surveyor," contracted with settlers on Petersham 
 territory to construct a road over a section of Wachu- 
 sett, such that four oxen could conveniently carry 
 over it four barrels of cider at once. 
 
 Only solid wagons could bear the strains of country 
 roads a hundred years ago. But many statements as 
 to the introduction of easier carriages exaggerate the 
 time. The chaise was in use at least a hundred years 
 ago, spelled "shays." Heuce the old epigram on the 
 Shays' Rebellion : 
 
 Says Bober Will, " Well, Shays has fled, 
 And peace returns to bless our days." 
 " Indeed," cries Ned, "I always said 
 He'd prove, at last, ^faUhnck Shays; 
 And those turned over and undone. 
 Call him a worthlene Shaj/s to run.^^ — Ward. 
 
 The first iron rail was laid in Berlin, 18G6, the 
 " Fitchburg, Framingham and New Bedford." Two 
 stations, one for the Centre and South Berlin, mid- 
 way, one for West Berlin. The road-bed of the Mas- 
 sachusetts Central was prepared for grading as far as 
 Holden before a rail was laid. Here it rested till fi- 
 nancial reconstruction, as the "Central Massachu- 
 setts." The town struggled under the twenty thousand 
 investment some fifteen years. The debt was lifted 
 by the generous donation of Mr. Chandler Carter, 
 1887. 
 
 The Stage-Coach. — Therailroad, in itsday, hardly 
 excited more interest in Berlin than did the first stage- 
 coach, forty years earlier. Berlin was left out in the 
 cold by the greater thoroughfares through Norlhboro' 
 and Bolton. 
 
 "The mail-stage" was a wonder to the boys in its 
 early day. Boys and men went miles to see the first 
 four-horse stage in the United Stage, driven by Levi 
 Pease, of Shrewsbury, from Worcester to Boston, 1795. 
 So when a "stage-line" was started between New 
 Braintree, Barre and Boston, by way of Holden, West 
 Boylston, Sawyer's Mills, Berlin, Feltonville (Hud- 
 son) and Sudbury, the enterprise created great inter- 
 est. Jona. D. Meriam was the principal investor of 
 Berlin ; George E. Manson and Daniel Pope, of Fel- 
 tonville. It was a losing business for the proprietors. 
 But somebody was bright enough to run a line in op- 
 position. The town got its post-office and other ad- 
 vantages. 
 
 How little we realize the blessings of postal service 
 at public expense ! It is all modern, really. When 
 the Puritans came to America, England had no com- 
 plete mail service. In 1655 a post was established 
 between London and Edinbugh, " to go night and 
 day," and make return route within six days. Boston 
 was then five years old. Lancaster had no post-office 
 for one hundred and fifty years. As late as 1820-30 
 every store and bar-room was a kind of post-office. As 
 advertisements now adorn the stores, so letters to ad- 
 joining and even distant towns were thus posted. A 
 letter in Berlin directed to Worcester or Westboro' 
 would be taken in hand by any one going to North- 
 boro', leaving it there for the next self-constituted let- 
 ter-carrier. All Berlin mail-matter was left in Bolton 
 post-office up to 1827. So much for a mail-stage. 
 Then, too, Berlin was the midway town between Barre 
 and Boston. 
 
 The Howe Tavern of Berlin was the dining-place. 
 " Esquire Meriam " was the first driver. He obtained 
 a mail contract and post-office for the town, and be- 
 came our first postmaster, though the superintendence 
 of it devolved upon Wm. A. Howe, of the store and 
 tavern. Eventually Mr. Howe succeeded to the ap- 
 
BERLIN. 
 
 395 
 
 pointment. Every letter sent or received was reg- 
 istered, with amount of postage, before it could go 
 out or before it could be delivered on arrival. A 
 number of letters to Boston or elsewhere would be 
 done up in one package with one bill of registration. 
 A single letter must also be done up as a paclcage, 
 with its record and the town or city superscribed. Six 
 and a quarter cents, ten cents, twelve and a half cents, 
 eighteen and three-fourths cents, and twenty-five cents 
 ■v^ere the rates of postage. Times have clianged. 
 
 The MARKET-irAJT. — This is a class not much on 
 record in town histories. But really they were the 
 connecting link between the town and the outside 
 world. The market-man took the butter, poultry, 
 eggs, veal and various farm produce. Sometimes he 
 gathered it himself, carried it to Boston, ordinarily in 
 a well-covered wagon with two horses, once a week 
 and return. He probably liandled more money than 
 any other man in Berlin. But he was the weekly 
 newsman. He brought the Boston news, much of it 
 verbal, indeed, but he brought the newspaper also. 
 From our earliest town life to 1812-20 so few towns 
 having even a sight of a stage-coach, or mail, each 
 town was interested in the return of the market-man. 
 Tradition relates that a weekly concourse awaited the 
 weekly arrival of Hugh Bruce at the Howe store and 
 tavern, with the Boston Palladium reporting the pro- 
 gress of the war, 1812-15, also the reports of Napo- 
 leon's marvelous feats in Europe. So the slow-trudg- 
 ing market-man was the forerunner of the mail-coach 
 and the locomotive. Pity the town which has no in- 
 terest in the arrival of a daily mail ! 
 
 The market-man usually brought all the store gro- 
 ceries,— more than all, " New Rum," that is. New 
 England rum, later called Medford rum. We would 
 not record it, only we have proved by other towns 
 that we were not an exception, but sixty hogsheads of 
 rum was the annual consumption in our town of less 
 than seven hundred inhabitants, by estimate, 1825. 
 There were then two stores. I repeat it, we were not 
 exceptional. The market-man was sure of a weekly 
 load. The successor of the market-man as news-car- 
 rier was the post rider. 
 
 Industries. — As to our early industries, the locality 
 of Berlin determined them. A water-power which 
 fails for one-third of the year is just about worthless, 
 except for mere milling. Once the brooks were very 
 useful ; but modern industries demand the rivers, and 
 rivers that rage and roar. Compare ihe towns on the 
 Concord River from Sudbury Meadows to Billerica, 
 all on a level, and the towns on the Merrimac. Ber- 
 lin was doomed to agriculture from the start. You 
 cannot organize successful industries. 
 
 We have fragmentary records of the e.arly agricul- 
 ture of Berlin to show good thrift of the husbandmen 
 Returns in part of the year 1792 indicate the yiel 
 of good hay at nearly a ton and a half to the acre. 
 
 Some farms to-day do less than that. The yield of 
 grain was not equal to that of hay. Cattle-herds 
 
 were small. Sheep-folds were smaller. There was 
 no " tariff on wool then. It was grown for home 
 uses, so of flax. Apples were mainly of the " natural " 
 stock. But a great change was wrought for Berlin 
 by the good minister, Mr. Puffer. He practiced 
 grafting even for his parishioners, and taught them 
 the art. Few apples are seen to-day superior to those 
 of Barnes Hill in the first decades of the century. 
 The writer of this gathers yearly the " Russet " and 
 "Nonesuch," which Mr. Puffer originated on his own 
 homestead, now a hundred years old. No apples 
 to-day outrank the apples of the Berlin uplands. 
 Less cider is made because of good fruit instead of 
 the natural. From the scant data of 1792, which is 
 our oldest, the product of rye was about 300 bushels ; 
 oats, 400 ; corn, 1,200 ; cider, 250 barrels. Four thou- 
 sand acres improvable land ; at the end of forty 
 years, 5,400; at the end of the century 6,918. Say 
 one hundred and twenty farms of sixty acres each. 
 
 The first State returns of mechanical industries 
 were made by request, not by law, 1837. We will 
 not quote. But basket-making, employing three men, 
 was the largest business our assessors found time or 
 disposition to report. 
 
 The old routine of farming held very constant sway 
 in Berlin up to 1830-40. A deviation was made 1810- 
 20 in hop-culture. The largest return was six and 
 one-half tons for the town. The price varied from 
 ten to fifteen or twenty cents per pound. Perhaps 
 some years brought in two thousand dollars. Specu- 
 lation set in, and some bad losses were made. It was 
 calculated that "a pound of hops could be raised as 
 cheaply as a pound of pork." From about 1830 hop- 
 yards declined. Only two or three moderate fields 
 can now be seen. Hop-picking was an annual gala 
 day for the girls, in the field. 
 
 Berlin had one "South Sea Bubble" in the "Mo- 
 rns multicaulis" epidemic, about 1840, — a shrub of 
 large leaf for feeding silk-worms. We had little 
 scientific farming before 1850-60. A Farmers' and 
 Mechanics' Association was formed, which has greatly 
 advanced gardening and agriculture. The south part 
 of the town is especially adapted to early fruits and 
 vegetables. Well has it been improved. Berlin 
 asparagus has a reputation in Boston. Small fruits 
 receive like attention. Grape-culture, on a brow of 
 the Assabet valley, has been a marked success. An 
 old sand-hill (the ground w.is accounted) was found 
 to have a clay subsoil of remarkable tenacity for 
 moisture. Perhaps no acres in Berlin are now more 
 valuable. 
 
 Peach-culture, after much fruitless endeavor, now 
 gives promise of success. Our hills are given es- 
 pecially to orcharding, grass and general culture. We 
 have several gilt-edge butter farms on high lands, 
 with choice stock. But the bulk of milk goes off by 
 rail. Many pastures, formerly mowed annually, in 
 " the old moon," now have their own way. Our wood 
 acreage is hardly less than fifty years ago. 
 
396 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 The dwelling-houses of Berlin (two hundred and 
 ten) are almost wholly of modern aspect. Sixty 
 years ago one-third, perhaps, were of the long back 
 roofs of one story and two stories front. Our last 
 went down in smoke, 1886. We have no pretentious 
 dwellings. The most impressive one crowns Sawyer 
 Hill, the residence of William Lawson, Esq. The 
 farm is managed, in gilt butter-making, by his 
 brother-in-law, Reed Tyler. Like the Pennsylvania 
 Dutchmen, most of the Berlin farmers are set on 
 having good barns. Nine-tenths of all the houses in 
 Berlin are comfortable homes. We have one which 
 was probably built about 1720 by Jona. Moore, still 
 habitable, " the Sanderson Carter place." Our valu- 
 ation stands at $489,000, — " put up,'' some twenty 
 years ago, $75,000, to lessen taxes, it was said. The 
 percentage, of course. Southey tells of an old man 
 who used to put on his glasses in eating cherries, — it 
 made them look so much bigger. 
 
 The census of 1880 gives us over two hundred 
 voters. 
 
 As for early handicraft, some thirty cooper-shops 
 can be recalled by the old people. " Beef barrels," 
 "rum barrels,'' "cider barrels," all had a good market 
 in Boston sixty years ago. Other wooden-ware, — as 
 churns, pails, " piggins and noggins," — furnished 
 some employment. Many a two-horse barrel rig 
 started at midnight for Boston. Barrels were made 
 on contract. A good cooper is a natural mechanic. 
 Others need not try. 
 
 "Wiredrawing" and card-making were an excep- 
 tional attempt in Berlin, about 1810-20. Caleb 
 Houghton, by a small power on Cranberry Meadow 
 Brook, wrought wire ; Solomon Howe, of the Centre, 
 manufactured cards — a losing business to both. Card- 
 setting (inserting the tooth into the punctured leather 
 cardboard) furnished employment for many children ; 
 sometimes for parents. Braiding straw was a like 
 family employment. 
 
 Ecclesiastical. — When Bolton separated from 
 Lancaster probably some two hundred of its popula- 
 tion were within Berlin limits. As a part of Bolton, 
 the Berlin fathers lived in good harmony with the 
 worthy town till the ecclesiastical conflict called " the 
 Goss controversy." This item belongs to Bolton his- 
 tory, of course, but reaches Berlin. The minister was 
 suspected of Toryism. In church matters he held 
 &nA practiced the most arbitrary principles. The on- 
 coming Revolution, 1770, added public importance to 
 a local flame. The minister was charged with intem- 
 perance, also. He seemed to feel self-justification in 
 the assertion, probably true, that he was never so far 
 gone as to be incapacitated for his office. Numberless 
 town-meetings were held, — town and parish were then 
 one. He was dismissed by the ultimate prerogative, 
 the people themselves, council or no council. 
 
 The controversy hastened, no doubt, the formation 
 of the South Parish, April 7, 1779 ; but the agitation 
 went with them. Only male members appear in the 
 
 organization of the new church — Gossilea and Walley- 
 ites, adherents of Mr. Goss' successor, — so the females, 
 when they came, brought letters from one or the 
 other branch of the Bolton Church. 
 
 In the interests of harmony, the council called to 
 organize the Berlin Church advised the brethren to 
 withhold fellowship from the Bolton Church whilst 
 that. church should remain in it^ divided state. That 
 was a fire-brand. The Berlin Walleyites moved for 
 another advisory council on this very matter. 
 
 The second council exonorated the first as to in'- 
 tended reproof. The reading of the first council 
 certainly implied more than was expressed. The 
 neighboring clergy sustained Mr. Goss, and under their 
 influence the churches declined or renounced fellow- 
 ship with the Bolton Church. To test the case, two of 
 the Berlin opponentsof Mr. Goss and one of the Bolton 
 Church presented themselves before the Lancaster 
 Church and asked for recognition in the communion 
 service. Thechurch voted affirmatively. The minister. 
 Rev. Mr. Harrington, said the vote should be recorded, 
 but his negative must be recorded with it. Virtually by 
 the ruling of the times, this was annulling the vote of 
 the church. The applicants were Judge Baker and 
 Ephraim Fairbanks, Esq., of Berlin, and Nathaniel 
 Longly, Esq., of Bolton. No three men in the towns 
 were more prominent or conservative. A similar 
 delegation from Bolton and Berlin visited Sterling. 
 The minister, Rev. Mr. Mellen, refused to administer 
 the communion service. The church was against 
 him, and his claim of the veto power brought upon 
 him and the town just the experience of Bolton. 
 "How great a matter a little fire kindleth ! " The 
 simple reason is that it is fire. The spirit of liberty 
 was abroad. Men were asserting personal rights, but 
 patriotism was a bond. In the new life of the United 
 Colonies, now become United States, partisans toned 
 down. A supreme confidence in God and country 
 allayed local animosities. Bolton South Parish be- 
 came a precinct, 1784, virtually a town, by authority 
 of Congress. 
 
 Peace came also to the churches. But the contest 
 was a hard one, and in advance of its day. The min- 
 istry seemed unduly tenacious of power and dictation. 
 The Bolton Parish fought a good fight. It broke the 
 spell under which churches had felt themselves to be 
 bound. Ecclesiastical liberty made a stride in the 
 conflict. No doubt, indeed, errors were committed 
 on both sides. But the case, and result, became a 
 standard of appeal for the liberty of the churches. 
 Harvard and Yale contain the published pamphlets 
 as documents of historical importance. A layman, 
 not known, was the virtual victor. Later tradition 
 affirms that he was a clergyman. Ebenezer Chapin. 
 Rev. Zabdiel Adams, of Lunenburg, defended the 
 arbitrary power. 
 
 The act of incorporation of Bolton South Parish 
 bears date April 13, 1778, and Sanuiel Baker, Esq., is 
 empowered to issue a warrant "' to some principal in- 
 
BEKLIN. 
 
 39r 
 
 habitant" to call a meeting for permanent organiza- 
 tion. Signed, Joseph Warren, speaker; Jolin Avery, 
 deputy secretary. 
 
 Samuel Baker issues the warrant to Samuel Jones, 
 inn-holder. At his house the inhabitants are sum- 
 moned to meet. On that spot our town was virtually 
 born. Samuel Jones' tavern stood fronting our North- 
 boro' road, on the north side of the road to Hud- 
 son. 
 
 Samuel Baker was chosen moderator ; Jonathan 
 Meriam, clerk ; James Goddard, Abijah Pratt, Joshua 
 Johnson, parish committee ; Jonathan Meriam, Tim- 
 othy Jones, William Sawyer, Jr., assessors. 
 
 One week later the parish took measures for build- 
 ing a meeting-house ; voted to locate it on "the little 
 hill on the north side of the road that leads from 
 Samuel Jones' house to Samuel Rice's shop in the 
 crotch of the roads." 
 
 There was no Common then. The road to Bolton 
 turned by our present town-house. The shop was 
 probably some back part of the present " Bullard 
 House." Samuel Rice never appears again, David 
 Rice, probably his father, owned lands in connection 
 with James Goddard, which included the old black- 
 smith-shop where A. A. Bartlett now lives. This 
 shop went with the Meriam farm. Perhaps it was the 
 one alluded to. 
 
 Berlin denizens of to day may wonder where that 
 " little hill " was. It was, and is not. The old church 
 stood on it, considerably in front of the present 
 edifice. Esquire Meriam could not persuade the 
 building committee of the new church to set it so 
 high as it now stands. He was not the man to "sur- 
 render." He conspired with Wm. A. Howe, and in 
 the night they secretly lifted the standards one full 
 foot. Look at the Common and the height of the 
 underpinning of the church, and you will see what be- 
 came of that "little hill." 
 
 The first meetjng-house was twelve years in build- 
 ing. It is enough to make one weep, to read ot the 
 hundreds of pounds in depreciated money which 
 were voted from time to time, all along in the war, 
 to build that humble house of prayer. 
 
 The frame was "raised" June 16, 1779, by aid, 
 as usual, of "rum," "cider" and ".spike poles." 
 The "pew grounds"' were sold 1780 "at public 
 vendue," each man to build his own pew. The build- 
 ing committee were Jonathan Meriam, Fortunatus 
 Barnes, James Goddard, Sr., Timothy Jones, William 
 Sawyer ; second Committee, Fortunatus Barnes, 
 Jacob Moore, Barnabas Maynard, Henry Powers, 
 William Babcock. 
 
 In the mean time " candidates " were heard — Rev. 
 M. Stearns, Foster and Edmunds. November 14, 
 
 1780, voted to hear Mr. Reuben Puffer. March 12, 
 
 1781, Mr. Puffer was "called." "No objections." 
 " Ordination to be out of the meeting-house if the 
 weather permit." The church records have it that 
 the services were held in the meeting-house. All 
 
 the " old folks " declare against it. The ordination 
 took place November 2(5, 1781. 
 
 Certainly there is something inspiring in the faith 
 and labors of the fathers, under the depression and 
 uncertainties of war, to press forward in their circum- 
 stances, not to say poverty, to establish the ordinances 
 of religion. 
 
 The council for ordination consisted of the churches 
 in Sudbury, East Sudbury, Westboro', Shrewsbury, 
 Northboro', Lancaster, Bolton and Stow. Rev. 
 Mr. Bigelow, of Sudbury, Mr. Puffer's pastor, preached 
 the sermon. 
 
 Mr'. Puffer's presence and ministry seemed to be 
 quite helpful to his struggling parish. No church- 
 meeting was called for nearly two years. Records 
 indicate peaceful progress. In the same year of the 
 ordination the parish petitioned the town of Bolton, 
 also the General Court, to be set off as a town, but it 
 took three years to reach it. 
 
 Finally, by the Great and General Court, March 
 16, 1784 (Samuel Adams, president of the Senate, 
 Tristram Dalton, speaker], the precinct was duly in- 
 corporated, and Judge Baker was again instructed to 
 empower some principal inhabitant to call a meeting 
 of the South Precinct in Bolton. This time he con- 
 ferred the honor on Fortunatus Barnes. Again Sam- 
 uel Baker was the first moderator and Jona. Meriam 
 again clerk ; Selectmen, James Goddard, John Tem- 
 ple, Jonah Meriam, William Sawyer, Barnabas May- 
 nard. 
 
 Now Berlin had all the prerogatives of a town 
 except personal representation in the Legislature. 
 Any citizen of the precinct might as well represent 
 the town as a citizen of the town the precinct. But 
 Bolton never saw it in that light. 
 
 So matters stood till 1812. Fortunatus Barnes was 
 now authorized to empower some principal citizen to 
 call the first town-meeting. He committed the trust 
 to Ephraim Babcock. The meeting resulted in the 
 choice of Fortunatus Barnes moderator. 
 
 Such was the origin of a quiet New England town. 
 Its inception was in time of war. It came to maturity 
 in time of war, just in a full generation from its 
 beginning. Thirty-five years from this date brought 
 it to its centennial. 
 
 In the completion of their house of worship, the 
 settlement of Mr. Puffer and the adjustment of com- 
 plications with Bolton, the little town of Berlin, in- 
 stead of " Norrage," as once proposed, seemed to have 
 respite and rest. The leading men, however, who 
 had borne the brunt of the war, with its antecedent 
 and subsequent e.xcitements, dropped out of the race 
 very early, — Captain Samuel Jones, Judge Baker, the 
 Baileys, the Meriams, Ephraim Fairb.anks, Esq., Gen. 
 Sawyer and others, whose names were towers of 
 strength. 
 
 The central figure henceforth in Berlin character 
 was their minister. 
 
 The Puffer ancestry, Appleton says, is obscure. 
 
398 
 
 HISTOKY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 But a record stands that '' the town of Boston," 1640, 
 not yet ten years old, granted twenty acres of land at 
 Wollaston Heights to George Puffer, " five heads." 
 A line from George is traceable to Sudbury, George, 
 James, Richard, Jabez and Reuben, the Berlin pas- 
 tor. Some count in another Richard. The present 
 Puffer homestead, whence Reuben came, is now in 
 Maynard. The will of Jabez shows that Reuben was 
 the pet of his heart. He certainly grew in the esteem 
 of Berlin people and all the region. Every congre- 
 gation was pleased to see him ascend the pulpit-steps. 
 It was not a day for enticing away favorite ministers, 
 but it was understood that he had inviting overJ;ures. 
 His .sermons were not especially arousing, but sol- 
 emnly impressive. 
 
 In 1803 he preached the annual sermon before the 
 Governor and Legislature. An anecdote concerning 
 him was first publi.-hed in print in the Lancaster two 
 hundred and fiftieth anniversary. The writer of this 
 is responsible for its appearance in type. He gave it 
 verbally, that morning, to the speaker who gave it in 
 response for Berlin, in the after-dinner speeches. 
 Judge Brigham, of Westboro', had procured the ap- 
 pointment of Mr. Puffer to the service. His son-in-law, 
 E. M. Phillips, Esq., of Westboro', gave the anecdote to 
 the writer, personally. According to custom, Mr. Puf- 
 fer had all parts of his service written, even the prayer. 
 In offering it he lost his bearings. He tried to regain 
 his ground, but only stumbled. The suspense w.is 
 awful. A fellow-member of the Legislature gave 
 Judge Brigham a nudge, whispering, "That is your 
 minister, is it?" The disconcerted minister had the 
 courage to desert his written prayer and to throw him- 
 self into the occasion, and the suspense of the assembly 
 quickly gave way to rapt attention and delight. His 
 own people, better than any others who did not hear 
 him on this occasion, could tell what the effect was. 
 He lifted his learned and dignified audience to exalted 
 views of their position and duties, to the State and to 
 God. The prayer ended. Judge Brigham returned the 
 nudge of his neighbor, responding "That is my 
 •minister." 
 
 Berlin ever had great satisfaction in " Dr. Puffer" 
 abroad. His church records show that he ranked 
 with foremost ministers in councils far and near on 
 difficult cases. 
 
 To this day friends and dissentients, as to religious 
 tenets, revere the " man of God." His face, his fea- 
 tures and form and manner are fast passing out of 
 remembrance. "Shall we know each other there?" 
 Not even a profile remains ; much less the tones of 
 his voice and impressive pulpit services; a few of the 
 venerables yet talk it over understandingly. 
 
 Some yet live who have seen him and can readily 
 believe what has been related. But the most vivid 
 impression which we septuagenarians have of the 
 man is that of hij pulpit devotions. Daniel ? Solo- 
 mon? Elijah? No, Bethel and Jacob. As with awe 
 he lifted up his face heavenward, and bowed again 
 
 his whole body in reverence, incense from the altar 
 above seemed to pervade the assembly. 
 
 " Heaven seeineti bendiug, earth to rise, 
 Ami all seemed floatiug in the upper eliies." 
 
 He delivered the Dudlean Lecture at Harvard Col- 
 lege, 1808. His pecuniary circumstances being made 
 known, his address was published and sold among the 
 students, rich men's sons subscribing largely to in- 
 crease the income. They also gave him a good suit of 
 clothes. (Rev. Dr. Allen.) 
 
 Another anecdote iu his ministry reveals the minis- 
 terial tone of the day. A neighborhood of Balls, on 
 Ball Hill, in Northboro', had special regard for Dr. 
 Puffer ; also, it would seem, some disaffection for 
 their own minister. An especially afflictive death 
 occurred in one of the families. One of the deacons 
 of the Northboro' Church, by request of the family, 
 came for Dr. Puffer to visit them, as also to attend the 
 funeral officially. Mr. Puffer demurred ; but under 
 the appeals of grief he assented, being assured by the 
 deacon that the Northboro' pastor would not take it 
 offensively. The deacon did not know his man, nor 
 the ministerial prerogatives of the day. The services 
 were held at the house of sorrow. A few d.ays brought 
 a note from the Northboro' bishop demanding expla- 
 nation and apology, else no more ministerial inter- 
 course. We smile ; but the parties did not. Mr. 
 Whitney was magisterial. Mr. Puffer was timid. The 
 correspondence is animated, if not animating. The 
 offender did not cringe. He did apologize, and in 
 words and temper that made him the victor. 
 
 The matter did not wholly die at that. A deceased 
 sister of the Balls was wife of Dea. Livermore, of the 
 Northboro' Church. He was one hundred and one 
 years old at his death. Renewed application was 
 made for Mr. Puffer's service at his funeral. Mr. 
 Puffer confirmed his apology by respectfully declin- 
 ing. The Balls would not have the Northboro' parson ; 
 so the centenarian, deacon of the church, town clerk 
 and, in certain sense, the public notary of the town, 
 was buried without a funeriil. 
 
 There was another element of irritation in the 
 Northboro' Church. The good deacon's second wife 
 was for some reason debarred from its communion. 
 She applied for the privilege in Berlin, but ecclesias- 
 tical courtesy would not allow her request. 
 
 Dr. Puffer was no controversalist. He was even 
 timid before his own people. It is well attested that 
 he wept in the face of some who opposed his social 
 prayer-meetings, then new. The compromise was that 
 they should all be held at his own house. He was 
 among the last to renounce or to forego exchanges 
 with the " liberal " clergymen of the region. He 
 foresaw coming events in his own parish. On one 
 occasion he was so overcome in the reading of an ex- 
 pressive hymn that he ceased reading and sat down. 
 
 This was in the old, first-consecrated sanctuary, 
 where the man of God had prayed and taught, " with 
 many tears," for forty-five years. Humble as the old 
 
BERLIN. 
 
 399 
 
 structure was, every line of it was sacred in his eye 
 and heart. It was soon to be taken down. Himself 
 w.as " three-score and ten." His farewell sermon 
 shows how the heart of a good man may be moved by 
 that which is inanimate, and really without beauty. 
 The old pews, which went into various and undig- 
 nified uses, were for years looked upon with venera- 
 tion by the older people. A successor, of twenty-five 
 years, has found and gilded the old wooden pine- 
 apple, with tin leaves, which surmounted a plain 
 scroll over the old pulpit. "There are sermons in 
 stones." The farm barn across the cemetery, made of 
 the refitted timbers of " the house of prayer," has yet 
 a voice to some passers-by. 
 
 The Massachusetts ecclesiastical rupture of 1820-30 
 was pressing upon this quiet town before steps were 
 taken for a new house of worship. But no tongue 
 moved against the minister. Yet it was intimated 
 that the new church would have a new order of things 
 when he should resign or cease from his labors. The 
 pastor foresaw more than his people expressed. He 
 hardly expected to escape the rupture in his lifetime. 
 But he lived to dedicate the new church, 182(5, and to 
 preach and pray there till near his death, August 29, 
 1829, at the age of seventy-three years. 
 
 The church, in August same year, united in choos- 
 ing Rev. Moses B. Church as Dr. Puffer's successor. 
 The parish dissented, and following the Dedham 
 decision, as others had done, chose another man. Rev. 
 Robert Folger Walcut, of Nantucket, and graduate 
 of Harvard. The Folgers were a prominent family 
 in Nantucket. 
 
 Mr. Walcut was a cultured and scholarly man. He 
 won the good-will and esteem of all citizens. He 
 resigned November, 1833. 
 
 On the action of the parish, overruling the church, 
 they withdrew almost unanimously, leaving but one 
 male member and three females constituting the 
 church. 
 
 The seceding members built a moderate house of 
 worship the same year, and called Rev. Abraham C. 
 Baldwin, a graduate of Bowdoin College, and student 
 in theology under Dr. Lyman Beecher, who preached 
 the ordination sermon, October 26, 1830. In Mr. 
 Baldwin's ministry of two years, forty-six were added 
 to the church. He had more than ordinary qualities 
 as preacher and pastor. Had he been quiet to remain, 
 very many have felt that he would have re-united the 
 town effectively. His succeeding pastorates were in 
 Springfield and New Haven. But if any man can 
 unite a thousand people of one township, is he not 
 more useful then in holding a like number gathered 
 here and there from a city ? 
 
 He was dismissed from the church in Berlin, 
 October 23, 1832. Both he and his wife died in 
 Yonkers, N. Y., 1886. Had no child. Her maiden- 
 name was Foote, of Fair Haven, Ct. 
 
 Rev. Michael Burdett, now a retired Presbyterian 
 clergyman in Philadelphia, succeeded Mr. Baldwin, 
 
 July 17, 1883, to 1834. He was succeeded by Rev. 
 Eber S. Clarke, of Winchendon, Ju. 21, 1835. Mr. 
 Clarke was dismissed 1837, and settled once more in 
 Richmond, Mass., where he died. 
 
 Rev. Robert Carver followed in a successful minis- 
 try, 1838-42. Settled next at Raynham. Entered 
 into the Christian Commission service of the army, in 
 which he died. After Mr. Carver's retirement, the 
 Unitarian parish was also without a pastor. Rev. 
 David R. Samson had succeeded Mr. Walcot, 1834-39. 
 
 Reciprocal overtures were now made on the part of 
 the two parishes for reunion. This was effected in 
 the settlement of Rev. Henry Adams, son of Chester 
 Adams, Esq., of Charlestown, and graduate of Am- 
 herst and Andover. His first settlement was Worth- 
 ington ; next, " Hillside Church," of Bolton, noted 
 as the "Wilder Church" (S. V. S. Wilder). Mr. 
 Wilder, after his return from Europe, and before 
 Hillside Church was built, attended Dr. Puffer's 
 ministry in Berlin. Mr. Adams was installed Oct. 25, 
 1843 ; was dismissed 1853. The same year, Oct. 26th, 
 Rev. W. A. Houghton was installed ; resigned at the 
 termination of twenty-five years, Oct. 26, 1878. Rev. 
 Albert Barnes Cristy, of Greenwich, Ct., and gradu- 
 ate of Andover, was ordained and installed July 3, 
 1879. He gave way to a call to the church in Con- 
 way, 1881. 
 
 Rev. Henry Hyde succeeded Rev. Mr. Cristy in the 
 same year ; was dismissed 1885. 
 
 Rev. Charles H. Washburn, graduate of Amherst, 
 was the third successor to whom Rev. Mr. Houghton 
 has given the right hand of fellowship and received 
 them into the church at their ordination. He was 
 ordained and installed December, 1885 ; dismissed 
 Nov. 2, 1888 ; called to North Woburn. 
 
 In 1853-54, under the lead of Rev. Gardner Rice, 
 then principal of the Berlin Private Academy, a 
 Methodist interest was started and organized. Rev. 
 W. W. Culburn and Rev. B. F. Whittemore were the 
 principal preachers. 
 
 The war broke up the organization. It was re- 
 vived again in 1878, since which time Revs. Mr. 
 Hanniford, Wilder, Burlingham, Desjardin and Bar- 
 ter have been the preachers. They built and dedi- 
 cated their church 1887-88. 
 
 In 1871 the Unitarian element, which had been 
 mostly dormant from 1844, was revived and organ- 
 ized. A church was built, and dedicated April 1, 
 1881. Its ministers have been Revs. George Greene, 
 
 Granville Pierce, Francis Thacher, Litchfield and 
 
 Porter. 
 
 For a small town, Berlin has a large element of the 
 Quaker faith. Bolton has about the same. Their 
 meeting-house is just within Bolton limits. Their 
 Quarterly Meeting occurs in August. The society 
 has existed since 1790. 
 
 Berlin and Bolton have known, better than most 
 towns, the Friends, or Quakers, in their citizenship. 
 Both towns would bear cheerful testimony to their 
 
400 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 worth. To see the commingling of the descendants 
 of Cassandra Southwick and the Boston Puritans 
 fraternizing in religious meetings, public and private, 
 with kindliest regards for each other's distinctive 
 views and order of worship, seems to preclude the 
 possibility of certain historic facts ; just as fully 
 Puritans as ever, and just as fully Quakers as ever. 
 But many of the Quakers on whom the Puritans' 
 wrath dtscended were as unlike our worthy Quaker 
 citizens as were the old Puritans unlike the Puri- 
 tans of to-day. Not here can we discuss the meriis 
 of the case, but we rejoice togetlier in the better 
 knowledge of personal liberty of opinion-, and the 
 harmonizing influence of religious faith. But Berlin 
 has to confess; we did imprison a Quaker, and for 
 non-payment of the minister-tax, which ministry he 
 did not believe in. We are glad it was a hundred 
 years ago, 1786. Nor do we offer that in extenuation. 
 The Quaker executions were more than two hundred 
 years ago. The law as applied in Massachusetts, 
 1657, was recommended to all the Colonies by the 
 " Federal Commissioners." It was enacted here by 
 only one vote in majority, and stood in force but two 
 years. 
 
 But for ministerial taxes the law exempted 
 Quakers, Episcopalians and others as early as 1750-60 ; 
 only they must show certificates that they really 
 belonged to some religious society. Here seems to 
 have been Brother Jonathan Baker's lame point. 
 The assessors were bound by the law. The indica- 
 tions are that he would not or could not present his 
 certificate, so the assessors would not abate; bylaw 
 they could not. No doubt the case was very much 
 affected by words and temper. The town finally 
 remitted his fourteen-shilling tax, and his certificate 
 of Quaker membership stands on record. 
 
 On school matters Obediah Wheeler, Quaker, was 
 the persistant leader in insisting on a division of the 
 school money ; as constantly refused. That is our 
 issue to-day with the Catholics. 
 
 Educational. — Previous to the organization of the 
 precinct, 1784, schools had been maintained for a few 
 weeks at a time in private houses. School-houses are 
 named in early records as if they had served us while 
 of Bolton. The precinct proceeded, 1785, to "Squad- 
 ron the district." We had four, according to the four 
 cardinal points of the compass. The centre of the 
 town went north, south, east or west, as they saw fit. 
 This for fifty years. A fifth district was added, 1836, 
 and all of them, unwisely, took on separate existence. 
 This continued about twenty years, when, as soon as 
 permitted by the Legislature, the town took possession 
 of the schools and houses. 
 
 Three of the houses had done service about seventy- 
 five years each. The town proceeded at once to build 
 anew five houses for the five districts, all alike, 1857- 
 58. When the cost of the war came on we congratu- 
 lated ourselves in having already paid for our school- 
 houses. The.se were all duly dedicated by becoming 
 
 services. School Interests revived very much, nor has 
 it very much subsided. Not required by law to main- 
 tain a high school, it is difficult in a population of less 
 than a thousand to do so. A few terms have been 
 maintained. But three adjoining towns offer ready 
 facilities, and by rail the accommodation is very good 
 with each of them. It is a conviction of the com- 
 mittee that the schools of Berlin compare favorably, 
 in material and quality, with towns around us. Teach- 
 ers' wages stand above the average in the State. None 
 but females have been employed for many years. 
 Once the town furnished a large quota of young men 
 — several in a season. They have been supplanted. 
 School-teaching is woman's right. 
 
 The first school report read in town-meeting, and 
 before required by law, was offered by William A. 
 Howe, then a young man. He had never been to 
 high school or academy. 
 
 A stimulus to Berlin, perhaps, was the somewhat 
 famous Quaker School of Thomas Frye, just be- 
 yond our Bolton line. English grammar was a 
 specialty. Berlin pupils availed themselves of the 
 advantage. Later, Berlin had a somewhat similar 
 school. Josiah Bride, a native of the town, with 
 never a day of instruction from private teacher, high 
 school or academy, opened a private school in the 
 town-house. His skill, or art in teaching, gave him 
 greater and greater success. Good in scholarship, he 
 excelled in communicating. His private school grew 
 into a boarding-school, and this into Berlin Academy. 
 From 1833 to 1853 this school did much for Berlin. 
 Pupils came from several cities and several States. 
 Meanwhile Mr. Bride was active in the town and in 
 the church. He died, 1887, at eighty-five years. 
 Berlin is represented in the Technical School, Wor- 
 cester, by a teacher ; in Amherst Agricultural College 
 by a student ; several have graduated at commercial 
 colleges. Of school funds Berlin has only two thou- 
 sand dollars. Joseph Priest, unmarried, gave by will, 
 1817, five hundred dollars ; Miss Nancy Young, 1860, 
 gave by will fifteen hundred dollars. These persons 
 had lived quiet and inexpensive lives. These gifts 
 were about all they possessed, severally. Berlin 
 cherishes their memory. But it is only by recalling 
 to each school generation the facts, that the generosity 
 of worthy benefactors is held in remembrance. Ask 
 in almost any school who was Horace Mann, and see. 
 
 Sadly, Berlin has no public library. Sectional in- 
 fluences have prevented united town action. When 
 we separated from Bolton, a generous library became 
 a bone of contention. A division of it was finally 
 effected. The Berlin share, with additions, was kept 
 alive during the pastorate of Dr. Puffer. 
 
 An educating influence in Berlin was the old 
 lyceum, as now spoken of. Rev. Dr. Allen, of North- 
 boro', was, next to Concord, the original in starting 
 this kind of school and debating society. He kindly 
 gave many of his lectures in Berlin. Several years 
 followed of elevating endeavor. This movement be- 
 
BERLIN. 
 
 401 
 
 gan about 1830. It did not wholly cease for thirty 
 years — lectiire.s and debates. The writer of this thinks 
 he sees results in the town meetings of the present. 
 Eelatively we have many townsmen capable of pub- 
 lic speech in town meetings. Also more than a com- 
 mon number of competent moderators. 
 
 Berlin has had but few college graduates. Early in 
 our history two young men died in their preparatory 
 studies. Winthrop Bailey graduated at Harvard, 
 1808. Was pastor of the church in Pelham, later, 
 and, for many years, of Deerfield. 
 
 Barnabas Maynard Fay graduated at Yale, 1833. 
 He taught in several institutions for the deaf and 
 dumb. Had also several pastoral charges. His son 
 is superintendent of the Institution for Deaf and Dumb 
 in Washington, where the father died. 
 
 Rev. W. A. Houghton graduated at Yale 1840. 
 Pastor eight years in Northboro', twenty-five in Berlin, 
 Resigned 1878. Still resident. 
 
 Winthrop Sawyer, nephew of Rev. Winthrop Bailey 
 and namesake, took the surname Bailey, and studied 
 for the ministry at Princeton, N. J., and held two or 
 three pastorates. He died in south-east New York. 
 
 Levi and Willard Brigham, brothers, more con- 
 nected with Berlin than with their native town, Marl- 
 boro', were graduates of Williams, and both were suc- 
 cessful minister:". 
 
 Our physicians have come to us. Dr. Benjamin 
 Nurse, of Bolton, 1777-1804; Dr. Daniel Brigham, of 
 Westboro', 1800-1825 ; Dr. Samuel Griggs, pupil of 
 Dr. Twitchell, of Keene, 1824-1833; Dr. J. L.S.Thomp- 
 son, , 1833-1840, afterwards of Bolton and Lan- 
 caster. Died 1886. 
 
 Dr. Edward Hartshorn, graduate of Harvard Medical 
 School 1838, came to Berlin 1841; practiced till 1854. 
 
 Dr. Lemuel Gott, graduate of Harvard Medical 
 School, settled in Rockport, 1836; in Berlin, 1854- 
 1888. Was successor to Dr. Hartshorn. Died August, 
 1888. No resident physician since. 
 
 Town History. — Some one has expressed the 
 sentiment: "Blessed is the town that has no his- 
 tory." George Elliot has expressed the same, I 
 think, as to the family, — perhaps for a reason. But 
 in respect to the staple of the early history of so 
 many inland towns of Massachusetts — the Indians — 
 we appreciate the force of the sentiment expressed. 
 We gladly surrender all claim to the Indian from 
 Massasoit to Tecumseh. 
 
 But we do suffer loss of historic material when we 
 can quote no town connection with such a historic 
 event as the American Revolution. In this matter 
 we can only say Berlin was born in it, and there is 
 sublimity in the fact. In the darkness of that terri- 
 ble day, what faith in God and confidence in man, 
 that, under such a cloud, men should so deliberately 
 plan for the future, and lay new foundations for 
 coming generations! It was Rome over again selling 
 the land on which , Hannibal had intrenched his 
 20 
 
 legions. Residents on Berlin territory appear both 
 in Lancaster and in Bolton, in all the wars of the 
 Colonies, including the Revolution. And in the 
 midst of the latter struggle the Berlin fathers were 
 even planning a life independent of the mother 
 town. And every element of town life was duly 
 cared for after the example of Puritan forethought. 
 Peace came to the country in 1783. A parish had 
 been formed in the very darkest days of the war. In 
 1784 they came into town life by Congressional pro- 
 visions. Had Berlin been a corporate body during 
 the war, there can be no doubt her sentiment and 
 action would haye been as Bolton and Lancaster 
 were. But a somewhat shady aspect appears in re- 
 spect to the Shays' Rebellion. A Berlin delegate 
 was appointed to one of the conventions, perhaps 
 hoping to secure moderation. But so far as any vote 
 of the town gave expression, all that can be said is 
 that the majority for Hancock for Governor, against 
 Bowdoin, was interpreted in those days as being in 
 the radical element. Yet Judge Baker, probably the 
 most influential man in the town, was a tower of 
 strength for the government. He was once assaulted, 
 by threats at least, on his way home from the court, — 
 probably not by his own townsmen. That was a ter- 
 rible time when citizens of noblest life, who had 
 fought side by side for independence, were again 
 armed, face to face against each other. It demands 
 a hundred years breathing-time to judge these old 
 insurgents impartially. There was no sublimer scene 
 in the war itself than when General Artemas Ward 
 led the officers of the court up Court-House Hill in 
 Worcester, against the very point of bayonets which 
 had withstood the British soldier on the field of 
 blood. Our vote had been, for two years, for Bow- 
 doin. After the Paxton Convention, it was wholly 
 reversed. Lancaster went as invariably for Bowdoin. 
 Both these men were loyal to the State; but Hancock 
 was regarded as less rigorous towards the insurgents. 
 An article in the town warrant, 1787, to pay soldiers 
 in support of the government, was "passed over." 
 The town remonstrated, 1807, against Jefferson's 
 Embargo; also, 1812, against the restrictive measures 
 of President Madison. 
 
 We can say, for ourselves, we have lived a quiet 
 and peaceable life. We did have some trouble with 
 our ever esteemed mother-town. The great and 
 general court told us both how we must bear our- 
 selves in local matters. But we did not see alike 
 then as to the support of the poor, and some other 
 points. It took a good while, indeed, to adjust mat- 
 ters. Among other things, creditable alike to mother 
 and daughter, there was a very good library which 
 must needs be divided. This, of course, involved 
 the ministers. They did not see eye to eye in a 
 matter so material as this. It took time, correspond- 
 ence, committees and conferences. We had judicious 
 men on both sides ; so, as usually under such influ- 
 ence, this, too, was adjusted. 
 
402 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Town rivalries have talien a very different turn in 
 later days. A town of a thousand people on moderate 
 territory, known, as it were, each to all, is a more 
 enjoyable community than a like number mixed with 
 ten thousand in a city. The drawback to our "hill 
 towns'' is the financial inability to support religious 
 institutions. State, county and town taxes in Berlin 
 in 1887 were nine thousand dollars — say ten dollars 
 per capita. To support three churches besides, lays 
 upon less than one-half of the people about three 
 thousand more. So that the half who do support the 
 churches must needs pay nearly as much for this as 
 for all their assessments besides. "Help, Lord," 
 when "the godly man ceaseth.'' 
 
 How so many boys of the lar»e families, sixty years 
 ago, could get a living by settling down iu the town 
 is unaccountable. Hardly a mechanic ever hired a 
 man. Old farms were divided. Some were "made 
 up." A carpenter never built by " contract." So 
 much, "by the day." A single blacksmith in each of 
 the four districts, or less, was sufBcient, and he, per- 
 haps, had a farm also. Probably there was not, sixty 
 years ago, a business in town that required a "hired 
 man," except farming. The mills, in flush of their 
 season, had extra help. A single tannery grew so as 
 to need two or three men part of the year. This 
 gradually died out,' yet Berlin gained in population, 
 relatively, with Bolton and Lancaster. 
 
 We should have had the present Old Colony Rail- 
 road running through our centre. But towns were 
 not then permitted to invest, as in the start of the 
 Central Massachusetts. Our twenty thousand in the 
 Central Massachusetts, had it been put into the Old 
 Colony, would have brought it to our doors, and have 
 been a rich investment. It would have brought the 
 rail to South Berlin, to the Centre; and to West Ber- 
 lin as now. Individuals could not raise the money. 
 To him that hath shall be given. Alas ! for him that 
 hath not. Berlin, with other towns on the line, in- 
 vested heavily in the Central Massachusetts, and 
 heavily has it borne upon us. After bearing it some 
 fifteen years we sold at less than thirty-three per cent. 
 This rail has come to our centre, but not as the Old 
 Colony would have come. We do not complain. 
 Above all, as a fellow-citizen, Mr. Chandler Carter has 
 lifted our indebtedness. Few know how the smaller 
 towns have to struggle. 
 
 Before the war Berlin had several shoe-shops of 
 moderate capacity. In these work was done for the 
 larger houses in Hudson and Marlboro'. The war 
 changed the order of business by concentration. Our 
 shops were vacated. 
 
 After the war and loss in population of about two 
 hundred (twenty-two in the array), Berlin attempted 
 an incorporated shoe manufactory by small shares, 
 sufficient to employ a hundred hands. I'arker 
 Brothers, Charles E. and John H., of Boston, were 
 succeeding hopefully. "The Boston Fire" crippled 
 them badly. Another, at home, laid the Berlin struc- 
 
 ture in ashes. Thus we were put back again, save a 
 small establishment still in force. So the population 
 has decreased by removal of families to centres of 
 business. Berlin is shut down to farming and horti- 
 culture. Summer boarders have s«-t in upon the 
 town, with the prospect of increase and remunera- 
 tion. We claim that the town is unexcelled in pleasant 
 resorts and summer drives, by any town within the 
 same distance from Boston. 
 
 Military. — As a town Berlin has, of course, no 
 part in the wars till 1812 and the Rebellion. The 
 Revolution had just terminated when we came upon 
 the stage. Our soldiers are in the records of Bolton 
 and Lancaster, and there imperfectly. But of those 
 who survived, Berlin citizens should be on record as 
 such. Many of the veterans of the old French and 
 Indian Wars, 1744-50 and 17-55-63, were still living 
 1784. 
 
 Of some three hundred soldiers on record in Lan- 
 caster in the French and Indian Wars, about twenty 
 of them are of Berlin territory. Of some forty to 
 fifty names in the Revolution, on Bolton records, 
 nearly one-third were of Berlin territory. The 
 Bolton lists have been searched out from old papers 
 recently discovered. No entire list is known or attain- 
 able. 
 
 Among the foremost in military service were the 
 Bruces. Most of them on Berlin records were more 
 or less in the Revolutionary War. Abraham (tradi- 
 tionally) was at the capture of Burgoyne. John 
 Hudson, father of Hon. Charles Hudson, had eight 
 sons in the war of 1776-83. 
 
 Our soldiers' list, made up of the incidental records, 
 stands : Bruce — Benjamin, Daniel, Abraham, Timo- 
 thy ; McBride — James, John, Thomas; Bailey — Col. 
 Silas, Lieut. Timothy, Benjamin, Barnabas ; Johnson 
 — Capt. Edward, Joshua, Eleaser, Nathan ; Larkin — 
 Matthias, John, John, Jr., Ephraim, Edniond, Peter ; 
 Samuel Baker, Samuel Baker, Jr., Edward Baker, 
 Amos Meriam, Jonathan Meriam, Uriah Moore, Ben- 
 jamin Nurse, Nathan Barber, Fortunatus Barnes, 
 Samuel Jones, Jr., Nathan Jones, Jabez Fairbanks, 
 James Fife, Jr., Elijah Foster, Nathaniel Hastings, 
 Silas Howe, Silas Houghton, Hezekiah Gibbs, Jr., 
 Abijah Pratt, John Pollard, Thomas Pollard, Joseph 
 Priest, Job Spafford, David Rice, Samuel Rice, Robert 
 Fosgate. 
 
 Berlin in the Rebellion is fully on record by a pub- 
 lished memorial address a'nd a memorial hall, with 
 memorial tablets and photographs. A Post of the G. 
 A. R. keeps well alive the heroic spirit of their fallen 
 comrades. The soldiers' memorial day has become 
 an established anniversary. We count it among our 
 educational institutions. 
 
 The tone and temper of Berlin in the outbreak of 
 the war was one and the same with all patriotic citi- 
 zens. The news of Sumter was read from the stage- 
 box of our expressman before he alighted. A com- 
 pany were iu waiting for such news as might come. 
 
BERLIN. 
 
 403 
 
 Hardly n man uttered a word ; but every face was 
 defiant. 
 
 A meeting was soon called, addresses made and 
 resolutions offered. Names were pledged for enlist- 
 ment. The call came speedily and was readily re- 
 sponded to. Our population was short of eleven 
 hundred. We sent into the war one hundred and 
 thirty-nine men. Twenty-two fell in battle or died 
 in the service. Captain Christopher S. Hastings was 
 our only commissioned officer. He raised a company 
 for himself, though exempt, by years, from military 
 duties. His company was at the battle of Freder- 
 icksburg, at Jackson and tlie siege of Vicksburg. 
 Enfeebled by small-pox, he died of malarial fever at 
 Mound City, Illinois. Our death-list besides was 
 Thomas Rathburn, Charles H. Maynard, Alonzo F. 
 Howe, Silas F. Jillson, Silas E. Goddard, George Ira 
 Carter, Hollis S. Johnson, Nathan B. GarfieId,William 
 H. Coburn, James Barry, Samuel A. Snow, George 
 H. Bowers, Edwin J. Bigelow, Rufus H. Williams, 
 Henry P. Rich, Tyler Paine, Homer F. Stone, Lafay- 
 ette Warden, Watsou Wilson, Charles 0. Starkey, 
 Lemuel Gott, Jr., Ezra Bartlett, Levi Holder. 
 
 Died since the war; J. Pillsbury, N. Johnson, 
 George F. Hartwell, George C. Wheeler, Ansel Snow, 
 Nathan M. Allen, William H. King, James F. Rath- 
 burn, Edward H. Hartshorn. 
 
 Town appropriations for the war, fourteen thousand 
 dollars. State aid, eleven thousand. 
 
 Perhaps no soldiers in the service were more care- 
 fully provided for, so far as it could be done at home, 
 than the soldiers of Berlin. 
 
 The question of what memorial, commemorative of 
 our fallen patriots, we should adopt, was considerately 
 weighed. Needing a new town-house, with modern 
 conveniences, a "Memorial Hall" was decided upon 
 as that which would be most enjoyed by the citizens, 
 being also especially appropriate for the use of the 
 surviving soldiers. In 1870 the house was dedi- 
 cated with becoming services. Memorial Hall con- 
 tains memorial tablets with the record of tach fallen 
 soldier. Each has also a good photograph likeness 
 hung by the tablet. The Grand Army of the Repub- 
 lic have taken commendable care of the hall and its 
 treasures. Annually the town appropriates fifty dol- 
 lars for " Memorial Day." This has become an estab- 
 lished anniversary, an educating force for the people, 
 as well as for the children. 
 
 The Grand Army of the Republic, as to Post 54, of 
 Berlin, is sadly diminishing. But the Sons of the 
 Veterans are already organized. May the Grand 
 Army of the Republic long survive ! Our last survi- 
 vor of the War of 1S12, many years seated on the plat- 
 form on Memorial Day, died 1886, — John D. Mer- 
 rill, eighty-eight years. 
 
 At the annual March meeting, 1884, Hon, William 
 Bas-elt made a motion for the observance of the town 
 centennial. The motion prevailed, and a committee 
 was appointed to carry the vote into effect. 
 
 The day passed off happily, though one of the hottest 
 of the season, September 10th. Es-Governor Bout- 
 well, who represented the town in the proposed amend- 
 ment to the State Constitution, 1853, was present and 
 added much to the day. Rev. A. P. Marvin, historian 
 of so manv towns, and of the county itself, very much 
 enriched the historical bill of fare. Adjacent towns 
 were represented, and many former residents and 
 natives responded to the sentiments of the day. Alto- 
 gether, it was a day of successful interest, though very 
 little parade or show was attempted. Such occasions 
 are becoming more and more important, though many 
 towns allow them to go by in indolent forgetfulness. 
 
 PARISH, PUECINCT AND TOWN OFFICERS, 1778-1888. 
 
 Jlforft'rators.— Samuel Baker, 1778, '84, '88 ; Epbraim Fairbank, 1779 
 '83 ; James Goddard, 1780, '86, 87 ; Jacob Moore, 1781 ; Fortunatus 
 Barnes, 1782 ; David Taylor, 1785, '89, '91, '03 ; Barnabas Majnaid, 1790, 
 '92, '94-9G, '98, '09, 1801, '0-', '06, '08, '09 ; Stephen Bailey, 1797, 1800, 
 03, '11-13 ; James K. Park, 1804, '07 ; Jonathan Merrrani, 1806 ; Solomon 
 Howe, 1810 ; Ueury Powers, 1814, '15 ; Oliver Sawyer, 1816-29 ; Asa 
 Sawyer, 1830-40, '48, '51 ; William Jones, 1847 ; Silas S. Greeulenf, 1849, 
 '5(1 ; Amos Sawyer, 1852-58 ; Lewis L. Carter, 1859-61 ; William Bassett, 
 1862 ; Amory A. Bartlett, 1SG3-66, '79-81, '85 ; Abel W. Longley, 1SC7-00, 
 '72, '74, '75, '77 ; Elijah C. Shattuck, 1870, '71, '73, '76 ; Leslie Hastings, 
 1878; Edward II. Hansliorii, 1882-84, '86 ; James D. Tyler, 1887, '88. 
 
 Town Cferij.— Jonathan Merriani, 1778-85, '89-99, 1800-04 ; John 
 Temple, 1786-88 ; Stephen Bailey, 1805-07 ; Dexter Fay, 1808-15 ; Amos 
 Sawyer, 1816 ; Solomon Howe, 1817-26 ; Josiah Conant, 1627-31 ; Wm. A. 
 Howe, 1832-37 ; Lewis Sawyer, 1838-45, '50-55 ; Oliver B. Sawyer, 1846 ; 
 John F. Newton, 1847^9 ; Otis L. Larkin, 1866 ; Albert Babcock, 1867, 
 '58, '74-82 ; Josiah E. Sawyer, 1869-73 ; Frank H. C'rossma-, 1883-88. 
 
 Sclerfmeii.— James Goddard, 1778-80, '82-84, 1817 ; Abijah Pratt, 1778 ; 
 Joshua Johnson, 1778, '79, '81, '8S, '80 ; Jonathan Merriani, 1779-83, 
 '85, '87, '89-94, '98, '99, 1817 ; William Sawyer, 1780, '85, '87, '99, 1800; 
 William Sawyer, Jr., 1781, '82; Josiah Sawyer(3d), 1783, '90, '92, '94, 
 '07 ; Samuel Baker, Jr., 17S8-9J ; John Temple, 1785, '86, '88 ; Barnabas 
 Maynard, 1785, '86 ; Henry Powers, 1785, '86, '88-92, '94, '99, 1800, 
 '01, '14-16 ; Timothy Jones, 1787 ; Josiah .Sawyer, Jr., 1788, '89, '91, 
 ■99, 18IJ0 ; Amos Johnson, 1700, 1807, '08 ; Levi Merriam, 1791-98, 1801 ; 
 Stephen Bailey, 1795-98. 1812-14 ; Samuel Jones, 1795, '96, 98 ; Samuel 
 Spafford, 1795, '96 ; Job Spafford, 1705, '97. '08 ; Ephraim Howe, 1,96; 
 Joel Fosgate, 1797 ; Nathan Johnson, 1799-1801; Jonathan Merriam, 
 1800, '17-19, '21-23 ; James R. Park, 1801-06, '12, '13 ; Caleb Fairbank, 
 1802-04 ; Epbraim Ho*e, 1802-00 ; James Goddard, Jr., 1802-07, '12 ; 
 Alvah Sawyer, 181 2-li6, '12, '13 ; David Barnes, 1805, 'I'O, '12 ; Dexter 
 Fay, 1807-11 ; Solomon Howe, 1807-11 ; Oliver Sawyer, 1807-11, '17-22, 
 '28, '29, '33, '34; Silas Houghton (2d), 1808-10, '20 ; Amos Sawyer, 1809 
 -11, '17-19 ; Epbraim Babcock, 1813-16, '18, '19, '23-26, '28-33 ; Adam 
 Bartlett. 1S13-1(; ; Win. Jones, 1814-16, '20-22, '24; Silas Sawyer, I81S, 
 '16 ; William Barnes, 1817-19, '24, '25 ; Hollis Johnson, 1820-22, '28-30, 
 '33, '34 ; Timothy Bailey, 1820-22 ; Joseph Park, 1823-27, '33-35, •42_ 
 '43 ; Luke Fosgate, 1823-26 ; Benjamin F. Spafford, 1823-27, '33-35, '42, 
 '43 : Paltiah Jones, 1825, '26 ; Welcome Barnes, 182C ; John Bartlett, 
 1827, '31, '32, '37, '38 ; Edward Johnson, 1827 ; Ira Sawyer, 1827 ; Lu- 
 ther Carter, 1827, '28 ; Levi Wheeler, 1828-30 ; Wm. Babcock, 1830-32 ; 
 Abram Sawyer, 1831, '32 ; Lewis Carter, 1831, '32, '35, '36. '41, '49, '50; 
 Timothy Jones, 1832 ; Thomas Brigham, 1833-35 ; Paul Brigham, 1836, 
 '37, '48 ; Samuel Spafford, 1836-38, '41 ; Ephraim Babcock, Jr., 1S3S, '39, 
 '49, '50; Asa Bride, 1839 ; Jonas Hale, 1839; Win. Jones, 1810, '41 ; 
 Daniel Bartlett, 1840, '44-47 ; OliTer Fosgate, 1S42, '58 ; John F. Lar- 
 kin, 1842, '43 ; Perigrine Wheeler, 1843 ; Silas Sawyer, 1844-48, '51-53, 
 '69-61 ; Jonas Eobbins, 1844, '45 ; Samuel H. Wheeler, 1846, '47, '49, 
 '50 ; Seth Rice, 184S ; Silas Houghton, 1851, '54 ; Lewis L. Carter, 1851- 
 63, '66-72, '77-85 ; Abram Bigelow, 1852 ; Hartwell Sawyer, 1853 ; Jonas 
 Sawyer, 54, '63-65 ; Ellslia M. Whitney, 1854 ; Oliver Smith, 1855 ; Jo- 
 siah E. Sawyer, 1855, '56 ; Ezra S. Moore, 1S55, "56 ; George W. May- 
 nard, 1856, '59-62 ; Asa Sawyer, 1857 ; Josiah Babcock, 1857 ; Christo- 
 pher S. Hastings, 1857 ; Henry D. Coburn, 1858-61, '6:1, '70 ; George H. 
 Barnes, 1858 ; Lulber Peters, 1862 ; Abel W. Longley, 1862, '63; Riley 
 Smith, 1863 ; Wm. Bassett, 1864-69, '73-76; Israel Sawyer, 1861-68; 
 Lyman Morse, 1870 72, '88 ; Edwin Sawyer, 1371-73 ; Robert B. Wheeler, 
 1873-86 ; Frederick Miller, 1874-76 ; Winslow B. Morse. 1877 ; Arthur 
 
404 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Hastings, 1884 ; Fred. A. Wood«rd, 18S5-87 ; John Q. Maynard, 1886, 
 '87 ; James D. Tyler, 1887, '88 ; Samuel Wheeler, 1888 ; Kuthveu Hast- 
 ings, 1878-83. 
 
 Asiie»sf>rs. — Jonathan Merriani, 1778-85, '89-1804; Timothy Jones, 
 1778-80; William Sawyer, Jr., 177S-«3, '89-91; Jonathan Jones, 
 1781-83 ; David Taylor, 1784, 'g.'; ; Henry Powers, 1784, '90-1803 ; Bar- 
 nabas Maynard, 1788, '89 ; Amos Allen, 17s5 ; Josiah Sawyer, Jr., 
 1785-87 ; John Temple, 178G-88 ; Janiesi Goddard, 1780, '87 ; Stephen 
 Bailey, 1795-1802, 'W ; David Barnes, 1803, '04; JaniesGoddard, Jr.,1805 ; 
 Amos Johnson, 1806, '07; Dexter Fay, 1800-08, '28; Solomon Howe, 
 1806-12, '14, '10, '21-24; Wni. Newton, 1808, '09, '13, '14; Alvan Saw- 
 yer, 18"9-11; Ephraim Babcouk, 1810, '11, '21-24; Amos Sawyer, 1812, 
 '13, '15-20, '22-27 ; Silas Honghton, 1812-14 ; Jonathan D. Merriam, 
 1816-19, '31, '32, '40; Stephen Pollard, 1815; Ira Sawyer, 18I0-18,'25, 
 '26 ; Oliver Sawyer, 1819 ; Thomas Brigham, 1827-37 ; Theopholus 
 Nourse, 1820; Daniel Holder, 1825-27; Samuel SpalTord, 1828, '33, '34, 
 '36-38; Asa Sawyer, 1820-33, '39-4'2, '48, '49, '67 ; Pelatiah Jones, 1829, 
 '.30; Benjamin F. Spafford, 1833-38; Benjamin Outran, 1835; Jonas 
 Hale, 1838, '39 ; Eli Sawyer, 1839 ; Daniel Bartlett, 1840, '41 ; I'eri- 
 grene Wheeler, 1841-43; Oliver B. Sawyer, 1842-46; Oliver Fosgate, 
 184!, '5", '61; Wni. Jones, 1844^7 ; Oliver Moore, 1844-46; Christopher 
 S. Hastings, 1847 ; Ira II. M. Brown, 1847 ; Levi Bigelow, 1848-60 ; 
 Solomon Jones, 1848, "49, '57 ; Seth Bice, I860, '62 ; Silas S. Greenleaf, 
 1851 ; Albert liabcock. 1851, '53, '.50 ; Josiah E. Sawyer, 1852, '63 ; Sam- 
 nel H. Wheeler, IS.'ii, '64, '55 ; Jonas Sawyer, 1853 ; Lewis L. Carter, 
 18.54, 'CO, '01, '05, '73, '76; Thomas Pollard, 1864; Tyler Paine, 1866; 
 Willard Sonthwiek, 1856, '59; Itiley Smith, 1866 ; Henry D. Coburu, 
 1856 ; Samuel II. Whejler, 1867, '58, '60-62, '67-09 ; Edward W. Flagg, 
 1858 ; Winslow B. Morse, 1858. '02 ; Jobiah Sawyer, 1859, '63-76 ; Riley 
 Smith, 1869 ; Willard Southwick, 18.59 ; Wm. Bassett, 1860, '01, '72, 
 '78-8J ; Nathan W. Fay, 1802 ; Albert Babcock, 1863-70 ; Oliver Fos- 
 gate, 1803 ; Amory A. Bartlett, 1804 ; Henry D. Coburn, 1800 ; Abel W. 
 Longley, 1870 ; Silas Sawyer, 1870-73 ; Josiah Moore, 1871, '72 ; Arthur 
 Hastings, 1873-76, '86 ; Wm. Tho. Babcock (2d). 1874 ; Jonas H. Car 
 ter, 1875; Elijah r., Shattuck, 1876; Silas S. Greenleaf, 1877; Israel 
 Sawyer, 1877-81 ; Geo. W. Fosgate, 1878-81 ; Paul -\. Randall, 1882 ; 
 Kuthven Hastings, 1882-86; John A. Merrill, 1883-87; Henry A. 
 Wheeler, 1883-88; Robert B. Wheeler, 1887; Charles M. Sawyer, 1888; 
 Walter E. Brown, 1888. 
 
 Treagnrera and Cfiltectors. — Samuel Jones, 1778-82 ; Ephraim Fairbank, 
 1783-87 ; William Sawyer, 1788, '93, '94 ; Stephen Bailey, 1789-',)2, '96 ; 
 Barnabus Maynard, 1796-98 ; Amos Johnson. 1799-1804 ; Levi Merriam, 
 1806-11 ; Solomon Howe, 1812-22 ; Jonathan D. Merriam, 1823-27 ; 
 Samuel Spafli.rd, 1828-30, "33, '46 ; Pelatiah Jones, 1831, '32 ; Wm. A. 
 Howe, 1834 ; Amos Sawyer, Jr., 1835-37 ; Oliver Fosgate, 1^38, '39 ; 
 George W. Babcock, 1840, '41 ; Oliver B. Sawyer, 1842^4; Ira Jouee, 
 1846-48 ; Solomon Jones, 1849 ; Christopher S. Hastings, 1850-63 : 
 Elisha M. Whitney, 1864, '65 ; Edward H. Hartshorn, 1866-71 ; Josiah 
 Moore, 1872-, '76-87; Ruthven Hastings, 1873-75, '88. 
 
 CoiisUibks. — Joel Fosgate, 1784 ; William Badcook, 1786 ; .Jonathan 
 Merriam, 1786 ; Nathan Johnson, 1787 ; James Goddard, Jr., 1788 ; Jona- 
 than Wheeler, 1789; Barnabus MayiiarJ, 1790; Levi Merriam, 1791 ; 
 Silas Bailey, Jr., 1792 ; Samuel SpalTord, 1793, 1809, '32, '33, '45 ; Samuel 
 Jones, 1794 ; Nathaniel Hastings, 1795 ; John Larkin, 1796-99, 1800, '10, 
 '11 ; Aniiisa Holt, 1801-04, '07 ; Solomon Howe, 1808 ; William Newton, 
 1806; .TamesGoddard, Jr., 1806; Stephen Pollard, 1812, '14-10; Joseph 
 Moore, 1813 ; .\sa Sawyer, 1817-22 : Barnabas Brigham, 1823-24 ; Luther 
 Carter, 182.'i-27 ; John Bartlett, 1828-.3:) ; Amos Sawyer, Jr., 1834-37 ; 
 Oliver Fosgate, 1838-40 ; Josiah Bride, 1841-42; R. S. Hastings, 1843-46 ; 
 Silas Houghton, 1850-53 ; L. L. Carter, 1854 ; Tbonias Pollard, 1854; A. 
 A. Bartlett, 1855, '85 ; William G. Hapgood, 1856 ; Samuel M. Fuller, 
 1867, '64-68 ; John F. Bennett, 1857 ; Geo. Q. Sawyer, 1858 ; Andrew A. 
 Powers, 1859-01 ; Josiah Moore, 1862-63; Frederick D. Kallom, 1863-64 . 
 William H. Frye, 1866 ; Samuel E. Fuller, 1860-72, '74, '75 ; George H. 
 Andrews, 1872, '78, '79, '81 ; John L. Bruce, 1S73-79, '82-84 ; Henry D. 
 Coburn, 1873; Thomas Hale, 1876; Warren S.Howe, 1877; Charles B. 
 Bancroft, 1886 ; Leonard W. Brewer, 1887-88 ; Apploton D. Parmenter, 
 1887 ; John 0. Osgood, 1888. 
 
 School Ciimmitlee.—lt. F. Walcutt, 1832, '33 ; A. C. Baldwin, 1832 ; 
 Asa Sawyer, 1832, '.30-38, '40, '41, '40; Wm. A.' Howe, 1832-34; Wm. 
 Sawyer (2d), 1832 ; Horace Bailey, 1833, '36 ; Willard Howe, 1833 ; Mich. 
 ael Burdett, 1834; Josiah Bride, 1834-39, '52-85; S. G. A. Tyler, 1834; 
 Josephus Wilder, 1834 ; David K. Lamson, 1835-:i9 ; Eber L, Clark, 183.5- 
 37 ; J. L. S. Thompson, 1835-37 ; Robert Carver, 1838-39 ; Albert Babcock, 
 1838, '71, '73 ; John F. Larkin, 1839, '44, '45 ; Lewis Sawyer, 1839, '49, 
 •50; Wm. Jones, 1840; G. W. A. Babcock, :840; Edward Hartshorn, 
 1841-44, '62-65, '64, '07 ; Dexter Fay, 1841, '42 ; Oliver B. Sawyer, 1843- 
 
 46 ; Henry Adams, 1844-48, '52 ; Solomon Jones, 1844, '46, '51 ; Jonathan 
 
 F. Wheeler, 1844-50 ; Seth Price, 1845 ; Edwin A. Larkin, 1846 ; Ira H. 
 Brown, 1847 ; Levi Bigelow, 1848-60 ; Silas S. Greenleaf, 1851 ; Addison 
 
 G. Smith, 1861 ; Elijah C. Shattuck, 1866, '67, '59, '69, '70-83 ; Charles 
 G. Keyes, 1860 ; Wm. A. Houghton, 1853-58, '60-66, '70, '73, '80, '83, '86 ; 
 Gardner Rice, 1867 ; Lemuel Gott, 1858, '62; Wm. Bassett, 1858, '62, '66, 
 'rs, '71, '78 ; Ira O. Carter, 1861 ; Daniel H, Carter, 1871 ; AuKel L. Snow, 
 1872 ; Miss Mary Bassett, 1875 ; Mi-s. Sarah H. Sawyer, 1875 ; Pliny B. 
 Southwick, 1876, '77 ; Miss Slary J. Keyes, 1881 ; Mrs. .\ddison Keyes, 
 1885-88; Aniasa A. Whitcomb, 1884; Henry H. Hastings, 1887, '88. 
 
 lii^presetiUitioes to General Court — Henry Powers, 1812. Incorporation 
 of the town. Henry Powers, 1813-16, '20, '22, '26-27, '29. 1817, voted 
 not to send ; '13, voted the same ; Amos Sawyer, 1819, '23, '24 ; Jonathan 
 D. Merriam, I828, '30-32, '36, '38 ; Joseph Park, 1833, '34, ':i7, '39 ; Ira 
 Sawyer, 1835 ; Wm. Jones, 1840 ; '41 and '42 did not send ; Oliver B. 
 Sawyer, 1S43 ; Seth Rice, 1846 ; Amos Sawyer, Jr., 1849, '50; Lewis 
 Sawyer, 1851, '62. 
 
 lifpreseulativea of the Fifth Worcester Covnty District. — George W. 
 Maynard, 1869; Lincoln L. Csrter, 1879 ; Rev. Henry Hyde, 1884; 
 Dr. Edward Hartshorn, 1862 ; Abel W. Longley, 1865; Edward H. 
 Hartshorn, 1869 ; Samuel Haynes, 1873; John C. Bickford, 1874 ; E. C. 
 Shattuck, 1876. 
 
 Senators. — Hon. Samuel Baker, 1780-94, less two years ; Hon. William 
 Bassett, 1864. 
 
 Jitslices of the Peacf of the town of Berlin (from 1778 to the present time, 
 1888). — Hon. Samuel Baker, Ephraim Fairbank, Amos Johnson, Levi 
 Merriam, Solomon Howe, Jonathan D. Merriam, Thomas Brigham, Asa 
 Sawyer, Amos Sawyer, Wm. A. Howe, Jobiah Babcock, Lewis Sawyer, 
 Albert Babcock, Josiah E. Sawyer, Wm. Bassett, Pliny B. Southwick, 
 Amory A. Bartlett, Samuel M. Haynes, AbelW. Longley. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 REV. WILLIAM A. HOrGHTON. 
 
 Rev. William Addisou Houghton, son of Caleb and 
 Susannah (Sawyer) Houghton, of the seventh gener- 
 ation, from John Houghton, born in England, and 
 who died in Lancester 16S4, was born in Berlin, June 
 2, 1812, on homestead never in hands of any but the 
 Houghtons (save one mere change). His parents 
 died in his early childhood. At twenty-two years he 
 began preparations for college ; graduated at Yale, 
 1840; also at Yale Divinity School, 1843; was settled 
 the same year over the Congregational Church of 
 Northboro', with which he had uniied in 1813; re- 
 signed in 1851 ; resident in Berlin 1852 ; installed 
 over the Congregational Church in Berlin, October 
 25, 1853; resigned, October 25, 1878, after a pastorate 
 of twenty-five years. His wife, Mary Grace, was 
 daughter of Solomon and Sarah (Stow) Howe, of 
 Berlin. Their only daughter, Lucinda Howe, mar- 
 ried, on the silver wedding day of her parents at their 
 home, Edward Howe Hartshorn, son of Dr. Edward 
 and Lucy E. (Howe) Hartshorn, May 28, 1869. 
 Wife Lucinda, died of pneumonia, December 26, 
 1876, at twenty-six years. She left nvo children. 
 The husband married, second. Miss Louisa South- 
 gate, daughter of Rufus S. and Louisa (Blood) Hast- 
 ings. 
 
 Mrs. Houghton died, October 16, 1882. Son-in-law, 
 Hartshorn, died, January 8, 1887, at forty-four years. 
 He left five children ; three by second marriage. All 
 have been born and nurtured up to date in the same 
 ministerial homestead which was established by Rev. 
 
-> 
 
 VV; C\., ^^iuWh 
 
I 
 

 V- 
 
BERLIN. 
 
 405 
 
 Dr. Puffer, 1788, and occupied by him nearly half a 
 century, and by his widow, second wife, another quar- 
 ter century. Kemodeled, 1866. The church, 1887, 
 by motion of the pastor, Rev. C. H. Washburn, con- 
 ferred upon Mr. Houghton the relation of pastor 
 emeritus. 
 
 CHANDLER CARTER. 
 
 Chandler Carter is of the Lancaster line, originating 
 in Rev. Thomas Carter, born in England about 1610 ; 
 pastor in Woburn, 1642; was graduate of Cambridge, 
 England. His son, Samuel, was graduate of Cam- 
 bridge, Mass., 1660. Located in Lancaster, he be- 
 came pastor in Groton, and died there in 1697. His 
 son, Samuel 2d, had Samuel 3d, who was father 
 to Stanton, who settled in Berlin. Stanton's son, 
 Daniel, was father to Chandler, who was the tenth 
 and youngest child, born October 7, 1808. His 
 mother was Dolly Jones, of one of the most numerous 
 and influential families of the town. Those were 
 days of economy and hard work. 
 
 Our townsman has known both of these, in his 
 father's home and in his own. He married a lady of 
 good family and of good estate, whose father, a Berlin 
 young man, Abraham Babcock, made a success of life 
 in Boston. 
 
 But the enjoyable union was sundered by death, 
 after the birth of a daughter, who also died in early 
 womanhood. 
 After years of loneliness in his home Mr. Carter made 
 another fitting and enjoyable connection in marriage 
 with Miss Leah H. Lincoln, of Pembroke, Me., Jan- 
 uary 16. 1864. 
 
 Sadly this union was severed also, August 16, 1879. 
 Singularly both deaths were painfully alike after 
 similar surgical sufferings. 
 
 As domestic joys were quenched in sorrows, the 
 lone husband and father has taken more and more 
 into his sympathies his native associates and towns- 
 men. The manifestation of it has been duly recipro- 
 cated in many kindly expressions before his great 
 generosity was apprehended. 
 
 In 1880 Mr. Carter contributed one thousand dol- 
 lars for the building of the Unitarian Church. A 
 niece of his had appropriated, in her will, a like sum 
 to the same end. 
 
 Our town was heavily burdened by war debt and 
 railroad investment. Mr. Carter had opposed the 
 latter urgently. But the town's error did not abate 
 his good will. He sprung upon us a joyful surprise 
 in the gift to the town of twenty thousand dollars. 
 Nor this alone ; he gave twenty thousand also to the 
 Unitarian Society of Berlin. Nor this alone; he gave 
 
 ten thousand to " The Children's Mission to Children 
 of the Destitute." 
 
 Of course the town responded by votes and resolu- 
 tions too extended for full quotations. A public re- 
 ception was given Mr. Carter at the town hall, J. D. 
 Tyler of the selectmen presiding. Neighboring towns 
 joined in the occasion by representative citizens. 
 
 E. F. Johnson, E<q., attorney for Mr. Carter, came 
 forward with the twenty thousand dollar check, 
 which he presented, with impressive fitness, to the 
 town, through the selectmen, F. A. Woodward, 
 chairman. Rev. W. A. Houghton, native townsman 
 and schoolmate of Mr. Carter, as also his near 
 neighbor for thirty years, responded for the 
 town. The long acquaintance of the donor and 
 respondent gave opportunity for the pleasantries of 
 life as well as for sober reflection. James T. Joslin, 
 Esq., of Hudson, had been delegated to present to 
 the town a 'ife-size oil painting of Mr. Carter, which 
 he had previously donated. It had been hung over 
 the platform draped in white, and, in Mr. Joslin's 
 closing words, it was unveiled. More than a heart- 
 felt reception was given by the crowded assembly. 
 Its companion likeness is that of Artemas Barnes, 
 Esq., which, alone, had silently presided over many 
 Berlin assemblies. 
 
 Mr. Joslin's remarks were publicly instructive. 
 
 Hon. William Bassett responded for the town in 
 appropriate acknowledgment and practical sugges- 
 tions. Others responded briefly. Lyman Morse, of 
 the selectmen, Geo. A. potting, Esq., of Hudson 
 (formerly resident in Berlin), Wilbur F. Brigham, of 
 Hudson, C. F. Morse, of the Marlboro^ Times, S. T. 
 Rice, of Northboro' and Mr. Pope, of the Boston 
 Globe. 
 
 The occasion was one to be long remembered in 
 Berlin. Perhaps its moral effect will more than 
 equal the financial relief. Our spirits grew anew as 
 our tax bills came round so encouragingly reduced. 
 
 Among the resolutions passed, " in town-meeting 
 assembled," was this: "That the best token of our 
 regard which we can ever hereafter manifest for Mr. 
 Carter's memory, is so to conduct the business of the 
 town as to be clear of debt, the burden of which is 
 now lightened by his generosity.'' 
 
 Of an inspiring poem, contributed by Miss P. A. 
 Holder, we quote only the following : 
 
 " The aureole of silver 
 
 Years to thy head have brought — 
 Is tinged with gol-ien lustre, 
 
 This golden defti hath wrought. 
 
 " We'll write thy name in brightness, 
 As with a golden pen, 
 Beside the good Ben Adhem's 
 Who ' loved his fellow-men,' " 
 
406 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 CHAPTER LXI. 
 
 HOPEDALE. 
 
 BY ADIN BALLOU. 
 
 A NEW and bright little star in the constellation 
 of Massachusetts townships. It was created by act 
 of the Legislature, which received the consummating 
 approval of the Governor April 7, 1886. It has an in- 
 teresting history, and an auspicious future, as will be 
 seen ia the facts of the following explicit compen- 
 dium : 
 
 Territorial Situation, Dimensions and To 
 POGRAPHY. — It is situated in the southeasterly sec- 
 tion of the county, at about 42° 8' N. latitude, and 
 71° 9' W. longitude from Greenwich. It is bounded 
 northerly by Upton, easterly by Milford and Belling- 
 ham, and southerly and westerly by Mendon. It 
 contains three thousand five hundred and forty-seven 
 acres, or a little over five and a half square miles. 
 Its length is somewhat less than five miles, and its 
 mean width hardly one mile and a quarter. Yet five 
 cities and seventeen towns in the State have a smaller 
 area. It is traversed through its whole length by a 
 goodly little stream called Mill River, lies chiefly 
 in the valley of that river, is skirted by high lands 
 east and west, and includes the southern declivity of 
 old Magomiscock Hill. Otherwise its surface is com- 
 paratively level, with a gneissic soil of moderate nat- 
 ural fertility and feasible culture. It has little native 
 wealth except its water-power, which has long been 
 turned to good account. It has no mineral ores, and 
 little clay, peat or quarrying stone. Yet its soil, with 
 proper cultivation, yields fair crops of grass, grains 
 and fruits. Its woodlands, too, though not supe- 
 rior, are tolerably productive. Its population at 
 present is predominantly composed of manufactur- 
 ers, artisans, traders and concomitant subsidiaries. 
 
 Early History. — This slice of territory was in- 
 cluded in the famous " Eight miles Square," deeded 
 by several Nipmuck Indian sachems April 22, a.d. 
 1662, to Moses Payne and Peter Brackett, as repre- 
 sentative agents of the then Quinshipaug Plantation, 
 afterward incorporated. May 15, 1667, as the town of 
 Mendon. (For particulars see " Histories of Men- 
 don and Milford.") 
 
 Settlements began to be made here at an early date 
 after the incorporation of Mendon. The very first 
 mark of civilization within our limits was made by 
 an eminent patron of the Quinshipaug Plantation, 
 incipient Mendon, Benjamin Alby (Albee). Under 
 a special contract with the plantation authorities, 
 made in 1664, he erected a " Corn Mill " (so-called) 
 on our Mill River, — the eai-liest water-power estab- 
 lished for grain-grinding west of Medfield in all this 
 region. It was located on what is now the Lewis B. 
 Gaskill place, in the southwest cornerof our new town, 
 just north of Mendon line, where the remains of the 
 
 ancient dam are still extant. It was then deemed an 
 important enterprise, and a great convenience to the 
 increasing population of the general neighborhood. 
 Albee contracted to maintain his "Corn Mill" 
 permanently, and received several grants of land 
 near the mill-site as a consideration for ils public ad- 
 vantage?. But he chose his house-lot a little south- 
 westerly of his mill, in what is still Mendon territory, 
 near the present residence of Willis Gould. His 
 mill and dwelling-house are understood to have been 
 burnt by King Philip's warriors, when the original 
 Mendon Village was laid in ashes during the winter 
 of 1675. 
 
 The earliest actual settler within our borders was 
 John Sprague. In 1670 he bought of John Bartlett, 
 an original Mendon proprietor, his right to a twenty- 
 acre house- lot in the near vicinity of Albee's corn- 
 mill, westward in our now extreme southwesterly 
 corner. It included what has long been known as 
 the Wing Kelley place. There he built himself a 
 domicile soon after King Philip's War. He passed 
 away, and was succeeded by his son William, and 
 perhaps by a later descendant. Possibly Matthias 
 Puffer, successor to Benjamin Albee in the ownership 
 of the corn-mill, built a rude dwelling-house on his 
 premises. We have no reliable evidence that any 
 other settlements were made on our territory until 
 the year 1700. During that year two distinguished 
 settlers planted themselves homes on lands now in- 
 cluded in the site of Hopedale Village. These were 
 Seth Chapin, Esq., and Elder John Jones. Their 
 children and posterity were long conspicuous inhab- 
 itants of this neighborhood. The limits assigned to 
 this sub-history do not allow the writer to go into 
 many of the interesting particulars, which may be 
 found in his exhaustive "History of Milford." If 
 our inquisitive readers will consult that work, they 
 will find that the early settlers of our present town . 
 territory, their ott'spring and successors, have been a 
 somewhat remarkably intelligent, enterprising and 
 influential people, especially the leading families. 
 
 To verify this let them read what is said in several 
 chapters, and in the "Genealogical Register," con- 
 cerning the Albees, Chapins, Corbetts, Greenes, Hay- 
 wards, Joneses, Nelsons, Pennimans, Warfields, 
 Wheelocks, Whites and others of various note and 
 date. They will then be satisfied that our present 
 population have little reason to be ashamed, either 
 of their predecessors or themselves. In the long 
 struggles which resulted first in making Milford a 
 precinct, December 23, 1741, and finally a town April 
 11, 1780, the inhabitants of now Hopedale were prom- 
 inent, persistent and influential actors. The First 
 Church (Congregational) of Milford originated chiefly 
 with tlie.«e inhabitants, led by Elder John Jones and 
 his neighbors. It was formed in his dwelling-house. 
 In that house it was organized and ecclesiastically 
 sanctioned April 15, 1741. Many of its regular Sab- 
 bath meetings were held there, pending the erection 
 
HOPEDALE. 
 
 407 
 
 of its first meeting-house ; and there the council con- 
 vened, which ordained its first pastor, Rev. Amariah 
 Frost, December 21, 1743. In secular affairs the in- 
 fluence of our antecedent citizens was at one period 
 predominant. Samuel Penniman, Esq., at what is 
 called South Milford, now a part of Hopedale, be- 
 came a manufacturer of woolen and cotton goods, not 
 far froai 1810, at an establishment just on the edge of 
 Bellingham, where Charles River leaves our town. 
 He was a man of sterling business talent and enter- 
 prise. Whether he had co-partners in the manufac- 
 ture of cloth the writer was never definitely in- 
 formed, but deems it probable. A little later he em- 
 barked actively in the straw goods trade, which he 
 carried on in connection with a large grocery and 
 dry-goods store. He did an immense business for a 
 country merchant of those days, commanded custom 
 throughout an area many miles in diameter, and was 
 very popular. He employel hundreds, perhaps 
 thousands, of straw braiders, and supplied their do- 
 mestic wants out of his ample store. The then 
 famous thoroughfare, the " Ninth Massachusetts 
 Turnpike," so-called, had been recently opened, aud 
 passed close by his premises, affording quite unpre- 
 cedented facilities for communication with compara- 
 tively distant marts. This brought another great 
 public convenience, a post-office. This was Milfbrd's 
 first mail depot. It was es^tablished March 7, 1814, 
 and Major Penniman was appointed postmaster. 
 Milford Centre had no post-ofiice till February 10, 
 1823. Samuel Penniman, Esq., died, much lamented, 
 in the prime of life, December 22, 1817. He was suc- 
 ceeded in business by Samuel Leeds and one of his 
 own surviving sons. Mr. Leeds was a man of ability 
 and executive enterprise, but after a few years the 
 prosperity of the establishment declined, and never 
 afterward returned to its climax. Other minor cases 
 of business development within our now municipal 
 limits might be mentioned with respect, but were not 
 of sufficient importance to occupy space, until we 
 reach the movement which evolved 
 
 The Hopedale Community. — This was of com- 
 manding importance, for without it there is no prob- 
 ability there would ever have existed the beautiful 
 village of Hopedale, or the flourishing and promising 
 town that bears that melodious name. The writer 
 happens to be fully cognizant of all the facts which 
 enable him to state the exact truth concerning this 
 matter; for he was the leading originator, projector, 
 legislator and director of that community movement. 
 It was not designed or expected by him that Hope- 
 dale should ever become an incorporated body p')l!tic 
 under any human government, however otherwise 
 good, which requires its subjects, at its behest, to 
 slaughter human beings in war, or to train for that 
 purpose in armies, navies and militias, or to inflict 
 death on criminals, or to resort to deadly force against 
 offenders, or, under any pretext whatsoever, to do unto 
 any class of mankind what they would not have done 
 
 unto themselves, or to violate in any respect the plain 
 precepts and examples of Jesus Christ. It was strictly 
 a practical Christian movement, conscientiou-ily and 
 unselfishly regardful of individual, social and the 
 universal welfare. Yet, while it transcended the 
 semi-barbarism of existing human governmentalism, 
 and threw off' the trammels of its unchristian require- 
 ments, it did not deny its usefulness under the over- 
 rulings of Divine Providence, nor depreciate any of 
 the good which it conserves, nor countenance any 
 form of opposition by physical violence even to its 
 greatest wrongs and evils. 
 
 There was not a particle of red revolutionism in it 
 nor of compulsory political socialism. It was 
 thoroughly pledged against everything of this nature. 
 Yet its noble design ultimately failed, and its sub- 
 lime expectations were drowned in the dark waters of 
 disappointment. But it accomplished something — so 
 much, indeed, that, as has already been said, it laid 
 a foundation without which the present town would 
 probably never have come into existence. What it 
 did accomplish and why it failed will now be told as 
 briefly as the nature of the case fairly admits. 
 
 Its chief originator and his associates were Inde- 
 pendent Restorationists in theology and moral reformers 
 — believers in the fatherhood of God, the brotherhood 
 of man, and the religion of Jesus Christ, as He taught 
 and exemplified it, according to the Scriptures of the 
 New Testament. And they became seized with a 
 deeply religious and rational ambition to carry their 
 faith logically into practice, socially as well as indi- 
 vidually. Their premises and conclusions were in- 
 vulnerable to just criticism. They were all tee-total 
 temperance people, thorough abolitionists of the non- 
 political type, sincere believers in the co-equal rights 
 of the sexes and devoted Christian non-resistants, 
 eschewing all forms of deadly and harmful force 
 against human beings, even the worst. They ardently 
 desired to commence an order of society and civiliza- 
 tion on this basis, wherein systematic practice should 
 not persistently contradict and nullify gospel theory, 
 but concordantly exemplify it. 
 
 They drew their inspiration and convictions of duty 
 from such divine lessons and injunctions as the fol- 
 lowing : " Blessed are the meek ; for they shall in- 
 herit the earth." " Blessed are the merciful ; for 
 they shall obtain mercy." "Blessed are the peace- 
 makers ; for they shall be called the children of God," 
 " All things whatsoever ye would that men should do 
 to you, do ye even so to them." " Ye have heard that it 
 halh been said. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a 
 tooth. But I say unto you. That ye resist not evil" 
 thus with evil. " Ye have heard that it hath been 
 said. Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine 
 enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, 
 bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate 
 you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and 
 persecute you ; that ye may be the children of your 
 Father who is in heaven ; for he maketh his sun to 
 
408 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the 
 just and on the unjust." " My kingdom is not of this 
 world: if my kingdom were of this world then would 
 my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to 
 the Jews." " Put up again thy sword into his place ; 
 for all they that take the sword shall perish with the 
 sword." "The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship 
 over them ; and they that exercise authority upon 
 them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so ; 
 hut he that is greatest among you, let him be as the 
 younger, and he that is chief as he that doth serve." 
 " Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered 
 unto, but to minister." "Ye call me Master and 
 Lord ; and ye say well ; for so I am." " I have given 
 you an example, that ye should do as I have done to 
 you." "If any man will come after me, let him deny 
 himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." 
 " Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things 
 which I say ? " 
 
 We pondered these and kindred testimonies, and 
 looked over Christendom to find in what empire, 
 kingdom or republic thereof, such principles of truth 
 and righteousness prevailed. We surveyed the nomi- 
 nal church throughout its manifold contending divi- 
 sions, and found all the popular sects, and even most 
 of the unpopular ones, completely wedded to the 
 worldly governments under which they lived, either 
 in formal union with the state or as subservient co- 
 governing constituents, pledged to abide by and carry 
 out the will of the constitutional majority. We heard 
 much of Christian patriotism. Christian politics, 
 Christian soldiers and Christian civilizatian, but saw 
 comparatively little of the pure Christianity taught 
 and exemplified by Jesus Christ, so plainly set forth 
 in the above-quoted Scriptures. We, therefore, resolved 
 on attempting to institute a community more accordant 
 with Christ's clearly indicated ideal. 
 
 It was a presumptuous undertaking. We were few 
 in numbers, crude in our Christian attainments, poor 
 in pecuniary resources, inexperienced in social con- 
 struction and confronted by formidable obstacles. 
 Faith and conscientious zeal constituted our chief 
 capital. A declaration of principles, embodying all 
 that was deemed essential to an ethical and religious 
 covenant, was matured, together with a carefully 
 elaborated general constitution. These were dis- 
 cussed, considered and finally subscribed by about 
 thirty persons, convened in Mendon, Mass., near the 
 end of January, 1841. And there, on the 28th of that 
 month, we formed and organized what was styled 
 "Fraternal Community, No. 1," afterward entitled 
 " The Hopedale Community." In the course of 1841 
 we purchased the "Jones' Farm," so called, alias 
 "The Dale," in Milford. This locality was christened 
 Hopedale — the word Mope being prefixed to Dale, as 
 significant of our high anticipations of a social 
 future. The community commenced practical opera- 
 tions immediately after April 1, 1842, with a joint 
 stock capital of less than four thousand dollars, on a 
 
 worn-out farm of some two hundred and fifty-eight 
 acres, in a single, time-shattered mansion, nearly one 
 hundred and twenty years old, with a few rickety out- 
 buildings. There was no shop, mill or mill-dam 
 on the premises. The little river gurgled lawlessly 
 down a stony fall of some twenty-six feet from an 
 almost worthless swale at the north into a kindred 
 one at the south, yielding only a few desirable fish. 
 The ingress and egress were by roads of the cheapest 
 kind. 
 
 The new-comers had to start with a very scanty 
 outfit of everything necessary to their progress. The 
 first settlers comprised seven or eight familie.i, num- 
 bering about thirty persons, men, women and children, 
 all housed in their old domicile. From this humble 
 beginning the community gradually increased in 
 numbers and resources, amid innumerable difficulties, 
 for nearly fourteen years, when they could muster a 
 regular membership of one hundred, and an aggregate 
 of three hundred souls — dwelling in fifty houses, on 
 a domain of more than five hundred acres, with a 
 respectable array of homely, but serviceable mills, 
 shops and conveniences. We had also a school-house, 
 chapel and a library of several hundred volumes. We 
 had a handsome village site with good streets, where 
 rough places had been made smooth, and crooked 
 things straight. And our total capital had risen to 
 over ninety thousand dollars. 
 
 How this culmination was reached, step by step, 
 it would require a considerable volume to narrate, 
 and it would be a book worth reading. The writer, 
 over ten years ago, prepared such a volume for the 
 press, and it will one day be published; but, for the 
 present, a few outlines must sufiice. 
 
 We had in our membership, first and last, farmers, 
 gardeners, a variety of mechauics, seven or eight 
 ordained ministers of the gospel, one experienced 
 and skillful physician, several competent educators 
 in the useful branches, and altogether a common- 
 sense, intelligent community. We have been repeat- 
 edly pilloried by eloquent orators, who happened to 
 know very little about us, as vmonary dreamers, de- 
 luded fanatics, idlers and incompetent financial econo- 
 mists, who needed a strong master to save us from 
 our imbecility. But, whatever our other faults and 
 weaknesses, they were not of the kind charged or 
 insinuated by these gracious orators. We were only 
 such dreamers and visionaries as Jesus Christ and 
 his apostles plainly taught us to be, honestly endeav- 
 oring to carry into practice their precepts, instead of 
 honoring them with our lips, whilst all the time sys- 
 tematically conspiring with the world to nullify and 
 setthem. at naught. Never was so much brick made 
 with so little clay and straw. There was not an 
 idler, spend-thrift or lavish consumer among us. All 
 worked and saved. There were no time-killing, 
 dawdling gentlemen or ladies daintily shirking man- 
 ual drudgery. The leader and his wife were in the 
 front rank of hard toilers, not merely with head and 
 
HOPEDALB. 
 
 409 
 
 heart, by night and day, but with begrim(d hands 
 in the dingiest places of necessary duty. No one 
 expended a mill for intoxicating beverages Even 
 tobacco, though not expressly prohibited, was volun- 
 tarily laid aside. Only a single elderly member ad- 
 hered to its customary use, and he with regret, after 
 many severe struggles to overcome a long-confirmed 
 habit. Others triumphed over it by persisteut will- 
 power. 
 
 One venerable widow, at the age of seventy, 
 bravely renounced her cherished snuff-box, and con- 
 secrated her savings to the common cause. We 
 spent nothing on war, its preparations or glorifica- 
 tions ; nothing on politics or its collaterals; nothing 
 on litigation, but settled all controversies with our 
 neighbors by amicable conference or arbitration ; 
 nothing on police officers, constables, sheriffs or 
 criminal prosecutions. At an early stage of our 
 community a theft was committed on our poultry 
 and potato field by some outlandish fellows. We 
 bore it in silence, and waited further developments. 
 We kept not even a dog to protect our property. 
 No depredations were repeated, and not long subse- 
 quently word reached us, in a roundabout way, that 
 the ringleader of our marauders was sorry, and said, 
 if he had known what sort of people we were, not a 
 thing should have been touched. They came no 
 more. This was probably as well for us and him as 
 the popular penal reliances. 
 
 But it must not be inferred that our chief concern 
 was to make and save money for our own comfort and 
 aggrandizement, apart from the welfare of outside 
 humanity. The very reverse was true. We were an 
 earnestly religious people, not on the ground of escap- 
 ing the merciless vengeance of God after death, and 
 securing a future endless heaven, but on the ground 
 of escaping the dreadful evils of sin, both in thi-s 
 world and the future, and securing to ourselves and 
 others the blessedness of the heavenly kingdom on 
 earth as well as in the immortal world. We therefore 
 sustained regular religious meetings twice or more on 
 the Sabbath, and once or more during the intervening 
 week, besides quarterly and general convocations in 
 the regions round about. We had our weekly con- 
 ference meetings, our young people's gathering on 
 Monday evenings, our inductive communion meet- 
 ings, our monthly meetings for discipline, etc. These 
 and others, besides our Sunday-school. And all these 
 were live meetings, dealing freely with a vast variety 
 of topics by free discussion, and by practical training 
 of old and young for the every-day duties of life. 
 Many of them are remembered by their now scattered 
 participants with reverent appreciation. Meantime, 
 we sent out missionary preachers and lecturers very 
 actively. All this cost time, effort and money. In 
 furtherance of our objects we needed to publish a 
 semi-monthly periodical organ ; also books, pamphlets 
 and tracts. We did so liberally for many years. But 
 these could not be expected to pay for themselves. 
 
 like popular fancy literature, and were a continual 
 draft on our heads, hands and purses. 
 
 We were all loyal adherents of the temperance 
 cause, and were levied on for contributions to it from 
 year to year. But that cause was under no obligations 
 to help us. It sent us occasionally a poor, broken- 
 down victim of intemperance to house and help reform. 
 To such we furnished asylum at more or less expense. 
 We were all uncompromising Abolitionists, then poor 
 and hated. Those who were specially devoted to the 
 liberation of the groaning slave had nothing but 
 good will to give us. But they needed our money, 
 and received a good deal of it ; also a home and help 
 for their colored proikgis in need, and got considera- 
 ble of that. There were " prisoners' friends " and 
 reformers of penitent criminals in those days, who 
 found Hopedale a nice place to take up contributions 
 in, and to domicile their unfortunates. Before the 
 war of emancipation there was an organized so- 
 ciety of non-resistants in the land, and they received 
 freely of our tribute. We were an alms-giving peo- 
 ple, and were drawn upon almost continually to hand 
 out food, clothing and money to suppliant needy 
 inhabitants around us, especially to the then poor 
 Irish of Milford. We had widely advertised our 
 community enterpri.se to the world, and were honored 
 with visiting inquirers from all parts of the country. 
 To these we gave hospitable entertainment — to some 
 of them for weeks — and generally received nothing 
 in return but criticism and cheap advice. We were 
 a purely voluntary association, with doors that swung 
 both inward and outward. So, when members became 
 dissatisfied with our companionship, they were at 
 perfect liberty to leave us and take away all their 
 property. We had to meet drafts of this kind, occa- 
 sionally occurring, to the extent of thousands of 
 dollars, and, at times, greatly to our inconvenience. 
 Finally, we were legally taxable on all our polls and 
 estates as inhabitants of the town of Milford, and 
 were bound by our principles to pay all taxes prompt- 
 ly and peaceably. This we always did. We continu- 
 ally increased their revenue, but never received a 
 nod of credit from their officials, and, for several 
 years, a very inadequate recognition of our legal 
 rights. We educated our rising generation and con- 
 structed our streets largely at our own expense. 
 Yet the community never made them a pauper, or 
 criminal, or a cent's costs for relief of its poor, or 
 for police protection, or for any sort of governmental 
 intervention. It did, indeed, receive, first and last, 
 many little donations and helpful favors from outside 
 friends, amounting to several hundred dollars in all. 
 So it was really, not only a self-sustaining institution, 
 but an unselfish and truly beneficent one. And cer- 
 tainly it was not made up of imbecile visionaries and 
 thriftless lazzaroni, but of intelligent, rational, indus- 
 trious, economical, orderly and charitable people. 
 
 Having reached the culmination of its prosperity 
 at the beginning of the year 1856, let us pause a mo- 
 
410 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 meut to ponder the closing words of its president's 
 annual address. The then president was Brother 
 Ebenezer D. Draper, recently deceased. He said : 
 " We may rejoice together in considering the degree 
 of harmony that exists at the present time in our 
 community — greater, 1 think, than ever before. And 
 I hope and believe that, with our past experience and 
 present advantages, we shall continue to increase in 
 love and wisdom, and so become more and more a 
 light to those around us — proving to the world that 
 Christian Socialism opens a more excellent way in 
 which men may live together as social beings, and 
 that it gives us, as it will all who yield to its saving 
 power, peace and good-will to one another and to the 
 whole human race. May the good God prosper and 
 bless us all ! " 
 
 Who could imagine, after such an address and 
 benediction, that in less than two months afterward 
 the Hopedale Community would be declared by the 
 same man so hopelessly conditioned that he and his 
 brother George Draper, who together owned three- 
 fourths of its joint stock, must withdraw their inter- 
 est and manage it for themselves? Yet such was the 
 astounding fact. The grief, disappointment and 
 mortification of the present writer was utterly in- 
 describable. He saw that the noblest undertaking 
 of his life, for which he had planned, prayed and 
 labored with all his energies night and day, over 
 fifteen years of his meridian manhood, was irrev- 
 ocably doomed to final extinction. He saw clearly, 
 in one flashing moment, that however the results 
 might be posponed, modified, mitigated or overruled 
 for good, the issue was absolutely inevitable, and he 
 must make the best of a sad case. By divine grace he 
 has done so. 
 
 What is the explanation of this deplorable sur- 
 prise ? A few words only are required for it. The 
 forementioned annual address of President Draper 
 was delivered on the 9th of January, 1856. At that 
 time the treasurer's report had not been completed. 
 The numerous branches of industry had not all made 
 up their accounts. So the meeting was adjourned. 
 Meanwhile it began to be whisi)ered round that the 
 year's operations might show a small deficit. The 
 adjourned meeting took place February 5th ensuing, 
 and the treasurer's report announced a deficit of 
 $145.15 in the whole aggregate of operations and 
 financial interests. But a drastic discussion followed, 
 in which it appeared that the treasurer's statement 
 had not taken into account the interest due to joint 
 stock, $1652, nor made allowance for depreciation 
 of buildings, machinery, &c. — which might swell 
 the deficit perhaps to $12,000. This was no suffi- 
 cient reason for serious alarm, much less for dissolv- 
 ing the unitary property and industrial arrangements. 
 But things were said which plainly indicated that a 
 crisis would soon be precipitated. A few days de- 
 veloped it. Affairs must be wound up. It could be 
 avoided only by the mass of 8m.T,ll joint stock pro- 
 
 prietors paying off the two large proprietors. This 
 was an utter impossibility. So the bett terms possible 
 were made, and the change consummated in a manner 
 as satisfactory to all parties as so radical a revolution 
 permitted. 
 
 Thenceforth the Hopedale Community had but a 
 nominal existence. It struggled on as a mere re- 
 ligious society till finally merged in the Hopedale 
 Parish. Not another family ever located in its vil- 
 lage site except under the common law of temporal 
 advantage and expediency. Those of the old votaries 
 who could remain with comfort and convenience 
 stayed on. Those who felt obliged to seek better po- 
 sitions departed. But the new masters of the situa- 
 tion throve, prospered, made a generous use of their 
 wealth and built up an enviable town. They were 
 the only members of our community who had a lu- 
 crative business outside of it. The rest of us either 
 had small pecuniary advantages outside, or sacrificed 
 such as they had to their new undertaking. They 
 had done as much for that, according to their ability, 
 as their two abler brethren, but it did not count in 
 money. Fraternity of property was the keystone of 
 our social arch. When that fell out the arch crum- 
 bled. These favored brethren commanded that key- 
 stone. It was in their power to preserve or to demolish 
 the structure. The writer thought then and thinks 
 now that they threw away a splendid opportunity to 
 bless mankind and immortalize their memories. But 
 they thought and acted otherwise, as they had an un- 
 doubted right to do on their own responsibility to 
 the Supreme Judge. We deeply deplored their de- 
 cision, but were reluctant to blame them. Probably 
 a vast majority of the world's leading minds in 
 church and state will pronounce their decision wise 
 and good. And if they fell away from a high Chris- 
 tian standard which they had professed to revere, they 
 did so under very seductive and powerful tempta- 
 tions. 
 
 So the Hopedale Community failed. Was its fail- 
 ure a finacial and business one? Certainly not. As 
 already shown, it paid its way, bore its heavy burdens 
 and increased greatly in numbers and wealth down to 
 the time of its so-called failure, excepting only during 
 its last year's operations. Then, by estimating a real 
 or supposed depreciation of buildings, machinery, 
 etc., it was made to appear that we had run behind- 
 hand perhaps twelve thousand dollars, perhaps less. 
 Was this comparatively small deficit a sufficient cause 
 for dreading bankruptcy? — when there was plenty of 
 money in the pockets of the members to wipe it out 
 by assessment, and when a more prudent management 
 of our numerous organized branches of business 
 could probably retrieve it in a year ? 
 
 Look at any section of the business world during 
 any fourteen years of operations, and see how many 
 firms or corporations gained more and lost less, ac- 
 cording to ability and means, than our little commu- 
 nity. The writer knows of several individuals, once 
 
4 
 
 i 
 
 Van Slvck& Cafiosfon. 
 
 ^ 
 
aAJ^^c-2^ // 
 
 ^^^// 
 
I 
 
 I 
 
HOPEDALE. 
 
 411 
 
 our members, who since 1856 have lost, under the old 
 unfraternal business system, more tnan all our frater- 
 ternal institution sunk or was likely to sink, ranging 
 from twelve thousand dollars to one hundred thou- 
 sand dollars each. No ; we made no financial failure. 
 It was simply a moral failure. Doubtless we all fell 
 far short of our high profession'', and became weary in 
 well-doing. Certainly too many of us did. We sub- 
 ordinated spiritual things to temporal and too faintly 
 strove for personal Christ-likeness. Thus at length 
 we lost the toill to persevere in our noble enterprise 
 under temptation. We failed from lack of a united 
 will to bear the crosses of our mission. Although 
 there were some basilar defects in nur constitutional 
 polity, still the failure was chiefly a moral one, 
 and the writer is now reconciled to it, not because he 
 has lost any of his convictions, principles or hopes as 
 a practical Christiau socialist, but because he desires 
 no communal organization that cannot be sustained 
 by fraternal, devoted, united free-iviU. Such organi- 
 zations he firmly believes will bless future ages. For 
 these he will pray, study and labor uniil discharged 
 by divine mandate. 
 
 Peogeess towaeds Township. — Ebenezer D. 
 and George Draper, having decided that Ihey could 
 do better for themselves and the world on the old 
 financial plane than that of Christian socialism, went 
 resolutely forward to demonstrate it. They claimed 
 still to adhere to New Testament Christianity on such 
 points of duty as they deemed practicable in the 
 existing order of society. They were men of rare 
 business talent, enterprise and tact. They had a 
 fortunate specialty of pursuit, and knew how to suc- 
 ceed in it. They were shrewd, generous, public- 
 spirited and honorable men of the higher type among 
 civilized accumulators. They dropped the less profit- 
 able branches of industry which had been carried on 
 by the community, concentrated their resources on 
 profitable ones in their own favorite line, called into 
 partnership outsiders of inventive genius and capital, 
 multiplied their productive facilities continually, 
 brought out many valuable patents, and steadily as- 
 cended to eminence as manufacturers of cotton and 
 woolen machinery. Conspicuous among their new 
 coadjutors was Mr. Warren W. Dutcher, from North 
 Bennington, Vt. He was an ingenious mechanic, a 
 moral reformer, and a benevolent man, with a good 
 family. He and his made their mark among us. He 
 brought strength to the Drapers, and gained wealth 
 by the connection. One or two of our members were 
 taken into the new corporations, and shared in the 
 advancing pecuniary successes. Such of us as could 
 carry on any kind of business to tolerable advan- 
 tage did so. The writer and remaining preachers 
 received a small income for public services as 
 religious teachers, also as printers, editors and edu- 
 cators. Riches came only to the favored few and 
 their well-salaried lieutenants. But our fortunate 
 brethren grew in generosity with their increasing 
 
 means, and dispensed their donations with liberal 
 hands in many directions, especially to the temper- 
 ance and anti-slavery causes. As to the community 
 (now reduced to a feeble religious society), its various 
 surviving institutional agencies and instrumentalities 
 were largely dependent on their contributions, and 
 received them. In the days of its greater power it 
 prepared the way for their importance l)y many dis- 
 interested labors of head and hand, providing them 
 with a village well-planned, and populated by intel- 
 ligent, virtuous and orderly inhabitants such as manu- 
 facturing enterprise alone could hardly have gathered. 
 It was, therefore, not only reasonable for them to 
 preserve and build up the common interests, but for 
 their own honor and pleasure, as virtual lords of a 
 goodly vicinage. This they were happy to do. A 
 church edifice was needed ; it was built by subscrip- 
 tion in 1860. They headed the subscription liberally, 
 and ultimately fathered the expense of completion. 
 It was a neat and commodious structure, handsomely 
 situated on Community Square, so called, amid beau- 
 tiful surroundings. It cost over S6.000, towards 
 which they contributed all. but $1,423, though the 
 minor portion drew hnrder on most of the givers, 
 according to their ability, than the major on its 
 donors. But all did well, and subsequent enrich- 
 ments have followed from the superior patrons, to 
 their great credit. Our religious teachers, editors, 
 etc., received very little for their services in earlier 
 times. Under the new regime one hundred and fifty 
 dollars were raised by subscription in 1856, and 
 divided among three or four ofliciators, who had their 
 re-pective assigned Sundays. The same very nearl_v in 
 1857, '58 and '59. In I860 the compensation was rai.sed 
 to six dollars per Sabbath, and the pulpit supplied 
 by two ministers — the writer and Rev. Wm. S. Hey- 
 wood. Substantially the same arrangement continued 
 till 1864, after which the same preachers received 
 eight dollars per Sabbath till 1866. Then the junior 
 minister removed from the place, and the writer sup- 
 plied the desk for three-fourths of the time, and 
 received twelve dollars per week of actual service. 
 In 1867 the Hopedale Parish succeeded the com- 
 munity organization, and the writer was called to the 
 pastorate on a regular salary of eight hundred dollars 
 per annum, which continued till April, 1880. All 
 these increases of pulpit support flowed largely from 
 the purses of those who had risen to wealth since the 
 so-called " failure " of the community. 
 
 During this period of twenty-four years great events 
 transpired in our country, and marked changes in 
 Hopedale. Ominous political agitations culminated 
 in the gigantic War of the Rebellion. George Draper 
 and several less prominent members of our community 
 deemed it their duty to abandon Christian non-resist- 
 ance and return to the arena of civil and martial 
 patriotism. So they resigned membership and freed 
 themselves from its restrictive principles. They, 
 their families and kindred thinkers went into politics 
 
412 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 and into the war with unstinted devotion. The elder 
 brother, Ebenezer D. Draper, adhered unalterably 
 to our declaration on these and most other points. 
 Yet he and the rest of us could have no sympathy 
 with the slave-holders, and ardently prayed that Di- 
 vine Providence would overrule the bloody contest 
 for the emancipation of the slaves. Such, indeed, 
 was the outcome. But our position and circumstances 
 were peculiarly unfavorable to self-preservation as a 
 society. Our material power was gone and our social 
 foothold was sliding from under our feet. We resorted 
 to various promising expedients for handing our dis- 
 tinctive organic peculiarities down to the future. 
 None of them succeeded. Propagandism was useless ; 
 internal discipline was useless, and pulpit teachings 
 could not turn back the tide of dissolution. So our 
 periodical died in 1860, and later all our instrumen- 
 talities, one after another, till the last became extinct. 
 In 1867, though not formally dissolved, the community 
 was virtually merged in the Hopedale Parish. This 
 professed to be a Liberal Christian Society. It was 
 organized under a constitution sucli as seemed neces- 
 sary for practical parochial purposes, but contained 
 nothing like a creed, covenant or declaration of prin- 
 ciples, leaving each member and supporter free to 
 think, believe and act according to the dictates of his 
 or her own individual reason and conscience. It sub- 
 sequently affiliated with the Unitarian denomination. 
 The establishment of the parish was formally sanc- 
 tioned by the waning community January 8, 1868. 
 Finally, at later dates, its trustees legally transferred 
 to the parish all its right, title and interest in and 
 un«o the Village Square, the church edifice, the Sab- 
 bath-school fund of $800 and the Hopedale Cemetery. 
 Thus ended the career of the Hopedale Community. 
 
 Let attention now revert to secular aftairs. Under 
 the vigoriius management of the Drapers and their 
 allies Hopedale marched rapidly forward to command- 
 ing attainments and distinction. Expansion, improve- 
 ment and beautification were more and more conspicu- 
 ous from year to year. In the midst of this material 
 prosperity the two brothers began to diverge in their 
 managemental views of business operations. The re- 
 sult was a change of co-partnership in 1868, when 
 Ebenezer D. retired from the firm, and his place was 
 filled by George's oldest son. General William F. 
 Draper. Ebenezer had been a successful accumulator 
 on a smaller scale of transactions. He was worth 
 about five thousand dollars when he joined the com- 
 munity in 1841. In 1852, when George became co- 
 partner with him, he was worth at least thirty thousand 
 dollars, and George less than five thousand dollars. 
 Both gained rapidly, and in 1868 the senior brother was 
 worth one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, 
 and the junior over one hundred thousand dollars. 
 Their business was now greatly expanded and corres- 
 pondingly more complicated — requiring proportionate 
 attention and vigilance. Both had a growing ambition 
 for riches— to be devoted to laudable uses. But their 
 
 ideas, tastes and capabilities differed somewhat. Ebe- 
 nezer was good at negotiating advantageous contracts 
 and making profitable bargains. George excelled 
 him in will-power, indomitable push, mechanical 
 genius, insight into values and the management of de- 
 tails. Moreover, he had a family of talented children 
 coming up; whereas Ebenezer had only one or two 
 adopted ones, destined to other pursuits. The upshot 
 of divergence, however, was, that the elder brother 
 seemed to the younger too easy in business matters, 
 and HKjre ready to share profits than the fatiguing, 
 close application necessary to secure them. The re- 
 sult was that the co-partnership of E. D. & G. Draper 
 ceased in 1868. That of George Draper & Son was 
 immediately formed. This very competent and genial 
 son, William F. Draper, who succeeded his uncle in the 
 firm, went into the great war a private, came out of it 
 a brigadier-general by brevet, and is equally distin- 
 guished as a business man. Meantime Ebenezer D. 
 Draper embarked in a flattering enterprise with asso- 
 ciates in Boston, "The American Steam Fire-Proof 
 Safe Co.," and ultimately lost nearly all his property. 
 He could not have fared worse had he stuck by the 
 so-termed incompetent visionaries of the community. 
 Not such the fortune of George Draper, sons and con- 
 federates. They prospered wonderfully, and marched 
 triumphantly on from one achievement to another till 
 they rendered Hopedale an enviable monument to 
 their renown. And the present seems only a prelude 
 to grander future attainments. But the historic pen 
 deals not with anticipations. 
 
 Manufacturing operations, though more or less 
 closely connected, are carried on by distinct firms 
 and corporations, which may now be treated of in 
 their order. The foremost of these in importance is 
 the firm of " George Draper & Sons." Its senior died 
 in the midst of his successes, greatly distinguished and 
 deeply lamented throughout a wide circle of influ- 
 ence, June 7, 1887, having been its presiding head 
 since 1868. It now consists of General William F. 
 Draper, George A. Draper, Eben S. Draper and Wil- 
 liam F. Draper, Jr. They are large selling agents for 
 the other companies. " The Hopedale Machine Co." 
 was incorporated in 1867, with George Draper as presi- 
 dent ; William F. Draper, treasurer ; and Joseph B. 
 Bancroft, managing director. It has manufactured 
 very extensively a variety of patent machinery, has 
 an ample foundry, a screw-making department and 
 all sorts of facilities for multifarious productions in 
 its general sphere. Its present superintendent is A. 
 B. Edmands. It has a capital of two hundred thou- 
 sand dollars. " The Dutcher Temple Co." was also 
 incorporated in 1867 — George Draper, president ; F. 
 J. Dutcher, secretary and treasury ; with the Draper 
 brothers on its board of directors. Capital stock, 
 forty thousand dollars. Manufactures the Dutcher 
 and other patent temples, seamless stocking knitting- 
 machines and numerous other curious and useful 
 articles. It has a complete outfit of all necessaries 
 
i 
 
 s. s^. 
 
 i^t-t^^ 
 
 ^ 
 
HOPEDALE. 
 
 413 
 
 for its own successful operations. The Machine Com- 
 pany and Dutcher Temple Company have respectively 
 gorid water-power privileges, supplemented with 
 steam-power for all needful occasions and purposes. 
 The three companies thus far described have large, 
 handsome brick edifices, besides wooden ones, afford- 
 ing them over one hundred and sixty thousand square 
 feet of convenient room, or over three acres of floor- 
 ing. The firm of "A. A. Wescott & Sons" manufac- 
 ture spindles for the Drapers. They have a flourish- 
 ing establishment, situated a mile south of the others 
 on a good waterfell, long previously occupied for more 
 ordinary uses. They execute a creditable amount of 
 business in their line, and are building up a respect- 
 able little village called Spindleville. Taking all 
 these companies together, they have practical work- 
 ing control over patents and improvements thereon to 
 the number of nearly four hundred — covering a vast 
 variety of ingenious and useful mechanism now 
 deemed indispensable in the vfell-furnished cotton 
 and woolen manufactories of the United States. 
 Their annual sales are estimated at from one million 
 dollars to one million two hundred and fifty thousand 
 dollars, their employes of all grades at from six hun- 
 dred to eight hundred and their pay-roll at about six 
 thousand dollars per week. Their employes are gen- 
 erally of superior skill, as well as moral character, 
 receive better compensation, perhaps, than the average 
 in our country, and have never made a strike for 
 higher wages. To obtain an adeqate idea of the 
 nature, variety and extent of Hopedale manufactures, 
 the inquisitive reader is referred to the "Sixth De- 
 scripdve Catalogue " of " George Draper & Sons," as 
 presented in an " Illustrated Pocket Hand-Book," 
 compiled by \V. N. Goddard and published in 1887. 
 Contemporary with this successful manufacturing en- 
 terprise was a large livery and transportation busi- 
 ness, handling thousands of tons of iron, coal, etc., 
 annually, conveying the mail and passengers several 
 times a day and furnishing horses and carriages to the 
 inhabitants. Later has followed the Hopedale Elastic 
 Fabric Company, incorporated December, 1886 — Wil- 
 liam F. Draper, president ; E. L. O-sgood, treasurer 
 and selling agent ; and William Lapworth, superin- 
 tendent. Brick factory, 100 feet long by 50 wide, 3 
 stories high, with boiler-house cutside ; capital stock, 
 $100,000; 100 operatives, 80 of them females; annual 
 sales, about $200,000; orders crowding and business 
 thrifty. Mr. Lapworth is the genius of this enter- 
 prise, having the honor of projecting, introducing 
 here and most skillfully superintending it. 
 
 Such a continually rising tide of manufacturing 
 prosperity naturally wrought corresponding results in 
 the whole status of Hopedale Village. Its dwellings 
 were gradually trebled and several fine mansions 
 built; population proportionately multiplied; new 
 streets opened, ihe unfinished ones improved, the 
 older ones macadamized and graced with concrete 
 sidewalks ; the church renovated, furnished with a 
 
 costly organ, and its surroundings much beautified ; 
 gas-lights and water supplies introduced through 
 pipes from fountain-heads in Milford for public and 
 private convenience; effective safe-guards against fire 
 provided; school-house accommodations enlarged; 
 and a host of subsidiary necessaries, comforts and 
 luxuries secured. At length, in the midst of this 
 rising affluence, the ambition was born in the leading 
 minds for township incorporation. The project took 
 form in the spring of 1885, and was thenceforth 
 energetically prosecuted to successful consummation. 
 Separation feom Milford and Incorpora- 
 tion. — The first rumor of this movement was received 
 with incredulity, and the verified fact with a mix- 
 ture of astonishment and ridicule by the leading 
 Milfordians, who I'egarded it as presumptuous, vain 
 and hopeless. But George Draper & Sons, with 
 their influential coadjutors, went into the undertak- 
 ing with their accustomed shrewdness, energy, de- 
 termination and ability. They knew that their cause 
 would encounter a powerful opposition from the 
 mother town, that it could not succeed without re- 
 sorting to every legitimate means of attainment, 
 and that they had got to work for it with tireless 
 vigilance. They proceeded accordingly from pre- 
 liminaries to conclusion. So they surveyed and map- 
 ped out the territory to be included in the proposed 
 new town, and canvassed the population to ascertain 
 who would favor and who oppose the project. They 
 procured a large majority of the legal voters as signers 
 to the petition for division and incorporation ; while 
 a few remained neutral, and a very small minority 
 declared themselves decidedly opposed. The peti- 
 tion was duly prepared and entered on the Order 
 Calendar of the General Court for consideration at 
 its regular session to commence in January, 1886. 
 Meantime vigorous measures were taken by both 
 Hopedalians and Milfordians to prepare for the ap- 
 proaching contest. Large public meetings were 
 held in both sections, strong working committees 
 appointed, and very able counsel engaged to man- 
 age thtir respective causes. Milford had certain 
 notable advantages. She was the party in possession ; 
 she had overwhelming numbers, alive with ardent 
 yeal ; she had three newspapers devoted to her inter- 
 ests, and also two able members in the Representative 
 chamber of the Legislature. Hopedale had some 
 countervailing advantages. Her leaders were strong, 
 executive, judicious, indomitable men; they had a 
 widespread, deeply-rooted influence in manufacturing, 
 political and financial circ'es ; they had made a mul- 
 titude of friends by their public spirit and generous 
 donations ; and they had a good cause. If they could 
 get the real merits of that cause fairly before the minds 
 of an appreciative majority of the Legislature, they 
 were sure to succeed. This was not an easy achieve- 
 ment in dealing with such a large number of persons. 
 For many of the best disposed needed special inform- 
 ation, the indifferent to be moved, and the misin- 
 
414 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 formed to be enlightened. No opportunity was ne- 
 glected to supply these urgent necessities; but, though 
 their opponents, under excitement, very broadly in- 
 sinuated that they resorted to dishonorable means 
 to attain their object, there was really no just ground 
 for such a su-ipicion. Their means were such only as 
 have long been sanctioned by custom in such contro- 
 versies. Their real offence was that they were too 
 sagacious, industrious and indefatigable to be over- 
 matched. 
 
 Both parties had engaged able counsel, sufficiently 
 well matched to leave nothing undone or unsaid in 
 behalf of their respective clients, — for thepetitioners, 
 N. Sumner Myrick, Esq., and Hon. Selwin Z. Bow- 
 man ; for the remonstrants, Hon. J. H. Benton, Jr., 
 and Hon. J. H. Bennett. The legislative Committee 
 on Towns, before whom the parties were to lay the 
 case, comprised Messrs. TIenry M. Phillips, Charles 
 A. Gleason and Samuel B. Locke, of the Senate, with 
 Messrs. Stephen S. Taft, Charles Field, Miles Samp- 
 son, Charles F. Jenney, Robert Blyth, Jesse Allen, 
 Francis E. Shaw and Albert A. Woodward, of the 
 House, — Hon. Henry M. Phillips, chairman. A more 
 intelligent, judicious, candid and patient committee 
 could not have been asked. They commenced the 
 hearings January 27, 1S86, and continued them by 
 adjournment Ihrougli seven or eight sittings, besides 
 making an official examination of the premises on the 
 9th of February. It was incumbent on the petition- 
 ers to show that their proposed town had the proper 
 requisite elements of such a body politic, — i. e., suffi- 
 cient area, population, wealth and capability to man- 
 age municipal affairs. Also that their separation from 
 the mother town would cause it no serious injury as 
 compared with the advantages gained by the new 
 town. It was to be expected, from the history of man- 
 kind, as always reluctant to part with power and priv- 
 ilege, that Milford would strenuously resist the at- 
 tempted division : and she did so point by point. Al- 
 though she could not deny that the area of Hopedale, 
 3547 acres, would be larger than that of seventeen 
 towns and five cities in the State; nor that its popu- 
 lation, nearly 1000, exceeded that of ninety-five towns 
 in the State ; nor that its quota of polls, 250, outnum- 
 bered that of seventy-nine towns in the State ; nor 
 that its valuation, $769,340, would be greater than that 
 ofone hundredand thirty-three towns in the State ; nor 
 that its votinsc citizens would be competent to manage 
 municipal affairs ; nevertheless, it was her policy to 
 yield nothing. Her managers, partisans and lawyers 
 boldly assumed the ground that the show of numbers 
 in favor of a new town was unreal and deceptive ; that 
 the movement was set on foot by George Draper & 
 Sons, was designed chiefly for the aggrandizement 
 of one family, and was supported only by their rel- 
 atives, subalterns and dependents; that some of these 
 dependents were overawed and even coerced ; that not 
 a few of the voters on the Hopedale territory were 
 eitheropposed to division or were neutrals; and finally 
 
 that the Drapers were mere selfish schemers and tax 
 dodgers. All the-e brave assumptions and imputa- 
 tions were put forth, reiterated and pertinaciously in- 
 sisted on, with as much seeming honesty and earnest- 
 ness, as if they were demonstrable verities. Their first 
 eflort was to emphasize a derogatory inference from 
 the acknowledged and obvious fact that the Drapers 
 initiated and led the division movement; as if such 
 movements, where worthily started, are customarily set 
 on foot and headed by persons of ordinary estate, tal- 
 ent and influence — which is seldom, if ever, the case. 
 Common sense and prudence dictated in this case, 
 that if any laudable attempt was to be made at all to 
 olitain the incorporation of Hopdale, the Drapers 
 were the very men of all others to initiate and lead 
 the movement; for they had all the qualifications ne- 
 cessary to success, and would be generous benefac- 
 toi-s of the new town, — as has proved to be the case. 
 They doubtless had an ambition to father and endow 
 the town. Was that a criminal ambition ? Was it an 
 ignoble ambition? Did it deserve even from oppon- 
 ents reproach and contumely ? Milfordians them- 
 selves would now answer: No. 
 
 Next the battery of opposition was turned upon the 
 rank and file of the petitioner-^, to make it appear 
 that, though seeming to make a fair show, they were 
 mere mercenary dependents of the Drapers. They 
 were, therefore, all questioned as to whether they were 
 family relatives, or business partners, or paid agents, 
 or employes, or sold them manufactured articles; and 
 the implied inference uniformly was, that no man stand- 
 ing in such relations could properly be counted in as 
 a competent citizen. Yet all these men, thus dis- 
 paraged, were uncommonly intelligent, and several of 
 them capable of managing municipal affairs in any 
 town of the Commonwealth. But how happened 
 these men to think, feel and act with the Drapers? 
 For the same general reason that thousands of inde- 
 pendent-minded people think, feel and act together 
 on religious and political questions, — because they view 
 tilings alike. There was, however, one single indi- 
 vidual who alleged that he signed the petition under 
 constraint, and who also alleged that he knew of sev- 
 eral others who did so. His name had been stricken 
 from the list of petitioners as soon as it became 
 known he had declared himself to have been over- 
 awed. When placed on the witness-stand, he was re- 
 quested to name the persons he knew to have been 
 coerced. He refused, but finally named one. That 
 man soon afterward appeared and testified that he 
 signed the petition freely, and never told any one the 
 contrary. The alleged dictator also appeared, and 
 testified conclusively that he never made use of coer- 
 cive language in any form to induce persons to sign 
 the petition, and certainly not in the case asserted. 
 Thus vanished the phantom of reproach on the char- 
 acter of the leading petitioners. Yet the remonstrants 
 actually had one aid and comfort which was a thorn 
 to the petitioners. There was a handful within the 
 
HOPEDALE. 
 
 415 
 
 Hopedale territorial lines who thought it their duty 
 to take sides against their near neighbors by resisting 
 division, and who did so zealously. This was the 
 most unpleasant occurrence, in its spirit and conse- 
 quences, which befel the Hopedalians during their 
 struggle for municipal independence; not because it 
 had much weight in deciding the main issue, but be- 
 cause it alienated and embittered some who ought to 
 be mutual friends. 
 
 The next effort of opposition ingenuity was to dem- 
 onstrate that the Hopedale villagers, however other- 
 wise estimable, had few local conveniences, and were 
 dependent on Milford Centre for almost everything. 
 In that favored Centre were the railroad depots, the 
 mercantile establishments, the provision market-!, the 
 banks, the assembly halls, the churches, the high 
 school, the public library and a multitude of other 
 necessary good things, including even the streets over 
 which the Hopedalians mu«t travel to obtain the 
 supplies they needed. Was it for such a class of de- 
 pendent people to set up as a town ? It was a greater 
 strain on gravity than on facts and logic to answer 
 such an argument. But courteous decency demanded 
 that a formal and conclusive reply should be made. 
 This was easily done. It was undeniably proven, 
 first, that the Hopedale people had never received 
 any one of these advantages as a gratuity, but had 
 always handsomely paid for every item of value or 
 convenience furnished them; second, that they in- 
 tended always to deserve the good name, long since 
 accorded them, of being reckoned among Milford's 
 best customers ; third, that they had done their full 
 share towards providing the roads and streets they 
 were obliged to travel in order to trade with Milford 
 dealers ; fourth, that the leading petitioners were 
 stockholders and officers in the railroads and in 
 several other corporations of Milford Centre ; and 
 fifth, that the incorporation of Hopedale as a town 
 would not disturb a single one of Milford's superior 
 monetary and commercial advantages at all. The 
 only effect of such an argument on candid minds was 
 to show that a town with so much to boast of was not 
 very magnanimous to grudge the petitioners the right 
 to manage their own local affairs for themselves. 
 
 But to this there remained the formidable objection 
 that this aspiring Draper family were mere plotting 
 tax dodgers, and ought not be tolerated. Jlilford 
 could not afford to part with the prerogative of tax- 
 ing them at her own discretion. If they should get 
 off at the head of a new town, there was no imagin- 
 ing what calamities might happen. One, however, 
 was certain — Milford was to be a great loser. They 
 must be foiled in their pernicious career. The bril- 
 liant compliments with which they were bespangled, 
 especially the obnoxious father, were transcendent, 
 and quite beyond their merits, or even their demerits. 
 There was one and but one way of escape from their 
 unfortunate predicament. They must abandon their 
 project of an independent town and submit to Mil- 
 
 ford taxation. If they would only perform that little 
 act of expiation, their sins, though like scarlet, would 
 instantly become white as snow. They would then 
 be excellent fellow-citizens, if not fellow-saints. But 
 they were obstinate and incorrigible offenders, and had 
 to be denounced accordingly. So the inquiry arose 
 how many dollars per annum of taxes they were 
 likely to avoid in fathering their new town? No- 
 body knew or guessed ; they were going to dodge 
 several thousand which Milford wanted, and this was 
 enough to seal their doom. What right had they 
 in their wealth to diminish a flourishing town's needy 
 exchequer ? Had not that maternal town bestowed on 
 them large gratuities to encourage their enterprise and 
 foster their business ? No, not to the value of a single 
 cent. Had she not been a liberal purchaser of their 
 manufacturers? To the extentof a {evt dollars' worth 
 of useful iron castings perhaps. Had she not been 
 very generous in building roads for them, and in pro- 
 viding safeguards against fire for their factories, &c. ? 
 The records did not show it. Had they been sordid 
 and stingy in contributing to Milford's public neces- 
 sities, wants and charities ? Far otherwise. Had 
 they surrounded themselves with intemperate, reck- 
 less and shiftless operatives, thereby and otherwise 
 breeding criminals and paupers, to be taken care of 
 at the expense of the town ? Not one. Had they 
 given no employment to the needy population of 
 Milford? Much. Had they pinched, ground down 
 and oppressed their employes ? On the contrary, 
 they had the reputation of paying fair wages. What, 
 then, was their grave offence? Were they getting too 
 rich and important? If so, were not their accusers 
 doing their utmost to accumulate riches, and some of 
 the most conspicuous of them by less creditable 
 means? Were they fraternal communists, trying to 
 have " the strong bear the infirmities of the weak," 
 like the founders of Hopedale ? Nothing of that kind. 
 They derided such experiments. But they were 
 looking out, with the shrewdness of modern civiliza- 
 tion, every one for himself, and, if they failed to cap- 
 ture the lion's share, had no right to avenge their ill- 
 luck by denouncing those who succeeded as dangerous 
 characters. Yet the plea was that these ambitious 
 Drapers were scheming to escape just taxation by 
 obtaining a new town, chiefly made up of their 
 dependents. If this was not intolerable conduct, 
 what could be? And if such attempts did not deserve 
 to he exposed by disinterested free speech and the 
 press, of what value were these guaranteed free utter- 
 ances? But such pleading, earnest and pathetic as it 
 was, fell on the discerning ears of impartial judges as 
 hardly coming from injured innocence. 
 
 Finally, the climax of the controversy was reached. 
 If Hopedale should be incorporated, however other- 
 wise justifiable, would not Milford be grievously and 
 irreparably damaged? The remonstrants vehemently 
 affirmed that it certainly would. And their tone was 
 that of persons threatened with ejection from a 
 
416 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 dearly-bought, clearly-titled estate by fraud and 
 arbitrary power. If so, they ought to gain their case. 
 But facts and arguments were still against them. 
 It was true that their Hopedale taxable subjects 
 were profitable ones, yielding a net annual revenue 
 of several thousand dollar.-i. This golden fleece would 
 certainly be lost to them if tlieir tributaries obtained 
 their independence. There was no gainsaying thiH 
 conclusion. On such ground the alarm-cry was raised, 
 Milford's taxes will be fearfully increased, immi- 
 grants will be deterred from coming into the town 
 and its real estate will greatly depreciate — its dam- 
 ages will be deplorable ! Now its Centre was the 
 grand emporium of affluence, of trade, of wealth and 
 all desirable advantages. But if these Hopedale 
 tributaries were allowed to go off and set up for 
 themselves, their impoverished municipal parent 
 would languish into ruin ! So pleaded her eloquent 
 advocates. What were the facts? In everything 
 but tax profits Milford was in danger of losing 
 nothing — not a mill. In luisiness matters, trade and 
 the advantages of general intercourse, Hopedale was 
 going to be just as profitable a customer as ever. 
 Their municipal incorporation would not change 
 these particulars one iota, unless, perhaps, for the 
 enrichment of Milford. In the sore matter of tax 
 profits even, Hopedale independent must bear its 
 own burdens, take care of itself and meet its share 
 of State and county taxes. It must also pay its 
 portion of the existing town debt. So far Milford 
 would actually be relieved. Was her real estate to 
 depreciate, or her business prosperity to decline from 
 such causes? No; but that surplus revenue from 
 taxation of the Hopedalians, some $8000 to $10,000 a 
 year, was to be irretrievably lost; and that was going 
 to do the apprehended mischief. Well, suppose that 
 amount must be actually added to Milford's self- 
 taxation, wa4 it going to bankrupt her? or even 
 seriously strain her financial ability? It was un- 
 reasonable to assert it, especially after the claims 
 made in a former part of this hearing respecting her 
 opulence as compared with dependent Hopedale. 
 With a population of nine thousand, such a host of 
 enterprising business men and such abundant ad- 
 vantages of all kinds, $10,000 a year ought not to be 
 a very frightful loss to bear. Moreover, it was in 
 her power to curtail her expenses at her own option, 
 and, by greater prudence in making outlays, to mod- 
 erate taxation. This, however, was not agreeable, 
 for it came out she was ambitious to become a city, in 
 which case her expenses were likely to be greatly in- 
 creased. Hopedale's independence would defeat, or 
 at least po.stpone, this desirable consummation, whilst 
 at the same time escaping taxation to sustain it. 
 
 Another important consideration came into the 
 loss account, which was, that the sanitary welfare 
 of Milford Centre demanded costly sewers, and 
 though Hopedale needed none, it would be grievous 
 injustice to release her from the legal grasp that 
 
 would compel her to help pay the coming bills ! 
 Who could answer such ardent and eloquent reason- 
 ers? Thus the whole controversy was narrowed 
 down to the question: Shall Milford be damaged to 
 the extent of her power to draw this annual net rev- 
 enue from Hopedale by municipal taxation ? If Mil- 
 ford could have shown that Hopedale was indebted 
 to her for favors in the past, for patronage and en- 
 couragement in time of need, her plea would have 
 had some color of justice and plausibility. But here 
 was an unfortunate blank. For though Hopedale 
 always had more or less good friends in Milford, as 
 individual and social acquaintances, the town ma- 
 jority and authorities never laid it under any special 
 obligation. From the days of its struggling infancy 
 as a fraternal community, in 1842, it continually in- 
 creased the taxable polls and property of the town 
 without a token of appreciation. For several years 
 it schooled its own children, and built its own 
 streets. And when appropriations began to be 
 granted, it was done with manifest reluctance. Its 
 people made no paupers, or criminals, or disorderly 
 characters for the town to care for. Yet, as a town, 
 though it sowed not, it was a vigilant reaper. Every 
 poll and every parcel of estate was assessed, the 
 taxes duly called for and always promptly paid. 
 And so matters had gone on through all the changes, 
 substantially in the same manner, for over forty- 
 three years, down to this contest. 
 
 All the while Milford was drawing a net revenue 
 from Hopedale by taxation ; giving back in appro- 
 priations much less than she took. And whence came 
 the population of Hopedale Village? Almost en- 
 tirely from places outside of Milford, some of them 
 from remote quarters of the country. From whence 
 came their property ? A mere fraction of it from 
 Milford — the great bulk of it from widespread regions 
 abroad. Milford purchased very little from Hope- 
 dale, but Hopedale was a large and profitable cus- 
 tomer of Milford's goods. These facts came out in 
 bold relief during the discussion, and they convinced 
 a sufficient number of Massachusetts legislators 
 that, even if Milford should lose the net revenue to 
 which she clung with such a tenacious grasp, she 
 had a poor title to it, and that Hopedale ought of 
 right to be a free and independent town. The Hon. 
 Mr. Bowman wound up the pleadings before the Leg- 
 islative Committee with a masterly speech for the 
 petitioners — clear, comprehensive and irresistibly 
 impressive. The committee deliberated, and unani- 
 mously reported a bill for the incorporation of Hope- 
 dale. 
 
 The bill came up in the Senate for consideration 
 March 12, 1886, and after a long discussion prevailed, 
 fourteen to eleven. It was brought up in the House 
 March 25th, and after a hot debate carried, one hun- 
 dred and eighteen to ninety-two. Returning to the 
 Senate, it was finally passed, eighteen to sixteen, April 
 6th. On the 7th it was signed by His Excellency, 
 
4 
 
 ^jyy,/t^2^^^ 
 
HOPEDALE. 
 
 417 
 
 Governor George D. Robinson, and so Hopedale be- 
 came a town. Nothing really new was said or could 
 be said in either House of the Legislature for or 
 against Hopedale's incorporation, but of course the 
 wliole ground must be gone over with more or less 
 particularity. The committee ably defended their own 
 report on its solid merits. Its opponents repeated all 
 the sharp things said against the petitioners in the 
 committee-room. And their orators in both Houses 
 won laurels of approbation from the remonstrants by 
 their invective eloquence against the leading Hope- 
 dalians and their followers. All these labors of love 
 were lost, not only on the assailed, but on the legis- 
 lative majorities and the Governor. Justice and rea- 
 son triumphed. 
 
 In the evening of April 13th ensuing the Hope- 
 dalians celebrated their victory, according to the 
 fashion of the political world, by the ringing of bell?, 
 discharge of artillery, illumination of their village 
 and display of fireworks. Two sonorous bells wererung 
 smartly for an hour ; Battery B, from Worcester, fired 
 first a salute of eleven guns to General William V. 
 Draper, and then eighty-six in honor of Hopedale as 
 the eighty-sixth town of Massachusetts incorporated 
 during the present century ; the gas and electric 
 lights flashed their splendor in all directions, and the 
 skies blazed with brilliant rockets. So the people 
 rejoiced with manifold demonstrations in their newly 
 acquired municipal independence. 
 
 The town held its first meeting under a warrant 
 from W. F. Draper, justice of the peace, April 19, 
 
 1886, and was legally organized by the choice of the 
 following-named officers: Frank Dewing, clerk; E. 
 
 D. Bancroft, treasurer : E. L. Chichester, collector; 
 Ernest M. Capen, auditor; J. B. Bancroft, Lewis B. 
 Gaskill and Alonzo A. Cook, selectmen, overseers of 
 the poor, Board of Health and highway surveyors ; 
 Asa A. Weatcott, David Nelson and H. B. Fisk, As- 
 sessors; Frank J. Dutcher, for three years, Anna M. 
 Bancroft, two years, and Albert W. Ham, one year, 
 school committee; William N. Goddard, for three 
 years, Frank S. Hay ward, two year^, and C. F. Roper, 
 one year, trustees of library ; Frank Gaskill, William 
 N. Phillips, Samuel A. Andrews and Robert Ross, 
 constables ; C. H. Messenger and C. F. Roper, 
 field-drivers ; Frank S. Hayward, Fred. Mooney and 
 
 E. D. Walker, fence viewers. 
 
 On the 14th of October, 1886, the town adopted an 
 ample, wholesome and commendable codeof by-laws; 
 also at the same meeting judicious rules and regula- 
 tions for the Fire Department. Thus the necessary 
 machinery of a well-ordered municipal government 
 was set in motion. Its operations have been emi- 
 nently satisfactory. A large, well compiled, lucid 
 and complete report for the year ending January 1, 
 
 1887, was made by the town officers and published, 
 representing all departments of its affiiirs in a pros- 
 perous condition. A similar one was made and pub- 
 lished for the year ending January 1, 1888. A sum- 
 
 27 
 
 mary of this second annual report, modified by later 
 ascertained data, may properly be given on these 
 pages, as exhibiting the progressive status of the 
 new town, nearly down to the present time. 
 
 Town Officers. — David A. Westcott, clerk ; E. D. 
 Bancroft, treasurer; Edward S. Simpson, collector; J. 
 B. Bancroft, Lewis B. Gaskill and Simon G. Gilman, 
 selectmen, overseers of the poor, Board of Health and 
 highway surveyors; Asa A. Westcott, David Nelson 
 and Hamlet B. Fisk, a.ssessors; Albert W. Ham (three 
 years), Frank J. Dutcher (two years), and Anna M. 
 Bancroft, school committee; C. F. Roper (three years), 
 William N. Goddard (two years), and Frank S. Hay- 
 wood (one year), trustees of the library; Frank Gas- 
 kill, William Phillips, Samuel A. Andrews, Robert 
 Ross and T. J. Coyne, constables ; Charles Waterhouse, 
 George Cole and Frank Gaskill, field-drivers; Frank 
 S. Hayward, Fred. Mooney and E. D. Walker, fence- 
 viewers. By appointment and special organic arrange- 
 ment — Charles E. Pierce, chief engineer of Fire Depart- 
 ment; J. B. Bancroft, assistant engineer; A. W. West- 
 cott, clerk and treasurer; Wm. N. Goddard, secretary 
 of library trustees and librarian ; Ellen F. Welch, as- 
 sistatit librarian; Frank H. French, truant officer. 
 
 Before coming to statistical details, it is pertinent to 
 treat of important historical matters chronicled in the 
 second report. George Draper, the father and bene- 
 factor of the new town, departed this life, in the ripe- 
 ness of his successes, usefulness and honors, June 7, 
 1887, aged sixty-nine years, nine months and twenty 
 days. This lamentable event took place in Boston, 
 Avhither he went for a temporary sojourn to obtain 
 medical relief from urinary and kindred ailments, 
 which, though not seemingly dangerous, he was anx- 
 ious to overcome. Unexpectedly to all, he presently 
 became alarmingly sick under treatment, and in a few 
 days expired. His remains were brought home, and 
 on the 11th of June his funeral was solemnized with 
 every demonstration that bereaved family affection 
 and public grief could bestow. Thousands appreciated 
 his merits, sympathized in a great common loss, and 
 united in reverential tributes of respect to his memory. 
 Besides the valuable gifts and legacies which he be- 
 queathed, was the commodious and beautiful town 
 edifice which graces the centre of Hopedale Village. 
 He had laid its foundations in 1885, and it was far ad- 
 vanced towards its completion before he died ; but 
 the interior finish had been retarded by casualties, and 
 lingered several months. 
 
 Brief General Description. — "The building is 
 of granite and brownstone, with exterior dimensions of 
 75x69 feet. It is on the main street, and faces nearly 
 east. On the front are two store entrances, besides 
 the main entrance, at the right of which are the stair- 
 case and town officers' rooms. At the end of the hall, 
 directly opposite the entrance, are double doors lead- 
 ing to the reading room, 24x22 feet, in the northwest 
 corner; this is connected with the library proper by 
 an arch eleven feet six inches in width. This room 
 
418 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 occupies the rear centre of this floor, and is thirty feet 
 by seventeen feet, six inches, with an entrance from 
 the left of the entrance hall. The finish, furniture 
 and shelving in these rooms is of California red-wood. 
 The entire upper story is occupied by the town hall, 
 with the stage, reception and ante-rooms. The base- 
 ment contains a market, lock-up, caucus-hall, steam- 
 heating apparatus and store cellar." The entire cost 
 of the noble structure, with its sixteen thousand feet 
 of land, was over forty thousand dollars. 
 
 At a special town-meeting held on the evening of 
 August 22, 1887, the five children (three sons and two 
 daughters) of George Draper (deceased), pursuant to 
 their father's testamentary wishes and directions, pre- 
 sented these premises to the town, with a perfect title 
 of conveyance. This conveyance imposed on the 
 town only one qualifying condition — that none of its 
 rooms should ever be rented to persons without the 
 consent of the donor's heirs. The town unanimously 
 accepted the donation on the offered terms, passed an 
 appreciative vote of thanks for the same, and also the 
 following preamble and resolutions: — 
 
 W'HEREiS, In the Providence of God, the Town of Hopedale has been 
 colled to lament the decease of Mr, George Draper, an'I v.nild formally 
 indicate its appreciation of his noble services and powerlul direction; 
 therefore it is 
 
 Eesohed, That this tow n suffers an irreparable loss. 
 
 Resolved, That not only has this Qlunicipality been thus bereft of a 
 wise counsellor, loyal citizen and most munificent benefactor, but it is 
 also deprived of one whose integrity in business relations, and whose un- 
 tiring devotion to the public welfare, constituted him an object worthy 
 the emulation and grateful remembrance of all who knew him. 
 
 Besolved. That a copy of these resolutions be inscribed upon the 
 records of the Town, a copy also presented to each individual of his 
 immediate family and duly published iu the public press. 
 
 At the same town-meeting, after choosing a Com- 
 mittee of Arrangements to supervise the dedication 
 of their admirable Town- Hall, the following vote of 
 thanks was passed : 
 
 Voted.— To thank Gen. W. F. Draper for his donation to the town of 
 the so-called Butcher Street extension (whicli cost him several thousand 
 dollars), and for the prompt and liberal manner with which he accepted 
 and paid for such changes as seemed necessary for the successful comple- 
 tion of said road. 
 
 If, aftf-r ]ierusing such a record, any of our readers 
 should wonder whether this Draper family and these 
 menial voters are the same that were so sadly dispar- 
 aged before the General Court of 1886 as unworthy 
 to be incorporated into a town, let them rest assured 
 that they really are the very same. 
 
 Dedication of the Town Hall. — The Commit- 
 tee of Arrangements consisted of Gen. William F. 
 Draper, chairman ; Joseph B. Bancroft, Lewis B. 
 Gaskill and Simon G. Gilman, selectmen ; and Arte- 
 mas B. Edniands, Asa A. VVestcott and Charles F. 
 Eoper, citizens-at-]arge. To these were subsequently 
 added E. D. Bancrolt, Mrs. Phila W. Weston and 
 Miss Anna M. Bancroft. Kumerous sub-committees 
 were appointed and put in charge of the necessary 
 branches, into which details were divided. Every 
 
 committee discharged their duties assiduously, ef5- 
 ciently and creditably. At length the day of dedica- 
 tion arrived, October 25, 1887. It was a grand and 
 memorable occasion for Hopedale. A specific narra- 
 tion of its interesting proceedings and performances 
 would overflow our limits, and will not be expected.' 
 We must confine our account to synoptical outlines. 
 A great concourse of people assembled, including, 
 besides near residents, numerous representatives of 
 the surrounding towns and a host of sympathizing 
 friends from more distant parts of the Common- 
 wealth, who had stood by Hopedale through evil as 
 well as good report, when it was struggling before 
 the Legislature for independence. Music of the 
 highest excellence threw its charms over the multi- 
 tude, rare eloquence distilled its fragrance on de- 
 lighted auditors from eminent orators, and a rich 
 dinner regaled the stomachs of participating guests. 
 The formal exercises in the hall commenced at eleven 
 o'clock A. M. Stirring airs from the band ; prayer by 
 the writer; unsurpassable music from the Weber 
 Quartette; a pertinent and appropriate introductory 
 address from Chairman Gen. William F. Draper; 
 principal dedicatory address by Ex-Governor John 
 D. Long, replete with his graceful and renowned elo- 
 quence; remarks by the writer of this article, inter- 
 esting speech by Rev. Lewis G. Wilson as the spokes- 
 man of two hundred and forty grateful Hopedale em- 
 ployes, presenting the town a splendid life-size crayon 
 portrait of the late Geo. Draper ; formal delivery of the 
 Town House keys to selectmen, by Geo. A. Draper, as 
 representative of the late George Draper's heirs, and 
 acceptance of the same by Joseph B. Bancroft, chair- 
 man of the board; dinner, toasts and speeches in the 
 great tent on Church Common, with the customary 
 musical accompaniments. So the day closed, redo- 
 lent with testimonial tributes to departed worth, 
 grateful acknowledgments of munificent benefactions, 
 sacred reminiscences of the past, and auspicious 
 hopes of the future. 
 
 As was natural and proper, the dominant current 
 of thought, speech and attention was eulogistic of 
 the new town's upbuilder and generous patron, 
 George Draper. The writer was the only speaker of 
 the occasion who represented the primary Hopedale 
 of community days. And he deemed it both a privi- 
 lege and a duty to revive its memory, and show that 
 it had something more to do with preparing the way 
 for subsequent success than appeared on the present 
 surface of thingti. The honorable and eloquent 
 orator of the day had, indeed, made one biief ref- 
 erence to it, but in terms of disparaging commisera- 
 tion rather than commendation. He said : 
 
 On this spot, some forty years ago, one of those communities which 
 spring up from time to time, and of which so much is anticipated by the 
 enthusiasm of their members, had undertaken, under the sweet guid- 
 ance of the venerable and beloved pastor, who is here to-day, to solve the 
 problem of a happy, industrious and peaceful Christian brotherhood. It 
 was a joint stock association, sharing capital and prolits, and run on 
 
HOPEDALE. 
 
 419 
 
 common accouut. The result was a practical bankruptcy, avoided only 
 by a change which followed no longer any transcendental line, but 
 turned to the line of hard, practical American business, for George 
 Draper took the plant into his vigorous hand. An enlightened and 
 liberal selfishness became, its it usually does, a beneficence to which a 
 weak communism was as the dull and cheerless gleam of decaying punk 
 to the inspiring blaze of the morning sun in spring-time. The man 
 of atfairs was in tempnnil things a better leader than the priest, as he 
 usually is, and sis nobody will so emphatically assure you as the priest 
 himself. A meagre manufacturing enterprise, tliat made a few boxes 
 and cotton -spinning temples, and employed a dozen bands, began that 
 marvellous expansion which, in these few years, under George Draper's 
 direction, has come to employ live hundred men, has grown from an 
 annual product of twenty thousand dollars to one of more than twelve 
 hundred thousand ; hiis built and incorporated a Massachusetts town ; 
 has erected these trim, convenient liouses and homes of skilled and pros- 
 perous labor ; has enlarged the original industry into four great business 
 houses, and embracesoue of the largest cotton machinery manufacturing 
 centres in the world. 
 
 Well, Liow was the " venerable and beloved Chris- 
 tian pastor,'' " the priest," likely to appreciate this 
 rhetorical picture of " weak communism, etc. ?" Did 
 he wish to detract from the merits and fame of his 
 lamented friend, the deceased George Draper ? By 
 no. means. But he did not feel that the honorable 
 reputation of that departed friend needed to be mag- 
 nified by the unjust disparagement of the Hopedale 
 Community or any member thereof. He knew all the 
 facts in the case, and knew that the orator, through 
 some mistake, had radically misrepresented the most 
 important of them. He knew that Ebenezer D. 
 Draper, the elder brother of George, was president of 
 the Hopedale Community at the time when its joint 
 stock and unitary interest were dissolved ; that he 
 was then a much larger capitalist than his younger 
 brother, and wielded far greater power; that he pro- 
 nounced the condition of the community eminently 
 harmonious and prosperous less than two months 
 before he and his brother decided to withdraw their 
 capital ; that there really was no bankruptcy, nor any 
 necessitating cause for a dissolution of unitary interests, 
 except their withdrawal of three-fourths of the joint 
 stock, and that '' the plant'' was taken into the vigorous 
 hands of the two brothers only to be changed into a 
 successful manufacturing settlement, managed on the 
 principles of " enlightened and liberal selfishness." 
 Therefore, knowing perfectly the entire history of the 
 community, that without its devoted labors and sacri- 
 fices this new town of Hopedale would probably 
 never have attained the importance now being glori- 
 fied, and knowing, moreover, that the rising genera- 
 tion were in danger of remaining misinformed on the 
 subject, the aged "priest" improved the few minutes 
 allotted him in stating the salient facts of the case. 
 What these facts were is clearly set forth in the be- 
 ginning of this sub-history, and need not be repeated. 
 His speech was listened to with respectful attention, 
 and he was cordially thanked by many auditors for 
 his exposition. He believes it made a salutary and 
 lasting impression on the assembly. 
 
 Progressive Statistics to September, 1888. — 
 The town report already referred to comes down to 
 January 1,1888, but on several points later informa- 
 
 tion is available, and will be used. The officers chosen 
 at the annual March meeting, with slight exceptions, 
 were re-elected from the preceding year, as already 
 named. The following synoptical chronicles exhibit, 
 in a compendious form, the principal transactions and 
 corporate progress of this youthful municipality. 
 
 Conformably to the terms prescribed in the act of 
 incorporation, Hopedale must pay fifteen per cent. 
 ofMilford's indebtedness at the time of separation. 
 Amicable settlement October 6, 1887, when principal 
 and interest was paid to Milford, amounting to S18,- 
 436.95. Liquidated by funds on hand and borrowed 
 money. 
 
 Town debt, October 6, 1887, $16,000 ; reduced so as 
 to stand at the end of 1888, $14,000; total valuation 
 of taxable property in town, at the close of 1887, 
 $781,204 ; July 1, 1888, $882,408 ; tax rate per $1000, 
 uniformly thus far $13 ; number of inhabitants, July 
 1, 1887, 975; July 1, 1888, 1,116 ; number of dwelling- 
 houses, July 1, 1888, 203; in Hopedale village, 217; 
 number of polls, July 1, 1887, 301 ; July 1, 1888, 347 ; 
 amount of taxes committed for collection, 1887, $10,- 
 749.91; amount committed in 1888, $12,165.55; total 
 income from taxes of all kinds,^t.«.,from individuals 
 and corporations,— 1887, $19,385.30; same for 1888, 
 not fully reported at the time of this writing. 
 
 Town expenditure-i for the year ending December 
 31, 1887, viz. : for highways, out of appropriations, 
 donations, etc., 14,456.69 ; for sidewalks, out of appro- 
 priations, $1,013.32; for incidentals, under adminis- 
 tration of selectmen, $2,788.1 1 ; for town hall appurte- 
 nances, etc., $842.15 ; for gas and street lights, $315.94 ; 
 for water against fires, under appropriation, $516.68 ; for 
 Memorial Day, $25.00; for school-house lot appropria- 
 tion, $600.00 ; for borrowed money repaid, $3,000.00 ; 
 for State and county tax in 1886, $1,331.10 ; for State 
 and county tax in 1887, $1,662.52; for land damage, 
 extension of Dutcher Street, $819.00; for outlays on 
 Water Street, newly laid, $501.36; for aid to poor 
 belonging to other towns, $108.66 ; for Fire Department 
 under appropriation, $813.01 ; for educational pur- 
 poses, total receipts from all sources, $5,232.89 ; total 
 disbursements, $5,232.89 ; for town library, total 
 receipts, $1,170.10 ; expended, $2,294.40. So, for all 
 purposes the town expended, during the year ending 
 December 31, 1887, $26,320.83. It will be understood 
 that this total includes certain donations, and is 
 affected somewhat by debits and credits of the pre- 
 ceding year. 
 
 Appropriations of 1888, for the same general pur- 
 poses above specified, amount to $19,475.00; town 
 property on hand, aside from town hall and its appen- 
 dages, school department buildings, $5,700.00; High- 
 way Department, including new stone-crusher, etc., 
 $2,467.00 ; Fire Department, hose-house, apparatus and 
 equipments, $2,015.00. 
 
 Condition of Departments. — All the depart- 
 ments are admirably managed and in excellent con- 
 dition. Respecting highways and streets, the new 
 
420 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 town inherited twenty-five, by act of incorporation, 
 from Milford. These are of various lengths and 
 widths, and bear appropriate names. One of them 
 has been very advantageously extended, throuorh the 
 generosity of General Draper, a considerable distance 
 northward from Hopedale Village, shortening, on a 
 level route, the distance to Upton. Two or three 
 other new streets have been laid out, and marked im- 
 provements made on several old ones. Our roads are 
 good. 
 
 Concerning the Hopedale Fire Department, matters 
 show a no less creditable record. It has a nice hose- 
 house, a well-equipped carriage with 1200 feet of hose, 
 4 ladders, .36 fire-pails and 12 suitably-located hydrants. 
 Besides these, the several corporations have provided 
 themselves costly and efficient apparatus for the ex- 
 tinguishment of fires on their respective premises^ 
 and not a few individuals have plenty of ladders and 
 fire-pails. The department is well organized and 
 manned. Fires are few, far between and, thus far, 
 almost harmlc>s. 
 
 As to pauperism, it scarcely exists, and criminality, 
 as a cause of expense, is of rare occurrence. No 
 licenses are granted for the sale of intoxicating 
 liquors, and the manufactories of vice, crime and 
 misery are kept at a distance. Our Educational De- 
 partment is liberally encouraged, assiduously super- 
 vised, reputably conducted and in first-rate order. 
 Down to the present writing there have been but two 
 school-houses, the larger situated in Hopedale Village 
 and the smaller in South Hopedale. An ample High 
 School edifice is in near prospect, and will soon be 
 erected. The corporations have unitedly pledged a 
 subscription of six thousand dollars towards it, and 
 the town is about to raise a sura adequate to secure its 
 completion. The High School was inaugurated in an 
 extemporized room of the large village school-house 
 in September, 1886. It was an immediate success. 
 Number of pupils, thirty. Course of studies up to 
 the average standard. Principal and assistant emi- 
 nently well qualified, and results ever since all that 
 could be desired. The increase of scholars in the 
 lower grades has obliged the High School to find new 
 quarters in the Town Hall until the new edifice de- 
 signed for it shall be ready for occupancy. 
 
 The village school-house barely accommodates the 
 pupils of lower grade. During the fall term of 1887 
 there were in its primary room sixty-six scholars, 
 fifty-three in the intermediate and forty-three in the 
 grammar. Since then these numbers have been con- 
 tinually augmenting. Competent and excellent 
 teachers have filled the several positions with honor 
 to themselves and satisfaction to all parties concerned. 
 The South Hopedale School has not yet admitted of 
 gradation, but it has been creditably taught and 
 managed. The whole number of children in town 
 between the ages of five and fifteen years, as reported 
 by the School Committee for May 1, 1887, was one 
 hundred and eighty-two. The number must now be 
 
 much larger. On the whole, few towns in the Com- 
 monwealth have greater reason to be proud of their 
 public schools than Hopedale. 
 
 The Town Library and Beading Room. — 
 These have ample and elegant accommodations in 
 the Town Hall edifice. It will bear repeating that 
 the reading room is 24 by 22 feet. The lilirary room 
 is 30 by 195 feet. They are connected by an arch 
 IIJ feet in width. The finish, furniture and shelving 
 of both rooms is of California red-wood. In the 
 library, December 31, 1887, 2478 vols.; pamphlets 
 1556 ; periodicals, in incomplete vols., 889 — a very 
 good beginning, largely made up of donations. The 
 future is bright with hopeful auspices. There will be 
 liberal donors, and the town will make handsome 
 annual appropriations. The reading room and refer- 
 ence library opened in temporary quarters December 
 27, 1886 ; circulation of books commenced June 4, 
 1887 ; rooms in Town Hall were occupied December 
 24, 1887. The reading room was fairly well supplied 
 with valuable reading matter from the outset, and has 
 been gradually enriched ever since. The attendance 
 at reading room, as well, as the circulation of library 
 books, has been worthy an intelligent population. 
 The best of regulations have been established for the 
 library and reading room, and admirable order pre- 
 vails throughout. The board of trustees have done 
 themselves honor by their judicious management of 
 affairs. Especial commendation is due to Mr. Wil- 
 liam N. Goddard. He is an amateur librarian, takes 
 a lively interest in the affairs of his office, and has 
 laid the town under lasting obligations of gratitude 
 for his services. His assistant. Miss Ellen F. Welch, 
 who attends to the ordinary daily duties of librarian, 
 discharges those duties meritoriously, and has won 
 general approbation. There is fair promise that in a 
 few years Hopedale will have a public library nobly 
 rich in quantity and quality. 
 
 Literary Taste and Culture. — These are 
 marked charaeteristics of our population. Of reading 
 clubs there are three, each of which subscribes for the 
 best periodicals publi-shed in the country, and circu- 
 lates them regularly throughout the families of its mem. 
 hers, viz. : The Hopedale Reading Club, the Hopedale 
 Magazine Club, and the Spindleville Reading Club. 
 There are two prominent literary clubs : The Round- 
 about Club, devoted to mental improvement by pre- 
 paring, delivering and discussing brief essays on 
 various interesting topics ; and the Shakespeare Club, 
 devoted to the study, select reading and consideration 
 of Shakespeare's works. These clubs hold frequent 
 regular meetings at the houses of their respective 
 members. The Hopedale Debating Society, besides 
 discussing the live questions of the day at their 
 pleasure and convenience, furnish valuable winter 
 courses of public lectures by able, masters on attrac- 
 tive themes. Then, in the line of dramatic culture 
 and entertainment, we have two active organizations; 
 The Hopedale Dramatic Club and the Hopedale 
 
HOPEDALE. 
 
 421 
 
 Amateurs. As a further index to the prevailing taste 
 for intellectual refreshment, it need only be stated 
 that three hundred and fifty daily newspapers are 
 received through the Hopedale post-office regularly, 
 besides all the more infrequently published papers 
 and periodicals. 
 
 Martial Patriotism and Military Spirit. — 
 The section of territory recently incorporated as the 
 town of Hopedale has borne an average crop of war- 
 riors from generation to generation, in all the historic 
 and probably unhistoric past. The Indian rwitives 
 had their braves, and their white successors since the 
 year 1700, have furnished their full quota of heroic 
 soldiers in every war, from the old French one down 
 to the great Rebellion. During this last it was rep- 
 resented, for longer or shorter terms, by some thirty 
 fighting men, as nearly as can be estimated from 
 partially unauthentic data. Of these General William 
 F. Draper is the honored flower — a candidate for 
 higher civic distinction. His less favored comrades 
 are either among the remembered dead or mostly 
 dwell in widely-scattered, humbler homes. As to the 
 professed Christian non-resistants of the Hopedale 
 Community, who at its zenith numbered about one 
 hundred persons, they were generally exotics from 
 other soils. When the white flag of their projected 
 anti-war State was abandoned by its controlling pecu- 
 niary supporters, it necessarily soon fell to the old 
 social level, as has been told. Some who adhered to 
 their Christ-like standard of peace have passed into 
 the higher life, or removed to other localities. A 
 mere remnant remain on the once hopeful domain of 
 forty years ago, and these are surrounded by a daily 
 increasing multitude of worthy people, who, never- 
 theless, are thoroughly devoted to civil and warlike 
 society as it is. Which way soever the survivors turn, 
 public opinion and practice present a granite wall of 
 pro-war-governmental adherence. The aged, middle- 
 aged and the young pay homage to the sword as the 
 final grand arbiter and indispensable defender of just- 
 ice, liberty and human rights. So they believe, think 
 and act. And in this they glory. The most recent 
 demonstration of their delight and trust in deadly 
 weapons as a dernier resort is the formation of a 
 youthful company in our village called the Hopedale 
 Zouaves. It numbers some twenty sprightly lads, 
 regularly oflicered, armed, uniformed, drilled and 
 paraded in the modern military style. Thus in time 
 of peace they prepare for patriotic war. In their 
 splendid uniform, with fine music and graceful mar- 
 tial bearing, they make a charming display to the 
 admiration of men, women and children. Is this to 
 be condemned or deplored? Not if the war-priuciple 
 be absolutely right, as is preached and believed by 
 the popular religion and civilization. On the con- 
 trary, it is eminently commendable. For the young 
 should learn what it is their duty to practice in ma- 
 ture age. If it is wrong, it is so because the popular 
 religion and civilization are wrong in their funda- 
 
 mental, systematic pro-war principle. Would the 
 rattlesnake be rendered less dangerous by depriving 
 him of his rattles? Strike at his vitals, not at his 
 rattles. 
 
 So thought the projector of the Hopedale Commu- 
 nity. It took him over thirty years to out-think and 
 out-grow his own pro-war heredity and education. 
 He had a tough nature to convert to Christ-like 
 peace ethics ; but when once fairly converted to 
 them, no temptation could convert him back to faith 
 in the wisdom of deadly force. So now, in the 
 eighty-sixth year of his age, he remains immovably 
 attached to the standard of peace taught and exem- 
 plified by his Master. Majorities weigh nothing 
 with him against principles of divine truth and 
 righteousness. At the same time he can duly re- 
 spect all that is right and good on lower moral 
 planes. And for actual soldiers and warriors, who 
 execute given orders to perpetrate human slaughter, 
 he has less condemnation than for their religious 
 and political masters, who stay safely at home, 
 preaching and legislating others into the battle-field. 
 They are the principals ; their employes are mere 
 accessories and instruments, personally jeopardizing 
 all that is dear to them. But, above all, he de- 
 nounces murderous principles and systems of human 
 society, whether in church or state, rather than 
 individuals or classes of men, many of whom are 
 honestly deluded by specious falsities. Blessed are 
 they who begin their proposed reformations at the 
 beginning, and are not turned aside by plausible 
 compromises with evil under the impulses of a time- 
 serving expediency. Hopedale is now squarely on 
 the ancient platform of pro-milito patriotism, and 
 may be implicitly relied on to perform its share of 
 service whenever its country proclaims the next 
 bloody war, excepting only the harmless few who 
 will soon have their home in another world. 
 
 Civil and Secular Matters — Marriages, Births 
 and Deaths. — Down to January 1, 1888, our town 
 clerks have reported, — marriage intentions recorded, 
 16 couples ; marriages solemnized and recorded, 45 
 couples; births recorded, 34 persons; deaths recorded, 
 25 persons. 
 
 No report for the present year. The disparity 
 between entries of intentions and solemnizations is 
 accounted for by couples married out of town, or 
 whose intentions were entered elsewhere. 
 
 Post-Offices. — The one at South Milford, established 
 March 7, 1814; Hamblet B. Fisk, present postmaster; 
 delivery and income respectable, but not large. 
 
 Hopedale post-office, established May 13, 1861 ; 
 present postmaster, Henry L. Patrick. Comparatively 
 large delivery for a country town. Receives and dis- 
 tributes mail matter for our enterprising manufac- 
 turers and business firms, and for some two hundred 
 and sixty families of uncommonly intelligent people. 
 Returns a net annual income to government of over 
 one thousand dollars. 
 
422 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Business Trades (not previously mentioned). — 
 Henry L. Patrick, who runs two large grocery and 
 country stores in Hopedale, and one in Upton, has a 
 wide range of custom, making annual sales to the 
 amount of one hundred thousand dollars. Smith & 
 Mead opened their establishment in the Town House, 
 December, 1887, for the sale of groceries, meats, dry 
 and fancy goods, etc. Their store and meat market 
 are of first-class rank, and they have a wide run of 
 profitable patronage. Their firm is a flourishing one 
 and promises merited success. The long established 
 "Green Store," once the famous Major Penniman 
 entrepot at South Milford, though shorn of its old- 
 time importance, is still a respectable grocery and 
 country dispensary, and well managed by Hamblet 
 B. Fisk. We have two enterprising livery and trans- 
 portation establishments, an ice company and several 
 small artisan and handicraft shops — all useful. 
 
 Civil Magistrates.— Gen. William F. Draper, 
 Frank J. Dutcher, Esq., E. D. Bancroft, Esq. (also 
 notary public), and David A. Westcott, Esq., justices 
 of the peace. 
 
 Religious Institutions and Affairs. — There is 
 but one organized religious society in our town and 
 one church edifice, the Hopedale Parish, with its 
 modest sanctuary pleasantly situated and surrounded 
 in Hopedale village. The history of this parish, its 
 house of worship and first pastorate has already been 
 briefly given on a former jiage. The meeting-house 
 was erected by the Hopedale Community in its declin- 
 ing days and subsequently transferred with other 
 property to the parish as stated. The parish has 
 recently been legally incorporated as a body politic 
 for the safe holding and management of its pecuniary 
 interests. This took place in August, 1887. Pastor 
 Ballou, after his re.'ignation, April 23, 1880, was soon 
 succeeded by Rev. Austin S. Garver. He became pas- 
 tor by acceptance of a formal call, dated April 14, 
 1881. He was installed September 30, 1881, in con- 
 nection with a rededication of the church after re- 
 juvenation. Salary, fifteen hundred dollars per an- 
 num. He was called to the more conspicuous pastor- 
 ate of the Second Congregational Church in Wor- 
 cester, Mass., and terminated his connection with 
 Hopedale about March 1, 1885. He was succeeded 
 by Rev. Lewis G. Wilson, who was installed October 
 8, 1885, and still continues in the pastorship. Salary 
 at first, twelve hundred dollars ; since April 1, 1887, 
 fifteen hundred dollars. The parish has one hundred 
 and forty voting members, and is officered by an 
 executive committee of five, a clerk, treasurer, col- 
 lector and board of three property trustees. It has a 
 well-conducted Sunday-school, with alibrary of eleven 
 hundred volumes. It has also a nice parsonage, do- 
 nated to it by the late George Draper just before his 
 decease, and confirmed by deed of his heirs. He was 
 its generous supporter and benefactor from its forma- 
 tion to the day of his death. As a tribute to his 
 memory and worth the following resolutions were 
 
 passed by a standing vote of the parish at a special 
 meeting held July 10, 1887: 
 
 M'hereas, The Hopedale PariBh has experienced a dispeuBation of 
 great bereavement in the death of George Draper, on the 7th ultimo — 
 our temporal head and social chief ; therefore, 
 
 liesoh-ed^ That, while ve deeply deplore our heavy earthly loss, in 
 sympathy with his family and all the circles of personal association who 
 unitedly mourn his departed mortal presence, we reverently bow to the 
 Divine "Will, in the coniident assurance that he has been translated to a 
 deathless mansion, whence his loving benedictions will descend on all 
 lie delighted to bless. 
 
 Hcsoh'ed, That our Parish Clerk be instructed to inscribe this Memo- 
 rial of our lamented brother conspicuously on our permanent Records ; 
 and also that she present a copy of the same to his widow and each of 
 his children. 
 
 It may not be improper to state here that ex-Pastor 
 Ballou, who writes this sub-history, still continues, as 
 a sort of minister-at-large, to solemnize marriages 
 and render funeral services throughout his general 
 vicinity — though he chooses to preach little. He has 
 been in the ministry over sixty-seven years, during 
 which he has solemnized eleven hundred and seventy- 
 six marriages, and ministered at more than twenty-five 
 hundred and fifty funerals. And, though now far 
 advanced in old age, the annual number of his wed- 
 dings and funerals averages nearly the same as in the 
 prime of life. 
 
 Although there is only one church edifice in our 
 town, there is a public hall at South Milford, still, so 
 called, well known as Harmony Hall, where religious 
 meetings and reform lectures have long been held on 
 some part of the Sabbath by the various neighboring 
 clergymen of different denominations, etc. The at- 
 tendance is generally good and the sacred music com- 
 mendable. A respectable Sunday-school is also sus- 
 tained there. It should be understood that in Hope- 
 dale Village and throughout our new town there are 
 numerous representatives of nearly all the churches 
 in Milford Centre, who customarily worship in their 
 respective sanctuaries, and seldom, if ever, with the 
 Hopedale Parish. We have Catholics, Episcopalians, 
 Orthodox Congregationalists, Baptists, Methodists 
 and Universalists. And for their devotional con- 
 venience our enterprising transportationist, John M. 
 French, runs his barges to and from Milford Centre 
 every Sunday at the proper hours, so that all who 
 have not conveyances of their own are well accommo- 
 dated. Besides this convenience, some of the sects 
 hold occasional religious gatherings, more or less fre- 
 quently, in public or private buildings of Hopedale 
 Village. Thus religious privileges are amply pro- 
 vided for all our people according to their various 
 preferences. 
 
 Cemeteries. — We have two reputable resting-places 
 for the dead — one in South Hopedale, formerly South 
 Milford, under town control, and one in Hopedale 
 village, now controlled by a corporate association. 
 The former has been inherited from Milford by terri- 
 torial right. It dates back to November 18, 1799. 
 The writer has given an account of the origin, progress 
 and general character in his "History of Milford," pp. 
 
i 
 
 I 
 
 ly^L-^ 
 
C^Ci- 
 
 C(^Ody-ly(^_^^ 
 
HOPEDALE. 
 
 423 
 
 307-308. It contains the graves of many departed 
 inhabitants of its district, and others from outside, 
 has a decent receiving tomb, has respectable monu- 
 ments, is well advanced in the line of modern improve- 
 ments and is worthily cared for. Our Hopedale 
 village cemetery was selected and laid out in 1847 by 
 the authority of the Hopedale Community, and was 
 under community regulations till transferred to the 
 Hopedale Parish, December 15, 1873. It was a well- 
 chosen location, naturally adapted in all respects to 
 its designed use, and capable of being rendered 
 admirably beautiful by artistic improvement. The 
 lot-owners deemed it advisable to become a legal cor- 
 poration. This was effected, and their organization 
 consummated April 4, 1887. The late George Draper 
 left the association a legacy of ten thousand dollars, 
 and it holds some other funds in trust. General 
 William F. Draper has recently donated a very desir- 
 able addition to its area, which now comprises jirobably 
 over five acres, with room adjacent for any necessary 
 expansion. It is under excellent management, and is 
 rapidly developing delightful improvements. It has 
 a commodious receiving tomb, and two noble family 
 mausoleums, erected respectively by George Draper, 
 a little while before his death, and by General William 
 F. Draper, the same year. It has also a goodly number 
 of respectable monuments and memorial tablets. Its 
 future is well assured as a sacred and lovely sanctuary 
 of precious mortal relics, where surviving relatives 
 and friends may perpetuate the memories of their 
 loved ones worthily, and complacently anticipate 
 repose of their own ashes. 
 
 As the publishers of this County History have 
 welcomed to appropriate places within its lids the 
 likenesses of several distinguished Hopedalians, it 
 seems proper that a few words of special explanatory 
 data should be given in each case. 
 
 1. George Draper, born in Weston, Mass., August 
 IG, 1817; died June 7, 1887, aged sixtyinine years, 
 nine months and twenty days. Too prominently 
 noted in this sub-history and otherwise known to the 
 general public to need further characterization here. 
 An excellent likeness. 
 
 2. Warren Whitney Dutcher, born in Shaftsbury, 
 Vt., July 4, 1812; removed with his worthy wife and 
 children to Hopedale in the spring of 1856. He be- 
 came associated in business with E. D. & G. Draper, 
 prospered and contributed largely to the upbuilding 
 of his adopted village. He left a bright and memor- 
 able record for mechanical ingenuity, manufacturing 
 enterprise, moral rectitude and benefactions bestowed 
 on suffering humanity. His wife was no less distin- 
 guished for her matronly virtues, social worth and 
 charities to the poor. Both have passed away, leav- 
 ing hallowed memories. He died .January 2G, 1880, 
 aged sixty-seven years, six months and twenty-two 
 days. Mrs. Malinda, his wife, died February 9, 1888, 
 aged sixty-six years, six months and nineteen days. 
 Their worthy children, Frank J. Dutcher and Miss 
 
 Grace Mary, survive them in honorable standing 
 among us. The likeness of the husband and father is 
 a very true and good one. 
 
 3. Joseph Bubier Bancroft, born in Uxbridge, 
 Mass., October 3, 1821. He is the respected head of 
 an intelligent enterprising and influential ftimily. 
 He came here with his estimable wife in 1847, and 
 both joined the Hopedale Community. He was for 
 several years superintendent of the Hopedale Ma- 
 chine Establishment, served long on the Milford 
 Board of Selectmen, was sent representative to Gen- 
 eral Court in 1864, is now chairman of our Hopedale 
 selectmen. 
 
 4. Dea. Asa Augustus Westcott, born in Scituate, 
 R. I., August 17, 1826. He and his excellent family, 
 wife, sons and daughters, settled among us in 1873. 
 They brought with them characters of sterling worth 
 and salutary moral influence, as well as manufactur- 
 ing enterprise and usefulness. They occupy a posi- 
 tion in the first rank of our little municipality. Dea. 
 Westcott well deserves the place he has consented 
 to fill among our representative engravings. 
 
 5. General William Franklin Draper, born in 
 Lowell, Mass., April 9, 1842. After what has been 
 said in the preceding pages, though briefly, and 
 what is otherwise widely known to the public, it is 
 hardly necessary to be very specific here. It is sufli- 
 cient to say that since his honored father's decease, 
 he is our financial, social and municipal chief, 
 crowned with our unanimous deference, confidence 
 and love. He has a red lettered past and a near 
 future auroral with promise. In due time, no doubt, 
 an ample biography will worthily portray his life 
 career. Meantime his friends must be content with 
 outlines and his likeness. Most of them will feel 
 that this does meagre justice to his manly form and 
 face. But for the pressure of business a better would 
 probably have been secured. 
 
 6. Adin Ballon, the present historian, born in 
 Cumberland, E. I., April 23, 1803, of uncollegiate 
 education, but a persistent student of useful knowl- 
 edge and self-culture; commenced preaching in 
 his nineteenth year ; has been a minister of New 
 Testament Christianity, as he understood it, over 
 sixty-seven years, chiefly in the southeasterly section 
 of this county ; is author of a " History of Milford, 
 Mass.," a " History and Genealogy of the Ballous " 
 and many minor works; and holds too many pe- 
 culiarities of faith and practice to be classed very 
 exactly with any religious denomination. His like- 
 ness is a tolerably correct one, and appears in this 
 work through the generosity of an eminent friend. 
 
 Here we may conclude this sub-history as su2i- 
 ciently minute and comprehensive for the place it is 
 to occupy among its county associates. It shows 
 that the town of Hopedale, though small and in- 
 fantile, compared with its elder and grander co- 
 municipalities, has a record with strong points of 
 interest in it, and a probable future of rising impor- 
 
424 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 tance not wholly unworthy of its name. And it af- 
 fords the writer peculiar plea.sure to say in closing 
 that, notwithstanding all the unpleasantness growing 
 out of separation from mother Milford, every embit- 
 terment is evidently passing away, and the present 
 relations of the two towns are mutually amicable and 
 harmonious. 
 
 CHAPTER LXII. 
 NORTHBRIDGE. 
 
 BY REV. JOHX R. THURSTON. 
 THE BEGINNINGS. 
 
 October 16, 1660, in answer to the petition of seven 
 inhabitants of Braintree, the General Court of the 
 Masaachusetis Colony judged "it meete to encourage 
 the petitioners to proceede in theire settling them- 
 selves and an able ministry with them, in the place 
 desired for a new plantation within their time 
 limited." " In further answer to said Braintry peti- 
 tion the court declares that they judge meete to grant 
 a plantation of eight miles square, and that the per- 
 sons named have liberty to enter thereupon and 
 make a beginning thereof, and to take such persons 
 into their society as they shall judge meete, and that 
 Maj. Humphrey Atherton, Left. Roger Clap, Capt. 
 Eliaser Lusker and Deacon Parkes, or any three of 
 them, shall and hereby are appointed commissioners, 
 & are empowered to make a valid act there." 
 
 In furtherance of the object of these petitioners, 
 the honorable court chose " Mr. Ptster Bracket and 
 Ensign Moses Paine for to purchase a title of the In- 
 dians, containing eight miles square, about fifteen 
 miles from Medfield Town, at a place commonly called 
 Masconsapong." 
 
 The^e gentlemen purchased the tract of Great John 
 and three other Nipmuck chiefs for " the summe of 
 twenty-foure pounds sterling." The deed was signed 
 by them and was witnessed by the Indian apostle, 
 John Eliot, Wr., and his son, John Eliot, Jr., April 22, 
 1662. 
 
 All right and interest in this deed was assigned by 
 Messrs. Payne and Brackett to the selectmen of the 
 town of Mendon, May 12, 1670. 
 
 Three months after the purchase of the land "the 
 committee impowered by the General Courte to 
 assist the ordering and setling the plantation granted 
 at Netmoke," in a document dated " Dorchester, 
 July 5, 1662," declared the regulations for the plan- 
 tation on which they had agreed. 
 
 An allotment of one hundred and fifty acres was 
 to be made to each subscriber who possessed estate of 
 one hundred pounds, and to all others in this proportion. 
 Only persons "of honest and good report are accepted 
 and allowed to take alotment in said plantation." 
 
 No one could "sell or lease or alienate his said 
 alotment or any part thereof without the consent 
 of the majority of those persons chosen to regulate 
 the affairs of the plantation. 
 
 Five or seven " meete persons " were to be chosen 
 " for the manageinge these afl'airs," and they were "to 
 have the whole power of accepting inhabitants and 
 disposing lands, according to the rules above written," 
 for one year. 
 
 Of these managers Messrs. Payne and Brackett 
 were to be two, and in consideration of all their 
 services were to receive land, not more than three 
 hundred acres. 
 
 There must be " an able and approved minister 
 settled with them there, according to the order of 
 courte in that case provided." 
 
 All persons "accepted to alntments shall be settled 
 at the said plantation before the end of the seventh 
 month, 166.1, with their persons and estates." 
 
 This allowed them a year and two months after 
 these regulations were made. 
 
 At this time twenty-three men had been accepted — • 
 thirteen from Braintree and ten from Weymouth. 
 
 But it was not until the fall of 1663, or the summer 
 of 1664, that the men who had obtained the grant, 
 with their families, to the number, perhaps, of twelve, 
 " hewed their way through the wilderness to the spot 
 where now stands the village of Mendon." Thus 
 began the Nipmuck plantation, the township of Quin- 
 shepauge, soon incorporated. May 15,1667, and called 
 Mendham, afterwards Mendon. It was the second 
 incorporated town in Worcester County, Lancaster 
 alone preceding it. 
 
 The grant by the General Court was of a territory 
 eight miles square, but that taken under the grant 
 was ten miles by twelve, and included the present 
 towns of Mendon, Blackstone and Uxbridge, the most 
 of Northbridge and Milford, a part of Upton and 
 Bellinghamt and parts of three towns now in Rhode 
 Island. Three entire towns and a portion of seven 
 others were in the original Nipmuck plantation. 
 
 This is the story of the grant and purchase of the 
 territory of the town of Northbridge, save about one- 
 tenth of its present area, which was annexed to it 
 from Sutton, soon after its incorporation. 
 
 While this territory belonged to the original forty- 
 four proprietors of Mendon from the beginning, it was 
 not occupied until after the beginning of the seven- 
 teenth century. 
 
 April 1, 1707, there was a " Jacob Aldrich farm," 
 one-half mile below the present Quaker Meeting- 
 House, on the eastern side of " the great river." 
 February 10, 1710, he sold this, with the house on it, to 
 his son, Peter Aldrich, who was perhapn the first 
 resident of what is now Northbridge. 
 
 Woodland Thompson owned a large tract of land, 
 including what were afterwards known as the South- 
 wick, the Benson and Wing farms, in 1707, and soon 
 after, if not at that date, began to reside on it. 
 
NORTHBRIDGE. 
 
 425 
 
 Benjamin Thompson, brother of Woodland, owned 
 land on both sides of "the great river," south of the 
 Quaker Meeting-House, as early as 1707, and lived on 
 it as early as 1728. These three were all of Mendon, 
 receiving or buying their land of their fathers, also 
 of Mendon. 
 
 George Woodward, of Brookline, bought 120 acres 
 in the west part of what is now Whitinsville, in 1712, 
 and occupied it for several years. He was a school- 
 teacher as well as " Husbandman." 
 
 John Aldrich, of Mendon, lived south of the Quak- 
 er Meeting-House, on the east side of the river, as 
 early as 1727. 
 
 Seth Terry, of Barrington, Bristol County, clerk, 
 bought at different times and from different persons, 
 in 1725, '26 and '27, 488 acres of land, "with all the 
 water courses, mines or minerals belonging thereto," 
 which included "the Falls" of Mumford River, in 
 what is now Wliitinsville, and at once built a saw- 
 mill, perhaps the first in the town, and " Iron works." 
 He began, or prepared to begin, the manufacture of 
 " refined iron." But he remained here only a few 
 months, as he sold all, including the "saw-mill '' and 
 the "iron works" and "all other buildings," to 
 Hugh Hall, of Boston, January 10, 1728. 
 
 In 1735 John and James Adams came from Ips- 
 wich and bought land and lived at the "Corner" 
 which has so long borne their name. 
 
 The same year Christopher Winter, of Mendon, 
 began to reside on the " Winter place," one-half 
 mile north of what is now Rockdale, on the east side 
 of " Great River." 
 
 While these earliest settlers of what is now North- 
 bridge were making their homes in the different 
 parts of the town, a change had taken place in their 
 town relations. 
 
 For many years the " Inhabitants of the western 
 part of Mendon " had " laboured under great Diffi- 
 culties, by Reason of their Remoteness from the 
 Place of publick Worship in Said Town." They 
 sought and obtained permission for sejiaration from 
 Mendon, and, on petition to the General Court, were 
 incorporated as a town June 27, 1727. The history 
 of Northbridge is now included in that of Uxbridge 
 for forty-five years. It is evident (hat those living 
 in the part of the town now Northbridge took their 
 part in all town aciion, bore their share of the bur- 
 dens and claimed their rights and privileges, although 
 somewhat remote from the centre of the town life, in 
 what was then Uxbridge. 
 
 The new town secured preaching from the first, 
 and after considerable fruitless negotiations with 
 Rev. Othniel Cambell and Mr. Jonathan Wales, 
 they voted, June 22, 1730, "to follow the advice of 
 ministers, and give Mr. Nathan Webb a call." 
 They voted £100 " encouragement '' and £90 salary 
 "good passable money." The call was accepted, 
 and December 31st it was voted to proceed with the 
 ordination, and to build a pulpit for the meeting- 
 
 house. All these questions which are now decided 
 by the parish were then decided in town-meeting. 
 In fact, the town was the parish. While the church 
 had the initiative in calling a minister, as now, the 
 town contracted with and supported him, as the 
 parish does now. The town was the legal body. 
 The town began the meeting-house in 1728, the next 
 year after it was incorporated. Before this the 
 town-meetings and religious services were held in 
 private houses. The meeting-house was occupied 
 for town-meeting the next May, but it was not fully 
 finished before it gave place to a new house, though 
 we find frequent votes to finish it, and committees 
 raised, and appropriations made for that purpose. 
 
 The first mention of schools in the new town is in 
 January, 1731, when it was voted that the town will 
 have a school dame, for the first seven or eight months 
 to keep a school in each part of the town " propor- 
 tionable." The next year it was voted to employ a 
 schoolmaster, John Read, Sr. At the same meeting 
 it was voted to procure a pair of stocks, and a few 
 months after twelve shillings are voted to John 
 Chilson for making them. After this, votes as to the 
 schoolmaster, with appropriations for his pay and his 
 board, are quite frequent. In 1734 we find the town 
 dufricted or "Squadroned," and it was voted that 
 each squadron select some woman to teach the chil- 
 dren to read, who should be approbated by the select- 
 men. For many years the schools were under the 
 care of these officers. The pay of these teachers came 
 from the " School Fund." This fund was obtained 
 from Mendon, being their part of the fund granted by 
 the colony to that town. After long negotiation and 
 many conferences of committees, it was voted, March 
 2, 1732, to accept two hundred pounds from Mendon 
 as their part of the school fund. It was increased 
 in 1736 by a gift of five hundred acres of land from 
 the colony. The land was situated in that part of the 
 State which went to New Hampshire in settling the 
 boundary with that State in 1741, and it was thus lost 
 to the town. It had already been sold to parties in 
 the town, from whom it was repurchased when it 
 went into New Hampshire, and it was replaced by a 
 new grant from the colony and was located by a com- 
 mittee of the town, but the recordsdo not show where. 
 This school fund was loaned to individuals, and 
 sometimes great difficulty was experienced in getting 
 the interest. In 1738 it was voted to build the first 
 school-house near the meeting-house. In 1761 there 
 was another districting of the town in thirteen .squad- 
 rons, containing one hundred and sixty -three families, 
 the names of which are given, which is the first list 
 found. In these families there wereflve hundred and 
 twenty-eight scholars, an average of somewhat more 
 than three for each family. From this we may sup- 
 pose the population was not far from twelve hundred. 
 In the part now Northbridge, as is judged from the 
 names given, there were but forty-one families, in- 
 dicating a population of about three hundred. This 
 
426 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 is the earliest fact found for any estimate of popula- 
 tion. 
 
 In 1764 a new squadron of seven families was voted 
 to have their part of the school fund. The school 
 district system thus early established was continued 
 until quite recently. 
 
 The first mention of Quakers in the town is on 
 March 6, 1728, when it was voted " not to free the 
 Quakers," probably from the tax to support the 
 preaching. At the close of the records of 1734i 
 the following list of persons, " called Quakers," ap- 
 pears: Seth Aldrich, Benjamin Taft, Peter Aldrich, 
 Seth Aldrich, Jr., Abel Aldrich, Jr. Samuel Taft— six. 
 
 It is difficult to learn when the Quakers first came 
 into what is now Northbridge. Whitney, in his 
 " History of Worcester County," published in 1793, 
 says they came into Mendon, of which Northbridge 
 was then a part, as early as 1703. Of Uxbridge he 
 says, in 1793, ''one quarter are Quakers and Ana- 
 baptists." In Northbridge he says there are twelve 
 Quaker families. 
 
 Probably the first in Northbridge was Peter Al- 
 drich, who was here in 1709. If not he, then Samuel 
 Aldrich, who was here as early as 1738. 
 
 We must suppose the Quakers came up the Black- 
 stone Valley from Rhode Island, their early refuge. 
 Many of them settled in the South Parish of Mendon 
 (now Blackstone), and in Uxbridge, and a few pushed 
 up into what is now Northbridge. 
 
 With them also came the Anabaptists, who had, 
 like them, found a refuge in Rhode Island. The 
 limit of this immigration was the south part of 
 Grafton. 
 
 The Quakers experienced some difficulty from 
 their peculiar tenets as to religion and war, as is 
 manifest from the town records. The first mention 
 of them is the refusal of the town to "free " them 
 from the minister tax. 
 
 In the warrant for the meeting for May, 1762, the 
 fifth article reads, " To see if the town will vote not 
 to proceed any further upon, about, or anywise con- 
 cerning a petition that Cap. Solomon Wood [Repre- 
 sentative] exhibited to the great and General Court, 
 last winter, wherein he complains of the Quakers' 
 hard usage upon the captains, concerning a tax laid 
 upon them in the year 1759, for not sending soldiers 
 into the war." At the meeting it was voted, " Not to 
 act at all, any way on the Sth Article, in the warrant, 
 to pass it over not acted on." From this it appears 
 that the Quakers remained true to their principles as 
 to war and were taxed, but that they did not remain 
 quiet under the infliction. They would not perform 
 military duty, and the town was obliged to hire men 
 to fill the quota, because of their exemption, and they 
 complained that their tax to reimburse the colony 
 was unjust and they were unwilling to pay it. 
 
 It is remarkable that this is the only reference, in 
 the records of the town, to the French and Indian 
 War, which lasted from 1764 to 1760. But from the 
 
 State archives we learn that the town bore a large 
 burden in this war. From the Northbridge part of the 
 town quite surely twenty-six, and probably thirty- 
 five, persons served for forty-five different terms of 
 six months to almost a year. This for a population 
 of not more than three hundred, with not more than 
 sixty of military age, is a very large number. We have 
 no reason to suppose they did more than other 
 towns. And this suggests to us what it cost our 
 fathers to defend their homes and liberties in those 
 early days. All through these years they kept up 
 their military organizations as they had done from the 
 beginning. They had their "Training Field" and 
 training-days. Thus were they being prepared for 
 the more severe struggle of twenty years later, which 
 did not find them, when it came, all unready for it. 
 
 March 28, 1728, at one of the first town-meetings 
 of the new town, it was voted " to accept £90 sh. 5, 
 which the General Court had allotted to the town of 
 Uxbridge as their proportion of the £60,000 emitted 
 for the use of the Province," and a trustee Was ap- 
 pointed to receive it. It was also voted, "That said 
 money should be let out on good security, not ex- 
 ceeding £5 to any one person." Here is the first 
 mention in our town records of the "Bills of Credit," 
 issued by the province, which were the cause of great 
 derangement in all financial calculations and trans- 
 actions and of the various evils of an irredeemable 
 paper currency. Mr. Joseph Taft strenuously resisted 
 the acceptance of this semblance of money by the 
 town, and entered a written protest, signed by him- 
 self, Benjamin Taft and Joseph Taft, Jr. Soon the 
 evils of a money that could not be converted into 
 specie began to appear in the larger sums that were 
 voted for town purposes, in the additional sums voted 
 to the minister, in the contributions made for him on 
 the Sabbath. If one wished to mark his contribution 
 it was allowed him in his minister tax, but all un- 
 marked it was voted should be free and clear to Mr. 
 Webb. But it is evident that this gratuity did not 
 make good the depreciation, for presently we see 
 votes to raise from the town additional sums for Mr. 
 Webb, until May, 1753, when his salary was changed 
 from that first agreed on to £53 6s. %d., lawful 
 money. 
 
 We must suppose this is but a fair example of the 
 derangement and difficulty that occurred in all busi- 
 ness transactions, from the unsettling of nominal 
 values. 
 
 There are some votes recorded which give interest- 
 ing revelations of the condition of the country, of the 
 customs of the people, and of their feelings on 
 public questions, which seem to be worthy of tran- 
 scription, as 
 
 August 15, 1728, it was voted "That unless Mendon 
 be made a shire town as well as Worcester, and have 
 the courts one-half time, they had rather remain in 
 Suffolk Co. as now." They resented the ambition of 
 the new and smaller town of Worcester to have the 
 
NORTHBKIDGE. 
 
 427 
 
 precedence over their older and larger mother town 
 of Mendon. 
 
 August 26, 1730, it was voted " The town will not 
 join with County Middlesex in praying for a new 
 county and that they will join in a petition with 
 towns in West Suffolk to make a county there. But 
 all this action is in vain, for Worcester County is con- 
 stituted in 1731, and Uxbridge, then including North- 
 bridge, is a part of it. 
 
 September 1, 1730, it is voted to appropriate four 
 pounds to pay for killing wild cats. How long they 
 felt the need of offering this premium for killing 
 beasts of prey we do not know, but May 23, 1751, it 
 was voted not to pay any more bounty for killing 
 wolves. 
 
 December 18, 1739, it was voted to raise a commit- 
 tee to see that the law about killing deer be not vio- 
 lated. After this for many years in Uxbridge before 
 the division, and in Northbridge, after it was incor- 
 porated, a " Deer Reave " was chosen with the other 
 town officers. The last was in 1787. 
 
 May 28, 1756, it was voted " not to send a repre- 
 sentative (to the General Court) this year." We are 
 surprised at such a vote. But the mystery is cleared 
 when we learn that the town paid the charges of the 
 Representative, and when there was no business of 
 special importance, no town interest to present, they 
 saved the expense and voted not to send one. There 
 are some votes that indicate that in some cases gen- 
 tlemen went to Boston, after a vote not to send a 
 representative, to present to the General Court some 
 interest of the town. These votes are for compensa- 
 tion to certain persons, for what they had done for the 
 town in Boston the previous year. This vote of 1756 
 not to send a Representative is not the only one ; many 
 such follow down into the separate history of North- 
 bridge to 1835. For the first sixty years of this town's 
 history it was voted not to send thirty-seven, and to 
 send twenty-three years. This not sending a Repre- 
 sentative was considered an offence against the colony 
 and Uxbridge was fined ten pounds in 1765 for its 
 first neglect to send one. On petition of the town, 
 on the ground of great impoverishment, by disease, 
 drought and frost, the fine was remitted. Yet we 
 see the neglect frequently occurred in subsequent 
 years. 
 
 May 12, 1763, it was voted " that the selectmen for 
 the time being provide a work-hovse, and a master for 
 said house, and convey all the idle persons there, in 
 case they come to want, and belong to the town." 
 Before this, provision had been made for the poor by 
 boarding them with private families, but this is the 
 first provision for a common house for them with 
 work and a master. 
 
 September 1, 1766, it was voted "to allow the 
 Representative to vote to make good the Lieutenant- 
 Governor's damage, lately sustained by the mob in 
 Boston, if he thinks proper upon the best information 
 he can get." This refers to the destruction of Lieu- 
 
 tenant-Governor Hutchinson's house in Boston, when 
 the attempt was made to enforce the Stamp Act. It 
 was the first rumble of the storm so .«oon to burst 
 upon the colony and the land. We notice how the 
 question is referred to the town. Seldom did the 
 General Court act on any important matter, especially 
 one that involved resistance to the oppressive acts of 
 the mother country, without consulting the towns. 
 The people were the sovereigns ; they must support 
 the action of the court, and it is referred to them, if 
 possible, for decision. 
 
 We notice, too, how they trust to the discretion of 
 their Representative, saying. " If he think proper 
 upon the best information he can get." 
 
 Now for forty years had Uxbridge grown and pros- 
 pered, and in this growth and prosperity the northern 
 portion (now Northbridge) had shared. Others beside 
 those already named came to live here. 
 
 Nathan Park came from Newton 1728, and settled 
 near the Quaker Meeting House, and was one of 
 the largest landholders in town and very prominent 
 in town affairs. He was the grandfather of Professor 
 E. A. Park, of Andover Seminary. John Spring 
 settled in the southern part of Northbridge, on the 
 west side of "Great River" in 1736, and was also 
 prominent in town affairs. 
 
 Nicholas Baylies, of Cumberland, R. I., and his 
 brother Thomas, of Taunton, who was a " Forger," 
 leased the " Iron Works" at the Falls of Mumford's 
 River, for twenty-one years, of John Merritt, of Bos- 
 ton, in 1739, and resided near their works, which, for 
 many years, went by the name of " Baylies' Forge," 
 
 Andrew Dalrymple settled in what is now Whitins- 
 ville as early as 1743. 
 
 Andrew Dunn, " a wheelmaker," lived near Rock- 
 dale in 1743. 
 
 Daniel Read settled in the Inman district in 1740. 
 
 Thomas Emerson, who came into the neighbor- 
 hood as early as 1751, purchased the water privilege 
 and land at Rockdale in 1765. 
 
 The privilege at Riverdale was purchased by James 
 Nutting, of Grafton, in 1753, and improved by him 
 by the erection of two grist-mills and a saw-mill. 
 
 Josiah Wood settled on the " Farnam " place in 
 1757. 
 
 Samuel Goldthwait came from the northeastern 
 part of the colony in 1759, and purchased four hun- 
 dred acres of land between Whitinsville and the 
 Hill, and in the adjacent parts of Sutton, and settled 
 upon it. 
 
 Nathaniel Cooper, from Grafton, settled in the part 
 of the town which has since borne his name, in 
 1763. 
 
 David Batcheller, Jr. (Major), came from Upton, 
 in 1767, and settled on Northbridge Hill. 
 
 Thus were the several parts of what is now North- 
 bridge settled. 
 
 It will be noticed that but few of the families, 
 afterwards prominent in the town, were of the Men- 
 
428 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 doQ stock. The Mendon migration spent itself 
 maiuly in what is now Uxbridge, a few of its fami- 
 lies, as the Aldriches and Winters, coming up the 
 valley of " Great River,'' into what is now North- 
 bridge, which was so eiwily accessible. But the more 
 distant parts of the town, as the upper valley of the 
 Mumford, and the high land near Sutton, waited for 
 immigrants from more distant places. 
 
 There is evidence tliat for some years the 
 north part of Uxbridge had had separate interests 
 from the south part. It had come to be called by its 
 own name, "The North End." In 1736 a constable 
 was appointed for the " North End." 
 
 In 1753 we find a collector of the minister's tax for 
 each end of the town. We may suppose the desire 
 for a separation had long existed before it secured its 
 object. The expression of this desire was occasioned 
 by the difficulty as to the building of a new meeting- 
 house. 
 
 In June, 1766, an article appears in the town war- 
 rant to see if the town will build a new meeting- 
 house, but it was passed over. Before it comes up at 
 the meeting in October a new difficulty appears. Ills 
 manifest that if it cannot be placed in the centre of 
 the town, so as to accommodate those at the " North 
 End," they of the North Eud do not wish to help 
 in building it, but to be set off as a separate town. To 
 such a division the town will not listen, and the new 
 meeting-house must be set near the place of the old 
 one. Nor would the town excuse the North End 
 from their share in the expense of building the new 
 house, nor listen to their petition to be relieved from 
 bearing their part in the support of the minister. 
 Afier repeated failures to secure their desire from the 
 town, they of the " North End " apply to the 
 " General Court" for relief Their petition was pre- 
 sented July 1, 1771, praying, on the ground of their 
 distance from the meeting-house, " that they with 
 their families and estates, may be made a separate 
 District, and that they may be entitled to their pro- 
 portionable part of the ministry money, and the 
 Lands granted by the General Court to said Town 
 for their extraordinary expense in building bridges." 
 Uxbridge answered the petition by a committee, but 
 the petition was granted, and, Uxbridge consenting, 
 the North End was incorporated as a " District,^' with 
 the name of Northbridge, July 14, 1772, and fourteen 
 years later, in 1786, it became a Town, by Stale law. 
 Though called a " District," it had all the rights and 
 performed all the functions of a Town, except that 
 tliey were to choose a Representative to the General 
 Court with Uxbridge. The Representative might be 
 from Northbridge or Uxbridge. It was a town in 
 reality, if not in name. Thus Northbridge began its 
 sejiarate life with a population of between four and 
 five hundred, as we infer from the fact that the State 
 census four years later gives four hundred and eighty- 
 one. 
 
 In 1780, "John Adams and others," with their 
 
 lands, were received from Sutton, they seeking the 
 change because they were so much nearer to North- 
 bridge for religious privileges and town duties. In 
 1801, Jacob Bassett and others, with their lands, were 
 also received from Sutton. In the act of incorpora- 
 tion it was provided that David Draper and seven 
 others whose homes and lands were included in the 
 given bounds of the "District " of Northbridge, with 
 their heirs, shall be permitted to remain in Uxbridge 
 as long as they so choose. If they desire to become 
 citizens of Northbridge, they have only to notify the 
 authorities of Uxbridge in proper form and they are 
 transferred. 
 
 Several of these transfers took place, creating no 
 little confusion as to town lines. These families 
 were in the "North End " of Uxbridge, and desired 
 their rights as to the new meeting-house in Uxbridge, 
 but they did not desire to be set off as another town 
 or district, and were allowed to remain on these 
 above-stated conditions. Uxbridge let go her hold 
 on the " North End " very reluctantly, refusing Nov., 
 1772, to remit any of the £40 assessed on them for 
 the support of the minister the year they were set off, 
 and refusing to grant to the " District of Northbridge 
 their proportionable part of the ministerial and town 
 money and lands granted to the town of Uxbridge." 
 
 CHAPTER LXIII. 
 
 NOKrUBRlDCB—iConiiitued.) 
 
 THE NEW TOWN. 
 
 The territory thus set off from Uxbridge, with the 
 few additions afterwards received from Sutton and 
 Uxbridge, is an irregular quadrangle. Its extreme 
 length north and south is about five miles. Its ex- 
 treme breadth, at the southern end, is absut five 
 miles. At the northern end it is less than three 
 miles, the eastern line running northeast and south- 
 west. It contains 10,551 acres, a little more than six- 
 teen square miles. The Blackstone River runs through 
 it about one mile from its eastern border. The Mum- 
 ford runs through the southwestern corner. The 
 valley of the Blackstone is from one-half to a mile in 
 width, of desirable intervale land, easy of cultivation 
 and having those natural meadows so much coveted 
 by the early settlers. The land gives quick response 
 to cultivation, but is not strong. The valley of the 
 Mumford is of a similar character, but has le-s inter- 
 vale for cultivation. A branch of the Mumford runs 
 about one-half mile from the western border of the 
 town, with its deep, narrow valley. 
 
 Between these two rivers rises Northbridge Hill, 
 really a broad ridge, with its highest point at the 
 centre, falling oft' Sdraewhat at the north, but s'ill 
 quite high land. The northern portion of this ridge 
 
NORTHBRIDGE. 
 
 429 
 
 is good, strong farming land, and has been well used 
 for agriculture from the early days of the settlement. 
 These two rivers give several natural water privileges, 
 which have been used from an early day, and have 
 been much improved by tlie building of reservoirs. 
 
 The granite which so abounds, often appearing on 
 the surface as boulders and ledges, has furnished 
 abundant materials for building purposes. The town 
 had a dense growth of wood, and the parts unfavora- 
 ble for tillage are still thickly wooded. 
 
 Now legally independent, the people began to care 
 for their own affairs. Their first fourteen town- 
 meetings were at private houses. At the first, at the 
 house of Joseph White, about one mile southeast of 
 the present Northbridge meeting-house, Jonathan 
 Bacon (2d) was moderator, and all the usual town 
 officers were chosen. They early provided them- 
 selves with the ordinances of the gospel, voting, in 
 April, 1773, £20 to hire preaching, to be one-half 
 the time at David Batcheller's, one-hi^f at Amos 
 White's. Soon they plan for a suitable place for 
 public worship, and for the transaction of town busi- 
 ness. " At a meeting of the town, held on the 1st of 
 February, 1773, it was voted to build a meeting-hou>e 
 on the height of the hill." In regard to the location 
 of the meeting-house there was much feeling ; some 
 wished to have it on the plain, near the local centre 
 of the town, others wished to have it located near 
 the crossing of the roads, northwest of the residence 
 of Joseph White. Another party maintained that it 
 ought to be " on the height of the Hill." They 
 claimed there was a probability that " a mile and a 
 half of Sutton would come off to Northbridge, and 
 then the Hill would be near the local centre of the 
 town." The hill party carried their point, but at the 
 cost of losing some of the other party in all partici- 
 pation in church life, as they always continued to 
 worship in Uxbridge. 
 
 "At a meeting held on the 22d of Nov., 1773, it 
 was voted to receive the proposition of John Adams 
 and others, relative to the building and finishing a 
 meeting-house," and it was " voted that it should be 
 45 feet long, 36 feet wide, and 22 feet posts, and that 
 it be builded as soon as convenient." One hundred 
 and fifty pounds were appropriated to building. 
 
 A committee was appointed to carry on the work. 
 The labor and the timber were to a considerable ex- 
 tent furnished by the people of the town. A price 
 was fixed by vote for the various pieces of timber. 
 The house was so far finished by Feb., 1775, that the 
 " pew-spots " (in which the purchasers were permitted 
 to build their own pews) were then sold, and probably 
 meetings were held in it from that time. The follow- 
 ing are the names of the purchasers : James Fletcher. 
 Micah Thayer, David Batcheller, William Dalrymple, 
 Stephen Goldthwait, Ezekiel Goldthwait, John 
 Adams, John Adams, Jr., Samuel Baldwin, Depen- 
 dence Haywood, Joseph White, Henry Chase, Levi 
 Walker, William Davenport, William Bacon and 
 
 Jonathan Bacon. The money arising from the sale 
 was by vote " to be applied towerds Defraying the 
 Charges of Building the meeting" (house). 
 
 But very soon the increasing oppression of England 
 called them to consider matters of more than local 
 interest. They were not slow to do their part. They 
 were imbued with the same spirit, grounded in the 
 same principles, and trained in the same habits of 
 self government as were the men of all our Massa- 
 chusetts towns, who, with a wonderful unanimity, 
 answered to the call to maintain the liberty of the 
 people. 
 
 "The first votes of the town as to Revolutionary 
 affairs were passed at a meeting held on the 25th of 
 August, 1774. At this meeting Josiah Wood, Lemuel 
 Powers and Samuel Baldwin were appointed a com- 
 mittee "to correspond with other committees concern- 
 ing public affairs as occasion shall call for." These 
 committees were suggested by Samuel Adams in 1772, 
 and were soon appointed all over the State and in 
 other States. At this meeting it was also voted that 
 " David Batcheller be chose to provide for a town 
 stock of ammunition, viz., one Barrel of Powder, and 
 lead and flints answerable to it." At the same time 
 it was voted not to import or consume any English 
 goods. The last town-meeting that was warned in 
 the name of "His Majesty" was on the 10th of Janu- 
 ary, 1775. From this time till 1781 most of the busi- 
 ness transacted at the meetings had reference to the 
 struggles in which the Colonies were engaged : as, June 
 25, 1776, it was voted "to support the Continental 
 Congress with their Lives and fortunes if they should 
 Declare the United American Colonies Independent 
 of Great Britain," and well they kept their vow. We 
 find records of votes for paying the men who had en- 
 listed in the service, for aiding those who had hired 
 men to take their place in the army, and for furnish- 
 ing provisions and clothing for the soldiers from this 
 town. It is evident there was a disposition to equalize, 
 as far as possible, the burdens that were to be borne. 
 Those who remained at home performed labor on the 
 farms, and in other ways assisted the families of those 
 who were absent. At one meeting it was voted "to 
 allow Joseph White eleven shillings for laboring for 
 Samuel Clemens when he was in the six months' ser- 
 vice;" at another it was voted "to raise 40 pounds to 
 pay for shirts, shoes and stockings furnished by the 
 selectmen for soldiers in the Continental Service." 
 At a meeting in May, 1777, it was voted "to allow 
 Stephen Rice 1 pound, 15 shillings, 4 pence, Nathan 
 Park 15 shillings, Jonathan Bacon 9 shillings, and 
 William Park 12 shillings, for carrying provisions to 
 Roxbury in the time of the Lexington Alarm." These 
 provisions were for the men from Northbridge, who 
 were in the service in the vicinity of Boston in 1775. 
 
 As to the actual service they personally rendered, 
 it is difticult,perhapsimpossible, tolearn thefull facts. 
 
 There were three classes of soldiers called into the 
 service during the war. 
 
430 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 1. The Ililitia. — Tliese were the men who had been 
 enlisted in the service of the Province, and trained in 
 the towns from the beginning. They were liable to 
 the call of the General Court, through their officers. 
 They were already organized into regiments, the com- 
 pany of Northbridge being in the Eight Worcester 
 County Regiment, with those from Mendon, Upton, 
 Uxbridge and Douglas. These doubtless had long felt 
 they were liable to be called upon for serious work, 
 and they wore prepared for it. It was the militia 
 who sprang, as it were, from the ground, without any 
 summons, save from their company officers, and their 
 own loyal hearts, at Concord and Lexington, and 
 dogged the steps of the British troops in their retreat 
 to Boston, inflicting upon them a much greater loss 
 than they themselves sustained. They soon, at the 
 call of the General Court, girdled Boston, and held 
 General Gage, and his thousands of regular troops, as 
 in a vise. It was they who fought the battle of 
 Bunker Hill, and did all the work of the first year. 
 They were liable to be called out of the State, after the 
 Union of the Colonies was formed, for United States' 
 service, as was the company from Northbridge for 
 eight months at Peekskill in 1778-79, and often in 
 Rhode Island. 
 
 2. Besides these were the " Minute-men" volunteers, 
 men not enlisted, but who organized themselves, and 
 stood ready to go at a " Minute's" notice to do brief 
 service in an emergency. They were called out at 
 the alarm that arose from the Lexington fight, and 
 frequently afterwards. On May 9th, fearing a sally of 
 the British from Boston, one-half of the militia and 
 minute-men of the ten towns nearest Roxbury were 
 called there to strengthen the army. 
 
 We do not find traces of the "Minute-men " after 
 the first year of the war. 
 
 3. But it soon became manifest that an army mbre 
 permanent than either of these could make must be 
 obtained. And the Continental Army, under the com- 
 mand of the Continental Congress, through their 
 officers, with General Washington at their head, was 
 organized. Here were a third class of soldiers whose 
 term of service was from three months to three years, 
 or the war. A quota was assigned to each town, one- 
 seventh of all the males above sixteen, and this quota 
 must be kept full. The quota of Northbridge was 
 eleven. This is in addition to the keeping up the 
 militia, which was often called into service for terms 
 of a few days to eight months. 
 
 When the war began there was an organized militia 
 company, under the command of Capt. Josiah Wood, 
 of Northbridge. It belonged to Colonel Joseph 
 Read's regiment, the Twentieth. It was composed of 
 men from Northbridge and Upton. 
 
 This company was often called into service. It 
 marched April 19, 1775, at the " Lexington Alarm " 
 to Roxbury with thirty -one men from Northbridge. 
 After a few days fifteen of these men, with seven more 
 from the town, enlisted for eight months' service, 
 
 under Captain David Batcheller, who went out as 
 lieutenant. Thirty-four men from Upton enlisted in 
 the same company for the same service. This was 
 known as "Captain Batcheller's Company" for 
 several years. It served one and one-half months 
 at Providence as part of the "Third Regiment of the 
 Militia, which marched to this place on the alarm 
 of the 8th day of December, 1776 ;" then for nine, 
 though called out only for eight months, on the 
 North River, at Peekskill, in 1778 and '79; then for 
 sixteen days in Rhode Island in 1780. 
 
 In the State archives are found the terms of service 
 of the men in the militia, and also those who were in 
 the Continental service, with many of the pay-rolls. 
 There is evidence that men from the town served in 
 other companies beside that of Captain Batcheller, 
 in the various calls made upon them. These calls 
 were very many. We are told " there was scarcely a 
 week in the fall of 1776 when the militia were not 
 called to march to headquarters now removed to New 
 York, or to Lake Champlain, or to Rhode Island." 
 A large British force also remained in Newport 
 through the spring and summer of 1778, and their 
 fleet commanded the waters in the neighborhood. As a 
 consequence, " the people of Massachusetts, especi- 
 ally near to Rhode Island, were kept in a state of 
 continual alarm. There were but levv Continental 
 troops on the station, and the General Court were 
 obliged to keep the militia in service in great num- 
 bers, the whole of this as the preceding year." There 
 were many alarms of raids by the British, as at Tiver- 
 ton, in May, 1779, when the men of Northbridge were 
 called out and helped drive thtm back. And there 
 is evidence in the town records of many more calls of 
 the militia. There was a difficulty in adjusting the 
 l^ay for the different "turns'' of service, and Sep- 
 tember 6, 1777, William Park, Captain Josiah Wood 
 and Thomas Read were chosen a committee " to say 
 what past turns in the army shall be put att, accord- 
 ing to the year and time of the year, and length of 
 time, and the place where service was done, and the 
 committee make report to the town for their accept- 
 ance, and for the town to act thereon as they think 
 proper." The committee reported in October of the 
 next year, 1778. In this report twenty-one " turns '' 
 of service are specified and the pay fixed for each of 
 them, one at Dorchester, varying from two months to 
 one year; five in New York, from three to eight 
 months ; seven at Providence, from fifteen days to 
 two months, and eight others not specified. These, 
 of course, were not all consecutive terms of service, 
 nor by the same bodies of men, for there was not time 
 for so many difl'erent consecutive terms before this re- 
 port was made. We must suppose the militiamen 
 were called out after this, though not so frequently as 
 before, as the theatre of the war was transferred in 
 such a measure to the South. 
 
 It is more difficult to learn how many went into 
 the Continental Army, as there was no organization 
 
NOETHBRIDGE. 
 
 431 
 
 of Continentals belonging here. The men from 
 Norlhbridge were absorbed in the various regiments 
 from the Colony. Of the one hundred and eighteen 
 men credited to the town in the State archives, 
 eleven are recorded as having enlisted in the Conti- 
 nental Army, and the town was expected to keep this 
 number good as its quota, so that we must believe 
 there were many more. During the latter years of 
 the war committees were appointed each year to pro- 
 cure men for the Continental Army. And men 
 were hired by individuals for the army. Bounties 
 were paid to some. Some were drafted. Doubtless 
 some of those hired and credited to the town were 
 not citizens here, as is manifest from the warrant for 
 the town-meeting for April 1, 1782, which speaks of 
 men in Norlhbridge and hired men going into the 
 army." 
 
 But with all they did, they did not always meet the 
 full demand of the General CoUrt for men. They 
 were taxed for a deficiency of two men in the Conti- 
 nental Army in 1781, and they voted July 28, 1783, 
 that Jonathan Adams carry a petition to have the tax 
 " taken off." At the same meeting they were called 
 upon to act on " one deficiency in the three months' 
 service in 1781, a Quaker man." At the same meet- 
 ing it was voted to collect a Quaker's tax of about 
 fifteen pounds and pay it to the treasurer. Thus 
 would they have the Quakers pay for the deficiency 
 which came from their not serving personally. It is 
 claimed by the Quakers that this tax was never paid 
 by them, and there is nothing in the town records to 
 show that the town succeeded in carrying its vote 
 into effect. We can hardly understand, even with 
 our recent experience of war, how great the strain 
 was upon our fathers towards the last of the war, 
 with all the loss of life in the service, and the de- 
 rangements of business so long continued. And no 
 colony bore more than Massachusetts. With less 
 than one-eighth of the population, she furnished 
 more than one-fourth of the years of service in the 
 Continental Army, besides what she did by her 
 militia and minute-men, and of the pecuniary bur- 
 den she bore about the same proportion. What 
 wonder then that Northbridge, the lowest on the list 
 of towns in valuation, and almost, if not quite, the 
 lowest in population, having but four hundred and 
 eighty in 1776, had difficulty in coming up to the 
 full quota demanded of her, especially as part of her 
 population, the Quakers, contributed no men for the 
 service; she did nobly, and of her record may every 
 citizen feel proud, especially those who trace their 
 families back to those times. 
 
 Of course, with these many calls for service, we 
 should expect to find the same man many times in 
 the field. James Sturdevant is found nine times; 
 William Foster, eight times. Nor was the service 
 confined to any one class of the citizens. Of those 
 chosen for the first town officers, we find many in 
 active service. Samuel Baldwin, the town clerk, 
 
 served four times; Jonathan Bacon, the moderator 
 of the first eleven town-meetings, the first Repre- 
 sentative to the General Court, and after chosen 
 to that office, served six times, beginning as pri- 
 vate; David Batcheller, one of the first selectmen, 
 saw five terms of service, beginning as lieutenant, 
 and soon made captain and remaining such during 
 the war; Josiah Wood, the treasurer, served three 
 times, as private or captain ; James Fletcher served 
 six times, beginning as a private. Indeed, there 
 could not have been many men in the town, save 
 the Quakers, who did not see some active service. 
 
 But personal service in the army was not all that 
 was laid upon them. They, in common with other 
 parts of the country, suffered from a depreciated cur- 
 rency. In 1780 the town voted to raise eighteen thou- 
 sand pounds to defray town charges, twenty-two 
 hundred pounds for the support of the Gospel, two 
 thousand pounds for the schools and to " allow 100 
 dollars a day to each man that went to the late alarm 
 at Tiverton." The town afterwards voted not to 
 assess the tax of twenty-two hundred pounds to pay 
 the minister, and that he be paid forty-five pounds 
 silver money, which was probably a full equivalent 
 for the twenty-two hundred pounds Continental 
 money. The same year a vote was passed on ac- 
 count of the scarcity of money, to allow the people 
 to pay their taxes '" in good merchantable grain, to 
 be delivered to the Treasurer." This very difficulty 
 from a depreciated currency, which went down to 
 one-fortieth of its nominal value, made their honor 
 more manifest; for having promised their soldiers 
 a real compensation, their families were provided 
 with food, clothing and fuel by the selectmen of 
 the towns and clothing was furnished to the sol- 
 diers. There is ample evidence of this in our 
 town. Being driven to reckoning in silver money 
 as the only possible fixed standard, in 1780 they 
 vote one hundred and sixty-four pounds silver 
 money to purchase beef for the army. They make 
 allowance for the depreciation in settling with 
 Thomas Straight for what he had done in the 
 war. They voted seventy-five pounds silver money 
 to pay men who went to serve in Rhode Island 
 for five months and in New York for three months. 
 They make their contributions to the colony in 
 articles to be used, as beef at a price fixed in 
 silver. There is a sturdy honesty in this, which 
 is very good. They did live in rude houses and 
 worshijj God in unfinished meeting-houses, but they 
 paid their honest dues. 
 
 During all this cost and suflTering of the war they 
 did not forget to maintain religious ordinances. The 
 church was organized in 1782, June 6th, with eight 
 members. June 17th they called Mr. John Crane to 
 be their pastor. The town, July 2d, voted to concur 
 with the church in the call. " It was voted," for 
 encouragement, " to give him 200 pounds personage, 
 by giving him the improvement of a farm to that 
 
432 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 value, or the interest of the same in money, giving 
 him his clioice." " It was also voted to give him 45 
 pounds annually." In his reply he says, " I accept 
 your proposals, though some things respecting some 
 part of the encouragement have labored in my mind, 
 and the difficulties are not yet removed," Previous 
 to his ordination a vote was passed " to give him 75 
 pounds as a settlement and the use of 125 pounds 
 as a Personage, instead of the 200 pounds offered by 
 the previous vote." He was ordained June 25, 1783, 
 and ministered to this people for nearly fifty years, 
 quite within the memory of some now living. He 
 resigned his past<jrate January 6, 1832. He preached 
 his last sermon the first Sabbath in May, 1835. He 
 died August 31, 1836. He was a man of great influ- 
 ence, not only in the town, but in all the region. 
 For thirty years he instructed young men in prepara- 
 tion for college or teaching, more than one hundred 
 in all ; among them Rev. Dr. Spring, of New York ; 
 Dr. Calvin Park, Professor in Brown University ; 
 Rev. Cvrus Kingsbury, of the Choctaw Mission ; Rev. 
 Dr. Joel Hawes, of Hartford, and Prof. Alexander 
 M. Fisher, of Yale College. 
 
 The people of Northbridge were called upon to act 
 on another important matter during the war — the 
 formation of the State Constitution. They rejected at 
 once the Constitution prepared by the committee 
 appointed by the General Court in 1778. To the 
 convention of delegates from the towns, called at 
 Cambridge, September 1, 1779, they sent Jonathan 
 Bacon as their representative. When the work of the 
 convention was presented in 1780, they did not mean 
 to act hastily in its adoption. At the first meeting, 
 when this was brought before them for action, they 
 adjourned the matter, appointing a committee, con- 
 sisting of William Park, Samuel Aldrich, Benjamin 
 Benson, Ezekiel Goldthwait and Lieutenant James 
 Fletcher, "to assist the town in examingthe proposed 
 constitution, and in making remarks thereon." At 
 the adjourned meeting they listened to the remarks of 
 these gentlemen, and then they voted on it part by 
 part, amending it where they felt it needed to be 
 amended. The third article of the Bill of Rights 
 they changed to read, " so that those of one religious 
 persuasion shall not impose any tax on those of 
 another." They had Quakers, Baptists and Univer- 
 salists among them, and they would deal fairly with 
 them, so well had they learned the lesson of religious 
 liberty. And yet not quite to the standard of our 
 day, for they amended the thirteenth article, "so that 
 no one should be eligible to be an officer in either of 
 the foregoing departments unless he shall be of the 
 Christian Protestant religion." 
 
 CHAPTER LXIV. 
 
 NORTHBRIDGE— (Co«//««fa'.) 
 
 THE LATER HISTORY. 
 
 The town came out of the war, as did all the other 
 towns of the State, poor and stripped, but redeemed 
 and free, ready for the use of their energies, and of 
 the resources God had placed within their reach, in 
 building the State, the foundations of which they had 
 laid at such cost of treasure and suffering. They 
 experienced the difficulties from the depreciated 
 currency, and it is evident from the records that they 
 shared in the discontent that led to "Shays' Rebel- 
 lion.' But when called upon to maintain the authority 
 of the government, they made loyal answer, for re- 
 bellion was not the way of redress. They knew that 
 prosperity could cbme, not by discontent, but by 
 industry and thrift, and they gave themselves to these, 
 and soon they began to repair their fortunes. We 
 learn the following facts of the town from Rev. Peter 
 Whitney's " History of Worcester County," published 
 1793 : — " It is not large, having at the time of the late 
 enumeration (1790) eighty-three houses and five hun- 
 dred and seventy inhabitants (a gain of eighty-nine 
 since 1776). Besides the Congregationalist Church 
 there is a Society of Baptists, consisting of about ten 
 families, at present destitute of any settled teacher. 
 There are also within the town twelve families of 
 Quakers, and two or three of Universalists. There 
 are two corn-mills, one saw-mill and one forge, where 
 much work is performed. The growth of wood on the 
 highlands is very valuable, consisting of walnut, oak 
 and chestnut. That on the lowlands is less valuable. 
 The people here subsist chiefly by farming, and they 
 have the character of an industrious and flourishing 
 people ; and it is said there is hardly an idle person 
 or tavern-haunter in the place." This is surely a 
 good record. But they did not lose their interest in 
 the national welfare, in absorption in their private 
 and local concerns. May 2, 1786, they are called to 
 meet the next day, "To shoe there minds in regard to 
 the trity now depending between Great Briton and 
 the United States." They met and '' voted to sign a 
 memorial and send to the House of Representatives, 
 in Congress assembled, praying them to accept and 
 ratify the trity, and about seventy of the inhabitants 
 signed it." 
 
 The fact that the House of Representatives had 
 taken the action they desired three days before, in 
 giving efficacy to Jay's treaty, does not make their 
 action less significant. The town records have only 
 the following entries concerning the War of 1812-14 
 with England. In the warrant for the meeting of 
 July 30, 1814, the second article is "To see if the 
 town will give anything, how much, to the men who 
 are detaich'd from this town to do duty in the defence 
 of their country." At the meeting, it was " voted to 
 
NORTHBRIDGE. 
 
 433 
 
 make up the wages of Lyman Thompson and Clark 
 Adams, detach'd men from the town of Northbridge, 
 sixteen — 16 — dollars per month, including what they 
 git from the State." From this we infer that the 
 town had but small share in this war. But when we 
 come to the war to put down the Rebellion of the 
 Southern States against the Union, we find it (the 
 town) thoroughly aroused and doing its full share. 
 Northbridge furnished three hundred and eleven men 
 for the army and navy, which was seventeen more 
 than all demands. The names of two hundred and 
 fifty-seven, serving in forty-three difierent organiza- 
 tions, have been preserved. Of these, ninety-three 
 were in the Fifteenth Regiment of Massachusetts 
 Infantry; twenty-one in the Twenty-fifth ; eight were 
 commissioned oflicers ; the rest were non-commis- 
 sioned officers and privates. 
 
 The following are the names of those who lost their 
 lives during the war: 
 
 Roll of Honor. 
 
 James Allen, 15tU Regiment ; killed at Ball's Bluff October 21, 1801. 
 
 Andrew Addison, 15th Regiment ; killed at Antietara September 17, 
 18G2. 
 
 Henry W. Ainswortb , 15th Regiment ; killed at Antietam September 
 n, 18G2. 
 
 Arthur J. Andrus, 15tb Regiment; killed at Antietam September 17, 
 1862. 
 
 Dexter Brown, i5th Regiment ; died in hospital at Baltimore Decem- 
 ber IG, 1862. 
 
 Edwin R. Brown, 15th Regiment ; wounded at Cold Harbor ; died in 
 hospital, New York City, June 22, 18C4. 
 
 Alfred A. Batcbelor, 15th Regiment; wounded at Gettysburg ; died 
 in hospital. Baltimore, July 10, 18G3. 
 
 Elbridge Bodwell, not a citizen, but one of the town's quota, 12th 
 Battery ; died, Boston, January 20, 181)5. 
 
 William H. Cole, 16th Regiment ; died at Andersonville September 7, 
 1864. 
 
 Edward H. Chapin, 15th Regiment; wounded at Gettysburg ; died in 
 hospital at Baltimore August 1, 1863. 
 
 James F. Dunn, 15th Regiment ; died in hospital February 7, 18G3. 
 
 George F. Fletcher, 15tb Regiment ; killed at Gettysburg July 3, 
 1863. 
 
 James B. Fletcher, 15th Regiment ; killed at Antietam September 17, 
 1862. 
 
 Jeremiah Callahan, 67th Regiment; died at Andersonville August 
 29, 1864. 
 
 Elbridge G. Fogg, 25th Regiment ; died at Newbern December 11, 
 1864. 
 
 Lewis Hair, 5th Regiment ; wounded at Bairs Bluff; died at Pooles- 
 Tille, Md,, November 6, 1801. 
 
 Timothy Kennedy, 15th Regiment ; died of consumption on way 
 home November 4, 1862. 
 
 Eugene Keith, 15th Regiment; body fiuind iu Potomac River after 
 battle of Ball's Bluff. 
 
 Isaac E. Marshall, 15th Regiment ; killed at Antietam September 17, 
 1862. 
 
 George W. Kinney, 4tb Cavalry ; died at Hilton Head, S. C, Septem- 
 ber 14, 1864. 
 
 Thomas Magoveny, 15th Regiment ; died at Hyattstown, Md., Octo- 
 ber 4, 1S62. 
 
 David J. Messenger, 15tli Regiment ; wounded at Ball's Bluff; died a 
 prisoner in hospital, Leesburg, Va., December 13, 1861. 
 
 Charles A. Mason, luth Battery ; killed at Ream's Station August 
 24, 1864.- 
 
 Charles A. Blorgan, 3d Rhode Island Regiment ; killed at Fort Pulaski. 
 
 Robert McNally, 28th Regiment; died, from wounds received at An- 
 tietam, September 22, 1862. 
 
 Nathaniel Putnam, 15th Regiment ; died at Alexandria, Va., October 
 10, 1802. 
 
 George H. Pierce, loth Mass. Battery ; died of disease at Brandy Sta- 
 tion, Va., JUarch 3, 1864. 
 
 28 
 
 Lyman J. Prentice, 25th Regiment ; wounded at Port Walthall 
 died in Chesapeake Hospital May 17, 1864. 
 
 George L. Sherman, 28th Regiment ; died, from wounds received, 
 May 12, 1864. 
 
 George N. Smith, 15th Regiment ; died, from wounds received at An^ 
 tietam, September 17, 1S62. 
 
 George F. Seaver, 15th Regiment ; killed at Ball's Bluff Octolier 21, 
 1801. 
 
 Franklin Waterman, 15th Regiment ; died of disease near Chicka- 
 Uominy River June 15, 1862. 
 
 Christopher G. Young, 16tb Regiment ; killed at Antietam Septem' 
 ber 17, 1863. 
 
 James Kay, 10th Battery ; killed at Ream's Station August 24, 1804. 
 
 Eleven of these were killed, ten died of wounds, ten 
 of disease, one was drowned and two died in Ande'son- 
 ville prison, — thirty-four lives for the country's life- 
 Fifty-six were dismissed for disability. The first meet- 
 ing to consider matters relating to the war was held 
 May 8, 1862, at which it was voted to appropriate "such 
 five sums of money as may be required, not exceeding 
 five thousand dollars, to aid in uniforming, and to ob- 
 tain such articles as may be needful for the comfort of 
 such residents of the town as shall have enrolled 
 themselves into a company of volunteer militia to be 
 formed in this town and vicinity, and also to aid the 
 families of such volunteers while in actual service; 
 also to pay each volunteer one dollar a day, not ex- 
 ceeding thirty days, for time spent in drilling." 
 
 July 26, 1862, the selectmen were authorized to 
 pay a bounty of one hundred dollars to each volunteer 
 for three years' service, who shall enlist and be 
 credited to the quota of the town. 
 
 Voted, that an additional sum of fifty dollars be 
 paid to volunteers, who shall enlist in regiments now 
 in the field, on or before the 15th of August. A 
 committee of one from each school-district was 
 appointed " to solicit the enlistment of volunteers." 
 
 August 27th, "voted to pay a bounty of one 
 hundred dollars to each volunteer enlisting for nine 
 months; the bounty to be paid when the man was 
 mustered in and credited to the town." 
 
 October 11th, the bounty to nine months' men 
 was increased fifty dollars, and the bounty for three 
 years' volunteers was raised to two hundred dollars. 
 
 November 3, 1863, voted "that the families of 
 conscripts, disabled soldiers, and those who have 
 died in the service of the United States, be placed on 
 the same footing as regards State aid as the families 
 of volunteers." 
 
 April 9, 1864, " voted to pay a bounty of one hun- 
 dred and twenty-five dollars to each volunteer enlist- 
 ing to fill the quota of the town for three years' 
 service, under the recent call of the President." 
 
 AugUit 5, 186.5, " Voted to refund the money to 
 all individuals who have paid money to aid in 
 recruiting." These votes show the readiness of the 
 town to do her full part in the defense of the 
 country. 
 
 There w.is also much done by individuals to help 
 enlistments. More than twenty-six thousand dollars 
 was contributed for this purpose, beyond what was 
 refunded by the State. More than eight thousand 
 
434 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 dollars was contributed for the comfort of soldiers in 
 the field and hospitals, especially through the Sanitary 
 and Christian Commissions. 
 
 Careful estimates of what the town paid for the 
 cost of the war in taxes growing out of it, and in 
 contributions, make the sum $710,773.63, while the 
 valuation was but .f945,374 in 1860 and $898,385 in 
 1865. Her part was well done and willingly. 
 
 In the beginning the lown-meetings were held in 
 private houses. But as soon as the " Town's Meet- 
 ing-House" was so far completed as to warrant oc- 
 cupancy, it was used for town (then "District") 
 purposes. It was, as long as owned by the town, 
 the town's house. The first town (or district) meet- 
 ing held in it was February 24, 1775, and here for 
 nearly sixty years they held their meetings and 
 acted on all the secular interests of the community. 
 They often adjourned to a private house, especially in 
 cold weather, as we understand, because they had no 
 means of warming the meeting-house. About 1830 
 a desire for another place of meeting appeared. In 
 the warrant lor the March meeting of 1832 there 
 had been an article " to see if the Town will build a 
 house to transact their business in.'' But it was 
 passed over. In 1833 the town-meeting was warned 
 to meet at Jacob Kinneston's Hall, in the public- 
 house at Holbrook's Upper Village (now Rockdale). 
 March, 1834, it was voted " to build a Town-House 
 for the transaction of Town business." But at the 
 same meeting a committee made a report, which was 
 accepted, " that it is not proper to remove town- 
 meetings from the Meeting- House until a more con- 
 venient place is procured." Notwithstanding this 
 vote, they often voted to meet elsewhere, as at Rock- 
 dale, and frequently in the chapel of Whitinsville. 
 The desire for a more convenient place belonging to 
 the town continued, and in 1871 a committee was 
 appointed " to consider what Building or Buildings 
 are required for a Town-Hall, High School and 
 other town purposes, to report at a future meeting." 
 In the March meeting of 1872 the report was made. 
 Before any action was taken upon it, Mr. John C. 
 Whitin made an otter in behalf of himself and his 
 brothers to provide suitable rooms for town-meet- 
 ings and town business in a building to be erected 
 by them. This oft'er was accepted, and they erected 
 Memorial Hall, in Whitinsville, on the site of the 
 homestead of their parents, a handsome building of 
 brick, with granite trimmings, one hundred and ten 
 by sixty feet. In the basement is a hall for town- 
 meetings. On the first floor are a small hall for 
 meetings, two rooms for town purposes, with a fire- 
 proof vault for town books, a reading room and 
 rooms for the Social Library. In the second story is 
 a large hall for public meetings. 
 
 The first town-meeting in the new building was 
 held in the Lower Hall, November 7, 1876, and since 
 that time all the town-meetings have been held here. 
 
 CHAPTER LXV. 
 
 NO'RTHBRlDG'E—iCon/iHued.) 
 
 REI,IGIOUS SOCIETIES. 
 
 The Congregational Church. — As we have 
 seen in the beginning, the town as such provided for 
 Gospel ordinances, and for a place of public worship, 
 employing the preacher and building the meeting- 
 house. For these purposes of religion, all the citizens 
 were taxed, save those who belonged to other de- 
 nominations than the standing order, which was Con- 
 gregationalist. These by law were exempt from this 
 taxation if they confessedly belonged to some other 
 religious body and made their contributions to its 
 support. In this town were Quakers, Baptists and a 
 few Universalists to be thus relieved. The town em- 
 ployed Rev. Aaron Bliss for some two years before 
 the church was formed. Rev. Mr. Crane gathered 
 the church which was organized June 6, 1782. There 
 were now two bodies having to do with religious 
 matters, — the town and the church. The church 
 took the initiative as to the calling and settling a 
 pastor. The town was asked to concur, and it was 
 responsible for his support. Soon a third body ap- 
 pears, "The Congregational Society," which is first 
 mentioned in 1784. Yet it is so far identified with 
 the town that in the warrant for town-meeting in 
 1784 the fifth article is "To see if the Congregational 
 Soeic/y wiW choose a committee to settle with John 
 Adams and Major Batcheller for Boarding Mr. Crane 
 and the Council, when Mr. Crane was ordained,'' and 
 in 1787, " To see if the Town will choose a collector 
 to collect ministerial money, and also a Treasurer to 
 receive the same, and for said Treasurer to be ac- 
 countable to the Congregational Society as the Town 
 Treasurers are or may be to the town, and the town 
 chose such a collector." 
 
 The town slowly finished the meeting-house, selling 
 " pew spots," or rights to build pews, first on the sides 
 and then in the centre of the house, building a gal- 
 lery, and some years after finishing the stalls to the 
 same. In 1801 $60 were votfd for last bills for finish- 
 ing the inside of the house, which had just been ac- 
 complished. The repair of the house still came upon 
 the town. But in their last action in reference to it, 
 in 1808, the warrant for town-meeting has an article 
 to see if the town will vote "to shingle the meeting- 
 house for what they have used it to do town business 
 in." 
 
 From this it is manifest that the town does not now 
 feel it is sole owner of the house, but is under obligation 
 to another body for its use, and the same is shown by 
 the vote on this ariicle, which is " to shingle the meet- 
 ing-house by the society" and yet at the next meeting 
 they appoint Paul Whitin, Marvil Taft and Thos. 
 Goldthwait a committee to inspect the work. This is 
 the last mention of the town's doing anything to re- 
 pair or control the meeting-house. 
 
NOKTHBKIDGE. 
 
 435 
 
 For more than thirty years the town had had the 
 care and control of the meeting-house. During these 
 years it is called in the warrant for town-meetings: 
 " The Town Meeting- House," or " The Meeting-House 
 in Northbridge." But in 1819 the language is changed 
 to " The Congregational Meeting House." Four years 
 before this it had ceased to be town property. In 
 March, 1814, " John Crane and others " pray the town 
 to be incorporated as a religious society. Their pe- 
 tition was "passed over." In the next meeting it was 
 not noticed. Now John Crane and thirty-one others 
 petitioned the General Court to be incorporated as a 
 religious society in Northbridge'. Their request was 
 granted. They are spoken of as " members of the 
 Congregational Society in Northbridge." But now 
 they are incorporated as such, August 27, 1814, and 
 they became liable to pay all taxes voted by the so- 
 ciety and responsible for the support of the minister, 
 and the members can be released from the obligation 
 only as they furnish a certificate that they have joined 
 some other religious society. Still must all belong to 
 some religious society and help in its support. This 
 continued until the amendment of the Constitution, 
 in 1833, when the towns were relieved from all re- 
 sponsibility for the support of ministers, and citizens 
 from the liability to be taxed for religious purposes, 
 and all connection between church and state at last 
 ceased. 
 
 The Congregational Society was invested by the 
 act of incorporation with the meeting-house property, 
 and was authorized to hold other property. We find 
 no action of the town acknowledging this incorpora- 
 tion or the transfer of the property, but the town 
 takes no action after March, 1814, as to ministerial 
 support or of control of the meeting hou>e. It con- 
 siders itself a tenant of the society, and obtains per- 
 mission from the society to put up a hearse-house in 
 the " burying-ground." Soon after the incorporation 
 of the society an effort was made to raise a fund for 
 the support of the minister, as was said in the pre- 
 amble of the subscription : " To abolish forever min- 
 isterial taxes in this town, and to establish a fund for 
 the support of a learned Congregational, Calvinistic 
 Ministry in Northbridge, the subscribers promise to 
 pay ; " $2475 was subscribed, in sums from $20 to 
 $500, but in 1816 it was voted to return the sums 
 already paid in, and a committee was appointed to 
 devise some other way of raising the fund. This was 
 never done, and most withdrew their contributions. 
 But Mr. Paul Whitin, Sr., left his in the hands of the 
 society, and this, increased by interest, enabled the 
 society, in 1867, to purchase the parsonage now owned 
 and used by it. The society at once assumed all 
 ministerial charges, .and taxed the property of the 
 members. But this did not satisfy all, and for several 
 years the pews were taxed to raise part of the funds 
 needed. From 1838 to 1846 the salary was raised by 
 subscription ; from 1846 to 1850 property was taxed ; 
 then there was a return to subscription ; and now, as 
 
 in all societies, the voluntary system of support is 
 used. 
 
 Early in 1835 the society, haying determined to 
 have a new meeting-house, and having purchased the 
 land for it, voted to move and repair the old meeting- 
 house, if it was deemed worth moving. But not 
 being deemed worth removal, it was soon taken down. 
 The first Sabbath of May, in the same year, Dr. 
 Crane preached his last sermon in the old house. 
 The records of the parish show no vote to build the 
 new meeting-house, but February 5, 1836, they voted 
 to convey the land and the new house to the deacons 
 of the church, and they direct their committee to 
 convey their thanks to Mr. Orra Taft for the bell he 
 had given them. Now the old New England custom 
 of ringing the bell for Sabbath services, for tolling 
 the years of the dead, and for marking the hours of 
 noon is begun. It was also voted to have the foot- 
 stoves filled at the stoves in the meeting-house. 
 
 The parish was as reluctant as the church to allow 
 any of its members to leave for the formation of a 
 new parish in Whitinsville, in every instance where 
 a petition for this was presented, either passing it or 
 voting not to grant it. But when the separation took 
 place they did not lose heart. They went on in their 
 work of maintaining the ordinances of religion at the 
 Centre. In 1832, soon after the resignation of Dr. 
 Crane, Rev. Samuel H. Fletcher was called and 
 installed, March 14th. He was dismissed in March, 
 1834. Rev. Charles Forbush was installed June 4, 
 1834. He continued pastor until his death, June 
 9, 1838. Rev. Lewis Pennell was installed April 3, 
 1839,and dismissed April 11, 1842. Rev. William Bates 
 was ordained and installed November 5, 1845, and dis- 
 missed November 23, 1857. Mr. Bates was the last 
 installed pastor. The church has since been supplied 
 by Eevs. Messrs. George B. Safford, Hiram Day, Syl- 
 vester Hine, Calvin Terry, D. W. Richardson, W. H. 
 Haslewood, Thomas L. Norton, James Wells, J. T. 
 Crumrine, R. M. Burr and J. H. Childs. Rev. Mr. 
 Childs is the present acting pa.stor, who also has the 
 charge of the Rockdale Church. In 1877 this parish 
 united with the parish in Rockdale in the support 
 of the minister, who has since had the care <)f both 
 parishes, residing at the Centre. 
 
 The church gathered by Rev. Mr. Crane, in 1782, 
 of eight members (five from the church in Uxbridge, 
 three from the church in Upton), received five on 
 confession the same day, thus beginning their separate 
 life. As was customary, there were no " Articles of 
 faith," it being understood that all accepted the 
 " Catechism of the Westminster Assembly " as the 
 standard of belief. They entered into covenant with 
 God and each other. In this covenant there is a 
 consecration of themselves to God the Father, Son 
 and Holy Ghost, and a giving of themselves to each 
 other to walk together as a rightly-ordered Congrega- 
 tional Church, to maintain all Gospel ordinances ancj 
 watch over each other, — a consecration to woik 
 
^ 
 
 436 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 against all ungodliness in the world, to maintain 
 secret and family worship, to train their households 
 in a Christian manner ; especially catechising them 
 in the family, instructing, exhorting and commanding 
 them to attend the more public catechising and 
 instruction of those meetings which may be appointed 
 for that end. The articles of faith were adopted 
 probably April 1, 1814, hut were not recorded. There 
 is evidence that church discipline was not a mere 
 name, as we have record of discipline for watering 
 cider, for deceiving in trading for a horse ; and tlie 
 church recognized its own duty to repair a wrong 
 done a member, in making confession to one whom 
 it felt it had misjudged. For the first few years, like 
 all the churches of the period, it received but few 
 additions — only eighteen for twenty-six years. But it 
 has known its times of enlargement, as in 1808, 1820 
 and especially in 1831, when fifty-four additions were 
 made ; and the removal of so many, to form the vil- 
 lage church did not take as many members as had 
 been added in this year. It had, January 1, 1888, one 
 hundred and six members. 
 
 The Village Congregational Church in 
 Whitinsville. — During the latter part of Dr. Crane's 
 ministry it had been common to hold meetings in the 
 school-house in this neighborhood Sabbath evenings, 
 at which he and other ministers occasionally preached. 
 The feeling that more was needed led to the forma- 
 tion of a Sabbath-school in 1833, having two sessions 
 each Sabbath. 
 
 The conviction that a church should be formed, 
 and regular Sabbath services maintained, becoming 
 fixed, several members of the first church sought dis- 
 mission from it for this purpose. This being denied, 
 five gentlemen, not members of this church, were re- 
 quested to call a council " to advise on the question 
 whether it is expedient to estab!i>h a church and so- 
 ciety in said village of Souih Northbridge." The 
 council met April 17, 1834, and advised that it was 
 expedient that a church should be formed and Gospel 
 ordinances established. In 1833 " The Chapel " had 
 been built and had been dedicated to religious uses 
 early in 1831. Regular preaching was now provided 
 from Rev. Caleb B. Elliot, of Millbury, and after- 
 wards from Rev. William Whittlesey, of New Britain, 
 Conn. The society was formed June 20, 1834. The 
 members of the first church desiring to form the new 
 church, still failing to obtain letters of dismission, 
 called by their committee a council to be held July 
 31st, "to carry out, if it should be thought best, the 
 recommendation of the previous council." By this 
 council the church was constituted, consisting of 
 thirty-three members. Seven more were received 
 by letter from the first church August 26th, and 
 became ideatified with the church in its beginning. 
 Rev. Michael Burdett was soon called, and was in- 
 stalled April 15, 1835. He was dismissed April 29, 
 1841, after a pastorate of six years. Rev. Louis 
 F. Clark was ordained and installed pastor June 1, 
 
 1842, and continued his labors here as pastor until 
 his death, October 3, 1870, — a man greatly beloved 
 and greatly useful. Rev. John R. Thurston was 
 installed April 20, 1871, and continues pastor. 
 
 The church has been prospered, having received 
 in all 710, and it numbered January 1, 1888, 231. 
 
 The present house of worship was built in 1846 and 
 was dedicated November 12th of that year. It has 
 since been enlarged. 
 
 The Congregational Church in Rockdale. — 
 There were no regular public religious services in this 
 village until after P. Whitin & Sons purchased the 
 property in 1856. They finished a hall over the store 
 and dedicated it to religious worship. In the fall of 
 1861 Rev. E. F. Williams, of Uxbridge, was employed, 
 and labored there somewhat more than a year. His 
 work was blessed by a revival, and there was some 
 thought of forming a church. When Mr. Williams 
 left. Rev. Mr. Harding, of Boston, was engaged to sup- 
 ply, and he preached there for some years, though not 
 residing there for pastoral service. From November 
 1, 1871, to December 1, 1872, Rev. J. C. Halliday 
 preached and resided there. For some time after this 
 there was not regular preaching, bat the Sabbath- 
 school was maintained, and the pastor at Whitinsville 
 preached there occasionally. In 1877 the people 
 united with the parish at Northbridge Centre in the 
 support of a pastor and since that time regular Sab- 
 bath services have been maintained. It had long been 
 felt that a church organization was needed for the 
 best religious result and plans had several times been 
 made for forming one, but they had not been carried 
 out. December 30, 1879, a council was called and a 
 church of fifteen members was formed, which has 
 since grown to thirty-nine, January 1, 1888. This 
 church, with the church on the Hill, has Rev. James 
 H. Childs as pastor. 
 
 The Quakers. — We have seen ' that early in the 
 last century a few families of Quakers moved up .the 
 Blackstone Valley in what is now Northbridge, and 
 they experienced difficuliy from their unwillingness 
 to serve in the French and Indian War. They had 
 the same difficulty after the town was incorporated 
 during the Revolutionary struggle. By colonial 
 statute, passed in May, 1776, among those exempted 
 from the necessity of military service are " those per- 
 sons who had, befo'e the nineteenth day of April, 
 one thousand seven hundred aiid seventy-five, been 
 by law deemed to be of the denomination of Christ- 
 ians called Quakers." It appears from the State 
 archives that one Thomas Eddy, who had become a 
 Quaker in 1777, was allowed exemption on petition 
 of the town, by the Colonial Council, July 27, 1778. 
 Said Eddy had been sent to the garrison at Rutland, 
 but had refused to do duty on the ground that he was 
 a Quaker. January, 1779, the selectmen of the town, 
 having doubts whether the town had a right to assess 
 
NORTHBRIDGE. 
 
 437 
 
 the Quakers for their part of the tax of two hundred 
 pounds laid upon tlie town " to pay men who had 
 been, or had hired men, to go into tlie army," send a 
 petition to the " Honorable Council and house of 
 Representatives " that they would solve their doubt 
 " and make it certain whether we have a Right to tax 
 said Quakers," Thus scrupulously were their rights 
 regarded. We have uo record of what answer was 
 given to this petition, but as later we find frequent 
 mention of a " Quaker Tax," we learn that it was 
 felt that they must in some way contribute to the de- 
 fence of the country. 
 
 After the Revolutionary War we find no evidence of 
 anydifliculty with the town from their peace principles. 
 
 Before the town was incorporated the first meeting- 
 house was built by the Quakers. On petition of 
 Samuel Aldrich, for the building of a meeting-house, 
 a committee was appointed at the Smithfield Monthly 
 Meeting of Friends, November 28, 1765, " to judge 
 whether there was need of one." This committee re- 
 porting favorably, a committee, consisting of Samuel 
 Aldrich, Moses Aldrich and Moses Farnam, Jr., " was 
 appointed to oversee the building of said house." 
 
 " Twelfth Month, 1776, the Building Committee ex- 
 hibited an account of the Cost of Building the Ux- 
 bridge (now Northbridge) Meeting-house, amounting 
 to £70 16«. Id. lawful money, which is accepted." 
 Forty pounds of this money was contributed for this 
 purpose by Rachel Thayer, of Mendon. We see it is 
 ten years after the committee is appointed to oversee 
 the building of the house before the final account of 
 cost is rendered, and we do not know when it was first 
 occupied, but probably before the " Town's Meeting- 
 house." The first mention of this meeting-house is 
 in the town-meeting of March, 1778, when it was 
 "voted to warn town-meetings by notifications to Be 
 posted at Capt. Baldwin's Mill, Ye Quaker meeting- 
 house, and ye Town meeting-house in Northbridge." 
 This became the custom ever after. This meeting- 
 house stood about one-fourth of a mile south of the 
 present house, on the east side of the road. Respect- 
 ing the present meeting-house the following items are 
 furnished : " At an Uxbridge Monthly Meeting in 
 1804, Nathaniel ^Idrich, Richard Mowry, Elisha Ar- 
 nold and others were appointed to exchange lots and 
 contract for building the present meeting-house in 
 Northbridge. They reported in the Third Month, 
 same year, that they had done so. The new house to 
 be built for $650 and the old house. The new one was 
 built that year." Saml. Aldrich was one of the contrac- 
 tors for building it. In this house the Friends have wor- 
 shipped God for more than four-score years. They 
 have met each week, and the spirit has moved to words 
 of exhortation, as to the faith and the life. In recent 
 years their numbers have diminished, but their meet- 
 ings are maintained with the instruction of the young 
 in the Sabbath-school. In May of each year Quar- 
 terly Meeting is held here. There has been special in- 
 terest in temperance the past few years. 
 
 Committee of the BaptUt 
 Society iu Grafton. 
 
 The meeting in Northbridge was a part of the 
 Smithfield Monthly Meeting till Seventh Month, 1783, 
 when the several meetings held in Uxbridge, North- 
 bridge, Richmond, N. H., and Leicester were set off 
 and formed a separate Monthly Meeting under the 
 name of the Uxbridge Monthly, which continues un- 
 til the present time. We have no record of the resi- 
 dence in the town of a minister approved by the meet- 
 ing, and the ministry has been by those belonging to 
 the meeting but residing usually in Uxbridge. Mrs. 
 Salome C. Wheeler, who is an approved minister, re- 
 siding in Uxbridge, usually ministers at the North- 
 bridge Meeting-house. 
 
 Baptists in Northbridge. — From the following 
 certificates it is manifest that there was early in the 
 history of Northbridge an acknowledged body of Bap- 
 tists, having a " society," if not a church organization : 
 
 We, the Subscrihera, being chosen a committee by the Society of Peo- 
 ple called Anti-pedo Baptist, we (who?) met together for religious wor- 
 ship on the Lord's day, in Northbridge, to exhibit a list of the names of 
 such persons as belong to said society or congregation ; Do certify that 
 Timothy Winter, Nathaniel Cooper, Jan., John Cooper, David Dunn, 
 Jonathan Bassett, Barnabas Aldrich, William Rawson, Joseph Hill, 
 Nathaniel Cooper, do belong to the said congregation, and that they 
 do frequently, and nsiyilly, when able, attend with us in our meetings 
 for Religious Worship, on the Lord's Day, and we do thereby believe 
 are, with respect to the Ordinance of Baptism, of the same religious sen- 
 timents with us. 
 
 Dated Grafton, Aug. 15, 1774. 
 
 Recorded by the clerk Aug. 29, 1774. 
 
 Joseph Rice, \ 
 
 Ebenezee Wueeler, V 
 James Leland, ) 
 
 Samuel Powers and John Rooks, of Northbridge, were included in 
 another certificate of the same date. 
 
 From this we infer that thus early in the history of 
 the town these men, wishing to be relieved from paying 
 the town tax for the support of the Congregational 
 minister, and building the meeting-house, obtained 
 this relief by these certificates. 
 
 John Cooper, an ordained Baptist elder, was for 
 many years the preacher, preaching frequently until 
 near the time of his death, in 1818. His brother Na- 
 thaniel also preached occasionally. "The Baptists 
 had their meetings in private houses, mostly in those 
 of the preachers." 
 
 In April, 1787, it was voted that the warrant for 
 town-meeting be put, "one at the place where the 
 Baptist meet for publick worship," from which it is 
 manifest that they early had a place of usual meeting, 
 probably the house of " Elder John Cooper," near the 
 Cooper grave-yard. Jesse White, the blacksmith, was 
 deacon. 
 
 In 1793 Whitney speaks of ten families of Bap- 
 tists, " at present destitute of any settled teacher." Yet 
 there was a Baptist society as late as 1812, for Abner 
 Cooper and John Cooper, "committee,"' certify that 
 "Phineas Taft, of the town of Uxbridge, is a member 
 of the religious society in the town of Northbridge 
 called the Northbridge Baptist Society." After the 
 death of Elder John Cooper they did not have preach- 
 ing regularly. Mr. Sawyer, and after him Mr. Rufus 
 Bennett, preached occasionally, but soon all public 
 
438 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 services ceased, and the society has had no existence 
 for many years. The few of this persuasion in the 
 town have identified themselves with the Baptist so- 
 cieties of Farnamsville, or North Uxbridge, or with 
 tlie Congregationalist or Methodist Churches in the 
 town. 
 
 The Methodist Church in Whitinsville.— 
 The first Metliodist services in the town were held in 
 the house of Rufus Bennett, near the Quaker Meeting- 
 house, early in 1828. Miss Rebecca Bradford, of 
 Providence, R. I., a school-teacher, secured the 
 preaching of the first sermon by her pastor, Rev. Mr. 
 Osgood, in this house. "As a result of this and other 
 meetings, a revival of religion followed, in which a 
 number were converted. Among them were Amasa 
 Benson, Amos White and Lyman Aldrich, who be- 
 came pillars in the church. Mr. Bennett, who had 
 been connected with the Baptist Church of Upton, 
 joined them, and became a local preacher among 
 them. 
 
 " The meetings were held in private houses, in the 
 school-house near the Quaker Meeting-house, and in ■ 
 the stone school-house at Plummer's Corner, and the 
 Lord's Supper celebrated in Captain Amos White's 
 new barn a number of times. 
 
 "At the session of the New England Conference, 
 which met at Lynn July 23, LS28, Bishop Elijah 
 Hedding presiding, 'Northbridge Circuit' was organ- 
 ized. It was in the New London District, Edward 
 Hyde, Presiding Elder. Will- J. Lovejoy and Joseph 
 Iveson were the preachers." 
 
 During most of the years until 1850 preachers 
 were appointed for this circuit, and religious services 
 were maintained. Two camp-meetings and several 
 grove-meetings were held on the Benson farm. But 
 it was not in this part of the town that Methodism 
 was to have its permanent and central place. The 
 village of Whitinsville had been and was still grow- 
 ing and giving promise for the future, and here was 
 the Methodist Church to find its home. The first 
 Methodist preaching here was secured by Mr. Charles 
 Taylor. The preacher was Rev. Joseph W. Lewis, of 
 Webster. He was assisted by Chas. W. Ainsworth, 
 of Millbury. The services were held in the hall just 
 erected on Railroad Avenue, which became the place 
 of worship for many years. This was early in 1850. 
 April 24th of the same year, at the session of the New 
 England Conference in Boston, Bishop Thomas A. 
 Morris presiding, " Whitinsville took its place in the 
 list of appointments. It was included in the Wor- 
 cester District, J. Hascall, Presiding Elder ; H. P. 
 Andrews, preacher." " June 23, 1850, Dr. Hascall 
 organized the Quarterly Conference" here. Since 
 that day the church has maintained regular worship, 
 and had constant preaching. They remained in the 
 hall where they began for twenty-five years. October 
 22, 1875, the new meeting-house was dedicated. In 
 1882 a troublesome debt was removed, with the gener- 
 ous help of friends in the place. It was a happy 
 
 day, October 22d,when they held their meeting-house 
 and parsonage free of all encumbrance. The church 
 has grown with the village, and now numbers ninety- 
 one members. The preachers have been : 1850-51, 
 H. P. Andrews ; 1852, Cyrus L. Eastman ; 1853, Jon- 
 athan L. Esty ; 1854, Jonathan D. Bridge (during 
 this year a colleciion of $6.50 was reported " to assist 
 fugitive slaves"); 1855, it was united with East Doug- 
 las; 18.56-57, Wm. P. Blackmer; 1858-59, Geo. H. 
 Mansfield; 1860, Nath. A. Soule; 1801-62, William 
 Merrill; 1863-64, Abraham M. Osgood; 1865-67, 
 William A. Braman ; 1868, Robert G. Adams; 1869, 
 D. D. Hudson; 1871-73, Emory A. Howard (during 
 this pastorate, the Spring estate was purchased, with 
 the house which has since been the parsonage, and 
 the ground for the new meeting-house); 1874-75, 
 William Merrill (during this pastorate the meeting- 
 house was completed and dedicated); 1876-77, Edward 
 A. Manning; 1878, J. W. Fenn; 1879-80, Seth C. 
 Gary; 1881-83, Lyman D. Bragg (during this pastor- 
 ate the debt on the property was paid); 1884-86, 
 James Mudge ; 1887, E. Stuart Best. 
 
 The United Presbyterian Church. — For some 
 years previous to 1871 there had been an increasing 
 number of United Presbyterians in Whitinsville- 
 They had brought from their homes in the north of 
 Ireland and Scotland a strong aflection for their own 
 faith and worship. They had worshipped occasion- 
 ally and " communicated " with the United Presby- 
 terian Church in Wilkinsonville. Some had united 
 with this church. But they felt they must have for 
 themselves and their children more regular Sabbath 
 services, and early in 1871 they began such services 
 with Rev. Mr. Cres«well as minister, and soon a 
 " congregation " was formed and became connected 
 with the Boston Presbytery. Worship was held at 
 first in Smith's Hall and subsequently in "The 
 Chapel" formerly used by the Congregational Church. 
 Here they continued uutil they went into their new 
 meeting-house, save during an interval of about 
 seven months, when, owing to internal difficulties, the 
 congregation was disbanded for a brief time. It was 
 reorganized December 16, 1874. In 1881 a meeting- 
 house was built on Cottage Street, in the erection of 
 which, friends in the village greatly assisted them. 
 It was dedicated February .22, 1882. In 1888 a par- 
 sonage was built on the same lot with the meeting- 
 house. The preachers have been Rev. Robert Hark- 
 ness, January 21, 1873, to April 22, 187-1. For three 
 years it was supplied by various ministers. Rev. J. 
 L. Thompson was installed June 11, 1878. He was 
 released April 11, 1882. Rev. J. Crawford McKay, 
 installed April 24, 1883; resigned in July, 1884. 
 It was supplied by Presbytery with various preachers, 
 among 'them Rev. J. R. McAllister from January, 
 1880, to July, 1887. 
 
 Rev. Wm. Hughes was installed October 25, 1888, 
 and is the present pastor. 
 
 St. Patrick's Church.— The great increase in 
 
NORTHBRIDGE. 
 
 439 
 
 manufacturing in the recent years has brought 
 many of foreign birth into the town for labor. 
 In 1875 there were one thousand three hundred 
 and six who were born in Ireland or Canada ; 
 most of these were of the Catholic faith. They 
 have always belonged to the parish of Uxbridge 
 and been under the care of the Priest resident 
 there. As their numbers increased, it was felt 
 that they should have a church in this town, and 
 Rev. Dennis O'Keefe purchased the land for one in 
 1868. His successor. Rev. Dennis Morau, built the 
 church. The first service was on Christmas, 1870. 
 Rev. Henry L. Robinson became pastor in 1871 
 and remains such. He is assisted by Father Lan- 
 gier, who especially ministers to the French, who 
 are the larger part of those of the Catholic faith. 
 The church was moved to its present site on Church 
 Street, and enlarged and a basement added in 1883. 
 
 CHAPTER LXVI. 
 
 ^^ORTUBKlBCE—iCon/iniied.) 
 
 SCHOOLS AND LIBRARY. 
 
 Immediately on the incorporation of the district, 
 attention was given to the interests of education. At 
 the second town-meeting, September 21, 1772, a com- 
 mittee was appointed to " Squadron " the district for 
 school purposes. In November, the same year, they 
 report their work making seven " Squadrons,'' some 
 of which were very small. In 1785 the second and 
 third were united, making six, and in 1793 the fifth 
 and sixth were united, making five squadrons. But 
 this last union, putting Adam's Corner, Northbridge 
 Hill and what is now Whitinsville into one squadron, 
 proved unsatisfactory, and in 1790 James Fletcher 
 and others, in what is now Whitinsville, received per- 
 mission to be a district by themselves, and to build 
 their own school-house and not to be taxed for the 
 building of any other school-house. The next year 
 a similar privilege was granted to the families in the 
 vicinity of the Quaker Meeting-House, on the same 
 conditions. The same year five families at Riverdale 
 were made a district. In 1802 another district was 
 founded, including the families at Prentice's Corner 
 and on the northeast side of the meadow. In 1832 
 we find eight districts, which continued, with occa- 
 sional changes of families near the border lines, until 
 the district system was abolished and the town system 
 adopted in 1867. 
 
 At the first the schools were kept in private houses 
 and in the meeting-house. There is evidence that a 
 school-house stood on the hill on the east side of the 
 road, north of the burying-ground. But it does not 
 seem to have been in use at the time of the incorpora- 
 tion of the district. It is not until 1791 that the 
 
 building of school-houses was agitated. That year 
 an article was put into the warrant to see if the town 
 would build a house in each district; but it was 
 passed over in the meeting. In 1795 it was voted to 
 build a house in each district, and a committee was 
 appointed for the purpose. But the next year the 
 article to grant and raise money to build school- 
 houses in the town of Northbridge was dismissed, 
 from which it is manifest the work was not yet begun. 
 And at the next meeting, the same year, they refused 
 to appoint a committee to set the school-houses in 
 each district. It is evident that the dissatisfaction 
 with the new squadrons had something to do with 
 this delay, as the same year James Fletcher and five 
 others were made a new squadron if they would build 
 their own school-house, and the next year the same 
 action was taken for six families near the Quaker 
 Meeting-House. At the meeting in June, 1796, a 
 committee was appointed to instruct the committees 
 appointed the previous year to build school-houses 
 and to order them to set them in the most convenient 
 place and to say how big each school-house shall be. 
 From the absence of any further reference to school- 
 houses in the records and from the recollections of 
 persons recently living, we judge that the school- 
 houses were built in most of the districts soon after 
 this, as on the Hill in 1797. Yet it is manifest that 
 not in all, very soon, as in 1807 a vote is passed " to 
 allow district No. 7 to build a school-house if they 
 please," and as late as 1810 there is a petition from 
 certain families to be set back to the " Winter dis- 
 trict " until suitable school-houses have been built 
 in the districts to which they had been assigned. The 
 whole town was taxed for building these houses, those 
 of two districts being exempted who were to build 
 their own houses. Also the lands of non-resident 
 owners were taxed for the same purpose. 
 
 The school-houses then erected sufficed until the 
 district system was abandoned in 1867, except that 
 another had to be erected to meet the demands of 
 the increased population of Whitinsville, and it had 
 to be twice enlarged until it had six rooms. After 
 the adoption of the town system new houses were 
 built for all the schools, save at Adam's Corner, 
 where the house was thoroughly repaired. A new 
 two-story house was built in Whitinsville in 1869, 
 and enlarged for two more schools in 1872. In 1878 
 another large school-house was built in Whitinsville 
 for four schools ; and now measures are being taken 
 to erect a large brick school-house in the centre of 
 this village for the high and grammar schools and 
 for primary schools, thus providing twelve school- 
 rooms in Whitinsville. 
 
 Until 1865, the town had had only the district 
 schools, including all grades, and in Whitinsville 
 the grades of Primary, Intermediate and Grammar. 
 In the annual report of that year, the committee 
 pleaded earnestly for a High School, which the State 
 laws required of every town having five hundred 
 
440 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 families, this town having five hundred and fifty ; and 
 a vote was passed to establish a High School. This 
 was done at once, and the school was located in 
 Whitinsville, and has been maintained ever since, 
 doing good work and accomplishing all that could be 
 reasonably expected, giving those who are unable to 
 go out of town for education the opportunity to pur- 
 sue their studies several years longer than formerly. 
 The committee the same year urged the lengthening 
 the terms of school, which had heretofore been only 
 six months, with a private school kept in some of 
 the districts. Their recommendation was adopted 
 the next year, and since that time the schools have 
 been kept between nine and ten months. 
 
 In the beginning the care of the schools devolved 
 on tlie selectmen. In 1799 an article was put in the 
 warrant for the March meeting, "To see if the town 
 will choose a committy to regulate the school dis- 
 tricts," but it was voted " not to choose a school com- 
 mitty.'' But in 1805 it was voted "to choose a 
 school committee of five ; " the change was not 
 acceptable, and a committee was not chosen again 
 until 1810, and from 1813 to 1819 none were chosen. 
 From 1820 the school committee has been chosen 
 every year. In 1826 "it was voted to allow Dr. 
 Crane fifty cents each visit and to visit each winter- 
 school twice." At the same meeting a school com- 
 mittee of eight was chosen, one for each district. 
 The next year "it was voted to comply with the 
 requisitions of the law in choosing a school commit- 
 tee," and three were chosen, and it was " voted each 
 District be allowed to choose their own prudential 
 committeemen, agreeable to usual custom." The 
 innovation of the previous year, in having the pru- 
 dential committee of the districts chosen by the town, 
 was not acceptable. But the next year, 1828, the 
 town again chose the prudential committees of the 
 districts and continued to do so until 1862, when the 
 choice reverted to the districts again, where it re- 
 mained until the district system was abolished in 
 1867. In 1828, Mr. Adolphus Spring and Dr. Crane 
 were a visiting committee to supplement the work of 
 the prudential committee. Dr. Crane received twelve 
 dollars for his visits. From this time for several 
 years the town's committee are spoken of as " visit- 
 ors." Previous to 1858 the whole committee was 
 chosen each year ; this made possible, and sometimes 
 actual, an entire change of persons in the board in 
 a single year, and might bring in a board none of 
 whose members had had any experience in the care 
 of schools. This brevity and uncertainty of tenure 
 was unfriendly to the adoption and carrying out any 
 plans of school-work which extended over years, and 
 was a hinderance to that progress which was needed. 
 In 1858 the plan was changed, and each member now 
 serves three years, and two new ones are chosen each 
 year, and thus there is a continuity of service, and 
 the benefit of experience is secured. There has been 
 for many years an earnest endeavor to increase the 
 
 efficiency of the schools. A new and powerful im- 
 pulse was received in this progress about 1847. In 
 1843 the committee, of which Rev. Lewis F. Clark 
 was chairman, made a very plain report as to the 
 deficiencies in the schools and in the school-houses, 
 and calling for progress. Their report was printed, 
 and it was evidently pondered ; we see a slow 
 increase in appropriations for several years, until 
 1847, when a very large increase of almost fifty per 
 cent, was made, and since this time there has been 
 great advance, and the town has been ready for any 
 expense needed for the success of the schools. In 
 1843 the town was very near the lowest in the State 
 for the amount appropriated per scholar, there being 
 but forty-three out of three hundred and seven that 
 raised less ; now there are but sixty-nine that raise 
 more. In 1852 the appropriation was $2.96 per each 
 child of school age; now it is $11.20. As a result of 
 this interest and these efforts the schools are doing 
 good work, for which every parent and every citizen 
 may be thankful. Much of this gain has been due 
 to the untiring efforts of Dr. Rouse R. Clarke, who 
 was first chosen a member of the committee in 1852, 
 and served the town almost without interruption until 
 his death, February 2, 1888. For many years he was 
 acting superintendent, though unwilling to be called 
 such. He brought to the work great love for the 
 cause of education, a high estimate of its importance, 
 a large measure of common sense, a friendliness to 
 new ideas, with an unwillingness to undervalue the 
 old methods, and great faithfulness in the care of the 
 schools. When the new school-house was completed 
 on Cross Street, in Whitinsville, the following vote 
 passed unanimously in the town-meeting April 7, 
 1879 : " Resolved, that in recognition of the long- 
 continued and eminent services of Dr. R. R. Clarke 
 on the Board of School Committees, his constant and 
 zealous efforts to advance the interests of our schools, 
 whereby they have been raised to the present high 
 standard, it is hereby ordered that the new school- 
 house on Cross Street shall be designated and known 
 as the ' Clarke School,' " and the following resolu- 
 tions were passed at the town-meeting, April 2, 1888, 
 after his decease : 
 
 Heeolved, Tlmt we, the citizens. of Northbridge, desire to place upon 
 the record our high appreciation of the services of the late Dr. liouse 
 K. Clarke, in behalf of our public schools. 
 
 For almost thirty yeara his best thought and most earnest efforts 
 were devoted to their interests. • During all this time it was his greatest 
 ambition to do all in his power. Believing that the stability and free- 
 dom of our civil and religious institutions depend upon the education 
 and morality of the people, he entered upon bis Jife-work wilh a sin- 
 cere desire to serve his geuoratioD by doing what he could to advance 
 the interests of education in our midst. 
 
 For all these years he has si)ared no expense of time or effort to ac- 
 complish this. We believe the present success of our schools is largely 
 due to bis untiring devotion to their welfare. We cannot express too 
 strongly our high appreciation of his valuable services and the deep 
 sorrow we fed for our great loss. 
 
 Rt^solved, That the clerk be directed to enter these resolutions upon 
 the Records of the Town, and forward a copy thereof to the family of 
 the deceased. 
 
NORTHBKIDGE. 
 
 441 
 
 The Whitinsville Social Library. — At a 
 meeting of the citizens of Whitinsville, held Decem- 
 ber 10, 1844, to take into consideration the eslablishment 
 of a Social Library, P. Whitin, Esq., was called to 
 the chair. It was stated that the sum of one hundred 
 dollars was left as a legacy, by Miss Sarah Fletcher, 
 to be appropriated to such a Library whenever it 
 should be thought best to establish one; and that this 
 sum, with the interest on the same, was now available. 
 Voted that we consider it expedient to establish such 
 a Library at the present time. Voted, To choose a 
 committee of three to draft a constitution, and pre- 
 sent it at a future meeting. L. F. Clark, Horace 
 Annsby and Leander Gorton were appointed on this 
 committee. 
 
 The constitution presented by this committee, with 
 some amendments, was adopted December 17th, and 
 the society was organized under the name of " The 
 Whitinsville Social Library." Signatures were obtain- 
 ed to the constitution, and December 24th the officers 
 were chosen with Rev. L. F. Clark president. 
 
 By February, 1845, eighty-six subscribers had be- 
 come members of the association by payment of one 
 dollar as initiation fee and signing the constitution, 
 which imposed an annual assessment of one dollar. 
 Two hundred and fifty books had been purchased, 
 and arrangements made for loaning them. This is 
 the origin of the Social Library. 
 
 The association hecame incorporated April 14, 1858, 
 under the provisions of the forty-first chapter of the 
 Revised Statutes of Massachusetts. 
 
 April 9, 18G0, a legacy of five hundred dollars was 
 received from Ezra W. Fletcher, of which it was voted 
 to use only the interest. 
 
 The library was for many years kept in " the 
 chapel" of the Congregational Society, and was used 
 by subscribers, and a few others, as the teachers, to 
 whom its privileges were extended by the association. 
 But when better and permanent accommodations were 
 provided in the Memorial Building, in 187(3, it was 
 determined to offer its privileges to all the inhabitants 
 of the town on certain conditions, and the following 
 vote was passed by the association : 
 
 To make tbe Library free to the Inhabitants of the Town of North- 
 bridge, sul'ject to such Rulea and Regnlationa as the Association or Cor- 
 poration may adopt, upon condition that the Town shall annually appro- 
 priate and pay to the treasurer of the Corporation for the maintainauce 
 and support of said Library a sum not less than Three Ilundred Dollars. 
 The Library ceasing to be free to the inhabitants of said town when the 
 Town ceases to make the above mentioned annual appropriation for its 
 maintainance and support. 
 
 The town accepted the proposition of the associa- 
 tion at its annual meeting in March, and has 
 since made annual appropriations for the support of 
 the library. The needed changes in the constitution 
 and by-laws were made, and the library is still under 
 the control of the association, of which any citizen of 
 Northbridge may become a member by payment of 
 one dollar annually, or a life member by payment of 
 ten dollars, and signing the constitution. At the 
 
 annual meeting, February 13, 1888, the fee for life 
 membership was made five dollars. 
 
 Rev. L. F. Clark was re-elected president every year 
 but two, until his death, in 1870. Dr. R. R. Clarke was 
 chosen to succeed him, and re-elected annually until his 
 death, in 1888, when Geo. A. Annsby was chosen, and 
 is now president. From the small beginning with 
 two hundred and fifty volumes, the library has grown 
 apace, and, as we learn from the annual report made 
 February 13, 1888, contains 4,507 volumes. The 
 number who took books the last year was 418, and the 
 number of volumes circulated was 6,875. 
 
 CHAPTER LXVII. 
 
 NORTHBRIDGE— ((ro«//«;/«'a'.) 
 
 MANUFACTURES. 
 
 While the early settlers were agriculturists, the 
 necessity of mills for sawing their lumber and for 
 grinding their grain soon led to the building of mills 
 for this purpose, as the abundant watei-prtrftegps on 
 the Blackstoneand Mumford Rivers gave them ample 
 opportunity for doing. Samuel Terry erected a saw- 
 mill at "Ye Falls," on the Mumford River, at what is 
 now Whitinsville, in 1727 or 1728. Some time before 
 1740 Woodland Thompson built a saw-mill on "Oil 
 Brook," a small stream running into the Blackstone, 
 on the west side, a little south of Riverdale. In 1764, 
 James Nutting, Sr., sold " two grist-mills and a saw- 
 mill " at what is now Riverdale. Having purchased 
 the property in 1753, without mention in the deed of 
 dam or mills, we infer he built the dam and the mills, 
 thus first making use of the privilege, and building 
 the first grist-mill in the town. Some time between 
 1805 and 1814 the privilege at what is now Rockdale 
 was first put to use, and a saw and grist-mill were 
 built by John and Jesse Eddy. 
 
 But these elementary manufactures were not those 
 which were to grow and build up the town. The 
 manufactures which were to employ its citizens in 
 great numbers, and bring to them comfort and wealth, 
 were those of iron, cotton, wool and leather. 
 
 Iron Manufactures. — The very early develop- 
 ment of the manufactures of iron in this town was 
 doubtless due to the existence of iron ore within its 
 limits. September 16, 1700, Mendon (then including 
 Northbridge) voted " that noe person shall carry any 
 mine or iron ore out of or from the Town Common, 
 upon penalty of twenty .shillings a load, the one-half 
 to the informer, the other half to the use of the 
 towue." At a meeting October 14th, the same year, 
 Samuel Thayer was permitted to carry away the " ore 
 that had been digged," " provided sd Thayer paid 
 twenty shillings in money to Capt. Chapin for the 
 town's use ;" and a reward was voted to the informer. 
 
442 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 March 3, 1712, the town reaffirmed the vote forbid- 
 ding to carry away ore from the "Town Common," 
 but said, " as for any yt was in Impropriated Lands, 
 they might Repair to the owners." This ore was in 
 the Uxbridge part of the town. The location of the 
 "Iron Worlds" at "ye Falls of Mum ford's River" 
 was due to the power which "ye Falls" afforded, to 
 the abundance of wood for charcoal for smelting, and 
 to the evident expectation of finding ore near at hand. 
 The man who established the works here was Samuel 
 Terry (clerk), of Barrington, Mass. He purchased 
 four hundred and eighty-eight acres of land, with the 
 water privilege at "ye Falls," and "all the mines or 
 minerals" thereto belonging, for £488, equal to £162 
 in gold, in 1727. 
 
 This reference to " mines or minerals " is doubtless 
 to " Mineral Hill, so called," which we find mentioned 
 in deeds of a later date. The next year Terry sold 
 all the la-nds and a saw-mill and "Iron Works" to 
 Hugh Hall, of Boston, for £700, equal to £206 in gold. 
 As there was no mention of " Iron Works " in his 
 deed of purchase, we must infer he had built them, 
 and had prepared to manufacture iron. Hall sold the 
 property to Gershom Keyes (trader), of Boston, for 
 £920, equal to £212 in gold, in 1732. The next year 
 Keyes sold all the land and the saw-mill and one- 
 half of the " Iron Works" to Jonathan Bacon (gent), 
 of Bedford, for £1600, equal to £368 in gold. The in- 
 crease in price would indicate that Keys had improved 
 the " Iron Works." He reserved one-half of the 
 works, with all its privileges, and we infer he soon 
 bought back Bacon's half interest, as he afterwards 
 sold all the " Iron Works " and thirty acres of land 
 belonging thereto, and from the fact that Bacon's 
 name does not appear in any subsequent deed of the 
 works. Keyes sold one-half of the " Iron Works " 
 to Joseph Scott (braiser), of Boston, for £300, equal 
 to £62 in gold, in 173.'j, and one-half to Samuel Grant 
 (upholder), of Boston, in 1736, for £300, equal to £61 
 in gold. These owners, Grant & Scott, evidently 
 rebuilt the " Iron Works," as they are .spoken of in 
 the next deed as "lately built," with three fireplaces 
 and one hammer. They are subsequently called the 
 " Forge or Refinery." Grant sold his interest the 
 same year (1736) to John Merritt (merchant), of Bos- 
 ton, for £808 14s. 3d., equal to £168 in gold. In the 
 deed an "ore yard" is mentioned. Soon Merrilt 
 bought out Saott's interest for £870, equal to £170 in 
 gold. The deed is dated 1740, but we infer that he 
 had bought it before this, for he leased the property 
 in 1739 to Thomas & Nicholas Baylies (iron-mas- 
 ters), of Uxbridge, for twenty-one years, for £34 law- 
 ful money of Great Britain per year. Lawful money 
 was then worth four and one-half times as much as 
 paper. The inventory of the works is gicen, and it is 
 described as all furnished and suitable to make pig- 
 metal into bar iron. This is the first mention of the 
 product. It was for many years called Baylies' Re- 
 finery ; but it was still held by Merritt after Baylies' 
 
 lease expired in 1760. Before 1765 Merritt, now of 
 Providence, leased the " Iron Works " to John Hesel- 
 tine, of Uxbridge. Merritt held the property until 
 his death. It was sold September 16, 1771, by John 
 Overing, the executor of Mr. Merritt's will, to Col. 
 Ezra Wood, of Upton, for £450, now equal to gold, as 
 specie payment had been resumed. .lames Fletcher, 
 who married Col. Wood's daughter December 24, 
 1771, now occupied the property and carried on the 
 " works." The old works were situated about twenty 
 rods below the bridge, on the south side of the river, 
 the water for the power being conveyed in a ditch 
 from the dam, which was about one hundred feet west 
 of the present dam next to the bridge. About this 
 time the works were removed to a building on the 
 south side of the river, close to the present dam, 
 which was built at that time. The new works went 
 by the name of " The Forge." It was also called 
 " Fletcher's Forge," and it had the reputation of early 
 and hard work. In 1794 Col. Wood sold two-thirds 
 of the "Iron Forge and Refinery " to James Fletcher, 
 and one-third to Paul Whitin. Mr. Whitin had 
 married Mr. Fletcher's daughter, Bet.sy, in 1793. 
 
 They continued to manufacture "bar-iron" from 
 scrap-iron until 1812 or 1813. Mr. Whitin did not 
 work in " The Forge." He was a blacksmith, and had 
 a shop on the north side of the river, at the opposite 
 end of the dam from "The Forge." He at first did 
 only the work of an ordinary blacksmith, but he soon 
 determined to engage in the specially of making hoes 
 and scythes. Hiring a man who understood the art 
 of tempering and other processes in the manufacture, 
 he himself soon became expert in them, and in a few 
 years his business became profitable. During the 
 suspension of trade with England, caused by the 
 embargo of 1807-09, a large demand arose for certain 
 agricultural tools, which had been previously imported 
 from England. One of these, in the manufacture of 
 which Mr. Whitin was one of the first to engage, was 
 the large hoe used by the negroes at the South. He 
 had three forges, a trip-hammer and a grindstone 
 operated by power. Mr. Whitin continued this busi- 
 ness until his death, in 1831, in the sixty-fourth year 
 of his age. Blauy years before his death he engaged 
 in cotton manufacture. His second son (John C, 
 born 1807) worked in the mill from his ninth year, 
 when not in school, at first in the picker-room. When 
 about twelve he was placed in the machine-room of 
 the company, and for the next three years worked on 
 repairs, thereby serving in some measure an appren- 
 ticeship to the business which he followed for life. 
 
 In the year 1826 Col. Paul Whitin formed a part- 
 nership with his two elder sons (Paul, Jr., and John 
 C), for the manufacture of cotton goods. They built 
 the brick mill now standing on the site of "The 
 Forge," on the south side of the river, having a 
 capacity of fifteen hundred spindles. In this firm 
 Mr. John C. Whitin had the superintendence of the 
 mill and the repair of the machinery. He had early 
 
NORTHBRIDGE. 
 
 443 
 
 been impressed with the imperfection of the machinery 
 used, especially of that used in picking the cotton, and 
 in 1830 he directed his eflbrts to its improvement. 
 With two lathes, not worth more than fifteen dollars 
 each, and with an occasional job done in a neighbor's 
 shop, he, with his two assistants, completed the first 
 picker in about a year. Having so far perfected the 
 picker, he applied for a patent and secured it in 1832. 
 Meanwliile the new firm, which had been formed on 
 the death of Paul Whitin, Sr., — consisting of Mrs. 
 Paul Whilin, Sr., Paul Whitin, John C. Whitin and 
 Charles P. Whitin, — had purchased the mill of "The 
 Old Northbridge Manufacturing Co." 
 
 The picker Mr. John C. Whitin had made had 
 attracted the attention of other manufacturers, and 
 the firm determined to make them for sale, using as a 
 shop the picker-house of the mill just purchased, a 
 building thirty-two by forty feet. Machinery and 
 tools were set up in it and put in operation. They 
 were crude as compared with what are now used ; yet 
 with the improved devices of Mr. Whitin, pickers or 
 lappers were produced so superior to those previously 
 in use that from 1834, when the first machine was 
 sold, the demand steadily increased. For many years 
 most of the pickers in use throughout the country 
 were made at these works. 
 
 Mr. Whitin was encouraged to build other ma- 
 chinery in the same line. The list has been increased 
 from time to time, so as to include cards, card- 
 grinders, doublers, railway heads, drawing-frames, 
 ring-frames, spoolers, warpers, dressers, looms, &c. ; 
 indeed, all the machinery used in tlie cotton-mill, 
 except roving machinery, mules and slashers, is now 
 made here. * To accommodate this rapidly-increasing 
 business, the original shop, the "Picker-house," was 
 enlarged and sew buildings were erected. In 1847 
 "The New Shop'' was built, three hundred and sis 
 by one hundred and two feet, two stories with base- 
 ment, on the north side of the river. 
 
 This year Mr. James F. Whitin, the youngest son 
 of Colonel Paul Whitin, was admitted to the firm. 
 In 1860 Mr. John C. Whitin purchased the " Hol- 
 yoke Muchine Works " on his own account, which he 
 retained until 1864, giving it much of his time for 
 supervision. During his engagement in Holyoke, 
 Mr. Chas. P. Whitin had the charge of the machine- 
 shop. 
 
 In 1864 the firm of P. Whitin & Sons was dis- 
 solved and the business of the firm was divided. In 
 this division Mr. John C. Whitin took the manufac- 
 turing of machinery, which had in thirty years grown 
 from one picker a month from the old " Picker 
 House," to the production of hundreds of thousands 
 of dollars' worth of a large variety of machinery, 
 Irom the large shop of 1847 and its adjuncts. On 
 coming into his separate proprietorship, Mr. John C. 
 Whitin erected a new shop parallel with the shop of 
 1847, north of it, four hundred and seventy-five 
 by seventy feet, three stories, with basement. The 
 
 increasing business has compelled the erection of a 
 large foundry, which has been twice enlarged ; of a 
 large blacksmith shop, and in 1883 of a large shop 
 on the south side of the river, three hundred and 
 eighty-six by eighty-six feet, three stories high, so 
 that now there are in all nearly eleven acres of floor 
 all connected, and devoted to the various departments 
 of the manufacture. In place of two men helping 
 Mr. Whitin, the force employed now is over eight 
 hundred, and the improved machine tools render the 
 work of each man equal to that of three men using 
 the old-time tools. 
 
 Mr. Whitin secured patents on the Picker or Lap- 
 per in 1833 ; on the Union Card in 1862. These 
 proved useful to manufacturers and brought consid- 
 erable profit to the inventor. These inventions 
 bore no comparison, however, in intrinsic value with 
 the many improvements in tools and implements for 
 the working of metals and the simi)lifying of existing 
 methods. As long as he continued in active manage- 
 ment of the shop he took the deepest interest in all 
 improvement in tools. The last to which he gave 
 special attention was the machine for drilling spin- 
 ning-frame rails, which has proved such a success. 
 It was with him a principle not to seek the protection 
 and profit of a patent for any tool he was to use 
 himself. He felt that the gain in his own work was 
 all the profit he should desire. 
 
 In 1870 the business, which h.ad been during the six 
 previous years in the sole proprietorship of Mr. John 
 C. Whitin, was organized into a joint stock corpora- 
 tion, under the name of " The Whitin Machine 
 Works," — John C. Whitin, President ; Josiah Lasell, 
 Treasurer ; and Gustavus E. Taft, Superintendent. 
 Mr. Lasell was son-in-law to Mr. Whitin and had 
 been in his employ since 1860. 
 
 In 1881 Mr. Taft became agent and Mr. Harvey 
 Ellis superintendent. 
 
 On Mr. Whitin's death, April 22, 1882, Mr. Lasell 
 liecame president and treasurer. January 1, 1886, 
 his son-in-law, G. Marston Whitin, became treasurer. 
 On the death of Mr. Lasell, March 15, 1886, his oldest 
 son, Chester W. Lasell, was made president. On the 
 death of Mr. Taft, June 24, 1888, his oldest son, 
 Cyrus A. Taft, was made agent. During all these 
 changes in officers of the corporation the butiness 
 has gone on with continued success. 
 
 Thus for one hundred and sixty-one years has the 
 manufacture of iron been maintained in this place, 
 first as the manufacture of iron from the ore, then as 
 the manufacture of bar-iron from pig-metal and 
 scrap-iron, then as the manufacture of hoes and 
 scythes, and now for nearly sixty years in the manu- 
 facture of cotton machinery, beginning with a single 
 machine and now including almost every kind of 
 cotton machinery. For more than one hundred and 
 sixteen years one family has been in ownership and 
 charge of the works. For nearly one hundred years 
 Mr. Paul Whitin, Sr., and his sons have operated 
 
444 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 them, and to their mechanical skill, business capacity 
 and industry and energy has tliis great development 
 been due. 
 
 The Whitinsville Spinning Ring Co. — In 1872, 
 Charles E. Trowbridge, master mechanic of the 
 Whitinsville Cotton-Mill, and Arthur F. Whitin,who 
 was then employed in the repair shop, perfected and 
 patented special tools for making rings for spinning 
 and twisting. They began the manufacture of rings 
 in 1873, under the firm-name of the " Whitinsville 
 Spinning Ring Co." By their improved methods and 
 tools superior work is secured, and a great saving of 
 labor is effected. One man can produce a perfect ring 
 in two operations, after the forging, while with the 
 old methods the ring passed through several hands, 
 and numerous operations, and the ring would not be 
 of such uniform excellence of finish. 
 
 The company began the manufacture of rings for 
 the cotton-mills of Whitinsville and vicinity, but the 
 fame of their superiority quickly spread and arrange- 
 ments had to be made for increased production. The 
 rings have Ijeen sent all over the country, and many 
 have been exported. The business has increased six- 
 fold since 1878, but its growth has been a natural one; 
 no traveling agents have been employed. Arthur F. 
 Whitin is treasurer, Chas. E. Trowbridge is agent, 
 and George E. Trowbridge is superintendent. 
 
 Mr. Trowbridge has secured a number of patents on 
 rings and ring-holders, and has recently patented a 
 new process of producing a metallic ring, which effects 
 a great saving of travelers, on new rings, and a much 
 better yarn is produced by the consequent saving of 
 breakage. The company began the manufacture of 
 the double adjustable ring in 188(5, and now produces 
 all varieties of rings known to the trade. The work 
 began in the repair-shop of the mill. In 1884, needing 
 more room, it was moved to the "old cotton-mill" 
 building of 1826, on the south side of the stream, and 
 occupied the basement and the first story. In 1887 
 an enlargement of twenty by sixty-five feet was made, 
 and a new building erected, with a furnace chimney, 
 for hardening and annealing. Twenty-five men are 
 employed. 
 
 While the manufacturers in iron at what is now 
 Whitinsville are the oldest in the town and have 
 been the most successful, they have not been the only 
 ones. 
 
 At Northbridge Centre a foundry was in operation 
 as early as 1790, situated opposite the Dr. Robinson 
 place, on the west side of the road, some thirty rods 
 south of the present meeting-house. Hollow-ware 
 and sad-irons were cast here. The business was carried 
 on by a man named Lothrop. 
 
 The same premises were afterwards occupied by 
 Frebun White for the manufacture of axes, employ- 
 ing two hands besides himself. The axes were car- 
 ried to Providence and sold to the South. This was 
 from 1812 to 1820. Capt. Amos White made "custom 
 axes'' in a shop near his home; ''afterwards he 
 
 manufactured to a considerable extent for the trade 
 boot and shoe edge tools, hammers, &c., &c., until his 
 death, in 1853, a part of the time, in company with 
 Dr. Starkweather, doing the work at Riverdale, on 
 the east side of the river. But that business failing, 
 he removed to his home shop and manufactured for a 
 time alone and then with his son Luke, and last with 
 his son-in-law. Orison W. Brigham. 
 
 The stone part of the present cotton-mill at River- 
 dale was built 1852 by Sylvanus Holbrook for Harvey 
 Waters for the manufacture of scythes by machinery 
 which he had invented. These were the first scythes 
 made by machinery in the world. Mr. Waters also 
 made bayonets by machinery during the war of 
 1861-65. He continued the business here until 
 1865. 
 
 Cotton Manufactures. — In 1808 " the cotton 
 factory fever" struck this town, and in 1809 Col. 
 Paul Whitin erected a cotton-mill at the upper dam, 
 which was about three hundred feet east of the pres- 
 ent dam of the Whitin Machine Works. Col. James 
 Fletcher contributed the water privilege as his share 
 in the enterprise. After the mill was erected Mr. 
 Whitin organized a company, of which he was the 
 principal stock-holder, for the manufacture of cotton 
 goods, styled "The Northbridge Cotton Manufactur- 
 ing Company." The act of incorporation is later, 
 being dated June 9, 1814. This was the third cotton- 
 mill erected in the Blackstone Valley above Paw- 
 tucket, the mill of Almy Brown and the Slaters at 
 Slatersville and the original mill of the present Black- 
 stone Co., at Blackstone (then South Mendon), pre- 
 ceding it by two years. The manufacturing consisted 
 in breaking, carding and spinning. The raw material, 
 having some seeds and much dirt mixed with it, was 
 put out to families to have the seed and dirt removed. 
 The "pickers" had not yet been introduced. Some 
 families took a bale, some half a bale, and others 
 less. For this work four to six cents a pound was 
 paid. The yarn was also put out to families to be 
 woven by hand, the weaver receiving eight cents per 
 yard for weaving No. 16 yarn, which was the 
 grade made at that time. The weaving was done in 
 this manner for six or eight years, after which 
 power looms were introduced. The original North- 
 bridge Mill was of wood and had a capacity of 
 fifteen hundred spindles. Paul Whitin, Jr., then ten 
 years of age, commenced work in this factory on the 
 day of its starting, tending a breaking machine. 
 The mill was operated several years with small re- 
 turns. It was rented for two years to Gladdiug & 
 Cady. It was sold in 1824 to William & Thomas 
 Buflbm. It was bought in 1829 by Samuel Shove, who 
 operated it until 1831. 
 
 In 1815 Col. Whitin, not content with what he was 
 doing in the Northbridge Cotton Manufacturing 
 Company, entered into partnership with Col. James 
 Fletcher, his father-in-law, and Mr. Fletcher's two 
 sons, under the firm-name of Whitin & Fletcher, 
 
NOKTHBRIDGE. 
 
 445 
 
 and they fitted up the " Old Forge" building, on the 
 south side of the river, for a cotton-mill of three 
 hundred spindle capacity for the manufacture of 
 yarns. This mill was operated until 1826, when Mr. 
 Whitin, who had owned an interest of one-half, now 
 purchased the other half of the Fletchers, and 
 formed a new partnership with his own sons, Paul, 
 Jr., and John C, under the name of P. Whitin & 
 Sons, for the manufacture of cotton goods. Paul 
 Whitin, Jr., was at this time twenty-six years of age. 
 His previous training, save what he had as a boy 
 working in the mill, had been mercantile, and in the 
 business of the new firm he took charge of the 
 mercantile and financial department. 
 
 John C, then nineteen years old, had had his 
 training in the mill and in the machine-room of the 
 Northbridge Cotton Company, and was thus prepared 
 for his part in the new firm, the management of the 
 mechanical and manufacturing department. Mr. 
 Paul Whitin, Sr., only invested capital and had no 
 personal care or responsibility in the management of 
 the business. The company erected a new mill of 
 1,500 spindles on the site of the "Old Forge'' mill. 
 This mill was of brick, thirty-two by sixty feet, two 
 stories, with attic room and basement, and was used 
 for its original purpose until 1845. 
 
 Soon after the erection of this mill, cotton manu- 
 facture was begun in another part of the town and 
 continued for some years. In 1830, Sylvanus Hol- 
 brook built a mill on the east side of the river at 
 what is now Eiverdale, and fitted it with cotton ma- 
 chinery and began to make sheetings. The next year 
 he built at the "upper village," now Rockdale, "The 
 Cotton Mill" north of the old woolen-mill, and 
 began the manufacture of sheetings and drillings. 
 In 1836 one-third of the looms were put upon print 
 cloths. In 1837, having discontinued the manu- 
 facture of satinets, Mr. Holbrook put cotton machin- 
 ery into the woolen-mill and he made Kentucky 
 jeans until the mill was burned, in 1839 or '40. He 
 rebuilt the mill and filled it with cotton machinery 
 and manufactured cotton goods. 
 
 In 1846, the north or "Cotton Mill" was burned. Mr. 
 Holbrook repaired the walls and floors, but never pro- 
 vided it with machinery. In 1851 fire destroyed all 
 the factory buildings but this and a large number of 
 dwellings. This closed all manufacturing in this 
 village until the property was bought by the Messrs. 
 Whitin in 1856. We now return to Whitinsville. 
 
 In 1831, Colonel Paul Whitin having died, the firm 
 was re-organized, Mrs. Paul Whitin, Sr., and her 
 sons, Paul, John C. and Charles P. being the partners. 
 Charles P. Whitin had attained his majority the pre- 
 vious year. He had been employed in the office of 
 the old firm. In the new firm Mr. Paul Whitin re- 
 tained the financial and mercantile departments, Mr. 
 Charles P. Whitin took charge of the cotton manu- 
 facturing and Mr. John C. Whitin took charge of the 
 new department, the manufacture of cottou machin- 
 
 ery. The old Northbridge Cotton Manufacturing 
 Company's mill was bought and put in operation, and 
 continued in operation until 1861. In 1845 the stone 
 mill was built, with a capacity of seven thousand five 
 hundred spindles. 
 
 In 1847 James F. Whitin, the youngest son of Colo- 
 nel Paul Whitin, was admitted to the firm. He had, 
 for many years, had charge of the books of the con- 
 cern. In 1849 the firm bought up the capital stock 
 of the Uxbridge Cotton Mill of ten thousand spindle 
 capacity at North Uxbridge. They operated it until 
 the firm was dissolved in 1864. In 1856, having pur- 
 chased the property in Rockdale, they built the Rock- 
 dale Cotton Mill, with a capacity of ten thousand 
 spindles. About 1857, they bought the stone cotton- 
 mill, in East Douglass, of about eight thousand spin- 
 dle capacity, and operated it until the war. 
 
 In 1864, the firm of P. Whitin & Sons, manu- 
 facturers of cotton goods and of cotton machinery, 
 was dissolved and the business was divided. The 
 cotton manufacturing, which had increased from one 
 thousand five hundred spindles to thirty thousand, 
 was retained by Mr. Paul Whitin taking the mill in 
 Rockdale and the property at Riverdale, which P. 
 Whitin & Sons had purchased some yeais before; by 
 Mr. Charles P. Whitin taking the mill in Whitins- 
 ville. and Mr. James F. Whitin taking the mill in 
 North Uxbridge. Mr. John C. Whitin took the man- 
 ufacturing of cotton machinery. 
 
 At this time The Paul Whitin Manufacturing 
 Co. was formed, with Mr. Paul Whitin as president, 
 and his son, Charles E. Whitin, as treasurer and 
 agent. To the Rockdale Mill this company soon 
 added the mill at Riverdale, putting a brick addition 
 to the stone building which had been occupied by 
 Mr. Harvey Waters for the manufacture of scythes 
 and bayonets, and filling it with cotton machinery, 
 making it a mill of seven thousand spindles in capa- 
 city. The company still operates both mills, making 
 sheetings. 
 
 In 1884, on the death of Mr. Paul Whitin, Mr. 
 Charles E. Whitin became president, and remains 
 such, and Mr. Harry T. Whitin, his eldest son, be- 
 came agent. 
 
 Mr. Charles P. Whitin enlarged the stone mill at 
 Whitinsville in 1865, making its capacity thirteen 
 thousand six hundred spindles. In 1866 he united 
 his two elder sons, Edward and William H., with 
 him in the business under the name of "The Whi- 
 tinsville Cotton Mill." The same year he, with his 
 brother, James F. Whitin, built "The Linwood 
 Mill," of fifteen thousand spindle capacity, under 
 the name of "The Whitin Brothers." Since the 
 death of Mr. Charles P. Whitin. the business has 
 been carried on by the sons under the same firm- 
 name, the youngest son, Mr. Arthur F. Whitin, 
 having been added to the firm in 1881. 
 
 Thus has this manufacturing interest grown from 
 fifteen hundred spindles in 1810 to neariy fifty thou- 
 
446 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 sand spindles, employing nearly eight hundred 
 hands. 
 
 WooLEX Manufacturers. — We have seen that 
 the privilege at what is now Riverdale was first im- 
 proved by Jas. Nutting before 1764. In July of that 
 year he sold the property to Hezekiah Hall, of Ux- 
 bridge. He sold it the same year, October 4th, to Ed- 
 ward Hall, of Uxbridge. We are unable to trace all the 
 changes, but in March, 1780, Ezra Wood sold the land, 
 " together with a grist mill, and saw mill and mill 
 dam, and all the other buildings on the same," to 
 Henry Dunn. The property descended by will to his 
 sons David and Henry. About 1817, they built the 
 " cloth mill," and began the woolen manufactures of 
 the town. They took wool from the farmers and 
 carded it. Then the farmers spun and wove it and 
 carried it back to the mill, where it was pulled, 
 colored and t-heared. 
 
 The Dunn brothers fitted up a mill which Sylvanus 
 Holbrook hired, but soon left it, having purch.ased 
 the property at the upper village, now Rockdale. 
 Osmus Taft now hired their mill and operated it in 
 1822 and '23. Then the Messrs. Dunn took the 
 mill and manufactured satinets. But they becoming 
 embarrassed, Deacon Solomon Nelson, a relative, and 
 a Mr. Benson, from Enfield, Conn., took the busine.s8 
 and carried it on. Not being successful, the business 
 came into the hands of Sylvanus Holbrook about 
 1829, probably by failure to redeem the property 
 from mortgage given to him in 1826. Mr. Holbrook 
 rented the old mill to the younger Dunn for the 
 manufacture of woolen hat bodies. 
 
 All thei-e buildings were on the east side of the 
 river. January 16, 1776, John Eddy, from Smith- 
 field, Rhode Island, bought the property at the 
 " upper village," now Rockdale, of Thomas Emerson. 
 Some time before 1814 a dam was built, and a saw 
 and grist-mill erected. May 30, 1814, Mr. Eddy and 
 his son Jesse sold the dam and buildings, and six- 
 tenths c)f three acres and eighty-two rods of land, 
 one-tenth each to certain grantees: Antipas Earle, 
 Silas Earle and Timothy Earle, of Leicester, Levi 
 Lincoln and Daniel Waldo, of Worcester, and Amasa 
 Roberts, of Northbridge. The other four-tenths were 
 to lie in common with the six-tenths — that is, two- 
 tenths to Jesse Eddy and two-tenths to William Hen- 
 dricks, all for the formation of a copartnership for the 
 manufacturing of "woolen and cotton goods, or any 
 other business mutually agreed upon." June 14th, 
 the same year, these gentlemen became incorporated 
 as the " Northbridge Cloth Company," and as indi- 
 viduals, conveyed the property to this new company, 
 January 25, 1815, and the company began the manu- 
 facture of satinets, and continued it until 1819. March 
 2d, of this year, the company sold its property at 
 auction. It was purchased by Esek Pitts, of Mendon, 
 gentleman; Samuel Pitts, of Mendon, clothier; John 
 Farnam of Grafton, clothier, and Jesse Eddy, of North- 
 bridge, yeoman, who continued the Inisiness. Decem- 
 
 ber 17, 1821, John Farnam and Samuel Willis, having 
 become owners of the fourth part bought by Mr. 
 Pitts, deeded to Sylvanus Holbrook, a brother-in-law 
 of Mr. Farnam, three-fourths of the property, Mr. 
 Holbrook to take possession April 1, 1822. October 
 11, 1822, Jesse Eddy sold his fourth part to Mr. Hol- 
 brook, and he now became sole owner. The mill, which 
 had before been called " Eddy's Mill," was now called 
 " Holbrook's." Mr. Holbrook enlarged the old mill, 
 and continued to manufacture satinets. The weaving 
 was all done by hand until 1823, when power-looms 
 were introduced. Broadcloth was also made by Mr. 
 Holbrook, woven by hand on four looms, each two 
 yards wide. Of this article it is said, " it was made 
 of the very best stock, and was really tine and nice." 
 Themanufacture of broadcloth was discontinued about 
 1831. The woolen-mill was a three-set mill. The 
 manufacture of satinets was continued until 1837, after 
 which no woolen goods were manufactured in the 
 town. The textile manufactures of the town were to 
 be of cotton alone. 
 
 Manufactures of Leather. — Among the primi- 
 tive industries of the town was that of the shoemaker. 
 He was soon followed by the tanner and currier, to 
 prepare the material for his art. 
 
 Benjamin Basset, John Adams, Benjamin Farrar, 
 Simeon Bassett, Alfred Huse and Daniel Adams 
 were long remembered as of the traveling fraternity 
 of shoemakers, who carried their " kit " from house 
 to house and shod the families for the season. But 
 they were not to continue travelers, nor were they to 
 be content to supply the home dem.and. As early as 
 1810 Cheney Taft began the manufacture of the first 
 " sale " work in the town. He made what were called 
 " nigger shoes," in the summer, and went South to 
 sell them in the winter. Others soon followed, and 
 rooms were fitted up in the houses and little shops 
 were built near the homes for the new manufacture. 
 Between 1810 and 1820 eleven individuals were en- 
 gaged in the business; between 1820 and 1830, twelve 
 (some of these worked alone, others employed one or 
 more hands) ; between 183:) and 1840, sixteen indi- 
 viduals and four firms ; between 1840 and 1850, thir- 
 teen individuals and two firms; between I860 and 
 1860, six individuals and two firms ; between 1860 and 
 1870, two firms ; between 1870 to December, 1877, 
 three firms. But while the individuals carrying on 
 the business diminished, the number of persons en- 
 gaged in the work did not diminish — the individuals 
 were employed by the firms. The largest number of 
 persons employed was when but one firm was con- 
 ducting the business, and emi>loying sixty-six hands 
 in the shop and ninety-four outside. Usually more 
 men were working at their homes and in shops near 
 them than at the large shop or factory, taking the cut 
 work and returning the finished product. 
 
 Among the principal firms were those of J. & Z. 
 Bachelor, Fuller, Bachelor & Co., Joel Bachelor, Jr., 
 John M. Slocomb, A. & M. L. Taft, Bachelor & 
 
! 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
NORTHBRIDGE. 
 
 447 
 
 Adams, A. Taft & Son, Bachelor & Allard, Allard & 
 Adams, Newell, Daniels & Co., A. & A. B. Keith 
 & Co. This last firm built the large four-story 
 factory near the summit of the hill (still standing) 
 in 1867, and introduced all the improvements in 
 machinery. This firm, being changed to A. B. 
 Keith & Co., continued business until May of 
 1873. In July of the same year James Tucker & Co. 
 took the factory and continued the business until 
 December, 1S77. Of the "factory" Deacon Joel 
 Bachelor, who began the business in 1827 and had 
 continued it for forty years, alone and associated 
 with others, took the charge from the first, and con- 
 tinued in charge as long as it was in operation. Since 
 1877, the factory has been closed. But few are now 
 working at the business, being employed by firms in 
 other towns. Many have moved away, and many 
 have sought other employments. Thus this industry, 
 which employed so many, in shops and at their 
 homes, for so many years, has almost entirely ceased. 
 The volume of this business was considerable. In 
 1837 600 pairs of boots and 63,500 pairs of shoes 
 were made, valued at !?50,000, and niuety-flve persons 
 were engaged in the business. 
 
 In 1871, while only one hundred and six,ty persons 
 were employed by the one factory, yet by the aid of 
 machinery 17,280 pairs of shoes and 95,520 jxaira of 
 boots, valued at $338,480, were made, being more than 
 six times the product of 1837, with less than twice the 
 number of workmen — each one, thanks to machinery, 
 accomplishing more than three times as much as the 
 workman of 1837, and in one month all the workmen 
 averaged $51.50 for the month's wages. This business 
 was largely done at the Centre, and that part of the 
 town has suffered severely from its extinction. 
 
 This large development of the shoe business natur- 
 ally encouraged the business of tanning and currying, 
 and quite a number, as Joseph Congdon, Charles & 
 Derby Bigelow, Robinson & Rice, Jere Robinson, 
 Edward Proctor and Moses Walradt pursued the bus- 
 iness with success, some as late as 1868. After this 
 time only leather prepared elsewhere was used. 
 
 The Gra^tite Indcstry. — From the first, granite 
 for home use has been quarried in the town, and as 
 mills and store-houses have been built of stone, the 
 business has been quite large. Mr. Hasen O. Bean 
 was the first to export granite, using the Blackstone 
 Canal in the years 1827 and 1828. 
 
 Mr. John Donegan began operations at what has 
 since been known as Plummer's Quarry, in 1854, em- 
 ploying some twenty men, and continued work for 
 two years. At this time Mr. Israel Plummer began 
 to operate the quarry, and continued the business for 
 many years under the name of the " Plummer Granite 
 Company," employing as many as seventy-five men 
 during the season. In 1872 Mr. Henry S. Taft took 
 the business and continued it until 1884, employing 
 about the same number of men, shipping each year 
 some five hundred car-loads of granite of ten tons 
 
 each, one-fourth of it dressed. Since January, 1884, 
 this quarry has not beer^ worked. 
 
 In 1865 Mr. George Blanchard began operations at 
 a quarry one-half mile southwest of Whitiusville, and 
 has continued them to this date, employing from fif- 
 teen to forty-five men. 
 
 In 1870 Samuel Fowler & Son began operation on 
 the east side of the Blackstone, about one-half mile 
 below Rockdale, at a ledge which had early in the 
 history of the town received the name of " Shining 
 Rocks." The business is still continued by the son, 
 Mr. Samuel Fowler, who employs from fifty to 
 seventy-five men. 
 
 In the manufactures of iron, cotton and in work on 
 granite nearly eighteen hundred of the people of the 
 town are employed 
 
 The great amount of business done in the town 
 made a bank of discount and a bank for the savings 
 of the workmen very desirable, and 
 
 The Whitinsville National Bank was estab- 
 lished in 1865, as a bank of deposit and discount, with 
 one hundred thousand dollars capital, with Mr. Paul 
 Whitin president and Mr. H. A. Goodell cashier. 
 Mr. Whiliu continued president until his death, in 
 1884. He was succeeeded by Mr. Charles P. Whitin, 
 who held the office until his death, in 1887, when Mr. 
 James F. Whitin was made president, and still holds 
 .the office. 
 
 . The Whitixsvili.e Savings Bank was estab- 
 lished in 1874, with Mr. John C. Whitin president 
 and Mr. H. A. Goodell treasurer. On Mr. Whitin's 
 death, in IsSS, Mr, Charles P. Whitin became presi- 
 dent; at his death Mr. James F. Whitin was chosen 
 to the office, which he still fills. November 1, 1888, 
 there were 1238 depositors in this bank, and the total 
 of their depo-its was $389,895.77. It is probable that 
 nearly, if not quite, as large deposits are held by citi- 
 zens of the town in saving banks in other towns. 
 
 The growth of the town in population is as follows : 
 1776,481; 1790,569; 1800,544; 1810,713; 1820, 
 905; 18:i0, 1053; 1840,1449; 1850,2230; 1860,2633; 
 1865, 2642 ; 1870, 3774; 1875, 4030; 1880, 4053 ; 1885, 
 3786. 
 
 CHAPTER LXVIII. 
 
 NORTHBRIDGE— ( Continued.) 
 
 INDrV'IDUAW. 
 
 The briefest sketch of a town's history should in- 
 clude some notice of the men who have especially 
 contributed to its development. Of these a few will 
 now be noticed. 
 
 Colonel Paul Whitin, or Whiting, a.s the u&me 
 was originally, who laid the more recent foundations 
 of the business which now exists in the village that 
 received his name, " was born in Roxbury, in that 
 
448 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 part of the town near Dedham, December 3, 1767. 
 He was the son of Sarah and Nathaniel (Draper) 
 Whiting. His father died when he was a child. His 
 mother was married in 1770 to James Prentice," who 
 lived at what is now known as " Prentice's Corner," 
 in this town. When quite young he was appren- 
 ticed to Jesse White, of this town, to learn the 
 blacksmith's trade. His advantages for education 
 were exceedingly limited; his whole attendance at 
 school did not probably exceed six months. Few men 
 have ever entered upon business life with less encour- 
 aging prospects. When he closed his apprenticeship 
 his health was poor and continued so for some years. 
 He had no pecuniary means of his own and no rela- 
 tions to whom he could look for aid. But he had 
 what was better — an honest purpose to do according 
 to his ability. He struggled with and overcame dif- 
 ficulties to which most would have yielded. By per- 
 severance and a diligent improvement of those inter- 
 vals of labor that many young men spend in idleness, 
 he acquired a good knowledge of those branches of 
 study necessary for the successful prosecution of busi- 
 ness. He was eminently a self-educated man. A 
 book for aiding him in acquiring a correct use of 
 language was always by him. He was as familiar 
 with this as with the tools of his shop. When he 
 was twenty-eight years of age he was chosen town 
 clerk, and he was chosen to this office thirteen suc- 
 cessive years. He was often elected to other town 
 offices. He was regarded as an excellent military 
 officer. He was for several years justice of the peace. 
 He was repeatedly urged to allow himself to be 
 chosen as Representative to the Legislature, but this 
 he invariably refused on the ground that it would 
 require a sacrifice iu his business, that he could not 
 then afford to make. To show his habits of industry, 
 it may be proper to mention that it was his custom 
 to redeem, by extra labor, all the time that he spent 
 in military duties or public business. 
 
 Colonel Whitin was a lover of good order in society, 
 and could never endure those practices that were an 
 infringement upon it, or that wore calculated to pre- 
 sent a dangerous example to tlie young. He attached 
 great importance to the institutions of the Gospel, 
 and was prompt to aid in maintaining them. The 
 Sabbath he regarded as a holy day, and any violations 
 of it he hesitated not to class with other gross im- 
 moralities. Though he never made a public profes- 
 sion of religion, he was regarded by those best 
 acquainted with his religious feelings as a true Chris- 
 tian. He died on the 8lh of February, 1831, in the 
 sixty-fourth year of his age. 
 
 Mr. Whitin married Betsey Fletcher, the daughter 
 of Colonel James Fletcher, of this place, December 
 3, 1793. She was, during Colonel Whitin's life, a 
 most efficient helper in the work he did for the com- 
 munity and the world. She survived him thirty- 
 seven years, and was, until near the time of her 
 death, a member of the firm of P. Whitin & Sons, 
 
 and contributed her share to its success. They had 
 ten children, of whom eight lived to years of matu- 
 rity. 
 
 Paul Whitin, Jr., the second son of Colonel Paul 
 and Betsey (Fletcher) Whitin, was born February 5, 
 1800. His childhood and youth were most of them 
 spent hei'e. He attended the district school for the 
 few months of the year it was kept. When about 
 twelve he spent some time with an uncle in Amster- 
 dam, N. Y., and attended school. He also had iwo 
 terms at Leicester Academy. From his tenth year 
 when not in school he worked in the cotton-mill and 
 on the farm. At the age of eighteen he went to Bos- 
 ton in the dry-goods store of James Brewer. At twen- 
 ty-one he formed a partnership with a fellow-clerk, and 
 opened a dry-goods store on Maiden Lane, in New 
 York, under the name of Lee & Whitin. In 1826 he re- 
 turned home, and, with his father and younger brother, 
 John C. Whitin, formed the firm of P. Whitin & 
 Sons. He took charge of the mercantile department, 
 having the charge of the store, of buying the supplies 
 of the mill and selling the product. For this his 
 training had fitted him. He retained the same de- 
 partment in the firm as reorganized after the death of 
 Paul Whitin, Sr., in 1831, until its dissolution in 
 
 1864, a period of thirty-eight years. He conducted 
 it with ability and thoroughness, and thus contrib- 
 uted an important element to the success of the 
 business of the firm. After the firm was dissolved 
 he continued in the manufacture of cotton goods, 
 being president of the Paul Whitin Manufacturing 
 Company, with mills at Rockdale and Riverdale, 
 until his death. Though never robust of body, his 
 regular habits and his attention to the laws of health 
 enabled him to accomplish a large amount of busi- 
 ness and to preserve life to a good old age in the full 
 posse-^sion of his faculties. He always took a deep 
 interest in town and public affiiirs; was early called to 
 town offices. He was elected to tbe Legislature in 
 1837, and to the Senate in 1849. His perfect integrity 
 and his sound judgment won the confidence of all 
 men, and he was sought for many places of trust, 
 which he filled till very late in life. He was chosen 
 director of the Blackstone Bank at Uxbridge October 
 6, 1828, and remained a director until he was chosen 
 president October 6, 1845, which office he filled until 
 
 1865, when he resigned to become president of the 
 National Bank in Whitinsville. This last office he 
 retained until his death in 1884, thus completing 
 fifty-six years of important connection with these 
 banks. He was a director of the Worcester Mutual 
 Fire Insurance Company from 1838, and attended a 
 meeting only the day before his death ; also a direc- 
 tor of the Worcester Manufacturers' Mutual from 
 1860. He was a director in the Providence and Wor- 
 cester Railroad from its organization until two years 
 before his death, when he resigned his position. He 
 was for many years an active member and trustee of 
 the Worcester County Agricultural and Horticultural 
 
 i 
 
^ W^^^^:^^; 
 
*4, 
 
 
 ^. / 
 
 
 ^^^Ac'lc>, 
 
 t-^n^ 
 
1 
 
 1 
 
NORTHBRIDGE. 
 
 449 
 
 Societies. He always took a deep interest in all 
 branches of agriculture and especially in horticulture, 
 and did much to advance them in the vicinity. 
 Though called to so many trusts, he neglected none. 
 His fidelity to them was as great as to his own per- 
 sonal concerns. He united with the Congregiitional 
 Church at the Centre in 1820. He was very active 
 in the formation of the Village Church in Whitins- 
 ville, and was always true to his covenant of love to 
 and interest in it, and ever faithful in attendance 
 upon and support of its ordinances. He was a just 
 man who feared God, a man of decided religious con- 
 victi(jns and of deep feeling, though of few words as 
 to his personal experiences. By his life and deeds he 
 was ever a power for good in the community. Retir- 
 ing in usual health on the eve of February 7, 1884, 
 he fell asleep to wake in eternal life. 
 
 Mr. Whitin married Sarah R. Chapin, of Uxbridge, 
 August 21, 1S22. She was ever a most efficient 
 helper to him in all good. Four children survived 
 him, — Hon. Charles E. Whitin, who continues the 
 business ; Mr. Henry Whitin, for many years a com- 
 mission merchant in New York ; Mrs. Sarah Orvis, 
 of Manchester, Vt.; and Miss Anna L. Whitin, at 
 home. 
 
 John Crane Whitin, the fourth son of Colonel 
 Paul and Betsey (Fletcher) Whitin, was born March 
 1, 1807. Until he was fifteen years of age he at- 
 tended the school of the district during the usual 
 summer and winter terms. The rest of each year, 
 after he was nine years old, he was employed in the 
 cotton-mill, working at first in the picker-room. 
 When twelve he was placed in the repair-room, and 
 worked here three years, the only apprenticeship to 
 his life-work. Early in 1822 he went to New York, 
 to be in the dry goods store of his elder brother Paul, 
 Jr., and remained there until the latter part of 1825, 
 when he returned home to form with his father and 
 his brother Paul, Jr., the firm of P. Whitin & Sons, 
 for the manufacture of cotton goods. He took charge 
 of the manufacturing and mechanical departments of 
 the business. He was soon diverted to the manufac- 
 ture of cotton machinery, to which he devoted him- 
 self exclusively, making it his life's work. What he 
 did in this has been spoken of sufficiently in the 
 chapter on " Manufactures." 
 
 He was endowed with great energy, was full of 
 enterprise, and yet sufficiently conservative for safety. 
 He had capacity for very hard work ; he had, to an 
 eminent degree, common sense in mechanics; he was 
 quick to see what would work in a machine, and 
 could construct it entirely in his mind before he 
 made a pattern. This saved him from the failures so 
 many mechanics have when they come to put their 
 ideas into wood and iron. He never made a pattern 
 which was not used enough to pay for it— a fact which 
 is true of very few men who made thousands, as he 
 did. He was called to various offices of trust — men 
 learned to lojk on him as one in whom they could 
 29 
 
 confide implicitly. At the time of his death he was 
 a director of the National Bank, Whitinsville, presi- 
 dent of the Whitinsville Savings Bank, and director 
 of the Providence and Worcester Railroad. He had 
 been Representative to the General Court, and was 
 Presidential elector in 1876. 
 
 Mr. Whitin became a decided Christian in early 
 manhood, and united with the church at Northbridge 
 Centre December 4, 1831. He was one of the original 
 members of the church in Whitinsville, and was 
 chosen one of its deacons in the beginning, in 1834, 
 and retained the office until his death, though for 
 some years relieved from active service. He was 
 superintendent of the Sabbath-school for twenty-five 
 years. He was always in his place of service, and 
 always ready to do his part in maintaining the ordi- 
 nances of religion. He had a deep and intelligent 
 interest in the varied benevolent causes of the day, 
 which led to steady and large contributions to ad- 
 vance them. He was reticent as to his own feelings, 
 but clear and decided in his views, and always ready 
 to act up to his convictions. His religious vows were 
 as sacred as his business promises. 
 
 Mr. Whitin married, May 30, 1831, Miss Catharine 
 H. Leland, of Sutton, by whom he had several chil- 
 dren, one of whom, a daughter, the wife of Josiah 
 Lasell, survived him. Mrs. Catharine Whitin died 
 January 31, 1873. She was a woman of remarkable 
 grace and beauty of character. Mr. Whitin married, 
 January 20, 1876, Miss Sarah Elizabeth Pratt, of 
 Hopkinton, who survives him. Their only child, 
 John C, died in infancy. 
 
 For years Mr. Whitin had contended with a rheu- 
 matic aft'ection which had rendered him liable to 
 sudden death, but, conscious of his readiness for 
 that event, he ever kept busied as his strength al- 
 lowed in the care of his estate and in works of bene- 
 faction. After a brief confinement to the house, the 
 messenger came at midnight, April 22, 1882, without 
 an instant's warning, but did not find him unpre- 
 pared, for he had lived in the fear and the service of 
 the King who called him. 
 
 Charles Pinckney Whitin, the fifth son of 
 Colonel Paul and Betsey (Fletcher) Whitin, was born 
 August 6, 1809. His education was obtained in the 
 schools of the town and in the academy at Leicester. 
 It was such that at the age of sixteen he taught school 
 acceptably in the stone school-house near Plummer's 
 Corner. He early worked in the cotton-mill in which 
 his father was interested, and here learned the rudi- 
 ments of the art of cotton manufacture, in which he 
 afterwards became so proficient. He continued with 
 his father and brothers until his twenty-first year 
 when he went to Willimantic to fit up and take charge 
 of a cotton-mill. Having been called home by his 
 father's last sickness, he ever after remained in 
 his native town, and became identified with and most 
 active in its growth and prosperity. The same year, 
 1831, he became an active member of the firm of P. 
 
450 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Whitin & Sons, which had beea formed in 1826, and 
 in which he had had an interest from the first, and 
 which was reorganized on the death of Colonel Paul 
 Whitin. He had charge of the cotton manufacturing 
 department, and in this he became an expert and an 
 authority. He superintended the erection of the 
 stone mill in Whitinsville in 1845, the enlargement 
 of the North Uxbridge mill in 1847 and 1848, and the 
 erection of the mill at Rockdale in 1856 and 1857. He 
 had great interest in the improvement of the water- 
 power of the Mumford River, devising and building 
 the reservoirs and dams, which have increased its 
 steadiness and reliability so much. 
 
 Whenever his brother, John C. Whitin, who had 
 charge of the machine shop, was absent, the care and 
 responsibility of this devolved upon him, and he had 
 the practical charge of the shop from April, 1860, to 
 January, 1864, while his brother was engaged at 
 Holyoke. When the firm of P. Whitin & Sons was 
 dissolved, January 1, 1864, Mr. Whitin took the cotton- 
 mills in Whitinsville and East Douglas, and carried 
 on the business of cotton manufacture in his own 
 name, having associated his sons with him. In 1865 
 he built the mill at Linwood, with his brother, James 
 F. Whitin, and in 1881 he purchased the mill in 
 Saundersville. 
 
 In all his business life he was eminently a practical 
 man, quick to discern what should be done and 
 prompt to do it. He was thorough and faithful, so 
 that all he did was well done. He was untiring in 
 industry, aud though not physically rugged, especially 
 in his younger year..", he had great power of endur- 
 ance. He was also a man of most excellent judg- 
 ment. In his special department of cotton manufac- 
 ture, it may be doubted if he had a superior, and his 
 judgment was often sought by others. He was 
 ob.«ervant and careful of all details, conservative of 
 what had done well in the i^ast, yet quick to see a 
 real improvement and ready to adopt it. He was 
 safely progressive as well as careful, aud therefore 
 successful in business. 
 
 He was reared in a Christian home, and early 
 yielded to religious influences, aud united with the 
 church at Northbridge Centre on his eleventh birth- 
 day, August 6, 1820, and for sixty-five years he 
 honored his profes->ion by a consistent Christian 
 youth and manhood. He was identified with the 
 church in Whitinsville from the first, in 1834, and 
 ever gladly did much for its prosperity by personal 
 effort and generous contribution. He was deeply and 
 intelligently interested in the great missionary and 
 benevolent agencies of our day, and was always a 
 steady and liberal contributor to them. 
 
 He was thoughtful of the needs and interests of 
 others, and ever ready to minister to their comfort and 
 pleasure in many ways, often doing it iu ways 
 unknown to the recipients of his bounty. He loved 
 to be an unknown and unthanked benefactor. He 
 was especially fond of children, and always had a kind 
 
 word for them, and many of them received the fruits 
 of his interest, not knowing whence they came. 
 
 He united to a remarkable degree strength and 
 tenderness, firmness and gentleness, vigor and deli- 
 cacy. He was widely loved as well as respected. As 
 a citizen he was ever studious of the best interests of 
 the town and the State, and was ever ready to do his 
 part to promote them. But he was never desirous of 
 office, rather shunning publicity of service. He was 
 selectman in 1852, and Representative of the district 
 in 1859. At the time of his decease he was director 
 of the Douglas Axe Company, and president of the 
 Whitinsville National and Savings Bank. His great 
 work was done in this home community, and it was 
 well done. He was confined to the house but a few 
 days, and fell asleep without pain to wake in life, 
 August 29, 1887. A true man and a devout Chris- 
 tian. 
 
 Mr. Whitin married Miss Sarah J. Halliday Octo- 
 ber 21, 1834, who survived him with four sons, three 
 of whom, Edward, William H. and Arthur F., were 
 associated with him in business, and who still con- 
 tinue it. His son Lewis F. is in the commission 
 business in New York. The only daughter, Helen 
 L., married George L. Gibbs, of this place. She died 
 on May 9, 1885. 
 
 James Fletcher Whitin, the youngest son of 
 Colonel Paul and Betsey (Fletcher) Whitin, was 
 born December 21, 1814. 
 
 His education was received in the schools of the 
 town, and in the academies of Uxbridge, Leicester, 
 Munsen and Amherst. On the completion of his 
 schooling he went into the counting-room of the firm 
 of P. Whitin & Sons. Soon the care of this depart- 
 ment came to him, and he retained it until the firm 
 was dissolved, January 1, 1864. In 1847 he became 
 a member of the firm. When the firm was dissolved 
 he took the cotton-mill at North Uxbridge. In 1866 
 he built, with his brother, Mr. Charles P. Whitin, 
 the mill at Linwood, and has continued in the busi- 
 ness of cotton manufacture until the present time. 
 
 He married, July 23, 1842, Miss Patience H. Saun- 
 ders, of Grafton. A son, George M. Whitin, who was 
 for several years thesuperintendent of the cotton-mill 
 at North Uxbridge, died suddenly January 24, 1883. 
 A son, Albert H., is the only child how living. 
 
 Paul Whitin Dudley, the son of Amasa and 
 Ann (Fletcher) Dudley, was born April 3, 1817, in 
 Amsterdam, N. Y. His parents had removed there 
 some years before from Whitinsville, but soon after 
 his birth returned to their old home. Mr. Dudley's 
 childhood was spent in Whitinsville, in Sutton (Man- 
 chaug)and in Uxbridge. In these places, at the com- 
 mon schools and the academy at Uxbridge, he obtained 
 his education. He went into his father's store in Ux- 
 bridge and learned the business of his life, that of a 
 merchant. He continued with his father, and in the 
 settlement of his business when he became unable to 
 care for it himself, until he was twenty-nine, when he 
 
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NORTHBRIDGE. 
 
 451 
 
 came to Whitinsville and took charge of the store of 
 P. Whitin & Sons. He retained this charge until the 
 firm wai dissolved in 1864, when he formed a partner- 
 ship with Mr. Charles P. Whitin, to continue the 
 same business under the firm-name of P. W. Dudley 
 & Co. Mr. Dudley had the active management of 
 the business until his death, July 1, 1872. 
 
 Mr. Dudley was a thorough business man, exact 
 and methodical. He was untiring in industry. His 
 perfect integrity and his ability inspired such con- 
 fidence that he was often called to positions of trust 
 in the town and in the church. He was chairman of 
 the Board of Selectmen in the trying years of 1862, 
 '63, '64 and '65, declining a re-election the next year. 
 He was from the first a director of the National Bank. 
 Individuals often called on him for help in their 
 affairs, and he was most ready to assist. Though the 
 calls outside of his business were so many, nothing 
 was neglected, and his industry and method were 
 such that nothing was half-done. 
 
 He was a benevolent man. Hating waste, he used 
 his means most generously and conscientiously for 
 every good cause and for individual u§ed. Not con- 
 tent with giving of his means, he gave personal 
 service freely. Many can witness of these deeds of 
 personal service, especially during and after the war, 
 for soldiers and their families. Many of these deeds 
 were known only to himself and those helped, and 
 often not to them. No good cause or deserving 
 person ever appealed to him in vain. He was deeply 
 interested in everything ihat made for the public 
 welfare, local and national. He was especially active 
 and earnest in the temperance cause. At the time 
 of his death he was president of the Worcester South 
 Temperance Union and a member of the State 
 Temperance Alliance. To this cause he gave freely 
 of time and money. 
 
 He was a very conscientious man and never hesi- 
 tated to obey the voice of duty, though it might be a 
 most unpleasant task, and he did the most trjing of 
 duties in such an honest and gentle way as to com- 
 mand the respect of those whom he might have to 
 rebuke or antagonize. All knew and telt that there 
 was not a trace of malice or harshness in the man. 
 
 He was a true and fiiithful Christian. He identi- 
 fied himself with the Village Congregational Church 
 when he came to Whitinsville in 1846, and was 
 always at hii post, and ever ready to do his full 
 share and to make up, as far as possible, the lack of 
 service by others. He was chosen deacon January 
 11, 1866, and continued in the office until his death. 
 He was also superintendent of the Sabbath school 
 for several years. In this office he gave due expres- 
 sion to his love for and great interest in children. 
 Kind words and deeds for them were constant. 
 
 October 19, 1842, Mr. Dudley married Miss Sarah 
 A. Tobey, of Worcester. She, with four children — 
 three sons and a daughter — survives him. He was 
 preparing to attend the Sabbath evening service 
 
 when he was stricken by paralysis. He remained 
 unconscious until his death, the next morning. 
 Though cut down in mid-life, he was not called 
 until he had done a good work for the community, for 
 his family and for his Master. 
 
 JosiAH Lasell, the son of Chester and Nancy 
 (Manning) Lasell, was born in Schoharie, N. Y., 
 August 6, 1825. His parents were of Pilgrim extrac- 
 tion, and held and practiced the faith of their fiithers 
 in its finest and sturdiest qualities. Here and amid 
 such home influences Mr. Lasell spent his child- 
 hood. He fitted for college in his native place, and 
 entered Williams College, where his brother Edward 
 was professor of chemistry, in 1840. He studied law 
 for a time at Schoharie; but his instincts and tastes 
 for teaching drew him from the law as a profession. 
 Yet, without doubt, those months spent in this study 
 helped to prepare him for his busineirs career, which 
 was to be his larger life-work. He first taught in the 
 boys' school of Professor Piquet in Brooklyn, N. Y. ; 
 then for several years in Spingler Institute, New 
 York City, of which Jacob Abbott was the principal. 
 In 1852 he and his brother-in-law, Professor G. W. 
 Briggs, joined his brother. Professor Edward Lasell, 
 of Williams College, who had projected and secured 
 the incorporation of Lasell Seminary in Auburndale, 
 in this State, in the enterprise of establishing a sem- 
 inary of high grade for young ladies. A few months 
 after they began the work Professor Lasell, the 
 founder, died, and Mr. Josiah Lasell became joint 
 principal with Professor Briggs, and continued in 
 this work until 1860. June 5, 1855, he married 
 Jane, the only daughter of Mr. John C. Whitin, of 
 Whitinsville. 
 
 In 1860 Mr. Whitin called him to his assistance in 
 the conduct of the machine works he had just pur- 
 cha.sed at Holyoke, in this State. He remained in 
 Holyoke until January, 1864, when Mr. Whitin, 
 having sold the works, and having become sole pro- 
 prietor of the Whitin Machine Works, Mr. Lasell 
 came to Whitinsville to have the care of the books 
 and accounts of the concern, and to render l\Ir. 
 Whitin such assistance as he might need. When 
 the Whitin Machine Works was incorporated in 
 1870, Mr. Lasell was made its treasurer, and he 
 shared in the labors of the president, Mr. Whitin, 
 and as the latter was obliged to lay a-<ide his work 
 more and more, it devolved more and more on the 
 treasurer, who relieved him almost entirely of the 
 burden of the details of it. 
 
 At the death of Mr. Whitin, in 1882, Mr. Lasell 
 was made president and he also retained the treas- 
 urership until January, 1886. It was largely by his 
 inspiration and under his direction that the recent 
 great enlargement of the works has been made. 
 
 As a teacher Mr. Lasell had rare qualities and 
 great success. He had a true teacher's genius to 
 awaken enthusiasm and to impart instruction to the 
 aroused pupil. Many pupils will say, as one did to 
 
452 
 
 HISTOKY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 the writer many years ago, "No teacher ever did so 
 much for me as did Mr. Josiah Lasell." And his 
 work as a teacher is fittingly commemorated in the 
 name of the institution, with whose early history and 
 success he had such intimate connection. 
 
 As a business man he developed large capacity. 
 Though not educated to business, bis well-trained 
 mind grappled successfully with its problems. He 
 took wide and far-reaching views of the varied forces 
 affecting business interests, and knew and could state 
 his reasons for his opinions. He believed in large 
 developments yet before us, and formed his plans to 
 provide for them. He was, too, the master of details, 
 and had unusual capacity of accomplishing a great 
 deal of work with seemingly slight effort. He was 
 also able to see and appreciate the difficult and intri- 
 cate mechanical questions connected with machinery. 
 
 He was called to varied offices of trust, as director of 
 the Providence & Worcester and of the Rome & Water- 
 town Railroads, director of the Whitinsville National 
 and Savings Banks. And very many in a large circle 
 of kindred and friends naturally looked to him for 
 counsel, and never failed to find in his judicious 
 advice the help they sought. 
 
 As a friend, hosts can testify how true, kind, con- 
 siderate and ready with word and deed of help he 
 was. Incapable of malice, he cherished the most 
 charitable and kindly views even of those from whom 
 he might differ or who had wronged him. Severe 
 words were very rarely, if ever, spoken of any. 
 Pleasant and cheery ones came easily from his lips 
 and carried comfort to many hearts. As a citizen he 
 took deep interest in all that concerned the country 
 and the State and the community, and sought so to 
 discharge his duties as should best help the public 
 weal. 
 
 In early life he cherished the Christian hope, and 
 made public profession of his allegiance to Christ. 
 At Holyoke he was superintendent of the Sabbath- 
 school and gave efficient help in the music of the 
 worship. In Whitinsville he was a Sabbath-school 
 teacher until he took charge of the choir, which he 
 led for several years. His interest in the musical 
 service of the house of God continued until the last, 
 and the last evening of his life he sang with his 
 wonted fervor in a praise service, and in a few hours 
 passed into the life of praise, March 15, 1886, much 
 mourned and much missed as a man, citizen and 
 friend. 
 
 He left a widow and two sons, Chester W. and 
 Josiah M., who continue in the business of their 
 father, and two daughters, Catharine W. and Jennie 
 L., the former of whom is the wife ol G. Marston 
 Whitin, the treasurer of the Whitin Machine Works. 
 
 GusTAVUS E. Taft was the sou of Cyrus and Lu- 
 
 cinda Morse Taft. He was born in Peacham, Vt., 
 
 August 29, 1829, to which place his father had moved 
 
 rom this town a few years before. When he was ten 
 
 years of age his parents returned to Whitinsville. He 
 
 received bis education in the schools of the town and 
 in the academy at Uxbridge. At seventeen he en- 
 tered the machine-shop of P. Whitin & Sons as an ap- 
 prentice. Here he developed his mechanical powers, 
 from which so much of his success in life came. He 
 continued in their employ until 1860 ; when, Mr. 
 John C. Whitin having purchased the Holyoke Ma- 
 chineShop, Mr. Taft went to Holyoke to be super- 
 intendent of the works. He remained in this position 
 until Mr. Whitin sold his interest in Holyoke, and 
 took the machine shop in Whitinsville, on the dis- 
 solution of the firm of P. Whitin & Sons, January 1, 
 1864. Mr. Taft then became superintendent of the 
 shop where he learned his trade, and he was identified 
 with all its enlargements and the great growth of the 
 business. To this great development he contributed 
 much by his eminent abilities as an organizer of la- 
 bor and a manager of men, and by his great me- 
 chanical skill exercised in the improvements in tools, 
 greatly increasing their efficiency, and by his inventive 
 skill. He made important improvements in cotton 
 machinery, in cards, in spinning-frames and looms, 
 many of which were very valuable. For some of these 
 he obtained patents. His most valuable patent was 
 for the " Whitin Gravity Spindle," the joint invention 
 of himself and Mr. Henry Woodmancy. It was obtained 
 July 18, 1882. A patent was also obtained for it in 
 England, France, Germany and Holland, and it has 
 been made and sold abroad and in the United States 
 in great numbers. It is an important application of 
 a new principle to the driving of the spindle, and 
 greatly increases its producing capacity. 
 
 In 1881, Mr. Taft was made agent of the corpora- 
 tion, and remained such in the active management of 
 the business until his death. 
 
 He ever had a deep interest in local and national 
 affairs, though so engrossed in business that he could 
 give but little time to any public affairs. But he was 
 always ready to do his full share in contributing to any 
 measures that would advance the interest of the com- 
 munity. In all personal relations he was eminently 
 friendly ; ever ready to grant a favor, and in such a 
 manner that one seeking it was made to feel that it 
 gave him real pleasure to do it. And if he was con- 
 strained to refuse a request, it was so kindly done as 
 to make manifest his regret that he must refuse. He 
 remembered and helped the needy in an unostenta- 
 tious way, hiding the hand whence the benefaction 
 came. He was a firm believer in the protection of 
 American industries, as best for workman and em- 
 ployer. 
 
 November 8, 1855, he married Miss Ruth L. Lamb, 
 of Clinton, Me., who with six children survives him. 
 His three sons are engaged in the same shop where 
 his life-work was done. He had for years contended 
 with a fatal disease, suffering much and knowing that 
 he was liable to sudden death. But he kept at his 
 work with great cheerfulness until very near the end, 
 which came after a short confinement to the house — 
 
,^2^-^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 r.-^ 
 
 yu 
 
1 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
NORTHBOROUGH. 
 
 453 
 
 came in an instant — June 23, 1888. A strong man, of 
 large ability in mechanics and in business, of unim- 
 peachable integrity, of most friendly spirit, of win- 
 ning ways and kind action.' 
 
 CHAPTER LXIX. 
 NORTHBOROUGH. 
 
 BY JOSEPH HENRY ALLEN. 
 Territory^ 10,150 acfcs; poj)tttalion, in 1885, 1853, 
 
 NORTHBOROUGH is the youngest in age, the third 
 in size, and the least in population, of the four borough 
 towns (so-called) formerly included in the town of 
 Marlborough.^ It lies on the old county road be- 
 tween Boston and Worcester, thirty-three miles from 
 the former, ten from the latter; the track of the first 
 emigration to Connecticut, in 1(J35, ran through its 
 southeastern corner. Its shape is an irregular poly- 
 gon, of six or seven sides, with a broad angle thrust 
 out to the southeast ; its dimensions are from 
 four to five miles each way. The larger part of it is 
 valley, lying rather lower than either of the surround- 
 ing towns. The A:-sabet River (here a slender stream) 
 rising some mile.-* to the south, flows about three 
 miles of its course, northeastwardly, through the 
 town, and is joined by four brooks, — Stirrup Brook, 
 which is the outlet of Great and Little Chauncy 
 Ponds, making here a course of nearly two miles ; 
 Hop Brook (once fringed with wild hops), which 
 courses the southwest border of the town; Cold Har- 
 bor Brook, which flows about three miles from 
 Straw Hollow and Rocky Pond, in the edge of Boyls- 
 ton, and is then joined by Howard Brook, a shorter 
 stream (where possibly a few trout may still survive), 
 which overflows a broad meadow a little farther north. 
 The Assabet, then flowing with considerable force, 
 furnishes large water-power at Hudson, Rockboltom 
 
 1 The writer of this history gladly acknowledges his great obligations 
 to the researches of Rev. L. F, Clark and Mr. Charles 0. Bachelor, in the 
 early history of Northbridge. He has made free use of the materials 
 they gathered. 
 
 ' In the year 165(), on petition of the inhabitants of Sudbury (founded 
 in 1638), the colonial Legislature of Massachusetts Bay made to that 
 town a grant of about forty-tivo square miles of territory to the west- 
 ward, known as miqjsuppeiiicice, including a reservation of six thousand 
 acres held by the ludians of Ognonikongquamesit. (These names are also 
 written irAyjswJTerodye and Ockoocangametl : the reader takes his choice.) 
 This territory— of which tlie central point is about thirty miles due west 
 from Boston — was, in IGOO, incorporated as a town, under the name 
 Marlborough. lu 1717 the western portion, till then known as Chaun- 
 cy (a grant of land near Chauncy Pond having been made to President 
 Cbauncy, of Harvard College), was separately incorporated as West- 
 borough. Ten years later the eastern portion was further divided, its 
 southern part becoming Southborougb ; and the North Parish of West- 
 borough, organized in 1744 as a " precinct," was in 1760 incorporated as 
 the "district" of Northborough, becoming a town, with right of repre- 
 sentation in the Legislature, under a general law piissed in 1775. Of 
 the four borough towns, Marlborough belongs to Middlesex County, the 
 other three to Worcester. 
 
 and Maynard {formerly Assabet), joining the Sudbury 
 to form the Concord, and so to the Merrimack, near 
 Lowell. 
 
 Topography. — These water-courses have traced 
 the lines of population and business enterprise. The 
 first white settler was John Brigham, who, in 1672, 
 occupied "Licor-meadow Plain," which we under- 
 stand to be Cold Harbor Brook Meadow, just north 
 of what went as Liquor Hill till 1834, when it took 
 the gentler name of Assabet. Saw-mills and grist- 
 mills were early built on all these streams. A full- 
 ing-mill was set up by Samuel Wood (who removed 
 from Sudbury about 1750) near where the main road 
 is crossed by the Assabet ; bog-iron was found and 
 worked, and potash was made hard by. A tan-yard 
 was established by Isaac Davis in 1781, near the 
 Assabet, where it makes the boundary from West- 
 borough ; two miles farther down its course a cotton 
 factory was built, in 1814, during the dearth and pov- 
 erty of the War of 1812 ; and, a little farther still, 
 the "new factory" was built, of brick, by the brothers 
 Davis in 1832. In the south of the town, the Assa- 
 bet Valley widens into "the Plain," quite flat for 
 perha])s a mile and a half in length by half as much 
 in width. Farther north the surface of the town is 
 very diversified, with stony and rugged hills on the 
 northern and western borders. 
 
 The chief elevations are Mount Assabet (before 
 mentioned), which rises about one hundred and fifty 
 feet from the valley, near the geographical centre, a 
 pleasant rounded and wooded eminence ; Edmond, 
 Sulphur and Ghost Hills are bolder elevations to- 
 wards the north; Tomlin Hill, more low and flat, in 
 the southwest ; Bartlett Hill, a long and handsome 
 oval, near the Boylstou line ; and Ball Hill, broad 
 and stony, over which the town road climbs heavily 
 towards the northwest. In general, the forests are 
 well preserved on the higher ground, and give the 
 town the advantage of a landscape much admired for 
 its picturesque beauty. Solomon Pond (so named 
 for an Indian once drowned there), of twenty-six 
 acres, lies prettily among high sloping banks of pine, 
 toward the northeast; and Little Chauncy, of sixty- 
 five acres, in the low-lying meadows of the south- 
 east. 
 
 The rocks of the northerly hills are mostly gneiss, 
 in strata lying at a dip of 70° to 80°; near their foot 
 are iron and lime, not worked.' At the west is a 
 large amount of micaceous slate, or schist, containing 
 (it is thought) much iron. Hills and pastures are 
 plentifully strewn with boulders, some of them 
 weighing a great many tons. Most of these are of 
 gneiss, and split favorably for building uses. In 
 some parts large garnets are common : I have found 
 one over an inch in diameter, and one of half that 
 size, very clear and perfect. Quartz crystal is some- 
 times found in very fine specimens. Some of the 
 
 3 Lime was quarried and burned here about a hundred years ago. 
 
45-1 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 northerly hills are effectually paved with ledges and 
 boulders.' The general quality of the soil is good, 
 ihough too sandy in the south; with more gravel 
 also, and less clay, than some more productive soiLs. 
 Apples are a good crop, and peaches were, fifty years 
 ago; but pears and quinces have never flourished so 
 well. There are clay-beds, especially one of great 
 value, close to the eastern boundary, where bricks of 
 rarely excellent quality are made, light red and very 
 hard ; these bricks were selected, among other sam- 
 ples, as the best in building the great Cochituate 
 Aqueduct. 
 
 This sketch of the geology of the town would not 
 be complete without a notice of the discovery, made 
 November 17, 1884, of a part of the skeleton of a 
 mastodon, on the farm of William U. Maynard, near 
 the Shrewsbury line. The bont s are those of ayoung 
 animal, which had floundered in a peat-bog and there 
 perished. They were found resting on a bed of blue 
 clay, seven feet below the surface of the ground — the 
 peat being four or five feet in thickness. Mo^t of 
 them are deposited in the museum of the Worcester 
 Society of Natural History; the teeth, by which the 
 species was identified, are in the Peabody Museum, 
 Cambridge. This discovery is the single proof of the 
 existence of that animal east of the valley of the 
 Hudson.- 
 
 Town Hi.story. — The northerly portion of West- 
 borough had been recognized as a separate "pre- 
 cinct," or parish, with church and minister of its own 
 (the Rev. John Martyn) since 1745.' But its inde- 
 pendent corporate life began with the year 1706, 
 when a summons was issued to the inhabitants of the 
 Second Precinct — 
 
 To conveain at the meeting HouBe in 2d Precinct on Monday, the 
 thertyetli Day of this instant, January, at one of the clock in tlie after- 
 noon, then and there ... to see if tho Precinct will peticon to the 
 Grate and Jenearal Cort to be Bet of a Destrict or not . . . and see if tho 
 Precinct will chuse a Coniniity or order the Precinct Committee to Pre- 
 ambulnte the Line between the first and second Presencts of West- 
 borough . . . and employ a Servair (surveyor) to Run the Lino and set 
 up Bounds where they cant be fouude [and to see] upon what tairms 
 they would be set of upon ; and it was voted that we should be set of 
 on the same tairms that South Brimtield was, and to have our part of 
 
 1 Good old Silas Bailey, who, at past eighty, had just done his day's 
 work with a bush-scythe, told me that when he bought his farm, near the 
 north border, a neighbor more experienced, viewing it, feared at first 
 that it might not have stones enough ; but, being told there were 
 "enough to fence it all into acre lots," was well satisfied with the pur- 
 chase. 
 
 2 An Indian skull was found during the excavation for these remains, 
 but " cannot have been long in the peat," and '* it is evident that it has 
 no a.ssociatiou with the mastotlou " ("Nineteenth Report of the Curator 
 of the Peabody Sluseum," where the skull now is, p. 49a). A pamphlet 
 on the discovery was printed by Fi-anklin P. Rice for the "Society of 
 Antiquity," "SVorcestsr ; a copy is iu the Public Library of North- 
 borough. 
 
 3Mr. Martyn was ordained May 21, 1746. ".although the ceremonies 
 of the ordination took place in the meeting-house, yet it appears 
 from the town records that it was in a very unfinished state, having 
 neither pulpit, galleries, glass M'indows, nor even permanent floors. 
 It was not till June, in the following year, that a vote could bo ob- 
 tained *to glaze the meeting-house and lay the floors,' aud not till 
 the next autunin that the pulpit and gallei-y-stairswei'o built." 
 
 the town stock of amonition and watea & measeura & ministry lands, 
 and also our proportion of the money that is granted or assest. 
 
 In accordance with these votes, on the 24th of Jan- 
 uary, 1766, the precinct was _ 
 
 erected into a District by the name of Northborough ; and [it was 
 ordained] that the same District be & hereby is invested 'with all the 
 priviledges, powers & immunities the Towns in this Province by Law 
 do or may enjoy, that of sending a Representative to the General Assembly 
 excepted [this right being exercised till 1775, as a part of Westborough] ; 
 their proportion of all monies, arms & ammunition, weights and mea- 
 sures belonging to said town the inhabitants of said District shall have 
 and enjoy, a proportion thereof equal to the proportion they paid of 
 these charges of said Town according the last town tax ; 
 
 all of which appears to have been amicably ar- 
 ranged. The first corporate act of the district thus 
 created is copied here in full, as a fair specimen of 
 the process of organization in these small political 
 comaiuiiitit-s, then (it will be noticed) under Provin- 
 cial rule. It is a record of the meeting held M:irch 
 4, 1766:— 
 
 This town covined according to a warriant bearing Date the tenth of 
 February Last Issued oute by Francis Whippele, Esqr., one of his 
 Majesty's Justics of y* peace appointed by the Grate and General Court 
 to issue Dis* Warrant & then proceeded and acted on y^ nrticela follo- 
 Ing : I. Voted & chose Bezaleel Eager Moderator; 2'? Voted & chose 
 Timothy Fay Pis. Clerk ; 3*1'? Voted & chose for Selectmen y ensuing 
 yoare, Josiah Kice, Jacob Rice, Bez^ Eager, Timothy Fay, Jesse Brig- 
 ham ; 4'? Voted for Assessors for y" yeare ensuing, Jacob Rice, Timothy 
 Fay, Levy Brigham ; 5'y Voted & chose for a Towno Treasurer Jacob 
 Kice ; i'^J Voted & chose for a Constibele y ensuiug yeare William Bad- 
 cock ; 7'y Voted & chose Wardens ensuing yeare, Josiah Bowker & John 
 Carruth ; giy Voted for Sii'A'iiyors of Highways en8U'° yeure, Saimiel 
 Camwell .jun., Jon" Bruce, Samuel Maynard, Timothy Brigham ; O'y 
 Voted & chi'se for Tithing men yo ensuin yeare. John Ball, Eliphalet 
 Warren ; lUiJ Voted & chose lor Hogreeves y ensuing yeare, llencry 
 Gaschet ; Wj Voted & chose for deare reeve for ye ensuing yeare, Sam- 
 uel Gamwell ; 12>y Voted A chose for Surveyor forClaboards & Shingles 
 ensuing yeare, Stephen Jenney ; IS't Voted and chose John Martyn 
 for Sealer of Leather ; 14'J Voted & chose Henery Gaschet and Jorge 
 Oak Fence Vewers; 15'? Voted & chose Jesse Maynard Survayor of 
 Whete ; Ifl^-'' it was put to vote to see if Town would let there Swine 
 go at large y« ensuing Yeare, it past in y affirmniitive ; 17^? it was put 
 to vote to see if y town would chuse ye Selectmen to Joyn with y" Town 
 of Westhoruugh as a Committee to divide y« Town Stock according to 
 the act of Court, it past in the afBrmmitive ; 18>y it was put to vote to 
 see if the town would ajourn there meeting to Lew* John Martyn's 
 for fifteen minits; it past in y« atSrmmitive ; then upon y« ajouru- 
 nient voted that they would reconsider y^ vote of chusing Stephen Ball 
 warden; lO'y voted and chose John Carruth warden, and all y above 
 said otticers have Been sworn to their Respective Oflicirs. Then Dis- 
 solved said Meeting. Bezaleel Eagei; Moderator. Attest, Timothy Fay^ 
 Clark. 
 
 The first act of civil administration (April 1st) ap- 
 pears to have been to build a pound for stray cattle, of 
 stone, twenty-five feet square, with walls five feet 
 high and two and a half feet thick, topped with tim- 
 ber; but this was found too costly, and it was voted 
 (June 18th) "to build the same of timber." A propo- 
 sal to buy a " buering cloth " was negatived ; but 
 provision was made to employ a reading and writing 
 schoolmaster, with committee to provide schooling ; 
 also to raise the school-money, and to provide a jury- 
 list. The sum of £3 16s. was afterwards (November 
 22d) granted to pay the schoolmaster's board for seven- 
 teen weeks. The rate of a day's wages was fixed at 
 the same date, for men working out their own road- 
 tax, at three shillings for the summer and two shil- 
 
NORTHBOROUGH. 
 
 455 
 
 lings for the autumn months. The highway rate to 
 repair roads was sixty pounds. For a year's care of 
 the meeting-house was paid 13s. id. ; for the day's 
 work of an assessor, eight shillings ; for expenses of 
 a delegate to the General Court, £1 Is. 4d. 
 
 The following year (July 29, 17(37) the district 
 voted — 
 
 to joiQ with the Church in appointing Thursliiy, August l:^, as a day 
 of fasting and prayer to Almighty God to sanctify ilis Holy hand in 
 taking away our PMtor (Rev. John Martyu) by Deatli, and for direction 
 in resettling the Gospel among us again ; and £00 lawful money (are) 
 granted for preaching the Gospel among us. ^ 
 
 Mr. Martyn had been settled as pastor of the 
 Second Parish May 21, 1746. He was a son of Cap- 
 tain Edward Martyn, of Boston, where he spent his 
 early life under the care of an e.Kcellent mother, who 
 had been leit a widow in easy circumstances some 
 time previous to young Mr. Martyn's entering col- 
 lege. He graduated at Harvard University in 1724. 
 For several years after he left college he devoted his 
 attention to secular pursuits, and was for some time an 
 inhabitant of Harvard, in this county. At the age of 
 forty he directed his attention to theological pursuits, 
 and became an able, faithful and useful minister. He 
 possessed, in a large measure, the confidence and af- 
 fections of his flock, was honored in his life and 
 deeply lamented at his death. His age was a little 
 over sixty. 
 
 September 21, 1767, the district " concur with the 
 church in giving Mr. Pei;er Whitney a call to settle 
 as minister and pastor of the church and congregation 
 in Northborough." The sum of one hundred and 
 sixty pounds was voted " for settlement," to be paid 
 in two installments, at the beginning and end of the 
 first year, and an annual salary was granted of sixty 
 pounds to be paid "in Spanish milled dollars, 6s. 
 each, or in the several species of coined gold and sil- 
 ver," as enumerated. In accepting this proposal Mr. 
 Whitney writes: 
 
 I am not insensible of tlie present scarcity of our Medium, and there- 
 fore I object nothing against your proposed annual support for the tirst 
 few years, but yet can not suppose it sufficient for my abiding support, 
 and therefore if you are pleased to add to your offered salary the sum of 
 £0 138. 4d. lawful money, to take place the fifth year from my settling 
 among you, amounting to £|J6 13s. forepence as a settled yearly support 
 I do then fully accept your invitation, and stand ready to be consecrated 
 to your service (God permitting), when you shall think proper. Gentle- 
 men, I hope (speaking in my fear of God) I have no disposition to build 
 myself on your Ruins. I desire neither to be cumbered with abounding 
 riches, nor to be straitened in my worldly circumstances ; may I but have 
 what will support me in my office to the honor of Religion. 
 
 This manly and straightforward appeal was ac- 
 ceded to ; and it is later recorded, " N. B. what was 
 payed to the Rev. Mr. Whitney before he was ordained 
 is £25 18s. 8d." December, 1779, owing to the de- 
 preciation of the Continental currency, the salary was 
 raised to £2933 6s. 8rf. ; but was the next year (De- 
 cember 4, 1780) restored to the original amount, pay- 
 able in coin, with the addition of twenty cords of 
 
 1 Provision for the support of public worship was made by the State 
 CoDstitutioD a town charge until 18'.'^. 
 
 wood ; and the sura of £13 6s. 8d. was afterwards 
 (December 27, 1784) voted to cover arrears of loss 
 by depreciation. 
 
 Mr. Whitney (son of Rev. Aaron Whitney, the first 
 minister of Petersham) was born September 17, 
 1744; graduated at Harvard University in 1762; and 
 was settled as minister of Northborough November 4, 
 1767. "Distinguished for the urbanity of his man- 
 ners, easy and familiar in his intercourse with his 
 people, hospitable to strangers, and always ready to 
 give a hearty welcome to his numerous friends ; punc- 
 tual to his engagements, observing an exact method 
 in the distribution of his time, having a time for 
 everything and doing everything in its time, without 
 hurry or confusion ; conscientious in the discharge of 
 his duties as a Christian minister ; catholic in his prin- 
 ciples and in his conduct, always taking interest in 
 whatever concerned the prosperity of the town and the 
 interestsof religion, he was for many years the happy 
 minister of a kind and aifectionate people. At length, 
 having continued in the work of the ministry almost 
 half a century, he suddenly departed this life Febru- 
 ary 29, 1816, in the seventy-second year of his life 
 and the forty-ninth of his useful ministry.'" He was 
 an eager and outspoken advocate of the patriotic ef- 
 forts of '75 and '76, which his father as strongly op- 
 posed, and was the author of a " History of Worcester 
 County," still held in much esteem. Of his ten chil- 
 dren, the most widely known was Rev. Peter Whitney, 
 of Quincy (1800-43, born 1770). 
 
 March 1, 1773, the district takes into consideration 
 a pamphlet circulated from Boston, "in which the 
 rights of this Province are stated, and also a list of 
 grievances and infringements of those rights made by 
 Administration at home ; " and it is resolved — 
 
 that the rights of this people are very justly stated in said pamphlet, and 
 that the grievances and infringements therein pointeii out are real and 
 notimagenary ones, as too many indeavour to insinuate ; [also] that it is 
 the indispensable duty of all men, and all bodies of men, to unite and 
 streanously to oppose by all lawful ways and means such unjust and un- 
 righteous incroacbments, made or attempted to be made upon their Just 
 Rights, and that it isonr duty earnestly to indeavour to hand those rights 
 down inviolate to our posterity as they were handed down to us by our 
 worthy ancestors ; and that the thanks of this District be given to the 
 Town of Boston for their friendly, serviceable and necessary intelligence, 
 and that they be desired to keep up their watch and guard against all 
 such unjust invaders and incroachers for the future. 
 
 In fulfillment of this resolve, we find that the next 
 year (November 28, 1774) a hundred weight of pow- 
 der and three hundred weight of lead, with two hun- 
 dred and forty flints, are voted for the general de- 
 fence. Soon after (January 9, 1775) the district re- 
 solves to join in sending delegates to the Provincial 
 Congress, " whenever met or wherever met ;" and on 
 the 10th of April (a few days before the battles of 
 Lexington and Concord) provision is made "to pay 
 fifty minute-men one shilling each for each half-day 
 they shall meet to learn the military art, for sixteen 
 
 ^Allen's "Topographical and Historical sketches of the Town of 
 Northborough," p. SO. 
 
456 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 half-daya, beginning March 27.'' For these objects 
 forty pounds are appropriated, and fifteen pounds ap- 
 pear as *' raised and paid." The fifty minute-men, hs 
 soon as the tidings came from Lexington, before one 
 o'clock of April 19th, "were directed, without a mo- 
 ment's delay, to put themselves in readiness to march; 
 and in three or four hours from the time when the 
 news arrived they had taken leave of their families 
 and were paraded in the yard of Captain Samuel 
 Wood's house, whence (the Rev. Mr. Whitney having 
 in a fervent prayer commended them to the protec- 
 tion of the God of armies) ihey immediately set out 
 on their march for the field of danger and blood." 
 Two months later (June 17th) they took part in the 
 battle of Bunker Hill.^ 
 
 On the 22d of May, 1775, the district warrant still 
 runs in the old way, *' In his Majesty's name." The 
 next day, May 23d, we find a summons, " Greeting in 
 the name of the Government and the People of the 
 Massachusetts Bay." But for an interval of some 
 months that followed there is a sort of interregnum; 
 either the warrant issues from the county authorities 
 at Worcester, or the town appears to be acting by its 
 proper sovereignty. The official title *'town" first 
 appears in the constable's warrant of June 6, 1775, 
 when a meeting is called *' to appoint and chuse a 
 person, if they see fit when meet, to represent the 
 Town in the Grate and General Court or Assembly,- 
 to be convened, held and kept for the service of 
 the Colony at the meeting-house in Watertown, on 
 Wednesday, the 19th day of July next, it being in 
 observance of a Resolve of the Honorable Continen- 
 tal Congress, directing and advising the same." 
 This warrant, and the first exercise of complete 
 town sovereignty in the appointment of its own 
 Representative, mark the date of coming to its full 
 majority. There follow upon the records, from time 
 to time, a few items which we copy, as illustrating 
 the way these little commonwealths toiled through 
 the dreary and disastrous period till the return of 
 peace in 1783 ; — 
 
 June 3, 1776. Voted thiit it is the mind of this Town to be indepen- 
 dent of Great Britain, in case the Continental Congress think proper, 
 and that we are ready with our lives & fortunes if, in Providence, called 
 to defend the same. 
 
 July 8. Voted to assist in raising the men that are sent for. 
 
 May 22, 1777. Appointed a Committee of three persona chosen for to 
 prevent monopoly and ojipreBHion (apparently the first symptom of strin- 
 gency arising from the debasement of Continental money). 
 
 June 23. Chose Gillam IJass to take care & lay before the Court the 
 evidence which may be produced against the persona in Northborough 
 who are looked upon by said Town as inimical to this and the United 
 States of America, agreeably to a late directing Act. [The suspected 
 persons are John Taylor, Tliomaa Billings, Silvanus Billings (who made 
 
 iln this company served as lieutenant ** Capt." Timothy Brighani, 
 who had been present, as one of eight volunteers from this precinct, at 
 the attack on Ticondernga, under (Jen. Abercrombie, in 17.')8. 1 remem- 
 ber visiting him with my father, when near his death, at the age of 93. 
 
 -' The following are the names of the town Representatives for nearly 
 fifty years following : 1775-77, Levi Brigluun ; 1778, '82, '85, John Ball ; 
 1770, '80, Paul Newton ; 1783, Seth Rico ; 1787-98 (7 years), Isaac 
 Davis; 1800, 'Ui, Nulnim Kay ; 1802-20 (IS years), James Keyes. 
 
 contrite acknowledgment ' & was received back into amity by the Town, 
 May 17, 1781), James Eager, John Eager and Widow Miriam Eager. 
 The estates of four of these were confiscated at the close of the war.] 
 Jan. 5, 7, 1778. Voted and accei)ted the Articles of Confederation of 
 the Congress of the United States of America. 
 
 April 2. Appointed a Committee te collect clothing for the Continental 
 soldiers (just after the terrible winter at Valley Forge). 
 
 April 13. It was voted "to see if they would accept of the form of 
 government [»»f Massachusetts] as it was settled by the Convention of 
 this State ; and a uuanimoua vote passed in the negative." 
 
 Juno 15. It is voted ("according to the second clawa of Warrant") 
 to determine "an everidge of the whole of the publick cost tliat they 
 have been at, ocationed by the present war, Hince the 19th of April, 
 1775, untill this time, and all necessary cost that may in the future arise 
 on account of said war, each one to pay according to his estate, as in 
 other taxt's." The total amount was found to be : 
 
 £ s. d. 
 
 Upto June29, 1778 1474 14 1 
 
 Future costs (estimated) 705 
 
 Interest 42 
 
 Clothing 140 
 
 Additional, to Sept.28 222 13 4 
 
 Additional, MarchS, 1779 110 
 
 2694 7 5 
 
 May 17, 1770. It is resolved "that a [State] Constitution, or f.irm of 
 Government, [shall be] made as soon as may be ; " and the Town Repre- 
 sentative is instructed " to vote for the calling of a State Convention for 
 the sole purpose of funning a Constitution." 
 
 Sept. 13. Under the pressure of financial distress, the common revolu- 
 tionary expedient is adopted, of fixing a "maximum," or scale of high 
 est prices to be asked for any commodity : in this scale we find Barley at 
 £4 10 a bushel ; Milk at 2 sh. aquart ; labor of niaking a pair of shoes, 
 48 shillings; other in proportion. As afurther indication of the range 
 of prices, we find soon after (Oct. 30, 17S(i) a grant of " .iOOKO to pur- 
 chase beef fur the army," and (May 17, 1781) "the Town granted tlie 
 sum of £3300 to pay for three horses " for the public service. Again 
 (March 6, 1780) there is an appropriation of £4000 to be equally divided 
 for the building of a School-house for each of the four " Squadrons." 
 
 May 18, 1780. Report of the State Constitution, which is accepted, 
 with the recommendation of four Amendments ; but if these cannot be 
 had, " will accept the Constitution as it stands." [The first of these pro- 
 posed Amendments is that the Governor must belong to some Protestant 
 religious connection ; the others are chiefly certain legal formalities for 
 the ensuring of private justice.] 
 
 July 13. Vuted & granted the sum of .£10.000 to pay seventeen men 
 hired into the service, nine for the term of six months, & eight for the 
 term of three monthi. 
 
 Dec. 28. The town, taking intoconsideration the hardships undergone 
 by those who had entered into the service of their country, and especially 
 the losses they hiid sustained by being paid in a depreciated currency, 
 generously voted to raise their quota of men, and to pay and clotlie thorn 
 at its own expense, allowing them 4o shillings each per month, in hard 
 money, and £21 per year, also in hard money, in addition to their 
 clothes. Six men were called for the following summer, & the Town 
 granted £122 5«. in hard money ($407.50) to pay the same ; at the same 
 time they were required to purchase for the use of the army 3518 lbs. 
 of beef, for which the Town granted £77 in hard money (^256,06). 
 (Previous to June, 1778, it appears that this town had expended in money 
 and service towards carrying on the war. £1474. 14. 1, — in a Depreciated 
 currency, probably, the precise value of which it is ditficult now to de- 
 termine.) 
 
 "After the close of the war the embarrassments 
 arising from the want of a circulating medium, when 
 almost all were deeply involved in debt, caustd 
 much uneasiness, and led the people to devise 
 measurts for their removal." August 7. 177G, Isaac 
 Davis was chosen as a delegate to attend a county 
 convention at Leicester, on the 15th, to whom the 
 following, among other instructions, were given by a 
 committee appointed by the town. The delegate was 
 
 ^He "ownes that he was unfriendly in not bringing Caleb Green to 
 justice, who was a notorious viUin and an enemy to his country." 
 
NORTIIBOROUGH. 
 
 457 
 
 to use his influeace " that the Convention petition his 
 Excellency, the Governor & Council, to call the 
 General Court together in the month of October next 
 at fartherest ; and that the Convention present a 
 humble and decent petition to the General Court to 
 set up & establish a Mint in the Commonwealth, 
 &c." Complaints were also made of the salaries of 
 the civil list being i-o high, and of various other 
 grievances under which the people labored. The 
 delegate was also to use his influence " that the 
 whole order of Lawyers be annihilated, for we con- 
 ceive them not only to be building themselves upon 
 the ruins of the distressed, but said order has in- 
 creased, & is daily increasing, far beyond any other 
 set or order of men among us, in numbers and af- 
 fluence; and we apprehend they may become ere 
 long somewhat dangerous to the rights & liberties of 
 the people." "There was nothing, however, of the 
 spirit of rebellion or insubordination in the resolu- 
 tions that were passed at this meeting, or in the 
 conduct which followed ; and though it appears from 
 the representations of all, that the people generally 
 were reduced to the greatest straits, yet only three or 
 four individuals were found willing to join in the 
 rebellion [Shays'] of that year, and to seek redress 
 by measures of violence." ' 
 
 It is likely that this town had its fair share of the 
 suffering of that dismal "critical period of American 
 history " between the close of the Revolutionary War 
 and the adopting of the United States Constitution. 
 But of this there is less evidence on the records than 
 we might expect, excepting those troubles from ex- 
 pansion of the currency hinted above. The problem 
 of pauperism, however, now comes up ; and for the 
 first time (November 9, 1789) we hear of a proposal 
 " to see if the Town would vendue the poor oflto the 
 lowest bidder." This was negatived, probably from 
 compunction at the novelty of it. But six months 
 later (May 10, 1790) " the same passed in the affirm- 
 ative, and that there be a notification put up and the 
 names of the poor put in, that are to be vendued," — 
 that is, boarded at the town's expense, where they 
 could be boarded cheapest.^ The ordinary rate was 
 from seventy-five cents to a dollar a week. I remem- 
 ber being present at such a " vendue; '' it would be 
 about sixty years ago. In 1835 the town adopted the 
 more humane and decent method of providing a 
 " poor-farm " for those unable to maintain them- 
 selves, — not " foreign paupers," but native citizens 
 fallen into poverty or distress. And the number of 
 those so dependent was very small, unless in such ex- 
 ceptional periods as that following the Revolutionary 
 War ; thus, in 1826, " only two persons have been a 
 
 1 The paragraplis marked as quotations are from Dr. Allen's History 
 of Northborougli ("Sketches"). 
 
 2 In March, 181", " Mary Rice was put up at vendue," and struck 
 off to Joseph Carruth at 88 cents, clothing and doctoring to be found 
 by the town. 
 
 town charge, the whole expense of maintaining 
 whom, for a year, is less than one hundred dollars." 
 
 The wounds of war, and of the years that followed, 
 were at all events soon healed, to judge from a 
 sermon preached June 1, 1796, by Rev. Mr. Whit- 
 ney, in which he says : " The great increase of our 
 members [since 1767, from 82 families to upwards of 
 110], the remarkable growing wealth and prosperity of 
 this people, must be ascribed to the peace, union and 
 harmony which has subsisted among us. In consid- 
 ering the number of inhabitants (not far from 800), 
 the extent of territory and the distance from the 
 capital, I know not a more wealthy place."^ Mr. 
 Whitney's ardent hope, which he expresses in the 
 same sermon, of a new and "respectable meeting- 
 house," which, as he says, " proclaims the opulence 
 of the place and encourages population," was ful- 
 filled twelve years later, in 1808, when the present 
 "First Parish" meeting-house was erected, at a cost 
 of eleven thousand five hundred dollars, a large sum 
 and a handsome building for its day. 
 
 Churches. — Throughout Mr. Whitney's term of 
 service, of forty-nine years, and for more than fifteen 
 years afterward, "the ministry had not only a 
 permanent, it bad also a secular character, which it 
 has greatly lost. In a sense easily enough under- 
 stood, though not at all familiar, the Town was the 
 parish ; the town's peojile were the congregation. 
 In a harmless and neighborly way. Church and State 
 (in those narrow boundaries) were one.'* So little 
 were modern sectarian differences felt, that in the 
 choice of Mr. Whitney's successor, in 1816, although 
 the liberal movement in theology was well j:)ro- 
 nounced, only eleven votes out of one hundred and 
 eight were cast against the settlement of the candi- 
 date chosen, who was understood to be in full sympathy 
 with that movement. This was Joseph Allen (Har- 
 vard University, 1811, D.D. 1848), whose ministry, 
 as sole or senior pastor, lasted more than fifty- 
 six years, till his death, February 23, 1873. For 
 eleven years of this period the parish was undi- 
 vided. In 1827 a Baptist Church was gathered ; * 
 and in 1832 " the Second Congregational Society was 
 formed (under Rev. Samuel Austin Fay) by those of 
 stricter orthodox or evangelical faith : the original 
 members were Asaph Rice and 34 others.* And the 
 next year, that is, on the 11th of November, 1833, 
 the old ' Third Article of the Bill of Rights ' was 
 repealed ; the citizen was relieved from all legal ob- 
 
 3 Copied in a discourse by Rev. A. S. Galvin, of Worcester, on occa- 
 sion of erecting a memorial (ablet to Peter Whitney, in the First Parish 
 nieeting-honso of Northborough, May 20, 1888. 
 
 ^ From a memorial discourse by the present writer, given in the 
 First Parish meeliug-house on occasion of erecting a tablet to the mem- 
 ory of Joseph and Lucy Cl.xrk Allen, October 30, 1887. 
 
 ^Church reorganized, and its present house of worship built, in 1860. 
 
 ^The fii-st meeting-house of this society, on the Boylston Road, is 
 now occupied by the "Allen Home School," under the charge of Ed- 
 ward A. H. Allen. Their present commodious and handsome building, 
 in the village, was erected in 184ti. 
 
458 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 ligation to pay for the support of any church, and 
 the voluntary system, as we have it now, came into 
 full play." Since then, to meet the wants of the 
 increasing Roman Catholic population (partly French 
 Canadian), a succession of " visiting clergy'' hegan 
 in 1850, which resulted in the building of St. Rose's 
 Church, a handsome edifice, which was dedicated 
 May 3, 1885.' 
 
 Much the longest pastorate was that of Rev. Jos- 
 eph Allen, which extended over fifty-six years. He 
 was born in Medfield, Mass., August 15, 1790. His 
 early home was on the farm that for five genera- 
 tions, since 1648, had been owned and tilled by 
 his ancestors ; his grandfather, a man of note and 
 of amazing bodily strength, had held a King's com- 
 mission in the colonial militia; his father had en- 
 listed as a boy of sixteen in the Continental army, 
 and endured some of the hardships of the later 
 Revolutionary campaigns and of Shays' Rebellion. 
 From a constitution impaired by early studies, pru- 
 dent regimen had built him up to an even and 
 active condition of health, which kept sound till 
 past the age of eighty. His ordination as '' minis- 
 ter of the town" was October 30, 1816. He mar- 
 ried, February 3, 1818, Lucy Clark, daughter of 
 Professor Henry Ware, of Harvard University, to 
 whose intelligent and devoted co-operation much of 
 the character of his ministry was due. His work 
 was especially effective in the department of public 
 and general education. His deiith was on the 23d 
 of February, 1873. A tablet was erected by his 
 children in the parish meeting-house to the memory 
 of both their parents, and dedicated October 30, 
 1887.' 
 
 The next longest of the later pastorates was that 
 of Rev. Samuel Stanford Ashley (b. May 12, 1819; d. 
 October 5, 1887). He was born in Cumberland, 
 R. I., the elde.st of eleven children ; educated at 
 Oberlin, Ohio ; settled first in Fall River, Mass., 
 and, in 1852, in Northborough. In 1864 he en- 
 gaged in the army-service of the United States 
 Christian Commission. In this capacity he was 
 noted for absolute fearlessness in his humane ser- 
 vice on the battle-field. At the close of the war he 
 was employed by the American Missionary Asso- 
 ciation to serve among the freedmen at Hampton, 
 Va., and afterwards in North Carolina, where he 
 was a member of the Constitutional Convention 
 and Superintendent of Public Instruction. In 1881 
 
 1 The present pastors of tlie above ctiurclies are, First Parish, Obed 
 Eldridge, settled in 188 J ; Baptist, Kev. C. D Swett, settled inlS84; 
 Second Congrefiational, Edward L Chnte, settled in 1885; St, Rose, 
 James McCIosltey, appointed November 1, ISSfi. 
 
 2 The names of his cliildren are Mary Ware, wife of Dr. J. J. John- 
 son, now of Northborongli ; .toseph Henry (the writer of tliis sitetcli), 
 now of Cambridge, Mass. ; Tbomas Pientisg, died at West Newton, No- 
 vember :i'j, 1803 ; Elizabetb Waterliouse, now of Northborongli ; Lucy 
 Clark, wife of A. E. Powers, of Lanaingburgb, N. Y.; Kdward A. H., 
 head of a private school in Northborough ; William F., Professor in 
 the State Univei-sity at Madison, Wisconsin. 
 
 he was appointed acting president of Straight Uni- 
 versity in New Orleans ; but, suftering here from 
 yellow fever, returned to the North. From 1874 to 
 1878 he was in the employ of the Missionary Asso- 
 ciation in Atlanta, Ga. ; but failing health obliged 
 him to return to country life and occupation in his 
 former home. Here he resided as a useful, honored 
 and public-spirited citizen, actively interested in the 
 town library, the public schools, and the cause of 
 temperance, until his sudden death from heart com- 
 plaint, in 1887. He was, says a warm and grateful 
 testimonial of the library trustee-i, " in health or 
 8ickne.ss, in season or out of season, unfailing in 
 his eff'orts for the interest of the charge given him." ' 
 
 Schools. — Before the public provision, made in 
 1766, private instruction had been maintained in the 
 precinct by voluntary contributions (see below). In 
 1770 the district (not yet a town) was divided into 
 four " squadrons " for school purposes ; and, in 1780, 
 an appropriation of £1000 was made to each squad- 
 ron for the erection of a school-home. The whole 
 sum (which was extremely "soft") amounted in hard 
 money to only £52 6s. 8d., made up afterwards to 
 £163 13s. 4d. There were afterwards six school dis- 
 tricts ; and, sixty or eighty years ago, there was no 
 gieat disparity of numbers among them; now, prob- 
 ably, more than half the population are gathered 
 about the centre. In 1837 a two-story brick school- 
 house was built for the central district. Again, about 
 1865, more definite steps were taken towards the sys- 
 tem of graded schools, and, in 1878, a neat high 
 school building was erected on the Common near the 
 meeting-house. 
 
 The ministers of the town have taken from the 
 first the active lead that was their duty in the matter 
 of public instruction, and have had in it the full con- 
 fidence of the public. Dr. Allen, for example, 
 "served as chairman of the school committee for 
 fifty-one successive years, omitting only a season of 
 two years, when a change was tried that seemed like- 
 ly to do better without his aid." To this task he 
 gave especial zeal and energy, the more efficient from 
 the hold he had by natural temperament upon 
 the affection of the young. The " district school as 
 it was "—that is, with the advantage as well as dis- 
 advantage of bunging together pupils all the way 
 from five to twenty for the winter's school-compan- 
 ionship — held, as is generally claimed, exceptionally 
 high rank in Northborough : there was one season, 
 
 3 The following is a list, nearly complete, of ministers of the several 
 churches : Is* Paris*— T. B. Forbush, 1858-63 ; H. L. Myrick, 1800-68 ; 
 F. L. Hosnier, lSGa-72 ; C. T. Irish, 1873-76 ; H. F. Bond, 1877-81 ; 
 Obed Eldridge, 1883, 2d Congregational— S. A. Fay, 1832-36 ; D, II. Em- 
 erson, 18.30-40; Joshua Bates, 1840-42, W. A, Houghton, 1843-51 ; 
 S. S, Ashley, 1853-64; G, E. Sanborne, 1865-70 ; H, Button, 1870-79, 
 (author of a sketch of Northborough in a history of Worcester County, 
 published by C, F. Jewett, Boston, 1879) ; G. H. Adams, 1870-81 ; E. A. 
 .\dams, 18^1-85 ; E. L. Chute, 1885. Baptist — (after several short terms 
 of service), Charles Farrer, 1848-55 ; Silas Ripley, l/(,'6-05 ; I), F. Lam- 
 son, 18Ci-7:); W. K. Davey, 187.3-77; E. A. Goddard, 1877-78; J. 
 TiUsun, 1S78-S2 ; C. Titus, 188J-84 ; C. D. Swott, 18S4. 
 
NORTHBOROUGH. 
 
 459 
 
 for example (1831-32), when the five district schools 
 were manned by five very distinguished students from 
 Harvard College, including three of the four highest 
 scholars of the senior class and the first junior 
 scholar (now Professor Bowen). Under such a dispen- 
 sation it may be fairly claimed that the district school, 
 in its three summer and three winter months, and re- 
 lieved in the interval by all the variety of country 
 occupations, had a far higher educational value than 
 the more perfect mechanism that has taken its place. 
 The old way, it is true, had become outgrown and im- 
 possible through the change in population and man- 
 ners of life; but the change that came about has 
 brought with it some regrets. ^ The country school 
 has had the merit, among other things, of training 
 and sending out a large number of young men and 
 women to the work of education elsewhere, many of 
 them to advanced instruction in the State Normal 
 Schools. I have a list of twenty-one of these puoils 
 (female) of the Normal School which was established 
 successively at Lexington, West Newton and Frara- 
 ingham.^ 
 
 I copy here the following memoranda from a record 
 in the handwriting of Rev. Dr. Allen : 
 
 In tlie Law8 of Maesuchusetls it is enacted (1641) that " If any do not 
 teach their children iind apprentices so much learning as nmy enable 
 them to read perfectly the English language, [they shall] forfeit 20 
 shillings; and the Selectmen of every Town are required to know the 
 state of the families," etc. In 1770 there wore 85 families in N'orih- 
 horough. These were divided into four "squadrons," and a vote was 
 passed to build four school-houses, which cost each in our currency 
 ^150.40. Cue of these earliest school-houses is described aa "rough- 
 boarded, without plastering or paint, with one door, a very large chim- 
 ney in one corner, three small windows, and furniture to currespontl ; 
 yet from this building graduated a Recorder of the City of New York, 
 and here was partially educated a missionary to India, who was also a 
 Founder of the college in Georgetown, D. C, and a Doctor of Divinity." 
 
 In 1742 a new sclu'ulhouse was built in the North District (to take 
 tho place of the old one, destroyed by fire), at a cost of 8ol7.9D ; the 
 annual cost of the school was here 8S6. " The wood was furnished by 
 individual;?, and cut by the boys, who made the tires. The teacher was 
 at his desk as often before as after sunrise, ruling the book*, setting 
 copipR, mending the goose-quill pens, and preparing practical sums for 
 the scholars to work out and copy into their manuscripts. School kept 
 five am! a half days in the week, with 15 minutes' recess forenoon and 
 afternoon, and 3U m. for dinner; the rest of the time was devoted to 
 
 1 Another illustration of " how we did it " in those days may be not 
 out of place here. It is in a letter from the admirably skilled and suc- 
 cessful master of a singing-school : "I think it was fifty-two years ago 
 this coming fall (1888) that 1 attended a singing-school here [in his na- 
 tive town]. Your father sent for me to do his chores and study, I 
 went, and, being interested in music, I commenced to teach the boys in 
 the study from the blackboard. The boys from the town heard of it. 
 and, by your father's advice, I adjourned to the vestry [in the basement 
 of the town-house], where I had about fifty pupils, and taught twenty 
 four evenings, charging nothing. The pupils paid for the lighting. It 
 was thought to be a success." This teachtr (Joseph A. Allen, of 
 Medfield) was afterwards superintendent of schools in Sy?acuse, N. Y., 
 where he had high reputation as an instructor ; and he was for some 
 years the superintendent of the State Heform Schoid at AVestborough. 
 
 - A list is mentioned by Dr. Allen "containing the names of fifty-seven 
 teachers, male and female, whose education was obtained princi, ally in 
 our public schools, who found employment as teachers, in this and other 
 places, during the first thirty years of the present century." Since 
 then "tho number must liave Iieeu much larger, as more than thirty 
 have graduated at our Normal Schools, most of them at the one in 
 Bridgewater." 
 
 business. Imperfect lessons, whisperiDg and mischief, cost too much 
 
 among that pine shrubbery." 
 
 A brit.'k school-house was built in 1837 for the Centre District (estab- 
 lished in 1811), at a cost of S2230 (afterwards repaired and refurnished 
 at an expense of 8l"0(i)- The entire cost of school building* for lOU 
 years, not including repairs and incidentals, was S-4,2G2. The appro- 
 priations in the same time for schools, including the above, amounted 
 to 8S3,9i;8. 
 
 As supplementary (it would seem) to the public pchools, to secure 
 more advanced instructmn, there was organized, in May, 178U, by pri- 
 vate subscription, a " Seminary," at a cost of ninety-six pounds, sixteen 
 shillings, three pence and three farthings, wliich sum was divided into 
 35 shares ; shareholders to have their children's education at an assessed 
 rate, and others to pay 4s, per month for each scholar. At a meeting of 
 the Proprietors, held Monday, December 4, 1781, it was "Voted to give 
 Master Flint five pound per month for the following tliree months." 
 The Seminary building was " upon the common near the pond-hole." 
 How long the plan was continued does not appear. 
 
 About 1825 or 1826, courses of public lectures began 
 to be given by the minister of the town, on astronomy 
 and similar topic.-*, supplementary lo the common 
 school course of popular education. The neat town- 
 hall, built in 1822 (near where the high school now 
 stands), gave convenient accommodation, and the 
 lectures ripened into a "Lyceum "* (organized in 1828), 
 one of the first in the country, where for more than 
 thirty years free lectures were given and debaies in 
 the earlier years were held once a wtek in winters. 
 The coming together of so many college-men as 
 teachers added greatly to the interest of these debates, 
 which brought out, too, no little native talent. Mr. 
 John C. Wyman, that prince of story-tellers, now of 
 Boston, would probably say that some of his earliest 
 lessons in oratory were received in unr modest town-hall. 
 The Lyceum, in course of time, degenerated to courses 
 of paid lectures, as in other places; but in its day it 
 was a much-prized adjunct to the district ^chool. 
 
 A Juvenile Library was created by annual contri- 
 butions in 1824; and a "Social Library," founded aa 
 early as 1792, was incorporated with the Parish "Free 
 Library," in 1828. A Public Library, established in 
 1800, by uniting seven existing libraries, and with the 
 aid of a donation of one thousand dollars from Hon. 
 Cyrus Gale, is kept in the new and commodious town- 
 hall (built in 1867), and now contains something over 
 seven thousand volumes. 
 
 The following memoranda of local incidents during 
 the period 1823—15 may here be found of interest : 
 
 1S23, Nov. Votedy " not to permit Asaph Rice to use the School-house 
 for religions meetings." Fo/erf, *' to provide moans to warm the meet- 
 ing-bouse, [for the first time !] by a stove or otherwise." 
 
 1824, May. ''Chose a committee of 13 to investigate means to sup- 
 press the great and growing evil of intemperance ; and that a committee 
 of G be chosen to assist the Selectmen in selecting intemperate persona 
 to be posted up, according to law." In the same year a new hearse is 
 bouglit, at a cost of 2^8.82 ; and the sum of S3U0.3(i was paid for a fur- 
 nace for the meeting-house. 
 
 1826, March. At the request of Joseph Davis and others, a committee 
 was chosen to see if the town will purchase the several libraries, and 
 have a Town Library. A School Committee was for the fiist time ap- 
 pointed, the charge having hitherto been born by the minister and 
 selectmen. 
 
 182", April. A committee was chosen " to investigate the subject of 
 
 encouraging the singing in this town." May. The sum of SlOO was ap- 
 
 ; propriated for a Singing-School ; any surplus to be disposed of to the 
 
 ' choir through Thaddeus Mason. Many of our older inhabitants will re- 
 
460 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 call the rich and bold tone§ of Mr. Mason^s fine tenor voice in the village 
 choir. We iind it later (1829) " recommended that ^0 be appropriated 
 as compensation to Mr. Tliaddeus Mason as leader of the singers for one 
 year, and 519 to Ansou Rice for using his viol for one year." 
 
 1828. Tlie First Report on Town-Schools speaks of their "high repu- 
 tation in past years," but says their '* multiplication of studies is a very 
 serious evil," that " more attention should be paid to writing," and th.it 
 good order should be maintained "by persuasive and gentle measure, so 
 far as may be practicable. ' The next year the number of pupils reported 
 is 349. 
 
 1829. It is voted " that the Northborough Branch of the American 
 Lyceum may hold their meetings in the town hall ; " also, *' to refund 
 to the members of the Baptist society their proportion of expenses of 
 painting the meeting-liouse, the singing, &c,; " to procure a map of the 
 town ; and "thiitit is inexpedient for the Town to take measures to be- 
 come a Parish." 
 
 18al. Veiled to accept the Gassett Donation, — a sum of 5i,000, "pre- 
 sented to the Town by Henry Gassett, Esq., of Boston,— one of its pro- 
 visions being that after the income hsxs reached a certain amount, fifty 
 dollars shall be bestowed, once in three years, upon " the most worthy 
 and best Mother, to be selected by five mothers and five fathers chosen 
 by the Town," A portion of the income is devoted to the support of the 
 Firat Parish Church. Also to expend 840.10 for school apparatus; to 
 purchase a Poor Farm ; and not to grant a petition that the Schools be 
 under the sole control of the people of the several districts, according to 
 law ; so the schools are left in charge of the general town committee. 
 
 1832. Voted not to grant the use of the town-house for public worship, 
 and the following year the First Parish pay 820 rent for its use as a 
 *' vestry," or lecture-room. 
 
 1836. The committee in a long report recommend the establishing of 
 a nigh School ; measures are taken looking to this, but the plan is 
 abandoned in 1837, when a school building is erected in the centre dis- 
 trict for two schools, a hif;Iier and a lower. In 1837 it is also " voted to 
 purchase four acres of land of Lowell Holbrook for a burying-ground," 
 — the beginning of the present cemetery of about ten acres (the old 
 burying-ground of about 3 acres was laid out in 1729, and cleared of 
 wood in 1S04). A poor-farm was purchased for $1150. In 1S38, number 
 of paupers, 16; in 1840, 20. 
 
 1840. Number of enrolled mi!itia-nien, 128 ; two years later, 189. 
 
 1845. The first fire-engine is purchased (at second-hand) by the town 
 for 8171.75. 
 
 Health, &c. — When the "Second Precinct" of 
 Westborough was organized iu 1746, there appear to 
 have been forty families in the place.' In the autumn 
 of this year, and for seven years following, particu- 
 larly in 1749-50, " this society was visited by a very 
 mortal sickness among children, by which the growth 
 of the society must have been very sensibly checked, 
 and which must have been attended with circum- 
 stances of peculiar distress. The sickness in the 
 earlier season ajipears to have been dysentery ; the 
 later, throat distemper, better known now as scarlet 
 fever. Sixty children out of a population which 
 could not have much exceeded three hundred were 
 victims of the di.sorder. Still, in 1767 the number of 
 families had increased to eighty-two, and in 1796 to 
 one hundred and ten. In 1810 the census gives the 
 entire population as seven hundred and ninety-four, 
 and in 1820 as ten hundred and eighteen, which 
 seems to have been a slight over-reckoning. 
 
 Since the mortality of 1749-50, the general health 
 of the town has been exceptionally good. For forty- 
 six years, beginning with 1780, the deaths were lour 
 hundred and fifty, not quite ten a year (less than one 
 
 1 The householders, who were also church members, were the follow- 
 ing: Epbraim Allen, Samuel Allen, John Carruth, Gershom Fay, Silas 
 Fay, Jonathan Livermore, John McAllister, Mathias Uice, Jacob 
 Shephard, Joshua Townsend. (May 21, 1740), 
 
 and a half per cent, of the population), more than 
 half of them from old age. I recall a succession of 
 years when (if my memory is right) the annual 
 deaths did not exceed seven in a population of full 
 one thousand. The growth of little manufacturing 
 centres, with their varieties of a crowded foreign 
 population, has, of course, much changed this ratio. 
 Some seasons of scarlet-fever epidemic (especially one 
 short but severe in 1839), and scattered cases of 
 typhoid, have affected the health list, but have not 
 altered the general good reputation of the town. In- 
 creasing fiequency of drought^ and low wells had 
 begun to be felt as a serious inconvenience; and in 
 1882-83 (in good part by the urgency and liberality 
 of Mr. D. B. Wesson, a wealthy Springfield manu- 
 facturer of fire-arms, and of Hon. Cyrus Gale, an 
 aqueduct was laid from a reservoir constructed at 
 Straw Hollow, just over the Boylston line, at a cost of 
 $58,150.44, and since then the village has been amply 
 sujjplied with pure and wholesome water. The engi- 
 neer's report gives the following description of the 
 work : — 
 
 The length of the dam on top is 625 feet, the greatest height in tho 
 middle 20 feet, in the area of the pond created about nine acres. The 
 greatest depth of water is 15 feet, and the total stfu-ago capacity is ap- 
 proximately 30,000,000 gallons, or a supply for your population equal 
 to at least si-x months' consumption. Tber waste gate was closed early 
 in December, 1882, and the pond was first f<dl to high-water mark on 
 June 14, 1883. This level gives a head of 145 feet at the railroiid 
 track, which is sufficient to throw fire-streams at that point 80 feet 
 high. The head at Woodville is 193 feet, and at Chapinville 205 feet. 
 Fire-streams can be thrown at these points 100 feet high. 
 
 In regard to the nature of the water secured by your plan, your peo- 
 jile have already expressed satisfaction with its soft qualities, and un- 
 doubtedly storage in the reservoir will tend to remove its slight color. 
 On sanitary grounds, its use should become general for domestic pur- 
 poses, as no well-water in your village will be found to be its equal in 
 purity. Percy M. Blake, Civil Eiujineer. 
 
 Physicians. — The first physician of the town was 
 Stephen Ball (born about 1730), descendant of one of 
 the early settlers of Concord, Mass. His son Stephen 
 ("Old Dr. Ball," 1767-1850) had a wide and long- 
 continued practice in Northborough and its vicinity, 
 and was a physician of high repute; he married (about 
 1800) Miss Lydia Lincoln, of Hingham. The second 
 of their thirteen children, " young Dr. Stephen " 
 (born 1802), settled here about 1825, earning special 
 reputation as a surgeon ; he removed to Boston in 
 1837, where he continue! an extensive and succesiful 
 practice till his death, in 1871. A younger brother, 
 Abel (1810-76), was also a practitioner in Boston. 
 In 1836 Dr. Joshua J. Johnson (1809-84) settled here 
 in practice, removing afterwards to Worcester (1857) 
 and to Keene, N. H. (1858), returning to North- 
 borough in 1865, having married (1840) the eldest 
 daughter of Rev. Dr. Allen. Their only surviving child, 
 Mrs. William H. Johnson, lives in Westborough. In 
 184.'<, Dr. Henry Jewett became a resident of this town, 
 
 2 The most formidable drought recorded is one of three months, 
 from March 20 to June 20, 1826. The coldest season known was 
 that of 1816, when there was frost in every month, and the corn froze 
 uin-ipened in the ear. 
 
NORTHBOROUGH. 
 
 461 
 
 where he still enjoys an excellent practice. Other 
 physicians have been Henry Barnes, who married a 
 daughter of Dr. Ball, Sr., died 1879, and his son, 
 Henry J., practices in Boston; Dr. I. C. Guptill and 
 Dr. Chas. Oakes (honia»opatbit'). 
 
 Temperan'CE. — The evil of rum and cider-drink- 
 ing (for in those days brandy, whiskey and beer were 
 less popularly known) had become a general vice 
 during the generation following the Revolutionary 
 War. It was partly outgrown before the War of 1812, 
 but had come in again as a result of camp-life in that 
 war ; and many strong, substantial and prosperous 
 men in this town of the generation next following 
 drank themselves to poverty, their farms into debts, 
 and their families to distress. As early as 1817 the 
 following testimony is found — one of the very earliest 
 symptoms of the great temperance movement that has 
 come since— showing a practical sense of the harm 
 and a desire to abate it. Its signers were among the 
 leading citizens of the town, and there is no indica- 
 tion of its having been urged from any outside source, 
 though the minister's hand may possibly be traced 
 in it: — 
 
 Inipiessed with the helief that the practice of using wine or ardent 
 spirits ou funeral occasions is attended witli needlfss expense, which, to 
 the poorer class, is no inconsiderable I)urden ; and, moreover, that it 
 has a tendency to interrupt tliose devout feelings and pious mediU^tions 
 which such occasions ought to cull forth : We, the undel-signed, are 
 willing to use our influence to discontinue such practice ; and we engage 
 for the future to allow of no wine or spirituous liquors to be carried to 
 the mourners at our own houses, but if any of the mourners or others 
 think it necessary or expedient to use it, to cause it to be placed in a 
 separate apartment for the use of such pei*sonB. — (Signed by Samuel 
 Sever, William Eager and others, 30 in all.) 
 
 Northborough was thus very early in the field in 
 movements looking to the temperance reform. A 
 society "for the suppression of intemperance" was 
 formed May 30, 1823. The record of temperance 
 organizations since this date has probably been about 
 the same with other places in the vicinity; and, 
 while the town has had a good repute for order and 
 sobriety, there is nothing especial in this respect to 
 distLnguish it from the rest. A half-century ago or 
 more, it is said, each week three wagon-loads of pro- 
 duce went to Boston, and each return-load included 
 its barrel of rum. Since the railroad was built, with 
 its vastly greater freighting facilities, there is little 
 perceptible change in the outward look of things ; 
 under "local option" there has generally been no 
 license for legal sale of liquors ; the native popula- 
 tion is said to have largely outgrown its old drinking 
 habit; and such drunkenness or other disorder as there 
 may be prevails more, it is likely, among the foreign 
 or vagrant population. 
 
 During the war of secession this town furnished to 
 the service one hundred and forty recruits, being nine 
 over and above all demands of the general govern- 
 ment. Of these, two were commissioned officers ; the 
 record of one of them, Capt. S. Henry Bailey, is given 
 below. Appropriations for the public service were 
 made by the town to the amount of $10,647.57, in 
 
 addition to $8,840.70, which was afterwards refunded 
 by the State. 
 
 Business, &c. — Most of the manufacturing and 
 other enterprises of the first century of the town's ex- 
 istence have been already noted. Wool-carding, the 
 making of potash, and the working of bog-iron began 
 before or about 1800. The manufacture of horn- 
 combs, introduced by Haynes & Bush in 1839, was 
 extended in 1860 into the tortoise-shell manufacture 
 of jewelry, &c., by Hon. Milo Hiklreth, who has had 
 about twenty hands at one time in his employ. Two 
 smaller establishments. Farewell's and Whittaker & 
 Proctor's, have been started since. Ornamental 
 combs, chains and large quantities of horn buttons 
 are included in these industries. The tortoise-shell 
 comes from Zanzibar, the Fiji Islands and other 
 tropical regions. The old cotton factory, built in 
 1814, was burned down in 1860, but has been 
 rebuilt, and has since 1866 been carried on by Daniel 
 Wood as a woolen-mill for the manufacture of blank- 
 ets, &c., employing now about one hundred and 
 twenty-five hands, half of them Canadian French^ 
 and the rest Irish. The other factory is owned by 
 Ezra Chapin, and since 1869 is used for making 
 satinets. The manufacture of corsets has made a 
 flourishing trade since 1877. A shoe-shop was con- 
 ducted here for a few years, though not on a large 
 scale, and a valuable bone-mill, established in 1860 
 by J. B. Root, employs the water-power of the 
 Assabet. 
 
 The agricultural branch of the then Boston and 
 Worcester Railroad, running from South Framingham, 
 was completed to Northborough in 1855. It has 
 since become the property of the Old Colony Railroad, 
 and in 1866 was opened through to Fitchburg. It 
 gives at the present time five passenger trains each 
 way between this jjlace and Boston ; direct connection 
 also with Taunton, Providence and New Bedford. 
 
 Families. — The family names most conspicuous 
 in the early history of the town have appeared from 
 time to time in the foregoing notes. These names 
 have more significance than might appear to one 
 who has been familiar only with the more changing 
 population of a later day. To quote from a memor- 
 ial discourse before cited : 
 
 It is said that the New England population of 60 or 70 years ago were 
 
 1 There are in Korthborough some three hundred of these Canadian 
 Trench, seventy-five families, adults and children, most of them con- 
 nected with the two factories, the larger number in "Chapinsville." In 
 the Factory School, established 1880, almost all the children are French, 
 and in their homes use their native language, which is, however, drop- 
 ped in a few years, the parents continuing to use it. These people come 
 from below Moutreal, on or near the St. Lawrence. Que of the earliest 
 comers, Oliver Contois (here called Counter), came in 1850, and has lived 
 here ever since. Their names often undergo odd transformations, thus 
 M. Pierre becomes "Mr. Stone;" M. Rivifere, **Mr. Brooks;" M. 
 &irracin, *' Mr. Rice," &c. About a dozen of them only have become 
 citizens, and these, mostly, a little before the late election. Not till 
 within a year or two have any French children attended the high school ; 
 at present there are two, but none have completed the high-school 
 course of study. 
 
462 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 the purest blood, or had the most of a certain family likeness, of any 
 community speaking the English tongue. They had grown into it by 
 Dearly 200 years of close association here, and wide separation from the 
 rest of the world; and nothiufr. certainly, could do more to bring out 
 and invigorate that quality than the irdependence of the town life, 
 and the habit of acting together in their own little public, to decide 
 all matters of common interest or duty. . . . I think that until within 
 50 years it was rather uncommon to know a family that was not born, 
 bred and married within the town boundaries; and the few exceptions 
 only made the general fact stand out more sharply. 
 
 It is accordingly of interest to take into our limited 
 view the history of a few typical families, — not all, or 
 perhaps the most familiar, of those that might be 
 selected; but those of which the following memor- 
 anda have been kindly put into my hands, here given 
 alphabetically : — 
 
 Bailey. — Rev. Benjamin H. Bailey, now of Mai- 
 den, Mass., writes to me as follows : " My grandfa- 
 ther, Silas Bailey, came from West Berlin to the old 
 fatmof my boyhood [of 214 acres] about 179.5. The 
 farm was bought of Abraham Munroe, grandfather of 
 Mrs. F. D. Bartlett. My grandfather died late in the 
 autumn of 1840, aged 84. His wife, Lavina, sister of 
 Mr. Jotham Barilett, died a few weeks before her hus- 
 band, aged 82. There were 11 children, 7 of whom 
 grew to manhood or womanhood. Timothy, the 
 oldest son, a farmer in Berlin, died about 1838, aged 
 57. Silas died in Worcester in 1860, aged 86. Hol- 
 loway [my father] died in Northborough, Feb. 12, 
 1872, aged 87 years, 7 months. My mother, Lucy 
 Sawyer, was the youngest but one of 11 children of 
 Benjamin and Rebecca (Houghton) Sawyer, of Bol- 
 ton. Their family consisted of 6 children, of whom 
 I am eldest. Three grew to manhood, of whom two 
 remain, myself and my brother, John Lewis, now 
 living at Newton, Mass. Silas Henry was killed at 
 Spottsylvania, Va., May 12, 1864, aged 29 years. He 
 was captain of Company G, 36th Regiment Mass. 
 Volunteers. His comrade in arms, now Rev. H. S. 
 Burrage, of Portland, Maine, in a history of this 
 regiment, and this engagement (most disastrous to 
 our troops), says, p. 168: 'Of the commissioned 
 officers, Capt. Bailey, the beloved commander of 
 Co. G, had received a mortal wound. Corp. Hall, of 
 his company, was one of the first to fall in our close 
 conflict with the enemy, and some of his comrades 
 carried him to the rear of our line of battle. Capt. 
 Bailey moved at once to the spot, and as he was 
 bending over the dying corporal, a minnie ball en- 
 tered his forehead, and he fell forward upon the cor- 
 poral's body. Some of his men carried him to the 
 field-hospital, but nothing could be done for him. 
 He breathed all day, but consciousness did not re- 
 turn ; and so we were called to part with a faithful 
 officer and a noble-hearted companion. He had en- 
 tered the service with a patriotic desire to serve his 
 country, and his last words to those whom he loved, 
 written after the battle of the Wilderness, showed 
 that he had counted the cost, and was willing, if need 
 be, to lay down his life in the endeavor to secure the 
 great objects for which on our part the war was 
 
 waged.' In the letter above referred to Capt. Bailey 
 says, after giving detailed account of the awful car- 
 nage : ' We stand and wait, and fall if we must, I think, 
 willing sacrifices. May God give us the victory, and 
 keep us till his own time for our meeting.'" 
 
 Ball. — Of the Ball family, several members of which 
 are spoken of above, in the mention of physicians, I 
 have the following account. Of the four sons of 
 Nathaniel Ball, of Concord, John (who was killed by 
 the Indians in King Philip's War, 1675) left five 
 children ; of these, John (d. 1722) had seven ; of these, 
 James (1070-1730) had eight, of whom James (b. 
 1695) was the father of Stephen, the first physician 
 who settled in the district of Northborough. Of his 
 six children, Stejihen (1767-18.50) was the second ; a 
 younger brother, Jonas, was a well-known citizen in 
 my boyhood, keeping the " Ball Tavern " on the Wor- 
 cester Road. Of the thirteen children of Dr. Stephen 
 Ball, besides those before mentioned, were Louisa, 
 wife of Dr. Fitch, of Virginia, afterwards of West 
 Newton, Mass.; Elizabeth, wife of Dr. Henry Barnes; 
 Harriet, wife of Charles Mayo, and afterwards of 
 Jairus Lincoln and Benjamin (1820-59), who pub- 
 lished a volume narrating his adventures and remark- 
 able travels in Eastern Asia, the island of Java, and 
 Mauna Loa, the famous volcanic island of the Hawai- 
 ian group, and lost his life in an equally hazardous 
 expedition in Nicaragua. Several of the others have 
 left an honorable and kindly record. 
 
 Brigham. — Conspicuous among the excellent and 
 dignified fathers of the town, a few years ago, was 
 Nathaniel Brigham (1785-1870), whose ancestor, 
 Thomas Brigham, migrated from England in 1634, 
 settling afterwards in Sudbury. The line of descent 
 was through Thomas (1643-1719), David (b. 1678), 
 Levi (1717-87), and Winslow (b. 1756). Of his eight 
 children, Elijah W. (b. 1816) went into business in 
 Boston ; Catharine married George G. Valentine and, 
 with her sister Mary, lives in Northborough. (The 
 brothers, Charles and Frederick Brigham (d. 1881), 
 were of only remote kindred to the above.) 
 
 Davis. — From a representative of the large and 
 widely-honored Davis family I have the following : 
 Isaac Davis was born in Rutland, Mass., February 27, 
 1749. When a young man he came to Westborough 
 to teach the tanner's trade to the sons of Mr. Stephen 
 Maynard, and married Mr. Maynard's step-daughter, 
 Ann Brigham. In 1781 he bought the place in North- 
 borough now occupied by Mrs. George C. Davis, and 
 established a tan-yard there. Of Isaac Davis and 
 Ann Brigham nine children lived to maturity. Three 
 sons lived in Northborough — Phinehas, b. September 
 12, 1772; Joseph, b. February 28, 1774; Isaac, b. 
 September 23, 17 — . Another son, John Davis, after- 
 wards Governor of Massachusetts and United States 
 Senator (" Honest John "), was born June 13, 1787, 
 died 1854. Of the children of Phinehas Davis, Mrs. 
 Nathan Davis Wells (b. November 4, 1865) and her 
 son James are the only dercendants now living in 
 
 I 
 
'^^ 
 
I 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 

 4 
 
NORTHBOROUGH. 
 
 463 
 
 Northborough. Of the children of Joseph, George 
 Clinton Davis (b. February 28, 1813 ; d. April 26, 1873) 
 was the only one who spent his whole life in North- 
 borough ; a younger son, Jiimes (b. June 20, 1818), 
 now lives in this town. Of the descendants of Isaac, 
 Mrs. Adeline Sanford, Miss Sarah Davis and Mrs. Ann 
 Fiske also live in Northborough. 
 
 Fay. — The Fay farm lay hid from from public 
 view, more than most, among the woods and hills to- 
 wards the western part of the town, but the family is 
 a large and important one. Of Paul Fay (the 're- 
 motest of whom I have any record : 1719-90), the son 
 here best known was Asa (1762-1837, a retiring, hard- 
 working, and somewhat eccentric farmer of the old 
 school; and his son was Lewis (1799-1880), father of 
 ten children, of whom Joseph T. (b. 1819) is engaged 
 in business near the village. 
 
 Gale. — Cyrus Gale, youngest but one of seventeen 
 children, was born in Westborough October 7, 1785, 
 and died in 1880, at the age of ninety-five.' He be- 
 gan life at sixteen, as a market gardener, in Roxbury, 
 and at twenty-one held a stall in Faneuil Hall Mar- 
 ket, Boston. He removed to Northborough in 1812 
 for the benefit of his failing health, and here became 
 active in various lines of business, — postmaster, agent 
 of the cotton factory, and storekeeper, as well as a 
 large owner of land; in later years a director of the 
 bank and largely interested in the railroad. His 
 wife was a sister of the brothers Davis. He was for 
 several years in the State Legislature, and in 1852 a 
 member of the Governor's Council ; a strong friend 
 of temperance, and actively interested in politics. 
 An offer to the Commonwealth of land and building- 
 stone, with admirable advantages of water and situa- 
 tion for the Women's Prison (now in Sherburn), was 
 not accepted. His wealth and public spirit were of 
 essential help in the building of the handsome and 
 commodious Town Hall, soon after the close of the 
 Civil War, and in establishing the Public Library. 
 His eldest son, Frederick William, (born 1818, Har- 
 vard University 1836 ; married to Miss Sarah Whit- 
 ney, of Brookline), was lost, with his wife and child, 
 in the sinking of the steamship " Arctic," off the 
 coast of Nova Scotia, in October, 1854. Of his other 
 sons, Cyrus lives in Northborough; George died in 
 1856 ; Walter Scott, born in 1832, lives in Cali- 
 fornia. A daughter, Hannah, was wife of George 
 Barnes, of Northborough ; died in 1851. 
 
 Rice. — Edmund Rice, from Hertfordshire, Eng- 
 land (born about 1594, died 1663), settled in Sudbury 
 in 1638 or '39; had eleven children. His son, Ed- 
 ward (1619-1712), had eleven. Of these, Jacob 
 (1660-1746) removed to Marlborough. His son Jacob 
 (1707-88), the first of the family who lived in North- 
 borough, was one of a family of nine; had eight 
 
 ' At the time of^hia birth his fatlier's age was Jifty-eight, so that 
 their united ages covered the extraonlinary term of one hundred and 
 fifty-three years. 
 
 children. Amos (1743-1827) had a family of ten 
 children, of whom Asaph (1768-1856) was a well- 
 known citizen from fifty to seventy years ago, puri- 
 tanic in principle and eccentric in habit; dearly 
 loving a sharp set-to of speech in town-meeting or 
 lyceura debate; he drove his weekl)' wagon-load of 
 country produce to Boston from his farm on the cross- 
 way between the Worcester and Boylston roads, start- 
 ing at two in the morning, and getting his arrears of 
 sleep (it was said) as he walked beside his team of 
 slumbering horses — a unique character who could not 
 be spared from the reminiscencesof this time. Of his 
 nine children, the two best known were Anson (1798- 
 1875), kindly, public-spirited, a frequent moderator at 
 town-meetings, an important figure in the village 
 choir with his great bass-viol ;-' and John (d. 1881), 
 a useful citizen and active business man, of excellent 
 intelligence and admirable private character, who 
 died, suddenly, while on the railway train for Boston 
 The present representative in Northborough of this 
 strong and numerous family is Charles A., son of 
 Anson, born 1825. A sister, Mrs. Mary F. Sherman, 
 also lives here. 
 
 Seaver. — Samuel Seaver (1770-1838), a wool- 
 carder by trade, was the father of seven children. Of 
 these, the elde--t son, Abraham Wood (1809-87), went 
 at fifteen into the store of Gale & Davis, afterwards 
 becoming partner with Mr. Gale (Cyrus Gale & Co., 
 succeeded in 1845 by Cyrus Gale, Jr., & Henry May- 
 nard). Between 1845 and 1853 he was engaged in 
 the paint and oil trade in Boston ; then with Milo 
 Hildreth, in Northborough, in the comb manufacture. 
 In 1854 he became cashier of the Northborough 
 Bank (George C. Davis, president), which office he 
 held, with a short interval, until his last sickness, 
 "a quiet but busy man, enjoying the confidence of 
 the community, well known and highly respected 
 through the central and eastern portions of Worcester 
 County. He has held many positions of honor and 
 trust, with credit to himself and profit to others, and 
 declined an appointment as Judge of the Second 
 Worces er District Court." His brother Samuel was 
 the father of three sons, — Edwin Pliny (Harvard 
 University, 1864), superintendent of schools in Bos- 
 ton, living in West Newton ; Walter, a young man of 
 very winning character and noblest promise, a most 
 successful teacher, who died in 1867 ; and Francis, 
 cashier of the Manufacturers' Bank, Boston. 
 
 Valentine. — From John Valentine, who came 
 to Boston in 1745, there were descendants in the 
 fourth generation — sons of William, who settled in 
 Northborough in 1804 — Gill (born 1788), the eleventh 
 child, and Elmer (born 1795), the fifteenth and 
 youngest. Of the five children of the former, George 
 Gill (1815-69) andThomasW. (1818-79), long ateacher 
 of high repute in Brooklyn, N. Y., and elsewhere. 
 
 - Mr. Rice sang (he told me) in the choir at Dr. Allen's ordination 
 service, in ISlti, and at hia funeral, in 1873. 
 
464 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 are the best known names. Elmer, who was the 
 founder of the Bapti>t Society in this town, was long 
 a successful teacher here and an admirable writing 
 master. Of his fifteen children, the eldest, Charles 
 Elmer (born 1822, married Olive Seaver), an excellent 
 and beloved teacher in the Boston school, was in- 
 stantly killed by a passing train while leaving that 
 by which he had just arrived in West Newton, where 
 he resided (1870). The widow of Elmer (Rebecca 
 Crawford) lives, at a great age, in Northborough. 
 
 Williams. — George Williams, a merchant of 
 Salem, and his wife, Lydia Pickering (of whom an 
 admirable portrait, painted in her old age by Gilbert 
 Stuart, is in the Williams house in Northborough), 
 were the parents of twelve children. Of his eight 
 sons, the best known names are those of Timothy, a 
 Boston merchant ; Samuel, a London banker ; and 
 Stephen (1772-1838), owner of a fine stock and fruit 
 farm in the westerly part of Nortliborough, whither 
 he removed in 1799. His portion of the family estate 
 had been lost by shipwreck ; but a later inheritance 
 enabled him to make the purchase of his Northbor- 
 ough farm. Of his brother Samuel it is told that, 
 being on his return voyage from England, his vessel 
 was run down and that he found himself, roused sud- 
 denly out of sleep, clinging to the shrouds or bow- 
 sprit of a large ship bound for England. Thus 
 forced back, he conceived a horror of the sea, and 
 never visited his native country, but went into busi- 
 ness in London, where he was long well known for 
 his hospitalities to visiting Americans. Among his 
 good gifts, he sent to his brother Stephen a number 
 of very fine stock-breeding animals, and pictures of 
 the noblest of British bulls adorn the walls of the 
 pleasant and hospitable old house. With the kindest 
 of hearts, Mr. Williams' manner was curt and taci- 
 turn ; he would turn aside not to betray himself, if be- 
 guiled unawares into a laugh ; he cherished, like a 
 lover, his choice varieties of rare fruit; and when the 
 apple-harvest came he would leave at his minister's 
 back-door the briefest of written messages: "Send 
 your barrels!'' A man of generous and noble traits 
 who, with his wife (Alice Orne, of Salem, 1769-1856), 
 a lady of dignified, refined and quiet manner, made a 
 greatly prized variety among our rural jjopulation. 
 His son, George Henry (married Frances E. Simesj 
 of Portsmouth, N. H.), has of late years lived upon his 
 father's farm. His elder daughter, Mary, married 
 Captain Edward Orne, of Salem, a shipmaster' in the 
 Asiatic trade ; their two sons were Henry (formerly 
 of Pontotoc, Miss., and later of Memphis, Tenn., 
 where he died in 1862), and Charles, long in business 
 in Hong Kong, who died in New York in 1881 ; a 
 daughter, Mary, now lives in Cambridge. The 
 younger daughter, Elizabeth, married Benjamin D. 
 Whitney, of Brookline : he lives with his daughters 
 in Cambridge. Ellen, daughter of George H. Wil- 
 liams, is the Northborough representative of the 
 younger generation. 
 
 Wood. — The family of Wood in this vicinity are 
 descended from William Wood, who migrated from 
 England in 1638. His son Michael died in Concord 
 in 1674 ; his son Abraham in Sudbury in 1742, or a 
 little later ; his son "Captain" Samuel came in 1749 
 to Northborough, where he built a fulling-mill, and 
 died in 1760. Of the twelve children of his son Abra- 
 ham, representatives are found through the seven 
 daughters under the family names of Davis, Garrett, 
 Kice, Valentine and others. The youngest of the 
 twelve, Samuel, born 1799, had four sons and one 
 daughter. One of the sons, Samuel, born 1831, is now 
 president of the bauk. 
 
 Statistics. — The following figures show the recent 
 growth of the town, the ratio of gain being the largest 
 of the towns in this county excepting four: Popula- 
 tion in 1875, 1398; population in 1885, 1853: in- 
 crease, 455. 
 
 The gain is chiefly due to the immigration of 
 French, most of wliom are factory operatives from Low- 
 er Canada. From 1865 to 1875 there was a decrease, 
 real or apparent, of 225. In the century since 1776, 
 when the population was 562, there has been a gain 
 of 836, or nearly 150 per cent. Number of voters in 
 1885, 393'; number of ratable polls, 573 ; number of 
 families, 416; populationof native birth, 1485; popu- 
 lation of foreign birth, 368 ; natives of Massachusetts, 
 1485 ; natives of Ireland, 99 ; natives of Canada, 154 ; 
 having both parents native, 983; having both parents 
 foreign, 629; unmarried (about one-half), 976; hav- 
 ing both parents Canadian French, 272 ; having both 
 parents Irish, 215. 
 
 The following list is taken from the town reports 
 of 1888 :— 
 
 State tax, $1440 ; county tax, $856 ; town grant, 
 $14,300 ; overlayings, $2.36.29— total, $16,832.29. Tai 
 on polls, $1186 ; tax on real estate, $11,830.23 ; tax on 
 personal estate, $3108.14 ; tax on resident bank stock, 
 $707.92 — total amount of tax to be collected, $16,- 
 832.29. Number of polls, 593; value of real estate, 
 $946,340 ; value of personal estate, $248,592 ; value of 
 resident bank stock, $56,613. Bank shares are taxed 
 at $113. Rate of taxation, $12.50 per $1000. Num- 
 ber ot dwelling-houses, 332 ; horses, 311 ; cows, 835. 
 
 The followingstatementis from the local newspaper: 
 The daily shipment of milk from Northboro' aver- 
 ages at present about 300 cans holding 85 quarts each. 
 During the spring mouths the daily shipment reached 
 400 cans. Twenty-two cents per can is the price paid 
 during the summer. Winter pricesare a trifle higher. 
 —(September, 1888.) 
 
 The export of apples to foreign markets began in 
 1864. It is estimated that in fruit seasons the exports 
 amount to 10,000 barrels. 
 
 Financial summary for the year 1887-88. Expendi- 
 tures : Schools, $4836.04; highways, $1757.60; bridges, 
 
 1 Being 21 1*5 per cent, of the population. The highest ratio in tho 
 county is in Lunenburg, 30 1-2 ; the lowest in Webster, 16 per cent. 
 
PETERSHAM. 
 
 465 
 
 $294.51; snow bills, $103.70; Fire Department, 
 $356.73; street lighting, $378.50; Public Library, 
 $434.29 ; pauper account, $2229.76 ; cemeteries, $200 ; 
 Town Hall, $377.29; water damage, $3556.97; State 
 aid, $489; contingent expenses, $1958.43— total, $16,- 
 972.82. Interest charges and State claims, $10,845.82; 
 total, $27,818.64. 
 
 CHAPTER LXX. 
 
 PETERSHAM. 
 
 BY LYMAN CI,ARK. 
 
 LocaJily — Topography—Railway Connections — ntslorical liaowrces— Early 
 Settlement— Petitioners and Proprietors — Sereices in the Indian War — 
 First Meeting — Settlers — RehUions with the Indians — Alarm — Armed 
 Worshippers. 
 
 Located in the northwestern part of Worcester 
 County and bounded by AtUol, Phillipston, Barre, 
 Dana and New Salem, with eastern and southern 
 angles connecting with Hubbardston and Hardwick, 
 is found the town of Petersham, the only place bear- 
 ing the name in the United States. The plantation, 
 as it was originally called, was intended to be laid out 
 six miles square, or containing thirty-six square 
 miles. The four angles of its boundary lines coincided 
 nearly with the points of the compass. A range of 
 hills extends from the extreme northern portion of the 
 town southward, in a position central between the 
 eastern and western bounds. It is said that on these 
 hills is found the highest cultivated land in Massa- 
 chu<ett3 east of the Connecticut River, the eleva- 
 tion being but a few feet lower than the summit of 
 AV'^achusett Mountain. 
 
 On either side of this range of hills may be found 
 streams flowing southward into Swift River, or, in the 
 northwestern part, northward into Miller's River. 
 East and west of these streams hills or elevated 
 ground may be found as the traveller approaches 
 Dana on the western or Hubbardston on the eastern 
 border. A portion of the territory originally belong- 
 ing to the town has been set off to increase that of 
 Dana- 
 
 The railway connections of the place are with the 
 Fitchburg, by stage nine miles to Athol ; the Massa- 
 chusetts Central by stage, ten miles to Barre. At 
 North Dana, five miles' distant, is a station of the 
 Springfield and Athol Branch of the Boston and 
 Albany, and at Williamsville, six miles eastward, is a 
 station of the Ware River Railway. All of these 
 stations are used to some extent in communicating 
 with the world, that at Athol having been hitherto 
 the chief point. 
 
 Historical Resources. — Mention may properly 
 be made of the early town records from 1757-1793, 
 which are specially valuable; also of the early church 
 records, which begin with the organization of the 
 church, 1738. Rev. Peter Whitney, son of Rev. 
 30 
 
 Aaron Whitney, the first pastor, wrote the first his- 
 torical sketch of the town, of which we have knowl- 
 edge, in his " History of Worcester County," which 
 was the first published history of the county. Jared 
 Weed, Esq., prepared an address upon the history of 
 the town, the MS. of which has been in possession 
 of Mr. Joseph Willson, of Bellows Falls, Vt. A 
 bower has twice been built upon the Common and 
 the people assembled to listen to an historical ad- 
 dress, followed by festivities appropriate to our 
 national holiday. The first occurred July 4, 1854, 
 which was specially observed in view of the comple- 
 tion, on the 19th of April previous, of a hun- 
 dred years from the date of the incorporation of the 
 town. Dr. William Parkhurst presided. Rev. Ed- 
 mund B. Willson delivered a carefully prepared, very 
 full and complete address, presenting the previous 
 history of Petersham. This was published in pam- 
 phlet form, with historical appendices, and is the 
 basis of later historical labors relative to the town, 
 furnishing much of the information contained in this 
 article. Reference is made to this address for more 
 full information on many topics than is here con- 
 tained. 
 
 The second historical anniversary was held in pur- 
 suance of a resolution of Congress relative to local 
 histories, under a bower on the same spot, July 4, 
 1876 ; Deacon Cephas Willard, ninety years of age, 
 presided. Lyman Clark, then pastor of the First 
 Congregational Church (Unitarian), delivered the 
 address which was intended to supply some informa- 
 tion relative to the earlier period not contained in 
 the previous address, and to add historical facts per- 
 taining to the period of twenty-two years which had 
 passed since the previous celebration. This address 
 was publi-ihed in the Athol Transcript for July 11 
 and 18, 1876. George W. Horr, LL.B., in tha 
 year 1879 prepared a valuable historical article for a 
 " History of Worcester County." Hon. John G. 
 Mudge has carefully prepared the record of the sol- 
 diers of the War of the Rebellion, and furnished 
 much other information. Mr. J. B. Howe has for 
 many years collected materials for the history of the 
 town, many items of which have appeared in the 
 Athol Transcript. A valuable MS. in his possession 
 contains the letters of Captain Park Holland, pre- 
 pared from a diary kept by him of six years' service 
 in the Revolutionary War, service at (he time of 
 Shays' Rebellion, and surveying tours to the eastern 
 part of what is now the State of Maine. Acknowl- 
 edgments are made to these various sources of infor- 
 mation contained in this article, including courtesies 
 by Mr. C. B. Tillinghast, in charge of the State 
 Library. The preparation of a full history of the 
 town remains for the future. Probably few towns of 
 the State will be found to have more interesting his- 
 torical resources than are furnished by the annals of 
 Petersham. 
 
 Early Settlement. — In the month of April, 
 
466 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 1733, John Bennet, Jeremiah Perley and sixty- 
 five others petitioned the General Court for a grant 
 of land six miles square. The proposed grant was to 
 be located from a point beginning six miles from the 
 northwest corner of Rutland, the southern line run- 
 ning westerly six miles. The reason urged in favor 
 of the grant by the petitioners was previous service 
 in the Indian Wars under Captain Lovell, of Dun- 
 stable, and Captain White, of Lancaster. Two 
 previous petitions had been sent to the General Court 
 without avail. This petition was acted upon favor- 
 ably on the 2.5th day of April, 1733, the General 
 Court having excluded nine of the petitioners and 
 added five new names, making seventy-one proprietors. 
 The grant was at the average rate of three hundred 
 and twenty-four acres per man, or about twice the 
 amount now allowed under the bounty laws of the 
 United States, and may be thought a generous recog- 
 nition of the " Hardship and Difficult marches they 
 underwent " . . . " after the Inden Enemy and Into 
 their Country,'' which were humbly assigned as 
 reasons for the grant. 
 
 It is probable that those marches had at some time 
 led the petitioners over the lands which they thought 
 desirable for a plantation, and that thus the location 
 was fixed in their minds. Some of them were men 
 of means, thus giving the enterprise of establishing 
 a plantation responsible endorsement. The petition- 
 eri lived chiefly in the northwestern part of Middle- 
 sex and northeastern part of Worcester Counties. 
 The towns of Lancaster, Boxford, Harvard, Lunen- 
 burg, Concord, Groton, Dracut, Haverhill, Biller- 
 ica, Grafton, Rutland, Sudbury, Worcester, Ames- 
 bury, Exeter, N. H., Bedford, Chelmsford and other 
 places were represented among the proprietors. 
 
 Petitioners and Peoprietors. — The names of 
 the original petitioners were: " Benoni Boyenten, 
 Moses Hazzen, William Hutchins, Caleb Dalton, 
 John Hazzen, Jacob Perley, Samuel Stickney, 
 Phinias Foster, Stephen Merril, Benjamin Barker, 
 Robart Ford, Abner Brown, Samuel Hilton, John 
 White, Benjamin Walker, Joseph Reed, John Baker, 
 John Goss, Joseph Wrighte, Richard Hall, Oliver 
 Pollard, Samuel Fletcher, John Dunton, William 
 Spalding, John Varnum, John Leveston, Junr., Jos- 
 eph Whelock, Robarte Phelps, Jonathan Hough- 
 ton, Jacob Ernes, Henry Willard, John Bennet, 
 Jeremiah Perley, and in behalf of Joshua Hut- 
 chins, Jathro Eames, Jonas Houghton, Ezra Saw- 
 yer, James Houghton, Samuel Sawyer, Aron Rice 
 (Ried ?), Jonathan Adams, Moses Chandler, Sam- 
 uel Rugg, Jonathan Atherton, Ephraim Houghton, 
 Jonathan Wilson, Steven Houghton, heirs of Sam- 
 uel Mossmann, Benjamin Gates, Fairbanks Moores, 
 Joseph Whittomb, Samuel Lamed, Daniel Hough- 
 ton, Peter Atherton, John Wilder, Edward Hough- 
 ton, Henry Houghton, David Whitcomb, Timothy 
 Hale, Jonathan Parling, Samuel Brown, John Saw- 
 yer, Joseph Willson, Samuel Willard, Ephraim 
 
 Farnsworth, Edward Hartwell, Ruben Farnsworth." 
 The five of these petitioners who were excluded 
 by the General Court were: Edward Hartwell, 
 Joseph Wright, Joseph Whelock, Robart Phelps 
 and Jonathan Houghton, Jr. 
 
 Nine persons required to be admitted among the 
 proprietors were : Thomas Farmer, Henry Coul- 
 burn, Jonathan Farrer, Samuel Shaddock, Samuel 
 Trull, Jacob Corey, Joshua Webster, Abiel Foster, 
 Samuel Tarbol. Thus the names of seventy-one 
 proprietors were recognized in the grant, many of 
 whom never became settlers, but transferred their 
 lands to children or other assignees. In a sub- 
 sequent report of the names by the proprietors' 
 clerk, the name Aaron Ried appears instead of 
 Aron Rice, and Sam" Terrill in place of Sam- 
 uel Trull. It may be deemed mare likely that 
 the true names were Ried and Terrill, an imperfect 
 signature possibly explaining the early error, which 
 was corrected by the proprietors' clerk after ample 
 acquaintance. 
 
 Samuel Willard appears to have borne the mili- 
 tary rank of major; Jeremiah Perley and Jonas 
 Houghton, that of captain; John Bennet and Sam- 
 uel Tarbol, that of lieutenant. 
 
 Services in the Indian War. — The following 
 statement is made by Willson, in his address at the one 
 hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of the 
 town, of the services referred to in the petition of the 
 proprietors. " What proprietors of this town rendered 
 services under Captain White, of Lancaster, or what 
 the particular services rendered were, it is out of my 
 power to tell ; but we have the means of identifying 
 above forty oftheseventy-oneproprietorsof this town, 
 as having been volunteers under the famous and re- 
 doubtable Captain Lovell, of Dunstable, on the last 
 but one of his marches into the Indian country, — they 
 constituting about three-fourths of his whole force. 
 This was the expedition in which a camp of ten In- 
 dians was surprised, and the whole number extermin- 
 ated." It is not easy to pass this allusion without ex- 
 pressing a sense of humiliation in view of the fact 
 that this warfare against the Indians was carried on 
 in pursuance of an ofl'er by Massachusetts of a bounty 
 of one hundred pounds (sterling money) each for the 
 scalps of the Indians. The scalps were brought in 
 and the bounty paid. Aside from the barbarism of 
 this warfare on the part of the whites, which the 
 (>ctitioners shared with the people of Massachusetts, 
 the character of the original proprietors, as thus in- 
 dicated, is of interest when considered in connection 
 with events which took place at the time of the Rev- 
 olutionary War. Their martial service was the oc- 
 casion of a designation of the town, which sometimes 
 appears in the early records as Volunteer's Town, or, 
 by abbreviation, Voluntown. The name borne by 
 established usage from the date of settlement to that 
 of incorporation, 1^54, was Nichewaug. This name 
 
 / 
 
PETEKSHAM. 
 
 467 
 
 is still preserved as the post-ofBce designation of a vil- 
 lage in the southern part of the town. 
 
 The proprietors held their first meeting in Lancaster, 
 May 10, 1733 ; the second in Groton during the au- 
 tumn of the same year. At this meeting, in Groton, 
 it was voted that a meeting-house be built. It will be 
 noted that Groton is central between Lancaster, Dun- 
 stable and the neighboring towns, from which the re- 
 cruits for the companies of Captains White and Lovell 
 were enlisted. 
 
 Settlees. — More of interest attaches to the names 
 of the early settlers than to those of the proprietors 
 as such, many of whom never located in the town, 
 but disposed of their rights to others. In pursuance 
 of action by the General Court, Thomas Adams, pro- 
 prietors' clerk, prepared, December 14, 1750, a report 
 of the names of forty-seven settlers, with the proprie 
 tor's right on which they were located. This affords 
 a means of distinguishing this number of settlers 
 by the names which follow : John Stowill, Jacob 
 Wheeler, Jonas Farusworth, Sam" Willson, Nath' 
 Sanderson, Nathan Goddard, Isaac Wardj^Christ'' 
 Page, Isaac Hilldrake, Nath' Stevens, Salvenas How, 
 Joseph Marble, David Stone, Simeon Houghton, 
 David Page, John Wilder, Junr., Dan" Mills, George 
 Dobbins, Sam' Willard, Jun., Esq'., Aaron Allen, 
 Ephraim Rice, Joseph Willson, Sam" Whittemore, 
 William Negus, Sam" Marble, James Clemence, 
 Ebenezer Davis, Thos. Robbins, Dan" Owen, Benj° 
 Chandler, Nath" Wilder, Zedekiah Stone, Ebenez' 
 Hill, David Lawson, Thomas Rogers, Daniel Fisk, 
 Edmund Bingham, Edward Allen, Jon° Marble, 
 David Lawson, Jun'., Sam" Gats, David Sanderson, 
 Dan" Dunkin, Charles Wilder, Aaron Wilder, Dan" 
 Spooner, Eleazer Sanger. 
 
 The report closes with this statement : 
 " There are Divers others settled on Devisions be- 
 longing to the same Rights that are here settled, but 
 the time being so short since I saw the act in the 
 Prints that I am not aljie at present to give an exact 
 account what particular Rights they are settled on 
 and convey the same to the General assembly by the 
 time appointed; but the number of families in said 
 Township are Sixty-one." 
 
 This report dates from four years previous to the 
 incorporation of the town, 1754. The fir.^t census, 
 taken in 1765, showed a population of seven hundred 
 and seven. 
 
 Tradition reports that the first two houses in the 
 settlement were built by Joseph Willson and Simeon 
 Houghton, the question of precedence not being 
 determined. 
 
 Relations with the Indians.— The proprietors 
 of the town of Petersham acquired by purchase, in 
 addition to the grant of the General Court, an Indian 
 claim upon the land. Probably this contributed to 
 the peaceable relations of the settlers with the claim- 
 ants, no death by savage violence having ever been 
 reported as occurring within the town. We have a 
 
 glimpse of the early time in the following description, 
 by Captain Park Holland, whose father came to the 
 town from Shrewsbury in 1752, of an alarm at the time 
 of the French and Indian War, 1756: "I recollect as 
 distinctly as if but yesterday when the inhabitants 
 were called upon to be ready to defend themselves. 
 We were at church when news came that the enemy 
 was near. The services were immediately ended, and 
 each man seized his gun, which he had left at the 
 door, hastened home to be ready to march in the 
 morning. I well remember one of our neighbors 
 coining to borrow a darning-needle of ray mother to 
 mend her husband's stockings, which I very much 
 wondered at, it being Sunday, not exactly seeing how 
 the expected approach of the French and Indiana 
 could lessen the sin of working on that holy day. I 
 was then probably four or five years old." As this 
 was an alarm it appears that their habit was to take 
 their guns to church, which at a later date has not 
 been thought to be in good form. Horr quotes 
 Whitney to the same eflect in the following passage : 
 "Although the prospects from the soil were very 
 promising, and settlers moved in fast, yet they laboured 
 under many and exceeding great di.>-:advantages, being 
 then so remote from any white people, from whom 
 they could procure the necessaries of life, or derive 
 any aid or support. While in its infancy and strug- 
 gling for life, a French war broke out, and the Indians, 
 being always in the interest of the French, became 
 hostile, and began to commit depredations in various 
 parts of the land, which occasioned the few inhabit- 
 ants great fear and danger, obliging them to build 
 forts in different parts of the town, round certain 
 houses, into each of which a number of families 
 moved for safety and defence, and soldiers were 
 stationed there as a guard to the inhabitants, and to 
 reconnoitre the country. The people used to labor on 
 their lands in small parties, changing work with one 
 another, having their guns by them, and these, also, 
 they were for a long time obliged to carry with them 
 whenever they went to the House of God for religious 
 worship, and also to place sentinels at the doors." 
 
 CHAPTER LXXI. 
 
 PETERSHAM— ( Continued. ) 
 
 INCIDENTS OF THE REVOI.UTION. 
 
 Emflmimfnl of a Teacher— Dedication of a Liberly Tree—Breakiyig Open 
 a School-home— A Suit for Damages— A Brilliant Attorney— A Ilepre- 
 sentatiee Instructs — Warlike Resolutions— Greeting to Boston — Tltat 
 " Town" Invited to Petersham— The Doings of Several Parties — Rwjal~ 
 isU Disarmed— A Town-meeting in 1170— The Miuter-roll— Clearing a 
 Parade Ground — Captain Holland Dines with Washington — Inoculated 
 with Small pox — Financial Honor of the Town. 
 
 The town history presents a most interesting series 
 of incidents connected with the Rovolution. One of 
 
468 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 the first grew out of the etnployment of a teacher. 
 Rev. Aaron Whitney, pastor of the church and mem- 
 ber of the School Board, was a royalist. (More than a 
 hundred years removed from the passions of that time, 
 we may well avoid tlie current epithets and show the 
 literary courtesy of styling the two parties to the revo- 
 lutionary stuiggle royalists and revolutionists, words 
 exactly expressing the political position of the oppo- 
 nents.) Eusign Man, an applicant for the position of 
 teacher, was in sentiment a revolutionist ; in view of 
 which Mr. Whitney refused to take part in his exam- 
 ination, but was present. The teacher was employed 
 notwithstanding the opposition of Mr. Whitney, and 
 became a party to several events connected with the war. 
 In 1768 the Massachusetts House of Representa- 
 tives had forwarded an address to the King, relative to 
 grievances, which was deemed by the crown offensive 
 in its terms, and the House was ordered to rescind 
 its action. The vote upon this question was seventeen 
 in favor of to ninety-two against rescinding the peti- 
 tion. The " Sons of Liberty," at Petersham, cele- 
 brated, in characteristic fashion, this refusal to with- 
 draw a petition for redress of grievances. They selected 
 a thrifty young elm tree, and cut away seventeen 
 branches, leaving, as tradition declares, ninety-two re- 
 maining. With songs, toasts and patriotic ceremony 
 the dismembered branches were consigned to the 
 flames, and the living tree dedicated to the Goddess 
 of Liberty. That Ensign Man, teacher of the children 
 of the place, should take part, as he did, in such cere- 
 monies, would naturally arouse theindignation of the 
 royalist citizens of the town. A certain school-house 
 stood upon giound which was claimed by Captain 
 Thomas Beaman, as was the school-house itself, to be 
 his property. For the purpose of keeping the offend- 
 ing schoolmaster from using this school-house, Cap- 
 tain Beaman closed the door with a padlock. Mr. 
 Sylvanus How, who had formerly owned the land, 
 claimed that the school-house stood in the highway, 
 and, going with Mr. Man, they broke open the door. 
 A suit ibr damages arose, the decision of which 
 awarded the plaintiff, Captain Beaman six shillings. 
 The defendants appealed and obtained, a reduction of 
 this small award, but were compelled to pay the costs, 
 which were a considerable sum. Utterly trivial, petty 
 and insignificant as this is, it led, such being the com- 
 plications of human events, to that which rises to the 
 dignity of historic consequence. Sylvanus How had 
 employed no less a personage than the brilliant and 
 distinguished Josiah Quincy, Jr., to defend him from 
 being, as he thought, unrighteously mulcted in the 
 sum of six shillings for opening a school-house. This 
 able lawyer was unsuccessful so far as the main ques- 
 tion was concerned. A petty reduction of the petty 
 fine was all he accomplished, leaving the right of the 
 cause, as awarded, to the plaintiff Beaman. But Mr. 
 Quincy was able to render Mr. How other and very 
 much more important services, which may now be 
 narrated. 
 
 The Boston Committee of Correspondence had sent 
 out its Circular Letter to the towns. Mr. How was 
 chairman of the town committee to draft a reply to 
 that circular. He sought unofficial assistance from 
 his attorney, Mr. Quincy, who used the opportunity 
 with good effect. Mr. How's associates upon the 
 committee were Colonel Ephraim Doolittle, Jonathan 
 Grout, Samuel Dennis, Daniel Miles, Captain Elisha 
 Ward, John Stowell, Theophilus Chandler and Dea- 
 con William Willard. This committee, with the 
 friendly assistance of Mr. Quincy, prepared a reply to 
 the circular from Boston, a series of resolutions rela- 
 tive to the condition of the colonies, and a series of 
 instructions to their representative to the General 
 Court. Colonel Ephraim Doolittle represented the 
 town and was also moderator of the town-meeting, 
 held January 4, 1773, which acted upon the report. 
 An excerpt from the instructions to their representa- 
 tive is of special interest as showing the temper of 
 the report: 
 
 It is our earnest desire, and we liere direct you to use your utmost in- 
 fluencr^ (as one of the legislative body) to uonvinco the imtion of Great 
 Britain that the measures they have meted out to us will have a direct 
 tendency to destroy both them and us ; and petition the King and Par- 
 li.auiaut of Great Britain, in the most pathetic and striking manner, to 
 relieve us from our aggravated grievances. But if this slionld fail, we 
 reconunend it to your consideration and direct you to move it to the 
 consideration of the honorable Court, whether it would it not be best to 
 call in the aid of some Protestant Power or Powers, requesting that they 
 would use their kind and Christian influence with our mother country, 
 that so we m.ay be relieved, and that brjtherly love and harmony may 
 again take place, and that natural alliance again be restoted between us 
 and Great Britain, which may coQtinue until time shall be no more. 
 
 An excerpt from the resolutions, known to have 
 originated in the mind of Mr. Quincy, presents the 
 alternative of the town in case of the failure of the 
 peaceful methods of petition and arbitration: 
 
 Eesolved, That it is the first and highest social duty of this people to 
 consider of, and seek ways and meiuig for a speedy redress of these 
 mighty grievances alul intolerable wrongs ; and that for the obtainment 
 of this end, this people are warranted by the laws of God and nature in 
 the use of every rightful art, aud energy of policy, stratagem and 
 force. 
 
 This historic deliberative action of the town re- 
 commended a petition, "in the most pathetic and 
 striking manner," for redress of grievances, arbitra- 
 tion as the alternative; but failing in these, the town 
 declared resistance warranted by use of every rightful 
 art, energy of policy, strategem and force. Can it be 
 truly said that this deliberative conclusion of the town 
 in parliament, January 4, 1773, was in any respect 
 less significant, though less famous than the actual 
 use of force which began at Concord two years later? 
 
 The letter of reply to the circular sent from Boston 
 contains such a portraiture of the times that it may 
 well be given entire. 
 
 Td the Comniillee of Correspondence for the town of Boston : 
 
 Gentlemen ; The town of Petersham having received the circular 
 letter from the town of Boston, with the 8tate[luent] of rights aud 
 grievances as published by them, most sensibly congratulate you on 
 retiecting on that pr nciple of virtue which must have induced your 
 town, at GO critical a day, to take the lead in so good a cause ; and our 
 admiration is heightened when we consider your being exposed to the 
 
PETERSHAM. 
 
 469 
 
 first efforts of the iron jaws of power. The time may come when, if 
 you continue your integrity, that you may be ilriven from your goodly 
 heritages; and if that sliould be tlio case {wliicli God of Ilia infinite 
 mercy prevent), we invite you to share witli us in our small supplies of 
 the necessarys of life. And should the voracious jaws of tymnny still 
 haunt us, and we should not be able to withstand them, we are de- 
 termined to retire and seek refuge among the inlanil aboriginal natives 
 of this country, with whom we doubt not but to iind more humanity 
 and brotherly love than we have lately received from our mother coun- 
 try. 
 
 We are sensible that there i.s a number amongst us who are wicked 
 enough to make use of their whole influence to divide and render the 
 efforts making for a union abortive; and that they are induced to con- 
 duct in this manner from the low motives of expecting to be sharers in 
 the .arbitrary power which they are so active in endeavoring should 
 take place, and of sharing in the unrighteous plunder of their fellow- 
 men. But may God graciously disappoint their me.asures and turn 
 their hearts ! We herewith send an attested copy of the doings of our 
 town. If the nature of causes ever again bespeaks any more from us, 
 we then again shall offer what then may appear right, for we read that 
 those that were faithful spake often one to the other; and may God of 
 his infinite mercy, in his own time deliver us ! 
 
 SlLVANtrs How, per order. 
 Dav[d Sanderson, Town Clerk. 
 
 Specially noticable is the invitation given to the 
 " town of Boston," in view of the then possible future 
 event of being overcome by " iron jaws of power," to 
 take refuge in Petersham and share with them in 
 their " small supplies of the necessarys of life." For- 
 tunately, the British lion was not able to drive the 
 " town of Boston " to an acceptance of this hospitable 
 invitation ; but it is a curious fact that a century later 
 many of the people of Boston, overcome by a lion, did, 
 and still do, take refuge in Petersham, to there share 
 with the good people the ample supplies of the " ne- 
 cessaries of life." Not the lion of the English flag, but 
 the astronomical lion, whose fury brings July and 
 August temperatures, constrains at least some of the 
 people of Boston to favorable consideration of the 
 historic invitation to Petersham. 
 
 Of several parties to these incidents it may be said 
 that Ensign Man became captivated by the charms of 
 Miss Alice Whitney, the minister's daughter, whom 
 he married, renouncing his former political views. 
 Colonel Doolittle, although not personally present, 
 was the first officer of a Worcester County regiment 
 which took part at the battle of Bunker Hill. Daniel 
 Miles and Sylvanus How became soldiers in the 
 Revolutionary army. Captain Beaman, who locked 
 the school-house door, won execrable distinction by 
 piloting the British troops from Boston to Concord. 
 Josiah Quincy rendered his country memorableservice 
 by his eloquence and patriotism. 
 
 Royalists Disarmed. — The town was not without 
 a local exhibition of force, which, however, did not 
 lead to bloodshed. Dr. Ball, of Templeton, which 
 then included Phillipston, on a visit to Petersham, 
 fell into a disputation with one or two young men 
 who were of the revolutionary party. Separating 
 with ill-feeling, the men waylaid the Templeton 
 royalist on his way homeward, and pelted him with 
 stones, one of which took serious, one tradition says 
 subsequently fatal, effect. The outrage naturally 
 aroused the royalists of Templeton, and friends of Dr. 
 
 Ball, who came over in force and were joined by friends 
 of their cause in Petersham. A like assembly of the 
 friends of the colonial cause took place under the 
 leadership of Captain Holman, also of Templeton, 
 the result being that the royalist party took refuge in 
 a house then owned by David Stone, now in possession 
 of Mr. George West, and barricaded their place of 
 refuge. The opposing revolutionists besieged the 
 house and guarded it during the following stormy 
 night, after which the royalists were induced to sur- 
 render. They came out and were escorted to the 
 hotel kept by Mr. Winslow, and an investigation took 
 place with this result: the royalists were required to 
 give up their arms and agree not to act against the 
 revolutionary movement in future. The injury to Dr. 
 Ball had given them just cause of complaint, but the 
 cause of independence was in their estimation superior * 
 to any question of personal assault and battery, and 
 these Petersham patriots took occasion, in January or 
 February, 1775, to thus disarm their opponents, and 
 parole them substantially as prisoners of war. Tradi- 
 tion declares that on that night of siege two wives, 
 whose husbands were in the opposing ranks, met in 
 the fields between their respective dwellings, and 
 exchanged personal sympathies as neighbors and 
 friends. 
 
 A town-meeting was held May 27, 1776, " to see 
 if the inhabitants will instruct their representative 
 to inform the Great and General Court of this Pro- 
 vince that they stand ready, and are fully determined 
 to support the Continental Congress with their lives 
 and fortunes, on condition they should declare the 
 American colonies independent of corrupt and arbi- 
 trary Great Britain." Affirmative action was taken, 
 with but one negative vote. 
 
 Enrollment of Soldiers. — The virtue of a 
 promise is in the performance thereof. How well 
 the town kept its promise in behalf of the cause of 
 independence may be seen from its roll of revolution- 
 ary soldiers. 
 
 Col. Ephraim Doolittle commanded a Worcester 
 County regiment. Capt. John Wheeler led a Peters- 
 ham company in the same regiment. The names of 
 the men of this company, some of whom may have 
 enlisted from other towns, are given, with various 
 marks of interrogation, by Rev. Edmund Willson. 
 Edw. Barker (or Bowker), Lieutenant ; John Bowker, 
 Lieutenant; Thos. Davenport, John Holland, John 
 Roger.*, Joel Doolittle, Sergeants; Thad. Houghton, 
 Corporal ; Thomas Wheeler, Drummer ; Caleb Bryant, 
 Fifer; Israel Houghton, Caleb Perry, David Perry, 
 Aaron Allen, Bezile Amsdel (Bezaleel Amsden ?), 
 Sam. Bryant, Thomas Bowker, Ezekiel Bouker, Nat. 
 Bozworth, David Clarke, Reuben Cummings, 
 Ephraim Clafflin, David (Daniel?) Claflin, John 
 Finney (" Fiendly '' or Findlay?) Benjamin Ganson, 
 Joanna (?) Gallen, Peter Gore, Luther Holland, 
 Phazez (?) Houghton, Si Ivan us How, John How, 
 Jacob Houghton, Henry W. Hunt, James Havvkes, 
 
470 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Thos. Jackson, Benj. Knapp, Dan'l Miles, Joab 
 Miles, William Peckham, Eph. Bill, Amos Bill, John 
 Bill, Luke Bill, Abel Rogers, Jabez Spear, Dav. 
 Sanderson, Eph. Sterns, John Stores (Stowell?), Bug- 
 gies Spooner, Eliak (im) Spooner, Wing Spooner, 
 John Warden, John Wilder, Cornelius Wilder, Joseph 
 Wilson. 
 
 The following additional names are given as Peters- 
 ham men who belonged to the company of Capt. 
 Fletcher, of Templeton : Jotham Houghton, Eben- 
 ezer Ingersoll, William Clements, Daniel Duncan, 
 David Fling, Silas Harris, Stephen Hall, Robert Hill, 
 Joseph Negus, Abel Wheeler. 
 
 In the company of Captain Jonathan Holman, 
 also of Templeton, were found Martin Rice, fifer, 
 David Bruce, Thomas Groce, Daniel Hastings, Isaac 
 Palmer, Amos Rice, Ebenezer Wilson. Seventy-two 
 names are thus given as either belonging to the 
 Petersham company or enlisted from the town in the 
 companies of Captain Holman and Fletcher, of Tem- 
 pleton. 
 
 In addition to these names given by Willson, we 
 mention those of two brothers. Captain Ivory Holland 
 and Captain Park Holland. For a sketch of the life 
 of the latter, see biographical notes. One incident 
 of his service may be here given in his own words: 
 
 A Dinner by 'Washington. 
 In the spring of 1781, 1 think it was, our troops marched down to 
 "White I'lains and formed an encampment, and while there we were 
 amused hy an order that was said to liave come from Gen. Heath, but, 
 as we all knew Washington's abhorrence of the sin of profanity, we 
 knew well where it originated. Our parade-ground was cleared with 
 much difficulty. The order was that the lirst one who was heard to 
 utter an oath should dig up by the roots one of t4ie pitch-pine stumps, 
 which was no very easy matter. Not long after a soldier was seen 
 sweating and toiling away at one, declaring that it was paying too dear, 
 and itshould be the last he would dig. Speaking of Washington's dis- 
 like of profane habits reminds me of a scene at his own table, where 
 twenty or more of the officers were invited to dine with him. His habit 
 was usually to take a single glass of wine after dinner, and retire, leav- 
 ing us to ourselves, .is he, at this time of care and an^iet3', rarely made 
 any conversation except on business. We had finished our dinner, and 
 AVashington had taken his wine in bis hand, when a young officer from 
 New Hampshire at the end of the table, who had long been in the habit 
 of using profane language, being so much engaged, forgot where he 
 was, and swore an oath, when he heard a rap on the tabln by Washing- 
 ton, who set down his untasted wine, arose and said, " Gentlemen, when 
 I invited you here it was my intention to have invited gentlemen only, 
 lam sorry to add I have been mistaken," and left the room. \ dead 
 silence reigned for some time, which was broken by the offender himself 
 calling us all to witness that the oath he had uttered should be his 
 last ; adding he should rather have been shot through the heart than 
 have deserved the reproof from AVashington. Such was our love and 
 reverence for this great and good man that the most profane left off the 
 habit, and it was done away with among us before the close of the 
 war. 
 
 The regiment in which Captain Holland served, 
 as a matter of preparation for service, went into bar- 
 racks at Bunker Hill and, this being before the dis- 
 covery of vaccination, were inoculated with small- 
 pox. He passed through this experience and tells us 
 that "about nine hundred entered the hospital, eight 
 hundred of whom recovered." Such was the cost of 
 independence. 
 
 The record of the annual town-meeting held March 
 
 6, 1780, contains an entry which is very creditable to 
 the financial honor with which the soldiers were 
 treated. It appears that the town "Chose a committee 
 for hiring soldiers: Joseph Gleason, Robert Peck- 
 ham, John Bouker, — voted that the committee, if they 
 have to hire money or soldiers, that they engage on 
 the Town's credit to keep the money of Equal value." 
 It will be borne in mind that the United States did 
 not undertake to act upon this principle in payment 
 of the soldiers of the Rebellion. 
 
 During the Revolution the town well and patriotic- 
 ally sustained the military charaitter of its population 
 at the time of settlement, which gave it for a time the 
 occasional name Volunteer's Town. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXII. 
 
 PETERSHAM— ( Co;//;« ««-(/. ) 
 shays' rebellion. 
 
 Causeti — The Insurgents at Peiham — Government Troops at Eadley — The 
 Night March and Dinpersion — Eeport of Gen. Lincoln — Nar^-ative btf 
 Capt. Holland — Itev. Dr Samuel Willard an Eye-Wilness — "Infantry 
 in Arms ^^.~Considerate Judgment. 
 
 The insurrection commonly known as Shays' Re- 
 bellion grew out of the disorganization of society 
 during the Revolution, the impoverishment of the 
 people by the war (making pa3'ment of debts difficult) 
 and the weakness of the civil administration under 
 the Articles of Confederation. It strikingly called 
 attention to the need of a stronger government and 
 thus incidentally contributed toward the movement 
 for "a more perfect union," by the adoption of the 
 Constitution of the United States, the imperfection 
 of the previous union being illustrated in this and 
 other resistance to constituted authority. 
 
 On Saturday morning, February 2, 1787, Captain 
 Daniel Shays, after various efforts to interrupt the 
 proceedings of the court, for the purpose of prevent- 
 ing the collection of debts, was found at Pelham with 
 about two thousand men. General Lincoln was at 
 Hadley with an armed force of government troops. 
 The situation and subsequent events are best described 
 in the report of Gen. Lincoln to Governor Bowdoin 
 and in historical letters by Capt. Park Holland and 
 Rev. Samuel Willard, D.D. 
 
 Gen. Lincoln's report is as follows: 
 
 Petersham, February 4, 1787. 
 
 Dc*ir Sir, — I ha>e been honored with the receii>t of your Kxcellency's 
 favoi-B of the 'ioih ult. and the 1st inst. with the warrants. 
 
 In my last I mentioned to you that I had various applications from 
 the neighboring towns, and what answers I had given. These, I think, 
 had a happy effect, and the towns have felt themselves much interested 
 in recalling their men, and putting an end to the progress of the insur- 
 gents. 
 
 I remained a number of days at Hadley, refreshing our men, who had 
 experienced severe fatigue ; this gave time for the Insurgents to reflect 
 
PETERSHAM. 
 
 471 
 
 upon the ofTers which bad been made to tbem, and for the selectmen to 
 interpose their authority. 
 
 Fridny we reconnoitered their post with an intention to approach 
 them the next day. This mo%'ement gave them an alarm, and at 3 
 o'clock Saturday morning I received a flag from Wheeler, requesting 
 that he might liave a conference with Gen. Putnam. It was granted 
 and they met Saturday forenoon. To provide for his personal safety 
 seemed to be the principal object he bad in view — no encouragement on 
 this head being given, lie retired ; and Saturday evening I was informed 
 that Shays had left Pelhani, and had pointed his forces towards thia 
 place, where, it was said, he expected to be joined by many others, and 
 where he could make a stand, as many towns in this vicinity were in his 
 interest. At 8 o'clock our troops were in motion; the first part of the 
 night was light, and the weather clement ; but between li and 3 o'clock 
 in the morning, the wind shifting to the westward, it became cold and 
 equally, with considerable snow. The wind arose very high, and with 
 light snow that fell the day before and was falling, the paths were soon 
 filled up, the men became fatigued, and they were in a part of the 
 country where they could not be covered in the distance of eight miles, 
 and the cold was so increased that they could not halt in the road to 
 refresh themselves. Under these circumstances they were obliged to 
 continue their march. We arrived here about 9 o'clock, exceedingly 
 fatigued by a march of 30 miles, part of it in a deep snow, and in a most 
 violent storm. When this abated the cold increased and a great part of 
 our men are frozen in some part or other — I hope none of them are dan- 
 gerously so, and that most of tiiem will be able again to march in a 
 short time. We approached this town nearly in the centre, where 
 Shays had covered his men ; and had we not been prevented by the 
 steepness of the hill and the depth of the snow from throwing our men 
 rapidly into it, we should have arrested very probably one-half of his 
 force: for they were so nearly surprised, as it was. that they had not 
 time to call in their outparties, or even their guards. Ahout loH fell 
 into our hands, and none escaped but by the most precepitate flight in 
 different directions ; but most of their men fled for Athol. It is said 
 they intended to reach Northfield. This brings him near the line of 
 another State, where he may vainly hope to find an asylum. Thus, Sir, 
 that body of men, who were, a few days since, offering the grossest 
 insults to the best citizens of the Commonwealth, and were menacing 
 even Government itself, is fast dissipating, and it will not long, I think, 
 have the least existence. It must be pleasing to your Excellency to 
 know that this has been efTected, and bloodshed avoided, but in an in- 
 stant or two, where the Insurgents have rushed on to their own de- 
 struction, after every effort had been made by the officers of Gov- 
 ernment to prevent it. Thitt so little has been spilt is owing, in a 
 measure, to the patience and obedience, the zeal and fortitude discov" 
 ered in our troops, to whom too much thanks cannot be given. A dif- 
 ferent line of conduct which Shays flattered his troops would be mani- 
 fested and would have given them support, and led them to acts of 
 violence, while it must have buoyed up the hopes of their abettors and 
 stimulated them to greater exertions. 
 
 As soon as the troops are able to move I shall follow Shays, and throw 
 part of our force into Berkshire. Before I leave this place I shall make 
 a disposition of the troops, and discharge such whole services as are no 
 longer necessary. 
 
 Notwithstanding the present state of things, much is necessary for the 
 General Court to do ; and decided measures on their part will give sup- 
 port to our friends and dismay to others, 
 
 I have the honor to be with highest respect, your obedient servant, 
 
 B. Ltncoln. 
 
 Mr. Cabot will honor this by being the bearer of it. His great atten- 
 tion to duty and bis knowledge therein entitle him to thanks. He will 
 give your Excellency a more minute account of matters than I have 
 been able to write. 
 
 His Excellency Governor Bowdoin. 
 
 An extract only can be given from the singularly 
 interesting narrative of Capt. Park Holland, which 
 will amply explain itself and throw fresh Tight upon 
 the report of Gen. Lincoln : 
 
 Some time in December I was appointed to take I he company raised 
 in the towns of Petersham, Athol and Rutland, which was immediately 
 filled by voluntary enlistment. I had enlisted as private soldiers thirteen 
 old commissioned officers, among whom was Gen. Kufus Putnam, in 
 whose regiment I had served during the War of the Revolution. Uur- 
 ing these transactions Capt. Daniel Shays, commander-in-chief of the 
 
 opposite party was not idle. He had collected, it was said, eight or ten 
 thousand men, a part of whom, under the commaod of Luke Bay, were 
 somewhere in the vicinity of West Springfield. Another large force 
 commanded by Adam Wheeler collected first at Princeton, from thence 
 marched to New Braintree, while Shays with the main body was in or 
 near the town of Pelham. While Gen, Lincoln and his troops lay at 
 Worcester, news arrived that Shays with his division was on the march to 
 Springfield to tiike possession of the Continental stores, arms, ammunition, 
 etc.. which were deposited there. Gen. Lincoln marched immediately 
 to Brookfield, where he halted for the night. The next day we continued 
 our march for Springfield, and white on the way sometime before noon 
 we heard that Shays had reached there already and had had an 
 encounter with Gen. Shepherd, who was there guarding the United 
 States property with a detachment of government troops. We soon met 
 stragglers from Shays' retreating troops, among others a sleigh with two 
 or three dead men, who, as a soldier remarked, — " poor fellows, had had 
 their grievances redressed forever," the "redress of grievances " being 
 a term much in use among them. It was with no small grief that I 
 now recognir-ed in one of the dead my old friend Spicer. ... I 
 had known him as a faithful soldier through the war and as one who at 
 various times had manifested much afl^ection for me. On our arrival at 
 Springfield we found that Shays had made a rapid retreat towards Pel- 
 ham, and Gen. Shepherd gave us the following account of the battle, if 
 it could be termed such : ' Shays and his men were found to be rapidly 
 marching to Springfield, where the Continental stores were deposited 
 and guarded by Gen. Shepherd, who immediately sent out his aids with 
 a flag to inform Shaj's that if he advanced any further he should fire 
 upon him. He returned no answer, but continued marching more rapidly 
 towards Shepherd, who then ordered his field-pieces loaded, some with 
 balls and some with grape shot, and when within reach of the guns he 
 ordered one of the field-pieces to be fired over the beads of the insurgents, 
 which was quickly done, but they only quickened their march instead of 
 baiting, as he had hoped they would do. Another piece was now ordered 
 with as good aim as possible at the main body. This had the desired 
 effect, a rapid and disorderly retreat, leaving their dead and one mortally 
 wounded on the field. Gen. Shepherd remarked to me that at no time in 
 his life was he called upon to perform so painful a duty as when he or- 
 dered good aim to be taken at Shays and his men, many of whom had 
 fought at his side and stood firm through the most trying scenes of the 
 late war. I had served under Shays and knew him to be a brave and 
 good soldier or officer, and I can truly say that it was with no regret on 
 my part that I had not reached here in season to see him and his mis' 
 taken followers fired iipon as enemies. 
 
 While Sliays was advancing upon Springfield Capt. Day had collected 
 a considerable force on the opposite side of the river at West Springfield 
 to re enforce Shays if necessary. Therefore, soon as Lincoln's men had 
 taken some refreshments we crossed the river to call Capt. Day to ac- 
 count for bis acts and deeds, but on our arrival we found that he, in hia 
 wisdom, had thought best to disband his troops, and that neither he nor 
 his kinsmen were to be found. We next marched to old Hadley, think- 
 ing it possible that Day might collect his men and attempt to join Shays 
 at Pelham. Here we remained two or three days to refresh and wait for 
 our artillery and stores to overtake us. About the third day of our tarry 
 in Hadley, at sunset we received orders to march immediately as we 
 supposed to Pelliam, but the fact was that Gen. Lincoln had received 
 information that Shays had left Pelham and was on his way to Peter- 
 sham. We left immediately, late as it was. The weather was comfort- 
 ably warm, but about ten or twelve o'clock in the night the wind 
 changed to the northwest, blew furiously, accompanied by a violent 
 snow-squall, and became intolerably cold. The snow was deep, though 
 a fine sleigh path would have made it good travelling had it not been 
 that our artillery was in front with wheels so much wider than the path 
 that the road was filled with loose snow, which rendered the travelling 
 as uncomfortable as can well be imagined. We reached Petersham about 
 sunrise next morning, tired, hungry and frozen, having travelled in the 
 course of the night thirty miles, the hardest march I ever endured. I 
 found myself badly frost-bitten, and found but two of my whole com- 
 pany who were not more or less frozen. Shays being informed that Gen . 
 Lincoln was close in his rear thought it best to leave town, and so rapid 
 were his movements that many left their provisions, and some on the fire 
 preparing for breakfast. Our quartermaster had gone in front of us to 
 look out for houses to lodge in, so when we reached the main street we 
 had only to take possession of such as were pointed out to us, some of 
 which were still occupied by Shays' men, who soon left and gave us a 
 peaceable entrance. Never were a good fire and breakfast enjoyed more 
 highly by any set of men. The main body of Shays' troops marched 
 
472 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 throngh the town to the northern hounds, which pass through a valley, 
 and were inamensuro out of tho colJ wind. There tbey made a halt» 
 probably to consider what was best to be done; either to make a firm 
 stand and give Gen. Lincoln battle or to make a final retreat. It appears 
 that they cbose the hitter, as many relumed to their homes. 
 
 Their place of haltinir, as mentioned above, was directly in front of 
 my home, where my family then were, and it may be supposed felt them- 
 selves in a Tery unpleasant situation, as it was well-known that I was 
 out in Lincoln's Ainiy, and of course unfriendly to Shays. Of course 
 they had reason to expect some abuse from them. My wife was at tins 
 time confined by illness to lier chamber, but with her usual presence of 
 mind she told the young man living with her to make a good fire in 
 each room in the house as soon as she saw their intention of halting, and 
 to bring from her cellar and pantry everything she had to offer for break- 
 fast. The house was soon filled to overflowing with men half starved 
 and half frozen, among whom was Mr. Converse, now quartermaster, an 
 acquaintance of ours. My wifR sent for him and told him she had done 
 all in her power for their relief and comfort, and hoped he would see that 
 they did no damage to the honse. He assured her that he was very 
 grateful, and that as fur as possible he would comply with her request ; 
 which he strictly did, and after eating and warming themselves to their 
 satisfaction they departed, having done no damage save clearing the 
 house of every eatable thing. 
 
 An appendix to the address of Rev. Edmund Will- 
 son preserves to us a f^raphic description of the rout 
 of Shays* men by an eye-witness, Rev. Dr. Samuel 
 Willard. The house of his father was one of several 
 that were occupied by troops, they supposing that 
 their own march of the day previous had put a long 
 distance between them and the forces of Lincoln. 
 
 "I well remember," writes the Kev. I)r. Willard, of Deerfield, "the 
 entrance of the insurgents into Petersham, and the alarm it excited 
 among those who were known to be on the side of the Government. 
 Several of the insurgents had been arrested and condemned to death for 
 having been found in arms the second time, in violation of the oath of 
 allegiance which had been imposed after their first capture ; and their 
 party had threatened to take prisoners who should be held as hostages 
 for the life aud salety of those who were under condemnation. On this 
 account my father and some others secreted themselves when the insur- 
 gents approached their houses. The sudden and unexpected arrival of 
 Lincoln the next morning, and the precipitate retreat of Shays and hia 
 army dispersed all fear, but not all trouble. The array of the Govern- 
 ment was quartered upon us from Sunday morning till Wednesday, and 
 left our houses in such a state as to inspire dread of armies in every 
 bosom. 
 
 '* The insurgents were little prepared to act with efBciency. To say 
 nothing of their want of personal qualifications, they were deficient in 
 arms. Some of the staff officers were appropriately armed ; for, in hia 
 flight, one of them left at our house the only weapon which I think he 
 had,— a cayie, which was nothing else than a stick stripped of its bark, 
 with a pewter head, of which my boyhood took possession. 
 
 "One or two anecdotes will show the panic, aud the want of military 
 tactics which were apparent in the retreat : 
 
 "I was out at the door on the approach of Lincoln's army ; and an 
 officer of the insurgents came riding up at full speed, and gave me, a 
 boy often years— the oral commission, 'Run into the house, and tell 
 them to parade in a minute, for the enemy are upon us I' I went in, but 
 found them in as much confusion as a hive of bees swarming. After 
 they were gone, it appeared that one of them had forgotten to take his 
 gun, and a brother of mine took possession of it, and it was never called 
 for. 
 
 *'It was in the midst of a violent snow-storm, or. rather, the snow was 
 flying, and it was very cold. Some poor wight had his hat taken from 
 his head, and, I suppose, went without a hat against that furious north 
 wind to Athol, where they halted. I, myself, found the hat the follow- 
 ing spring in one of our lols, and, as my head was large for a boy of 
 niy age, it suited me very well, and I finished the wear of it." 
 
 The writer has often conversed with another eye- 
 witness to the scenes, a younger brother of the au- 
 thor of these reminiscences, the late Deacon Cephas 
 Willard, well known in Worcester County. But he, 
 with a humorous twinkle of his eye, excused himself 
 
 for not remembering details by saying, " I then be- 
 longed to the infantry in arms^ and not tinder arms.** 
 
 Other houses in the town are said to have been oc- 
 cupied in similar manner, including the village tav- 
 ern and that of the minister, Rev. Solomon Reed. 
 He was a large, portly man, who stood guard in his 
 halls for the night, as tradition affirms, with drawn 
 sword, in order to prevent trespass on the part of the 
 insurgents. 
 
 The plea of Captain Holland for a kindly and con- 
 siderate judgment of Shays* men ought not to be 
 overlooked. He says, — 
 
 I observe here there are many things to be considered before we con- 
 demn the misled followers of Daniel Shays. Tlieir leaders wore igno- 
 rant, aud many of them deceived. Our government was a new and un- 
 tried ship, with many joints that needed oiling, to say the least ; with 
 no chart of experience to guide us, nor map of the paht by which to lay 
 our course. He who stood by the side of these men in many hard- 
 fought battles with a powerful enemy, and witnessed their hardships 
 and sufferings, borne without complaint, would much rather remember 
 the good service they rendered their country than dwell upon what his- 
 torians have set down as a blot upon their country's pages* 
 
 CHAPTEE LXXIII. 
 
 PETERSHAM— ( Continued. ) 
 
 THE CHURCHES. 
 
 A Meeting in Grofon — Aaron Wliitiiey ordained as First pastor — Opposed to 
 the Uetolution — Action by the Town — A Guard at the Church-door — Solo- 
 mon lieed Ordamed — Indian Com OJ'ered as Salary — A Mutual Council 
 to Settle *'JurTa and Qaarrels^^ — FestuB Foster Ordained — Tlie Covenant 
 Chantjid — Eev. Lnllier Willxon Installed — Disestablishment of the 
 Churches — Property Transferred — The Jilinisterial Land Sold for Corn 
 — Sundry Bequests — Bee. GeorgeR. ^oyes, D.I)., Settled — Biblical ScJiot' 
 arship — Iter. Nathaniel Gage Settled — House of Worship Built — Clock 
 and Bell — Several Pastors — Congregational Church — Baptist Church — 
 Tlie VniversiUists — Methodists. 
 
 The long and generally peaceful prosperity which 
 followed the adoption of the Constitution of the 
 United States gave opportunity for the growth of the 
 churches, schools and industries of the county and of 
 this town. The local growth may be here narrated 
 from the beginning. The proprietors of the town 
 voted, at their second meeting, held at Groton, in the 
 autumn of 1733, to build a meeting-house. 
 
 This action, taken in a town forty miles distant, 
 recalls still earlier events. In the settlement of the 
 colonies the civil and ecclesiastieal organization was 
 sometimes effected on shipboard, or in England before 
 the colonists embarked. The town and chuich of 
 Dorchestes were organized at Plymouth, England. 
 Afterward the community removed from Dorchester 
 to Winsor, where it united with other towns in the 
 formation of the State of Connecticut. So the erec- 
 tion of a church at Petersham was ordered by a vote 
 taken in Groton. Five years passed before the settle- 
 ment of a pastor, preaching being maintained during 
 a portion of the time. 
 
PETEESHAM. 
 
 473 
 
 In 1738 a young graduate from Harvard was dis- 
 missed from the cliurch at Littleton and came to 
 Nichewaug to be tlie minister of the town and cliurch 
 which was yet to be organized within it. A church 
 covenant was adopted and Aaron Whitney was or- 
 dained and settled as minister. A proprietor's lot 
 was assigned to him, with two hundred pounds in 
 money as a settlement and one hundred and fifty 
 pounds as an annual salary. He was ordained in 
 December of the same year. Isaac Ward and Thomas 
 Adams were chosen deacons. Probably the dedica- 
 tion of the house of worship also took place. 
 
 The covenant adopted was Trinitarian in form. It 
 was in use until the year 1802, or sixty-four years, 
 when a statement of faith Unitarian in its terms was 
 substituted. The pastorate of Mr. Whitney appears 
 to have been peaceful and prosperous until the time 
 of the Revolution. He was royalist in sentiment, and 
 this led to a vote of the town that they " will not bar- 
 gain with, hire nor employ the Rev. Mr. Whitney to 
 preach for diem any longer." He was treated as "an 
 enemy of his country," though his character was 
 blameless and his fidelity unimpeachable. Mr. Wliit- 
 ney regarded the action of the town as wholly illegal 
 and would have continued to preach in disregard of 
 the vote of the town. To prevent this a committee 
 was chosen "to see that the publick worship be not 
 disturbed by any person or persons going into the 
 desk but such persons as shall be put in by the Town's 
 Committee." In pursuance of this vote, the commit- 
 tee on the following Sunday stationed Peter Gore, a 
 half-blood Indian, armed, tradition says, with a gun, 
 at the door of the church, and when Mr. Whitney 
 arrived he was not allowed to enter. A clear spring 
 upon the Phillipston road, called " Gore spring," 
 preserves the memory of Peter Gore, who owned the 
 pasture in which it is found. Mr. Whitney continued 
 to preach at his own house and still claimed to be the 
 minister of the town. The pastorate was practically 
 closed in 1777. Four of his sons were educated at 
 Harvard College. 
 
 On the 15(h of June, 1780, the town voted unani- 
 mously to call "Mr. Solomoa Reed to settle with 
 them in the work of the Gospel," and iurther " voted 
 that the Town give him a Settlement of one hundred 
 pounds Stated on Indian corn at three shillings pr 
 bushel, to be paid in 30 days after his ordination." 
 A yearly salary of one hundred pounds "on Indian 
 corn " at the same rate was otfered. At the sugges- 
 tion of Mr. Reed these proposals were so modified 
 that the payment was to be made in lawful money, it 
 being agreed that "each and every hundred "pounds 
 when paid shall be with a sum of money sufficient to 
 purchase six hundred and sixty-six bushels and tow- 
 thirds of a bushel of Indian corn." The agreement 
 further recited that, " Whereas, through the wiles of 
 the adversary or through the weakness and Infirmi- 
 ties of human nature, dissention, difficulties, Jarrs 
 and Quarrels may subsist between the said Mr. Solo- 
 
 mon Reed and the Congregation in this Town, wheth- 
 er the Difficulty arises on the part of the Town church 
 or on the part of s'* Mr. Solomon Reed," and provided 
 that a mutual council should be called to compose 
 and arrange all differences. 
 
 These conditions having been agreed to, Mr. Reed 
 was settled and his pastorate continued uniil the year 
 1800, or about twenty years. This long service is 
 sufficient evidence that Mr. Reed was beloved and 
 respected by his people, although the truth of history 
 compels one to say that he was not free from tempta- 
 tion to excesses in the use of intoxicating drinks. 
 Furthermore, the people were not without fault in 
 this respect, the selectmen having approved a bill of 
 more than five thousand pounds for liquors and other 
 articles for the ordaining council by which Mr. Reed 
 was settled. This statement is made from memory 
 of the language of the bill which the writer has seen. 
 The explanation of the astonishing sum is found in 
 the date, 1780, when currency was so inflated that 
 the amount in specie was probably less than two 
 hundred dollars. 
 
 In the year 1801 the church and town invited Mr. 
 Festus Foster to become their minister. He con- 
 sented, and was ordained January 13, 1802. Three 
 months after his ordination the church substituted a 
 "Christian Profession," Unitarian in sentiment, for 
 the " Covenant" in previous use. The profession 
 thus adopted has been continued by the First Parish, 
 with slight changes, to the present time. The pas- 
 torate of Festus Foster closed 1817, when he w.is 
 dismissed with honorable recognition of his faithful 
 services. 
 
 Rev. Luther Willson, a native of New Braintree, 
 born 1783, a graduate of Williams College, 1807, for 
 some years preceptor of Leicester Academy, pastor 
 of the First Church, Brooklyn, Conn., from 1813 to 
 1817, was installed at Petersham, June 23, 1819. 
 The pastorate contained until October 18, 1834, or 
 more than fifteen years, which, although his relations 
 with his people were harmonious, he characterized as 
 " times of excitement and division." After resigna- 
 tion, he lived in Petersham, preaching at various 
 places from time to time, and died November 20, 1864, 
 his grave being found in the cemetery east of the 
 common. Luther Willson and Sally Bigelow were 
 united in marriage November 30, 1806. Miss Bige- 
 low was born July 6, 1783, and died January 29, 
 
 1826. Luther Willson and Fidelia Wells, of Deer- 
 field, his second wife, were married December 5, 
 
 1827. She was born in Deerfield, August 6, 1797, 
 and died in Bellows Falls, Vt., January 8, 1884. 
 
 During the pastorate of Rev. Luther Willson a 
 State law was passed disestablishing the churches of 
 Massachusetts. A Trinitarian Congregational Church 
 was organized, which included those who did not 
 accept the " Christian Profession," which had been 
 substituted for the earlier "Covenant." The affairs 
 of the Church were to be no longer connected with 
 
474 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 the town. The property and records passed to the 
 First Congregational Parish, which received from 
 the town $3975.43 in money, that being the amount 
 of a fund which had resulted from the sale of the 
 " ministerial lands." These lands were one proprie- 
 tor's lot set off for the maintenance of the ministry. 
 They had been used by Rev. Aaron Whitney pre- 
 viously to the year 1775. Two entries in the records 
 of a meeting held May 24th of that year will serve to 
 indicate the cause of transfer of the lands to the care 
 of the town : 
 
 " Voted unanimously, that the town will not hire the 
 Eev'd Mr. Whitney to preach with them any longer, 
 and that he is Dismissed from any further services as 
 a Gospel Minister in this Town. . . . Voted, that the 
 Selectmen take possession of and lease out the minis- 
 terial lands for the most they will fetch." Three years 
 later, or in 1778, it was voted to sell the ministerial 
 lands. From such sale the ministerial fund was es- 
 tablished. 
 
 The report of the committee which sold the lands, 
 accepted by a town-meeting, 1780, shows that four 
 hundred and twenty-eight acres and one hundred and 
 four rods were sold in lots to ten different persons, 
 corn being the standard of value. The sales amounted 
 to 6779 bushels and 22 quarts, as the value of the 
 lands. The annual interest to be paid, as reckoned by 
 the committee, was 405 bushels and 15 quarts. The 
 rate appears to have been six per cent. The slight 
 discrepancy in reckoning from these figures is 
 doubtless explainable by the fact that the committee 
 reckoned from a number of smaller quantities. 
 
 Upon the separation of the afl'aiis of the church and 
 town, Aaron Brooks, Esq., Jared Weed, Esq., and 
 Jonas Carruth were the committee which made the in- 
 ventory of church property to be transferred. The parish 
 also received subsequently the sum of one thousand 
 dollars, which was given by Nathaniel McCarty, his 
 will having provided that the interest "shall be ap- 
 plied to the support of Unitarian preaching in said 
 Town," and five hundred dollars, which were devised 
 by an item of the will as follows : " I give and be- 
 queath to the Town of Petersham five hundred dol- 
 lars, the interest to be appropriated to support the 
 singing on Sundays in their meeting-house. Provided 
 the inhabitants of that town see that part of public 
 worship decently and properly performed ; the princi- 
 pal to be perpetually kept good by a safe investment 
 on land security." 
 
 The will contained this explanation : " My induce- 
 ment to these bequests is ... a desire to testify the 
 interest which I continue to feel in the place where I 
 long resided and where, with the blessing of heaven, 
 I acquired much of my property." These bequests came 
 to the church as the successor of the town in respect 
 to ecclesiastical interests. 
 
 The first vSunday-school in Petersham was estab- 
 lished by Rev. Luther Willson, who was its first su- 
 perintendent. Rev. George R. Noyes, D.P., suc- 
 
 ceeded Rev. Luther Willson. His translation of a 
 large portion of the Bible has given him a reputa- 
 tion wider than any one denomination. His works, 
 which are still in print, are a Translation of the He- 
 b-ew Prophets, Translation of the Book of Psalms, 
 Translation of .Job, and the New Testament Trans- 
 lated from the Greek text of Tischendorf. He made 
 also a collection of Theological Essays by various 
 authors, for which he wrote an introduction. The 
 translation of the Scriptures anticipated many of the 
 changes of the Revised Version. 
 
 Dr. Noyes was a native of Newburyport ; a gradu- 
 ate of Harvard College, 1818 ; received the degree of 
 Doctor of Divinity, 1839 ; settled in Brookfield, 1827 ; 
 installed in Petersham, October, 1834 ; elected to a 
 professorship in the Theological School of Harvard 
 University in 1840. 
 
 Rev. Nathaniel Gage was born at North Andover, 
 Mass., 1800 ; graduated at Harward, 1822 ; at the Di- 
 vinity School, 1826 ; was settled in the ministry at 
 Nashua, N. H., and Haverhill, Mass., seven years 
 each; installed at Petersham, October 6, 1841; dis- 
 missed, 1845 ; afterward of Lancaster and Westboro', 
 which was his hist settlement. He subsequently re- 
 sided at Cambridge, preaching at Ashby and other 
 places, and died in 1861. 
 
 During the ministry of Mr. Gage at Petersham the 
 house of worship, which is still occupied by the First 
 Parish, was erected. It was built by a stock subscrip- 
 tion of fifty-five shares of one hundred dollars each, 
 which were subsequently presented by the share- 
 holders to the parish. The first church edifice, which 
 was regularly occupied from the year 1738, after 
 several years of progress toward completion, was used 
 until about the year 1780, or sixty-two years. Then 
 the building of a new church was agitated, but it was 
 probably 1788 when it was ready for occupation. 
 Eleazer Bradshaw, Esq., of Brookfield, gave a bell 
 which came from the works of Paul Revere. A clock 
 was given later, 1828, by Cyrus Wadsworth. Ui)on the 
 erection of the present church, 1842, the bell and 
 clock were removed from the old church. That build- 
 ing, which had been used for worship from 1788 to 
 1842, or fifty-four years, was removed to the east side 
 of the Common and devoted to secular uses until de- 
 stroyed by fire, 1845. The previous removal of the 
 bell and clock, and consequent preservation of those 
 relics of the early time, is an occasion of special sat- 
 isfaction. The bell bears the inscription : 
 
 " The living to tlie Church I call, 
 And to the grave I summon ail.'' 
 
 Brief mention only can be made of those who have 
 since served as pastors of the church. Rev. Ephraim 
 Nute, Jr., was ordained October 15, 1845; dismissed, 
 1848. He has since been settled in Scituate and Chic- 
 opee, and has lived in Kansas, to which State he went 
 in connection with a movement to settle that terri- 
 tory with emigrants opposed to slavery and in favor 
 of the organization of a free State. 
 
PETERSHAM. 
 
 475 
 
 Rev. Martin W. Willis, ordained at Walpole, N. H., 
 184.3, was installed at Petersham, 1848. The pastorate 
 continued until 1851, since which time he has been 
 settled at Bath, Me., and at Nashua, N. H., subse- 
 quently residing in St. Louis. 
 
 John J. Putnam, previously settled in Bolton, was 
 installed 1852. During his ministry the organ was 
 purchased, which displaced the violin, violoncello and 
 bass viol, which Iiad been in previous use as an aid to 
 church music. 
 
 Rev. Seth Saltmarsh served eight years as pastor 
 of the church. 
 
 Rev. Daniel Francis Goddard was born at Plym- 
 outh, Mass., November 29, 1827. He studied two 
 years at Amherst College, afterward preparing for 
 the ministry with Rev. Russell Tomlinson, a Uni- 
 versalist. He was ordained and settled over a 
 Universalist Church, Boston, afterward being en- 
 gaged in the ministry at Weymouth and Chelsea, 
 before coming to Petersham. His subsequent em- 
 ployment was at Revere, Harvard and Chelmsford. 
 He died July 13, 1883. 
 
 Rev. Thomas D. Howard, who served as pastor 
 about four years, was born at Springfield, Mass., 
 December 26, 1826, being the son of Charles and 
 Elizabeth (Dwight) Howard. He graduated at Har- 
 vard College, 1848, Divinity School, 1851, and has 
 since been settled in order at Berry, Me., Sheboygan, 
 Wis., Petersham, Charlestown, N. H. He united in 
 marriage, 1854, with Sarah A. Eaton, of Berry, Me. 
 During the War of the Rebellion Mr. Howard served 
 as chaplain, and upon resigning at Petersham, served 
 as secretary of the Commissioners of Prisons. for 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 Lyman Clark was born at what is now Sago, W. 
 Va., 1838, being the son of Cornelius and Abigail 
 (Wright) Clark, natives respectively of Bridgewater 
 and Westford, Mass. The family having removed to 
 Illinois, Lyman Clark served in the War of the Re- 
 bellion, 1861-65. Upon leaving the army he entered 
 the Meadville Theological School, remaining four 
 years ; was graduated 1869 and ordained at a meeting 
 of the Western Conference at Quincy, 111., October of 
 the same year. He was located for several months 
 at Jacksonville, III.; has been settled at Lancaster, 
 N. H., 1870-74; Petersham, 1874-82; Ayer, 1882 ; to 
 the present time. He was a member of the House of 
 Representatives 1879, representing the towns of Tem- 
 pleton, Phillipston, Hubbardston and Petersham; was 
 united in marriage, 1872, with Isabel Clough, daugh- 
 ter of Eben and Susan Clough, Bethel, Me. 
 
 Rev. Isaac Francis Porter was born at Wenham, 
 Essex County, Mass., June 29, 1839. He served as a 
 soldier in the War of the Rebellion, attended Madi- 
 son University, New York, afterward the Meadville 
 (Pa.) Theological School. He has been settled in 
 the ministry at Princeton, 111., Peterboro', N. H., 
 Chicopee, Petersham, (1883-87), Bolton and Berlin, 
 Mass. 
 
 Henry Harrison Brown, the present pastor, was 
 born at Uxbridge, 1840, the son of Pemberton 
 Brown, and Paulina (Whitmore) Brown, of Sutton. 
 He studied at Nichols Academy, Dudley, at Mead- 
 ville and served in the War of the Rebellion from 
 1862-65 ; was ordained at Petersham, 1888. 
 
 Congregational. — An Orthodox Congregational 
 Church was organized and established by council held 
 January 25, 1823. Its house of worship was built sev- 
 eral years later, or about the year 1829. Its pastors 
 have been Rev. Mr. Wolcott, 1830-33 ; Rev. Caleb B. 
 Tracy, installed June 25, 1834 ; Rev. Columbus Shum- 
 way, installed October 4, 1837 ; Rev. Solomon Clark, 
 installed April 13, 1841 ; Rev. A. B. Foster, installed 
 May 12,1853; Rev. Lucien H. Adams, installed Oc- 
 tober 28, 1862, dismissed January 2, 1865, to become 
 a missionary to Turkey of the American Board of Com- 
 missioners for Foreign Missions. The church has 
 since been served in pastoral relations by Rev. Charles 
 Kendall, Rev. Mr. Root, Rev. Wm. Miller, Rev. 
 Abijah Stowell, Rev. Benjamin Ober, Rev. Charles 
 W. Fifield, installed October 14, 1874 ; Rev. Elbridge 
 W. Merrit, acting pastor, and Rev. David Shurtleft', 
 installed May 8, 1884. 
 
 A second church of the Orthodox Congregational 
 denomination was organized in the southwest part of 
 the town, on the borders of Dana and Hardwick, in 
 the year 1836 or 1837, and a meeting-house was built. 
 Probably the ^nearness of the locality to Dana Centre 
 led to its discontinuance. 
 
 Baptist Chuech. — At the time of the Revolution, 
 and for some years afterward, a Baptist Society was 
 maintained in the southwesterly part of the town, its 
 church being located near the Factory Village, so- 
 called, otherwise Nichewaug. Rev. Samuel Dennis 
 and Rev. Mr. Sellon were pastors. The meeting-house 
 was subsequently moved to Dana, where it was for 
 some time occupied by the same society and after- 
 ward by Universalists, finally being used for secular 
 purposes. 
 
 A branch society of the Baptist Church in Athol 
 was organized in Petersham, November, 1824. Rev. 
 Thomas Marshall held services for several years, he 
 residing in the westerly party of the town. In May, 
 1849, this branch church assumed an independent 
 organization, and Rev. John Shepardson became 
 their first pastor. He was succeeded by Rev. E. .C. 
 Anderson, D.D., and Rev. T. T. Merriman and Rev. 
 Kilburn Holt, pastor from 1882-87. Rev. Arvin Au- 
 gustus Smith, the present pastor, was settled 1888. Of 
 these several pastors a few facts may be given. Rev. 
 Samuel Dennis was an ardent revolutionist and 
 probably the author, in part, of the reply of the town 
 to the Committee of Correspondence of the town of 
 Boston, the resolutions sent to the General Court, 
 and the instructions to their representative. His 
 name appears as representative to the General 
 Court, 1777. 
 
 Rev. John Shepardson was active in the organiza- 
 
476 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 tion and conduct of the Highland Institute, a school 
 which was for some years maintained in what is now 
 known as the Nichewaug, and of which Rev. E. C. 
 Anderson, D.D.. was for some time principal. 
 
 Eev. T. M. Merriam, A.M., was the author of two 
 works entitled "The Trail of History; or. History of 
 Religion and Empire," and " William, Prince of 
 Orange." 
 
 Rev. Kilburn Holt had served in the ministry at 
 Lancaster, N. H., and Colebrook, Mass., having 
 removed to Amherst upon leaving Petersham. 
 
 Eev. Arvin A. Smith was a graduate of Brown 
 University and studied theology at Newton. 
 
 The house of worship occupied by the Baptists was 
 purchased of the Universalists about the year 1849, 
 
 A Univeesali.st Society was organized in the 
 year 1836 or 1837. It built the house of worship 
 now occupied by the Baptists. The society was con- 
 tinued probably until the year 1849. Rev. Mr. Wil- 
 lis and Rev. Mr. Coolidge served as pastors. 
 
 The Methodist Church. — Preaching was main- 
 tained by the Methodists, and a society formed, which 
 continued from 1843 to 1848 or '49. A small chapel 
 was built, the use of which, for church purposes, was 
 afterward discontinued. Their pastors were Rev. 
 Messrs. Button, Clarke and Goodwin. 
 
 
 CHAPTER LXXIV. 
 
 VBT-BRSUAM—iConiinued. ) 
 
 Schools— Indmtries — Wetdth—Poptilation— College Grachwtes — Congressmen 
 — State Senators — RepreseutatU-es — Town OJicers — Seteotmen — Town 
 Cteiks—Town Treasurers — School CommiUec^Officers 1888. 
 
 From a letter of Captain Park Holland we have 
 this account of the educational facilities of the town 
 during his boyhood, or about the year 1760 : 
 
 "Our opportunity for obtaining an education was 
 very limited indeed. The Psalter and a few old 
 books were all that were used in the few months' 
 school we attended. . . . Our books of amusement 
 were likewise very few. ^sop's Fables and occa- 
 sionally some ballads brought us by a strolling pedlar, 
 were the principal, and they were read with great 
 pleasure; and not read merely, but often committed 
 to memory." From such, not by any means worth- 
 less, beginnings has grown the present modern 
 school. 
 
 Schools. — The town being large in respect to ter- 
 ritory, it has been necessary to maintain schools in 
 the several neighborhoods. Nine school-houses are 
 still found out of the village, and formerly there were 
 ten, one having been burned. Schools have been 
 temporarily suspended at different times in several of 
 the school-houses for want of pupils in the neighbor- 
 hood, other schools being well filled. In the village 
 a brick school-house is found, in which are three 
 
 rooms, one of which has recently been occupied by 
 the library, one by a primary and ungraded school, 
 one by a high school. Although the population is 
 below the standard which requires a high school to be 
 maintained, the town has been accustomed to vote an 
 appropriation for the high school from year to year. 
 This voluntary action indicates the earnest interest of 
 the people in the education of children. The town 
 appropriates a high percentage of its valuation for 
 school purposes. The number of children of school 
 age, or from five to fifteen years, was one hundred and 
 fifty-nine for the year 1888. A boarding-school, under 
 the name of the Highland Institute, was maintained 
 for several years. 
 
 Industries. — The most common employment of 
 the people from the beginnins: has been that of farm- 
 ing. The necessary grist-mill, saw-mill and black- 
 smith and wheelwright shops have done their work 
 from an early date. No manufacturing corporation is 
 at present located in Petersham. In 1847 a fire which 
 swept the westerly side of the Common, destroying 
 property estimated at fifty thousand dollars, burned a 
 building which was fitted with engine and machinery 
 for the manufacture of lasting buttons. Fourteen 
 buildings were burned, including two hotels, barns 
 and out-buildings, one dwelling-house, one large « 
 store, one building occupied by shops, offices, etc. 
 This fire inflicted permanent injury to the business 
 interests of the place. 
 
 The braiding of palm-leaf hats was introduced by 
 Mr. Samson Wetherell, October, 1827. He procured 
 material and employed a Miss Gilbert to teach braid- 
 ing, furnishing her a room in his own house for the 
 purpose. The apprentices became teachers of others 
 throughout the town. The first expense was borne 
 wholly by Wetherell & Brown, merchants. After- 
 ward one dollar was paid by learners to the teacher. 
 The leaf was first split with a pen-knife, the hats being 
 whitened in a barrel with brimstone, pressed with a 
 fiat-iron and barreled up to send to market. In ten 
 years from the introduction the gross business amounted 
 to twenty-five thousand four hundred and ninety-five 
 dollars, the value of one hundred and thirty thousand 
 five hundred and twenty-five hats, the product of one 
 year. This continued for a long time to be an impor- J 
 tant industry in many households, and is still prac- 1 
 ticed to some extent. 
 
 The seating of chairs is also practiced somewhat, 
 the chair frames being distributed from the factories 
 in Gardner. J 
 
 Pearlash was at an early day produced to a consid- I 
 erable extent. To meet the necessities of the Revo- 
 lution, saltpetre was made to be used in manufacture 
 of gunpowder. More patriotism than profit is said to 
 have been connected with this enterprise. 
 
 To meet a want caused by interrupted commerce, 
 salt was made at Rochester Shore ard brought to the 
 town for the use of the people. The enterprise was not 
 successful, for which reason it was abandoned. 
 
PETERSHAM. 
 
 477 
 
 Paul Peckharn formerly manufactured ladders, and 
 at the proper season sent them around through the 
 country for sale. In this business he used a ma- 
 chine, invented by himself, for dressing tapering 
 conical surfaces. 
 
 A cheese-factory was erected three-quarters of a 
 mile south of the village, and the business carried on 
 for some time. It was finally discontinued, and the 
 building moved to the rear of the Unitarian Church, 
 where it was converted first into a skating rink, and 
 afterward into a tenement-house. 
 
 Mr. Hiram Gibbs for some years carried on the 
 making of staves for pail manufacture. 
 
 German Lagara has manufactured articles of fancy 
 wood- work, plates, bowls, nut-dishes, etc., which are 
 sold to summer boarders and others who visit the 
 town. 
 
 Mr. Elisha Webb has, for many years, manufac- 
 tured powder kegs at the south part of the town, em- 
 ploying a small corps of workmen. This has for 
 years been the largest manufacturing interest of the 
 town. 
 
 Formerly Petersham was a thoroughfare and stop- 
 ping-place for teams passing with merchandise or 
 stage-coach passengers from Boston through Sudbury, 
 Shrewsbury, Holden, Rutland and liarre, to Athol, 
 Orange, Greenfield, Northfield, Warwick and the 
 southeastern part of Vermont. For the accommoda- 
 tion of this travel there were four taverns^one in 
 the eastern part of the town, two near the centre 
 and one on the road to Athol at the north end. One 
 of these, as Rev. Dr. Samuel Willard tel's us, main- 
 tained a sign which " was somewhat emblematic of 
 what a tavern should be, viz.: a tea-kettle hung 
 from the arm of the post." 
 
 John Chandler, Esq., who lived a century ago, 
 kept a large deer park of seventy acres, surrounded 
 by a very high Virginia fence, sufficient, as was sup- 
 posed, to keep the deer safely enclosed. But tradi- 
 tion tells of an exceedingly deep snow, which, drift- 
 ing against the rails, compacted into a bridge, w'hich 
 gave his deer their natural liberty. 
 
 Wealth. — By the census of 1885 the population 
 of the town was 1032, of whom 972 were native, 60 
 of foreign birth. The dwelling-houses numbered 
 278. The products of the town were valued at 
 $167,583, including, with other classifications not 
 here given, animal products valued at $9252 ; dairy 
 products, $40,459 ; cereals, $10,297 ; wood products, 
 $9299; hay, straw and fodder, $56,628. 
 
 The property of the town, other than that classi- 
 fied as products, was valued at $706,765, and in- 
 cluded land, valued at $355,132; buildings, $199,274; 
 machines and implements, $36,968; domestic ani- 
 mals, etc., $70,609; fruit-trees and vines, $44,782. 
 The total value of products and property was $874,- 
 348. 
 
 Rev. Peter Whitney, who published his " History 
 of Worcester County " in 1793, states the relative 
 
 position of the town in respect to wealth thus: 
 "There are but seven towns who pay more to a State 
 tax." From this it appears that Petersham was 
 then eighth in the State in respect to wealth. 
 
 Population. — The population of the town has 
 declined somewhat during the present in comparison 
 with the previous century. In the early settlement of 
 the State, villages were often located at the summit of 
 hills, presumably on account of the more defensible 
 position. The possibility of a stealthy attack from a 
 savage foe made it necessary to select the village site 
 with a military eye. But the advent of the ponderous 
 locomotive, with the necessity for a graded road-bed, 
 determined the location of villages in the valleys 
 rather than upon the hills. The building-up of the 
 railway centres has made steady drain upon the popu- 
 lation of farming communities, whether upon the 
 hills or in the valleys. During at least a large portion 
 of the present century the young people have con- 
 stantly gone from Petersham to make homes in other 
 towns and cities. The movement of population is 
 indicated by s ime figures collected by Mr. Willson for 
 his historical address, with the addition of the results 
 of the later census returns. 
 
 The town was incorporated 1754, the first census 
 afterward being in the year 1765, the population 707. 
 The subsequent numbers appear in the following order: 
 1776, 1235 ; 1790, 1560 ; 1800, 1794^ 1810, 1490 ; 1820, 
 1623; 1830,1696; 1840,1775; 1850,1527; 1855,1553; 
 1860,1465; 1865,1428; 1870,1.3.35; 1875,1203; 1880, 
 1109 ; 1885, 1032. From this it appears that the largest 
 population was in the year 1800, the number next in 
 order beingfor the year 1840. The number of inhabit- 
 ants by the last census is the smallest since 1765. 
 
 The depopulation of Petersham has built up other 
 places, its former residents being found in Boston, 
 Worcester, Fitchburg, Athol, Greenfield, New York, 
 Chicago and many other places. It remains for a 
 fuiure writer to narrate the exodus of this town, and 
 tell of the doings of its children in their new homes. 
 
 College Graduates.— The graduates of several 
 colleges who were native inhabitants of Petersham, 
 include the following names : 
 
 Harvard Univcrsily : — Peter Whitney, A.M., class of 
 1762; Paul Whitney, A.M., 1772; Abel Whitney, 
 1773; William Amherst Barron, A.M., 1787; John 
 Chandler, A.M., 1787; Richard Whitney, A.M., 1787; 
 Nathaniel Chandler, 1792; Thomas Barron, 1796; 
 Samuel Willard, S.T.D., 1803; Samuel Ward Chandler, 
 1822 ; Francis Augustus Brooks, 1842 ; John Brooks, 
 1856. 
 
 Dartmouth College: — Jonathan Grout, A.M., class of 
 1787; John Jackson, 1792; William Ward, 1792; 
 Paul Grout, 1793 ; George Grou', 1795 ; Elisha Ham- 
 mond, 1802; Abiathar Hopkins, 1806; Hutchins 
 Hapgood, 1813 ; Cyrus Pitt Grosvenor, 1818; Moses 
 Gill Grosvenor, 1822. 
 
 Williams College: — Daniel Bigelow, cla^s of 1803; 
 
478 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Lewis Bigelow, 1803; Charles Goddard, 1815; Joel S. 
 Sanderson, 1850. 
 
 Amherst College: — John B. Kendall, class of 1827; 
 Charles Grosvenor Goddard, 1841 ; Andrew Jackson 
 Wheeler, 1846; George Sumner Grosvenor, 1858; 
 Abiathar Blanchard, 1875. 
 
 Brown University: — Aaron Brooks, 1817; James 
 Willson Brooks, 18.55 ; Charles Hutchins Hapgood, 
 1857. 
 
 Middletmon College: — Fisher Ames Foster, John 
 Wells Foster. 
 
 Union College: — George Grout Hapgood, 1830. 
 
 Yale College: — Daniel Bigelow Parkhurst, 1836. 
 
 Congressmen. — Jonathan Grout, who came from 
 Lunenburg, having served seven years as Representa- 
 tive in the General Court and one year in the Senate, 
 was chosen a member of the first Congress under 
 the Constitution. 
 
 Lewis Bigelow, born 1785, a graduate of Williams 
 College 1803, studied law and was chosen a member 
 of the Seventeenth Congress. He was the author of 
 a Digest of the Cases determined in the Supreme 
 Judicial Court from 1804 to 1816, a work published 
 ih 1818, yet still found in law offices. A comparison 
 of these dates shows that this standard work of legal 
 analysis was produced before the author was thirty- 
 three years of age. 
 
 General Court of Massachusetts. — Senators — 
 Jonathan Grout, John G. Mudge. 
 
 Representatives— 3 oihna, Willard, 1761, 1763 ; John 
 Chandler, 1768 ; Theophilus Chandler. 1769 ; Ephraim 
 Doolittle, 1772, 1773, 1774; Jonathan Grout, 1775, 
 1777, 1779, 1784, 1786, 1787; Captain Elisha Ward, 
 1777 ; Samuel Dennis, 1777 ; Samuel Peckham, 1787 ; 
 Park Holland, 1788, 1789; Ruggles Spooner, 1770, 
 1790; Daniel Bigelow, 1791, 1792; Asa Pond, 1818; 
 Joel Bryant, 1822; Hutchins Hapgood, 1823; Israel 
 Houghton, 1824; Cyrus Wadsvvorth, 1827; Joseph 
 Gallond, 1829, 1830, 1832; Micajah Reed, 1829, 1832, 
 1833; Josiah Wheeler, 1830, 1849; Aaron Brooks, 
 1834, 1835; Nahum Gale, 1836, 1837; Cephas Wil- 
 lard, 1835, 1838; Seth Hapgood, 1837, 1840, 1849; 
 Joseph Brown, 1839; Artemas Bryant, 1839, 1840; 
 Asa Clark, 1841; Jonas Howe, 1845; Elbridge G. 
 Miles, 1846; Lyman Robinson, 1848; George White, 
 1851,1853; Lewis Whitney, 1852 ; John G. Mudge, 
 1856,1858,1865; Josiah White, 1861; Hudson Tol- 
 man, 1862 ; Stephen D. Goddard, 1869, 1873 ; Lyman 
 Clark, 1879 ; Elisha Webb, 1883. 
 The foregoing list is incomplete. 
 ToAVN Officers. — The records for the first three 
 years after the incorporation of the town are de- 
 ficient. The first list of officers preserved to us is 
 that chosen March 0, 1758, the town having been in- 
 corporated in 1754. The list includes several offices 
 now obsolete, as tithingmen, clerk of ye market, 
 leather sealer, deer-reeves, hog-reeves, in the town 
 records sometimes called liog-constables. The list 
 of officers for that year was as follows: Joshua Wil- 
 
 lard, Town Clerk; Joshua Wilder, Daniel Miles, 
 Joshua Willard, David Sanderson, James Clemence, 
 Selectmen and Assessors; Nathaniel Sanderson, Treas- 
 urer; Jerameel Wilder, Benjamin Chandler, Con- 
 stables ; Samuel Chamberlain, Samuel Briant, An- 
 drew Dalrymple, Ebenezer Hill, Surveyors of High- 
 ways and Collectors; David Stone, Joel Matthews, 
 Tithingmen ; Sylvanus How, Seth Hapgood, Fence- 
 viewers; Daniel Spooner, Clerk of ye Market; David 
 Sanderson, Leather Sealer; Kenelm Winslow, Sealer 
 of Weights and Measures; Nathan Goddard, David 
 Curtice, Field-drivers; William Walker, Joseph 
 Marble, Aaron Chandler, Hog-reeves; Daniel Dunkin, 
 William Daget, Deer- reeve; Kenelm Winslow, 
 Pound-keeper. The record shows that all were sworn 
 except the town clerk, deer-reeves and pound-keeper. 
 The office of deer-reeve is suggestive of the fact that 
 deer were to some extent domesticated. This first 
 Board of Selectmen of which we have record was 
 notable by reason of the name of Daniel Miles, tw^o 
 sons of whom, Daniel and Joab, served in the revo- 
 lutionary army. The descendants of Joab Miles are 
 now represented by Major-General Nel.son A. Miles, 
 of the United States Army. 
 
 Selectmen. — No complete account of the Board 
 of Selectmen or other official boards can here be 
 given. In addition to the previous names we find 
 that among those who served in the years from 1757- 
 1792 were Joseph Wilson, Daniel Spooner, Daniel 
 Duncan, Capt. Zedk. Stone, Thomas Rogers, Selh 
 Hapgood, John Chandler, Theophilus Chandler, 
 Elisha Ward, Samuel Gates, Sylvanus How, Jona- 
 than Grout, Simon Houghton, Asa How, William 
 Willard, Ephraim Doolittle, David Stone, Samuel 
 Dennis, Timothy Whitney, David Curtis, Edward 
 Powers, Daniel Hastings, Samuel Briant, Ruggles 
 Spooner, David McClellan, Jonathan Sanderson, 
 Capt. Wing Spooner, Ebenezer Winslow, Joel Doo- 
 little, John Hildreth, Robert Peckham, Thomas 
 Carter, Isaac Packard, Edward Baker, Daniel Hawks, 
 Samuel Peckham, Samuel Stone, Maj. Ephraim 
 Stearns, Joseph Gleason, Capt. John Permenter, 
 Joseph Brown, Lieut. Luke Rice, Daniel Bigelow, 
 Park Holland, William Macarty, Seth Williams, 
 John Demick, Joseph Negus, Joel Brooks, Ebenezer 
 Hammond, Jotham Bowker. 
 
 The following is a partial list of names of persons 
 who have served on the Board of Selectmen since 
 1852 as found in town reports : Asa Johnson, P. W. 
 Barr, Joab Young, S. D. Goddard, Hudson Tolman, 
 J. W. Upton, Oren Tower, George Ayres, J. H. 
 Clapp, Hubbard Peckham, H. S. Miner, Alfred Peck- 
 ham, David C. Paige, Merrick Blanchard, Josiah 
 White, Elijah Hildreth, Elisha Webb, Sewell C. 
 Goddard, L. P. Cutler, C. K. Wilder, F. L. Sander- 
 son, Geo. Bancroft, Charles F. Paige, Merrick E. 
 Hildreth, Sanford B. Cook. 
 
 Town Clerks.— Joshua Willard, David Sander- 
 son, John Chandler, Jonathan Grout, William 
 
PETERSHAM. 
 
 479 
 
 Willard, William McCarty, Samuql Peckham, Jared 
 Weed, Seth Hapgood, John L. Giillond, Lyman E- 
 Sibley, Chas. B. Mosely, J. G. Mudge, Lewis E. 
 Whitney, H. N. Tower, Sanford B. Cook. Of these 
 the veteran town clerk of the early time was David 
 Sanderson, who appears to have served eighteen 
 years. Jared Weed, Esq., served twenty-six years, 
 from 1817 to 1842, inclusive; and Lewis Whitney, 
 twenty-six years, from 1849 to 1874, inclusive. 
 
 Town Trea.sueers. — The names of some of those 
 who have served the town as treasurers are as fol- 
 lows : — Nathaniel Sanderson, 1758-72. The upright- 
 ness with which Mr. Sanderson discharged his duty 
 is made a matter of public record. The committee 
 chosen to audit his account for a period of five years 
 find, in closing their report. 
 
 That what he has paid out and ia yet in the Constable's hands, 
 Amounts to Six Hundred and Forty-Two Pounds Nineteen shillings 
 and one penny ; that the Treasurer lias paid out Four Pounds Seven- 
 teen Shillings & four pence one farthing More than he hath Received 
 In. He says that there is Now in the Treasury Five Pounds Six Shill- 
 ings and Eleven pence two farthings, which, being added to the above 
 Ballance, Makes Ten Pounds Four Shillings three pence and three 
 farthings, which sum he says he's confident Belongs to the Town. 
 
 William Willaro -i 
 Jonathan Gbout, j 
 
 Committee. 
 
 Those curious in such matters may exercise their 
 minds upon the question whether or not upon this 
 statement Mr. Sanderson was more solicitous to do 
 justice to the town, than accurate in determining 
 what was due himself. 
 
 Theophilus Chandler was chosen town treasurer, 
 1772-76; David Sanderson, 1776-80; Capt. 
 Ephraim Stearns, 1781-92. Of those who have 
 served at later dates, the names of Jonas Howe, 
 Joseph G. Parmenter, Collins Andrews and John G. 
 Mudge are reported, the latter having served contin- 
 uously since 1869 to date, 1888, inclusive, or eighteen 
 years. 
 
 School Committee. — The following are some of 
 the names of persons who have served on the School 
 Committee since 1852, the list being incomplete: — 
 John J. Putnam, John Shepherdson, Luther Willson, 
 Charles Kendall, L. Sanderson, John A. Wilder, 
 Lyman W. Hapgood, Frank A. Wood, S. S. Tower, 
 William Miller, John M. Holman, S. P. Goddard, D. 
 F. Goddard, E. Jackson, Sanford B. Cook, Lewis 
 W. Loring, A. Stowell, T. T. Merriman, George 
 White, E. C. Anderson, Mrs. Maria N. Ayers, Ben- 
 jamin Ober, C. W. Fifield, Lyman Clark, L. O. Mar- 
 tin, Elisha Webb, Luther Stone, F. L. Sanderson, 
 M. H. Leamy, I. F. Porter, David Shurtlefl; Mrs. M. 
 R. Stone. 
 
 The more prominent town officers for the year 1888 
 are Sanford B. Cook, town clerk ; John G. Mudge, 
 treasurer ; Merrick E. Hildreth, George Bancroft, San- 
 ford B. Cook, selectmen and overseers of the poor ; 
 Frederick Bryant, Henry L. King, Thomas S. Howe, 
 assessors; Rev. David Shurtlefl" Luther O. Martin, 
 M.D., Mr.s. Maria N. Ayers, school committee ; 
 Daniel F. Bigelow, constable and collector of taxes. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXV. 
 
 VKfE^Snh.^!— {Continued.) 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 
 
 Parh Holland — Samitvl Willard, D.D., the Blind Minister — Solomon Wil- 
 lard, Builder of Bunker Hill Monument — Deacon Cephas Willard — 
 Aitstm Flint, the Beloved Phijucian — William Brown Spooner, the 
 Philanthropist — Timothy W. Hammond— Rev. E. B. Wilhon — Invent- 
 ors — Women— Longevity. 
 
 While no citizens of Petersham appear to have 
 risen to the highest rank in connection with the 
 civil and military history of the country, yet the per- 
 sonnel of the town is singularly interesting in respect 
 to character and attainments. It is possible here 
 only to add some facts to the information previously 
 published of the dwellers in or natives of the town. 
 If somewhat extended narratives are given concern- 
 ing a few, it is because the facts are at hand and 
 with the hope that a more full history may be pre- 
 pared by other hands at some future date, in which 
 more ample justice can be done to the many whose 
 names are worthy to be enshrined in the memory of 
 those who come after, and whose lives offer examples 
 worthy of imitation. 
 
 Captaix Park Holland.— An historical letter 
 written to Major Jonas Holland, of Schenectady, 
 N. Y., by Captain Park Holland, informs us that 
 their ancestors were from London. Upon coming to 
 this country, they sett'ed at Watertown, afterward 
 removing to Shrewsbury, where Park Holland was 
 born, and later located in Petersham. In 1776 Park 
 Holland, having been previously enrolled as a min- 
 ute-man, enlisted, with thirty neighbors and friends, 
 for service in a brigade of Massachusetts troops, 
 which were sent to New York. He served under 
 Washington at White Plains and in New Jersey. 
 He, upon expiration of his first enlistment, re-enlisted 
 for service during the war, with twenty-four or five 
 others of Petersham. His brother, Ivory Holland, 
 received a lieutenant's commission, and Park Hol- 
 land was made a sergeant-major, from which rank he 
 rose to that of captain, and was paymaster and agent 
 to settle the accounts of the regiment. He served in 
 the campaign which led to Burgoyne's surrender ; 
 afterward at West Point and at White Plains. At 
 the close of the war he, by public advertisement, vis- 
 ited Petersham, Northampton, Worcester, Harvard, 
 Danvers, Boston and Wrentham to pay the soldiers 
 of the regiment. 
 
 Captain Holland once attended a dinner given by 
 Washington to some of his ofiicers, and a character- 
 istic incident is narrated, showing the general's ab- 
 horrence of profanity. 
 
 The payment of the Revolutionary soldiers being 
 completed. Park Holland and General Rufus Putnam 
 went in partnership to survey '• the Schoodiac and 
 Pa?samaquody country, the harbors, islands, &c.," of 
 Eastern Massachusetts (now Maine). An interesting 
 
480 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 narrative of this and several other surveying tours in 
 what is now Maine and Vermont is given in his let- 
 ters. On one of these tours he undertook to survey 
 a tract of land extending north to the height of land 
 dividing the waters of the St. John from the St. 
 Lawrence, an unknown distance, supposed to be fifty 
 or sixty miles into the wilderness, but which proved 
 to be a hundred and sixty miles from the northern 
 limit of previous surveys. The hardship of this tour 
 was such that Captain Holland weighed eighty-three 
 pounds less upon his return than when he set out, 
 much of the time having been spent without any 
 proper supply of food. At the time of Shays' Rebel- 
 lion (so called), a company was raised by Captain 
 Holland in Petersham, Athol and Rutland for ser- 
 vice of the government. No stronger testimony to 
 his worth could well be given than the fact that he 
 was able to enlist as privates thirteen commissioned 
 officers of the Revolutionary army, including General 
 Rulus Putnam, under whom Captain Holland had 
 served, as he had under Captain Shays himself. His 
 company marched with General Lincoln from Had- 
 ley to Petersham, all but two of them being more or 
 less frost-bitten on arrival. He had a wife and 
 family at the north part of the town. Shays' men, 
 on their retreat to Athol, halted before the house. 
 Mrs. Holland, being herself ill, ordered fires built 
 and food otTered to the insurgents, and by her dis- 
 creet civility the household was saved from further 
 injury than being stripped of food supplies. 
 
 Captain Holland was chosen selectman, town clerk, 
 and for .several years represented the towns of Peters- 
 ham and, after removal to that place 1790, Belcher- 
 town in the General Court. He, in company with 
 another person, purchased 'of the Penobscot Indians 
 one hundred and ninety-two square miles of land 
 lying on either side of the Penobscot Eiver, but the 
 title does not appear to have been made good. He 
 removed, however, to Eddington, Maine, where his 
 last days appear to have been spent attended by a 
 faithful daughter, who discarded all oHers of marriage 
 in devotion to her honored father's happiness. The 
 story of his life was largely written out in letters 
 dictated to her afier Capt. Holland ceased to himself 
 use the pen, with which he had in early years shown 
 much skill. He was accustomed to say that if 
 "variety is the spice of life," his had been well sea- 
 soned. Dr. J. G. Holland, the author, born in Belch- 
 ertown 1819, was a grandson of Luther Holland who 
 was a brother "of Capt. Park Holland. 
 
 Samuel Willard. — Prom a work entitled " Sing- 
 ers and Songs of the Liberal Faith," by Rev. A. P. 
 Putnam, D.D., the following sketch of the life of one 
 of the sons of the town is taken : 
 
 " Rev. Samuel Willard, D.D., born in Petersham, 
 Mass., April 18, 1776, was a son of William and 
 Catherine (Wilde) Willard, and grandson of Rev. 
 Samuel Willard, of Biddeford, Maine. Samuel Wil- 
 lard, the grandfather of the Biddeford minister, was 
 
 acting-president of Harvard College, 1701-07, and 
 was the son of Major Simon Willard, who came from 
 Kent, England, and bought land of the Indians in 
 Concord, JIass., before the year 163.5. Joseph Wil- 
 lard, another president of Harvard, 1781-1804, was 
 uncle to Samuel, the subject of this sketch. The 
 latter spent his early years on his father's farm. He 
 began to prepare himself for college at the age of 
 twenty-one, and was fitted mainly under the instruc- 
 tion of Rev. Nathaniel Thayer, D.D., of Lancaster, 
 Mass. Having graduated at Harvard, 1803, he was 
 subsequently, for more than a year. Dr. Abbott's 
 assistant in the Exeter Academy, and was afterwards 
 for some months tutor at Bowdoin College, prose- 
 cuting at both of these last-named institutions his 
 studies in the classics, and devoting himself also to 
 the study of theology, under the direction of Drs. 
 Appleton, Buckminster and McKean. In September, 
 ISOiJ, he removed to Cambridge, where he continued 
 his preparations for the ministry, and soon obtained 
 a license to preach. Economical considerations in- 
 duced him to reside for a time at Andover, and it was 
 while he was there that he was invited to preach at 
 Deerfield, Mass. He gave his first sermon in that 
 place, March 15, 1807, and received, the next June, a 
 call to settle. August 12th was fixed upon for the 
 ordination. The council called, in accordance with 
 the custom of the churches, sat for two days, and 
 after a rigid examination of the candidate refused to 
 ordain him, regarding his views as too liberal for the 
 orthodox standard. Here was one of the first indica- 
 tions of the split that was destined ere long to divide 
 the Congregational body of New England. Another 
 council was called with more success, and he was 
 duly ordained September 23d, of the same year. 
 I'Vom that time Mr. Willard was a recognized pioneer 
 of the liberal movement in Western Massachusetts ; 
 bravely contending with voice and pen for larger 
 freedom, and willingly suffering not a little odium 
 and persecution for the sake of what he believed to 
 be the truth. On the 30th of May, 1808, he was 
 married to Susan, only daughter of Dr. .Toshua Bar- 
 ker, of Hingham, by whom he had three children — 
 Susan, Mary and Samuel, the last a graduate of Har- 
 vard, 1835. About the year 1818 his eyes suddenly 
 failed him, in consequence of too much study by a 
 dim light. For thirteen years after this sad occur- 
 rence he was able to see large objects only very indis- 
 tinctly, and for the remaining twenty-seven years of 
 his life he was totally blind. The amount and variety 
 of intellectual and other labor which, with the faith- 
 ful aid of his family, he accomplished during these 
 forty years of his calamity, seem almost incredible. 
 He continued his usual pastoral duties until Septem- 
 ber, 1829, when he resigned his charge; then removed 
 to Hingham, where for some years he assisted his 
 son-in-law in teaching a school, and finally, after 
 a brief residence in Concord, returned to Deerfield, 
 where he spent the rest of his days, preaching occa- 
 
PETERSHAM. 
 
 481 
 
 sionally for his people, even to the very close of his 
 long career.'' 
 
 It is said that Dr. Willard, who was the author of 
 four hundred and sixty-seven hymns, could repeat 
 from memory any of them, also whole books of the 
 Bible. He wrote several books, and numerous articles 
 for religious newspapers and magazines. Samuel 
 Willard died at Deerfieid October 8, 1859. 
 
 SoLOMOx WiLLAED. — The public services of 
 Solomon Willard, brother of the foregoing, were such 
 as to justify extended notice of his life. He was 
 born in 1783. The first twenty-one years of his life 
 were spent in his native town, at the end of which 
 time he went to Boston. He had only common ad- 
 vantages in regard to education, but made the best 
 use of those he had. His first work in Boston was 
 fitting piles for wharf construction, at fifty cents per 
 day. In this connection he said that his employer 
 taught him to keep his broad-axe sharp. We soon 
 hear of his having attended le.-sons in drawing. He 
 connected himself with the Athenreum, attended lec- 
 tures upon anatomy, studied geology and chemistry. 
 Meantime his labors have advanced to architecture 
 and designing. He built an extensive winding stair- 
 way, since destroyed by fire. Going south, he made 
 a model of the Capitol building at Washington. He 
 became a teacher of architectural drawing and de- 
 signing, and invented the principle of the hot-air fur- 
 nace, taking out no patent for the invention, but 
 leaving profits to be reaped by others. 
 
 But the great work of Mr. Willard's' life was as 
 architect of Bunker Hill Monument. The building 
 of the monument was initiated to commemorate the 
 fiftieth year of independence, but the corner-stone 
 was laid June 17, 1825, the anniversary of the battle, 
 rather than on Independence Day. Full information 
 of Mr. Willard's connection with the monument is 
 given in "The Memoir of Solomon Willard," by W. 
 W. Wheildon, prepared by direction of the Bunker 
 Hill Monument Association. In this work the ques- 
 tion of who was the architect is fully and carelully 
 considered. Several persons had prepared designs 
 for an obelisk, from which circumstance arose a con- 
 troversy as to who was the architect. This claim has 
 been made in behalf of Alexander Paris, Horatio 
 Greenough and Robert Mills, but a careful examina- 
 tion of the evidence, made by direction of the asso- 
 ciation having the monument in charge, makes it 
 conclusively established that Solomon Willard was 
 the true and only architect, as he unquestionably was 
 the superintendent of practical construction from the 
 beginning to the completion of the work. 
 
 For his services he accepted no compensation, only 
 allowing a commutation of his expenses, which were 
 very small. His desire was to do the work as a labor 
 of patriotism, having ample support from other work. 
 Under his direction a quarry was purchased at 
 Quincy. For the transportation of the stone to the 
 seashore the first railway of the country was laid, it 
 31 
 
 being operated by horse-power. The monument cost 
 about $100,000, which was estimated by Mr. Willard 
 as about half the cost at current rates of the time for 
 similar work. The saving grew largely out of im- 
 proved methods devised by him for quarrying and 
 transportation, by reason of which granite was made 
 much more available as a building material, the arch- 
 itecture of Boston being somewhat modified by the 
 fact. 
 
 Solomon Willard died of apoplexy February 16, 
 1861. Circumstances of peculiar sadness attended 
 his departure. On the morning of his death he arose 
 at the usual hour and, while waiting breakfast, talked 
 with a friend of the st«te of the country. Six States 
 had passed ordinances of secession. Forts, arse- 
 nals, mints and na^-y yards had been seized, and the 
 Confederate Convention was engaged in preparing a 
 Constitution in the interests of slavery. Mr. Willard 
 gave way to fears and wept at the prospect of the 
 country going to destruction. Being called to break- 
 fast, he arose to answer the call, but instead of taking 
 his seat at the table he fell upon the floor and never 
 spoke again. The thought of national dissolution 
 appears to have literally burst the blood-vessels of 
 the brain which had devised and constructed Bunker 
 Hill Monument, and to have broken the heart of one 
 who loved his country faithfully. 
 
 Cephas Willaed, a brother of Rev. Dr. Willard 
 and of Solomon Willard, the architect, was born No- 
 vember 29, 1786, and died November 25, 1879. His 
 long life was spent as a son of the soil. Among the 
 various offices held by him were those of assessor, 
 coroner, deputy-sheriff and member of the House of 
 Representatives. He was deacon of the Unitarian 
 Church fifty-six years, and treasurer for more than 
 thirty years in succession. The family to which he 
 belonged had held the office of deacon for more than 
 a hundred years, with the exception of a short inte- 
 rim, caused by the fact that at a certain time a 
 brother deacon was found walking disorderly, in re- 
 spect to temperance, and all members of the diacon- 
 ate resigned as a courteous way of conducting the 
 brother out of office. This duty done, the church 
 promptly re-elected those whose conduct had been 
 worthy. 
 
 As deputy-sheriff Deacon Willard was once found 
 unwilling to perform a task to which he was invited, « 
 that of assisting in the execution of the death pen- 
 alty by sentence of a court. He offered to resign his 
 office if the duty were required of him,'but that sac- 
 rifice of position he was not allowed to make. He 
 was more successful in executing the law relative to 
 imprisonment for debt. In such a case he set a man 
 at work on his farm until his wages were sufficient to 
 discharge at once the debt and the prisoner. M^hen 
 ninety years of age Deacon Willard attended the 
 Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia alone, and, 
 the same year, presided over the Centennial Celebra- 
 tion in his native town, his lifetime having covered 
 
482 
 
 HISTORY" OP WOKCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 nine-tenths of the life of the nation. A memorial 
 discourse by Lyman Clark, delivered at the occasion 
 of his funeral services, was published. It will be 
 noticed that the family from which these three 
 brothers were descended had given two presidents to 
 Harvard College. 
 
 Austin Flint, M.D., LL.D., born in Petersham, 
 1812, graduated as M.D. at Harvard, 1833, was one 
 of the founders of the Buffalo Medical College, 1847. 
 He was, in 1861, appointed professor of the principles 
 and practice of medicine in Bellevue College Hos- 
 pital, New York, and of pathology and practical 
 medicine in Long Island College Hospital. AVith 
 other medical works he has published a " Practical 
 Treatise on the Pathology, Diagnosis and Treatment 
 of Diseases of the Heart " and a standard work on 
 the " Practice of Medicine." A pamphlet memoir, 
 by A. Jacobi, M.D., president of the New York Acad- 
 emy of Medicine, has been reprinted from the Med- 
 ical Record of April 24, 1886. From it we learn that 
 Dr. Austin Flint was descended from Thomas Flint, 
 who emigrated from Derbyshire, England, and came 
 to Concord, Mass., in the year 1638. 
 
 He was of Puritan stock, and his father, grandfath- 
 er and great-grandfather were physicians. His was 
 apparently a case of inherited fitness for his work. 
 Having received a liberal education at Amherst and 
 Harvard, he practiced three years at Northampton 
 and Boston, after which he moved to Buffalo, N. Y., 
 in 1836. There he resided sixteen years, with a brief 
 absence, during which he taught clinical medicine in 
 Rush Medical College, Chicago, in 1847. 
 
 He left Buffalo in 1852 to take charge of the chair 
 of clinical medicine in the University of Louisville. 
 Thence he returned to Buffalo in 1856. The winters 
 from 1858 to '61 were spent in New Orleans, teaching 
 medicine and attending Charity Hospital. In the 
 year 1859 he settled in New York. He resigned his 
 position as teacher of the Long Island Medical Hos- 
 pital in 1868, but retained his chair in the Bellevue 
 Hospital Medical College to his death. 
 
 The Buffalo Medical Journal was founded by him 
 in 1846, and edited by him for a period of ten years. 
 
 The memoir of Dr. Jacobi closes with this tribute, — 
 
 AugtiD Flint liad great advantages, and developed and utilized them 
 for the beuetit of the many. Born with an enviable inheritance, he 
 enjoyed a thorough general and special education. He had great phys- 
 ical endurance and uniform health, an iniposingpreseuce, pleasant man- 
 ners, and an equable temperament. With physical and intellectual 
 powers he combined indefatigable love of work, which he performed 
 systematically ancf energetically. He was a thoroughly modest man, 
 who knew how difficult it is to nuister the depths of knowledge ; thus 
 he had an unusual degree of common Bonse, which limits aspirations 
 and aims. Thus ho became thorough in what he undertook to practice 
 and teach. He was successful in practice, and enjoyed the confidence 
 of both the profession and the public. As a teacher he is remembered 
 by thousands ; hia pupils loved him and his colleagues honored him. 
 His writings obtained for him a national and international reputation. 
 Thoiewas no place of honor in possession of the profession of the city, 
 State or country, which he has not tilled. The profession of Europe was 
 anxious to show its respect for him. Thus he lived and worked to an ad- 
 vanced age, disturbed by but few symptoms of evanescing powers, and 
 when the time came he ceased to labor and live on the very same day. 
 
 A letter from a relative tells us that " his manner 
 to all was unusually courteous and kindly, and his 
 disposition one of rare sweetness. His sympathies 
 were far-reaching, and he was so tender-hearted that 
 he was unable to take up surgery as a specialty, al- 
 though his father, who was a physician, thought he 
 showed great skill in that direction." 
 
 He died March, 1886. The story of the medical 
 profession in and from the town, led by the name of 
 Flint, remains to be written in future. 
 
 William Beown Spooner will be long remem- 
 bered as an upright merchant, business man, banker 
 and philanthropist. He was born in Petersham, 
 April 20, 1806. At an early age he went to Vermont 
 to live with an uncle. There he acquired a knowl- 
 edge of the tannery, but aspired to an education and 
 the legal profession. He became a merchant's clerk 
 and taught school. At twenty years of age he went 
 to Boston, and there finally decided in favor of mer- 
 cantile life, entering the firm of Simpkins & Spooner, 
 afterward forming that of William B. Spooner k Co. 
 He was the first president of the New England Shoe 
 and Leather Association, and for thirty-eight years a 
 director of the Shoe and Leather National Bank. An 
 ardent advocate of the anti-slavery cause and the 
 cause of temperance, he was elected to the Massachu- 
 setts House of Representatives, 1857-58. He led in 
 the organization of the Massachusetts Total Absti- 
 nence Society, was its first president, which position 
 he held until his death. The executive ability of 
 Mr. Spooner led to his being appointed in behalf of 
 the State of Masschusetts as one of the Board of 
 Management of the Centennial Exhibition at Phila- 
 delphia, 1876, to which duty he gave much time and 
 attention. William B. Spooner died at Boston, Octo- 
 ber 28, 1880. His will contained various public 
 bequests. A memorial has been published by the 
 Massachusetts Total Abstinence Society. 
 
 Timothy Whitney Hammond, of Worcester, son 
 of Enoch and Lucy (Bowker) Hammond, was born at 
 Petersham, January 26, 1814, He received such ad- 
 vantages from the local schools as might be gained 
 before thirteen years of age, after which he engaged 
 in other employments. In 1835 he was united in 
 marriage with Mary A. Houghton, daughter of Cap- 
 tain Levi and Hannah Houghton. They removed to 
 Worcester, 1844, where Mr. Hammond served two 
 years as a clerk in the office of the Worcester and 
 Nashua Railway. In 1849 he was made treasurer, 
 which position he has held to the present time, or 
 nearly forty years. He has been a member of the 
 Worcester Mechanics' Savings Bank since 1851, of 
 which he was president, 1877 ; has served as director 
 of the State Mutual Life Assurance Company; per- 
 formed five years of duty as a member of the City 
 Council, and held the position of treasurer of the 
 Proprietors of the Bay State-House. Mrs. Ham- 
 mond died October 13, 1887. 
 
 Rev. Edmund B. Willson, son of Rev. Luther 
 
PETERSHAM. 
 
 483 
 
 and Sally (Bigelow) Willson, was born at Petersham, 
 August 15, 1820. He studied at different preparatory 
 schools, and entered Yale College, 183-1, leaving, 1835, 
 on account of ill health ; completed a course at the 
 Cambridge Divinity School, and was graduated 1843. 
 The settlements of Mr. Willson have been at Grafton, 
 Mass., from 1844 to 1852 ; Roxbury, Ma's., First Con- 
 gregational Society, 1852 to 1859, when he was called 
 to the pastorate of the North Society in Salem, of 
 which he is still in charge. Mr. Willson, as pre- 
 viously stated, delivered the address at the centennial 
 of the incorporation of the town. He served in the 
 House of Representatives for the years 1883 and 1884. 
 While there he introduced a measure which became 
 a law, authorizing instruction in the use of hand-tools 
 in the public schools. 
 
 Several mechanical inventions have originated with 
 residents of the town. Solomon Willard invented the 
 hot-air furnace, taking out no patent for his invention. 
 
 Asa Hapgood, who was a native of Barre, lived for a 
 time in Petersham, where he worked as a wheelwright 
 with his brother, Chauncy Hapgood ; afterward being 
 employed as a railway conductor between Boston and 
 New York, he gave his attention to providing for the 
 comfort of his passengers at night, and invented the 
 sleeping-car, by which he acquired a large fortune. 
 
 Paul Peckham invented a machine for dressing 
 tapering conical surfaces, which was used by him in 
 the manufacture of ladders. 
 
 Charles Frederick Bosworth invented a machine 
 for sewing hat-braid, the patent-right of which was 
 sold for a large sum, also a machine for lining hats 
 and one for sewing heavy leather. 
 
 Women. — The public records give us much less in- 
 formation concerning the women who have lived in 
 Petersham than they do of the lives of those who have 
 been charged with responsibility for political affairs. 
 Yet the town records occasionally present a glimpse 
 of the life in the home and those who there presided. 
 An entry in the records of May 19, 1762, is as follows : 
 
 " Voted the number of young women the hind- 
 seat on the women's side gallery in order to build a 
 pew on their own cost, viz.: Sarah Rice, Eunice 
 Wilder, Parsis Bowker, Esther Holland, Mehitabell 
 Page, Hannah Walker, Ruth Page, Sarah Curtis, 
 Molly Curtis, Susanna Miles, Jerusha Hudson, Sarah 
 Sanderson, Martha Negus, Hadassa Houghton, Ann 
 Wheeler." Of these, Susanna Miles was a member of 
 the family of Daniel Miles, who came from Pomfret, 
 Conn., and from whom Major-General Nelson A. 
 Miles is descended. Esther Holland was presumably 
 a sister of Captains Ira and Park Holland, of the Revo- 
 lutionary army. 
 
 Mrs. Houghton, wife of Simeon Houghton, is said 
 to have claimed to have been once recognized as the 
 
 handsomest woman in the town, her claim being based 
 on the fact that she, being without classical features, 
 was the first white woman, and, for a time, the only 
 woman who lived in Petersham. 
 
 Mrs. Mary Greene (Chandler) Ware was the author 
 of three books entitled : " Elements of Character," 
 "Thoughts in my Garden," and "Death and Life." 
 She was born in Petersham May 22, 1818, being the 
 daughter of Nathaniel Chandler and Dolly (Greene) 
 Chandler. The father, born 1773, was the son of John 
 Chandler, who built what is known as the Chandler 
 house about 1766. Dolly Greene was born in Staf- 
 ford, Conn, 1783. Mary Greene Chandler and Dr. 
 John Ware, of Boston, were married February 25, 
 1862. She having survived her husband, now resides 
 in Lancaster, to which her father's family moved, 1828. 
 
 Mrs. Caroline Hildreth, wife of Richard Hildreth, 
 the historian, excelled as an artist, her first successes 
 being in crayon portraits. After she had studied in 
 Europe she manifested talent in oil-painting. 
 
 Mrs. Elizabeth Barry, daughter of Dea. Cephas 
 Willard, wife of Rev. William Barry, of Chicago, was 
 vice-president, for Illinois, of the Mount Vernon As- 
 sociation. 
 
 Miss Lucretia Pond left public bequests in behalf 
 of the Unitarian Church, and for the care of the 
 cemetery in which she was buried. Mrs. Ann Inger- 
 soll bequeathed her homestead to the Unitarian 
 Church for a parsonage, and made a small bequest for 
 the support of the public library. 
 
 Longevity. — A considerable number of instauces 
 of remarkable longevity are found in the history of 
 the town. Three instances of an age of one hundred 
 years or more are presented. In the year 1796, Dea. 
 Daniel Spooner died, aged one hundred and three; 
 Mary Farrar, died 1855, aged one hundred years; 
 Lucy Robinson, who died in 18(53, was also a century 
 old. The names, years of death and ages of twenty- 
 four persons who have lived from ninety to one hundred 
 years are as follows : Mrs. Sarah Stowell, 1830, ninety- 
 nine ; Jonathan Sanderson, 1832, ninety-two ; Eunice 
 Spooner, 1836, ninety-two ; Esther Gale, 1849, ninety- 
 two ; Mary Curtis, 1853, ninety ; Joel Brooks, 1856, 
 ninety-six ; David Wheeler, 1857, ninety ; Mary 
 Dunn, 1857, ninety-four ; Bertha Covill, 1857, ninety- 
 two; Josiah Newton, 1858, ninety; Caleb Chamber- 
 lain, 1862, ninety-one ; Lydia Holman, 1862, ninety ; 
 Elijah Pike, 1864, ninety-one ; Robert Goddard, 1868, 
 ninety ; Betsey Upton, 1869, ninety-one ; Jonathan 
 Simmons, 1869, ninety-nine ; Lucinda Chamberlain, 
 1869, ninety; Joseph Farrar, 1870, ninety; Artemas 
 Wilder, 1871, ninety-one; Hannah Loring, 1871, 
 ninety-two; Caleb Bancroft, 1871, ninety-two; Eliza- 
 beth Tolman, 1875, ninety-two; Cephas Willard, 1879, 
 ninety-two; Celia Morse Whipple, 1880, ninety-two. 
 
484 
 
 HISTORY OF WOKCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXVI. 
 
 PETERSHAM— ( Continued. ) 
 
 THE REBELLION — PUBLIC SPIRIT. 
 
 Action, Miry, liCA—Tha Financial Btirdea— The Mitsler Roll, 53d Bcgi- 
 ment, 2Ut Hegimeiit, ZUl Regiment — In Other Commands — The Navf/ — 
 Tito Rebellion Record — Local Improvement — The Library Estahlielted — 
 3Lemori(d and Library Building Proposed— The Future Outlook. 
 
 The Rebellion. — At the annual meeting of the 
 town, held May 1, 1861, action was taken in view of 
 the state of the country, it being " Resolved, That the 
 Town Treasurer be authorized to borrow a sum of 
 money not exceeding (ii!3000) three thousand dollars, 
 to be expended, in whole or in part, under the direc- 
 tion of the selectmen, for the purpose of providing 
 uniforms for a military company, and supporting the 
 families of those volunteers who may be called into 
 the service of the State or the United States, and that 
 the selectmen be authorized to pay one dollar per day 
 to volunteers after they are enrolled, organized and 
 accepted by the State, for their services drilling." 
 
 It will be noticed that this action comprehensively 
 assumed the entire responsibility of providing uni- 
 forms, payment of the soldiers at a rate higher than 
 that allowed in the United States army, and support- 
 ing the families of the soldiers. Tliis appropriation 
 was the beginning of the financial responsibility of 
 the town on account of the Civil War. Additional 
 appropriations were made from time to time, until the 
 town had paid $1.3,999.76. The sum of $3195.64 was 
 voluntarily subscribed by individuals, and $1800 paid 
 as commutation by drafted men, making a total 
 amount paid from all sources of $18,995.40. Of this 
 amount only $3663.56 were refunded, leaving the net 
 cost of the war to the town as such at the sum of 
 $15,631.84. This represents the excess paid by the 
 town in addition to its equal share paid by State and 
 national methods of taxation. 
 
 Remarkable as the exhibit is for a country town, 
 the assessed wealth of which was less than a million 
 of dollars, the exhibit in respect to enlistments is 
 still more notable. It appears from the town records 
 that there were in the town at the beginning of the 
 war, 1861, one hundred and eighty-eight men liable to 
 enrollment. As appears from the Rebellion record, 
 published by the selectmen at the close of the war, 
 there had been one hundred and seventy-seven en- 
 listments in behalf of the town. Some of these were 
 re-enlistments, some were secured by bounty offered 
 by the town ; but the fact that the enlistments so 
 nearly equaled the total number liable to enrollment 
 is certainly very creditable to the patriotism of the 
 town. 
 
 One hundred and forty-seven men appear to have 
 honorably served in behalf of the town, a number of 
 these having re-enlisted, the total number liable to 
 enrollment in 1861 being, as before stated, one hun- 
 
 dred and eighty-eight. Hon. John G. Mudge has 
 furnished the names, given below, of those who 
 served, with the remarks relative to death which fol- 
 low in case of all, so far as known, who are not now 
 living. This roll does not include several from out of 
 the town who enlisted and subsequently deserted. 
 
 Fifty-third Regiment (Ma.ssachcsettsVolun- 
 TEEEs). — Captain, John G. Mudge ; Sergeant, Joseph 
 W. Upton ; Corporals, J. Benjamin Howe; Joseph M. 
 Jackson, killed at Port Hudson, June 14, 1863, Ben- 
 jamin W. Spooner. Privates : Jonas Brown, died 
 January 29, 1879 ; Luther S. Benjamin ; Charles E. 
 Ball, died June 27, 1863 ; Samuel A. Chamberlain; 
 Sanford E. Chamberlain ; John F. Clark, died 1863; 
 Charles E. Cook ; Horace Drury ; Geo. H. Edwards ; 
 Wm. P. Fairbanks ; Augustus S. Gates ; George W. 
 Gates; Sextus P. Goddard, died November 1, 1885; 
 Charles F. Hapgood, died August 8, 1863 ; John F. 
 Jennerson, died June 26, 1863 ; Dwight Lippitt, died 
 June 6, 1863; Henry H. Lippitt; William Henry 
 Mann, died April 23, 1863 ; Spencer T. Nye ; Austin C. 
 Parmenter, died February, 1864 ; George H. Parmen- 
 ter, died June 26, 1888 ; Lyman Peters ; Lewis D. Rob- 
 inson ; George A. Rogers ; Valentine O. Rathburn ; 
 Alonzo Rathburn ; John B. Stevens, died September 
 4, 1863; Frederick L. Sanderson, died May 10, 1888 ; 
 James H. Stowell ; Alex. E. Smith ; Charles B. Smith, 
 died March 23, 1877 ; Quincy A. Shepardson, died 
 July 27, 1863 ; John E. Townsend ; Lauriston A. Si- 
 monds.died November 28, 1869; Augustus Wheeler; 
 John A. Wilder, died November 19, 1872 ; Charles 
 H. Williams; Henry Rathburn, died September 2, 
 1863. 
 
 Twenty-first Regiment. — D. Marshall Mitchell, 
 died August 23, 1882; German Lagara ; Calvin C. 
 Aldrich ; Daniel Noonan, died November, 1882; 
 Samuel F. Young; Geo. W. Young; Dwight Ripley, 
 killed at Knoxville, Tenn., November 25, 1863 ; John 
 W. Clark, killed at Petersburg, Va., June 1, 1864; 
 Calvin C. Barnes, died February 9, 1866 ; Geo. H. 
 Holman ; Job Lippitt; Geo. D. Whilcomb ; Lyman 
 D. Edwards; Abner C. Gates, died February 20, 
 1865 ; Asa F. Ellis, died at Boston ; David R. Brown, 
 died at Athol; Wm. H.Allen ; Benjamin W. Crick- 
 ett ; Geo. O. Cook; Henry Woods; Sergeant Frank 
 N. Peckham ; Hiram Newman ; Hoyt Hale, died 
 August 7, 1862 ; Chas. S. Brigham, died from wounds 
 received at Antietam, September 17, 1862 ; Edward 
 A. Jackson, died at Gardner; Edward O. Murphy. 
 
 Thirty-fikst Regiment.— Ellis P. Amsden, died 
 September 25, 1863 ; Jacob E. Amsden, died June 3, 
 1864; Zibina Cutler, died August 9, 1862; James 
 Fobes, killed at Port Hudson, June 14, 1863 ; Leonard 
 Stowe; George F. Newton ; William Ryan; Albert W. 
 Stevens, died April 8, 1863 ; Charles A. Stone, died 
 August 4, 1863 ; Horace W. Pike, died June 13, 1863 ; 
 John Young, died 1883. 
 
 In various other regiments of infantry, cavalry 
 and artillery the persons whose names follow were 
 
PETERSHAM. 
 
 485 
 
 enrolled : — Joseph Roe, killed at Atlanta, Ga., July 
 3, 1864; Calvin Carter, died; George A. Davis, 
 killed at Ball's Bluff, October 21, 1861 ; Jacob 
 Nosedale ; D. M. McChester; George W. Jillsou, died 
 July 25, 1875 ; Albert Haskins ; U. P. Phinney ; 
 George D. Mason, died August 10, 1878 ; Hiram 
 Rathburn ; Charles A. Pelkey ; Ebeu A. Conant; D. E. 
 Collins; T. E. Rossiter; Thomas Riley; Lieut. Elisha 
 Eldridge ; Henry B. Aldrich ; Thomas E. Field; James 
 Wilson; William M. Peckham; Sergt. George H. 
 Holman, died November 17, 1864 ; Edward A. Arnold, 
 died 1872; Albert Hemmenway; Almond Williams, 
 died June 5, 1874 ; Josiah C. Whitney ; Dennis Brown, 
 died February 20, 1868 ; David Ahern ; Isaac Williams ; 
 George D. Whitcomb, died ; Samuel F. Young ; 
 Winsor Gleason ; Silas Richardson, died at Anderson- 
 ville, Ga., Oct. 26, 1864; James Hyde; Erastus 
 Weeks; Seneca D. Weeks, died 1883; Frank Ramsdell; 
 Henry H. Williams, died September 30, 1876 ; James 
 Kelley; Edward Whiting, died July 8, 1865; James 
 W. Browning; Daniel Blackmer; David E. Howard; 
 Charles Lamphire; James Frazer; Martin Heald ; 
 Patrick Dunn ; Lyman D. Edwards ; Charles R. En- 
 gleharv. 
 
 In the navy were found Leonard Brock, James W. 
 Browning, James Mulligan, James Reed, John Nor- 
 ris. 
 
 The town was also credited by the State, in addition 
 to these names, with eight three years' men and four 
 colored recrui s for three years' service. 
 
 In the month of April, 1866, the selectmen pub- 
 lished the Rebellion record of the town, thus sum- 
 ming up the results : " Civil war in our land has 
 ceased. The Rebellion, the greatest the world has 
 ever witnessed, has been crushed, and our gov- 
 ernment, by the aid of loyal hands, stands stronger 
 than ever in the hearts of the people. Our heroic 
 army has fulfilled its mission ; the living have re- 
 turned to their homes, its dead are the nation's richest 
 legacy. Petersham has responded promptly to all 
 calls upon her loyalty and patriotism. The close of 
 the war finds a small surplus of men placed to her 
 credit. . . . The services of her soldiers were a 
 priceless heritage; their honor our honor; which we 
 should ever cherish with reverence and gratitude." 
 
 These facts are suflicient to show that the early 
 reputation of the place, which gave it for a time the 
 name Volunteers' Town, was well-sustained during 
 the most critical period of our country's history since 
 the Revolution. 
 
 Local Improvement. — A stately row of elms near 
 the place formerly occupied by Dea. Cephas Willard, 
 a mile north of the village, bears witness to a spirit 
 of improvement among the people more than a century 
 ago. The orderly condition of the large majority of 
 the farms, the erection of a commodious town hall 
 and school-houses in different parts of the town, the 
 building at large expense of a shed for the protection 
 of horses, adjoining the Unitarian Church, are more 
 
 recent marks of the favorable disposition of the peo- 
 ple towards town improvement. In the year 1878 the 
 " Petersham Village Improvement Society" was or- 
 ganized, as stated in the constitution, " for the pur- 
 pose of improving the good order and social condition 
 of the town, adorning and beautifying the place of 
 our home, promoting the public convenience and 
 health, and elevating the standard of taste" of the 
 people. The method of securing these objects was de- 
 signed to be " by the transplanting of trees and the 
 promotion of the growth of grass on the public 
 grounds of the town, the establishment of sidewalks 
 and improvement of the highways, encouraging the 
 establishment of a public library, attention to general 
 cleanliness with especial reference to the public 
 health and by occasional meetings for the discussion 
 of these objects and methods." 
 
 With purposes so largely stated, the society began 
 a short existence of four years, after which it became 
 inactive. Yet those few years of work were sufficient 
 to make a permanent impression upon the future of 
 the town. Many trees were transplanted which still 
 live, walks were graded, and the movement which 
 finally resulted in the organization of the Petersham 
 Free Library was initiated. Francis A. Brooks, Esq., 
 of Boston, a native of the town, made the first con- 
 tribution, $500, toward this object. Other sums hav- 
 ing been secured from individuals, the town finally 
 made an appropriation sufficient to increase the li- 
 brary fund to more than SIOOO, with which the library 
 was begun in the year 1879. Since that time it has 
 received the benefit of frequent donations, with ap- 
 propriations made by the town from time to time. 
 Mrs. Ann IngersoU left a small bequest in its favor. 
 Some historical lectures were delivered by John Fiske, 
 the proceeds to be applied to library purposes. 
 
 In the month of September, 1886, from fairs and 
 other entertainments, several hundred dollars were 
 raised in the hope that this would prove the nucleus 
 of a library and memorial building. Various sums 
 were afterwards added in the same manner, and the 
 town, at the spring meeting, 1887, appropriated .$300 
 with a view to adding similar sums annually. 
 
 In the autumn of the same year, Mr. Francis H. 
 Lee, of Salem, became actively interested in raising 
 the sum necessary to complete the work, in which task 
 he had co-operation of Hon. John G. Mudge, James 
 W. Brooks, Misses Elizabeth H. and Charlotte L. 
 Flint and others. By their efforts the sum previously 
 assured was increased to about $5000. At the annual 
 town-meeting, 1888, the sum of $2000 was appropri- 
 ated and J. G. Mudge, J. W. Upton, George Ayers 
 were appointed a building committee on the part of 
 the town ; Misses E. H. and C. L. Flint, Francis H. 
 Lee, James W. Brooks and William Sims acting in 
 behalf of the contributors. Edmund Willson, of the 
 firm of Stone, Carpenter & Willson, gave his ser 
 vices as architect. The plan adopted was a building 
 of field-stone, the rooms of the first floor to be a pub- 
 
486 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 lie hall, with stage, a memorial hall, a library and 
 reading-room. The building fund has been increased 
 to about ,1?11,000, and the erection of the library and 
 memorial hall may be expected during the year 1889. 
 
 The work of local improvement has been privately 
 prosecuted by James W. Brooks who made large im- 
 provements upon " The Nichewaug," formerly called 
 " The Highland Institute," converting what was be- 
 fore a boarding and high school building into an ad- 
 mirably appointed summer boarding-house. 
 
 Many summer residents of the town have shared in 
 the spirit of improvement and have built new or re- 
 modeled old houses. Several artesian wells have been 
 bored for the purpose of supplying the dwellings with 
 water. As a result, the future of the town is likely to 
 combine, as its present condition now does, tlie attrac- 
 tions of a popular summer resort with those of a vener- 
 able farming community. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 FRANCIS AUGUSTUS BROOKS. 
 
 The Brooks family have long been prominently 
 identified with the history of Petersham. Msjor 
 Aaron, who was the first of the name to settle here, 
 came from Grafton to Petersham at an early day, and 
 was a leading spirit in the affairs of the town. Aaron, 
 his son, and father of Francis A., was born in Peters- 
 ham. He was graduated at Brown University iu 
 1817, and was subsequently a tutor in that institution. 
 He studied law with Levi Lincoln and also with Hon. 
 Lewis Bigelow. He settled in Petersham, and had 
 an extensive practice in Warcester and Franklin 
 Counties. 
 
 Francis Augustus Brooks was born in Petersham, 
 May 23, 1824. He was prepared for college mostly 
 at Leicester Academy, and was graduated at Harvard 
 University in the class of 1842. He studied law and 
 was admitted to the Worcester County bar in 1846. 
 He removed to Boston early in 1848, and has there 
 pursued the practice of his profession for a period of 
 more than thirty years. In 1873 he became engaged 
 in th3 prosecution of litigation for the enforcement of 
 claims of creditors against railroads in Vermont, 
 which occupied his attention largely for a period of 
 ten years. Since 1883 his professional work has been 
 devoted chiefly to the administration of business and 
 corporate trusts. 
 
 In the general undertakings of his professional and 
 business life, Mr. Brooks has met with a large measure 
 of success. 
 
 - In politics he has been a Democrat (as were many 
 of his ancestors), but he has not held public office. 
 
 September 14, 1847, he united in marriage with 
 Frances, daughter of Hon. Caleb Butler, of Groton, 
 Mass., who is still spared to bless his home and life. 
 
 Of their six children, three sons survive — Frederick, 
 a civil engineer in Boston ; Charles B., a stock broker 
 in that city; and Morgan, a mechanical engineer, 
 residing in St. Paul, Minn., and treasurer of the gas- 
 light company of that city. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXVII. 
 
 STERLING. 
 
 BY SAMUEL OSGOOD. 
 
 The history of Sterling previous to the year 1781 
 is inwoven with the history of Lancaster, of which it 
 formed a part known at first by its Indian name, 
 Chnckseit, and secondly and until the above date, 
 as the "West Precinct of Lancaster," and lastly by 
 its incorporated name — Sterling. 
 
 The territory, it appears, was derived from three 
 original grants. First, the mile, so called, being a 
 strip of land about a mile in width, bordering on 
 Lancaster and included in the first original grant of 
 Nashua township made in 1643, and purchased of 
 Sholan, the Sachem of the Nashuaggs, whose royal 
 residence was between the Washacum Ponds, on the 
 high ground overlooking both those beautiful sheets 
 of water, probably not many rods distant from the 
 ice-houses east of Mr. John Gates' residence. 
 
 The character of Sholan, the Sachem at Washacum, 
 is ever spoken of with favor. He not only invited 
 the English to this place and sold them an extensive 
 tract of territory, but hi.s deportment towards the 
 settlers was always peaceable, and he was held in high 
 esteem by his white neighbors. 
 
 In view of the above facts in reference to the 
 pacific character of this prince of the red men, would 
 it not be a merited tribute to his memory to chanue 
 the name of that beautilul and, indeed, only island 
 in the West Washacum from " Wood Island " to 
 Sholan ? 
 
 Th e second grant, containing the principal part of 
 the town, was purchased of George Tahanto, a nephew 
 of Sholan, in 1701. 
 
 The deed of this grant, "for and in consideration 
 of" certain sums of money, paid at different times 
 and to divers persons, was made to " John Moore, 
 John Houghton and Nathaniel Wilder, their heirs 
 and a-ssigns, to have and to hold forever." 
 
 This deed was signed by George Tahanto (his 
 mark and Mary Aunsocamug her ) mark. 
 
 Signed and sealed in presence of John Wansquon 
 his ( mark, John Aquitticus his 1 mark, Peter 
 Puckataugh his p mark,) Jonathan Wilder and John 
 Guild. 
 
 The third grant was the Shrewbury Lfg. This was 
 another strip of land, of somewhat irregular shape, 
 get off from Shrewsbury to Lancaster by an act of the 
 

 ^ 
 

 1 
 
STERLING. 
 
 487 
 
 Legislature in 1768. It was somethiug more than a 
 mile wide, forming what is now the northern part of 
 Boylston and West Boylston and extending along the 
 north banlf of the Quinnepoxit River to Holden, its 
 western boundary, thence northerly on Princeton line 
 to the Stillwater River, its eastern boundary in the 
 West Precinct. 
 
 Subsequently, in 1808, about one-third of this 
 tract was set oft' from Sterling to West Boylston. 
 
 It will readily be seen that the town is bounded on 
 the north by Leominster, on the east by Lancaster, 
 on the south by Boylston and West Boylston, and 
 on the west by Holden and Princeton. 
 
 The surface of the town is agreeably diversified by 
 hills, plains and valleys — woodland and nicely culti- 
 vated farms — ponds and water-courses, set off' witli the 
 neatly-painted and comfortable farm buildings of its 
 rural population. 
 
 The soil of the hill farms is slightly argillaceous, re- 
 tentive of moisture and naturally fertile. Tlie water 
 is pure, the air is bracing and healthful; and the 
 scenery, especially in summer, is delightful. 
 
 There are five principal noted hills in the town. 
 These are: Justice Hill, sometimes called Gerry's 
 Hill, situated in the extreme northwest; Rowley Hill, 
 about two miles west of the centre, and so-called be- 
 cause its first settlers came from Rowley, in Essex 
 County ; Fitch's Hill, which needs not to be described 
 to travelers passing from Lancaster to Princeton ; 
 Redstone Hill, about a mile east of the centre, and so 
 called from the color of its stones; and Kendall Hill 
 to the southeast, about the same distance from the 
 centre as the last named, and so called from the name 
 of its first inhabitants, who came from Woburn. 
 
 There is also North Wiccapicca Hill, a remarkably 
 well-rounded, steep, sharp-pointed eminence, on the 
 north line of the town, owned principally by Mr. Wil- 
 liam C. Divol. It is cleared land, except a single 
 clump of trees near the summit, which serves as a 
 landmark for miles around. Rocky Hill, mostly in 
 Leominster, projects into Sterling, on its northern 
 border. South Wiccapicca is a precipitous ridge, 
 running northerly from near the village to Pratt's 
 Junction. 
 
 These hills, except the two last mentioned, are not 
 craggy, unsightly protuberances, but grand swells of 
 arable land, finely adapted to the production of grass 
 and grain. The highest point of land in the town is 
 believed to be on the farm of Michael Coyne, on Row- 
 ley Hill. 
 
 The territory is also embellished by four natural 
 ponds, containing, respectively, two hundred, one 
 hundred and seventy, thirteen and ten acres each. 
 These, in summer, contrasting with the deep foliage 
 around them, are of great beauty and loveliness, set 
 like immense diamonds sparkling in the sun in a rich 
 bordering of emerald green. 
 
 Stillwater River is a small stream running through 
 the west part of the town, having its source a few 
 
 miles above, in a gore of land known formerly — very 
 properly — by the name of Notown. It flows through 
 quite an extensive tract of meadow, once rich in the 
 production of Foul meadow-grass {Poa Serotina), and 
 blue-joint ( Calamar/rostis Ginadensk), two varieties 
 of forage plants, held in high estimation and much 
 depended on for hay by the farmers of Sterling three- 
 quarters of a century ago. 
 
 These meadows now are of little value (except it may 
 be for cranberries), having, long since, become "run 
 out.'' This quiet little stream, after it enters West 
 Boylston, and receives the Quinnepoxit from Holden, , 
 assumes the more dignified name of the South Branch 
 of the Nashua. 
 
 Various brooks wind among the hills, all finally 
 emptying their tribute of waters into the Nashua. 
 These now nearly useless small streams, two or three 
 generations ago, when chair manufacturing was carried 
 on quite extensively, were utilized in turning the 
 wheels of many a "Turning Lathe" for the produc- 
 tion of "Chair Stock." 
 
 A survey of the town was made in 1830 and a plan 
 drawn by the late Capt. Moses Sawyer, a prominent 
 leading citizen, and for many years the only practicing 
 civil engineer of the town. Capt. Sawyer possessed 
 in large measure the confidence of his fellow-citizens, 
 and was noted for his probity, intelligence and prac- 
 tical good judgment. 
 
 The plan drawn by him was lithographed by Pen- 
 dleton, of Boston, and contains much valuable infor- 
 mation in regard to the topography of the town, from 
 which the writer has obtained the following particu- 
 lars: 
 
 The area of the town was found to be 19,265 acres, 
 equal to nearly 32 square miles; 500 acres are covered 
 with water. The population at that time was 1789. 
 There wer« 256 dwelling-houses, 1 meeting-house, 1 
 town house, 3 grist-mills, 7 saw-mills, 2 shingle-mills, 1 
 bark-mill, 1 tannery, 10 chair maimfiictories, 3 taverns 
 and 5 stores. Distance from Sterling to Boston, 89 
 miles and 23 rods; distance from Sterling to Wor- 
 cester, 12 J miles. There were 71 miles of roads; and 
 ten acres were used by the town. A few miles only 
 of new road have been added since to shorten dio- 
 tances and avoid steep hills. This survey is worthy 
 to be preserved in the archives of the town. 
 
 A former survey of the town was made by William 
 Moris, Esq , in 1798, but it is believed no copies of 
 that survey are extant. 
 
 Still another map of the town was made and pub- 
 lished by Richard Clark, of Philadelphia, in 1855. 
 This map, though more showy and pretentious in its 
 style, is inferior to that of Capt. Sawyer's in point of 
 valuable information. The noticeable features of 
 Clark's map are that the eleven school districts are 
 given in colors, and the three churches, town hall and 
 several of the residences of the citizens are represented 
 on the margin. 
 
 It does not appear that any settlements were made 
 
488 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 within the present limits of the town until 1720. In 
 that year five families came up from Lancaster and 
 set themselves down on the rising lauds west of the 
 village, in the direction of Princeton. 
 
 The names of these pioneer settlers were Jonathan 
 and David Osgood, Gamalial Beaman, Benjamin 
 Houghton and Samuel Sawyer. 
 
 Jonathan O.-'good located not far from the geograph- 
 ical centre of the town, on the place now owned and 
 occupied by Mr. George F. Davidson. He was the 
 first deacon in the town, and public worship was at 
 first frequently held at his house. The writer recol- 
 lects clearly the large, commodious old dwelling. It 
 had an antiquated appearance, and was demolished 
 near the close of the second decade of the present 
 century, aud the plain beautiful residence of Mr. 
 Davidson was erected upon its site by the then enter- 
 prising proprietor, the late Mr. Gilson Brown. 
 
 David Osgood went a little farther westward and 
 pitched his tent on the farm of the late Edward Ray- 
 mond Fitch, now owned and occupied by his youngest 
 son, Charles B. Fitch. The old red house yet remains, 
 presenting a very neat and attractive appearance, it 
 having been, to some extent, remodeled and kept in 
 excellent repair. It is one of the oldest houses in the 
 town. 
 
 Gamalial Beaman went a half-mile still farther west 
 and established his home on the farm now owned by 
 Mr. Wm. S. Walker. The farm remained in the pos- 
 session and occupancy of his lineal descendants until 
 1834. 
 
 Benjamin Houghton sat himself down about seventy 
 rods due north of the last-mentioned place — on the 
 I farm now owned by Mr. Asa Spencer. The old house 
 remained until 1821, when it was destroyed by fire. 
 It was occupied at that time by two families^Mr. 
 William Reed and Simeon Toney. Traditional cir- 
 cumstances and anecdotes lead us to suppose that 
 Benjamin Houghton was, in his day, a stirring busi- 
 ness man. He kept a tavern, and hence was known 
 everywhere as "Landlord Ben." He was also a very 
 large landholder, as the Proprietor's Records and the 
 Registry of Deeds will amply show. An anecdote in 
 reference to this used frequently to be told of him. 
 Two persons were discussing the physical character- 
 istics of the moon. "They tell me," says one, "that 
 there is land in the moon." "No," says the other, 
 " I do not believe it, for if it were so Landlord Ben 
 would have a farm there." But his large estate passed 
 out of the possession of his descendants shortly after 
 the death of his son Joel, who died in 1816. 
 
 Samuel Sawyer took up land and built a house a 
 short distance north of Landlord Ben, on the farm 
 now owned by Mr. Charles H. Newton. The old 
 house remained until 1816 — standing exactly in what 
 is now the roadway — when it was taken down, and 
 the present more modern dwelling-house was erected 
 some fifty feet in the rear of the old one, by his grand- 
 son by the same name. 
 
 The descendants of these several persons above 
 named have been very numerous, and very many of 
 them have been leading citizens, holding honorable 
 positions not only in Sterling, but in other places 
 wherever, in the course of more than a century and a 
 half, some of them may have migrated. 
 
 The meagre records of these early times furnish but 
 little clue to the rapidity of the settlements, or to the 
 increase of the population that followed. It is evi- 
 dent, however, that large portions of the best land 
 were soon taken up and brought under cultivation by 
 others, also, from Lancaster, and from other towns as 
 well. Tradition has it that many families came from 
 Rowley, in Essex County, and settled in the more 
 northwest part of the town, hence called Rowley Hill. 
 And indeed, in confirmation of this, we find, in the 
 Registry of Deeds at Worcester, conveyances of land 
 from Benjamin Houghton to several parties from that 
 town as early as 1733. 
 
 Another exotic implanted in the virgin soil of the 
 town, from which sprang a numerous and influential 
 portion of its population, was that of the Kendalls 
 from Woburn. Josiah Kendall came to this town in 
 1736, and settled upon the farm now owned and occu- 
 pied by Daniel and James F. Kendall, father and son, 
 direct descendants of the said Josiah. For a further 
 account of this family the reader is referred to the 
 " Kendall Memorial," a family history of much merit, 
 by Oliver Kendall, of Providence, R. I. 
 
 And so rapid indeed had been the progress in popu- 
 lation and general advancement, that in thirteen years 
 from the first settlement the inhabitants petitioned the 
 Legislature to be set off as a separate township. This 
 petition, having in view a large excision of territory 
 from the old town, met with determined opposition 
 and was rejected. A long and a rather unpleasant 
 controversy followed. But whatever of acrimony may 
 have been engendered by the contest, the asperity of 
 feeling was softened and the inhabitants of the west 
 part of the town were in a measure pacified by being 
 made a corporation by the name of the Second or 
 West Parish in Lancaster. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Marvin, in his"Hi8toryof Lancaster," 
 — page 198 — has given the names of those who signed 
 this first petition " to be set up as a new township." 
 They are quoted here to show who were the leading 
 men of the town at that time. They are as follows : 
 Gamalial Beaman (on another page called " the irre- 
 pressible"), Ebenezer Prescott, Benjamin Houghton, 
 Samuel Sawyer, Jonathan Osgood, Fairbank More, 
 Jonathan Bealey, Thomas Ross, Joseph More,Shubael 
 Bealey and John Snow. 
 
 But this proposition for a new township was among 
 the inevitable events of the future, and was a bone of 
 contention between the old town and the West Parish 
 for more than forty years, when, finally, on the 25th 
 of April, 1781, the Legislature settled the matter by 
 granting an act of incorporation of the new town by 
 the name of Sterling. 
 
STERLING. 
 
 489 
 
 In 1741 or 1742 the iirst meeting-house was built, 
 principally by the voluntary labor of the inhabitants, 
 the town granting them but a smallsum from its treas- 
 ury for the purpose. The spot whereon it was set is the 
 same that is now occupied by the Unitarian Church. 
 The site is included in a lot of three acres, made over 
 to the First Parish by deed of gilt from Elias Sawyer, 
 for the purpose of setting a meeting-house and for 
 conveniency of stables and other uses. This deed 
 is recorded in the Registry of Deeds, book 18, page 
 129. To accommodate the increasing population, an 
 addition was made to this old church in 1766. Mr. 
 Goodwin says of it now, that " it must have presented 
 a singular appearance with three gable ends.'' The 
 pews were not sold, as in later days, but every year a 
 committee was appointed to " seat the meeting- 
 house," by which process those paying the highest 
 taxes were accorded the most desirable sittings, and 
 so on in regular gradation. 
 
 It was not until after the adoption of the Constitu- 
 tion of the United States that regular enumerations 
 of the inhabitants began to be made decennially by 
 law. But somewhere in the old church records it is 
 stated that in 1764 the town contained 156 dwelling- 
 houses and 856 inhabitants. And at the time of the 
 first national census in 1790, there were 209 dwelling- 
 houses and 1,428 inhabitants. Thus it is seen that 
 the town made commendable and steady progress in 
 the first seventy years of its existence. To the trav- 
 eler or the casual visitor the place must have pre- 
 sented an appearance of substantial prosperity and 
 comfortable living. Large, commodious dwelling- 
 houses had been built of similar style and construc- 
 tion throughout. They all fronted to the south ; were 
 two-storied in front, with a long roof running down to 
 one low story on the north side. Two large square 
 rooms occupied the ground floor on either side of the 
 front door, usually distinguished — as the house stood 
 square to the four points of the compas-s — as the 
 "east" and " west" room, with corresponding cham- 
 bers above. Immediately back of these two front 
 rooms was the long kitchen, with its wide-mouthed 
 fire-place and capacious oven. 
 
 A score or more of these plain, ancient dwellings 
 still remain, though all have undergone more or less 
 alteration. The habits and mode of life of the peo- 
 ple was as plain and substantial as their dwellings. 
 They were industrious and frugal, and their way of 
 subsistence, down even to the time within the mem- 
 ory of persons now living, was simple and inex- 
 pensive. 
 
 The walls of their houses were unadorned with 
 fresco or elegant, costly paper-hangings, and the 
 floors were innocent of carpets. Neatness of person, 
 however, and in household arrangements was a char- 
 acteristic of the time. In summer, in the absence of 
 carpets, it was the custom to sprinkle clean white 
 sand on the floors, and fill the wide chimney-mouth 
 with evergreen bushes, relieved here and there by 
 
 daisies and sprigs of golden-rod. This was the old 
 English fashion, as we infer from some lines of Gold- 
 smith, in his " Deserted Village," where he says : 
 
 IraagioBtion fondly stoops to trace 
 
 The parlor splendors of that festive place : 
 
 The white-washed wall, the nicely sanded floor 
 
 The hearth, except when winter chill'd the day. 
 With aspen boughs, and flowers, and fennel gay. 
 
 Among the few that remain of these ancient dwell- 
 ings, that now owned and occupied by Mr. Dugau, on 
 the Amory Farm, best represents, in its external ap- 
 pearance, the houses referred to above. 
 
 This farm was owned many years ago by Rufus G. 
 Amory, Esq., of Boston. Originally it was owned by 
 Colonel Asa Whitcomb. Colonel Whitcomb pos- 
 sessed a large estate, and was a noted man in his day. 
 He was chosen deacon of the church in 1760, Repre- 
 sentative to the General Court in 1766, '68, '69, '70, 
 '71, '72, '73 and '74. He was a delegate to the Pro- 
 vincial Congress at Cambridge February 1, 1775, and 
 was appointed justice of the peace in 1780. Liberty 
 is here taken to transcribe the account Mr. Goodwin 
 has given of this eminent citizen in the Worcester 
 Magazine in 1826 : 
 
 At the commencement of the war he was one of our wealthiest citi- 
 zens. He was for many years entrusted with the most important and 
 responsible offices, — was Deacon of the Churcii, Representative from 
 Lancaster before the division, and Jiistice of the Peace, besides his 
 various military stations. Such was his zeal iu the cause of liberty, 
 and so great his confidence in the patriotism and integrity of hie 
 country-men that he pledged his whole fortune upon the faith of the 
 paper currency, and consequently became bankrupt He removed to 
 Princeton, where he died at an advanced age iu a state of abject pov- 
 erty ; sustained by a conscious integrily, that never departed from him, 
 and an exalted piety that elevated him above tbo ills of life. 
 
 The farm on which he died is in the easterly part 
 of Princeton, owned by Mr. Estee, formerly known 
 as the Temple place. 
 
 Another of these antiquated houses is that on the 
 Kilburn Farm on Rowley Hill. This house was 
 probably built by Deacon Joseph Kilburn. He was 
 chosen deacon in 1767, and died in 1789. This farm 
 has ever been held in the Kilburn name, and is now 
 owned by Mr. Levi Kilburn, a grandson of Deacon 
 Joseph. The present owner is now in the eighty- 
 fourth year of his age. It is not improbable that this 
 farm may be retained in the Kilburn line for at least 
 another generation. 
 
 The oldest house in the village is a part of what is 
 now the Central Hotel, kept by our popular landlord, 
 Mr. J. N. Brooks. This house is said to have been 
 built in the year 1759, by Mr. Jabez Brooks, and, for 
 much the largest part of the time since, has been oc- 
 cupied as a tavern. At the time it was built there 
 were but two houses within the distance of half a 
 mile, — Deacon Jonathan O^'good's at the west and 
 that of Mr. Roger Robbins at the east, where Mrs. C. 
 A. Riley now lives. Another ancient dwelling is 
 that on the north end of the Common, owned by 
 Mrs. C. A. Goodnow. It is claimed by some that a 
 
490 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 part of this house was the first house built in the vil- 
 lege. It was, in very early times, owned and occu- 
 pied by a Mr. Harris, grandfather of the late Mr. 
 Clarendon Harris, of Worcester. 
 
 The public records of the town were destroyed in 
 September, 1794, by the burning of Mr. Moses Smith's 
 store. Mr. Smith was town clerk at the time, and kept 
 his public office in the store. The destruction was 
 complete — leaving a blank in the town's history, from 
 that date back to the time of its incorporation as a 
 precinct — a period of more than fifty years. Subse- 
 quent records, however, show that the town did not 
 suffer in comparison with other towns around in the 
 public spirit of its citizens or in the liberality of its 
 appropriations for roads and other improvements, and 
 for the maintenance of church and schools. An in- 
 quiry has recently been raised, whether the town had 
 ever adopted by-laws, regulating the transaction of 
 public busiuess ; and in the belief that it never had 
 done so, a committee was appointed at a late town- 
 meeting to prepare suitable rules to be presented at 
 a future meeting for the town's consideration and ac- 
 tion. By a reference to the record of a town-meeting, 
 held on the Sdday of November, 1794, it will be found 
 that a code of by-laws for the regulation of town- 
 meetings ,was adopted, which runneth as follows : 
 
 Art. 1. To take a Beat and sit. 
 
 Art, 2. To proceed to buBiiiesa at tlie hour appointed in the War- 
 raut. 
 
 Art. 3. To rise and address the Moderator with hats off when we 
 wiah to speak and sit down wlien done speaking. 
 
 Art. 4. That we will not presume to speak when one is orderly 
 speaking before us. 
 
 Art. 5. That we will not interrupt by attempting to converse, or trans- 
 act private business when assembled for public. 
 
 Art. 6. That the law respecting the Moderator's duty shall be read at 
 the opening of every town-meeting, if i-equested. 
 
 Art. 7. That the Moderator shall exercise the powers vested in him by 
 law, and that we will strictly obey. 
 
 Art 8. That the above articles shall be copied in a large, legible hand 
 and brought in by the Clerk at the opening of every town-meeting aud 
 hung up in open view of tlie town. 
 
 In 1799 the second meeting-bouse was built, and 
 located on the site of the old one at a cost of $8500. 
 Mr. Timothy Hildreth was the builder. He was, at 
 the time, tavern-keeper as well as carpenter. 
 
 In the following year the town-house and school- 
 house combined was erected on the spot occupied by 
 the present one, which wtis formerly the site of Mr. 
 Samuel Brown's blacksmith shop. (See deed of Samuel 
 Brown to Ebenezer Pope, book 146, page 60; also 
 deed of Ebenezer Pope to town of Sterling, book 168, 
 page 66, Registry of Deeds.) It was a very plain build- 
 ing — thirty-eiglit by twenty-eight feet — innocent of 
 paint, and cost about $700. 
 
 Previous to 1822 the method of supporting the poor 
 was by boarding them out among such families as 
 were disposed, for the sake of the income, to take them. 
 The manner of disposing of them was sometimes by 
 auction. But, in time, a more philanthropic sentiment 
 began to prevail, and this mode of providing for the 
 unfortunate poor was regarded as inhuman. In con- 
 
 sequence, in the year above-named, a committee of 
 intelligent citizens was appointed at the town-meet- 
 ing, in March, to take into consideration the manner 
 of supporting the poor, and report whether a change 
 for the better might not be made. In due time the 
 committee presented to the town an able report, set- 
 ting forth the disadvantages and the inhumanity of 
 the present system, and recommending the purchase 
 of a farm as a better and more tconoinical way of dis- 
 charging the town's obligation to this unfortunate class 
 of her population. The report was accepted and the 
 committee was instructed to purchase a farm at a cost 
 not exceeding the sum of three thousand dollars. 
 Thereupon the farm, now owned and occupied as the 
 Pauper Establishment, was purchased. The former 
 owner was William Morris, Esq. The farm contained 
 sixty acres, and was purchased for the sum of $1900. 
 Seventy-five acres have been added since the original 
 purchase, making a total of one hundred and thirty- 
 five acres; valued in the overseer's estimate for 1888 
 at $3400. A large and commodious Almshouse was 
 built in 1877, containing twenty-six rooms. Careful 
 provision is made for the comfort of the inmates and 
 the care of the insane. Eight rooms are suitably fitted 
 up for the latter class and five rooms' are devoted to 
 the common poor. The estimated value of the house 
 is $3000. The other farm-buildings have been recently 
 thoroughly repaired, and, to some extent, remodeled, 
 and are valued at $1000. 
 
 In 1825 a fund of one thousand dollars was estab- 
 lished, the income of which to be used in furnishing 
 females of limited means with fuel during the winter 
 months. The fund was derived from the sale of a 
 farm given to the town for that purpose by Jacob 
 Conant, Esq. 
 
 The fund is under the control of five trustees, who 
 are to be cho.sen annually, and who are to render ac- 
 count to the town and submit their books and papers 
 to its inspection, and also to that of the donor and 
 his heirs, whenever requested so to do. By the report 
 of the trustees, at the annual town-meeting in March, 
 1888, the principal of the fund invested was shown to 
 be two thousand and twenty-four dollars, showing 
 that the fund has been carefully and judiciously 
 managed, while at the same time, from year to year 
 it has fulfilled the purpose of the benevolent donor. 
 The " Conant Fund " has relieved anxiety and carried 
 cheerfulness to many a poor widow's heart as the 
 cold winds of December have whistled dismally 
 about her dwelling. 
 
 The late Mrs. Emily Wilder made a bequest in her 
 will of. fifteen hundred dollars for a simil.ar purpose, 
 which the selectmen, as trustees, received from the 
 executor of her estate in 1887, and which they have 
 duly invested. 
 
 The old town-house, built in 1800, having fallen 
 int ) somewhat premature decay, partly in consequence 
 of having been used as a .school-house as well as a 
 town-house, was sold in 1835 to Mr. John B. Pratt, 
 
STERLING. 
 
 491 
 
 who removed it to a location a little south of the 
 village on the Worcester road, kaown ever since 
 by the euphonious name of " Tuggsville," and our 
 present chaste and well-proportioned town-hall was 
 erected in its place. It was built by Mr. John 
 Springer, for many years a respected resident of the 
 town. It was completed in November, 1835, and was 
 immediately dedicated with appropriate ceremonies. 
 Edwin Conant, Esq., delivered the dedicatory ad- 
 dress, a large assemblage being present. In the 
 evening following the services of dedication, a very 
 pleasant musical entertainment was given, in which 
 some noted singers, former residents of the town, 
 took part, among wliom were Colonel Daniel New- 
 hall, of Boston; Bartholomew Brown, Esq., of Bridge- 
 water ; Mr. John Brown, of Boston ; Mr. Nathaniel 
 Sawyer, of New York, and Mr. Cephas Newhall, of 
 Sterling, all of whom were "singing masters," or, as 
 in modern parlance, " professors of vocal music." 
 
 Cemeteries. — There are four public burial-grounds 
 within the limits of the town. One is situated in the 
 southwest part of the town in the Leg District (so 
 called) ; one near Sterling Junction ; the old village 
 churchyard, where repose the remains of the first 
 settlers of the town and many of their descendants; 
 and the new "Oak Hill Cemetery," half a mile dis- 
 tant from the village on the Lancaster road. The 
 latter contains about eight acres and was purchased 
 of Mr. Joel Houghton in 18.58. Much attention and 
 labor of late years has been bestowed upon all these 
 hallowed depositories of the dead, in repairing and 
 new-setting the fences, furnishing suitable gates and 
 entrances, and in removing weeds and bushes, and 
 all unsightly objects which oti'end tbe moral senti- 
 ment, if they do not tend to nourish the " horrors of 
 the tomb." And it is pleasant to observe that all 
 these sacred enclosures are being cared for and orna- 
 mented, both by public and private munificence, by 
 chaste monuments of marble or granite, by graded 
 avenues or shaded paths, and by the planting of flow- 
 ering shrubs and plants around and witliin the curbed 
 family lots in a manner calculated to render them 
 pleasant resorts, suited to calm contemplation, or to 
 secret, holy communings of the soul with that of the 
 loved but silent tenant of the grave. 
 
 The old burial-ground was enlarged in 1837 by the 
 purchase of about two acres adjoining on the south 
 side, including an avenue to the Kendall Hill road, 
 where there is an entrance with stone posts and an 
 iron gate. It was purchased of Mr. Augustine Hol- 
 combe. It was laid off into family lots, which have 
 been mostly taken up, and now thickly abounds wiih 
 becoming monuments, mostly of marble, of various 
 styles. 
 
 The " Oak Hill Cemetery " was laid out into burial 
 lots, avenues and paths under the direction of a com- 
 mittee, consisting of Daniel Hosmer, Eli Kilburn, Cap- 
 tain Moses Sawyer, Luther W. Rugg and Ezra Ken- 
 dall, appointed at the annual meeting in March, 1859, 
 
 with power to employ a civil engineer ; and at a subse- 
 quent meeting the same committee were authorized 
 to enclose the land by a suitable picket-fence, and to 
 grade the avenues and paths, and to prepare a code 
 of by-laws for the regulation of the affairs of the 
 cemetery. 
 
 The committee caused a plan of the whole ground 
 to be made out, by which it was shown that it con- 
 tained three hundred and fifteen lots, but only one 
 hundred and fifty-one lots were staked out. An 
 additional number has been staked out since, and 
 there are still others to be prepared for use as neces- 
 sity may require. A cemetery committee is chosen 
 each year, who have entire control of all burying- 
 grounds, and all funds given or appropriated for the 
 purpose of improving or beautifying them. 
 
 An exceptionally interesting event occurred in this 
 town in September, 1824. It was a no les-s occasion 
 than the " reception " given to the Marquis De Lafa- 
 yette as he passed through the town on his return to 
 New York by way of Worcester and Hartford. 
 
 From the moment Lafayette landed at New York on 
 the 15th of August, after an absence of nearly fifty years, 
 the whole country was aroused to the greatest enthu- 
 siasm to do all honor to the great and good man who 
 had rendered such distinguished service in the hour of 
 the country's greatest need. The circumstances attend- 
 ing his visit to Sterling were briefly these. Soon after 
 his arrival at New York he set out on a journey north 
 as far as Portsmouth. N. H. His route lay through 
 New Haven, New London, Providence and Boston. 
 Returning from Portsmouth, he left Boston, passing 
 through Lexington, Concord, Bolton, Lancaster and 
 Sterling on his way back to New York, by way of 
 Worcester and Hartford. He spent the night at Bolton 
 at the hospitable mansion of Hon. S. V. S. Wilder. At 
 all places he received the most patriotic and flattering 
 demonstrations of respect — the whole country ringing 
 with salutes and applause. The citizens of Sterling 
 were not behind in patriotic emotion or in enthusi- 
 asm to pay due homage to the distinguished guest of 
 the nation. Suitable preparations were made. A tri- 
 umphal arch was raised in front of Mr. Bartlett's 
 store, bearing the words — " The Nation's Guest." 
 " Welcome Lafayette." A broad platform, about four 
 feet high, was erected nearly in front of the Congre- 
 gational Church, neatly covered by a carpet and 
 reached by a flight of stairs. There were then no trees 
 or other obstructions u pon the Common to obstruct the 
 view. There was a military display consisting of the 
 " Sterling Light Infantry," a fine volunteer company, 
 recently organized, with new and beautiful uniforms, 
 under command of Captain Phineas B. Dana; the 
 "Princeton Light Infantry," another equally splendid 
 volunteer company, commanded by Captain Amos 
 Merriam ; the old militia company, and the artillery 
 company, belonging partly in Sterling and partly in 
 Lancaster, and commanded by Captain Daniel F. 
 Maynard, of Sterling. Promptly in the morning, men. 
 
492 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 women and children came flocking to the village, 
 eager to feast their eyes upon the venerable hero, 
 who had early espoused the cause of American free- 
 dom, and had hazarded his life and shed his blood for 
 its consummation. At about eleven o'clock A.M. the 
 general and his suite arrived, preceded by a body of 
 cavalry and followed by a long line of carriages from 
 the towns below. Alighting from his carriage and as- 
 cending to the platform, he was received by the Board 
 of Selectmen, who, through the chairman, Isaac 
 Goodwin, Esq., made a felicitious address, to which 
 Lafayette happily and appropriately responded. After 
 a little time spent in hand-shaking wiih the ladies, the 
 general again entered his carriage and proceeded on 
 his journey amid the waving of handkerchiefs, the 
 huzzas of the multitude and the salutes of the artillery. 
 
 Ecclesiastical. — The first church in Sterling was 
 organized December 19, 1744, and on the same day 
 the Rev. John Mellen was ordained pa-stor. The 
 pastorate of Mr. Mellen extended over a period of 
 thirty-four years. From all the accounts we can 
 gather of him it would seem t bathe possessed in an emi- 
 nent degree the essential qualities neces:-ary to a suc- 
 cessful minister of the Gospel. In average ability he 
 was at least the equal of his professional brethren in 
 the towns around him. Mr. Goodwin says of him 
 that he "probably stood at the head of the clergy in 
 the county.'' * 
 
 Under his ministrations the affairs of the church 
 and town appear to have advanced prosperously for 
 many years. But those that are at all familiar with 
 the history of these early times are not surprised that 
 a day of fiery trial was near at hand for both minister 
 and people alike. Questions of greater freedom in af- 
 fairs of church and state were everywhere agitating 
 the public mind. People had become extremely 
 jealous of their rights and every attempt at encroach- 
 ment upon them was met with bold and determined 
 resistance. On the part of Mr. Mellen and his peo- 
 ple it was a question of high church and prerogative 
 on the one side and larger liberty on the other. 
 
 We of the present generation can have but a fivint 
 idea of the bitterness of the controversy that prevailed 
 in New England for a score of years following 1760. 
 Mr. Mellen was formally dismissed November 14i 
 1774, but continued to hold meetings and administer 
 the ordinances with his faithful adherents at his own 
 house and at the school-house for a number of years 
 afterwards. But through all the unfortunate disa- 
 greement the moral and Christian character of the 
 minister was but slightly assailed. And it is pleasant 
 to remember that after his removal from town and 
 resettlement over another society, he occasionally re- 
 turned and occupied the old pulpit from which he had 
 been, some years before, forcibly excluded, and where, 
 by the irapressiveness of his discourses, he won the 
 favor of those who had once been his malignaut 
 foes. 
 
 After these few troublous years the churches had rest. 
 
 A season of quiet having now been restored and all 
 asperity of former feeling having subsided, the people 
 united in calling to the ministry, as the successor of 
 Mr. Mellen, the Rev. Reuben Holcorab. He was or- 
 dained June 2, 1779. Rev. Mr. Holcomb's pastorate 
 continued thirty-five years, and was noted forits reign 
 of peace and prosperity throughout. 
 
 During all these years no dissatisfaction appears to 
 have been expressed with reg.ird to the minister or 
 any loud, vociferous complaints uttered against him. 
 But, all on a sudden, at the commencement of the year 
 1814, a petition was drawn up and signed by a hun- 
 dred or more of the citizens, asking the selectmen to 
 insert in the warrant for March meeting an article 
 " to see if the town will choose a committee to converse 
 with the Rev. Reuben Holcomb to see on what terms, 
 if any, he will relinquish his pastoral office in this 
 town." To the pastor and to those not in the secret 
 this movement was a complete surprise. 
 
 The vote upon the article passed in the affirmative 
 and a committee of seven of the leading citizens wag 
 appointed accordingly. The following are the names 
 of the gentleman composing the committee: Lutber 
 Allen, Joseph Kendall, John Porter, Moses Thomas, 
 Thomas H. Blood, Samuel Sawyer and Aaron Kim- 
 ball. 
 
 Immediately after the official interview of the com- 
 mittee with the pastor, Mr. Holcomb addressed a 
 lengthy communication to the church and town, in 
 which he reviewed the events of his ministry, and 
 declared that, in view of the hitherto harmonious rela- 
 tions between himself and his people, the above pro- 
 ceeding on the part of the town " was a sudden and 
 unexpected eve7if." But he at once preferred a request 
 for dismission on the ground of "want of health, want 
 of affection among you towards me, and as a result of all, 
 the want of a prospect of usefulness and comfort." A 
 mutual council was called and the request for dismissal 
 was granted. It does not appear that any serious 
 alienation of feeling was caused by the separation on 
 the part of Mr. Holcomb and his friends and the 
 society. Mr. Holcomb continued to reside on his 
 beautiful hillside farm, regularly attending church 
 services in the place of his former labors until his 
 death, which occurred, October 18, 1826, at the 
 advanced age of seventy-five years. 
 
 The successor of Mr. Holcomb was the Rev. Lemuel 
 Capen, who was ordained March 22, 1815. Mr. 
 Oapen was much beloved by the people of the town, 
 and his ministry, though short, was in all respects a 
 happy one, abounding in great good to the community 
 among whom he was called to labor. The annual 
 salary of Mr. Capen was six hundred dollars. But 
 this sum being inadequate to meet the expenses of 
 his family, and desiring not to seem burdensome by 
 asking additional compensation, " and thus (to use 
 his own words) endangering that unusual degree of 
 harmony and unanimity which now so happily 
 subsists among you as a religious society and as a 
 
STERLING. 
 
 493 
 
 town," he felt it his duty on the 4th of January, 1819, 
 to ask a dismission. An ecclesiastical council was 
 called, and a separation took place. On the 21st of 
 January a town-meeting was held, and the following 
 vote was unanimously passed : voted, " that after ma- 
 ture deliberation on the communication of the Rev. 
 Lemuel Capen of the 4th instant, and the consequent 
 result on that communication, we cannot with honor 
 to ourselves and justice to him, but declare, that we 
 received his communication with extreme regret and 
 concern ; that the manner in which his request was 
 disposed of was not the result of dissatisfaction as to 
 his acquirements as a scholar, his deportment as a 
 man, or his attainments as a Christian ; but the con- 
 viction that an addition to his salary at this early period 
 might materially endanger the universal harmony 
 whicli.now so happily prevails among us." And after 
 some further expressions of "confidence in his char- 
 acter for purity of heart and rectitude of life," the 
 vote concludes : " It now only remains for us to wish 
 him all the joys and hopes of the good man, the 
 polished scholar, the sincere friend and the real 
 Christian." 
 
 The next minister in regular succession in the an- 
 cient church was the Rev. Peter Osgood, of Audover. 
 He was ordained June oO, 1819. Mr. Osgood was 
 never blessed with a strong physical constitution and 
 his labors were frequently interrupted by ill-health. 
 Previous to his settlement and for some years after- 
 wards there was no other religious society in the town, 
 and the number of inhabitants was larger by some 
 hundreds than at the present time. Custom, more- 
 over, required two elaborate sermons every Sunday. 
 Consequently the duties of a minister, in those days, 
 were far more laborious than now ; and besides, by 
 virtue of his office, he was expected to be in a mea- 
 sure the guardian of all the children of the town and 
 the chief supervisor of its schools. Mr. Osgood was 
 heartily interested in the education of the young. He 
 labored faitlifully and earnestly to promote the highest 
 welfare of the schools. He exercised a watchful care 
 over them and his frequent visits to them were gladly 
 welcomed by both teachers and pupils'. In this regard 
 especially he is now held in grateful remembrance by 
 many of the elderly people of the town. 
 
 But his strength was not equal to his day. Under 
 his pastoral and ministerial labors he felt that his 
 health was gradually, but surely, giving way and that 
 his "only hope of enjoying comfortable health" was 
 in relief from the cares of a parish and the labor of 
 study. In the spring of 1839 he felt himself com- 
 pelled to ask a dismission ; but so strong was the 
 attachment of his people to their minister that they 
 were unwilling that a separation should take place 
 until some effort for his restoration should be made 
 by means of entire rest and freedom from care. Ac- 
 cordingly, at the parish-meeting which followed, a 
 committee was appointed to converse with the Rev. 
 Mr. Osgood respecting his request for a dismission 
 
 from his ministerial office. It was also voted unani- 
 mously " that the Committee be instructed to offer to 
 the Rev. Mr. Osgood a suspension of his ministerial 
 duties to the Parish for one year, then to resume 
 them, in case his health should warrant it." 
 
 With this proposal Mr. Osgood complied ; but at 
 the year's end it was found that his health had not 
 sufficiently improved to render it prudent for him to 
 resume his labors, and a release from further connec- 
 tion with the society was granted, according to his 
 renewed request, March 9. 1840. The vote of the 
 parish granting a dismissal concludes as follows: 
 "And having enjoyed the benefit of his faithful min- 
 istry and witnessed his exemplary deportment for 
 twenty years, do most cordially declare our fullest 
 confidence in his character for purity of heart and 
 rectitude of life." 
 
 Shortly after Mr. Osgood removed to North Au- 
 dover, his native town, and spent the remainder of his 
 life in the quiet pursuits of agriculture on his ances- 
 tral farm. But infirmities at length grew upon him 
 and disease so impaired his mental faculties that he 
 became insensible to all about him, even to the pres- 
 ence of friends. He died August 27, 1865, in the 
 seventy-fourth year of his age. 
 
 Since the termination of Rev. Mr. Osgood's pastor- 
 ate, the ministerial and pastoral office in the First 
 Congregational Seciety has been held successively by 
 the following clergymen, to wit: Rev. David Fosdick, 
 Jr., ordained March 3, 1841, — dismissed December 8, 
 1845; Rev. T. Prentiss Allen, ordained November 18, 
 1846, — dismissed September 19, 1853; Rev. William 
 H. Knapp, installed February 14, 1856, — dismissed 
 May 5, 1858; Rev. Edward B. Fairchild, ordained 
 January 19, I860,— dismissed September 22, 1863; 
 Rev. Alpheus S. Nickerson, installed July 27, 1864, — 
 dismissed February 2, 1869 ; Rev. Harvey C. Bates, 
 ordained June 30, 1869,— dismissed March 11, 1873; 
 Rev. Henry P. Cutting, installed September 1, 1873, 
 . — dismissed April 5, 1881. 
 
 Rev. J. H. Whitmore took charge of the parish 
 December 1, 1884, and continued his services to the 
 church and society until July 1, 1886. 
 
 On July 1, 1888, Rev. William S. Heywood, by the 
 unanimous desire of the society, assumed charge of 
 the pastoral and ministerial affairs of the parish, and 
 on the 1st of September moved into town with his 
 family, and took possession of the parsonage be- 
 queathed to the society by the late Mrs. Emily 
 Wilder. 
 
 The present house of worship was built in 1842, 
 immediately after the destruction, by an incendiary 
 fire, on the night of the 14th of March of the same 
 year, of its predecessor, built in 1799, and dedicated 
 on the first Sunday of January in 1800. The present 
 house is on the same site of the two former ones. 
 In 1886, under the direction of a committee ap- 
 pointed by the society, it was remodeled, improved 
 and beautified, Mrs. C. A. Freeman generously pay- 
 
494 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 ing nearly the whole of the expense, amounting to 
 Boine two thousand dollars, in memorial of her de- 
 ceased sister, who was a constant and devoted attend- 
 ant upon the religious services of the church. The 
 church organ was procured in 18.53. It was built by 
 Stevpns, of Cambridge, and was paid for, partly, by a 
 legacy bequeathed to the society by the late Jacob 
 Conant, Esq., and partly by voluntary subscriptions 
 of the members. Its total cost was $916.38. 
 
 A ministerial library was purchased in 1846, for 
 the use of the minister of the First Congregational 
 Society, at a cost of one hundred and fifty or two 
 hundred dollars. This library contains, among other 
 standard works, the American Encyclopfedia, and, 
 as far as it goes, is a valuable collection. Owing to 
 the organization of other religious societies, the de- 
 cease of many of its prominent members and other 
 causes not easily explained, this ancient society has 
 become, like many another, reduced in numbers and 
 power of its influence. It still exists, however, in a 
 tolerably strong and healthy condition, doing its 
 share in sustaining and promoting the intellectual, 
 moral and religious culture of the community. Down 
 to a period as late as 1830 this was the only religious 
 society in the town, and it is a singular fact that 
 nearly every family was regular and more or less 
 constant in their attendance upon church services on 
 Sunday. The long processions of- wagons, square- 
 topped chaises, and persons on horseback and on foot 
 at the conclusion of the afternoon service, wending 
 their way homeward on all the roads diverging from 
 the meeting-house, is well remembered by many of 
 the elderly people. It must not be supposed, how- 
 ever, that the people were entirely united in religious 
 sentiment or were satisfied with the state of things in 
 regard to religious worship. There were those who 
 conscientiously held to the doctrine of Universal 
 Salvation, first proclaimed in this country by Rev. 
 John Murray, and which had begun to be preached 
 by many clergymen of ability in New England; and 
 there were those of Baptist proclivities, and those 
 also who entertained more distinctively the senti- 
 ments of John Calvin. 
 
 At the date mentioned above, or immediately sub- 
 sequent thereto, the Universalists began to hold oc- 
 casional meetings in the old town-house. 
 
 The preachers on these occasions were the Rev. 
 Hosea Ballon, Rev. Thomas Whittemore, Rev. 
 Thomas Greenwood, Rev. Charles Streeter, Rev. Mr. 
 Harriman (since Governor of New Hampshire) and 
 others. These meetings were quite numerously at- 
 tended, and such an interest was awakened that a 
 society was soon formed, under the name of the 
 " First Universalist Society in Sterling." 
 
 The precise date of the formation of the society, 
 as well as the settlement of its first pastor, the Rev. 
 Rufus S. Pope, is not known, as the early records ap- 
 pear to have been lo.^t. Under the pastoral charge 
 of Rev. Mr. Pope a church was organized, and cer- 
 
 tain articles of faith, as given below, were formulated 
 and adopted, with the preamble as follows : 
 
 Preamble (in part.) As Christiiius we acknowledge the gacred Scrip- 
 tures to be the only infallible rule of faith and practice, regarding 
 tbeni as given by inspiration of God, and profitable for doctrine, for 
 reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness— and discarding 
 all Inunan authorities and creeds, we select the following, as expressing 
 the general outlines of our belief, and of the Christian religion : 
 
 Article first. We believe there is one God and one Mediator between 
 God and man ; the man Christ Jesus, wlio gave himself a ransom for 
 all to be testified in due time. 
 
 Arliele second. Wo believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. 
 
 Article third. We believe the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of 
 the world. 
 
 Article fourth. We believe that, by the grace of God be tasted death 
 for every man. 
 
 Article filth. We believe that God will render to every man according 
 to his deeds. 
 
 Article sixth. We believe that we ought to adorn the doctrine of God 
 our Saviour in all things. For the grace of God, that bringeth salva- 
 tion to all men, hath appeared. Teaching us that denying ungodliness 
 and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in 
 this present world. 
 
 The church was publicly recognized July 13, 1836, 
 the Rev. Thom.as Greenwood, of Marlborough, de- 
 livering an ajjpropriate discourse on the occasion. 
 
 It is to be regretted that the records of the society 
 were not more carefully preserved. It appears, 
 however, that under the charge of its first pastor, the 
 Rev. Mr. Pope, which continued somewhere from 
 five to eight years, the society increased in numbers, 
 and in its influence for good in the community. Its 
 meetings for religious services were held in the town- 
 hall until 1838. In that year the society built itself 
 a neat and commodious house of worship — the same 
 now owned and occupied by the Orthodox Society. 
 Rev. Mr. Pope removed in 1840 or '41 to Hyannis, 
 on Cape Cod, and became pastor of the Universalist 
 Society in that town, and there spent the remainder 
 of his life. 
 
 The successors of Mr. Pope were as follows : Rev. 
 George Proctor, from 1841 to 1847 ; Rev. Quiucy 
 Whitney, from 1847 to 1848; Rev. Samuel A. Davis, 
 from 1848 to 1852. 
 
 The society continued to hold services by supplies 
 for a time after Rev. Mr. Davis closed his labors. But 
 owing, in part, to the death of some of the older and 
 wealthy members and the removal from town of 
 others, and, perhaps, not a little to indifference to the 
 cause on the part of some, the society soon began to 
 languish, and finally, in 1853, sold its house of wor- 
 ship to the "First Evangelical Congregational So- 
 ciety," which had been recently organized. Very 
 soon after this the society disbanded and such of the 
 members as chose went back and connected them- 
 selves with the Unitarian Society, from which many 
 of them had gone out scarcely a score of years before. 
 But it is just to say that the Universalist Society did 
 some good work during the comparatively short 
 period of its existence. 
 
 During the last fifty or sixty years there has been a 
 great change in the religious elements of most 
 churches and in the religious sentiments of a great 
 
STERLING. 
 
 495 
 
 majority of the people. Much of the old theology is 
 discarded. Creeds have been shortened and simpli- 
 fied. Men are judged less and less by the articles of 
 their religious faith and moi'S and more by the 
 uniform tenor of their daily life. The Universalist 
 ministers of forty years ago, among whom were 
 many very able and talented men, did their full share 
 in establishing more rational and liberal views. 
 
 For several years prior to 1837 there were in town 
 several families of Baptists and others entertaining 
 similar views, who occasionally held meetings at 
 private houses and at the school-house in the Leg 
 District. In the year above mentioned it was found 
 that the number of these persons had so increased 
 that " it was felt that a church to conduct the affairs 
 and bear the responsibiUties of this gospel enterprise was 
 a necessity." Accordingly, a church was thereupon 
 organized, and the Rev. Cyrus P. Grovesner was 
 called and became its first pastor. Mr. Moses A. 
 Brown was chosen clerk, and Levi Stuart the fi^^t 
 deacon of the church. Preaching services were held 
 in the town-hall. Rev. Mr. Grovesner closed his 
 pastorate at the end of the year and the Rev. George 
 Wateis was called to succeed him. Mr. Waters re- 
 mained with the church three and a half years. The 
 Rev. John Allen followed Rev. Mr. Waters in 1841, 
 and continued his labors until the close of 1843. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Allen is remembered as a genial, large- 
 hearted man, and was held in high esteem by his 
 fellow-townsmen. Under his ministry the work of 
 the church was eftectively carried on, and the moral 
 enterprises of the town received his constant support. 
 A society was organized embracing a goodly number 
 of the town's most esteemed and influential citizens, 
 and the present house of worship, beautifully located 
 under the shade of the majestic elms on the north 
 end of the Common, was erected. The mode of pro- 
 cedure in the building of the church shows that the 
 members had courage as well as faith. An instru- 
 ment was drawn up and signed by twelve of the 
 leading members, to wit: 
 
 "Know all men by these presents, that we, the subscribers hereby 
 agree to associate together in equal sliares, by deducting out so much as 
 may be subscribed by otlier individuals, for the purpose of building a 
 meeting-house for the First Baptist Society in Sterling, 
 
 "And we bind Ourselves, our Heirs, Executors, and Administrators to 
 the performance of the above undertaking." 
 
 The object of the above Plan is to relieve and to promote the Interest 
 of the said Society, and so dispose of the Pews as best to subserve their 
 Interest and keep ourselves harmless for building said house of Wor- 
 ship. 
 
 Sterling, January 16, 18t3. 
 
 (Signed) Benjamin Stuart, Jesse Curtis, Alden Bailey, Levi Stuart, 
 Asa Hoppin, Amos Breck, James P. Patten, Elisha Smith, Abel F. Good- 
 now, John Allen, John B. Pratt, Jonathan Nichols. 
 
 The site of the meeting-house was purchased of 
 the late Mr. Helon Brooks for the sum of one thou- 
 sand dollars. 
 
 The whole expense of the building, including 
 site, was $4727.93. 
 
 A fine-toned bell has recently been purchased, and 
 
 other improvements made, which swells the expense 
 to nearly seven thousand dollars, all of which the so- 
 ciety has promptly met, in addition to the yearly 
 cost of supporting the ministry nearly all the time 
 since the first organization of the church. 
 
 The ministers who have had pastoral charge of the 
 society since the Rev. John Allen are Rev. Orlando 
 Cunningham, six and a half year.^; Rev. Ira F. Ken- 
 ney, a little over one year; Rev. William M. Guilford, 
 two and a half years; Rev. John H. Learnard, two 
 years and eight months; Rev. Gilbert Robbins, two 
 years; Rev. William Carpenter, three and a half years ; 
 S. H. Record, a Newton theological student, six 
 months ; Rev. John H. Learnard, again, two and a 
 half years; Rev. Samuel Clieever, nine months; Rev. 
 G. 0. Atkinson, one year ; Rev. C. H. Hickock, one year ; 
 Rev. S. B. Macomber, one year and four months ; 
 Rev. I. C. Carpenter, two years and nine months ; 
 Rev. A. H. Eitee, nearly two years, residing in West- 
 borough ; Rev. D. B. Gun, nearly three years. The 
 church was also supplied a short time by Deacon 
 W. A. Holland and by Mr. W. B. Parshley, a student 
 of Brown University. Jt has had other supplies from 
 time to time, whose names do not appear on record. 
 The present pastor is Rev. S. H. Whitney, who com- 
 menced his services 1888. 
 
 The clerk of the society is Mr. Thomas 0. Patten, 
 and the clerk of the church is Miss Elizabeth R. 
 Bailey. 
 
 In 1851 it was deemed needful that another branch 
 of the Christian Church should be built up in the 
 town. There were several highly respectable fami- 
 lies who could not find a congenial religious home 
 with either the Unitarians, Universalists, or the Bap- 
 tists, and who, by reason thereof, were in the habit of 
 attending church in the neighboring towns of 
 West Boylston, Boylston and Bolton. On the 23d 
 of September, 1851, by request of Mark Bruce, For- 
 dyce Wilder, Luther Stone, Rufus Holman, Jones 
 Wilder, Silas M. Wilder, Charles H. Loring, Charles 
 M. Bailey, Luther Peters and Daniel L. Emerson, a 
 warrant was issued by William D. Peck, Esq., a jus- 
 tice of the peace, within and for the county of Wor- 
 cester, to Silas M. Wilder, directing him to notify 
 and warn the above described Inhabitants to meet at 
 the Town Hall on the 9th day of October next, to 
 act on the following articles, viz. : 
 
 Ist. To choose a Clerk, Moderator and such other Officers as may be 
 deemed proper and necessary. 
 2d. To determine the mode of calling future meetings. 
 3d. To adopt such By-Laws as may be deemed necessary. 
 
 At the meeting held pursuant to the warrant, Jones 
 Wilder was chosen moderator, Silas M. Wilder 
 clerk and Luther Peters, Charles H. Loring and 
 John Smith, Jr., prudential committee. 
 
 Charles H. Loring and Dr. E. C. Knight were 
 chosen a committee to draft by-laws. At an ad- 
 journed meeting the committee reported and their re- 
 port was accepted. 
 
496 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 By-Laws. 
 
 Art. 1. This Society shall bo called The First Evangelical Congrega- 
 tional SociPt.v in Sterling. 
 
 Art. 2, declares what officers the society will annually elect. 
 
 Art. 3, defines the manner in which new members may be admitted. 
 
 Art. 4, fixes the time for the annual meeting. 
 
 Art. 5, prescribes the mode of calling future meetings. 
 
 Art. 6, establishes the rule in this society that no tax shall be levied 
 *'on its members until evei-y reasonable means has been exhausted ; " 
 "but all funds shall be raised, and all expenses paid by voluntary sub- 
 scription."' 
 
 Art. 7, defines the number necessary to constitute a quorum for the 
 transaction of business. 
 
 Art. 8, declares how the By-Laws may be altered or amended. 
 
 In 1853 the society purchased the meeting-house, 
 built fifteen years before, and owned by the Uui- 
 versalists. In 1885 the interior of the church was 
 much improved by the repainting of the woodwork 
 in a pleasing color and by new frescoing of the walls. 
 In 1887 the society purchased the house of Silas 
 Stuart for a parsonage. It is a pleasant place just a 
 little retired and admirably adapted to the purpose 
 for which it was purchased. No religious society 
 can feel itself suitably equipped to fulfill its mission 
 until it has secured a permanent and pleasant home 
 for its minister and his family. The society has 
 maintained religious services during the entire period 
 of its exii-tence, paying its settled pastor from six 
 hundred to eight hundred dollars annual salary. It 
 has received aid from the HoJie Mission Society to the 
 amount of about two hundred dollars annually, but 
 it has paid back by frequent voluntary contributions 
 to various religious enterprises a yearly sum, prob- 
 ably equal to the amount of aid it has received. 
 This financial exhibit is highly creditable to the 
 society and evinces an energy and a spiritual life 
 worthy the cause it seeks to promote. Long may it 
 continue to fulfill its liigh and sacred mission and do 
 its full share of work in the enlightenment and re- 
 generation of the world ! 
 
 The church was organized June 22, 1852, with 
 twenty-two members. The first pastor was the Rev. 
 William B. Green. Mr. Green began his ministry 
 April 1, 1852, and closed July 1, 1853. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Lothrop followed, but did not remain very 
 long. 
 
 Rev. William Miller succeeded Mr. Lothrop in 
 January ; was installed May 9, 1855, and was dismissed 
 October, 1858. 
 
 Rev. J. C. Labaree next took pastoral charge, Octo- 
 ber 1, 1861; was ordained February 4, 1863, and re- 
 mained with the society four years. Rev. Mr. Labaree 
 on leaving Sterling was called to the ministry in Ran- 
 dolph, where he has since remained. He is kindly 
 remembered by the citizens of Sterling, without dis- 
 tinction of sect, who held him in higli respect. 
 
 Rev. Elbridge Gerry next became acting pastor in 
 1866, serving two years and four months. 
 
 Rev. Evarts Kent came next, after Mr. Gerry, but 
 remained only ten months. 
 
 Rev. L. D. Mears began his ministry November 13, 
 1870, and was dismissed by council September 9, 1873. 
 
 The next minister was Rev. George J. Pierce, from 
 January 1, 1874, to January 1, 1875. And then fol- 
 lowed Rev L. B. Marsh, from 1875 to 1876. 
 
 Rev. B. F. Perkins next assumed pastoral care of 
 the society, April 1, 1877, and closed April 1, 1883. 
 Rev. Mr. Perkins' services were very acceptable, and 
 his pastorate was the longest of any since the forma- 
 tion of the society. Immediately on his separation 
 from the church in Sterling, he was called to the 
 church in Saundersville, where he still continues to 
 dispense the Word. No person is more cordially wel- 
 comed by his former townsmen than he, whenever, on 
 given occasions, he returns among them. 
 
 Rev. O. G. Mclntire and Rev. S. H. Robinson fol- 
 lowed Mr. Perkins, one year each. Both were very 
 genial, pleasant gentlemen. The latter is now settled 
 over the Congregational Church in Greenfield, Mass, 
 
 The present pastor is Rev. John E. Dodge. Mr. 
 Dodge was installed June 2, 1887. Under his minis- 
 try, thus far, the society appears to be invigorated 
 with new life, and we bespeak for Rev. Mr. Dodge a 
 long and useful ministry. 
 
 The ecclesiastical record of Sterling would not be 
 complete without the mention of another important 
 branch of the Christian Church. Though there may 
 not be an organized society, a considerable number of 
 the population are of the Roman Catholic faith, and 
 attend church at either Clinton or West Boylston. 
 The number of families is thirty-one. At one time 
 they held church services in the town-hall, and the 
 proposition to build a house of worship was seriously 
 entertained. The plan, however, was abandoned for 
 reasons connected with the churches in the two towns 
 above mentioned. 
 
 There are also a number of families of Spiritualists 
 who hold meetings occasionally at private houses. 
 These persons were formerly interested and active 
 members of either one or the other of the three prin- 
 cipal churches in the town, but have now, to a con- 
 siderable extent, withdrawn their aid for their support. 
 
 Education. — Sterling has ever been mindful of 
 her obligations in respect to the education of the 
 young. Her district schools have been her pride and 
 she has ever watched over them with paternal fond- 
 ness. 
 
 The first school-house of which there is any record 
 was built in 1743. This was in the centre, near the 
 meeting-house. Other buildings for the same pur- 
 pose were soon afterward erected in the remote parts 
 of the town, as the increase of population and the 
 public convenience required. One was located on 
 Rowley Hill, on the site of the present school-house. 
 There was another in the Chocksett District, at the 
 corner of the roads, near Mr. John B. May's. 
 
 This locaticm retained the name of the " Old School- 
 house bank" long after the building was demolished. 
 Another stood near the corner of Mr. Ephraim Chand- 
 ler's land, opposite the present one in Redstone. This 
 was the scene of the renowned nursery poem : 
 
STERLING. 
 
 497 
 
 " Mary had a little lamb, 
 Its fleece was white aa snow," etc. 
 
 Miss Rebecca Kimball was the teacher. 
 
 Doubtless there were others io other parts of the 
 town. They were rude structures with cavernous fire- 
 places, but otherwise destitute of the comforts and 
 conveniences of modern school buildings. In 1797 
 the town waa re-districted — each new district contain- 
 ing, as nearly as might be, twenty families, except the 
 Centre, which contained forty families, and has ever 
 since been considered a double district and has drawn 
 a double share of the public money. By a vote passed 
 at the same town-meeting new school-houses were 
 ordered to be built in all the newly-formed districts, 
 involving an expense of some three thousand dollars. 
 The centre school-house was not built until the fol- 
 lowing year. These new structures, except that in 
 the centre, were all built upon the same general plan 
 and were quite uniform in external appearance. 
 These old red school-houses by the roadside — how 
 vividly and sacredly, almost, are they held in remem- 
 brance by many of the older people of the town ! But 
 in the general progress of events all these plain, 
 modest temples of learning have been in turn sup- 
 planted by others of more modern construction, more 
 tasteful and elegant in appearance and more luxu- 
 riously furnished with conveniences and comforts for 
 both teacher and pupil. 
 
 The appropriations of money for the support of 
 schools has always been generous in comparison with 
 the town's valuation of taxable property. 
 
 In 1800 the appropriation for " schooling " was five 
 hundred dollars. From 1816 to 1835 it was eight 
 hundred dollars. Since 1835 the yearly allowance 
 has been on the increase, until it has reached, in this 
 year of grace, 1888, the sum of four thousand dollars. 
 In the intervening period since 1835 school libraries, 
 books of reference, outline maps, eight-inch mounted 
 globes, large surfaces of black-board and other needful 
 supplies have been liberally and promptly furnished 
 to facilitate the process of instruction. 
 
 Parents still continue to manifest interest in the 
 progress of their children by occasional visits to the 
 schools and by lending their influence in other prac- 
 ticable ways. But it is to be feared, however, that 
 personal interest in the schools on the part of the 
 community generally has abated to a considerable 
 extent from what it was sixty or seventy years ago — 
 or even fifty years ago — on account of the fact that 
 the State has gradually assumed entire control and 
 management of the public schools, to the exclusion 
 of those most intimately concerned, from any voice, 
 part or lot in the matter except to pay the annual tax 
 assessed upon them. And, at least, whatever advance 
 has been made in popular education in the last half- 
 century, it cannot be denied that the old district sys- 
 tem had many a redeeming feature. As the popula- 
 tion of the town was larger than at present, so the 
 attendance upon the school was also much greater. 
 32 
 
 It was the writer's experience to attend school in 
 the Chocksett District when eighty scholars were 
 daily convened within the walls of the old school 
 building, whose outward dimensions were twenty-two 
 by twenty-two feet. The terms of school were short, 
 never exceeding ten weeks in winter and eight or 
 nine in summer. The "examination '' at the close 
 of the term was an event of much importance to all 
 the people of the district and was usually attended by 
 them in numbers oftentimes fully equal to the ca- 
 pacity of the school-room. The teachers were faith- 
 ful to the trusts committed to them, and a generation 
 of men and women, fairly equipped, mentally and 
 morally, for the duties and responsibilities of citizen- 
 ship was the result of their labors. The annual 
 " School Meeting," clothed with the authority, through 
 its "Prudential Committee," of selecting and hiring 
 the teacher, and of deciding on all other matters 
 relating to the school, excepting the raising and ap- 
 propriation of money, was a powerful means of awak- 
 ening and keeping alive an intense interest in the 
 school and a strong desire for its welfare. In about 
 the year 1822 there was organized an association by 
 the name of the " Sterling Mutual Improvement So- 
 ciety " — changed a few years afterward to " The Ster- 
 ling Lyceum" — whose declared purpose was to aid 
 the teachers and improve the district school.-. 
 
 This society had an active existence of about forty 
 years. It was a powerful auxiliary in the educational 
 work of the town. It convened the teachers at stated 
 times for the discussion of vital questions relating to 
 their daily duties in the school-room ; it called out, 
 from time to time, during the winter terms, the higher 
 classes in all the schools for public competiiive exer- 
 cises in reading, geography, grammar and arithmetic; 
 it also had lectures from " home talent" and from dis- 
 tinguished speakers from the cities and various other 
 places. 
 
 It was truly a popular institution, and its regular 
 meetings drew together in the town hall crowded 
 audiences of old people and young, and was a potent 
 instrumentality for promoting the social, intellectual 
 and moral well-being of the entire community. 
 
 Few towns of the same extent and rank have pro- 
 duced a greater number of native teachers than Ster- 
 ling. A list, as far as can be remembered, is subjoined 
 at the end of this sketch. 
 
 Since th^ organization of the Board of Education 
 in 1837, and through the influence of Normal Schools, 
 Teachers' Institutes and educational literature, im- 
 proved methods of teaching and discipline have been 
 adopted. Blackboard instruction in all branches ia 
 resorted to, oral teaching is more frequently practiced, 
 and the old ABC method of teaching young children 
 to read is fast passing away. And in modes of disci- 
 pline the change is not less apparent. The ferule, 
 "that scepter of despotic power," is practically ban- 
 ished from our school-rooms, and other ridiculous 
 forms of physical torture, such as supporting a heavy 
 
498 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 book with the arm extended in a right line from the 
 body, of bending the body forward and holding down 
 a nail, or of being hit on the head by a heavy ruler, 
 thrown by the master as punishment for minor of- 
 fence?, is not tolerated by public sentiment and is now 
 never practiced. The regular terms of school were 
 oftentimes prolonged from one to four weeks by private 
 subscription; and not unfreqhently a private school 
 was supported in the autumn by those who felt the 
 need of larger opportunities for the education of their 
 children, and who regarded it more economical to 
 maintain a school of higher grade in town than to be 
 at the expense of board and transportation to an 
 academy at a distance from home. Notwithstanding, 
 scarcely a year passed in which numbers of our young 
 people of both sexes did not avail themselves of the 
 privilesres afforded at the high schools and academies 
 of Lancaster, Worcester, Leicester, New Ipswich and 
 other places to prepare themselves for teachers, or for 
 entrance into some college or technical institution- 
 This state of things, which, indeed, had been of long 
 continuance, led to the feeling on the part of many 
 that the establishment of a high school was a public 
 necessity. 
 
 At the town-meeting in themonth of April, 1883, the 
 subject was brought before the town. A discussion 
 followed. Rev. Mr. Perkins made a strong and con- 
 vincing argument in its favor. The Irish adopted 
 citizens generally were found to be favorable to the 
 measure. By a yea and nay vote the question was de- 
 cided afSrmatively by a fair majority. In September 
 following the school went in operation with Mr. Her- 
 bert B. Hayden, of Ashland, as its first principal. Mr. 
 Hayden was a graduate of the Ashland Hisht School 
 and had spent one year at Wesleyan University, 
 Middletown, Conn. Mr. Hayden had a good measure 
 of success and gave general satisfaction. He remained 
 with the school five years. He left town at the close 
 of the spring term, 1888. Mr. Henry A. MacGowan, 
 of Clinton, was appointed to the principalship of the 
 school at the commencement of the fall terra of the 
 present year. Mr. MacGowan is a graduate of Am- 
 herst College, of the class of 1886. He entered the 
 Divinity School at Andover, but his studies in prepara- 
 tion for the ministry were interrupted by ill health, 
 and he was obliged to suspend his professional studies. 
 Having regained his strength in a measure by rest, he 
 was induced to accept the position offered him by the 
 School Committee and entered at once upon its duties. 
 Under his judicious and able management, as a 
 thorough scholar himself, the school gives promise of 
 an advanced position, and worthy to take an equal 
 rank among the high schools of the State. 
 
 Since the establishment of the High School, and 
 principally through its instrumentality, a course of 
 lectures has been maintained during the winter. 
 These lectures are numerously attended by our people 
 and afford, not only pleasant entertainment, but valu- 
 able instruction. These literary entertainments are 
 
 much enjoyed, and are looked forward to with inten st 
 and pleasant anticipation. 
 
 A fine High School building was erected in 1883 on 
 a beautiful site, between the Emily Wilder parsonage 
 and the old Dr. Kendall place. It was formerly 
 owned by the late Jacob Conarit, Esq., and was pur- 
 chased by the town of a subsequent owner of the 
 property. The edifice is two-storied, with a large 
 play-room in the basement. It is a neat building, 
 pleasantly located, and presents an attractive appear- 
 ance. 
 
 In respect to the number of graduates from various 
 colleges, Mr. Goodwin (to whom the writer of this 
 sketch is indebted for most of his acquaintance with 
 the early history of this town) says : " The number 
 educated at the public colleges from this place is not 
 Kreat, but our scholars will not suffer by a comparison 
 with those of many towns who present a larger cata- 
 logue." He then gives a list of nineteen graduates, 
 with the dates of graduation, as follows: 
 
 1. John Mellen (Han-ard University, 1770), for many yuars minister at 
 Barnstable. 
 
 2. Joseph Kilburn (Harvard University, 1777), minister at Wendell, 
 Mass. 
 
 :i. Isaac Bailey (Harvard University, 1781), minister at Ward, Mass. 
 4. Prentiss Mellen, LL.D. (Hariard Univei-sity,'1781), chief justice of 
 the Supreme Court of Maine. 
 
 6. Henry Mellen (Harvard University, 1784), attorney at-law at Do- 
 ver, N. H. 
 
 0. Thomas Moore (Dartmouth College, 1787), settled in the ministry 
 in Pennsylvania. 
 
 7. Pieraon Thurston (Dartmouth College, 1787), minister at Soniers- 
 worth, N. H. 
 
 8. James Kendall, D.D. (Harvard University, 179G), minister of the 
 ancient church at Plymouth, Mass. 
 
 9. Bartholomew Brown (Harvard University, 1799). for some years 
 counselor-at-law at Sterling, afterward at Bridgewater, Mass. 
 
 10. Uosea Hildreth (Harvard University, 1806), minister at Gloucester, 
 Mass. 
 
 11. Amos W. Rugg (Harvard University, 1805), died soon after leaving 
 college, greatly lamented. 
 
 12. Martin Moore (Brown University, 1811), minister at NaticU. Mass. 
 
 13. Mark Moore {Brown University, 1814), counselor-at-law in Con- 
 necticut. 
 
 14. Nahum H. Groce (Harvard University, 1808), preceptor of an acad- 
 emy. 
 
 15. Pierson T. Kendall (Harvard University, 1812), for many years 
 practicing physician atSterling. 
 
 16. Ezekiel Hildreth (Harvard University, 1814), instructor of youth 
 fn the Southern States. 
 
 17. Abel T. Hildreth (Harvard University, 1818), instructor of youth 
 in the Southern States. 
 
 18. Oliver U. Blood (Harvard University, 1821), practicing physician 
 at WorceBtor, Mass. 
 
 19. Moses G. Thomas (Brown University, 1826), many years minister 
 at Concord, N. H. 
 
 20. George Putnam, D.D. (Harvard University, 1827), minister at Eoi- 
 bury until bis death, in 1872. 
 
 21. Edwin Conant (Harvard University, 1828), counselor.at-law at 
 Sterling, removed to Worcester. 
 
 22. Josiah K. Waite (Harvard University, 1829), settled in the minis- 
 try first at Fitxwilliam, N. H. 
 
 23. Augustus K. Rugg (Union College, N. T., 1836), counselor at Al- 
 bany, Ga., where be died in 184:i, much lamented. 
 
 24. Silas Bailey (Drown University, 1838), distinguished educator, died 
 in Paris, France, 1874. 
 
 25. Mark Bailey (Brown University, 1848), professor in Oregon State 
 University. 
 
 26. Ambrose P. S. Stuart (Brown University, 1847), after spending 
 three years in the German Universities of Gottingen and Heidelberg, he 
 
STERLING. 
 
 499 
 
 accepted professorships iu various colleges, and is now engaged in finan- 
 cial affairs in Lincoln, Neb. 
 
 •SI. Addison Stuart entered Brown University and went through the 
 regular collegiate course, all but the last year, when he commenced the 
 study of law. Has a law-office at Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 
 
 28. William Richardson, Ph.D. (Dartmouth College, 1864), engaged in 
 educational work in Ohio. 
 
 20. Frank W. Wilder (Tufts College, 1880), counsellor-at-law and 
 real estate agent, Dakota Ty. 
 
 30. Edmund W. Powers (Tufts College, 1831), connselor-at-law, Bos- 
 ton, Mass. 
 
 31. Arthur P. Rugg (Amherst College, 1883), counselor-at-law, Wor- 
 cester, MaS3. 
 
 32. Fred. H. Wilder (Tufts College, 18S6), counscIor-at-law and real 
 estate agent, Dakota Ty. 
 
 A goodly number of the sons and daughters of 
 Sterling who had charge of our schools, as teachers, 
 were graduates of the State Normal Schools. They 
 are as follows : 
 
 Edwin May, graduated at Bridgewator. 
 
 Hannah Ross, graduated at Bridgewater. 
 
 Edward A. Lyuds, graduated at Bridgewater. 
 
 Mary Rugg, gradu.ited at Bridgewater. 
 
 Sarah H. Rugg, graduated at Bridgewater. 
 
 Luther Rugg, graduated at Bridgewater. 
 
 Mary S. Osgood, graduated at Bridgewater. 
 
 Carrie Rugg, graduated at Salem. 
 
 Delia S. Nourse, graduated at Salem. 
 
 Abbie Hastings, graduated at Bridgewater. 
 
 William Hastings, graduated at Bridgewater. 
 
 Fannie M. Houghton, graduated at Westfield. 
 
 Kittle Wilder, graduated at Worcester. 
 
 Mary Boland, graduated at Franiingham. 
 
 R. L. Chandler, Worcester. 
 
 Florence Houghton, now a student at Framingham. 
 
 The following are graduates from the Technical 
 Institute at Worcester: 
 
 Oliver W. Rugg, now practicing civil engineering at Worcester 
 Arthur Woods, now practicing civil engineering at Worcester. 
 William A. Nelson, mechanical engineer at Fitchburg. 
 J. Edward Synds, engaged in the lumber business near Duluth, 
 Minn. 
 
 Libraries. — The first public library was estab- 
 lished in the latter part of the last century, known as 
 the " First Social Library in Sterling." It was or- 
 ganized by voluntary subscription, and regulated 
 by suitable by-lawa, with proper officers for its man- 
 agement. The only record the writer has been able 
 to find was that of the annual meeting of the proprie- 
 tors in 1803, held for the choice of officers and the 
 transaction of such other business as might properly 
 come before it. 
 
 It was a valuable collecti on of several hundred vol- 
 umes of standard works of history, biography, travels, 
 fiction and other important subjects. 
 
 It was replenished from time' to time by a small an- 
 nual tax upon the members of the association. It did 
 valuable service for many years, and its benefits were 
 shared by a large number of the people of the town. 
 But, like all sublunary things, it had its day of pro- 
 gress and decline, and in 1852 came to a final termi- 
 nation by a public sale of the books at auction. 
 
 In 1848 a small library of choice books was pur- 
 chased by the town for each school district. 
 
 In 1857 a Farmer's Library was established, con- 
 
 taining some one hundred and fifty or two hundred 
 volumes by the ablest writers upon agriculture. These 
 books were subsequently turned over to and became 
 a part of the Town Library. 
 
 But the highest and grandest point in the work of 
 founding a library was reached when the town, at its 
 annual meeting in March, 1871, appropriated three 
 hundred dollars for the purchase of books for the es- 
 tablishment of a Free Public Library. Liberal ap- 
 propriations have been made each year since for the 
 purchase of new books and for meeting incidental ex- 
 penses. Generous donations for the support of the 
 library have been made by the following persons, 
 most of whom were former residents of the town : 
 Mr. A. K. Loring, of Boston, contributed a valuable 
 package of books. The late James T. Allen, of New 
 York, gave his check for three hundred dollars. 
 William Frederick Holcombe. M.D., of New York, 
 generously gave one hundred dollars. Rev. Geo. 
 Putnam, D.D., of Roxbury, Mass. , in token of his 
 friendly regard for his birthplace, also gave one hun- 
 dred dollars ; and his daughter, the late Miss Carrie 
 Putnam, bequeathed the sum of two thousand dollars, 
 the interest of which to be used in the purchase of 
 books. Edwin Conant, Esq., of Worcester, gave five 
 hundred dollars, to be called the " Elizabeth Anne 
 Conant Fund," the interest to be used in the purchase 
 of books. From all these sources of income the li- 
 brary at present contains more than six thousand 
 volumes. 
 
 For the beautiful library building that now adorns 
 the village, the town is indebted to the munificence 
 of Edwin Conant, Esq., of Worcester, who furnished 
 the means whereby it was erected. It was built in 
 188.5, as a memorial tribute to his late lamented 
 daughter. Miss Elizabeth Anne Conant. 
 
 Mr. Conaut also furnished the very neat and sub- 
 stantial chairs and tables whit-h the library hall and 
 reading-room contain. 
 
 The librarian's desk was presented by the Richard- 
 son heirs, as a tribute to the memory of their father, 
 —the late Deacon William B. Richardson. It is con- 
 structed of cherry, very neatly finished and is per- 
 fectly in keeping with the pleasant surroundings, and 
 bears the following inscription : 
 
 In memory of 
 
 Dea. William B. Richardson, 
 
 By his Heirs, 
 
 1880. 
 
 The library building was formally dedicated Octo- 
 ber 13, 1885. The public exercises were held in the 
 Congregational Church, a large congregation being 
 present, including many from the neighboring towns, 
 and were as follows : 
 
 1. Voluntary on the Organ Miss Annie M. Wilder, Organist. 
 
 2. Anthem By the Choir. 
 
 3. Dedicatory Prayer By Eev. J. H. Whitmore. 
 
 4. Anthem By the Choir. 
 
 5. Memorial Address By Eev. E. H. Hall, of Cambridge. 
 
 6. Hymn 840 ..Hymn and Tune-Book, read by Eev. Mr. Whitmore. 
 
 7. Benediction By Eev. S. H. Eobinson. 
 
500 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Military. — The military record of Sterling has 
 been an honorable one. In 1755, when the French 
 and Indian War broke out, Sterling furnished her 
 quota of men and supplies — precisely how many men 
 is not known — but the names of more than twenty of 
 her young men have been preserved whose lives were 
 sacrificed in that war, in one or another of its cam- 
 paigns. So also when the War of Independence 
 came, the call for men was duly responded to. The 
 name of Colonel Asa Whitcomb is rendered famous 
 by his military service and ardent patriotism. An- 
 other honored soldier who gave eight years' service 
 was Lieutenant Joel Pratt. Reuben Blood, Sr., and 
 Nathaniel Houghton were veteran soldiers of the 
 Revolution. There were others also, but history has 
 failed to record their names, and tradition has but 
 imperfectly transmitted an account of their service. 
 The several wars in which the country was involved, 
 and in which many of our citizens participated, served 
 to keep alive the military spirit and encourage military 
 organizations and exercises in times of peace. If 
 now they were of no great practical benefit, they at 
 least served a holiday purpose. Company trainings 
 and regimental musters were great social events, and 
 drew together multitudes of people. In the early 
 part of the present century two military organizations 
 existed in the town, known as the North and South 
 C )mpanies. The distinction was made by the road 
 running easterly from Princeton to Lancaster, bisect- 
 ing the territory of the town into two not very une- 
 qual parts ; those whose residence was on the south 
 side falling into the South Company and those on the 
 north side into the North Company. 
 
 In 1822 a volunteer company was formed out of the 
 two already existing, called " The Sterling Light 
 Infantry." In its elegant uniforms of dark blue 
 cloth, with gilt trimmings and tall black plumes 
 tipped with red, it presented an appearance of which 
 the great Napoleon himself would have been proud. 
 The officers in command were: Phineas B. Dana, 
 captain ; Josiah Pope, lieutenant ; Mark Kendall, 
 ensign. Ensign Kendall died the following year, and 
 was buried with martial honors. 
 
 Such was the popularity of military exhibitions at 
 this time, that four years later, in 1826, another 
 finely-uniformed and finely-equipped volunteer com- 
 pany was raised, called "The Sterling Guards." The 
 uniforms of this company were blue coats with silver 
 trimmings, white pantaloons, and tall white plumes 
 tipped with black. The officers first chosen to com- 
 mand were : Captain, Cheney Kilburn ; Lieutenant, 
 the venerable Eli Kilburn, now in his ninety third 
 year ; Ensign, Silas Buss. For a period of more than 
 a quarter of a century these companies were the pride 
 of the town, but with the general decline of the 
 military spirit, and the increasing sentiment among 
 the people that war was unchristian and unneces.sary, 
 they at length went down and were disbanded. From 
 that time there was but slight manifestation of mili- 
 
 tary fervor until the tocsin of war rang out over the 
 country at the bombardment of Fort Sumter on the 
 12th of April, 1861. Sterling now shared the indig- 
 nation felt by the whole body of the people of the 
 Northern States at this audacious insult to the flag of 
 our country. The patrioti-sm of her citizens was 
 aroused. Public meetings were held to encourage en- 
 listments and to adopt measures necessary to assist as 
 far as possible in crushing the Rebellion, formidable 
 as it was, and in maintaining the government. 
 Money was generously appropriated to meet necessary 
 expenses in furtherance of the object. Young men 
 came forward with alacrity and voluntarily offered 
 themselves to the service of their country. But little 
 difficulty, comparatively, was experienced by the 
 authorities of the town in filling the quotas of men 
 required by the government during the four years of 
 terrible warfare. Company K of the Fifty-third 
 Regiment was mainly recruited from Sterling and 
 Princeton. The commissioned officers were : James 
 A. Pratt, of Sterling, captain — promoted to major ; 
 Samuel B. Beaman, of Princeton, first lieutenant — 
 promoted to captain ; P. T. K. Burpee, of Sterling, 
 second lieutenant — promoted to first lieutenant ; Ed- 
 ward W. Toombs, of Sterling, second lieutenant. 
 This regiment did service in Louisiana under General 
 Banks. The whole number of soldiers engagfd in 
 suppressing the Rebellion, residents of Sterling or of 
 Sterling birth, was, as near as can be ascertained, one 
 hundred and sixty-two. The number whose lives 
 were sacrificed in the war was twenty-one. The 
 names of these heroic sons of Sterling are engraven 
 upon the " Soldiers' Monument," where they may ever 
 be read and known of all men "until brass and marble 
 shall have crumbled into dust." 
 
 The ladies of Sterling were not idle, disinterested 
 observers of the great civil conflict. The " Ladies' 
 Relief Society " was an important factor in prose- 
 cuting the war. By its unceasing labor in preparing 
 hospital stores and other articles of comfort it did 
 much to alleviate the hardships and sufferings of our 
 soldier boys both in camp, on the march and in the 
 hospital. 
 
 The following condensed statement of the part 
 Sterling bore in the struggle for national life is taken 
 from the Sterling Advertiser, published by Post 59, G. 
 A. R., Sterling, January, 1874: ' 
 
 But what is old Sterling's individual record in this dread crisis? Listen 
 to ft condensed report thereof. 
 
 On Monday, April 22, 1861, one week after evacuation of Fort Sumter, 
 her citizens held in the town hall their first general indignation meet- 
 ing, though many a small one had been previously held in almost every 
 house, store, workshop and lieM. On Tuesday, April 2:id, the ladies from 
 all parts of the town assembled to consult together and enter upon 
 whatever duties might await them. Six ladies (two of whom. Miss 
 Josephine Bartlett and Miss Esther K. Waite, have since passed over the 
 dark river) gave their names as ready for hospital service, if required. 
 A Relief Society was organized, which continued its meetings and labors 
 for more than four years. 
 
 On Monday, April 29th, at their first legal town-meeting, the citizens 
 
 1 Contributed by Miss H. M. Bubb. 
 
STERLING. 
 
 501 
 
 voted to appropriate a sum not exceeding three thousand dollara to 
 equip and uniform auch fellow-townsniBn as might volunteer to serve in 
 the military service of tlie United States and to assist their families 
 during their absence. November 5, 1861, one hundred dollars waa 
 appropriated to aid the ladies in procuring articles for use in the army 
 hospitals, the same to be paid by the selectmen to the Relief Society. 
 As the months of 1801 glided by, many a man who had his birth in 
 Sterling or whose boyhood was passed among the hills and valleys, be- 
 came numbered in his country's army for three years or during the war, 
 having enlisted wherever he might be, whether far removed or hut 
 slightly distant from the heart of the old Bay State. Most of these have 
 left an intei'estitig record, several met death on the battle-field, others 
 were wounded, some maimed for life and yet others died from sickness 
 and exposure. 
 
 July 21, 1862, the town authorized the Selectmen to pay a bounty of 
 one hundred dollars to eacli citizen of Sterling who should enlist in the 
 company then forming in the town for nine months' service. 
 
 July 4, 1865, the town voted to raise a sum equal to one hundred dol- 
 lars per man of the quotas of this town, under the President's orders of 
 October 7, ISH:^, and February 1, 1864. April 15th the town voted to 
 raise seventeen hundred and fifty dollars to procure fourteen men to fill 
 her quota under the President's late call. 
 
 Sterling continued to raise money, recruit volunteers and pay bounties 
 till the end of the war. Her official record is that she furnished (in- 
 cluding substitutes) one hundred and seventj'-eight men for the war, 
 eight of whom were commissioned oRicers — this being a surplus of thir- 
 teen over and above demands ; and she appropriated and expended 
 S20,472 60, this sum being 2 l-ll per cent on tbe valuation of the town, 
 and about $10.67^^ to each inhaoitant in ISiO. Her number of men 
 were in proportion of one for every 10 4-5 of her population at that 
 time. 
 
 From various sources of information we learn that the number of 
 Sterling boys who had active part in the contest was at least one liun- 
 dred and sixty two. Fifty-four of these belonged to Company K, Fifty- 
 third Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers. To more than thirty of this 
 entire number their enlistment and service meant death; some fell in 
 the strife, some died in hospitals from wounds and sickness and others 
 came home bearing in their systems the seeds of fatal diseases sown 
 therein by hardships and exposures. One more point of review. Sum- 
 ming up the work of our Relief Society, we have a record of thirty-seven 
 barrels, vaUied at sixty dollara each, and five boxes containing smaller 
 quantities sent forth on their comforting missions ; these were filled with 
 such various articles as our hospitals required — ours were not less than 
 forty-eight in kind —and they were the free will offeringsof women anx- 
 ious to bear their part of the heavy burdens imposed by the struggle for 
 national life. 
 
 The Soldiers' Monument, commemorating the hon- 
 ored dead, was erected in 18(36. 
 
 It was dedicated by appropriate ceremonies on the 
 ]7th of June. The services, on account of the rain, 
 were held in the church near by, and were as ibliows: 
 Organ voluntary and singing by the choir; prayer was 
 offered by Rev. A. S. Nickerson ; an eloquent and 
 highly appropriate address was delivered by Rev. 
 George Pumam, D.D., of Roxbury ; a i>oem by Miss 
 Esther K. Waite, and the following by Mrs. Mary S. 
 Rugg, were each read on the occasion. 
 
 The assemblage of people was very large, filling the 
 church to its utmost capacity. 
 
 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 While the summer breeze is sighing 
 
 Through the groves in beauty lying, 
 
 And swift-winged birds dart through the trees, 
 
 Pouring fortb their sweet melodies, 
 
 We have gathered, friends and neighbors, 
 
 We have left our cares and labors. 
 
 And, looking back o'er by-gone years. 
 
 Would pay our tribute mid our tears. 
 
 But what tribute shall we pay ? 
 
 For when to speak onr tongues essay. 
 
 The grand story of devotion 
 
 Fills our souls with strong emotion. 
 We heard the cry ring o'er our land, — 
 " Freedom must live ! Lend every hand !" 
 And with rapt gaze we then did see 
 Self-sacrifice to our country. 
 
 In the work-shop, upon the farm. 
 Was heard the cry and the alarm ; » 
 
 And our young men rose in their might 
 And rushed unwavering to the fight. 
 They thought of Anderson's starving band. 
 With those supplies so near at hand ; 
 And then the story of that ship 
 Sprang forth like fire, from lip to lip. 
 
 They needed not a second call — 
 
 They thought of Sumter's battered wall, — 
 
 How the loved ensign of the free 
 
 Was trailed in dust by treachery ; 
 
 And this spirit, breathing higher. 
 
 Never once lost its patriot fire 
 
 Till our grand army, full, replete. 
 
 Bade treason lie down at its feet. 
 
 Thus they left us— left here and there — 
 Left in our homes a vacant chair ; 
 And our hearts were so full of i>ain 
 We felt we should see ihem ne'er again. 
 Yet even then, when we could but cry. 
 We knew it was duty thus to fly ; 
 And we raised to God the earnest prayer, 
 0, watch them, guard them, ever there. 
 
 And some came not; the tidings flew 
 
 From camp and field, the whole war through,— 
 
 Over our bills and valleys wide — 
 
 That some loved soldier there had died. 
 
 And we wept at others' sorrow. 
 
 Wept, and dreaded each tomorrow. 
 
 Lest its coming to us might bring 
 
 As deep and dark a sorrowing. 
 
 How well they fought, how nobly fell, 
 The records of the war shall tell ; 
 One strain of trutli is breathed about. 
 In duty's path their lamps went out. 
 
 Yet one I there was — we knew him well, — 
 
 No words there need from me to tell 
 
 How virtue and truth with courage vied, 
 
 And by his blood were sanctified. 
 
 Ah ! three swift years to-day have fled, 
 
 Since he was counted with the dead. 
 
 The battle raged with terrific power. 
 
 Gloom hung o'er that awful hour ; 
 
 Then to those men the dread word flew, 
 
 ** The works must be stormed at once by you." 
 
 0, then was need of courage rare ! 
 Forgetting every wound and scar, 
 His face all glowing with a light 
 Reflected from the dreadful sight, 
 He raised aloft hie flashing blade, 
 ** Come 00, my boys, come on," he said- 
 God drew aside the sacred shield 
 That saved his life on many a field — 
 And, rushing up that parapet, 
 The sun of his life grandly set. 
 
 1 Captain Charles Goss, son of William Goss, member of 2lBt Mass. 
 Regiment, killed near Petersburg, Va., June 17, 1804. The adjutant- 
 general's report says : "Brave ofticers went ahead, among whom was 
 Captain Charles Goss, who, in that terrible moment of trial, brought 
 out all the resources of his soul, proved and tempered in more than 
 twenty battles of this war." "A noble courage filled him."* *' H« 
 seemed to forget the times when he had been wounded 'nigh unto 
 death,' and when the line was well formed and advancing nobly, he 
 fell never to rise again till a louder trumpet summon him than was 
 sounded for that advance." 
 
502 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 A moment more — can I forbear 
 To Itty one flower on another's bier ? — 
 One ^ wlioBe life, for hie comrade given. 
 Has a record, we know, in heaven. 
 
 A soldier's life was ebbing fa«t, 
 lie felt each moment might be his last ; 
 "MIflp ! " he cried, " is there none to yield 
 OrieUind hand on this bloody field ? " 
 Our brother heard tluit fainting cry ; ' 
 The voice of i)ity Bounded high. 
 Thoufih lead around him fell like rain, 
 He would bo true to manhood then ; 
 He reached at length that soldier's side, 
 And brought him furth, then calm'y died; 
 The canDOD'8 roar, the shell's shrill scream. 
 Was that brave brother's requiem. 
 
 We know the valiant Western man, ^ 
 Who fiercely fought in thebattle's van ; 
 South Mountain's war-worn, crimson side 
 Drank the blood when this soldier died. 
 ]Ie was rocked here by bia mother, 
 And wo knew him as our brother ; 
 His tireless spirit, spurning rest, 
 Turned to the vigorous, thriving West ; 
 He learned to love his country free 
 On prairies boundless as the sea ; 
 And, diiuking deep nf inspiration, 
 He gave his life to save the nation. 
 
 And could I here in this poor rhyme 
 Eecount the many deeds snblime, 
 Justice and honor still would say. 
 But mean and meagre is the lay. 
 Ah ! fond memories, fraught with pain^ 
 Come thronging o'er me once again, 
 And the red path that war has trod, 
 Like Jacob's ladder, reaches God. 
 Angels bright are now descending, 
 This, their song, in music blending, — 
 
 " Greater love can there never be 
 Than dying for humanity." 
 Do we weep that they are dead, 
 When g'ory circles o'er each head? 
 Death ! death >• What is it we call death ? 
 It is but yielding up our breath ; 
 Earth, reaching forth to take her own. 
 The life immortal just begun. 
 
 Where are these, our warrior brothers? 
 Ah ! they ait here with the others ; 
 Only could tlje veil be drawn. 
 We should see them every one. 
 We should see them in their places. 
 We should know their radiant faces, 
 All gleaming with celestial truth, 
 And their forms of immortal youth. 
 
 In their deep and heavenly eyes 
 Mingled wonder and gladness lies ; 
 They Bce the wrong by which they died. 
 And now our country purified ; 
 And as the freedman walks right on 
 Into his future, shot with sun. 
 Clasp we this truth close to our heart : 
 In freedom's war each bore his part. 
 
 As the lily, of purest white, 
 Spreads fair petals to the light. 
 Springing from the darkest water, — 
 Beauteous summer's fairest daughter,— 
 
 1 Lyman Broad, son of Krastus Broad, member of GTth Mass. Regi- 
 ment, killed while bringing olT on his shoulder a wounded, bleeding 
 comrade, whose life ho saved while he lost his own. 
 
 2 George H. Richardson, sun of Deacon Wm. B. Richardson, member 
 of 19th Indiana Reginnint, enlisted August .'iO, 18G2, and fell at the bat- 
 tle of South Mountain September 14, 18G2. 
 
 So aspiration, sad and lone, 
 Hoping, praying, all unknown, 
 In these lives so free laid down, 
 Passed triumphant to her crown. 
 
 While the silent earth is keeping 
 All that's mortal of the sleeping, 
 Resting still in her close embrace, 
 Here and there, in many a place, 
 We have thought to raise some token 
 To these lives abruptly broken, 
 Thatshall speak till stone shall crumble, 
 Of those lives so grandly humble. 
 Enduring granite we have brought, 
 Hewu and fashioned as we ought ; 
 And, rising now mid summer's beauty. 
 Our monument to love and duty. 
 
 Rest, then, embalmed and sainted dead ! 
 Where valor lifts her radiant head, 
 And reaching to God's white throne, 
 Clasps hands with faith, and they are one. 
 Hark ! triumphant bells are ringing I 
 Celestial choirs, too, are singing. 
 While these blest words out spirits greet,— 
 '* Behold the sacrifice complete." 
 
 The Major James A. Pratt Post, of the Grand Army 
 of the Republic, was organized July 6, 1868, wilh ttn 
 charter members. The whole number of member-* 
 belonging to the post since its organization is sixty- 
 seven. The present number of members is forty-two. 
 The post has received into its treasury, from various 
 sources, the sum of Ihirty-eight hundred dollars, 
 and has expended the sum of thirty-three hundred 
 dollars, twenty-five per cent, of which has been for 
 charitable purposes. 
 
 A very convenient Grand Army Hall has been 
 fitted up in the old brick school-house, the free use of 
 which is granted to the post by the town. 
 
 Industries. — Sterling is almost exclusively a farm- 
 ing town. Owing to the absence of an abundant 
 water-power, the town has never been favored to any 
 great extent with those mechanical and manufac- 
 turing industries which have given such vigorous 
 growth to adjoining towns. The only considerable 
 manufacturing concern at the present time is the 
 Wachusett Pottery and Sterling Emery Wheel Co. at 
 West Sterling. The company has here quite an ex- 
 tensive phint, using for power either steam or water. 
 The business was established and formerly carried 
 on by M. L. Snow, now of Saji Bernardino, Cal. The 
 company has an invested capital of forty thousand 
 dollars. In the pottery department the manufacture is 
 chiefly confined to plain and fancy flower-pots. The an- 
 nual sales in this line are about twelve thousand dollars. 
 The goods are sold mostly in the New England State?. 
 The emery wheel department is much the larger — 
 the annual sales amounting to about forty-eight thou- 
 sand dollars. The goods are largely shipped direct to 
 New York, where the company has a wholesale and 
 a retail establishment. Twenty-two men are employed 
 in the business. 
 
 The chair business is carried on to a very limited 
 extent as compared with former years. Mr. Edward 
 Burpee, who has carried on the business for fifty years, 
 
STERLING. 
 
 503 
 
 is still the principal manufacturer. He employs now 
 only three or four hanch. Mr. Elisha Stuart also and 
 Mr. Edwin Stevenson are in the business, but the 
 amount of their production is not, at the present time, 
 very extensive. Aside from these the pursuit of the 
 people is agriculture alone. 
 
 Formerly, before the use of machinery propelled 
 by water or steam-power, when all kinds of manufac- 
 tured articles were produced by hand-labor, the state 
 of things was altogether difterent. It may surprise 
 some persons to be told that, three-quarters of a cen- 
 tury ago. Sterling was a leading manufacturing town 
 in the county. Yet such was the fact. The principal 
 article of manufacture tbtn, as now, was chairs; but 
 the amount of production was more than ten times 
 greater. Over a large section of the town a chair- 
 shop was connected witli many a farm. There was a 
 turning-lathe on almost every brook, and the forests 
 abounded with pine, birch and maple— the material 
 chiefly used — which, in being converted into chairs, 
 gave profitable employment to the young men, built 
 up the population, and gave life, energy and thrift to 
 the inhabitants. Among the leading chair-makers, 
 who made a success of the business and accumulated 
 respectable fortunes, were such men as Gilson Brown, 
 Joel Pratt, Benjamin Stuart, Nehemiah Pierson, 
 Samuel Houghton and Eli Kilburn ; and, of a later 
 generation, we may add James W. Fitch and Edward 
 Burpee. At the period of which we write there were 
 various other trades besides, in which portions of the 
 people were employed. The coopering business was 
 an item of some importance. The two principal men 
 engaged in it were Mr. Silas Wilder and Captain John 
 Davis. There was a large demand lor cider barrels, 
 and the trade was remunerative. Plows and hay- 
 forks were manufactured in the north part of the town 
 by Mr. Silas W. Arnold. These articles of Mr. Ar- 
 nold's make were decided improvements upon those 
 previously in use. They were of belter finish, more 
 evenly balanced, and could be more effectively 
 handled by the farmer. But, in the rapid march of 
 improvement, they have long since given place to 
 others of more artistic construction. A large number 
 of shoemakers found constant employment in supply- 
 ing the demand for boots and shoes. Shoe stores 
 were unknown outside the populous city, and the 
 supply of these needful articles for all classes was fur- 
 nished, by special order, at the shoe-shop. But the 
 manufacture often exceeded the demand for home 
 consumption, and the surplus found sale in Boston. 
 
 The manufacture of hats by Blood & Rice was quite 
 extensive for a period of twenty-five or thirty years, 
 and gave employment to forty or more persons, in- 
 cluding some females. The amount of annual sales 
 was said to be about forty-five thousand dollars- 
 About seventeen thousand fur and felt hats was the 
 annual production, the larger part of which was sold 
 in Southern markets. 
 
 Scythe snaths of excellent quality were made iu the 
 
 south part of the town by Silas Limson & Sons. 
 Lamson's snaths were very popular, and much in de- 
 mand by farmers. The annual sales amounted to ten 
 thousand dollars. Owing to the scarcity of ash timber 
 Mr. Lamson rrmoved to the western part of the State 
 in 1833, where he increased the business to something 
 like two hundred thousand dollars per year. With 
 the advent of mowing-machines the sales were very 
 much diminished. 
 
 All articles of clothing were the result of domestic 
 manufacture. The raw material, such as flax, cotton 
 and wool, was spun and woven into cloth, the cloth 
 dyed and made into garments for each member of a 
 household by the females of the family. 
 
 But with the introduction of labor-saving machin- 
 ery came a change in the employments of our peo- 
 ple. Owing to a want of .sufficient water-power all 
 these mechanical industries had to be abandoned 
 here, and were transferred to those towns having 
 greater natural facilities for their prosecution on a 
 grander and broader scale. 
 
 Hence farming became, many years ago, the chief 
 pursuit of the people. But agriculture, like every 
 other human industry, is subject to change and im- 
 provement, and surely no occupation requires greater 
 practical and scientific knowledge for its successful 
 execution. 
 
 For a hundred years following the first settlement 
 of the town but little was accomplished in the way of 
 farming beyond the clearing of the land, the enlarge- 
 ment of the area of cultivation, and the production 
 of an abundant supply of everything necessary to a 
 comfortable existence. Good living and contented- 
 ness was the characteristic of our ancestors. In their 
 homespun they were independent, peaceful and 
 happy. 
 
 About the year 1820 an important change is to be 
 noted in the farming industry of the town. Pre- 
 viously there was comparatively but little money in 
 circulation. There were neither banks nor markets 
 at which the farmer could sell his surplus products. 
 A Mr. Weatherly, of Marlborough, who had started 
 the enterprise of running a weekly two-horse market- 
 wagon to Boston from his own vicinity, now extended 
 his business to" the easterly part of this town, inducing 
 some of the leading farmers to turn their attention to 
 the making of butter, putting it up neatly in one- 
 pound lumps, in boxes holding from twelve to thirty 
 pounds each. He was soon followed by Mr. Wilkins, 
 also from Marlborough, and by Mr. Randal of Prince- 
 ton. The advent of these marketmen wrought a 
 remarkable change in the farming interest in the 
 town. Dairying, or butter-making, soon became the 
 leading business ; but not butter alone, but veal, pork, 
 poultry, fruit, vegetables, and whatever else of a like 
 nature the farm produced, found, through these mar- 
 ketmen, a ready sale in Boston, and brought a sure 
 and quick return id cash the following week. This 
 change led to important improvements in farm man- 
 
504 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 agement, and also to a neater and more comely 
 appearance of the general surroundings. The hay 
 crop now became the chief object in the cultivation 
 of the land, and was considered the most valuable 
 production of the farm. Whether wisely or unwisely, 
 sheep husbandry fell into discredit, and was soon 
 entirely abandoned. 
 
 During this period, which continued nearly forty 
 years, the productiveness of the farms was greatly 
 increased, money became more plenty, many farmers 
 freed themselves from debt and secured positions of 
 financial ease and independence. 
 
 This season of prosperity was followed by another 
 change in the farming interest of the town. Since 
 1850 Sterling has enjoyed the advantage of three 
 different lines of railroad — the Worcester and Nashua 
 (now leased to the Boston and Maine R.R. Co.), the 
 Worcester and Fitchburg, and the Boston, Clinton 
 and Fitchburg. The two last are combined under 
 the name of the Old Colony Northern Division. 
 These lines of railroad afford direct communication 
 with Boston, Worcester and Fitchburg three times 
 daily. With the incoming of these swift messengers 
 between town and city, the traditional stage-coach 
 and the tardy market-wagon became obsolete and 
 useless. All transportation was now by railroads, and 
 this circumstance rendered possible the selling of 
 milk in the Boston market, which privilege the 
 farmers gradually availed themselves of, until now 
 that article is the principal farm-product sold in the 
 market. The daily average number of cans sold is 
 estimated at one thousand. The average price per 
 can at the railroad station is twenty-six cents the 
 present year. The annual income to the citizens on 
 this basis of calculation would amount to nearly or 
 quite one hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 Fruit-raising is an important branch of farm in- 
 dustry. For the last thirty years the farmers of Ster- 
 ling have given increased attention to this subject, 
 until the production has assumed giant proportions. 
 There are many orchards which, in favorable years, 
 like the present, produce from one hundred to one 
 thousand barrels of the choicest varieties of apples. 
 Prominent among these is the Baldwin. But the R. 
 I. Greening, the Roxbury Russet, the Northern Spy, 
 the Palmer and the Gravenstein are profusely culti- 
 vated as especial favorites. Peal's are raised in variety, 
 but not to a great extent as a market crop. 
 
 The Farmers' Club. — The Sterling Farmers' 
 Club had its birth on the evening ot the 12th of 
 November, 1857. It had a noble parentage; but 
 most of the original members have passed on to 
 their reward. We recall their venerable, manly 
 forms, the genial expression of their countenances 
 and the words of wisdom and experience which fell 
 from their lips. 
 
 Pursuant to public notice, a meeting of the citi- 
 zens was held, and after being duly organized, a com- 
 mittee appointed for the purpose presented a consti- 
 
 tution, which was unanimously adopted. ^The first 
 article declares that the as-ociation shall be called 
 the Sterling Farmers' Club. The second defines 
 the object in the these words : " Its object shall be 
 to promote the interests of agriculture and the wel- 
 fare of the farmer and disseminate such knowledge, 
 practical and scientific, as shall conduce to that 
 end." 
 
 Another article prescribes the order of business at 
 each meeting as follows: "There shall be a meet- 
 ing of the club once a fortnight, and at such meet- 
 ing a discussion upon a topic previously announced, 
 which shall be commenced by four members desig- 
 nated .at a previous meeting by the presiding officer, 
 and such other exercises as the club shall deem 
 proper." Fifty-one gentlemen signed the constitu- 
 tion and at once became members. For more than 
 twenty years the meetings of the club were well 
 attended, its discussions carried on with earnestness, 
 often with enthusiasm, and much practical informa- 
 tion diffused among its members. 
 
 The work of the club has been educational in an 
 eminent degree. By the discussion of the multitudi- 
 nous questions of farm interest it has awakened 
 thought, led to inquiry, investigation, experiment 
 and practical knowledge. It has encouraged enter- 
 prise and promoted improvement in methods of farm 
 work. In a social way, also, it has had a beneficent 
 infiuence. With the exception of two years during 
 the late war it has held its annual cattle-shows and 
 exhibitions. Among those who have given addresses 
 on these occasions are the Hon. Charles L. Flint, of 
 Boston ; the late Hon. John A. Goodwin, of Lowell ; 
 the late Rev. George Putnam, D.D., of Roxbury and 
 the present Secretary of War, the Hon. William C. 
 Endicott, ofSalem. 
 
 Another instrumentality designed to promote the 
 welfare of the farmer and the farmer's family is 
 that of the order of the Patrons of Husbandry, 
 which has been a successful experiment in this 
 town. " The Sterling Grange, No. 53, Patrons of 
 Husbandry," was organized in April, 1874. In 
 some of its methods of operation it varies from the 
 Farmers' Club, but is not, in any sense, in conflict 
 with it. The objects of the two associations are 
 identical. The Sterling Grange at the present time 
 is an active force and has a membership of sixty 
 persons. 
 
 The Centennial. — The centennial anniversary 
 of the incorporation of the town was observed on the 
 15th of June, 1881. The subject was brought up be- 
 fore the town, informally, at the annual town-meet- 
 ing in November, 1879, and a committee was ap- 
 pointed to take the matter into consideration and 
 report at a future meeting. The committee reported 
 at the annual meeting in March following in favor of 
 a suitable observance of the event, which report was 
 unanimously accepted, and a Centennial Committee 
 was chosen and empowered to make all necessary 
 
STERLING. 
 
 505 
 
 arrangements therefor. The committee consisted of 
 the following persons: Samuel Osgood, Captain Eli 
 Kilburn, Dr. William D, Peck, Ezra Sawyer, Esq., 
 Mr. William H. Burpee. Captain Kilburn, owing to 
 the infirmities of age, declined to serve and Mr. 
 Charles H. Loring was chosen in his stead. 
 
 The committee held frequent meetings during the 
 summer and winter following, and made such ar- 
 rangements as were deemed proper. An act was 
 procured from the Legislature of 1880 authorizing 
 the town to raise money by taxation to an amount not 
 exceeding five hundred dollars, for commemorating the 
 centennial anniversary of its incorporation and for 
 publishing the doings of the celebration. The anni- 
 versary of incorporation occurred on the 25th of 
 April, but on account of probable bad traveling and 
 unpleasant weather at ihat time the celebration was 
 postponed until the 15th of June, when it to k place 
 according to the following 
 
 PKOGHAMME. 
 
 1781. 1881. 
 
 Bells wore rung and Salntes fired at Sunrise, at Noon and at Sunset. 
 At 9^ o'clock A. M. a Procession was formed under the direction of 
 Chief Maislial, Capt. P. T. K. Burpee, in the following order: 
 A platoon of Police 
 Fitchburg Cornet Band. 
 Maj. James A. Post, No. 59, G. A. R. 
 Town Officers and Invited Guests in carriages. 
 Fire Company. 
 The Sterling Grange. 
 Representatives of Ancient and Modern Costumes. 
 The School Children. 
 Tho Citizens in carriages and on foot. 
 Route of Procession — through the principal sti-eets to the Unitarian 
 Church. 
 Th« exercises in the Church, commencing at 11 o'clock, were : 
 Voluntary on the Organ, 
 lat —Prayer by Rev. Henry P. Cutting. 
 2d. — Hymn by the Centennial Choir under the direction of Prof. Birney 
 
 Mann. 
 3d. — 3Iusic by the Band. 
 
 4th. — The following Address of W'elcome by the Chairman of the Cen- 
 tennial Committee: 
 
 Friends and Fellotp Citizens: 
 
 We have assembled on this beautiful June morning to observe In a 
 fitting manner the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Incorporation 
 of the Town of Sterling. 
 
 As tlie Ciiairman of the town's Centennial Committee it becomes my 
 pleasant duty, in behalf of the town, to extend to you all asiuceie and 
 hearty welcome to the joys and festivities of this occasion. 
 
 To-day Sterling extends her hand in cordial greeting to all her 
 friends and to all her sons and daughters from far and from near, and 
 bids them "welcome home " — welcome to her hills and valleys— to her 
 green fields and to her many homes smiling in peace and plenty — whose 
 doors are open to receive you. 
 
 And may it prove a benediction and a blessing to us all, that leaving 
 our cares and labors and anxieties behind us, we have gathered here at 
 the old homestead to revive the fond recollections of earlier years, and 
 exchange friendly greetings amid the familiar scenes of our childhood 
 and youth. 
 
 One Hundred years ago, on the 25th day of April, this rural town, 
 then known as tlie Second Precinct of Lancaster, was, by an Act of the 
 Legislature, invested with all the rights and privileges and duties of a 
 town, and took her place among her sister towns in the Comuu-nwealth 
 aa the town of Sterling. 
 
 One Hundred yearsl As a grain of sand on the globe, so is a Cen- 
 tury in the Cycles of time. But as compared with human life, it is a 
 long perioil and most wonderful are the changes that are wrought 
 therein. 
 
 As a suitable introduction to the exercises that are to follow, I will 
 
 now call upon our much respected fellow-townsman, Dr. William D. 
 
 Peck, to read the Act of Incorporation. 
 
 5th.— Centennial Address, by Willinm yrederick Holcombe, M.D., of 
 
 New York, a native of the town. 
 6th.— Hymn. 
 
 7th, — Music by the Band. 
 8th.— Auid Lang Syne, sung by Choir and Audience. 
 
 At the close of the eserci'^es in the Church, which 
 was completely filled, dinner was served in a tent on 
 the Common by Augustus Marrs, caterer of Worcester, 
 and was followed by toasts and speeches by di-tinguish- 
 ed speakers, and the reading of letters and poems. 
 
 In the Town Hall there was a display of portraits 
 and photographs of past and present inhabitants of 
 the town, antique articles and interesting relics. 
 
 In the evening there was an illumination, and fire- 
 works on the Common, accompanied by music by the 
 band. 
 
 TOWN OFFICERS SINCF, 1794. 
 
 1793._Selectmen, John Robbins, Joel Pratt, Silas Roper, Timothy 
 Kilburn, Moses Smith. 
 
 1794.— Town Clerk, Moses Smith. 
 
 17(15. —Town Clerk, Moaes Smith; Selectmen, John Robbins, Timothy 
 Kilburn, Moses Smith, Joel Pratt, Silas Roper; Aw-essors, Jolin Rob- 
 bins, MosesSmith, Silas Roper ; Representative to General Court, Ed- 
 ward Raymond, Esq. 
 
 1^71(0. — Town Clerk, Moses Smith; Selectmen, John Robbins, Moses 
 Smith, Joel Pratt, Timothy Kilburn, Silas Roper; Assessors, Robert B. 
 Thomas, Moses Smith, John Robbins ; Representative to the General 
 Court, Edward Raymond, Esq. 
 
 17;>7. — Town Clerk, Moses Smith ; Selectmen, John Robbins, Timothy 
 Kilburn, John Snow, Rob^ B. Thomas, Ebenezer Buss, Jr. ; Assessors, 
 John Snow, John Robbing, Rob'. B. Thomas; School Committee, Israel 
 Allen, M.D., John Barnard, M.D , Samuel Clark. 
 
 1708.— Town Clerk, Moses Smith ; Selectmen, Timothy Kilburn, 
 Rob'. B. Thomas, John Snow, Aaron Kimbal, Andrew Putnam ; Asses- 
 sors, Josiah Kendall, John Snow, ,4aron Kimbal; School Committee, 
 Israel Allen, John Barnard, Rob'. B. Thomas, Jolin Robbins, Mosee 
 Smith ; Representative to the General Court, William Putnam. 
 
 1799. — Town Clerk, Moses Smith; Selectmen, John Snow, John Rob- 
 bins, Rob'. B. Thomas, Joseph Palmer, Silas Buss ; Assessors, John Snow, 
 John Robbins, Joseph Palmer; School Committee, Rob*. B. Thomas, 
 Israel Allen, Moses Smith, John Barnard, Luther Allen. 
 
 180('.— Town Clerk, Moses Smith ; Selectmen, Joseph Palmer, Silas 
 Buss, Rob'. B. Thomas, John Robbins, Samuel Sawyer ; Assessors, Rob'. 
 B. Thomas, Joseph Palmer, Samuel Sawyer; School Committee, John 
 Robbins, Ismel Allen, Rob'. B. Thomas, John Barnard, Luther Allen; 
 Representative to the General Court, Benjamin Richardson, Esq. 
 
 1801.— Town Clerk, Moses Smith; Selectmen, RolA B. Thomas, Jo- 
 seph Palmer, Silas Buss, Samuel Sawyer, Paul Bailey ; Assessors, Rob'. 
 B. Thomas, Joseph Palmer, Samuel Sawyer ; School Conmiittee, Dr. 
 Israel Allen, Luther Allen, Rob'. B. Tlionias, John Barnard, Isaac 
 Story ; Representative to the General Court, Dr. Israel Allen. 
 
 1802.— Town Clerk, Moses Smith ; Selectmen, Joseph Palmer, Samuel 
 Sawyer, Paul Bailey, Joseph Pierson, John Pcrter ; Assessors, Joseph 
 Palmer, Paul Bailey, Samuel Sawyer ; School Committee, Pearson Ken- 
 dall, Israel Allen, Thomas H. Blood, Luther Allen, John Barnard ; 
 Representative to the General Court, Dr. Israel Allen. 
 
 1803. — Town Clerk, Moses Smith ; Selectmen, Samuel Sawyer, Paul 
 Bailey, Joseph Palmer, Joseph Pierson, John Porter ; Assessors, Joseph 
 Palmer, Samuel Sawyer, Paul Bailey ; School Committee, Pierson Ken- 
 dall, Israel Allen, John Barnard, Luther Allen Tho". H. Blood; Repre- 
 sentative to the General Court, Dr. Israel Allen. 
 
 1804.— Town Clerk, Moses Smith ; Selectmen, Paul Bailey. Samuel 
 Sawyer, Joseph Pierson, John Porter, Barth^. Bniwn ; Assessors, Pauj 
 Bailey, Samuel Sawyer, Joseph Piffrson ; Schocd Committee, Dr. Israel 
 Allen, John Robbins, Tho^. H. Blood, Earth'. Brown, Pierson Kendall ; 
 Representative to the General Court, Dr. Isia^-l Allen. 
 
 1805.— Town Clerk, Moses Smith ; Selectmen, Paul Bailey, Joseph 
 Pierson, Earth*. Brown, Tho*. H, Blood, John Buss; Assessors, Paul 
 Bailey, Joseph Pierson, Bartholomew Brown ; School Committee, Israel 
 Allen, Piei-sou Kendall, Thos. H. Blood, Barth"". Brown, Rob*. B. 
 Thomas; Representative to the General Court, Dr. Israel Allen. 
 
506 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 1806.— Town Clerk, Moses Smith : Selectmen, Paul Bailey, Joseph 
 
 Pierson, Tlio». H. Blood, Bart". Brown, John Buss ; Assessors, Paul 
 Bailey, Joseph Pierson, Barf^. Brown ; School Connnitlee, Israel Al- 
 len, Bart. Brown, T. H. Blood, Pierson Kendall, David Willard (3^), 
 Rob*. B. Thomas, Sam'. Sawyer; Kepresentatives to the General Court, 
 Dr. Israel Allen, Rev. Ruben Holcomb. 
 
 1807.— Town Clerk, Moses Smith; Selectmen, Paul Bailey, Bartr 
 Brown, T. II. Blood, John Buss, Moses Thomas; School Committee, 
 Bartholomew Brown, T. H. Blood, Luther Allen, David Willard (S"*), 
 Sami. Sawyer, Israel Allen, J. Robblus ; Representative to the General 
 Court, Dr. Israel Allen. 
 
 1S08.— Town Clerk, Moses Smith ; Selectmen, Paul Bailey, Moses 
 Thomas, John Buss, Harrison Wilder, Jesse Dana ; Aesessore, Paul 
 Bailey, Moses Thomas, Jesse Dana; School Committee, B. Brown, P. 
 Kendall, T. H. Blood, L. Allen. Joseph Gary, M. Thomas, Israel Allen, 
 Paul Bailey ; Representative to the General Court, Dr. Israel Allen. 
 
 1809. — Town Clerk, Mosoa Smith ; Selectmen, Paul Bailey, Jesse 
 Dana, Harrison Wilder, James Wilder, Gideon Beaman ; Assessors- 
 Paul Bailey, Moses Suiitli, Samuel Sawyer; School Committee, Israel 
 Allen, Luther Allen, Tho'. H. Blood, Pierdon Kendall, Bartholomew 
 Brown ; Representatives to the General Courts, Dr. Israel Allen & 
 Bartholomew Brown, Esq. 
 
 1810. — Town Clerk, Moses Smith ; Selectmen, James Wilder, Gideon 
 Beaman, Sarni. Sawyer, Thomas Sawyer, Elijah Houghton ; Assessors, 
 Paul Bailey, Samuel Sawyer, Moses Smith; School Committee, Luther 
 Allen, Pierson Kendall, Josejih Geary, Luther Rugg, Paul Bailey; 
 RepreBtntatives to the General Court, Dr. Israel Allen, Samuel Saw- 
 yer. 
 
 1811.— Town Clerk, Mosos Smith ; Selectmen, Sanii. Sawyer, James 
 Wilder, Gideon Beaman, Thomas Sawyer, Elijah Houghton ; Assessors, 
 Samuel Sawyer, Elijah Houghton, .Tames Wilder; School Committee, 
 Luther Allen, Pierson Kendall, T. H. Blood, Isaac Goodwin, Josepli 
 Geary ; Representatives to the General Court, James Wilder, Samuel 
 Sawyer. 
 
 1812. — Town Clerk, Moses Smith ; Selectmen, Samuel Sawyer, Gideon 
 Beaman, Thoma« Sawyer, Elijah Houghton, Benj. Bailey; Assessors, 
 Samuel Sawyer, Elijah Houghton, Joseph Pierson ; School Committee, 
 Pierson Kendall, Luther Kugg, Sam'. Sawyer, Jon*. Wilder, T. H. 
 Blood, I. Goodwin, L. Allen ; Representatives to the General Court, 
 Samuel Sawyer, James Wilder. 
 
 1813.— Town Clerk, Luther Allen ; Selectmen, Elijah Houghton, 
 Gideon Beaman, Benj. Bailey, Isaac Goodwin, Putnam Sawyer; Asses- 
 sors, Samuel Sawyer, Elijah Houghton, Sawyer Wilder; School Com- 
 mittee, I. Goodwin, T. H. Blood, Moses Sawyer, Luther Allen, P. 
 Kendall, Sam'. S.iwyer, Dr. I. Allen ; Representatives to the General 
 Court, Samuel Sawyer, Thoma!j H Blood. 
 
 1814— Town Clerk, Luther Allen ; Selectmen, Elijah Houghton, 
 Benj. Bailey, Isaac Goodwin, Putnam Sawyer, Luther Rugg ; Asses- 
 sors, Samuel Sawyer, E»ijah Houghton & Sawyer Wilder; School Com- 
 mittee, Dr. Israel Allen, Isaac Goodwin. Luther Allen, Benj. Fairbanks, 
 Luther Rugg, Dr. P. Kendall, T. H. Bloocl ; Representatives to the 
 General Court, Thomas H. Bli>od, Samuel Sawyer. 
 
 1815. — Town Clerk, Moses Sawyer; Selectmen, T/uther Rugg, Jon*. 
 Wilder, Silas Howe, Francis Butterick, Moses Sawyer; Assessors, Saw- 
 yer Wilder, Luther Rugg, Joseph Palnifr; School Committee, Isaac 
 Goodwin, Israel Allen, Moses Sawyer, Piei-son Kendall, TIio". II. Blood; 
 Representatives to the General Court, Thomas 11. Blood, James Wilder. 
 
 181G. — Town Clerk, Moses Sawyer; Selectmen, Luther Rugg, Silas 
 Howe, Francis Butterick, Jow^. Wilder, Moses Sawyer; Assessors, Saw- 
 yer Wilder, Luther Rugg, Nathan Waite ; School Committee, Isaac 
 Goodwin, Luther Allen, Moses Sawyer, Israel Allen, Tho". H, Blood ; 
 Representatives to the General Court, James Wilder, Samuel Sawyer; 
 Senator from Sterling, Thomas H. Blood. 
 
 1817- Town Clerk, Luther Allen; Selectmen, Jon» Wilder, Francis 
 Butterick, Samuel Cunant, Thomas Wright, Ebn^ Pope, Jr. ; Assessors, 
 Luther Rvigg, Sawyer Wilder, Nathan Waite; School Committee, Moses 
 Sawyer, Jonf^. Wilder, T. II. Blood, Isaac Goodwin, Luther Allen ; Rep- 
 resentative to the General Court, ; Senator from Sterling, 
 
 Thomas H. Blood. 
 
 1818.— Town Clerk, Luther Allen; Selectmen, Samuel Conaut, Thomas 
 Wright, Siepiien Hast ngs ; Overseers of the Poor, Luther Kugg, Jona- 
 than Wilder, Samuel Sawyer; Assessors. Luther Rugg, Nuthan Waite. 
 Moses Sawyer; School Committee, Isaac Goodwin, David Wilder, Lutlier 
 Allen, Tlio». H. Blood, Luther Rugg; Representatives to the General 
 Court, Samuel Sawyer, James Wilder. 
 
 1819.— Town Clerk, Luther Allen: Selectmen, Samuel Conant, Thomas 
 
 Wright, Stephen Hastings, T. H. Blood, Ebn', Pope, Jr. ; Assessors, Luther 
 Rugg, Nathan Waite, Mo&esSawyei, John R ibbins, Isaac Goodwin; School 
 Committee, Isaac Goodwin, David Wilder, Luther Allen, T. II. Blood, 
 Luther Rugg, Moses Sawyer, Jon^ Wilder, Samuel Conant, Dr. P. T. 
 Kendall, Nath'. Lewis, Josiali Kendall, Jr., Rufus Hastings, Samuel 
 Sawyer, Eph". Nelson, Ebn'. Pope, Jr; Representatives to the General 
 Court, James Wilder, Samuel Sawyer, Esq. 
 
 1820. — Town Clerk, Manassoh Bailey ; Selectmen, John Porter, Fran- 
 cis Butterick, John Davis; Assessors, Joseph Pierson, Joseph Palmer, 
 Jonathan Wilder; School Committee, the same that served last year; 
 Representative t»> the General Court, Samuel Sawyer, Esq ; Delegates to 
 the Constitutional Convention, Tliomas H. Blood and John Bobbins. 
 
 1821. — Town Clerk, Manasseh Bailey; Selectmen, John Porter, John 
 Davis, Francis Butterick ; Assessors. Joseph Palmer, Josei)h Pierson, 
 Jomitban Wilder; School Committee, Samuel Sawyer, Riifua Hastings, 
 Pliineas B. Dana, David Wilder, Mark Kendall, Angustin Holcomb, 
 Jueiah Kendal!, Jr , Isaac Goodwin, Esq,; Representives to the General 
 Court, Col. James Wilder and Luther Rugg. 
 
 1822. — Town Clerk, Luther AUer. ; Selectmen, J>.hn Robbins, Harrison 
 Wilder, Jamea Kilburn; Assessur--?, Moses Sawyer, Luther Rugg, Thomas 
 Wright; Schotd Connnittee, the number chosen this year was 20, con- 
 sisting of former members with two new members, viz.: Ezra Kendall, 
 Jr. and Samuel Sawyer {S"*). 
 
 1S2J.— Town Clerk, Luther Allen ; Selectmen, John Robbins, Harrison 
 Wilder, James Kilburn ; Assessors, Jacob Conant, Jonathan Wilder, Joel 
 Pratt, Jr. ; School Committee, Moses Sawyer, Kufns Hastings, Phineas 
 B. Dana, David Wilder, Mark Kendall, Augusiin Holcomb, Josiah Ken- 
 dall, Jr., Isaac Goodwill, L. Buss, T H. Blood, Luther Allen, J. Wilder, 
 S. Sawyer, S. Conant, N. Lewis, E. Nelson, E. Pope, Jr., Dr. P. T. Ken- 
 dall, Ezra Kendall, Jr., Samuel Sawyer, (:Jd) ; Representatives to the 
 General Court, Luther Rugg, Jamea Wilder, 
 
 1824. — Town Clerk, Luther Allen ; Selectmen, Isaac Goodwin, Thomas 
 Wright, Tyler P. Osgood ; Assessors, Nathan Waite, Luther Rugg, 
 Moses Sawyer ; School Committee, same as last year, except Oliver Blood 
 and Josiah Pope instead of Mark Kendall and L. Buss. 
 
 1S25. — Town Clerk, Luther Allen ; Selectmen, Jacob Conaut, Tyler P. 
 Osgooi, Jonathan Wilder; Assessors, Moses Sawyer, IHoses Thomas, 
 Luther Rugg; School Committee, same as last year--twenty members. 
 
 1826. — Town Clerk, Lutlier Allen ; Selectmen, Jonathan Wilder, Jacob 
 Conant Tyler P. Osgood ; Assessors, Moses Thomas, Moses Sawyer, 
 Luther Rugg ; School Committee, Moses Sawyer, Rufus Hastings, Phineas 
 B. Dana, David Wilder, A. Holcomb, I. Goodwin, L. Rugg T. H. Blood, 
 S. Sawyer (■id), L. Allen, Jon", Wilder, S. Sawyer, Esq., Nalli^. Lewis, 
 Eph"". Nelson, Ehnf^. Pope. P. T. Kendall, Ezra Kendall, Jr., Jot^iuii Pope; 
 Representative to the General Court, Jonathan Wilder. 
 
 1827 — Town Clerk, Luther Allen ; Selectmen, Jonathan Wilder, Jacob 
 Conant, Rufus Hastings, Samuel Sawyer (2d), Nath*. Lewis ; Assessors, 
 Moses Thomas, Moses Sawyer, Luther Rugg ; School Committee, Rev. 
 Peter Osgood, Luther Allen, Alex"". Dustin, Rufus Hastings, Sam*. Sawyer 
 (2d), Ezra Kendall, Jr,, Angustin Holcomb; Representative to the General 
 Courts, JoGathan Wilder, 
 
 1828, — Town Clerk, Luther Allen ; Selectmen, Jacob Conant, Rufus 
 Hastings, Sam*. Sawyer {2dJ, Eli Kilburn, Calvin Wilder ; Assessors, 
 Samuel Sawyer, Phineas B. Dana, Thomas Wright ; School Committee, 
 Rev. Peter Osgood, Luther Allen, Alex'. Dustin, Rufus Hastings, Angus- 
 tin Holcomb, Samuel Sawyer (2d), Ezra Kendall, Jr. ; Representatives to 
 the General Courts, Ebenezer Pope, .Jonathan Wilder. 
 
 1829. — Town Clerk, Luther Allen ; Selectmen, Jacob Conant, David 
 Wilder, Nehemiah Piereon ; Assessors, Thomas Wright, Nathan Waite, 
 David Wilder; Scliool Committee, Rev. Peter Osgood, Alex"". Dustin, 
 Luther Allen, David Wilder, Samuel Sawyer (2d), Augnstin Holcomb, 
 Ezra Kendall ; Representatives to the Geueral Court, Jacob Conant, 
 Tbomas Wright. 
 
 1830. — Town Clerk, Luther Allen ; Selectmen, Jacob Conant, David 
 Wilder, Nehemiah Pierson ; Assessors, Thomas Wright, David Wilder, 
 Nathan Waite; School Conmiittee, Rev. Peter Osgood, Luther Allen, 
 Alex'. Dustin, Sam', Sawyer (2d), Angustin Holcomb, David Wilder, 
 Ezra Kendall, ' 
 
 1831.— Town Clerk, Luther Allen; Selectmen, 3on\ Wilder, David 
 Wilder, N. Pierson, Joel Pratt, Jr., Gilson Brown ; Assessors, Thomas 
 Wright, Moses Sawyer, Samuel Sawyer (2d) ; School Committee, Rev. P. 
 Osgood, Alex' Dusiiii, Angustin Holcomb, Sanuiel SaM'yer (2d), David 
 Wilder, E/.ia Kendall, Moses Sawyer ; Representatives to the General 
 Court, Jonathan Wilder, Moses Sawyer, 
 
 I8;i2. — Town Clerk, Luther Allen ; Selectmen, Gilson Brown, Joel 
 Pratt, Jr., Eli Kilburn, Ezra Kendall, Samuel Sawyer; Assessors, Moses 
 
STERLING. 
 
 507 
 
 Sawyer, Samuel Sawyer (2d), Samuel Sawyer, Esq ; School Committee, 
 Rev. Peter Osgood, Alex"" Diistio, Samuel Sawyer (2d), David Wilder, 
 Muses Sawyer, Ezra Kendall, Augiistin HnJcomb ; Representatives to the 
 General Conrt, Jacob Conunt, Thomas Wright. 
 
 1833.— Town Clerk, Luther AlteD ; Selectmen, EllKilburn, Silas Buss, 
 Fisk Houghton ; Assessors, Moses Sawyer, Moses Thomas, Tboniae 
 Wright ; School Committee, Rev. Peter Osgood, Dr. P. T. Kendall, Au- 
 gustiii Holcomb, Edwin Couant, Solon S Hastinprs, Ruben H. Sawyer, 
 Tho« H. Blood ; Representatives to the General Court, Jacob Conant' 
 Thomas AVi-ight. 
 
 183J.— Town Clerk, Luther Allen ; Selectmen, Fisk Houphton, Oliver 
 Johnson, Francis Butterick ; Assessors, Moses Sawyer, Moses Thomas, 
 Thomas Wright ; School Committee, Rev. Peter Osgood, Dr. P. T. 
 Kendall, Solon S. Hastings, Ruben H. Sawyer, Sam' Sawyer (2d), 
 Moses Sawyer, Torry Houghton ; Representatives to the General Court, 
 Moses Sawyer, Gilson Brown. 
 
 1835. — Town Clerk, Luther Allen ; Selectmen, Oliver Johnson, Sam- 
 uel Houghton, Charles H. Whiting ; Assessors. Moses Sawyer, Thomas 
 Wright, Cyrus Holbrook ; School Committee. Rev. Peter Osgood, Dr. P. 
 T. Kendall, Solon S. llaslings, Aug" Holoomb, Moses Sawyer, Samuel 
 Sawyer {2d), Torry Houghton ; Representatives to the General Conrt, 
 Moses Sawyer, Samuel Sawyer (2d), 
 
 183G. Town Clerk, Luther Allen ; Selectmen, Oliver Johnson, Samuel 
 Houghton, Charles H. Whiting ; Assessors, Moses Sawyer, Thomas 
 Wright, Cyrus Holbrook ; School Committee, Rev. Peter Osgood, Moses 
 Sawyer, Dr. P. T. Kendall, Samuel Sawyer (2d), Augustin Holcomb, 
 Solon S. Hasting, Torry Houghton ; Representatives to the General 
 Court, Samuel Sawyer (2d). 
 
 1837. Town Clerk, Thomas H. Blood ; Selectmen. Samuel Houghton, 
 Charles H. Whiting, William Goss; Assessors, Thomas Wright, Cyrus 
 Holbrook, John Springer ; School Committee, Rev. Peter Oegood, Dr. 
 Pierson T. Kendall, S. S. Hastings, Sam' i^awyer (2d), Torry Houghton, 
 Samuel Osgood, Gilbert H. Howe ; Representative to the General Court, 
 Emery Burpee. 
 
 1838.— Town Clerk, Thomas II. Blood ; Selectmen, William Goss, Sam- 
 uel T. Sawyer, Jon* Nichols, J. B, Goodnow, Daniel Hosmer; Assessors, 
 Thomas Wright, Cyrus Ilulbrook, Ruben H. Sawyer; School Commit- 
 tee, Rev. Peter Osgood, Rev. Rufus S. i*ope. Dr. Pierson T. Kendall, S. 
 S. Hastings, Torry Houghton, Samuel Osgood, Gilbert H Howo ; Rep- 
 resentatives to the General Court, Timothy Endicott, William Goss. 
 
 1830.— Town Clerk, Thomas H. Blood ; Selectmen, Wm. Goss, S. T. 
 Sawyer, .Ton*. Nichols, Jonas B Goodnow, Daniel Hosmer ; Assessors, 
 Thonnas Wright, Rubeu II. Sawyer, Solon S. Hastings; School Commit- 
 too, Rev. Peter Osgood, Rev. R. S. Pope, Dr. P. T. Kendall, S. S. Hast- 
 ings, Torry Houghton, Gilbert II. Howe, Rev, George Waters; Repre- 
 sentntives to the General Cdurt, Wm. Goss. Samuel T. Sawyer. 
 
 1840.— Town Clerk, Thomas H. Blood ; Selectmen, Samuel T. Sawyer, 
 Manasseh Houghton, Richard Hildreth ; Assessors. Thomas Wright, 
 Ruben H. Sawyer, Solon S. Hastings; School Committee, Rev. George 
 Waters, Torry Houghton, Cyra Kendall ; Representative to the General 
 Court, Cyrus Holbrook. 
 
 1841. — Town Clerk. Thomas H. Blood; Selectmen, Manasseh Hough- 
 ton, Richard Hildreth, Jesse Curtis; Assessors, Thomas Wright, Ruben 
 H. Sawyer, Torry Houghton ; School Committee, Torry Houghton, Ru- 
 ben H. Sawyer, Samuel Osgood ; Representative to the General Court, 
 Manasseh Houghton. 
 
 1842.— Town Clerk, Thomas H. Blood ; Selectmen, Manasseh Hough- 
 ton, Jesse Curtis, John W. Spring; Assessors, R. H. Sawyer, Torry 
 Houghton, Luther W. Rugg ; School Conmiittee, Torry Houghton, R. 
 H. Sawyer, Samuel Sawyer (2"*} ; Representative to the General Court, 
 Manasseh Houghton. 
 
 1843.— Town Clerk, Thomas H. Blood ; Selectmen, John W. Spring, 
 Silas Howe, Jr., James Phelps ; Assessors, R. H. Sawyer, Torry Hough- 
 ton, L. W. Rugg; School Committee, Rev. John Allen, Rev. David Fos- 
 diok. Rev. George Proctor; Representative to the Legislature, Manadseh 
 Houghton. 
 
 1844.— Town Clerk, Thomas II. Blood ; Selectmen, James Phoipp, 
 Samuel Houghton, Ruben H, Sawyer; Assessors, R H. Sawyer, Torry 
 Houghton, L. W. Rugg ; School Committee, Samuel Osgood, Ezra Ken, 
 daU, Torry Houghton, P. 3L Rugg, John M. Stevenson ; Represenlative 
 to the Legislature, Samuel Houghton. 
 
 184o — Town Clei k, Thoniiis H. Blood ; Selectmen, Samuel Houghton, 
 R. H. Sawyer, Perley Bartlett; Assessors, R. H. Sawyer, Torry Hough- 
 ton, Luther W. Rug;; ; School Committee, Rev. David Fosdick, Rev. 0. 
 Cunningham, Samuel Osgood, Torry Houghton, John M. Stevenson ; 
 Representative to the Legislature, Samuel Houghton. 
 
 Is46.— Town Clerk, William D. Peck; Selectmen, Samuel Houghton, 
 
 R. H. Sawyer, Perley Bartlett; Assessors, Torry Houghton, L. W. Rugg, 
 
 Ephraini Fairbank ; School Conmiittee, Rev. 0. Cunningham, Samuel 
 Osgood, Torry Houghton, J. N. Stevenson, Prentice M. Rugg; Repre- 
 sentative to the Legislature, Jonas B. Goodnow. 
 
 1847.— Town Clerk, William D. Peck ; Selectmen, R. H. Sawyer, Per- 
 ley Bartlett, John H, Davis; Asspssors, R. H. Sawyer, L. W. Rugg, 
 Francis Butterick, Jr.; School Committee, Rev. O. Cunningham, Rev. 
 T. Prentiss Allen, Rev. Quincy Whitney, Samuel Osgood, Prentice M. 
 Rugg ; Representative to the Legislature. William D. Peck. 
 
 1848.— Town Clerk, William D. Peck ; Selectmen, Perley Bartlett, 
 Benj. Stuart, Jacob Priest ; Assessors, Luther W. Rugg, Ephraim Fair- 
 bank, Samuel Osgood; School Committee, Rev. 0. Cunningham, Rev. T, 
 Prentiss Allen, Rev. Quincy Whitney, Samuel Osgood, Prentice M. 
 Rugg; Representative to the Legislature, Williwm D. Peck. 
 
 1849.— Town Clerk, Dr. William D. Peck ; Selectmen, Manasseh 
 Houghton, John H. Davis, Levi Kilburn ; Assessors, L. W. Rugg, Eph- 
 raim Fairbank, Samuel Osgood ; School Committee, Rev. O. Cunning- 
 ham, Rev. T. Prentiss Allen, Rev. Samuel A, Davis, Samuel Osgood, 
 Prentice M. Rugg; Representative to the Legislature, Manasseh 
 Houghton. 
 
 18511, — Town Clerk. William D. Peck ; Selectmen, Manasseh Hough- 
 ton, "J )hn H. Davis, Levi Kilburn; Assessor-s, Moses Sawyer, James W. 
 Fitch, John M. Stevenson ; School Committee, Samuel A. Davis, John 
 M. Stevenson, Jacob N. Tolnian ; Representative to the General Court, 
 Luther W. Rugg. 
 
 1851. — Town Clerk, William D. Peck; Selectmen, Jacob Priest, Joseph 
 Whitney, James Phelps ; Asses.sors, Luther W. Uugg, Silas M. Wilder, 
 Samuel Osgood ; School Committee, T. Prentiss Alh-n. fSamuel A. Davis, 
 J. HL Stevenson, S-muel Osgood, P. M. Rugg; Representative to the 
 General Court, Luther W. Rugg. 
 
 1852.^Town Clerk, William D. Peck; Selectmen, Joseph Whitney, 
 James Phelps, J. S. Butterick ; Assessors, Samuel Osgood, Silas 31. 
 Wilder, P. M. Rugg: School Committee, Rev. S. A. Davis, Rev. T P. 
 Allen, Rev. William Guilford, Samuel Osgood, P. M. Rugg. J. N. Tol- 
 nian, George Baws, Jr.; Representative to the General Conrt, Luther W. 
 Rugg. 
 
 1853.- Town Clerk, William D. Peck ; Selectmen, John H.Davis, 
 Moses Sawyer (2d), Charles M. Bailey ; Asfeoesors, John M. Stevenson, 
 James W. Fitch, Henry E. Kendall ; School Committee, Sanuiel Osgood, 
 P. M. Rugg, John 5L Stevenson ; Delegate to the Constitutional Con- 
 vention, Samuel Houghton ; Representative to the General Court, Wil- 
 liam D. Peck. 
 
 1854.— Town Clerk, William D. Peck ; Selectmen, John H. Davis, 
 Moses Sawyer (2d), Charles BI. Bailey ; Assessors, James W. Fitch, 
 Henry E. Kendall, Levi Reed, Jr. ; School Committee, Samuel Osgood, 
 P. M. Rugg, Rev. Wm. B[. Guilford; Representative to the General 
 Court, J. Sawyer Butterick. 
 
 1855.— Town Clt-rk, William D. Peck ; Selectmen, Moses Sawyer (2d), 
 Charles M. Bailey, L. W. Rugg ; Assessors, James W. Fitch, Prentice 
 3L Rugg, John H. Davis; School Committee. Rev. T. P. Allen, Rev. J. 
 H. Learned, Samuel Osgood, N. M. Lee, Jonathan Davis; Representa- 
 tive to the General Court, Closes Sawyer (2d). 
 
 1856.— Town Clerk, William D. Peck ; Selectmen, Charles M. Bailey, 
 S. W Rugg, Joseph P. Heywood ; Assessors, Prentice M. Rugg, John 
 H. Davis, Levi Reed; School Committee, Rev. Wm. Miller, Samuel 
 Osgood, Jona. Davis, Nelson N. -Lee, Ezra Sawyer ; Representative to 
 the General Court, Moses Sawyer (2d). 
 
 1857.— Town Clerk, William D. Peck ; Selectmen, L. W. Rugg, Joseph 
 P. Heywood, J. &iwyer Butterick ; Assessors, John U. Davis, Samuel 
 Osgood, Perley Bartlett; School Committee, Rev. Wm. H. Knapp, Rev. 
 Wm. Miller, N. M. Lee, Samuel Osgood ; Representative to the General 
 Conrt, Samuel Osgood. 
 
 1S58.— Town Clerk, William D. Peck ; Selectmen, L. W. Rugg, 
 Joseph P. Heywood, J. Sawyer Butterick; Assessors, John H. Davis, 
 Samuel Osgood, Perley Bartlett ; School Committee, Jon*. Dmvis, P. M. 
 Rugg, John E. Grey, F. A. Sawyer, Samuel Osgood, W. A. P. Wil- 
 lard. 
 
 1859.— Town Clerk, William D. Peck ; Selectmen, Perley Bartlett, 
 Asa Key es, Edward Burpee; Assessors, John H. iJavis, Samuel Osgood, 
 Prentice M. Rugg'; School Committee, Samuel Osgood, J. Kendall Dear- 
 ing ; State Senator, William D. Peck. 
 
 1SG0-— Town Clerk. William D. Peck ; Selectmen, Perley Bartlett, 
 Asa Keyes, Edward Burpee; Assessors, John H. Davis, P. 51. Rugg, 
 Ezra Sawyer; School Committee, Prentice M. Rugg, Luther Rugg (2d) ; 
 Represenlative to the General Court, Samuel Osgood. 
 
 1861.— Town Cleric, William D. Peck ; Selectmen, Perley Bartlett, 
 Asa Keyes, Edward Burpee ; Assessors, Julin H. Davis, P. M. Rugg, 
 
508 
 
 HISTOEY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Ezra Sawyer; School Committee, Benjamin Woodard, Rev. E. B. Fair- 
 child, Jon*^. Davie. 
 
 1862.— Town Clerk, William D. Peck; Selectmen, J. S. Butterick,. 
 Josiah Phelps, James A. Pratt; Assessor:*, John H. Davis, P. M. 
 Rugg, Ezra Sawyer; School Committee, Samuel Osgood, Rev. E. B. 
 Fairchild, Rev. J. C. Labaree ; Representative to the General Court, 
 Luke Sawyer. 
 
 18r.3.— Town Clerk, William D. Peck ; Selectmen, J. S. Butterick, 
 Josiah Phelps, Ephraiia Fairbanks; Aseessors, Prentice M. Kugg, 
 Samuel Osgood, John Houghton; School Committee, Samuel Osgood, 
 Prentice M. Rugg. 
 
 1864. — Town Clerk, William D. Peck ; Selectmen, Ezra Sawyer. Henry 
 E. Kendall, Moses B, Ileywood ; Assessors, Prentice M. Kugg, John 
 Houghton, Luke Sawyer; School Committee, P. M. Rugg; Representa- 
 tive to the General Court, Luke Sawyer. 
 
 18G5.— Town Clerk, William D. Peck ; Selectmen, Ezra Sawyer, Henry 
 E. Kendall, iM OSes B. IJeywood; Assessors, Prentice M. Rugg, Edward 
 W. Toombs, L. W. Nichols; School Committee, Dr. F. D. Lord, Rev. J. 
 C. Labaree. 
 
 1866.— Town Clerk, William D. Peck ; Selectmen, Ezra Sawyer, Henry 
 E. Kendall, Moses B Heywood ; Asses'^ors, Prentice M. Rn5g Ezra 
 Sawyer, M. B. Heywood ; School Committee, Rev. Elbrldge Gerry. 
 
 1807.— Town Clerk, William D. Peck; Selectmen, Luke Sawyer, Clin- 
 ton Heywood, Edwanl \V. Toombs; Assess rs, Prentice M. Rugg, E. W. 
 Toombs, Luke W. Nichols; School Committee, Samuel Osgood. 
 
 1868.— Town Clerk, William D. Peck; Selectmen, Prentice M. Rugg, 
 Clinton Heywood, S. Thuistou Wilder; Assessors, Moses B. Heywood, 
 James A. Pratt, Jonathan Davie ; School Committiee, Rev. A. S. Nick-* 
 erson (for three years) and Henry S. Sawj'er (for one year), 
 
 18ii9.— Town Clerk, William D. Peck ; Selectmen, P. M. Rugg, Clin- 
 ton Heywood, S. Thurston Wilder ; Assessors, M, B. Heywuod, James 
 A. Piatt, Jonathan Davis; School Committee, Dr. F. D. Lord, Mrs 
 Mary S. Rugg, Alvah S. Howe, Miss Abby Hastings, Samuel Osgood, 
 Miss Nellie A. Willard ; Representative, Charles H. Loring. 
 
 1870. — Town Clerk, William D. Peck; Selectmen, Ezra Sawyer, James 
 W. Fitcli, Jumps A. Pratt ; Assessors, Prentice M. Rugg, Samuel Osgood, 
 Clinton Heywood ; School Committee, Rev. H. C. Bates, William H. Bur- 
 pee. Henry S. Sawyer. 
 
 187i. — Town Clerk, William D. Peck; Selectmen, Ezra Sawyer, John 
 H. Davis, F. L. Wilder; Assessors, P. M. Rugg, Samuel Osgood, Clinton 
 Heywood ; School Committee, Rev. H. C. Bates, Jonathan Davis; Rep- 
 resentative, Asa Keyea. 
 
 1872.— Town Clerk, William D. Peek; Selectmen, Ezra Sawyer, John 
 H. Davis, F. L. Wilder ; Assessors, Ezra Sawyer, Jonathan Davis, Wil- 
 liam H. Burpee ; School Committee, Rev. H. C. Bates, Wm. H. Burpee, 
 George K. Powers. 
 
 1873. — Town Clerk, William 1>. Peck ; Selectmen, Ezra Sawyer, John 
 H. Davis, Charles H. Loring; Assessors, Ezra Sawyer, Jonathan Davis, 
 M'illiam H. Burpee ; School Committee, Henry S. Sawyer. 
 
 1874. — Town Clerk, William D. Peck ; Selectmen, Ezra Sawyer, John 
 H. Davis, Charles H. Loring ; Assessors, P. M. Rugg, Wm. S. Walker, 
 A. L. Fitch ; School Committee, William H. Burpee, Rev. L. D. Mears , 
 Representative, Moses B. Heywood. 
 
 1875. — Town Clerk, Wm. D. Peck ; Selectmen, Moses B. Heywood, 
 Charles H. Loring, Wm. H. Sawyer; Assessors, Jonathan Davis, P. M. 
 Rugg, S. Thurpton Wilder; School Committee, Rev. L, D. Mears. 
 
 1876.— Town Clerk, William D. Peck ; Selectn)en, Jonathan Davis, 
 James Bailey, Blutcus L. Snow; AMessors, P. M. Rugg, Wm. S. Walker, 
 Ezra Sawyer; School Committee, Henry S. Sawyer, Rev. Henry P. Cut- 
 ting; Representative to the Legislature, Perley Hartlett. 
 
 1877. — Town Clerk, William D. Peck ; Selectmen, Jonathan Davis, 
 James Bailey, Marcus L. Snow ; Assessors, P. M, Rugg, Ezra Sawyer, 
 Wm. S. Walker; School Committee, William H. Burpee. 
 
 1878. — Town Clerk, William D. Peek ; Selectmen, Jonathan Davis, 
 Marcus L. Snow, James Bailey ; Assessors, P. M. Rugg, Ezra Sawyer, 
 Wm. S. Walker; School Committee, Oliver W. Rugg. 
 
 1879. — Town Clerk, William D. Peck: Selectmen, Jonathan Davie, 
 E. W. Toombs, P. T. K. Burpee ; Assessors, P. M. Rugg, Ezra Sawyer, 
 Wm. S. Walker ; .Sclioul Committee, Henry S. Sawyer, 
 
 1880.— Town Clerk, William L». Peck ; Selectmen, Pierson T. K. Bur- 
 pee, Charles H. Loring, Perley Bartlett; Assessors, P. M. Rugg, Ezra 
 Sawyer, S. Thurslon Wilder; School Committee, William H. Burpee; 
 Representative to the Legislature, William H. Burpee. 
 
 1881.— Town Clerk, William D. Peck ; Selectmen, P. T. K. Burpee, C. 
 H. Loring, Perley Bartlett; Assessors, P. M. Rugg, Ezra Sawyer, S. 
 Thurston Wilder ; School Committee, 01 ver W. Rugg. 
 
 1882.— Town Clerk, William D. Peck; Selectmen, Jonathan Davis, E. 
 
 W. Toombs, F. L. Wilder; Assessors, Ezra Sawyer, S. Thurston Wilder, 
 Wm. S. Walker; School Committee, R. L. Chandler, J. H. Wilder. 
 
 188a.— Town Clerk, William D. Peck; Selectmen, Jonathan Davis, E. 
 W. Toombs, F. L. Wilder ; Assessors, Ezra Sawyer, S. Thurston Wilder, 
 W. S. Walker; School Committee, C. D. Albro. 
 
 1884.— Town Clerk, William D. Peck ; Selectmen, Jonathan Davis, E. 
 W. Toombs, F. L. Wilder; Assessors, Ezra Sawyer, S. Thurston Wilder, 
 W. S. Walker ; School Committee, J. S. Burpee ; Representative to the 
 Legislature, F. L. Wilder. 
 
 1885. — Town Clerk, William D. Peck ; Selectmen, Jonathan Davis, E. 
 W. Toombs, F. L. Wilder ; Assessors, Ezra Sawyer, S. Thurston Wilder, 
 W. S. Walker; School Committee, Samuel Osgood. 
 
 1886.— Town Clerk, William D. Peck ; Selectmen, Jonathan Davis, E. 
 W. Toombs, F. L. Wilder; Assessors, Ezra Sawyer, S. Thuretou Wilder, 
 Henry W, Burpee; School Committee, Arthur P. Rugg. 
 
 1887.— Town Clerk, Edward P. Bartlett; Selectmen, W. S. Walker, 
 Henry W, Burpee, George F, Davidson ; Assessors, Henry W. Burpee, 
 W. S. Walker, Ezra Sawyer ; School Committee, J. S. Burpee. 
 
 1888.— Town Clerk, Edward P. Bartlett ; Selectmen, W. S. Walker, 
 George F. Davidson, H. W. Burpee; Assessors, W. S. Walker, H.W.Bur- 
 pee, Ezra Sawyer; School Committee, Dr. A. M. Tyler; Representative 
 to the Legislature, Albeit H. Newhall. 
 
 The following persons, natives of the town, have 
 had charge of our public schools as teachers: 
 
 Luther Allen, 
 Luther Rugg, 
 David Willard (3d), 
 Sanuiel Sawyer, 
 Jonathan Wilder, 
 David Wilder, 
 Moses Sawyer, 
 August inellulconib, 
 Mark Kendall, 
 Josiah Kendall, 
 Ezra Kendall, 
 P. T. Kendall, 
 Nathaniel Lewis, 
 Oliver Blood, 
 Rnfus Hastings, 
 Phiiieas B. Dana, 
 Samuel Sawyer (2d), 
 Edwin Conant, 
 Thomas S. Blood, 
 James T. Allen, 
 Solon S. Hastings, 
 Reuben H. Sawyer, 
 Gilbert H. Howe, 
 Darius Ridding, 
 Torry Houghton, 
 Amoa W. Breck, 
 Samuel Osgood, 
 Charles H. Loring, 
 Prentice M. Rugg, 
 Joseph Gerry, 
 Edmund Moore, 
 Edwin May, 
 Edward A. Synds, 
 
 George Richardson, 
 Luther Rugg (''d), 
 William Richardson, 
 Wm, A. P. Willard, 
 Alonzo W. Willard, 
 John Rugg, 
 Henry S. Sawyer, 
 Josiah H. Wilder, 
 William H. Burpee, 
 Oliver W. Rugg, 
 Joseph H. Osgood, 
 George K. Powers, 
 Ezra Powers, 
 Edmund Powers, 
 R. L. Chandler, 
 J. S. Burpee, 
 
 E. P. Willard, 
 
 F. B. Willard, 
 Polly Kimball, 
 Nabby Buss, 
 Keziah Buss, 
 Betsey Pratt, 
 Lydia Porter, 
 Caroline Allen, 
 Mary Ann Phelps, 
 Harriet Rugg, 
 Caroline Moore, 
 Emily Wright, 
 Polly Belknap, 
 Lucy Belknap, 
 IMartba Kendall, 
 Adulphia Rugg, 
 Reheccah Buss, 
 
 Lucy Buss, 
 Olive L. Nelson, 
 Eusebia Gerry, 
 Elizabeth Parker, 
 Polly A. Burpee, 
 Elizabeth Bailey, 
 Luciiida Hildreth, 
 Jane Hildreth, 
 Jane E. Sawyer, 
 Mary E. Willard, 
 3Iary Richardson, 
 Mary Rugg, 
 Nellie A. Willard, 
 Sarah H. Rugg, 
 Mary S. Osgood, 
 Georgianna Pratt, 
 Mary K. Pratt, 
 Fannie Kidder, 
 Delia S. Nourse, 
 Mary Burpee, 
 Carrie Rugg, 
 Anna E. Osgood, 
 Augusta Richardson, 
 Jessie F. Osgood, 
 Kittie Wilder, 
 Gertrude H. Rugg, 
 Helen Burpee, 
 Flora P. Barnes, 
 Mary K. Loring, 
 Rosa E. Willard, 
 Addie Burpee, 
 Xellie Heywood. 
 
 List of practicing physicians in Sterling: 
 
 1774.' — Josiah Leavitt, to 1787 ; removed. 
 
 1786.— Israel Allen, died 1817, aged sixty; John Barnard, died 1825, 
 aged eighty-two ; Pierson Kendall. 
 
 1804.— Luther Allen. 
 
 1817.— Pierson T. Kendall, after forty years' practice, removed to Clin- 
 ton, where he died January 11, 18G5, aged seventy-two years. 
 
 1830. — Dr. Newhall, of Stow, remained but a short time, 
 
 18;j7.— William D. Peck. 
 
 184(1. — John S. Andrews, removed after five or six years' practice. 
 
 1851. — E. C. Knight, remained in town only about six months. 
 
 1854.— Thiunae II. Gage, removed to Worcester, 1856 ; A, W, Sidney, 
 removed to Fitchburg. 
 
 185U.— Frederick A. Sawyer, removed toGreenfield, 1862 ; C. E. Dowellfl, 
 removed 1874. 
 
 1862.— Friend D. Lord, removed to Newton Lower Kails, 1870. 
 
 1870. — Warren Pierce, removed to West Boylston, 1874. 
 
I 
 
 I 
 
 ^-^ /1ItyLZ/-^UJ'y--fv. 
 
^^ ^^z^^^»^ (7 J 
 
 t^^^ 
 
\ 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
STERLING. 
 
 509 
 
 1874— Herbert Slmrtliff, removed to Brockton, 1879. 
 
 1879.— E, N. Perkins, removed to Harvard; C. D. Albro, removed to 
 Melidon, 1887. 
 
 1887. — George D. Skioner, died same year; A. M. Tyler; F. C. Gillson, 
 removed to Boston, 1888. 
 
 The above dates may not be exactly correct, but 
 nearly so. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAI.. 
 
 CAPTAIN ELI KILBDRN. 
 
 Eli Kilburn was born in Princeton, Mass., April 3, 
 1796. His father, Calvin Kilburn, was a native of 
 Sterling, but spent most of his life in Princeton, where 
 he died, January 23, 1852, in the ninety-fifth year of 
 his age. His mother, Mary Stratton Kilburn, was a 
 native of Rutland. She died in Princeton, September 
 15, 1847, at the age of eighty-nine. 
 
 Eli was the youngest of three sons, with two si.sters, 
 one older and one younger than himself. He is now, 
 and has been for many years, the sole survivor of his 
 father's family. 
 
 Eli was educated in the common schools of Prince- 
 ton, and at the Leicester Academy. At the age of 
 eighteen he came to Sterling, and began learning the 
 chair-making business. Soon after attaining his 
 majority he became a manufacturer on his own 
 account. 
 
 In 1821 he married Miss Lucinda Bailey, of Ster- 
 ling, and settled near Dana's Mills, in that town. 
 
 In 1829 he was chosen commander of a company of 
 light infantry, known as the Sterling Guards. 
 
 In 1856, at the age of sixty. Captain Kilburn closed 
 his prosperous career as a chair manufacturer, and 
 bought a lot in Sterling Centre, on which he built a 
 house, where he has since resided. 
 
 His wife, Mrs. Lucinda Bailey Kilburn, died in 
 February, 1867, and in April, 1868, he married Mrs. 
 Jane H. Powers, widow of Ezra S. Powers, and half- 
 sister to his first wife. 
 
 Captain Kilburn during his long and active life 
 has held many positions of trust and responsibility. 
 He served a,« justice of the peace for twenty-eight 
 years, and was chairman of the board of trustees of 
 Oak Hill Cemetery for twenty-nine years. 
 
 For several years he was chairman of the Boards of 
 Selectmen and of the Overseers of the Poor, and has 
 served on numerous important committees in town 
 affairs. 
 
 He has settled many estates, and acted as guardian 
 for sixteen minors. For thirty years he has been the 
 agent in Sterling for the Worcester Mutual Fire 
 Insurance Company. About two years ago he gave 
 up this business, finding that his private affairs needed 
 all of his time and strength. 
 
 Captain Kilburn has been a successful business 
 man, and, by persevering industry, good management 
 and habits of thrift, has amassed a handsome fortune. 
 
 Since coming to Sterling he has been an active and 
 
 influential member of the First Congregational 
 (Unitarian) Society. 
 
 He has always taken an active interest in politics, 
 and cast his first vote for President for James 
 Monroe. 
 
 During recent years Captain and Mrs. Kilburn have 
 made many pleasant excursions, visiting the White 
 Mountains, the Sagueuay Eiver, Niagara Falls, 
 Saratoga, Washington and other places of interest, 
 visiting Saratoga Springs for thirty consecutive 
 years. 
 
 Happy in his domestic life, prosperous in his busi- 
 ness, honored and respected by hv3 fellow-citizens, 
 sound in mind and body at the age of ninety-two, 
 cheerful, hopeful, serene. Captain Eli Kilburn is to- 
 day one of the best representatives of our New Eng- 
 land life. 
 
 EDWARD BURPEE. 
 
 Edward Burpee is one of the most substantial and 
 highly respected citizens of Sterling. He comes from 
 a line of honored ancestry, reaching back nearly to 
 the first settlement of the town. 
 
 His great-grandfather, Jeremiah Burpee, came to 
 Sterling from Rowley, in Essex County, probably 
 about the year 1745 and settled on Rowley Hill (so 
 called), where he died in 1817 at the advanced age of 
 ninety-two years. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was the son of Jonathan 
 Burpee — a citizen of Sterling universally respected 
 for the rectitude of his character — and was born June 
 13, 1814. His mother's name, before marriage, was 
 Fanny .Johnson, daughter of Edward Johuson. 
 
 As Mr. Burpee was an only child he remained with 
 his parents, assisting them in their labors, and, by 
 their example, acquiring habits of industry and 
 strength of moral character, until he was eighteen 
 years of age. At this time his father obtained for him 
 a situation with Joel Pratt, Jr., at that time one of 
 the m( St prominent chair manufacturers in Worcester 
 County. He remained with Mr. Pratt three years, 
 serving him faithfully for the sum of one hundred 
 dollars, with board and clothing and with the 
 privilege of attending the district school in the 
 winter; his entire education being such only as the 
 common schools of the town at that time afforded. 
 At the close of his apprenticeship to Mr. Pratt he 
 left his employ and engaged service to Mr. Thomas 
 Lewis (2d), a near neighbor. 
 
 He renewed his engagement to Mr. Lewis three 
 years successively. At the end of this period, in 
 1838, he purchased Mr. Lewis' place and business 
 and commenced the manufacture of chairs on his 
 own account. In April of that year he married a 
 Sterling lady, Miss Lucy Ann Smith, a daughter 
 of Manasseh Smith, and began housekeeping in the 
 same house he now occupies. 
 
 In 1861 he had the misfortune to lose his wife by 
 
510 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 death, but in the following year he again entered 
 into the marriage relation with Mrs. Mary Curtis, 
 who now faithfully presides over his liousehold and 
 devotedly ministers to his comfort as the intirmities 
 of age begin to creep upon him. 
 
 Thus, for fifty years, with varying fortunes, he 
 has been constantly, and at times quite extensively, 
 engaged in the chair business, by whicli, through in- 
 dustry, economy and forethought, he has secured 
 such a competency as relieves him from all anxious 
 thought in respect to present wants or future needs. 
 
 His home and attention to his own private busi- 
 ness was always more congenial to his nature than 
 crowded aiserablies or public office. Nevertheless, 
 he has several times held the office of selectman 
 and other responsible positions, and his fellow- 
 townsmen have ever had implicit confidence in his 
 intelligence, sound judgment and uprightne-s of 
 character. He is still in business, doing a larger 
 amount than any other concern of the same line 
 in the town. He receives his friends with a hearty 
 welcome, and entertains them with generous hospi- 
 tality. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXVIII. 
 BROOKFIELD. 
 
 BY WILI<IAM T. DAVIS. 
 
 A LITTLE south of what is nearly the centre of 
 Massachusetts there is a territory about eight miles 
 square lying for the most part within the limits of Wor- 
 cester County and including a small tract of land in 
 Hampshire County, which, as early as the year 1647, 
 attracted the attention of settlers along the coast, 
 who were seeking favorable spots for farming and pas- 
 turage. It was occupied by the Quabaug tribe of 
 Indians, and had been cleared by them to such an ex- 
 tent that its hillsides and plains, together with the 
 meadows watered by the rivers and streams flowing 
 through them, offered a rich prize to those who were 
 adventurous enough to wander into the wilderness so 
 far from the more thickly-settled villages and towns 
 along and near the shore. The Quabaug Indians by 
 some historians have been called a distinctive tribe, 
 and by others they are supposed, with the Agawams 
 and Waranakes and Naunotuks and Pacomptucks 
 and Squakheags, along the Connecticut River, the 
 Nipmucks proper, a little farther to the eastward, and 
 the Nashaways, a little farther to the north, to have 
 formed the great Nipmuck tribe. They exhibit, 
 however, in their history, an individuality which 
 warrants the belief that they were an independent 
 tribe, acting only by voluntary association with other 
 tribes and under the rule of sachems not their own. 
 It is stated on undeniable authority that when suffer- 
 ing from the hostile attitude of other tribes they ajj- 
 
 pcaled to Massasoit, the chief of the Wampanosgs, 
 for assistance, and that late in life that sachem dwelt 
 among them and became their ruler. Indeed, it is 
 more than probable that the famous warrior of Mount 
 Hope was the sagamore of the Quabaugs in 1661, 
 and that in that year or the next, while Wamsutta, 
 his son, was the acting sachem of the Wampanoags, 
 died among his new-found followers. 
 
 At the time at which this narrative opens Spring- 
 field, settled in 1636, was the only town on the west 
 and the nearest towns on the east were Lancaster, 
 planted in 1643 ; Concord, settled in 1635, and Sud- 
 bury, in 1639. These new settlements were reached 
 by the Indian trails or paths, along which the 
 immigrant could only travel on horseback or on foot ; 
 but these trails leading from the villages of the In- 
 dians to various points on Massachusetts Bay, Mount 
 Hope Bay and Long Island Sound were looked on by 
 the early settlers, inured as they were to hardship 
 and fatigue, and eager in their efforts to secure the 
 ownership of land, as easy avenues to the prizes they 
 sought. 
 
 The territory to which we have referred was called 
 Quabaug, and gave its name to the tribe occupying it. 
 As pronounced by the Indians, it was Squapauke or 
 Squabaug, and signified "'red water place," or "red 
 pond,'' and was so called from the reddish color of 
 the bottom underlying the various sheets of fresh 
 water with which it abounded. According to J. H. 
 Temple, whose exhaustive and interesting "History of 
 North Brookfield'' hasaftbrded much material for this 
 narrative, the various villages of the Quabaug tribe 
 lay along the different trails which intersected its ter- 
 ritory, the largest of which was the Wekabaug village, 
 in what is now West Brookfield. The native word 
 was Wekapauke, meaning " at the end of the pond," 
 and was adopted by the English as the name of 
 Wekabaug Pond, containing about three hundred 
 acres and lying near West Brookfield village. An- 
 other large village was Quobagud or Quobacutt, in 
 the east part of Brookfield, near wh.at is now called 
 Quabaug Pond, and still another was Ashquoach vil- 
 lage, north of Great Pond, in Brimtield, and others 
 still were the Quassuck, in what is now Sturbridge, 
 and Putikookuppog, on the south side of the Quine- 
 baug River, near the present line between Sturbridge 
 and Bromfield. 
 
 The Quabaug territory is watered by the Quabaug 
 River, which is formed by the union of the Five Mile 
 River and the Seven Mile River and flows into Qua- 
 baug Pond. It leaves the pond at its westerly end 
 and flows through what is now the town of Warren, 
 uniting afterwards with Ware River, where it takes 
 the name of Chicopee River, and empties into the 
 Connecticut in the town of Chicopee. Numerous 
 brooks, of more or less size and importance, enter 
 Quabaug River at various points, including Moore's 
 Brook, Stone's Brook, Coy's Brook, Sucker Brook, 
 New Mill Brook, Cheney's Brook, Mason's Brook, 
 
BROOKFIELD. 
 
 511 
 
 Salmon Brook, Dean's Brook, Wigwam Brook and 
 miuiy other small streams, some of which in early 
 and later times have furnished water for wheels of 
 industry. Among the ponds which dot the territory, 
 are the Quabaug Pond, more than five hundred acres 
 in extent; South Pond, nearly two hundred acres; 
 Wekabaug Pond, three hundred acres, and Cranberry, 
 North. Horse and Perry Ponds, of smaller dimensions. 
 Such was the territory when, in 1647, it first came 
 within the notice of the government of the Massachu- 
 setts Colony. In that year the Quabaug tribe suffered 
 from the raids of marauding Indians of other tribes, 
 and applications for aid were sent by Quacunquasit, 
 the sachem of the tribe, to the Massachusetts Gov- 
 ernor. At the same time John Eliot became interested 
 in the tribe, and in 1649 made a visit to their vilUiges, 
 an account of which he gave in a letter, from which 
 the following is an extract, dated Roxbury, Decem- 
 ber 29, 1649: 
 
 There ie another iigtd Sachem at Qviobagud, three score miles west- 
 ward, and he dotb greatlj' desire that I would come thither and teach 
 them and live there ; and I made a journey thither this summer and 
 I went hy Nashaway ; but it so fell out that there were some stirs be- 
 twixt the Narraganset and Monahegan Indians, some murders com- 
 mitted, etc., which made our church doubtful at fii"stof my going; which, 
 when llie Nashaway Sachem (Sholan) heard, be commanded twenty 
 armed men {after their manner) to be ready, and himself, with these 
 twenty men, besides sundry of our near Indians, went along with me to 
 guard me ; but I took some English along with me also, so that hereby 
 their good aftection is manifested to me and to the work I have in hand. 
 Here also (at Quobagud) I found sundry hungering after instruction; but 
 it pleased God to exercise us with such tedious rain and bad weather that 
 we were extreme wet, in so mucli that I was not dry night nor day from 
 the third day of the week unto the sixth, but so travelled, and at niglit 
 prll off my boots, wring my stockings and on with them again and so 
 continued. The rivers also were raised, so as that we were wet riding 
 through ; but that which added to my afiBiction was my horse tired so 
 that I was forced to let my horse go empty and ride on one of the men's 
 horses, which I took along with me. Yet God slept in and helped ; I 
 considered that the word of God (2 Tim. 2: 3), "Endure hardship as 
 a good soldier of Christ," with many other such like meditations. . . • 
 And I thank the Lord neither I nor my company took any hurt. 
 
 The Indian trail followed by Eliot was doubtless 
 one of the Connecticut trails which ran through the 
 present towns of Weston, Sudbury, Stow, Lancaster, 
 Princeton, Barre, New Braintree, Wa'-ren, Brimfield 
 and Springfield. This simple record of the Indian 
 a(..ostle shows the bold and adventurous spirit which 
 characterized the early settlers of New England, who, 
 having migrated from comfortable English homes and 
 experienced the comparative discomforts with which a 
 life in the towns and villages along the coast were 
 surrounded, were willing and even eager to push still 
 farther into the wilderness to unknown regions, where 
 to hardship and exposure and want were added 
 the dangers which the nearness of savage Indians 
 constantly threatened. No explanation of this spirit 
 is satisfactory that does not emphasize the greedy 
 desire which every Englishman must have felt for 
 that which the opportunity offered — the possession of 
 land. To most, if not all, of the immigrants to our 
 shores such a po>^ses>ion was a new privilege. Landed 
 possessions, which in the old country were confined to 
 
 the noble or wealthy classes, inspired them with hopes 
 newly born, with aspirations never before experienced, 
 and laid before their eyes visions of untold prosperity 
 and worldly success. 
 
 Such as has been here described was the Quabaug 
 territory, when only a few years later, in 1660, some of 
 theinhabitantsof Ipswich petitioned the General Court 
 for a grant of land, which was accorded ia the follow- 
 ing language of the records: 
 
 At a great and general Court of Election held at Boston, the 20th of 
 May, 1600. 
 
 In ansr to the peticon of severall the inhabitants of Ipswich 
 this Court Judgeth it meete to Graunt the petitioners sixe miles square 
 or so much land as shall be coutejned in such a Compasse in a place 
 nere Quoboag ponds provided they have twenty lixmilyes there resident 
 within .3 yeai-s & that tbey have an able minister settled there within the 
 said terme such as ther court shall approve & that they make due pro- 
 vision in some way or other for the future either by setting apart of 
 land in what else shall be thought meete for the Continuance of the 
 ministry amongst them ; and that If they shall faile in any of these 
 particulars above mentioned this Graunt of the Court to be Toyd & of 
 none etfect. 
 
 Precisely who the grantees were is not known, but 
 John Warner, John Ayres and William Prichard 
 were probably among their number. John Ayres and 
 John Warner appeared first at Ipswich in 1648, and 
 William Prichard in 1G49. These three men are sup- 
 posed to have visited Quabaug in 1660 with the view 
 of selecting definitely a place of settlement; but 
 owing to Indian troubles no further action was taken 
 under the grant until 1665. In that year it is believed 
 that John Warner, with his son Samuel, John Ayres, 
 Thomas Parsons and Thomas Wilson, took up a settle- 
 ment, building houses and making other preparations 
 for a permanent home. Wilson was probably a young 
 man, and was the sonof Theophilus Wilson, who first 
 appeared at Ipswich in 1636. Parsons was also a 
 young man, only twenty years of age, and was born 
 in Windsor. It is not unlikely that his father had 
 removed from Essex County and was thus naturally 
 associated with the settlers of Quabaug. 
 
 Previous to this settlement in 1665 and since 
 1647, at which date this narrative opened, new towns 
 not far distant had been organized. Hadley, earlier 
 known by the Indian name, Norwottock, was incorpo- 
 rated May 20, 1661, and Northampton October 18, 
 1654, and these towns with Springfield constituted 
 Hampshire County at the date of its incorporation. 
 May 7, 1662. 
 
 These three towns, though they had long en- 
 joyed the privileges of municipal government, 
 had not previously been included in either Suffolk, 
 Essex, Norfolk or Middlesex Counties, the four 
 counties into which the colony of Massachusetts was 
 divided in 1643. Special enactments were at various 
 times passed providing for the administration of jus- 
 tice within their limits, but they were associated with 
 no county organization. As will be seen by the fol- 
 lowing act incorporating Hampshire County in 1662, 
 the Quabaug territory fell within its boundaries, and 
 
512 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 consequently Brookfield, when incorporated, became 
 a Hampshire town. 
 
 The act incorporating the county of Hampshire 
 was passed May 7, 1662, and is as follows : 
 
 Forasmuch as the inhabitants of this jurisdiction are much encrsased 
 80 that niiw tliey are planted farre into tlie country upon Conecticott 
 River, who, by reason uf tlieir remotenes cannot conveniently be an- 
 nexed to any of the countyes already setled &, that publicke affaires 
 may, with more facility, be transacted according to lawes heere estab- 
 lished, it is ordered by the Court & authority thereof that henceforth 
 Springfeild, Northampton and Hadley shall be & hereby are constituted 
 as a county the bounds or Ijmitts on the south to be the south Ijne of the 
 pattent, the extent of other bounds to be full thirtj" miles distant from 
 any or either of the foresajd tonnes, & what tonnes or villages soever 
 shall hereafter be erected w'tiin the foresajd precincts to be & belong to 
 the sajd county ; and further that the sajd county shall be called Hamp- 
 shire, & shall have & enjoy the libertjee & priviledges of any other Coun- 
 ty ; & that Springfeild shall be the ehiie toune there, & the Courta to be 
 kept one time at Springfeild & another time at Northampton ; the like 
 order to be observed fur their ehire meetings, that is to say, one yeere at 
 onetouuo A the next yeare at the other, from time to tjine. And it is 
 further ordered that all the inhabitants of that shire shall pay their pub- 
 licke rates to the countrey in fatt catle or young catle, aiich as are fitt to 
 be putt off, that so no unnecessary damage be put on the country ; &, in 
 case they make payment in corne, then to be made at such prices as the 
 lawo doe comonly passe amongst themselves, any other former or an- 
 nuall orders referring to the prices of corne notwithstanding. 
 
 The settlement of these western towns, together 
 with the grant of fonr thousand acres near Quabaug 
 to John Eliot, stimulated the Quabaug grantees to 
 occupy the lands before it was too late. Even at the 
 date of their occupation the three years' limitation of 
 their grant had expired, and a petition was presented 
 to the General Court by the settlers, asking for a new 
 grant, to which the court responded by the passage 
 of the following order : 
 
 May 15, 1GG7. In ans' to the petition of the inhabitants at Quabaug ; 
 This Court having perused the grant which the Generall Court made 
 anno 1060 to the tirst undertakers from that place, doe fiude that 
 
 1. By their non observance of the condition of their grant, the same 
 is altogether vojd, & that now the ordering & disposing tbereof i* 
 wholly in this Court's power ; 
 
 2. Considering that there is already at Quabatige about sixe or seven 
 familyes, &, that the place may he capable of receiving many more, this 
 Court will readily grant them the liberty of a township when they shall 
 be in a fitt capacity. 
 
 3. In the meane time this Court appoints Cap*. John Pynchon, John 
 Aires, W"'. Prichard, Richard Coy & John Younglow, or any three of 
 them, whereof Capt. Pinchon to ho one of the three who shall have 
 power to admitt inhabitants, grant lands & to order all the prudentiall 
 affaires of the p!ace in all respects untill it shall appeare that the place 
 shall be so farr settled with able men, aa this Court may judge meete to 
 give them the full liberty of a touneship according to lawe. 
 
 4. Because the inhabitants of Ipswich made the first motion for that 
 plantation, A some of them have hinn at charges about it, although by 
 their remisse prosecution they have now lost all their right, yet such of 
 them as shall setle there by midsummer come twelve moneth, they 
 shall have an interest in the lands there in proportion with others ; but 
 if, by that time, they shall not he there setled, they shall then loose 
 their lauds &. all their charges, which they have been att upon ye 
 place. 
 
 5. They are to take care for the getting & mayntayning of a godly 
 minister among them, i- that no evill persons, enemjes to tbe lawe of 
 this commonweale in judgment or practice, be receaved as inhab- 
 itants. 
 
 G, For promoting of tbe aforesajd plantation &, incouragemeut there- 
 of tl'.is Court dooth now grant that plantation seven yeares freedom 
 from all publick rates & taxes to tbe country, provided these inhab- 
 itants of Ipswich, which intend to inhabit at Quabauge by midsummer 
 come twelve month, doe engage to give security to the abovesajd com- 
 mittee, within three moneths after the date hereof, that they will per- 
 
 forme accordingly, that so others that would setle there may not bo 
 hindered. 
 
 Richard Coy was probably an Essex County man, 
 though not of Ipswich, and John Younglow was 
 probably son of Samuel Younglove, who appeared 
 in Ipswich in 1G35. Captain John Pynchon was 
 born in England in 1G27, and came to New England 
 in 1630 with his father, William Pynchon, a leader 
 iu the settlement of Springfield in 1636. William, 
 the father, who was at one time treasurer of the Mas- 
 sachusetts Colony, and for many years an assistant 
 iu the government, published in England in 1650 a 
 book entitled "Meritorious Price of Christ's Redemp- 
 tion," in opposition to the Calvinistic view of the 
 atonement, which caused his deposition from the 
 magistracy. His book was burned on Boston Com- 
 mon by order of the Court, and, in consequence of 
 persecutions which followed, he returned to England 
 in 1652. His son, John, mentioned in the grant 
 above-quoted, was for fifty years a magistrate of 
 Springfield and one of the founders of Northampton 
 in 1654. He died January 17, 1703. It was undoubt- 
 edly thought judicious by the General Court to ap- 
 point one alien member on the committee, and that, 
 unlike the occupants of Quabaug lands, who were 
 men probably of no experience iu public affairs, he 
 should be familiar with the methods and require- 
 ments of municipal administration. 
 
 In the mean time, before the regrant was made by 
 the court, the old grantees took measures to secure a 
 release from the Indians of their title in the lands 
 which their grant covered and negotiated with En- 
 sign Thomas Cooper, of Springfield, to take a deed 
 in his own nacbe. This he did, but afterwards as- 
 signed his interest to the grantees. The following is 
 the Indian deed : 
 
 These Presents Testify That Shattoockquis, alias Shadookis, the sole 
 & propper owner of certayne lands at Quabauge, hereafter named, 
 Hath for gootl & valluable Considerations, him, the said Shattooquis 
 thereunto moveinge given, graunted, bargayned & Sold, And by 
 these presents Doth fully, clearily & absolutely give grant, bargayne & 
 sell unto Eusigne Thomas Cooper, of Springfield, for the use & behoofo 
 of the prsent English Plantera at Quabaug & their Associates & 
 their successonj, & to them & their heires for evuer certayne pcells of 
 land at towards or about the North end of Quabauge pond, that is to 
 say, beginning at a little Jleddow at the North end of the pond Qua 
 bauge, wch meddow is called Podeek, wth the land about it & soe to a 
 little bill Wullamauick & from thence Northward or North & by 
 East about Tliree nn'les, & soe Westward off to ye North end of Weco- 
 baug Pond, taking in all the playnes, meddowes & upland from Podunk 
 by Quabaug to Wecubaug pond, all the lantl betwixt as that called 
 Nacommuck (vis' a brook where meddow is), and soe to Massequock- 
 ummes vis* another brook where meddow is and soe through the 
 playn to Wecobaug pond & then down to Lashaway, vis* the River 
 wch comes from Quabaug pond all ye land as aforesaid on the East or 
 Northeast side of that River, and about three miles North or North & 
 by East from the River together wth the said River & the lands on tbe 
 west side, or south, 'or southwest side of the said River, & particularly 
 from Lashaway down the River to a brook or streame called Naltaug, & 
 800 up that brook to the head of it Southward, & then from the head 
 uf tliat brook to verge of a hill called Asqiioach, A soe down South- 
 ward or Southeast to ye pond Quabauge, taking in all the wett meddow 
 & nieddows called Masquabamick & Nanantomqua, it being about foure 
 miles from the river to the verge or foote of the hill aforesaid, called 
 Asquoach, and about six miles or neere thereabouts from the River at 
 tbe mouth of ye brook called Naltaug to Quabaug pond. All tbe 
 
BROOKFIELD. 
 
 513 
 
 aroreeaid Ti ■-' : 
 Quabauffe, 
 Manequock ^ 
 tomqua, M. ■ i 
 laud afore dc^Lnbti 
 
 Wecobauge to Podunk at the North «nd of 
 to Qiiabaiige, called Naltaug, Lashaway 
 ick, WuHammaDnuck, Poduuck, Nanan- 
 oe to the hill called Asquoach, All wch 
 i:tLer with the trees, waters, stones, profits, 
 
 coinodityes & adrantages thereof & thereunto belonging the said En- 
 signe Thomas Cooper, for himself and for the present Plantere at Qua- 
 bang; and their Associates & successors is to have, hold and enjoy, & 
 that for ever. 
 
 And the said Shattookquis, as well for other considerations, as alao 
 for & in consideration of the sunime Three Hundred fadom of Wam- 
 panipeage in hand Received, doth grant, bargayne & sell All & Singu- 
 lar the aforenamed Tract of land to Ensigne Thomoa Cooper, his sue 
 cessors & assignes as aforesaid, & to their heires for ever. And the 
 said Shattoockquis doth hereby covennate & promise to & «■*•> the said 
 Ensigne Thomas Cooper that he will save ye said Thomas Cooper 
 harmless from all manner of clamyes of any person or psons lawfully 
 clayuiing any right or interest in the said lands hereby sold, or in any 
 part thereof, & will defend the same from all or any molestation & in- 
 cumbrence by any Indians lawfully laying clayme or title thereunto. 
 In witness whereof the said Shattoockquis hath herewith sett his 
 hand, this tent^j day of November, lliGfj : 
 
 The mark of* * « * Sh.\ttoockqui3. 
 The mark of Mettawomppe, * * * 
 
 An Indian witness, who, challenging some interest 
 in the land above sold, received part of ye pay & 
 consented to the sale of it all. 
 Subscribed & delivered in ye presence of 
 
 Elizue Holtoke, 
 Samuell Chapin, 
 ,Japhett Chapin. 
 Shattoockquis, an Indian above-mentioned, did own & acknowledge 
 this to be bis act & deed, resigning up all his right, title & intrest in 
 the lands above-mentioned unto Thomas Cooper, his Associates & As- 
 signes, as above said, this Tenth day of November, 1065. 
 
 Before mee, John Pynchon, AseuUtnt. 
 
 The wampumpeage, three hundred fathoms of 
 which were paid for the land, was made from the 
 purple and white parts of the quaw-haug shell, and 
 consisted of flat, round, button-like pieces of shell, 
 about a sixteenth of an inch in thickness, and a 
 quarter of an inch in diameter, with a hole in the 
 middle for stringing on strings of bark or hemp. 
 The purple and white pieces alternated on the string, 
 the purple being of double the value of the whi e, 
 and tlie whole valued at five shillings per fathom. 
 After wampumpeage went out of use as currency, it 
 long retained a place among the Indians for the 
 adornment of their persons. Before the days of the 
 Pilgrims, it had a very limited use, and that only 
 among the tribes on the seaboard. In 1627, when 
 the Plymouth Colony effected a settlement with the 
 London merchants, by which they were found to owe 
 an indebtedness of twenty-four hundred pounds to 
 them and other creditors, the debt was assumed by 
 William Bradford, Miles Standish, Isaac Allerton, 
 Edward Winslow, William Brewster, John Rowland, 
 John Alden and Thomas Prence, together with their 
 friends, James Sherley, John Beauchamp, Richard 
 Andrews and Timothy Hatherly, of London, and the 
 trading privileges of the Colony were assigned to 
 them as security. In order to pay the debt, these 
 gentlemen caused all the inland tribes to be instructed 
 in the value and use of wampumpeage, and by its use 
 they carried on so profitable a trade in the purchase 
 of furs and their exportation to England as within 
 nine years — the time prescribed in their settlement — 
 
 to pay oflf the entire debt and to leave the Colony in 
 the undisputed possession of all their lands. 
 
 Until 1673 the committee appointed by the court 
 held in their hands the entire management of the 
 lands, and by them the allotments were made. They 
 kept their Books of Records and Mr. Pynchon was 
 the recorder. Their first book was probably destroyed 
 by fire in 1676, and the only knowledge extant of the 
 methods and plan of land distribution is derived from 
 memoranda and extracts found among the papers of 
 Mr. Pynchon. From them it appears that what were 
 called the home-lots were laid out so as to take in 
 what is now known as Foster's Hill, extending from 
 Hovey's Brook on the southeast to Coy's Brook on 
 the nor.hwest, including in all about five hundred 
 acres. Beginning at Coy's Brook, the lots lay in the 
 following order: 1. Richard Coy; 2. Thomas Par- 
 sons; 3. John Warner; 4. Samuel Kent; 5. Samuel 
 Warner ; 6. John Youuglove ; 7. Thomas Wilson ; 
 8. Thomas Millet; 9. Meeting-House ; 10. John 
 Ayres ; 11. William Prichard ; 12. James Travis; 
 13. Judah Trumble ; 14. Daniel Hovey; 15. James 
 Hovey; 16. Thomas Hovey. The lot on which prob- 
 ably the first meeting-house was built was in the 
 middle of the allotted territory, and was probably a 
 little northwesterly of the present barn of Mr. D. H. 
 Richardson. These lots contained twenty acres each, 
 with a right to twenty acres of meadow and eight or 
 ten acres of plain land, and larger lots were assigned 
 to the minister and to fathers of grown-up sons. Each 
 home-lot was also entitled to forty acres of upland 
 and all undivided lands were held in common. 
 
 After this liberal division of lands, it was found, 
 nevertheless, that the demand of the settlers for pas- 
 turage, mowing land, timber and fuel was far from 
 being met, and the following petition for a further 
 grant was sent to the General Court : 
 
 To the much honored General Coiirl held at Boston, Hie l2tU of October, 
 1670: 
 
 This honored Court being pleased upou petition presented to them 
 by some of the inhabitants of Ipswich for land to settle a plantation at 
 Quaboag ; so far to favor their notion or to grant them a tract of land 
 of six miles square for that end, and farther since to encourage the 
 poor inhabitants that are upon it. The humble petition, therefore, of 
 the poor inhabitants of Quaboag to this honored Court is, that accord- 
 ing as they were pleased to intimate their readiness to grant us the 
 liberty of a township (whereby meet inhabitants upon the place we 
 should be capable of it) so they would be pleased at this time to do it. 
 Our humble petition to this bon'd C't is farther, that they would be 
 pleased to enlarge our grant, if they see good, for that we may go six 
 miles every way from the centre. The reason of this, our request to 
 the hon'd C't, is because we find the meadiw to lie very much scattered 
 about the place in many small parcels far distant one from the other, 
 and therefore we fear that unless the hon'd C't grant us some consid- 
 erable further enlargement, we shall not be able to fetch within our 
 bounds a sufficient quantity of meddows to accommodate families enough 
 to make a comfortable society in a place so remote in the wilderness 
 as ours is. We would further crave leave to acquaint the honored C't 
 that there is a great farm of land laid out very near our plantation 
 for Peter Taft, as we do adjudge, within a matter of three or four miles 
 from the river, which runs through our place to Springfield, as we 
 humbly conceive that it will fall within our bounds. If it should not, 
 we humbly crave that the hon'd C't would grant that it may pay public 
 charge with us ; it being very difficult to carry on a place so remote 
 
514 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 from all otlier plantations in the wooda as ours is. And tbis hon'd C't 
 BO fiir countt-nancing us as they have already, doth persuade, as by way 
 of humble petition, to prcseut theee tbiugs to this hood C't, submit- 
 ting ourselves tbeir good pleasure concerning ub herein. Wee, whose 
 nauies are here underwritteu, have sub&ciibed , hereto in the behalf o( 
 
 the rest. 
 
 Richard Coy, 
 
 John Ayees, 
 
 WlLUAM PrICHET. 
 
 From Quaboag, October 9th, 1670. 
 
 To thU petition no response appears to have been 
 made. 
 
 In 1673 application was made to the General Court 
 for an act of incorporation as a town. We are told 
 by Mr. Temple that the original petition was found 
 in a junk-shop by Dr. John F. Pratt, of Chelsea, and 
 he has saved it from oblivion by giving it a place in 
 his valuable history. The petition reads as follows: 
 
 To the Hiijhly Honnored General Corte of the 31fusachu8etts : 
 
 The humble Petition of the inhabitants of Quaubauge Sheweth That 
 whereas wee being not yet allowed a Township, wee are disabled as to 
 comfortably carrying on ye aflTaires of the place as is requisite for the 
 publieke &. our own conveniences in diverse respects as for the order- 
 ing the Prudentiall affaires of the Town proper, to select men, makeiug 
 & collecting of Rates, &c. Wee have, indeed, a Committee to heipe in 
 these mattere, but in regard we caunot rationally desire or expect the 
 p'sence & assistance of One of the Committee (vest the Honno'd Major 
 Pynchon) soe often as we need by reason of his remoteness. And yett 
 w^iiout his p'sence or concurrence the Committee cannot make a valid 
 act. The p^mises considered, Our Humble request is, that this much 
 Honno'^ Corte would be pleased to grant us the Priviledge & Libertyes 
 of a Township, whereby we may be the better iuabled to carry on our 
 onne matters wtiiout too much disti-action. 
 
 And yo'' Petitione''s shall ever pray for yw prosperity If Yo^ Honno'i 
 please let ye name of ye Place beBrookfeild. 
 Octr. ye 10,1073. 
 
 John Ayres, Sen'. Thomas Wilson. i 
 
 Richard Coy, Sen'. Samuel Pricbet. 
 
 Samuel Kent. John Ayres, Jr. 
 
 John "Warner. Nathaniel Warner. 
 
 Samuel Warner. James Travis. 
 
 Samuel Ayres. Richard C-oy. 
 
 John Youuglove. James Ilovey. 
 
 William Pritchet. Juda Trumbull. 
 
 Thomas Parsons. 
 
 It is probable, judging from the names in this peti- 
 tion and from the allotment of lands, that most, if not 
 all, of the old Ipswich grantees had taken advantage 
 of the privilege accorded to them in the re-grant. 
 John Warner, Samuel Warner, John Younglove, 
 Thomas Wilson, John Ayres, William Prichard, 
 Daniel James and Thomas Hovey were all from Ips- 
 wich, while Richard Coy, Samuel Kent, Jymes Travis 
 and Judah Trumbull were Essex County men and 
 probably associated with the Ipswich men in the 
 original grant. 
 
 Accompanying the petition was a letter from John 
 Pynchon, desiring to be discharged from the com- 
 mittee for Quabaug, and this letter also Mr. Temple 
 has reproduced in his history. The deputies of the 
 court, as the record states, judged 
 
 raeete to grauut this pet, & that the name of the place be Brookefeild, 
 aa is above desired, on Hono"i magistrates consenting hereto, 
 
 William Torrev, Cleric. 
 
 The record also states that the *'magis'« Consent hereto, provided 
 they divide not the whole land of yo Tounsiiip till they be forty or fiv«ty 
 familyes in y" nieane time, yt their dividings, one to another, exceed 
 
 not two hundred acres apeec to any p'sent inhabitant, their brethren, 
 
 the deputyes hereto consenting. 
 
 2'2 October, 1C73, Edw. Rawson, Secrety, 
 
 Consented to by the deputies. Wm. Torrey, Cleric. 
 
 On the 19th of December in the year of the incor- 
 poration Thomas Cooper, the grantee in the deed from 
 Shattoockquis, assigned his interest in the lands con- 
 veyed to him to the inhabitants of the new town by 
 the following instrument: 
 
 I, Thomas Cooper.above mentioned, doe hereby relinquish & resigne 
 up all my right & title in ye lands within mentioned, to be bouglit of 
 Shattoockquis, hereby declaring that my acting in ye p^^mises was only 
 In the behalfe &. for the use and behoofe of the inhabitants of Quabauge 
 (now called Brookfeild) & their successors. The purchase of the above- 
 mentioned land being at their pper cost and charge, who had obteyned 
 a grant thereof from ye Honn""* Gen'^* Corte, & are now allowed a 
 Toune ; I doe therefore hereby deliver up this instrument, or deed of 
 sale to John John Warner, Richard Coy & William Pritchard, of Qua- 
 bauge, alias Brookefeild, for the use & as the prop^i^ right of the inhab- 
 itants of Brookefeild , the said Persons beiugo betrusted by the Toune, 
 or present inhabitants of Brookefeild, for taking in & receiving this 
 present Deed; wherefore I doe hereby deliver it up to them, here- 
 by declaring it &. the land therein mentioned to be sold to be & 
 belong to the present Inhabitants of Brookefeild, as they are a Town- 
 ship, and to particular psons only, according as they have or shall 
 have grants of land confirmed to them. The whole tract of land 
 above mentioned I doe fully & absolutely resigne up to the Inhabit- 
 ants of Brooketield aforesaid, and to their successors & their beires for 
 Ever, As witness my hand this 19th day of December, 1073. 
 
 Thomas Cooper. 
 
 December 19*i», 1073. Lieut. Thomas Cooper, above mentioned, sub- 
 scribed hereunto & acknowledged the resigning up this De«d & all 
 his intrest in the premises to the Inhabitants of Brookefeild, 
 
 Before me, John Pynchon, Assistant. 
 
 This Deed was Recorded March ye 1G73-4 By niee, 
 
 Elizur Holyoke, Iiecordr. 
 
 Thus it will be seen that by the early part of 1673- 
 74 the town was organized, had acquired full posses- 
 sion of the lands, and was ready under favorable aus- 
 pices to begin a career of municipal prosperity. But 
 unforeseen disasters befell the town. In 1675, within 
 two years of its incorporation, it was entirely destroyed 
 by the Indians in King Philip's War, its meeting- 
 house and ail its dwellings were burned, some of its 
 leading men, among whom were John Ayres, Richard 
 Coy, William and Samuel Prichard, and James Hovey, 
 were killed and families were otherwise broken up 
 by the murders of wives and children. The Quabaug 
 Indians, with whom for ten years the settlers had lived 
 in harmony, were under the sway of Philip, and 
 among the most earnest in the relentless war he waged. 
 It is not necessary in this narrative to recount the de- 
 tails of this war, as they may be found in a score of 
 historical works to which readers have easy access, 
 and may at almost any time and place refer. 
 
 With the death of Philip, on the 10th of August, 
 1676, the war ceased, and with the return of peace the 
 Quabaugs left their old homes, and the scattered rem- 
 nants of their tribe retreated westward beyond the 
 Hudson River never to return. 
 
 So the young frontier town of Brookfield disap- 
 peared. Its twenty families, with all their remaining 
 provisions, migrated to new homes; the meeting- 
 house, in the erection of which, as the seal of their 
 municipal union, they had taken special pride, and in 
 
BEOOKFIELD. 
 
 515 
 
 which John YouDglove and Thomas Millet had 
 preached to them the word of God, was burned, their 
 fields were devastated and their houses in ashes, and 
 for ten years the territory of Quabaug was a deserted 
 waste. The memory of past disasters and the fear of 
 their recurrence prevented during that long period 
 its renewed occupation and settlement. So far as the 
 incorporation of the town was concerned the privi- 
 leges of a town were annulled by the following act of 
 the General Court, passed May 28, 1679, and approved 
 on the 9th of the following month: 
 
 At a General Court held at Boston May 28, 1679. 
 
 For the greater comfort and safety of all people who are intended to 
 resettle the villages deserted in the late war or the planting any new 
 Plantation within this jnrisdiction. 
 
 It is ordered and enacted hy this Court and the authority thereof 
 That no deserted town or new Plantation shall be inhabited until the 
 people first make application unto the Governour and Council or to the 
 County Court within whose jurisdiction such Plantation is. And tlie 
 Council or County Court are hereby ordered and empowered to appoint 
 an able and discreet committee (at the charge of the people intending to 
 plant) which Committee are ordered and impowered to view and con- 
 sider the place or places to be settled and give directions and orders in 
 writing under their hands in what form way and manner snch town 
 shall be settled or erected, wherein they are required to have a principal 
 respect to nearness and conveniency of habitation for security against 
 enemies and more comfort for church communion & enjoyment of God's 
 Worship and education of children in schools and civility with other 
 good ends. 
 
 And all such planters are hereby injoined to attend and put in prac- 
 tice such orders and directions as shall be given by such committee upon 
 the penalty of five hundred pounds fine to the country to be inHicted 
 upon them by order of the Council or County Court for their neglect or 
 refusal to attend this order. 
 
 Passed and Consent*'d to. June 9, 1079. 
 
 J. Dudley. 
 
 In 168G, as has been already mentioned, the resettle- 
 ment of Brookfield began, but only the family of 
 John Ayres, of all the original settlers, returned. 
 The new occupants of the land w'ere chiefly from 
 Marlborough, Springfield, SuflSeld and Hadley, while 
 a few were from the more distant settlements of Essex 
 County. The first effort in behalf of a reorganizaiion 
 is to be found in the following petition : 
 
 To the HonW Simon Biadstreet Governor &c. The humble Petition 
 and Request of James Ford of Brookfield. 
 
 *' Whereas there was a Township formerly granted by the Hon'>i Gen- 
 eral Court at a place called by the Indians Qnaboag & by the English 
 Brookfield which was settled but by the Incursions and outrages of the 
 Indians Wiis depopulated and layd waste & and hath been so for many 
 years: the Ancient Inhabitants wholly deserting the same and it being 
 a place very commodious for scittuation in the Road to Springfield Ac 
 and may bo beneficial and profitable as well to the Country as to partic- 
 ular pei-sous ; and whereas some are already seated and others would be 
 willing to settle the said place againe were there some encouragement 
 from the Honi Council and one to guide & order the prudential affaires 
 for such a Plantation. 
 
 Yor Petitioner humbly requests your Hou^a -would be pleased to 
 appoint and impower some prudent and able persons as a Committee to 
 admit Inhabitants and order the affaires of the place in forming yo 
 Tonne granting Lotts & directing & ordering all matters of a prudential 
 Nature till such time the Place be sattied and a competent number of 
 Inhal'itautH A persons of discretion to order the affaires thereof and 
 your Petitioners as in duty bound shall even pray &c. 
 
 James Foed. 
 
 In response to this petition, and doubtless others 
 sent by the inhabitants, action was taken by the 
 Council, which is stated in the records as follows: 
 
 November 9, 16SG, Maj. John Pinchon, Joseph Hawley, Capt. Sam- 
 
 uel Glover. Mr. Samuel Marshfield, Mr. Samuel Ely, & Mr. John Hitch- 
 cock all of Springfield, are appointed a Committee for settling the Town 
 of (^uabaag & the Petition of the said Town is grant«d and the afore- 
 named tientleinen are to receive the claims of the sd Inliabitants, grant 
 lotts to others & give necessary orders for the more orderly settlement 
 of the said Toune. 
 
 Under the operations of this committee lands were 
 allotted as required, and new settlers continued to 
 come in until 1688, when new troubles arose with the 
 Indians and the growth of the settlement was 
 checked. Its inhabitants lived in constant fear of 
 savage raids, and what was called Gilbert's Fort, 
 which contained barracks for soldiers and refugees, 
 served as a garrison to which those in the neighbor- 
 hood might flee in case of an alarm. 
 
 In 1091, Mr. Marshall and Mr. Ely having died, 
 Captain Partridge and Mr. Medad Pumroy were 
 placed by the court on the town committee. 
 
 In 1693 an Indian raid was made on the houses of 
 Joseph Woolcott, Thomas Lawrence and Joseph 
 Masfm, which stood at some distance from the fort, 
 and Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Mason, with his son and 
 the wife and two children of Mr. Woolcott, were 
 killed. But notwithstanding the cons' ant fear of 
 Indian depredations, the town increased in numbers, 
 and a determination was manifested to make the 
 settlement, under any and all circumstances, a per- 
 manent and prosperous one. Indeed, not only was 
 every effort made by the General Court to aid and 
 encourage the outlying settlements, but direct and 
 positive measures were taken to prevent their aban- 
 donment. On the 23d of March, 1699-1700, it waa 
 voted by the court 
 
 that no town or precinct being a frontier of the province which the 
 towns hereafter named are to he accounted ; that is to say Wells, York, 
 Kittery, Amesbury, Haverhill, Dunstable, Chelmsford, Groton, Lancas- 
 ter, Marlborough, Brookfield, Peerfield, Mendon and Woodstock; nor 
 any of the towns following to wit Salisbury, Andover, Billerica, Hatfield, 
 lladtey, Westfield and Northampton . . shall bebroken uporvoluntardy 
 deserted without application first made by the inhabitants and allowance 
 had & obtained from the Governor and Council in Court & Council for 
 their drawing off if it appear to them that it may be of public advantage 
 or that the place is not tenable. Nor shall any inhabitant of the frontier & 
 other towns or precincts before named, or any of them having an estate 
 of freehold in lands or tenements within the same at the time of any 
 insurrection or breaking forth of any war, remove from them with in- 
 tent to sojourne or inhabit elsewhere without special license firet had and 
 obtained as aforesaid. 
 
 In November, 1698, the inhabitants of Brookfield 
 presented the following petition to the General Court: 
 
 The Petition of the Inhabitants of Brookfield to the FIuui General 
 Court assembled at Boston. Nov., 1698, Humbly Sheweth. 
 
 Firstly. That we seenie to be called of God to continue our habitation 
 In this place ; we are low in the world and it would be a breaking thing 
 to our estates to remove to any other plantation, and the Land here ia 
 very capable of entertaining a considerable body of people ; the inhabi- 
 tants have been slow to come to us by reason of ye War, yet the land ia 
 very Incouraging, capable to afford a comfortable subsistence to many 
 ffamilies. / 
 
 2, That it is an Intolerable burden to continue as we have done with- 
 out the preaching of the Word. God doth require his people to attend 
 not only ffamily woi"ship but His public worship ; it is the ordinance of 
 God that on the Sabbath Day there should be an holy convocation, and 
 that his Word be preached by those that are able and faithful, and our 
 necessitys put us upon it earnestly to desire it. Both we and our Chil- 
 dren need the Instructions, rebukes and encouragements of the Word, 
 
516 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 the darkness and deadiiees of our own hearts, together with the many 
 snares that are in the world, are nn experimental conviction to us that 
 we need al those helps and advantages that God hath sanctifyed for our 
 good. 
 
 3. That we are not aljle at present to maintain the Worahip of God. 
 We are biit twelve ffaniilies, and we are not of estate sufficient to give 
 suitable encouragement to a minister. We are willing to do to the out- 
 side of our ability, but tho' we do as much as can be expected from us, it 
 will not amount to such a Bumra as a Minister may reasonably require 
 for his labour. 
 
 4. Thnt if this Hon^ Court would please to pity us and grant us some 
 help fur a few yejins for the maintenance of a godly, able Minister, be- 
 sides the advantage it may be to these few familys that are here, it would 
 be a means to draw many other Inhabitants to us, whereby we shall be 
 BO far assisted that we may, of ourselves, be able to uphold the Worship 
 of (_Jod and not be burdensome to others. 
 
 Under th<;so circumstances we humbly beg that this Hon** Conrt would 
 exercise compassion to us & arregne some reliefe to us out of the Publick 
 Treasury, which we shal look \ipon not onely a testimony of your zeal 
 for the worship of God, but alsoe of your tender compassion to the souls of 
 those wliom God hath made you ffathers of. And your Petitioners shall 
 ever pray, Ac. 
 
 Sabiuei. Owen, Thomas Barns, 
 
 Henky Gilbert, Stephen Gennikgs, 
 John Woolcott, James Pettee, 
 Saml. Davies, Wm. Bauns, 
 
 Thomas Parsons, Thomas Rich, 
 Abuah Baktlett, Danl. Price, 
 John Clary, Joseph Marks. 
 
 John Pettee, 
 
 In response to the above petition the court ordered 
 that twenty pounds be paid out of the public treas- 
 ury towards the support of an orthodox minister for 
 one year. The payment of this sum was delayed 
 until 1701, when Rev. George Phillips, a graduate at 
 Harvard in the class of 1686, and son of Rev. Samuel 
 Phillips, of Rowley, was engaged to preach one year, 
 and the money was drawn from the Province Treas- 
 ury. 
 
 In the same year the following petition was pre- 
 sented to the General Court: 
 
 TotheHmihl. ^\'m. Stnuahton, etc: 
 
 The humble petition of the Committee and Inhabitants of Eroolitield 
 sheweth, 
 
 Whereas, by the Providence of God by allowance from the General 
 Court and our nwu necessites and inclinations we have and are now 
 settled at Brookfield and altbo' we are now but fewe in number, yethere 
 is accommodations for a considerable Township; being new in our be- 
 ginnings, and througli the difficulties and hazzards of the times people 
 tho* otherwise well inclined to come & settle bore, yet have been slow 
 in motion ibis way by reason whereof wo labour under many difficulties 
 at present — Therefore move to this Court that they would be pleased to 
 grant us some allowances for oure encouragement & help as foUoweth : 
 
 First, that we may. in some measure, be in a capacity to obtain the 
 benefit of an orthodox ministry of God's word (which we are in necessity 
 of). That this Court would grant us such allowances towards the 
 maintenance of such an one a year or two or three, which together with 
 what we might do among ourselves, might incourage a minister to set- 
 tle amgbt us which would tend much to advantage both as to £cclesiasti- 
 cal and Civil alliiii-s. 
 
 Second, With reference to Publick chargesiamongst us. That this Court 
 would order that all men that make good a claim of a proprietie within 
 the bounds of our place might he engaged to bear their part in due pro- 
 portion of all charges arising, and when notified of their Rate or pro- 
 portion be obliged to pay on the place from time to time or quit their 
 lands, etc. 
 
 Third, That this Court do settle and state the bounds of our Town- 
 ship, the centre to be the place wheie the fii-st meeting-house stood and 
 to extend six miles Ka«t, West, North and South, viz., twelve miles 
 B<]iu»re extending from said centre as aforesaid. 
 
 These things we apprehend might be a means to promote tlie welfare 
 of our place so as in tiiu(* wo might be beneficial to the publick interest 
 
 of the Province and the granting of which will oblige your poor sup- 
 pliants as in duty bound for your Honours ever to pray, 
 
 John Pvnchon, 
 Saml. Partrtgo, 
 John Hitchcock, 
 In the name of the Committee. 
 Henry Gilbert, Thomas Barns, Thomas Rich, Sani^i Davis, Steven 
 Jennings, Abijah Bartlet, Samei Wheeler, Benj. Bartlett, Samuel Owen, 
 Thom s Parsons, Thomas Gilbert. 
 Brookfield, May 2G, 1701. 
 
 As a result of this petition a i>]an was made of 
 eight miles square, the quality of land stated and 
 boundary lines described and the whole reported to 
 the court in obedience to its order. In consequence 
 of the loss of this plan another survey was made by 
 Timothy Dwight in 1719 and the boundaries of the 
 town were established by the court. 
 
 Shortly after the engagement of Rev. Mr. Phillips 
 the coming on of what was called Queen Anne's War 
 once more subjected Brookfield to the dangers of 
 Indian warfare. In this state of things, upon a re- 
 newed application to the General Court for assistance, 
 the sum of twenty pounds were allowed to be paid to- 
 wards the support of a chaplain to the garrison in the 
 town. No meeting-house had been erected since the 
 first was burned in 1675, and it is probable that until 
 the erection of the second house of worship in 1715 
 Sabbath services were held in the garrison. Rev. 
 Joseph Smith, a son of Lieut. Philip Smith, of 
 Hadley, and a graduate at Harvard in 1695, was ap- 
 pointed chaplain and was the second minister of the 
 town since its reconstruction. Mr. Smith remained 
 tuitil 1705, and was afterward settled in Cohansey, 
 New Jersey, and Middletown, Connecticut. During 
 the whole of his ministry in Brookfield and for some 
 years after the sum of twenty pounds was annually 
 paid by order of the court for the support of the 
 ministry. 
 
 In 1704 the condition of the town had again 
 reached a low ebb. The war continued and though 
 some new settlers came into the town, they for the 
 most part were refugees from more exposed settle- 
 ments, and brought little with them for the pro- 
 motion of their own comfort or of the public good. 
 This unhappy condition is well illustrated in the fol- 
 lowing petition : 
 
 Brookfielu, Dec. 14, 1704. 
 To His Excelleency etc. : 
 
 We hues names are underwriten do humbly beage your Excelancy's 
 favor and that you wod consider our weke condishone ; the favor we beg 
 is that we all ov us, not that such of us as find they are under such dis- 
 advantages that they cant subBist there, might remove into some other 
 towne where they may works fore there liveinge. by the deficulty of 
 the times we are reduste to such pverty that we cant subsist except your 
 onors will plese to grant us wages as soldiers k pay for our diat, for we 
 raize little or none of our provision by rezen of our being draun so far 
 frome our improvements of Lands. Our families are so large and our 
 means are so small that we cant live without sume other imploye than 
 any wo have at present. And if the honoured Cort ceases to put us in as 
 soldiei-s we will as we do account it our duti conform to the orders of 
 authority— but we rather, if it may be granted, choose to remove into 
 other towns, and we humbly intrete that the onors of the Corte would 
 pk'so to grant us pay for our diat for the time we have served as soldears. 
 No more at present, but we remain youavs as foUoweth : 
 
 IIENRV Gll.BKltT, BEN.IAMIN BaRTLETT, 
 
BROOKFIELD. 
 
 517 
 
 John Woolcott, 
 SamI'I'. Owen, 
 Thos. Pabsons, 
 Samurl Davis, 
 Philip Goss, 
 Ebenk. Hatward, 
 Thomas Gilbikt, 
 Joseph Rice, 
 Joseph Marks, 
 John Clary, 
 Thomas Barns, 
 
 John Gilbert, 
 
 Samx.1.. Owkn, Jr., 
 Henry Taylor, 
 Steph. Jennings, 
 B3NJ. Jennings, 
 Edward Walker, 
 Joseph Banister, 
 John Haywahd, 
 John Hasiilton, 
 Joseph Jennings. 
 
 Tills petition was probably acted on favorably by 
 the court, as the records show that the muster-roll for 
 wages and subsistence of .soldiers posted at Brookfield 
 and Springfield was increased from £271 9s. Id. for 
 the four mouths ending October 18, 1704, to £426 15«. 
 lOd. for the three months ending January 31, 1705. 
 
 On the 24th of October, 1705, Rev. William 
 Grosvenor was engaged to take the place of Mr. 
 Smith and remained until August 25, 1708. Mr. 
 Grosvenor was the son of John Grosvenor, who came 
 from Chester County, in England, to Roxbury, and 
 who was one of the settlers of Pomfret, Connecti- 
 cut, who obtained a grant of land from the General 
 Assembly in 1686 and an act of incorporation as a 
 town in October, 1713. The son William graduated 
 at Harvard in 1693. After the departure of Mr. 
 Grosvenor, as far as can be learned, the people of 
 Brookfield were without a minister until May 1, 
 1711, when Rev. John James was engaged and re- 
 ceived, as his predecessor had done, a stipend of 
 twenty pounds from the province. Mr. James re- 
 mained at Brookfield until May 1, 1714, when he re- 
 moved to Wethersfleld, Conn., where he died August 
 10, 1729. 
 
 The year 1713 brought to a termination the Indian 
 hostilities, which during nearly forty years had intim- 
 idated the inland towns of the province and checked 
 their growth. The people of Brookfield almost for 
 the first time since its original settlement could now 
 without distraction and alarm turn their attention to 
 the pursuits of peace. In that year, in consequence of 
 the death of Joseph Hawley and John Hitchcock and 
 the age and infirmity of Medad Pomroy, Samuel 
 Porter, Ebenezer Pomroy and Luke Hitchcock were 
 appointed on the town committee, which now consisted 
 of these gentlemen and John Pynchon, Medad Pom- 
 roy and Samuel Partridge the surviving members. At 
 a meeting of the committee held on the 4th of Sep- 
 tember, 1713, it was agreed that all grants of land 
 should thereafter be upon the following conditions: 
 1st, that the grantees should work on the land within 
 six months from the grant ; 2d, that they should live 
 on it within a year; 3d, that they shall live on it three 
 years from the date of the grant, and 4th, that in 
 case the grantees fail in any of the above conditions 
 the grants should be void. 
 
 On the 1st of May, 1714, Rev. Mr. James terminated 
 his ministry, and in the same year Rev. Daniel Elyier 
 was engaged to preach. Mr. Elmer remained only 
 six months and consequently received only ten pounds 
 
 from the province treasury. He was a graduate at 
 Yale in 1713, and after leaving Brookfield preached 
 at Westborough, Mass., and at Fairfield, New Jersey. 
 On the 17th of September, 1714, it is recorded that 
 the committee unanimously agreed 
 
 That the inhabitants build a meeting-house wherein to attend the 
 worship of God, which shall be set up and erected in said place where 
 fornierI.v the meeting-house was built uear old John Ayers' House Lett, 
 lying near about the center of the Town ; And the Committee here and 
 do by these presents order that the Constable, together with Edward 
 Walker, Sen., and Joseph Banister, talce an exact list of the ratable 
 estates, both real and personal, within the precincts of Brookfield, and 
 cause a rate to be made for the payment of their minister and other 
 charges. 
 
 On the 22d of November, 1715, 
 
 The inhabitimta of Brookfield agreed by the consent of the conmiittee 
 to build a mecting-houee wherein to carry on the worship of Gwl ; in the 
 form and manner as followetli, viz. : 45 feet in leusth and 'J^i feet in 
 width and to put in Galery pieces so that they may build galeriee when 
 they shall have occasion ; and to carry ou the building the said house as 
 far as they can conveniently with their labour ; aud what shall be re- 
 quired in money for the carrying said work to be raised by a Town rate ; 
 and if any person or persons refuse to labour having suitable warning by 
 the committee hereafter Darned shall pay their proportion in money. The 
 inhabitants likewise agree to get the timber this winter. The committee 
 chosen to oversee and take care for the carrying on of said work are 
 Thomas Barns, Henry Gilbert, Lieut. Philip Goss, Ena. Thomas Gilbert 
 Joseph IJanister, Edward Walker, Joseph Jennings, John Woolcott, Wm. 
 Old. TlTen ordered that a rate of 15U pounds be made towards building 
 the meeting-house. 
 
 On the same day that the above vote was pas-*ed, 
 Rev. Thomas Cheney was engaged to preach. On the 
 16th of October, 1716, the church was organized and 
 he was ordained. On that occasion the new meeting- 
 house was for the first time used. The inhybitants 
 voted to give him fifty-two pounds annually for three 
 years and to raise the salary forty shillings a year un- 
 til it reached seventy pounds. He was to have also 
 all the land which the committee proposed to give 
 him, to have a house and barn built for him suited to 
 his wishes, he finding the glass, nails and iron, to 
 have twenty-five cords of wood annually during his 
 life, and one day's labor annually from each man. He 
 was also to have eight acres of land fenced and made 
 fit for sowing, four of which were to be on the hill. 
 At his ordination Rev. Solomon Stoddard, of North- 
 ampton, preached the sermon, and the following 
 covenant was subscribed : 
 
 Ton do now, in the presence of the great and holy God, the elect An- 
 gels and this assembly of witnesses, enter into a solemn and perpetual 
 covenant, never to be forgotten, never to be broken. 
 
 You sincerely and cordially give up yourself to that God whose name 
 alone is Jehovah; taking God the Futher to be your God and Father, 
 God the Son to be your only Saviour and Redeemer, God the Holy Ghost 
 to be your sanctifier and comforter. 
 
 You submit yourself to Christ and accept him as the Prophet Priest aud 
 King of your soul the Great Head of the Church, and the only Mediator 
 of the covenant of grace ; promising that by the assistance of the Holy 
 Spirit you will keep the coveimnt of the Lord invioUbly ; that you will 
 cleave to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith and Gospel obedience ; and will 
 endeavor to reform your life us to all known sin whether open orsecret — 
 will live in the conscientious discharge of all duty towards God and man 
 — walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blume- 
 lessly ; that you will endeavor that the inward temper of your mind be 
 conformed to God's will and word ; and that you will follow the excellent 
 example which Christ has set you for the rule of your life. 
 
 You also give up yourself to this Church in the Lord ; aud freely cove- 
 
518 
 
 HISTORY OF WOECBSTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 nant and bind yoiireolf tu walk as a regular member of Cbrist's Church ; 
 to obey tbeni tluit have rule ov*-r yon in the Lord : to read God's word 
 and to live in the practice of social an<l secret prayer and in diligent at- 
 tendance on the word preached and ordinances administered ; — relying 
 on the grace and all-sufticiency of Christ, which are sufficient for you — 
 you promise to walk according to what you now know, or shall know, to 
 be your duty. 
 
 lio you sincerely and cordially consent to the covenant now proposed ? 
 
 We then receive you as a sincere disciple of Christ and a member of 
 the same church with ourstdves — promising so long as God shall continue 
 you among us, to watch over you with meekness and brotherly love ; — 
 and may the Lord add to the numbers and graces of bis church, and 
 finally bring us all to join tlie general assembly and Church of the Fii-st- 
 born, whose names are written in heaven. Amen. 
 
 So far as the church is concerned this may be con- 
 sidered to have been its birth. Though religious ser- 
 vices had been held for many years and ministers em- 
 ployed, there was no formal church organization until 
 the date above mentioned, October 16, 1717. The 
 meeting-house, though occupied, was not completely 
 finished for several years, but the church was fairly 
 launched, and afterwards, with few interruptions, suc- 
 cessfully maintained. The salary of the minister was 
 paid by a rate or tax, which included also the current 
 expenses connected with the erection of the meeting- 
 house. This rate was made on the 22d of April, 1717, 
 and amounted to £121 3s. Sd. The names of the per- 
 sons taxed with the amounts of their tax are included 
 in the following list of laud-owners who had re- 
 ceived grants from the town committee from the date 
 of the earliest grants down to 1768, which was the last 
 year in which the aft'airs of the town were managed 
 by the committee : 
 
 Benjamin Ayres 14 6 
 
 Edward Ayres 12 C 
 
 John Ayres, Sr 1 4 11 
 
 Joseph Ayres 12 6 
 
 Mark Ayres 12 6 
 
 Nathaniel Ayrea 12 6 
 
 Thomas Ayres 12 6 
 
 Samuel Ayres 
 
 John Ayres, Jr 
 
 Captain Thomas Baker 3 1 
 
 Joseph Banister 2 11 fi 
 
 Noah Barns 12 6 
 
 Sajuuel Barns 1 10 
 
 Thomas Barns.. 4 8 
 
 Joshua Barns 18 3 
 
 Abijah Bartlet (heirs) 13 
 
 Benjamin Bartlet 13 6 
 
 Thom.is Bartlet 14 6 
 
 Josiah Beamin 2 8 11 
 
 Simon Beamin, Jr 12 6 
 
 Thoniiis Bettys (heirs) 12 6 
 
 Wm. Biggerton 12 
 
 Joseph Babrook 1 17 
 
 Samuel Bush 15 2 
 
 ■\Vm. Barns 
 
 Samuel Brown. 
 
 John Beamin 
 
 Kichard Coy 9 5 
 
 John Chadwick 
 
 Richard Coy, Jr 
 
 John Clements 
 
 Juhn Clary 
 
 Thomas Cheney 
 
 Benjamin Davis 12 6 
 
 Samuel Davis, Sr 2 16 
 
 Samuel Davis, Jr 12 6 
 
 Lieut. Heury Dwight 18 9 
 
 £ s. d. 
 
 
 
 9 5 
 
 Hezekiah Dickinson 
 
 Jonathan Davis 
 
 Robert Emmons 1 
 
 Daniel Elwin 
 
 Grershom Ferry 
 
 James Ford 
 
 Thomas Gibbs 14 6 
 
 Ebenezer Gilhert 14 6 
 
 Henry Gilbert 3 13 9 
 
 John Gilbert 14 6 
 
 Nathaniel Gilbert 12 6 
 
 Samuel Gilbert 1 4 6 
 
 Thomas Gilbert (Ens.j 2 3 11 
 
 Thomas Gilbert 12 6 
 
 Philip Goss 
 
 John Green 
 
 Wm. Grovesnor 
 
 John Hamilton, Sr 3 17 
 
 John Hamilton, Jr 12 
 
 Joseph Hawley (Ens.) 12 
 
 Ephraira Hayward 12 
 
 Ebenezer Hay ward (heirs) 12 
 
 Enoch Hinds 12 
 
 Hopestill Hinds 1 4 
 
 John Hinds, l 2 
 
 John Hitchcock (Ens.) 1 11 
 
 Luke Hitchcock (Capt.) .. 12 
 
 Jeremiah IIow 1 5 
 
 Daniel Hovey 
 
 James Hovey 
 
 Tiiumas Hovey 
 
 John Hayward, Jr 
 
 George Hayward 
 
 Daniel How 
 
 Elisha How 
 
 Benj. Jennings (heirs) 12 
 
 Jonathan Jennings I 14 
 
 £ 8. d. 
 
 Joseph Jennings 3 4 11 
 
 Stephen JeuuingB 
 
 John James 
 
 Samuel King 9 5 
 
 Benjamin Knowlton 15 
 
 Samuel Kent 
 
 John Kilhira 
 
 Edwaid Kellogg 
 
 Joseph Kellogg 
 
 John Lawrence 
 
 Joseph Marks, Sr 16 7 
 
 JoBejdi Marks, Jr 14 6 
 
 John Morse 9 5 
 
 Thomas Millett 
 
 Joseph Marber 
 
 Joseph Miison 
 
 r»aniel M':Intosh 
 
 Tilly Merrick 
 
 Nicholas Nichols 
 
 James Negro 
 
 Wm. Old 14 6 
 
 Jabez Olmstend 15 4 
 
 Samuel Owen, Sr 14 6 
 
 Samuel Owen, Jr 19 4 
 
 Robert Old 
 
 John Parsons 1 18 3 
 
 Thomas Parsons 15 9 
 
 Samuel Partridge (Col.)-.- 15 8 
 GoUlBl-cry Partridge (Col.) 12 6 
 
 John Perry 14 2 
 
 Joseph Perry 1 3 10 
 
 Henry Peters 6 3 
 
 Ebenezer Pomroy (capt.) 12 6 
 
 Samuel I'orter (esq.) 18 9 
 
 Daniel Price 2 2 
 
 John Pyuchon (col.) 6 5 
 
 John Pynchou (capt.) 12 6 
 
 W^m. Prichard 
 
 Thomas I'arsous 
 
 Samuel Prichet 
 
 John Patter 
 
 James Pettcr 
 
 George Phillips 
 
 Ebenezer Prescott 
 
 Juhn Rich 12 16 
 
 Thomas Rich 14 6 
 
 Thomas Rich, (Sr. heirs) 13 2 
 Amos Kice 14 6 
 
 £ «. 
 
 Azariah Rice I 4 
 
 Cyprian Rice 1 5 
 
 Elisha Rice 1 16 
 
 Pelatiah Rice 1 4 
 
 Joseph Rice 
 
 Obadiah Rice 
 
 Peter Kice 
 
 John Shepherd 1 4 
 
 John Stoddard (maj.) 15 
 
 Samuel Smith (m.) 
 
 Preserved Smith 
 
 Ichabod Smith 
 
 Ebenezer Smith 
 
 Peter Slianaoway 
 
 Samuel Swazey 
 
 Samuel Swazey (m.) 
 
 Isaac Shattuck 
 
 Henry Taylor, (heirs) 4 
 
 James Travis 
 
 Judah Trumble 
 
 IMatthew Tomblin 
 
 Isaac Tomblin 
 
 Benjamin Thomas 
 
 Henry Taylor 
 
 Arthur Tucker 
 
 John Wait 15 
 
 Jerro Wait 15 
 
 John Wait 15 
 
 Joseph AVait 15 
 
 Juhn Belding 15 
 
 Joseph Smith 15 
 
 Benjamin Walker 12 
 
 Edward Walker, (Sr.) 2 15 
 
 Edward Walker, (Jr.) 1 4 
 
 Joseph Walker 12 
 
 David Wedge 18 
 
 Sauuiel Wheeler 1 9 
 
 John White, (heirs) 1 6 
 
 Samuel Williams, (lieut,) 17 
 
 John Woolcott, (Sr.) 2 10 
 
 John AVarner 
 
 Nathaniel Warner 
 
 Samuel W^amer 
 
 Thomas Wilson 
 
 John Woolcott, (Jr.) 
 
 Joseph Woolcott 
 
 Nathaniel Wood 
 
 Juhn Younglove 
 
 CHAPTEE LXXIX. 
 
 BROOKFIELn.— (a7«i'/««fa'.) 
 
 Up to the year 1718 the town of Brookfield through 
 all the vicissitudes of its life can hardly be said to 
 have enjoyed full municipal privileges. To a certain 
 extent it had been under the guardianship of the 
 committee appointed first by the Massachusetts Col- 
 ony Court and after the charter of the Province of 
 Massachusetts Bay in 1692 by the government of that 
 province. This committee had always been composed 
 of trustworthy men, and there seems to be no record 
 of any serious dissatisfaction on the part of the people 
 with their administration. In the above year the 
 c(immittee then in commission asked to be discharged 
 from the further performance of their duties in the 
 following petition : 
 
BROOKFIELD. 
 
 519 
 
 To nU Excellettcy, Bamuel Shute, Etq., and the Hoiihl. Cotmcil and Hou*e 
 of liepresentatives, convened in Geneynt Court the 2Sth of Slay, 1718. 
 We nudereigued, tbe Cummitt<?e for BrookfielJ. after many Disappoint ' 
 nients by wan- and otherwise, wliicli for a long time the people have 
 laboured under, by the good providence of God are now so increased that 
 they are now near fifty families on the place have near finished a very 
 convenient meeting-house, have settled a church and ordained an ortho- 
 dox and learned Minister. Wo humbly propose that they be ni«de a 
 Township according to the directions of the Law by themselves & said 
 Committee released— which we submit to the Courts' determination. 
 And for your Excellency and Honor's shall ever pray. 
 
 S.\MUEr. P-\RTRiDGE, "J Oommiitee 
 Sawvel Porter, J^ for 
 Luke Hitchcock, J Brookfield, 
 
 This petition was granted and the following order 
 was passed by the House of Representatives, Novem- 
 ber 12, 1718, and after concurrence by the Council, 
 was consented to by Governor^Shute: 
 
 Ordered that the prayer's of this petition be granted, and that the In- 
 habitants of the Town of Brooivfield be invested with all the powers, 
 privileges and authorities to direct, order and manage all the affairs of 
 said Township that other towns are or ought to be invested with. And 
 that the Committee be dismisr- from the care of them with the thanks of 
 this Court for their good and faithful service. The said Town to lye to 
 the County of Hampshire. 
 
 The first town meeting was held on the 15th of 
 December, 1718, at which Philip Goss acted as 
 moderator and Thomas Gilbert was chosen treasurer 
 and clerk. At an adjourned meeting at which Thomas 
 Baker acted as moderator, Thomas Barns, Philip Goss, 
 Elisha Rice, Samuel Barns and Thomas Gilbert were 
 chosen assessors; Tilly Merrick, Joseph Brabrook 
 and Thomas Parsons a committee to examine town 
 debts; Joseph Jennings and Joseph Banister meas- 
 urers, and Elisha Rice, Thomas Gibbs and Jonathan 
 Jennings a committee "to see that tbe grants made 
 by the former committee do pay equal proportion to 
 the rate committed to Constable Walker to collect 
 for the meeting-house." At th's meeting it was voted 
 that Tilly Merrick, Henry Gilbert, Edward Walker 
 and Joseph Jennings be a committee to see that the 
 town is supplied by the grist-mill with meal accord- 
 ing to an arrangement which had been made with 
 John Hayward. The grist-mill here referred to was 
 built on land granted to Mr. Hayward about the year 
 170(3. The grant included " forty acres of upland in 
 the west part of the town, and fifteen acres of 
 meadows ; also seventy acres joining the first lot and 
 twenty-four acres of meadows for his encouragement 
 to build a grist-mill in Brookfield, and on condition 
 that he maintain the same in such repair as the town 
 may be supplied at all times with grinding from said 
 mill for the term of twenty-five year.s." The mill was 
 built on the New Mill Brook, and according to Mr. 
 Temple, the remains of its dam may be seeu near the 
 home of Mr. Sexton Douglass. 
 
 The first year after what might be called the second 
 birth of the town, was characterized by a movement 
 to establish public schools. On the 5Lh of Januari, 
 1719-20, the town granted forty acres of land for a 
 school, and it is probuble that a school was opened 
 near that time. On the 23d of January, 1728, it was 
 voted that a school be built in four several places in 
 
 town, the town to be divided into four parts by a 
 committee, consisting of Wm. Old, E|)hraim Hay- 
 ward, Wm. Ayres, Samuel Barns and John Hinds, 
 and twenty pounds were appropriated for the salary 
 of a school-master. On the 15th of May, 1732, it was 
 voted to direct the selectmen to hire four women to 
 •keep school, and the sum of fifty pounds was appro* 
 priated. On the 23d of November, 1739, it was voted 
 to have two school-masters, and the sum of one hun- 
 dred pounds was appropriated. In 1746 the town 
 granted one hundred and fifty pounds, old tenor, for 
 the support of a grammar school, and in 1749, three 
 hundred pounds, of the same tenor. But it is not 
 necessary to follow the evolution of the school system 
 of the town, and state the various steps by which its 
 present condition has been reached. It was voted by 
 the town after the three precincts were formed, that 
 each precinct should have the care of its schools, and 
 from that time each precinct raised its own school 
 money, selected teachers, and had the general man- 
 agement of education within its borders. There are at 
 present in the town fifteen schools, including the high 
 school. These are the high school, a grammar, first 
 intermediate, second intermediate, first primary and 
 second primary, in the centre village, a grammar, 
 intermediate, first primary and second primary, in the 
 east village, the Potopoag, Rice Corner, Upper 
 Podunk, Lower Podunk and the school over the 
 river, with enrollments numbering six hundred and 
 thirty-eight and average membership of five hundred 
 and thirteen. 
 
 Little of interest occurred in the life of the town 
 until 1744. There had been occasional alarms on 
 account of Indian raids, and at various times compa- 
 nies of men had been raised to serve as scouts, and 
 proper safeguards had been adopted. Brookfield was 
 now scarcely enumerated among the bordtr towns, 
 and its people lived to a certain extent behind the 
 shield and shelter which newer towns farther to the 
 west aud north had raised to protect them. Sheffield 
 had been incorporated in 1733, Stockbridge, in 1739, 
 Deerfield in 1682, Northfield in 1713, Saunderland in 
 1714, Brimfield in 1731, Westfield in 1669, Hatfield in 
 1670 and Sturbridge in 1738. But, nevertheless, occa- 
 sional Indian attacks served to keep them on the watch, 
 and to more or less obstruct and delay that develop- 
 ment of business and trade which the older and better 
 guarded settlements on the seaboard enjoyed. 
 
 With the settlement of new towns a new adjustment 
 of counties became necessary. Middlesex and Suffolk 
 counties, incorporated in 1643, had become with the 
 incorporation of new towns disproportionately large, 
 and an exigency seemed to exist for the formation of a 
 new county. In the adjustment which ensued the 
 town of Brookfield was involved. On the 2d of April, 
 1731, an Act was framed incorporating Worcester 
 County, which included Worcester, Lancaster, West- 
 borough, Shrewsbury, Southborough, Leicester, Rut- 
 land and Lunenburgh, which had previously been 
 
520 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 included in Middlesex county, Mendon, Woodstock, 
 Oxford, Sutton and Uxbridge, which had before been 
 iucluded in Suffolk county, and Brookfield, which as 
 has* already been stated, had previously been included 
 in Hampshire county. 
 
 In March, 1744, war was declared between England 
 jmd France, and what has always been known in our 
 history as the old French and Indian AVar, followed 
 until the treaty of Aix la Chapelle, in October, 1748. 
 In this war several Brookfield men took a prominent 
 part. Joseph Dwight commanded a regiment in the 
 expedition against Louisburg; Jabez Olmstead com- 
 manded a company in the same expedition, and the 
 following soldiers entered into the service of the 
 province : 
 
 Jonathan CInry, dnimmer^ 
 
 Beujauihi Gilbert, ensign, 
 
 Eteazer Haywood, 
 
 Kdward Smitli, 
 
 Thomas Bticliminster, captniQ^ 
 
 JoBepli Alien, lieutenant, 
 
 Noab A»litey, ensign. 
 
 Beiij. Riiggles, sergeant, 
 Ei>liraiiji Hayward, SL^rgeant, 
 Gersbom Makepeace, clerk, 
 Etlward Walker, corporal, 
 SniieoQ Dwight, " 
 John Wait, " 
 
 Smtineh. 
 
 James Converse, 
 Andrew Cowee, 
 Obadiah t'ooley, 
 Jobn Bell, 
 Joseph Banister, 
 Uriah Bush, 
 John Blair, 
 Thom»s Banister, 
 Samuel Bascom, 
 Peter Blackmer, 
 Klijali Bartlett, 
 Jnde Convei-se, 
 Gideon Cooley, 
 Thomas Gilbert, 
 William Dady, 
 Samuel Hinckley, 
 John Hamilton, 
 Moses Hascall, 
 Hope^ill Hinds, 
 
 In the second French and Indian War, extending 
 from 1754 to 1763, Brookfield also performed her full 
 share in furnishing men. Her soldiers in this war, 
 without specifying the commands to which they were 
 attached or the special service in which they were 
 engaged, were : 
 
 Nehemiah Hinds, 
 Jacob Hinds, 
 Samuel Galloon, 
 Dudley Jordan, 
 Salomon Keyes, Jr., 
 Richard Marks, 
 Silas Newton, 
 Phinehaa Powers, 
 Thomas Rich, 
 Solomon Rich, 
 Nathan Smith, 
 William Shepherd, 
 John Steward, 
 Simeon Dwight, 
 Phiiiebas Warner, 
 Henry White, 
 Isaac White, 
 Joseph Warner, 
 James Patterson. 
 
 Martin How, 
 
 Arthur Tucker, 
 
 John Tute, 
 
 William Hair, 
 
 "Wm. Brabrook, 
 
 Caleb Dodge, 
 
 Epbraim Hayward, 
 
 Levi Hamilton, 
 
 Setb Hamilton, 
 
 Joseph Waite, 
 
 Thomas Waite, 
 
 Nathaniel Woolcott, corporal, 
 
 David Hinckley, 
 
 Jonathan Waite, 
 
 Jeduthnu Baldwin captain, 
 
 Wm. Durothy, 
 
 Comfort Barns, 
 
 ThoniaH Bams, corporal, 
 
 Joseph Gilbei-t, 
 
 Jobn Green, 
 
 ThomaH Stevens, 
 
 Joseph Rutland, 
 
 Daniel Walker, 
 
 Beiyaniin Wood, 
 
 Corlia Hinds, 
 
 Jedediab How, 
 
 Simeon AValker, 
 
 Levi Walker, 
 
 Sylvanus Walker, 
 
 Joseph Witt, 
 
 Josiah Wood, 
 
 Jonathan Gilbert, sergeant, 
 
 Oliver Woolcott, corporal, 
 
 Silas Walker, corporal, 
 
 Joel Abbott, 
 
 Onesiphonm Ayres, 
 
 Stephen Blackmer, 
 
 Simeon Brooks, 
 
 John Davis. 
 
 Oliver Evana, 
 
 David Gilbert, 
 
 Ebenezer Hayward, 
 
 Eleazer Warner, 
 
 Joseph Hamilton, sergeant, 
 
 Abraham Adams, 
 
 Nathan Hamilton, 
 
 John McClure, 
 
 Phinefaas Slayton, 
 
 Solomon Rood, 
 
 Jacob Wood, 
 
 Peter Harwood, ensign, 
 
 Wm. Bhickmer, 
 
 Daniel Aiusworth, 
 
 Joseph Barr, 
 
 Adoniram Bartlott, 
 
 Daniel Beman, 
 
 Samuel Bliss, 
 
 Thomas Cheney, 
 
 Henry Chadwick, 
 
 James Clark, 
 
 Robert Clark, 
 
 Josiah Cutler, 
 
 Robert Cutler, 
 
 Samuel Dorothy, 
 
 Josiah Farrell, 
 
 Ebeuezer Foster, Jr., 
 
 Wm. Gallaway, 
 
 David Mitchell, 
 
 Nathan Gould, 
 
 Jason Hinds, 
 
 Abraham How, Jr., 
 
 Amos Marah, 
 
 Joshua Morris, 
 
 Joseph Old, 
 
 Wm. Ranger, 
 
 Isaac Rice, 
 
 John Rice, 
 
 Daniel Walker, 
 
 Beuj. Gott, surgeon's mate. 
 
 Comfort Brabrook, 
 
 Nathan Thompson, 
 
 Samuel Barns, 
 
 Uriah Gilbert, 
 
 Joseph Walker, 
 
 Thomiis Riggs, 
 
 Breed Batcheller, 
 
 Jedediih Delaud, 
 
 Jonathan Dodge, 
 
 Walter Dorothy, 
 
 John Goldsbury, 
 
 Abraham Hair, 
 
 Wm, Ranger, 
 
 Jobn Woolcott, 
 
 Gideon Abbott, 
 
 Thomas Weeks, 
 
 Wm. Ayres, Jr., 
 
 Edward Ayres, 
 
 Eliphalet Hauiilton, 
 
 John Adams, 
 
 Ehenezer Davis, 
 
 Solomon Flagg, 
 
 Abner Old, 
 
 Caleb How, 
 
 Joseph Hatfield, 
 
 Philip Reed, 
 
 Henry White, 
 
 John Williams, 
 
 Ezekiel Woodbury, 
 
 Samuel Church, 
 
 Philip Gilbert, 
 
 Obtidiah Cooley, captain, 
 
 Moses Barns, clerk, 
 
 Cornelius White, sergeant, 
 
 Moses Jennings, corporal, 
 
 Asa Bacon, 
 
 Christopher Banister, 
 
 Moses Bragg, 
 
 Jabez Crosby, 
 
 John Goss, 
 
 Joseph Gilbert, 
 
 Peter Hill, 
 
 Caleb How, 
 
 Ebenezer Killen, 
 
 Adoniraju Walker, 
 
 Joseph Walker, 
 
 Jeremiah Woodbury, 
 
 Jobn Walker, 
 
 John Gibson, 
 
 Wm. Virgin, 
 
 David Palmer, 
 
 David Gilbert, Jr., 
 
 Jedediali Gilbert, 
 
 Obadiah Wright, 
 
 Daniel Gilbert, 
 
 Philip Goss, 
 
 Robert Clatlin, Jr., 
 
 Thomas Cook, 
 
 Joseph Stone, lieutenant, 
 
 Daniel Matthews, coi-poral, 
 
 Nath'. Paige, corporal, 
 
 Philip Deland, drummer, 
 
 Jabez Ayres, 
 
 Joseph Banister, 
 
 Matthew Bartlett, 
 
 Obadiah Deland, 
 
 Josiab Dodge, 
 
 Samuel Gould, 
 
 John Ranger, 
 
 John Rich, 
 
 Thomas-SIayton, 
 
 Nathan Smith, 
 
 Elijah Temple, 
 
 Reuben Walker,. 
 
 Wm. Wright, 
 
 Peter Harwood, 
 
 Joseph Perr>', 
 
 Amos Tate, 
 
 Asa Lameou, 
 
 Joseph Barns, 
 
 Solomon Gilbert, 
 
 Eliakioi Spooner, 
 
 James Thompson. 
 
 Besides the above, the following muster-rolls are on 
 record of men enlisting iu 1757 for various terms of 
 service, many of whom had before enlisted: 
 
 Captain Nathaniel Woolcott's Cmpany : 
 
 Abraham How, lieutenant. 
 Benjamin Adams, ensign. 
 Thomas Taylor, ensign. 
 Aaron Bartlett, corporal. 
 Wm. Watson, corporal. 
 Wm. Ayers, corporal. 
 Daniel Gilbert, corporal. 
 Moses Ayres. 
 Unesiph Ayres. 
 Wm. Ayres (3d). 
 Jobn Uaker. 
 
 Jeremiah Gould. 
 Nathan Gould. 
 Samuel Gould, Jr. 
 John Hair. 
 Timothy Hall. 
 Joseph llatlield, Jr. 
 Oliver Haywaixi. 
 Corlis Hinde.^ 
 Caleb How. 
 Epbraim How. 
 Abram How. 
 
BROOKFIELD. 
 
 521 
 
 Jacob Ball. 
 
 Jedediah How, Jr. 
 
 Breed Batcheller, drummer. 
 
 Wm. Henderson, 
 
 Thomas Ball. 
 
 Silas How. 
 
 Gideon Abbott. 
 
 
 Elisha How. 
 
 Aarun Bams. 
 
 Nathl. Jones. 
 
 Jacob Ains worth. 
 
 
 Asa Lamson. 
 
 Aduiiirnm Bartlett. 
 
 Asa Lamson. 
 
 Asa Bacon. 
 
 
 Thomas McClure. 
 
 Zucaruib Brown. 
 
 John Lamson. 
 
 Nathan Barns. 
 
 
 Abner Old. 
 
 Joseph Bartlett. 
 
 Daniel ]!iluthews. 
 
 Wm. Batcheller. 
 
 
 David Patrick. 
 
 Wallbew Bartlett. 
 
 Daniel Patten. 
 
 Zeph Batcheller. 
 
 
 Thomas Ranger. 
 
 Nathaniel Biirtlett. 
 
 Joseph Stone. 
 
 Thomas Brown. 
 
 
 Asabel Bogere. 
 
 Samuel Chapman. 
 
 Arthur Tucker. 
 
 Samuel Chapman. 
 
 
 Roger Stevens. 
 
 Benjamin Copley. 
 
 Daniel Witt. 
 
 Robert Chaplin, Jr. 
 
 
 Wm. Tuffs. 
 
 Nabum Euger, 
 
 John Woolcott. 
 
 Jedediah Deland. 
 
 
 Isaac Walker. 
 
 Solomon Flagg. 
 
 Oliver Woolcott. 
 
 Daniel Deland. 
 
 
 Jacob Walker. 
 
 John Goudale. 
 
 Wm. Wright. - 
 
 Jonathan Dodge. 
 
 
 Samuel White. 
 
 JoBeph Gilbert. 
 
 
 In Capt. Sylvanus 
 
 Walker 
 
 's Company, 1758 
 
 Captain Jabez Upham's Company : 
 
 Eliphalet Hamilton, lieut. 
 
 Cyrus Rich, 
 
 Obiidiab Cooley, lieutenant. 
 
 Wm. Henghaw. 
 
 Daniel Walker, ens. 
 
 
 Moses Rich, 
 
 John White, lieutenant. 
 
 Eben Hayward, Jr. 
 
 Thomas Riggs, sergt. 
 
 
 Daniel Rolfe, 
 
 Benj. Walker, ensign. 
 
 Samuel Hinckley. 
 
 Reuben Old, sergt. 
 
 
 David Slayton, 
 
 Ebenezer Jennings, sergeant. 
 
 John Jennings. 
 
 Christ: Banister, sergt. 
 
 
 Gad Smith, 
 
 Nathan Ilamilton, sergeant. 
 
 Moses Jennings. 
 
 Obed Abbott, corp. 
 
 
 Reul)en Stevens, 
 
 Wni. Old, sergeant. 
 
 Benj. Jennings. 
 
 David Gilbert, corp. 
 
 
 Arthur Tucker, 
 
 Benj. Rice, sergeant. 
 
 David McClure. 
 
 James McClure, corp. 
 
 
 Benj. Walker, Jr, 
 
 James Brigham, corporal. 
 
 John McClure. 
 
 Ebenezer Davis, 
 
 
 Oliver Walker, 
 
 Joel ah Hobbs, corporal. 
 
 Comfort Old. 
 
 Abuer Gilbert, 
 
 
 Zebulon Walker, 
 
 Exekiel Old, corporal. 
 
 Reuben Old. 
 
 Nathan Goodale, 
 
 
 Henry W'isdom, 
 
 Philip Deland, corporal. 
 
 Asa Partridge. 
 
 Erastus Hamilton, 
 
 
 Isaac Wood. 
 
 Gideon Abbott. 
 
 Asabel Peters. 
 
 Job Lane. 
 
 
 
 Abraham Adams, 
 Abraham Adams, Jr. 
 
 Daniel Rolf. 
 John Ranger. 
 
 In Capt. David McFarland's Worcester Company, 
 
 David Aiken. 
 
 Ephraim Rice. 
 
 1758. 
 
 
 
 Joseph Banister. 
 
 Jonas Rice. 
 
 Jonathan Dodge, sergt. 
 
 
 Abner Old, 
 
 Seth Banibter. 
 
 Oliver Rice. 
 
 Ebenezer Heyward, corp 
 
 
 Samuel Robinson, 
 
 John Btflenger. 
 
 Solomon Rice. 
 
 Charles Dorothy, 
 
 
 Daniel Rolfe, 
 
 Mosea Bnigg. 
 
 Samuel Rogers. 
 
 Abraham Gilbert, 
 
 
 Jonathan Streeter, 
 
 David Bridge. 
 
 Phinehas Slayton. 
 
 Nathan Hamilton, 
 
 
 Samuel Streeter, 
 
 Uriah Bush. 
 
 Thomas Slayton. 
 
 Cornelius Hinds, 
 
 
 JohIjiIi White, 
 
 James Converse. 
 
 Josiah Stephens. 
 
 Stephen Jennings, 
 
 
 Jacob Wood. 
 
 Jabez Crosby. 
 Ebenezer Davis. 
 
 Roger Stephens. 
 John Waite, Jr, 
 
 In Capt. Wm. Paig 
 
 e'a Hardwick Company, 1760. 
 
 Danipl Deland. 
 
 Abraham Walker. 
 
 Daniel Walker, lieut. 
 
 
 Caleb Green, 
 
 Obadifth Deland. 
 
 Adoniram Waiker. 
 
 Zeph Batcheller, sergt. 
 
 
 Elijah How, 
 
 Thomas Dodge. 
 
 Joseph Walker. 
 
 Obadiah Wright, sergt. 
 
 
 John McFarland, 
 
 John Green. 
 
 Edward Walker. 
 
 Ebenezer Davis, sergt. 
 
 
 Asa Partridge, 
 
 Stephen Green. 
 
 Phinehas Walker. 
 
 Nathan Abbott, 
 
 
 Asahel Rogers, 
 
 AmoB Hamilton, Jr. 
 
 Reuben Walker. 
 
 Jonathan Barns, 
 
 
 Ezra Rood, 
 
 Josiah Hamilton. 
 
 Daniel Walker. 
 
 Nathan Barns, 
 
 
 Gad Smith, 
 
 Eliphalft Hamilton. 
 
 John Woolcott. 
 
 Wm. Batcheller. 
 
 
 Aaron Tute, 
 
 Juhn Hamilton. 
 
 Ithamar Wright. 
 
 Comfort Gilbert, 
 
 
 Nathan Tyler, 
 
 Ezra Hamilton. 
 
 Obadiah Wright. 
 
 Ezekiel Gilbert, 
 
 
 Zebulon Walker, 
 
 Thomas Hamilton. 
 
 Richard Vorci. 
 
 John Goodale, 
 Nathan Goodale, 
 
 
 Thom.ia Weeks, 
 John Woolcott. 
 
 In Captain Jacob Abbott's Company : 
 
 Solomon Goodale, 
 
 
 
 Thomas Gilbert, lieutenant. 
 Abner Brown, entign. 
 
 Joseph Loring. 
 Abraham Martin. 
 
 There were others enlisting in various companies in 
 
 Jonathan Abbott, clerk. 
 
 Stephen Martin. 
 
 1758 and afterwards 
 
 many 
 
 of whose names are in- 
 
 Joseph Wood, sergeant. 
 
 David Palmer. 
 
 eluded in the above lists, in connection with au earlier 
 
 Robert Claflin. 
 
 John Peso. 
 
 service. These were 
 
 Rev. Eli Forbes, chaolain in the 
 
 Uriah Abbott. 
 
 John Phipps. 
 
 
 
 
 Caleb Dodge. 
 
 Wm. Rangef. 
 
 Crown Point expedition, Francis Stone, David Get- 
 
 Josiah Dodge. 
 
 Moses Rich. 
 
 chell, Stephen Ayres, 
 
 Ephraim Ayres, Solomon Cum- 
 
 Walter Dorothy. 
 Abner Gilbert. 
 John Gilbert. 
 
 Philip Rich. 
 Thomas Rich. 
 James Rooff. 
 
 miu^s, Daniel Dodge, Ohas. Dorothy, Jacob Getchell, 
 Henry Gilbert, Jesse Gilbert, Moses Gilbert, Jonas 
 
 Othniel Gilbert. 
 
 Charles Rice. 
 
 Hayward, William 
 
 Mace, 
 
 Samuel Palmer, Daniel 
 
 Philip Gilbert. 
 
 Wm. Tuffs. 
 
 Rolfe, Caleb Thayer, 
 
 Nathaniel Wait, Richard Wait, 
 
 Seth Gilbert. 
 John Gobs. 
 
 John Watt. 
 
 Samuel White. 
 
 Solomon Walker, Zebulon Walker, Samuel Whiston, 
 
 Peter Hill. 
 
 Jeremiah Woodbury. 
 
 Samuel White, John Fletcher, Beamsley Pottle, David 
 
 In Captain William Paige 
 
 Silaa Walker, sergeant. 
 
 *s Hardwick Company : 
 
 Josiah Dodge. 
 
 Pratt, Job Smith, Lemuel Smith, Jesse Vose, John 
 Whetstone, Asa Humphrey-i, James Wesson. 
 
 Gidi--on Walker, sergeant. 
 
 Charles Dorothy. 
 
 But we must return to the narration of some events 
 
 Caleb Dodge, sergeant. 
 
 Josiah Gibbs, 
 
 which occurred just 
 
 before 
 
 and during these wars. 
 
 Joel Abbott, corporal. 
 Wra. Ranger, corporal. 
 
 Thomas Gilbert (3d). 
 Amos Hamilton. 
 
 The growth of the town up 
 
 to the year 1741 may be 
 
 Rufus Putnam, corporal. 
 
 Nathan Hamilton. 
 
 estimated to have been considerable, from the fact 
 
522 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 that in that year sundry inhabitants in the southwest 
 part of the town joined with inhabitants in parts of 
 Brimfield and of a district then called Kingsfield, but 
 afterwards, in 1752, incorporated as the town of 
 Palmer, and petitioned the General Court to be set 
 off and incorporated as the town of Wt stern, now 
 Warren. The act of incorporation obtained by them, 
 passed January 16, 1741, provided that the new town 
 should consist of lands bounded as follows : 
 
 Begiuning at Brookfield, eoutUweat corner, then runniug half a 
 mile north on said Bruukfield line ; then west thirty-four degreei, north 
 three iiiileB and eighty rotls to the river and hounded with a small wal- 
 nut etaddle etanding in tlie Kplit of a rock; thence running up the 
 river to an elm tree marked ; thence crossing the river and running 
 north forty-four degrees east ahout three miles and an half to Brook- 
 fleld west line to a heap nf stones near a chestnut tree marked ; and 
 running east eleven degrees and thirty minutes ; south one mile and an 
 hundred and fifty rods, to a heap of stones on a rock at the end of a 
 meadow on mill pond, then hounded on Cornelius White's land, till it 
 comes to Mill Brook, bo called ; then hounded with the Mill Brook to 
 the river, as the hrook ruus ; then crossing the river and extending 
 southeasterly to a white oak tree, known by the name of the northeatst 
 corner of the mile sfjnaro ; thence extending southeasterly to Brook- 
 field south line, inter*^ecting that tine two miles and three-quartci's 
 from said first mentioned aouthwoat corner bounds. 
 
 On the 11th of December, 1747, Rev. Thomas 
 Cheney, the first settled pastor of the church, died. 
 Mr. Cheney was born in Eoxbury, January 29, 1(388- 
 89, and was the son of William and Rebecca (Newell) 
 Cheney. He graduated at Harvard College in 1711, 
 and married two wives, — the first Dorothy, daughter 
 of Joseph Hawley, of Northampton ; and second, 
 Mary, great-granddaughter of Rev. John Cutton, of 
 Boston. The death of Mr. Cheney and the loss of a 
 portion of the southwestern section of the town, 
 changing its geographical centre, stimulated a move- 
 ment for the formation of a second precinct in the 
 northerly part of the township. 
 
 Ebenezer Wilt and others petitioned the town in 
 that year to build a new meeting-house as near the 
 new centre as possible, or set them off as a distinct 
 precinct. At the annual meeting in March the town 
 refused to grant the petition, and voted down both 
 propositions, concerning the meeting-house and the 
 precinct. 
 
 In the mean time, Rev. Elisha Harding, a graduate 
 of Harvard in 174.5, was invited to settle, and on the 
 28th of November, 1748, the town concurred with the 
 church in the invitation, and at an adjourned meeting, 
 on the 22d of December, voted, after considerable 
 debate, as the record states, one thousand pounds, old 
 tenor currency, " for his encouragement to settle in 
 the Gospel ministry," and for his annual salary the 
 sum of five hundred pounds, old tenor, "accounting 
 it as though it be in Indian corn, at twenty shillings 
 a bushel ; Rye, thirty shillings ; Wheat, forty shillings 
 • — and so the five hundred pounds to be increased or 
 diminished yearly, as the prices of the grain varied." 
 He was also to have free liberty to cut wood for fuel 
 on the common land of the town, known by the name 
 of the Rocks. 
 
 In estimating these amounts, it must be remembered 
 
 that what was called old tenor currency was in value 
 only one-tenth of sterling — that is, that one thousand 
 pounds of old tenor was really only one hundred 
 pounds in sterling. 
 
 Mr. Harding was ordained September 1.3, 1749, on 
 which occasion Rev. Nathan Buckman preached the 
 sermon. After the settlement of Mr. Harding, the 
 dissatisfaction of the people in the north part of the 
 town continued, and on the 29th of March, 1750, the 
 second or north precinct was incorporated. Previous 
 to that date, the town having signified that the form- 
 ation of the precinct would be assented to in case fifty 
 or more persons signed a request therefor, in les-s than 
 ten days after such a condition was agreed upon more 
 than the requisite number of signatures had bfen 
 obtained, and thus, with the assurance that no further 
 objection would be raised, a meeting-house was begun 
 in April, 1749. 
 
 On the 16th of the following October a covenant 
 was signed by forty-two of the inhabitants, and some 
 dissatisfaction having manifested itself witt\ the loca- 
 tion of the meeting-house, then still unfinished, it 
 was agreed to submit the location to the arbitration 
 of disinterested men. The location, as originally 
 selected, was approved and the building by slow de- 
 grees went on to its completion. 
 
 The incorporation of the second precinct was 
 granted by the General Court in response to a petition 
 signed by Thomas Hale and fifty-six others, reciting 
 the grievances under which the inhabitants of the 
 north part of the town labored and the advantages of 
 a separate precinct. The order of the court, passed 
 by the House of Representatives March 28, 1750, 
 passed in concurrence by the Council March 29 and 
 consented to by Spencer Phipps, Governor, was "that 
 the prayer of the petition be so far granted as that 
 the petitioners, with their families and estates, to- 
 gether with such persons and their estates who shall, 
 within three months from this time, signify their de- 
 sire therefor under their hands to the clerk of the 
 town of Brookfield, be and they hereby are set off a 
 distinct Parish, and are endowed with all the privi- 
 leges and subjected to all the duties which the other 
 inhabitants of Parishes are by the laws of this Prov- 
 ince endowed with or subjected to — Provided, their 
 possessions do not exceed one-third part of the said 
 town of Brookfield for quantity and quality." 
 
 On the 21st of May, 1750, a meeting of the pre- 
 cinct was held at the house of Jabez Ayres, in ac- 
 cordance with a warrant issued by John Chandler, Jr., 
 Esq., at which William Ayres acted as Moderator. 
 At this meeting the following officers were chosen : 
 Wm. Ayres, Precinct Clerk; Wm. Ayres, Ebenezer 
 Witt, Samuel Gould, Noah Harris and Benjamin 
 Adams, Precinct Committee; Joseph Stone, Col- 
 lector, and Wm. Ayres, Samuel Gould, Wm. Witt, 
 Jason Bigelow and Moses Ayres, Assessors. On the 
 21st of September, 1750, it was voted by the precinct 
 to raise by as:,es ment on the polls and estates £13, 
 
BKOOKFIELD. 
 
 523 
 
 68. 8(/. <o supply the precinct with preaching, and in 
 1751 forty pounds were raised for the same purpose. 
 In 1752 Rev. Eli Forbes was invited te settle with the 
 sum of one hundred and twenty pounds as a settle- 
 ment, and £53. Us. Sd as an annual salary. The final 
 salary agreed on was after 1767 to be £66. 13«. 4d, 
 and thirty cords of wood a year. The church was 
 organized May 28, 1752, and on June 3d, Mr. Forbes 
 was ordained. 
 
 The covenant was signed by twenty-six males and 
 twenty-two females, as follows : Eli Forbes, John 
 Watson, Jabez Ayres, Ebenezer Witt, Noah Barns, 
 John Culler, Benjamin Adams, Abram How, Am- 
 miel Weeks, Ichabod How, Abner Taylor, Thomas 
 Hale, Uriah Gilbert, Joseph Stone, Mosts Ayres, 
 Charles Adams, Moses Barnes, Jason Bigiow, Nathan 
 Sievens, Thomas Taylor, Ephraim Cutler, Daniel 
 Newell, Jonathan Gilbert, Aaron Barns, Isaac Cutler, 
 John Witt, Esther Watson, Mary Tucker, Martha 
 How, Sarah Stone, Abigail Cutler, Rebecca Witt, 
 Mary Witt, Abigail Gilbert, Hannah Barns, Re- 
 becca Ayres, Esther Gilbert, Elizabeth Gilbert, 
 Miriam Newell, Sarah Ayres, Rebecca Adams, 
 Persis Adams, Naomi Taylor, Annah Barns, Phebe 
 How, Mary Hale, Mary Stevens, Hannah Bartlett. 
 
 The ministry of Mr. Forljes continued until March 
 1, 1775, and June 5, 1776, he was installed over the 
 first church in Gloucester, where he died December 
 15, 1804. His dismission, given at his own urgent 
 request, was the result of indignities shown him in 
 consequence of his suspected disloyalty. It is un- 
 doubtedly true that he was not by nature an enthu- 
 siast and did not enter into the revolutionary spirit 
 with extreme ardor, but his immediate settlement and 
 satisfactory ministry in Gloucester precludes the 
 belief that he entertained other than patriotic senti- 
 ments during his residence in Brookfield. Mr. 
 Forbes entered Harvard College in 1741 and during 
 his freshman year enlisted in the Provincial army 
 during the first French and Indian War.' After his 
 discliarge he returned to college and graduated in 
 1751 in the class with Judge William Gushing, Rev. 
 Mather Byles and Rev. John Willard, receiving the 
 degree of 8. T. D. from his Alma Mater in 1804, the 
 year of his death. 
 
 On the 23d of May, 1776, a call was given to the 
 Rev. Joseph Appletou, of Ipswich, a graduate at 
 Brown University in 1772, to succeed Mr. Forbes in 
 the ministry, with the oft'er of one hundred and thirty- 
 three pounds, sixteen shillings and eight pence as a 
 settlement, and of seventy pounds as an annual salary 
 for two years and eighty pounds afterward. Mr. Ap- 
 pleton was ordained October 3, 1776, and died in his 
 pastorate July 25, 1794. 
 
 Rev. Thomas Snell succeeded Mr. Appleton and 
 was ordained June 27, 1798, and continued in his 
 pastorate until his death, May 4, 1862, with a salary 
 never exceeding five hundred dollars a year. He was 
 born in Cummington November 21, 1774, and gradu- 
 
 ated at Dartmouth College in 1795. Until September 
 21, 1851, for fifty-three years he was the sole pastor 
 and senior pastor, with a colleague from that date 
 until his death closed a ministry of sixty-four years. 
 At this point the sketch of the Second Precinct will 
 be closed in this narrative, as that precinct was incor- 
 porated as the town of North Brookfield in 1812 and 
 will be found further referred to in the history of that 
 town in another part of this County History. 
 
 After the incorporation of the Second Precinct a 
 movement was initiated in the First Precinct to build 
 a new meeting-house. The question of location be- 
 came a serious one and three localities were proposed 
 — the site of the old house on the hill, the plain and 
 Mr. Seth Banister's lawn. The plain was in what is 
 now West Brookfield, Mr. Banister's lawn was in 
 what is now Brookfield and the hill was between the 
 two. Tne people of the west village, though prefer- 
 ring the plain, were willing to compromise on the old 
 site on the hill but the people of tlie south village 
 would consent to nothing but the lawn within their 
 own special territory. The people of the south part 
 formed a majority of the First Parish and at a meeting 
 held November 20, 1753, it was voted to build a meet- 
 ing house on the height near Seth Banister's house. 
 On the 4th of December Jedediah Foster, Abner 
 Brown, John Go^s and forty othei's living in the west 
 part asked to have the parish divided into two, equal 
 as to quantity and quality of lands and number of in- 
 habitants. The majority objected to the terms and 
 conditions of the petition, but were willing that the 
 petitioners themselves might be set off as another 
 parish. In the meantime the erection of tlie meeting- 
 house went on and the petitioners in the west part 
 applied to the General Court for an injunction. 
 Without, however, going further into the details of 
 the controversy it is sufficient to state that on the 8th 
 of November, 1754, an act was passed by the General 
 Court incorporating a third precinct and making an 
 addition to the Second Precinct, which was incorpor- 
 ated in March, 1750. The following is the text of the 
 Act: 
 
 Whereas, it is made evident to this court that the annexing some of 
 the inhubitanta of the first precinct in the town uf Brookfield, with 
 their lands, to the second precinct in said town, and the dJvidinj; the re- 
 mainder of said first precinct into two precincta would serve very much 
 to rt-iiiove many difficulties and inconveniencies which divers of the in- 
 habitants of said first precinct at present labour under, and also very 
 much to accommodate the greatest part of the iuhabitanta of said first 
 precinct, — 
 
 Be it enacted by the Governor, Council and Uouse of Representa- 
 tives, 
 
 Sect. 1. That all the lands in the present first precinct in said town, 
 lying mrlhward of a line beginning at the northt-ast corner of George 
 Harrington's lands, upon Spencer line, and runuinf^ westward by his, 
 the said George's hinds, to Five Mile River Bridge at the country road ; 
 from thence westerly on the most southerly parts and lines of the lands 
 of Thomas Slayton, Captain Nathaniel Woolcet, Thomas Moor, Ebene- 
 zer Jennings, John Jennings, Obadiah Rice, W"". Parks, Josiah Con, 
 verse, Francis Dodge, Paul Deland, tlie heirs of John Green, deceased, 
 Stephen Green and Joseph Ranger, Jun. ; and from said Ranger's south- 
 west corner to the southwest corner of W™. Ayrea' meadow, on Coy's 
 Brook, eo-called, near the place where the old school-house stood ; and 
 from thence northward on the must eastward parts and lines of the 
 
524 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 lands of Jolin Tuff and Josiah Gilbert, and on the most westward parts 
 and lines of tlie land of Jeremiah Woodbury and John Hill to Abner 
 Tyler's land ; and from thence on the most eastward part and lines of 
 the lands of Jacob Abbot and Joshua Dodge and Joshua Dodge, Jun., to 
 the center line of said town ; and from thence all the lands eastward of 
 that part of said center line, wliicb is northward of the place where the 
 above descril)ed line meets with tlie said center line to New Braintree 
 District be and hereby are annexed to the second precinct in Siiid town 
 of Brookfield; and that all those persons that now are or hereafter may 
 be inhabitants on said lands, be and Iiereby are incorporated with the 
 second precinct, and shall be always hereafter obliged to do all precinct 
 duties, and shall receive all precinct privileges in the said second pre- 
 cinct. 
 
 And be it further enacted. 
 
 Sect. 2. That tlie remaintler of tlie lands in the said first precinct in 
 said town of Brookfield be divided into two precincts in manner follow- 
 ing, viz. : the dividing line shall begin at the southeast corner of Paul 
 Deland's land, and shall run from thence to the country road in said 
 Brookfield, so as to take in and include all John Rich's land where he 
 dwells, into the West Precinct or division ; and from said country road 
 Baid dividing line shal' run in the midst of tile town road that leads 
 Bouthwarii from said country road to the river called Qnabaug River, to 
 the southeast corner of Ephraim Bartlet's land ; and from thence west- 
 ward, southward of all Ephraim Bartlet's and Obadiah Wright's land, 
 to Quaboag River ; and from thence the said river shall be the dividing 
 line down said river to the mouth of Salmon Brook ; and from thence 
 the dividing line shall run straight to a large white oak tree standing in 
 the northeast corner of a tract of land called the Mile Square ; said tree 
 being a boundary between the townships of Brookfield and Western ; 
 and that the lands lying in the said town of Brookfield {and not in- 
 cluded in the second precinct) westward of the above dividing line be 
 and hereby .are made a precinct by the name of the First Precinct in 
 the Town of Brookfield ; and that the inhabitants of said land westward 
 of the said dividing line above described be and hereby are invested 
 with all the powers and privileges and subjected to all the duties that 
 precincts in this province by law are invested with and subjected to ; 
 and that the lands lying in the said town of Brookfi'dd (and not in- 
 cluded in the second precinct), eastward of the above dividing lino be 
 and hereby are made a separate precinct by the name of the Third Pre- 
 cinct in the Town of Brookfield ; and that the inhaliitants of the said 
 lands eastward of the said dividing line above described be and hereby 
 are invested with all the powers and privileges and subjected to ail the 
 duties that precincts in this pi'ovince by law are invested with and sub- 
 jected to, and be it further enacted, 
 
 Sect. 3. That all the inhabitants of the lands which by this act are 
 made the first precinct and all the inhabitants of those lauds which by 
 this act are annexed to the saitl second precinct bo and hereby are and 
 shall forever hereafter be exempted from paying or contributing any 
 part towards the charges and debts that have already arisen or may 
 hereafter arise by reason of the building the new meeting house which 
 has lately been erected in said town on the lands by this act made the 
 third precinct in said town, any of the votes of the late first precinct 
 notwithstanding; and that all the materials of the old meeting-house 
 which was lately standing in said town was taken down be equally di- 
 vided between the said three precincts ; and that all the ministerial 
 revenues arising from all and auy lands lying in any piirt of the said 
 town of Brookfield heretofore sequestered to the use of the ministry in 
 said town shall be always hereafter equally divided between the said 
 three precincts ; and that the charge of the committee who were ap- 
 pointed by this court in April, one thousand seven hundred and fifty- 
 four, to view the said town be borne and paid by the inhabitants of said 
 town. 
 
 On the 22(1 of January, 17-55, the people of the first 
 precinct voted to build a meeting-house "at the turn- 
 ing of the county rode, near the northeast corner of a 
 plow-field belonging to John Barns, being on the 
 plain in said first precinct." It was to be forty-five 
 feet long and thirty- five feet wide, and so far as can be 
 learned it was finished without serious delay. The 
 question now arose as to which church the Rev. Mr. 
 Harding belonged. The General Ciurt had provided 
 that the estates of the first parish should be held for 
 the payment of his salary up to the time of the divi- 
 
 sion, but did not determine his future relation. Owing 
 to the embarrassments attending this question he was 
 at his own request dismissed May 8, 1755. Two years 
 later, February 1, 1757, Rev. Nehemiah Strong, of 
 Hadley, was chosen pastor to succeed Mr. Harding, 
 but declined on account of the insufficiency of the 
 proposed salary. Rev. Joseph Parsons, of Bradford, 
 a graduate at Harvard, in 1752, was then called and 
 was ordained November 23, 1757. Mr. Parsons served 
 until his death, in 1771, when be w^s followed by Rev. 
 Ephraim Ward, a graduate at Harvard in 1763. Mr. 
 Ward was ordained October 23, 1771, and served until 
 his death, in 1818. Rev. Eliakim Phelps was settled 
 as his colleague October 23, 1816, and alter a service 
 often years and two days, two years as colleague and 
 eight years, as p.istor, he resigned October, 1826 
 and assumed the preceptorsbip of the Biookfield 
 "Classical Female School." On the day of the dis- 
 mission of Mr. Phelps Rev. Joseph I. Foote was in- 
 stalled, and after six years' service retired, and died 
 on the day before his proposed inauguration as Presi- 
 dent of Washington College, in the Slate of Tennessee. 
 Mr. Foote was succeeded by Rev. Francis Horton, a 
 Harvard graduate of 1826. His ministry began Au- 
 gust 15, 1832, and continued to September 15, 1841. 
 Rev. Moses Chase was settled January 12, 1842, and 
 was followed by Rev. Leonard S. Parker, a graduate 
 of Oberlin Collegiate Institute, December 19, 1844. 
 During his pastorale the first precinct was incorpor- 
 ated as West Brookfield in 184.S, and for a continued 
 sketch of the parish reference must be had lo the 
 history of that town in these volumes. 
 
 On the 15th of April, 1756, the third precinct, which 
 is now the town of Brookfield, was organized with a 
 niember.-hip of twenty-five males and fourteen females. 
 The Rev. Nathan Fiske, a graduate of Harvard, in 
 the class of 1754, was ordained May 24, 1758. He 
 was in the class with John Hancock, Daniel Tread- 
 well and Samuel West, and received the degree of S. 
 T.D., in 1792. His pastorate continued until his 
 death, May 24, 1799, when he was succeeded by Rev. 
 Michael Stone, who was ordained March 11, 1801. 
 
 In 1827 the society became Unitarian, and settled 
 Rev. George R. Noyes October 30, 1827, who remained 
 six years, and afterwards became professor of sacred 
 literature in Harvard University. Mr. Noyes was a 
 graduate of Harvard in 1818. Rev. Seth Alden fol- 
 lowed, remaining ten years, and was followed Novem- 
 ber 8, 1845, by William B. Greene, a graduate of West 
 Point, who, in the war of 1861, commanded a regi- 
 ment of Massachusetts Heavy Artillery. Rev. S. S. 
 Hunting succeeded October 5, 1852; Rev. R. D. Burr 
 November 18, 1858; Rev. Edward I. Galvin April 15, 
 1863; Rev. A. Judson Rich October 31, 1870, and later 
 by Rev. Henry W. Woude and Rev. Samuel Hamlet. 
 The society is at prfsent without a pastor. 
 
 On the retirement of Mr. Stone from the society, at 
 the time of its change of theological belief, a new 
 society was org.mized called the Evangelical Society 
 
BROOKFIELD. 
 
 525 
 
 of Brookfield, anr) he became its pastor. Rev. Richard 
 WoodrufT was selected as his colleague February 5, 
 1838, and dismissed September 12 in the same year- 
 On the day of his dismissal Rev. Washington A. 
 Nichols was ordained as colleague, and remained 
 until January 11, 1843. Rev. Lyman Whiting was 
 ordained on the day of the dismissal of Mr. Nichols, 
 and remained four years. Mr. St^ne died in Septem- 
 ber, 1852. He was followed by Rev. Je.sse R. Bragg, 
 who remained eight years ; Rev. Josiah Coit, who re- 
 mained seven years ; Rev. Joel M. Seymour, who 
 officiated from 1873 to 1876, and afterwards by Rev- 
 Charles E. Stebbins. The Revs. Charles P. Blanch- 
 ard, A. F. Schaufflin and Charles F. Moore have at 
 various times supplied the pulpit, but at present the 
 society is without a pastor. 
 
 About the time of the incorporation of the Third 
 Precinct, a Baptist congregation held meetings in that 
 part of the town, and without any further organiza- 
 tion continued at intervals to hold services for forty 
 years. It had no settled minister, nor any special 
 place of worship. In 1788 Rev. Jeremiah Haskell 
 was engaged to preach, and served several years. In 
 1795 a meeting-house was built, and in 1800 a formal 
 society was organized. Various ministers officiated 
 until 1818, including Rev. Nathaniel Price, Rev. 
 Laban Thurber, and Rev. John Chase. On the 10th 
 of June in that year a church was formed with thirty- 
 seven members, and Mr. Chase was ordained as its 
 pastor. He died July 28, 1833, and has been followed 
 in the pastorate by Rev. Benjamin B. Manning, Rev. 
 Winthrop Morse, Rev. J. H. Rickett, Rev. Job 
 Boomer and Rev. Andrew Dunn. 
 
 During the Revolution Brookfield assumed and 
 faithfully performed its full share. At a town-meet- 
 ing held May 17, 1773, at which Jedediah Foster pre- 
 sided, a committee was appointed consisting of Joseph 
 Gilbert, Benjamin Adams, Benjamin Babbet, Samuel 
 Hinckley and Joshua Dodge, whose report was ac- 
 cepted and sent by copy to tlie Committee of Cor- 
 respondence at Boston. The report declared that : 
 
 The town will be ever ready to aesist, and in every legai and pro 
 per way maintain those rights and liberties for our children, which 
 with ?o much labor, blood and treasure were purchased by our ances- 
 tors, whose memory is and ought to be esteemed by us ; and we hope, 
 notwithstanding the attempts of the enemies of our constitution, to 
 deprive us of those riglits, yet by a steady, firm and constant exer- 
 tion we shall not finally be deprived of them. 
 
 At a meeting held on the 3d of the following De- 
 cember, another committee was chosen, of which 
 Jedediah Foster, Jeduthun Baldwin, Joseph Gilbert, 
 Benjamin Rice and Phinehas Upham were members, 
 whose report, which was accepted by the town, stated 
 that: 
 
 We think it our indisponsablo duty, in the most public manner, to 
 let the wurld know our utter abhorrence of the last and most detesta- 
 ble j-chenie in the introduction of tea from Great Britain, to be pad- 
 dled out umongat us, by which means we were to be made to swal- 
 low a poison more fatal in its effecta to the national and political 
 Rightu and Privileges of the People of this country than ratsbane 
 would be to the natural body. 
 
 There/ore Resolved that we will not, by aoy way or means, know- 
 ingly encourage or pi-omote the sale or consumption of Tea, whatever, 
 subject to a duty, payable in America, but all persons, whoever they 
 may be, who shall be concerned in a transaction so dangerous, shall 
 be held by us In the utmost contempt, and be deemed enumies to the 
 country. 
 
 On the 12th of September, 1774, Jedediah Foster, 
 Joshua Dodge, John Phijips, Jeduthun Baldwin, Jo- 
 seph Gilbert, John Lyscara, Rufus Putnam, Phinehas 
 Upham, John Hobbs, Asa Biglow and Jonathan 
 King were chosen a Committee of Correspondence. 
 On the 19th of April, 1775, the following company of 
 minute-men, attached to the regiment commanded by 
 Col. Jonathan AVarren, marched for Boston in con- 
 sequence of the commencement of hostilities at Lex- 
 ington. 
 
 Jonathan Barnes, captain. 
 
 Peter Harwood, lieutenant. 
 
 Obadiah Bartlett, Iie\iteuant. 
 
 Jonas Brigham, sergeant. 
 
 Aaron IVIatthews, sergeant. 
 
 Benj. Willington, sergeant. 
 
 James Washburo, sergeant. 
 
 Solomon Barns, corporal. 
 
 George Townsend, corporal. 
 
 Jolin Bartlett, corporal. 
 
 Daniel Barris, corporal. 
 
 David Chauibeilaiu, drummer. 
 
 Benj. Gilbert, fifer. 
 
 Hosea Edson, lifer. 
 
 Abuer Bartlett. 
 
 Jonas Biglow. 
 
 Nathan Barns. 
 
 Wyman Bartlett. 
 
 Jonathan Bond. 
 
 Edward Marden. 
 
 John Smith. 
 
 Joseph Wait. 
 
 Jabez Warren. 
 
 Charles Wetherbee. 
 
 John Winter. 
 
 John Bell. 
 Edrnond Bridges. 
 Hugh Cunningham. 
 Isaac Freomau. 
 Robert Graham. 
 Reuben Gilbert. 
 JosirAh Ilincken. 
 Timothy Hall. 
 Joseph Hatfield. 
 Squier Hill. 
 Thomas Jones. 
 Charles Knowlton. 
 Jonathan Marbel. 
 Alexander Oliver. 
 Ezra Richmond. 
 Juseph Stevens. 
 Ezra Tucker. 
 Moses Tyler. 
 Peter Washburn. 
 Wm. Watson. 
 Samuel Watson. 
 David Wat^lion. 
 Abner Witt. 
 Eleazer Woods. 
 
 The following company of minute-men marched for. 
 Boston on the same day : 
 
 Ithamar Wright, captain. 
 John Packard, lieutenant. 
 Nathan Hamilton, lieutenant. 
 Asa Danforth, sergeant. 
 Daniel Billiard, sergeant. 
 Nathan Allen, sergeant. 
 Joseph Richardson, seigeant. 
 Aaron Willard, corporal. 
 Seth BaninteE, Jr., corporal. 
 Joseph Newtun, corporal. 
 Benj. Walker, corporal. 
 Nathan Richardson, corporal. 
 Peter Hill, fifer. 
 Samuel filareh, drummer. 
 Benj. Wood. 
 Asa White. 
 Benj. Richardson. 
 Moses Barnes. 
 Benj. Jennings, Jr. 
 Silas Olds. 
 Meazer Adams. 
 Jude Adams. 
 Erasiua Hamilton. 
 John Gilbert. 
 Ebenezer Voree. 
 Samuel Pike. 
 Jonas Swetter. 
 Joseph Dudley. 
 
 Theopliilus Waterman. 
 Thomas Wood. 
 John Wood. 
 Solomon Walker. 
 Wui. Warner. 
 Joseph Stone. 
 Abner Cutler, 
 Benj. Pollard. 
 Eliliu Blake. 
 Wm. Gill. 
 Daniel KeyeB. 
 Daniel Ross. 
 Levi Parker. 
 John Stevenson. 
 Jonathan Arms. 
 Aza Willis. 
 Jesse Banister. 
 Reuben Gilbert. 
 Aaron Gilbert. 
 Samuel Kimball, 
 Nath. Hayward. 
 Timothy Wolcott. 
 Simeon Rockwood. 
 Jonas Newton. 
 TheophiluB Foster. 
 Benj. Bachelder. 
 John Lyndes. 
 
526 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 There were other Brookfield men who marched for 
 Boston on the 19th of April, 1775, under Capt. John 
 Woolcott, but, aa it is difficult to distingulbh them 
 from the Spencer men in the same company, they are 
 omitted. 
 
 In Col.Larned's regiment there were enlisted from 
 Brookfield, for eight months, in 1775, the following 
 men : 
 
 Peter Harwood, captain. 
 Aaa Daiifurth, lieutenant. 
 Benjamin Pollard, ensign. 
 George Townsend, Bergeant. 
 Wni. Watson, sergeant. 
 Isaac Banoii, sergeant. 
 Daniel Barns, sergeant. 
 Charles Rica, corporal. 
 Jobn Benton, corporal. 
 Reuben Gilbert, corporal. 
 John Bodge, corpoi'al. 
 Samuel Marsh, drummer. 
 Benjamin Gilbert, drummer. 
 Hosea Kdson, drummer. 
 Jesse Adams. 
 Obadiah Adams. 
 Charles AduinB. 
 Jesse Banister. 
 Jonas Biglow. 
 Ebenezer Baker, 
 Abner Bartlett. 
 Abner Cutler. 
 Joseph Dudley. 
 John Danforth. 
 Jonathan Danforth.' 
 Charles Doroughty. 
 AVm. Gill. 
 Robert Graham. 
 Comfort GoEfs. 
 Asa Gilbert. 
 
 In Captain Joel Green's Company for same term: 
 
 John Granger, captain. Nathan Whitney. 
 
 Jonathan Stone, sergeant. Timothy Woolcott. 
 
 Elijah Gumming, sergeant. Solomon Woolcott. 
 
 Reuben Slayton, ensign. Ebenezer Ball. 
 
 David Chamberlain, drummer. Jacob Harrington. 
 Kbenezer Harrington, corporal. 
 
 In Colonel Brewer's Regiment for the same term : 
 
 4 
 
 Henry Gilbert. 
 Samuel Green. 
 Jesse Hamilton. 
 Wm. Hincken. 
 Peter Hill. 
 Joseph Hamilton. 
 AmoH Hodgman. 
 Josiah Hincken. 
 Thomas Jones. 
 Samuel Kimbal. 
 Daniel Keyes. 
 Jonathan Marble. 
 Thomas Niuhois. 
 Jonathan Ormes. 
 Elijah Pollock. 
 Ezra Richmond. 
 Joseph Stephens. 
 John Stephenson. 
 Samuel Stephens. 
 John Smiih. 
 Moses Tyler. 
 Solomon Wilder. 
 Eleazer Woods. 
 Joseph Wait. 
 Abner Witt. 
 Jeduthnn Wait. 
 Wm. Wait. 
 Wm. White. 
 John Winter. 
 
 John Packard, captain. 
 Nathan Allen, seigeant. 
 James Washburn, sergeant. 
 Josiah Newton, sergeant. 
 Jareb Bacon, corporal. 
 Barnabas Potter, corporal. 
 Levi Packard, corporal. 
 Nathaniel Hayward, drummer 
 Elijah Allen. 
 Nathan Barns. 
 Elisha Bartlett. 
 Jedediah Gilbert. 
 Aaron Gilbert. 
 
 The following also enlisted in 1775 for eight 
 months and joined various companies and regiments: 
 
 Reuben Gilbert. 
 Joseph Gilbert. 
 Barzillai Hayward. 
 John Hiibard. 
 Eiisha Hultun. 
 Robert Hojikins. 
 Elias Parkinan. 
 Lemuel Roas. 
 Jonathan Willis. 
 Josiah Wood. 
 Theophilus Waterman. 
 Azariah Willis. 
 West Waterman. 
 
 Betlmel Washburn, lieutenant. 
 Nathan Goodale, lieutenant 
 Alexander Oliver, corporal. 
 Isaac Cutler, corporal. 
 Moses Ayres. 
 Sylvester Bishop. 
 Benjamin Batcheller. 
 Peter Gushing. 
 Joseph Chadwick. 
 Peter Bowen. 
 
 Jonathpin Fletcher. 
 
 John Lidillo. 
 
 John Ptdlard. 
 
 Isaac Hodgman. 
 
 Nathan Hill, sergeant. 
 
 James Hill, fifer. 
 
 Bartholomew Hill, fifer. 
 
 Berry Bowen. 
 
 Moses Bowen. 
 
 Jobn Warren, drummer. 
 
 Stoddard Bowen. 
 
 Jonathan Ralph. 
 
 Pomp Lorum. 
 
 Benjamin Hill. 
 
 John Lynde, ensign. 
 
 Abner Gilbert. 
 
 Thomas Gilbert. 
 
 David Hamilton. 
 
 John Hayward. 
 
 Solomon Walker, sergeant. 
 
 Samuel Pike, sergeant. 
 
 Ebenezer How, corporal. 
 
 Simeon Rockwell, corporal. 
 
 Phinehos Slayton. 
 
 Nathan Whitney. 
 
 Joseph Olmstead. 
 
 Jonas Newton. 
 
 Eli Wood. 
 
 James Wood. 
 
 Moses Dod^e. 
 
 Reuben Dodge. 
 
 In 1776 the enlistments 
 terms of short service : 
 
 David Watson, sergeant, 
 Charles Bruce, sergeant. 
 Wm. Smith, corporal. 
 John Barns. 
 Barnabas Brigham. 
 Autipas Bruce. 
 Hosea Edson. 
 Ebenezer Field. 
 John Hersey. 
 Daniel Matthews. 
 Abel Johnson. 
 David Leland. 
 Jonathan Sevier. 
 Abner White. 
 Joseph Gilbert, colonel. 
 James Converse, colonel. 
 Jonathan King, captain. 
 Bufus Putnam, lieut.-colonel. 
 Nathan Hamilton, captain. 
 John Bowker, lieutenant. 
 Joseph Olmstead, corporal. 
 Thomes Kimball, corporal. 
 Wm. Gilbert, corporal. 
 Prince Haskell, drummer. 
 ■^ Barnabas Potter. 
 Zadoch Gilbert. 
 Edward Allen. 
 Philip Allen. 
 Abner Gilbert. 
 
 Elgah Barnes. 
 Jabez Crosby. 
 Moses Hastings. 
 John Marble. 
 Daniel Moore. 
 Abner Old. 
 Jonas Streetpr. 
 Ephraini Stone. 
 Josiah Stone. 
 John Woolcott. 
 Moses Woods, corporal. 
 Oliver Hinds,. 
 John Sabin. 
 Elisha Livermore. 
 Elihu Blake. 
 Samuel Bunn. 
 Ebenezer Miller. 
 John Wood. 
 Joseph Wood. 
 Thomiis Wood. 
 
 were as follows for various 
 
 Satnnel Barns. 
 Solomon Wilden. 
 Samuel McClure. 
 Jonathan Moore. 
 John Burk. 
 Joiui Sabin. 
 Nathan Davis. 
 Ammiel Weeks. 
 Stith Dean. 
 Benjamin Foster. 
 John Patterson. 
 Wm. Cunningham. 
 Stephen Chandler. 
 Ebenezer Wright. 
 Francis Pellet. 
 Ithaniar Bowker. 
 Wm. Raiment. 
 Edward Stone. 
 Amos Hale. 
 Epbraim Wheeler. 
 Jesse Wheeler. 
 John Green. 
 Ephraim Richmond. 
 Ezekiel Bowker. 
 John Bowen. 
 Seth Twitcbell. 
 Ichabod Warren. 
 Uri Babbitt. 
 Daniel Howe. 
 
 The enlistments in 1777 and 1778 were as follows : 
 
 Tliomas Briggs. 
 Abner Cutler. 
 Cornelius Gilbert. 
 Robert Hall. 
 Reuben Hamilton. 
 Barzillai Hayward. 
 Daniel Keyes. 
 Jonathan Lampson. 
 John Lydley. 
 Alexander Oliver. 
 Elijah Pollock. 
 Juduthun Wait. 
 Wm. Wait. 
 Neheraiah Ward. 
 Joshua Winter. 
 Wm. Adams. 
 Jason Allen. 
 Joel Babbitt. 
 Samuel Babbitt. 
 Daniel Barris. 
 Solomon Bartlett. 
 
 Wm. Hincken, sergeant. 
 
 Nicholas McClure, sergeant. 
 
 John Gilbert, sergeant. 
 
 Phillip Allen. 
 
 John Ayree. 
 
 Joshua Barns. 
 
 Wm. Barns. 
 
 Benjamin Batchelder. 
 
 Josiah Blauchard. 
 
 David Clark. 
 
 Reuben Dodge. 
 
 Jude Foster. 
 
 Zadoclv Gilbert. 
 
 Peter Hill. 
 
 Silas How. 
 
 Asa Humphrey. 
 
 Daniel Newell. 
 
 Comfort Old. 
 
 Abner Perry. 
 
 Amos Rice. 
 
 Elishu Bice. 
 
BROOK FIELD. 
 
 527 
 
 Joseph Bartlett. 
 Jareb Bacon. 
 
 Muses BeduDah. 
 John Bowker. 
 Samufl Bunn. 
 Elijah Callay. 
 Uezekiah Cutting. 
 Antipua Dodge. 
 Thomas Dodge. 
 John Eveleth. 
 Klisha Fo8ter. 
 Benjamin Gilbert. 
 Henry Gilbert. 
 Jedeiiiah Gilbert. 
 Thomas Gilbert. 
 John llayward. 
 Beiyamin Hill. 
 Jamc3 Hill. 
 Joseph Hamilton. 
 John Uoldon. 
 John Hopkins. 
 Joseph Green. 
 Ziichariah Green. 
 Elijah Harrington. 
 John Hubbard. 
 Samuel Lancaster, 
 Isaac Lackey. 
 Abner Lasell. 
 Benjamin Lynde. 
 Joseph Marble. 
 Jonas Newton. 
 Joseph Newell, 
 Abnor Old. 
 Jonathan Owen. 
 Joseph Olmstead. 
 Jesse Parker. 
 Ephrain Potter. 
 (Negro) Robena. 
 Lemuel Ross. 
 John Smith. 
 Asahel Stearns. 
 Gad Smith. 
 Gershoni Whitney. 
 Gcrsliom Whitney, Jr. 
 Uezekiah Whitney. 
 Israel Whitney. 
 Eleazar Whitney. 
 Eliiis Witt. 
 Jonathan Witt. 
 Lemuel Ward. 
 John Warren. 
 Caleb Willis. 
 Jonathan Willis. 
 Eli Wood. 
 
 Joseph Wood, , 
 
 Thomas Wood. 
 Timothy Woolcott. 
 Ebenezer Bacon. 
 Benjamin G. Ball. 
 Joseph Ball. 
 Phinehas Bowman. 
 Thomas Hall. 
 John Burk. 
 Thomas Cole, 
 Jacob H. Deland. 
 Abraham Hair. 
 Philip Haskell. 
 John Herrick. 
 Joaiah Hincken. 
 Amos Leonard. 
 Thomas Maddeo. 
 Joseph Owen. 
 Mirick Rice. 
 Robert Richmond, Jr, 
 Wm. White. 
 Daniel Gilbert, captain. 
 Wm. Clapp. 
 
 Jaaon Rice. 
 
 Joseph Richardson. 
 
 James Boss. 
 
 Phinehas Stevens. 
 
 Wm. Stone. 
 
 Joshua Taylor. 
 
 John Waite. 
 
 Thomas Wedge, 
 
 James Wood. 
 
 John Wright. 
 
 Asa Danforth, captain. 
 
 James HuthAway, lieutenant. 
 
 Jonas Bigelow, lieutenant. 
 
 Peregrine Foster, sergeant. 
 
 Amos Adams, sergeant. 
 
 Abraham Adams, sergeant. 
 
 Ohadiah Rice, sergeant. 
 
 Joseph Richardson, corporal. 
 
 Reuben Gill, corporal. 
 
 Judu Adams, corporal. 
 
 Jesse Banister, corporal. 
 
 Nathan Hamilton, 
 
 Phinehas Upham. 
 
 Richard Wellington. 
 
 Daniel Walker. 
 
 John Hamilton. 
 
 Daniel Bullard. 
 
 Adoniram Walker. 
 
 Ephraim Cooley. 
 
 Gad Williston. 
 
 Jonathan Snow. 
 
 Jonathan Abbott. 
 
 John Linds. 
 
 John Waite. 
 
 G&rshoin Makepeace. 
 
 John Hob ha. 
 
 Elisha Hamilton. 
 
 Josiuh Hamilton. 
 
 Samuel Owen, 
 
 Jason Walker. 
 
 Nathan Whitney. 
 
 Elisha Brigham. 
 
 Daniel Newell. 
 
 Obadiah Wright. 
 
 John Allen. 
 
 Jeremiah Streeter. 
 
 Benjamin Howard. 
 
 Samuel Green. 
 
 John Wade. 
 
 Thomas Summer. 
 
 Wm. Hamilton. 
 
 Jamws Wat-hburn. 
 
 P«ter Washburn. 
 
 Sylvanus Curtis. 
 
 Juhn Gilbert. 
 
 John Gilbert (4th). 
 
 Benjamin Gilbert. 
 
 Benjamin Walker. 
 
 Silas Stone. 
 
 Abner Perry. 
 
 Asa Gilbert. 
 
 Ebenezer Bartlett. 
 
 Philip Allen. 
 
 Samuel Gilbert. 
 
 Jerre Hamilton. 
 
 Kufus Hamilton. 
 
 Jonathan Danforth. ^' 
 
 JoBiah Gary. 
 
 Thomas Ranger. 
 
 Thomas Marsh, 
 
 Penjam Adams. 
 
 Benjamin Barrett. 
 
 Daniel Watson. 
 
 Jonathan Barns. 
 
 Jacob Kent. 
 
 Wm. Bealfl. 
 
 Silas Newton. 
 
 Joshua Dodge, Jr. 
 Samuel Gilbert. 
 James Ross. 
 Francis Stone, capt. 
 
 Wm. Peso. 
 Daniel Wait. 
 Jason Rice. 
 Levi Rice. 
 
 The soldiers whose names are repeated in the above 
 and following lists enlisted more than once during 
 1777-78. 
 
 The following enlisted in 1779 : 
 
 Joseph Olmstead, lieut. 
 Jesse Abbott, sergt. 
 Solomon Banister, corp. 
 Jonas Newton, corp. 
 Josiah Hamilton, corp. 
 Nabum Davis. 
 Simeon Wright. 
 Wm. Old. 
 Daniel Upham. 
 Silas Bridges. 
 Benjamin Forbush. 
 Oiiver Walker. 
 Nathan Kice. 
 Juel Jennings. 
 Gerahom Jennings. 
 Erastus Hamilton. 
 Joseph Hamilton. 
 Nathaniel Hamilton. 
 Thomas Hincken. 
 Simon Rice. 
 Joseph Barrett. 
 Josiah Cutler. 
 SiliLs Hamilton 
 Nathaniel Sabin. 
 Peter Bowen. 
 Joshua Green. 
 Jacob Harrington, 
 Abner Witt. 
 Ca^b Loomis. 
 Joseph HamiltoD. 
 Ebenezer Miller. 
 Thomas Wedge. 
 Thomas Hincken. 
 Silaa Newton. 
 Thomai Hamilton. 
 
 The enlistments in 1780 were as follows: 
 
 Simon Rice, 
 Wm. Hamilton. 
 Jude Adams. 
 Judeth Stevens. 
 Isaiah Bowen. 
 Benjamin Jennings^ Jr. 
 Samuel Walker. 
 Ezra Tucker. 
 Jonas Biglow. 
 Richardson Durham. 
 Thonias Tucker. 
 Nathan Moore. 
 John Gilbert, (2d). 
 Ephraim Cutter. 
 Benjamin Bragg, 
 Abner Rice. 
 Obadiah Wait. 
 Wm. Peso. 
 Elijah Harna. 
 Thaddeus Dodge. 
 Jofu-ph Brown. 
 John Pollard. 
 Andrew Banister, flfer. 
 Joseph Richardson, capt. 
 Joseph 'i'hornton, lieut. 
 Israel Aiken. 
 Isaac Abbott. 
 Oliver Gilbert. 
 Noah Hatch. 
 Thomas Lampson. 
 Asa Partridge. 
 Anthony Cutter. 
 Isaac Severn. 
 Ebenezer Witt. 
 
 Jontttban Willis. 
 Abner Witt. 
 Wm. Kimball, 
 Joseph Ranger. 
 Asa Gilbert. 
 Josiah Cutler. 
 Wm. Peso. 
 John Pollard. 
 Thomas Dodge, Jr. 
 Caleb Willis. 
 Bueanos Ay res. 
 Solomon Livermore. 
 Thomas Lampson. 
 Isaac Wetherbee, 
 Ichabod Stockjvell. 
 Aaron Forbes. 
 Ezekiel Hardy. 
 SilAS Barns. 
 Lewis Witt. 
 Nathan Moore. 
 Shadrack Wetherbee. 
 Thonias Hathaway, Jr. 
 Nathaniel Sabin. 
 Jacob H. Deland. 
 Thomas Wedge, Jr. 
 John Bowen. 
 Levi Rice. 
 Joseph Kimball. 
 Jason Ayres. 
 Jedediah Deland. 
 
 Levi Kendall. 
 Moses Dorr. 
 John llrown, 
 Wm. Posy. 
 Scipio Witt. 
 John Pollard. 
 Moses Walker. 
 Amoi Wheeler. 
 Amos Rice. 
 Nathan Rice. 
 Silas Newton. 
 Benjamin Jennings, Jr. 
 Neverson Hastings. 
 Abner Hebery. 
 Thomas Wood, (3d). 
 Nathan Davis. 
 Thomaa Young. 
 Ebenezer IMarsh. 
 Aaron Forbes. 
 Benjamin Dane. 
 David Chamberlain. 
 Judfc Stevens. 
 Wm. Forbes. 
 Eli Watson. 
 Jeremiali Dewing. 
 Martin Bridges. 
 Elisha Whitmore. 
 Peter Barton. 
 Silas >Ioi-se. 
 Timothy Armstrong. 
 
528 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Jesse Ayrea. 
 John Cox. 
 Job Iliuckley. 
 
 Samuel Lewia. 
 Levi Stockwell. 
 Wm. RichardsoD. 
 
 The enlistments iu 1781 were as follows: 
 
 Joseph Bartlett. 
 George Townsend. 
 Josepli KimbHlI. 
 Silas Whitney. 
 Kzeliiel Hardy. 
 Abijah Patten. 
 Asa Gould, 
 Samuel StevcnB. 
 Jesse Watson. 
 Amos Leonard. 
 Scipio Witt. 
 John Rice. 
 Sloses Bragg, 
 John Bowen. 
 Joseph Hamilton. 
 Levi Rice. 
 Thomas Dodge. 
 
 John Eveleth. 
 Amos Gilbert. 
 Jonas Gilbert. 
 Elisha Gill, 
 Elipbalet Hamilton. 
 Salnia Keyea, 
 Samuel Pike. 
 John Smith. 
 Samuel White, 
 Jonathan Willia, 
 Jesse Banister. 
 Thomas Banister. 
 Simon Rice. 
 Jabez Uphaoi. 
 Jacob Deland. 
 Joseph Cutler. 
 
 The above is an incomplete list of the soldiers fur- 
 nished by Brookfield, but it indicates plainly enough 
 the active and patriotic part which the people of the 
 town took in the War. Not only were men furnished, 
 but the resources of the inhabitants were largely drawn 
 upon and seriously depleted by the demands constantly 
 arising from bounties and supplies. The action taken 
 by the town at various times to meet the exigencies 
 of the period shows that its aftairs were in the hands 
 of earnest and devoted men who were determined that, 
 so far as the burden of the War rested on them, it 
 should be borne with courage and hope. Tlie names 
 of the first committee ofcorrespondence,chosenin 1774, 
 have already been given. In 1775 they were: Jede- 
 diah Foster, David Hitchcock, John Phipps, Daniel 
 Gilbert, Thomas Moore, John Lyscam, Josiah Hobbs, 
 Ephraim Walker, Ithamar Wright. In 1776 they 
 were: Thomas Moore, .lohn Wait, Tilly Rice, David 
 Hitchcock, Jabez Crosby, Ithamar Wright, John Ham- 
 ilton. In 1777 they were: David Hitchcock, Thomas 
 Wheeler, Daniel Watson, Joseph Chadwick, Onesiph 
 Ayres, Jonathan Bond, Ithamar Wright, Esekiel 
 Olds, Jabez Crosby. 
 
 At a town-meeting held May 22, 1776, under a re- 
 solve of the General Court the question " whether the 
 town would support the Honorable Congress in the 
 measure if they for our liberty should see fit to declare 
 thecolonie.s independent of Great Britain " was decided 
 almost unanimously in the affirmative. Indetd, the 
 support of the War and the defense of the rights and 
 liberties of the colonies received the united sym- 
 pathies of the people. There was little or no dis- 
 loyalty to the patriot cause. Joshua Upham was one 
 of the few pronounced loyalists in the town. He was 
 a graduate of Harvard in the class of 1763, and among 
 his classmates was Sampson Salter Blowens, a noced 
 loyalist, who rose to high judicial distinction in Nova 
 Scotia, having risen from the bar through the grades 
 of attorney-general and speaker of the House of As- 
 sembly to the seat of chief justice of the Supreme 
 Court of the province. Mr. Upham retired to Boston, 
 
 and soon after became colonel of dragoons and aide 
 de camp to Sir Guy Carleton in New York. 
 
 He was with Arnold in the expedition to New 
 London, and in 1781 was Deputy Inspector-General 
 of Refugees at Lloyds Neck, Long Island. He set- 
 tled in New Brunswick after the war, and became a 
 member of the Council and judge of the Supreme 
 Court. He was the father of the late Hon. Charles 
 Wentworth Upham of Salem. His death occurred 
 while on a business visit in England, in 1808. 
 
 Daniel Murray was another loyalist, a son of Col- 
 onel John Murray, and a graduate of Harvard in 
 1771. Mr. Murray entered the service of the crown, 
 and was major of the King's American Dragoons. In 
 1778 he was proscribed and banished, and, retiring to 
 New Brunswick, where he lived after the war on half 
 pay, was, in 1792, a member of the House of Assem- 
 bly. He died in Portland, Maine, in 1832. Colonel 
 John Murray, of Rutland, the father of Daniel, with 
 the other sons, Samuel, Robert and John, two of 
 whom, it is believed, lived in Brookfield, were also 
 loyalists. 
 
 In 1777-78-79 committees were appointed by the 
 town to provide for the families of non-commissioned 
 ofiicers and soldiers of the Continental Army. In 
 1778 one hundred pounds per man and a blanket, 
 were given for the soldiers in the second precinct, for 
 the Continental Army; seventy pounds each to the 
 militiamen, and one hundred pounds each for four 
 men who were already in the field. In the same year 
 it was voted to raise £988 8«. to defray the expenses 
 of hiring the Continental and militia men recently 
 enlisted, and also in the same year to "accept the 
 confederacy of the Continental Congress, andito en- 
 join it on their representatives that they consent to 
 the same." In 1779 it was voted to form a State con- 
 vention, " for the sole purpose of forming a new 
 con.stitution." An effort had been made by the 
 Legislature to form a constitution, which failed. In 
 1780 the vote in favor of the new constitution stood 
 one hundred and forty-three to eleven. In November 
 of that year Brookfield furnished fifty-two head of 
 cattle, thirty-three blankets, sixty-seven shirts, sixty- 
 seven pairs of shoes and sixty-seven pairs of hose. 
 
 In 1781 it was voted in the second precinct that 
 " the sum of £1080 in hard money be assessed upon 
 the polls and estates of the precinct for the purpose 
 of hiring twelve soldiers for three years' service, at 
 £90 each." This vote of the second precinct was 
 followed in the other two precinct*, and was in obedi- . 
 ance to a vote of the town that " the three precincts 
 should raise soldiers for three years, or during the 
 war, and choose committees to enlist men, and hire 
 such sums of money as might be needed." " In the 
 same year Brookfield furnished the army thirty-three 
 blankets, sixty-seven shirts, sixty-seven pairs of shoes 
 and sixty-seven pairs of hose, at a cost of £10,411, 
 and before the close of the year, thirty-one blankets, 
 sixty-two shirts, sixty-two pairs of shoes, and 15,450 
 
BROOKFIELD. 
 
 529 
 
 pounds of beef. In 1782 the town furnished thirty- 
 one blankets, sixty-two sheets, sixty-two pairs of 
 shoes and sixty-two pairs of hose." 
 
 After the treaty of peace the people once more 
 resumed their old occupations, and sought by deter- 
 mined effort to repair their individual and corporate 
 condition. Since the date of the original grant, in 
 1660, there had been, up to this time, few years free 
 from the alarms, and annoyances, and horrors of 
 war ; now, for the first time, there seemed to be a 
 pathway before them in which tbey might walk with 
 prosperous steps. 
 
 lu 1784, the town instructed its representative that 
 *'it is the opinion of this town that the articles of 
 confederation and perpetual union between the thir- 
 teen United States, ratified and established by each 
 stite in the union, are solemnly binding on the several 
 states, and that no attempt ought to be made to dis- 
 solve or weaken the same ; but, on the other hand, if 
 we mean to support our dignity as a nation, every 
 effort ought to be used to strengthen the union, and 
 render the bonds indissoluble.'' Thus, in advance of 
 the formation of the Con-titution of the United 
 States, the people of Brookfield declared what the 
 result of the Civil War has confirmed, and what now 
 every citizen of our country believes, in every State 
 of our Union, whether East or West, North or South, 
 that the nation established by our fathers is not a rope 
 of sand, but is a welded, coQipact, and forever-united 
 Union. 
 
 The annoyances of the French war in the latter 
 part of the century from which the people on the 
 seaboard suffered, like the summer air from the 
 ocean, were not felt in the inland towns, Nor did 
 the war of 1812 much disturb them. What was 
 called Shays' Rebellion caused a mi)mentary ruffle on 
 the surface of public affairs wbich soon subsided. The 
 next real source of disturbance to the people of 
 Brookfield was the movement of the inhabitants of 
 the second precinct to be incorporated as a separate 
 town by the name of North Brookfield. The move- 
 ment began in 1810, and in that year, uider the 
 direction of a committee consisting of Daniel Gilbert, 
 Jason Biglow, Luke Patten. Aaron Forbes and Jacob 
 Kettridge, the following petition was presented : 
 
 To the Hon" Senate and House of Representatives; The Inhabitants 
 of the Second Precinct in Brookfield humbly pray that they may be set 
 oflF from the other precincts in eaid town, and be incorpomted into a 
 township by the name of North Brookfield; and that the territorial 
 limite of such incorporation may be the same as those whereby the said 
 Precinct is designated. 
 
 And the said inhabitants would beg leave to further state that from 
 the extensive limits of said town, it being separated into three distinct 
 precincts together with the necessary mode of transacting the business 
 of the same by annual rotation in each precinct, tbey not only find the 
 distance of travel burdeiisonie, but in considering the transactiug of 
 their parochial concerns a two fold labor and expense, that the offices 
 of Siiid Town are of necessity distant from the centre, and that from the 
 numbers of its inhabitants and the multiplicity of the business of the 
 sjiid town, the term of one day insufficient for transactiug the same." 
 
 This petition failed to receive a favorable consider- 
 ation and on the 15th of April, 1811, anothtr petition 
 34 
 
 was presented, which the town voted to oppose under 
 the direction of a committee formed for that purpose, 
 consisting of Dwight Foster, Seth Banister and Na- 
 than Allen. The result, however, was this time 
 favorable to the petitioners, and the following Act of 
 incorporation, amended in some of its provisions in 
 1818, was passed February 28, 1812 : 
 
 Sect. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in 
 General Court assembled and by the authority of the same. That all that 
 part of the town of Brookfield which has been heretofore called and 
 known by the name of Second or North Parish (exceptiug that part 
 of said territory now lying south of the post-road leading from Worcester 
 through Spencer to Springfield) together with the inhabitants thereon 
 be and the same is hereby incorporated into a separate town by the name 
 of Xorth Brookfield. And the said town of North Brookfield is hereby 
 vested with all the powers and privileges and shall also be subject to all 
 the duties to which other corpnrato towns are entitled and subjected by 
 the constitution and laws nf the Commonwealth. 
 
 Sect. 2. Be it further enacted, That the inhabitants of the said town 
 of North Brookfield shall be entitled to hold such proportion of all the 
 personal property now belongiiigtoand owned by the inliaUitants of the 
 town of Brookfield as the property of the said inhabitants of North 
 Brookfield bears to the property of all the inhabitants of the town of 
 Brookfield according to the last valuation thereof. 
 
 Sect. 3. Be it further enacted, That the inhabitants of the said town 
 of North Broiikfiold shall be holden to pay all arrears of taxes due fmm 
 them together Mith their proportion (to be (iscerfained as aforesaid) of 
 all the debts now due and owing from the said town of Braokfield on 
 what may be hereafter found due and owing by reason of any contract 
 or other matter and thing heretofore entered into or now existing. 
 
 Sect. 4. Be it further enacted, That the s lid town of North Brookfield 
 shall be bolden to support their proportion of the present pnor of the 
 town of Brookfield, which proportion shall be ascertained by the present 
 valuation of the town ; and all persona who may hereafter become 
 chargeal'le as paupers to the town of Bruokfield and North Bruokfield 
 shall be considered as belonging to that town or the territory of which 
 tbey had their settlement at the time of passing this act, aiul shall in 
 future bo chargeable to that town only. 
 
 Sect 0. Be it further enacted, That the suid town of North Brookfield 
 shall be bohleu to pay their proportion of all state, town and county 
 tixes assessed on the inhabitants of the said town of North Brookfield 
 until a new valuation shall be made of the said towns. Provided, That 
 the said town nf North Brookfield shall be holden until the further order 
 of the legislatuio to pay the town of Brookfield such proportion of any 
 of the expenses of maintaining the bridges and causeways over the 
 rivers in the town of Brookfield as a Committee of the Court of Ses.-iiona 
 forthe County of Worcester shall determine ; and said Court of Sessions 
 are hereby authorized on application of either of the inhabitants of 
 Brookfield or North Brookfield from time to time to appoint a committee 
 for the above purpose whose report made to and accepted by said court 
 shall be binding on said towns. 
 
 Sect. G. Be it further enacted, That any Justice of the Peace for the 
 County of Worcester upon application therefor is hereby authorized to 
 issue lier warrant directed to any freeholder in the said town of North 
 Brookfield, re'iuiriug him to notify and warn the inhabitants thereof to 
 meet at such time and place as shall be appointed in said warrant for the 
 choice of such officers as towns are by law required to choose at their an- 
 nual town meetings. 
 
 On the 20th of February, 1818, the following 
 amendatory act was passed : 
 
 Be it enacted, that Austin Flint, of Leicester, Nathaniel Jones, of 
 Barre, and Joseph Cunimings, of Ware, are hereby appointed a com- 
 mittee to lienr and consider the claim of Brookfield on one part and of 
 North Brookfield on the other ; and finally to determine whether the 
 town of North Brookfield ought in future to pay any part of the expenses 
 of maintaiin'ng the bridges and causeways in the town of Brookfield. 
 
 Sect. 2. Be it further enacted, That from and after tlie time the report 
 of said committee sliall be filed in the office of the Secretary of the 
 Commonwealth tlie said fifth section of said act incorporating the town 
 of North Brookfield shall be repealed, and the duties and liabilities of 
 said North Brookfield resultiug from the said section shall altogether 
 cease. 
 
 On the 8th of February, 1823, an act was parsed 
 
530 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTEF COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 by the Legislature which still further, though in a 
 moderate degree, changed the bounds and contracted 
 the territory of the town. It provided that Daniel 
 Coney, with so much of his estate as is within the 
 towns of Brookfield and Weston, in the county of 
 Worcester, be and they are hereby set off from said 
 towns and annexed to the town of Ware, in the 
 County of Hampshire. A much earlier change in 
 the boundaries which has not before been mentioned 
 in the narrative was made in 1791, when the General 
 Court in establishing a line between Bn-okfield and 
 New Braintree s-et off a tract of land to the latter 
 town and annexed to the former, "the lands of Calvin 
 and Francis Stone and a part of Whitney Hill, so 
 called." 
 
 The next change in the boundaries and the next 
 birth of a new town from the loins of the mother- 
 town occurred in 1848. On the 22d of the previous 
 November, at a town-meeting over which Alanson 
 Hamilton presided as Moderator, it was voted "that 
 the town choose a committee of two, nominated by 
 the Moderator, one from each Parish; to present a 
 petition to the next Legislature to send out a dis- 
 interested committee to report to theirbody the terms 
 upon wiiich this town be divided, and that the town 
 will abide said decision; provided that the town 
 shall not agree among themselves upon the terms of 
 division previous to the first of January next, in 
 which case said committee will petition the Legisla- 
 ture to divide the town upon the terms agreed upon." 
 John N. Fisk and Francis Howe were appointed on 
 the committee. It was also voted that a committee 
 of twelve, six from each parish, be appointed to 
 agree on terms of division. This committee con- 
 sisted of Perley Blanehard, Elliott Prouty, Alfred 
 Rice, Wm. J. Adam-*, Wm. Howe, Charles Flagg, 
 Baxter Ellis, Baxter Barnes, Nathaniel Lynde, Wm. 
 Adams, Joseph Dane and Avery Keep. 
 
 At an adjourned meeting held on the 27th of De- 
 cember, 1847, the following report of the committee 
 was adopted : 
 
 The Conmiittoe clioseu by tlie town of Broolifield t) consider and agree 
 upon an ecuiitiible division of said town into two distinct towns in such 
 manner iind npon such terniB as shall subject each town to bear tlie just 
 proportion of the burdens or expenses and present liabilities of the whole 
 undivided town, respectfully submit tlie following report: having duly 
 considered all the fucts and circumstances that we could bring to our 
 minds, are of the opinii>n tlmt the town should be divided by the same 
 line that divides the two ancient parishes, all the part lying west of said 
 line, excci)t Prestou Haver's hind, shall be incorporated as a new and 
 distinct town by the name of West Brookfield, with the following condi- 
 tions on agreement, viz.: If the County Commissioners shall order either 
 the road from Ware to West Brookfield depot or the road from Fiykdale 
 to South Brookfield depot, or both of them to be made as they are now 
 located, except a slight alteniliou muy be made without additional ex- 
 pense, within two years each town shall puy an equal portion of the 
 expense of making said road or roads ; also of the present debts of the 
 town, if any there be, West Brookfield shall relinquish and give up to 
 Brookfield all their right or interest in the town fHrni with all the per- 
 sonal property on or belonging thereto, and Brookfield shall keep and 
 support all the paupera who are now at the said establishment during 
 their lives. West Bniokfield paying to Brookfield fifty cents a week each 
 for one half the number of paid paupers now at said almshouse during 
 their lives. The names of the persons to be there supported are as fol- 
 
 lows, and no other person, viz.: Joseph Porter, Abigail Stephens, Simeon 
 Johnson, David Snow, Eleanor Gilbert, Solon Phipps, Hannah Lawrence, 
 Martlia Ilichardson, Elizabeth Hobbs, Harriett Richards, Sally Forbes, 
 Sally Parker, Iluldah Wood, Mary Walker, Mary W'ard, Esther Jen- 
 nings, Sally Thomas, Abigail I'addock, John Lindly, Wm. Richardson, 
 Emily P. MurriB, Ben Hamilton. Ruth Hensbaw, insane, is to be sup- 
 ported by the town of Brookfield and Harriett Cording to be supported 
 in West Brookfield. All persons who may hereafter claim town aid to 
 be supported or assisted by the town in whose territtrial limits they may 
 have gained a settlement by the laws of the Commonwealth previous to 
 the division of said town of West Brookfield, shall have the right to 
 visit said Almshouse by an Agent or Committee for the purpose of seeing 
 that said paupers are well treated or taken care of. 
 
 The expense incurred by your Committee they pray may be allowed, 
 and that the town direct the Selectmen to give an order to Perley Blan- 
 ehard, Chairman, for the sum of sixteen dollars for that purpose. 
 
 It was then voted to petition the Legislature for an 
 act providing for admission substantially in accord- 
 ance with the report, and ou the 3d of March the fol- 
 lowing act was passed : 
 
 Section T. All that part of the town of Brookfield in the county of 
 "Worcester which lies westerly of the line hereinafter described, is hereby 
 incorporated into a separate town by the name of West Brookfield, and 
 the said town of West Brookfield is hereby vested with all the powers 
 privileges, rights and immunities, and shall be subject to all tlie duties 
 and requisitions to which other towns are entitled and subjected by the 
 constitution and taws of this Commonwealth. The dividing lino be- 
 tween the two towns shall be and the same is hereby established as fol- 
 lows : Beginning at the north end of the said line at a town monument 
 between Brookfield and North Brookfield, thence south eighteen and 
 three-fourtha degrees west thirty-one rods and twenty-two links to u 
 stake and stones ; thence south eighty-six degrees west twenty-four rods ; 
 thence north eighty-four and three-fourths degrees west ten rods and 
 eighteen links ; thence south fifty-six and three-fourths degrees west 
 seventeen rods and five links ; thence south fifty-four degrees west fif- 
 teen rods and twenty-three links ; thence south sixty-nine and one third 
 degrees west fourteen rods and twenty-two links ; thence south seven 
 degrees west nineteen rods and seven links ; thence south twenty-four 
 and one-fonrtii degrees west nine rods and nine links; thence north 
 fifty-six and one-fourth degrees west twelve rods ; thence north fifty-two 
 and three-fourths degrees west sixteen rods ; thence south nine degrees 
 west sixty -six rods and twenty links ; thence south fifteen degrees west 
 sixty-six rods and twenty links ; thence south nine degrees west seven- 
 teen rods and seventeen links ; thence south eighty-two and one-half 
 degrees west fifteen rods and three links ; thence south five and one-half 
 degrees east fifty-nine rods and seven links : thence south forty-nine de- 
 grees west eighteen rods and twelve links; thence south thirty-three 
 and one-half degrees west eight rods; thence south ten and one-hulf 
 degrees east seven lods and four links ; thence south thirty degrees east 
 seven rods and four links ; tlience south fifty-three and one half degrees 
 east nine rods and thirteen links ; thence south thirty-four degrees west 
 twenty-six rods and tliirteen links ; thence south seventy-five and three- 
 fourths detirees east nine rods and twenty liuks ; thence south 
 nine and one-fourth degrees west three rods ; thence south seventy-four 
 degrees east sixteen rods ; thence south twenty and one-fourth degrees 
 west one hundred and twenty-nine rods to the north bank of the river; 
 thence southerly to the middle of the river ; thence down the middle of 
 the river to a point <.>pposite the corner of land of Reuben Blair and the 
 Brigham farm lying on the southerly side of said river ; thence southerly 
 to said corner ; thence south thirty-three and one-fonrth degrees west one 
 hundred eighty-five rods and fifteen links ; thence north sixty-eight and 
 three-fourths degrees west thirty-three rods and twenty links ; thence 
 south sixteen degrees west two hundred thirty-six rods and twenty 
 links; thence south sixty seven and three-fourths degrees east thirty- 
 two reds ; thence south seven degress west three rods; thence south 
 seventy degrees east sixteen rods and eight links ; thf-nce seventeen de- 
 grees west forty rods and two links ; thence south eighty-four and three- 
 fourths degrees west seven roils and fifteen links ; thence south three 
 and one-fourth degrees west twenty-six rods ; thence south eighty-five 
 and one-half degrees west twenty-four rods and thirteen links ; thence 
 north seventy and three-fourths degrees west twenty-eight rods and 
 eighteen links; thence north eighty-six and one-half degrees westtwenty- 
 eigat rods and five links; thence south twelve rods, thence south twenty- 
 nine and ono-haU degrees west forty-four rods and fifteen links ; thence 
 south seventeen one-hulf degrees west fifty-tive rods and fourteen links ; 
 
BROOKFIELD. 
 
 531 
 
 theuce auuth aerentf-fire aadoae-half degrees east ninety rods ; thence 
 suuth thirteen one-third desi'eas west eishty-eightrods and twenty-two 
 liulis ; thence nurtli aeveuty-fire degrees west sixty-one rods and twenty 
 links ; tlieuce south nineteen and tliree quarters degrees west eiglity rods ; 
 thence south forty and one-half degrees east seventeen rods ; tlience 
 north twenty-live degrees east twenty-three rods and fifteen linlis ■ 
 tliencjsoutli eighty degrees east fifty-four rods and ten linlis; tlience south 
 tliirteeil and oue-third degrees west one hundred twenty -seven rods and 
 live linlis ; thence north sixty-four degrees west sixty-eight rods and 
 ten iinl<s; theuce eoutli sixty-two degrees west eleven rods and twelve 
 links ; tlience north forty-nine degrees west five rods and nine links ; 
 theuce north sixfy-one and one-half degrees west forty-two rods and 
 twenty iinlts, to a point on the town lino between said Broolifield and 
 Warner. 
 
 The remaining sections of the act provided for equit- 
 able settlements of arrears of taxes, of county taxes 
 of debts, of corporate pi-operty, the support of the 
 poor, the construction of roads, and further provided, 
 that West Brooktield should 
 
 Continue to be a part of the town of Brookfield for the purpose of 
 electing a representative to the General Court, State officers, senators, 
 representatives to Congress and electors of President and vice-Presi- 
 dent of the United States until the next decennial census shall be 
 taken in pursuance of the 13th article of ainendtnent of the Constitu- 
 tion ; and all meetings for the choice of said ollicers shall be called by 
 the selectmen of the town of Brookfield in like manner and in the 
 same places as heretofore called. 
 
 Six years later, on the 15th of April, 1854, the town 
 lines were again, and for the last time, changed. An 
 act of the Legislature of that date provided that 
 
 So much of the town of North Brookfield in the County of Worces- 
 ter as lies southerly of a line beginning at a stoue nionunieut at the 
 old post road leadiug to Brookfield, a little Northwesterly of what is 
 called the Wolcott Mill, and running thence soutii seventy-seven de- 
 grees and thirty minutes east three hundred and seventy-five rods, to a 
 stone monument, as now established in the line -of Brookfield and 
 North Brookfield, on the easterly side of the Stephens pond, so-called 
 with all the inhabitants and estjites thereon is hereby set off from the 
 town of North Brookfielii and annexed to the town of Brookfield ; pro. 
 vided, however, that for the purpose of electing representatives to the 
 General Court to which the Siiid town of North Brookfield is entitled 
 until the next decennial census shall be taken in pursuance of the 
 thirteenth article of amendment to the constitution, the said territory 
 shall remain and continue to be a part of the town of North Brook- 
 field, and the inhabitants resident thereon shall be entitled to vote in 
 the choice of such representatives, and shall be eligible to the office of 
 representative in the town of North Brookfield in the same manner as 
 if this act had not been passed. 
 
 The record of Brookfield in the War of the Eebel- 
 lion impresses upon us anew a realization of the im- 
 mense resources of our government in bringing it to a 
 successful conclusion. Every city and town and ham- 
 let in the loyal North poured out its men and its 
 means, and their sources of supply were far from 
 exhausted when the last soldier had been drafted for 
 the Confederate Army, and the last dollar had been 
 expended for its support. On the 30th of April, IStil, 
 at a town-meeting, at which John E. Prouty acted as 
 moderator it was voted, " that every person belonging 
 to this town who should enroll himself in the com- 
 pany now being raised in this town and vicinity for 
 the purpose of volunteering its services to the Govern- 
 ment, subject to the call of the Governor shall, as soon 
 as said company is accepted by the Governor, receive 
 one dollar a day for every day he is called out to drill 
 by the drill-master, or such officers as are authorized 
 so to order. The payment of the above to be made 
 
 weekly to the order of the drill-master, or the officer 
 properly calling them out, and this shall continue 
 till otherwise directed by the Selectmen." 
 
 It was also voted, " that every private and non- 
 commissioned officer when called into actual service 
 shall receive from the town such an amount as shall 
 make his pay, including that received by him from the 
 Government, fifteen dollars per month ; that every 
 private and non-commissioned officer, who has a fam- 
 ily or any person dependent upon him for support, 
 shall receive in addition to the above eight dollars per 
 month to be paid in such a manner and to such per- 
 son as the Selectmen of the town shall think best for 
 the support of saiil family or dependent persons." 
 
 It was furlher voted, " that when the company has 
 been organized and accepted by the Governor, each 
 and every member shall be provided with a plain, 
 substantial uniform, and before going into actual ser- 
 vice with an army blanket and revolver at the expense 
 of the town unless otherwise provided." 
 
 It was still further voted, '' that the Selectmen 
 be authorized to borrow what money the town may 
 want to carry the foregoing votes into effect, to be 
 paid in one, two and three years, and the Selectmen 
 to give all necessary obligations binding the town to 
 pay the same sums and interests that may accrue 
 thereon. And it wtis finally voted, " to choose a com- 
 mittee of three to confer with North Brookfield in re- 
 gard to the uniform, etc., and for the purchase of the 
 same for the volunteers." This committee consisted 
 of Emmons Twichell, J. S. Montague and Charles 
 Fales. 
 
 At a subsequent meeting held on the 15th of June 
 in the same year, at which also John E. Prouty acted 
 as moderator, it was voted " that each member of the 
 family of the volunteer militia be paid one dollar per 
 week for every member of the family, the sum not to 
 exceed twelve dollars per month for any one family 
 and the Selectmen be authorized to borrow the 
 money." It was also voted " that all members that 
 the Committee uniform be paid two dollars and fifty 
 cents per week for five weeks, to be left discretionary 
 with the Selectmen and officers of the company, when 
 to be paid, and to be paid to the officers of said com- 
 pany." 
 
 At a meeting held on the following November, at 
 which George W. Johnson acted as moderator, the 
 committee on uniforms reported that the uniforms 
 had been furnished under a contract with Marshal & 
 Duncan of North Brookfield, and that the following 
 men had been supplied : 
 
 Sardus S. Sloan, captain. Benjamin Stevens. 
 
 £lisha F. Johnson, lieutenant. Eldridge Doane. 
 
 Lyman Doane, lieutenant. W. L. Blood, Stnrbridge. 
 
 John W. Heath. Sidney Hewitt, Sturbridge. 
 
 James E. Adams. F. L. Benson, Bromfield. 
 
 Shepard Brown, L. G. Lamb, Southbridge. 
 
 Charles N. Holmes. H. C. Ball, Amherst. 
 
 John H. Millman . F. H. Dickinson, Amherst 
 
 Warren A. Walker. H. C. Albee. 
 
 Herbert Chafl'ee. George W. Burr. 
 
532 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Wady H. Cheever. 
 Vm. H. OrniBby. 
 ^Vm. H. NicJiolB. 
 W'm. H. Webber. 
 Kalph Preston. 
 James H. Belcber. 
 Everett A. Hebard. 
 Ferdinand Dexter. 
 Artemns D. Ward. 
 Frederick Bullard. 
 E. A. Rice. 
 
 JameB B. Freeman. 
 Alonzo W. Phillips. 
 Alexander Budreaux. 
 \Vm. A, Belcher. 
 Richard Teaton. 
 David Jenlis. 
 John H. Price. 
 L. C. MoultoD. 
 S. H. Bannister. 
 Edward F. Ware. 
 Amasa Be mis. 
 
 They also reported that the cost of equipment and 
 drilling was fifteen hundred dollars 
 
 At a meeting held on the 2d of January, 1S62, at 
 which Austin H. Moulton acted as moderator, it was 
 voted " that the Selectmen ;be authorised to pay to 
 each volunteer not to exceed thirty-four in number, 
 who may enlist or has enlisted under the last call of 
 the President for three hundred thousand volunteers, 
 the sum of one hundred dollars, to be paid to each 
 volunteer upon his being mustered into the service of 
 the United States, it being understood that those 
 who have previously enlisted shall be entitled to the 
 same bounty as those who may hereafter enlist, if 
 they can be legally counted as belonging to our 
 qu^ta of thirty-four men which this town must raise 
 under the call above mentioned.'* At a meeting held 
 on the 12th of September, 1802, at which also George 
 W.Johnson acted as moderator, it was voted '* that 
 one hundred and fifty dollars be paid to each man 
 voluntarily as a part of the quota of the town under 
 the last call for men for nine months' service whether 
 enlisted before or after the first day of September, 
 1862." 
 
 The following is a list of the soldiers furnished by 
 Brookfield in the War of the Rebellion, taken from 
 the tablets on the interior walls of the town-house: 
 
 Eiijhfh Regiment. 
 Austin L. Nichols. 
 Eleventh Regiment. 
 John H. Chamberlain. 
 Twelfth Regiment. 
 Charles C. Guppy. 
 Fifteenth Regiment. 
 
 Sidney Hewett. 
 
 Sardns S. Sloan. 
 Frederick Bullard. 
 Lyman Doane. 
 H. Engene Carpenter. 
 George L. Avery. 
 Edwin H. Newton. 
 Jamc3 E. Adams. 
 Charles H. Holmes. 
 Benjamin Stevens. 
 Artemas D. Ward. 
 John H. Johnson. 
 Reuben W. Adams. 
 Henry C. Alba. 
 Wm. J. Babbitt. 
 Sumner H. Banniater. 
 Francis A. Barnes. 
 James H. Bt-lcher. 
 Andrew J. Benson. 
 Amasa Bemis. 
 Wm. A. Belcher. 
 "Wady H. Cheever. 
 Ezekiel M. Cooper. 
 Amos Deane. 
 
 David Jenka. 
 George L. Marsh. 
 Harrison Moulton. 
 Lafayette C. Moulton. 
 James S. Nichols. 
 W^m. H. Nichols. 
 Oren O. Ormsby. 
 Joseph Pecot. 
 Alonzo W. Phillips. 
 Augustus W. Patten. 
 Ralph Preston. 
 John H. Prior. 
 John W. Raymor. 
 G. W. Allen. 
 Michael Rock. 
 Henry H. Slayton, 
 Harrison W. Stone. 
 Warren A. Walker. 
 Charles P. Webber. 
 Benjamin C. Wheelock. 
 Richard Teaton. 
 Elias H. Woodward. 
 
 James B. Freeman. Richard Bowling. 
 
 Samuel E. Gilbert. Ellridge Boane. 
 
 Otis H. Hamilton. Wm. H. Walker. 
 
 Everett A. Hebbard. 
 
 Seventeejith Regiment. 
 Wm. S. Pike. Fiancis A. Shaw. 
 
 John H. Copp. Wm. T. Wilcott. 
 
 Charles S. Hamilton. Emerson Wilcott. 
 
 Wm. E. Rice. 
 
 Eighteenth Regiment. 
 
 Charles Biggs. 
 Twentieth Regiment. 
 Lewis McCrellis. 
 
 Samuel B. Rice, 
 Hubert Claffery. 
 George W^ard. 
 
 John A. Plynipton, 
 
 Twenty-firU Regiment. 
 
 Leonard J. Alexander. 
 George W. Burr. 
 
 T^enttf-second Regiment 
 
 Gilbert Lombard. 
 
 Twenty -fourth Regiment. 
 
 Curtis Dickinson, 
 Wm. H. Feary, 
 Albert S. Howe, 
 Henry D. Rogers, 
 George N. Maynard, 
 Sylvester H. Stevens, 
 Frank P. Works, 
 
 Elbridgo Howe, 
 George F. Sibley, 
 George A. Slayton, 
 John E. Turner, 
 Wm. H. Austin, 
 Lorenzo Doane, 
 Charles B. Carpenter, 
 
 Peter Delane. 
 
 Twenty-Hfth Regiment. 
 
 Cyrus K. Webber, Hugh Jameson, 
 
 Lyman E. Weeks, Robert Kelley, 
 
 Edwin C. Carpenter, John Lyon, 
 
 Wm. H. Webber, John McCarthy. 
 
 Twenty-ninth Regiment. 
 Albert H. Prouty. 
 
 Thirty-first Regiment. 
 Benjamin 0. Gay, Julius W. Johnson. 
 
 Daniel W. Sherman. 
 
 Thirty-second Regiment. 
 Wm. Conroy, George H. Bush. 
 
 James G. Adams. 
 
 Thirty-fourth Regiment. 
 Freeman Snow. George K. Perkins. 
 
 George A. Haraden. John M. Putnam, Jr. 
 
 Charles A. Porter. Loring B. Vinton. 
 
 John W. Russell. Andrew F. Jackson. 
 
 Ormill Young. Edwin C. Babcock. 
 
 Marcus W. Goodell. Robert Killard. 
 
 Ezekiel P. Kempton. Rufus S. Newton. 
 
 Franklin L. Knox. Jacob Watson. 
 
 Freedom N. Upham. Joseph E. Webber. 
 
 Edward L. Drake. James R. Jorselyn. 
 
 Edwin N. Adams. 
 
 TJiirty- seventh Regiment. 
 
 Joseph D. Knights. 
 Forty-second Regiment. 
 
 Edward Lackey. 
 Alvin N. Lamb. 
 Oliver P. Morritt. 
 Charles H. Newton. 
 Wm. A. Springer. 
 Enoch Spencer. 
 James Spencer. 
 
 Forty-fourth Regiment. 
 
 Frederick A. Howe. 
 
 Fifty-fourth Regiment. 
 
 Osborn Gallup. 
 Nabum Gilbert. 
 Kinkland Hawes. 
 Charles F. Hobba. 
 Michael McGillicoddy. 
 Charles F. MuUett. 
 Franklin H. Sawtelle. 
 Salem F. Adams. 
 
 Emmons E. Chapin, 
 Elmer H. French. 
 Wm. S. French. 
 Heury R. Gilmore. 
 Melvin E. Haraden. 
 Charles B. Heath. 
 Frederick A. Howe. 
 Oren B. Chaffee. 
 
 Wm. W. Howe. 
 
 Francis W. Adams. 
 George Varney. 
 Henry 0. Adams. 
 Charles Alden. 
 Hinim Bassett. 
 Joel Bartlett. 
 Jonas M. Bellows. 
 Simon Gager. 
 Hiram Gallup. 
 
BROOKFIELD. 
 
 533 
 
 Fifty -seventh Regiment. 
 Alexander Bedreaux. Louis Richell. 
 
 Thomas Gray. 
 
 Wm. Barron. 
 
 Charles W. Baker. 
 Dexter W. Trask. 
 Luke Kendrick. 
 Oliver Rood. 
 Gilnian Doeg. 
 Andrew W. Ellis. 
 Jonathan M, Ames 
 Wm. A. Gilbert. 
 
 Fiftij-ninlh Regiment. 
 
 James Lord. 
 Sanford A. Sawyer. 
 Sixttf-JirBt Regiment. 
 
 John Gaul. 
 Second Heavy Artillery. 
 
 Alexander B. M^ran. 
 Daniel \V Smith. 
 James D. Brown. 
 Benjamin II. Hatch. 
 Hiram Hatch. 
 Wm. H. Hatch. 
 ^Hchael I^IcDonald. 
 
 Third Hcanj Artillery. 
 George S. Keeler. 
 
 Fourth Heavy Artillery. 
 
 Henry J. Bigelow. 
 Seneca B. Howiand. 
 John W. Knight. 
 Myron W. Sherman. 
 Joshua B, Bellows. 
 Wm. E.Cook. 
 John D. Fiske. 
 
 Grtiorgb H. Clark. 
 
 Lorenzo N. Fletcher. 
 George F. Fudge. 
 Clark Hill. 
 James A. Ilill. 
 Nath'. E. Merrill. 
 Anson Williams. 
 
 Fourth Battery. 
 
 Clement Davieuz. 
 
 Charles A. Taylor 
 
 Wm. Henderson. 
 
 Rufus E. Blackmer, 
 
 Joseph Thomi-son, 
 George A. Garfield, 
 
 Lorenzo Hazard, 
 Alfred Hazard, 
 James Hazard, 
 
 John J. Hynde. 
 
 Sixth Batten/. 
 
 Dwight Sampson. 
 
 Tenth Battery. 
 
 John Nelson. 
 
 Batialion, Masunchttsetla Rijles. 
 
 Leonard F. Alexander. 
 
 Second Cavalry. 
 
 James T. Phillips. 
 Third Cuvalry. 
 Andrew Blair. 
 Fourth Cavalry. 
 
 Rinaldo R. GoflT, 
 John A. Josselyn, 
 Stephen H. Rollins. 
 Fifth Cavalry. 
 
 Richard Hill, 
 George Smith, 
 Austin Thomas. 
 Signal Corps. 
 John M. Howe. 
 Firtt Artillery, U. S. A. 
 
 John Cogan. 
 
 Second Artillery., TJ. S. A. 
 
 Wm. Carroll. 
 
 Band V. S. A. 
 
 Wm. F. Herney. 
 
 Unassigned. 
 
 George Allen, 
 Thomas Allen, 
 
 Hartwel! B. Martin. 
 
 Navy. 
 Patrick Tiflauy. 
 
 The following enlisted men were killed or died dur- 
 ing the war: 
 
 John W. Heath, killed at Antietam September 17, 1SG2. 
 
 John H. Hillman. 
 
 Benjamin Davia. 
 
 Slieppard Brown. 
 
 Win. L. Blood. 
 
 Elisha F. Johnson. 
 
 Alfred Russell. 
 
 James E. Sargent. 
 
 Ferdinand Dextor, killed at Bail's Biiiff October 2, 1861. 
 
 John F. Butters, killed March 12, 18G'l. 
 
 Edward F. Ware, died September 23, 1862. 
 
 Edward W. Prouty. died July 2, 18G2. 
 
 Wm. E. Vanever, died November 5, 1862. 
 
 Emery N. Robbing, died July 15, 1864. 
 
 Wm. A. Mullet, died May G, 18C4. 
 
 Charles Barnes, died May G, 1804. 
 
 Frederick Davis, died March 17, ls63. 
 
 George Adams, died May 24, 18G2. 
 
 Charles A. Lyon, died December 24, 18G2. 
 
 Edwin R. Merritt, died December l."), 1862. 
 
 Charles E. Dickinson, died October 9, 18G4. 
 
 Andrew J. Merritt, killed at Newbern March 14, 1862. 
 
 Salem D. Slayton, killed at Bermuda Hundred May 30, 1864. 
 
 Marcus E. Lyon, killed at Deep Run August 10, 18G4. 
 
 Artemas Adams killed near Riehmond October 13. 18G4. 
 
 Henry W. Watson, killed at Darbytown October 13, 1864. 
 
 Owen Kough, killed in the Wilderness May 7, 18G4. 
 
 James P. Coolidge. killed at Winchester September 19, 18Gt. 
 
 Joseph W. Webber, killed at Winchester, September 10, 18G4. 
 
 Hosea L. Barnes, killed at Piedmont June 15, 1864. 
 
 Elijah C. Pearl, died December 8. 1SG4. 
 
 Francis T. Bartlett, died December 30, 1SG3. 
 
 Orlando F. Carpenter, died of wounds June 16, 1864. 
 
 James Claffey, killed at Cold Harbor June 3, 1864.. 
 
 Lyman Ilawley, killed at Gaines Mill June 27, 1862. 
 
 Julin F. Hobbs, died Septembor 21, 18G2. ■ 
 
 George F. Haven, killed at Knoxville November 29, 1863. 
 
 Henry Fales, killed in the Wilderness May G, 1801 . 
 
 James B. Freeman, killed in the Wilderness May 7, 1864. 
 
 Harrison 3Ioulton, died at Amlersonvillo January 2 i, 1S65 . 
 
 Martin L. D. Leach, died September 16, 18fi5. 
 
 James C. McClure, died Aiigust 1\ 1803. 
 
 Emerson Wolcott, died April 10, 1865. 
 
 George W. Sloan, died July 9, 18G.5. 
 
 Oliver F. Lakin.died October 10, 1864. 
 
 James Tay'or, died March 2.'i, 1865. 
 
 George R.Johnson, died April 9, 1864. 
 
 Jefferson Richards, died June 25. 1804. 
 
 Some of those in the above roll of the dead belonged 
 to Brookfield, but enlisted elsewhere. 
 
 The expenditures of money by the town during the 
 war were $29,874.91, of which the sum of $14,106.19 
 was re-imbursed by the State, as expended under the 
 law for State aid. 
 
 But this sketch with the limited space assigned to 
 it in these volumes, must be brought to a close. 
 Besides the Orthodox, Unitarian and Baptist churches 
 already referred to, there is a Methodist church, 
 established in the early part of this century, and a 
 Catholic church, established about the year 1867, of 
 which Father Grace is pastor. Both enjoy a steady 
 and prosperous growth. The town-hou^e was built at 
 a cost of about seventy thousand dollars, and there 
 are two hotels, a high school, a public library, a Grand 
 Army Post and a Masonic Lodge. The business of 
 the town is not extensive, and is chiefly confined to 
 the manufacture of boots and shoe-!, and bricks, the 
 former by George H. Burt & Co., \\ho employ about 
 five hundred hands, and the latter by the Brookfield 
 Press Brick Company. Under the last census of 1885 
 the population of the town wa-< throe thousand and 
 thirteen, having increased to that number from two 
 thousand six hundred and sixty, in 1875. The valua- 
 tion of the town is about one million three hundred 
 thousand dollars. At the last annual meeting the 
 following appropriations were made to defray the 
 expenses of the town for the ensuing year: 
 
534 
 
 HISTOEY OF WOKCESTEK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Fire Department 81,250 00 
 
 Schools 5,700 00 
 
 Roada and Bridges ?.,0(iO 00 
 
 Poor 2,500 00 
 
 AlemoriHl Day 100 00 
 
 I-ilirary 500 00 
 
 Town Dept 3,n00 00 
 
 Contingent 1,G0U 00 
 
 Military Aid 400 00 
 
 Text Books 500 00 
 
 Cemeteries 60 00 
 
 Transportation of Scholars 100 00 
 
 Common 60 oo 
 
 Water 15,000 00 
 
 State Tax 1,042 SO 
 
 County Tax 970 00 
 
 Overlay and Sundries 603 91 
 
 837,042 41 
 
 The Merrick Public library, a valuable adjunct to 
 the school system of the town and a means of improve- 
 ment and cultivation to all its inhabitants, stands as 
 a monument to the memory of two of its sons. Its 
 foundation was laid in 18G5, for the formation of a 
 library association, with a capital of two hundred and 
 ninety-five dollars, divided into fifty-nine shares at 
 five dollars each, which were taken, five by one per- 
 son, forty by twenty persons at two each, and the 
 remainder by fourteen at one each. Additions to 
 this capital were made by gifts of money and books, 
 and about two hundred volumes which had belonged 
 to another, then extinct association, were placed on 
 its shelves. Mr. George Howe, of Boston, contributed 
 one hundred dollars, and his brother, Jabez C. Howe, 
 two hundred and fifty dollars as mementoes of their 
 attachment to an early home. With these and other 
 gifts the library prospered until 18G7, when receiving 
 a bequest under the will of Pliny Merrick, a native 
 of the town, it was merged in the Merrick Public 
 Library. Mr. Merrick said in his will : " Having 
 always felt a strong attachment to the town of Brook- 
 field, in which I was born, and where I -spent the 
 early years of my life, and where the remains of my 
 parents are entombed ; and wishing to do something 
 to promote the well being and prosperity of the 
 inhabitants of the town in all time to come, I do 
 hereby to that end, and for that purpose, give and 
 bequeath to the said town of Brookfield, the sum of 
 ten thousand dollars to be preserved and maintained 
 perpetually as a fund to be denominated the ' library 
 fund.' The income and interest of which shall be 
 appropriated to the purchase, binding and repair of 
 books, to constitute a library for the free use of the 
 inhabitants of the town and the visitors thereto, sub- 
 ject only to such rules and regulations as the town 
 shall from time to time make and present, and I in 
 like manner give and bequeath to said town all my 
 books which I shall own at my decease, except law 
 books, to constitute a part of said library. These two 
 legacies of money and books are upon the condition 
 that the town shall within nine months next after the 
 probate allowance of this will, vote to accept the 
 same upon and subject to the conditions herein con- 
 
 tained. If the town should not so vote the said 
 legacies are to be wholly void and of no force or 
 eflect." 
 
 The legacies were accepted at the annual meeting 
 of the town in April, 1867, and the library received 
 ten thousand dollars and four hundred and fifty vol- 
 umes, with one hundred and fifty magazines aud 
 unbound serials. The fund yields an income of 
 about seven hundred and fifty dollars. This income 
 is expended, as provided in the will, for the pur- 
 ch.ise, binding and repair of books, while other cur- 
 rent expenses of the library are met by town appro- 
 priations. 
 
 The commodious and substantial building in which 
 the library is now kept is called "Banister Memorial 
 Hall," aud was erected by William A. Banister, of 
 New York, a native of the town, at a cost of about 
 ten thousand dollars, on land presented to the town 
 by Nancy S. K. Felton, widow of Oliver C. Felton, 
 and was dedicated January 31, 1884. At that time 
 the library contained seven thousand five hundred 
 volumes. The present trustees of the institution are 
 Washington Tufts, D. W. Hodgkins, L. H. R. Goss, 
 H. V. Crosby, E. J. Irwin and C. F. Holt. 
 
 Judge Pliny Merrick, the benefactor aud real 
 founder of the library, was born in Brookfield, Au- ' 
 gust 2, 1794, and died in Boston, February 1, 18G7. 
 He was the son of Pliny Merrick, a graduate at Har- 
 vard in 1776, and one of Brookfield's most prominent 
 men. Judge Merrick graduated at Harvard in 1814 
 in the class with Martin Brimmer, Rev. Francis G. 
 P. Greenwood, William H. Prescott and Rev. James 
 Walker. He studied law with Levi Lincoln, and 
 began practice in Worcester in 1817, subsequently 
 practicing at Swansea and Taunton. In 1824 he was 
 appointed county attorney, in 1832 attorney for the 
 middle district, and in 1843 a judge of the old Com- 
 morh Pleas Court. In 1851 he was again appointed 
 judge of the Common Pleas Court, and in 1853 a jus- 
 tice of the Supreme Judicial Court. He was also 
 Representative from Worcester in 1827, and Senator 
 in 1850. Besides the btquest to his native town, he 
 made bequests to the City of Worcester for the estab- 
 lishment of schools of a high grade. 
 
 Among other distinguished men of Brookfield, the 
 following may be mentioned. Jedediah Foster was 
 born in Andover, October 10, 1726, and died October 
 17, 1779. He graduated at Harvard in 1744, and set- 
 tled in Brookfield in the practice of law. He was a 
 delegate to the Provincial Congress in 1774-75, and 
 was an influential member. He was chosen council- 
 lor in 1774, and disapproved by General Gage, aud 
 re-chosen in 1775. He was judge of the Superior 
 Court of Judicature from 1776 to his death, and had 
 previously been probate judge and judge of the Wor- 
 cester County Court of Common Pleas. 
 
 Dwight Foster, son 'of Jedediah, was born in 
 Brookfield, December 7, 1757, and died in that town 
 April 29, 1823. He graduated at Brown University 
 
i 
 
 .vfe^^^v^ IUtt<^c 
 
 cXCj 
 
BROOKFIELD. 
 
 535 
 
 in 1774 and practiced law in liis native town. He 
 was Sheriff and Common Pleas Judge of Worcester 
 County, a member of the House and Senate in the 
 General Court, member of Congress from 1793 to 
 
 1799, and United States Senator from 1800 to 1803. 
 On the death of his father, in 1779, while a member 
 of the State Convention for framing the State Con- 
 stitution, he was chosen in his place. 
 
 Jabez Upham, son of Phinehas Upham, was born in 
 Brooklield in 1704 and graduated at Harvard in 1785. 
 He studied law with Dwight Foster and was admitted 
 to the bar in 1788. He practiced a few years in 
 Sturbridge, Mass., and Claremont, New Hampshire, 
 and thence removed to Brookfield, where he died, Nov- 
 ember 8, 1811. He represented his native town in 
 the General Court and the Worcester South District 
 in Congress, resigning his seat in 1809. 
 
 Wm. B. Banister was born in Brookfield, November 
 8, 1773 and graduated at Dartmouth in 1797. He 
 was a distinguished member of both the Worcester 
 and Essex bars and died in Newburyport, where a 
 considerable portion of his proftssional life was spent, 
 July 1, 1853. 
 
 Amos Crosby was born in Brookfield in 1761 and 
 graduated at Harvard in 1786. He was a preceptor 
 in Leicester Academy and tutor at Harvard. He 
 afterwards practiced law in Brookfield until his death 
 in June, 1836. 
 
 Alfred D. F<)ster was born in Brookfield July 26, 
 
 1800, and graduated at Harvard in 1819. He studied 
 law with S. M. Burnside, but after a few years' prac- 
 tice retired from active business. He was three 
 years a member of the Executive Council, and a 
 member of the Massachusetts Senate in 1848. 
 
 Daniel Gilbert, a native of Brookfield, graduated 
 at Dartmouth in 1796 and was admitted to the bar 
 in 1805. He died, iVIarch 11, 1851, at the age of 
 seventy-six. 
 
 Lovell Walker was born in Brookfield in 1768 and 
 graduated at Dartmouth in 1794. He practiced law 
 in Templeton and Leominster, and was a member of 
 the Senate in 1830 and 1831. He died March 25, 
 1840. 
 
 Among other natives of Brookfield who have dis- 
 tinguished themselves either at home or in wider 
 fields of enterprise may be mentioned Joseph Dwight, 
 Josiah Converse, Phinehas Upham, Thomas Hale, 
 Oliver Crosby, Simeon Draper and Oliver C. F'elton. 
 These belonged to past generations and of the living 
 it is not proposed to speak. 
 
 With these sketches this imperfect narrative musts 
 close. It is only necessary to say in conclusion that 
 the writer has drawn freely from Temple's valuable 
 " History of North Brookfield" as a source of supply 
 of historical material, for which he desires to ex- 
 press the fullest acknowledgment and the sincerest 
 thanks. That history being a town publication, he has 
 esteemed it a sort of town record, and therefore free 
 for public use. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL. 
 AARON KIMBALL. 
 
 Aaron Kimball was the son of Aaron and Silence 
 (Bartlett) Kimball, and was born at North Brook- 
 field, June 19, 1796. His paternal grandfather, 
 Benjamin, came from Ipswich to Brookfield prior to 
 1755, and since that time the family name has been 
 prominently associated with Brookfield and her 
 interests. 
 
 He married Eliza Cooley of Long Meadow, by 
 whom were the following children: Harriet Cooley, 
 born, February 3, 1830, died February 6, 1860 ; 
 Adeline Augusta, born October 1, 1832 d; Mary 
 Ann, born November 15, 1834— died, 1884 ; Franklin 
 Olcott, born October 26, 1838— died December 24, 
 1856. 
 
 June 21, 1853, he married Persis Stebbins of Wil- 
 braham : the issue was : John Cone, bora August 16, 
 1857. 
 
 Aaron Kimball began business at Brookfield as a 
 country merchant, in 1821, with small capital, except 
 force and perseverance. In 1830 he formed a partner- 
 ship with J. P. Robinson, and commenced the 
 manufacture of shoe^ at Brookfield. In 1851 they 
 opened a shoe and leather store on Fulton Street, 
 Boston, from whence they removed to the well-known 
 warehouse on Hanover Street, opposite the American 
 House. 
 
 For thirty-four years Mr. Kimball was the senior 
 partner of the wholesale boot and shoe house of 
 Kimball, Robinson and Co., Boston. 
 
 During the financial storms of this period all their 
 business engagements were met with great prompt- 
 nets. The panic of 1837 especially tested Mr. 
 Kimball's executive ability with great credit to 'nira- 
 self 
 
 He belonged to that school of men who did business 
 on honor, and whose word wa^ considered as good as 
 their bond. He possessed sterling integrity, great 
 firmness, a pure character, and was considered the 
 leading business man of his day at Brookfield. 
 
 He retired from active business in 1864, and died 
 at Brookfield, May 17, 1866. 
 
 JOHN PAEMELEE ROBINSON. 
 
 Rev. John Robinson, the supposed ancestor of the 
 subject of this sketch, was the well-known pastor of 
 the Pilgrim Church. He bfcame connected with 
 that church at Scrooby soon after 1606 while it was 
 under the ministration of Richard Clyfton. He 
 was born in Lincolnshire in 1576, and entering 
 Emanuel College in 1592 he took the degree of M.A. 
 in 1600 and B.D. in 1607. He began his ministerial 
 labors in Mendham, where on account of his puritan 
 tendencies he was at length suspended from his func- 
 tions. Retiring to Norwich, after preaching a short 
 time to a small puritan congregation, he at last re- 
 
536 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 nounced all communion with the church. Robinson 
 afterwards said " lhnt light broke in upon him by de- 
 grees, that he hesitated to outrun those of his puritan 
 brethren who could still reconcile thems'lves to re- 
 main in the establishment." He was called even by 
 an opponent of separatism " the most learned, 
 polished and modest spirit ihat ever the sect en- 
 joyed." 
 
 In 1G08 he went with the church to Amsterdam 
 where it remained a year and to Leyden in 1G09. Mr. 
 Clyfton having decided to remain at Amsterdam, Mr. 
 Robinson was chosen pastor and at his house on 
 Clock Alley in the rear of St. Peter's Church, in 
 Leyden, his congregation probably met on the Sab- 
 bath. Here Robinson lived from the 5th of May, 
 1611, the date of the deed of the premises, until his 
 death in 1625. The records of the church of St. Peter's 
 show that he was buried under its pavement and that 
 the sum of nine florins was paid for the right of 
 burial. This sum, however, only secured a place 
 of deposit for the term of seven years and it is there- 
 fore probable that at the end of that time either his 
 coffin was removed to an unknown grave or his ashes 
 were scattered in the burial of others. 
 
 Subsequent to the death of Mr. Robinson his widow 
 and son Isaac came to New England and frrm this 
 son the subject of this sketch was probably descended, 
 the line of descent from John being Isaac, Thomas, 
 David, David, Noah, Hezekiah and John Parmelee. 
 
 John Parmelee Robinson was the son of Hezekiah 
 and Rebecca (Cooley) Robinson and was born in 
 West Granville in the county Hampden, Massa- 
 chusetts, April 24, 1809. Rebecca (Cooley) Robin- 
 son, his mother, was the daughter of Josiah Cooley, 
 of Longmeadow, and descended through him and 
 another Josiah and two Eliakims from Benjamin, 
 who came from England about 1635 and not long 
 after settled in Springfield. Benjamin Cooley is 
 first mentioned in the history of Springfield as 
 owning land at the "long meddowe" in 1645, a 
 part of the town which was incorporated as a pre- 
 cinct in 1715 and a separate town in 1783. It is 
 evident from the records that the Cooley family 
 always retained their lands at the Longe Meddowe 
 in Springfield and in Longmeadow after its incor- 
 poration. Mr. Cooley was one of the selectmen of 
 Springfield as early as 1646, and occupied a position 
 on the Board many years. At later dates he is 
 called Ensign Benjamin Cooley and is spoken of as 
 distinguishing himself'in the Indian Wars. 
 
 The other children of Hezekiah Robinson were 
 Josiah C, of Longmeadow, and Noah H., of Elmira, 
 New York, both deceased, and Henry A. of Spring- 
 field and Emeline and Harriet R., both unmarried. 
 The subject of this sketch attended school at We.=t 
 Granville and afterwards at the Westfield Seminary 
 where a more thorough education was possible than 
 the public schools of his native town could furnish.- 
 After leaving school he was in 1828 and a part of 
 
 1829 employed as teacher in West Granville, and 
 for a short time afterwards in Longmeadow, the old 
 home of his mother. At the age of twenty-one he 
 removed to Brookfield where with Aaron Kimball 
 he engaged in the manufacture of boots and shoes. 
 With devoted labor and csreful management the 
 business of Kimball & Robinson after a solid foun- 
 dation had been laid assumed large proportions, 
 soon requiring more attention to the sale of goods 
 in Boston than visits to that city twice in a week 
 could furnish. In 1852 Mr. Robinson removed to 
 Boston and there took up his permanent residence. 
 Up to that time the Bofton business had always been 
 transacted by Mr. Robinson while Mr. Kimball 
 gave his attention more particularly to the busi- 
 ness of the factory. Mr. Robinson had occupied 
 for the transaction of his business a part of the 
 office of William C. Murdock in Fulton Street (that 
 part of Boston then being the headquarters of the 
 hhoe and leather trade), who did a commission busi- 
 ness in boots and shoes. This business Kimball & 
 Robinson bought out in 1852 and for several years 
 they carried on a large and increasing business at 
 the old stand. During Mr. Robinson's connection 
 with Mr. Kimball and afterwards in other business 
 connections, his house may be said to have been the 
 largest in their line of business in Boston. They not 
 only sold their own goods but those manufactured by 
 others in Brookfield, Medway, Hudson, Massachusetts, 
 and Dover, New Hampshire, the manufacture being 
 carried on on joint account and Mr. Robinson always 
 making the purchase of leather. 
 
 After remaining in Fulton Street a few years 
 Kimball & Robinson removed to Hanover Street 
 and occupied a store opposite the American House. 
 While there two trusted employees of the house 
 were taken into partnership and the firm-name be- 
 came Kimball, Robinson & Co. It so remained un- 
 til December 1, 1864, when the partnership expired 
 by limitation, and Mr. Robinson formed a new firm, 
 as-ociating with himself James Longley, Jr., under 
 the name of Robinson & Longley. Mr. Longley had 
 been brought up in the house and on the 24th of 
 October, 1866, married Julia Frances, Mr. Robinson's 
 daughter. 
 
 At the beginning of the War of the Rebellion Mr. 
 Robinson's house, like other large boot and shoe con- 
 cerns of that period, suffered heavily from losses at 
 the South, but by shrewd management and persistent 
 effort his firm not only successfully went through the 
 financial storm, but asiisted many others, as in the 
 -struggle of 1857. In 1865 Robinson & Longley re- 
 moved to Pearl Street, where they continued in busi- 
 ness until 1867, when they were succeeded by Loring 
 & Reynolds, in whose concern Mr. Robinson and Mr. 
 Longley were special partners. Mr. Kimball died in 
 1866, but Mr. Robinson continued his interest in the 
 Brookfield factory until September, 1881, when he 
 sold the property. 
 

1 
 
\k\^^vJo^ w\H:) 
 
 4 
 
BROOKFIELD. 
 
 537 
 
 Mr. Robinson died at North Conway, N. H., 
 August 5, 1882. He married, February 18, 1835, 
 Eliza A., daughter of Stephen and Fanny (Paige) 
 Rice, of Hardwiclc, and had four children, — Frances 
 Eliza, Julia Frances, John Cooley and Anna Eliza, 
 all of whom died young except Julia Frances, the 
 wife, now living, of James Longley, of Boston, as has 
 been already mentioned. Stephen Rice, of Hard- 
 wick, the father of Mrs. Robinson, was descended, 
 through Stephen, of Westboro', who married Dorothy 
 Woods, of Marlboro', Beriah Rice, of Westboro'. 
 who married Mary Goodenow, of Marlboro'. Thomas 
 Rice, of Marlboro', who married Anna Rice, his 
 cousin, Thomas Rice, of Sudbury, who married a 
 wife Mary, from Edward Rice, born in England about 
 1594, who came to New England before 1639, and 
 settled in Sudbury in that year. 
 
 During the residence of Mr. Robinson in Brook- 
 field he was a leading man in the town, prominent in 
 every good work, Ijut, with the exception of the office 
 of postni.Tster, which he held under the Whig ad- 
 ministration inaugurated by the election of Zachary 
 Taylor in 1848, he held no public office. Aside from 
 hi'* interest in the Unitarian Society, of which he was 
 an active and useful member, and his interest in the 
 general welfare of the town and the comfort and 
 happiness of its people, he devoted his time and 
 energies to his business, and neither sought nor de- 
 sired public station. 
 
 After he came to Boston, he first associated himself 
 with the churclr at the corner of Beadi Street and 
 Harrison Avenue, of which Rev. James I. T. Cool- 
 idge, then a Unitarian, was pastor, and later with 
 that of Rev. Edward E. Hale, near his residence, 
 which was at the corner of Washington Street and 
 Chester Park. In the ministry at large, of which he 
 was once an officer, he felt a special interest, and did 
 much to sustain it and promote its usefulness. 
 
 Like other business men who, by the cultivation of 
 all their powers, build up and maintain prosnerous 
 enterprises in business, Mr. Robinson looked on his 
 school instruction as only the beginning of knowl- 
 edge, and continued through life to build on the 
 foundation laid in his boyhood, and educate himself 
 in wider fields of knowledge than the demands of his 
 daily vocation required. Possessed of an exceedingly 
 genial temperament, of good common sense, an un- 
 erring judgment, an unswerving integrity, a capacity 
 for honest and thorough investigation, and tastes in- 
 clined as his mind developed to literary pursuits, it 
 would have been difficult to find a station in public 
 or private life which he could not have creditably 
 filled. For many years he w.is a director in the Eliot 
 Insurance Company, and afterwards one of the or- 
 ganizers and a director of the Eliot Bank and its 
 successor, the Eliot National Bank, until his death ; 
 and to his conservative prudence and sagacious in- 
 sight these institutions owed a debt of gratitude 
 which they were ever ready to acknowledge. 
 
 FRANCIS HOWE. 
 
 Francis Howe, whose portrait accompanies this 
 sketch, was descended from John Howe, the first 
 American ancestor. John Howe came from Eng- 
 land and first settled in Watertown whence he removed 
 to Sudbury where he was living in 1639, and made a 
 freeman in 1640. In 1642 he was a selectman in that 
 town. He was one of the petitioners for the grant 
 constituting the town of Marlboro', and in 1657 re- 
 moved to that place. The petition for the grant was 
 presented to the General Court in May, 1656, and 
 besides Mr. Howe, the petitioners were: Edmund 
 Rice, William Ward, Thomas King, John Woods, 
 Thomas Goodnow, John Ruddocke, Henry Rice, 
 .Tohn Bent, Sr., John Maynard, Peter Bent and 
 Edward Rice. In compliance with the petition a 
 plantation known by the Indian name Whipsuppe- 
 nicke, was granted and laid out containing 29,419 
 acres. 
 
 It is said that John Howe was the first white man 
 to take up his residence on the grant. He built a 
 house and there lived until his death in 1687. By a 
 wife, Mary, whose death occurred not far from the 
 time of his own, he had eleven children — John, 1640; 
 Samuel, 1642; Sarah, 1644; Mary, 1646; Isaac, 1648; 
 Josiah, Mary again, 1654; Thomas, 1656; Daniel, 
 1658; Alexander, 1661; and Eleazur, 1662. Josiah, 
 (me of the above sons, married March 18, 1671, Mary 
 Haynes and had five children — Mary, 1672; Mary 
 again, 1674; Josiah, 1678 ; Daniel, 1681 ; and Ruth, 
 1684. Josiah, one of thtse children, married June 
 14, 1706, Sarah Bigelow, and Novtmber 22, 1713, 
 Mary Marble, and died September 20, 1766. His 
 children were — Phinehas, 1707 ; Abraham, 1709 ; 
 Rachel, 1710; Sarah, 1714; Mary, 1716; Josiah, 
 1720; Jacob, 1724. Abraham Howe, one of the above, 
 settled in Brookfield, and married Martha Potter. 
 His children were — Ephraim, born September 23,' 
 1733; Abraham, 1735; Abuer, 1736; Sarah, 1738; 
 Rachel, 1741 ; Martha, 1744; Persis, 1749; Eli, 1752; 
 and Abraham again, 1758. Ephraim, one of the 
 children of Abraham, married in September, 1757, 
 Sarah Gilbert of Brookfield, and had William born 
 in 1759; Molly, 1761; Rachel, 1763; Sarah, 1706 ; 
 Martha, 1768; Lucy, 1769; and Josiah, 1774. 
 William Howe, one of the above children, born 
 November 15, 1759, was a trader in Brookfield, and 
 married November 2, 1780, Abigail, daughter of Jabcz 
 Crosby of Brookfield, and had Sally, 1782 ; Nancy, 
 1784; JabezC, 1787; Otis, 1788; Otis again, 1790; 
 William, 1792; George, 1795 ; Amos, 1797; Francis. 
 1799; Oliver, 1801; Charlotte Abigail, 1804; and 
 Charlotte again, 1807. Jabez C. and George Howe 
 were the late distinguished merchants of Boston, 
 known as partners in the well-known house, of J. C. 
 Howe and Co. Otis Howe was also a merchant in 
 Boston, and the three daughters,! Sally, Nancy, and 
 Charlotte Abigail, married Darius Hovey and Cyrus 
 Dean, of Brookfield, and Samuel Johnson of Boston. 
 
538 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 All the children are now deceased. BIr. Hovey was 
 the father of the late Charlea F. Hovey and George 
 Hovey of Boston. 
 
 Francis Howe, the subject of this sketch, married 
 in September, 1824, Maria A., daughter of Ephraira 
 Richards, of Enfield, and had eight children, three 
 of whom died young and five of whom survived him. 
 A daughter, Abbie J., married S. R. Pattison, an at- 
 torney of London, England, who has acquired some 
 distinction as an author and scientist, and also as a 
 philanthropist. Lucretia P., another daughter, mar- 
 ried Wm. J. Pingree, ofBoston, of the firm of Wm. J. 
 Pingree & Brother, one of the leading dry goods com- 
 mi^sion houses in that city. Among the living chil- 
 dren there are two other brothers — William, for many 
 yearsa planter in Mississippi, and Frederick A. Howe, 
 an esteemed and prosperous commission merchant in 
 Boston. Albert R. Howe, another son, born January 
 3, 1840, died in Chicago, June 1, 1884. He was major 
 of the 5th Massachusetts cavalry in the War of the 
 Rebellion, and after the war settled with his brother, 
 William, in the South and engaged in the business of 
 cotton planting. He was a member of the 43d Con- 
 gress from Mississippi, and afterwards until his death 
 was a merchant in Chicago. 
 
 Francis Howe was educated in the schools of his 
 native town, and began business in Enfield. As his 
 business grew and his capacity for its management 
 developed he found the field in which he operated too 
 narrow for the full satisfaction of his active spirit, and 
 he removed to Boston, where, for some years, he was 
 engaged in the West India business as a member of 
 the well-known firm of Pope & Howe. With the 
 competence which he had acquired as the result of 
 his successful business career in Boston, he returned 
 to his native town, whose inland air was more conge- 
 nial to him than he had found the harsher airs from 
 the sea. In Brookfield, after his return, he was asso- 
 ciated for some time with Chester W. Chapin, of 
 Springfield, and Frank Morgan, of Palmer, in the 
 ownership of a stage-line between Worcester and 
 Hartford, and at the same time carried on a large and 
 successful country store. He always felt a deep in- 
 terest in State and national politics, and was an 
 active and influential leader of the democratic party 
 of the town. As the candidate of that party he repre- 
 sented the town in the house of representatives in 
 1841-43, and represented Worcester County in the 
 Senate in 1846. Subsequent to the Kansas outrages 
 and in consequence of the attitude concerning them 
 assumed by the party to which he had always been 
 warmly attached he became a member and one of the 
 founders of the Republican party, and to that organi- 
 zation and its success he lent his aid and energies. 
 
 As a member of the Orthodox Congregational 
 Church, with which he became connected in 1867, he 
 was always generous in his benefactions, and in private 
 charities his hand was always found open and his 
 heart warm. In all the varied fields of labor into 
 
 which he had entered he carried with him a sound 
 judgment, good common sense, a firm will, unswerv- 
 ing integrity, a generous spirit and a determination to 
 win success. It was said, by one who knew him, "he 
 will be long remembered as a gentleman of kind and 
 generous feelings, courteous manners and uncompro- 
 mising integrity. The church, society and the com- 
 munity have suffered a serious loss and his death will 
 be severely felt by a large circle of friends and rela- 
 tives." Mr. Howe died in Brookfield January 4, 1879, 
 leaving, besides the children above mentioned, a widow, 
 who is still a resident of that town. 
 
 LUTHER STOWELL. 
 
 Luther Stowell was the son of Luther and Lucy 
 (Richardson) Stowell and was born at Sturbridge 
 December 22, 1799. He came to Brookfield with his 
 parents when young and spent his life here. Jlany 
 of his winters when a young man were devoted to 
 school teaching. May 11, 1827, he married Sophia 
 Barret, of Brookfield. Mr. Stowell was a man who 
 gave close attention to his own pursuits, which were 
 principally .agricultural. He was esteemed a good 
 citizen, represented his town as selectman and in 
 1840 and 1860 represented his district in the Legisla- 
 ture of the State. Mr. Stowell was a man of good 
 judgment and in his business afiairs was successful. 
 He died at Brookfield August 5, 1865. 
 
 WILLIAM A. BANISTEE. 
 
 William A. Banister was born at Brookfield, Mass., 
 June 4th, 1807. He was the son of Seth and Dolly 
 (Cutter) Banister, and belongs to the sixth generation 
 bearing the name at Brookfield. His paternal grand- 
 father, Seth, was a leading man in military afiairs. In 
 1777 had served in the Revolutionary army nineteen 
 months, the highest average in the third precinct; 
 commanded a company in the service and rose to the 
 rank of colonel. He married Marcy Warriner, of 
 Brimfield. Their children were William Bostwick, 
 born November 8, 1773, a benefactor of Newbury- 
 port ; Liberty, born October 16, 1775 ; Seth, born 
 January 4, 1778, was a captain in the War of 1812 and 
 died at Brookfield September 7, 1857. 
 
 The issue of Seth and Dolly Banister was : Caro- 
 line C, died July 11, 1879 ; William A. the subject of 
 this sketch ; Eliza Ann, died 1828 ; Sarah, died young; 
 and Seth W., born January 15, 1811, and died Octo- 
 ber 5, 1861. 
 
 William A. Banister spent his boyhood at Brook- J 
 field, and from there went to Boston. In 1831 he en- 
 gaged himself at Charleston, S. C, as a salesman. 
 
 His close attention to his duties through three suc- 
 cessive yellow fever seasons showed his devotion to 
 business entrusted to him. Shortly afterwards the 
 mercantile house of Banister & Ravenel was estab- 
 lished for direct trade between Charleston and Europe, 
 with Mr. Banister at its head. Mr. Meminger, after- 
 
'oZ^*^-^^^:^ 
 
( 
 
^^IC^^iiUn^a 
 
 '^Pn^Z-~ 
 
i 
 
 ( 
 
 I 
 1 
 
 V 
 
 7^^^"^^-^- ^^^^-^^c 
 
BROOKFIELD. 
 
 539 
 
 wards Confederate Secretary of the Treasury, was a 
 special partner in this house. 
 
 After this time Mr. Banister made annual business 
 visits to Europe, and in 1838 was a passenger on the 
 Great Western, the finest Atlantic vovage made by 
 pairsenger steamer from America to England. He 
 witnessed the demonstrations at the coronation of 
 Queen Victoria in that year. In 1845 he moved to 
 New- York city, and was associated with several large 
 imjjorting and jobbing houses, taking rank with the 
 first merchants of his day, and doing a business of 
 several millions annually. He always showtd the 
 courage, capacity and high honor which most become 
 a merchant. He retired from active business in 1859. 
 
 In 1861 he was South on business, and witnessed 
 the bombardment of Fort Sumter and the surrender 
 of the same on the afternoon of April 13tli. 
 
 Mr. Banister has shown his interest in humanity 
 by his works. He has assisted in educating his three 
 nephews, sons of his brother, Seth W. ; has given 
 several thousand dollars to the home for aged men at 
 Newburyport, a beautiful gate-way to the cemetery 
 at Brookfield, in conjunction with Otis Hayden, 
 Esq., and donated ten thousand dollars for founding 
 a public library at Brookfield. 
 
 Of late years Mr. Banister has lived in compara- 
 tive retirement, with New York City as his home. 
 
 EDWIN RICE. 
 
 Edmund Rice, the American ancestor of the subject 
 of this sketch, came from Barkhamstead,in the County 
 of Hertfordshire, in England, and settled in Sudbury, 
 Massachusetts, in 1638 or 1639. He was a Selectman 
 in 1G44 and for some years afterwards, and deacon of 
 the church in 1648. His son Thomas Rice also lived 
 in Sudbury and by a wife Mary had thirteen children, 
 one of whom was Peter, born October 24, 1658. Peter 
 Rice, of Marlboro', married Rebecca, daughter of 
 Abraham and Hannah (Ward) Howe, of Marlboro', 
 and had eleven children, one of whom was Elisha, 
 born December 2, 1690. Elisha Rice, of Brookfield, 
 married Martha Rice October 6, 1720, and had seven 
 children, one of whom was Elnathan. Elnathan Rice, 
 of Brookfield, married Lucy Walker in October, 1754, 
 and had six children, one of whom was Rufus, born 
 February 7, 1764. Rufus Rice, of Brookfield, married 
 Betsey Moore October 2, 1786, and had nine children, 
 one of whom was Shepard, born September 20, 1790. 
 Shepard Rice, of Brookfield, married Mahala Carf)en- 
 ter April 22, 1810, and had Elsie (1812), who married 
 John E. Ainsworth, of Brimfield ; Elliot (1814), who 
 married Harriet Nickols; Edwin, April 11, 1817; 
 Miriam, who married Sylvanus King, of Monson and 
 Leprelet. 
 
 Edwin Rice, the son of Shepard, is the subject of 
 this sketch. He received such an education as the 
 schools of his native town were able to furnish supple- 
 mented by that which his native gifts fortunately 
 
 enabled him to acquire. After leaving school, with 
 the other boys in his neighborhood he naturally 
 drifted into the shoe establishments of Brookfield, 
 then extensive and flourishing, to learn the business 
 of manufacturing shoes and to prepare himself for 
 active life. He soon, however, found the field into 
 which he had entered too narrow for his restless spirit 
 and on the 20th of April, 1841, he went to Boston 
 and engaged in the retail furniture business in part- 
 nership with David Walker. This enterprise proved 
 unsuccessful and the end of six months found the 
 concern insolvent. The creditors offered a settlement 
 at a large discount on their indebtedness which Mr. 
 Rice refused and after a year's hard work as SheritTs 
 keeper and in other occupations he liquidated the 
 entire liabilities of the concern and acquired a repu- 
 tation for industry and integrity which he has retained 
 through life. 
 
 In 1845 he was appointed constalde by Thomas A. 
 Davis, the mayor of Boston, and held that officer's 
 warrant not far from twenty-five years. His prompt- 
 ness in the despatch of business, his accurate and in- 
 telligent methods, and above all his thorough honesty 
 in all his dealings made him a popular ofi!icer. Among 
 the leading lawyers of Court Street, Sohier and Welch, 
 Hubbard and Watts, Fiske and Rand, Whiting and 
 Russell, Hutchins and Wheeler, Whitman and Davis, 
 and other attorneys, too numerous to mention, en- 
 trusted him with their business, and his income from 
 this source enabled him to make investments in real 
 estate, in which he has found a profitable account. In 
 1851 he was commissioned by Governor Boutwell as 
 coroner, and the business of that office, by no means 
 insignificant, was added to his regular occupation as 
 c(mstable. This office he held about ten years, and 
 he has since devoted his full time to the management 
 of his real estate and other properties of which he has 
 become possessed. 
 
 When Mr. Rice came to Boston, in 1841, he settled 
 in East Boston, and during the forty -seven years which 
 have since elapsed he has lived within fifty feet of his 
 prestnt residence in Saratoga Street. At that time 
 the population of East Boston was about one thousand, 
 and there are now living on the island only four fam- 
 ilies that were living there then. 
 
 Mr. Rice married March 5, 1838, Frances L. Muzzy, 
 of Brookfield, by whom he had no children. His sec- 
 ond wife was Abbie E. Brigham of Boston, daughter 
 of Major Franklin Brigham, of Lancaster, whom he 
 married August 13, 1878. He has an only child, Ed- 
 win Brigham Rice, who was born December 5, 1879. 
 
 Mr. Rice has never sought political preferment, and 
 has declined all participation in the management of 
 enterprises, in which he did not have a substantial 
 interest. He is a large owner in the Quincy Mining 
 Company, and as one of its directors makes an annual 
 visit to its properties in Michigan. He is an en- 
 thusiastic Mason, an active member of Joseph Webb 
 Lodge of Boston, and also a member of the National 
 
540 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Lancers. He is connected with the Unitarian Society 
 of East Boston, having been brought up in a liberal 
 faith. His father was active in the settlement of a 
 Universalist churcli in Brookfiekl, and from Univer- 
 salism to Unitariauism was an easy transition for the 
 son. 
 
 Mr. Rice, at the age of seventy-one, is still active in 
 mind and body, and with the enjoyment ofahandaome 
 competence, acquired by his own skill and energy and 
 of a liappy home, he has apparently many years yet 
 before him of usefulness and content. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXX. 
 NORTH BROOKFIELD. 
 
 BV WII^LIAM T. DAVIS. 
 
 North Brookfield is substantially the Second 
 Precinct of Brookfield, which was incorporated March 
 28, 1750. The petitioners for a separate precinct in 
 the northeasterly part of Brookfield having failed to 
 secure an act of incorporation in 1749, presented a 
 petition at the next session of the General Court in 
 1750, in which they stated as follows : 
 
 Ttiat your petitioiiera under our unhappy and remote situation from 
 the place of ])ublif worstiip in said town liaving often petitioned the 
 town for relief either Iiy Ituilding a nieeting-liouse at or near tiie centre 
 of tlie town as it now lies or to set us off as a distinct parish as per our 
 former petitions may appear ; liut being often denied our request which 
 we thought most rensonaltle ; the town at last made u grant to the 
 inhabitants of the said part of the town that they with such as would 
 join witii them— they entering their names or sending them to the 
 town clerk in writing within the space of tliree months from the date 
 of the gmnt, should be set off as a distinct Parish — provided they and 
 their possessions di<l not exceed one-third part of said town for quantity 
 and quality as per the vote or grant of the town may appear ; upon 
 which vote or grant we agi'eed to build a handsome frame for the public 
 worship of God ; and in April last we preferred a petition to this Hon- 
 ored Court so agreeable (as we thought) to the town's vote that none 
 ■would oppose it ; but to our surprise we found such opposition from the 
 town and some of our petitioners that caused us todesist the proceeding » 
 and being willing to do anything reasonable to satisfy our disaffected 
 brethren we covenanted and agreed for their satisfiction to be at the 
 cost of a committee of uninterested wortliy gentlemen mutually chosen 
 who have been upon the spot and heard tlio pleas and viewed the pro- 
 posed parish and have returned tlieir judgment that the house stands 
 just and reasonable to accommodate them its well as ourselves as per 
 their return and tlie covenants we entered into may appear. Therefore 
 your pctitionel'S pray that this Honored Court will incorporate ua who 
 have returned our names to the town clerk agreeable to the vote of the 
 town into a distinct Parish and invest us with parish privileges; granting 
 also a liberty of others joyneing with us (not to exceed one-third part 
 of the town as abovesaid) for the space of two years or eighteen monllis 
 or as this Honored Court shall think meet; And your petitit)nei-s further 
 pray that one-third part of the hinds in said town sequestered to ministry 
 and school use or the incomes thereof may be set over and secured to us . 
 and also that the town of Brookfield abate or reimburse to your peti- 
 tioners and such as join with them llieir proportion of a tax lately 
 assessed on oiir j)oll8 and estates for the settlement and ordination 
 charges of (he Itev l\Ir. Klislia Harding and the repairs of tlie old 
 meeting-house amounling in the whole to about twelve hundred pounds 
 old tenor currency more or less. And your petitioners as in duty bound 
 ghull ever pray. 
 
 This petition was signed by Thomas Hale, Wra. 
 Ayres, Ebenezer Witt and fifty-four others, and the 
 
 record of the General Court contains the following 
 order : 
 
 That the prayer of the petitioners be so far granted as that they with 
 their families and estat-^s, together with such persons and their estates 
 who shall within three months from this time signify that desire 
 therefor under their hands to the clerk of the town of Brookfield, be 
 and they hereby are set off a Distinct Parish and are endowed with all 
 the privileges and subjected to all the duties which the other inhabit- 
 ants of Pai'ishes are by the laws of the Province endowed with or sub- 
 jected to — Provided their possessions do not exceed one-third part of the 
 said town of Brookfield for quantity and quality. 
 
 Thomas Hcbbard, Speal:er pro tempore. 
 
 In Council March 29, 1756, Read and Concurred. 
 
 Samuel Holbrooe, Dep. Secy. 
 
 Consented to 
 
 S Phipps. 
 
 After the incorporation of the Second Precinct the 
 Second Parish was organized at the house of Jabez 
 Ayres, Monday, May 21, 1750, by the choice of Capt. 
 Wm. Ayres moderator, Capt. Wm. Ayres precinct 
 clerk and Capt. Wm. Ayres, Capt. Ebenezer Witt, 
 Samuel Gould, Noah Barns and Benjamin Adams 
 precinct committee. Thomas Bartlett was chosen 
 treasurer, Joseph Stone collector, and Wm. Ayres, 
 Samuel Gould, Wm. Witt, Jason Bigelow and Moses 
 Ayres were made assessors. The frame of a meeting- 
 house was reared April 5, 1749, before the act of in- 
 corporation had been secured, and, though occupied, 
 it was not completed for some years. Rev. Eli For- 
 busli or, as he afterwards called himself. Rev. Eli 
 Forbes, was invited to settle as pastor, and was or- 
 dained June 3, 1752. Mr. Forbes was born in West- 
 borough in 1726, and graduated at Harvard in 1751. 
 During his collegiate career he enlisted in the army 
 to engage in the French war, but returned to Cam- 
 bridge, and graduated seven years after he entered as 
 freshman. During his pastorate he was for a time an 
 Indian missionary, and established a church and school 
 among the Oneidas. He was dismissed at his own re- 
 quest March 1, 1775, in consequence of certain in- 
 dignities resulting from an undeserved suspicion of 
 his disloyalty ta the patriot cause. He was installed 
 over the First Church in Gloucester June 5, 1776, 
 and died in his pastorate in that town December 15, 
 1804. 
 
 The next settled minister was Rev. Jo»eph Apple- 
 tnn, of Ipswich, who was ordained October 3, 1776, 
 and died in the pastorate July 25, 1795. Mr. Apple- 
 ton came from a good stock. He was descended from 
 Samuel Applcton, who was born in Little Walding- 
 field. County of Suffolk, England, in 1586, and was 
 the seventh in descent from John Apulton, of Great 
 Waldingfield, who was living in 1396. Samuel Apple- 
 ton came to New England about 1635, and settled in 
 Ipswich, where he had a grant of lands. He married 
 JIary Everard, who came to New England with her 
 husband and probably her children^ — John, Samuel, 
 Sarah, Judith and Martha. Samuel, the second son, 
 wa.i born at Little Waldingfield in 1624, and during 
 the career of Andros, in New England, he took a de- 
 finite and influential stand against him. He married 
 
NORTH BROOKFIELD. 
 
 541 
 
 Hannah Paine, and had Hannah, Judith and Sam- 
 uel. By a second wife, Mary Oliver, whom he mar- 
 ried December 8, 1656, he had John, Isaac, Oliver 
 and Joannah. Isaac Appleton, one of the above chil- 
 dren, born in 16G4, married Priscilla Baker, and had 
 Priscilla, Mary, Isaac, Elizabeth, Martha and Re- 
 becca. Isaac Appleton, one of the above, born in Ips- 
 wich in 1704, married Elizabeth Sawyer, of Wells, in 
 the State of Maine, and had Isaac, Francis, Elizabeth, 
 Samuel, Thomas, John, Daniel, William, Mary and 
 Joseph. Joseph, the youngest child, graduated at 
 Brown University in 1772, and was settled in North 
 Brookfield soon after he had completed his studies lor 
 the ministry. He married Mary Hook and had the 
 following children, all of whom were born in Brook- 
 field — Phineas, born in 1779, who died in 1800 ; Jo- 
 seph, born in 1781, and died in 1793; Abigail Ellery, 
 born in 1784; William, Sarah Hook and Mary Ann. 
 William, the youngest .son, was born in that part of 
 Brookfield which is now North Brookfield, November 
 16, 1786, and died in Brookline, Mass., February 15, 
 1862. He came to Boston in 1807, and after a short 
 career of preparation for mercantile pursuits he ad- 
 vanced step by step until he occupied a place in the 
 front rank of Boston merchants. He was the presi- 
 dent of the Branch Bank of the United States from 
 1832 to 1836 and a member of Congress from 1851 to 
 1855, and in 1861-62. He was also president of the 
 Provident Association, aud was a large benefac- 
 tor of the Massachusetts General Hospital. He was a 
 benefactor also of his native town, and as a memorial 
 of him therefore, as well as of his father, this sketch 
 has been introduced into this nairative. On the 16th 
 of March, 1859, he gave to the church and parish, over 
 which his father had ministered, a considerable num- 
 ber of books and the sum of $5000 for the purpose of 
 establishing a Parish Library. He provided that the 
 sura of $2000 should be kept as a permanent fund, and 
 that the remainder, with the income of the fund, could 
 be expended in the purchase of books and paying the 
 current expenses of the library. The parish accepted 
 the gift, and voted that the library should be called 
 " The Appleton Library." It was also voted that the 
 pastor for the time being and four other persons, 
 chosen by the parish, should compose a board of 
 trustees to have the library in charge. The original 
 board consisted of Rev. Dr. Thomas Snell, the succes- 
 sor of Rev. Joseph Appleton, Rev. Christopher Cush- 
 ing, Charles Adams, Jr., Dr. Joshua Porter, Bonum 
 Nye and Gideon B. Dewing. The chapel was en- 
 larged to receive the library, and, at the present time, 
 there are nearly five thousand volumes on its shelves. 
 Rev. Thomas Snell, the succe-sor of Mr. Appleton, 
 was ordained June 27, 1798, and continued as sole 
 pastor until Septeniber 17, 1851, and senior pastor 
 afterwards until his death, May 4, 1862. His salary, 
 which was objected to by some at the time of his set- 
 tlement as too large, never during the sixty-four years 
 of his pastorate exceeded five hundred dollars. Dr. 
 
 Snell was an early and earnest advocate of the estab- 
 lishment of Amherst College, and in 1828 received 
 from that institution the degree of Doctor of Divinity. 
 He was born in Cummington, Mass., November 21, 
 1774, and graduated at Dartmouth in 1795. He 
 taught an academy at Haverhill one year before going 
 to Brookfield and was licensed to preach by the Tol- 
 land Association October 3, 1797. He delivered an 
 oration at Brookfield July 5, 1813 ; a sermon on the 
 completion of his fortieth year in the ministry in 
 1838, with a short history of the town ; a sermon on the 
 fiftieth anniversary of his ordination in 1848; an his- 
 torical address containing a sketch of North Brook- 
 field in 1850, and another containing a sketch of his 
 own church in 1852. During his pastorate a new 
 meeting-house was built in 1823 and dedicated Janu- 
 ary 1, 1824. The house was remodeled in 1842, 
 lengthened twenty feet in 1853 and re-dedicated Jan- 
 uary 18, 1854, and again remodeled in 1874. 
 
 Rev. Christopher Gushing was installed as colleague 
 with Dr. Snell September 17, 1851, and after his death 
 continued as sole pastor until his dismissal, Septem- 
 ber 17, 1868. Mr. Gushing was born in South Scitu- 
 ate (now Norwell), Mass., and after graduating at Yale 
 in 1844, entered the Andover Thiological Seminary, 
 from which he graduated in 1847. He became secre- 
 tary of the American Congregational Union in May, 
 1867, sixteen months before his dismissal. He received 
 the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Amherst Col- 
 lege in 1871 and died in Cambridge October 23, 1881. 
 
 The successor of Mr. Gushing was Rev. Gabriel H. 
 De Bevoise, who was installed September 17, 1868, and 
 dismissed in 1880. After leaving North Brookfield 
 he was installed at Leominster in 1881. 
 
 Rev. Sedgwick P. Wilder, born at Newfane, Vt , 
 May 28, 1847, graduated at Y.ale Theological Seminary 
 in 1875 and was installed June 24, 1880. 
 
 No other religious society existed in North Brook- 
 field before its incorporation as a town. The Congre- 
 gational Church was the nucleus of the town, and in 
 order to make its sketch complete it must necessarily 
 include that part of its history which lies back of the 
 incorporation. The act incorporating the town was 
 parsed February 28, 1812. At a meeting of the parish 
 held in 1810 it was voted to petition the Legislature 
 for an act of separation and a committee was chosen 
 for the purpose consisting of Daniel Gilbert, Jason 
 Bigelow, Luke Potter, Aaron Forbes and Jacob Kit- 
 tredge. Under the direction of this committee the 
 following petition was drawn up and presented : 
 
 To the HoitorabJe Senate ami House of liepj-eseiitativee in General Colirt 
 
 asKemhled : 
 
 The Inhabitiints of the Second Precinct in Brookfield humbly pray 
 that they may be set off from the other precincts in said town, and be 
 incorporated into a Township by the name of North Brookfield ; and 
 that the territorial limits of such incorporation may be the same as 
 these, & hereby the said Precinct is now designated. 
 
 And the Kiid Inhabitants would beg leave further to state that from 
 the extensive limits of said town, it being separated into three distinct 
 precincts, together with the necessary mode of transacting the business 
 of the same by annual rotation in each Precinct, they not only find the 
 
542 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 distance of travel burdensome, but in considering the transacting; of 
 their parochial cuiicerus a two-fold labor and expense ; That tlie of. 
 fleers of said town are of necessity distant from the centre, and that 
 from the number of its inhabitants and the multiplicity of the business 
 of the said town the terra of one day insufficient for transacting the 
 eame. 
 
 This petition not meeting with success, another 
 was presented to the Legislature April 15, 1811, which 
 was signed by Jason Higelow, Wm. Ayres (2d), Ezra 
 Batcheller, Luke Potter, Daniel Gilbert, Hugh Cun- 
 ningham and Amos Bond, committee. As a result 
 of this second effort, the following act of incorpora- 
 tion was passed February 28, 1812 : 
 
 ACT OF INCOEPOKATION. 
 
 Sfct. 1. Be it enacted, etc. That all that part of the town of Brook 
 field whicli hiis been heretofore called and known by the name of the 
 Second or North Parish (excepting that part of said territory now lying 
 eoulh of the post road leading from Worcester through Spencer to 
 Springfield), together with tlie inhabitants thereon, be, and the same is 
 hereby incorporated into a separate town by the name of North 
 BttoOKFiEi-D. And the said town of North Brookfield is hereby vested 
 with all the powers and privileges, and shall also be subject to all the 
 duties to which other corporate towns are entitled and subjected by the 
 consiitution and laws of this Oonmiouwealth. 
 
 Sect. 2. Be it further enacted, Tliat the inhabitants of the said town 
 of North Brookfield shall be entitled to hold such proportion of all the 
 personal property now belonging to and owned in common by the in^ 
 habitants of the town of Urooktield, as the property of the said in- 
 habitants of North Brookfield bears to the property of all the inhabi- 
 tants of the town of Brookfield, according to the last valuation thereof. 
 
 Sect. 3. Bn if further enacted. That tJie inhabitants of the said town 
 of North Brookfield shall bo boldon to pay all arrears of taxes due 
 from them, together witli their proportion (to be ascertained as afore- 
 said) of all the debts now due and owing from the said town of Brook 
 field, or which may be hereafter found due and owing by reason of any 
 contract or other matter and thing heretofore entered into, or now ex- 
 isting. 
 
 Sect. 4, Be it further enacted, That the said town of North Brook- 
 field shall be holden to support their proportion of the present poor of 
 the town of Brookfield, whicli proportion shall be ascertained by the 
 present valuation of the town ; and all persons who may hereafter bo- 
 come chargeable, as paupers, to the town of Brookfield and North 
 Brookfield, shall be considered as belonging to that town, on the terri- 
 tory of which they had their settlement at the* time of passing this act, 
 and shall in future be chargeable to that town only. 
 
 Sect. 5. Be it further enacted, That the said town of North Brook- 
 field shall bp holden to pay their proportion of all State, town and 
 county taxes assessed on the inliabitants of tlie said town of Brook- 
 field, until a new valuation shall bo made of the said Towns. Provided, 
 That the said town of North Brookfield shall be holden, until the 
 further order of the Legislutun-, to pay to the town of Brookfield sneh 
 proportion of any of the expenses of maintaining the bridges and 
 causeways over the rivers in the town of Brookfield, as a committee of 
 the Court of Sessions for ihe county of Worcester shall determine ; and 
 eaid Court of Sessions are hereby authorized, on application of either of 
 the inhabitants of Brookfield or North Brookfield, from time to time, to 
 appoint a committee for the above purpose, whose report, made to and 
 accepted by said court, shall be binding on the said towns. 
 
 Sect. G. Be it further enacted. That any Justice of the Peace for the 
 county of Worcester, upon application therefor, is hereby authorized to 
 issue his warrant, directed to any freeholder in the said town of North 
 Brookfield, requiring him to notify and warn the inhabitants thereof to 
 meet at such t'nie and place as shall be appointed in said warrant, for 
 the choice of such officers as towns are by law required to choose at 
 their annual town-meetings. 
 
 February 20, 1818, the Legislature passed an act 
 to provide for the repeal of the fifth section of the 
 above act, as follows : 
 
 Be it enacted, that Austin Flint, of Leicester, Nathaniel Jones, of 
 Barre, and Joseph Curaminga, of Ware, are hereby appointed a conmiit- 
 tee to hear and consider the claim of Brookfield on the one part, and 
 of North Biookfield on the other ; and finally to determine whether the 
 
 town of North Brookfield ought in future to pay any part of the ex- 
 penses of maintaining the bridges and causeways in the town of Brook- 
 field. . . . 
 
 Sect. 2. Be it further enacted. That from and after the time the re- 
 port of said committee, shall he filed in the office of the Secretary of 
 the Commonwealth, the said fifth Section of said Act incorporating the 
 town of North Brookfield, shall be repealed ; and the duties and li- 
 abilities of said North Brookfield, resulting from the said section, shall 
 altogether ceiise. . . . 
 
 The first town-meeting was held on Tuesday, March 
 10, 1812, and Daniel Gilbert wiis chosen moderator, 
 and Moses Bond town clerk. The destruction by fire 
 of the town records renders it impossible to either 
 present in this narrative a list of selectmen and 
 moderators of town-meetings and other officers or to 
 make such extracts as would be desirable in portray- 
 ing the life of the town. The first town-house was 
 built in 1833. Before that time town-meetings had 
 been held in the Congregational Church, as was the 
 universal custom in the early days of New England 
 towns, when the town and the parish were one and 
 the same. Indeed, the meeting-house derives its 
 name from the fact that it was the general meeting- 
 place of the people. The first t(twn-house in North 
 Brookfield was not built by the town, but was owned 
 by a company called the North Brookfield Town- 
 House Company, and occupied by the parish and the 
 town for town-meetings, schools and other purposes. 
 This bouse was burned in the winter of 1846, and in 
 1847 a town-house was built by the town which was 
 burned October 14, 1SG2, with all the records of the 
 town and the books of the North Brookfield Savings 
 Bank, whose treasurer, Hiram Knight, was also the 
 clerk of the town. In 1863 the present building was 
 erected at a cost of about twenty thousand dollars. 
 
 Though we are unable to furnish a list of town 
 officers and thus show who, in the different genera- 
 tions, have been the men to whom the municipal in- 
 terests have been confided, the following lii-t of repre- 
 sentatives to the General Court, covering for the most 
 part a period when offices sought the men and not 
 men tlie offices, will, to a considerable extent, make 
 up the deficiency. It is taken from the State Register 
 and tbe manual of the General Court, and is believed 
 to be correct, 
 
 The following persons have represented North 
 Brookfield in the General Court wholly or in part 
 since its incorporation in 1812: 
 
 1813. Thomas Hale. 
 
 1814. None. 
 
 1815. None. 
 
 1816. None. 
 
 1817. Thomas Hale. 
 181S. None. 
 
 1819. None. 
 
 182(1. Daniel Gilbert. 
 
 1821. None. 
 
 1822. None. 
 
 1823. Charles Henshaw. 
 
 1824. None. 
 18.^5. None. 
 
 1826. None. 
 
 1827. Eli Forbes. 
 
 1828. Wm. Adams. 
 
 1829. Wm. Adams. 
 18.30. None. 
 
 1831. Tyler Batcheller. 
 
 1832. John Bigelow. 
 
 1833. Junathan Gary. 
 
 1834. Eli Forbes. 
 
 1835. Tyler Batcheller. 
 Oliver Ward. 
 
 1836. Wm. Adams. 
 Joseph A. Moore. 
 
 1837. Kittredge Hill. 
 
 1838. Chauncey Edmunds. 
 
 Pliny Nye. 
 1810. Joseph A. Moore. 
 
 Freeman Walker. 
 1840. Freeman Walker. 
 
NORTH BROOKFIELD. 
 
 543 
 
 1841. Ezra Batcheller. 
 184-J. None. 
 
 1843. None. 
 
 1844. Uii-am Edson. 
 
 1845. None. 
 
 1847. None. 
 
 1848. Amnsa Walker. 
 
 1849. AniasH Walker. 
 
 1850. Charles Adama. Jr. 
 
 1851. Charles Adams, Jr. 
 
 1852. Charles Adams, Jr. 
 
 1853. John Hill. 
 18.54. Kone. 
 
 1855. A. L. Poland. 
 185G. Levi Adams. 
 1867. Warrfu Tyler. 
 
 By an amendment of the Constitution adopted by the 
 Legislatures of 1856 and 1857, and ratified by the peo- 
 ple May 1, 1857, it was provided that a census of the 
 legal voters in the Cominoiiwealth on the 1st of May, 
 
 1857. should be taken and returned to the Secretary 
 of the Commonwealth on or before the last day of 
 June, on the basis of which the Legislature should 
 provide for the creation of representative districts. 
 Under this arrangement North Brookfield and Brook- 
 field constituted the twelfth Worcester Representative 
 District, and were represented as follows: 
 
 1858. Amasa Walker, of North Brookfield. 
 
 1859. Luther Stowell, of Brookfield. 
 
 1860. J. H. Jenks, of North Brookfield. 
 1801. Charles Tales, of Brookfield. 
 
 ]80i. Charles Adams, .Ir., of North Brookfield. 
 1864. Edward J, Russell, of North Brookfield. 
 
 1806. Josiah F. Hehard, of North Brookfield. 
 
 Under the appointment of 1866, based on the cen- 
 sus of 1865, the towns of Brookfield, North Brook- 
 field, West Brookfield, Sturbridge and Warren consti- 
 tuted the Eighteenth Worcester District, and were rep- 
 resented during the ten succeeding years as follows: 
 
 1807. JanipB S. Montague, of Brookfield. 
 Charles E. Smith, of West Brookfield. 
 
 1868. Amasa C. Monre, of .Stiirhridge. 
 
 Joseph B Lombard, of Warren. 
 1809. Ezra Batcheller, of North Brookfield. 
 
 Daniel W. Knight, of Brookfield. 
 18711. Benjamin A. Tripp, of Warren. 
 
 John Harvey 51oore, ot Warren. 
 
 1871. Martin L Richardson, of Sturbridge. 
 George S. Duell, of Brookfield. 
 
 1872. Daniel W. Knight, of North Brookfield. 
 Simon H. Sibley, of Warren. 
 
 1873. Noah D. Ladd, of Sturbridge. 
 Wm. B. St(jne, of West Brookfield. 
 
 1874. Wanen Tyler, of North Brookfield. 
 Stilhnan Butterworth, of Brookfield. 
 
 1875. Charles B. Sanford, of West Brookfield. 
 George T. Lincoln, of Sturbridge. 
 
 1870. Charles Fuller, of S urbridge. 
 John Wetherbee, of Warren. 
 
 Under the apportionment of 1876, based on the 
 census of 1875, the same towns constituted the Twelfth 
 Worcester District, and were represented as follows: 
 
 1877. Wm. 11. Montague, of North Brookfield. 
 George W. Johnson, of Brookfield. 
 
 1878. George C. Lincoln, of North Brookfield. 
 Alvin B. Chamberlain, of Sturbridge. 
 
 1879. Theodore C. Bates, of North Brookfield. 
 Joseph Smith, of Warren. 
 
 1880. George W. Johnson, of Brookfield. 
 George N. Bacon, of Sturbridge. 
 
 1881. George A. Parratt, of West Brookfield. 
 George M. Newton, of Warren (died). 
 Lucius M. Gilbert, of Warren (vacancy). 
 
 1882. Hiram Knight, of North Brookfield. 
 David W. Hodgkins, of Brookfield. 
 
 1883. Emory L. Bates, of Sturbridge. 
 Horace W. Bush, of West Brookfield. 
 
 1884. Aldeu Batcheller, of North Brookfield. 
 Joseph W. Hastings, of Warren. 
 
 1885. Edwin D, Ooodell,of Brookfield. 
 David B. Wright, of Sturbridge. 
 
 1886. Edwin Wilbnr, of West Brookfield. 
 Marcus Burroughs, of W^arren. 
 
 Under the apportionment of 1886, based on the 
 census of 1885, Brookfield, North Brookfield, West 
 Brookfield, New Braiiitree, Oakham, Sturbridge and 
 Warren constituted the Fifth Worcester District, and 
 have been represented as follows: 
 
 1887. Edwin D. Goodell, of Brookfield. 
 Samuel Clark, of North Brookfield. 
 
 1888. George H. Coolidge, of Weat Brookfield. 
 Henry D. Haynes, of Sturbridge. 
 
 Chosen for 1889. George Bliss, of Warren. 
 
 John B. Gould, of Warren. 
 
 The following residents of North Brookfield have 
 held other State offices since its incorporation : 
 
 Amasa Walker, Senator, 1850; Secretary of the Commonwealth, 
 1851-52. 
 Freeman Walker, Senator, 1852, '53, '61. 
 
 Charles .\dame, Jr., Senator, 1865-67, '78 ; State Treasurer, 1871-75. 
 Theodore C. Bates, Senator, 1883. 
 
 In 1854 the boundary line between North Brook- 
 field and Brookfield was changed by the following 
 act, pa-sed April 15th in that year : 
 
 An act to set off a part of the town of North Bi-ookfield and annex 
 the same to the town of Brookfield. Be it enacted, &c.. fis follows : 
 
 Section 1. So much of the town of North Brookfield in the county of 
 Worcester as lies soulherl.v of a line beginning at a stone monnment at 
 the old post-road leading to Brookfield, a little noi-thwesterly of what is 
 called W^olcott Mill, and running thence south seventy-seven degrees 
 and thirty minutes east three hundred and seventy-five rods to a stone 
 monument as now estiiblished in the line of Brookfield and North Brook- 
 field on the easterly side of the Stevens Potid, so calU-d, with all the in- 
 habitants and estates thereon, is hereby set off fro[n the town of North 
 Brookfield and annexed to the town of Brookfield ; provided, however, 
 that for the purpose of electing Representatives to the General Court to 
 which the said town of North Brookfield is entitled until the next de- 
 cennial census shall be taken in pursuance of the thirteenth article of 
 amendment to the constitution, the said territory shall remain and con- 
 tinue to Ilea part of the town of North Brookfield, and the inhabitants 
 resident therein shall be entitled to vote in the choice of such represen- 
 tatives, and shall be eligible to the office of representative in the town 
 of North Brookfield in the same manner aa if this Act had not been 
 passed. 
 
 Section 2. The said inhabitants and estates so set off shall be liable to 
 pay all taxes that have been legally assested on them by the town of 
 North Brookfield in the same manner as if this act had not been passed, 
 and until the next general valuation of estates in thisCommonwealh the 
 town of Brookfield shall annually pay over to the said town of North 
 Brookfield the proportion of any State or county tax which the said 
 town of North Brookfield may have to pay upon the inhabitants or 
 estates hereby set off. 
 
 Section 3. If any persons, who have heretofore gained a legal settle- 
 ment in the town of North Brookfield by reason of a residence on the 
 territory set off as aforesaid, onby having been proprietors thereof or who 
 may derive such settlement from any such resident or proprietor shall 
 stand in need of relief or support as paupers, they shall be relieved and 
 supported by the said town of Brookfield in the same manner as if they 
 had gained a legal settlement in that town. 
 
 Section 4. The selectmen of the town of Brookfield shall annually 
 until the next decennial census, fourteen days at least before the second 
 Monday of November, furnish to the selectmen of North Brookfield a 
 correct list, so far as may he ascertained from the records of the town of 
 Brookfield or any of its ofiicers, of all persons resident on the territory 
 hereby set off who shall be entitled to vote for representatives as afore- 
 said in North Brookfield. 
 
 Section 5. This Act shall take effect from and after its passage. 
 
 The part which North Brookfield took in the sup- 
 pression of the Rebellion was what might have been 
 expected in view of the character of its leading men. 
 The spirit and energy displayed by these men, some 
 
544 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 of whom were largely engaged in Southern trade, but 
 whose patriotism controlled and suppressed every 
 unworthy and selfish motive, deserve a commendatory 
 reference in this narrative. A public meeting was 
 held on the evening of the 19th of April, 1861, on 
 the reception by telegraph of I lie news of the »ttack 
 on the Sixth Regiment in Baltimore, "to see if 
 North Brookfield will respond to the call of the Presi- 
 dent by raising a company of volunteers to offer their 
 services to the government." The meeting was 
 called to order by W. S. Phelps, who was chosen 
 chairman, and it was addressed by J. E. Green, 
 Freeman Walker and others. An enrollment list was 
 opened for signatures, which was headed by Joseph C. 
 Fretts and Charles Perry, whose example was soon 
 followed by others. It is a singular fact that these 
 two men, whose promptness to enlist in the cause of 
 their country inspired the young men of the town to 
 enter the service, should have both been killed at the 
 battle of Antietam. After the adoption of appropri- 
 ate resolutions the meeting was adjourned to the next 
 evening of Saturday the 20th, and on that occasion 
 the town hall was filled by citizens of North Brook- 
 field and the adjoining towns. The enrollment of 
 volunteers continued and the selectmen were requested 
 to call a meeting of the town at the earliest practic- 
 able day. The meeting called by the selectmen was 
 held on Monday, April 29th, and before that time 
 the spirit of the town had been thoroughly aroused 
 by the passage of troops on the railroad bound to the 
 front. At' this meeting it was voted that each volun- 
 teer who shall serve in the company now being 
 raised in the town until mustered into the military 
 service shall receive one dollar a day while engaged 
 in drilling and when mustered in shall be supplied 
 with a substantial unifoim and a good revolver, and 
 while engaged in active service his family shall re- 
 ceive eight dollars a month. Freeman Walker, John 
 Hill and Augustus Smith were appointed a committee 
 to procure the supplies voted by the town. At a 
 subsequent meeting these gentlemen resigned and 
 Charles Adams, Jr., J. F. Hebard and A. Woolworth 
 were chosen in their place. On the 3d of June it 
 was voted to pay State aid to the families of volun- 
 teers in accordance with an act of the Legislature 
 which had just been passed. On the 3d of March, 
 1862, it was voted to pay State aid to families of 
 volunteers to the amount the State promises to re- 
 fund, and on the 3d of July it was voted to pay a 
 bounty of one hundred dollars to each volunteer who 
 shall enlist for three years and be credited to the 
 quota of the town before the 1st of August, and on 
 the 22d of August it was voted to pay the same 
 bounty to volunteers for nine months' service. 
 On the 8th of December, 1863, James Miller, Charles 
 Adams, Jr., and T. M. Duncan were chosen to aid the 
 selectmen in the work of obtaining recruits. On the 
 5th of April, 1864, the bounty to three years volun- 
 teers was increased to one hundred and twenty-five 
 
 dollars, and on the 26th of June it was voted that a 
 bounty of one hundred and twenty-five dollars be 
 paid for ene year's men, two hundred and twenty-five 
 dollars for two years' men and three hundred and 
 twenty dollars for three years' men. The amount of 
 money appropriated and expended on account of the 
 war was $34,825.55, of which the sum of $17,886.47 
 was expended in State aid and refunded by the State. 
 The following list covers the various enlistments of 
 Brookfield men, some of whom re-enlisted and 
 whose names therefore appear more' than once on 
 the list: 
 
 TIiom?8 S. Bates, tliree years let T^egiment, niusician 
 
 Andrew Anderson, three years 2d Regiment, unassigned 
 
 George Christy, tliree years 2d Keginient, unjissigned 
 
 Jonn Congdon, three yeai-s 2d Regiment, unassigned 
 
 James Erwiu, three years 2d Regiment, unassigned 
 
 Frederick Fuller, three years 2d Regiment, Co. K 
 
 Win. Green, three years 2d Iteginieilt, Co. E 
 
 John II. Jones, three years 2d Regiment, unassigned 
 
 Frederick Otto, three years 2d Regiment, unassigned 
 
 George Ring, three years 2d Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Wm. Rogers, three years 2d Regiment, Co. C 
 
 Wm. Ryan, three years 2d Regiment, Co. C 
 
 Charles Sanford, three years 2d Regiment, unassigned 
 
 Peter Ward, three years 2d Regiment, Co. F 
 
 John Waterman, three years 2d Regiment, Co. D 
 
 Henry Williams, three years 2d Regiment, unassigned 
 
 Jean Williams, three years 2d Regiment, unassigned 
 
 "Wm, Clark, three years.... 11th Regiment, Co. I 
 
 George A. Bates, three years 12th Regiment, musician 
 
 Christopher Kelley, three years 12th Regiment, Co. I 
 
 John I\Iiller, three years 12th Regiment, Co. C 
 
 Alplionse W. Prouty (corp.), three year3..13th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Thomas Sullivan, three yeal-s l;lth Regiment, Co. H 
 
 ■Wni. J. Bahbitt, three years 15th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Francis A. Barnes, three years loth Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Charles H. Bartlett (corp.), three years 15th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Henry R. Bliss, tliree years 15th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Oliver Bliss, three years 15tli Regiment, Co. F 
 
 W. II H. Brewer, three years 15th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Theodore Cnmmings, three years l.'ith Regiment, Co, F 
 
 Amos Dean, three yeal-s 15th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 CM. Deland (corp,), three years lath Regiment, Co. F 
 
 David M. Earle (sergt.), throe years 15th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Henry G. Earle, three years 15tli Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Elias D. Ellis, three years loth Regiment, Co. E 
 
 Albert H. Foster (sergt.), three years 15tli Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Joseph Fretts (corp.), three years 15tli Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Wm. Graham, three years 15th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 J. E. Greene (capt.), three years 15th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Stephen Harrington, three years 15th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 G. W. A. Hill, three years 15th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 John Howard, three years 15th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 John A. Hughes, three years 15th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 John II. Johnson (nins.), three years 15th Regiment, Co. P 
 
 Aniasa B. Kimball, three years 15th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Daniel W. Knight (1st It.), three years 16th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Harrison S. Lamb, three years 15th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Jeremiah Lynch, three years 15th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 George L. Marsh, three years 15th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Henry II. Moulton, three years 15th Regiment. Co. F 
 
 Elijah Nicliols three years 15th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 John R. Nichols (sergt.), three years 15tli Regiment, Co. F 
 
 A.S. Pellett, three years 15th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Charles Perry, three years 15th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 J. W. Rayniore, three years 15th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Edwin A. Rice, three years 15tll Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Michael Rock, three years 15th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 E. J. Uussell (capt.), three years 16th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Henry E. Smith (2d lieut.), three years 16th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Benjamin Stevens (corp.), three years 15th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 H.W.Stone, three years 16th Regiment, Co F 
 
NORTH BROOKFIELD. 
 
 545 
 
 Charles C. Torrey, three years, 
 
 ...15th Regiment, Co. F 
 ..15th Re^'iment, Co. F 
 
 
 
 
 Joseph L. Walker, (corp.), three years... 
 
 ..30th Regiment, Co. E 
 
 F. A. Walker (Bt. Br. Gen.), three year 
 
 s..l5th Regiment, Co. F 
 ...15th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 B. C. WheHlock, three years 
 
 
 
 Elias H. Woodward, three years 
 
 Edward C. aiills, three years 
 
 ..15tb Regiment, Co. F 
 ..18th Regiment, Co. K 
 ...19th Regiment, Co. I 
 ..20th Regiment, Co. E 
 2Uth Regiment, Co. E i 
 ...20th Regiment, Co. E 
 
 F. S. Amidon (mus.), nine months 
 
 ...42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ...42d Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Charles Kosenburg, three years 
 
 F. A. Barnes, three years 
 
 C. M.Deland (1st lieut.). thrae years 
 
 John Barstow, nine months 
 
 Sylvander Bothwell (corp.), nine month 
 
 Warren S. Bragg, nine months 
 
 Emerson Dane, nine months 
 
 Freeman Doane, nine months 
 
 F. R. Doane, nine months 
 
 Hubbard S. Doane, nine months 
 
 T. M. Duncan (1st It.), nine months 
 
 Hiram Eaton, nine months 
 
 Andrew J. Fisher, nine months 
 
 F. H. Fisher, nine months 
 
 Leroy Glazier, nine months 
 
 James F. Harlow, nine months 
 
 J. F. Ilibard, nine months 
 
 Sumner Holmes (sergt), nine months.... 
 
 Willard M. Howe, nine months 
 
 James A. Knight, nine months 
 
 James Miller (corp.), nine months 
 
 Wm. H. Montague (sergt.), nine months 
 
 Charles Parkman, nine months 
 
 Henry L. Parkman, nine months 
 
 Samnel J. Pepper, nine mouths 
 
 Frank A. Smith, nine months 
 
 Melville W. Smith, nine mouths 
 
 Edward A. Spooner (corp.), nine months 
 
 Elijah Stoddard, nine months 
 
 Emerson Stoddard, nine months 
 
 George A. Tucker, nine months 
 
 ....42d Regiment, Co. F 
 3...42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ....42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ...42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ...42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ...42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ..42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ... 42d Itegiment, Co. F 
 ...42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ...42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ....42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ....42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ....42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ...42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ....42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ....42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ....42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ....42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ....42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ...42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ....42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ....42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ...42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ... 42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ...42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ...42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ...42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ....42d Regiment, Co. F 
 
 
 ...2Uth Regiment, Co. B 
 
 
 
 
 ...20th Regiment, Co. G 
 
 
 ..2Cth Regiment, Co. K 
 
 ..20th Regiment, 
 
 ..20th Regiment, Co. K 
 ....2'M Regiment, Co. G 
 
 Henry E. Smith (2d Heut.), three yeare 
 
 
 Curtis Dickinsou, three years 
 
 Henry J. Page (corp.), three years 
 
 Nathan Reynolds (corp.), three years.... 
 
 ...24th Regiment, Co. I 
 ...24th Regiment, Co. I 
 ...21th Regiment, Co. I 
 
 Edwin M. Tucker (sergt.), three yeara.. 
 Charles H. Asliby (miis.), throe years.... 
 
 ...24th Regiment, Co. I 
 ..23th Regiment, Co. H 
 .-25th Regiment, Co. I 
 
 John Burns, three years '. 
 
 George H. Couch, three years 
 
 ..25th Regiment, Co. E 
 ..25th Regiment, Co. H 
 
 Wni. Dunn, three years 
 
 .25th Regiment, Co. H 
 ..25th Regiment, Co. H 
 
 
 
 . 25th Reo'iment Co. C 
 
 Albert T. Holniaii, three years 
 
 Henry S. Johnson, three yeai-s 
 
 Palmer P. Johnson (mus.), three years.. 
 Stephen B. Kemp, three years 
 
 ...25th Regiment, Co. C 
 ..25th Regiment, Co. H 
 ..25th Regiment, Co. H 
 .25th Regiment, Co. H 
 ..25th Regiment, Co. E 
 ..25th Regiment, Co. E 
 ..25th Regiment, Co. G 
 .25th Regiment, Co. H 
 ..25tli Regiment, Co. E 
 .25th Regiment, Co. H 
 ..27th Regiment, Co. B 
 ..27th Regiment, Co. B 
 . 27th Re""iment Co B 
 
 John McCarthy, three years 
 
 Timothy McCarthy, three years 
 
 Josiah C. Meade (sergt.), three years 
 
 Charles P. Barton, 100 days 
 
 John F. Boyd (corp.), 100 days 
 
 Abijah D. Cutler 100 days 
 
 ....42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ...42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ..42d Regiment, Co F 
 
 David Mitchell, thiee yeara 
 
 David Price, three years 
 
 Henry B. Dewing (corp.), 100 days 
 
 ...42d Regiment, Co. F 
 
 George C. Smitli, three years 
 
 Wm. B. Fay, 100 days 
 
 • Warren Hanson, 100 days 
 
 George R. Harris, 100 daj's 
 
 Edward Hunter, 100 days , 
 
 Albert L. Stoddard, lOOdavs 
 
 ...42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ....42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ....42d Regiment. Co. F 
 ...42d Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Addison Leacii (luus.), three years 
 
 B. Doun, three years 28th 
 
 Regiment, unassigned 
 Regiment, unaesigned 
 
 Alfred Lafleur, three yeai-s 2Sth 
 
 Emerson Stoddard, 100 days 
 
 E. H. Tucker, 100 days 
 
 Lyman Tucker, 100 days 
 
 Wm. H. Walker, 100 days 
 
 Sumner Walker, 100 days 
 
 Wm. H. Warren, 100 days 
 
 Charles W. Knight, nine months 
 
 Albert F. Potter (sergt.), nine months.... 
 
 Israel C. Earle, nine months 
 
 Wm. B. Fay, nine months 
 
 Marcellua Whitman, nine months 
 
 TliGophilus D. Freeman, three years 
 
 Leander Bell (corp.), three years 
 
 Win. Barron, three years 
 
 Wm. Bates, three years. 
 
 C. L. Brigham, three years 
 
 James Burke, three years 
 
 Patrick Crowley, three years 
 
 H. W. Gould (Corp.), three years 
 
 John Gaul, three years 57th 
 
 Timothy Howard, three years 57th 
 
 ...42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ...42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ....42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ...42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ...42d Regiment, Co. F 
 ...42d Regiment, Co. G 
 ..44th Regiment, Co, B 
 .44th Regiment, Co B 
 .4Gth Regiment, Co. G 
 ..4Gth Regiment, Co. G 
 ...53d Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Fnmk Warren, three years 
 
 E. W. Johnson, three years 
 
 ..28th Regiment, Co. C 
 . 3l8t Regimant, Co. D 
 ..3lBt Regiment, Co. H 
 ...3l8t Uegiment, Co. H 
 ...34th Regiment, Co I 
 
 D. W. Sherman (sergt.), three yeara 
 
 James P. Coolidge, three years 
 
 Charles E. Granger, three years 34tl 
 
 ..34th Regiment, Co. A 
 
 Regiment, uuassigned 
 
 ith Regiment, musician 
 
 th Regiment, musician 
 
 John L. Hibard, three yeai-s 34 
 
 Andrew F. Jackson, three years 
 
 George H. Perkins (2d It.), three yeare.. 
 
 ..34th Regiment, Co. F 
 ..34th Regiment, Co. A 
 .34th Regiment, Co. A 
 ..3]th Uegiment, Co. C 
 .34th Regiment, Co. A 
 1 Regiment, unassigned 
 ..34th Regiment, Co. A 
 ..3Gth Regiment, Co. D 
 .36th Regiment, Co. E 
 .3Cth Regiment, Co. K 
 .30th Regiment, Co. E 
 ..3t)th Regiment, Co. K 
 s, 3Gth Regiment, Co. E 
 .Siith Regiment, Co. E 
 „3Gth Regiment, Co. E 
 .30th Regiment, Co. E 
 .:JGth Regiment, Co. K 
 
 .56th Regiment, Co. D 
 .57th Regiment, Co. D 
 
 George S Prouty (corp.), three years 
 
 John W. Russell, three years 
 
 Asa Smith, three yeare 34t 
 
 ..57th Regiment, Co. B 
 ..57th Regiment, Co. D 
 .57th Regiment, Co. B 
 
 Leander Bell, three years 
 
 Moses A, Cheever, tiiree yeai-s 
 
 Jiimes B. Cummiiigs, three years 
 
 Regiment, unassigned 
 Regiment, unassigued 
 
 
 Cornelius McCarthy, three years 
 
 .57th Regiment, Co. B 
 
 Addison S. Hair, three years 
 
 George W. Harwood (Ist It.), three year 
 
 
 
 Wm. J. Haskill (sergt.), three years 
 
 
 
 Frank L. Jenks, three years 
 
 
 
 Moses P. Snell (capt.). three years 
 
 
 
 A. M. Thompson, three years 
 
 
 .50th Regiment Co B 
 
 
 
 
 
 'gioient. 
 
 
 1 Transferred from 15tb R 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 35 
 
546 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 D. H. Howard (coip.), tliree years 59tli Regiment, Co. B 
 
 Timothy Howiiid, three years 59th Kegimeiit, Co. B 
 
 Cornelius McCartliy, three years S9th Kefjinient, Co. B 
 
 Michiiel BIcNamcra, throe years 59th Regiment, Co. B 
 
 John Qnigley, three years £9th Regiment, Co. B 
 
 John F. Boyd (coi-p.), one year C2(i Regiment, Co. A 
 
 John R. Kicliols (coip.), oue year C2d Regiment, Co. A 
 
 George H. Perkins (2a it.) 127th (Colored) Regiment 
 
 Moses P. Snell (Ist It.) :JlJth (Colored) Regiment, Co. I 
 
 Dennis O'Brien, three years 1st Cavalry, unassignod 
 
 Peter Cahiil, three years 3d Cavalry, unassigned 
 
 Henry O'Brien, three years 3J Cavalry, unassigned 
 
 B. P. M' heeler, three years 3d Cavalry, unassigned 
 
 Charles K. Amidon, tliree years 4th Cavalry, Co, F 
 
 Samuel C. I'lagg, three years 4th Cavalry, Co. A 
 
 Daniel Kerrigan, three years 4th Cavalry, unassigned 
 
 Asa R. Luce, three years 4th Cavalry, Co. C 
 
 Samuel Nealon, three yeara 4th Cavalry, Co. G 
 
 James O'Brien, three y^ars 4th Cavalry, unassigned 
 
 Eugene Passage, three years 4th Cavalry, unassigned 
 
 N. M. Perkins, three years 4th Cavalry, Co. E 
 
 William Pope, three years 4th Cavalry, Co. C 
 
 John W. Riiymone, three years 4lh Cavalry, Co. C 
 
 Henry H. Stone, three years 4th Cavalry, Co. D 
 
 Peter St. Peter, three years 4th Cavalry, Co. D 
 
 George A. Tucker, three years 4th Cavah-y, Co F 
 
 James \V. Simmons (corp.), three years 5th Cava'ry, Co M 
 
 Daniel C. Brown, three years. ..1st Batt. Frontier Defence, Co. D 
 Charles L. Chapin, three years.. 1st Batt, Frontier Defence, Co. A 
 Charles Hartwell (corp), a yrs., Ist Batt. Frontier Defence, Co. D 
 
 N. B. Slaxwell, three years 1st H. A., 'Jo. E 
 
 Thomas Moran, three years 1st H. A , Co. B 
 
 George R. Spooner, three years 1st H. A., Co. I 
 
 Charles Anderson, three yeare 2d H. A., Co. C 
 
 "Wm. C. Bloom (corp.), three years 2d H. A., Co. D 
 
 John Burton, three years 2d H. A., Co. E 
 
 John Green, three years 2d H. A., Co. D 
 
 Frank L. Jenks, three years 2d H. A., Co. — 
 
 James H. Rowan, three years 2d H. A., Co. I 
 
 Wm. A. Snow (seigt 1, three years 2d H. A., Co. — 
 
 Osborne Walker (corp.), three yoara 2d H. A., Co. I 
 
 Nicholas Adam-, three years 3d H. A., Co, K 
 
 Otis G. Jones, three years, 3d H. A., Co. I 
 
 Edward J. Russell (capt ), throe yoars 3d H. A., Co. — 
 
 Augustus Edwards, throe yeai-s 4th H. A., Co. E 
 
 Eugene Glazier, three years 4th H. A., Co. E 
 
 Siimuel \V. Maxwell, three years 4th H. A., Co. E 
 
 EJward H. Spooner, three years 8th H. A., Co. D 
 
 Nathaniel H. Foster (major), three years 12th H. A. 
 
 John Q. Adams (corp.) Ninth Battery- 
 Oliver Bliss Vet. Reserve Corps 
 
 Theodore Cummings Vet. Reserve Corps 
 
 John A. Henry Vet. Reserve Corps 
 
 Jeremiah Lynch Vet. Reserve Corps 
 
 Elijah Nichols Vet. Reserve Corps 
 
 Jasou T. Stoddard (sergt.) Vet. Reserve Corps 
 
 George F. Tucker. 
 
 Robert E. Beecher (lieut.-col.) 73d Ohio 
 
 Robert H. Clark 1st Connecticut 
 
 William Clark 35th New Jersey 
 
 John H. Jenks (sergt.) 14th Now Hampshire 
 
 John H. Lamb 9(li Maine 
 
 Davids. Monlton 82d New York 
 
 Edwiu A. Rice Ist Connecticut U. A. 
 
 The following soldiers died in the service: 
 
 Henry R. Bliss, killed at Antietam, Sept. 17, 18G2. 
 Thomas S. Bates, died in Washington, Feb. G, 1864. 
 Wm. Bates, killed in the Wilduiness, May 13, 18G4. 
 James P. C'oolidge, killed at Winchestt-r, Sept. 19, 1804. 
 Wm. Clark, killed in Georgia, Liec. lo, 18(34. 
 N. S. Dickinson, died of wounds, Aug. 18, 1804. 
 Peter Devlin, died at Nashville, June 5, 1865. 
 Joseph C. Fretts, killed at Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862. 
 Andrew J. Fisher, died Aug. G, 18G3. 
 John W. Gilmore, died at Newhern, April 13, 18G2. 
 
 Lyman H. Gilbert, killed at Petersburg, Sept. 30, 1864. 
 Thomas Griflin, died at Salisbury, Dec. 7, 1864. 
 Albert T. Hulman, died at Newborn, Sept. 23, 1862. 
 John A. Hughes, died May 16, 1SG3. 
 Wm. F. Hill, died in Virginia, Aug. 28, 18C3. 
 James Heiidei-soii, died at Newbern, Oct. 3, 18G4. 
 J. U. Jenks, killed at Cedar Creek, Oct. 19, 1SG4. 
 James A. Knight, died Aug. 10, 1863. 
 John F. Lamb, killed at Petersburg, June 29, 1864. 
 David S Monlton, killed at Fredericksburg, Dec.13, 1862. 
 N. B. Maxwell, died at Andersonvilie, Aug 23, 1804. 
 Timothy McCarthy, died at Andersonvilie, Sept. 2, 1864. 
 Henry H. Monlton, died at Andersonvilie, Jan. 23, 1865. 
 Charles Perry, killed at Antietam, Sept. 17, 1802. 
 Albert F. Potter, died at Newbern, Jan. 28, 1863. 
 George S. Prouty, killed at Piedmont, June 2, 18154. 
 George L. Sherman, killed at Spottsylvania, 3Iay 12, 1864. 
 Lyman Tucker, died at Alexandria, Sept. 11, 1801. 
 
 Alvin M. Thompson, died at Andersonvilie. , 1864. 
 
 Louis D. Winslow. killed at Spottsylvania, May 12, 1804. 
 
 It has been stated, in an earlier part of this narra- 
 tive, that the Congregational Church was the only- 
 church ia the precinct at the time of its incorpora- 
 tion as a town. Not an inconsiderable number of 
 its people were connected with a Baptist society in 
 Brookfield ; but to that organization outside of the 
 limits of the town, no special reference will be made. 
 
 The foundation of the Methodist Episcopal Society 
 seems to have been laid about the year 1829. From 
 that time until 1833 Sabbath services were held, 
 with some intermissions, in the Old Congregational 
 Church. In the latter year, on the 30th of January, 
 a new meeting-house was dedicated, and in 1834 
 North Brookfield was made a station under the 
 charge of Rev. Henry Mayo. The society, for many 
 years after 1840, held services in the town-hall and 
 other available places until their present church was 
 dedicated, May, 1861. The following list of preachers 
 up to 1885 is given by Mr. Temple in his history : 
 
 James Shepard 1841-42 
 
 C. W.Ainsworth 1843 44 
 
 Frederick Stewart 1845 
 
 Albert A. Cook 1816 
 
 George W, Weeks 1S47 
 
 E. F. Newell 1847 
 
 Juhn Goodwin 1848 
 
 George Bowler 1819-50 
 
 John Goodwin 1851 
 
 P. Wallingfurd 1852-53 
 
 M. LelKngwell 1854 
 
 W. J. Pomfret I8.J5-57 
 
 J. W. Coolidge 1858-50 
 
 Daniel Atkins 1800-61 
 
 N. F. Stevens 1802 
 
 E. S.Chase 1SG3 
 
 Edwin S. Snow lSGi-G5 
 
 George Hewes 1866-67 
 
 Gilbert R. Bent. l868-li9 
 
 L. P. Causey ISTO 
 
 Samuel A. Fuller ISTl 
 
 W. A. Cheney 1872-73 
 
 E. U. leesenian 1873 
 
 Reuben W. Harlow .1874 
 
 George E. Chapuum 1S7J-7G 
 
 J. M. Avaun. 1877-79 
 
 John W. Fulton 18-0-81 
 
 J. S. Barrows 1882-S3 
 
 E. R. Watson 1SS3 
 
 Porter B. Strattan 18S4-So 
 
 On the 29th of October, 1853, a second Congrega- 
 tional Society was formed, called the " Union Con- 
 gregational Society." The church was organized 
 June 7, 1854, and on that day Eev. Levi F. Waldo 
 was installed. After his dismissal, June 13, 1856, 
 the society remained without a pastor until the in- 
 stallation of Rev. William H. Beecher, June 3, 1857. 
 Mr. Beecher remained until May 14, 1801. After a 
 short supply of the pulpit by Rev. J. E. Tower, Rev, 
 Luther Keene was installed in 1862, and continued 
 in the pastorate until April 29, 1867, Rev. Johu 
 Dodge supplied the pulpit about three years and a 
 
NORTH BROOKFIELD. 
 
 547 
 
 half from December 2, 1867, and was followed in a 
 supply by Rev. Charles E. Coolidge for about a year 
 and a half. On Sept. 6, 1876, Rev. George W. Wil- 
 son was ordained, and remained until June 1, 1878. 
 Rev. John W. Hird was installed March 28, 1879. 
 The meeting-house of this society was built in 1854. 
 
 St. Joseph's Parish, the Catholic Society, began to 
 hold services in June, 1851. Soon after that date 
 North Brookfield became a mission church of that in 
 Webster, and later of that in Ware, during which pe- 
 riod it was under the charge of the pastors in those 
 towns. While under the charge of Rev. William 
 Moran, of Ware, the present church was begun in 
 October, 18G6, and completed in July, 1867, and 
 placed under the charge of Rev. Edward Turpin. 
 After the death' of Father Turpin, at the close of a 
 single year's service. Rev. Henry M. Smyth was 
 placed in charge, whose pastorate also vtas terminated 
 b}' death at the end of three years. 
 
 Rev. Michael Walsh followed, and remained thir- 
 teen years, until his death, when Rev. James P. Tuite 
 was transferred from Clinton to North Brookfield. 
 The society has a parsonage, with fifteen acres of 
 land, a church and a cemetery of four acres, and is 
 free from debt. Its membership numbers nearly 
 twenty-three hundred. 
 
 The schools of North Brookfield have not been 
 under the care of the old town of Brookfield since 
 the incorporation of the Second Precinct, in 1750. 
 In 1756 the town of Brookfield voted that the school- 
 money raised in each of the three precincts should 
 be expended within said precinct according to its pleas- 
 ure. The Second Precinct, under this vote, assumed 
 the right to levy and collect a tax within its own limits 
 for the support of its own schools, and this right was 
 always exercised during its life as a precinct. In 
 1760 the Legislature confirmed the right, and the 
 precinct built its school-houses, appointed teachers, 
 and raised money for the support of schools. 
 
 In 1791 the precinct was divided into seven school 
 districts, and, until 1805, chose a School Committee to 
 take charge of all the schools in the precinct. Dur- 
 ing the four years after that date each district chose 
 its own committee, but in 1809 the old practice was 
 resumed. It is beliered that the districts as formed 
 in 1791 continued until the final abandonment of the 
 school district system, in 1869, except that in the 
 mean time the central district had been divided into 
 two, thus making eight instead of seven. On the 
 abandonment of the district system, the school-houses 
 which had been built at the expense of the districts 
 were appraised at ten thousand dollars, and that sum 
 was raised by tax, and each taxpayer credited with 
 his due share. According to the last report of the 
 school committee there were, at the close of the last 
 year, nineteen schools in the town, including the 
 high school, which was opened August 19, 1857, 
 under the care of 0. W. Whitaker, a graduate of 
 Middlebury College. The high school house, built in 
 
 1856-57, was burned May 14, 1878, and a new brick 
 building was erected on the old site. For the year 
 1887-8 the sum of $8500 was appropriated for schools, 
 in addition to the Dog Fund of $401.28 and the State 
 Fund of S202.95. 
 
 The population of North Brookfield, in the early 
 years of its municipal life, did not rapidly increase. 
 In 1820 it was 1095 and in 1840 had only reached 
 1468. In 1875 it was 3749, in 1880 4459 and in 1885 
 4201. The advance in population was owing to the 
 introduction and gradual enlargement of the manu- 
 facture of boots and shoes in the town. Oliver Ward, 
 of Grafton, first began the business in 1810, and in 
 his shop many of those who, in later years, carried on 
 a large business, served their apprenticeship. Mr. 
 Ward's business rapidly increased, but in the panic 
 of 1837 was so extended and incurred such serious 
 losses that he abandoned and never resumed it. 
 
 In the mean time, the well-known firm of T. & E. 
 Batcheller, both of whose members, Tyler and Ezra, 
 had been brought up by Mr. Ward, started in busi- 
 ness. The business of this firm was begun in a small 
 way by Tyler Batcheller in 1819, who in 1825 took 
 his brother Ezra into partnership and established the 
 firm above mentioned. In 1830 Freeman Walker was 
 admitted into the firm as a partner and the firm-name 
 was changed to T. & E. Batcheller & Walker. Mr. 
 Walker, however, retired in 1834 and the firm re- 
 sumed its old name. In 1852 Charles Adams, Jr., 
 Alfred H. Batcheller, Wm. C. King and Hervey I. 
 Batcheller were admitted as partners, and the firm's 
 name was changed to T. & E. Batcheller & Co. In 
 1848 Tyler Batcheller removed to Boston to take 
 charge of the business, for the transaction of which, in 
 connection with their manufacture, a store had been 
 opened; and in 1860 Mr. Adams retired, followed 
 soon after by Hervey J. Batcheller, and by Mr. King 
 in 1865. Losses in Southern trade during the war 
 caused a temporary suspension of the firm, from 
 which, after the payment of all its liabilities, it soon 
 recovered, and during which Ezra Batcheller died, 
 October 8, 1862. The present firm-name is E. & A. 
 H. Batcheller, and by the employment of not far from 
 one thousand hands the annual product of the con- 
 cern is not far from two millions of dollars. 
 
 The Batcheller family is descended from Joseph 
 Batcheller, who came to New England from Canter- 
 bury, England, in 1636, and settled in Wenham. By 
 his wife, Elizabeth, he had Mark, John, Elizabeth 
 and H?nnah. John, the second child, married, in 
 July, 1661, Mary Dennis; and second, in May, 1666, 
 Sarah, daughter of Robert Goodale, of Salem. His 
 children were Joseph, born in 1660 ; John, born in 
 January, 1666-67 ; Mark, born in 1678; Elizabeth, 
 Ebenezer, Hannah, Mary, Sarah and David. David, 
 the last-mentioned child, married Susannah Whipple 
 and had David, 1710 ; Susannah, 1712 ; Joseph, 1713; 
 Nehemiah, 1716; Abraham, 1722; Amos, 1727; and 
 Susannah again, 1731. Abraham, one of these chil- 
 
548 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 dren, removed from Wenham, the old family home, 
 to Westborough, and theoce to Sutton, and married 
 Sarah Newton. Her children were Abraham, 1752; 
 Abner, 1755; Vashti, 1757; Joseph, 1759; Benjamin, 
 1762; Ezra, 1764; Sarah, 1706; and Amos, 1768. 
 Ezra Batcheller, one of these children, moved from 
 Sutton to Brookfield in 1802, and married, in 1789, 
 Mary, daughter of Daniel Day ; and second, in 1814, 
 Widow Ann Mayo. His children were Willard,born 
 in 1789, and died in North Brookfield in 1853; 
 Daniel, born in 1791 ; Tyler, born in Sutton, De- 
 cember 20, 1793; Alden, born in 1796; Orra, born in 
 1799; and Ezra, born in 1801. Tyler Batcheller, one 
 of the above sons, was the founder of the Batcheller 
 business in North Brookfield. He married, April 6, 
 1819, Nancy Jenks, of North Brookfield ; and second, 
 October 8, 1829, Abigail J. Lane, of North Brook- 
 field. His children were Mary Day, born September 
 12, 1821, who married Abel Harwood, of North 
 Brookfield; Martha Ann, born December 7, 1823, 
 who married Aaron D. Weld, of North Brookfield ; 
 Emeline, born December 22, 1826, who married Wm. 
 C. King, of North Brookfield ; and Hervey Jenks, 
 who was born in 1828. 
 
 Ezra Batcheller, brother of Tyler and his partner, 
 many years, born in Sutton July 21, 1801, married 
 first, April 7, 1824, Kelutia Parks, of North Brookfield, 
 and second, March 25, 1851, Lutheria Cummings, of 
 Ware. His children were Lucius Edwin, born July 
 6, 1825; Elizabeth Henry, born December 17, 1826; 
 Alfred Hubbard, born July 23, 1830; George Ezra, 
 born December 14, 1833; Mary Eelutia, born October 
 16, 1835, and married Josiah W. Hubbard, of Boston; 
 George Ezra, again, born December 6, 1838; Sarah 
 Cheever, born October 3, 1844, and Frank Arthur, 
 born October 15, 1852. 
 
 Among the corporations and institutions in North 
 Brookfield may be mentioned the North Brookfield 
 Savings Bank, the North Brookfield Free Public 
 Library and the North Brookfield Railroad Com- 
 pany. The Savings Bank was incorporated March 
 3, 1854, and, according to its last report, its deposits 
 were 1519,427.02. Its officers at the same time were: 
 S. S. Edmands. president; Bon um Nye, treasurer; and 
 Bonum Nye, clerk. 
 
 The Free Library may date its origin May 17, 1879, 
 when, at a town-meeting, it was voted to accept various 
 sums of money for its establishment. These sums 
 created a fund to which the past and present scholars 
 of the high school and citizens generally subscribed 
 five hundred dollars; William H. Montague, one 
 hundred dollars; Theodore C. Bates, five hundred 
 dollars, and Alfred ii. Batcheller one thousand dol- 
 lars, with which trustees, appointed by the town, or- 
 ganized the enterprise. The library, with a reading- 
 room, was opened November 26, 1879. The town 
 makes an appropriation annually for its maintenance, 
 and its shelves now contain about four thousand 
 volumes. 
 
 The railroad company was organized January 14, 
 1875, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollar.s — 
 ten thousand dollars of which was subscribed by in- 
 dividuals, and ninety thousand dollars by the town. 
 The road was opened January 1,1876, and a lease for ten 
 years, which has been renewed for an additional term 
 of fifty years, was made to the Boston and Albany 
 Railroad Company, that company supplying the roll- 
 ing stock. During the time of the first lease of ten 
 years the company received under its lease $24,443.74, 
 or, in other words, a dividend on its stock of an aver- 
 age of little less than two and a half per cent, per year. 
 
 In addition to Oliver Ward and the members of the 
 Batcheller family, who have been prominent in the 
 alfdirs of the town since its incorporation, may be 
 mentioned: Hiram Ward, the firms of Johnson & 
 Edson, and Dewing & Edmands, C. & D. Whiting, 
 Whiting & Haskell, Whiting, Lowe & Co., Bond & 
 Jenks, H. B. & J. N. Jenks,Woodis & Crawford, Jenks 
 & Miller, Gulliver & Jenks, Gulliver, Duncan & I 
 Howe, Gulliver & Stone, P. K. Howe, Fullnian, Liver- 
 more & Montague, Olmstead & R. Walker and A. & 
 E. D. Batcheller, all of whom have engaged at various 
 times in the manufacture of shoes for long or short 
 periods. Nor must mention be omitted of Theodore 
 C. Bates, Amasa Walker, Freeman Walker and 
 Charles Adams, jr., all of whom have been not only 
 prominent and useful citizens, but well known and in- 
 fluential in the walks of public life. Of Mr. Bates, 
 who is still among the living, it is not proposed here 
 to specially speak. It is sufficient to say that he is 
 not only honored and esteemed amoiig his neighbors 
 and immediate friends, but has been deservedly the 
 recipientof public honors whose measure, if his life and 
 health be preserved, it is safe to predict, is not yet full. 
 
 Amasa Walker was born in Woodstock, Conn., 
 May 4, 1799. He was descended from Augustine 
 Walker, who was in Charlestown in 1641, and was 
 the son of Walter and Priscilla (Carpenter) Walker, 
 who removed while Amasa was yet an infant to the 
 Second Precinct of Brookfield (now North Brookfield). 
 He was educated in the common schools of North 
 Brookfield, and in 1814, at the age of fifteen years, 
 he entered a store in that town and afterwards one in 
 South Brookfield, and finally the store of Moses 
 Bond in North Brookfield. During most of the time 
 from 1817 to 1820 he taught .school, and in the latter 
 year went into business in West Brookfield, continu- 
 ing his interest until 1823. For a short time afterwards 
 he was the agent of the Methuen Manufacturing 
 Company, and in 1825 he removed to Boston, where 
 he remained until 1840, a partner in the house of 
 Carleton & Walker until 1829 and during the re- 
 mainder of the time in business alone. In 1833 he 
 delivered an oration before the Young Men's Society 
 in Boston, in 1839 was president of the Boston 
 Temperance Society, and in 1840 retired from busi- 
 ness. In 1843 he returned to North Brookfield and 
 in 1844 delivered a course of lectures at Oberlin 
 
 4 
 
I 
 
 I 
 
I 
 
 ' i"iiiiiii ;; 
 
NORTH BEOOKFIELD. 
 
 549 
 
 College. In 1848 he was a member of the Free Soil 
 National Cjuvention at Buffalo and was the success- 
 ful candidate of that party for the State Legislature. 
 In 1849 he was chosen to the Senate and in 1851 
 Secretary of State. In 1853 he was a member of 
 the convention for revising the Constitution of the 
 Commonwealth and in 1854 was chosen president of 
 the North Brookfleld Savings Bank at the time of its 
 organization. In 1859 he delivered a course of lec- 
 tures on political economy in Amherst College and in 
 1862 was chosen a Representative to Congress. In 
 1867 he received the degree of Doctor of Laws from 
 Amherst and died at North Brookfield, October 29, 
 1875. He married, July 6, 1826, Eraeline, daughter of 
 Jonathan Carleton, of Boston, who was at that timehis 
 partner in business. On the 23d of June, 1834, he 
 married Hannah Ambrose, of Concord, N. H., whose 
 three children survived him. 
 
 Francis A. Walker, of Boston, is one of these 
 children and was born in Boston, July 2, 1840. He 
 removed with his father to North Brookfield in 1843 
 and was educated in its public schools preparatory to 
 his admission to Amherst College in 1856, from which 
 institution he graduated in 1860. He studied law 
 with Charles Devens and George F. Hoar, then in 
 partnership in Worcester, and in 1861 wag made 
 sergeant-major of the Fifteenth Massachusetts Regi- 
 ment of Volunteers, under the command of Colonel 
 Devens. On the 14th of September, 1861, he became 
 assistant adjutant-general on the staff of General 
 Darius N. Couch, and on the 23d of December, 1863, 
 a colonel on the staff of the Second Army Corps. 
 In 1865 he was breveted brigadier-general. He was 
 wounded at Chancellorsville. captured at Ream's Sta- 
 tion and confined in Libby Prison, and on his ex- 
 change left the service on account of impaired health. 
 After his discharge he taught two years in the Wil- 
 liston Seminary, was then for a time connected with 
 the editorial department of the Springfield Republican, 
 and in 1870, after having had charge for a time of the 
 Bureau of Statistics, was made Superintendent of the 
 National Census of that year. He is now at the 
 head of the Institute of Technology in Boston. 
 
 Freeman Walker was the brother of Araasa, and 
 born in North Brookfield December 12, 1803. He was 
 educated in the public schools of his native town, 
 having, in addition, the advantages of one term in the 
 Monson Academy. In the winter of 1822-23 he 
 taught school in Western (now Warren), and in 1823 
 entered as clerk the store of Newell & Taintor. 
 In the latter part of that year he went to Methuen to 
 take charge of a store connected with the Methuen 
 Manufacturing Company, of which his brother Amasa 
 was agent. In 1826 he joined his brother in Boston, 
 and became a clerk in his employ, in which po.-ition 
 he continued until January 1, 1830, when he became 
 a partner in the shoe manufacturing company of T. 
 & E. Batcheller & Walker at North Brookfield. In 
 1834 he retired from this firm, and in 1835 began 
 
 manufacturing shoes on his own account, and so con- 
 tinued until 1842. As moderator, selectman and 
 overseer of the Poor he commanded the respect and 
 confidence of his fellow-citizens, and as Representa- 
 tive to the General Court in 1840 and 1841, and as 
 Senator in 1852, 1853 and 1861 he had opportunities 
 of a wider field of action, He married, June 3, 18iJ0, 
 Mary, daughter of Amos Bond, of North Brookfield, 
 and died July 13, 1883. 
 
 Charles Adams, Jr., was descended from Henry 
 Adams, who came from England and settled in Brain- 
 tree. He was the son of Charles Adams, a physician 
 in Antrim, N. H., and was born January 31, 1810. 
 He received his education partly from the public 
 schools and partly from private instruction under the 
 care of Rev. John Bisbee, of Brookfield, and Rev. 
 Josiah Clark, of Rutland. He went to North Brook- 
 field in 1832, and entered the business office of T. & 
 E. Batcheller, where he remained twenty years as 
 book-keeper. In 1852 he became a partner in the 
 firm and so continued until his retirement in 1860. 
 Besides holding various town offices he was a Repre- 
 sentative to the General Court in 1850-51-.52and 1862; 
 a State Senator in 1865-68 ; a member of the Excu- 
 tive Council in 1867-68-69-70, and treasurer and 
 receiver-general of the Commonwealth from 1871 to 
 1875 inclusive. He received the degree of Master of 
 Arts from Dartmouth College in 1878, and died at 
 North Brookfield April 19, 1886. 
 
 With these sketches, this narrative, short as it is, must 
 be closed. The writer is aware of its imperfections, 
 but they are such as must be attributed to the scan- 
 tiness of material essential to its completion. As 
 was stated by him in his sketch of Brookfield, he has 
 been indebted in its preparation to Mr. Temple, the 
 historian, who has so thoroughly gathered the har- 
 vest that little has been left to th(,se coming after him 
 but the satisfaction of entering his granaries and filch- 
 ing from his store. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 TYLER AND EZRA BATCHELLER. 
 
 The following account of this firm, and the men 
 who were associated in its management, was prepared 
 by Mr. Charles Adams, Jr., and was the last literary 
 work of his life. It is printed, without alteration, 
 from his manuscript. 
 
 Of all the men who have been citizens of this town 
 since its incorporation, no one, probably, has done so 
 much to promote its material growth and prosperity as 
 Deacon Tyler Batcheller; and a history of the town, 
 without a brief sketch, at least, of his active and use- 
 ful career, would lack an essential element. He may 
 truly be called the founder of ihe now large and 
 flourishing central village of North Brookfield. He 
 
550 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 was born, as will be seen in the genealogical record, 
 December 20, 1793, in the town of Sutton, where he 
 lived with his father till April, 1802, when the ftimily 
 removed to this town, which, however, was then the 
 North Parish, or "Second Precinct in Brookfield;" 
 his father purchasing of Solomon & Edmund 
 Matthews, by deed, August 19, 1801, and for many 
 years occupying the farm ever since known as the 
 " Batcheller place," now (3885) owned by J. Winslow 
 Bryant. At an early age, probably in his fifteenth 
 year, he went to Grafton and learned the trade of 
 shoemaking of Mr. Nathan Johnson. At the close 
 of his apprenticeship there be returned to North 
 Brookfield, and was employed in the establishment of 
 Mr. Oliver Ward, who, in 1810, had commenced in 
 this town the manufacture of "sale shoes," the first 
 and only manufactory of the kind in the State, west 
 of Grafton. In the family of Mr. Ward he found a 
 pleasant and congenial home for about eight years. 
 
 In 1819 he commenced business on his own account, 
 at the " Wetherbee bouse," so called, which stood on 
 the spot now occupied by the house of Mrs. Erastus 
 Hill. Having married, the same year, be resided 
 there with his family ; the back part of the house 
 serving as his manufactory. At first his entire busi- 
 ness consisted only in what shoes he could make with 
 his own hands; soon, however, taking into his service 
 one or two apprentices, and his brother Ezra, who 
 had already learned the trade of Mr. Ward. The 
 first shoes he made were chiefly of a low-pri:ed 
 quality, especially adapted to the Southern trade. 
 These he packed in empty flour-barrels and consigned 
 to Mr. Enoch Train, who in those days ran a line of 
 sailing packets between Boston and Havana. On 
 these small consignments a large per cent, of profit 
 was realized. In 1821 he purchased the "Skerry 
 house" and farm in the centre of what is now the 
 main village of the town, expecting to enter into pos- 
 session the first of the following April ; but in 
 February, 1822, his dwelling and shop at the 
 Wetherbee place were totally destroyed by fire, and 
 he at once removed bis family to his new purchase, 
 the "Skerry house," where he resumed and continued 
 his business in an out-building on the premises, until 
 1824. In that year, having previously taken into his 
 service several additional employes, he built a small 
 two-story shop, which is now a part of the immense 
 structure known far and wide as the " big shop," into 
 which January 1, 1825, he removed his business, and at 
 the same date took into partnership bis brother Ezra, 
 continuing the same business, though somewhat 
 enlarged, under the firm of T. & E. Batcheller. From 
 this time forward to the end of his life the two 
 brothers were associated as partners through all the 
 changes in their business ; and in giving a history of 
 it, their names cannot be dissociated. Tyler, the 
 senior, attended to the purchase of stock and to all 
 other business abroad ; while Ezra was the efficient 
 and popular superintendent, almost always at home. 
 
 and at his post, giving direction to all matters per- 
 taining to the manufactory. Harmonious in all their 
 business relations and interests, as well as in all 
 measures devised for the public weal, the act of one 
 was the act of both; and in most matters their names 
 were usually coupled, and they were familiarly spoken 
 of as " the Deacon and Ezra." 
 
 They now added to their business the manufacture 
 of " Batcheller's Retail Brogan," an article adapted to 
 the New England trade, and kept for sale in all the 
 stores in this and many of the neighboring towns ; 
 their main business, however, being the manufacture 
 of goods for the Southern and Western Slates. The 
 firm of T. & E. Batcheller continued, with a con- 
 stantly increasing business, until January 1, 1830, 
 when, by the admission of Freeman Walker, it was 
 changed to " T. & E. Batcheller & Walker." The 
 business having largely increased, the factory was now 
 enlarged to three times its original size. In 1831 
 they introduced the manufacture of Russet Brogans, 
 specially for the trade of the Southern States — the 
 first that were made in Massachusetts. They soon 
 became a leading article in the shoe trade and con- 
 tinued to be so for many years. Mr. Walker retired 
 from the firm in 1834, and the firm resumed its former 
 style of "T. & E. Batcheller." At this time the 
 business had increased from its small beginnings to 
 what was then considered very large ; but the manu- 
 facture for an entire year then was probably no more 
 than the product of a single week iu the " big shop " 
 at the present time. Nothing that could properly be 
 called machinery had been introduced to prepare the 
 stock for bottoming, none of which was done in the 
 factory, but was put out and done by workmen in 
 their small shops in this and most of the towns in the 
 vicinity — in some instances the stock was carried to 
 a distance of twenty to thirty miles. 
 
 The firm of T. & E. Batcheller continued until 
 June 10, 1852, when Charles Adams, Jr., Alfred H. 
 Batcheller, William C.King and Hervey J. Batcheller 
 were admitted to the firm, and its style changed to 
 T. & E. Batcheller &Co.; meanwhile a store bad been 
 established in Boston for the transaction of their 
 business, and Tyler Batcheller had found it necessary, 
 for greater convenience, to remove his residence to 
 Boston the latter part of 1848. Mr. Adams retired 
 from the firm January 1, 1860, the firm-name remain- 
 ing the same, and Hervey J. Batcheller retired soon 
 after. The business had then increased, from the day 
 of small things, to nearly a million and a half of 
 dollars annually. In April, 1861, the Southern 
 Rebellion broke out, paralyzing for a while almost 
 the whole business of the country. This firm suffered 
 with the rest, and their business being very largely 
 with the Southern States, their losses were propor- 
 tionally large. A suspension was inevitable, and they 
 were temporarily under the general financial cloud. 
 But an arrangement, highly honorable to them, was 
 soon made, and in a few months they were enabled 
 
 I 
 \ 
 
 1 
 
-^^Tcy /^^^^Sl^^^ 
 
f 
 i 
 
NORTH BROOKFIELD. 
 
 551 
 
 to pay, and did pay, every dollar of their indebted- 
 ness, principal and interest. But Tyler Batcheller, 
 the founder and for years the sole proprietor and 
 manager of the business, and the efficient senior 
 partner of the firm from its beginning, did not live to 
 see that fortunate consummation. The disappoint- 
 ment and anxiety caused by the apparent loss of a 
 large fortune — the accumulations of a half-century of 
 successful business — the inability to meet present 
 pecuniary liabilities ; the future darkened by the civil 
 war in which the nation was then involved, the 
 termination and result of which could not be antici- 
 pated by any human foresight ; — in the midst of this 
 accumulation of adverse and discouraging circum- 
 stances, and probably to some extent in consequence 
 of them, his health failed, and his constitution, never 
 robust, and which had begun to feel the eflfects of 
 advancing years, seemed entirely to give way, and 
 after a brief confinement to his house and bed, and 
 without any clearly-defined disease he died, October 
 8, 1862, nearly sixty-nine years of age, — apparently 
 of mere exhaustion of the vital powers, accelerated, 
 probably, by mental care and anxiety. Thus ended a 
 life distinguished for industry, energy, perseverance, 
 integrity and usefulness. If his life had been spared 
 but a few months longer he might have seen the 
 cloud, which overhung their business at the time of 
 his death, dispelled, all the pecuniary liabilities of 
 the firm paid in full, an ample competency for himself 
 and family retrieved from the wreck of the old busi- 
 ness, and a most favorable prospect for a future busi- 
 ness, which, although he did not live to see it, was 
 more than realized by the surviving partners, of 
 whom his brother Ezra was henceforward to the end 
 of his life the able and efficient senior partner. Mr. 
 King retired from the firm in 1865. 
 
 In the early years of Tyler Batcheller there were 
 no special indications of the prominent positions he 
 was destined to fill in the community, and in the 
 business world. In boyhood he was noted for his mild 
 and peaceful disposition ; never zealously mingling 
 with his contemporaries in their noisy and boisterous 
 sports; then and always modest and unassuming in 
 his deportment ; improving to the best of his ability 
 the very limited advantages afforded in those days for 
 schooling : a very few weeks in the district school 
 each winter being the extent of his school education 
 — a defect which was ever a source of regret to him. 
 
 He was very early inured to habits of industry and 
 economy, which he retained through life. The fol- 
 lowing incident exemplifies both traits. The first 
 three years of his service with Mr. Ward were the last 
 three years of his minority, and his stipulated wages 
 went to his father; over and above which, during that 
 time he earned and saved five hundred dollars — a 
 large amount for those days — the interest on which, 
 as he told the writer, was his self-restricted annual 
 allowance for clothing for several years — until he 
 went into business on his own account. 
 
 He united with what is now the First Congrega- 
 tional church in North Brookfield, June 8, 1817. In 
 the spring of 1818, in connection with Joseph A. 
 (afterward Deacon) Moore, he organized and superin- 
 tended the first Sabbath-school in town, and for six- 
 teen years he was a member of the supervising com- 
 mittee of the same. 
 
 September 15, 1820, he was elected a deacon, when 
 he was twenty-seven years of age, and continued in 
 that office twenty-eight years — until he removed his 
 residence to Boston. 
 
 He was married April 6, 1819, to Miss Nancy Jenks, 
 daughter of Mr. Nicholas Jenks, one of the early 
 residents of the town. She was a most estimable lady 
 and helpmeet, the mother of all his children. Her 
 early and lamented death, in 1828, was a great lots to 
 the whole community. She was born August, 1796, 
 and died October 5, 1828, leaving four small children 
 — three daughters and a son. He married for his 
 second wife, Octobers, 1829, Miss Abigail Jones Lane, 
 daughter of Captain Samuel Lane, a very worthy 
 young lady who had been an inmate of his family 
 four years, and had the care of all his children, to 
 whom she was now called to be a second mother; the 
 oldest was only seven years old at the death of their 
 mother. She lived to see the daughters all married, 
 and survived her husband six years. She was born 
 at Bedford, Mass., August 1, 1810, and died at Boston, 
 March 10, 1877. 
 
 The "Skerry farm," which he purchased in 1821, 
 covered a large portion of what is now the central 
 village — the whole of the northeast quarter and part 
 of the southeast, on no part of which was there any 
 building except the old Skerry house in which he 
 lived until 1836, when it was demolished, and a new 
 house built on its site, and which was his home until 
 he removed to Boston in 1848. It is now occupied as 
 a part of the " Big Shop,'' and is the southwesterly 
 portion of it. About 1825 the land on the streets by 
 which the fiirm was bounded began to be wanted for 
 building lots. In disposing of them Mr. Batcheller, 
 with a view to the development and growth of the 
 village, rather than to his individual interest, adopted 
 the liberal policy of selling them at only about their 
 value for agricultural purposes, to men of good char- 
 acter who would probably become permanent citizens 
 and to workmen whose services were wanted in or 
 near his manufactory. The first sale was to his 
 brother and partner, Ezra Batcheller, where Frank A. 
 Smith now lives : and in a few years those streets were 
 lined by neat residences owned and occupied by a 
 very desirable class of citizens. When "Grove 
 Street" was opened through his land, and real estate 
 had largely increased in value, he was asked by 
 several individuals at the same time to set a price on 
 building-lots; he declined, giving as a reason that 
 several of his interested friends had intimated to him 
 that at the prices at which he had been parting with 
 building-lots, he was doing less than justice to him- 
 
552 
 
 HISTORY OF WOKCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 self, and perhaps to them. He accordingly proposed 
 to leare the price to be made by two disinterested 
 men mutually agreed upon, and that he would abide 
 by their decision. The proposition was accepted, and 
 carried into eflect. 
 
 In 1848 it became necessary, for the convenience of 
 the extensive business of the firm, that he should 
 remove to Boston, which he did in December of that 
 year, and, as was said at his funeral, " he carried his 
 religion with him." He attended meeting regularly 
 at Park Street Church, and November 2, 1850, he and 
 his wife united with that church, then under the pas- 
 toral care of Rev. A. L. Stone, now of San Francisco, 
 Cal. September 17, 18.'i7, he was elected a deacon of 
 that church, and to the close of life remained an active 
 and devoted officer. He was also for several years a 
 member of the Prudential Committee of that society. 
 
 Mr. Batcheller was an original member of the Bos- 
 ton Board of Trade: was chosen a member of its 
 Committee of Arbitration, and served on other impor- 
 tant committees. 
 
 In removing his legal residence to Boston Mr. 
 Batcheller did not forget the town of North Brook- 
 field, where he had passed nearly a century of his life, 
 — nor the church and society there with which he had 
 been connected more than thirty years, as was shown 
 by his frequent visits and acts of liberality and benefi- 
 cence. 
 
 Ezra Batcheller, the junior member of the original 
 firm, if less prominent before the public, was, equally 
 with his brother, an efficient and essential factor in 
 the growth and prosperity of the manufacturing estab- 
 lishment. And to his business tact and energy is 
 largely due the prompt extrication of the concern 
 from their temporary embarrassment in 1861. He 
 was a large-hearted, public-spirited man, of earnest 
 piety ; and his memory is fragrant of good deeds and 
 an honorable and useful life. 
 
 The present firm name is E. & A. H. Batcheller 
 & Company ; and this is the only boot and shoe man- 
 ufactory now in operation in North Brookfield. In 
 1875, as appears from the census report, they gave 
 employment to 927 males and 150 females, and manu- 
 factured goods of the value of $1,817,000. Their 
 facilities for business have been considerably increased 
 since that date. 
 
 HON. CHARLES ADAMS, JR., A.M. 
 
 According to his own prepared family record, Mr. 
 Adams is descended from Henry\ who came from 
 England and settled in Braiutree; the line running 
 through Edward- of Medfield, John' of Medfield, 
 Abraham* of Brookfield, Jesse" of Brookfield, Charles, 
 M.D.^ of Antrim, N. H., and Oakham, Mass. 
 
 Charles, Jr.', was born at Antrim, in the part then 
 known as Woodbury Village, now South Antrim, 
 January 31, 1810, and died at North Brookfield, April 
 19, 188G. In addition to the advantages of the com- 
 mon schools, he attended a select school in Brookfield 
 
 under Rev. John Bisbee, and studied eight months 
 with Rev. Josiah Clark, of Rutland. This completed 
 his school education. He served an apprenticeship 
 of five years in a country store at Petersham, and was 
 employed as clerk, for a single year by J. B. Fair- 
 banks, of Ware. He came to North Brookfield in 
 1832, and entered the employment of Messrs. Batch- 
 eller, shoe manufacturers, as book-keeper and account- 
 ant, which position he held for twenty years. In 
 1852 he became a member of the firm, and so con- 
 tinued until 1860, when he retired with a competence. 
 
 Mr. Adams was much in public life — having held 
 by election most of more responsible town offices : was 
 representative to the General Court fVir the years 
 1850, '51, '52 and '62; State Senator 1865, '66, 77 and 
 '78 ; member of the Executive Council 1867, '68, '69 
 and '70; Treasurer and Receiver-General of the Com- 
 monwealth 1871, '72, '78, '74 and '75. He was also 
 honored with special trusts ; was commissioner of 
 the Norwich and Worcester Railroad Sinking Fund ; 
 and for many years president of the North Brookfield 
 Savings Bank. Perhaps it is enough to say, that in 
 all these offices and trusts he fully met the expecta- 
 tion of his constituents for industry, ability, foresight, 
 good judgment and integrity. 
 
 In manners, Mr. Adams bad the dignity, without 
 the preciseness, of a gentleman of the old school of 
 official station. What was lacking in courtliness was 
 more than made up by self-poise and an unaflected 
 cordiality that won esteem, while it did not lessen re- 
 spect. Always collected and maintaining a proper 
 self-respect, he yet was at home equally in the kitchen 
 of the farmers and the parlors of the educated. He 
 saw a true manhood in whomsoever it existed, and 
 yielded it due homage ; he detected and did not con- 
 ceal his contempt for mere pretence and outside 
 show. 
 
 Though he often lamented his early disadvantages 
 of schooling, yet he was, in the best sense, an educated 
 man — not "self-made " as the popular phrase is, which 
 implies the creatingof one's surroundings and means. 
 Rather, he subjected those surroundings to his will, 
 and made them the means to develop and furnish his 
 mind ; and thus was educated and trained. He 
 utilized whatever advantages were within his reach, 
 whether at home or at school, behind the counter or 
 in the counting-room ; first as a subordinate and after 
 as partner, owner and director. He was a learner, 
 always and everywhere; seizing the opportunities, 
 which both old and young so often throw away, to 
 gain knowledge of men, and methods, and principles, 
 and business, as well as books. And this early train- 
 ing, and the formation of habits of observation and 
 inquiry and research, and this steady application to 
 the work and duty of the hour, laid the foundation of 
 the self-reliance and power of concentrated effort 
 which fitted him for the higher duties and responsi- 
 bilities of business life and official position. He suc- 
 ceeded because he had paid the full price 'of success. 
 
I 
 
NORTH BROOKFIELD. 
 
 553 
 
 Nor was his lack of school privileges apparent. He 
 was well read in general and local history, as well as 
 in political economy, the industrial sciences and 
 finance. His ■aiemory was retentive, and was well 
 stored with available knowledge. He was a good 
 talker; and though commonly very practical in con- 
 versation, he yet possessed a mobile fancy and a vein 
 of humor slightly imbued with satire that, combined 
 and incited by refined instincts and pure thoughts 
 and associations, made him a desirable acquisition to 
 any social circle. 
 
 In the quiet life of a busy manufacturer, and even 
 in the responsible station of a State official, there is 
 little of incident and few turns of affairs to attract 
 special notice and give interest to a biographical 
 sketch. The startling situations, and conflicts, and 
 triumphs which attach to military and professional 
 life and make the reputation and renown of men of 
 those classes and furnish the emphatic points in their 
 biographies, are either wanting in legislative, and 
 judicial and mercantile experience ; or they are 
 of strictly personal and temporary concern. They 
 may have touched matters of success or popularity, 
 vital in their day ; but that day was a brief one, and 
 results affected mainly the parties immediately in- 
 terested. 
 
 While a member of the Legislature and the Execu- 
 tive Council, Mr. Adams gave his attention largely to 
 matters of banking and finance, and questions grow- 
 ing out of the State's connection with the Troy and 
 Greenfield, and the Boston, Hartford and Erie Rail- 
 roads, and other corporations. He was chairman, or 
 a member of the appropriate committees. To these 
 committees is entrusted the shaping of the financial 
 policy of the Commonwealth. And as several of his 
 terms of service followed close upon the ending of 
 the late Civil War, his sound views and practical good 
 sense made his influence at that juncture of especial 
 consequence. The reports from his pen are dis- 
 tinguished by a broad grasp, and able reasoning, and 
 safe conclusions. 
 
 Mr. Adams did not claim to be a popular speaker, 
 and attempted nothing in the line of oratory. He 
 wrote out his intended remarks ; and as he was a 
 good reader, he made a favorable impression when- 
 ever he chose to appear before the public. He had 
 himself and his theme well in hand ; his points were 
 clearly put ; his evident mastery of his subject enlisted 
 the hearer's attention, while his unaffected earnest- 
 ness made a deep impression, if it did not carry con- 
 viction. 
 
 His style of writing was largely influenced by his 
 leading pursuits. It was direct, unadorned, and what 
 in Addisonian times would have been called didactic. 
 He used Anglo-Saxon words and idioms ; and the 
 guiding thread of logic was always apparent in his 
 sentences and consecutive sections. Having Scotch 
 blood in his veins, it was only natural that he should 
 have a love for Scottish history and literature. He 
 
 became particularly fond of the poetry of Gray and 
 Burns, and the poetry and romance of Sir Walter 
 Scott. And the chance he had of going abroad in 
 1871, to complete the sale of Slate bonds in London, 
 and which opportunity he embraced for extended 
 travel in Scotland as well as on the Continent, intensi- 
 fied the early passion, and gave direction to his study 
 and reflection in later years, after his retirement from 
 office. 
 
 In a paper which he wrote in 1873, on " The Life 
 and Times of Robert Burns," he tells us how he was 
 first led into this attractive field. " In the year 1827, 
 when I was in my seventeenth year, in a trade with 
 another young man, to make the bargain even, I re- 
 ceived a copy of ' Burns' Poems ' in two small red- 
 morocco bound volumes, without at the time knowing 
 or caring who Robert Burns was. On opening the 
 books I was delighted to find in them several songs 
 which I had often heard sung by my mother — a de- 
 scendant from clan McAllister — who was a fine singer 
 — of course the finest I had then heard, and you will 
 pardon me if I say the finest I have ever heard to this 
 day (in my estimation). Some of her favorites, which 
 I found in these volumes, were ' Bonnie Doon,' ' John 
 Anderson my Jo,' ' Auld Lang Syne,' ' Highland 
 Mary,' 'The Lea-Rig,' etc. And the reading of these 
 songs in their peculiar dialect, naturally led my 
 thoughts beyond the songs themselves and the singer, 
 and awakened an interest in the author and his life 
 and home ; and thus insensibly I became an ardent 
 admirer of Burns and Scotland." He then relates his 
 visit to the Land of Burns in 1871, and gives expres- 
 sion to the thoughts inspired by the sight of the 
 places and associations amid which the poet lived and 
 wrote. 
 
 This paper, filling sixty-three closely-written pages 
 of manuscript, reveals a trait of character which was 
 prominent in all his life, viz., a tender and apprecia- 
 tive regard for his mother; and it furnishes k fair 
 sample of his literary style. It is characterized by 
 vivid descriptions of natural scenery and peasant life. 
 He groups the hamlet, and its occupants and home- 
 surroundings in a spirited picture, charming by its 
 lights and shades, its mingling of the real and ideal, 
 and all enveloped in the fitlul sunshine and mists of 
 the Ayr and Ayrshire. This paper, and a diary kept 
 by him, and since writt^ out in full, take rank above 
 many modern published e-says and books of travel. 
 
 Mr. Adams prepared and delivered an address at 
 the semi-centennial of the Oakham Sabbath-School, 
 May, 1868 ; an address at the centennial of Antrim, 
 N. H., June 27, 1877, in response to the toast — 
 "Scotch character: still marked by grit and grace;" 
 an address delivered on Washington's birthday, 1874; 
 and read a paper on North Brooklield family history 
 before the New England Historic-Genealogical So- 
 ciety, February, 1884 ; and had partly completed a 
 Sketch of the Life of Thomas Gray. But his principal 
 literary work was the compilation of family biog- 
 
554 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 raphies, comprising the leading Brookfield settlers, 
 and filling ten large quarto volumes. These manu- 
 script volumes contain historical matter, personal 
 anecdotes and adventures, and family memorials of 
 great value to genealogists, and are a monument of 
 the author's patient research and discriminating judg- 
 ment. 
 
 Both by nature and self-culture, Mr. Adams was a 
 conservative man. But his was a conservatism that 
 is an element of strength, and not of weakness ; 
 which was a consequent of deliberation and forecast, 
 and not of timidity. He built on well-laid founda- 
 tions and not on the sand. He made no more 
 " haste " than " good speed." The meteor may out- 
 dazzle the evening star, but Jupiter remains king of 
 the nightly heavens. 
 
 And this habit of mind fitted him for his work in the 
 State treasurership and his other financial trusts. A 
 wise conservatism always begets confidence, and, when 
 joined with a clear head and habits of investigation, 
 is the common antecedent of permanent .success. This 
 trait appeared as a factor in his daily life, in his 
 friendships, in his views on education, on political 
 and moral reforms, and on questions of theologv and 
 religion. He learned the Assembly's Shorter Cate- 
 chism from his mother, and was accustomed to recom- 
 mend it as a safe manual of Scripture doctrines to be 
 taught to children. He was for fifteen years a mem- 
 ber of Dr. Snell's Bible class. And he united with 
 the Presbyterian Church because of its steadfiist ad- 
 herence to the old standards of faith and practice. 
 
 Mr. Adams was tender and strong in his social 
 friendshi[)s, and his heart and purse were open to 
 the calls of the needy and suffering. He bestowed 
 his charities freely, but unostentatiously, on those 
 who had a claim on his generosity and kindness. 
 Many a widow and orphan will miss his timely help, 
 and cherLsh and bless his memory. 
 
 He received the honorary degree of Master of Arts 
 from Dartmouth College in 1878. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXI. 
 
 WEST BROOKFIELD. 
 
 BY WII-I.IAM T. D.WIS. 
 
 The town of West Brookfield should have been 
 called Brookfield. It was the first place of settle- 
 ment on the origin.al grant ; it held the first church, 
 and holds the ancient burial-ground within its bor- 
 ders, and was made the First Precinct when the old 
 town of Brookfield was divided into three. On the 
 28th of May, 1750, the Second Precinct was incorpor- 
 ated, including substantially the territory now 
 included within the limits of North Brookfield, and 
 on the Sth of May, 1754, the Third Precinct was 
 
 incorporated (now Brookfield), leaving the west part 
 (now West Brookfield) to retain the name and powers 
 of the First Precinct. The steps taken to obtain the 
 divi-ion of the town into precincts, and the several 
 acts of incorporation, may be found stated in detail 
 in the history of Brookfield in these volumes. A 
 sketch of the church in the First Precinct up to the 
 date of the incorporation of West Brookfield may 
 also be found in that history ; this narrative, therefore, 
 will be confined chiefly to the career of the town 
 since its incorporation. 
 
 In 1812 the town of North Brookfield was incor- 
 porated. The division of the remainder of the old 
 town of Brookfield, after Warren or Western, as it 
 was originally called, had been set off in 1741, and 
 North Brookfield in ISl'J, was accomplished without 
 contest and by general consent. At a town-meeting 
 held on the 22d of November, 1847, at which Alanson 
 Hamilton acted as moderator, it was voted " that^the 
 town choose a committee of two, one from each Par- 
 ish, to present a petition to the next legislature to 
 send out a disinterested committee to report to their 
 body the terms upon which the town be divided, and 
 that the town will abide said decision, provided that 
 the town shall not disagree among themselves upon 
 the terms of division pi'evious to the first of January 
 next, in which case said committee will petition the 
 legislature to divide the town upon the terms agreed 
 upon." The committee consisted of John M. Fiske 
 and Francis Howe, the former from the First and the 
 latter from the Third Precinct. A committee of 
 twelve was also appointed, consisting of Baxter Ellis, 
 Baxter Barnes, Nathaniel Lynde, Wm. Adams, Joseph 
 Dane and Avery Keep, from the First Precinct; and 
 Parley Blanchard, Elliott Prouty, Alfred Rice, AV'm. 
 J. Adams, Wra. Howe and Charles Flagg, from the 
 Third Precinct, to consider terms and conditions of 
 a division, and report to the town. At an adjourned 
 meeting, held on the 27th of December, the commit- 
 tee made the following report, which was accepted : 
 
 Tlie Committee cliosen by the town of Brookfield to consider and agree 
 upon »n equitiible division of said town into two distinct towns, in such 
 manner and on such terms as shall subject each town to bear its .jt.st 
 proportion of the burdens or expenses, and prevent liabilities of the 
 whole undivided town, submit the following report ; — Having duly con- 
 sidered all the facta and circumstances that we could bring to our minds, 
 tbey are of the opinion that the town should bo divided by the same 
 line that divides the two ancient parishes, and the part lying west of 
 saiil line, exceiit Preston Howe's land, shall be incorporated asanew and 
 distinct town, by the name of West Broolifield. w ith the following con- 
 ditions or agreement, viz. :— If the County Commissioners fchall order, 
 either the road from Ware to West Brookfield depot, or the road from 
 Fiskdale to South Brookfield depot, or both of them, to be made as they 
 are now located, except a slight alteration may be made without addi- 
 tional expense within two years, each town shall pay an equal portion 
 of the expense of making said road or roads, also of the present debts of 
 the town, if any tliere be ; West Brookfield shall relinquish and give up 
 to Brookfield all their right or int-rest in the town farm, with all the 
 pei-sonal property on or belonging tlu-reto ; Brookfield shall keep and 
 support all the paiipers who are now at the said establishment during 
 their lives, West Brookfield paying to Brookfield lifty cents a week each 
 for one-half the number of saitl paupers now at said alms-house during 
 their lives. The names of the persons to be thus supported areas follows, 
 and no other person, viz. : — Joseph Porter, Abigail Staples, Simeon 
 
WEST BROOKFIELD. 
 
 555 
 
 Johnson, Darid Snow, EleanorGilbert, Solon Phipps, Hannah Lawi'ence, 
 
 Maiiha Richiinlson, EUzab^lh Ilobbs, Harriet Richards, Sally Forbes, 
 Sally Parker, Huldali Wood, Ulary Walker, Miuy M'ard, Esther Jennings, 
 Srtl'y Thoiuas, Abigail Paddock, John Lindley, William Kicbardson, 
 Emily P. Morso nnd Orin IIjiniiltDn. Ruth Henshaw, insane, is to be 
 supported by the town of Brooktitdd, and Harriet Candy to bo supported 
 in West Bi'oukfield. All persons who may hereafter claim town aid are 
 to be supported or assisted by the town in wliose territorial limits they 
 may have gained a settlement, by the laws of the commonwealth, prior 
 to the division of said town. West Brookfield shall have the right to 
 visit said alms-house, by an agent or committee, for the purpose of seeing 
 that said paupers are well treated or taken care of. The expensfs 
 necessarily incuired by your committee tliey pray may be allowed, and 
 that the town direct the Selectmen to give an order to Parley Blancliard, 
 their chairman, fur the sum of sixteen dollars for that purpose. 
 
 On the 4th of February the town voted to petition 
 the Legislature for an act incorporating the new 
 town substantially in accordance with the terms of 
 the report, and on the 3d of March, 1848, the follow- 
 ing act was passed : 
 
 AN ACT TO TSCORPOnATE THE TOWN OF WEST BHOOKFIELD. 
 
 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General 
 Court assembled and by the authority of the same as follows : 
 
 Sec. 1. All that part of the town of Brookfield, in the Covinty of Wor- 
 cester, whicli lies westerly cf the line hereinafter described, is hereby 
 incorporated into a separate town by the name of West Brookfield, and 
 the said town of West Biookfield is hereby vested with all the powers, 
 privileges, rights and immunities, and shall be subject to all the duties 
 and requisitions to which other towns are entitled and subjected by the 
 constitution and lawa of the Commonwealth. The dividing line be- 
 tween the two towns shall be and the same is hereby established as fol- 
 lows : Beginning at the north end of said line at a town monument be- 
 tween Brookfield and North Brookfield; thence south eighteen and 
 three-fourth degrees west tliirty-one rods and twenty-two links to a 
 stake and stones ; thence south eighty-six degrees west twenty-four rods ; 
 thence north eighty-four and three-fourths degrees west ten rods and 
 eighteen links ; thence south fifty six and three-fourths degrees west 
 seventeen rods and five links; thence south fifty-four degrees west fif. 
 teen rods and twenly-threo links ; thence south sixty-nine and one- 
 third degrees west fourteen rods and twenty-two links; thence south 
 seven degrees west nineteen rods and seven links ; thence souih twenty- 
 four and one-fourth degrees west nine rodsand nine links; thence north 
 fifty-six and one-fourth degrees west twelve rods; thence north fifty- 
 two and three-fourths degrees west sixteen rods ; thence south nine de- 
 grees west sixty-six rods and twenty links; tht-nce south fifteen degrees 
 west sixty-six rods and twenty links; thence south nine degrees west 
 seventeen rods and seventeen links; thence south eighty-two and one. 
 half degrees west fifteen rods and three links ; thence south five and 
 one-half degrees oast fifty-nine rods and seven links ; thence south fifty, 
 nine degrees west eighteen rods and twelve links ; thence suuih forty- 
 three and one-half degrees west eight rods; thence south ten and one- 
 half degrees east seven rods and four links ; thence south thirty degrees 
 east seven rods and four links ; thence south fifty-threeand one-half de- 
 grees east nine rodsand thirteen links; thence south thirty -four degrees 
 west twenty-six rods and thirteen links ; thence south seventy-five and 
 three quarters degrees east nine rods and twenty links; thence south 
 nine and one-fourth degrees west three rods ; thence south seventy-four 
 degrees east sixteen rods ; thence south twenty and one-fourth degrees 
 west one hundred and tweiity-nino rods to the north bank of the river; 
 thence southerly to the middle of the river; thence down the middle of 
 the river to a point opposite the corner of land of Reuben Blair and the 
 Brigham Farm, lying on the southerly side of said river ; thence south- 
 erly to said corner ; thence south thirty-three and one fourth degrees 
 west one hundred and eighty five rods and fifteen links; thence north 
 sixty-eight and three-fourths degrees west thirty-three rods and twenty 
 links; thence south sixteen degrees west two hundred and thirty six 
 rods and twenty links; thence south sixty-seven and three-fourths de- 
 grees east thirty-two rods ; thence south seven degrees west three rods ; 
 thence south seventy degrees east sixteen rods and eight links ; thence 
 south seventeen degrees west forty rods and two links ; thence south 
 eighty-four and three-fourths degrees west seven rods and fifteen links; 
 thence south three and one fourth degrees west twenty-six rods ; thence 
 south eighty-five and one half degrees west twenty-five rods and thirteen 
 links ; thence north sevent-- and three fourths degrees west twenty -eight 
 
 rods and eighteen links ; thence north eighty-six and one-half degrees 
 west twenty-eight rodsand five links; thence south twelve rods; thence 
 south twenty-nino and one-half degrees west forty-four rodsand fifteen 
 links; thoncc south seventeen and one half degrees west fifty-five rods 
 and fourteen links ; thence south seventy five and one half degrees east 
 ninety rods; thence south thirteen and one-third degrees west eighty- 
 eight rods and twenty-two links ; thence north seventy-five degrees west 
 sixty-one rods and twenty links; thence south nineteen and three-fourths 
 degrees west eighty rods; thence south forty and one-half degrees east 
 seventeen rods ; thence north twenty-five degrees east twenty-three rods 
 and fifteen links; thence south eighty degrees east fifty-four rods and 
 ten links; thence south thirteen and one-third degrees west one hun- 
 dred and twenty-seven rods and five links; thence north sixty-five de- 
 grees west sixty-eight rods and ten litiks ; thence south sixty-two degrees 
 west eleven rods and twelve links ; thence north forty-nine degrees west 
 five rods and nine links ; thence north si.xteen degrees west twelve rods ; 
 thence north sixty-one and one-half degrees west forty-two rods and 
 twenty links, to a point on the town line between said Brookfield and 
 Warren. 
 
 Section 2. The inhabitants of West Brookfield shall be holden to pay 
 to the collector of Brookfield all arrears uf taxes legally assessed on them 
 in the said town of Brookfield before the passage of this act, and also 
 shall !»e holden to pay tlieir proportion of State and County taxes that 
 may be assessed upon them previously to the taking of the npxt State 
 valuation, said proportion to be ascertained and determined by the 
 town valuation of the town of Brookfield next preceding the passage of 
 this act ; and the said town of West Brookfield shall be holdon to pay 
 one-half of the debts due and owing from the town of Brookfield at the 
 time of the passage of this Act, and shall be entitled to receive one-half 
 of all corporate personal property except as hereinafter provided and all 
 assets now owned by said town of Brookfield ; and tlie town of West 
 Brookfield shall i>e entitled to receive one-half of the school fund be- 
 longing to or receivable by the town of Brookfield. 
 
 Sec. 3. The poor farm belonging to the town of Brookfield shall re- 
 main and continue to be the property of the town of Brookfield, togeth- 
 er with all the personal property on or attached to said farm. And the 
 said town of Brookfield shall support during their lives the following- 
 named persons, provided the same shall continue to be paupera and re- 
 quire support to wit: Joseph Porter, Simeon Johnson, David Snow, 
 Elenor Gilbeit, Abigail Staples, Solon Phipps, Hannah Lawrence, Mar- 
 tha Kichardson, Elizabeth Hobbs, Hannah Kichard.-*, Sally Forbes, Sally 
 Parker, Huldah Wood, filary Walker, Mary Ward, Esther Jennings, 
 Sally Thomas, Abigail Paddock, John Lindley, Wm. Richardson and 
 Emily P. Morse. And the said town of West Brookfield shall pay to the 
 town of Brookfield the sum of twenty fiv.e cents per week for the sup- 
 port of each of said persons respectively so long ds they shall severally 
 live, whether they thall continue paupers or otherwise. And the town 
 of Brookfield shall hereafter support Ruth Henshaw, a pauper, and 
 the town of West Brookfield shall support Harriett Casey, a pauper, 
 so long as they shall respectively requiie support. The towns of Brook- 
 fiidd and West Brookfield shall be respectively liable for the support of 
 all other persons who now do or hereafter shall stand in need of relief as 
 paiipers wliose settlement was gained by or derived from a residence 
 within their respective limits. 
 
 Sec. 4. If the County Commissioners shall, within two years, order 
 the construction of the road which has been located from Ware to West 
 Brookfield Depot, and the road which has been located from Fiskdale 
 to South Brookfield Depot on either of said roads as the same are located 
 or 80 altered as not to increase the expense, the towns of Brookfield and 
 West Brookfield shall each pay one-half the expense of said road or 
 roads. 
 
 Sec. 5. The town of West Brookfield shall continue to be a part of 
 the town of Brookfield for the purpose of electing a Representative to 
 the General Court, St;ite otficers, Senators, Representatives to Congress, 
 and electors of President and Vice-President of the United States, until 
 the next decennial census shall be taken in pursuance of the thirteenth 
 article of amendment of the constitution ; and all meetings for the 
 choice of Siiid officer shall be called by the selectmen of the town of 
 Brookfield in like manner and in the same phices as heretofore called ; 
 and the selectmen of West Brookfield shall make a true list of all per- 
 sons in said town qualified to vote at every such election, and shall, ten 
 days at least before the day of every such election, deliver the same to 
 the selectmen of Brookfield, to be used by them in the same manner 
 for such elections as if prepared by themselves. 
 
 Sec. 0. Any justice of the peace within and for the county of Wor- 
 cester is hereby authorized to issue his warrant directed to any principal 
 inhabitant of the town of West Brookfield, requiring him to notify and 
 
556 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 warn the inhabitaiite thereof qualified to vote in town affairs to meet at 
 the time and phico tliereiri appointed for the purpose of choosing all 
 auch town nflflcers as towns are by law authorized and required to 
 choose at their annual meetings ; and such justice, or in his absence, 
 such principal inhabitant shall preside till ttio cliuice of a moderator in 
 said meeting. 
 
 In conformity with the provisions of the act of 
 incorporation, Elisha Hammond, of West Broolcfield, 
 a justice of the peace, issued a warrant to George S. 
 Duell, a principal inhabitant of West Brookfield, 
 requiring him to notify and warn the inhabitants of 
 said town qualified to vote in town affairs to meet at 
 tlie town hall in said town on Monday, the 27th of 
 March, 1848, to choose town officers and raise such 
 sums of money as might be needed for town affairs, 
 and also to decide on the manner of calling meeting-* 
 of the town. The town hall, so called, was the Con- 
 gregational Church, which had in alternate years with 
 the Congregational Church in the south part of the 
 town been used for town meetings. The warrant was 
 dated March 11th and was duly served by Mr. Duell, 
 who made his return of service on the same. At the 
 meeting Alansim Hamilton was chosen moderator, 
 and a prayer was offered by Rev. Leonard S. Parker, 
 then pastor of the Congregational Church in West 
 Brookfield. The following town officers were chosen 
 for the year: Selectmen, Alanson Hamilton, Eli 
 Chamberlain, Baxter Barnes, Mandley Peirce, 
 Bramin Sibley; Town Clerk — Jacob Dupee; Asses- 
 sors — Alanson Hamilton, William Cowee, William 
 R. Thomas; Tre.isuier — Lucius Tomblin ; Oierseers 
 of the Poor — Jesse Bliss, Seth Crabtree and Avf ry 
 Keep; Visiting School Committee — Leonard S. 
 Parker, William Curtis and William R. Thomas; 
 Fence- Viewers — Nathaniel Lynde, Joseph A. Sprague 
 and John M. Fiske ; Measurers of Wood and Bark — 
 Lucius Tomblin, William Cowee and T. Lindsey ; 
 Measurers of Leather — H. Brown, B. T. Leland and 
 Joseph A. Sprague; Sealer of Weights and Meas- 
 ures — William Barrett; Surveyors of Highways — 
 Horace F. Watson, Bostwick Gilbert, Linus Banister, 
 William Barrett, Augustus Makepeace, Seth Crabtree, 
 Warren Blair, Bramin Sibley, Mandley Peirce and 
 Aretas D. Gilbert; Surveyors of Lumber — George 
 H.Gilbert, Lucius Tomblin, Senate Johnson; Fire- 
 Wards — Avery Keep, J. M. Fiske, H. Brown, G. 
 Crowell, A. C. Gleason and G. W. Lincoln ; Field- 
 Drivers — I. Lincoln, G. Crowell, E. W. Coombs, 
 Joseph A. Sprague, J. M. Fiske, Arad Gilbert, C. T. 
 Cooke and Avery Keep. 
 
 It was voted to put out the collection of taxes to 
 the lowest bidder, and George S. Duell took the col- 
 lection for one and a quarter per cent. George S. 
 Duell and Charles Cutter were chooen constables, and 
 it was voted that warrants for town-meetings should be 
 posted at least seven days at the Congrtgational 
 Church and at the school-house near the hou-e of 
 William Adams. 
 
 Josiah Henshaw, Nathaniel Lynde and Isaac Gil- 
 bert were chosen a committee to ascertain the finan- 
 
 cial condition of the town and report at an adjourned 
 meeting on the 17th of April. At the adjourned 
 meeting the committee reported that the outstanding 
 orders of the two towns amounted to §750. Due on 
 account of schools, $80 ; due on account of tax abate- 
 ments, $50; due on account of poor, $153.52; due on 
 account of contingent expenses, $100.48— $1,134. 
 Assets deducted, $434.45 — amount of indebtedness, 
 $699..55, one-half of which is West Brookfield's share : 
 $350. 
 
 The committee recommended appropriations which 
 were made as follows: One-half of iudebtness of the 
 two towns, $350 ; schools, $900 ; roads, $300 ; con- 
 tingent and tax discount, $225 ; poor, $450 — total 
 appropriations, $2,225. 
 
 It was also voted that the sum of six hundred dol- 
 lars be worked out on the roads as a labor tax. The 
 following is a list of the selectmen of the town 
 since its incorporation, chosen in the years set against 
 their names : 
 
 1848. 
 
 Alanson Hiiniilton. 
 
 
 Warren A. Blair. 
 
 
 Eli Chiimhcrlain. 
 
 1859. 
 
 Wm. B. Stone. 
 
 
 Baxter Barnes. 
 
 
 William Adams, Jr. 
 
 
 Mandley Peirce. 
 
 
 Warren A. Blair. 
 
 
 Bramin Sibley. 
 
 
 Raymond Cummiuga 
 
 1849. 
 
 Same. 
 
 
 Francis 11. Barnes. 
 
 185U. 
 
 Baxter Ellis. 
 
 1860. 
 
 Josiah Henshaw. 
 
 
 Ebeuezer Fairbanka. 
 
 
 Raymond Cumniings 
 
 
 Willard Gilbert. 
 
 
 Henry P. Barrett. 
 
 
 Benj. W. Leiaud. 
 
 
 Francis H. Barnes. 
 
 
 Daniel C. Snow 
 
 
 Amos C. Allen. 
 
 1851. 
 
 Willard Gilbert. 
 
 1861. 
 
 Raymond Cumniings 
 
 
 Aretas D. Gilbert. 
 
 
 Amos C. Allen. 
 
 
 Adulphus Hamilton. 
 
 
 Augustus Makepeace 
 
 
 Horace G. llawson. 
 
 
 William Foster. 
 
 
 William Cowee. 
 
 
 E. W. Ccoinbs. 
 
 1852. 
 
 Hammond Brown. 
 
 1862. 
 
 Raymond Cummings 
 
 
 Seth Crabtree. 
 
 
 Amos C. Allen. 
 
 
 Joshua Robs. 
 
 
 Augustus Makepeace 
 
 
 Horace G. Rawaon. 
 
 
 E. W. Coombs. 
 
 
 Abijah Cutler. 
 
 
 William Foster. 
 
 1863. 
 
 Horace G. Rawson. 
 
 1863. 
 
 Hammond Brown. 
 
 
 Mandley Peirce. 
 
 
 Amos C. Allen. 
 
 
 Chaniiler Giddings. 
 
 
 Abner C. Gleason. 
 
 
 JoBeph W. Woods. 
 
 
 Daniel Allen. 
 
 
 Joseph Dane, Jr. 
 
 
 H. L. Banister. 
 
 1854. 
 
 Chandler GiddiogB. 
 
 18G4. 
 
 Hammond Brown. 
 
 
 Joseph W. Woodd. 
 
 
 Amos C. Allen. 
 
 
 Joseph Dane, Jr. 
 
 
 Abner C. Gleason. 
 
 
 Bramin SibU>y. 
 
 
 Daniel Allen. 
 
 
 John R. Snow. 
 
 
 Zebulon E. Cary. 
 
 1865. 
 
 George H. Gilbert. 
 
 1865 
 
 AuiosC Allen. 
 
 
 Moses Hall. 
 
 
 Abner C. Gleason, 
 
 
 George Ganlt. 
 
 
 Sanford Adaras. 
 
 
 Cheney Dane. 
 
 
 Zebnion E. Gary. 
 
 
 Chandler Giddings. 
 
 
 David S. Lawrence. 
 
 1856. 
 
 Hammond Brown. 
 
 18GC 
 
 Amos C. Allen. 
 
 
 Moses Hall. 
 
 
 Sanford Adams. 
 
 
 Bramin Sibley. 
 
 
 David S. Lawrence. 
 
 
 DaTid B. Gleason. 
 
 
 0. A. Davis. 
 
 
 Charles E. Smith. 
 
 
 R. K. Jlakepeace. 
 
 1857. 
 
 Alanson Hamilton. 
 
 18G7. 
 
 George Crowell. 
 
 
 Wm. B. Stone. 
 
 
 Daniel Allen. 
 
 
 Ebonezer B. Lyndo. 
 
 
 L. H. Clianiberlaiu. 
 
 
 Charles E. feniith. 
 
 
 Warren L>aue. 
 
 
 George A, Baniee. 
 
 
 Wm. H. Baines. 
 
 1858 
 
 Alanson Hamilton. 
 
 1868 
 
 George Crowell. 
 
 
 Win. B. Stone. 
 
 
 Daniel Allen. 
 
 
 George A. Barnes. 
 
 
 L. U. Clmmbfrlain. 
 
 
 William Puigo. 
 
 1869. 
 
 Benjamin Aiken. 
 
WEST BROOKFIELD. 
 
 557 
 
 1871. 
 1872. 
 
 1874. 
 1876. 
 1876. 
 
 0. P. Maynard. 
 
 Wm. B. Stone. 
 
 B. P. Aiken. 
 
 Wm. B. Stone. 
 
 Kaymond Ciimminga. 
 
 Same. 
 
 Kaymond Cummings. 
 
 .TolinB. Tomlilin. 
 
 George A. Parralt. 
 
 Raymond Cummings. 
 
 H. G. Rawson. 
 
 Edward McEvoy. 
 
 Same. 
 
 Same. 
 
 B. P. Aiken. 
 
 B. K. Makepeace. 
 Wm. H. Allen. 
 Edward SIcEvoy. 
 Wm. H. Allen. 
 Raymond Cummings. 
 J. G. Bruce. 
 
 C. H. Fairbanks. 
 Raymond Cummings, Jr. 
 Edward McEvoy. 
 
 W. A. Blair. 
 W. A. Blair. 
 Edward McEvoy. 
 R. K. Makepeace. 
 W. A. Blair. 
 Edward McEvoy. 
 
 1882. 
 
 1883. 
 
 1885. 
 
 1888. 
 
 Royal K. Makepeace. 
 E. W. Coombs. 
 Edward McEvoy. 
 R. K. Makepeace. 
 R. K. Makepeace. 
 Philip M. Butler. 
 Joseph Eaton, 
 Edward McEvoy. 
 E. W. Coombs. 
 Philip M. Butler. 
 E. W. Coombs. 
 Edward McE%-oy. 
 Amos C. Allen. 
 Charles H. Allen. 
 E. W. Coombs. 
 Charles H. Allen. 
 Charles B. Hensbaw. 
 E. W. Coombs. 
 Charles H. Allen. 
 John T. Gulliver. 
 E. W. Coombs. 
 George A. Parratt. 
 J. T. <iulliver. 
 Sauford Adams, 
 Amos C. Allen, 
 G. H. Coolidge. 
 Sanford Adams. 
 George H. Brown. 
 G. H. Coolidge. 
 
 The moderators at annual meetings have been : 
 
 L. Fullam 1868-69 
 
 Lyman H. Chamberlain 1870 
 
 L. Fullam 1871-72 
 
 Lyman H. Chamberlain. ...1873-78 
 
 L. Fullam 1879-80 
 
 Lyman H. Chamberlain 1881-83 
 
 EbenczerB. Lynde 1884-S5 
 
 George H. Coolidge 1886-88 
 
 Alanson H^tmilton. 1849-50 
 
 Hammond Brown 1851-54 
 
 George W. Lincoln 1855-58 
 
 D . S. Menell 1859 
 
 Josiah Henshaw 1860 
 
 George W. Lincoln 1861-62 
 
 Jusiah Henshaw 1863 
 
 Hammond Brown 1864-66 
 
 Lyman H. Chamberlain 1867 
 
 Jacob Dupee served as clerk from 1848 to 1857, in- 
 clusive; E. Hutchins Blair, from 1858 to 1879, inclu- 
 sive, and in 1880 H, W. Bush, the present clerk, was 
 chosen, Lucius Tomblin served as treasurer from 
 1848 to 1851, inclusive ; Oliver S, Cook, from 1852 to 
 1856, inclusive; Hammond Brown, from 1857 to 1859, 
 inclusive ; E. H. C. Blair, from 1860 to 1866, inclusive ; 
 A. C. Gleason for the year 1867, and E, H, C. Blair 
 from 1868 until his death, in May, 1887, George H, 
 Fales was then appointed to fill the vacancy and was 
 chosen by the town at the annual meeting in 1888. 
 
 While presenting lists of the most prominent officers 
 of the town, it will not be out of place to include in 
 this narrative the names of those who have represented 
 the town in the General Court, In the act of incor- 
 poration it was provided that for the purpose of choos- 
 ing these, West Brookfield should form a part of 
 Brookfleld until the next State census in 1850, In 
 1848 the two towns chose no representative and in 
 November, 1849, Oliver C, Felton, of Brookfield, was 
 chosen to represent them. Those chosen in West 
 Brookfield at the election in the following years 
 were ; Chosen in 1850, William Curtts ; 1851, Horace 
 J. Rawson ; 1852, none; 1853, Baxter Barnes; 1854, 
 William R. Thomas; 1855, none; 1856, John M, 
 Fales, 
 
 The Legislatures of 1856 and 1857 adopted the 
 
 Twenty-first Amendment to the Constitution, which 
 was approved by the people May 1, 1857, providing 
 that a census of the legal voters of each city and town 
 should be taken on the first day of May, 1857, and 
 returned to the Secretary of the Commonwealth on or 
 before the last day of June, and a census of the in- 
 habitants of each cily and town in 1865, and every 
 tenth year thereafter, including the legal voters. The 
 amendment also provided that the House of Repre- 
 sentatives should thereafter consist of two huudred 
 and forty members, who shall be apportioned by the 
 Legislature, at its first session alter the return of the 
 census, to the several counties of the Commonwealth, 
 according to their relative numbers of legal voters 
 and the apportionment certified to the mayor and 
 aldermen of the city of Boston and to the county 
 commissioners of other counties than Suffolk, who 
 shall, on the first Tuesday after the receipt of the 
 apportionments, divide their counties into representa- 
 tive districts and assign to each its number of repre- 
 sentatives. Under the apportionment of 1857 the 
 towns of Warren, West Brookfield and New Braintree 
 constituted the Eleventh District of Worcester County 
 and were entitled to one Representative. The follow- 
 ing is a list of the Representatives cho.-en to represent 
 that district in the nine succeeding years : 
 
 Chosen in 1857, Samuel E, Blair, of Warren ; 1858, 
 Nelson Carpenter, of Warren ; 1859, George Crowell, 
 of West Brookfield; 1860, Joseph Rawson, of West 
 Brookfield; 1861, Lucius J. Knowles, of Warren; 
 1862, Sexton P. Martin, of New Braintree; 1863, 
 John M. Fales, of West Brookfield ; 1864, Lucius J. 
 Knowles, of Warren ; 1865, Nathan Richardson, of 
 Warren. 
 
 Under the apportionment of 1866, based on the 
 census of 1865, the towns of Sturbridge, Brookfield, 
 West Brookfield, North Brookfield and Warren con- 
 stituted the Eighteenth Worcester District and the 
 following were chosen to represent that district in the 
 ten succeeding years : 
 
 Chosen in 1866, James S. Montague, of Brookfield, 
 Charles E. Smith, of West Brookfield; 1867, Amasa 
 
 C, Morse, of Sturbridge, Joseph B. Lombard, of War- 
 ren ; 1868, Ezra Batcheller. of North Brookfield, Dan- 
 iel W. Knight, of Brookfield ; 1869, Benjamin A. 
 Tripp, of Warren, John Harvey Moore, of Warren ; 
 1870, Martin L. Richardson, of Sturbridge, George S, 
 Duell, of Brookfield ; 1871, Daniel W, Knight, of 
 Brookfield, Simon H. Sibley, of Warren ; 1872, Noah 
 
 D. Ladd, of Sturbridge, William B. Stone, of West 
 Brookfield; 1873, Warren Tyler, of North Brookfield, 
 Stillman Butterwprth, of Brookfield; 1874, Charles B, 
 Sanford, of West Brookfield, George T, Lincoln, of 
 Sturbridge ; 1875, Charles Fuller, of Sturbridge, John 
 Wetherbee, of Warren, 
 
 LTnder the apportionment of 1876 the same towns 
 constituted the Twelfth Worcester District and were 
 represtnted as follows during the ten succeeding 
 years : 
 
558 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Chosen in 1876, William H. Montague, of North 
 Brook6eld, George W. Johnson, of Brookticld ; 1877, 
 George C. Lincoln, of North Brookfield, Alvin B- 
 Chamberlain, of Sturbridge ; 1878, Theodore C. Bates, 
 of Norlh Brookfield, Joseph Smith, of Warren ; 1879, 
 George W. Johnson, of Brookfield, George N. Bacon, 
 of Sturbridge; 1880, George A. Parratt, of West 
 Brookfield, George M. Newton, of Warren, died (Lu- 
 cien M. Gilbert, of Warren, filled vacancy) ; 1881, 
 Hiram Knight, of North Brookfield, David W. 
 Hodgkins, of Brookfield ; 1882, Emory L. Bates, of 
 Sturbridge, Horace W. Bush, of West Brookfield; 
 1883, Allen Batclieller, of North Brookfield, Joseph W. 
 Hastings, of Warren; 1881, Edwin D. Goodell, of 
 Brookfield, David B. Wright, of Slurbridge; 1885, 
 Edwin Wilbur, of West Brookfield, Marcus Bur- 
 roughs, of Warren. 
 
 Under the apportionment of 1886 the towns of 
 Brookfield, West Brookfield, North Brookfield, New 
 Braintree, Oakham, Slurbridge and Warren consti- 
 tuted the Fifth Worcester District and the following 
 Representatives have been chosen to represent it : 
 
 Chosen in 1886, Edwin D. Goodell, of Brook- 
 field, Samuel Clark, of North Brookfield ; 1887, George 
 H. Coolidge, of West Brookfield, Henry D. Haynes, 
 of Sturbridge ; 1888, George Bliss, of Warren, John 
 B. Gould, of Warren. 
 
 In the early life of West Brookfield little occurred 
 to arrest the attention of the historian or interest the 
 reader. Its current flowed wiih gentle tide, bearing 
 satisfactory prosperity to its enterprises and peace and 
 happiness to its people. Its real history lies back of 
 its incorporation far in the past and is owned in 
 common with its sister towns. Brookfield, though 
 the Third Precinct, inherits the name and records of 
 the original town, while West Brookfield, really the 
 mother instead of sister of the towns at the north 
 and south, and holding within its borders the ancient 
 landmarks of Quabaug, has scarcely passed the for- 
 tieth year of its municipal age. It would be a fitting 
 acknowledgment of its historic record to place in its 
 keeping the ancient archives and christen it anew 
 with the name which rii;htfully belongs to it. South 
 Brookfield is the title which Brookfield often bears in 
 the records, and to an impartial eye it seems more ap- 
 plicable to-day to the town from which West Brook- 
 field was separated in 1848. 
 
 As owners in common of the memories of the good 
 old town, the citizens of the three towns of Brookfield, 
 North Brookfield and West Brookfield celebrated the 
 anniversary of our national independence on Satur- 
 day, the 3d of July, 1858. The purpose of the 
 celebration was a double one, — both to celebrate the 
 event which the day commemorated and, as stated by 
 the committee in their circular, sent to the sons of 
 the three towns, to make preliminary arrangements 
 for the two hundredth anniversary of the settlement 
 of the town, which would occur in 1860. The circular 
 was signed by Aaron Kimball, Francis Howe, Lewis 
 
 Abbott, S. W. Banister, Perley Stevens, Luther 
 Stowell, Oliver C. Ftlton, Calvin Jennings, Otis 
 Hayden, Emmons Tvvichell and Alfred Rice, of 
 Brookfield ; Araasa Walker, Daniel Whitney, Hiram 
 Edson, Charles Duncan, William Adams, George H. 
 Lowe, Royal Pickard, Ezra Batchellor, Lysauder 
 Brewer, James H. Hill and Bonum Nye, of North 
 Brookfield, and Alanson Hamilton, Nathaniel Lynde, 
 Ebenezer Merriam, John M. Fales, Augustus Make- 
 peace, Ebenezer Fairbanks, David A. Gleason, David 
 L. Merrill, Raymond Cummings, George W. Lincoln 
 and Warren A. Blair, of West Brookfield. At that 
 time the population of the three towns, in the order 
 here given, was 2007, 2.307 and 1363 respectively. A 
 dinner was held in a tent pitched on the Common in 
 Brookfield and nine hundred guests were seated at 
 the tables. A procession, under the Chief Marshal 
 George D. Clapp, with Tyler Hosman and Henry L. 
 Mellen as his aids, contained four divisions in the 
 following order and marched through the principal 
 streets to the tent: 
 
 Firgt Division. 
 
 Bunds Cornet Band, '10 pieces, 
 
 Cataract Engine Company, of Brookfield, Capt. A. H. Moulton. 
 
 Committee of Brookfield. 
 
 Speakers and guests. 
 
 Citizens. 
 
 Second Jjivision. 
 
 American Engine Company, of West Brookfield, Capt. C. B. Sanford. 
 
 Committee of West Brookfield. 
 
 West Brookfield Glee Club. 
 
 Citizens. 
 
 Third Diviition. 
 
 Committee of North Brookfield. 
 
 President, Vice-President, Chaplain. 
 
 Guests. 
 
 Citizens. 
 
 Foui-th Diriaion. 
 
 Bay State Engine Co., East BrookOeld, Capt. C. K. Willard. 
 
 Challenge Engine Co. (Juvenile), East Brookfield, Capt. E. J. Kichols. 
 
 Guests aud Citizens. 
 
 Hon. Amasa Walker, of North Brookfield, presided, 
 assisted by the following vice-presidents: Hon. Fran- 
 cis Howe, Hon. Oliver C. Felton, Abraham Skinner 
 and Aaron Kimball, of Brookfield ; Hon. Alanson 
 Hamilton, Nathaniel Lynde and Ebenezer Merriam, 
 of West Brookfield, and Colonel Wm. Adams and 
 Pliny Nye, of North Brookfield. D. L. Morrill, of 
 West Brookfield, was toast-master. The speakers, 
 besides the president, were Hon. Pliny Merrick, 
 Hon. Dwight Foster, George Howe, of Boston, Wm. 
 Howe, of Brookfield, Henry Upham, of Boston, Rev. 
 C. Cushing, of North Brookfield, and Dr. Hitchcock, 
 of Newton. 
 
 On the 15th of March, 1860, the following circular 
 was issued, preliminary to the celebration of the two 
 hundredth anniversary of the settlement of the town. 
 The original grant was made May 31, 1860, but for 
 some reason it was thought expedient to celebrate the 
 event on the 4th of July. 
 
 Brookfield, March 15, ISGU. 
 Dear Sir; The present year marks the two hundredth Anniversary of 
 the settlement of the town, and it is thought desirable and proper that 
 the event should be commemorated in a suitable manner 
 
WEST BROOKFIELD. 
 
 559 
 
 A general meeting of the citizens of the several towns, into which the 
 ancient town of Broolitield has been divided, has been held, and the 
 undersigned appointed a Committee to make arrangements for the occa- 
 sion and invite tlie attendance of all who may feel au interest in it. 
 
 We, therefore, respectfully extend to you an invitation tube present 
 on the Fouith of July next, the day fixed upon, as on the whole the 
 most eligible and convenient. 
 
 The Committee are especially desirous that all who originated in, or 
 have been residents of this place, should join in this Celebration. 
 
 The Sons and Daughters of Brookfield are scattered far and wide in all 
 the States in the Union ; but the Committee trust they will be happy to 
 come together on an occasion so fraught with interesting associations 
 and reminiscences. 
 
 The first settlejnent having been made in that part of the old town 
 now incorporated as West Brookfield, and the site of the first Bleeting- 
 House, the old garrison which stood successfully the Indian Siege of 
 1675, the Gilbert Fort and the first Grave Yard being also in that section, 
 the Committee have decided to hold the proposed celebration in that 
 town. Kev. Lyman Whiting, of Providence, R. I., has been invited to 
 deliver the address, aud every effort will be made to give interest to the 
 occasion. 
 
 A large tent will be erected upon the Common, in which the services 
 will be held and the dinner be provided. 
 Tickets to the Tent and Dinner, one dollar. 
 
 We have the honor to be, 
 
 Respectfully Yr obt servants, 
 Aaron Kimball. Francis Howe. 
 
 O. C. Felton. Enmions Twichell. 
 
 Luther Stowell. A. H. Jloulton. 
 
 George W. Johnson. H. L*. Mellen. 
 
 George Forbes. Pliny Doane. 
 
 • Wm. Adams. Kzra Batcheller. 
 
 Charles .\dams, Jr. Hiram Cari-uth. 
 
 Pliny Nye. Amasji Walker. 
 
 Bonimi Nye. E. D. Batcheller. 
 
 T. M. Duncan. G. B. Dewing. 
 
 Alanson Hamilton. Nathaniel Lynde. 
 
 Alfred White. Jusiah Henshaw. 
 
 Baxter Barnes. Raymond Cumminge. 
 
 Charles E. Smith. John M. Fales. 
 
 L. H. Thomjison. S. N. White. 
 
 G. W. Lincoln. 
 
 The celebration was cariied out in accordance with 
 the plans of the committee. The streets and houses were 
 decorated, and Wednesday, the 4th of July, will long 
 be remembered by the sons and daughters of the 
 ancient s-ettlement. At nine o'clock the citizens of 
 V/est Brookfield, uader escort of the Oakham Band, 
 proceeded to Foster's Hill, the site of the first church 
 and fortification, aud there met the citizens of Brook- 
 field and North Brookfield, attended by the Brookfield 
 Cornet Band, and marched to the Common. There a 
 formal procession was organized under Chief Marshal 
 S. D. Cooke and marched to tlie old burial-ground, 
 and thence to the tent on the east end of the Com- 
 mon, where the tables, set for twelve hundred, were 
 completely filled. Hon. Amasa Walker acted as 
 president of the day, and called on Rev. Dr. Joseph 
 Vaill, of Palmer, to invoke the divine blessing. After 
 the dinner Mr. Walker addressed the assembly and 
 Rev. Lyman Whiting, of Providence, followed with 
 an historical address of nearly two hours in length. 
 After the addnss speeches were made by Rev. C. 
 Gushing, of North Brookfield, Dr. Eliakim Phelps, of 
 Philadelphia, a former pastor of the First Prtcinct 
 Church, N. B. Chamberlain, of Boston, Rev. Mr. Burr, 
 of Brookfield, Rev. C. M. Cordley, of West Brookfield, 
 T. M. Duncan, of North Brookfield, Rev. W. H. 
 
 Beecher, of North Brookfield, Wm. B. Draper, of 
 New York, Dr. John Homans, of Boston, Dr. Jabez 
 B. Upham, of Boston, Rev. Hubbard Winslow, of 
 Brooklyn, Judge Danforih, of New York, and Josiah 
 Gary, of St. Charles, Missouri. 
 
 But the memories of the early settlers of Brookfield 
 were destined to be soon revived by events less joy- 
 ous and peaceful. The hill-sides and plains of this 
 ancient settlement, so accustomed to scenes of warfare 
 in their earlier days, within a year after the celebra- 
 tion again witnessed preparations for hostile strife. 
 Since the grant of 1(!60 no generation had passed 
 away without learning something of the hoirors of 
 war. They had fought for years with the Indian hordes 
 at their doors; they had fought for independence; 
 they had fought to assert the rights of an infant nation 
 against an insolent foe; they were now to take up 
 arms to preserve a Union which had been dearly pur- 
 chased in Revolutionary days. 
 
 During the War of the Rebellion West Brookfield 
 was not behind other towns in the Commonwealth in 
 patriotic endeavors to sustain the government and 
 till the ranks of the army. At a town-meeting held 
 April 29, 1861, at which George W. Lincoln was 
 chosen moderator, it was voted to pay each volun- 
 teer twenty dollars when mustered and furnish each 
 with a revolver. The tov/n also pledged itself to 
 properly support families of soldiers in the service, 
 and passed the necessary votes to enable the select- 
 men to borrow money for the purpose. When nine- 
 months' men were called for, a bounty of one hundred 
 and fifty dollars was paid to each volunteer credited 
 to the quota of the town, and in 1864 one hundred 
 and twenty-five dollars in gold was paid to the men 
 enlisting on its quota for three years or the war. 
 
 The following list of soldiers enlisting in the town, 
 taken chiefly from the town's Rebellion Record, but 
 enlarged and corrected by the Adjutant-General's 
 Roll, is as nearly accurate as it is possible to make it: 
 
 Tliomas Reese, three years 2d Regiment, Co. H 
 
 J. H. W. Bartlett, three years 2d Regiment, Co. V 
 
 Simon Curley, three years 3th Regiment, Co. H 
 
 Joseph W. Cutler, three years luth Regiment, Co. V 
 
 Caleb C. Brock, three years luh Regiment 
 
 Franklin W. Fellows, three years 12th Regiment, Co. I 
 
 John Mundell, three years 12lh Regiment, Co. It 
 
 Perez B. Sampson, three years 12th Regiment, Co. K 
 
 George W. Shaw, Jr., three years 12th Regiment 
 
 Julius A. Anisden, three years 12th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Albert Lynde. three years 13th Regiment, Co. B 
 
 Jabez A. Blackmer, three yeai-s 13th Regiment, Co. K 
 
 Bernard R. Gilbert, three years 13th Regiment 
 
 Lyman W. Gilbert, three years 13th Regiment, Co. D 
 
 Wm. L. Adams, three years 13th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Emerson il. Bullard, three years ^ I3th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Albert W. Livermore, three yeare 13th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 C. W. Marsh, three years 1.3lh Regiment, Co. F 
 
 A. N. Potter, three years 13th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Justus C. Wellington, three years lath Regiment, Co. P 
 
 Wm. A. Mullet, three years 13th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Edward U. Prouty, three years 13th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 C. S. Lowe, three years 13th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Henry C. Read, three years 17th Regiment, Co. G 
 
 George W. Temple, three years 17th lieginient, Co. G 
 
 Charles Eiggs, three yeais ISth Regiment, Co. O 
 
560 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 L. B. Bliss, three yeara lOth Regiment, Co. C 
 
 John Mann, tlirne years 19tli Regiment, Co. G 
 
 Lewis McCrellis, three years 19th Regiment, Co. G 
 
 Win. DiiKgett, three years 19th Regiment, Co. I 
 
 Blartin J. Gilbert, tluee years 2iith Regiment, Co. K 
 
 I(*auc M. Sampson, three years 2iith Regiment, Co. iv 
 
 Benjamin F. Sampson, three years 2(ith Regiment, Co. K 
 
 Samuel B. Rice, three years 21st Regiment, Co. B 
 
 Joseph P. Adams, three yeara 21st Regiment, Co. C 
 
 Eilwin T. Brown, three years 21st Regiment, Co. C 
 
 C. C. Buck, three years 2l8t Regiment, Co. C 
 
 Eli Tjier, three years 21st Regiment, Co. C 
 
 Leonard F. Alexander, three years 2l8t Regiment, Co. F 
 
 John L. Powers, three years 22d Regiment, Co. O 
 
 John F. Hastings, three years 25th Regiment, Co. C 
 
 E. P. Buck, three years 25tli Regiment, Co. D 
 
 F. E. Buck three years 2.5th Regiment, Co. D 
 
 Albert Peck, three years 25th Regiment, Co. C 
 
 George K. Howe, three years 25th Regiment, Co. C 
 
 Franli Warren, three years 28th Regiment 
 
 George Day, three years 32d Regiment, Co. A 
 
 Joseph W. Adams, three years M4th Regiment, Co. I 
 
 George E. Adams, three years 34th Regiment, Co. I 
 
 Charles H. Allen, three years 34th Regiment, Co. I 
 
 Eldridge B. Ainsworth, three years 34th Regiment, Co. I 
 
 Pliny F. Barr, three years 34th Regiment, Co. I 
 
 Azor \V. Barlow, three years 34th Regiment, Co. I 
 
 Edwin W. Barlow, three years 34th Regiment, Co. I 
 
 Daniel Boyle, three years 34th Regiment, Co. I 
 
 Lorenzo Chickering, three yeara 34th Regiment, Co. I 
 
 Edward L. Drake, tlireo years 34th Regiment, Co. I 
 
 Ephraim Carey, three years 34th Regiment, Co. I 
 
 John E. Farley, three years 34th Regiment, Co. I 
 
 Harvey Gilbert, three years 34th Regiment, Co. I 
 
 George 11. Gilbert, three years 34th Regiment, Co. I 
 
 John MeCioskey, three years 34th Regiment, Co. I 
 
 James Murujell, tliree years 34th Regiment, Co. I 
 
 James M. Pratt, three years 34th Regiment, Co. I 
 
 Henry L. Ross, throe years 34th Regiment, Co. I 
 
 Harvny E. Truesdell, three years 34lh Regiment, Co. I 
 
 Daniel C. Spear, tliree years 34th Regiment, Co.,1 
 
 Abner Wiknt, tlitee years 34th Regiment, Co. I 
 
 Alfred D Washburn, three years 34th Regiment, Co. I 
 
 Charles Thompson, three years 34th Regiment, Co. D 
 
 Sylvanus T. Barlow, tliree years 34th Regiment, Co. I 
 
 Dennis M. Smith, three years 34th Regiment, Co. I 
 
 Charles E. Cutler, three years 34th Regiment, Co. I 
 
 George Jennings, three years 36th Regiment 
 
 Augustus J. Amsden, tliree years 3;ith Regiment, Co, E 
 
 Horace W. Bush, 100 days 42d Regiment, Co. E 
 
 Herman A. Gilbert, 100 days 42d Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Tliadeiis C. Merritt, 100 days 42d Regiment, Co. E 
 
 Wm. H. Barnes, 100 days 42d Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Abijah D. Cutter, 100 days 42d Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Ralph A. Dupee, 100 days 42d Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Will H. Lombard, 100 days 4Gth Regiment, Co. G 
 
 •S. Waldo Allen, nine months Slst Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Joseph E. Bailey, nine months 51st Regiment, Co. F 
 
 D. Wilnon Barlow, nine niontlia 51st Rfgiment, Co. F 
 
 Edward M. Ciane, nine months 51st Re.iment, Co. F 
 
 Patrick J. Dillon, nine months 51st Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Wm. A. Hitchcock, nine months 5lst Regiment, Co. F 
 
 D. W. R. Hinckley, nine months 51st Regiment, Co. F 
 
 "Wm. A. Sprague, nine months ^ 51st Regiment, Co F 
 
 Wni. R. Thomas, nine months 5Ist Regiment, Co. I 
 
 Wm. G Lawrence, nine months 51st Regiment, Co. I 
 
 Samuel D. Richards, nine months* 51st Regiment, Co. I 
 
 S. F. Reach, one year 54th Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Marial 3Iallet, three years 57th Regiment, Co. G 
 
 Lewis Bovier, three years 57th Regiment 
 
 John IMantell, three years 58tli Regiment 
 
 Orin Kddy, 100 days GOth Regiment, Co. F 
 
 Cornelius McQuirk, one year 6l6t Regiment, Co. A 
 
 George H. Nichols, one year Gist Regiment, Co. H 
 
 Joseph Dealcy, one year 61st Regiment, Co. H 
 
 Isaac N. Piouty, one year 1st Cavalry, Co. F 
 
 Edmoud Metier, one year 2d Cavalry, Co. K 
 
 Peter Floyd, one year 2d Cavalry, Co. G 
 
 Andrew J. Emery, one year 2d Cavaliy, Co. A 
 
 IMartin Fallon, one year 3d Cavalry, Co. B 
 
 Patrick G. Dillon, one year 3d Cavalry, Co. D 
 
 Albert Barney, one year 4th Cavalry 
 
 Rnfiis E. Blackmer, one year 4th Cavalry 
 
 Jabez A. Blackmer, one year 4th Cavalry, Co. F 
 
 JacobCoombs, one year 4th Cavalry, Co. D 
 
 Isaac M. Jones, one year 4th Cavalry, Co. E 
 
 Patrick Odell, one year 4th Cavalry, Co. D 
 
 Calvin H. Root, one year 4th Cavalry, Co. F 
 
 Ira T. Sibley, one year 4th Cavalry, Co. D 
 
 Lucius Truesdell, one year 4th Cavalry 
 
 Daniel Lawler, one year 4th Cavalry 
 
 George E. Wellman, on© year 4th Cavalry, Co. F 
 
 Amos S.Jackson, one year 6th Cavalry, Co. I 
 
 James Dillon, one year 2d H. A. 
 
 John Dillon, one year 2d H. A. 
 
 John W. Ward, one year 2d H. A. 
 
 Wm. Seward, one year 2d H. A. 
 
 Daniel Bluller, one year 2d H. A. 
 
 Daniel Buckley, one year 2d H. A. 
 
 Jerome Hamilton, one year 2d H. A. 
 
 Wm. P. Howe, one year 3d H. A. 
 
 Pliny Cooper, one year 3d II. A. 
 
 James Collins, one year 3d H. A. 
 
 Charles A. Tyler, one year 6tli Bat. 
 
 Anthony Collum, one year 4th Bat. 
 
 Charles A. Gleasou. 
 
 Michael Joyce. 
 
 William Hall. 
 
 Oliver Santon. • 
 
 Moses Renicr Unattached H. A. 
 
 Eden Woodbmy Unattached H. A. 
 
 George McFurlan. 
 
 Frederick A. Varnum Unattached H. A. 
 
 Albert H.Tirrell. 
 
 Samuel Twigg Frontier Cav. 
 
 Frederick Rand Frontier Cav. 
 
 Lyman B. Bliss Yet. Reserve 
 
 The following soldiers were either killed or died 
 while in the service : 
 
 Simon Curley, killed June 23, 1863. 
 
 Wm. L. Adams, wounded at Antietam September 17, 1862, and died 
 
 November 7th. 
 Emersun H. BuIIard, died June 15, 18G2. 
 Albert W. Liverniore, died January 8, 1803, 
 Justus A. Wellington, killed in October, 18113. 
 
 Wm. A. Mullet, wounded at Spottsylvania, and died May 23, 1864. 
 Edwin T. Brown, wounded at Petersburg, and July 27, 1864. 
 Leonard F. Alexander, killed June 2, 1864. 
 George E Adams, killed at Newmarket, Va., May 15, 1864. 
 Edwin W. Barlow, killed at Snicker's Gap July 18, 1864. 
 Daniel Boyle, died in Danville Prison in 1865. 
 Lorenzo Chickering, wounded at Winchester September, 1864, and 
 
 died September 2oth. 
 Harvey Gilbert, killed June 5, 1864. 
 George H. Gilbert, wounded at Petersburg April 2, 1865, and died 
 
 May 4th. 
 Harvey E. Truesdell, died in hospital March 7, 1864. 
 Alfred D. Washbuin, died in hospitjil June 3, 1864. 
 S. Waldo Allen, died July 12, 1863. 
 John Mundell, killed at Fredericksburg May 8, 1864. 
 Daniel Lawler, killed October 24, 1864. 
 George E. Howe, killed at Petersburg, May 6, 1864. 
 Charles E. Cutler, died in I'. S. Hospital at Baltimore, July 30, 1864. 
 Lewis Bovier, died July 20, 1865. 
 Moses Renier, died February 23, 1865. 
 Herman A. Gilbert, died at Alexandria, September 23, 1864, 
 
 An important event in the history of the town was 
 
 the establishment of a public library. No town can 
 have a complete educational system without such an 
 institution. It supplements the public schools, and 
 carries on and perfects the work begun by them. The 
 
WEST BROOKFIELD. 
 
 561 
 
 time is not far in the past when education was said 
 to be finished at the schools. There was little of gen- 
 eral instruction after the school-days were over, ex- 
 cept what a greedy mind here and there, from a keen 
 observation of the world and from a native gift of ab- 
 sorption, could unaided and with difficulty acquire. 
 The consequence was that there were to be seen in all 
 our towns men of fair business and social standing 
 who, from its want of use and development, had lost 
 the little general knowledge obtained at their desk at 
 school, retaining only that which their special busi- 
 ness or trade had made demands upon. They were, 
 perhaps, shrewd, industrious and prosperous, but they 
 were nevertheless ignorant men. Now, since the in- 
 troduction of libraries into our small communities, 
 education is never finished. The school-boy grows into 
 manhood holding fast to the fruits of public school 
 instruction, while craving and reaping more from 
 his constant use of these store-houses of knowledge. 
 And, indeed, in these latter years, when immigrants 
 from abroad, well advanced in life, are finding their 
 way into every city and town without early education, 
 and too old to use our public schools, these institu- 
 tions have become the indispensable means of that 
 popular enlightment without which the standard of 
 our republican government would be dangerously 
 lowered, if not permanently weakened and destroyed. 
 
 The West Brookfield Free Library and Reading- 
 Eoom owes its origin to a law passed in 1869, requir- 
 ing towns to appropriate the annual dog fund for the 
 support of schools or for a public library — that fund 
 being created by fees paid annually for the licenses 
 of dogs, and being the residue after the deduction of 
 amounts paid to owners of sheep for damage inflicted 
 by dogs. 
 
 In the early days of the Plymouth Colony it was 
 provided by law that "all such profits as might or 
 should annually accrue to the Colony from time to 
 time from fishing with nets or seines at Cape Cod, 
 for mackerel, bass or herrings, should be improved 
 for and towards a free school in some town of the 
 jurisdiction." Thus the fathers of New England set 
 an example in the thrifty use of the tribes of the sea 
 in the establishment of free schools, which their sons 
 of to-day have followed in a similar use of the crea- 
 tures of the land for their permanent preservation. 
 
 In the autumn of 1873 the town voted to establish 
 a public library, and the dog-funds of 1871, 1872 and 
 1873 were appropriated in its aid. It was placed in 
 an ante-room of the town-house, and opened to the 
 public January 5, 1874, with two hundred and 
 ninety-eight volumes. The room was fitted up and 
 lighted by the liberality of Mr. Lemuel Fullam, a 
 public-spirited citizen. In March, 1874, Mr. T. S. 
 Knowlton was chosen librarian, and still holds that 
 office. During the first year Mr. Charles Merriam, 
 of Springfield, a native of the town, presented five 
 hundred volumes to the library, and five hundred 
 dollars in money, and at the close of the year there 
 36 
 
 were fourteen hundred and eight volumes on its 
 shelves. Mr. Merriam continued his gifts of books 
 until they reached finally the number of about one 
 thousand volumes. In 187(> he gave to the town 
 fifty shares of New York Central and Hudson River 
 Railroad stock, valued at that time at fifty-six hun- 
 dred and fifty dollars, — "to be kept permanently 
 invested safely, and never on personal security only, 
 the annual income to be used for the benefit of the 
 Library or Reading Room, which are to be kept 
 always free to all the citizens of the town of a suita- 
 ble age, and under such rules and regulations as the 
 town may establish." He further provided that in 
 case the library should be abandoned, the money 
 should be paid to the public town libraries of Brook- 
 field or North Brookfield, if such should be in exist- 
 ence; but, otherwise, the town of West Brookfield 
 might appropriate the sum to any general educa- 
 tional purpose for the benefit of the town. 
 
 At a town-meeting, held April 15, 1876, the town 
 formally accepted the gift, and thanked Mr. Merriam 
 for his liberality. But his liberality had not reached 
 its limit. In 1880 he addressed the following letter 
 to the town, which, as a memorial of his enlightened 
 generosity, is made a part of this narrative : 
 
 Springfield, February 3, 18&0. 
 To the Town of West Brookfield : 
 
 It is, I believe, already known to many of your citizens tliat I have 
 formed the purpose of erecting within your limits a buildiug to be 
 used for a Free Public Library and Reading Room, and presenting it to 
 my native town. The site has already been purciiased, ou tlie so-called 
 Tainton lot, next west of the Town Hall, and the contract closed for 
 the erection of the building. It had been my intention to complete the 
 edifice, and then ask its acceptance by the town. But it is to be 
 fiuished next October, and there will then remain four or five months 
 before your usual town-meeting in the spring, and it seems proper and 
 desirable that the town should own the property before entering upon 
 its occupation. I understand there is no legal difficulty in making the 
 transfer, although the building itself is yet to be erected. 
 
 I therefore propose to the town to make a present formal and legal 
 transfer to it of the lot mentioned, with the Imildiug to be erected on 
 it, to be used perpetually as a free Public Reading Room and Library for 
 the town of West Brookfield. The town will maintjiin it as such un- 
 der any By-laws and regiiiations it may think proper to establish ; but 
 under such regulations it is to be free to all, with no fee or charge to 
 any citizen for admission to the privileges of the library and reading 
 room. The town shall keep the building 'constantly insured for sucli a 
 sum that, if destroyed, the town engages to replace it by another equally 
 convenient. It is not required that the same site should always be 
 used if a ch.ange becomes necessary or desirable. I am to be at liberty 
 to go ou and complete the building according to my plans. Three of 
 your own citizens — Dr. Blodgett, Mr. Fullam and Mr. Knowlton, have 
 been kind to act as an Advisory Committee in the matter, and can give 
 the town any desired information in regard to these plans. 
 
 From long observation I have come to feel strongly the undesirable- 
 ness of attaching any other than indispensable conditions to matters 
 looking far into the future, as unforeseen circumstances may greatly 
 change the conditions. I will not, therefore, add any to my donation 
 other than these I have mentioned. I would, however, recommend — 
 
 First, That the upper hall, which I intend shall be a large and con- 
 venient one, be not used, unless rarely and occasionally, for religious 
 worship, for the reason that the town is made up of different religious 
 denominations, and such use by one might awaken jealousy in others, 
 and I would like this buildiug and its pui-poses to be such as that all 
 shall feel in them a common interest. 
 
 Second, For similar reasons I would not use the hall for political pur- 
 poses, as caucuses and the like. 
 
 Third, For moral and religious considerations and as I now, judge for 
 
562 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTEK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 the best interests of the comnmnity, I would not open the library and 
 reading room for general use on the Sabbath. Nor, 
 
 Fourth, Let the hall for purposes of mere amusement and entertain- 
 ment, especially such as sorae may bonestly deem objectionable, as balls, 
 theatrical and minstrel performances, etc. 
 
 A general reason, perhaps in itself sufficient for not using the hall for 
 purposes I have mentioned, would be that all the citizens of the town 
 may be united in regard to its use. Then, too, tbe little sums to bo 
 obtained for rental for objects with regard to which there was a differ- 
 ence of opinion, would hardly compensate for the objections, and you 
 have other places available for these purposes and it would seem desira- 
 ble to keep the hall for uses somewhat in sympathy with the general 
 design of the building. There will be many of these, as lectures, 
 debates, scientific exhibitions, farmers' clubs, etc., wholly unobjectionable, 
 and tbe income from which will help towards making the library and 
 reading room selfsustaiuing. Yet if the town at any time think it expe- 
 dient to use the building for the foregoing or similar purposes, I would 
 not be understood as interposing any objection but that becoming the 
 property of the town the gift in these respects be absolute and unquali- 
 fied. 
 
 In case tbe donation, lapses from a failure of the conditions or tbe 
 town's declining or neglecting to use tbe building for the objects for 
 which it is given for any considerable period, the properly shall revert 
 to the same purposes as provided for the lapsing of the endowment of 
 $5,(100 given by me for a library fund in March or April, 1870. 
 
 Upon the town's passing a vote of acceptance of my proposition, re- 
 cording the vote on its records, placing my proposal on file and sending 
 me a certified copy of tbe vote, I will make out a deed of conveyance. 
 
 I have been prompted to make this proposition by a desire to do some- 
 thing for my native town, which shall be an expression of my gratitude 
 for the early educational advantages it afforded me, and at the same time 
 be of permanent benefit to its citizens, especially the young. I recall, 
 too, the value such an institution would have been to me in my own 
 early life, and entertain, I trust, a not improper wish to be jdeasantly 
 remembered by a good influence perpetuated. 
 
 I may be allowed to express the hope that the town will cherish the 
 institution as one in which all its citizens have an interest, and may find it 
 of lasting value. Such value will, of course, depend largely upon a wise 
 discretion being exercised in selecting and encouraging the reading of 
 books and periodicals, instructive and improving, as well as a due pro' 
 portion of those of a right character more especially designed for enter- 
 tainment, amusement and relaxation, 
 
 Chatiles QlEaRI&M. 
 
 At the annual town-meeting held April 5, 1880, the 
 gift of Mr. Merriam was formally accepted by the 
 town, and at a lown-meetiug held in October steps 
 were taken for the dedication of the building, which 
 took place on the evening of Friday, November 12th, 
 in the same year. On that occasion Homer B. Sprague, 
 of Boston, delivered the dedicatory address, and short 
 speeches were made by Rev. Mr. Gushing, William B. 
 Stone and L. H. Chambirlain. Letters were read 
 from Governor Daniel H. Chamberlain, a native of 
 West Brookfield, and from Mr. Merriam, the benefac- 
 tor, who was prevented by the infirmities of age from 
 being present. Mr. Merriam died at his residence in 
 Springfield, July 9, 1887. According to the report to 
 the town of the Library Committee ma^e for the year 
 ending February 29, 1888, the number of books in the 
 library, at that date, was 5754, and 11,231 had been 
 taken out during the year by 595 persons. During 
 that year the library was credited on the treasurer's 
 books with $200 income from the Merriam Fund, Dog 
 Fund $192.89, and appropriations amounting to .1300, 
 making a total of $()92 89. It may be proper to add, 
 in closing the sketch of the library, the items of Mr. 
 Merriam's various gifts, exclusive of one thousand 
 volumes of books presented by him in the earliest 
 stages of its career: 
 
 Cost of land 82,245 17 
 
 Cost of building 10,:iOO 00 
 
 Architect 600 00 
 
 Gas fixtures 310 00 
 
 Furnace 325 00 
 
 Furniture 1,001) 00 
 
 Cash for books 600 00 
 
 Endowment Fund of 1876 5,000 CO 
 
 Sundries 944 25 
 
 821,3-iO 42 
 
 The public schools of West Brookfield, as well as its 
 library, reflect credit on the town. According to the 
 liist report of the School Committee, for the sake of 
 convenience of description, the town is divided into 
 five districts, containing in all nine schools, with rolls 
 of 286 scholars, and an average attendance of 87 per 
 cent. In Distiict No. 1, there are five schools — a 
 grammar school with an average attendance of 24; 
 a first intermediate, with an average attendance of 26 ; 
 a primary, with an average attendance of 27; a pri- 
 mary, with an average attendance of 36; and another 
 primary, with an average attendance of 36. 
 
 The Second District school has an average attend- 
 ance of nineteen ; the Third District of nine, the 
 Fourth of seven, and the Fifth of five. The grammar 
 school teacher receives $50 per month ; the first 
 intermediate, $36 ; the first primary, $36 ; the second 
 primary, $32 ; the third primary, $32 ; Second District, 
 $28; Third District, $28; Fourth District, $24, and the 
 Fifth District, $24. The amount of money available 
 for the support of schools for the year was $3217.54, 
 of which the sum of $3,000 was appropriated by the 
 town, and the sum of $217.54 was received from the 
 State fund. The appropriations made by the town 
 for the various departments for the year ending at 
 the above date, February 29, 1888, were : 
 
 Schools J3()00 00 
 
 Roads and bridges 10(,0 00 
 
 Poor 600 00 
 
 Contingent Fund I20i) 00 
 
 Debt and interest 1000 00 
 
 Street lamps 300 CO 
 
 Common 100 00 
 
 Firemen 600 00 
 
 Memorial Day 50 00 
 
 Library .'iOO no 
 
 tS150 00 
 
 At the time of the incorporation of the town, in 
 1848, the ancient First Parish of Brookfield was the 
 only one within its borders. A meeting-house was 
 built in, or soon after, 1673, probably on Foster's 
 Hill, but was burned during King Philip's War. 
 It is probable that John Younglove and Thomas 
 Millet preached to the settlers during the short 
 time they remained on their grant. Mr. Younglove 
 wai at Quabaug, the Indian name of Brookfield 
 before the settlement, as early as 1667. After the 
 destruction of the settlement he removed to Hadley, 
 where he taught school. In 1681 he is mentioned as 
 living in Suliield, .ind there he died June 3, 1690. 
 Thomas Millet seems to have succeeded Mr. Young- 
 love and died early in 1676, before Philip's War was 
 
WEST BEOOKFIELD. 
 
 563 
 
 over. It is not probable that either Mr. Younglove 
 or he were ordained ministers. After the resettle- 
 ment of Brookfield, in 1686, it is not believed that any 
 meeting-house was built until 1715. Religious ser- 
 vicei had probably been held in the garrison on Fos- 
 ter's Hill, and the preacher seems to have been styled 
 chaplain, and to have been appointed by the govern- 
 ment of the Province, with an annual allowance 
 towar Is his salary from the Province treasury. On 
 the 22d of November, 1715, the inhabitants agreed to 
 build a meeting-house, which was erected on Foster's 
 Hill, about half a mile southeast of the first meeting- 
 house. On the 16th of October, 1717, it was so far 
 completed that it was used on that day for the ordi- 
 nation of Rev. Thomas Cheney, who had accepted 
 an invitation to settle as pastor. On that day the 
 First Church of Brookfield was formally organized, 
 and a church covenant signed, which may be found 
 in a more detailed history of the church, in the his- 
 tory of Brookfield in these volumes. At the ordina- 
 tion of Mr. Cheney, Rev. Solomon Stoddard, of 
 Northampton, preached the sermon. Mr. Cheney 
 was born in Roxbury in 1G90, and graduated at Har- 
 vard in 1711. He died December 11, 1747, and his 
 grave is at Brookfield. Rev. Elisha Harding, a Har- 
 vard graduate in 1745, succeeded Mr. Cheney, and 
 was ordained September 13, 1749, on which occasion 
 Rev. Nathan Bucknam, of Medway, preached the 
 sermon. During his ministry the Second Precinct 
 (now North Brookfield) was incorporated, March 28, 
 1750, and the Third Precinct (now Brookfield) Novem- 
 ber 8, 1754. 
 
 In 1755 the First Church built a new meeting- 
 house and abandoned the old house on Foster's Hill. 
 It was voted, January 22d, in that year, " to build a 
 meeting-house for public worship at the turning of 
 the county rode, near the northeast corner of a plowed 
 field, belonging to John Barns, being on the plain in 
 said First Precinct." It was also voted that the 
 house should be built " with timber and wood," and 
 be forty-five feet in length and thirty-five feet in 
 width. The location of this church was near that of 
 the present Congregational Church, on the west side 
 of the Common. 
 
 On the Sth of the following May Mr. Harding was 
 dismissed, and on the 1st of February, 1757, Rev. 
 Nehemiah Strong, of Hadley, was chosen pastor, but 
 declined. Rev. Joseph Parsons, Jr., son of Rev. 
 Joseph Parsons, of Bradford, and a graduate of Har- 
 vard in the class of 1752, was then engaged, and was 
 ordained November 23, 1757. At his ordination 
 Rev. Joseph Parsons, of Bradford, Rev. David White, 
 of Hardwick, Rev. Joshua Eaton, of Spencer, Rev. 
 John Tucker, of Newbury, and Rev. Isaac Jones, of 
 Western (now Warren), took part in the services. He 
 continued in his pastorate until his death, January 
 17, 1771, at the age of thirty-eight years. 
 
 Rev. Ephraim Ward, born in Newton in 1741, and 
 a Harvard graduate in the class of 1763, followed Mr. 
 
 Parsons and was ordained October 23, 1771, serving 
 until his death, February 9, 1818. Dr. Lyman 
 Whiting, in his address on the two hundredth anni- 
 versary of the settlement of Brookfield, said of him 
 that " he was esteemed throughout his pastorate, 
 which was little short of forty-seven years, as the ur- 
 bane Christian scholar, illustrating the graces of the 
 village pastor, so admirably pictured by the godly 
 Herbert : 
 
 As a tender father 
 
 Dotb teach and rule the church and is obeyed. 
 
 And reverenced by it, so much the rather. 
 
 By how much he delighted more to lead 
 
 All by bis own example in the way, 
 
 Than punish any when they go astray." 
 
 At his ordination Rev. Jason Haven, of Dedham, 
 preached the sermon, and the churches of Western, 
 Ware, Spencer, Sturbridge, Newton, Weston, Walt- 
 ham and Dedham were represented. 
 
 On the 23d of October, 1816, Rev. Eliakim Phelps, 
 a native of Belchertown and born March 20, 1790, 
 was settled as the colleague of Mr. Ward, and at his 
 ordination Rev. Jedediah Morse, of Charlestown, the 
 distinguished geographer, preached the sermon. In 
 1818, on the death of Mr. Ward, he became his suc- 
 cessor in the pastorate. He was a graduate, in 1814, 
 of Union College, of Schenectady, and received the 
 degree of Doctor of Divinity from his alma mater in 
 1842. On the 25th of October, 1826, he was released 
 from his charge to assume the preceptorship of a 
 " Classical Female School," which at one time flour- 
 ished in West Brookfield. At a later date he was the 
 principal of the Female Seminary at Pittsfield, and 
 in 1860, at the time of the Bi-Centennial Celebration, 
 he was living in Philadelphia, and was present and 
 spoke on that occasion. 
 
 On the day of the release of Dr. Phelps from the 
 church. Rev. Joseph I. Foote, also a graduate of 
 Union College, was installed, and was dismissed May 
 1, 1832. Mr. Foote was born in Watertown, Conn., 
 November 17, 1796, and graduated at Union College 
 in 1821. At his ordination Rev. Herman Humphrey, 
 president of Amherst College, preached the sermon. 
 In 1833 he had a pastorate in Salina, N. Y. ; in 1835 
 in Cortland, N. Y. ; in 1839 in Knoxville, Tenn. ; and 
 in the latteryear was chosen president of Washington 
 College, in Tennessee, but died April 21, 1840, before 
 his inauguration. 
 
 Rev. Francis Horton, a graduate of Brown Uni- 
 versity in 1826, was installed August 15, 1832, on 
 which occasion Rev. Thomas Snell, of North Brook- 
 field, preached the sermon. He was dismissed Sep- 
 tember 15, 1841, and succeeded by Rev. Moses Chase, 
 who was settled January 12, 1842, and dismissed Oc- 
 tober 28, 1842. 
 
 Rev. Leonard S. Parker, born in Dunbarton, N. H., 
 December 6, 1812, and a graduate of Oberlin Colle- 
 giate Institute, was installed December 19, 1844, and 
 dismissed April 7, 1851. At his installation Rev. 
 Thomas Snell preached the sermon. 
 
564 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Eev. Swift Byington succeeded November 7, 1852, 
 and served until his resignation, November 1, 1858. 
 At his ordination Rev. Henry M. Dexter, now living 
 in New Bedford, preached the sermon. Mr. Byington 
 was born in Bristol, Conn., February 4, 1824, and 
 graduated at Yale in 1847. 
 
 Rev. Christopher M. Cordley, born in Oxford, Eng- 
 land, January 2, 1821, was settled June 28, 1859, and 
 continued in the pastorate until June 23, 1862. 
 
 Rev. Samuel Dunham, a Yale graduate in 1860, was 
 ordained October 4, 1864, and dismissed October 27, 
 1870. At his ordination Rev. E. C. Jones, of South- 
 ampton, Conn., preached the sermon. 
 
 Rev. Richard B. Bull was installed March 12, 1871, 
 and dismissed July 6, 1874. The pulpit has since 
 been supplied by Rev. S. C. Kendall, Rev. Mr. Steb- 
 bens. Rev. Frederick Allen, Rev. E. S. Gould and the 
 present acting pastor, Rev. Thomas E. Babb. 
 
 Among the prominent members of this church 
 have been Henry Gilbert, his son, John Gilbert, 
 Joshua Dodge, Joseph Jennings, Comfort Barnes, 
 John Cutler, Jedediah Foster, Thaddeus Cutler, 
 Othniel Gilbert, Thomas Rich, Joseph Cutler, Levi 
 Gilbert, Samuel Barnes, John Ross, Nathan Buck- 
 nam Ellis, John Wood, Josiah Gary, Alfred White, 
 William Spooner, Reuben Blair, Jr., Jairus Abbott, 
 Josiah Henshaw, Baxter Ellis, Jacob Dukes, Liberty 
 Sampson, Solomon L. Barnes, Moses Hall, Samuel 
 Newell White, Enos Gilbert, Nathaniel Lynde, 
 Ebenezer B. Lynde, Avery Keep, John M. Fales, 
 Raymond Cummings, Adolphus Hamilton, Wm. B. 
 Stone, George Merriam, S. D. Livermore, A. C. 
 Gleason, Edward T. Stowell, Warren A. Blair and 
 others too numerous to mention. This list includes 
 nearly all the deacons of the church since its organi- 
 zation and some laymen of later years. 
 
 On the 29th of October, 1792, it was voted to build 
 a new meeting-house on the land given to the pre- 
 cinct by Lieutenant John Barnes for that purpose, 
 and its dedication occurred November 10, 1795, on 
 which occasion Rev. Enos Hitchcock, of Providence, 
 preached the sermon. A bell was hung in its tower 
 in 1799, and in 1838 it was remodeled and turned 
 round to a right angle with its former site and re- 
 dedicated January 1, 1839. Rev. Hubbard Winslow, 
 of Boston, preached the dedicatory sermon. In 1855 
 the present bell was hung, and in 1856 a new organ 
 replaced an old one which had been in. use since 1826. 
 
 The old meeting-house was removed to another lot 
 and for a time devoted to town and parish purposes. 
 In 1809 it was sold by auction for one hundred and 
 eighty-six pounds. The last meeting-house mentioned 
 was burned February 28, 1881, and, having been re- 
 built on the same site, was dedicated September 15, 
 1882. 
 
 The first burial-ground, probably, in consequence 
 of the hard clay found near the old meeting-house on 
 Foster's Hill, was located in the fields about one hun- 
 dred rods distant from the meeting-house, and re- 
 
 mains of the old grave-stones have been found 
 sufficiently preserved to mark the spot. At a later 
 day a second burial-ground was laid out in the west- 
 erly jiart of what is now West Brookfield, and at a 
 still later day a third one was laid out neartr the 
 village. 
 
 A Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 
 October, 1851, and purchasing a meeting-house in 
 Templeton, removed it to West Brookfield, where it 
 has since been used as a place of worship. Rev. Mr. 
 Winslow was its first pastor and he has been followed 
 by Rev. Mr. Clark, Rev. Alpheus Nichols, Rev. J. S. 
 Barrows, Rev. G. H. W. Clark, Rev. William Black- 
 man, Rev. Mr. Miller and others. 
 
 A Catholic Society was organized a few years since, 
 but has neither church nor pastor. Its services are 
 held in the town-hall under the ministrations of 
 Father Grace, of Brookfield. 
 
 The business of Brookfield is moderately large, but 
 not sufficient to indicate any considerable immediate 
 growth. The boot and shoe establishments are those 
 of Mcintosh & Co., employing about fifty hands; M. 
 J. Savage & Co., employing about thirty ; George H. 
 Fales, about fifty ; J. T. Wood & Co., about fifty, and 
 Allen & Makepeace, employing a somewhat smaller 
 number. Besides these industries there is a con- 
 densed milk factory carried on by W. K. Lewis' Bros. 
 & Co., and a branch of the Bay State Corset Company 
 having its main establishment in Springfield. The 
 farming interests of the town are considerable, and 
 its product of butter and cheese for distant markets is 
 by no means insignificant. The town is well situated 
 on the line of the Boston & Albany Railroad, about 
 midway between ^Vorceste^ and Springfield and ac- 
 cessible by express and other trains in about two 
 hours from Boston. It is laid out with wide and 
 pleasant streets, and though bleak in winter is fiinned 
 in the heat of summer by airs from Long and Coy's 
 and Foster's Hills, and across the meadows of the 
 Quabaug. An attractive Common ornaments the 
 central village, graced by a fountain presented by 
 George M. Rice, of Worcester, and surrounded by a 
 fence, the gift of Hon. J. Henry Stickney, of Balti- 
 more, a grandson of Rev. Ephraim Ward, who gave 
 the town thirty-five hundred dollars for the purpose. 
 Few towns can be found along the hill-sides and in 
 the valleys of Ma.ssachusetts presenting greater at- 
 tractions to those who seek relaxation from the toils 
 of business or the invigorating influences of a pure 
 and healthy clime. 
 
 The Common above referred to was the gift of 
 David Hitchcock, who, November 7, 1791, "granted 
 and quit-claimed to the first parish in Brookfield a 
 certain tract of land in said parish, containing three 
 acres, more or less, to be held by said parish in its 
 corporate capacity forever; provided said tract shall 
 never be sold to any individual or individuals, 
 but shall always remain open as a common for public 
 use." 
 
WEST BROOKFIELD. 
 
 565 
 
 J. Henry Stickney, of Baltimore, through whose 
 liberality the Common was graded and fenced, is a 
 native of West Brookfield. He belongs to a branch 
 of the Stickney family which settled in Essex County 
 in the first half of the seventeenth century, and 
 which had its estates in the town of Stickney, in 
 England. Thomas Stickney, the grandfather of the 
 benefactor, removed from Boston to Leicester and 
 occupied an estate which makes one of the illustra- 
 tions in the history of that town by Emory Wash- 
 burn. His son Thomas removed to West Brook- 
 field and married a daughter of Rev. Ephraim Ward, 
 already mentioned as a pastor of the First Church. 
 Mr. Ward was a cousin of General Artemas Ward, 
 of the Revolution, and his wife was Mary Colman, 
 of Boston, a relative of Rev. Benjamin Colman, of 
 the Brattle Street Church. J. Henry Stickney was a 
 son of the last-mentioned Thomas and was born in 
 the parsonage house facing the Common. At the age 
 of nine or ten years he went to Worcester, where his 
 father had at one time lived, and from there went to 
 Hopkins Academy in Hadley, where he closed his 
 school-days. After leaving Hadley he entered the 
 hardware store of Jlontgomery Newell, of Boston, as 
 an apprentice, receiving a compensation of fifty dol- 
 lars a year. At the age of twenty-two years he went 
 to New York, where he spent a year and then joined 
 some relatives in Baltimore, where he was employed 
 for a term by his uncle, Benjamin Colman, who was 
 at one time a partner of Nathan Appleton in Boston. 
 In November, 1834, he began what was a new busi- 
 ness in Baltimore, the American hardware business, 
 and became the agent in that city for a large part of 
 the manufacturers of the country. He had accounts 
 in nearly every State in the Union, and by his exact 
 methods and rigid integrity commanded the confi- 
 dence of the business community. Having acquired 
 a competence, he retired from active business pursuits 
 and is now living at his home in Baltimore at a 
 somewhat advanced age, but with a health and vigor 
 of body and mind which enables him to gratify and 
 enjoy the refined tastes in literature and art which in 
 his busy life he has not failed to cultivate. He is a 
 lover of the past and its representative men, and to 
 the pursuits of an antiquary he has devoted time and 
 money, to the satisfaction besides himself of others 
 who were less able to follow them with success. The 
 towns of Plymouth and Topsfleld and Duxbury and 
 West Brookfield have cause to remember his liberality 
 long after the hand which has dispensed it shall have 
 lost its power to give. 
 
 The town has two hotels, a commodious town-house, 
 built in I860, a savings bank, incorporated in 1872, a 
 Fire Department with steam apparatus and an abund- 
 ance of water, supplied by aqueducts from copious 
 springs on the slopes of neighboring hills. In earlier 
 times two newspapers were published in the town, but, 
 as in many other New England communities, the fa- 
 cility and cheapness with which the metropolitan press 
 
 furnishes everywhere its supplies have rendered the 
 local press both unprofitable and unnecessary. The 
 Moral and Political Telegraph or Brooifield Advertiser, 
 published by Thomas & Waldo, and the Political 
 Repository and Farmer's Journal, by E. Merriam & Co., 
 are scarcely remembered by any now living. 
 
 The population of the town, which from the date of 
 its incorporation until 1880 had slowly, but gradually, 
 increased, was found in 1885, in consequence of the 
 destruction of one of the shoe establishments of the 
 place, to have fallen off nearly two hundred. There 
 is no reason, however, to doubt that from this new 
 starting-point another gradual increase will set in. The 
 population at each census since the incorporation has 
 been as follows : 1850, 1.344; 1855, 1.364; 1860, 1548; 
 1865, 1549; 1870, 1842 ; 1875, 1903 ; 1880, 1917; 1885, 
 1747. 
 
 Some of the distinguished men who, in earlier times, 
 were born or lived within the limits of the town have 
 been referred to in the history of Brookfield accom- 
 panying this sketch. Most of those who in later years 
 have been conspicuous in the various walks of life 
 have served the town in responsible offices, and have 
 been referred to in the lists presented on earlier pages 
 of this narrative. 
 
 It would be improper, however, even at the risk of 
 repetition, to omit particular reference to a few of the 
 men who have given West Brookfield distinction in 
 the past. General Joseph Dwight, a graduate of Har- 
 vard in 1722, who lived in the town for a time; Joshua 
 Upham, a distinguished Loyalist, a graduate of Har- 
 vard in 1763, who became a judge of the Supreme 
 Court in New Brunswick ; Jabez Upham, a Represent- 
 ative in Congress ; Jedediah Foster, a graduate of 
 Harvard in 1744, who became judge of Probate and 
 member of the convention for framing the State Con- 
 stitution ; Dwight Foster, a graduate of Brown Uni- 
 versity in 1774, who became Senator of the United 
 States, and others of equal or less reputation served to 
 give to West Brookfield, or Brookfield, as it then was, 
 a standing in the councils of the Province and State 
 of which few towns in Massachusetts could boast. 
 
 Among those who have obtained distinction in 
 broader fields of labor than were open to them at 
 home may be mentioned Charles Merriam, of Spring- 
 field, already referred to as a benefactor of the town ; 
 Daniel H. Chamberlain, a graduate of Yale College, 
 and the distinguished ex-Governor of South Carolina; 
 Rev. Leander T. Chamberlain, of Norwich, Conn.; 
 Rev. Enos Hitchcock, of Providence; Rev. Caleb 
 Sprague Henry, the well-known professor and author ; 
 Lucy Stone Blackwell and Rev. Austin Phelps. 
 
 Lucy Stone was descended from Francis Stone, 
 who lived before 1742 in that part of New Braintree 
 which was annexed to North Brookfield in 1854. 
 Francis Stone, son of Francis, was born in 1742. He 
 was with his father in the French wars, and his father 
 was killed at Quebec under Gen. Wolfe in 1759. 
 Francis, the son, was a captain in the Revolution, and 
 
566 
 
 HISTOEY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 one of the leaders in Shays' Rebellion. After the dis- 
 persion of the insurgents at Petersham in February, 
 1787, he fled to Vermont, where he remained until the 
 decree of amnesty jiermitled him to return. He mar- 
 ried, September 11, 17G0, Martha, daughter of Abel 
 Chase, of Sutton, and second, in June, 1777, Sarah 
 Witt. Her children were Amy, Sally, (who married 
 Hugh Barr, of New Braintree), Luther, Jonathan, Cal- 
 vin and Francis. Francis, the last-named of these 
 children, born November 9, 1779, lived on Coy's Hill, 
 in West Brooktield. He married, March 27, 1804, 
 Hannah Matthews, and had Bowman, 1805; Francis, 
 1807 ; Elizabeth Matthews, 1808 ; Wm. Bowman, 1811 ; 
 Luther, 1813; Rhoda, 1814; Luther again, 1816; Lucy, 
 1818 ; and Sarah Witt, 1821. Lucy was born August 
 13, 1818, and graduated at Oberlin College. She 
 early attached herself to the anti-slavery cause and 
 to the advocacy of woman's rights, in which she dis- 
 tinguished herself as a forcible and eloquent speaker. 
 She was married in 1855 to Henry B. Blackwell, but 
 is usually called by her maiden name. 
 
 Austin Phelps, the son of Rev. Eliakim and Sarah 
 (Adams) Phelps and grandson of Deacon Eliakim and 
 Margaret (Coombs) Phelps, was born in West Brook- 
 field Jan. 7, 1820, and graduated at the University of 
 Pennsylvania in 1837. He was ordained pastor of 
 the Pine Street Congregational Church in Boston in 
 1842, and in 1848 was appointed Bartlett proffssor of 
 sacred rhetoric in Andover Theological Seminary. 
 He married, in 1842, Eiizalieth, daughter of Professor 
 Moses Stuart, who is well known as the ailthor of 
 "The Sunny Side," and other works. Their daughter, 
 Elizabeth Stuart Phelpa, is better known than her 
 mother as the author of "Gates Ajar,'' and other 
 works too numerous to mention. 
 
 With the mention of these distinguished sons and 
 daughters of West Brookfield this imperfect sketch 
 must close. The reader who would learn more of 
 the early history of the settlement of Quabaug and 
 of the three towns into which its territory has been 
 finally divided, is referred to the able and exhaustive 
 history of North Brookfield, written by J. H. Temple, 
 and published by that town in 1887. 
 
 BIOGR.\PHICAL. 
 
 JOHN M. FALES. 
 
 In the middle of the seventh century James Fales 
 came from Chester, England, and settled in Dedham. 
 His children were James, John, Mary, Peter, Hannah, 
 Martha, Rachel and Ebenezer. John Fales, one of 
 these children, had Hannah, Martha, Rachel, Ebene- 
 zer, John,' Joseph and Mary. .John, one of these chil- 
 dren, had a son Daniel. Daniel Fales married Sally 
 Pratt, of Sherburne, and had Leander, Mary Ann, El- 
 mira L., John M., Charles, Martha S., Sarah E. and 
 Daniel H. Leander lived in Shrewsbury; Mary Ann 
 
 married a Parker, and lived in Holliston; Elmira L. 
 married a Lincoln, and lived in Brookfield; Charles 
 lived in Brookfield; Martha S. lived, unmarried, in 
 Shrewsbury; Sarah E. married a Flagg, and lived in 
 Westboro'; and Daniel H. married a Thurston, and 
 lived in Brookfield. 
 
 John M. Fales, the subject of this sketch, \vas born 
 in Shrewsbury August 25, 1805, and married Mary S. 
 Trask, of Leicester, May 12, 1831, by whom he had 
 Ann Eliza, who married Dr. J. Blodgett, now of West 
 Newton; George Henry, who married Laurinda T. 
 Tomblin, daughter of Lucius Tomblin, of West Brook- 
 field; John, who died at the early age of twelve years; | 
 Leander, who died at the age of seven-teen years; ' 
 Francis Theodore, who married Esther Grifiin, of 
 Enfield; and Mary, who died in infancy. From 
 James Fales came the Fales families of Holden, 
 Troy, Bristol, Taunton, Foxboro' and Milford. The 
 Fales family was a very prolific one, David, of the 
 third generation, the son of the second James, having 
 had twenty-four children, and more than fifty of the 
 descendants of the first James having had ten. 
 
 John M. Fales attended school in Shrewsbury, and 
 afterwards went to Dedham, where he learned the 
 trade of making shoes. The trade he learned included 
 all the branches of the trade, and it is said that the 
 first pair of shoes he ever wore he made himself 
 About the year 1831 he went to Brookfield and there 
 opened a custom boot and shoe shop. After a short 
 time his success in business warranted the initiation 
 of a new enterprise, and with good business qualities 
 and ample experience he entered into the wholesale 
 manufacture of boots and shoes. In this business he 
 was the pioneer in Brookfield, and before his death, 
 which occurred in 1867, he established a large trade, 
 in which he employed about one hundred and seventy- 
 five hands. Before the war his business, like that of 
 other shoe manufacturers, was largely at the South, 
 but his adherence to principle saved him when the 
 war broke out from those serious losses which many 
 less conscientious than himself incurred. 
 
 In 1860, at a time when dealers at the South boy- 
 cotted Northern manufacturers who advocated meas- 
 ures opposed to the extension of slavery into the Terri- 
 tories, he was asked, in a letter from S. Kirtland, one of 
 his customers in Montgomery, Alabama, if he intended 
 to advocate the Republican cause. To this letter he 
 made the following answer: 
 
 '^\^^:sT Brookfield, March 10, 1860. 
 
 Ma. S. KlBTLAMD, 
 
 Dear Sir, — 
 
 Tours of the 3"* inbt. is received, neliirg bij" views in relation 
 to the Republican pai'ty, and saying, if I endorsed their principles, you 
 should not trade vvitli me. In reply I v^ould fay tluit I sell lioots. not 
 principles. I shall vote the coming Fall, if I am alive and well, lur the 
 nonnnee of the Itepublican party for pre(^iclent, and if you see fit to give 
 nie your orders, I shall lie pleased to fill thini, hut not under any con- 
 sideration will I sellniy jirinciples tosell hoots. H 
 Yours Respectfully, John M. Fales. " 
 
 During the war he was successful in securing army 
 contracts, and these he filled with a promptness and 
 
^^^s^ 
 
 / 
 
« 
 
#/? 
 
 <^^^i 
 
 •^ 
 
WEST BKOOKFIELD. 
 
 567 
 
 fidelity which did not always characterize negotia- 
 tions with the government. After the war his busi- 
 ness was largely in the West, and his orders were re- 
 ceived directly at the factory and filled without the 
 intervention of middle-men in Boston or elsewhere. 
 
 Mr. Fales, at the time of his death, which occurred 
 October 27, 1867, was a member in full standing of 
 the Orthodox Congregational Church in West Brook- 
 field, and made its interests and prosperity his chief 
 concern. He was an active member of the Repub- 
 lican party, and as its candidate represented his 
 native town in the House of Representatives in 1847, 
 and his Representative district, composed of Warren, 
 West Brookfield and New Braintree, in 18G4. 
 
 Mr. Fales was a man of indomitable courage, firm 
 will, strict integrity and judicious benevolence. He 
 sought no public station, and attended with thorough 
 devotion to the demands of his business, but whenever 
 appealed to in the interests of the community in which 
 he lived, was lavish in the use of time and money to de- 
 velop and promote them. George H. Fales, the son of 
 John M. Fales, was appointed town tre.-tsurer of West 
 Brookfield in May, 1887, on the death of E. H. C. 
 Blair, and was chosen to that office by the town at its 
 annual meeting in 1888. Mr. George H. Fales car- 
 ries on the business of the manufacture of shoes at 
 the factory occupied by his father, and is a successful 
 business man and an esteemed citizen. 
 
 EBENEZER B. LYNDE. 
 
 The subject of this sketch is descended from Enoch 
 Lynde, a merchant of London, who married Eliza- 
 beth Digby and died in London in April, 1636. Enoch 
 had three children, two of whom died in infancy. 
 Simon, the surviving child, born in London in June, 
 1624, followed the occupation of his father and 
 finally, after carrying on business for a time in Hol- 
 land, came to New England in 1650 and settled as a 
 merchant in Boston, where he married, in February, 
 1652, Hannah Newgate. He had seven children, one 
 of whom, the seventh child, Benjamin, became chief 
 justice of the Superior Court of Judicature, and had 
 a son bearing his name, who was elevated to a seat 
 on the same bench. Simon Lynde was made a justice 
 for the county of Suffolk and died November 22, 
 1689, at the age of sixty-five years. Hannah, the 
 wife of Simon, daughter of John Newgate, by his 
 last wife, Ann, born June 28, 1635, died December 
 20, 1684. John Newgate, her father, was born in 
 South wark near the bridge in 1580, and came to New 
 England. He had three wives. By the first two he 
 had Sarah, who married Capt. Peter Oliver, and 
 another daughter, who married .Tohn Oliver. By his 
 last wife, Ann, he had, besides Hannah, Nathaniel, 
 who married a daughter of Sir John Lewis and left 
 Capt. Nathaniel Newgate his heir. John Newgate 
 died September 4, 1665, at the age of sixty-five years. 
 Ann Newgate died in 1679, at the age of eighty-four 
 
 years. Nathaniel Lynde, son of Simon, took with 
 him to Saybrook the old parchment containing the 
 family record and family arms, which is still in the 
 possession of the branch of the family to which the 
 subject of this sketch belongs. Nathaniel Lynde, 
 the fourth son of Simon and brother of Benjamin, 
 was born in Boston, November 22, 1659, and became 
 a merchant. He removed to Saybrook, Conn., and 
 married, in 1683, Susanna, daughter of Governor 
 Willoughby. He was a man of undoubtedly large 
 means for the times and held a prominent po.si- 
 tion in the government of the Province. He was 
 one of the early benefactors of Yale College, having 
 given a house and land for the foundation of a col- 
 lege at Saybrook, which afterwards was absorbed by 
 the institution at New Haven. 
 
 Nathaniel Lynde had eight children, all of whom 
 but Samuel were girls and died in infancy.'^'^amuel 
 Lynde was born at Saybrook in October, 1689, and 
 educated at Yale. He was first justice of the peace 
 and member of the Council for the county of New 
 London and married Rebecca Clark. The preci.se 
 location of the residence of the Lynde family at 
 Saybrook was at what is still called Lynde's Point, 
 at the mouth of the Connecticut River. 
 
 Samuel Lynde had three children, two of whom died 
 in infancy. The third child, Willoughby Lynde, was 
 born at Saybrook in 1711, and also educated at Yale. 
 He married, November 19, 1736, Margaret Corey, and 
 had one child, Samuel, who was born at Saybrook 
 October 14, 1737. Samuel was also educated at Yale, 
 and married, in July, 1758, Phebe Waterhouse. He 
 also lived in Saybrook and had nine children, the last 
 of whom was Nathaniel, who was born at Saybrook 
 May 18, 1784. Nathaniel removed to that part of 
 Brookfield which is now West Brookfield in 1805, 
 and following the occupation of a farmer, soon became, 
 as he continued to be until his death, a large owner of 
 land. He married, July 15, 1806, Sally, daughter of 
 Caleb Hitchcock, and died February 25, 1865. At 
 the organization of the town, in 1848, he was one of a 
 committee of three appointed to ascertain the finan- 
 cial condition of the town and report recommenda- 
 tions for appropriations. His judgment was largely re- 
 lied upon in placing the new town on a sound financial 
 basis. In 1858, on the occasion of the celebration by 
 the three towns, Brookfield, North Brookfield and 
 West Brookfield, of the anniversary of the Declara- 
 tion of Independence, and in 1860, on the occasion 
 of the bi-centennial celebration of the settlement of 
 Brookfield, he was one of the committee of arrange- 
 ments. The children of Nathaniel and Sally (Hitch- 
 cock) Lynde were Caleb Hitchcock, who died early; 
 Mary Pemberton, who married Elijah Albord, of 
 West Brookfield, afterwards president of the North- 
 western Stage Company, and living in Indianapolis 
 and Washington City ; Samuel Willoughby, living in 
 Richmond, Indiana; William Waterhouse, who die 1 
 in Cincinnati ; Sarah, who married James Van Uxum 
 
568 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 and died in Richmond, Indiana ; Henry, living in 
 
 Greggsville, Illinois; Elizabeth Allen, who married 
 Charles Woodward, living in Cincinnati; and Na- 
 thaniel, who died young. 
 
 BIr. Lynde married a second wife, Eunice Phelps, 
 daughter of Ebeuezer Bissell, of Windsor, Conn., and 
 had Ebenezer Bissell ; Eunice Phelps, who married 
 James M. Diirkee, of Pittsfield ; Ellen Augusta, who 
 married Horace White, of Boston ; and Albert, who 
 died young. 
 
 Ebenezer Bissell, one of these children and the sub- 
 ject of this sketch, was born in West Brookfield Au- 
 gust 31, 1823, and was educated in the public schools 
 of his native town and at the Leicester Academy. 
 Like his father, he is an extensive owner of real estate 
 and the occupation of farming, which came to him 
 by inheritance, he has pursued with energy and suc- 
 cess. He married, January 23, 1850, Minerva Jane, 
 daughter of Joseph L. White, a successful manufac- 
 turer in North Adams, and has had the following 
 children : Augusta, who was born July 28, 1851, and 
 died February 5, 1852 ; Annie Dewey, who was 
 born January 12, 1854, and died October 21,1854; 
 Herbert Bissell, who was born January 15, 1857, and 
 is now living in West Brookfield unmarried ; Nathan- 
 iel White, who was born .Tanuary 4, 1859, and, after 
 graduating at the Yale Scientific School and the Col- 
 lege of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, be- 
 came, as he now is, physician at the Inebriate Asy- 
 lum at Fort Hamilton, New York ; Mary Finney, the 
 youngest child, born November 4, 18G8, who is now 
 pursuing a course of instruction at the Wheaton Semi- 
 nary in Norton. 
 
 Mr. Lynde early won a prominent position in his 
 native town and has always continued to occupy it. 
 Though at all times reluctant to assume public office, 
 his clear head and sound judgment, combined with a 
 strong will and an unusual executive ability, have 
 often been sought by his fellow-citizens, and, when 
 sought, they have been freely and willingly lent. He 
 has served on the Board of Selectmen and as modera- 
 tor of town-meetings, and in various ways he has 
 brought his active influence to bear in the promotion 
 of the interests and welfare of the town. As a gen- 
 eral adviser and friend, as a promoter of peace and 
 good-will, as the earnest advocate of philanthropic, 
 educational and religious enterprises, in a word, cov- 
 ering all, as a kind neighbor and good citizen, he oc 
 cupies a place which every man should be proud to 
 fill. The affection and esteem in which he is held by 
 the community at large he possesses also in the nar- 
 rower field of the Congregational Church, of which he 
 is a member. To his energy and fidelity much of its 
 prosperity is due, and to his business foresight may 
 properly be attributed the insurance of its meeting- 
 house, burned in 1881, without which the injury in- 
 flicted upon the society would have been well-nigh ir- 
 reparable. But the reputation of Mr. Lynde has not 
 been confined to his church or town. Beyond their 
 
 borders his influence has been felt and his usefulness 
 acknowledged. In 1877 and 1878 he represented his 
 district in the Massachusetts Senate, and the position 
 there sought by him as a member of the Committee 
 on Agriculture enabled him to do something to ad- 
 vance and promote the welfare of the farming inter- 
 ests of the State, to which, during his life, he had 
 been actively and intelligently devoted. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXII. 
 
 PAXTON. 
 
 BY LEUYARD BILL. ' 
 
 If lines were drawn diagonally across the Com- 
 monwealth, from and to each of its four corners, the 
 point of crossing would be within, or nearly so, the 
 borders of the little town of Paxton ; hence it might 
 be truly said, speaking geographically, that this town 
 is the " axis " of the State, and that the high point of 
 land known as Asnebumskit Mountain is the " hub " 
 itself; thus may the least of towns aspire to rival, in 
 some senses, the greatest ! 
 
 This town lies about fifty-five miles west of Boston, 
 and some seven miles from the city of Worcester, and 
 is bounded and described as follows, namely: On the 
 north by Rutland, on the east by Holdeu and Worces- 
 ter, on the south by Leicester, and on the west by 
 Spencer and Oakham. The town is situated upon 
 high and rugged lands, and belongs to that class of 
 towns known as the " hill towns " of the State. The 
 general elevation above tide-water would not be very 
 far from eleven hundred feet; indeed, the village 
 " common " is, to be tolerably exact, eleven hundred 
 and thirty -five feet above the sea, while the southern- 
 most spur of the White Mountain range, Asnebum- 
 skit, is about fourteen hundred feet above water level, 
 and is, with the exception of Mount Wachusett, the 
 highest land lying east of the Connecticut River. 
 The land surface is not so broken and irregular as 
 might be inferred from its considerable elevation, but 
 is rather a succession of rounded hills on which are 
 situated some of the best of farming lands and farms, 
 and again the valleys stretch away, here and there, 
 into level tracts both fertile and pleasant, and between 
 the hills and valleys of this town are found many 
 thrifty homes and a comparatively contented popula- 
 tion. 
 
 This town does not rank among the ancient corpo- 
 rations, but yet it has passed its first century, and 
 may be said to have seen "generations come and go." 
 The reasons which moved the early settlers to ask to 
 be incorporated were various, but chief among those 
 they gave in their petition was " the great difficulties 
 
 ^ Copyright applied for and all righto reserved. 
 
PAXTON. 
 
 5G9 
 
 they labored under in attending public worship, in 
 consequence of the great distance they were from its 
 places in the towns to which they belong." The fore- 
 going petition was presented to the Legislature in 
 1701, and was unsuccessful, as nearly every petition 
 of this nature is apt to be on its first presentation. 
 
 The people thus petitioning for a separate munici- 
 pality were citizens of Leicester and Rutland, and the 
 tract of land desired by the petitioners was that por- 
 tion of the two towns lying contiguous, viz. : the 
 southern part of Rutland and the northern portion of 
 Leicester, making a tract of about four miles square. 
 They comiilained in their fir.-t petition and subsequent 
 appeals to the General Court that the distance to 
 places of worship was great, and doubtless the same 
 reason held good when it came to the transaction of 
 the business of the two towns, since the centre of each 
 of these towns was full five miles distant, and we can 
 well imagine the condition of the highways in those 
 early days, when the best were but very indifferent 
 roads, while the side-ways were mere bridle-paths, 
 making it quite a task in the inclement season to 
 perform those public duties incumbent upon them. 
 
 The inhabitants, however, had the merit of per- 
 sistency, and the following year they again petitioned 
 and were again rejected; but nothing daunted, they 
 still worked for the accomplishment of their final pur- 
 pose ; so in 1763, feeling, doubtless, the inconvenience 
 of their position more and more, they again renewed 
 their importunities and received some support from 
 one of the towns, but the other (Rutland) opposing, 
 the case was still deferred. 
 
 The following petition was presented to the authori- 
 ties of Leicester by the undersigned, and this town, 
 at a town meeting held on May 16, 1763, voted 
 affirmatively on the petition, which was the first 
 favorable action looking towards the establishment of 
 the new town : 
 
 To the Seleclmeti of the Uywii of Leicester, mid the other inhahitaiits of the 
 same : 
 
 The fietition and desire of the subscribers hereof humbly showeth, — 
 Tli.1t wliereas, in the government of Divine Providence, our iuhubitauts 
 are sy a great distance from tlie place of public worship in thiH town, 
 which, together with the snow and moisture of the land, it is exceed- 
 ingly difficult, a great part of the year, to attend on the public worship 
 of God in this town ; We look upon it ajs our bounden duty to endeavor 
 to Bet up the Gospel among us, by which we, with our families, might 
 more constantly enjoy its means of grace. 
 
 In order to accoiuplish the good end of setting up the Gospel, we pro- 
 pose, if possible to obtain leave so to do, to erect a town or district be- 
 tween the towns of Leicester and Rutland, by taking two miles oflF each 
 town to make up the contents of four square miles. Wherefore your 
 petitioners humbly and earnestly desire that, for the good end above 
 jirupused, you would now sett off, by a vote of this town, two miles at 
 the north end of this town, the lands with the inhabitiince thereon, to 
 be laid out and connected with the south part of Rutland that is a<I.iotu- 
 irig the same, to be erected into a town or district by order of the Great 
 and General Court of this province, as soon aa may be, that we may set up 
 a Congregational Church and settle a gospel minister, according to the 
 constitution of tlie churches in the land ; winch we judge will be for the 
 advancement of religion and our comfort if it be obtained in the way 
 of peace. So wishing your health and peace, as in duty bound, we sub- 
 scribe your petitioners : 
 
 Leicester, May 13, 1763. 
 
 Oliver Witt, 
 Timothy Barrett, 
 Abraham Smith, 
 Abner Morse, 
 William Thompson, 
 Jason Livermore, 
 Nathan Livermore, 
 
 James Thompson, 
 'William Thompson, Jr., 
 Ahijah Bemis, 
 Daniel Snow, Jr., 
 James Nichol, 
 Is ulc Bellows, 
 Daniel .Steward. 
 
 Finally a fourth attempt was made by these people, 
 and the petition this time headed by one Oliver Witt, 
 followed by many others, was duly presented to the 
 Legislature, and this time with better results, for it was 
 ordered " that Jedediah Foster, of Brookfield, and 
 Col. Williams, on the part of the House, and Benjamin 
 Lincoln, of the Council, be a committee in the recess 
 of this court to repair to the place petitioned for to 
 be erected into a parish, at the charge of the 
 petitioners, anjl that they hear all parties interested 
 for and against said corporation, and report at the 
 next sesiion whether the prayer thereof should be 
 granted." 
 
 This committee held several meetings, at which 
 there were hearings of all the parties interested, and 
 at the succeeding session of the General Court re- 
 ported, on June 23, 1765, a bill entitled, " An Act for 
 Incorporating the Southerly part of Rutland and the 
 Northerly part of Leicester, in the county of Wor- 
 cester, into a District by the name of Paxton." This 
 bill, after brief reference to the appropriate com- 
 mittee, was reported back to the full house and 
 speedily passed both branches of the General Court, 
 and received Governor Francis Bernard's signature 
 on the 12th of February, Anno Domini 1765. Thus 
 was the frail bark of Paxton duly launched, possessing 
 all the rights, privileges and immunities of any other 
 town, except the right to send a representative on its 
 sole account, but gave the right to "join with the 
 town of Leicester and the precinct of Spencer" in 
 choosing a representative to the Legislature. 
 
 It is proper to make some reference to the name 
 given the town by the ait of incorporation, and per- 
 haps no better account can be given than the follow- 
 ing, which has come under our observation, viz.: 
 " When the. bill for incorporating this town passed 
 the House of Representatives no name was inserted ; 
 the blank was filled in the Council by the word 
 Paxton, in honor of Charles Paxton, who at that 
 time was marshal of the Admiralty Court and a friend 
 and favorite of Francis Bernard, the Governor, and 
 of Thomas Hutchison, the Deputy-Governor. It is 
 said that Paxton promised the town a church-bell if 
 it was named for him; this promise was never ful- 
 filled. (Charles Paxton, although poli.shed in manners 
 and of pleasing address, was an intriguing politician 
 and a despicable sycophant ; ' every man's humble 
 servant, but no man's friend,' as his paper figure was 
 labeled, when, on Pope's day, as the anniversary of 
 the gunpowder plot was called, it was paraded 
 through the streets of Boston standing between the 
 effigies of the Pope and the devil. He was the tool 
 of Charles Townsend, the Chancellor of the English 
 
570 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Exchequer, and with him devised the scheme of 
 raising a revenue from the coloniei) by a tax on 
 glass, paper, painter's colors and tea. The passage of 
 this bill by the Parliament of England was greatly 
 aided by Paxton, and returning to Boston, he was 
 put at the head of this internal tax system, and 
 made himself especially obnoxious to the people by 
 reason of his issuing search-warrants to discover sup- 
 posed smuggled goods, and his course was so insolent 
 and tyrannical that he became an object of public 
 hatred, was even hung in effigy upon Liberty Tree, 
 and was subsequently, by tlie wrath of the people, 
 driven into Castle William, and finally, at the evacu- 
 ation, he departed with the British troops and went 
 to England, where he died in 1788." 
 
 The course of this man, who had christened the 
 town with his own name, was such that the bad 
 odor of it reached the inhabitants of the newly- 
 fledged district and they were intensely disgusled, 
 and among the earlier public acts of the citizens was 
 to petition for a change of name, and why the Legis- 
 lature did not grant this reasonable request is a mar- 
 vel. It should be attempted even at this late day, 
 and there is no good reason why a new name would 
 not be readily granted. 
 
 There have been several additions at sundry times 
 to the territory of Paxton. At one time, on the peti- 
 tion of John Davis, Ebenezer Boynton, Nathan Har- 
 rington, Samuel Harrington, Micah Harrington and 
 Ephraim Harrington, of Holden, their estates were 
 set oft' from Holden on February 13, 1804, and attached 
 to the town of Paxton, and, by this act, the town line 
 was extended so as to border on Worcester. Still 
 another addition from Holden was made in April, 
 1839. Again, in 1851, a small strip was added from 
 the same source, and there is still room for improv- 
 ing the present zig-zag boundary line between Holden 
 and Paxton. The total acreage is now about eight 
 thousand five hundred acres. The population of Pax- 
 ton at the time of incorporation is not known, but it 
 is presumed to " have been some hundreds," says an 
 unknown writer in the Worcester Ifigazine, pub- 
 lished a half-century or more ago. It is quite likely 
 that the settlement of this portion of the country was 
 well under way the latter part of the first century after 
 the landing of the Pilgrims. It was, indeed, about 
 1720 that Rutland was incorporated and Leicester 
 settled, and all this region of country taken up grad- 
 ually by natural gravitation of the population west- 
 ward, this section being at that period of time the 
 "great west," and had its border-wars and conflicts 
 with the aborigines and their allies. Doubtless there 
 were wise men in- those days who were wont to say 
 to the wayward and the self-aspiring in the crowded 
 centres of population along the seaboard : " Go west, 
 young man, go west." And so, in the lapse of time, 
 these hill-towns, with those in the valleys, have filled 
 up and the great army of emigrants has continued 
 from that day to this to flow westward, founding new 
 
 States, enlarging the boundaries of civilization and 
 establisliing both law and liberty, on firm foundations, 
 over a vast territory. 
 
 Thus these hill-towns, so despised in the eyes of some 
 ephemeral writers who draw distressing pictures of 
 "abandoned farms, dwindling villages, decayed meet- 
 ing-houses, diminished schools and poor highways," 
 have contributed largely to the public weal. 
 
 The marvelous strides this country has made in the 
 last century are chiefly by reason of the inexhaustible 
 supply of men and women drawn from the hills and 
 valleys of New England, where they have been trained 
 in the schools of industry and frugality. These have 
 given direction and force to the upbuilding of the 
 great region of the West. Thus, while it is true that 
 the populations of the hill-towns, with some of those 
 even in the valleys here in New England, have dim- 
 inished, the cause is not permanently disturbing— 
 since the era of cheap lands is about closing and the 
 reflex tide cannot be far distant when New England 
 will be filled to overflowing, and then this assumed 
 prophecy of a premature decay will have been forgot- 
 ten. The country is to be taken as a whole and not 
 judged by any of its minor members. 
 
 The statement that there " were some hundreds " 
 of people in the district of Paxton at the time of 
 incorporation could hardly have meant more than 
 two or three hundred at the most, for in 1790 the 
 number was but 558; in 1820 it rose to 613 and in 
 1850 to 870, while in 1880 it had fallen to 592, and 
 in 1885 the State census gave the town only 5G1. 
 
 The population in 1870 was, we believe, well 
 towards nine hundred, but, in part owing to the 
 destruction of one of the chief industries by fire, 
 which, unfortunately, was never re-established, it 
 has gradually fallen to a point in numbers to about 
 what it was one hundred years ago. 
 
 The town is at the present time purely agricul- 
 tural, there being no manufacturing of any descrip- 
 tion carried on here. 
 
 In former years the boot and shoe industry was 
 the principal business, or, at least, monopolized a 
 very great share of the attention of the people ; and 
 the product of the shops was equal, if it did not 
 greatly exceed in value the products of all the farms 
 in town. 
 
 In 1820 John Partridge established the boot 
 business in Paxton, and continued in the same line 
 to the time of his decease, which occurred some 
 fifteen years since, having been in business over 
 half a century. The next notable firm to follow in 
 the same line of industry was that of Messrs. 
 Lakin & Bigelow, and they were succeeded by R. E. 
 Bigelow & Son. All of these parties accumulated 
 quite large fortunes, but none of their descendants 
 reside within the town at the present time. 
 
 The town of Paxton is so situated, and has such 
 natural beauty of landscape, and from its summits 
 such extended and charming views of the surround- 
 
PAXTON. 
 
 571 
 
 ing country, that its ultimate destiny is by no means 
 uncertain. Already many scores of visitors rest 
 here during the summer months, and annually 
 come back to "view the landscape o'er" and 
 breathe again the wholesome and health invigorat- 
 ing air of these primeval hills and valleys. From 
 the top of Asnebumskit, on a clear day, a score of 
 towns may be seen, and from its summit a fine bird's- 
 eye view of the city of Worcester can be obtained, 
 which alone well repays the tourist for all his labors. 
 There is still another eminence, known as Crocker 
 Hill ; this swell of land lies a few rods east of the 
 village, and from the top there is a fine view of 
 Wachusett, also of Monadnock and the Hoosac 
 Mountains. This point is a charming spot to all 
 who have any taste for the beautiful in nature. The 
 wonder is, that some capitalist does not secure it, 
 pitch his tent on the same and invite the world to 
 dine with him and spend all of the " midsummer 
 nights" at this breezy and delightful place. On 
 "Christian Hill," west of the village church, is an- 
 other landscape to the northward which is unsurpassed 
 for quiet loveliness. Some day an artist will discover 
 it, and it will then be famous for its exceeding beauty. 
 
 It may be thought unusual for elevated lands to 
 hold many ponds or lakes ; but, however that may be, 
 Paxton has a goodly supply, inasmuch as there are 
 some half a dozen artificial or natural ponds within 
 the town's boundaries. 
 
 Of these. Lake Asnebumskit is by far the most 
 interesting. This is located at the northern slope of 
 the mountain whose name it bears, and covers, per- 
 haps, sixty acres, "more or less," as the legal phrase 
 is. It is elliptical in form and has an average depth 
 of perhaps seven feet. All the sources of supply for 
 this attractive sheet of water come from the springs 
 in and around it. These springs are uniformly cold 
 and clear ; especially is this true of one at the south- 
 ern shore, near the present carriage-way to the 
 lake. The outlet is at the extreme northern end, and 
 the flow is considerable. It supplies the Haggett Pond, 
 and in its rapid descent furnishes power for Harring- 
 ton's grist-mill, planing-mill and saw-mill, and then 
 turns abruptly eastward, flowing through Holden, 
 and on to the Quineposet and Nashua Elvers, and 
 thus to the sea. 
 
 This lake has been famed for its fine pickerel and 
 perch, and for many years afforded most excellent 
 fishing for many people far and near. Latterly, 
 liowever, its supply diminished, and some dozen years 
 ago a i^yi citizens formed a club and, securing a lease 
 from the Commonwealth, stocked it with black-bass, 
 and these were left for several years to increase, but 
 when fishing was recommenced it was discovered that 
 the bass had destroyed th« most of the native fish, 
 and, .as many of the bas3 made their escape through 
 the lake's outlet, little headway was made in stocking 
 the pond. The club subsequently relinquished to 
 the town all their rights, whereupon the town took 
 
 out a lease, and all have the old-time privilege 
 restored, but the fish are not plentiful in the lake at 
 this time. 
 
 Bottomly Pond is the largest body of water in the 
 town. It is about one mile in length, has irregular 
 shores, and is of varying width, while its depth must 
 average ten feet or more. It is for the most part an 
 artificial pond, and is used as a storage-pond for the 
 mills below, of which there are quite a number. 
 This pond liei just south of the village and west of the 
 Worcester and Paxton county road, but only the 
 southern end is in view from the highway mentioned. 
 It is there that the joke concerning the " Paxton 
 Navy-Yard" was perpetrated, which is so frequently 
 mentioned even to this day. It was some years ago, 
 and in the lateautumn, as the stage-coach with its com- 
 plement of passengers reached this place in the high- 
 way (Arnold's Mill), where there was aflbrded a toler- 
 able view of the lake. A sailor passenger, who had at 
 least " three sheets in the wind," on gazing out and see- 
 ing the forest trees at the left, with their bare trunks and 
 branches in close proximity to the water, recalled his 
 wanderingsenses sufliciently to exclaim '' Is — hie — this 
 — hie — the navy-yard?" The solemn quiet which had 
 prevailed with the passengers in the coach up to this 
 time was suddenly broken. The ludicrous remark, 
 and the very absurdity of the whole subject, as 
 applied to a section of country twelve hundred feet 
 above tide-water and fif"ty miles inland, and coming, 
 to 3, from a furloughed sailor just ofTship, was too much, 
 and ail, as it were, "tumbled "to the same, and the 
 ioKe seems ever fresh in the mouths of men inclined 
 to poke a little fun. 
 
 Turkey Hill Pond is a natural body of water near 
 the Barre county road, about two miles north of the 
 centre of the town. It is perhaps a fourth of a mile 
 in width. Its waters are dark and the fishing is fair, 
 though not nearly as good as in former years. The 
 outlet is at the southern extremity, and forms what 
 was once known as Jennison's Brook, crossing the 
 highway near what is now known as the " town-farm," 
 and empties into Comins' mill-pond, formerly Jen- 
 nison's mill-pond, and thence southwesterly through 
 Spencer and the Brookfields to the Chicopee River. 
 Formerly there was at the outlet of this pond a fulling- 
 mill and carding-factory. 
 
 There are several small streams flowing into this 
 Jennison Brook within the limits of the town. One 
 of these rises in the southwesterly part of Rutland, 
 passes into Paxton, and unites with the brook above 
 named in the meadow below Comins's mill. Another 
 rises about five hundred yards southeast of t-he meet- 
 ing house, on lands owned by the late John Partridge, 
 and flows southerly across the village farm of the 
 writer into Lakin's meadow and thence northwesterly 
 to Howe's meadow, where it unites with the brook 
 above named. The third takes its rise in the south- 
 westerly portion of the town, and joins the above 
 brook just over the Spencer line. These three forks 
 
572 
 
 HISTOKY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 are the head- waters of the Chicopee River, that rising 
 on the Partridge land being the most easterly, and, 
 perhaps, is the true head of the Chicopee. 
 
 The head-waters of the Blackstone River are found 
 on the old Col. Snow Farm, and near the road leading 
 from Paxton to Holden. The spring is on land now 
 owned by Peter Daw. There are numerous other 
 springs lower down the brook which is known as Ar- 
 nold's Brook. The stream was given the last name of 
 Oliver Arnold, who lived in the present old red house, 
 adjoining thehighway at the junction of the Worcester 
 and Leicester roads ; he kept a saw- and grist-mill 
 there, and had an artificial reservoir, which has since 
 been enlarged and repaired, and, like the brook flow- 
 ing into it, was and is called Arnold's Pond. The old 
 saw-mill site is still visible, a few rods west of the 
 county road. Mr. Arnold had a son Elisha, who is 
 living in this town at the present time. The pond 
 last named is used as a storage reservoir for the mills 
 below, and its waters flow into Bottomly Pond, pre- 
 viously mentioned. 
 
 There is another small stream, which has its source 
 in a spring on the southeast face of Asnebumskit 
 Mountain, and flows across the county road souther- 
 ly, and is the head-water of Lynde Brook which forms 
 a source of supply for the city of Worcester. 
 
 While speaking of these brooks, we are reminded 
 of a house in this town, owned and occupied by Tyler 
 S. Penuiman, situated about a mile east of the village. 
 
 This house stands on a slight rise of ground, in such 
 a way that rain falling upon the roof flows away into 
 the waters of the Blackstone River on the one side, 
 while upon the other the water goes to the Chicopee. 
 There is, too, a well-known spring, famed for its cool, 
 sweet water, which bubbles up near the trunk of a 
 large tree just west of the Rutland highway, and less 
 than a mile from the centre, where the water flows a 
 short distance into a marshy tract, out of which two 
 streams come, one going northerly into the Quine- 
 poxet, while the other goes southerly to the Chicopee. 
 
 The original growth of forest trees here must have 
 been quite large and very genera!. At the present 
 time pine and hemlock predominate, though there are 
 samples of about every other sort of timber found in 
 New England. As an illustration of the size of some 
 of the earlier timber, it may be interesting to note 
 that this sketch is penned on a table made of a single 
 pine board, three and a half feet in width, manufac- 
 tured from a tree cut in this town some fifty years ago. 
 The older growth of wood disa)>peared long since, 
 and at the present time the second growth has about 
 all been removed, and yet it would be diflTicult to say 
 whether there i8,*or is not, as much land given up to 
 the growtli of forest trees as at any time within the 
 past hundred or more years. 
 
 Among the early settlers in what is now Paxton, 
 the names of Josiah Livermore and his brother, Jason 
 Livermore, appear. This was about 1748. They 
 came from the town of Weston, and settled in what 
 
 is now the southwestern part of this town, on 
 lands considerably improved. About the same time 
 came Abijah Bemis, and from the same town, 
 or Waltham. There were also living near the 
 Livermores : William Thompson, James Thompson, 
 James Beniis, William Wicker, Jacob Wicker, John 
 Wicker, Isaac and Ezekiel Bellows. 
 
 Captain Raljih Earle, an early settler, owned and 
 lived on the farm which once belonged to the late .Joseph 
 Penniman ; and his was one of the first fifty families 
 which settled in Leicester, and he was one of the 
 grantees named in the deed of the proprietors of Lei- 
 cester, and was assigned to Lot No. 47. On the other 
 hand, in the Rutland portion of the new town, Seth 
 Metcalf made an early settlement, as did Phineas 
 Moore, who lived on the Rutland road, a mile or so 
 north of the present meeting-house, and, by the way, 
 it is proper to say that the line dividing the towns of 
 Leicester and Rutland ran east and west, by the 
 present north side of the meeting-house as it now I 
 stands. Othersof the early settlers were: John Snow, 
 David Davis, Benjamin Sweetser, Samuel Moore, 
 Jonathan Witt and Oliver Witt. 
 
 We have seen that the act of incorporation of the 
 " District of Paxton " transpired on the 12th of Feb- 
 ruary, 1765. Very speedily " a warrant," dated the 
 25th of February, 1765, was issued by John Murray, 
 of Rutland, a justice of the peace, the same being 
 addressed to Pbineas Moore, "one of the principal 
 inhabitants " residing within the new district, re- 
 quiring him to warn a meeting of the inhabitants for 
 the choice of officers. We append a copy of the first 
 warrant calling the first district meeting : 
 
 Worcester 88. To Mr. Phineas Moore of Paxton in the county of 
 Worcester and one of the principal Inhabitants of Said District. Greet- 
 ing—Whereas I tiie subscriber am Impowered hy an act of tliis Province 
 to call a meeting of the Inhabitants of the District of Paxton to Choose 
 Town Offlcers &c. 
 
 [Seal] These are therefore on his Majestys name to Require you 
 forthwith to Warn and Notify the Said Inhabitants of Paxton Qualified 
 to Vote in Town AflTairs to meet at the House of Mr. Jno. Snows Inn- 
 holder in Said Paxton on Monday the Eleventh Day of Blarch Next at 
 nine of the Clock in the forenoon then and there to Choose a Moderater, 
 District Clerk, Selectmen, assessor, warden, Constables, Surveyors of 
 highways, Tythingmen, Feuceviewers, Sealers of Leather, Sealers of 
 weights and measures. Sealers of Boards, and Shingles, and all other 
 ordinary Town Officere as Towns Choose in the month of March annually ; 
 hereof Fail not and make Due Return hereof with your Doings hereon 
 unto me at or before the Said meeting. Given under my hand and Seal 
 at Rutland in Said County this 23th Day of Fob. 1TG5 and in the fifth 
 
 year of his Majesty's Keigu. 
 
 Jno. Murray, Jus. of the Peace. 
 
 This first town-meeting was at the house of one 
 John Snow, who kept a tavern or hotel, and who 
 lived just east of the present village, on the Holden 
 road, on the place known to the present inhabitants „ 
 of Paxton as the old Colonel Snow or Bellows place. | 
 This place has now no farm buildings upon it, they 
 having been destroyed by an incendiary fire about ten 
 years since. 
 
 The meeting was held on March 11, 1765. Captain 
 Samuel Brown was chosen moderator, and Ephraim 
 Moore district clerk, and the following district ofiicers 
 
 J 
 
PAXTON. 
 
 573 
 
 elected, namely: Selectmen, Oliver Witt, Ephraim 
 Moore, Samuel Brown, Timothy Barrett, Abraham 
 Smith ; Clerk, Ephraim Moore ; Treasurer, Ephraim 
 Moore; Wardens, William Thompson, Jr., Jonathan 
 Knight ; Assessors, Oliver Witt, Ephraim Moore, Aa- 
 ron Hunt ; Constable, John Livermore ; Surveyors of 
 Highways, Abner Moore, Ebenezer Hunt, Jr., Elijah 
 Howe, Thomas Cutler; Sealer of Weights, etc.. 
 Captain Samuel Brown ; Tything-men, Samuel Man, 
 Ralph Earle ; Hog-reeves, Jonathan Morse, William 
 Martin ; Deer-reeves, James Ames, William Whita- 
 ker; Pound-keeper, Jonathan Knight; together 
 with other officers, such as measurers of boards and 
 shingles, etc. 
 
 They probably had a jollification at the close of 
 this meeting. Remembering that in those early days 
 the inhabitants had no town halls, either old or new, 
 in which to meet, their next be<t place was at some 
 public house, or tavern, as they were then called, and 
 we have seen that they first gathered at an inn. In 
 those they found good cheer, even if the accommoda- 
 tions were circumscribed. Here, too, the old-time 
 flip-mug, or glass, served for the whole company, and 
 was I'requeutly replenished, as everybody in those 
 days indulged, more or less, in the "flowing bowl." 
 It is sometimes asserted in these days that temper- 
 ance has not made any progress, but in these century 
 mile-stones we can note a world of advancement. 
 Why, a hundred years ago the clergy, as well as the 
 people, partook of the ardent, even at the laying of 
 the corner-stones and dedication of church edifices, 
 and also after the Sabbath sermon all would repair to 
 the nearest tavern for " refreshment." Now, in New 
 England these things have all passed away, so far as 
 the public eye or public approval is concerned. 
 Strange to say, however, the people did not lack for 
 piety in those sturdy days, for among the very first 
 things done, of note, by this district of Paxton was 
 to provide by vote for the building of a '' meeting- 
 house." 
 
 At the next district meeting, held on April 1, 1765, 
 " it was put to vote to see if the district will Build a 
 Meeting House in said Paxton and of what dimen- 
 sions they will Build it, also to see if the district will 
 agree upon some place for to Sett Said meeting House 
 on." It was also voted " to build a house of worship 
 fifty feet in length and forty in width with twenty two 
 foot posts and to set the house at the Gate behind 
 John Snow's farm in Mr. Maynard's pasture." ' In 
 the following autumn a grant was made of £13 6«. 8rf. 
 for the support of the gospel during the winter. In 
 the following spring (March 3, 176(i), the sum of 
 £250 was voted " for a meeting house and a meeting 
 house place." When the building had advanced to the 
 
 1 During the year a good deal of dissatisfaction was manifested about 
 the location, and several efforts were made, at subsequent meetings, to 
 change the decision, and we believe it was finally located on land of Seth 
 Snow, who subsequently gave the town the land around it for a town 
 *'common." 
 
 point of raising the frame there was a general turn- 
 out of tlie citizens interested, and the records say a 
 supper was provided for the occasion. The building 
 was so far completed by the end of the year that its 
 use commenced. Its appearance has been described 
 by Mr. Livermore,^ in his Centennial address, as " a 
 plain, square structure, standing in the middle of the 
 Common in primitive simplicity, without dome or 
 spire, destitute of external ornament and internal 
 embellishments, its prominent sounding-board above, 
 and its deacon seat and its semi-circular communion 
 table at the base of the pulpit; its uncarpeted aisles 
 and pen-like pews, with their uncushionedand hinged 
 seats, to be turned up and let down at the rising and 
 sitting of their occupants, with a clatter sufficient to 
 have awakened a Rip Van Winkle ; its negro seats 
 in the rear of the front gallery and the old people's in 
 front of the pulpit, for the use of the deaf; its two 
 corner pews perched aloft over the gallery stairs. 
 
 *' ' Through which, and the scuttles above, were the ways 
 To the attic, the arsenal of those early days.' " 
 
 Thus did the inhabitants of this new district of 
 Paxton keep faith with the General Court. They 
 had asked to be set up in housekeeping, and gave as 
 a reason that it was burdensome and extremely in- 
 convenient for them to go so many miles to attend 
 upon church service, and it cannot be denied that 
 they were sincere and honest in their request. They 
 had, indeed, other and important reasons for separa- 
 tion, but the foregoing was the chief one given. 
 
 One writer says that there was an attempt to form 
 at first an Episcopal Church, but it failed, and had 
 the effect to put off' the formation of any other till 
 September 3, 1767, when the present Congregational 
 Church was organized, and the meeting-house com- 
 pleted during this year. 
 
 Regular preaching heretofore had not been estab- 
 lished, but yet services had been held by the Rev. 
 Henry Carver and by Rev. Mr. Steward, who also 
 taught school here at this early date in the history of 
 Paxton. 
 
 The names of those subscribing to the covenant at 
 the time of organization were Phineas Moore, John 
 Snow, Jason Livermore, David Davis, Benjamin 
 Sweetser, Silas Bigelow, Samuel Man, Oliver Witt, 
 Stephen Barrett and Samuel Brown. 
 
 In the early part of 1767 a committee was ap- 
 pointed to secure a permanent pastor, and they sub- 
 sequently reported in favor of the Rev. Silas Bige- 
 low. On May 14, 1767, the district voted him the 
 sum of £133 6s. Sd., as a settlement grant, and also 
 voted a yearly salary of £53 6s. 8d. for the first four 
 years, and £66 13s. 4d. as long as he shall continue 
 his relations as a minister. 
 
 In response to the call of the parish and district of 
 
 2 George W. Livermore, of Cambridge, a native of Paxton, delivered 
 the Centennial address in 1865. 
 
574 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Paxton to become their settled pastor, the Rev. Silas 
 Bigelow returned the following answer, viz. : 
 
 To ye JixluihiUints of ye District of Paxton, Christian Friends and Breth- 
 ren : 
 
 I liiiVo fiilteii very serious Notire of ye Sovereign Hand of Divine 
 Providence in Condnctinp: me to yon, and would in some suitable and 
 Grateful manner attend to ye kind acceptance my labours have met 
 with among yon ; and ye Regard which you have manifested to nie 
 (how unworthy so ever) in Electing me to be your Pastor. I observe ye 
 Degree of unanimity and undeserved Affection with which you have 
 Done this, and I can't but be apprehensive of Harmony and unanimity 
 afford some of ye Best encouragements to hope for success, and yt ye 
 Great End of ye Gospel ministry may be obtained in the Conversion of 
 Souls to God and ye edifying of Saints in Faith and Comfort to Salva- 
 tion. Nor would I fail to take Due Notice also of ye Provision which 
 you Have made for my Settlement and Support among ,vou ; and it is Fit 
 you should give Praise to God who both enabled you to maintain ye gos- 
 pel and ye ordinences thereof, and so far inclined your hearts thereto ; 
 At ye same time I am obliged to appraise you (not, I hope. From any 
 avoricious Disposition, nor Because I would rather seek yours than you, 
 but because I would fain Promote your real Benefit and highest welfare) 
 that after Taking ye Befit Advice I can get, not merely From those in 
 Ministerial life, but From others in Civil Character, I fear I shall not 
 be able (from The Sujtport you have offtred) to answer your expectations 
 from me in ye office I must Bear, nor to sustain the Dignity and Dis- 
 charge the duties thereof But having sought earnestly to ye God of 
 all Wisdom and Grace for Direction in the most weighty and important 
 affair ; Considted such as are esteemed Respectable for their Capacity 
 and Integrity, and Deliberatel.v considered everything as well as I 
 could within myself, I accept of your Call, Determining by the Grjice 
 of God to Devote myself to ye work of ye Gospel Ministry among 
 you ; not Doubting your Readiness to Do what you can to free me from 
 ye unnecessary cares and Incumbrances of Life; yt so I may more fully 
 give up myself to this Great and arduous work. Concluding with 
 Rom. 15 : ao and 32. Now I Beseech you, Brethren ; for ye Lord Jesus' 
 Bake and for ye love of ye spirit yt ye strive together with me in your 
 prayers to God for me ; That I may come unto you with Joy by ye will 
 of God, and may with you be refreshed. So Prays your Friend and 
 Servant in the Gospel of Christ. 
 
 Paxton, June -Jo, 17(j7. . SiL.\s Bigelow. 
 
 Mr. Bigelow was ordained on October 21, 1767. 
 His pastoral labors were compf.ratively of brief 
 duration, since his decease occurred on November 
 16, 176!), at the age of thirty years. He was buried 
 in the public cemetery, near the southeast corner 
 and but a few paces from the present meeting- 
 house. All accounts agree that this first pastor 
 was a devoted minister of the Gospel; a man of 
 unusual intellectual endowments, coupled with great 
 dignity of manner, and he was also a man much 
 esteemed for his high Christian character and greatly 
 beloved by all of the parish over which he had so 
 briefly presided.' 
 
 Under his ministry the kindliest of feeling had 
 sprung up among all the members of the society, 
 and had his valuable life been spared to this people, 
 
 1 The undersigned met on Nov. 9, 17G7, and made choice of pews in 
 the cooipleted church. The prices they were to pay ranged from four- 
 teen to twenty-two dollars. The district voted to give them the prefer- 
 once as to choice, since the.v were the heaviest tax-payers on real estate. 
 The district also voted to give them deeds of the pews. 
 
 Capt. Oliver Witt, Timothy Barrett, Abraham Smith, Capt. Ephraim 
 Moore, Heaekiah Newton, Capt. Samuel Brown, Jonathan Smith, Elijah 
 How. Jeremiah Newton, Jonatlian Knight, Samuel Man, Ebenezer 
 Hunt, Jr., James McKennen, Capt. Ralph Earle, Paul llow, Phineas 
 Moore, Jacob Sweeter. Ebenezer Hunt, Abijah Bemis, Peter Moore, 
 Abner Morse, David Davis, William Whitaker, William Thompson, Seth 
 Soow. 
 
 much greater good must have been accomplished. 
 The Rev. Mr. Bigelow was from the vicinity of 
 Concord, it is believed ; of his early education we 
 have no present data. He was of a family, how- 
 ever, quite celebrated for their learning and prom- 
 iuence in public affairs. 
 
 He lived on the western slope of Asnebumskit, 
 on what is now known, and has been these many 
 years, as the "old Bigelow place." His first wife 
 was from Lexington. There is one memento of 
 this family still preserved. It is an antique clock, 
 one of the well-known " grandfather's clocks," so- 
 called, reaching from floor to ceiling It was a 
 bridal present from her parents in Lexington, where 
 the clock was made, as indicated on its face. It 
 remained in the family several generations and on 
 the farm more than one hundred years, and is 
 now in the possession of the wife of the writer (a 
 descendant), and is doing duty as faithfully as when 
 first set in motion by the hand of the bride, a century 
 and more since. His second wife was a Mrs. Sarah 
 Hall, of Sutton ; intentions of the marriage were pub- 
 lished September 22, 1769, as shown by the records. 
 
 On Noveniber 28, 1770, the Rev. Alexander Thayer ' 
 was ordained as the successor of Rev. Silas Bigelow. 
 His paslorate continued for nearly twelve years. He 
 was dismissed on August 14, 1782. His relations with 
 the church during the last half of his ministry were 
 anything but agreeable. He was suspected of being 
 a loyalist. " This suspicion (says one writer), whether 
 well or ill-founded, was sufficient to create a degree of 
 coldness, and, in some instances, a fixed dislike, ei^pe- 
 cially among those, who, from other causes, had be- 
 come disaffected." It is reported that his salary was 
 another cause of trouble, lie complaining that the 
 currency had much depreciated, and that he was 
 justly entitled to a grant to make it equivalent to 
 what it was when first settled, and it is not un- 
 likely, from a review of the whole matter, there 
 was really just ground for complaint upon both 
 sides, and entire condemnation of either party would 
 be very unjust. 
 
 The Rev. John Foster' followed Mr. Thayer. He 
 found the church divided and inharmonious. He en- 
 deavored to reconcile them, but was unfortunate in 
 being a positive man, and in expressions was perhaps 
 injudicious. 
 
 At all events the old troubles were not healed, but 
 broke out afresh, when it was proposed to settle him. 
 The first council refused to grant a settlement, but a 
 short time afterwards a new council, composed of 
 different members from the first, voted to ordain and 
 settle him, which was accordingly done on September 
 8, 1785. He was dismissed in 1789. During his ]>as- 
 torate there was a secession of about twenty, who 
 
 2 He married Miss Abigal Goulding, of Holliston, in 1773. 
 " He was married in September, 1785, to Mrs. Eunice Stearns, of Hol- 
 den. 
 
PAXTON. 
 
 575 
 
 formed a new church, and so continued till 1793, 
 when a reunion occurred. 
 
 Mr. Livermore relates several anecdotes of Mr. 
 Foster, one of which will interest the general reader. 
 " In those days, when capital punishment was to be in- 
 flicted it was the law that public religious exercises 
 should be held, and the criminal had the privilege of 
 selecting the preacher. Mr. Foster was selected, and 
 at the appointed hour the house was crowded, and in 
 the audience were many clergymen. Mr. Foster being 
 selected only to preach, asked the first minister he 
 saw to offer prayer. The invitation was declined, and 
 several others were similarly invited and all declined, 
 whereupon Mr. Foster stepped to his piece, with the 
 remark in an undertone, though loud enough in the 
 general hush of the occasion to be heard by all, 
 'Thank God, I can pray as well as preach.' It is 
 reported that his prayer was so soul-stirring and sin- 
 cere that all were moved to tears, and many wept 
 aloud." 
 
 Mr. Foster is reported to have been a man of bril- 
 liant attainments, and a very eloquent preacher, but 
 possessed some other qualities that neutralized greatly 
 these gifts. The Rev. Daniel Grosvenor was installed 
 on the 5th November, 1794, as the successor of Mr. 
 Foster. He came to this people from a church in 
 Grafton, where he had been pastor. There was, for a 
 season, quiet and considerable religious interest mani- 
 fested under this aflable and able pastor. But the 
 old trouble would not wholly down, but, ghost-like, 
 came to the surface. 
 
 Mr. Grosvenor's health was poor at best, and he 
 felt unequal to the task of reconciling the factions, 
 and finally asked to be dismissed, which was granted 
 on November 17, 1802. 
 
 One proof that the old troubles were the causes of 
 the unhappy condition of things at the time, and 
 prior to the retirement of Mr. Grosvenor, is that they 
 continued to be a disturbed church for several years 
 alter he left, and some years came and went before a 
 pastor was again settled over them. 
 
 Mr. Grosvenor lived a half mile northeast of the 
 church on the Holden road, where Peter Daw now 
 lives. 
 
 In 1808, February 17th, the Rev. Gaius Conant was 
 ordained, and he remained with the society for many 
 years. He lived and died in the square-roofed house 
 now occupied by Deacon Levi Smith, situated about 
 half a mile due east from the church. He was dis- 
 missed September 21, 1831, and the same council 
 ordained the Rev. Moses Winch. It was in 1830 that 
 the Congregational Society was organized separately 
 from the town. Mr. Winch's ministry must have 
 been a very quiet one, and without any very disturb- 
 ing circumstances, since very little is said respecting 
 his stay here. He was discharged in 1834, August 
 28th. 
 
 The Rev. James D. Farnsworth succeeded Mr. 
 Winch and was ordained on the 30th of April, 1835, 
 
 and continued his labors till May 7, a.d. 1840. He 
 was succeeded by the Rev. William Phipps, A.M., 
 who was ordained November 11, A. d. 1840. Some- 
 thing more than a passing notice should be given 
 this eminently gifted divine. He was for more than 
 twenty-eight years connected with the history of the 
 Congregational Church in this town. He was born 
 in Franklin, this State, on October 31, 1812. He was 
 the son of William and Fannie (Moulton) Phipps, 
 with a line of ancestry traceable back to old England ; 
 to the father of Sir William Phipps, one of the early 
 Governors of Massachusetts Colony. He was a quiet, 
 gentle man, and true, yet did not lack force or brav- 
 ery. He was resolute for worthy ends, and brave in 
 self-denial. He early learned the trade of a cabinet- 
 maker in his father's shop, which trade, in those days, 
 meant quite as much an ability to manufacture a vio- 
 lin as a bureau, and as an illustration of his mechani- 
 cal genius in this direction, it is told that he made in 
 the days of his apprenticeship a fine bass-viol, with 
 five strings, on which he was wont to play as an 
 accompaniment to his vocal songs. He was a great 
 lover of music and possessed a fine, rich, bass-tone 
 voice, and always sang with an enthusiasm never to 
 be forgotten by sympathetic hearers. He found his 
 trade especially useful to a " country minister" in a 
 small place, and on a small salary, since many of 
 the things he needed he either had to make or go 
 without. His inventive faculty was by no means in- 
 considerable. He constructed models of an improved 
 school-room, a turret wind-mill, a drawing globe, a 
 seed-sower, an upright piano and other u?elul and 
 fancy things. He was a natural student, ever fond of 
 the companionship of good books, and was diligent 
 in everything. He attended Day's Academy in 
 Wrentham; from there he entered Amherst, and grad- 
 uated in the class of 1837. On leaving college he 
 taught, as principal, in the academy at Edgartowa, 
 for one year. He married, in 1837, Miss Mary C. 
 Partridge, of Franklin, who still survives at the age 
 of eighty-eight. They had seven children, of whom 
 five are living — two sons and three daughters. The 
 sons, George G. and William H., have taken up the 
 profession of their father. The former is settled at 
 Newton Highlands, while the latter is preaching in 
 Prospect,Conn. Mr Phipps was first settled in thistow'n. 
 He was an earnest preacher and profounily interested 
 in all good works. He served for very many years 
 as the head of the School Committee, and his school 
 reports are good reading to-day, and display 
 much thought, earnestly and gracefully expressed. 
 He wns wont to do anything he had in hand with 
 "all his might," whether tuning a piano, or raising 
 the finest vegetable in town. Those, whether in the 
 church or out who became intimate, were not the ones 
 to turn from him, for they best realized his largeness 
 of heart and generosity of spirit. 
 
 But few of his sermons were ever published, barring 
 a few Thankgivin^ discourses, fugitive pieces in var- 
 
576 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 ious newspapers and a number of musical composi- 
 tions. 
 
 Of the latter, it was as easy for him to write the 
 poetical stanzas as the melodies that floated tbeni. 
 Had he been more favorably situated, as to leisure 
 and means, he might readily have made his mark as 
 an inventor or author, but he preferred to remain 
 where he felt an all-wise Providence had placed him. 
 His mark was, however, made honestly and deeply on 
 the generation of youth that grew up under his long 
 and faithful ministry here. 
 
 In 1869 he accepted a call to Plainfield, Conn., and 
 was there installed June 9th. He died on June 18, 
 1876. 
 
 The Rev. Thomas L. Ellis succeeded Mr. Phipps, 
 and was installed November 26, 1871. He died, after 
 a brief pastorate, on November 12, 1873. He was 
 followed by the Rev. Francis J. Fairbanks. He was 
 hired in the early part of 1874, and continued his 
 labors here till October, 1877. He was a well-educated 
 man, and devoted in his work. The Rev. Otis Cole, a 
 Methodist divine, was next hired by this society, and 
 commenced his labors on January 1, 1878, and con- 
 tinued for two years, when he removed to New Hamp- 
 shire. He was a man of great simplicity, and yet of 
 very great power as a preacher and much beloved by 
 all, both by those in and out of the church. The 
 following summer tlie society engaged Mr. John E. 
 Dodfje, who was licensed to preach. He filled the 
 pulpit for several years and was then ordained and 
 settled, continuing his labors a couple of years there- 
 after. In June, 1887, he asked for a dismissal, having 
 been called to the church in Sterling. Both Mr. and 
 Mrs. Dodge were earnest in their labors in behalf of 
 the church and community. 
 
 The Rev. Alpha Morton succeeded to the pastorate. 
 He was engaged in June, 1887, and still continues his 
 active labors with this people. He is an able man 
 and of the highest character. 
 
 The old church edifice erected by the district of 
 Paxton in 1767, paid for by a general tax, was used 
 for all town-meetings after its erection, and the 
 " deacon's seat " was the place occupied by the 
 moderator of the town-meetings. In 1835 it was 
 voted to remove the building to its present site and 
 both enlarge and repair it, the town putting in a 
 basement story for a town-hall, and it is now a very 
 dignified edifice of the usual village style. Subse- 
 quently the church, feeling the need of a room for 
 vestry purposes, entered into an agreement with the 
 town, otlering to light and warm and care for the said 
 town hall for all town purposes on condition of its 
 use by them as a vestry. In 1888 the town, stimulated 
 by the gift of one Simon Alien, erected a new town 
 hall, concerning which additional particulars are given 
 further on in our history. 
 
 Leaving the history of the church and taking up 
 that of the town, it will be remembered that the 
 " District of Paxton " was chartered in 1765, Feb. 
 
 12th, and was "to join Leicester and the precinct of 
 Spencer" in electing a Representative to the Legis- 
 lature. This restriction was removed by an act bear- 
 ing date July, 1775, viz. : " Whereas there are divers 
 acts or laws heretofore made and passed by former 
 General Courts or Assemblies of this Colony for the 
 incorporation of towns and districts, which, against 
 common right and in derogation of the rights granted 
 to the inhabitants of this Colony by the charter, con- 
 tain an exception of the right and privilege of choos- 
 ing and sending a representative to the Great and 
 General Court or Assembly. Be it therefore enacted and 
 declared by the Council and House of Representatives 
 in General Court assembled, and by theauthorityof the 
 same, that henceforth every such exception contained 
 in any act or law heretofore made and passed by any 
 General Court or Assembly of this Colony for erecting 
 or incorporating any town or district, shall be held 
 and taken to be altogether null and void, and that 
 every town and district in this Colony consisting of 
 thirty or more freeholders and other inhabitants 
 qualified by charter to vote in the election of a repre- 
 sentative, shall henceforth be held and taken to have 
 full right, power and privilege to elect and depute 
 one or more persons being freeholders and resident in J 
 such town or district, to serve for and represent them 1 
 in any Great and General Court or Assembly hereafter 
 to be held and kept for tliis Colony according to the 
 limitations in an act or law of the General Assembly, 
 entitled an act for ascertaining the number and regu- 
 lating the House of Representatives, any exceptions 
 of that right and privilege contained or expressed in 
 the respective acts or laws for the incorporation of 
 such town or district notwithstanding." 
 
 On August 22, 1774, the following committee was 
 chosen to consult and report on the state of public 
 affairs, viz. : Capt. Ralph Earle, Lieut. Willard 
 Moore, Dea. Oliver Witt, Phineas Moore and Abel 
 Brown. They also voted to purchase a barrel of 
 powder in addition to the stock (some two barrels) 
 then on hand. All the able-bodied men of all ages, 
 capable of bearing arms, were formed into two 
 military companies, one of which was called the 
 " Standing," and the other the " Minute Company."' 
 
 On the 17th of January, 1775, thirty-three men 
 were ordered by the town to be drafted as minute- 
 men. They chose Willard Moore to be their captain. 
 He went with his command on April 19, 1775, to 
 Cambridge, on receiving intelligence of the begin- 
 ning of hostilities at Lexington and Concord. 
 
 The following is a copy of the agreement of the 
 minute-men at Snow's in 1775 : 
 
 We the Subscriboi'S, Do engage for to Joyn the Miinite Men f>f this 
 District and to March with them Against oiiv Common Eneinys When 
 we are called for, if so be tliat the Minute Conipiinys are kept np as 
 witness our hunda : Marmaduke Earle, Joniih Newton, ttiTifJ Goo<1enow, 
 
 1 A Committee of Safety was chosen on March 20,1775, consisting of 
 Willard Moore, Pliineas Moore, Abraham Smith, Ralph Earlfi and David 
 J>avis. 
 
PAXTON. 
 
 577 
 
 .Jr., Abijah Brown, Joeepb Knight, Clark Karle, Nathan Swan, Jonah 
 Hnwe, Ithniiiur Bigeluw, John Davis, John I'ilce, Pliineas 3Ioore, John 
 Flint, Elienezer Hunt, Tliuinas lianih, Oliver Earle, Jonatlian White, 
 
 Hezelciah Newton, Steplien Barrett, Samuel , Daniel Steward, Joseph 
 
 Prescott. 
 
 The duties of the committee named abave were 
 various ; among other matters, to observe and report 
 to the people the action of Congress, and also the 
 acts of the colonists and the doings of the home 
 government, and last, but perhaps not least, to keep 
 watch of certain susjiected Tories in the district, of 
 whom there were a number. 
 
 Captain Willard Moore, with a number of his men, 
 soon enlisted in the Continental Army. He was 
 promoted to the rank of major and took part with 
 his men in the battle of Bunker Hill, where he was 
 killed, t'lgether with several of his men. The 
 " standing company,'' already named, was commanded 
 by Captain Ralph Earle,' with John Snow as lieu- 
 tenant, and Abel Brown as ensign. They were 
 chosen as officers at the district-meeting on January 
 17, 1775, and did valiant service, and bore their share 
 of the hardships of the long campaigns for liberty and 
 independence. 
 At the town-meeting held April 6, 1775, Lieutenant 
 ■ Willard Moore was chosen delegate to the Provincial 
 Congress, held in Concord, Mass., and was instructed 
 to " use his influence in Congress that government be 
 assumed in case that it shall prove certain that 
 Great Britain intends to enforce the late acts of Par- 
 liament by the sword." 
 
 The town, at various timesduring the Revolutionary 
 period, appropriated about ten thousand pounds as 
 bounties, besides paying heavy taxes to the Provin- 
 cial government amounting to many hundreds of 
 pounds. Then, too, there were frequent purchases of 
 beef for the use of the army, sending as high as nine 
 thousand pounds at one time as their quota of the 
 supplies needed by the government " at the front.'' 
 
 In addition to the regular companies named, there 
 were, the record4 say, many volunteers going forward 
 on their own responsibility and their own patriotic 
 impulse to defend their imperiled country. 
 
 In the following year (1776) the records show a 
 warrant directed to the " Constable of the Town of 
 Paxton." 
 
 There is a warrant dated May 13, 1776, calling a 
 meeting on the 23d of that month, for the purpose of 
 choosing " a person to represent them in the Great 
 and General Court " that year, agreeably to a pre- 
 cept directed " to the town " for that purpose. 
 
 On May 23, 177G, the town made choice of 
 Abraham Smith as its first representative to the 
 General Court, and the record shows the clerk of the 
 meeting to have signed himself as the town clerk, all rec- 
 ords prior thereto having been signed by the district 
 clerk. 
 
 ^ Capt. Ralph Earle married theVidow Naomi Kinnicutt, of Provi- 
 dence, in 1775. 
 
 37 
 
 In June, 1779, there was a special call for repre- 
 sentatives to meet in Cambridge, for the purpose of 
 framing a State Cjustituiion, and under this call, on 
 August 10, 1779, Adam Maynard was chosen as the 
 delegate. This very year it would seem by the rec- 
 ords that Abraham Smith continued as the represen- 
 tative to the General Court, while Phineas Moore 
 was the delegate to the convention held in Concord. 
 
 These w-ere stirring times with the colonists, and 
 besides the care of founding States was the added 
 one of taking up arms to maintain them and estab- 
 lish liberty. In all of these serious affairs the new 
 town of Paxton discharged all of her obligations 
 with highest credit. In the earlier contests between 
 the French and Indians this town furnished, in 
 1766, five men as her quota in a call for one thousand 
 men from Worcester and Hampshire Counties. 
 Their names were : Ezekiel Bellows, Jacob Wicker, 
 Jason Livermore, David Wicker and John Wicker. 
 These men were in the command of Gen. Ruggles, 
 and saw service at Crown Point, Fort Edward and 
 Ticonderoga. 
 
 This town is proved by all the ancient records to 
 have been eminently patriotic in the time of the 
 Revolution. All of the demands for men and means 
 were met, though doubtless their efforts at times were 
 very great. The prolongation of the war, saying 
 nothing of the cost incurred in getting Veady for the 
 contest, was a very serious matter, but through all 
 these trials the true patriots never flinched. 
 
 Among their first acts was an attempt on their 
 part to rid themselves of the name of Paxton, now- 
 odious by reason of his loyalty to and influence with 
 the enemy of the colony. They failed in their 
 patriotic endeavor to secure a change of name, as we 
 have seen. 
 
 The Hon. George W. Livermore, of Cambridge, a 
 native of Paxton, relates the following incident 
 which happened here: Jason Livermore and his 
 three sons were plowing in the field when informed 
 by a messenger of the incursion of the " regulars " to 
 Lexington and Concord, and that the company of 
 which they were members would march forthwith. 
 The father said : " Boys, unyoke the cattle and let us 
 be off." No sooner said than done; and they at once 
 made ready and marched, with the household pewter 
 dishes melted into bullets, to Cambridge, and there 
 joined the Continental army, and on June 17, 
 1775, they bore a part in the great battle of Bunker 
 Hill. The wife and mother, Mrs. Jason Livermore, 
 was left with a lad but twelve years of age, to culti- 
 vate the farm and care for the stock. This was suc- 
 cessfully done, and it is further stated that she made 
 a hundred pounds of saltpetre for the army, during 
 the summer, in addition to her other duties." Mrs. 
 Livermore died at the extreme age of ninety-nine 
 years and ten months. In the following year this 
 same Jason Livermore, together with one Samuel 
 Brewer, of Sutton, raised a company and proceeded 
 
578 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 to Charlestown, and from there were ordered to Tlcon- 
 deroga and Mount Hope, where they were stationed 
 for some time. It is fully believed that the town of 
 Paxton must have sent more than a hundred men 
 into the ranks of the patriot soldiers of the Revolu- 
 tionary army ; and history declares that few, if any, 
 towns contributed, proportionately, more for the 
 achievement of our independence, according to their 
 means, than this. It is also reported that towards the 
 close of the war '" their individual and public suffer- 
 ing was extreme, and at times almost intolerable; " 
 yet at no time did their courage flag or the fires of 
 patriotism grow dim. 
 
 The qualification for voting in 1770 was the pos- 
 session of sixty pounds' worth of property or an 
 annual income of three pounds sterling. At the first 
 State election there were twenty-four votes cast for 
 John Hancock for Governor. The amount assessed 
 at this time in the town on both polls and real estate 
 was £29,400. The State tax in 1780 was as high as 
 £5,120, old tenor.' 
 
 Provision for the education of the young was made 
 as early as 1769 in the new district. On January 9, 
 1769, a warrant was issued calling a meeting to con- 
 sider, among other things, the division of the town 
 into " squadrons " or school plots, as per the recom- 
 
 • Among the ijames found in the early records it is interesting to note 
 the following, viz. : — Dr. Sanil. Stearns, who married in 1773 Sarah 
 Witt. This Dr. Stearntj was the practicing physician in this town at 
 and before the Revolution. Then there appear the names of Samuel 
 Gould, Capt. Kalpli Earle, Ephraim Moore, Marniaduke Earle, Willard 
 Moore, Paul How, Kev. Silas Bigelow, Ithamar Bigelow, who had sons 
 Timothy, Silas, Lewis and Ithamar ; Samuel Brown, \Vm. Thompson, 
 who had sons William and James ; Danl. Upham, Hezekiah Newton, 
 John Newluill, .lames Earle, Oliver Earl, Wm. Livermore, John Liver- 
 more, Braddyl Livernioro. Wm. Martin, Thos. Lamb, Silas, Ezekiel and 
 Joseph Bellows, Jacob Sweetser, Saml. Sweetser and Stephen Sweetser, 
 David Davis, Kphin. Davis, ^roji. Hunt, Jonathan Ames, Seth Swan, 
 Jabez Newhall, John Warren, Daniel Steward, M. B, Williams, .\dam 
 Maynard, Ptoses JIaynard, David Goodenow, John Knight, Wm. Whita- 
 ker, David Wicker, Abel Brown, Danl. Knight, Joltn Flint, Clark Earl, 
 Nathan Sergeant, Danl. Bemis, Heiy. Cutting, Dexter Earl, David 
 Peirce, who had sons David, (^ad, Aaron and Job ; James Washburn, 
 Joseph Penuinian, Hezidtiah Ward, Phiny Moore, Pliineas Moore, 
 Sanmel Brigluun, Seth Metcalf, Benj. Wilson, Dr. Tliad. Brown, Dr. 
 Saml. Forrest, Dr. Caleb Sliattuck, — these were all residents and prac- 
 ticing physicians, between 17G5 and 1800, in this town — Samuel and 
 Ebenezer Wait, Jude Jones, Timothy Bigelow, married .\nna Earl in 
 1797 ; Itliamar Bigelow, Jr., married Sophie Earle in 1801 ; Daniel \b- 
 bott, D. H. Grosvenor and Jonathan P. Grosvenor, Levi Boynton Dr. 
 Absalom Russel, Dr. Loaini Harrington, was married to Delia Newton 
 in 18011 by Nathaniel Crocker, Esii. ; Taylor Goddard, Frederick Flint, 
 .Joseph Knight, Benj. Wilson, Thomas Wbittemore, Wm. Howard, 
 Henry Slade and his sons .Vntliony, John and Henry ; Wintlirop Earle, 
 Braddyl Livermore, Amos W^are, Klisha Ward, Ebenezer Bointon, had 
 children, Ebenezer, Jr., born in 1770, Silas, Jeremiah, .Vlpheus, Phebe, 
 Levi, Uanuati, Asa and David ; Samuel Jennison, Ebenezer Estabrook, 
 William Earle, Robert Crocker, Emory Earle, Seth Jletcalf, Jr., John 
 Pike, Francis Pike and Clark Pike, Thomas Read, Jiicob Earle, Rnfus 
 Earle, Artenias Earle, Nathan Cass, Bloses Gill Grosvenor, son of Rev. 
 Daniel Grosvenor, Geo. W. Livermore, son of Brjiddyl Livermore, born 
 Oct. 15, 17H4 ; ThmldeuH Estabrook, Ephruim Carrllth, .John Brigham, 
 Joseph Day, Nathaniel Lakin, Samuel Partridge, John Partridge, Kl- 
 bridge Gerry Howe, son of .lonah Howe, born .\ug. 14, 1799 ; .lohn 
 Howe, Jonathan Ctiase and son, Horner Chase ; Ralph Earle Bigelow, son 
 of Ithamar Bigelow, Jr. ; Oliver .\rrmld, .Vmasa Earle, Silas D. Harring- 
 ton, f>Hniel Lakin, .lolin Bellows, Sam'l Wait, Daniel Estabrook, son of 
 J..iiah l'>fabr.iol.-, Ii.irn in IH07 ; Jacoh Karle, Dr. Edward M. W'heeler. 
 
 mendation of a previously-appointed committee who 
 had reported favorably. This committee (chosen in 
 October, 1768) consisted of Captain Oliver Witt, 
 William Whitaker, William Thompson, Willard 
 Moore and Jonathan Knight. 
 
 There were (in 1769) five districts established, and 
 the committee for each " school plot " were as follows : 
 For the Northeast, Phineas Moore, Hezekiah Newton 
 and Stephen Barrett ; for the Southeast, Daniel Stew- 
 art, James (Hover and Francis Eager; for the South- 
 west, Abner Moore, James Thompson and Jason 
 Livermore; for the Northwest, Abraham Smith, Wil- 
 liam Whitaker and Jonah Newton ; for the Middle 
 plot, Captain Paul How, John Snow and Ralph 
 Earle. 
 
 The following names of the heads of families living 
 in the several .school plots or divisions, together with 
 the number given the said divisions, must be of 
 general interest even at this date, viz. : 
 
 Northeaal School Plot, No. 1.— William Allen, Capt. Saml. Brown, En. 
 Stephen Barrett, Aaron Bennet, .Samuel Estabrook, Jno. Fersenden, 
 Zach ? Gates, Aaron Hunt, Ebenezer Hunt, Sanniel Man, Phineas Man,, 
 Elijah Man, Peter Moore, Ephraim Moore, Willard flloore, llezikiah 
 Maynard, Hezikiah Newton, Silas Newton, Benj. Pierce, Jacob Sweetser, 
 Jacob Sweetser, Jr., Benj. Sweetser, Ebenezer Wait, Antipas How, 
 James .\me8. 
 
 Southeaat School PIU, No. 2. — Capt. Jesse Brigham, Joel Brigham, En. 
 Timothy Barrett, Thomas Denny, Wm. Earle, Jr., .\ntipas Earl, Francis 
 Eager, Newdiall Earl, James Glover, Zach. Gates, Wm. Howard, Jabez. 
 Newhall, Daniel Steward, Danl. Snow, Asa Stowe, Joseph .Sprague, DauL 
 Upham, Capt. Oliver Witt, Elijah Dix, Jedediah Newton, Ebenezer Boy- 
 ington, Jon'^ Wheeler, Jr., Jeremiah Fay. 
 
 Sonthwefl tchual Plot, No. 3. — Ezekiel Bellows, Joseph Bellows, AbijaU 
 Bemis, Jont. Brigham, Jacob Briant, John Livermore, .\bner Morse^ 
 .lames Nico], Seth Swan, Wm. Thompson, Wm. Thompson, Jr., Wm, 
 Wicker, David Wicker, Samuel Wicker, Jacob Wicker, David Newton,. 
 Jonathan Knight, Ji-., James Pike,Solomon Newton. 
 
 Norllmcsl School Plot, No. 4 (now West School District).— Joel Brigham, 
 Jonathan Clemmer, David Goodenow, Ebenezer Hunt, ."r., James Mc- 
 Kennon, Seth Metcalf, Jaasaniah Newton, Jonah Newton, Nahnni 
 Newton, John Smith, Abraham Smith, Jonas Smith, Wm. Whitaker, 
 W'm. Wliitaker, Jr. 
 
 The Middle School Plot, No. b.^ (now the Centre School).— Abel Brown^ 
 Col. Gardner Chandler, Capt. Thos. Davis, David Davis, Wm. Earle^ 
 Capt. Ralph Earle, Samuel Gonld. Wid. Daraarius How, Wm. Martin, 
 Shadariah Newel, Ebenezer Prescott, David Pierce, Jonathan Knight, 
 Daniel Kniglit, Jno. Snow, Seth Snow, Adam Maynard, Elijah Dem- 
 mon, Capt. Paul How, Jonah How, .Saml. Brewer, Eleazer Ward, James 
 Logan, Andrew Martin. 
 
 The Northwest (or West, as it is now known) School- 
 house was located, in these early days, just west of the 
 road leading from " Hows Hill," now " Davis's Hill," 
 to Jennison's Mills (Comins' Mills), a few rods south- 
 ward of the pond and across the highway. About 
 1820 the present brick school-house was erected just 
 west of the mill-dam. Some fifty years ago or more 
 Homer Chase taught this school, and lived at the 
 house near by. It will be recollected by the older 
 citizens that years ago the seats were arranged in two 
 rows, which brought the scholars in two lines, one 
 directly back of the other. 
 
 A class in reading was up, and a notably <luil 
 scholar was proceeding, and, as usual, was being 
 
 -The number of districts now is the same a« in 1769. 
 
PAXTON. 
 
 579 
 
 prompted by his neighbor behind him, who could 
 overlook his book. It was the habit of this dull reader 
 to use his finger to keep his place, and as he was being 
 coached, his finger prevented the party prom[)ting 
 from seeing the words ahead, so he whispered to this 
 dull reader, " Skip it;" the reader supposed they were 
 the next words in order for him to repeat, and he 
 drawled out, '*S-k-i-p i-t," which had the result to 
 *' bring down the house,'' as modern people speak. 
 
 At the Southwest School, forty years ago, there were 
 as many as sixty scholars in attendance, and this was 
 true of most of the other schools in town, whereas, at 
 the present time, they would not average a dozen 
 pupils to a school-house, outside of the Centre District; 
 and what is true of this town is nearly true of all the 
 back towns in New England. The Centre School 
 building used to stand north of its present location, 
 near where Hiram P. Bemis now lives, on the Rut- 
 land road. It was a square-built house, and when 
 abandoned, it was used to erect the house now owned 
 by H. C. Eamcs, on the Barre road. Mr. D. Gates 
 Davis remembers when more than sixty scholars at- 
 tended at this school. 
 
 We herewith append a list of prices established in 
 1777 by the authorities of Paxton : 
 
 Agreeably to late act of the Great and (ieiieral Court of Massachu- 
 setts Bay To Prevent Mocopoly and oppresiuu ; The Selectmen and 
 Committee of correspondence for the Town of Paxton have Agreed upon 
 and affixed the Prices hereafter set down to the Following Articles in 
 the Town of Paxton, X'v/,. : — 
 
 Men's Labour at Fanning Work in the months of July and August. 
 3 shill. per day ; The months of May, June and September, 'Zs. 'id. per 
 day; The months of April and October, Is. 9rf. per day; The months of 
 November, Deceuibex*, Jan., February and March, \s. id. per day ; 
 Wheat, 68. per Bushel ; Rye, 4s, 3<l. per Bushel ; Indian Corn, 3». ; 
 Oats, Ifl. Sd. per Bushel ; Barley, '.is. 'id. per Bushel ; Spanish Potatoes, 
 Is. per Bushel in the fall of the year and not to exceed \s. 4(i. at any 
 other se:ison ; Beans, G.s. per bushel ; Peas, 7s. per bushel ; Sheeps Wool, 
 2s. per lb. ; Fresh Pork, well fatted, 3 pence 3 farth. per lb. ; Good 
 Untss-fed Beef, 2 pence 3 farth. per lb. ; Stall-fed Beef, 3 pence 3 far- 
 thing per lb. ; Raw Hides, 3 pence per ib. ; Green Calfskins, G pence 
 per lb. ; Imported Salt, 13 shillings per bushel; Salt manufactured of 
 Sea water, 15s. per bushel ; West India Rum, S«, 2rf. per Gallon; New 
 England Rum, os. per Gall. ; Best Moscorado Sugar, £3 (>s. Srf. per 
 Hundred Wt. aud .'« pence 3 farthings- by the single pound; ilohuises, 
 4«. 8(i. per Gallon ; Chocolate, is. 9d. per lb. ; Best new milk Cheese, 5 
 pence 1 farthing per lb. ; Butter, 9 jience per lb. ; Tan-i Leather, If. 3d. 
 per Ib. ; Curried leather, in Proportion; Homespun yard-wide Cotton 
 . . . ; Cloth, 38. Gd. per yard ; Mutton, Lamb and Veal, 3 pence per 
 lb. ; wheat Flour, 18s. per hundred Wt. ; Best English Hay, 28. Sd, per 
 llundreii Wt. ; Teaming work, Is. Gd. per mile for a Ton; Turkies, 
 Dunghill Fowls and ducks, 4 pence per lb. ; Geese, 3 pence per lb. ; 
 Milk, 1 penny 3 farthing per quart ; Good Merchantable white pine 
 Barn boards, 2b. Sd. per hundred feet ; Men's best yarn Stockings os. 4rf. 
 per pair ; Sleu's best Shoes made of neat Leather, Ss. per pair ; Wo- 
 men's best Calf Skin slioes, Gs. SJ. per pair; Making Men's Shoes, 2s. 
 Sd. ; Making Women's leather shoes, 2s. Srf. ; Good Salt Pork, 8 pence 
 per lb. ; Cotton, 3s. Sd. per lb. ; Good well-dressed merchantable Flax, 
 I shilling per lb. ; Coffee, Is. Hd. per lb. ; Yard wide tow Cloth, 2 shill- 
 ings per yard ; Good yard-wide Stripped Flannel, 38. per yard ; Fried 
 Tallow. 7 pence per lb. ; Rough Tallow, 4 pence 2 farth. per lb. ; Men's 
 board, r>s. per week ; Women's board. 2s. Sd. per week — .Taverners ; 
 Oats, 2 pence 2 farthings for 2 Quarts ; A mug of Flip made with half 
 a pint of West India Rum, Is. Id. ; a mug of Flip made with half a pint 
 of New England Rum, 9 pence ; a Common meal of Vituals, 9 pence ; 
 lodging a person a night, 4 pence; Keeping a horse a night or 24 
 liours on English Hay, 1 shilling : Keeping a yoke of oxen a night or 
 
 24 hours on English Hay, 1 shilling; Charcoal, 3 pence {Kr bushel at 
 
 the pit ; Shoeing a horse round and Steeling toe and heel, Gs. 3d. ; 
 Weaving Plain Towel Cloth yard-wide, not to exceed 3 pence2 farthings 
 per yard ; sjiwing White pine hoards, Is. Id. per Hnn'* feet; Tanner's 
 Bark Oak — Delivered at the Yard, 128. per Coid — j)rice for tanning,! 
 penny 3 farthings per lb. ; horse hire, 2 pence per mile ; Cyder not to 
 exceed Gs. at the press in time of the (ireatest Scarcity ; Carpenter's 
 work, 3 shilling per day ; Price of Taylor's work to be advanced one- 
 eighth part above what was usual when Labour at farming work in the 
 Summer Season was 26. M. per day ; Best Homespun Woolen Cloth of a 
 Good Colour full"* and Press** not to exceed Ss. per yard, and all other 
 articles not her enumerated are to hear a price in a just Proportion to 
 the Particularly Montione<l, According to former Customs and urfages. 
 Dated at Paxton, Feby. 7, 1777. Agreed to by the Selectmen and Com- 
 mittee of Correspondence of Paxton. Attest, 
 
 AUBL Brow-v. 
 
 On September 14. 1791, Beth Snow, of Paxton, gave 
 by deed to the town, one and a half acres and fifteen 
 rods, " whereon the meeting-house stands," the whole 
 forming nearly a square tract for " the use and benefit 
 of thetonn." The bounds are given in Book llA, 
 page 134, as certified to by Artemas Ward, register of 
 deeds, Worcester, and are as follows, viz.: 
 
 A certain tract or parcel of common land lying in Paxton aforesaid, 
 whereon the meeting-house stands, for the use and benefit of the said 
 town, and is bounded as follows, viz. : beginning at a stake and stones 
 on the south line of the burying-yard, thence East 3° S. nine rods and 
 nine tenths to a stake and stone, being the Northwest cornci of Frederick 
 Hunt's land ; thence South 13° 40' W. eighteen rods and eight-tenths of 
 a rod to a heap of stunts on the West side of said Hunt's barn, said line 
 strikes the Nortliwest corner of SJiid barn ; thence South 29^ Ejist ten 
 rods and seven-tenths to a stake and stone.'* ; thence West 12° 30" N. foui- 
 rods to a stake and stones by the Southeast corner of Tteacon Timothy 
 Barrett's horse-shed ; thence N. .32° West seven rods to a stake and stones 
 near the Northeast coiner of the store ; thence W. 8° 4i' N. eight rods 
 and six-tenths to a stake and stones by the Northwest corner of my 
 dwelling-house ; thence S. 4o°30' W.six rods to a stake and stones ; thence 
 W. 10° N. two rods and five-tenths to a stake and stones ; thence East 42° 
 N. nine rods to a stake and stones near the Southeast corner of Abner 
 Morse"s horse-stable ; thence N. 8° E. running on the West side of the 
 horse-stables eighteen rods to the first-mentioned corner; said tract con- 
 tains one acre and a half and fifteen rods by measure. 
 
 The town, after about 1800, moved along the even 
 tenor of its way, without alarming incidents, until 
 1812, when, at a special meeting of the town, held 
 August loth, of that year, it was voted to clioose a 
 committee to attend a county convention called to 
 consider the state of the country, and Nathaniel 
 Crjckcrand liraddyl Livernaore were appointed as the 
 delegates. There was also a petition or memorial or- 
 dered at this meeting to be sent to the President, and 
 the following persons were appointed to prepare the 
 same, viz. : — Nathan Swan, Nathaniel Lakin, David 
 Davis, Jr., Braddyl Livermore and Jonathan P. Gros- 
 venor. The war was of short duration, terminating 
 in a successful issue for the government. 
 
 Of Indian history little is known. Paxton was for 
 many years a part of other towns, and their history 
 would in part be its history, but long before the sur- 
 rounding towns were incorporated there were conflicts 
 with the aborigines in this vicinity, though yet not 
 much that can be localized as having happened with- 
 in the present territory of the town. Yet there was 
 one Indian resident of this town who made it his 
 home during the greater portion of his life, and his 
 
580 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUxNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 name was Aai'on Occuiii.' He was the last remnant 
 and representative of his race. He lived al^out one 
 hundred years ago, and had las home near the south- 
 west noint of Turkey Hill Pond. He lived in peace 
 and quiet with his white neighbors, who learned to 
 like him, and were, at times, much interested in him : 
 "He was a tall, well-formed man, very lithe and 
 strong, and in feats of running, jumping, wrestling 
 ■or lifting, no white man in the town could approach 
 liim. He clung to his ancient arms, and always was 
 seen with bow and arrows, and with these primitive 
 weapons his aim was unerring and fatal. He was a 
 temperate and peaceful man and came to be respected 
 and was a frequent visitor during the long winter 
 evenings, at the dwellingH of his neighbors, whom, in 
 broken English, he would entertain by his wonderful 
 stories of his ancestors and their exploits. Close by 
 his cabin was a large flat rock, on which he pursued 
 his occupation of beating brooms and making baskets, 
 in which arts he was a master, and his wares found 
 ready sale in the vicinity. Thus he lived till one 
 eventful winter night, when he went to visit at the 
 old red house on the hill, a half-mile or so west 
 of his cabin, now the home of Oris Howe. It was 
 an icy time, bitter cold having followed a storm of 
 sleet. The face of the country was glass, with ice. 
 Occura finally departed, and with a bound he started 
 forward down the hill, but he never reached his cabin 
 home alive. The ne.\t morning he was found di^ad at 
 the foot of a sharp declivity, with a gash in the back 
 of his head caused by a sudden fall on a sharp stone 
 above the ice. He, in the darkness, had, doubtless, 
 miscalculated his footing and thus came to his sudden 
 death. He was buried in the public cemetery of the 
 town." 
 
 Of Indian relics there are few ; still, some arc found 
 of course, but not in numbers that would lead us to 
 think any tribe made its permanent home on these 
 liilis. There is, however,just west of the Barre road, 
 beyond the causeway, adjacent to the house of the 
 late Benjamin Maynard, "a low, hollow rock," which 
 tradition says was an Indian " Mortar," u-ed by them 
 for grinding corn. The story of the " Indian Oraves" 
 was related by John Metcalf, who lived to be ninety 
 years old and had a clear memory up to the close of 
 his long life. He died about 1884. His statement 
 was that southwest of said Turkey Hill Pond, on a 
 long ridge, is the spot where a party of Indians 
 killed a number of white men, as described in a book 
 giving an account of the Indian Wars. Here seven 
 white men were killed and were buried under a large 
 oak tree. The mound may still' be seen surrounded 
 (or was) by flat .^^tones, not far from the stump of a 
 large oak tree. The original account stated "that a 
 party of white men were attacked on a hill at the 
 southwest corner of a pond with a large hill on the 
 east side of it, about ten miles from Quinsigamond 
 
 1 Related to lis by George Maynard of Worcester. 
 
 (Worcester) and on the road from Quabog (Brook- I 
 field) to Wachusett, and were buried under a large 
 oak tree." Jlr. Metcalf showed this account to one 
 Artemas Howe, of this town, and together they iden- J 
 tifled this place as the spot referred to. 1 
 
 George Maynard states that at one time he sank a 
 shaft into this mound and below yellow earth became 
 to a black mound, such as might appear in any very 
 ancient grave. 
 
 Of murders there have been several within the 
 present limits of the town since its first settlement. 
 The first great crime of this character occurred on 
 what is known as the o'd " Carruth Road," which 
 formerly led from just below "Comins l^Iill " (once 
 " Jennison's Mill ") to the north into the Barre 
 Road and on to West Rutland. Less than a half- 
 mile from the mills named lived Daniel Cam])bell, a 
 Scotchman, who was killed March 8, 1744, by one 
 Edward Fitzpatrick, an Irishman who was in the em- 
 ploy of Campbell. Fitzpatrick disposed of the body 
 in the wood-pile, the whole covered over with a few 
 rails. There was a general rally of the neighbors to 
 search for the mi>sing man. It was agreed that should 
 the body be found the horn (conch-shell) should be 
 blown to give notice. At the sound of the horn Fitz- 
 patrick, who was standing in the doorway of the house, 
 e.Kclaimed, " My God ! it is all up with me," or words 
 to that effect. Fitzpatrick was tried the following 
 September, found guilty and sentenced to be hanged 
 on the 18th of October following. Campbell was 
 buried in the old cemetery at Rutland Centre, and on 
 his tombstone is the following inscription, viz. : 
 " Here lies buried y' body of Mr. Daniel Campbell, 
 born in Scotland, who came into New England A. D. 
 1716, and was murdered on his own farm in 1774, 
 aged 48 years. . . . Man knoweth not his time." 
 This Carruth Road was much used in the days of 
 which we write, it affording a short route to Barre and 
 that section, to people in the vicinity of Jennison's 
 Mills; besides, many came over this road to trade at 
 .lennison's. 
 
 One Aaron Coggswell lived on the right as you go 
 up this road. He is the ancestor of the present 
 Coggswells of Leicester. Beyond Mr. Uoggswell 
 lived Ephraim Carruth and further on Daniel Camp- 
 1 bell and others. This Mr. Carruth, for whom the 
 road was named, caipe from Marlboro' along with the 
 Hows. After the murder of his neighbor, Campbell, 
 his family, which was quite large, became discon- 
 tented and he returned to Marlboro. He was a sur- 
 veyor and once surveyed the farm of David Davis, 
 who lived at C. A. Streeter's. Mr. Carruth was not 
 in favor with Jonah How, who lived on what is now ' 
 called " Davis' Hill." This How had a pasture up 
 on the Carruth Road where he kept his sheep in sum- 
 mer, and each year he lost a good lamb. At the close 
 of the season, finding a lamb gone as usual, and hap- 
 pening to meet Carruth, said to him that he had got a 
 
 J 
 
PAXTON. 
 
 581 
 
 new name for his pasture and now called it Pilfer- 
 shire. After that no Iambs were missed. The local- 
 ity still goes by the new name among the old people 
 of the neighborhood. 
 
 Some twenty-five years ago, at the time of grading 
 the Great Road, as the Barre Road was then called, 
 many men were employed, among whom was one 
 Doyle, an Irishman. He boarded at the first house 
 beyond the brook on what is now called the West 
 Road (New Braiutree Road), a quarter of a mile or 
 less west of the Common. In the evening of May 11, 
 1862, one Henry Watson, an Englishman, was going 
 by to his home, known as the Stillman Smith place, 
 beyond Pudding Corner. As he came opposite the 
 house some conversation occurred with this Doyle, 
 who demanded some rum of Watson, which he refused, 
 whereupon Doyle became angry, and stepping to the 
 woodpile, took up a hemlock stick and chased Watson, 
 who ran to the next house, where Samuel Peirce 
 lived, and as he passed on to the veranda at the west 
 side of the building he was struck and killed. Doyle 
 at once fled to Worcester, where he was arrested, tried 
 and sentenced to a long term of imprisonment at hard 
 labor. There was, some years ago, a human skeleton 
 found in the front yard of a small farm-house, now 
 occupied by H, Sweetser, on the road leading to Pine 
 Hill, in the northerly part of the town. This 
 brought to mind the fact that a peddler by the name 
 of Livermore, who staid over-night in this neighbor- 
 hood, some years prior, was suddenly missed from 
 the community, and was thought to have been foully 
 dealt with, as a quarrel was believed to have occurred 
 at Widow Samuel Sweetser's that night. An inquest 
 was held, but nothing was established, though Ben- 
 jamin Maynard, who was present, stated that some of 
 the parties living there were much disturbed and 
 seemed guilty. At all events, the principals soon 
 after left, and have never returned. 
 
 A man by the name of Charles Conners, in Feb- 
 ruary, 1802, was frozen to death in his sleigh at the 
 foot of the hill near Pudding Corner, on the New 
 Braiutree road, east of the school-house. He had 
 been to Worcester, and, addicted to drink, had pro- 
 cured a bottle of liquor, and, over-indulging, had be- 
 come insensible from two causes, — the liquor and the 
 cold. The day had been somewhat mild and fairly 
 pleasant, but in the early afternoon the wind rose and 
 it grew cold rapidly, and before sunset the wind had 
 risen to a blizzard, and the thermometer dropped 
 during the night to 30° below zero. He was found 
 in the morning, sitting nearly upright, with his hat 
 oft" and an empty bottle beside him. The reins had 
 become tangled, and had turned the horse to the side 
 of the road, where he stopped, and was yet alive. 
 The man lived at North Spencer, and the team be- 
 longed to Samuel Cunningham, of that place. The 
 day he was found the thermometer at noon stood at 
 28° below, the coldest day for three-quarters of a cen- 
 tury in this locality. 
 
 At one time in the spring of the year, as a com- 
 pany of workmen were engaged repairing the road 
 near the present town- farm. Captain B was hold- 
 ing the plow when a skeleton was turned up. All 
 were horror-stricken, and the captain left and went 
 to work elsewhere, being unable to witness the scene. 
 It was told by him that it must be the body of a 
 Mrs. Hunt, who had lived on the cro.s.s-road near by, 
 and who, having died of the small-pox, was hur- 
 riedly buried there. But this was not credited by 
 the citizens. The other theory was that a young 
 man, who, a year before, was working for the captain, 
 had suddenly disappeared without any very good ex- 
 planations, and it was believed the body was his, 
 especially as an investigation showed the remains to 
 be those of a male person. 
 
 Among the notable people who were born or lived 
 in Paxton was the Livermore family. .Tason Liver- 
 more was one of the early settler.", and lived in the 
 southerly part of the town, near Pudding Corner, and 
 had several children. 
 
 He was in the engagement at Bunker Hill, as has 
 already been shown, and was a man of high courage 
 and great patriotism. He was for many years a 
 prominent citizen here. His son Braddyl also be- 
 came prominent, and was well known for his capacity 
 to transact business, and stood high among his towns- 
 men. His son, George W. Livermore, a graduate of 
 Harvard, and now of Cambridge, became a distin- 
 guished citizen of that place, and returned on June 
 14, 1865, and delivered the historical address at the 
 centennial celebration, and to him, as well as to other 
 writers, are we much indebted for many of the facts 
 herewith embodied. 
 
 Few men in our early history were as distinguished 
 as Doctor Samuel Stearns. He was a somewhat cele- 
 brated man in his day, as well as prominent as a 
 practicing physician. He traveled much between 
 1778 and '85, and he made the journey from Southern 
 Georgia to Mafsachusetts on horseback. He relates 
 leaving Georgia in February, with the trees bloom- 
 ing, and he so timed his journey as to reach Massa- 
 chusetts in early June, having a succession of bb s- 
 soms for a thousand miles. He married Sarah Witt 
 of Paxton March 7, 1773. 
 
 In 1782 he was in Europe, and continued his trav- 
 els there for several years. He published a volume 
 of his letters from England and the Continent writ- 
 ten in 1784.' He speaks of meeting Minister John 
 Adams at the Hague, and spending some time with 
 him in driving about the country. Doctor Stearns 
 was very fond of art, and greatly admired the paint- 
 ing of Rubens, as well he might. He visited the 
 Hague in the summer of 1784 and was a guest of John 
 Adams, the American minister, of whom he speaks in 
 
 1 This vulume was published by Isai.ih Thomas of Worcester, in 1710* 
 entitled, " A Tour in Holland," with a preface by John Trumbull, the 
 celebrated author of "McFingal." 
 
582 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 the highest praise. Iii speaking of the ambassador he 
 says hij livery is the same as the American uniform. 
 He also says that in popularity and influence at that 
 court Mr. Adams bore the palm of the diplomatic 
 body. He adds that Mr. Adams talks but little, but 
 what he says is direct and forcelul; that America 
 .stands indebted to him principally for three important 
 acquisitions — the defeat of Sir Joseph Yorke and se- 
 curing the patronage of Holland in a critical moment, 
 the extension of our limits and the security ot our 
 fisheries. The head(iuarters of the embassy was the 
 Grand Hotel, which Mr. Adams had purchased for 
 the permanent quarters of United States ministers. 
 Dr. Stearns relates an incident which, but for him, 
 the life of Mr. Adams might have been in great jeo- 
 pardy, viz. : — They were driving along the banks of a 
 canal in Delft when a child was discovered struggling 
 for life in the waters of the canal. Mr. Adams drew 
 oft' his overcoat and was about ready to leap into the 
 water when the Doctor interfered. At this juncture, 
 a workman close by had made the plunge and saved 
 the.drowning child. 
 
 The Earles were numerous and prominent in the 
 town's early history and for many years afterward. 
 Marmaduke Earle came from Leicester and settled 
 where Nathaniel I'arkhurst now lives, about a mile 
 west of the centre, on the Barre road. He had four- 
 teen children. 
 
 Capt. Ralph Earle, of Leicester, was the best-known 
 of any of the Earle family. He took a part in the 
 Revolutionary War and performed other and valuable 
 service. One of his sons, R. E. W. Earle, became 
 famous as an artist. He made a painting of Niagara 
 Falls which attracted much attention, and subse- 
 quently he resided in the South, where he became an 
 inmate of the family of General Jackson, at the 
 "Hermitage." He painted several portraits of the 
 general and his family. He died there in 1837, and 
 was buried in the garden, beside the graves of Jackson 
 and his wife. Captain Ralph was a member of im- 
 portant committees raised by the town at sundry 
 times during the Revolution ; was for a time chairman 
 of the selectmen, and occasionally served as modera- 
 tor. He was also captain of the Standing Company 
 in the Revolution. 
 
 Philip Earle' was a public man and was engaged in 
 the manufacture of scythes, below Jennison's Mills, 
 just west of the highway. Here he had a trip-ham- 
 mer and carried on quite a business. The mills above 
 named were lirst owned by one Silas Newton ; he lived 
 on Brigham Hill, where one Brigham subsequently 
 lived. Newton had a fulling mill, besides a saw and 
 grist-mill and shingle-mill. He sold to Samuel Jen- 
 nison, who is reputed to be a rough sort of a man. 
 He kept a wet grocery store in the basement of his 
 house, and it used to be a much frequented resort. 
 He sold to Homer Chase, his son-in-law, who con- 
 
 1 This I'liilip wiia a son iif I'^Iarnmdiike Eark- aud sticceeded to the 
 Ijiisiiifss of one ./oel t'rusaiiian. 
 
 tinned the store business. Homer was a son of Jona- 
 than Chase, who lived where Horace Daniels now 
 lives. 
 
 The Davis family was likewise conspicuous, and the 
 first Simon Davis came from Concord to Rutland, 
 where he had a son David, who settled in Paxtou, 
 where Charles A. Streeter now lives. He had a son 
 David, Jr., who lived at the foot of the hill, just west 
 of his father's place. There was a tan-yard just back 
 of this last-named house, where considerable business 
 was done annually. At this time there was another 
 tan-yard near Pudding Corner, on the Bellows place, 
 where an equal amount of tanning was done. This 
 Davis family are the ancestors of Mr. D. Gatej Davis, 
 who, until lately, lived where Jonah Howe formerly 
 lived. 
 
 The Peirce family came here from New Hampshire, 
 but of all the members perhaps John D. Peirce is the 
 most conspicuous. His father was Gad Peirce, and 
 his grandfather David Peirce. The subject of this 
 brief sketch came to live at the Peirce homestead, in 
 the easterly part of the town, on the farm now owned 
 and occupied by Horace Peirce. He lived with Job 
 Peirce, an uncle. He, at the age of siyteen, decided 
 to secure a liberal education, and, with the assistance 
 of the Rev. Mr. Conant, a near neighbor, he went to 
 Leicester Academy. He joined the church at that 
 place. He fitted for college, entered Brown Uni- 
 versity and graduated with Elbridge Gerry Howe, of 
 this place. He married in Sangerfield, New York, 
 studied for the ministry and settled in York State as 
 a Congregational minister. He subsequently went to 
 Michigan and preached for a time at Marshall, and at 
 same time kept the post-oflice (in a cigar-box). When 
 Michigan was admitted into the Union he was ap- 
 pointed State Superintendent of Instruction. He took 
 an active part thereafter in all educational art'airs and 
 advised a liberal policy for the State, which was 
 adopted, and has left its impress on that great Com- 
 monwealth to this day. He was at one time promi- 
 nently named for United States Senator, but being a 
 Whig and they in the minority, he decided to change 
 his politics, and soon after ihe party he espoused be- 
 came the minority and so he died a disappointed man 
 in some respects. But his life was made valuable to 
 his fellow-men in the founding of a new State. 
 
 Of the Harrington-, first came Nathan Harrington 
 from Weston and settled on the farm just north and 
 under the shadow of Pine Hill. He had children — 
 Nathan, Lemuel and Samuel. The first son settled 
 in Barre, Vt., the second lived and died in Hardwick, 
 Mass., while Samuel remained at home and had 
 children — Lucy B., Elizabeth F., Samuel D., Lemuel, 
 David, Simon G., Abigail and Lucinda. Samuel D. 
 had children— Samuel, who lives in Boston ; Nathan, 
 living in Toledo, Ohio ; and Eliza, who married Rev, 
 Charles Morris aud lives in Gloucester. 
 
 David Harrington, last above named, married Miss 
 Olive Holmes in October, 1830. He lived and died 
 
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 r 
 
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 ,,;^4^-^-'^ 
 
PAXTON. 
 
 583 
 
 on his farm in Paxton. He celebrated the fiftieth 
 anniversary of his marriage on October 29, 1880. 
 There was a large company of relatives and friends 
 from far and near present on that occasion. Mr. 
 Simon G. Harrington is still living at the advanced 
 age of eighty years and upwards, at his farm on the 
 Rutland Road. He represented the town some years 
 since in the Legislature and is one of the brightest 
 and ablest men in this vicinity. 
 
 Silas D., son of Dr. Loami Harrington, was a very 
 prominent man in the public affairs of this town. On 
 November 17, 1877, he celebrated his fiftieth wed- 
 ding anniversary. He died suddenly soon after, 
 while on a visit to Millbury. He was for many years 
 one of the selectmen and much respected. His por- 
 trait can be seen in the new town hall. 
 
 The Howe family is a numerous one in Paxton, 
 and the first settler here was one John How, who 
 came from Marlboro', Mass., in 1742, and pur- 
 chased lands of an agent of the Crown, and the old 
 deed, now in possession of Dr. A. J. Howe, bears 
 the seal of the colonial government. The place 
 purchased by John Howe is now owned by Deacon 
 Keep, and is situated about a mile west from the 
 centre. This John Howe deeded the place to his son 
 Paul Howe, and he to his son John, and he to 
 Samuel H. Howe, the father of the present Dr. An- 
 drew Jackson Howe, of Cincinnati. Of the Howe 
 family born in Paxton, Dr. Howe is the most dis- 
 tinguished. His father moved to the edge of Lei- 
 cester, where Mr. Watts now lives. At the age ot 
 twenty, Andrew bought his time of his father, agree- 
 ing to pay one hundred dollars for his " freedom," 
 a transaction not unknown in those days. Young 
 Howe worked in a saw-mill and thereby kept Ins 
 engagement with his father as to the payment of the 
 "time" or freedom money. He then went to Graf- 
 ton, where he worked for an uncle in a shoe-factory. 
 While thus engaged he made the acquaintance of 
 Dr. Calvin Newton, who, being interested in him, 
 consented to take Andrew as a student on condition 
 that he acquire the education requisite to enter 
 college. The young man, nothing daunted, subse- 
 quently entered the Leicester Academy, where he at- 
 tended two years, taking high rank as a student, 
 From there he went to Cambridge and was admitted, 
 and during the four years there he held a reputable 
 place in his class, thatof 1853. While fitting for college 
 he was obliged, out of study hours and during vaca- 
 tions, to labor at whatever his hands could find to do ; 
 sometimes he was busy with wood-chopping and 
 threshing and boat-building. After graduation at 
 Harvard he prepared his way as best he could pe- 
 cuniarily for entering upon a course of medical lec- 
 tures at Jefierson College, in Philadelphia. The 
 next year he attended hospital instructions in New 
 York. The year following he took temporary charge 
 of Dr. Walter Burnham's piactice in Lowell, Mass. 
 In 1855 he was appointed to the professorship of 
 
 surgery in the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincin- 
 nati, Ohio, a position he has held ever since. 
 
 He is the author of a treatise on General Surgery, 
 and also of works on special branches of surgical 
 science. He has, during his residence in Cincinnati, 
 performed all the great operations of a surgical char- 
 acter and he is favored with a wide range of patron- 
 age. In 1886 Dr. Howe made a tour of Europe, 
 visiting the famous hospitals of the Continent, and 
 became acquainted with the distinguished men of his 
 profession. As a recreative indulgence. Dr. Howe 
 has cultivated a taste for biological investigations, 
 and has acquired some distinction as an anatomist. 
 For many years he was one of the curators in the 
 Cincinnati Society of Natural History. Dr. Howe 
 married, in 1858, Georgiana, the oldest daughter of 
 George Lakin, of this place. 
 
 The familiar faces of Dr. and Mrs. Howe are occa- 
 sionally seen in town revisiting the places familiar in 
 their childhood, and renewing old acquaintances, by 
 whom they are ever cordially welcomed. 
 
 Jonah How lived on Davis Hill, and died there 
 aged eighty-four years. Artemas How was also 
 prominent in public afl'airs. 
 
 Rev. Elbridge Gerry Howe, son of'.Tonah Howe, was 
 a graduate of Brown University, and went West on 
 missionary work and established the first Congrega- 
 tional Church at Waukegan, 111. He was four times 
 married. He leaves two sons, E. G. Howe, Jr., and 
 Ira Howe. Rev. Mr. Howe was one of those men who 
 left the world better by having lived in it. He was 
 pre-eminently adapted to missionary labors, in which 
 he had great success. He was always an earnest 
 speaker and always found on the side of right on every 
 jiulilic question. He was an honest man and of exalted 
 cliaracter. 
 
 The Grosvenor family were among the notable 
 people during their residence in this town. A brief 
 sketch has already been given of the Rev. Daniel 
 Grosvenor. Jonathan P. Grosvenor was a prominent 
 man, occupying offices of trust and honor for many 
 years. He was a justice of the peace, and lived on 
 the farm now owned by Peter Daw. Here met some 
 of the most cultivated people in town. His daughter, 
 Lucy Grosvenor, married David Manning, Sr., of this 
 place, and subsequently they removed to Worcester, 
 where they at present reside. 
 
 Capt. Tyler Goddard, who lived just north of the 
 meeting-house at the junction of tlie Rutland and 
 Holden roads, was the first postmaster in Paxton. 
 The office was established December 10, 1816, and 
 he held the place till 1841. He kept a small grocery 
 store just across the road west of his house, in what is 
 now the new burying-ground. An anecdote is related 
 of him that one time, in order to cure David Sweetser 
 of the bad habit of borrowing jugs, filled one for him 
 in which oil had been kept. This ^ug came back and 
 with it the lost jugs, and a pretty free expression of 
 miscellaneous statements on the part of Sweetser, to 
 
584 
 
 HISTORY OF WOKCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 the great amusement of Capt. Goddard. Luther God- 
 dard, of Worcester, is a son of Tyler, and was for 
 some years the town clerk of Paxton. The next post- 
 master was S. D. Harrington, followed by Otis Pierce, 
 and in 1801 Nathaniel Clark was appointed and still 
 holds the office. ( )f town clerks Ephraim Moore was 
 first and William H. Clark, the present incumbent, 
 the last chosen. 
 
 The Bigelows have ever been prominent in town 
 since the advent of the Rev. Silas Bigelow. He had 
 a brother, Ithamar Bigelow, who also lived on Asney- 
 bumskeit and he had sons Silas and Ithamar, Jr. 
 Silas Bigelow had children : John Flavel, George Xor- 
 raan, Artemas E. and Adaline E. Ithamar Bigelow, 
 Jr. had children : Ralph Earle, Walter R. and Lewis. 
 Ralph Earle Bigelow had children : Caroline, Eme- 
 lineand John C. Lewis Bigelow bad children': Henry, 
 Charles, Edward, George, Phoebe and Eliza. 
 
 In the late Civil War this town contributed seventy- 
 four men, and of this number fifteen lost their lives 
 while in the service. The records show that on the 
 26th July, 1862, a bounty of one hundred and ten dol- 
 lars was voted. On August 9th the amount was 
 raised eighty-five dollars. On December 8th the town 
 offered one hundred and ten dollars for nine months' 
 men, and one hundred and sixty dollars for those en- 
 listing for three years. These otters were in addition 
 to any bounties or gratuities proffered by the State or 
 United States governments. There was an additional 
 bounty offered in June, 1864, of one hundred and 
 twenty-five dollars. In the year 1871 a granite 
 monument was erected on the "Common " in mem- 
 ory of those losing their lives during the four years' 
 contest with the Southern States. An iron railing 
 surrounds this shaft, and within the inclosure there 
 are four cannon donated by Congress. On this shaft 
 are the names of twenty-one of our soldiers who died 
 by reason of the Rebellion. 
 
 On June 14, 1865, the town celebrated the centen- 
 nial of its incorporation. There was a large assem- 
 blage of the sons and daughters of the town on that 
 occasion. There was a public meeting in the church, 
 at which Hon. George W. Livermore, of Cambridge, 
 Rev. John F. Bigelow, D.D., of Brooklyn, Prof George 
 N. Bigelow, also of Brooklyn, and Rev. George G. 
 Phipps, now of Newton Highlands, delivered 
 addresses. They were all natives of this town. A 
 public dinner was served on the " Common," opposite 
 the church, of which many hundreds partook. It was 
 a grand gala occasion, and the reunions were many 
 and most cordial, and the memory of them is as a sweet 
 savor to all participating. 
 
 In 1888 the town erected a new town hall, in part 
 out of tlie proceeds of the estate of the late Simon 
 Allen, who left by will his entire property in trust to 
 the town, which was to be used in the building of a 
 
 town hall, the same to be called Allen Hall. The 
 amount of his estate was twenty-two hundred dollars, 
 but the prolonged illness of his widow reduced this, 
 amount to fifteen hundred dollars. During the life- 
 time of his widow the property could not be used for 
 the purpo.se designated by the testator, but on her 
 decease, which occurred in 1887, the Allen fund was 
 turned over to the town treasurer, and at the annual 
 meeting of the town in March, 1888, it was voted to 
 add a thousand dollars to the Allen fund and go for- 
 ward with the building, the town appointing the fol- 
 lowing persons as a building committee, viz. : L. Bill, 
 William Brown, A. S. Graton, E. P. Keep and H. H. 
 Pike. 
 
 The land for the location was given by the writer, 
 and in the following July the contractor began his 
 work, and by the 20th of the following October the 
 building was completed, and was formally dedicated 
 on November ], 1888. The <ledication address was 
 delivered by Col. William B. Harding, of Worcester, 
 the i30em by George Maynard, also of Worcester, with 
 remarks by Rev. George H. Gould, D.D., and Scrip- 
 ture reading and dedicatory prayer by Rev. Alpha 
 Morton. 
 
 The chairman of the selectmen,' Ledyard Bill, re- 
 ceived the keys from H. H. Pike on behalf of the 
 building committee. The church choir, under the 
 leadership of Oliver Goodnow, who for over fifty years 
 has been connected with church music here, gave 
 choice selections ; the exercises in the main hall clos- 
 ing with America, in singing which, all joined. A 
 public dinner was served in the lower hall by the 
 Ladies' Union, of which Mrs. Nathaniel Clark is 
 president. The building stands on the west side of the 
 Barre Road, opposite the '' Common." It is a plain 
 appearing structure, but inside it is all that will be 
 reijnired for yeilrs to come. The total cost will not 
 be far from forty- five hundred dollars. Simon Allen 
 was born in 1806, in Holden, in the house near the foot 
 of the big hill, on the Paxton and Holden Road, 
 on the south side of the highway, and east of Mr. 
 Metcalf's. He attended the Northeast School in 
 Paxton a portion of his youth. He moved to Shrews- 
 bury, where he married Miss Fannie Norcross. He 
 was a boot and shoe-maker, and followed that trade 
 while in Shrewsbury. He moved to Paxton in 1840, 
 and bought a farm of the elder John Slade, on the 
 Rutland Road, where George A. Brown now lives. 
 He was a plain, unassuming, honest man, and re- 
 spected by all who knew him. He died December 
 29, 1880, and was buried by the side of his first wife, 
 near the west entrance to the Public Cemetery. He 
 was twice married, but left no children. 
 
 1 The first boHnl of selectmen chosen in ITO.'j was Oliver Witt, Ephraim 
 Moore and Saninel Hruwn, while the last hoard chosen in tSSS was Led- 
 yard Bill, A. S. Graton and I,. T. Kirhy. 
 
WEST BOYLSTON. 
 
 585 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXIII. 
 
 WEST BOYLSTON. 
 
 BY HORATIO HOUGHTON. 
 
 West Boylston is situated seven miles Crom 
 Worcester, by wliicli it is bounded on tlie south, and 
 is about forty miles from Boston. Its territory ex- 
 tends about five miles from north to south and about 
 three and a half miles from east to west. In shape it 
 very much resembles an Indian tomahawk without a 
 handle. Its territory has been covered in part by the 
 organization of six other towns, previous to its incor- 
 poration as the town of West Boylston in January, 
 1808. At the first incorporation of Lancaster, in 
 1653, its soutliwesterly corner boundary did not toucli 
 tlie present limits of West Boylston, it being near the 
 house on the Robert Andrews place in Boylston. The 
 extension of Lancaster in 1711 covered all of the ter- 
 ritory of this town lying east of the Stillwater River 
 and north of a line drawn from near the present cen- 
 tral bridge, nearly east to near the southwest corner 
 of the first Lancaster grant in Boylston. 
 
 At the incorporation of Worcester, in 1722, it in- 
 cluded the territory afterwards set off as Holden in 
 1741. Shrewsbury was incorporated in 1727 and in- 
 cluded all the territory lying between Lancaster and 
 Worcester, the strip of land lying between the Still- 
 water River and what was afterwards Holden, of 
 about a mile in average width and about four miles 
 in length, receiving the name of " Shrewsbury Leg." 
 That part of this strip now within the town of Ster- 
 ling still retains the name of "The Leg." In 17(iS 
 all of this leg lying north of the Quinnepoxet River 
 and covering the present village of Oakdale was ceded 
 to Lancaster. 
 
 "A petition, dated May 15, 1780, asking to be set 
 off from Lancaster to Shrewsbury, was sent to the 
 General Court, signed by the following persons : — 
 Aaron Sawyer, Nathaniel Lamson, Silas Hastings, 
 John Glazier, John Dunsmore, Ezra Beaman, Na- 
 thaniel Davenport, Wm. Dunsmore, Silas How, Jo- 
 seph Sawyer, Robert Andrews, Jr., Nathaniel Hast- 
 ings, Oliver Sawyer, Frederick Albert, Micah Har- 
 than, Elijah Ball, Hugh Moor, Levi Moor, Josiah 
 Bennet, Sam'l Bigsby, Phineas How, Jacob Winn, 
 Edmund Larkin." 
 
 Several of these men were then living within the 
 limits of Shrewsbury, but it is probable that some of 
 their landed estates extended into Lancaster; a part, 
 too, were residents of territory now in Boylston and 
 part in West Boylston. This petition was granted 
 February 2, 1781, making a new line between Lan- 
 caster and Shrewsbury; but just where this line was 
 located cannot now be given. 
 
 Sterling was incorporated the same year, 1781, and 
 covered all the territory belonging to Lancaster then 
 
 lying within the present limits of West Boylston. 
 Boylston came next as a town, in 1786, and took a 
 part of this territory from Sterling. In 1796 the 
 "Second Precinct of Boylston, Sterling and Holden " 
 was formed, taking from Sterling about two thousand 
 three hundred acres, from Holden a strip of land 
 about sixteen hundred rods long, one hundred rods 
 wide at the north end and about one mile wide at the 
 south end, and from Boylston all the rest of the terri- 
 tory was taken, now embraced in West Boylston, ex- 
 cept the long neck of land extending to the line of 
 Shrewsbury. This neck, which is about a mile wide 
 at its northern end and about one hundred rods at its 
 southern extremity, is about two miles long and 
 covers about one-half of the grant of one thousand 
 acres made to the town of Maiden in 1665, by the 
 colonial authorities of Massachu-etts, and which is 
 more particularly described hereafter, was added to 
 the said precinct territory, when the town was incor- 
 porated in 1808. 
 
 It will be thus seen that all that part of the 
 " Shrewsbury leg," lying north of the Quinnepoxet 
 River, now embraced in the limits of this town, and 
 covering the village of Oakdale, has been within the 
 limits of five different towns, — first to Shrewsbury, 
 from 1727 to 1768 ; then to Lancaster until 1781 ; 
 then to Sterling, until 1786 ; then to Boylston, until 
 1808, when it became a part of West Boylston. Sev- 
 eral other portions of the town have be(n within the 
 limits of four different towns, and there are no por- 
 tions of it which have not been in three different 
 ones. 
 
 The natural scenery of the town is multiform, and 
 in many places somewhat romantic in appearance, as 
 it strikes the eye of a stranger, being diversified with 
 hills and valleys, and in all directions interspersed 
 with streams and springs of water, suited to the needs 
 and wants of its inhabitants. Much of its soil is fer- 
 tile, and with good management and cultivation well 
 repays the labor of the skillful and industrious hus- 
 bandman. Legendary history points to the fact that 
 before its occupation by white men it had been peo- 
 pled by Indians, and many places have been pointed 
 out as the location of their corn-fields and dwellings, 
 its first white settlers often finding specimens of 
 Indian stone implements. The first white persons, 
 of whom we have any history, locating within its 
 territory were Jacob Hinds, Joseph Wooley, Ebene- 
 zer Frizzol, Benjamin Bigelow, Jonathan Fairbank, 
 Aaron Newton, Ezekiel Newton, Edward Goodale, 
 Stephen Belknap, William Whitney, Phineas Ben- 
 nett, Jonathan French, Jonathan Lovell and Josiah 
 Wilder, who came here from older towns below about 
 1720. These men, with their families, settled in the 
 southeastern part of the town, and to protect them- 
 selves from any possible trouble from their Indian 
 neighbors they built a garrison, or block-house, to 
 which they could repair for the night as a place of 
 security when danger was apprehended. This block- 
 
586 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 house was situated about forty rods north of the line 
 of the Worcester and Nashua Railroad, and about 
 half a mile from Boylston town line. A well, con- 
 nected with ihi-i fort, is still in excellent preserva- 
 tion, and the outlines of an old cellar are plainly to 
 be seen. Other families soon followed these first 
 spoken of, and within a few years are known to have 
 had settlements in nearly all the parts of the town. 
 There are no accounts that any of these early settlers 
 were troubled by the Indians, and it is not known 
 that any lived within the town limits after its first 
 settlers located here. 
 
 The circumstances which finally led to the forma- 
 tion, first, of the Second Precinct, and afterwards of 
 the town, are given in the sketch of the life of Major 
 Ezra Beaman on other pages of this history. 
 
 At the time of the incorporation of the town there 
 were in it ninety-eight dwelling-houses and about the 
 same number of families, one hundred and sixty 
 ratable polls and one hundred and five legal voters. 
 There were three school -houses, one church, one cot- 
 ton-mill, two grist-mills, two saw-mills, one clothiers- 
 mill, one tannery, four blacksmith and one cabinet- 
 maker's shops, two book-binderies, three stores and 
 one tavern. There were sixty farmers, ten or twelve 
 mechanics, several laborers, one clergyman and but 
 one person of foreign birth. 
 
 At the first election in West Boylston, held on the 
 first Monday in March, 1808, the following town 
 officers were chosen : Moderator, Silas Beaman ; Town 
 Clerk, Robert B. Thomas ; Selectmen, Ezra Beaman, 
 Jonathan Plim])ton, William Fairbank, Silas Bea- 
 man and Amos Lovell ; Assessors, Robert B. Thomas, 
 Silas Newton and Moses Perry ; Treasurer, Ezra 
 Beaman ; Constable, Silas Beaman. At the first 
 election for State officers, in April, 1808, there were 
 eighty-five votes cast fiir Governor — Christopher Gore 
 had si.'ity-six; James Sullivan had eighteen: and 
 Levi Lincoln had one. 
 
 Since 1849 the candidates for President have re- 
 ceived votes as follows in this town : In 1840, Whig, 
 169; Democratic, 36; Liberty, 17. 1844, Whig, 138; 
 Democratic, 37 ; Liberty, 06. 1848, Whig, 56 ; Dem- 
 ocratic, 27; Liberty, 201. 1852, Whig, 47; Demo- 
 cratic, 41 ; Republican, 184. 1856, Whig, 3 ; Demo- 
 cratic, 27 ; Republican, 296. 1860, Whig, 5; Demo- 
 cratic, 66; Republican, 326. 1864, Lincoln, 287; 
 McClellan, 48. 1868, Grant, 279 ; Seymour, 18. 1872, 
 Grant, 300 ; Greeley, 40. 1876, Hayes, 304 ; Tilden, 
 88. 1880, Garfield," 290; Hancock, 51. 1884, Blaine, 
 231; Cleveland, 110. 1888, Harrison, 221; Cleve- 
 land, 88. 
 
 The population of the town in 1885 was 2927 ; 
 voters, 506; valuation, $1,173,443. 
 
 The town is made up of seven different villages. 
 West Boylston proper covering the Central, Valley, 
 Lower Factory, Depot and Old Common villages, and 
 comprises about three-fifths of the town, with its out- 
 lying farm population. Oakdale, covering the vil- 
 
 age of Harrisville, makes the other two-fifths of the 
 town. The Worcester and Nashua Railroad passing 
 from south to north, and the Central Massachusetts 
 Railroad passing from east to west through the town, 
 crossing each other's tracks at Oakdale, gives the town 
 full and constant connection of travel to all parts of 
 the country. There are also lines of telegraph and 
 telephone wires connecting with the main lines 
 throughout the continent. 
 
 At the time when the precinct was incorporated, 
 by a provision in the act, any persons, with their fam- 
 ilies, living within its limits, and who did not sign 
 the petition for it and preferred to retain their con- 
 nection with the old parishes, were allowed to do so by 
 notifying the clerk of said Second Precinct within six 
 months after the passage of the said act. The follow- 
 ing-named persons availed themselves of this privi- 
 lege: Jonas Temple, Jacob Hinds, Thomas Keyes, 
 Thomas Keyes, Jr., Micah Harthan, Elijah Goodnow, 
 Aseal Partridge, and Jesse Dana, of Boylston ; Saul 
 Houghton, Joshua Houghton, Jonas Mason and Jona- 
 than Prescott, of Sterling. 
 
 At the incorporation of the town in 1808, three of 
 the.se individuals were allowed to retain their citizen- 
 ship, and pay taxes on their estates in the old town 
 to which they belonged. They were Jonas Temple 
 and Thomas Keyes, to Boylston, and Jonas Mason, to 
 Sterling; and they tenaciously adhered to the privi- 
 lege, so liberally granted, until their decease, when 
 their real estate, within the limits, came under the 
 jurisdiction of West Boylston. 
 
 The town officers for 1888 were as follows: 
 
 Town Clerk, Horatio Houghton ; Selectmen, H. E. 
 Morton, D. P. Waite, J. E. Peirce; Assessors, S. P. 
 Hallock, J. E. Peirce, J. L. Howe ; Overseers of 
 Poor, Silas Newton, Wm. R. Walker, Francis Mer- 
 riam ; Treasurer, Geo. F. Howe; Collector, F. H. 
 Baldwin ; School Committee, Rev. W. W. Parker, 
 Geo. F. Howe, S. S. Russell, J. E. Peirce, S. P. Hal- 
 lock, J. M. Lord, Henry Boynton, Geo. E. Dana, 
 Warren Howe, E. B. Berry, A. H. Murdock, Geo. B. 
 Newton ; Constables, F. H. Baldwin, James Doyle, 
 E. A. Newton ; Library Directors, Geo. L. Hyde, H. 
 E. Morton, H. O. Sawyer, Geo. B. .lohnson, H. Hough- 
 ton; Auditor, Geo. L. Hyde. 
 
 Moderators. — The following persons were sever- 
 ally moderators of the annual March Meeting, for 
 the first fifty years, from 1808 to 1858 : Silas Beaman, 
 Silas Newton, Paul Goodale, William Fairbank, 
 Robert B. Thomas, Dr. John M. Smith, Andre Taft, 
 J. F. Fay, E. M. Hosraer, D. C. Murdock, Benj. F. 
 Keyes, J. C. Lovell. Since 1858 the jjosition has 
 been filled by D. C. Murdock, J. C. Lovell, W. N. 
 White, Geo. H. Jefts and Geo. F. Howe, Mr. Howe 
 having presided for twenty-one years. 
 
 Chairman of Selectmen. — The following gentle- 
 men served as chairman of the Board of Selectmen in 
 the years from 1808 to 1858: Ezra Beaman, four 
 years; William Fairbank, one year; John Temple, 
 
WEST BOYLSTON. 
 
 587 
 
 six years ; Robert B. Thomas, three years ; Ezra 
 Bigelow, three years; Joseph Hinds, four years; 
 Francis Davis, one year ; Joseph White, four years ; 
 Silas Newton, one year; Asa Bigelow, one year; 
 Dennis Harthan, two years; Benj. F. Keyes, two 
 years ; Thomas Holmes, one year ; E. M. Hosmer, 
 three years ; Lotan Cleveland, five years ; D. C. Mur- 
 dock, four years; Addison Lovell, one year; Jona- 
 than Peirce, one year; L. M. Harris, one year ; John 
 Prentiss, one year; Samuel Lawrence, one year. 
 Since 1858 the position has been held as follows : 
 Levi Goss, one year; W. N. Wliite, one year; C. H. 
 Baldwin, one year; D. C. Murdoch, five years; E. F. 
 Brigham, four years ; W. B. Harris, two years ; 
 Stephen Holt, four years ; L. M. Harris, one year ; 
 S. H. Smith, seven years; S. F. Hemenway, two 
 years; Aaron Goodale, one year; H. E. Morton, two 
 years. 
 
 The office of treasurer of the town was held during 
 the first fifty years by the following persons: Ezra 
 Beaman, Ezra Beaman, Jr., Barnabus Davis, Jona- 
 than Plyrapton, Andre Taft, Francis Davis, John 
 Lees, Seth White, Thomas Holme.-i, Ezekiel Peirce, 
 
 A. E. Winter, E. B. Newton, Moses Brigham, Samuel 
 Brown, E. W. Holbrook, Dennis Harthan, Oliver B. 
 Sawyer, who continued to hold the office until 1862. 
 Since that year George F. Howe has served as treas- 
 urer 22 years, and Henry A. Sawyer, 5 years. 
 
 From 1808 to the present time the office of town 
 clerk has been held by the following persons: Robert 
 
 B. Thomas, 1 year; Joseph Hinds, 4 years, Ezra 
 Bigelow, 10 years ; Francis Davis, 2 years ; Seth 
 White, 5 years; Ephraim Bigelow, 7 years; B. F. 
 Keyes, three years ; Barney Howe, 10 years ; O. B. 
 Sawyer, five years; H. F. Holt, 1 year; Edward 
 Howe, 3 years ; H. O. Sawyer, 1 year ; H. Houghton, 
 29 years. 
 
 Represextatives to the General Court. — The 
 following persons represented the town in the House up 
 to the year 1857, after which the district system went in- 
 to operation: Ezra Beaman, 4 years; Barnabus Davis, 
 fj years ; Joseph Hinds, 5 years ; Robert B. Thomas, 5 
 years ; Silas Newton, 1 year ; Thomas White, 1 year ; 
 Silas Walker, 1 year; Dennis Harthan, 1 year; B. F. 
 Keyes, 1 year; Levi Pierce, Jr., 1 year; Samuel 
 Brown, 1 year; Brigham Prescott, 3 years; Addison 
 Lovell, 1 year; Amos Child, Jr., 3 years; Eli W. 
 Holbrook, 2 years ; E. M. Hosmer, 2 years ; O. B. 
 Sawyer, 1 year; D. C. Murdoch, 2 years. The Four- 
 teenth District of Holden, Paxton and this town, was 
 represented in 1859 by Winson N. White; in 1862 by 
 L. M. Harris, and in 1864, by D. C. Murdoch. The 
 Eighth District, of Sterling, Boylston and this town, 
 was represented in 1867 by W. McFarland ; in 1870, 
 by Stephen Holt; in 1872, by Rev. J. W. Cross; in 
 1875, by Geo. F. Howe. The Sixteenth District, of 
 Boylston, Northboro, Shrewsbury and this town, was 
 represented in 1876 by Henry Pierce; in 1880, by H. 
 O. Sawyer ; in 1884, by H. Houghton. For the Thir- 
 
 teenth District, composed of seven town?, and enti- 
 tled to two representatives, H. E. Morton went from 
 this town for two years, 1886 and 1887. 
 
 At the date of the incorporation of the town there 
 were within its limits three school-houses. The first 
 year the town voted fifty dollars as an appropriation 
 for scliools. In December, 1808, the town voted to 
 " divide the town into four school districts, two south 
 of the river and two north." These houses were 
 located, one near where the present South School- 
 house stands ; the second, about eighty rods north- 
 west of the old (Common ; the third near the present 
 location of the double house in the Northeast District ; 
 and the fourth above the village of Oakdale, or near 
 the house of Pliny W. Stearns. A fifth one was 
 built soon afterwards on " French Hill," at the Lower 
 Factory village. The sixth house was built in 1843, 
 and the seventh and eighth within the next eight 
 years. For several years the town used the school- 
 room in " Thomas Hall " for a high school. It was 
 not until after the close of the late Civil War that 
 the town took decided steps to relieve the over- 
 crowded condition of our schools. Four two-story 
 and one single-story house were built, and the town 
 now has fourteen fine school-rooms, several of which 
 have extra recitation and play-rooms attached. There 
 is one high school and one grammar school, both in 
 the same building, which have sessions of about forty 
 weeks in the year. This building has, within the 
 past two years, been much enlarged, with additional 
 recitation and other rooms, making it a model house. 
 A valuable apparatus for illustrations has been col- 
 lected and is being added to from year to year. A 
 valuable library of scientific, historical, biographical 
 and mechanical works has been started, and now 
 numbers over two hundred volumes. 
 
 Besides these two schools, there are three interme- 
 diate, one mixed and seven primary schools, hold- 
 ing sessions of thirty-three weeks each during the 
 year. 
 
 Previous to 1840 the schools had not probably 
 averaged sessions of more than twenty to twenty-four 
 weeks in the year. To show their gradual increase, 
 a few items are given, and as a further contrast of 
 causes and effects, pauper expenses for the same years 
 are given. 
 
 In 1810 the town made an appropriation of $150 
 for schools. In 1840 the sum was S600. In 1888 
 the appropriation was S'oOOO. In 1810 the town 
 appropriated for the support of i)aupers S290. In 
 1840 the amount was $500, and in 1888 the sum was 
 $2000. 
 
 The population of the town in 1810 was about 600, 
 in 1840 about 1600, and in 1888 about 2950. 
 
 The Public Town Library was established in 1878. 
 Previous to that year some individuals had endeavored 
 to start an interest in such an institution, but up to 
 that time no action had been taken by the town in 
 the matter. To David Childs, of Wayland, a native 
 
588 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 of the town, and his widow, Lydia Maria Childs, are 
 we indeljted for the starting influence which finally- 
 established this valuable addition to the town's 
 property. Mr. Childs, in his will, left the sum of one 
 hundred dollars for the town library of his native 
 town, sujjposing no doubt that the town had one. 
 His widow, who was the executrix of the will, pro- 
 posed to pay this sum over to trustees provided the 
 town would take steps to establish a library. She 
 afterwards added a collection of about one hundred 
 volumes to this bequest. By individual elforts and 
 several other donations, with an appropriation by the 
 town of six hundred dollars, the sum of over twelve 
 hundred dollars was raised, and the instilution was 
 successfully started on a small scale. Since that year 
 it has constantly grown, and at the present time has 
 a valuable collection of over three thousand volumes. 
 It has a fine, large room, as a book and reading-room, 
 large enough for its needs for many years to coiue. 
 
 The vital statistics of the town since its incorpora- 
 tion are as follows : The number of births for the 
 first fifty years, from 1808 to 1858, were 1694; from 
 1858 to 1888, 2554, making the whole number 4248. 
 The number of marriages from 1808 to 1858 were 
 693; from 1858 to 1888, 1236, making the whole 
 number 1929. The number of deaths from 1808 to 
 1858 were about 1100 ; from 1858 to 1888, 1549, mak- 
 ing the whole number 2649. This does not include 
 the statistics for 1888. 
 
 Over the large streams the town has five bridges. 
 Of these, one is built of stone, with three arches, over 
 the Nashua River at the Valley village, and was built 
 in 1856 at a cost of about four thousand dollars. The 
 river at this point rendered it difficult to build a per- 
 manent structure, owing to curves in the banks and 
 of quicksands at the bottom. Much expense has 
 been laid out since the bridge was built, in walling 
 the banks and in flagging the bottom of the river. It 
 is now considered a substantial and enduring struc- 
 ture, likely to withstand all action of the water for 
 centuries to come. This bridge is known as the 
 " Beaman Bridge," and is the lowest one on the river- 
 
 The next one above, at the Central village, is an 
 iron bridge of one hundred feet span, built in 1875, at 
 a cost of about three thousand dollars, and is con- 
 sidered a strong and substantial structure. This bridge 
 is also over the Nashua River. 
 
 The third bridge is over the Stillwater River at 
 Oakdale, and was built in 1879, of fifty feet si)an, and 
 another of the same span was built over the tiuinne- 
 poxet River, at Harrisville, in 1880. Both these 
 bridges are of iron, and believed to be strong and 
 durable ones, certainly great improvements over the 
 old wooden bridges of former times. 
 
 The fifth bridge is a wooden one over the Quinne- 
 poxet River in Harrisville. It has been built but a 
 few year:*, but shows evidence that it must be replaced 
 ere many more years pass. 
 
 During the past five years the town has made two 
 
 decided improvements to theirstreets — first, by naming 
 and erecting the signs at the principal crossings, and 
 second, by putting up of lamps for lighting the streets 
 by night, on all the streets of the villages. 
 
 There are in the town a Masonic Lodge, one of Odd 
 Fellows, a Grand Army Post, a Grange of Husbandry, 
 a Council of Royal Arcanum and five diftereat 
 religious societies. 
 
 A Masonic Lodge, " The Boylston," was instituted 
 in this town March 8, 1876, and has kept in good 
 condition to the present time. A very neat and 
 pretty lodge-room was fitted up for its use over the 
 Baptist Church, where all its meetings are held. 
 
 The Centennial Lodge of Odd Fellows was organ- 
 ized here October 24, 1876, and holds its meetings 
 also in the Masonic Hall. This hall was formerly a 
 difficult one about getting an easy access to ; but by 
 the rtmodeling of the church, a few years since, the 
 way to it was made much more easy, and possibly 
 access to a membership to the two lodges has also 
 become less difficult. 
 
 A " Grand Army Post " was organized here soon 
 after the close of the war, — the " George D. Wells 
 Post, No. 28," — and has been kept in a flourishing 
 condition ever since. An auxiliary society, ''the 
 Ladies' Relief Corps," was connected a few years 
 since, and the two societies are doing a large amount 
 of relief work for soldiers and their families. They 
 have a very neat and convenient hall for their use, 
 located at the Valley station. 
 
 A Grange, No. 106, was instituted here a few years 
 ago, and has kept up a good- work! ntr lodge, — holds 
 its regular meetings with full numbers and no abate- 
 ment in the interest manifested at the time of its 
 start. Thomas Hall has been fitted up for its use. 
 
 Beaman (Council, No. 964, Royal Arcanum, was 
 instituted here in 1887, and holds its regular meet- 
 ings in the Grand Army Hall. 
 
 The first church (Congregational) in the territory 
 now West Boylston was formed in 1796, consisting 
 of thirty-three members, embracing widely different 
 opinions relative to religious doctrines. The majority 
 favored Arminian sentiments, while a minority were 
 decidedly Calvinistic. Rev. William Nash, the first 
 minister, favored the Arminian side, and on that 
 account was opposed by the minority, who were 
 never satisfied with his preaching. In 1802 religious 
 conference meetings were originated and regularly 
 held once a month by a respectable portion of the 
 church, the meetings being open to all who wished 
 to participate in them. ''Mr. Nash, although urged 
 to participate, refused to favor or in any way afford 
 aid and assistance in their maintenance, the majority 
 of the church also refusing any assistance or counte- 
 nance therein." 
 
 In 1809 the first religious revival in this tow'n oc- 
 curred, and continued with great interest for several 
 months. It caused much excitement and severe op- 
 position, although a large portion of the people were 
 
AVEST BOYLSTON. 
 
 589 
 
 fdvoraljly affected thereby. The meeling-house of 
 this society had been built in 1794, and "was dedi- 
 cated to the service and worship of God January Ist, 
 1795," the sermon on the occasion being preached 
 by Rev. Daniel Grosvenor, of Paxton. Several can- i 
 didates were successively heard, and it was not until 
 March, 1797, when the call was extended to Mr. 
 Nash to settle. He was a graduate of Yale College 
 and a native of Williamsburg, Mass. He was not 
 ordained until October 11, 17'.)7, with a stipulated 
 salary of !i?333. 83. Mr. Nash understood that a por- 
 tion of the society was opposed to his becoming its 
 minister, and in his letter of acceptance he wrote 
 regretting " the want of unanimity," and further 
 siys : " Those gentlemen to whom my services have 
 not been as acceptable as I could wish, I respect."' 
 " In acting agreeably to their own best judgment, 
 they have exercised a right which belongs to every 
 Christian, and ought not, on that account, to receive 
 the censure or dissatisfaction of any." This opposi- 
 tion to Mr. Nash seemed for a while to remain dor- 
 mant, but was never extinguished, and in 1812 it 
 became so great that an attempt was made to dismiss 
 him. In 1814 his health became seriously impaired, 
 rendering him unable to preach or discharge paro- 
 chial duties. In 1815 he was dismissed at his own 
 re(]uest. Mr. Nash had purchased the large farm in 
 the south part of the town, which had been known 
 as the "David Childs Place," where he continued to 
 reside to the time of his decease, in 1829, aged sixty 
 years. Mr. Nash married Elizabelh Doubleday in 
 1801. One son and a daughter — Charles and Eliza- 
 beth^are still living in the city of Worcester. 
 
 After the dismission of Mr. Nash various candidates 
 preached here, but it was not until December, 1820, 
 that Rev. ,lohn Boardman, from Newburyport, was 
 invited to settle by a vote of sixty-five to twenty-eight, 
 and he was ordained February 28, 1821, with an an- 
 nual salary of five hundred dollars. In 1834 Mr. 
 Boardman was dismissed at his own request, and he af- 
 terwards settled in East Douglas, where he died in 1842. 
 It was during the pastorate of Mr. Boardman that the 
 meeting-house on the old Common, the first one built, 
 was burned in 1831. Mr. Boardman, with a majority 
 of the church, being of the Calvinistic faith, left that 
 location and built the brick house on the north side 
 of the river, where the church and society have since 
 continued to worship. 
 
 In September, 1834, Rev. Elijah Paine, a native of 
 Ashfield, Mass., and who had been a settled minister 
 at Claremont, N. H., accepted an invitation to settle 
 over this church and society, and was installed No- 
 vember 3d, of that year, at a salary of six hundred 
 dollars. Mr. Paine died here very suddenly Septem- 
 ber 14, 1836, aged thirty-eight years. 
 
 In 1837 Rev. Brown Emerson was ordained as Mr. 
 Paine's successor, at an annual .salary of six hundred 
 dollars. He was dismissed at his own request Novem- 
 ber 6, 1839. 
 
 Rev. Joseph W. Cross, who had been settled in 
 Boxboro', Mass., was installed over this church and 
 society March 11, 1840, at an annual salary of seven 
 hundred dollars. He remained as pastor until March 
 16, 1859, when he was dismissed. Mr. Cross still re- 
 mains a citizen of the town, having just passed the 
 eightieth anniversary of his birth, being active and 
 vigorous for one of his age. Mr. Cross has been fol- 
 lowed by Rev. Messrs. H. M. Hitchcock, James H. 
 Fitts, Wilbur Johnson, William W. Parker, Francis 
 J. Fairbanks and Millard F. Hardy, who is the present 
 pastor. 
 
 The Baptist Church and Society can date their 
 origin back about eighty years, or about the year 1810, 
 from which time the denomination has gradually in- 
 creased to the present time. They formed their first 
 society organization in 1813, but had no regular 
 preaching until 1819, when a church was organized of 
 about fifty members. Their first minister was Rev. 
 Nicholas Branch, who has been followed by Rev. 
 Messrs. Allen Hough, C. C. P. Crosby, Abiel Fisher, 
 Joseph G. Binney, Lorenzo O. Lovell, Sewell S. Cut- 
 ting, Leonard Tracy, Kazlett Arvine, Timothy C. 
 Tingley, Zenas P. Wild, George R. Darrosv, J. M. 
 Follett, Charles F. Holbrook, Edwin Bromley, George 
 Colesworthy, Isaac Sawyer, Alvan M. Crane, J. W. 
 Brigham and L. W. Frink, who is the present pastor. 
 For several years this society worshipped in a small 
 church, located in what is now the village of Oakdale. 
 Their present meeting-house was built in 1832. About 
 five years since this house was entirely remodeled, 
 the old pews taken out, new windows put in, and the 
 wh9le inside changed, making the house very neat, 
 pretty and convenient. At the present time the so- 
 ciety is engaged in building a parsonage-house in 
 near proximity to their meeting-house. 
 
 The Methodist Society began to hold meetings here, 
 first in different halls, then in the meeting-house of 
 the Liberal Society, on the old Common, then in Free- 
 dom Hall at Oakdale. In 1858 they built their present 
 neat and convenient house at Oakdale, and have, up 
 to this day, maintained a strong and flourishing so- 
 ciety. In 1854 Rev. David Higgins was their pastor. 
 He has been followed by Rev. Messrs. J. H. Gaylord, 
 I. B. Bigelow, J. W. Coolidge, S. J. Abbott, Daniel 
 Atkins, Burtis Judd, Walter Wilkie, AVm. P. Black- 
 mer, L. A. Bosworlh, William Pentacosl, William 
 Gordon, Elias Hodge, C. A. Merrill, Wm. J. Hambie- 
 ton and S. L. Rogers, who is now the pastor. 
 
 The Liberal Congregational Society was an outcome 
 from the first religious society formed in town. There 
 had all the time, from the first starting of that society 
 in 1794, been in it several grades of belief, and when 
 the first meeting-house was burned, by being struck 
 by lightning, August 23, 1831, a permanent separation 
 occurred. 
 
 The Calvinistic portion built the present brick 
 house at the Valley, and the remaining portion or- 
 ganized a Unitarian Society and rebuilt a neat and 
 
590 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 pretty house nearly on the spot where the old one 
 was burned. This house, together with the brick and 
 the Baptist house, were all completed in 1832. After 
 this time the society never settled a minister, but for 
 several years employed different clergymen, both of 
 Unitarian and Univeraalist sentiments, to supply their 
 puli>it. In 1859 Rev. .1. H. Willis, Universalist, came 
 here and preached until 18(52, when, principally ow- 
 ing to many of its members going into the army, the 
 meetings were discontinued and Mr. Willis removed 
 to Worcester. With this exception the society had 
 had no stated preaching for over thirty-five years. 
 Other denominations have used the house for a few 
 months at a time, and the society has kept up its or- 
 ganization to the present time by the annual choice 
 of parish officers. The house stands in by far the best 
 location for a public building of any one in town, front- 
 ing, as it does, on a public common. 
 
 The Catholic Society was formed here some thirty 
 years since, and just before the Civil War built their 
 tirst house of worship. For several years they had no 
 resident pastor, priests from abroad supplying for 
 their needs until about 1873, when Rev. Father An- 
 thony.!. Derbuel came here and remained until his de- 
 cease. May 21, 1886, aged forty-nine years. He was 
 a very genial and intelligent man, a native of France, 
 and was liked by every one making his acquaintance. 
 The next year Rev. Father Daniel F. Feehau came, 
 and remained until November, 1888, when he removed 
 to Fitchburg. Rev. Father J. V. Campeau has lo- 
 cated here as his successor. The first church built by 
 this society had only a seating capacity of about three 
 hundred, and they, having outgrown its size in 1882, 
 built their present large and commodious house near 
 the Baptist meeting-house, it being much the largest 
 church building in the town. 
 
 For the past year meetings have been held by the 
 Episcopalians in a hall at the Valley, and it is said 
 there is some talk of building and forming a perma- 
 nent society here in the near future. 
 
 The town is favored with a large water-power, af- 
 forded by two streams which unite in this town, and 
 form the south branch of the Nashua River. The 
 first of these is the Quinnepoxet River, coming from 
 the west through Holden, and on this stream are 
 situated three cotton-mills and a small shoddy-mill, 
 described hereafter. 
 
 The second stream is the Stillwater River, flowing 
 from the north through Sterling, on which are situ- 
 ated the cotton-mills of the West Boylstou Manufac- 
 turing Company, the most extensive one within the 
 town. At a short distance below these mills the two 
 streams unite, and after flowing for about two miles 
 enter the town of Boylston. On the main river at 
 the central village is a cotton-mill on one side of the 
 stream and a large grist-mill on the other. About 
 sixty rods below the last mill, the water is turned into 
 an artificial canal and carried nearly half a mile to a 
 large artificial basin or pond, creating the power to 
 
 operate the extensive works of the Clarendon Mills, 
 the water then flowing through a canal for about a mile 
 before it again unites with the main river. Besides 
 the power aflferdcd by these large streams, there is a 
 small stream called " Maiden Brook,'' on which there 
 are at present two small jirivileges — the first operating 
 machinery for making excelsior and also some basket 
 machinery ; the second, a saw and shingle-mill, being 
 the only one now operated by water-power in the 
 town. Many years since, there was another small 
 mill on this stream used for mechanical purposes, 
 which was burned. On this privilege no mill has 
 since been erected. Still another mill was erected 
 and used for making shoddy for a few years, when it 
 was burned, about twelve years since, and about the 
 same time a freshet carried away the dam, and al- 
 though some attempts have been made to rebuild, no 
 work has been started up to the present time. Many 
 years since there was a small privilege operating a 
 .small mill on Gates Brook for various mechanical 
 work, but mill and dam were torn away about twenty 
 years ago. Another small power was obtained by 
 carrying the water by a canal from this brook about 
 half a mile to the Brimhall Place, on Worcester 
 Street, but this establishment disappeared several 
 years ago. 
 
 The first cotton-mill to be described is that of 
 Samuel K. Warfleld, on the Quinnepoxet River, and 
 near the line of Holden. On this privilege a saw- 
 mill had been erected, and operated for about forty 
 years. In 1808 Mr. Warfield, having bought the 
 mill and other buildings, with the farm connected, 
 put up a small building of wood, with machinery of 
 1500 spindles capacity, which was ready and put in 
 operation for the manufacture of satinet warps the 
 same year, employing about fifteen hands. This 
 was intended as merely a temporary arrangement, as 
 the first building was so built and arranged as to be 
 easily changed into tenements at any time when a 
 larger factory building of brick should be erected. 
 In 1881 this contemplated work was done ; the dam 
 was raised, so as to increase the capacity of the 
 pond, and a brick mill, of two stories, with the di- 
 mensions of 120 by 70 feet, was finished in 1882. 
 Its capacity is 3200 spindles, and used for the manu- 
 facture of yarn and satinet warps, employing twenty- 
 seven hands and using about 700 bales of cotton dur- 
 ing a year. Mr. Warfield also erected, about the 
 same time, a small shoddy-mill, on the wasteway be- 
 low the first mill, which was burned in 1885. It was 
 immediately rebuilt, and has been run most of the 
 time since, giving employment to about three men. 
 
 The second cotton-mill is also on the Quinnepoxet 
 River, and is a substantial building of stone, with 
 brick trimmings, finished and put in operation in 
 October, 1874, by L. M. Harris & Company. The 
 dam for this mill was built the previous year, the 
 whole making a new establishment, has the capacity 
 of 5540 spindles, and it is known as the " Whiting 
 
WEST BOYLSTON. 
 
 591 
 
 Mill.'' The third mill, on the same stream, is also 
 owned by L. M. Harris & Company, and is of the 
 capacity of 3790 spindles, and is known as the 
 Harris Mill. They are used for the manufacture of 
 light sheetings and shoe drills, using about 1200 
 bales of cotton yearly, and employing about 100 
 hands. The water-power of the two mills is rated 
 at 213 horse-power, and within the past few years 
 the owners have put in steam-engines of 12.3 horse- 
 power, enabling them to run all their machinery at 
 such times as water may fail. At the point where 
 the last-named mill now stands, a saw-mill was 
 built by Henry Holt, about sixty years ago. After a 
 few years he enlarged his building, and put in ma- 
 chinery for making cotton yarn. In 1845 the Messrs. 
 Harris bought the mill, farm and houses, and con- 
 tinued the manufacture of yarn for about two years. 
 In 1847 they commenced the manufacture of cloth, 
 and followed it until 1853, when the mill was 
 burned. This building was of wood. Steps were at 
 once commenced for rebuilding, and the present 
 building of stone, on a larger scale than the one 
 burnt, was finished, the machinery all in and was 
 put in operation in just one year after the fire. At 
 the time when the Messrs. Harris carae here, in 
 1845, there were only the mill and two houses at 
 this point. Now, in connection with the two mills, 
 there are about twenty-five houses, several of them 
 being tenement houses, the whole making what is 
 known as the village of Harrisville. 
 
 The fourth establishment for the manufacture of 
 cotton goods is situated in the village of Oakdale, on 
 the Stillwater River, and is owned and operated by an 
 incorporated c(mipany, known as the West Boylston 
 Manufacturing Company, and it is much the largest 
 establishment in the town, being of the capacity of 
 17,000 spindles, employing 375 persons, and using 
 about 4,000 bales of cotton yearly in the manufacture 
 of various fine cotton goods or fabrics. 
 
 The company was first incorporated in 1814 for the 
 making of wire and cotton goods. The manufacture 
 of wire was never started, and it would seem that no 
 business was very energetically entered into, as the 
 company charter was lost by neglecting to make the 
 annual choice of officers. Up to this time the mill 
 had been only a small one, built of wood. In 1823 
 the company was re-chartered and commenced the 
 building of their first brick mill, finishing it in 1824. 
 
 In 1825 the first looms for weaving cloth were put 
 into the mill, after which time all the several parts of 
 the work of making cloth was done by machinery, and 
 the business proved very successful for several years. 
 About the last of the year 1839 the mill was com- 
 pletely destroyed by fire. In 1840 the mill was rebuilt 
 on about the same scale and capacity. In 1868 the 
 company built a dam of great strength and several 
 feet higher than the old one, increasing their pond to 
 several times its previous capacity and increasing 
 greatly their water-power, and built^an additional mill 
 
 of stone. On September 7, 1871, the whole establish- 
 ment was destroyed by fire, being the most disastrous 
 fire which has ever occurred in the town. The com- 
 pany rebuilt the present mill in 1872. The company, 
 during the late Civil War, changed a part of their works 
 and made the manufacture of army blankets a very 
 successful business. After the war they used five setts 
 of woolen machinery in making satinets. At present 
 nothing but cotton goods are made, and the company 
 have commenced putting in foundations for quite an 
 extensive addition lo the main part of the mill. 
 Besides the mills, the company owns thirty-two 
 houses, many of them large tenement houses, a 
 large brick store-house, store, barns, etc. Besides 
 the waters of the Stillwater River, this company 
 controls the waters of the Quinnepoxet River by a dam 
 built below Harrisville, which turns the water into a 
 canal by which it is carried into their large pond. The 
 company also control the waters irom the Washacum 
 Lakes in Sterling, the waters of which can be raised 
 about four feet above their natural level by a short 
 dam, and thus creating a large reservoir, to be drawn 
 from in time of low water. The company have also a 
 large steam-engine for use when needed to increase 
 their motive-power. Another great addition made to 
 their facilities for dealing with fires was the building 
 of a large reservoir for holding water, of the capacity 
 of 60,000 gallons, situated on a hill much higher 
 than their building, which is kept constantly full 
 by pumping, and can be used at a few moments' warn- 
 ing in extinguishing fires in any part of their build- 
 ings, or of the village of Oakdale. 
 
 The fifth cotton-mill is situated on the Nashua 
 River at the Central Village, and on the south side 
 of the stream. This is the mill of E. W. Holbrook, 
 which has a capacity of three thousand six hundred 
 and forty-eight spindles, and employs fifty hands. 
 On the north side of the stream is the large grist- 
 mill of Edward A. Cowee, each party owning one-half 
 of this privilege and power. 
 
 In the place where the cotton-mill now stands, a 
 saw-mill was first erected several years belore the in- 
 corporation of the town, and was one of the saw- 
 mills in use at that date. A few yeais afterwards 
 Ezekiel Peirce and his brother erected here a scythe- 
 factory, putting in the first trip-hammer used in this 
 section. This trip-hammer, with its noise and opera- 
 tion, for a long time was a wonder not only to 
 the people within hearing «f it, but often brought 
 strangers from a distance to witness its wonderful 
 performances. This scythe-factory was run until 1831, 
 when Dr. John M. Smith and Ephraim Bigelow 
 bought out the works and erected a small cotton- 
 mill, which they put into operation the following 
 year. Mr. Bigelow had previously made cotton yarn 
 in a room over the saw-mill for several years pre- 
 I vious to that date. Mr. Bigelow was a man of con- 
 j siderable mechanical ingenunity, and it was while 
 I here that was first started the germ of the remarka- 
 
592 
 
 HISTOKV OF WOKCESTEK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 ble machines afterwards perfected by his two sons, 
 Erastus B. and Horatio N., after their removal to 
 Clinton (then Lancaster), about 183(5, for the weav- 
 ing of coach lace, counterpanes, carpets, etc. 
 
 In 1841 these mills passed into the hands of Mr. 
 Holbniok an<l Oliver Eldridge, and they were run 
 under the superintendence of Mr. Holbrook until 
 January 9, 1848, when they were entirely destroyed 
 by fire. 
 
 Nothing was done towards rebuilding until 1853. 
 In that year Mr. Holbrook erected the first part of 
 the present mill, starting it into operation the follow- 
 ing year, in company with L. M. Harris, making 
 light cotton sheetings, and continuing their success- 
 ful manufacture up to the present time. He has, 
 from time to time, made additions and improvements 
 in buildings and machinery, until both are of about 
 double their capacity from the time of their starting. 
 He put in an engine of seventy-five horse-power in 
 1883. 
 
 Within the past five years Mr. Holbrook has also 
 built a large reservoir of thirteen thousand five hun- 
 dred gallons capacity above his building, to which 
 water is pumped and kept constantly filled to be used 
 in cases of fire. Its great utility was remarkably 
 demonstrated during the past year, when, the grist- 
 mill on the opposite side of the river getting on fire, 
 with little prospects of any part of the buildings or 
 contents being saved, the attachment of hose to this 
 reservoir and running the same to the mill sufficed 
 in a few minutes to subdue the Hames and save nearly 
 the whole contents of the buildings. 
 
 On the north side of the stream was erected both a 
 grist-mill and a clothier's mill previous to or about 
 1761. The river at this point at that date was no 
 doubt the dividing line between Lancaster and 
 Shrewsbury. Micah Harthan, according to the mili- 
 tary record of Lancaster, was engaged as a soldier in 
 the expedition against Ticonderoga in 17.')8, and on 
 his return from that unfortunate expedition no doubt 
 engaged in the running of the two small mills at this 
 point, and probably they were built by him. They 
 have been widely known as the Harthan Mills, and 
 were owned for nearly a century by the Harthans, tlie 
 sons and grandsons of Micah. 
 
 Micah Harthan was bnrn probably in Marlboro' in 
 1735. In the time of the Revolution his name does 
 not appear among those enrolled as subject to do 
 military duly, it probably being considered that his 
 business as a clothier was of too much importance to 
 take hini away from it. He died in 1803, when the 
 business of the grist-mill went to his son David. 
 Both the grist and clothier's mills were burned in 1801. 
 A new grist-mill on improved plans was erected at 
 once, and a small fulling-mill was also built and run 
 for a number of years by Oliver Moore, who ran this 
 mill until his death in 1831. It was afterwards used 
 for a few years by Sanuiel Flagg & Co. as a machine- 
 shop. In 1842 Charles M. Harris came here from 
 
 Rhode Island, and in company with Mr. Wilder used 
 this mill for the business of making cotton-yarn, 
 which was continued until 1847, when this and the 
 grist-mill were burned. At the time of this fire 
 machinery had been put in the upper story of the 
 grist-mill for making twine and wickiug ; both this and 
 the grist-mill being run by Childs & Dinsmore. 
 
 The cotton-mill was never rebuilt, and for about 
 three years nothing was done towards rebuilding the 
 grist-mill. During this time a run of stones was put 
 into the machine shop of Mr. Holbrook, on the op- 
 posite side of the river, by James E. Wood, who run 
 it until the new mill on the old site was started in 
 1851. In 18.50 Mr. Ruel G. Cowee came here from 
 Gardner and built the present mills, which have the 
 best reputation for making flour and grinding all 
 kinds of grain of any mill in the region. 
 
 For several years the upper story of the mill was 
 used for mechanical j)urposes, making weather-strips 
 &c., but for the last twenty years the whole of the 
 first buildings, with many additions, have been used 
 for the greatly increased business. Mr. Cowee died ^l 
 October 5, 1882, since when the business has been 
 carried on by his grandson, E. A. Cowee. 
 
 The sixth establishment, or cotton-mill, is what is 
 now known as the " Clarendon Mills," situated at 
 what is known as the Ijower Factory village. The 
 waters of the Nashua River at this point were turned 
 into a canal and carried about half a mile from their 
 natural course into a large artificial basin, and, after 
 driving the machinery of this mill, flow in a canal 
 about a mile before again uniting with the main 
 stream. This work was first started by Major Ezra 
 Beaman about 1793, to operate a saw and grist-mill. 
 The saw-mill remained in operation until about 1872. 
 The grist-mill was in a few years removed, and the 
 first cotton-mill was started in the town; just the date 
 of its starting cannot be learned, but it had been in 
 operation several years before the incorporation of the j 
 town, in 1808, Up to 1819 nothing had been done I 
 beyond making yarn by machinery. Alloftheweav- I 
 ing had been done by hand-work on the old looms, ' 
 worked by females at their homes, and yarn from 
 this mill was carried many miles away from the 
 mills, was woven in the looms by the fireside of 
 many a country home and returned as cloth to the 
 mill. In 1819 twelve looms were put into operation 
 in this mill, and from that date there was a rapid in- 
 crease or growth of the cotton manufacture in this 
 town, and which made it the leading industry, as it •• 
 will long continue the leading one of the town. 
 About that date a company was incorporated for this 
 mill, under the name of the " Beaman Manufacturing 
 Company," and continued its existence until 1873. 
 
 In 1847 and '48 the company enlarged the capacity | 
 of their pond or basin to more than double its first 
 condition, removing the old wooden building, working 
 it over into several tenements, and built the main part 
 of the present mills of brick. This was only one 
 
WEST BOYLSTON. 
 
 5fl3 
 
 story above the basement. The two wings, of two 
 stories — also of briclf — were added in 1854. In 1874 
 a change was made in the ownership, and the com- 
 pany was reorganized under the name of the " Clar- 
 endon Mills." This mill has a large steam-engine 
 attached, of sufficient power to run one-half of the 
 machinery in times of low water, or when otherwise 
 needed. In 1881 they added a building for a bleach- 
 ery of thirty-two Ijy sixty feet, and two stories high, 
 thus enabling them to finish the goods made ready 
 for the market. They manufacture at present coun- 
 terpanes, sheetings, corset-jeans and sateens, making 
 ladies' fine dress goods from Nos. 30 to 50 yarn. The 
 mills are of the capacity of 10,950 spindles, and give 
 employment to one hundred and ninety operatives. 
 For many years they have been under the superin- 
 tendence of Mr. George M. Lourie as resident agent. 
 They are delightfully situated in what has ever proved 
 to be a very healthy part of the town ; and, with its 
 pretty pond, buildings and avenues lined and shaded 
 by several varieties of trees, many of them planted near 
 a century since, it presents to the eye a view both 
 beautiful and romantic. Passing travelers, at about 
 sunset of a pleasant day, often remark this pleasing 
 appearance as their eyes take in this view from the 
 upper railroad station in this town. A pleasing item in 
 connection with these mills is worth recording. Mi?s 
 Parney Underwood began work in them in 1822, and 
 worked constantly for a period of about sixty-three 
 years. She has not worked in them for three years past, 
 but still remains hale and vigorous for one of her age. 
 
 Next to the cotton manufacture, the bottoming of 
 boots has for many years been the leading industry of 
 the town. This business had become one of importance 
 in 1842, at which time there was probably about two 
 or three hundred pairs of boots bottomed per day for 
 Worcester manufacturers, in this town. This business 
 continued to increase until, a few years before the 
 Civil War, there were over two thousand pairs of boots 
 so bottomed daily for Worcester parties, and con- 
 tinued with about the same amount of work until 
 about ten years ago, when the business began to de- 
 crease, and now but few boots are bottomed here for 
 Worcester men. 
 
 In the year 1850 a boot manufactury was erected 
 near the upper railroad station in this town, and was 
 in operation about twenty-three years, making some 
 fifty cases of boots per day. Since 1875 it has been 
 vacant. In 1851) another establishment was started 
 on the north side of the river, making from fifty to 
 one hundred cases per day until January 23, 1866, 
 when the shop was burned. 
 
 A still larger shop was erected the same sea-son, and 
 steam-power was added. After that time they in- 
 creased their business, making some seasons as many 
 as two hundred cases per day up to 1878. Since that 
 time a much smaller number of boots has been made 
 in this shop, but the business has been regularly 
 carried on. 
 38 
 
 About 1860 an establishment was commenced at 
 Oakdale for the manufacture of ladies' shoes, employ- 
 ing some twenty hands, with steam-power. This 
 business was continued until 1878, when the shop 
 was closed. Since that year the shop was used, a year 
 or more, for making men's shirts. The business was 
 afterward moved to Leominster. 
 
 In former years the manufacture of grain-cleaning 
 and fanning mills was carried on here to a small 
 extent. 
 
 The manufacture of hand-made oak baskets has 
 been carried on in this town for more than seventy 
 years. Formerly a two-bushel basket was as large as 
 was made or wanted. Now they are made of the capa- 
 city of thirty bushels for factory use, and machinery is 
 used to work out some of the larger parts of the 
 baskets. At this time from ten to twelve persons are 
 employed in this business. 
 
 The manufitcture of school apparatus was begun 
 here over sixty years ago, and a few years afterwards 
 the manufacture of a small machine called a "Warper 
 Stop Motion " was begun by the same parties, and 
 carried on until about one year ago, when the busi- 
 ness was removed to Clinton. The making of school 
 apparatus had been given up for many years pre- 
 viously. 
 
 Another business followed for the past twenty-flve 
 years has been the manufacture of whatnots, brackets, 
 and a variety of house ornaments, in which both 
 steam and water-power have been used. The same 
 parties have built a few church and parlor organs 
 within a few years. 
 
 A steam mill, for sawing lumber, planing and 
 matching boards, and the manufacture of packing- 
 boxes, was started at Oakdale about five years since, 
 and employs five or si.\ men all the year. 
 
 The following histories of individuals are of those 
 men who have for their lifetime been connected with 
 the growth and prosperity of the town, and to whose 
 energy, thrift and plans it owes its existence and 
 present standing: 
 
 Ezra Beaman, Esq., more generally known as 
 Major Beaman, was the eldest son of Jabez Beaman, 
 and was born in Bolton, October, 1736. The father, 
 having purchased a large tract of laud, removed here 
 wiih his family in 1746, where he lived until his death 
 in 1757. Major Beaman then became proprietor of 
 the homestead and began that career of usefulness 
 and success which contributed so much to the forma- 
 tion of the town. In 1758 he married Persis, daughter 
 of Deacon Cyprian Keyes, of Shrewsbury, with whom 
 he lived about thirty years. She died in 1788, leav- 
 ing six children — Jabez, Ezra, Levina, Persis, Betsey 
 and Eunice. He afterward married Mary Boylston, 
 of Charlestown, who survived him and died June 
 6, 1813, aged sixty-two years. 
 
 Major Beaman was endowed by nature with a 
 strong mind, possessing a remarkable spirit of enter- 
 prize, together with great energy and resolution, 
 
594 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTEE COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 which enabled him to devise and execute various 
 schemes and plans, not only for his own prosperity, but 
 also for the interest and advantage of the community 
 around him. His designs seldom failed to result 
 auspiciously and in accordance with his desires and 
 anticipations. He possessed and held a large amount 
 of real and personal property, tl-.ereby constituting 
 him by far the wealthiest man of the then inhabitants 
 of the town. He was not only an active, leading man 
 in his own vicinity, but sustained a prominence and 
 wielded an extensive and controlling influence in the 
 community at large. Whenever a project of a public 
 nature, having the benefit of the community as its 
 object, was originated and brought up for considera- 
 tion, he was the first to be consulted as to its import- 
 ance and practicability, when his judgment and ex- 
 pressed opinions generally had the efffect to cause the 
 adoption of the scheme or its rejection and abandon- 
 ment, thus clearly demonstrating and unmistaka- 
 bly manifesting the high estimation in which he was 
 held by the leading portion of his fellow-citizens for 
 his practical wisdom and sound judgment. Many of 
 the public roads in this vicinity were projected by 
 him, and although it has been handed down that he 
 met with a strong and determined opposition, time 
 has shown that most of these highways were located 
 where they have proved to be of the most advantage 
 to the after-growth of the town and county. Major 
 Beaman was a patriot, a firm and ardent friend to his 
 country, being one of the active and unflinching spir- 
 its of the American Revolution. He early took a 
 decided stand against tyranny and oppression, taking 
 up arms in favor of the rights of his country, march- 
 ing to the battle-field to resist the encroachments of 
 the enemy. He was with the American army at 
 Cambridge in 1775, and performed a conspicuous part 
 during that memorable period. He was ever ready 
 to render aid and assistance in any emergency, not 
 only by his influence, but when circumstances re- 
 quired, he promptly devoted his time, his property 
 and his personal exertions for the purpose of sustain- 
 ing and pushing forward the arduous struggle for 
 American independence. It would seem that he was 
 one with many others who had virtually pledged their 
 lives, their property and their sacred honors in favor 
 of obtaining liberty, justice and equal rights for them- 
 selves and their posterity. 
 
 In looking back and judging at this day, it seems 
 to the writer that the leading trait in his mind and 
 character was thoroughness and durability — every- 
 thing was done to last for many generations. 
 
 He began in early life to set, in and along the 
 highways adjacent to his own lands, a variety of 
 shade trees, — elms, maples, buttonwoods and others. 
 One of these buttonwood trees, set when he was 
 thirteen years of age, is now an enormous one of its 
 kind, measuring at its base over twenty-two feet in 
 circumference. The many trees set by him now 
 form one of the great beauties of our town, especially 
 
 of that part of it in and around what are now the 
 grounds of the Clarendon Mills corporation. In the 
 highway, and against lands formerly owned by the 
 Beamans, stands an enormous " White Oak " tree, 
 which must be now several centuries old. Tradition 
 says it was an ancient boundary tree, some believing 
 that it was on the line of the extension of Lancaster 
 in 1711, and of the Davenport farm. Certainly Major 
 Beaman made it a boundary tree in selling land, and 
 having the wish to preserve and insure its existence 
 against the axe of any future vandal, he filled its 
 trunk with large spikes, driving many pounds of 
 iron into it. This tree is still thrifty and growing, 
 and measures around its base twenty feet eight 
 inches, and at six feet from the ground about fifteen 
 feet in circumference. J 
 
 In 1764, Major Beaman built the large and com- f 
 modious dwelling-house on what is now called East 
 Main Street, at the Valley, in this town. This house 
 was built in a thorough and substantial manner, of 
 the best materials, and was at the time, no doubt, 
 one of the best houses in its vicinity. It was de- 
 signed for a public-house and, as a remarkable fact, it 
 was kept as such by the two Ezra Beamans for about 
 a century. 
 
 About sixteen years since, the main part of this 
 establishment, being in the way of the line of one of 
 our streets, was moved about thirty rods away and 
 fitted up as a separate house ; all of its timbers being 
 sound and in good condition, it promises to last 
 another century if properly cared for. The large 
 " Ell " of the old house was fitted up in its old loca- 
 tion and makes a good substantial farm-house. One 
 of the barns, eighty feet in length, has also been 
 moved across the street and fitted up for tenement- 
 houses, and thus changing very much the appearance 
 of the old place. 
 
 Another feature of the old place was a large stone 
 watering trough, erected over a century ago by Major 
 Beaman, supplied by an aqueduct leading from a 
 spring about forty rods away, with a constant stream 
 of cool water, coming from an iron spout in a stone 
 column towering above the trough, on which was 
 ever found hung a dish from which the traveler 
 could slake his thirst. This trough has been moved 
 from its former location across the street, and still 
 remains as a noted resort for thirsty horses and other 
 beasts, but the old time "dipper" for man's use has 
 long been missing. 
 
 To Major Beaman is the town indebted, more than 
 to all others, for its existence as a town. The inhabit- 
 ants of Boylston having decided to build a new 
 meeting-house, a difficulty arose in regard to its 
 location. The majority were in favor of building near 
 the location of the old house, while a large minority, 
 led by Major Beaman, wished to build about half a 
 mile northwest of the old house, and nearer the centre 
 of the territory of the town. It becoming apparent 
 that no compromise could be effected, the minority 
 
WEST BOYLSTON. 
 
 595 
 
 seceded and built a new house on what is now known 
 as the "old Common " in West Boyslton, in 1793 and 
 1794, and petitioned the Legislature for an act of 
 incorporation as a town. In this effort they were 
 joined by persons both from the towns of Sterling and 
 Holden. Each of the three towns strongly opposed 
 the movement, and it was defeated. They then 
 applied for incorporation as a precinct, or parish, and 
 this was granted in June, 179(i, and it was made the 
 "Second Precinct of Boylston, Sterling and Holden." 
 In the survey, by Silas Holman, of the territory at 
 the time of the first application, 4075 acres were 
 claimed as being in Boylston, 23(37 acres in Sterling, 
 3646 acres in Holden and 1392 acres in Worcester. 
 The petition for a separate precinct was signed by 
 forty-three voters of Boylston, twenty-three from 
 Sterling, nineteen from Holden and three from Wor- 
 cester. The act of incorporation did not include any 
 of the territory from Worcester. At a meeting held 
 by these people, December 17, 1792, it was first 
 decided to build a meeting-house, and iu order to raise 
 funds for the purpose, it was voted to sell the projected 
 number of pews at auction, and sixty-six pews were 
 thus sold for the amount of $1938.25. Of these, 
 Major Beaman bid off thirty-one. At an adjourned 
 meeting, held February 4, 1793, it was decided " to 
 build a belfry to their house," and on the 13th, 14th 
 and 15th days of June, 1793, the frame of the house 
 was raised. About this time Major Beaman proposed 
 that, for the amount realized for the pews sold, and 
 the ownership of those unsold, he would finish the 
 house. The language of the record gives this account 
 of the result : 
 
 " This " proposition " was agreed to, and within the 
 term of about eighteen uionths from the time it was 
 raised he accomplished the work in a very decent 
 and faithful manner, and at an expense far exceed- 
 ing any pecuniary compensation which he can expect 
 or hope for in return." Major Beaman also projected 
 and built the dam on the Nashua River, with the 
 canal, of near a half-mile in length, into which the 
 water is turned and taken to the artificial pond, now 
 owned and used by the Clarendon Mills Company, 
 making it one of the most valuable water-powers in 
 the town. On this he erected a grist-mill and a saw- 
 mill, which were used as such until after his death. 
 At the incorporation of the town, in 1808, Major 
 Beaman, at the meeting held the first Monday in 
 March, was chosen chairman of the Board of Select- 
 men and treasurer. He was also chosen as the town's 
 first Representative to the General Court, and he 
 was, each following year, re-elected to these offices, 
 holding them to the time of his death, June 4, 1811, 
 in the seventy-fifth year of his age. 
 
 At his death all of his children were living, and his 
 property was equally divided, after his widow's dower 
 was set off. She only survived him about two years, 
 when all of his property came into the possession of 
 his children. Jabez, his eldest son, who left no issue, 
 
 died in 1812, about one year after his father. In the 
 settlement of the real estate left by Major Beaman, 
 three commissioners, consisting of Silas Holman, of 
 Bolton, with James Longley and Jotham Bush, of 
 Boylston, were appointed to appraise and divide the 
 real estate, and by a reference to their report, the 
 following facts are gathered. There were twelve par- 
 cels of real estate, consisting of 819 acres, with 
 buildings, all valued at $35,765; thirty pews in the 
 meeting-house on the old Common, valued at $1212; 
 two horse-sheds, $48, and one pew in Boylston 
 meeting-house, $30.50. None of this real estate was 
 sold, but after one-third of it was set off as the 
 widow's dower, some parts of it were setoff to each of 
 the six children, the largest proportion to Ezra 
 Beaman, Jr., who was to make each one's portion 
 equal by the payment of money. By the death of 
 the widow and of the eldest son, Jabez, within t^wo 
 years after this division, Ezra Beaman, Jr., came into 
 possession of the homestead and the greater propor- 
 tion of the landed estate, which he held during his 
 long life. 
 
 The last Ezra Beaman never married, but lived to 
 the good old age of ninety-two years and seven 
 months, his decease occurring July 24, 1863. In 
 many respects he was like his fiither, and always 
 seemed to have his father's life and example before 
 him ; often quoting his words and telling of his acts, 
 and priding himself in " doing everything just as his 
 father did." He was a generous man, a good and 
 useful citizen, respected and liked by every one. At 
 his death the naoie of Beaman became extinct in this 
 town. He was the last one of his name, and since 
 that time one thing after another has been changed 
 until very little is left to remind us of the name. A 
 number of years before the death of the last Ezra a 
 movement was started to have the name of the town 
 changed to "Beaman," and by a large majority, at a 
 meeting called to act on the matter, a vote was psissed 
 in its favor; but finding that the then only represen- 
 tative of the name was strongly opposed to it, the 
 matter was dropped. The first incorporated cotton- 
 mill in town was for many years known as "The 
 Beatiian Manufacturing Company," but in its re- 
 organization, a few years since, it took the name of 
 the "Clarendon Mills." The old farm was cut up 
 and sold to many different parties, leaving only one 
 hundred and forty-five acres, with a remnant of the 
 old buildings, as the only portion of the old place 
 now intact. In naming the streets of the town, three 
 years ago, one short street received the name of 
 "Beaman." 
 
 William Thomas was one of the early settlers in 
 this town, on a small farm on what was then called 
 "Shrewsbury Leg," now owned by J. B. F. Prescott, 
 in the village of Oakdale, where he lived until his 
 decease in 1810, aged eighty-five years. He possessed 
 a peculiar relish for literature and science, ^nd de- 
 voted much time to reading and study. He had a 
 
596 
 
 HISTOllY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 peculiar taste for astronomical research and calcula- 
 tion, and this no doubt had a great influence in 
 shaping and forming the character of his eldest son, 
 Robert Bailey Thomas, Esq., born in 1766 and 
 died in 1846, aged eighty years. He resided in the 
 house in Oakdale now occupied by Charles M. Harris. 
 He was a prominent man in the town, was its first 
 town clerk, several times chairman of the Board of 
 Selectmen, represented the town in the State Conven- 
 tion of 1820 for revising the Constitution, and was 
 several years a member of the State Legislature. He 
 was a justice of the peace, and for many yeans did all 
 the conveyancing and other legal writing for his 
 townsmen. He originated and established the Fann- 
 ers' Almanac in 1793, annually preparing and fur- 
 nishing the matter for that popular and widely-known 
 manual to the end of his life. He accumulated a 
 laj-ge property, and being very liberal and public- 
 spirited, contributed much towards the welfare and 
 growth of the town. He was the largest contributor 
 towards the building of the largest hall in the town, 
 and it was named "Thomas Hall" as a compliment 
 to him. This hall was intended for school and relig- 
 ious purposes, and it has been used by the town for 
 over forty years for all of its public meetings. Mr. 
 Thomas leaving no children, and dying intestate, hia 
 property was divided between his widow and two 
 children of a brother. He married Hannah Bearaan, 
 of Princeton, who survived bim and died in 1855, 
 aged eighty-one years. 
 
 Thomas Keyes, Jr., was born in the town April 
 20, .1802, and died October 30, 1831, aged twenty- 
 nine years. He was the son of Thomas and Lydia 
 Keyes, and grandson of Thomas Keyes, who settled 
 here in 1767. Very early in life he manifested 
 a strong inclination for invention and mechanical 
 work, but as his friends intended and expected that 
 he would lead a farmer's life, those traits wei'e dis- 
 couraged, and it was not until after his majority that 
 he could devote any time to his natural inclinations. 
 Had he lived a few years longer there is little doubt 
 that he would have achieved a name that would have 
 been a world-wide one. Astronomy was one of his 
 favorite studies, and his great mechanical ingenuity 
 led to the construction of the orrery, an instrument 
 since becoming well known, for the purpose of illus- 
 trating the movements of the solar system. It is so 
 simple and easy of management that it has become 
 one of the most valuable instruments in use for the 
 purpose it was intended for. With the orrery, one of 
 his last designs was the construction of an apparatus 
 which was to embrace the Lunariura and Tellurium 
 on a different plan from any then known. Unfortu- 
 nately, the traces of the designs which he left were 
 so obscure that it was impossible for any one to un- 
 derstand them well enough to complete it. A board 
 on which he had begun to trace these plans was the 
 last wtirk of his life, he being suddenly stricken by 
 the disease from which he never recovered. Another 
 
 invention of his was a stop-motion, a machine used 
 in the warping of cotton and woolen yarns. This 
 machine was afterward improved and perfected by 
 his brother-in-law, David C. Murdock, and for about 
 half a century was the only machine used for the 
 purpose, and was in use in every cotton-mill in this 
 country and many in Europe. 
 
 Mr. Keyes was very much interested in education, 
 and exerted a great influence among his associates in 
 the promotion and sustaining of lyceums and debat- 
 ing societies. It was a leading trait in his character 
 to fully communicate information and especially to 
 explain to others any discoveries he chance<l to 
 make. 
 
 He married Eveline Murdock April 10, 1S27, who 
 died at the age of twenty-four years. 
 
 David C. Murdock was born here December 21, 
 1805, and died October 15, 1886. He was the son of 
 Deacon Artemas Murdock, and spent all of his long 
 and useful life in this town. He was a natural me- 
 chanic, and learned the trade, and worked several 
 years as a machinist. About the time of the de- 
 cease of his brother-in-law, Thomas Keyes, Jr., be- 
 fore spoken of, he engaged in the manufacture of 
 school apparatus and other small machines, made 
 mostly for J. M. Wightman, of Boston, and contin- 
 ued the business until 1868, when his establishment 
 was burned, and losing all his tools, patterns and 
 models, this work was never resumed. 
 
 Soon alter the death of Mr. Keyes he made im- 
 provements on his stop-motion machine, and so 
 perfected it that it had continued to grow in favor un- 
 til it had been introduced into nearly every cotton- 
 mill in the country. On rebuilding, after the fire in 
 1868, he gave his whole attention to this machine, 
 and had ahnost a monopoly of making any machines 
 for tending warping of cotton yarn. Mr. Murdock 
 was a man of much intelligence, and all his life-time 
 exerted a great influence in town and public affairs. 
 
 He served many years as chairman of the Board 
 of Selectmen, being in that position during the time 
 of the late Civil War, when his activity and exer- 
 tion went far towards the town's doing with credit 
 its fullshare of carrying to success that great strug- 
 gle. He sent two of his sons into some of the first 
 regiments raised in the county, who served through- 
 out the war, both reaching captain's positions. He 
 served as a representative to the General Court four 
 years, for many years was on the School Board and 
 for nearly all his life, after thirty years of age, he 
 was connected, in some capacity, with the town gov- 
 ernment. He married Adeline King, also of this 
 town, October 6, 1829, who survived him less than a 
 year. She died June 30, 1887. 
 
 Eli W. Holbrook, was born in Rutland, Mass., in 
 1809, and first came to this town in 1818, when 
 about nine years of age, a poor boy entirely depend- 
 ent on his own thrift and energy to obtain a living, 
 he being the eldest of several children. His mother, 
 
S^/> H-ir-l^/(j-r-^/-t>^t^ 
 
WEkST boylston. 
 
 597 
 
 with six children, living in Rutland, had, up to this 
 time, supported her family by weaving cotton cloth 
 in a loom worked by hand, at her home, coming or 
 sending to West Boylston for the yarn, and returning 
 the cloth. She removed here in the above year and 
 continued to weave in the hand-loom for about four 
 years, or until the work that was commenced on 
 power-looms in 1819 had increased, in 1822, to such 
 an extent as to do about all of this part of the work. 
 Eli went at once into the mill here and commenced 
 his long life-time connection with the cotton manu- 
 facture, which is more fully noted in the history of 
 the different mills in town, on other pages of this his- 
 tory. Mr. Holbrook continued all bis life to be one 
 of the leading men in the town. With a genial and 
 kindly disposition he united a large benevolence and 
 public spirit, spending much time and money in im- 
 proving the public ways, by grading, setting out of 
 trees, and other work thereon. He was a large con- 
 tributor towards the support of the Gospel and many 
 benevolent institutions, and was ever a leading mem- 
 ber of the Congregational Society. His kindly na- 
 ture ever made him a favorite with all the young 
 folks, and he was ever noted as retaining the services 
 of bis employes for long periods of time. He was 
 connected with the town's government for many 
 years, serving as selectman, assessor, and in other 
 positions. He represented the town two years in the 
 Legislature. He was very successful in his business 
 and accumulated a handsome competence. April 30, 
 1835, he married Miss Adeline Worcester, of this 
 town, with whom be lived over half a century. She 
 died February 5, 1887. He suffered several of the 
 last years of bis life from failing eyesight, but other- 
 wise lived an active life until a few weeks before his 
 death, which occurred November 26, 1888, being but 
 a few days short of seventy-nine years of age. He 
 leaves two daughters and five grandchildren. 
 
 Physicians. — Dr. Amariah Bigelow was the first 
 practitioner to settle within the limits of the town. 
 He came here in 1780, and married Persis, daughter 
 of Major Ezra Beaman. He lived on the farm at the 
 south part of the town, which, for long yeai's, has 
 been known as the John Temple farm. He died 
 very suddenly in 1787, leaving a widow and three 
 children. His widow afterwards married John Tem- 
 ple, still remaining on the farm where she began life 
 with Dr. Bigelow until her death, in 1832. 
 
 Dr. Uriah Bigelow came here in 1788, and, after 
 remaining a few years, went to Central New York, 
 where he died at an advanced age. 
 
 Dr. Nicholas Jenks, from North Brookfield, settled 
 here in 1809. He lived in what is now Oakdale, 
 where he also kept a store. After a stay of ten years 
 he removed to Southbridge. 
 
 Dr. John M. Smith settled here in 1819, where he 
 remained fifteen years, when he, too, went to South- 
 bridge, and died there in the meridian of life. 
 
 Dr. Jacob Moore settled here in 1828, and died in 
 
 1831. He was a young man very much liked by 
 every one, and gave much promise of usefulness in 
 his future career. He married a sister of Dr. John 
 M. Smith. 
 
 Dr. Sherman Smith, a brother of Dr. John M. 
 Smith, came here in 1831, and remained for a few 
 years, and then went to Walpole, N. H., where he 
 died suddenly in 1852. 
 
 Dr. Samuel Griggs came here in 1832, and stayed 
 here until 1846, when he removed to Westboro', where 
 he afterward died. 
 
 Dr. Ephraim Lovell was a native of this town, 
 being a son of Amos Lovell. He began practice 
 here in 1841, and continued until the time of his 
 death, in 1869, although, for the last four years, he 
 was in failing health, and had an assistant. He was 
 a man of a very amiable character, and was greatly 
 beloved by every one who knew him. 
 
 Dr. George W. Warren came here as a successor to 
 Dr. Griggs in 1846. He was a graduate of Amherst 
 College, coming here as his first place for practice, 
 and still remains, having followed his profession for 
 more than forty years. Within the past two years he 
 has associated with himself his son. Dr. Ernest L. 
 WArren, a very promising young man in the calling. 
 
 Dr. John S. Andrews came here from Sterling, and 
 remained several years previous to 1859, when he 
 sold out and removed from town. 
 
 Dr. Franklin L. Hunt came here in 1859 as the 
 successor of Dr. Andrews, and remained until he 
 joined the army in 1862, as elsewhere noted. 
 
 Dr. Charles A. Wheeler settled here two or three 
 years before the war, and he, too, went into the army, 
 as noted in the military records. 
 
 Dr. Lemuel H. Hammond came here as an assist- 
 ant to Dr. Lovell in 1866, and removed to Worcester 
 in 1869, where he still has an extensive practice. 
 
 Dr. E. C. Peck came here as a successor to Dr. 
 Hammond, and remained until 1882, when he went 
 from town. 
 
 Dr. Warren Pierce came here from Sterling about 
 1873, and remained until 1881, when he removed to 
 Plymouth, where he still remains in the practice of 
 his profession. Dr. Pierce was one of the most skill- 
 ful physicians who had ever lived in the town. 
 
 Dr. William A. Earle came here in 1881, and still 
 remains, having established an extensive practice. 
 
 During the past twenty years several French Cana- 
 dian physicians have come here and remained a few 
 months and then have gone elsewhere. 
 
 Three or four others, native-born doctors, have 
 tried the field, but have not succeeded in establishing 
 a foothold, and after a trial of a few months have left 
 the work to the old incumbents. 
 
 The accounts of a few individuals who were natives 
 of the town and who received a liberal education, fit- 
 ting them for a professional life, is here given very 
 briefly. 
 
 pjphraim Hinds, son of Benjamin Hinds, was born 
 
598 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 in this town (then Shrewsbury), in 1780. He was a 
 lawyer and lived away from town, following his pro- 
 fession until about si.xty years of age, when he again 
 came to this town, buying a small farm, on which he 
 lived until his decease, June 18, 1858. He left three 
 sons and one daughter. 
 
 John Reed, son of Capt. John Reed, was born here 
 about the year 1800. He was fitted for and entered 
 Harvard College, where be proved himself to be one 
 of the smartest young men of his cla-s. But owing 
 to his great propensity for fun and causing the faculty 
 much annoyance and trouble, his father was notified 
 " that it would be best to take his son away." He, 
 however, had managed to obtain an education rank- 
 ing him as a great scholar for his age. He followed 
 the business of teaching for several years, being very 
 successful. He left town during the late war and soon 
 after died. 
 
 Dr. Ephraim Lovell, son of Amos Lovell, Jr., was 
 born here in 1812. He studied for and fitted himself 
 for a physician. He settled here in 1841, and followed 
 his profession very successfully until his decease in 
 1869. 
 
 Rev. William Murdock, son of Arteraas Murdock, 
 was born here in 1812. He was a graduate of Amherst 
 College, and was settled afterwards for several years 
 in the ministry at Candia, N. H. Having a difficulty 
 about his throat which prevented the use of his voice 
 in a great measure, he returned to this town about the 
 year 1852, and went to work for his brother, David C. 
 Murdock, where, from his great natural mechanical 
 ability, he ever seemed as much at home as in the 
 pulpit. He died very suddenly November 13, 1879, 
 aged sixty-si.^: years, four mouths, ten days, leaving 
 a widow, two sons and one daughter. 
 
 Sylvanus Morse, sou of Joseph Morse, was born 
 here about the year 1800, received a college education 
 and was the principal of Bradford Academy for sev- 
 eral years. He returned to this town, and opened a 
 family school in 1845, and was quite successful for a 
 few years, when he sold out and again left town. 
 
 Dr. George W. Peirce, son of Levi Peirce, was born 
 in 1819. He studied medicine and established him- 
 self in the town of Leominster about 1845, where he 
 was a successful practitioner for many years. He died 
 in that town in 1885. 
 
 Henry F. Harris, born here August 19, 1849, son of 
 Charles M. Harris, graduated from Tufts College, and 
 has been for several years in successful practice as an 
 attorney in Worcester, Mass. 
 
 Edward A. Murdock, son of David C. Murdock, 
 was born here May 24, 1854, studied medicine, and 
 first established himself at Waltliam, and afterwards 
 removed to Spencer, Mas^., where he is in the very 
 successful practice of his calling. 
 
 Louis Cutting, born here November 11, 1849, son of 
 John 8. Cutting, has for the past two or three years 
 been studying law and is now located in Worcester, 
 where he has been admitted to the bar. 
 
 Alfred Lovell, son of Addison Lovel, born Decem- 
 ber 28, 1851, graduated as a civil engineer at the 
 Technical School in Worcester, about the year 1875, 
 and is now located at Rustic, N. J. 
 
 Albert W. Hinds, son of Albert and grandson of 
 Ephraim Hinds, Esq., has recently graduated from 
 Brown University, and is fitting himself for a teacher. 
 He was born in this town November 30, 1864. 
 
 Elmer F. Higgins, born January 21, 1862, and 
 Tracy L. Newton, born February 20, 1867, both na- 
 tives of this town, are now students at Brown Uni- 
 versity. 
 
 David Bigelow Lovell, son of Portland Lovell, 
 born here March 22, 1865, is a student at a medical 
 school in New York City. 
 
 Llewellen Drake, born in Maine, and a graduate of 
 our High School in 1885, and Harry L. Peirce, born 
 here November 1, 1870, and was a graduate of the 
 school in 1888, have both entered Colby University, 
 at Waterville, Me. 
 
 MiMTAEY. — One of the first settlers of this town of 
 whom we have any account as having enlisted for any 
 of the military movements was Benjamin Bigelow, 
 who enlisted as a soldier in 1745, in the expedition 
 for the capture and reduction of Louisbourg, then be- 
 longing to France, and considered the Gibraltar of 
 America. The capture and possession of this place 
 was regarded at the time as a great achievement, and 
 highly important in its advantages to the British 
 Crown. On his return from this expedition Mr. Bige- 
 low brought with him several articles of iron manu- 
 facture, fiome of which are yet in use on the farm 
 which he then occupied, and which is now in the pos- 
 session of Thomas N. Keyes. 
 
 E^phriam and Ithamar Bennett, sons of Phineas 
 Bennett, one of the earliest settlers of this town, en- 
 listed as soldiers in the army sent to Ticonderoga in 
 1758, and attempted to capture the fortress at that 
 place. They were in the so-called "Morning Fight," 
 which resulted, after four hours of hard fighting, in 
 a disastrous defeat to the English army, and both of 
 these two young men were killed in the terrible con- 
 flict. 
 
 At the commencement and during the progress of 
 the war for the American Revolution the inhabitants 
 of the district now comprising the town of West Boyl- 
 ston were zealous and active in all the efforts made to 
 obtain and secure for the Colonies liberty and inde- 
 pendence. Major Ezra Beaman was a prominent and 
 leading spirit in this important and patriotic work, 
 and nearly every one around him was also firm and 
 determined in favor of freedom and the rights of the 
 people. 
 
 On several special and important occasions the citi- 
 zen soldiers here turned out, readily leaving their 
 families and business to engage in the service of their 
 country, and that without pay or remuneration, other 
 than the satisfaction of having discharged their duty. 
 ' During the continuance of the war several men here 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
WEST BOYLSTON. 
 
 599 
 
 enlisted and joined the regular army at different 
 periods, all of whom, with one exception, served out 
 their time, returned home and lived to enjoy the bless- 
 ings and advantages resulting from the toils and suf- 
 fering which they had bravely endured. The names 
 of these enlisted men were Ezra Beaman, John Bixby, 
 Joseph Bixby, Zacharlah Child, Joseph Dwelley, 
 William Fairbauk, Oliver Glazier, Benjamin Hinds, 
 Jr., Jason Hinds, Ebenezer Inglesby, Ebenezer Pike, 
 Paul Raymond, Isaac Smith, John Temple, Nathan 
 Wilder and John Winn. 
 
 Of these men, the history of Ezra Beiman is given 
 in another place ; of the two Bixbys, no reliable ac- 
 count of their subsequent life can be found. Their 
 father, Samuel Bixby, came from Woburn and settled 
 here about 1750, and both he and his wife died in 
 1800, since which time no one of the family seems to 
 have lived in the town. 
 
 Zacharlah Child was born in 1763, being the eldest 
 son of David Child, who was the owner and jiroprie- 
 tor of the farm afterwards owned and occupied by 
 Rev. William Nash, the first settled minister here 
 under the precinct formation. Mr. Child was a young 
 soldier, but served with credit, and after an honorable 
 discharge settled on a small farm adjoining bis 
 father's, and in 1784 married Lydia, daughter of 
 David Bigelow, of Worcester, and had a large family 
 of children. He died in 1845, aged eighty-one years. 
 His wife survived him and died in 1849, aged eighty- 
 five years. For many of his last years Mr. Child was 
 in the receipt of a pension. 
 
 Joseph Dn-elley was born in Worcester, and after 
 the war he purchased a farm in this town, the same 
 afterward owned by Dea. James Fiske, which he 
 owned and occupied about forty years, when he sold 
 out and removed to Oakham, where he died in 
 1840, aged seventy-five years. He enlisted into 
 the army when only fifteen years of age, served 
 faithfully during the last three years of the war, en- 
 during cheerfully many hardships and trials. He 
 was in all the movements which resulted in the sur- 
 render of Cornwallis at Yorktown, and received an 
 honorable discharge at the war's close. 
 
 William Fairbank was born in 1758, being the 
 youngest son of Jonathan Fairbank. He was a 
 farmer and occupied the farm now owned and occu- 
 pied by James W. Robbins. He was a man of ability 
 and prominence in the t<iwn, being often chosen to 
 ofiices of trust and responsibility by his fellow-towns- 
 men. During the last years of his life he received a 
 pension from the government. He died here in 1840, 
 aged eighty-one years. 
 
 Oliver Glazier was born in 1763, and was the son 
 of John Glazier, of Boylston. In 1785 he married 
 Rachel Hastings, of Boylston. They had ten chil- 
 dren, all of whom outlived their parents. His wife 
 died in 1841, when he went to Northboro' to live with 
 his eldest daughter, witli whom he continued to live 
 
 until his decease in 1855, aged ninety-two years, living 
 the longest of any of these soldiers. 
 
 Benjamin Hinds, Jr., and Jason Hinds were sons 
 of Benjamin Hinds, and soon after the war are said 
 to have gone to Maine and settled there. They were 
 brothers to Jacob and Joseph Hinds, who both settled 
 in this town and had families, but at the present time 
 there is but one representative of the name in town, 
 Solon Hinds, son of said Joseph Hinds, now over 
 eighty years of age. 
 
 Ebenezer Inglesby. The only account we can give 
 of him: is that he settled in this town about 1750, and 
 removed therefrom in 1794. " He married a daughter 
 of Aaron Newton and had a large family of chil- 
 dren." 
 
 Ebenezer Pike settled in this town about 1760, and 
 died here at an advanced age. " He was a soldier in 
 the Revolutionary War and served his country faith- 
 fully." 
 
 " Paul Raymond was an early settler here, but re- 
 moved from town previous to 1780." Probably he did 
 not live here after the close of the war. 
 
 Isaac Smith was born abaut 1755, and came to this 
 town soon after the close of the war, when he married 
 Prudence Cutting, and settled on a farm one mile 
 west of the old Common, where he lived until his 
 decease in 1824. Of him it is said "He was a soldier 
 of the Revolution, and performed good service during 
 that memorable struggle ; and by the faithful dis- 
 charge of duty, and the fatigue and hardship en- 
 dured, he merited and ought to receive the gratitude 
 and veneration of future generations. He was truly 
 one of those brave spirits who, by their persevering 
 eff'orts and untold sufferings, helped to consummate 
 our nation's independence." 
 
 John Temple, the oldest son of Jonas Temple, of 
 Boylston, was born in 1762 and died in 1841, aged 
 seventy-nine years. He was, next to Major Beaman, 
 of these Revolutionary heroes, the one mostidentified 
 with the town's growth and prosperity. He first 
 married Lois, daughter of Micah Harthan, who only 
 lived one year after her marriage. In 1793 he married 
 Persis, daughter of Major Beaman, and the widow of 
 Dr. Amariah Bigelow, with whom he lived until 1832, 
 when she died, leaving two children by Mr. Temple 
 and two by Dr. Bigelow. Mr. Temple was an enter- 
 prising and successful farmer, possessing and occupy- 
 ing an extensive farm in the southerly part of the 
 town, which had been previously owned by Dr. 
 Amariah Bigelow. Mr. Temple was all his life a 
 prominent citizen of an energetic temperament, 
 which enabled him to act with promptness on mat- 
 ters of importance. " He was chosen several succes- 
 sive years as chairman of the Board of Selectmen, 
 and frequently was called to the performance of 
 other important duties of a public character. After 
 the decease of his second wife he married Polly 
 Dakin, of Boylston, who survived him and died in 
 1856." 
 
600 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Nathan Wilder, son of Abner Wilder, was born in 
 1760 and died in 1822, aged sixty-two years. Of him 
 we only have this meagre history: " He married and 
 had children, some of whom were living twenty-five 
 years after his decease." 
 
 John Winn, son of Jacob Winn, was born in 1760 
 and died in 1843, aged eighty-three years. He mar- 
 ried Abigail Cross, of Boston, who survived him and 
 died in 1853, aged eighty-nine years. Mr. Winn was 
 a cooper by trade and occupied, during his life, the 
 premises now owned by Mrs. Cranson Cook, on the 
 road to Lancaster. Mr. and Mrs. Winn had several 
 children who survived them, but at the present time 
 no one of the name is a resident in the town. And 
 it is a singular and remarkable fact that of the six- 
 teen Revolutionary soldiers of this town there is not 
 a single descendant of the same name now living in 
 the town. 
 
 We have no records of any persons having enlisted 
 or of serving in the second war with England in 
 1812, but as other towns of the county were called 
 upon to furnish men for temporary service, this town 
 may have done so ; but at a meeting held on the 3d 
 day of July, 1812, the following votes were passed by 
 nearly a unanimous one of the meeting, only two 
 voting adversely : "That the town disaproves of the 
 late declaration of war against Great Britton." Also 
 chose the selectmen and town clerk a committee to 
 prepare certain resolutions, expressive of the sense 
 of the town. 
 
 In the Mexican War two young men volunteered 
 and went with the army to Mexico. George Flagg, 
 son of Francis Flagg, was in most of the hard battles 
 which resulted in the capture of the city of Mexico. 
 He was taken sick while on his return and died in 
 the hospital at New Orleans July 26, 1848, aged 
 twenty-four years. 
 
 Charles W. Allen, son of Daniel W. Allen, served 
 through the war with credit and came home after its 
 close ; he remained here about two years and then went 
 to California, where he died November 12, 1867. 
 
 West Boylston, in common with the towns of the 
 whole North, was thoroughly aroused at the first in- 
 dications that the South would rebel against its law- 
 ful government, and all such steps were at once taken 
 to render all the aid to the constituted authorities to 
 maintain the integrity of our Union, in the power of 
 the town to show and maintain. Many meetings 
 were held, volunteers for the army were encouraged 
 to enlist, money was raised lor their equipment and 
 for the care of the families of all who had one to 
 leave. Our young men were urged to drill and 
 otherwise perfect themselves for soldiers, and in fact 
 all persons in town — men, women and children — 
 seemed to vie with all others in their efforts to meet 
 the needs of the hour. At the firat legal meeting 
 held by the town, after the fall of Fort Sumter, April 
 29, 1861, the town voted to appropriate two thousand 
 dollars for the equipment of a military company. It 
 
 also voted to pay the men for the time spent in drill- 
 ing, also to pay all the needed aid to families of men 
 who should volunteer. The town also chose an effi- 
 cient committee to attend to all the necessary work. 
 As a consequence the town had volunteers in nearly 
 all of the first regiments that went into the field, hav- 
 ing men in all the regiments raised in the county. 
 During tlie war the town sent into the army two 
 hundred and fifty-two men. Of these, twelve were 
 commissioned officers and two were surgeons. The 
 commissioned officers were : Major Alonzo D. Pratt, 
 of the Thirty-fourth ; Major Addison A. Hosmer, of 
 the Twenty-eighth; Ca|)tain Pelham Bradford and 
 Captain Woodbury Whittemore, of the Twenty-first 
 Captain Charles C. Murdock, of the Twenty-fifth 
 Captain George L. Murdock, of the Thirty-fourth 
 Captain C. Alden Pratt, of the Forty-second : Lieu- 
 tenant, William D. Toombs, of the Second ; Lieuten- 
 ant Harlan P. Houghton, of the Thirty-fourth; Lieu- 
 tenant James Conner, of the Forty -second ; Lieuten- 
 ant Albert M. Murdock, of the Fifty-seventh, all 
 Massachusetts infantry regiments; and Lieutenant 
 Elliot F. Brigham, of the Fourth Massachusetts 
 Cavalry. Only one of these officers lost his life 
 while serving in the army. Lieutenant Albert M. 
 Murdock, while leading an assault on Fort Stead- 
 man, at Petersburg, Va., March 25, 1865, was almost 
 instantly killed. His last words were, "Save the 
 flag, boys.'' He was a very promising young man, 
 the only son of Cyrus Murdock, only nineteen years 
 of age when he left the Highland Military School 
 at Worcester to join his regiment in the last year of 
 the war. He took part in all the hard battles of the 
 Wilderness and around Richmond, and ever showed 
 himself a cool and brave officer. 
 
 Several of the other officers received wounds in the 
 many battles they were engaged in, and most of them 
 won their promotions by their services ; but all came 
 home and, so far as known, are all still living and 
 filling responsible positions in life. 
 
 The two surgeons were Dr. Franklin L. Hunt, of 
 the Twenty-seventh, and Dr. Charles A. Wheeler, of 
 the Twelfth Regiment. 
 
 Dr. Hunt was a young man of talent, of a very 
 genial disposition and greatly beloved by all his 
 acquaintances. He had only been in the practice of 
 his profession three years when he joined his regi- 
 ment at Newbern, N. C, in August, 1862. On No- 
 vember 18, 1862, while riding just outside the lines at 
 Washington, N. C, he was fired upon and killed by 
 straggling guerrillas. His body was recovered, brought 
 home and buried at Douglas, his native town. He 
 left a young wife and two children. 
 
 Dr. Wheeler served through the war, came home 
 and afterwards resumed his practice in Leominster, in 
 this county, and still remains in that town. 
 
 Probably no soldier of the great Civil War was 
 better or more widely known than Sergeant Thomas 
 Plunkett. He came to this town when about twelve 
 
WEST BOYLSTON. 
 
 601 
 
 years of age and lived here until the commencement 
 of llie war. He enlisted from the town as a member 
 of Company E of the Twenty-first Regiment, and 
 saw much hard service and lighting previous to the 
 battle of Fredericksburg, Va. In this battle he was 
 the color-sergeant of his regiment and liad both arms 
 shot away by a fragment of a shell. Notwithstanding 
 the great loss of blood and the delay before his 
 wounds could be attended to, his indomitable will 
 carried him through, and he survived his irguries 
 and lived until March 8, 1885, receiving from every 
 one love and respect for his patriotism, courage and 
 great physical loss. He held positions of trust at the 
 Custom House and Stale House in Boston several 
 years before his death, and was at his post at the 
 State House nearly up to the da}' of his death, although 
 his friends urged him to retire. His death was an- 
 nounced in the House of Representatives March 10th, 
 when it was voted "to appoint a committee of eight 
 to attend his funeral," and also "that a guard should 
 be detailed by the Sergeant-at-arms to carry the colors 
 which were borne by Sergeant Plunkett at the battle 
 of Fredericksburg to the funeral," which was held in 
 Mechanics' Hall in Worcester, and drew together a 
 concour:-e of people large enough to twice fill that 
 great hall. The Governor and staff, a large number 
 of the State officials, many members of the General 
 Court, many military companies, different Grand 
 Army corps and citizens from all parts of the State 
 came together to do this brave soldier honor. He 
 left a wife and two sons. 
 
 After his recovery from his wounds his many friends 
 raised for him such a sum of money as rendered him 
 independent during his lifetime. He resided in this 
 town several years after his return and marriage, but 
 for the last few years he was a resident of Worcester, 
 Mass. 
 
 At one time efibrts were made to have him pro- 
 moted, and an application was made to Governor 
 Andrew to give him a commission. This would have 
 been gladly done, but after much thought and delib- 
 eration, that noble Governor says, "No! as sergeant 
 he has achieved his wide reputation, and as such he 
 will be longer remembered, so let him be ever known as 
 Sergeant Plunkett." 
 
 During the war the town paid for recruiting and 
 other expenses, with the amount of State aid paid to 
 families, about forty thousand dollars, besides which, 
 the ladies of the town raised, in various ways, upward 
 of twelve hundred dollars in money, and sent stores of 
 clothing, etc., to the hospitals at several times during 
 the great struggle. 
 
 The following-named soldiers were killed or died 
 while connected with the army : 
 
 Charles F. Bigelow, Co. D, 24th Regt.. came home sick from Charles- 
 tOD, S. C, aud died SOOD after. 
 
 George L. Bigelow, of the 34th Regt., died in .\ndersonville Prison. 
 
 William H. Blunt, Co. D, 2d Kegt., was mortally wounded at Gettys- 
 burg. 
 
 Amos W. Broad, Co. C, 15th Regt., supposed to hare been lost at sea. 
 
 Isaac Child, Co. D, 2d Eegt., killed at Antietam, Md. 
 
 Benoni H. Colvin, Co. E, 42d Regt., came home sick aud died soon 
 after. 
 
 Frederick Colvin, Co. D, 2d Regt., killed at Winchester, Va. 
 
 Joseph E. Esterbrook, Co. K, 5.3d Regt., died at New York. 
 
 Patrick Fitzpatrick, Co. E, 42d Regt., died at New Orleans. 
 
 Harluw Getchell, Co. C, 15th Regt., wounded at Antietam, and died in 
 hospital. 
 
 .Tuhn II. Horan, Co. E, 2l8t Regt., died at Newborn, N. C. 
 
 Leonard T. Hosnier, Co. E, 2Ist Regt., died at Washington, D. C. 
 
 Geo. B. J. Hosiner, Co. D, 2d Regt., transferred to Signal Corps ; died at 
 Newbern, N. C. 
 
 Dr. Franklin L. Hunt, of the 2Tth Regt., killed by guerrillas, at Wash- 
 ington, N. C. 
 
 Jonas C. Keyes, Co. G, 2d H. \., died in Andersonville Prison. 
 
 Charles H. Kidder, 7th Light Battery, died at Memphis, Tenn. 
 
 Thomas Lynch^ Co. G, 2d H. A., died in .\ndei'Bonvine Prison. 
 
 Leonard F. Blaban, Co. E, 42d Regt., died at New Orleans. 
 
 Mercail Mallett, Co. G, 57th Regt., killed in the battles of the Wilder- 
 ness, Va. 
 
 Lieut. Albert H. Murdock, a7th Regt., killed at Fort Steadman, Va. 
 
 Geo. B. Newton, Co. D, 2d Regt,, died at Baltimore, JId. 
 
 Samuel E. Pratt, Co. A, l.ith Regt., died at Yorktown, Va. 
 
 Joseph T. Smith, Co. K, 15th Regt., mortally wounded, and died at 
 .\ntietam. 
 
 .Iihn B. Tallnian, Co. C, 34th Regt., killeil iu Shenandoah Valley. 
 
 iVIartin N. Trask, Co. I, 25th Regt., died at Fortress Monroe. 
 
 Thomas Watson, Co. K, 2d Regt., killed at Cedar IMountain, Va. 
 
 James Welsh, of the 34th Regt., died at Florence, S. C. 
 
 Newton Wellman, Co. E, 2lBt Regt., died at City Point, Va. 
 
 William F. Wilson, U. S. Engineer Corps, died in hospital at Point of 
 Rocks, Md. 
 
 Alfred M. Whyte, Co. D, 2d Regt., died of wounds, at Antietam, Md. 
 
 Nelson Wright, Co. E, 42d Regt., died at New Orleans. 
 
 Farms. — There are in town about eighty farms of 
 from thirty to two hundred acres each, on which the 
 business of farming, in its various branches, is nearly 
 the exclusive occupation of their owners ; while there 
 are about twenty smaller farms of fifteen to thirty 
 acres each, which occupy the time of their owners 
 only a part of the time, the business lieing combined 
 with, usually, some mechanical work. A majority of 
 the larger farmers make the production of milk their 
 principal business. This is sold from door to door in 
 town early each morning. Several routes are supplied 
 daily in Worcester, while many of the large farmers 
 at the north part of the town send their milk by rail- 
 road to Boston. But little, comptiratively, of butter 
 and cheese are made. Considerable attention is given 
 to raising vegetables and small fruits for home and 
 Worcester markets. The great grain staples of corn, 
 wheat, rye and oats are not raised to as great an extent 
 as fifty years ago. 
 
 From old records we learn that during the period 
 from 1760 to 1820 not less than three thousand bushels 
 of rye were annually raised in the town, with about 
 the same quantity of corn and oats, and during the 
 winter season much of this was taken to Boston 
 market, where the farmers could realize $1.25 per 
 bushel for the corn and rye. Large quantities of 
 cider, too, were made, every family feelingthe necessity 
 of " putting in " for home use several barrels. Large 
 quantities of this, too, were taken to market, selling at 
 from one to two dollars per barrel. Nearly every large 
 farmer considered that a cider-mill was a necessary 
 
602 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 appendage to his farm. Sixty years ago there were 
 not less than thirty of these mills in town ; now there 
 is but one. Sixty years ago grafted fruit-trees were 
 almost unknown ; now, but few apple-trees of natural 
 fruit are allowed to grow. 
 
 Hills. — Of the different hills in the town, " Mai- 
 den Hill" is the most prominent and is much tlie 
 largest and most elevated. This hill originally lay 
 entirely in Holden, the line between Holden and 
 Boylston running easterly of it. The early settlers of 
 Holden gave it the name of " Mount Carmel," but in 
 the memory of old people it has always been called by 
 its present name. In changing the line between Hol- 
 den and West Boylston, in the formation of the pre- 
 cinct in 1787, and the town in 1808, the line was 
 changed and fixed on the easterly side of this hill 
 for its entire length. Just how this hill received 
 its name seems to have been forgotten by all of 
 our old people. 
 
 We now offer the following history of facts, be- 
 lieving that it will show when and why it was 
 done. In 1665 the Colonial authorities made a grant 
 of a tract of one thousand acres to the town of Mai- 
 den, to help support the Gospel, which is described 
 and located as follows : 
 
 One thousand acrea of upland and meudow, about two miles distant 
 southwesterly from the southwest coruer of Lancaster Bounds, as also 
 about a mile distant Southwesterly from Ihe lands formerly granted 
 and laid out unto Capt. Kichard Davenport, beginning at the south 
 end of a high, rocky, pine hill, at a little red oak marked M, and 
 from thence a line upon an East South East point, 212 rods, unto a 
 pine marked M, and from thence a line upon a South point 040 
 rods ; and from thence a line upon a West North West point 370 
 rods ; and from thence a line upon a North by East point, six degrees 
 Easterly, Q-An rods ; and these four lines so run making up the full 
 compliment of the aforesaid one thousand acres, aa is more plainly 
 described by a Plott. 
 
 In 1736 the location of this tract of land came into 
 the courts of this county in a dispute between Mai- 
 den and Shrewsbury partie.s, the latter contending 
 that " Maldeu Hill" was the hill named, and that 
 the tract lay southerly of its southerly point, while 
 the Maiden parties contended that it lay nearly 
 two miles easterly of that point. In the long and 
 somewhat bitter quarrel the name of Maiden was 
 given to the hill and also to the brook rising in 
 Holden and flowing around its southerly end, then 
 along its easterly side to the Quinnepoxet River, 
 and these names have ever since attached to both 
 hill and brook. The location of the Maiden grant 
 was decided, after the matter had been in the courts 
 about two years, in favor of Maiden. Said location 
 will be found in another page of this history. 
 Maiden Hill is very rocky and uneven, with but little 
 good grazing land. It contains some fine granite 
 quarries. 
 
 "Wellington Hill " was the name given to the 
 long hill in the southerly part of the town, extending 
 for a distance of about two miles north and south, over 
 the ridge of which the line dividing this town from 
 Boylston runs. The name of " Bond Hill " has for 
 
 many years been given to this hill by the people of 
 both towns. 
 
 " Davenport Hill," in the northeastern part of the 
 town, also lies partly in this town and partly in Boyls- 
 ton. The high hill in the north part of the town has 
 been sometimes called "Carter's Hill," but is not 
 often spoken of as having any name. A new road 
 has recently been built, nearly over its summit, from 
 Oakdale, opening a beautiful prospect from its loca- 
 tion, and it is suggested that "Prospect Hill" would 
 be an appropriate name for it. Another high hill, 
 extending southerly from the old Common, is usually 
 spoken of as " Keyes' Hill." 
 
 All four of these last-named hills are considered to 
 be some of the best farming and grazing lands in 
 town. " Pine Hill " is located in the easterly part of 
 the town, and is a small, rocky hill, only producing a 
 stunted growth of pine and shrub oaks. " Eames 
 Ledge" is the name given to another rocky hill, lying 
 directly south of the Worcester and Nashua Railroad, 
 where said railroad was cut through the " big ledge." 
 This was really the " high, rocky pine hill " named 
 in the old grant of " Maiden farm," in 1665. 
 
 The views from many points on these hills, into and 
 over the valleys of our rivers, present to the eye of the 
 beholder some very pleasing and picturesque scenes. 
 At some points there seems to be barely room for the 
 streams and a narrow road ; then a wide expanse of 
 beautiful intervale opens to the eye, with grand old 
 trees here and there, and rows of buildings on their 
 margins. These intervales are probably some of the 
 best farming lands in the county, and in extent cover 
 several hundred acres, the largest one being below 
 the junction of the Stillwater and Quinnepoxet 
 Rivers, and extending into the town of Boylston. 
 
 Pleasure Resort. — Pleasant Valley has been 
 one of the most attractive and romantic places in the 
 town to show to strangers. Situated in the south- 
 easterly part of the town, and entirely surrounded 
 by forests, is a small circular valley of about four 
 acres, with hilts on all sides, except at one end, where a 
 carriage-road makes access easy ; it seems like a nat- 
 ural amphitheatre, with a natural growth of short green 
 grass, on a surface seemingly as level as art could make 
 it. In spring and summer it always presents to the eye 
 a charming and beautiful spot. A singular fact in 
 relation to this ground is th.at no tree or shrub has 
 ever sprung up and grown from it, and nothing but 
 the same short, wild grass has covered its surface. It 
 has ever been the resort for parties of pleasure, com- 
 ing from far and near to spend a few hours in this 
 pleasant retired spot. Many years since, when travel 
 between Worcester and points north was done by 
 stages, one of our genial old stage-drivers would often 
 take his load of passengers the mile from his route to 
 show them the beauties of Pleasant Valley. It was no 
 doubt once the bed of a pond, and, owing to some 
 underground leakage, was drained. In the spring 
 of the year, and in times of great rains, quite a stream 
 
 I 
 
WEST BOYLSTON. 
 
 603 
 
 of water runs towards it, but finds some underground 
 passage, and never fills this basin. About a hundred 
 rods from it, and seventy to one hundred feet lower, 
 at the edge of the intervale, is a remarkable spring 
 of water, nearly as cold as ice-water, and constantly 
 flowing through quicksand at all times of the year, 
 in a volume of force to fill a pipe of three to six 
 inches. Whether there is any connection between 
 the two or not may be difficult to prove; but the 
 theory has been suggested that the water going in 
 from above finds icy chambers beneath, melting 
 enough to pass off through the spring below. Both val- 
 ley and spring have been, since the town was settled, 
 places of attraction, both to old residents and visitors. 
 
 Remarkable Longevity. — Mrs. Sarah Goodale 
 was born in the town of Marlboro' in 1714, and 
 married Edward Goodale, one of the early settlers of 
 this town. They had five sons and one daughter— all 
 born within twelve years of each other. The father 
 died when about forty years of age, leaving his family 
 in possession of a farm, with very little other property. 
 Mrs. Goodale being a strong, robust woman, deter- 
 mined to keep her family together, and succeeded so 
 so well that she was enabled to pay to each one on 
 coming to their majority their full proportion of the 
 value of the estate, although she herself had become 
 the bona fide owner of the homestead, She had 
 become their legal guardian, and had assumed the 
 control of the farm and business. These children all 
 lived to old age, and in their turn manifested the 
 same dutiful care and respect for their honored 
 mother, during the latter portion of her life, which 
 she had bestowed on them while in their childhood 
 and early years. She died here in 1810, being in her 
 ninety-seventh year, and at that time the oldest person 
 who had died in the town. Herchildren all survived her 
 and died as follows: Moses died in 1815, aged seventy- 
 five years; Elizabeth died io 1837, aged ninety-six 
 years; Aaron died in 1817, aged seventy-four years; 
 Paul died in 1828, aged eighty-one years; David died 
 in 1832, aged eighty-two years ; Peter died in 1834^ 
 aged eighty-two years. This mother and all of these 
 children were professors of religion, and manifested 
 through all their lives a due regard for its principles 
 in their treatment of each other and the world at 
 large. 
 
 At the close of the first half-century of this town's 
 existence, in 1858, Miss Sarah Harthan was the oldest 
 living person in the town. She was the eldest child 
 of Micah Harthan, and was born in Lancaster in 
 1763, where she resided for eighteen years, then 
 resided in Shrewsbury five years, afterwards in Boyls- 
 ton twenty-two years, and during the remainder of her 
 life her residence was in West Boylston. It is a 
 remarkable circumstance that during the first sixty 
 years of her life she was a resident of all the four 
 towns named, and never changed her place of abode. 
 She died in the fall of 1858, aged nearly ninety-six 
 years. 
 
 " Anthony Taylor, son of Eleazer Taylor, of Boyls- 
 ton, was born in 1749, came to West Boylston in 1808 
 and lived here until his death, in 1819. He was a 
 large, stout-built man, and supposed by his cotempo- 
 raries not to be surpassed in muscular strength by any 
 man in New England. In early life he performed 
 several extraordinary feats, the relation of which 
 might seem to challenge the belief of the most credu- 
 lous. Yet, the credibility of those persons who wit- 
 nessed and have given an account of these wonderful 
 exhibitions of power and strength manifested and put 
 forth by this man, render it quite certain that noth- 
 ing more than the truth has been related about his 
 great strength. One instance of his extraordinary 
 muscular power was given while he was serving with 
 the army at Cambridge in 1775. Approaching a 
 field-piece, he lifted it from the ground and would 
 have put it on his shoulder had not others interfered, 
 both to save himself and the cannon from injury. 
 Other accounts relative to his uncommon physical 
 force were often cited and believed by persons of in- 
 disputable testimony." Had this great force of body 
 been directed by a like force of mind, wc should, no 
 doubt, have now been able to record the history of a re- 
 markable personage ; but we find in the records of the 
 town for the year 1809 that the town voted "to put up 
 at auction the town's poor, to be taken by the lowest 
 l)idder," and " Anthony Taylor was bid off' by .lonathan 
 Plympton at one dollar and three cents per week." 
 In 1818 the price paid to Aaron Goodale was two dol- 
 lars per week. Thelast yearof his life Anthony Taylor, 
 with six other paupers, were all bid oflT by '' Jacob 
 Hinds, to be cared for, for the year ensuing, for the 
 sum of two hundred and sixty dollars," which sum 
 was " to include clothing and nursing," and was not 
 " to be reduced if any of the number should die be- 
 fore the year's end." This practice of " auctioning 
 off'" the town's poor was followed for several years 
 later, but for the past fifty years other and less annoy- 
 ing methods of arranging for their care has prevailed. 
 Samuel Whitney is believed by his descendants to 
 have been the first white man th.at lived on the terri- 
 tory of what is now West Boylston. He certainly 
 came here alone from Lexington, Mass., early in the 
 last century, and made an opening in the northwest 
 part ofthe town, on lands which, for several generations, 
 have been owned and occupied by descendants of his, 
 the Masons. He came here with only a dog for a 
 companion, and using a great hollow log as the main 
 part of his house, lived here alone for four years, ex- 
 cepting in the winter seasons, when he returned to his 
 family at Lexington. He was sometimes visited by 
 Indian neighbors, but never had any trouble with 
 them. After being here two years, early one fall 
 morning be imagined he could hear a voice calling 
 pig ! pig ! and was so impressed by it that he took his 
 dog and gun and, crossing the Quinnepoxet River and 
 following a southerly course about two miles, found 
 another white man, a Lovell, who had been living 
 
604 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 there about six months. That nioniing his pig had 
 strayed away and he had been using his voice, to its 
 loudest extent, in calling it. 
 
 After living on his clearing alone tour years, Mr. 
 Whitney brought his family to the ])lace and settled 
 down for a permanent home. They had three daugh- 
 ters to afterwards grow up and marry, the first one to 
 a Thomas, the second to a Whittaker, the third to a 
 Mason, the descendants of the last living on the same 
 spot up to the present time. 
 
 The EARTHiiUAKE. — The Great Earthquake, as it 
 has been termed, happened late in the evening of No- 
 vember 18, 1755, and as it left its only traces within the 
 limits of this town, it can be claimed as exclu.sively 
 local, even although at the time of its occurrence 
 the territory where its effects are, and long will be 
 visible, was within the limits of Holden, and before 
 that town's incorporation, of "Worcester. "At the 
 time of its occurrence it produced great commotion, 
 alarm and consternation. Dwelling-houses were 
 shaken so severely as to cause kettles and other things 
 to rattle and make much noise, plates and other arti- 
 cles were thrown from shelves, and people who had 
 retired found their beds rocking like cradles." Soon 
 afterwards it was discovered that a large piece of land 
 of some acres in extent, situated in the northwest 
 part of this town (then Holden), had sunk several 
 feet ; an acre or more seems to have sunk from forty 
 to seventy-five feet. Some accounts of the occurrence, 
 which have been heretofore given, say " that trees and 
 stumps were split, parts of which were found at oppo- 
 site sides of the opening." A visit to the spot at the 
 present day will give the visitor a good idea of what 
 happened, with the extent of the convulsion. The 
 location is on the banks of the (iuinnepoxet River, 
 about forty rods above the mills of S. R. Warfield. 
 and near to Holden line. At this point there was a 
 high blurt' of from fifty to eighty feet high rising from 
 the river's bank. The opening, as now seen, is but a 
 few feet above the river's bed, but on its other side, 
 being somewhat oval in shape, it rises abruptly in 
 many places at least seventy feet, being as steep as 
 the earth would naturally fall. These banks are now 
 covered by a growth of trees of large size. A road 
 has been made down one side of this opening, and a 
 good growth of grass is cut in the pit each year. This 
 earthquake was felt over a large extent of territory, 
 from Chesapeake Bay to Halifax, but this was the 
 only location where any of its ert'ects were so fully 
 manifested. It ha|)pened in the same month and 
 year with the terrible convulsion which destroyed a 
 large portion of the city of Lisbon in Portugal. The 
 year following this earthquake a terrible sickness 
 raged in this vicinity, which, at the time, was attrib- 
 uted to this convulsion. It was confined mostly to 
 young people and children, a large number of whom 
 died. 
 
 The Hard Winter. — The winter of 1780 has ever 
 been spoken of as " the hard winter " by those whom 
 
 some of our present citizens remember as recalling 
 its severity. It was remarkable for the great depth 
 of snow, and the severe cold which continued for 
 several months, or from November until near the 1st 
 of April. Snow had fallen early in November be- 
 fore the ground had frozen, and all the succeeding 
 storms were of snow, no rain falling for a period of 
 over five months. Towards the last of December a 
 snow-storm commenced and lasted several days, cov- 
 ering rocks, fences and buildings to such an extent 
 that no roads were opened for several weeks. No 
 teams were used, wood for fires was cut from day to 
 day and transported on hand-sleds, by men and boys 
 wearing snow-shoes. Thi.^, too, was the only mode of 
 communication between neighbors, when any heavy 
 articles were moved; all grain to and from the mills 
 was taken in this way — in fact, all travel was limited 
 to snow-shoes and hand-sleds as the means of pass- 
 ing from one point to another. 
 
 This great accumulation of snow remained about 
 two months, when, the weather moderating some- 
 what, it began to settle and eventually all vanished 
 without any fall of rain, leaving the ground warm 
 and dry, ready for cultivation. No records appear 
 that give any indication that the season following 
 was in any way a remarkable one, but, on the 19th 
 of the following May, we have an account of a re- 
 markable phenomenon recalled as " The Dark Day." 
 Early in the morning of that day the atmosphere 
 had the appearance of being filled with a dense fog 
 of yellowish hue, rolling about in large masses, con- 
 stantly rising and moving along. It was so dark at 
 midday that it was necessary to use lighted candles 
 while people ate their dinners. So strange and 
 novel was the appearance on that day that many 
 were struck with consternation, and nearly all work 
 and business came to a standstill. The night follow- 
 ing was an uncommonly dark one, but nothing un- 
 usual followed this phenomenon, after that one day 
 and night. 
 
 On September 23. 1815, occurred what has been 
 termed the " Great Blow," which proved very destruc- 
 tive in this vicinity, causing great damage to fruit and 
 forest trees, buildings aud fences. Fruit of all kinds 
 was nearly all blown from the trees, while large num- 
 bers of fruit and forest trees were uprooted and de- 
 stroyed. Traces of this tempest are to be seen to this 
 day, where large trees were uprooted. It was undoubt- 
 edly the most des ructive tornado which has occurred 
 in New England since its settlement by white men, as 
 it extended over a large portion of it. 
 
 About fourteen years since a whirlwind or tornado, 
 starting in the southwest part of this county, swept 
 through this town with great force, leaving a path of 
 only a few feet in width, tearing up, twisting and 
 breaking all trees in its course, several of which were 
 of large size. P^ortunately, no persons and only two 
 buildings were in its path, and the buildings were 
 only struck on one side. After passing through this. 
 
 J 
 
641 U 
 
 -U^W/^ 
 
o^^itoif^ (yyu ^^fT^o/vyyO 
 
WEST BOYLSTON. 
 
 605 
 
 town it appeared to have spent its force, but traces of 
 it were seen for eight or ten miles beyond the limits 
 of the town to the northwest. 
 
 In 1790 there were four families within the limits 
 of what is now West Boylston, and all living in the 
 same neighborhood, whose children, in the aggregate, 
 numbered forty-five, all of whom, with two exceptions, 
 lived to mature life, were married and had from five 
 to ten children each. 
 
 On the farm of the late Addison Lovell, on Mai- 
 den Hill, is an apple tree grown from a twig, which, 
 with others, was bound to the yoke of a pair of oxen 
 which came with the first Lovell to this spot, as its 
 fir.st settler, over one hundred and fifty years ago 
 The tree is still in a bearing condition. 
 
 The location of the two old grants of land made 
 by the Colonial authorities, more than two hundred 
 years ago, were located as follows, it being under- 
 stood that, owing to the imperfect compasses used in 
 former times, as well as the taking of difficult measure- 
 ments and the disappearance of the marked boundaries, 
 an exact location cannot be now given of these tracts 
 of land. 
 
 Davenport Farm. — This was a tract of land of 
 six hundred acres, granted to Capt. Richard Daven- 
 I)ort in 1658, who was at that time in the military 
 employment of the government, and was afterwards 
 killed by lightning at a fort in Boston harbor. This 
 tract was a right-angled triangular shaped lot, with 
 its longest line extending nearly east and west on the 
 old south line of Lancaster, about two miles, with its 
 western end somewhere between our present stone 
 bridge and the central bridge, and with its two 
 shorter lines, of about four hundred and forty 
 and four hundred and seventy rods, meeting near the 
 present boundaries of Boylston and West Boylston, 
 and showing that this tract covered all of the 
 large intervale farms on the Nashua River, be- 
 ginning at the west end, with the old Beaman farm, 
 in this town, and extending easterly over the inter- 
 vening farms, with the old Davenport farms, in Boyls- 
 ton, at its eastern extremity. After-surveys of this 
 tract showed that it contained nearly nine hundred 
 acres. 
 
 Malden Farm. — This was a tract granted to the 
 town of Maiden in 1665, of one thousand acres. 
 This tract was about two miles long, two hundred 
 and twelve rods wide at its northerly and three hun- 
 dred and seventy rods at its southerly end. The 
 tract was afterwards about equally divided from south 
 to north by a line running on the present boundary 
 line between Boylston and West Boylston, commenc- 
 ing at the corner of Shrewsbury and running 
 northerly, over Wellington or Bond's Hill, to the 
 first angle on the old Dunton farm, thus showing 
 that this tract was located, one-half in the present 
 town of Boylston, the other half in West Boyls- 
 ton, with a corner at its southwest angle extending 
 into Worcester. 
 
 In looking back, at this day, to the time when these 
 two tracts were located, with the idea that at that time 
 both must have been in a complete wilderness, it seems 
 wonderful that they should prove to be the best land 
 in the region of their location. The Davenport tract 
 covers wliat has proved to be intervale land, second to 
 none in the State, except perhaps the Deerfield mead- 
 ows. 
 
 The Maiden grant, too, covers some of the be.st up- 
 land and meadow farms in this town and Boylston, 
 both showing that the men and explorers who located 
 these tracts were men whose instincts and sound judg- 
 ments were strong ones. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL. 
 LINUS M. HARRIS. 
 
 The subject of this sketch, Linus M. Harris, the 
 senior member of the firm of L. M. Harris & Co., was 
 the son of Henry and Waty (Smith) Harris, and was 
 born in Scituate, R. I., October 24, 1814. He was the 
 eldest child of the large family of a poor man, who 
 was only able to give him the benefit of what school- 
 ing he could get from attending the winter terms of 
 a common country school until he was fourteen years 
 of age, when he went into a cotton mill as "back boy ,'> 
 and commenced a connection with the cotton manu- 
 fiicture which has continued to the present day. In 
 addition to his boyhood schooling, he attended a 
 school the winter after his eighteenth birthday. His 
 experience in factory life, as a hoy, was commenced 
 in the Richmond mill in Scituate, R. I., where he 
 worked three years; then in the Sprague mill, at 
 Smitbfield, R. I., one year; then with the Blackstone 
 Manufacturing Co., at Mendon, Mass. (now Black- 
 stone), two years ; then at Woonsocket, R. I., ten 
 years (up to 1845), when he came to West Boylston. 
 
 While living at Woonsocket he married Mi.ss 
 Armilla E. Rounds at Providence B. I., October 24, 
 1838, it being the twenty-fourth anniversary of his 
 birth. Before leaving Woonsocket they had three 
 children, all of whom died before the family came to 
 Massachusetts. In 1845 Mr. Harris came to this town 
 and commenced business in the Holt Mill at Harris- 
 ville, as noted elsewhere, where he remained about 
 nine years, when he went into business with E. W. 
 Holbrook at the Central Village, on the rebuilding of 
 his mill in 1854. In 1865 Mr. Harris left the Hol- 
 brook Mill and resumed the principal management of 
 the mill at Harrisville, which he still retains, together 
 with the Whiting Mill, built a few years afterwards. 
 Of these two mills he is an equal owner with his 
 brother, Charles M. Harris, and brother-in-law, Alfred 
 Whiting. He is also one of the owners in the large 
 mills at Oakdale, known as the West Boylston Manu- 
 facturing Company, and also of two smaller mills in 
 Holden on the Quinnepoxet River. Mr. Harris has 
 
606 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 been a very successful man in his business, liaving 
 accumulated a handsome competence, and has ever 
 been an active and influential man in public and town 
 affairs, serving several years on the Board of Select- 
 men and going to the (Jeneral Court as Representa- 
 tive, etc. 
 
 Both Mr. Harris and his wife are still vigorous after 
 a married life of over fifty years. Since living in 
 West BoylstoD, three daughters and one son have 
 been born to ihem, all of whom are living and are 
 active, influential members of the community where 
 they live, the youngest being now about thirty-six 
 years of age. 
 
 CHARLES M. HARRIS. 
 
 Charles M. Harris, son of Henry and Waty S. 
 Harris, was born in Proi'idence, R. I., August 3, 
 1822. The family moved soon after to Scituate, R. I., 
 where, when old enough, young Charles went to 
 school about eight weeks in the summer and winter, 
 or as long as the money raised for schools would last, 
 eked out by the teachers being boarded around among 
 the families who had children to send to school, the 
 school-rooms being fitted up with oak slabs for seats, 
 which were raised so high from the floor that the feet 
 of the smaller children would hang several inches 
 above it. This style of schooling continued until he 
 was about thirteen years of age. After that time he 
 was ibrtunate enough to get two short terms of school 
 in the winter when a year or two older. This consti- 
 tuted all the school attendance of the subject of this 
 sketch. At six years of age he was put into the 
 Richmond Cotton Mill at Scituate, to work between 
 schools, where by working from fourteen to fifteen 
 hours a day his services were considered worth fifty 
 cents per week or a trifle over half a cent an hour. His 
 wages gradually increased to seventy-five cents, one 
 dollar and one dollar and twenty-five cents per week 
 up to the time when he was fourteen years of age, 
 and from that time they continued to advance until, 
 at twenty years of age, he was receiving from six to 
 seven dollars for a week's work. 
 
 From the Richmond mill he had gone to the 
 Sprague mill at Smithfield, R. I.; from there to the 
 Blackstone mill at Mendon, Mass.; then to Woon- 
 socket, R. I. In the spring of 1842 he began the 
 manufacture of thread in company with David S. 
 Wilder at Woonsocket, and in the fall of that year 
 they came to West Boylston, and buying the small 
 mill at the central village, began the manufacture of 
 satinet warps. They also leased a mill in Uolden, in 
 which they carried on the same business. In 1845 he 
 sold out his interest in these mills and formed a part- 
 nership with his brothers, who had bought the "Holt 
 mill '' at Harrisville. The next year he, with his 
 brother Gideon, went to Scituate, R. I., and leased 
 the old Richmond mill, in which he began work as a 
 boy, where they remained about two years, when they 
 returned to Harrisville, largely increased the capacity 
 
 of the mill there and were doing a good business up 
 to the time when the mill was burned in 1851. The 
 mill was rebuilt, the machinery was all in and work 
 was resumed again in a year from the date of the fire. 
 In 1857 Mr. Harris went to Poquonnock, in the town 
 of Windsor, Ct., and run a mill three and a half 
 years, and from there went to Savage, Howard 
 County, Md., and, in company with another party, 
 run a mill one year and a half, then came back to 
 West Boylston, having been very successful in busi- 
 ness at each of these places. 
 
 In 1861 he, with his oldest brother, Linus M. Har- 
 ris, and J. H. Lane, of New York, bought the large 
 mills of the West Boylston Manufacturing Company, 
 at Oakdale, and he assumed the general management 
 of the business. Here he has remained up to the 
 present time. The history of these mills is given on 
 other pages of this history, and does not need repeat- 
 ing. There is little doubt that the growth and suc- 
 cess of the business of this company is largely owing 
 to the business talent and large executive ability of 
 Mr. Harris since his connection with it. In Novem- 
 ber, 1848, he married Miss Emily Dean, who is still 
 living. They have had three children, all now living. 
 Henry F. is a lawyer in Worcester; Charles M., Jr., 
 is a superintendent in the mill, aud Emily A. is the 
 wife of Alonzo R. Wells. 
 
 SAMUEL R. WARFIELD. 
 
 Samuel Randall Warfield, son of Luther and Alcey 
 Thompson Warfield, was born in Mendon, Mass., 
 September 28, 1821. He received a good education 
 in the common and high-schools of his native town 
 and Millbury, Mass., his father moving to Millbury 
 when Samuel was twelve years of age. He began 
 work in acotton-miil there and when twenty years of 
 aye was a " mule fixer." Soon after he was promoted 
 to overseer of the weaving-room. In 1851 he began 
 business at Millbury for himself in the manufacture 
 of thread or yarn, and continued it until 18.5t>. In 
 October of that year he went to Perkinsville, Vt., 
 where he followed the same business eight years. He 
 then went to Griswold, Ct., and remained in the 
 same business about three years. 
 
 He bought the property in this town in 1868, his 
 oldest son, Edwin R. Warfield, coming here to super- 
 intend the building up and starting of the works. 
 This son failing in health, Mr. Warfield came here 
 three or four years afterwards and has ever since re- 
 mained here. 
 
 Edwin R. Warfield died November 10, 1876, aged 
 twenty-seven years. He was a very energetic and 
 capable man, and his loss was a sad one to his father. 
 It interfered much with the plans he had made for 
 the future. Those plans, however, so far as they re- 
 lated to the developing of the fine water-power in this 
 town, have been since carried out, as is shown in the 
 history of his mills on other pages of this history. 
 

 c^^'^/U,-^-d-'^^-^::>^ 
 
I 
 
BLACKSTONE. 
 
 607 
 
 Mr. Warfield has proved himself to be a very energetic 
 and capable man of business, and has been a very 
 successful one. He is still hale and hearty, promising 
 to remain so for many years to come. 
 
 He married Miss Eliza Jane Maxwell in February, 
 1843, who is still living. They have had four children, 
 two of whom died while young. The fourth, Austin 
 H. Warfield, is now about thirty-six years of age, is 
 married, and is an active business man, associated 
 with his father in his present business. 
 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXIV. 
 BLACKSTONE. 
 
 BY .\DRIAN SCOTT, M.D. 
 
 1. Purchase of the Territory. — The legal 
 title to the soil of what now forms the town of Black- 
 stone was passed from the aboriginal owners to people 
 of the English name in the deed delivered to Moses 
 Payne and Peter Brackett, of Braintree, by an Indian 
 chief, on the 8th day of September, 1662. 
 
 To the whole of the purchase then made the name 
 of Mendon was soon afterwards given. The town of 
 Blackstone, the last of several towns carved, in whole 
 or in part, out of that territory, was really marked out 
 by the estaldishment of the so-called South Precinct 
 in 1766, but it was nearly eighty years later before the 
 town was incorporated. 
 
 It contains almost exactly one-fourth part of the 
 land granted in that original deed, and its propor- 
 tional price would be the sum of six pounds sterling, 
 which we will trust was duly and faithfully paid to 
 the natives in current coin of the realm of. King 
 Charles II. 
 
 2. Its Bounds and Area. — The South Precinct 
 of the town of Mendon was separated from the First 
 Precinct by a vote of the General Court, November 
 8, 1766. The bounds are given as follows : Beginning 
 at the southwest corner of Mendon, then on Uxbridge 
 three miles one hundred and twenty-eight rods to a 
 stake and stones on Capt. Daniel Taft's farm ; thence 
 turning and running east eight degrees south to stake 
 and stones by road leading from Thomas Taft's to 
 John Boyce's ; continuing the same course to a stake 
 and stones by road leading from I)am Swamp to Ens. 
 Benjamin Darling's; continuing the same course to 
 a stake and stones on the east side of Rehoboth Road, 
 south of Darius Daniel's orchard ; then the same 
 course to a pine tree at Bellingham line, with Daniel 
 Taft's and Joseph Day's farms on the north side of 
 line. 
 
 The area thus included is stated to be 10,295 acres 
 by Mr. H. F. Walling, who made a survey by order of 
 the town in 1854. The westerly line, as stated above, 
 is 3 miles 128 rods ; the northerlv, 4 miles 248 rods ; 
 
 the easterly, 3 miles 100 rods ; and the southerly, 
 about 4 miles 230 rods. The latter line, as part of the 
 disputed boundary between Massachusetts and Rhode 
 Island, has fluctuated much. 
 
 3. Topography and Geology. — The whole town / 
 lies in the valley of the Blackstone River, which/ 
 flows through its southern section. Northerly from 
 the river the surface rises -in some places with ab- 
 ruptness — and continues to rise beyond the town's 
 limits. Two-thirds of its area is included in this de- 
 scription without much variation from the course of 
 four or five small streams trending southerly into the 
 river. Fox Brook, the largest of these streams, has 
 its head-waters in several brooks issuing from the 
 spurs of Chestnut Hill, the largest, or main stream, 
 issuing from the extensive Pine Swamp between 
 Caleb Taft's and the Uxbridge line. The eastern 
 third of the town is occupied by the Mill River 
 valley, itself a tributary of the Blackstone, but not 
 reaching it within the town limits. This stream has 
 also in much of its course steep, precipitous banks 
 the intervales being generally where smaller streams 
 are received as tributaries. The largest and most im- 
 portant of these is Quickstream, which rises in an 
 extensive swamp beyond the town limits in Belling- 
 ham. Second in size is the Hop Swamp Brook, ris- 
 ing in Mendon, and in its southeasterly course drain- 
 ing the locally famous Dam Swamp. 
 
 The town has no natural lakes or large ponds, and 
 the area occupied by its streams is stated by Mr. 
 Walling to be ninety acres. The highest land is found 
 in the extreme northwest, in the hills collectively 
 known as Chestnut Hill. More isolated are the 
 Daniels Hill, north of the centre of the town, and 
 Waterbug Hill, a little southwest of the centre. East 
 of Mill River, Candlewood Hill stretches north and 
 south a distance of about two miles. Pond's Hill 
 overlooks the village of Waterford, and presents ab- 
 rupt sides, both towards Fox Brook on the west and 
 Blackstone River on the south. 
 
 The rocky bed underlying these hills is mainly 
 gneifS, with some granite in the northwest. In all 
 parts of the town granite boulders are found, and 
 these afford material for walls. But no quarry of 
 good granite is known to exist within the town limits. 
 In the Mill River valley the hills in many places have 
 the conical appearance of sand dunes near a sea-coast, 
 and many of them are composed of quite pure white 
 sand. 
 
 In the Mendon town records, under the year 1700, 
 it is recorded that votes were passed in relation to iron 
 ore and an iron mine in the southern part of the 
 town. It is plain, however, after a careful considera- 
 tion, that this must have referred to Iron Mine Hill 
 in Cumberland. By records a little earlier and later 
 it appears that even Woonsocket Falls were then 
 claimed as within the town, and a similar exercise of 
 squatter sovereignty claimed Iron Mine Hill. It does 
 not appear that any metals have been found in the 
 
(i08 
 
 lliaXOKY OF WORCESTER COUiNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 soil of Blackstone beyond the quantity known to 
 chemists as " traces." 
 
 4. Flora and Fauna. — The chestnut, birch, 
 maple and walnut are the predominant forest trees in 
 the town, although the pine swamps have been of 
 great value in the past. Oaks of several species are 
 found rather plentifully, and numerous other woods 
 have representatives. The denuding of the forest 
 surfaces, through the demand for fire-wood and lum- 
 ber, has had its usual effect upon the streams and in- 
 directly upon the fertility of the meadows and the 
 quality of the crops grown upon them. 
 
 No larger game than the red fox now haunts our 
 woods, although in colonial times wolves and deer 
 were plentiful. Woodchucks and skunks are great 
 pests to the farmers, and rabbits are still to be found 
 in young pine and other undergrowth. 
 
 5. Soil and Productions. — The town offers a 
 great variety of soils, from one of almost pure sand 
 to rich, deep loam. Mill River Valley has in the 
 northern end of the town light, sandy soil, free from 
 stone, easily worked and giving early crops. But dry 
 weather seriously affects and sometimes ruins crops. 
 The lower end of this valley is now but little used as 
 tillage land. Fifty years ago, liy a system of trench 
 irrigation, the meadows southward from the Old 
 Forge Pond were made very productive. The central 
 and western parts of the town present a better soil, 
 but a very rocky one. The Chestnut Hill region, with 
 its famous Benson Great Meadow, has some good 
 farms, but they require on the part of their owners 
 unremitting toil of the most arduous kind. South of 
 the Blackstone River again the soil is lighter, but 
 gradually grows stonier as one approaches the Rhode 
 Island line. 
 
 The raising of cattle, hogs and sheep, once the pre- 
 dominant farming interest of the town, has nearly 
 ceased. The production of milk to sell in the villages 
 and market gardening with the same end now occupy 
 nine-tenths of the farmers. There are a good many 
 orchards growing fine fruit, but the number of trees 
 is slowly diminishing. There are a few good cran- 
 berry bogs, but the crop is uncertain unless artifi- 
 cially protected from the frosts. 
 
 G. The Earliest Settlers. — The town of Men- 
 don was settled under the proprietary system, each 
 settler having his grant, his common right in all the 
 unappropriated land, and his share when any section 
 was divided. It is probable that the earliest settlers 
 took up their abode here not far fiom the year 1700. 
 They entered the town from two points — on the west 
 at Chestnut Hill, whence they passed down to the 
 Blackstone River at Millville; on the east they set- 
 tled up and down the Mill Riveras far as Woonsocket 
 Falls. Exact knowledge as to the earliest proprietors 
 is perhaps unobtainable. Some who came very early,. 
 however, are mentioned in the records so definitely 
 that we can grasp the fact. 
 
 In the Mendon records we find that Jonathan 
 
 Richardson had land laid out on the lower course of 
 Mill River in 1700 and upon (iuickstream in 1702. 
 Of this man we know nothing further, save the fact 
 that in 1699 he received the usual bounty per head 
 from the town of Mendon for killing five grown 
 wolves. It is probable that this pioneer in the pleas- 
 ant fields of the coming East Blackstone was accom- 
 panied by other proprietors and those who were not 
 proprietors. Two years before, in 1698, the Rehoboth 
 road was laid out down through the Mill River Valley 
 from Mendon town to the Dedham- line, correspond- 
 ing nearly to the Bellingham line. Elm Street in our 
 days represents this most ancient of our legal high- 
 ways. By family tradition rather than by any records 
 we know that the founders of the two families of 
 Daniels and Thayer were fairly settled in the north- 
 eastern portion of the tow-n about 1710, and owned 
 and occupied the land in that section by proprietor's 
 rights. 
 
 We find the heads of these families distinctly re- 
 corded in 1718, when the selectmen laid out a road 
 from the Coverdale place to Hop Brook, at the pres- 
 ent residence of Sylvanus White, forming what is 
 now the northerly half of Blackstone Street. Eleazer 
 Daniels, Josiah Thayer and Lieut. Samuel Thayer 
 asked land damages on account of this new highway, 
 and were granted the same out of common land. 
 
 Two years before this, in 1716, the town appointed 
 a committee to lay out a road from the iron works to 
 Dedham. These iron works were probably the forge 
 established by Jonathan Richardson at the easterly 
 end of the Forge Pond, on Mill River, and the road 
 then laid out would be the Bellingham Street of the 
 present. 
 
 With the settlement of this Mill River valley, and 
 its reduction to fertile fields, grew up the need of a 
 grist-mill in the neighborhood. The first mention of 
 this mill is in 17.5.3, when it was spoken of as some- 
 thing well known under the title of Cargill's Mill. 
 James Cargill belonged to the Society of Friends, and 
 in the lists of Quakers prepared for the town August 
 30, 1756, his name appears. Not far from this time 
 the grist-mill became the property of Seth Kelly, who 
 came to Mendon from Sandwich, in Barnstable 
 County, and married a daughter of David Daniels, 
 son of Eleazer, previously mentioned. This mill has 
 since been known as Kelly's Mill, having remained 
 in the hands of his lineal descendants. A saw-mill 
 was added at an early date, and in the first quarter of 
 the present century a cotton-mill was built to be run 
 by the same water privilege. In 1809 Seth Kelly the 
 younger and James Paine erected a wooden mill for 
 manufacturing cotton goods on the south side of Park 
 Street, just below the old forge. About 1823 was 
 built the machine-shop of Paine & Ray, on the 
 Quickstream, on the location of the satinet-mill at 
 present owned by Mr. Perrin. Some four or five 
 years later Caleb Colvin built a small cotton-mill of 
 brick, and Messrs. Paine & Ray one of wood, locally 
 
BLACKSTONE. 
 
 609 
 
 known as the Squat Mill, near the junction of the 
 Quickstream with Mill Eiver. From about 1825 to 
 1835 this portion of the town was blessed with great 
 business activity and success. Colonel Joseph Ray 
 owed his military title to the fact that he was colonel 
 of a militia regiment composed of companies from 
 Mendon, Uxbridge, Milford and Douglass. 
 
 The first post-oiEce in what is now the town of 
 Blackstone was established in 1822 at Five Corners, 
 with Samuel Allen as postmaster, and wiili the name 
 of South Mendon post-office. Daniel Kelly was soon 
 after made postmaster, and the office was transferred 
 to his house at the foot of the Handy road. Upon 
 Mr. Kelly's death, in 1826, Elbridge G. Daniels was 
 appointed postmaster, and held the position until 
 1850, the post-office being kept in his house opposite 
 the Coverdale stand. The name of the office was 
 changed to North Blackstone in 1845. 
 
 The people of the Mill River section of the Mendon 
 South Parish seem to have been largely Anabaptists 
 and Friends. Until the beginning of the present 
 century the latter had attended the meeting in Men- 
 don village, where the Friends built a meeting-house 
 in 1729. In 1799 Samuel Smith, a well-to-do farmer 
 belonging to the society, conveyed a piece of land to 
 trustees for the erection of a meeting-house on the 
 southern margin of his farm. Here, in 1812, was 
 erected the building still standing, and meetings 
 twice in the week were held here with the greatest 
 regularity for many years. This meeting absorbed 
 the membership from Mendon Meeting when the 
 latter was discontinued in 1841. The Anabaptists 
 were associated with others of that view in the town 
 of Bellingham, and never erected any house in East 
 Blackstone. 
 
 Turning now to the westerly side of the town, we 
 find that, traditionally, at least, the Southwick family 
 is the oldest of the white settlers within the town's 
 limits. That name is intimately associated with those 
 of Aldrieh and Taft in South Uxbridge, and un- 
 doubtedly families of those three names owned land 
 within our limits before the new settlers came down 
 irom Mendon way. South of the Blackstone 
 River the Mendon proprietors, about 1700, found 
 themselves in conflict with a proprietor, acting 
 under authority from the Providence Plantation, of 
 the name of Samuel Comstock. The Southwicks, 
 it is presumed, were settled upon grants of land re- 
 ceived from him. 
 
 Korth of the Blackstone, and at Chestnut Hill, the 
 earliest names seem to be those of Benson and Dar- 
 ling. In the village of Millville, encroached upon by 
 Main Street, just beyond the residence of Willard 
 Wilson, is a neglected burying-ground, containing 
 seven tombstones, whose inscriptions are still legible 
 in whole or in part. These bear the names of Benoni 
 Benson, died in 1761, aged 71 years; Abigail Benson, 
 died in 1751, aged 32 years; Hannah Goldthwaite, 
 died in 1800, aged 70 years; John Goldthwaite, died 
 39 
 
 in 1800, aged 69 years; John Darling, died in 1760, 
 aged 75 years ; Daniel Darling, died in 1745, aged 64 
 years; Darling, died in 1746. 
 
 These are said to be the oldest inscriptions upon 
 gravestones in the town, and point to a settlement 
 early in the eighteenth century. From the Mendon 
 records, under date of May 16, 1732, we learn that 
 Samuel Thompson then owned a grist mill on the isl- 
 and, at what is now Millville. He bargained with 
 the town to maintain the bridge from the island to 
 the south bank of the Blackstone River, provided the 
 town would build and maintain the bridge on the 
 north side. From this will date the first lay out of 
 Central Street, in Millville. Towards the close of the 
 century a fulling-mill was built here, and in 1814 
 Esek Pitts built the first woolen-mill ever erected upon 
 the Blackstone River. The Island Mill was erected 
 in 1835. The Stone Mill, destroyed by fire in 1874, 
 and since partially rebuilt, was erected by Collins 
 Capron in 1825. The entire river privilege was 
 bought out by Welcome Farnum in 1845, and the 
 brick mill was added by him directly after to the com- 
 bination already existing. The forging of axes and 
 scythes was a Millville industry early in the century. 
 
 A post-office was first established in Millville in 
 1827 and Willard Wilson was postmaster at three 
 diflerent times, viz. : 1827-42, 1845-49, 1853-61. 
 Preston Warfield was the postmaster in 1842-43, and 
 George Staples, 1843-45. Preserved L. Thayer was 
 twice postmaster, 1849-53 and from 1861-73. 
 
 The first church erected in Millville appears to have 
 been the one on Central Street, of which the base- 
 ment is now occupied as a store by Thomas T. Smith. 
 It was built in 1833 by the Methodist Reformed 
 Church Society. In 1838 a second church was erected 
 by the Presbyterians on Bow Street, but the society 
 was short-lived and the church building became the 
 property of the Methodist Episcopal Church about 
 1850. 
 
 It must be remembered that the original settlers of 
 this section and their descendants were in general 
 either Friends attending the South Uxbridge Meet- 
 ing, or Presbyterians attending the Chestnut Hill 
 Meeting. The latter was the religious centre of the 
 South Parish, incorporated in 1766. Its substantial 
 wooden meeting-house, built in 1769,. is still stand- 
 ing in a well-preserved condition. On the 14th 
 September, 1768, Rev. Benjamin Balch was settled 
 as its pastor; but owing to disputes with his people 
 about the " provisions and other necessaries of life," 
 especially fire-wood, included in the loose end of the 
 arrangement for his salary, he fell into the contempt 
 of his parishioners and fled in the night, March 27, 
 1773, to the town of Dedham. No settled pastor 
 was had after him until the Rev. Preserved Smith 
 came in 1805. He remained seven years and his 
 memory is blessed. The society became extinct be- 
 fore the Millville Church was built. 
 
 The valuable water-powers at Millville and Woon- 
 
610 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 socket had been occupied and used for nearly a cen- 
 tury each before a yet more valuable one, interme- 
 diate between them, was taken advantage of and 
 developed by the Blackstone Manufacturing Company. 
 This company, consisting of Nicholas Brown and 
 Thomas P. Ives, the surviving partners of the old- 
 time commercial firm of Brown & Ives, with Samuel 
 Butler, Cyrus Butler and Seth Wheaton, purchased 
 some two hundred and sixty acres of land on both 
 aides of the river about the year 1804. These 
 men were all residents of Providence, R. I., and had 
 made fortunes in commerce before turning their at- 
 tention to manufacturing. The section of land thus 
 purchased was practically uninhabited, and the first 
 building erected by the new owners of the soil was 
 a large building to aflbrd shelter and cooking facilities 
 for the workmen, known as the Cook House. It was 
 long since demolished, but stood somewhat north of 
 the present Arcade Building. Work was pushed 
 upon dam, mill and tenement houses, but it was not 
 until 1809 that the mill was completed and work was 
 begun. At first and for a good many years the cotton 
 was spun at the mill and the weaving was done on 
 hand-looms in the lonely farm-houses scattered 
 through the surrounding country. 
 
 A respected fellow-townsman, whose memory of 
 Blackstone Village dates back to the year 182u, gives 
 the following description of it as it was at that date. 
 A street, corresponding to our present Main Street, 
 crossed the mill-trench to the north of the site of the 
 iron bridge, passing through the lower ground. The 
 high bluff, now known as the New City and the High 
 Rocks, was common laud crowned with a thick growth 
 of oak wood, but having no houses. Westward of our 
 Mendon Street, from the company's barn northward 
 to the tavern stand at the four corners, were very 
 rough rocky pastures and wooded swamps. Eastward 
 were heavy woods close up to the road, full of game 
 in those days, wood pigeons, partridges, rabbits and 
 gray squirrels. Yankee Yard was then an open lot 
 without a house. Back Street (now Middle) had eight 
 houses and Mill Street (now Church) was pretty nearly 
 as now, save that no church was there nor Arcade, the 
 site of the latter being a sand-bank. Farther down, 
 from the site of Masonic Hall eastward to Fox Brook, 
 Main Street became a mere cart- path through swamp 
 and wouds. The Rhode Island side of the river was 
 reached over a woodeu bridge occupying the site of 
 the present one on Mendon Street in the rear of 
 Blackstone Mills. As to the mill itself, only the old, 
 or No. 1 Mill of the present buildings, existed. Where 
 now stand the stone mills of later date were then sev- 
 eral wooden buildings, containing a grist-mill, saw- 
 mill, blacksmith-!.hop and machine shop with a wood- 
 shop above it. Hereabouts stood also a gambrel- 
 roofed house occupied as a residence by superintend- 
 eats and overseers. This was afterwards moved to 
 the corner of Mendon and Canal Streets and is now 
 the boarding-house. A little up the intervale stood 
 
 a house where the cloth was bleached and calendered, 
 while the old brick tenement house with wooden ex- 
 tensions, north of Main Street and beside the New 
 York and New England tracks, was built and used for 
 years as a dye-house, its location being determined by 
 a fine spring of water in the rear of it. On the ground 
 now occupied by the tracks of the Providence and 
 Worcester Railroad, from the counting-room towards 
 the iron bridge and on that occupied by the Black- 
 stone Station, stood a row of buildings. First, a stone 
 boarding-house nearly fronting the present counting- 
 room site ; secondly, a stone store almost on the site 
 of the railroad station-house ; thirdly, a stone store- 
 house; and fourthly, quite up under the bluff, were 
 sheds for horses and the hand fire-engine. This row 
 of buildings has entirely disappeared, but they played 
 a very important part in the village life of 1820. The 
 store especially was a depot of supplies for the country 
 round about. Blackstone had its hotel at that date in 
 the second house above the Arcade, on what is now 
 called Church Street, and a landlord in the person of 
 one William Bussey. The Cook house was occupied 
 by one Southworth at this time, who made shuttles 
 there. The old vestry building, now revamped to do 
 service as a public library building, was both church 
 and school-house. The school was kept in session for 
 forty weeks in the year, the long winter term of six- 
 teen weeks always being taught by a master. For text- 
 books a full equipment numbered only a Webster's 
 Spelling-Book, a Columbian First Class Book, a Da- 
 boll's or Adams' Arithmetic, Morse's Geography (ab- 
 ridged), Murray's English Grammar and a New Testa- 
 ment. In the average New England winter the Black- 
 stone Company used to have much trouble in keeping 
 its great stone mill warm, although four-foot wood 
 was crowded into its numerous fire-places without 
 stint. A trial of box iron stoves gave not much better 
 results, and the problem was not settled until Lehigh 
 coal came to the rescue. The superintendent was a 
 man named Tripp, who had lost the sight of one eye, 
 a driving business man, well-liked by the mill-help. 
 As superintendents' names we find Tripp's succeeded 
 by Whipple, Waterman and Hartshorn down to 1833, 
 when Holder Borden came under the new title of 
 agent of the Blackstone Manufacturing Company. 
 He was succeeded by Silas H. Kimball in 1834, who 
 remained in charge until 1853, and was succeeded by 
 Henry C. Kimball, his son, the present agent. Four 
 large additions to the mill-buildings, forming by them- 
 selves a connected group apart from the No. 1 Mill, 
 were erected in 1841, 1845, 1847 and 1854 respectively. 
 In 1820 no village existed in what we call Water- 
 ford. Only three farm-houses were to be found in all 
 that section — Peter Gaskill's (now David's), Cogswell 
 Chase's, not far from the present residence of Daniel 
 Chase, and Elisha Gaskill's, just eastward of Chase's, 
 near the brook. Pond Hill was covered with a heavy 
 forest growth, predominantly pine, in which the wild 
 pigeons found a congenial home. The snaring of 
 
BLACKSTONE. 
 
 611 
 
 pigeons in the season for the market was an impor- 
 tant business with Peter Gaskill, who even in those 
 days was not unmolested by mischievous boys. 
 
 In 1825 Welcome and Darius D. Farnum built a 
 satinet mill which in local terms was afterward known 
 as Waterford No. .3. This mill was an extremely 
 profitable investment from the start. The present 
 No. 2 Mill was built in 1828 to supply it with cotton 
 warps, and was used lor that purpose for ten or twelve 
 years. No. 1 Mill, just across the town and State line, 
 was built in 1835. The erection of these mills and 
 their steady profitable manufacture of woolen goods 
 soon produced a village of wage-workers in their im- 
 mediate vicinity. Just at the time the Farnums 
 began their local enterprise the canal from Providence 
 to Worcester was being built. The only mention of 
 this canal in the Mendon records is under date March 
 C, 1826, when it was " Voted that Washington Hunt 
 be an agent to call on the Blackstone Canal Company 
 to make good the damage done to the road between 
 Fox Brook and Rhode Island line." The growth of 
 Waterford village was rapid. A post-office was 
 established there in 1831 with James Wilson, Jr., as 
 postmaster. He was succeeded in 1833 by Darius D. 
 Farnum, and the latter by Welcome Farnum in 1811. 
 The office was discontinued in 1850, when the villages 
 of Blackstone and Waterford, having coalesced by 
 natural growth, united in a post-office on the "Square." 
 Blackstone village had its first postmaster in 1825 in 
 Daniel Kelly ; its second in 1831 was James S. Warner, 
 and its third iu 1837, and up to the union, John Cady. 
 
 In 1822 there was organized the Mendon Free-Will 
 Baptist Church of Clirist, which held its meetings in 
 private houses and the old vestry at Blackstone until 
 the building of the Blackstone Church in 1836, when 
 it held its meetings for some four years in that build- 
 ing. Finally in 1841 this society erected its own 
 home in the Waterford Church, at the corner of Main 
 and Blackstone Streets. Its first regularly settled 
 pastor was Elder Ma.xcy W. Burlingame, who remained 
 with the society from 1831 to 1846. In 1845 it was 
 re-named the Free-Will Baptist Church of Waterford. 
 
 The old vestry at Blackstone has been twice men- 
 tioned. This building, erected by the Blackstone 
 Manufacturing Company sometime previous to 1820, 
 was used for many years as both school-house and 
 church. In 1836 the company built a fine wooden 
 church building, which was used by the Waterford 
 Society for several years. In 1841 the Blackstone 
 Congregational Church was organized with Rev. 
 Michael Burdett as its first pastor and he remained 
 with the society until 1852. The Blackstone Company 
 has steadily sustained this church with liberal assist- 
 ance, giving the use of its building to the society and 
 maintaining it in repair. 
 
 Under date of August 22, 1791, the Mendon rec- 
 ords contain the report of a committee of ten who 
 had been appointed to redistrict the town into school 
 districts. This committee reported the bounds of 
 
 thirteen districts, of which seven appear to have been 
 in the South Parish. The following are the words of 
 the report defining what is now the Five Corner Dis- 
 trict: "Beginning at the Wid. Margaret Daniel's, 
 excluding her, thence east on the Mill River to 
 where David Handy lives, including him, thence to 
 Hop Brook bridge (so called) on Smithfield road, 
 thence to Benjamin and Nicholas Thayer's, including 
 them, thence northward to the first bound." The 
 East Blackstone and the Harris Privilege Districts 
 were combined as follows : " Beginning at Hop 
 Brook bridge, thence to Anthony Chase, including 
 him, thence to Cumberland line, thence to Belling- 
 ham line, thence to Jotham Pickering's, including 
 him, thence to Ichabod Pickering's, including him, 
 thence to Seth Kelly's, including him, thence to first 
 mentioned bound." The Waterford and Blackstone 
 Districts were defined thus: "Beginning at George 
 Gaskill's, including him, thence to Cogswell Chase, 
 including him, thence up stream to the Great River 
 until it comes south of Matthew Darling's house, 
 thence to Jacob Aldrich's, including him, thence to 
 Gideon Thayer's, excluding him, thence to the first- 
 mentioned bound." Millville District was divided in 
 two by the Blackstone River. The southern section 
 is bounded : " Beginning at Uxbridge line, where it 
 crosses the Great River, thence down stream the 
 Great River to the Colony line, thence west on said 
 Colony line to Uxbridge line, thence on Uxbridge 
 line to the bound first mentioned." The northern 
 section was bounded : " Beginning at Uxbridge line 
 diiectly west of the Widow Warfield's house, thence 
 to Benjamin Blake's, excluding him, thence to Mat- 
 thew Darling's, including him, thence south to the 
 Great River, thence up stream said river till it comes 
 to Uxbridge line, thence to first mentioned bound." 
 The Chestnut Hill District, less extensive than at 
 present, was bounded: "Beginning at Nathaniel 
 Taft's, including him, thence to Col. Joseph Chapin's 
 old house, including him, thence to Uxbridge line to 
 Jacob Taffs, including him, thence to Levi Young's, 
 including him, thence to Jesse Tourtelotte's, includ- 
 ing him, thence to first mentioned bound," which ap- 
 pears to be a section of the North Parish. Now 
 Mendon: "Beginning at Timothy Alexander's, in- 
 cluding him and Simon Alexander, thence to David 
 Legg's, including him, thence on Uxbridge line un- 
 til it comes directly west of the Widow Warfield's 
 house, thence to Asa Blake's, including him, thence 
 to Benjamin Blake's, including him and his son, Zac- 
 cheus, thence to the first mentioned bound.'' Be- 
 tween the Five Corners District and the district just 
 described was another district now divided between 
 them : " Beginning at Damp Swamp road, where the 
 Parish line crosses, thence to Timothy Alexander's, 
 excluding him, thence to Benjamin Blake's, exclud- 
 ing him, thence to the road south of said Benjamin 
 Blake's house, thence to Gideon Thayer's, includino' 
 him, thence east to Hop Brook bridge, thence up 
 
612 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 stream said brook to the first mentioned bound." 
 As thus defined the school districts remained until 
 September 2, 1811, when the town accepted the re- 
 port of a committee, advising the union of the two 
 sections at Millville into one district, and the con- 
 stituting of the village property of the the Black- 
 stone Manufacturing Company a new district. The 
 first part of this change did not prove acceptable, for 
 on the 5th of June, 1812, it was "voted to set oil" all 
 the inhabitants on the west side of Black^tone River, 
 except Esek Pitts, Daniel Southwick and Nathaniel 
 Capron, as a school district." On the 2Sth of June, 
 1824, the school districts were again defined, but sub- 
 stantially as already described. Prudential school 
 committees were first chosen on 25th of August, 1827, 
 and on that date the number of districts was un- 
 changed, but at their election, April 15, 1833, two 
 new districts are added — -Pickering's, or Harris Privi- 
 lege, and Waterford. A few years later we find the 
 whole number of districts in the South Parish to be 
 eleven, and with that number the town of Blackstone 
 began its corporate existence. Both Chestnut Hill 
 and the Five Corners had school-houses shortly 
 after 1790. 
 
 The Division of the Town or Mendon. — 
 The question of the division of Mendon into two 
 towns makes its appearance in a petition to the 
 selectmen late in the year 1815. A town-meeting 
 was desired — 1. To see if the inhabitants will vote to 
 have the South Parish set ofl" into a town by itself. 
 2. To choose a committee to agree upon the division 
 line of said town. 3. To act upon any other business 
 relative to said division that the town shall see fit. 
 Signed by John Pond, Henry Thayer, John Thomp- 
 son, Smith Daniels, Elisha Thompson, I^ewis Allen, 
 Daniel Darling, Timothy Chase, Nicholas Thayer, 
 Luther Warfield. A warrant drawn upon this peti- 
 tion called a town-meeting at the South Parish 
 (Chestnut Hill) meeting-house on the Ist day of 
 January, 1816, and on that day Joseph Adams was 
 chosen moderator, and the proceedings were summed 
 up in the one line of the clerk's record • " Voted to 
 adjourn this meeting without day." 
 
 At this time Blackstone Village was beginning to 
 exist, and its people felt it a hardship to be obliged to 
 travel six or seven miles to reach the town-meetings 
 when lield in Mendon Village.' On the other hand, the 
 development of the new village called for increased ex- 
 pense upon bridges and highways, as well a* a new 
 school. Thus, in the first ten years of this century, the 
 town of Mendon raised an averageof $580ayear for the 
 repairs of bridges and highways. In 1810 it was 1700, 
 in 1812, $1000, and in 1816, $1200, and the average 
 for the second decade was $930 a year. Similarly 
 during the first decade an average of $460 was yearly 
 a])propriated for schools, and in the second $620. In 
 1820 the appropriation was $800, and it did not drop 
 below that figure in the following years. When 
 Waterford Village started into existence in 1828 the 
 
 school money was raised to $1000. To the people of 
 the North Parish this swelling of the taxes was un- 
 welcome because the money raised extra went to the 
 southern part of the town. From 1820 to 1840 the 
 Mendon records show almost every year's action 
 taken at town-meeting in relation to laying out new 
 roads, relaying old ones, or building bridges in the 
 South Parish. Sometimes this action was negatived. 
 The older settled portion of the town frequently put a 
 veto upon the schemes for improvement proposed by 
 its growing southern half, and, when it did so, mur- 
 murs of discontent and threats of secession would 
 arise. 
 
 One improvement long struggled for was the section 
 of Mendon Street between the town-house and the 
 Samuel Verry homestead. For residents upon what 
 is now known as Milk Street there was no means of 
 reaching Blackstone village except by coming east 
 by the Five Corners or by going over Waterbug Hill. 
 On the 5th of May, 1823, a committee of three was 
 appointed to consider and report on a road between 
 the two points named. At an adjourned meeting on 
 the following 2d of June the road was rejected. It 
 came up with ill fortune time after time, until on 
 April 7, 1828, when it was " voted to accept of a road 
 laid out near Nathan Verry's house to near John 
 Mann's house (tavern), provided the petitioners build 
 the road and pay all land damages for the sum of 
 three hundred dollars." From this hard bargain the 
 town somewhat relented, for on May 4, 1829, an extra 
 one hundred dollars was voted for completing this 
 road. When the county road was in contemplation 
 from the Uxbridge line to Blackstone Mills, at a town- 
 meeting May 16, 1825, Warren Rawson was chosen 
 an agent to oppose the new road " in every stage of 
 it." This struggle to preserve the old order of things 
 on the one hand, and on the other to create a new 
 market and a new centre of human interest, could 
 have but one issue. But it was long delayed and the 
 fight had many curious episodes. On the 26th of 
 September, 1823, a town-meeting warrant had the 
 article, "To see if the town will vote to be divided 
 into two separate towns," and the vote as recorded 
 was forty-five yeas and sixty-two nays. On the 1st of 
 March, 1824, a similar article was dismissed the war- 
 rant without a test vote. September 12, 1825, it was 
 voted to choose a committee of ten persons, fivp Irom 
 each parish, to take into consideration and consult on 
 measures relative to a division of the town and make 
 report at the next town-meeting. On the part of the 
 South Pari.sh was chosen Ichabod Cook, Asa Kelly, 
 Elijah Thayer, Nathan Verry and Esek Pitts. The 
 appointment of this committee caused great excite- 
 ment, and town-meetings were held October 3d, No- 
 vember 28th and December 9th, remonstrating against 
 division, appointing committees to oppose division 
 before the General Court, and a committee " to take 
 into consideration the inconveniences complained of 
 by a portion of the inhabitants in regard to the at- 
 
BLACKSTONE. 
 
 613 
 
 tendance upon town-meetings and the transaction of 
 mnnicipal business." Finally, at a meeting held De- 
 cember 15th, the committee appointed September 
 12th reported against division, and the report was 
 accepted, one hundred and eigbty-three yeas to 
 seventy-eight nays. Meanwhile, June 30th of this 
 same year, Seth Hastings and one hundred and 
 eighteen others had put in a petition that Meudon 
 North Parish be incorporated as a new town ; and on 
 the 19th, 20th and 21st of October, 1825, a special 
 committee of the General Court visited Mendon to 
 give the subject a hearing. When tbis committee 
 reported to the Committee on Towns, February 7, 
 1826, the report recommended that the petition he 
 granted. Meanwhile the opponents of division had 
 sent in four petitions against it, with the names of 
 Joseph Adams, James S. Warner, Rufiis Aldrich and 
 Jesse Tourtelotte beading them respectively, and con- 
 taining a total of about two hundred and forty 
 names. In the records of Massachusetts General 
 Court for 1826 is the following curious record : 
 
 } 
 
 Commonwealth of Massachusetts 
 la Senate, June SessiuD, 182G. 
 Upon the suggestion of the Committee on Towua that the Petition of 
 Seth Hastings and others for a new town, cannot be found, it waa Or- 
 dered, that the Committee have further time allowed them until the 
 next Session of the Legislature to report on the subjert matter of said 
 Petition and that the Petitioners have leave to tile a new Petition in the 
 meantime. 
 
 Attest : Paul Willaud. 
 
 The friends of division did not hesitate to declare 
 there had been foul play on the part of their oppo- 
 nents, and that the petition of Seth Hastings had 
 been stolen. But the outcome was so ludicrous, and 
 the majority of the people so strongly opposed to 
 dividing the town, that the petition was not filed 
 anew. In the spring town-meetings of 1827 the 
 matter was discussed somewhat and then allowed to 
 die a natural death. The quarrel went on, however, 
 in regard to new roads, the place of holding town- 
 meetings and other subjects of public policy. The 
 town-meeting question was compromised by holding 
 some of the meetings at the Chestnut Hill meeting- 
 house, some at the Coverdale tavern, and the more 
 important ones at the old meeting-house in Mendon 
 village. When the latter building was sold and de- 
 molished in 1843, meetings were voted to be held at 
 Marsh's Inn instead. 
 
 A new disturbing question arose the nest year, 
 when it was voted to build a town-house. Naturally, 
 both ends of the town wanted it, but for it to be lo- 
 cated in either end would entail great trouble and ex- 
 pense in reaching meetings, upon a large proportion 
 of the voters. The centre of the town was still a 
 wilderness of forests and swamp, — the Dam Swamp 
 heretofore mentioned. However, at a meeting on Dec- 
 ceraber 2, 1843, it was " voted that tbe town-house be 
 built in Nicholas Thayer's pasture, where a road from 
 Samuel Very's cider mill will communicate with a road 
 from Artemas Thayer's road to Millins Taft's." This 
 
 location would have necessitated building two new 
 roads in order to reach the new town-house; so some 
 half-hour later it was reconsidered, and then " voted, 
 that the town-house be located at, or near, the corner 
 of the roads by Samuel Very's cider mill.'' At sub- 
 sequent meetings the same year this vote was attacked, 
 and finally, when it came the turn to hold a meeting 
 at Mendon village, the action taken December 2d 
 was annulled. With the new year the fight was re- 
 newed, and the frequent town-meetings held in differ- 
 ent quarters of the town were a series of farces, each 
 reconsidering what its predecessor had done, and an- 
 nulling it. Before the middle of 1844 petitions were 
 again in circulation, praying for a division of the 
 town. The order of notice from the General Court 
 was read before a town-meeting held January 30, 1845, 
 and the meeting voted 239 to 168, not to oppose the 
 division. 
 
 Welcome Staples, the town's representative to the 
 General Court, was instructed to vote for division, and 
 Washington Hunt, John G. Metcalf, Aaron Burdon 
 and Henry' A. Aldrich were chosen agents to defend 
 the petition before the Committee on Towns. The 
 body of the petition was as follows : 
 
 The petition of the undersigned, qualified voters in the town of Men- 
 don, in the county of Worcester, respectively represent that the popula- 
 tion of the town, by the last census, was .3,521, since which time it has 
 greatly increased ; that the town is divided into two parishes, viz. : the 
 First, or North Parish, and the Second, or South Parish, by a territorial 
 line running nearly east and west ; that the principal portion of the 
 population is located at the extreme north and south parts of the town ; 
 that the town has no town house nor any convenient place near the 
 centre of the town to hold town meetings or to transact town business ; 
 that the town is well located to divide into two towns, there being a 
 thin population along the dividing line of the parishes, and a range 
 of liills and wild, uncultivated land ; that the inhabitants of the two 
 parishes have different interests and areengaged in different occupations 
 and that it will greatly accommodate the inhabitants if the town was 
 divided into two towns. 
 
 The petition was signed by Joseph G. Davenport 
 
 and 766 others. Against the division a counter-pe- 
 tition was filed, the body of which was as follows : 
 
 The undersigned, freeholders and legal voters of the town of Men- 
 don, do respectfully and urgently remonstrate against the division of 
 the town of Mendon into two towns by your honorable body on the pe- 
 tition of "Joseph G. Davenport and others, or on any other petition, 
 present to your honorable body the following reasons for ao remon* 
 strating: 
 
 1. The geographical dimensions of the town is not above the average 
 of towns in our county of Worcester, being 21,000^ acres within its, 
 claimed boundaries. 
 
 2. Rhode Islaed claims a part of onrterritory, and which claim is now 
 pending for adjudication in the Supreme Federal Court. 
 
 3. The division of the town will cause great inconvenience in the 
 School Districts. 
 
 4. The town baa an almshouse establishment amply sufficient for the 
 town, as it now is, with paupers, which may lead to e.xpensive and vex- 
 atious litigation if the town is divided. 
 
 5. The petitions have been prematurely presented to your honorable 
 body, as we nndel-staud the Revised Statutes. There has never been any 
 notice served upon this town up to this day. Some of tbe petitioners 
 for a division (we understand) have stated that unfair means were used 
 to obtain their signatures. Almost all our transient male population (if 
 our information is correct), from twenty-one years upwards, have been 
 induced to petition for a division of the town, and whether they are all 
 voters is very questionable ; and we think that more than one-third of 
 the population of Mendon aro transient people, loaving a large proper- 
 
614 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 tion of the freeholders to defend themselves against a nieusnro in which 
 these can have but little interest. 
 
 This petition of remonstrance was signed by Oba- 
 diah Wood and three hundred and thirteen others. 
 
 A bill was reported by the Committee on Towns, 
 February 2G, 1845, went through the usual stages and 
 became a law by the signature of the Governor, 
 March 25, 1845 : 
 
 AN ACT TO INCOnrORATK THE TOWN OF BLACKSTONE. 
 
 Be it enacteil. Ac, as follows: 
 
 Sect. 1. All tliat part of Meiidon, in the county of Worcester, which 
 lies south of the line dividing; the South Precinct from the First Pre- 
 cinct in faid town, ns established hy an act of incorporation in the year 
 one thousand seven hundred and sixty-six, shall be, and the same is 
 hereby incorporated into a separate town, by the name of Blackstone ; 
 and the said town of Blaclisttme is hereby vested with all the powers, 
 privileges, rights, and iuiniunities, and subject to all the duties and 
 lequisitions to which other towDS are entitled and subjected by the Con- 
 stitution and laws of this Commonwealth. 
 
 Sect. 2, All the real and personal estate belonging to and held in 
 common, by the inhabitants of the present town of Mendon, shall be 
 gold, and the proceeds thereof shall be applied to the payment of the 
 debts and charges now due and owing from the town of Mendon ; and 
 the surplus, if any, shall be divided between the said towns of Mendon 
 and Blackstone, according to the valuation next preceding the passage 
 of this act ; and if the siiid proceeds, together with the money now in 
 the treasury and available debts due the town, shall be insufficient to 
 pay the debts and charges aforesaid, said town of Blackstone shall pay 
 her proportionate part, according to the valuation aforflsaid. 
 
 Sect. 3. All persons legally settled in the present town of Mendon 
 who are now, or who may hereafter become chargeable as paupers, and 
 all persons who may hereafter become legally settled in either of said 
 towns of Mendon and Blackstone and become chargeable as paupers, 
 shall be supported by that town within the territorial limits of which 
 they may have gained a legal settlement, or in which their settlement 
 may have been perfected. 
 
 Sect. 4. The inhabitants of the town of Blackstone shall be holden 
 to pay all State, county and town taxes legally assessed on them to the 
 treasurer and collector of the town of Mendon ; and all moneys now in 
 the treasury of said town, or that may hereafter be received from taxes 
 now assessed, or directed to be assessed, shall be applied to the purposes 
 for which they were raised and assessed, the same as if this act had not 
 
 Sect. 6. The town of Mendon shall pay to the town of Blackstone a 
 just proportion of the Surplus Revenue of the United States, received 
 by the town of Blendon, to be apportioned according to the census 
 taken by authority of the State, in the year one thousand eight hun- 
 dred and thirty-se\en, in pursuance of "An Act concerning the deposit 
 of the Surjjlus Kevenue," and the town of Blackstone shall receive, in 
 payment of their proportion, any bonds and notes secured by moitgage 
 on real estate within the limits of said town of Blackstone ; and the 
 said town of Blackstone shall be holden to refund to the town of Men- 
 don the proportion of said Surjilus Revenue so to be received by them 
 whenever the town of Slendon shall be required to refund the same to 
 the (jommonwenlth. 
 
 Sect, 6. The said town of Blackstone shall remain a part of the 
 town of Mendon for the pvnpose of electing a representative to the 
 General Court, to which the town of Mendon is entitled, until the next 
 decennial census of the inhabitants shall be taken, in pursuance of the 
 thirteenth article of the Amendments of the Constitution. And the 
 meeting for the choice of such representative shall be called by the 
 selectmen of Mendon ; and the warrant shall specify ten o'clock in the 
 forenoon as the time when the polls at such elections shall be opened ; 
 and the same shall be opened accordingly, and be closed by one o'clock 
 in the afternoon of the same day. 
 
 Sect. 7. The selectmen of Blackstone shall make a true list of per- 
 sons belonging to said town qualified to vote at every such election, 
 and the same shall be taken and used by the selectmen of Mendon for 
 such election, in the saue manner as if it had been prepared by them- 
 selves. Such meetings shall he held in the towns of Mendon and 
 Blackstone respectively, in alternate years, commencing with the town 
 of Bliickstone ; and the selectmen of Mendon shall appoint such place 
 for meeting to be held in Blackstone as the selectmen of Blackstone 
 shall, in writing, request. 
 
 Sect. 8. Any justice of the peace within and for the county of 
 Worcester is authorized to issue a warrant, directed to some principal 
 inhabitant of said town of Blackstone, requiring him to notify and 
 warn the inhabitants thereof, qualified to act in town affairs, to meet at 
 such convenient time and place as shall be appointed in said warrant, 
 for the choice of all such officere as towns are, by law, required to 
 choose in the months of March or April annually. 
 
 Sect. 9. This act shall take effect from and after the' passage of the 
 same. Approved by the Governor, March 25, ISIS. 
 
 A true copy. 
 
 Attest, James P. Hayward, Tuicn Clerk. 
 
 The Town Annals. — 1845. — The first town-meet- 
 ing of the new town was called by Dan Hill, a justice 
 of the peace, on the 27th March, 1845, two days 
 after the Governor's signature was affixed to the 
 act of incorporation, in a warrant directed to Wash- 
 ington Hunt and giving warning only of a choice of 
 town officers. At the meeting, which was held April 
 5th, in the meeting-house at Chestnut Hill, at one 
 o'clock in the afternoon, Jared Benson was chosen 
 moderator, and the following annual officers were 
 elected: Town Clerk, James P. Hayward; Select- 
 men, Emory Scott, J.imes Comstock, Jared Benson, 
 Daniel Southwick, Hezekiah Harrington ; Assessors, 
 Welcome Thayer, Daniel S. Southwick, Jared Ben- 
 son, Jr. ; Overseers of the Poor, Willard Wilson, 
 Samuel Verry, Caleb Taft ;■ School Committee, Louis 
 Cook, Orrin Sargent, Earl Joslin ; Constable, Kufus 
 Hayward; Trea-urer, James P. Hayward. This 
 meeting was adjourned to April 19th, at the same 
 time and place, when, under a new warrant, twelve 
 hundred dollars were appropriated for schools, six 
 hundred dollars for support of the poor, six hundred 
 dollars for town incidentals, and eight hundred dol- 
 lars for highways and bridges. Laban Bates was 
 chosen assessor in place of Welcome Thayer, excused. 
 Voted to repair highways by allowing each man ten 
 cents per hour, oxen and cart ten cents per hour, for 
 plough five cents per hour. Voted to choose a com- 
 mittee, one from each original school district, to re- 
 port at an adjourned meeting what alterations in the 
 school districts are necessary. Laban Bates, of 5th; 
 Emory Scott, of 6th; Horace Benson, of 9th; Caleb 
 T. Wilson, of 10th; Samuel Verry, of 11th; Peter 
 Gaskill, Jr., of 12th ; Lyman C. Curtis, of 13th ; 
 Hezekiah Harrington, of 14th ; Libbeus L. Wood, 
 of 15th; Enos Hayward, of 16th, and Eli Kelly, of 
 18th, were chosen said committee. Kufus Hayward 
 bid off the collection of taxes at auction for seven- 
 teen dollars. It was voted not to choose any tything- 
 men, that the selectmen should be the Board of Health, 
 and that this meeting adjourn to April 26th, at two 
 in the afternoon, at Henry Coverdale's house. There 
 voted to purchase Millens Taft's farm for the poor of 
 Blackstone at three thousand dollars. Very little 
 else was done at this meeting and it was adjourned 
 to May 3d, when the committee on school districts 
 made u report, which was accepted, and the following 
 prudrntial committee was chosen. No. 1 (Chestnut 
 Hill District), Horace Benson; No. 2 (Verry District), 
 Millens Taft; No. 3 (Five Curners District), Eben- 
 
BLACKSTONE. 
 
 615 
 
 ezer Chase; No. 4 (Upper Cinada District), William 
 A. Kelly; No. 5 (Lower Canada District), Lyman 
 Paine; No. 6 (Pickering District), LibbeusL. Wood; 
 No. 7 (Waterford District), Welcome Farnum; No. 8 
 (Blackstone District), Silas H. Kimball ; No. 9 
 (Town-House District), George W. Hunt; No. 10 
 (North Millville District), Newbury Darling; No. 11 
 (South Millville District), Lyman C. Curtis. 
 
 It was getting to be a troublesome matter for all the 
 voters to travel either to the extreme northeast 
 corner (Coverdale's) or the extreme northwest corner 
 (Chestnut Hill) to a town-meeting every week, so at 
 a meeting called at the Verry Tavern, so called, on 
 the 7th of June, it was voted to choose a committee 
 to take into consideration and report at this meeting 
 the location and size of a building for a town-house. 
 Dan Hill, Dr. Abel Wilder, Willard Wilson, Jared 
 Benson and Francis Kelly were chosen and forth- 
 with reported, " that it is expedient to build the 
 house seventy feet by fifty, with about eighteen feet 
 posts, and that it be located on such spot of ground, 
 near the Verry Tavern, as is suitable and can be ob- 
 tained on fair terms." This report was accepted, and 
 Dan Hill, Washington Hunt and Jared Benson were 
 chosen a committee to build. 
 
 Another meeting was immediately called for the 
 purpose of reconsidering, but it failed of its purpose, 
 and the present town-house was at once built. It was 
 completed in season to be used the 10th November, 
 following, at the annual election of State officers. 
 
 The Surplus Revenue of the United States received 
 through the town of Meudon, and amounting to §4,- 
 803.45, was disposed of by voting to loan it on security 
 satisfactory to the selectmen. 
 
 The selectmen during the year erected stone-bounds 
 on the westerly side of each highway, between Men- 
 don and Blackstone, and perambulated the bounds 
 with the selectmen of Uxbridge, Mendon and Belling- 
 ham. 
 
 The assessors for 1844 in Mendon, through Preserved 
 S. Thayer, reported the valuation and polls in the 
 South Parish as follows: Real estate, $548,299; per- 
 sonal estate, $366,025; total, $914,324. Polls, 696. 
 
 The assessors for 1845 in Blackstone reported for 
 that year: Real estate, $635,660; personal estate, 
 $442,286; total, $1,077,946. Polls, 792. Bateon$1000 
 was $2.60. Poll-tax, 68 cents. 
 
 On November 10th, before voting for State officers, 
 the voters of Mendon and Blackstone, in the latter's 
 new town-hall, balloted for Representative. Rufus 
 Hayward, of Blackstone, had 163; Alanson S. Free- 
 man, of Mendon, had 96; Charles L. Harding, of 
 Blackstone, had 75; scattering, 6; and there was no 
 choice. 
 
 November 24th, a second meeting was held for choice 
 of Representative. Rufus Hayward had 191, Alanson 
 S. Freeman had 96, Charles L. Harding had 22, scat- 
 tering 27, and Rufus Hayward was elected. 
 
 1846. — Town Clerk, James P. Hayward; Selectmen 
 
 Emory Scott, Daniel Southwick, Moses Daniels, James 
 A. Baldwin, Samuel Thayer; Assessors, Preserved S. 
 Thayer, Arthur Cook, Jr., Millens Taft; Overseers of 
 Poor, Willard Wilson, Caleb Taft, Hiram Metcalf; 
 School Committee, Arthur Cook, Jr., Horace Thayer, 
 Dan A. Comstock; Town Treasurer, James P. Hay- 
 ward. 
 
 The annual March meeting passed a resolution in 
 favor of the Boston and Southbridge Railroad, then 
 petitioned for before the General Court. 
 
 The stone arch bridges over the canal at Millville 
 and over Fox Brook, at Waterford, were built this 
 year. 
 
 Rev. Benjamin D. Peck was settled pastor over the 
 Waterford Free-Will Baptist Church, where he re- 
 mained about two years. 
 
 On the 9th November the voters of Meudon and 
 Blackstone were to meet in Harrison Hall, Mendon, 
 to elect a representative to General Court. The 
 Mendon voters opened the polls promptly at 10 A.M., 
 cast their ballots and closed the polls before the ma- 
 jority of the Blackstone voters arrived. There was no 
 choice. The Blackstone men organized a new meet- 
 ing and elected Dan Hill; but he was refused a seat 
 in the General Court, and the two towns went unrep- 
 resented that session, as Mendon refused to call an- 
 other meeting for an election. In the opinion of Mr. 
 Dan Hill and most of the Blackstone people, this 
 manoiuvre was in the interest of a railroad company 
 proposing a terminus in Woonsocket, R. I., instead of 
 Blackstone. 
 
 The Blackstone River Lodge of Odd Fellows, No. 
 106, was organized. 
 
 1847. — Town Clerk, James P. Hayward ; Selectmen, 
 Dan Hill, Caleb Thayer, Rufus Hayward, Stephen J. 
 Sherman, Samuel Chase; Assessors, John Cady, Wil- 
 liam Legg, Ebenezer Chase ; Treasurer, James P. Hay- 
 ward ; School Committee, Arthur Cook, Francis S. 
 Weeks, Rev. Benjamin D. Peck; Overseers of Poor, 
 the selectmen. 
 
 The town unanimously voted resolutions to be pre- 
 sented to the General Court in favor of the railroad 
 from Boston to pass through Blackstone Village, and 
 appointed Dan Hill its agent to present it. 
 
 At the April meeting Emanuel N. Paine was chosen 
 selectman in place of Caleb Thayer, and Preserved S. 
 Thayer assessor, in place of William Legg, declined to 
 serve. 
 
 At the April meeting there was an article " to see if 
 the town will consent to an alteration, or new location, 
 of the county road in the village of Millville over a 
 portion of an ancient burial-ground near the resi. 
 dence of Willard Wilson." And the town voted that 
 this article " be referred to the selectmen to examine, 
 and grant the request of the railroad company, if they 
 see fit." The railroad here referred to was the Provi- 
 dence and Worcester, which put its first train through 
 the 17th of September following. 
 
 The Blackstone (No. 4) Mill and the Lincoln House 
 
616 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 were built this season, which was further rendered 
 nota'ble by tlie settlement in town of Paul P. Todd, 
 the eminent attorney and legal adviser. 
 
 A Methodist Society was formed at Waterford, with 
 Jeremiah N. Hanaford as pastor, and meetings were 
 held for about two years in " Odd Fellows' Hall," now 
 the residence of Thomas Campbell. 
 
 1848. — Town Clerk, James P. Hayward; Selectmen. 
 Dan Hill, Emanuel N. Paine, Hezekiah Harrington ; 
 Assessors, Arthur Cook, Willard Wilson, Lyman Paine ; 
 Overseers of the Poor, Millens Taft, Lyman Paine, 
 Whitney Alexander; School Committee, Rev. Benja- 
 min D. Peck, Arthur Cook, Thomas Davis ; Treasurer, 
 James P. Hayward. 
 
 Early in the year (January 10th) the town voted 
 "That the Selectmen be authorized to loan .S700 of 
 the 'Surplus Revenue' money for one year, without 
 interest, to Oliver Johnson, of New York (or to some 
 other person whom they may deem suitable), to ena- 
 ble him to procure a printing-press and appurtenances 
 for publishing a newspaper in this town. And for 
 security they are to take a mortgage on said press and 
 appurtenances. It being understood that the paper 
 is to be conducted independent of party, both in pol- 
 itics and religion." The paper thus inaugurated 
 under town auspices was a weekly four-page paper, 
 called the Blackstone Chronicle, first issued February 
 26th. It failed before the 1st of the following Octo- 
 ber, and the town had lo take the press and type. 
 
 Canal Street was laid out by the selectmen October 
 13th, accepted by the town October 21st, and was buik 
 at once by Welcome Farnum. Federal Street was 
 laid out by the selectmen October 21st, and was 
 accepted by the town November 7th. 
 
 The union meeting of the two towns to elect a 
 Representative to the General Court again failed to 
 make any choice November 13th, as did also a second 
 meeting November 27tb, although at the latter meet- 
 ing the Blackstone voters combined on Samuel V. 
 Stone, and gave him 245 votes in a total of 499. 
 
 Rev. Benjamin D. Peck, removing from town, was 
 succeeded in the Waterford Parish by Rev. Thomas 
 Brown, and on the School Committee by Rev. Michael 
 Burdett. 
 
 1849.— Town Clerk, James P. Hayward ; Select- 
 men, Millens Taft, Lyman Paine, Daniel Southwick; 
 Assessors, Arthur Cook, Richard Battey, Joseph 
 Southwick ; Overseers of the Poor, Whitney Alexan- 
 der, Richard Battey, James Comstock ; School Com- 
 mittee, Thomas Davis, Dr. Moses D. Southwick, Ar- 
 thur Cook ; Town Treasurer, James P. Hayward. 
 
 At a thinly attended town-meeting, held May 19lh, 
 the school district system was abolished, and votes 
 passed looking to the purchase of school-houses from 
 the districts, and the building of new bouses by the 
 town. This radical step was reversed at the ad- 
 journed meeting, August 18th. 
 
 The St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church was 
 organized May 14th at Millville, with Rev. John W. 
 
 Birchmore as pastor. Some trouble having arisen in 
 the Methodist Reformed Church in the same village, 
 certain members withdrew, and called Rev. Daniel 
 Fillmore as minister. 
 
 The meeting, November 12th, to elect a representa- 
 tive to the General Court, resulted in no choice, and 
 again the two towns were unrepresented. 
 
 The Blackstone Savings Bank w.as incorporated 
 April 20th, but failed to do any business. The Wor- 
 cester County Bank was incorporated May 1st, with 
 a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, by Wel- 
 come Farnum, Silas H. Kimball and Dan Hill. It 
 was located for many years in Blackstone Block, a 
 large brick structure erected this year by Welcome 
 Farnum. 
 
 On the 15th of May the long-awaited first train 
 over the Boston road arrived in Blackstone from 
 Walpole. The road was then known as the Norfolk 
 County Railroad, and its completion had been due 
 almost solely to the iron will of Welcome Farnum. 
 
 Napoleon J. Smith put out his shingle in the vil- 
 lage as attorney, and remained some two years. 
 
 1850. — Town Clerk, James P. Hayward ; Select- 
 men, Emory Scott, Jared Benson, Jonathan F. Com- 
 stock ; Assessors, Arthur Cook, Jared Benson, Jr., 
 Rufus A. Benson ; Overseers of the Poor, Caleb 
 Thayer, Millens Taft, James P. Hayward ; School 
 Committee, Dr. Moses D. Southwick, Emanuel N. 
 Paine, Daniel Wheelock ; Treasurer, James P. Hay- 
 ward. 
 
 School Districts Nos. 10 and 11, the two sections of 
 Millville, were joined this spring into one district, 
 No. 10. This district then proceeded to build a new 
 brick school-house on Central Street, now owned by 
 the town. 
 
 The liquor question puts in its first appearance in 
 Blackstone town-meetings, and Millens Taft, Fred- 
 eric M. Ballou and Jared Benson, Jr., were chosen a 
 committee to enforce the license law of the Common- 
 wealth. 
 
 The small-pox broke out among the people work- 
 ing in Eli Kelly's factory at Upper Canada (East 
 Blackstone), and the town voted a general vaccina- 
 tion, a hospital and a quarantine of the sick. 
 
 St. Paul's Church was founded in the autumn, the 
 first place of worship constructed by the Roman 
 Catholics in the town, although for more than fifteen 
 years previously services had been held in private 
 houses. Rev. Charles O'Reilly was its first priest. 
 
 St. John's Protestant Episcopal Society saw the 
 corner-stone of its beautiful stone edifice laid by 
 Bishop Eastburn July 16th. 
 
 The Methodi>t Episcopal Church of Millville was 
 organized March 8d. 
 
 Rev. Martin J. Steere was installed as pastor at the 
 Waterford Church. 
 
 The North Blackstone post-office was removed to 
 Lower Canada, and Moses Kelly became its new post- 
 master. 
 
BLACKSTONE. 
 
 617 
 
 Bridge, Waterford and Cross Streets were laid out 
 and accepted August 31st. The two latter form our 
 present Market Street. 
 
 Park Street was accepted October 26th. 
 
 Caleb Thayer was chosen Representative to Gen- 
 eral Court November 25th. 
 
 1851. — Town Clerk, James P. Hayward ; Selectmen, 
 Laban Bates, Henry S. Manstiekl, Jr., Richard Battey ; 
 Assessors, Emanuel N. Paine, Frederic M. Ballou, 
 Moses D. Southwick ; Overseers of Poor, Whitney 
 Alexander, Lyman Paine, Ariel Thayer, Jr. ; School 
 Committee, Dr. Moses D. Southwick, Martin I. Steere, 
 Thomas Davis; Treasurer, Alexander Ballou. 
 
 Representative Caleb Taft was instructed to vote 
 against a division of the county of Worcester, which 
 matter was being agitated. 
 
 Lincoln Street, from Fletcher's store to the Jacob 
 Southwick house, was laid out wider by the selectmen 
 and was accepted April 7th. 
 
 The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 awakened the fol- 
 lowing protest, written by Daniel Hill, Dr. Moses D. 
 Southwick and Thomas Davis, and adopted by the 
 town April 7th : 
 
 Hesolred, Th.it we adhere to the doctrine that '* all men are born free 
 and equal," not because it is a sentiment, solemnly declared by our 
 fathore, in defence of which they pledged "their lives, their fortunes 
 and their sacred honor," but because it is, as declared by theni, a self- 
 evident truth, ajiplicable to every age and to every race ; and those, and 
 those only, who have sacrificed their convictions on the altar of ambi- 
 tion or self-interest, would deprive the African of this God-given birth- 
 right. 
 
 liesotved. That the Fugitive Slave Law, recently enacted by Congress, 
 is not only contrary to the fundamental principles of our government, 
 but it is an act which attempts to transform us into slave catchers, requir- 
 ing us to sacrifice the noblest feelings of our nature, which prompt us to 
 aid the weak rather than the strong, and by no means to strengtlien the 
 arm of the oppressor. 
 
 Itesohed, That the attempt to justify this Law on the plea that it is 
 necessary to preserve the union of these States, is but declaring that this 
 Union cannot exist on the principles of .Justice, Humanity and Right- 
 eousness (and therefore is not worth preserving), a declaration which we 
 are unwilling to admit. 
 
 Ilesoh-ed^ That so great and indiscriminate is our abhorrence of 
 slavery, if one who had basely sold himself to Southern slave holders 
 should escape from his keepers and seek our protection, we could not so 
 far *' conquer our prejudices " as to "perform the disagreeable duty " of 
 rendering aid in returning him into bondage. 
 
 Jiemtvi'd, That we regard it as the duty of the Legislature of this Com- 
 monwealth, now in session, to pass an art, without further delay, secur- 
 ing to all persons, claimed as fugitives from hihor, "the privilege and 
 benefit of the Writ of Habeas Corpus"' and the " right to a trial by 
 Jury," and in all Constitutional ways protecting them against tho atro- 
 cious provisions of this abominahle Fugitive Slave Law. 
 
 Unsolved, That a copy of these resolutions be transmitted to our Repre- 
 sentative in the General Court, with a request that he present them to 
 that body. 
 
 " Our Representative," Mr. Caleb Thayer, was at 
 that time balloting in the Legislature for Charles 
 Sumner as Senator in the National Congress, a re- 
 sult secured on the twenty-sixth ballot. This was 
 the time of the famous coalition between the Demo- 
 crats and Free Soilers. A largely attended Teachers' 
 Institute was held in April. 
 
 St. Paul Street was laid out October 4th, and ac- 
 cepted by the town November 10th. 
 
 Laban Bates was chosen Representative to the Gen- 
 eral Court at the meeting, November 24lh. 
 
 James Mason having mysteriously disappeared 
 from Waterford, a town-meeting was held December 
 9th, and a reward of fifty dollars offered for the re- 
 covtery of his body, and five hundred dollars for evi- 
 dence convicting any one for taking his life. 
 
 Napoleon J. Smith took down his shingle in Black- 
 stone village as attorney-at-law, and William L. 
 Southwick first put his out. 
 
 Rev. Nelson Goodrich succeeded the Rev. Mr. Fill- 
 more as pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church at 
 MillviUe. 
 
 1852.— Town Clerk. James P. Hayward; Select- 
 men, Laban Bates, Richard Battey, Henry S. Mans- 
 field ; Assessors, Willard Wilson, Richard Battey, 
 Welcome A. Thayer ; Overseers of the Poor, " Voted 
 not to choose any Overseers of the Poor ;" School 
 Committee, Martin J. Steere, Thomas Davis, Dan A. 
 Comstock ; Treasurer, Alexander Ballou, in place of 
 James P. Hayward, excused. 
 
 At the April meeting Dr. Moses D. Southwick was 
 chosen to the Board of School Committee in place of 
 Dan. A. Comstock, excused, and to the Board of As- 
 sessors in place of Willard Wilson, excused. Dan 
 Hill and Aaron Burdon were chosen additional asses- 
 sors. The County Commissioners had re-located the 
 County road (Main Street) over the Blackstone Com- 
 pany's mill trench and the Providence & Worcester 
 Railroad, and the town opposed the re-location. 
 » Rev. Martin J. Steere was chosen Representative 
 to the General Court at the adjourned meeting, No- 
 vember 22d. 
 
 Rev. Michael Burdett closed his connection with 
 the Blackstone Congregational Church February 10th, 
 and Rev. Joseph W. Backus was ordained as his suc- 
 ce^'sor September 29th. 
 
 Rev. John E. GiflTord became pastor of the Method- 
 i.st Episcopal Society of Millville, and in the same, 
 village Rev. Spencer M. Rice became rector of St. 
 John's Protestant Episcopal Church, May 17th. 
 
 St, Paul's Church was completed in its original 
 form and dedicated by Bishop Fitzpatrick. 
 
 1853. — Town Clerk, James P. Hayward ; Selectmen, 
 Millens Taft, John C. Scott, Lyman Paine ; Asses- 
 sors, Willard Wilson, Ara Paine, Welcome A.. Thayer ; 
 Overseers of Poor, Richard Battey, John G. Gatchell, 
 Albert Fairbanks ; School Committee, Spencer M. 
 Rice, Rev. Joseph W. Backus, Dr. William M. Kim- 
 ball ; Treasurer, Andrew Comstock. 
 
 Willard Wilson was elected delegate to the State 
 CoHi^titutional Convention. Dr. William M. Kimball 
 having declined to serve on School Committee, Fran- 
 cis Kelly was elected. 
 
 With the increase of population came an increase 
 in the number of grog-shops, and the constables were 
 directed to prosecute those who violated the law. A 
 lock-up was now first voted. 
 
 The Blackstone Manufacturing Company, February 
 
618 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 14th, gave a bond to the town to keep in repair the 
 western abutment of the New City bridge for ten years, 
 the town on its part withdrawing opposition to the 
 re-location of the County road (Main Sireet) at that 
 point. 
 
 On April 4th an article in reference to a map of the 
 town was referred to the selectmen. This must refer 
 to the map "Surveyed by Order of the Town, by H. 
 F. Walling, 1854," a very accurate map. 
 
 After three separate attempts to elect a Representa- 
 tive to the General Court there was no choice, and 
 the town was not represented in the Legislature of 
 1854. The law requiring only a plurality for election 
 was passed in 1854, and thereafter there was no fur- 
 ther troubl.e on this score. 
 
 Darius Bennett was made postmaster of the Black- 
 stone office and remained therein until 1861. Willard 
 Wilson for the third time became postmaster at 
 Millville. 
 
 The Blackstoue River Bank, of Millville, was in- 
 corporated March 30th by Edward S. Hall, Charles 
 E. Hall and Spencer M. Rice, with a capital of one 
 hundred thousand dollars, but it never materialized. 
 
 The Union Hotel was built and gas main laid from 
 Woonsocket to Blackstone Village. 
 
 1854.— Town Clerk, James P. Hayward; Select- 
 men, Millens Talt, Eleazer W. Barrows, Seth T. 
 Aldrich ; Assessors, Dan. Hill, Emanuel N. Paine, 
 Dan. A. Comstock ; Overseers of the Poor, James P. 
 Hayward, Richard Battey, Asa Paine ; School Com- 
 mittee, Rev. Joseph W. Backus, William B. Rice, 
 Rev. Edmund M. Tappan ; Treasurer, Moses Farnum 
 (2d). 
 
 In February the town voted a remonstrance against 
 the Charles River Railroad (eventually Woonsocket 
 Division, N. Y. & N. E.), and sent Dan. Hill to pre- 
 sent it to the Legislature. Just at this time Welcome 
 Farnum was making his la^t desperate endeavor to 
 push through to New York City a western extension 
 of his Norfolk County road. He succeeded — and 
 failed ; not through lack of wisdom in making a wise 
 plan, but through the business stringency now begin- 
 ning, which culminated in 1857, and the failure of 
 promised assistance from others at this critical junc- 
 ture. 
 
 Dan. Hill was excused from acting as assessor, and 
 William Cook was elected. By a vote of 119 to 82 
 was adopted an act of the General Court of 1854 es- 
 tablishing a Police Court. 
 
 Dr. J. C. Rutherford was appointed physician to 
 the Board of Health (Overseers of the Poor) at a 
 salary of five dollars per annum. 
 
 Silas A. Burgess, Esq., opened an office at Black- 
 stoue for the practice of law. 
 
 John S. Ilaradon was elected to the General Court 
 as representative November 13tli. 
 
 Blackstone No. 5 Mill, the last of the large addi- 
 tions, was built this year. 
 
 Rev. Edmond M. Tappan succeeded Martin J. 
 
 Steere as pastor of the Waterford Free- Will Baptist 
 Society. 
 
 By the failure of Mr. Farnum, the Millville manu- 
 facturing interests on the Blackstone passed into the 
 hands of Edward S. and Charles E. Hall. 
 
 The St. John's Episcopal Church was consecrated 
 December 7th. 
 
 1855.— Town Clerk, James P. Hayward; Select- 
 men, John C. Scott, Rufus A. Benson, Lyman Paine; 
 Assessors, William Cook, James B. Hall, Joseph G. 
 Ray; Overseers of the Poor, Willard Willson, John 
 B. Salisbury, Welcome A.Thayer; Town Treasurer, 
 Eleazer W. Barrows; School Committee, Rev. Ed- 
 mund M. Tappan, Dr. George E. Buliard, Alexander 
 Ballon, Jr. Dan. Hill was justice of the Police 
 Court. 
 
 A war had now broken out against the Police Court, 
 and at a meeting February 1st Lyman Legg was 
 chosen agent to secure a repeal of the act establish- 
 ing it. 
 
 It was voted to purchase five hundred of Mr. 
 Walling's map and that each tax-payer might have 
 one for sixty cents. This was all reversed at another 
 meeting on the 8th. It would appear that very few 
 of Mr. Walling's maps were actually circulated in the 
 town. After two more meetings the town voted Mr. 
 Walling two hundred dollars for publishing the map. 
 
 John Cady was appointed liquor agent under the 
 new law, and Dr. George E. Buliard another. The 
 latter settled in town this year. 
 
 Henry S. Mansfield was chosen representative to 
 General Court. 
 
 March 18th, Rev. Joseph W. Backus resigned his 
 ministry at Blackstone, and was succeeded in Sep- 
 tember by Rev. Thomas E. Bliss. Rev. John A. M. 
 Chapman was assigned to the Millville Methodist 
 Society, and Rev. Alfred B. Goodrich was called to 
 the St. John's Society. 
 
 The Blackstone Library Association was organized 
 October 4th at the house of Mr. Welcome Farnum, 
 whose wife, sister to the historian, George Bancroft, 
 took great interest in the matter, and secured many 
 valuable donations from literary friends of her 
 brother. The original list of officers was as follows: 
 President, Thomas Dermot; Recording Secretary, 
 James K. Comstock; Librarian, George B. Allen. 
 
 A visit of a special committee of the Legislature 
 sent out to examine and report upon the condition of 
 the Boston and New York Central Railroad put up 
 for dinner at the Union House April 17th, and scan- 
 dalized the natives by bringing with them "36 bottles 
 Extra Champagne Wine and 48 bottles of Brandy." ■ 
 
 1856. — Town Clerk, James P. Hayward ; Selectmen, I 
 Lyman Paine, Joseph Southwick, Seth T. Aldrich ; 
 Assessors, James B. Hall, Arthur Cook, Albert Gas- 
 kill ; Overseers of the Poor, Willard Wilson, John 
 B. Salisbury, Welcome A. Thayer; School Commit- 
 tee, Rev. Edmund M. Tappan, Dr. George E. Bul- 
 iard, Rev. Thos. E. Bliss ; Treasurer, Walter Thorpe. 
 
BLACKSTONE. 
 
 619 
 
 The Police Court was abolished April Ist. 
 
 The rapid growth of the three villages — Water- 
 ford, Blackstone and Millville — -had strained the old 
 arrangements for schooling children, both in respect 
 to rooms and the amount of money. The Blackstone 
 Manufacturing Company had erected an elegant 
 building with four school-rooms the year preced- 
 ing, and given itsj use to the district. The rural dis- 
 tricts had dwindled in population until several of 
 them numbered scarcely more than a dozen children 
 of school age. It cost as much for each of these 
 schools as for one in the village with sixty to eighty 
 l)upils. To remedy this inequality, it was proposed 
 to reduce the number of districts, and a committee 
 was appointed to report upon the feasibility of 
 doing so. 
 
 Emanuel N. Paine was elected Representative to 
 the General Court. 
 
 The Waterford stone dam, near the Union House, 
 was built by Daniel F. Simmons. The dam, together 
 with the abutments, is one hundred and sixty feet 
 long, of solid masonry, faced and capped with wrought 
 stone. 
 
 At the first anniversary meeting of the Blackstone 
 Library Association the officers reported fifteen hun- 
 dred volumes secured, "only about 100 volumes be- 
 longing to the department of novels and tales." 
 Lectures were given during the fall and winter under 
 the auspices of the association, amongst the lecturers 
 being Wendell Phillips, Ralph Waldo Emerson, 
 Rev. Theodore Parker, Rev. Thomas Starr King and 
 others. 
 
 The Blackstone Athenseum, a rival library associa- 
 tion, was organized February 26th. Rev. Asa U. 
 Swinerton was assigned to the Methodist Society, 
 Millville. 
 
 The Blackstone River Lodge of Free and Accepted 
 Masons organized under dispensation January 1st. 
 
 1857. — Town Clerk, James P. Hay ward; Selectmen, 
 John C. Scott, Andrew Comstock, Caleb Colviu ; As- 
 sessors, Arthur Cook,' Estus Lamb, Joseph Tucker ; 
 Overseers of the Poor, Willard Wilson, John B. Salis- 
 bury, William A. Dodge; School Committee, Rev. 
 Edmund M. Tappan, Rev. Thomas E. Bliss, Dr. 
 George E. Bullard ; Treasurer, Charles W. Baker. 
 
 Estus Lamb having declined to serve as assessor, 
 David Brayton was cho-en. The committee in charge 
 of re-districting the town into school districts made 
 a radical report, reducing the number of districts to 
 five. This report was at first accepted, and then, at a 
 subsequent meeting, reconsidered and rejected. 
 
 Samuel Thayer, Jr., was chosen Representative to 
 the General Court. Rev. William N. Morrison was 
 assigned to the Millville Methodist Church. Rev. 
 Charles O'Reilly, of the St. Paul's Church, died in 
 September, and was succeeded by Rev. Edward J. 
 Sheridan. 
 
 1858.— Town Clerk, James P. Hayvvard ; Select- 
 men, Richard Battey, Welcome Thayer, John B. 
 
 White; Assessors, Arthur Cook, Daniel N. Chdse, 
 William Legg ; Overseers of Poor, James P. Hay- 
 ward, Caleb Taft, Channing Smith ; School Commit- 
 tee, Arthur Cook, for one year, William L. South- 
 wick, two years, Moses D. Southwick, three years ; 
 Treasurer, Moses Farnum. 
 
 Channing Smith having declined to serve as over- 
 seer, Ebenezer Chase was chosen. The Blackstone 
 Manufacturing Company had brought suit against 
 the town for over-assessment, and Dan Hill was ap- 
 pointed general agent by the town to defend the suit. 
 An article to see if the town would establish a high 
 school was dismissed. John B. White was chosen 
 Representative to General Court. Rev. Justus Er- 
 skine succeeded Rev. E. M. Tappan at Waterford 
 Baptist Church. Willard Wilson becirae trial justice. 
 
 About the middle of May Rev. B. G. Northup, 
 agent of the State Board of Education, lectured in 
 the New City School-house, afternoon and evening, to 
 teachers. The afternoon lecture covered methods 
 of instruction, dwelling especially upon President 
 Dwight's advice to the young man to " open his 
 eyes." The evening lecture was upon the subject of 
 moral and intellectual culture. 
 
 Early in May occurred a great strike among the 
 operatives of the Waterford woolen-mills. The Nos. 
 1 and 2 Mills were run at this time by Evans, Sea- 
 grave & Co., and the No. 3 Mill by Bradford & Taft. 
 The two former had been stopped all winter, but the 
 latter had run steadily, being the one bright spot in 
 the hard times of the past year. The strike, which 
 was general in the three mills, was caused by a reduc- 
 tion of 20 per cent, in the rate of wages. 
 
 The papers in Massachusetts discussing large trees 
 gave, after due inquiry, the precedence to Blackstone. 
 The largest tree in the State at that time was supposed 
 to be the elm standing near the Nicholas Thayer 
 homestead. The trunk measured 22 feet about near 
 the ground, and 20 feet around 10 feet above the 
 ground. It spread from the trunk with seven large 
 branches, giving a *hade 125 feet in diameter. 
 
 1859. — Town Clerk, James P. Hayward ; Select- 
 men, Emanuel N. Paine, William Kelly, Mowry 
 Lapham ; Assessors, Arthur Cook, Sylvanus H. Ben- 
 son, Joseph G. Ray ; Overseers of Poor, John B. 
 Salisbury, William Sargent, William A. Kelly ; 
 Treasurer, Moses Farnum ; School Committee, Jo- 
 seph Thayer, for three years. 
 
 Silas A. Burgess was chosen selectman and Richard 
 Battey assessor in place of William Kelly and Joseph 
 G. Ray respectively, as the latter did not take the 
 oath of office. District No. 2 was annexed to No. 9. 
 Joseph G. Ray was chosen Representative to the 
 General Court. At this time Blackstone by itself 
 formed the Twenty-first Worcester District. 
 
 About the middle of May occuri'ed the sad cas-ualty 
 by which Miss Georgiana IJrown, of Pawtucket, a 
 teacher in the New City School, and Miss Frances 
 Cady, only daughter of Mr. John Cady, formerly 
 
620 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 postmaster, were drowned by going over the Black- 
 stone dam while out boating with Mr. Walter Thorpe. 
 
 Some time in March a rabid dog owned in Con- 
 cord, Mass., passed through the village, biting numer- 
 ous other dogs and two or three persons. About the 
 10th of April a boy named Thomas Quinlen, fourteen 
 years old, one of those bitten, died with all the 
 symptoms assigned to hydrophobia. 
 
 During the year Mr. Freeman Kurd was engaged 
 in building the Edward Harris New Privilege dam 
 across Mill River in the southeast corner of the town, 
 flowing many acres of meadow land in Blackstone. 
 
 Rev. William H. Bowen became pastor at Water- 
 ford Baptist Church, and Rev. Charles A. Merrill 
 was assigned to the Methodist Episcopal Church at 
 Millville. 
 
 I860.— Town Clerk, Dr. George E. Bullard ; Select- 
 men, Richard Batty, Mowry Lapham, Joseph G. 
 Ray; Assessors, Arthur Cook, David Brayton, Syl- 
 vanus H. Benson ; Overseers of the Poor, William 
 A. Kelly, Lyman Legg, Hiram Daniels ; Treasurer, 
 Moses Farnum ; School Committee for three years, 
 Henry C. Kimball. James P. Hayward was chosen 
 assessor in place of David Brayton, who declined 
 serving. Mr. Hayward also declining, and Arthur 
 Cook failing to take the oath, the latter was re-elected 
 and Marius H. Warfield was chosen. Mowry Lap- 
 ham resigned in September and Millens Taft was 
 chosen selectman for the unexpired term. Charles 
 H. Fletcher was chosen Representative to the Gen- 
 eral Court. February 2'2d, Rev. John V. Lewis be- 
 came pastor of St. John's Society at Millville. 
 
 The Blackstone Block was built by Welcome Far- 
 num in 1849. In planning a building for the Wor- 
 cester County Bank, for which a charter had been 
 procured, Mr. Farnum, with his characteristic enter- 
 prise, concluded to put up this large block, containing 
 stores, offices and a large hall for public meetings 
 and entertainments. His original plan was to locate 
 it on Main Street and to have a building just one 
 hundred feet in length ; but failing to make satis- 
 factory terms for the purchase of a lot, it was placed 
 upon its present site, where the- size of the lot 
 limited the building to eighty-two feet. This block 
 was subsequently mortgaged to Edward S. Hall, of 
 Millville, and after Mr. Farnum's failure was trans- 
 ferred to Joseph Almy, of Slatersville. In 1859 it 
 was sold at auction and purchased by Dan Hill, 
 who deeded it to Albert Gaskill in 1863. In 1870 
 he sold it to Charles A. Pierce, and the latter dis- 
 posed of it in November, 1874, to Mr. William 
 Keely, in whose possession it has since remained. 
 
 1861.— Town Clerk, Dr. George C. Bullard ; Select- 
 men, Emory Scott, John C. Scott, Daniel N. Chase; 
 Assessors, Millens Taft, Libbeus L. Wood, Willard 
 Wilson ; Overseers of the Poor, Ruins Hayward, John 
 G. Gatchell, Lyman Legg ; Treasurer, Richard K. 
 Randolph ; School Committee for three years, Henry 
 S. Mansfield ; for one year, William L. Southwick. 
 
 The people living in the old Second School Dis- 
 trict being aggrieved at the vote annexing them to 
 No. 9, secured at a special meeting, February 9th, 
 a re-division assigning three families to District 
 No. 3. 
 
 The first evidence in the town records of the 
 e-xistence of Civil War occurs in the warrant drawn 
 April 23d, in which occurs an article " To see if 
 the town will vote to appropriate any money in aid 
 of citizens of this town who may volunteer their 
 services to the United States to suppress rebellion 
 or invasion, and who shall be called into active ser- 
 vice for said purpose and to aid the families if in 
 destitute circumstances, or to act in any way relative 
 to the same." 
 
 At the meeting held May 1st it was voted to adopt 
 the following resolutions offered by Dan Hill, Esq. ; 
 
 The President of the United States having called upon all good citizens 
 to aid him in his effort-' to enforce the laws and suppress an insurrection 
 which threatens to overthrow the Government : We, the citizens of 
 Blackstone in Towr. Meeting assemhled, deeply impressed by the perils 
 that beset us, but with unfaltering confidence in God and the Right : — 
 Inspired by the cherished memory of the heroic deeds and manly sacri- 
 fices of our patriotic Fathers, and impelled by a solemn sense of duty 
 which we owe to our posterity, no less thjin to ourselves — declare our 
 readiness to aid, to the full extent of our ability, in sustaining this 
 Government and in crushing tlie rebels that assail it. And we hereby 
 "pledge our lives, our fortunes and our sacred lionor," that, come weal 
 or come woe, we will never prove recreant to the Government to which 
 we justly owe allegiance, and from which we derive so many blessings — 
 a Governmeut which is the only formidable foe of Despotism and 
 Tyranny, and the last hope of Civil and Religious Liberty in the World. 
 In this "irrepressible conflict " between Freedom and Slavery, every 
 pulsation of our hearts is for Freedom, and in lier sacred cause we are 
 ready to give buttle— our watch-word ** The Government and the enforce- 
 ment of the laws," — our banner the Stars and Stripes. 
 
 Upon the firing upon Fort Sumter immediate 
 steps had been taken to raise a company, and after 
 several exciting meetings, a company of ninety-six, 
 afterward known as Company K, Fifteenth Regiment 
 Massachusetts Volunteers, was enlisted and drilled 
 under command of Captain Moses W. Gatchell, with 
 Edwin B. Staples, first lieutenant, and Caleb H. 
 Arnold, first sergeant. The men were mustered in 
 July 1st, the officers August 1st, and the regiment was 
 sent to Maryland, where it was placed on the right 
 wing of the Army of the Potomac. October 21st, at 
 the battle of Ball's Blufl', Captain Gatchell and three 
 privates in the company were killed. Lieutenant 
 Staples resigned the following year to accept a posi- 
 tion in the Fourth Regiment Massachusetts Cavalry, 
 in which he gained the rank of major. Caleb H. 
 Arnold became second lieutenant of Company K, 
 January 3, 1863, and died of wounds received at the 
 battle of Gettysburg, July 20, 1863. Mellville How- 
 land, acting as first sergeant and lieutenant, died in 
 Maryland, August 28, 1862, and Thomas Furnald, 
 succeeding him as first sergeant, was killed at the 
 battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862, as were six 
 others in the company. George W. Bolster became 
 second lieutenant June 9th, and first lieutenant 
 November 7, 1862, and resigned March 18, 1863. 
 
 A large number of Blackstone men enlisted in 
 
BLACKSTONE. 
 
 621 
 
 companies raised in Woonsocket, and served in 
 various Rhode Island regiments as well as in other 
 Massachusetts regiments than those named. 
 
 Owing to the change in administration, Darius 
 Bennett, the postmaster at Blackstone, was supplanted 
 by Sylvanus H. Benson, and Willard Wilson, at Mill- 
 ville, by Preserved L. Thayer. 
 
 Rev. George M. Hamlin was appointed to the 
 Methodist Society at Millville. 
 
 18G2. — Town Clerk, George E. BuUard ; Selectmen, 
 John C. Scott, Emory Scott, Joseph G. Ray (this 
 board also acted as Assessors and Overseers of the 
 Poor) ; treasurer, Richard K. Randolph ; School Com- 
 mittee, Frank Kelly, three years, John V. Lewis, two 
 years. Dr. Wm. H. Kimball, one year. 
 
 The earlier meetings of this year were mainly taken 
 up with discussions of the manner in which aid 
 should be given the families of soldiers now in the 
 service. July 17th was held a meeting to take 
 measures to raise forty-two volunteers under the call 
 of President Lincoln. This was just after the failure 
 of General McClellan on the Virginia Peninsula, and 
 extra inducements were needed. The town voted to 
 call in and place on deposit in the Worcester County 
 Bank three thousand one hundred and fifty dollars 
 of the " surplus revenue," and that every man volun- 
 teering before August 10th should be paid a bounty 
 of seventy-five dollars. The matter was the subject 
 of two more meetings, the bounty for men enlisiing 
 for three years being made three hundred dollars, 
 and for those enlisting under the new call for nine 
 months a bounty of one hundred dollars was voted. 
 
 Joseph G. Ray having moved out of town, Estus 
 Lamb was elected August 30th to the Board of 
 Selectmen. Chauning Smith was chosen Representa- 
 tive to the General Court. 
 
 Captain Daniel W. Kimball, Company K, Fifty- 
 first Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, had enlisted 
 sixty men, and wanted overcoats for them, which the 
 town voted November 5tb, appropriating ten dollars 
 apiece, and John S. Needham to furnish them. The 
 Fifty-first was a nine months' regiment. 
 
 August 23d, Rev. George M. Hamlin and Dan Hill 
 were appointed to the Board of School Committee in 
 place of Rev. John V. Lewis resigned, and Dr. Wm. 
 M. Kimball declined to serve. 
 
 Rev. J. A. Howe was called to the pastorship at 
 Waterford, aud Rev, George Rumney to St. John's 
 Society at Millville, in place of Mr. Lewis. In June 
 Rev. John E. Edwards was called to the Blackstone 
 Society. 
 
 1863. — Town Clerk, James K. Corastock ; Selectmen, 
 James P. Hayward, Lewis W. Taft, Sylvanus H. 
 Benson ; Assessors, William A. Northup, Lyman 
 Paine, John C. Hobbs; Overseers of the Poor, Hiram 
 Daniels, Andrew Kelly, Channing Smith; Treasurer, 
 Moses Farnum ; School Committee, Le Roy Chilson, 
 three years, Edwin Jenckes, one year. 
 
 James P. Hayward declined to serve, and William 
 
 A. Northup was elected selectman. Lyman Paine 
 declining to serve as assessor, Arthur Cook was chosen. 
 Charles A. Wright became trial justice. 
 
 Early this year broke out the " Hickey Hall" school 
 war, waged by Dan Hill of the General School Com- 
 mittee against the Blackstone Manufacturing Com- 
 pany. The bitter conflict ended with the company 
 still in possession of their own school-house, and the 
 committee letting their wrath coruscate in a most 
 unique annual report. 
 
 The subject of State aid to the families of soldiers 
 and sailors came up from time to time, and was settled 
 on the libera! side. Limited at first to families of 
 volunteers, residents of the town, in the army, it was 
 extended to volunteers in the navy, to the families of 
 drafted men, to those not residents in the town, and 
 was made perpetual to the families of those killed, or 
 who died in the Union service. 
 
 James K. Comstock was chosen Representative to 
 the General Court. Rev. Lewis B. Bates was appointed 
 to the Methodist Church, Millville. The Kelly cotton- 
 mill at Upper Canada (East Blackstone), hitherto 
 used to manufacture bagging, was converted into a 
 woolen-mill. 
 
 Tuesday, July 21st, arrived home Company K, 
 Fifty-first Mass.achusetts Volunteers, Captain Daniel 
 W. Kimball, and they were given an ovation. They 
 had served at Newborn, N. C, on the Virginian 
 Peninsula and, during their last month, with the 
 Army of the Potomac in Maryland. On Wednesday, 
 July 22d, the company re-assembled to attend the 
 funeral of Lieutenant Caleb Arnold, Company K, 
 Fifteenth Regiment, who had died of a wound received 
 at the battle of Gettysburg. 
 
 1864. — Town Clerk, James K. Comstock ; Select- 
 men, Sylvanus H. Benson, John S. Needham, Andrew 
 Kelly; Assessors, Arthur Cook, Silas A. Burgess, 
 Estes Burdon ; Overseers of the Poor, Hiram Daniels, 
 Channing Smith, Clovis L. Southwick ; Treasurer, 
 Moses Farnum ; School Committee, Rev. J. Erskine 
 Edwards. 
 
 April 16th the town voted to borrow $7500 to be 
 applied by the selectmen as bounties of $125 apiece 
 to the men volunteering to fill the town's quota under 
 the calls of the President, dated October 17, 1863, and 
 February 1, 1864. Sylvanus H. Benson had been 
 made recruiting officer for the town at $3 per day, and 
 his energetic labors kept the town's credit pretty well 
 up with the various calls, and earned him the sincere 
 gratitude, in this respect, of his fellow-townsmen. 
 
 Night police were enjoyed by the village people from 
 shortly after the March meeting until May 21st, when 
 the police were ordered paid up and discharged by 
 the town. At this meeting too, it was voted " that 
 the clergymen, lawyers, doctors and selectmen of this 
 town, irrespective of denomination, be appointed a 
 committee to use to the utmost extent their powers of 
 moral suasion to do away with the sale and consump- 
 tion of intoxicating liquors." 
 
622 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 July 14, 1864, the President called for more soldiers, 
 and Blackstone's quota was fifty-six, of which only ten 
 were already secured. The town voted, August 19th, 
 $5750, in order to give each of the remaining forty-six 
 a bounty of §125. H. K. Merrifield opened a law- 
 office. John S. Needham was elected Representative 
 to the General Court. Dr. Moses D. Southwick was 
 also elected Senator for the Southeast Worcester 
 District. Arthur Cook was appointed trial justice. 
 Eev. E. W. Porter began his first ministry at Water- 
 ford this year. The Kelly & Paine cotton-mill in 
 East Blackstone, owned and run by Andrew Aldrich, 
 was burned in March. Waterford No. 1 was burned 
 this year, causing great loss to the wage-workers of 
 that village. 
 
 February 6th died Dr. Abel Wilder, for more than 
 forty years engaged in the practice of his profession 
 in this community. Dr. Wilder was born in Ash- 
 buruham, Ma?s., June 24, 1786. He was the seventh 
 son in a family of twelve children and was brought 
 up to hard work on the farm until he was fifteen, 
 when he was apprenticed to shoemaking. After he 
 was twenty-one he set himself to acquire an educa- 
 tion, and when twenty-four he began studying medi- 
 cine, attending lectures at Dartmouth College, and 
 supporting himself by teaching school. He began 
 his practice in Winchendon and married there. He 
 went to Swansey in 1815, removed to Walpole in 
 1819, and came to Blackstone in 1823, where he re- 
 mained until within a few months of his death, which 
 occurred at the home of his son in New York. He 
 had a family of twelve children, eight of whom sur- 
 vived him. 
 
 February 7lh died Dr. Horatio Stockbridge, in the 
 seventy-sixih year of his age. He was the son of 
 Hon. David Stockbridge, of Hanover, Mass., where 
 he was born. The family descends from John Stock- 
 bridge, who came from England in the ship " Bless- 
 ing" in June, 1635, and settled in Scituate, Mass. 
 In 1804, at the age of sixteen, he was sent to Harvard, 
 College and remained two years. He studied medi- 
 cine with Dr. Freeman Foster, of Scituate, and Dr. 
 James Mann, of Wrentham. He« first practiced in 
 Berwick, Maine, afterwards in Medway, Mass., and 
 came to Blackstone in 1819. Here he remained until 
 1833, when he opened his long famous apothecary 
 shop in Woonsocket. His son Horatio Stockbridge 
 survives him. 
 
 April IGth died in Mendon, where he had but re- 
 cently moved, Dan Hill, a native and, save a few 
 months, always a resident of Blackstone, who.se life 
 for a long period of years was closely identified with 
 the history of the town. As a member of both 
 branches of the State Legislature, as justice of the 
 Police Court, and in the various oflices and agencies 
 which the town could bestow, he always commanded 
 respect, not only by his marked abilities, but his un- 
 swerving integrity and uprightness of purpose. 
 
 1865. — Town Clerk, James K. Comstock ; Select- 
 
 men, Andrew Kelly, John S. Needham, Arthur Cook: 
 Assessors, Arthur Cook, William A. Cole, Estus Bur. 
 don ; Overseers of Poor, Hiram Daniels, Channing 
 Smith, Clovis L. Southwick ; Treasurer, Richard K. 
 Randolph; School Committee, Ellis T. Haywood. 
 
 At a meeting January 21st the town voted $4,250 
 to be divided in bounties of 1125 to each of the 
 thirty-four men in the town's quota under the call of 
 the President, December 19, 1864. 
 
 April 3d it was voted to establish a High School 
 forthwith, and that the School Committee procure a 
 suitable room for such school. That Henry C. Kim- 
 ball, Laban Bates and Milieus Taft be a committee on 
 building a High School-house, and that it be located 
 on or near the corner of Church and Mendon Streets, 
 in Blackstone village, provided the Blackstone Manu- 
 facturing Company will give the lot to the town for 
 this purpose. The High School was begun in Septem- 
 ber in the grammar school room of the New City 
 building, with Daniel A. March, a graduate of 
 Amherst College, as principal. It was also voted to 
 redistrict the town according to the plan submitted 
 by the School Committee, which reduced the number 
 to eight by dividing No. 4 between Nos. 5 and 3, and 
 re-numbering so that Chestnut Hill was No. 1 ; Five 
 Corners, No. 2 ; East Blackstone, No. 3; Pickering, 
 No. 4; Waterford, No. 5 ; Blackstone, No. 6; Town 
 House, No. 7 ; Millvijle, No. 8. 
 
 Estus Lamb and Henry S. Mansfield were added to 
 the committee on the High School building. C. G. 
 Keyes, Esq., opened a law-ofiice in the Arcade. Hiram 
 Daniels was chosen Representative to the General 
 Court. James K. Comstock was appointed post- 
 master at Blackstone Post-OlEce. Jerome B. Bolster 
 took an office at Blackstone as attorney-at-law. 
 
 May 23d, Bernard Creighton, of Waterford, brought 
 home a sick daughter from Dedham, who proved to 
 have the small-pox. From large exposure twenty- 
 three cases resulted, with seven or eight deaths. 
 
 The Waterford No. 1 Mill was rebuilt three 
 hundred and fil'ty feet long and fifty feet wide. 
 
 18(j6.— Town Clerk, James K. Comstock; Select- 
 men, Estus Lamb, Henry C.Kimball, Silas A. Burgess; 
 Assessors, Estus Burdon, Hiram Daniels, Clovis L. 
 Southwick ; the latter declined, and William A. Cole 
 was chosen ; Overseers of the Poor, Clovis L. South- 
 wick, Lewis W. Taft, Moses A. Daniels ; Treasurer, 
 Moses Farnum ; School Committee, Jerome B. Bolster. 
 
 Voted to accept of the list of by-laws in relation to 
 truancy offered by Silas A. Burgess, Esq. Estus Lamb 
 and Henry C. Kimball having declined to serve as 
 selectmen, Milieus Taft and Libbeus L. Wood were 
 chosen. The committee on building a High School- 
 house reported a plan of building, and the proposal of ^ 
 the Blackstone Manufacturing Company to give the ^ 
 town a lot so long as certain conditions were fulfilled. 
 The report and proposal were both accepted, and six 
 thousand dollars was appropriated for the building, 
 which was continued in the charge of the same com- 
 
BLACKSTONE. 
 
 623 
 
 miltee of five. Ellis T. Hayward having resigned 
 from the School Committee, Dr. Moses D. Southwick 
 was chosen. About three weeks later, April 21st, an 
 attempt was made to reverse the town's previous action 
 in regard to High School building, but without suc- 
 cess. The " Harris Road " (the southern half of pres- 
 ent Farm Street) first came under discussion at this 
 meeting, and Francis Kelly, Millens Taft and William 
 G. Hadley were appointed a committee on the part of 
 the town to build the road. The order of the County 
 Commissioners upon the road occupies the first twenty- 
 one pages of Vol. 3, Town Records. May 19th, the 
 town resolved vigorously against the road and in- 
 structed its committee to fight for a reversal of the 
 County Commissioners' decree. 
 
 Rev. William Kellen was appointed to the Method- 
 ist Society at Millville. 
 
 John S. Needham was chosen Representative to 
 the General Court. 
 
 By the lamented death of Jerome B. Bolster, Octo- 
 ber 27th, there was a vacancy on the Board of School 
 Committee, which was filled by the appointment of 
 Rev. E. W. Porter. 
 
 In the month of March, Patrick Hughes disap- 
 peared, and three weeks later his body was found in 
 the Blackstone River. Foul play was suspected, but 
 not proved. 
 
 1867. — Town Clerk, James K. Comstock ; Selectmen, 
 Henry K. Merrifield, Stephen S. Benson, Welcome A. 
 Thayer; Assessors, Estes Burdon, Robert J. M. Chase, 
 Lyman Paine ; Overseer of the Poor, Clovis L. South- 
 wick, Edmund 0. Bacon ; Treasurer, Moses Farnum ; 
 School Committee, William A. Cole, 1 year, Henry 
 C. Kimball, 2 years, Sylvanus H. Benson, 3 years. 
 
 Voted to abolish the school districts. This vote led 
 to a series of votes at the following meeting, April 6lh ; 
 the most important in the whole history of the town. 
 It was ordered that the Blackstone Manufacturing 
 Company's school-house at the New City be purchased, 
 that steps be taken to build a new school-house at 
 Wateiford, that all the school property of the districts 
 be appraised and paid for by the town, and that S5000 
 more be appropriated to complete the High School- 
 house. 
 
 The New City School-house was appraised at $12,- 
 500 ; Chestnut Hill, $1400 ; Verry, $50 ; Five Corners, 
 $300; Lower Canada, $1400; Pickering, $100; Town 
 House, $150; Millville, $8000,— total, $23,900. The 
 town books do not afford data for stating the cost of 
 the Waterford school-house. This year the first iron 
 bridge at the New City was built and the stone-arch 
 bridge on Lincoln Street, over Fox Brook. The 
 " Harris Road " was fought, but in vain. The town 
 had to build it. The selectmen, contrary to custom, 
 made no report of the indebtedne-s of the town March 
 1, 1868. It is probable these various undertakings 
 were in such stages, that it was impossible. On March 
 1, 1867, it was $25,586; March 1, 1869, it was $68,316,— 
 an increase of $42,730 in two years' time. 
 
 September 9th, Rev. E. W. Porter was appointed to 
 the School Committee in place of Henry C. Kimball, 
 resigned. 
 
 Moses Farnum was elected as Representative to the 
 General Court. 
 
 Rev. Henry W. Conant was appointed to the Meth- 
 odist Society, at Millville. 
 
 Henry K. Merrifield, Esq., succeeded Arthur Cook 
 as trial justice, and held the position for six months, 
 when he resigned to accept a position in an insurance 
 oflSce in Worcester. He was succeeded by Theodore 
 S. Johnson, Esq., of Worcester. 
 
 Jeremiah Gatchell was appointed postmaster at 
 Blackstone P. O. 
 
 1868. — Town Clerk, James K. Comstock; Select- 
 men, George E. Bullard, Millens A. Taft, Daniel S. 
 Southwick ; Assessors, Lewis R. Daniels, Jeremiah 
 Gatchell, Alexander Blanchard ; Overseers of the 
 Poor, Willard Wilson, Step'nen Tucker, Lawrence 
 Boy Ian ; Treasurer, Moses Farnum. Alexander Blan- 
 chard declined to serve, and Willard Wilson was 
 chosen. School Committee, William A. Cole for three 
 years ; Samuel Thayer, Jr., for one year. 
 
 March 2d, when most of the above officers were 
 chosen, was an extremely bleak and snowy day. 
 Whether owing to the storm, or to dissatisfaction with 
 the management of town affairs, the result was the 
 placing in office of men for the most part of the oppo- 
 site politics of those who had controlled the town for 
 some years. The selectmen having, under a vote of 
 the town, contracted with George M. Blanchard to 
 build a stone lock-up, and the town having rescinded 
 its vote, the lock-up was not built, but the town paid 
 rather more than its cost would have been in the way 
 of damages and costs to Mr. Blanchard. Forty-two 
 thousand dollars of the town debt was funded with the 
 State treasurer, under vote of November 4th. 
 
 Rev. M. E. Phetteplace was called to the Baptist 
 Society at Waterford, and Rev. Frederick C. Newell 
 was appointed to the Millville Methodist Society. A 
 missionary effort for several months in East Black- 
 stone, by Joseph iMiett, of Woinsocket, led to the ap- 
 pointment of Rev. Thomas B. Gurney to that field. 
 
 August 9th died Rufus Hayward, a native of Mendon 
 but a resident of Blackstone the greater part of his life, 
 and thoroughly identified with the political history 
 of the town. For many years he was the leader of 
 the Democratic party in the town. He was an active 
 politician, a man of genial temperament and a kind 
 neighbor. He had filled various town offices, and was 
 once elected to the General Court as Representative. 
 He was found dead in his bed at the Lincoln House, 
 having probably died of apoplexy. Daring this year 
 work was prosecuted on the road-bed of the Boston 
 and New York Railroad, and there was an unusual 
 number of fatal acciden's on the tracks. 
 
 1869. — Town Clerk, Jeremiah Gatchell ; Selectmen, 
 George E. Bullard, Louis R. Daniels, Daniel O'Sulli- 
 van ; Assessors, Jeremiah Gatchell, Willard Wilson, 
 
624 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 John C. McCarthy ; Overseers of the Poor, John G' 
 Gatchell, Joseph Byrne, Samuel Verry ; Treasurer, 
 Moses Farnum ; School Committee, for three years, 
 Samuel Thayer, Jr. Willard Wilson having declined 
 to serve as assessor, Americns Welch was chosen, 
 Samuel Verry having declined to serve, and Joseph 
 Byrne having removed from town, Millens A.Taft and 
 Bezaleel Richardson were chosen overseers of the 
 poor. 
 
 A new school-house was built at the Five Corners. 
 May 24lh the County Commissioners laid out that 
 part of St. Paul Street extending from Canal Street to 
 the Rhode Island line under the tracks of both rail- 
 roads. Pearl Street, in Millville, was laid out at this 
 time with mutual asseverations of interest on the part 
 of town and railroad in its behalf The " Hiram 
 Daniels road" (section of IMendon Street from Milk 
 Street to Asylum Street) first appeared in town affairs 
 November 2d, when a committee was appointed to oji- 
 pose it before the County Commissioners. 
 
 Blackstone failed to secure the election of a Repre- 
 sentative to General Court in the election this fall. 
 
 March .31st Junius Bates was appointed postmaster 
 at the Blackstone office. April 24th the Methodist 
 Episcopal Society of East Blackstone was organized, 
 and a church, costing about $3500, was erected during 
 the summer. The organization of the Quickslream 
 Lodge of Good Templars on March 22d afforded a 
 powerful auxiliary to the church continuing to the 
 present time (January 1, 1880). 
 
 Edmund O. Bacon, late landlord of the Lincoln 
 House, was appointed one of the deputy sheriffs of 
 Worcester County at the beginning of January. The 
 firm of Bates & Comstock (Laban Bates and James 
 K. Comstock), who had been engaged in the grocery 
 business in Blackstone Block for twenty years, sold 
 out in May to John W. France. 
 
 A new depot was built at Waterford as a Union 
 station for both railroads. In November the small- 
 pox was again introduced into Blackstone and re- 
 sulted in forty cases and eight deaths. 
 
 1870. — Town Clerk, Jeremiah Gatchell ; Selectmen, 
 Darius Bennett, Ow?en Bradley, Micaj ah Fuller; As- 
 sessors, Daniel N. Chase, Maurice Gary, Louis R. 
 Daniels ; Overseers of the Poor, John G. Gatchell, 
 Samuel Thayer, Sr., James H. Boyle; Treasurer, 
 Moses Farnum ; School Committee, for thiee years, 
 Michael Fagan. 
 
 The new school-house at the Town House was 
 built. This provided all the eight districts with 
 good houses except No. 4, — " Pickerings." An arti- 
 cle in the April warrant to repair or to rebuild in 
 No. 4 simply secured a vote to repair, — an injustice 
 which the town has not yet (1888) reversed in its 
 treatment of tliis district. 
 
 April 30th the town resolved against the " Hiram 
 Daniels Road," and appointed a committee to oppose 
 it. It is difficult to understand why this road created 
 so much opposition. The construction of five or six 
 
 miles more of such road, in certain lines, would ena- 
 ble the town to close up nearly double that length of 
 poor road difficult to keep in repair. August 2d, 
 20th, 30tb, three town-meetings were held in regard 
 to increasing the number of school-rooms at Black- 
 stone and Waterford, and using the ui)per story of 
 the High School-house as a library and reading- 
 room. At the third meeting the whole scheme was 
 negatived. Lyman Paine was chosen representative - 
 to the General Court. I 
 
 The Blackstone River Lodge built the Masonic 
 building on Main Street, at a cost of eight thousand 
 dollars. It was dedicated Washington's Birthday by 
 a fair and ball. The building is sixty feet deep by 
 thirty-two feet wide, and two stories in height, the 
 end fronting the street. The heavy stone arches on 
 the Boston Road in Waterford village were com- 
 pleted during the year after several intermissions in 
 the work. 
 
 The Blackstone Valley Lodge of Good Templars 
 became extinct in June. Rev. T. H. Bannon, of the 
 St. Paul's Society, falling into poor health, he re- 
 signed, and in October Rev. William A. Power was 
 installed. Rev. James H. Cooley was assigned to 
 the East Blackstone Methodist Episcopal Society, 
 and Rev. Thomas S. Thomas to that of Millville. 
 Rev. James Rand was called to Waterford Church. 
 
 A lock-up was finally instituted in August in the 
 Union House basement. 
 
 1871. — Town Clerk, Junius Bates ; Selectmen, Da- 
 rius Bennett, Micajah Fuller, Owen Bradley; Asses- 
 sors, Jeremiah Gatchell, Louis R. Daniels, David M. 
 Gaskill; Overseers of the Poor, John G. (jatchell, 
 Samuel Thayer, Sr., Estes Burdon ; Treasurer, Moses 
 Farnum; School Committee, for three years, William 
 A. Cole, April 3d, Louis R. Daniels and David M. 
 Gaskill having declined to serve as assessors, Patrick 
 Kennedy and Americus Welch were chosen. John 
 G. Gatchell and Samuel Thayer, Sr., having declined 
 to serve as overseers, Stephen Tucker and James H. 
 Boyle were chosen. It was voted to increase the 
 School Committee to six, and John Worrall was 
 chosen for three years. Welcome A. Thayer two 
 years, and Horace H. Benson for one year. The lat- 
 ter having declined, Samuel S. White was appointed. 
 
 Blackstone sent no representative to General Court 
 this year. Silas A. Burgess, E.sq., was appointed 
 trial justice in August, T. S. Johnson having resigned 
 to accept the position of clerk of the Municipal Court 
 at Worcester. 
 
 Rev. Samuel E. Evans was appointed to the Meth- 
 odist Society at Millville. In April the Blackstone 
 Library Association and the Athenteum held a union 
 meeting, and effected an organization under which 
 their libraries, conjointly numbering nearly three 
 thousand volumes, were united and placed together 
 in the Arcade. The last week in July the house and 
 barn of Mr. Bernard Hoye and the barn of Mr. L. .S. 
 Penniman were destroyed by tire, causing a loss of 
 
BLACKSTONE. 
 
 625 
 
 some five thousand dollars. The fire was checked by 
 
 the powerful force-pump of Waterfonl No. 3 Mill, 
 then run by Needham & Mason. All these buildings 
 were promptly rebuilt. 
 
 The first week in August died Varnum Bartlett, a 
 native of Cumberland, R. I., but a resident of Black- 
 stone for a quarter of a century, and bis shoe-store 
 on Main Street was one of the old landmarks of the 
 town. His honest dealing secured a largeijatronage 
 in trade, and he was a successful business man of the 
 old school. 
 
 A lively interest in temperance work prevailed 
 during the year among the several societies, religious 
 and lay. In October the St. Paul's Temperance So- 
 ciety celebrated the anniversary of the birth of Rev. 
 Father Matthew, and by the interest aroused largely 
 strengthened its membership. 
 
 1872. — Town Clerk, Junius Bates ; Selectmen, 
 Henry S. Mansfield, Samuel S. White, Augustine H. 
 Rankin; Assessors, F. Myrick Thayer, Americus 
 Welch, Robert J. M. Chase; Overseers of the Poor, 
 Caleb S. Taft, Darius Bennett, Michael Rowan ; 
 Treasurer, R. K. Randolph; School Committee, 
 Henry C. Kimball, Louis A. Cook, for three years, 
 John S. Needham, two years, Alvin C. Robbins, one 
 year. 
 
 April 15th, F. M. Thayer and R.J. M. Chase having 
 declined to serve as asse-sors, Jeremiah Gatchell and 
 John S. Needham were elected. It was voted to 
 chooae Road Commissioners, and there were elected, 
 Andrew Kelly, for three years, Samuel S. White, 
 for two years, Henry S. Mansfield, for one year. 
 
 John C. Scott was elected representative to the 
 General Court. The new Board of Road Commissioners 
 laid out a continuation of Main Street from New City 
 iron bridge over the Blackstone Dam to Millville, 
 passing near the houses of George Hanney and 
 James Pitts to Central Street. This was accepted 
 and ordered built and then the acceptance was 
 revoked. 
 
 Rev. S.imuel D. Church was called to the pastorship 
 of the Waterford Society, Rev. Walter J. Yates was 
 appointed to the Methodist Society at Millville, 
 and the Rev. E. N. Maynard at East Blackstone. 
 Rev. Edward H. True became rector of St. John's 
 Parish, Millville. 
 
 August 1st, the Second District Court of Southern 
 Worcester, embracing the towns of Northbridge, 
 Douglas, U-\bridge and Blackstone, took the place of 
 the trial justice courts, with Arthur A. Putnam, Esq., 
 as justice. It holds sessions every week-day alter- 
 nately at Blackstone and Uxbridge — Mondays, Wed- 
 nesdays and Fridays at Blackstone; Tuesdays, Thurs- 
 days and Saturdays at U.Kbridge. The court has juris- 
 diction in all civil actions where the amount does not 
 exceed three hundred dollars, and a trial by jury 
 may be had on the demand, in writing, by either party. 
 
 1873. — Town Clerk, Aaron S. Esty ; Selectmen, 
 Jeremiah Gatchell, Lawrence Boylan, Albert Smith ; 
 40 
 
 Assessors, Americus Welch, Miilens Taft, Michael 
 Rowan ; Overseers of the Poor, Micajuh Fuller, Dan- 
 iel Hefl'erman, F. Myrick Thayer; Treasurer, Austin 
 A. Wheelock ; School Committee, Horace A. Ben- 
 sou, Dr. Robert Booth, for three years, Welcome A. 
 Thayer, one year. It was voted to abolish the Board 
 of Road Commissioners. Milieus Taft having declined 
 to serve as assessor, Daniel Wheelock was chosen. 
 Town liy-laws, oftered by A. A. Putnam, Esq., in re- 
 gard to obstruction of sidewalks, disturbance in streets, 
 fast driving, etc., were adopted and were subsequently 
 approved by Judge Devens, of the Massachusetts 
 Superior Court, as required by law. The sum of one 
 hundred dollars was now first voted to be placed at 
 the disposal of " Gatchell Post, G. A. R.," for the 
 suitable observance of Memorial Day. The " Hiram 
 Daniels road " first ordered by the county commis- 
 sioners January 4, 1871, had been so far successfully 
 resisted because the lay-out crossed the Town Asylum 
 Cemetery. The commissioners now executed a Hank 
 movement and issued a decree, June !•, 1873, and the 
 road was built by a contractor. 
 
 On the evening of October 16th occurred the great 
 firein Wilder's Lane, which destroyed eight dwelling- 
 houses and several barns. The Woonsocket steam 
 Hre-engine prevented a more extensive conflagration 
 by its opportune arrival. Several meetings were now 
 held to secure fire apparatus, but there was no result. 
 Eighteen families were rendered homeless, and alto- 
 gether some fifty families moved their household 
 goods at considerable loss, so that this fire caused a 
 widespread feeling of insecurity. 
 
 Albert Smith was elected Representative and Jere- 
 miah Gatchell Senator to the General Court. Lyman 
 Legg was appointed postmaster at Millville. Rev. 
 Albert W. Moore was called to the vacant pul()it at 
 Blackstone, January 22d. Deacon Daniel Gunn 
 died February 21st, aged sixty-five years. He was 
 born February 6, 1808, at Swauzy, Vermont, and 
 <'ame to Black-tone in 1833, where he resided until 
 his death. He was an ardent and devoted member 
 of the Waterford Church. The Worcester County 
 National Bank removed to Franklin in August. 
 
 1874. — Town Clerk, Aaron S. Esty ; Selectmen, Jere- 
 nnah Gatchell, Matthew Faulkner, Albert Smith ; 
 Assessors, Americus Welch, Philip Nully, Millens 
 Taft ; Overseers of the Poor, Micajah Fuller, Rich- 
 ard Newsome, William G.Miller; Treasurer, Austin 
 A. Wheelock ; School Committee, Welcome A. 
 Thayer, John P. Needham, three years each. 
 
 There was considerable agitation during the year 
 for a new town hall, to be located at the village. 
 One proposition was to purchase " Block Hall." 
 Nothing was accomplished, however, in this direc- 
 tion, the committee reporting through its chairman, 
 John S. Needham, "in view of the present depressed 
 state of business the committee recommend a post- 
 ponement, but not an indefinite postponement of 
 the subject." 
 
626 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTEK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 The town having paid no attention to the decree 
 of the County Commissioners in relation to the 
 " Hiram Daniels Road," they had built the road, and 
 now served notice upon the town to pay the expenses 
 and charges of completing, amounting to $5505, into 
 the county treasury. This the town voted to do, 
 October 3 ; then also voted " that a committee of 
 three be appointed to take into consideration the 
 matter of inducing capitalists or mechanics to locate 
 in this town." The committee was Jeremiah Gat- 
 chell, Daniel Simmons, John' C. Scott. 
 
 Albert Smith and Jeremiah Gatchell were again 
 elected Representative and Senator respectively, to 
 the General Court. 
 
 Thanksgiving morning, November 26th, a fire 
 destroyed the barn, paint, wheelwright and black- 
 smith shops, and the dwelling-house of Micajah 
 Fuller, the barn and greater part of the Lincoln 
 House, owned by Martin Jenckes. As in the preced- 
 ing year, the Woonsocket steam fire-engines came to 
 the rescue. At a meeting, December 9th, it was 
 voted to have a steam fire-engine, and five thousand 
 dollars was appropriated for its purchase. 
 
 In February a disastrous fire in Millville destroyed 
 the large stone woolen-mill. The satinet-mill at 
 Upper Canada, run by John C. Scott, was burned this 
 year. 
 
 1875. — Town Clerk, Junius Bates; Selectmen, 
 Henry S. Mansfield, Patrick Kennedy, Samuel S. 
 White; Assessors, Americas Welch, William A. Cole, 
 John Gallagher; Overseers of the Poor, Micajah 
 Fuller, Alonzo W. Southwick, Dennis McMullen ; 
 Treasurer, John S. Needham ; School Committee (for 
 three years), Alvin C. Robbins, Andrew Kelly. 
 
 John S. Needham having declined to serve as 
 treasurer, Daniel Wheelock was chosen. The steam 
 fire-engine company of the town was organized. The 
 town accepted the selectmen's lay-out of Farnum 
 Street, September 18th. Patrick Kennedy was chosen 
 Representative. Rev. Edwin G. Babcock was as- 
 signed to the Methodist Society at Millville, and Rev. 
 William R. Mays to East Blackstone. Under the 
 kindly infiuence of Rev. William A. Power was 
 formed, in St. Paul's Society, the Young Men's Catho- 
 lic Union, a literary society, which long held weekly 
 meetings, and collected a considerable library. 
 
 Mr. John Needham, after twenty-three years' resi- 
 dence in town, having removed to Lawrence, Mass., 
 to become superintendent of the Washington Mills 
 in that city, the Rev. S. D. Church was chosen to 
 fill the vacancy on the Board of School Committee. 
 In May John L. Utley opened a law-office in Black- 
 stone. Myron Daniels was appointed postmaster at 
 East Blackstone. .Tune 9th died Dr. Moses D. South- 
 wick. He was born in Mendon, July, 1805, on the 
 farm of his father, George Southwick, where his early 
 life was spent. By teaching school he won his way 
 through Brown University, graduating in 1828, and 
 Bowdoin Medical College in 1831, having read medi- 
 
 cine with Dr. Usher Parsons, of Providence, R. I. 
 He practiced a short time in Bellingham, but soon 
 (1834) removed to Millville, where he spent the rest 
 of his life. He was a man of sterling character, of 
 vigorous powers of mind, well-balanced, and of 
 remarkably even temperament. 
 
 1876. — Town Clerk, John Nugent; Selectmen, 
 Americus Welch, Patrick Kennedy, Matthew Faulk- 
 ner ; Assessors, Americus Welch, James Dollard, 
 Patrick Baxter ; Overseers of the Poor, Micajah Ful- 
 ler, Willard Bennett, Richard Newsome ; Treasurer, 
 Horatio Stockbridge; School Committee, James Dol- 
 lard, three years; Austin A. Wheelock, one year. 
 
 Francis N. Thayer was chosen Representative to 
 the General Court. The town now voted to reduce 
 the Board of School Committee to three members 
 again. 
 
 In December Rev. Theodore G. Wilder was called 
 to the Waterford Baptist Society, and May 21st Rev. 
 George F. Walker to the Blackstone Church. Rev. 
 William H. Turkington was appointed to the Method- 
 ist Society, Millville, and Rev. N. G. Axtell to East 
 Blackstone. Rev. John D. McConkey took charge 
 of St. John's Parish October 14th. Francis N. 
 Thayer, a native of the town, having been admitted 
 to the bar of Worcester County, opened an office in 
 Blackstone Village. 
 
 Rev. S. D. Church closed his pastoral labors at the 
 Free Baptist Church, in Waterford, on Sunday, June 
 4th. He returned to the church in Taunton, Mats., 
 where he first entered upon his pastoral <luties and 
 where he then served for six years. Mr. Church was 
 a devoted student, a man of excellent abilities and 
 attainments, and as a Hebrew scholar ranked high in 
 his denomination. 
 
 Early in the year was completed Institute Hall, a 
 large and handsome edifice, near the St. Paul's 
 Church, devoted to the social and educational inter- 
 ests of its people. The building is .of wood, eighty 
 feet long by forty-five feet in width, and two full 
 stories in height above the basement. 
 
 1877. — Town Clerk, John Nugent; Selectmen, 
 Americus Welch, Thomas T. Smith, Daniel Wheel- 
 ock ; Assessors, Americus Welch, William L. Reade, 
 Olney L. Pickering; Overseers of the Poor, Micajah 
 Fuller, Richard Newsome, Alonzo Southwick ; Treas- 
 urer, Joel Hervey; School Committee, Henry C. 
 Kimball, three years. 
 
 This spring the town was seized with one of its 
 periodical spasms of small economy and fixed the 
 price at which its servants must work. This process 
 involved the choice of a new tax collector and the 
 consequent loss to the town within two years of sev- 
 eral thousand dollars. It was voted that the School 
 Committee shall appoint a superintendent of schools, 
 and that board appointed Alvin C. Robbins. The 
 committee appointed to secure the settlement in town 
 of additional manufacturing enterprises were active 
 during "the year, and the valuable water privilege at 
 
 i 
 
BLACKSTONE. 
 
 627 
 
 Millville, on the Blackatone River, was sold by its 
 Worcester owners to the Woonsocket Rubber Com- 
 pany, of Woonsocket, R. I., and the Lawrence Felt- 
 ing Company. 
 
 Rev. R. D. Dyson was appointed to the Methodist 
 Society at Millville and Rev. Charles Nason to the 
 East Blackstone Society. The Mansfield Scythe 
 Factory, built in 1871, oft' Central Street, Millville, 
 was purchased by Messrs. Booth & Kidd and con- 
 verted into a woolen-mill with four sets of machinery. 
 Dr. Frank J. King opened his office in Millville in 
 August. 
 
 The last week in October the Waterford No. 8 
 Mill was totally destroyed by fire. This mill was the 
 oldest of the Watei ford Mills, having been built by 
 Welcome Farnum in 1825. The loss of this mill was 
 a serious drawback to the town and resulted in the 
 removal of many industrious families and good citi- 
 zens elsewhere. 
 
 1878. — Town Clerk, John Nugent; Selectmen, 
 Americus Welch, Terrence McGinley, Michael Tuite ; 
 Assessors, Americus Welch, Patrick Baxter, Dennis 
 J. Connors; Overseers of the Poor, Micajah Fuller, 
 Peter McCooey, William F. Byrne; Treasurer, Austin 
 A. Wheelock ; School Committee, for three years, 
 Adrian Scott. 
 
 April 1st, it was voted, " that the assessors be in- 
 structed to abate all taxes assessed on the real estate 
 of Messrs. Cook & Banigan, for the term of five years 
 from the date of their purchase in the village of Mill- 
 ville, except upon the valuation upon said real estate 
 of that date." This vute was passed in behalf of the 
 improvements made at Millville by the Lawrence 
 Felting Co., consisting of the Felting Jlill and its 
 adjuncts, machinery, &c. 
 
 At this meeting the following resolutions were 
 passed : 
 
 Resolred, That the inhabitaiifs of the Town of Blsiclietone, in town, 
 meeting assemliied, leceive with regret tlie information of tlie death of 
 ourreepected former fellow-citizen, Sylvanns H. Benson. 
 
 ReauUe'i, That we deem it our duty to express in our name our regard 
 for tlie various imi)nrtalit public services wliicli distinguislied Ills oliicial 
 life and to mark with appiopriate honor the points of his character and 
 the integrity of his aduiiniatration of the several departments which 
 have been intrusted to his care. These entitle him to the afTectioiiate 
 remembrance of the inhabitants of this Town and an honorable place in 
 the history of its public servants. 
 
 Resolved, That the Town Clerk be requested to transmit copies of the 
 foregoing resolutions to the family of our deceased friend and to have 
 the same placed upon the records of the Town. 
 
 September 27th the town voted to fund the town debt 
 by establishing a Sinking Fund. Commissioners 
 were elected as follows : Jeremiah Gatchell, for three 
 years; Lawrence Boylan, for two years; Henry S. 
 Mansfield, one year. 
 
 Frederic Thayer was chosen Representative to the 
 General Court. 
 
 Rev. John H. Sherman was appointed to the Meth- 
 odist Society at Millville. 
 
 Rev. Jesse C. Heald was called to St. John's So- 
 ciety July 1st. 
 
 Channing Smith died August 29th, in the eighty- 
 first year of his age. 
 
 1879. — Town Clerk, Daniel Wheelock ; Selectmen, 
 Americus Welch, Terrence McGinley, Frederick 
 Thayer; Assessors, Americus Welch, Mathew Marty, 
 James A. Kidd ; Overseers of the Poor, Andrew 
 Kelly, Francis N. Thayer, Lawrence Gibney ; School 
 Committee, Augustus Wilcox, three years, — Dennis 
 McCaffrey, one year, to fill vacancy caused by the 
 resignation of Henry C. Kimball ; Treasurer, Leonard 
 T. Gaskill. 
 
 The proceedings of the previous September, in re- 
 gard to the Sinking Fund, not appearing upon the 
 records in sufficient form, were void. The town, 
 therefore, again pas.sed its vote establishing a Sinking 
 Fund, ordering the assessors to assess each year one 
 and one-half mills on each dollar of taxable property, 
 and elected Jeremiah Gatchell for three years, Henry 
 S. Mansfield for two years and Rice A. Brown, Jr., 
 for one year. Sinking Fund Commissioners. 
 
 The revised Truant Laws oftered by Adrian Scott, 
 chairman of the School Committee, were accepted 
 and adopted by the town and were approved by the 
 Superior Court, Francis H. Dewey, Nov. 15th. 
 
 A committee was appointed to name the public 
 roads and streets in the town. The committee 
 reported, November -llh, forty-four public and two 
 private ways with names, and the report was adopted. 
 
 Agitation was begun of the question of enlarging 
 the Town Asylum, and it was referred to the Over- 
 seers of the Poor. 
 
 JIajor Edwin B. Staples died October 20th, at Sar- 
 asota, Flurida, whither he had gone for his health. 
 
 Edward B. Savage, Esq., attorney-at-law, opened a 
 law-office in the Union House in September. 
 
 Mr. Francis Kelly died the latter part of August, in 
 the seventieth year of his age, at Dorchester, Mass., 
 where he removed some three years previous. He 
 was a native of Bellingham, but came to Blackstone 
 when a young man and resided in this town over forty 
 years. His life-long occupatiou was teaching. He 
 had an aptitude for teaching, and his schools were 
 characterized for good order and discipline, a system- 
 atic pursuit of studies and a strict attention to the 
 rules and duties of the place. He filled many impor- 
 tant town ajjencies. 
 
 1880. — Town Clerk, John Nugent; Selectmen, 
 Americus Welch, William J. Bowes, Lawrence Don- 
 Ion, Jr. ; Assessors, Americus Welch, George Wil- 
 liams {1st), Louis R. Banigan ; Overseers of the Poor, 
 Daniel Heft'ernan, James H. Boyle, Andrew Kelly ; 
 Treasurer, Lawrence Boylan ; School Committee, 
 Dennis McCaflrey (for three years), Samuel S. White 
 (for two years, to fill a vacancy caused by removal of 
 Augustus Wilcox). 
 
 " Voted that all persons building in the town for 
 manufacturing purposes will be abated their taxes 
 for the term of five years, provided the amount of 
 said investment be not less than $50,000." Under 
 
628 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 this vote the Woonsocket Rubber Company began, in 
 1882, their large factory, upon which taxes were 
 abated from 1883 to '88. 
 
 The new Almshouse was the subject of two meet- 
 ings during the spring, and was eventually built on 
 the old road opposite the old house, instead of upon 
 the new section of Mendon Street, where it would 
 have been much more accessible and in a much more 
 sightly location. 
 
 Rev. Ck'orge F. Walker having resigned his charge 
 at the Blackstone Church, the society remained with- 
 out a settled pastor for several years. 
 
 Rev. Lewis Dexter was settled at the Waterford 
 Church. 
 
 A new church, known as St. Augustine's, was 
 built at Jlillville by the Roman Catholic Society of 
 that village, which continued under the charge of 
 Rev. William A. Power, of Blackstone. 
 
 Lyman Legg having been removed from the Mill- 
 ville post-office, Matthew Blanchard was appointed 
 postmaster. 
 
 1881.— Town Clerk, John Fay ; Selectmen, Amer- 
 icas Welch, William.!. Bowes, Lawrence Donlon, Jr.; 
 Assessors, Americus Welch, Michael Tuite, George 
 Baxter ; Overseers of the Poor, Daniel Heffernan, 
 James Meagher, John Clark ; Treasurer, Austin A. 
 Wiieelock; School Committee, for three years, Adrian 
 Scott. 
 
 The school-house at Millville was enlarged during 
 the summer. The school-house in the Pickering Dis- 
 trict becoming untenable, the school was suspended 
 after the spring term. During the summer the iron 
 bridge at the New City began to give signs of weak- 
 ness, and August 22d a committee of five was appointed 
 to conti'act for a new bridge. The Providence and 
 Worcester Railroad having refused to bear its propor- 
 tion of the expense, a committee of three was ap- 
 pointed November 11th to a.scertaiu that company's 
 liability. The contract of the company with the 
 town upon the construction of the first iron bridge, 
 in 18()7, as well as all other records bearing upon the 
 subject, were submitted to Francis P. Goulding, Esq., 
 of Worcester, and Judge E. Rockwood Hoar, of Bos- 
 ton, who gave it their opinion separately that the 
 railroad company was chargeable. The attorney for 
 the company, having reviewed these opinions, gave 
 his assent thereto, and the company eventually 
 helped pay for the new iron bridge. 
 
 Americus Welch was chosen Representative to the 
 General Court. 
 
 Rev. Wilbur S. Smithers was assigned to the Meth- 
 odist Society at F^ast Blackstone. 
 
 1882.— Town Clerk, William F. Byrne; Selectmen, 
 Americus Welch, Louis R. Banigan, Lawrence Don- 
 lon, Jr. ; Assessors, George Williams, John J. Hefl'er- 
 nan, John Conway; Overseers of the Poor, Daniel 
 Hefternan, Patrick Baxter, Francis McMnnus ; Treas- 
 urer, Austin A. Wheelock; School Committee, for 
 three years, Horatio Stockbridge. 
 
 Street-lights, to the number of thirty, were first 
 voted July 28th. 
 
 The New City iron bridge was erected, and a relay 
 of South JIain Street was made by the selectmen. 
 
 Americus Welch was again elected Representative 
 to the General Court. 
 
 Early this year the proprietor of the Franklin Sen- 
 tinel at Franklin, Mass., undertook to revive the 
 Blackstone Valley Clironicle by printing a Blackstone 
 edition of his paper, with Edward Savage, Esq., as 
 local editor. 
 
 1883.— Town Clerk, William F. Byrne; Selectmen, 
 Americus Welch, Louis R. Banigan, George F. 
 Creighton ; Assessors, Americus Welch, James A. 
 Kidd, Edward McCooey ; Overseers of the Poor, 
 Patrick Kennedy, James H. Boyle, George Wil- 
 liams ; Treasurer, Austin A. Wheelock ; School Com- 
 mittee, for three years, Orlando Scott. November 
 6th Francis McManus was chosen in place of James 
 H. Boyle, deceased. 
 
 March 12th the town adopted a town seal as fol- 
 lows : " Voted, that the Town adopt as a design for a 
 Town Seal, a shield, one-half of which shall contain 
 the coat-of-arms of the Blackstone Family, the other 
 half contain the representation of the tower of the 
 old Blackstone Mill. Below this, upon a scroll, the 
 Blackstone motto, ' T>o well and doubt not,' with 
 flowers ; and above the shield a scroll with the date 
 of the Town's incorporation, 1845 ; and upon the 
 margin shall appear, ' Nepmug Country until 1667; 
 Mendon, 1667; ' and directly above the shield, in the 
 margin, ' Blackstone.' " 
 
 The New York and New England Railro.ad removed 
 its unsightly wooden bridges over Main and Canal 
 Streets, and substituted iron bridges during the fall 
 and winter. Under a decree of the County Commis 
 sioners, the company was allowed to erect piers be- 
 tween sidewalks and roadways upon both streets. 
 
 Rev. A. A. Briggs was appointed to the Methodist 
 Society at East Blackstone. 
 
 Decenil)er 10th the village of Blackstone was startled 
 to learn that Dr. William M. Kimball had been found 
 in his office in an apoplectic shock and unable to 
 speak. He lived about two days, but did not recover 
 the power to speak. Dr. Kimball was born in South- 
 bridge, studied with Dr. Miller, of Providence, and 
 attended lectures at the Berkshire Medical School 
 and at Harvard Medical School, graduating from the 
 latter. He settled in Blackstone in 1840. | 
 
 1884.— Town Clerk, William F. Byrne ; Selectmen, 
 Americus Welch, Louis R. Banigan, George F. 
 Creighton; Assessors, John F. Campbell, Orlando 
 Scott, Edward McCooey ; ' Overseers of the Poor, 
 Daniel Heffernan, Francis McManus, George Wil- 
 liams; Treasurer, Austin A. Wheelock ; School Com- 
 mittee, for three years, Adrian Scott. November 4lh 
 Edward R. Thompson was chosen in place of Daniel 
 Hefl'ernan, deceased. 
 
 April 7th it was voted to build a new bridge overthe 
 
^t,"- 
 
 ^JWIHtlliAi'ii \ 
 
 ^ .^^ 
 
I 
 
BLACKSTONE. 
 
 G29 
 
 Blackstone River, near the Union House, and twelve 
 
 tliousand dollars was appropriated therefor. October 
 7th the County Commissioners re-located 8outh Main 
 Street and awarded land damages. 
 
 Daniel Wheelock was chosen Representative to the 
 General Court. 
 
 Rev. William J. Alger became rector of the St. 
 John's Parish, Millville, in place of Rev. Jesse C. 
 Heald, who removed to TariftVille, Conn. 
 
 Rev. Michael Kittredgewas placed in charge of the 
 St. Augustine Society. ' 
 
 Rev. A. J. Church was assigned to the Methodist 
 Society at East Blackstone. 
 
 Rev. Leroy M. Pierce was settled at Blackstone 
 Church. 
 
 1S85.— Town Clerk, William F. Byrne ; Selectmen, 
 Americus Welch, Patrick O'Donnell, John J. Dorsey ; 
 Assessors, John F. Campbell, Orlando Scott, Edward 
 McCooey ; Overseers of the Poor, Patrick Kennedy, 
 Francis McManus, George Williams (1st); Treasurer, 
 Austin A. Wheelock : School Committee for three 
 years, Horatio Stockbridge. 
 
 April (5th, it was voted to have Road Commissioners, 
 and the ballot taken elected Peter Maloney, for three 
 years, Cornelius R. Day, for two years, and Americus 
 Welch, one year. It was also voted to adopt the sys- 
 tem for keeping town accounts and printing town re- 
 ports offered by Americus Welch. The grade of that 
 portion of South Main Street recently re-located was 
 fixed, and the width of the sidewalks was established 
 at two-elevenths of the established width of each 
 street, equal to nine feet upon Main Street, and all 
 roads three rods wide. 
 
 This year was rendered memorable by the famous 
 strike at the Millville Rubber Work?, the disastrous 
 effects of which upon the prosperity of the village 
 and the town are not yet entirely overcome. The 
 strike began the latter part of June, and lasted sev- 
 eral months. In September the attitude of the strik- 
 ers was so threatening, when the company substituted 
 new help, that the selectmen judged it prudent to 
 bring down a company of Worcester city police. 
 
 Rev. Edward P. Phreaner was appointed to the 
 Methodist Society at Millville. 
 
 The different temperance organizations in town, 
 united with the clergy, and a strong public sentiment 
 that the liquor dealers were acting unscrupulously in 
 selling to minors, on Sundays, etc, gathered force 
 during the winter and manifested its strength at the 
 ensuing annual election. 
 
 Matthew Blanchard, the postmaster at Millville, 
 having died suddenly in January, his wife was ap- 
 pointed, and still holds the position (January 1, 1889). 
 
 William Byrne was appointed postmaster at Black- 
 stone in August, in place of Junius Bates, and Caleb 
 Colvin at East Blackstone in place of Myron Daniels. 
 
 1886.— Town Clerk, Michael Carroll ; Selectmen, 
 Adrian Scott, Patrick Kennedy, James P. Mulvey; 
 Assessors, John F. Campbell, Orlando Scott, Edward 
 
 McCooey ; Overseers of the Poor, Daniel W. Heffer- 
 nan, Francis McJIanus, John P. Maloney; Treasurer, 
 Austin A. Wheelock; School Committee for three 
 years, George K. Marshall; Road Commissioner, Sal- 
 mon Blanchard. 
 
 Prospect Street was laid out by the Road Com- 
 missioners, accepted by the town and ordered built. 
 The following resolution, oflered by Hon. Jeremiah 
 Gatchell, was read and adopted : "Resolved, That the 
 Boards of School Committee and Selectmen be re- 
 quested to arrange a system of payment of the salaries 
 of the teachers of the several schools in town, by 
 which they may receive their salaries in regular 
 monthly instalments." 
 
 Since March, 1886, in consequence of the above re- 
 solve, the teachers in the public schools have been 
 paid monthly while schools were in session. 
 
 Forest fire wards were first appointed July 3d, un- 
 der the law of 1886, and I-ouis R. Daniels, William 
 A. Aldrich and John DoUard constitute the board. 
 
 The northerly abutment of the Central Street 
 wooden bridge, Millville, having partially fallen in, a 
 heavy masonry abutment was built during the fall and 
 winter under the charge of Cornelius R. Day, chair- 
 man of Road Commissioners. 
 
 The County Commissioners re-districted Worcester 
 County and placed Blackstone with Mendon, Milford 
 and Hopedale in the Eleventh District, with two rep- 
 resentatives. Both representatives were chosen from 
 Milford this year. 
 
 November 15th, Daniel W. Heffernan having re- 
 moved from town, Patrick Kennedy was chosen 
 chairman of the Overseers of the Poor. 
 
 The Blackstone Valley C/ironicle again came to an 
 end about April 1st, the new series reaching Vol. V., 
 No. 13, before its final demise. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Woodward was assigned to the Methodist 
 Society at East Blackstone. 
 
 The town at its annual March election voted on the 
 question of license to sell intoxicating drinks — " Yes," 
 259, "No," 369, and no licenses were issued, not to 
 apothecaries even. 
 
 1887. — Town Clerk, Michael Carroll; Selectmen, 
 Adrian Scott, John W. Cannon, James P. Mulvey ; 
 Assessors, John F. Campbell, James P. Mulvey, 
 Joseph Byrne; Overseers of the Poor, Patrick Ken- 
 nedy, Thomas Downey, Patrick R. Shea ; Treasurer, 
 Austin A. Wheelock; Road Commifsioner for three 
 years, Patrick Haggerty ; School Committee for three 
 years, Adrian Scott; for one year (to fill vacancy 
 caused by the resignation of Horatio Stockbridge), 
 Rev. John D. McGann. 
 
 June ISth, .lohn F. Campbell was elected chairman 
 of the Board of Selectmen in place of Adrian Scott, 
 resigned. 
 
 Thomas McCooey was elected representative to the 
 General Court. 
 
 January 4th was organized East Blackstone 
 Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, No. 137, of Massa- 
 
630 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 chusetts, with twenty-seven charter members. Its 
 meetings were held weekly during the year at Cover- 
 dale Hall, corner of Elm and Blackstone Streets, and 
 at the close of the year it numbered nearly seventy 
 members. 
 
 Rev. E. W. Porter began his second ministry at the 
 Baptist Church iu Waterford. 
 
 The town at its annual March meeting reversed its 
 position upon the liquor license question, the vote 
 being ".Yes," 337 ; " No," 146. 
 
 1888.— Town Clerk, Michael Carroll; Selectmen, 
 Patrick Kennedy, John Conway, Thomas McCaffrey; 
 Assessors, John F. Campbell, Robert Miller, Joseph 
 Byrne ; Overseers of the Poor, Patrick Kennedy, 
 Patrick R. Shea, Thomas Downey ; Treasurer, Law- 
 rence Boylan ; Road Commissioner for three years, 
 Michael A. Bradley ; School Committee for three 
 years, Joseph Byrne. 
 
 April 2d it was voted that a committee of three be 
 appointed to purchase a lot of land as a site for a 
 new school-house in Millville. May 2d, four thousand 
 dollars was appropriated for a lot and building, and a 
 lot having been secured by gift from the Lawrence 
 Felting Company, a school-house with two rooms was 
 erected and furnished in season for two schools to be 
 held therein, December 1st. 
 
 The Blackstone Library and Athenteum Associa- 
 tion, havintr been dormant for .some years, a proposi- 
 tion on the part of the majority of its stockholders, 
 that the town take the books as the nucleus of a pub- 
 lic library was accepted, as was also the ofter of the 
 Blackstone Manufacturing Company of the old vestry 
 building as a library room, rent free for ten years. 
 
 The lay-out of Preston Street, Millville, as made 
 by the road commissioners, was accepted, and the 
 road ordered built May 2d. The stone arch over Fox 
 Brook, Main Street, Waterford, was widened and 
 sidewalks built during the fall. May 2d it was also 
 voted to divide the town into voting districts, but 
 when the selectmen had established the bounds the 
 town did not accept the same. 
 
 Thomas McCooey was again elected representative 
 to the General Court. 
 
 St. Augustine Church was greatly enlarged and 
 beautified during the fall to accommodate its increas- 
 ing number of communicants. 
 
 Rev. James H. Nutting, of Woonsocket, was 
 assigned to supply East Blackstone Methodist 
 Society. 
 
 The Baptist Society at Waterford thoroughly reno- 
 vated its church building this summer, and greatly 
 increased its interior beauty and convenience. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 DANIEL S. SOUTHWICK. 
 
 Mr. Southwick was born in Blackstone, Mass., 
 March 25, 1805. He was left an orphan at an early 
 
 age and went to live with his uncle, Jacob Southwick, 
 where he remained until his uncle's death. Daniel 
 having reached the age when it became necessary for 
 him to think of learning a useful trade, found employ- 
 ment with Ale.xander Wilson, one of the old time 
 scythe-makers. This was the time when numerous 
 small scythe-shops were scattered over the county. 
 So well satisfied was Mr. Southwick with his employer 
 that he remained with him twenty years. At the age 
 of twenty-eight he built the home where he resided 
 until his death, February 17, 1886. During his life- 
 time he held many important offices in his town and 
 was ever faithful to all trusts reposed in him. The 
 friendless poor, the unfortunate and those in any 
 trouble, ever found in him a .sympathizing friend. In 
 all matters of business he was prompt and punctual, 
 his word was as good as his bond, and throughout a 
 long life he maintained this character. He married 
 Sally Wilson January 28, 1832. In his family rela- 
 tions he was the loving husband and the kind father. 
 In the community in which he lived he was a re-, 
 spected citizen, and there having rounded out the 
 three-score years and ten allotted him, he passed to 
 his reward, leaving a widow, two sons, two grand- 
 children and one sister. 
 
 JAMES C. SOUTHWICK. 
 
 James C. Southwick, the son of Daniel, grand- 
 son of John, and great-grandson of Jonathan, is a 
 direct descendant from Lawrence, the Pilgrim, who 
 came from England to America in l(i27, and probably 
 settled in Salem, although his name does not appear 
 on the records until 1639, when he and his family 
 were admitted to membership in the First Church of 
 Salem, and land was given him by the town on 
 which to carry on the business of manufacturing glass 
 and earthen-ware. The subject of this sketch was 
 the only son in a family of seven children, five of 
 whom are now living. He was born in Mendon 
 (now Blackstone), December 12, 1824, on the home- 
 stead which has been occupied by the three preced- 
 ing generations. In early life he attended the dis- 
 trict school in his native town, and supplemented his 
 education at Scituate, R. I., and at the Worcester 
 Academy. 
 
 When a young man he purchased a farm adjacent 
 to the old homestead, which he carried on until the 
 decease of his father, when he bought the latter 
 place, which he still occupies. Mr. Southwick is a 
 progressive agriculturist, and has all the modern ap- 
 pliances for farm work. In his religious views he is 
 liberal, believing in deeds rather tha,n creeds. Sep- 
 tember 18, 1845, he married Elizabeth F., daughter 
 of Wilder Holbrook. They have had fimr children, 
 viz. : Medora E., born June 17, 1847, who married 
 Josiah B. Davis, of Black'-tone; Eva A., born Au- 
 gust 14, 1852, who marri. i Charles H. Buflum, of 
 Oxford, and died May 31 1 883, three years after her 
 marriage ; De Etta, bo.iJ February 28, 1859, who 
 
^,^?^£-:i^ -Z^ i^^^^^-Z'/^i^y^^^^'' 
 
SPENCER. 
 
 631 
 
 died August 7, 1860 ; Wilder D., born April 19, 1866. 
 The latter having completed a course of study in 
 the American Veterinary College, at New York, re- 
 ceived his degree in 1887, and is now practicing as a 
 veterinarian in Woonsocket, R. I. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXV. 
 
 SPENCER. 
 
 BV J. W. TEMPI,E. 
 
 History whex a Part of Leicester. — As 
 Spencer was originally a part of the town of Lei- 
 cester, its early history would be incomplete without 
 speaking briefly of the mother township, from its 
 purchase until the separation between it and Lei- 
 cester took place. In the latter part of the seven- 
 teenth century certain gentlemen, known as "pro- 
 prietors," purchased large tracts of land within what 
 is now Worcester County, to settle " plantations " 
 thereon, and it is reasonable to suppose, as a specula- 
 tive venture also. These purchases were made upon 
 conditions that a "certain number of families, within 
 a certain number of years, shall there be located, and 
 a sufticieut quantity of land thereof shall be reserved 
 for the Gospel ministry and a school." In this man- 
 ner, and upon like conditions, was purchased a 
 " tract of land, eight miles square, lying near the 
 new town of the English, called Worcester, to be 
 called Leicester and to belong to the County of Mid- 
 dlesex." The deed of this tract was from the heirs 
 of Oraskaso, "sachem of a place called Tontaid," 
 and was dated the twenty-si.xth day of January, 
 Anno Domini one thousand six hundred and eighty- 
 six. 
 
 This, then, was the first step taken towards settling 
 this wilderness, and the history of Spencer must 
 necessarily date from this purchase, although it was 
 fifty years or more before the division was had which 
 made it a separate and distinct town. 
 
 For more than a quarter of a century there was 
 nothing to encourage the "proprietors" to go for- 
 ward, settle and develop the tract, as the depreda- 
 tions by the Indians in the surrounding towns were 
 of such serious nature that a postponement of the 
 project seemed the only alternative. A few years 
 previous to this purchase, King Philip and his war- 
 riors were raiding the territory in this immediate 
 vicinity, murdering the inhabitants, laying waste the 
 towns or causing them to be abandoned, through 
 great fear; and since these incursions were more or 
 less frequent until 1713, it remained a wilderness up 
 to this date, without a "single white inhabitant." 
 
 At the conclusion of peace, in 1713, another and 
 successful attempt was made to put the original plans 
 into execution. Inasmuch as the "proprietors" had 
 
 not been able to fulfil their part of the contract, viz., 
 to settle the number of families in the time required 
 according to conditions imposed by the General 
 Court, their right to proceed further without per- 
 mission from the said General Court had lapsed. 
 Accordingly, as early as possible after this period, 
 application was made to this body for carrying into 
 eftect the spirit and letter of the first-named agree- 
 ment, and consent obtained. This they did by a 
 petition, praying a "confirmation of the said tract to 
 them and their associates," and their prayer was 
 granted upon conditions similar to those made in 
 the previous contract. 
 
 An early meeting of these gentlemen was called to 
 enter into and consummate arrangements for settling 
 a part of this grant, and it was decided that the East 
 half should be used for this purpose, while the West 
 half should be retained by the " proprietors." Thus, 
 early in the history of the town, the two sections 
 came to be known as the East, or settlers' half, which 
 is now Leicester, and the West, or proprietors' half, 
 now Spencer. 
 
 A survey was made of the East half, house-lots 
 were laid out and inducements to settlers were offered 
 similar to those in other localities, viz.: that one 
 shilling an acre, a nominal price, should be charged, 
 "provided the purchaser should agree to settle a 
 family thereon within three years from the date of 
 purchase." As a further inducement, every house- 
 lot should be supplemented with an additional one 
 hundred acres in some other part of the town, for 
 every ten acres of house-lot. Thus, by paying forty 
 shillings, the purchaser became possessor of four 
 hundred and forty acres of land. These lots were 
 made accessible by public highways, running north 
 and south, east and west, abutting upon each. Lots 
 were also set apart for the Gospel ministry and school 
 purposes agreeable to the original contract. With 
 fair prospects now of a more lasting peace between 
 settlers and Indians, the proprietors again indulged 
 the hope of locating a settlement here that might yet 
 rival, in population and business enterprise, many of 
 the older towns in the county. 
 
 Yet, a decade passed before the number of families 
 necessary to the carrying out of the original conditions 
 were located, but within twenty-five years from the 
 planting of the first habitation " the town had in- 
 creased rapidly in population and wealth." The 
 entire interest of the proprietors now being trans- 
 ferred to the West half, early preparations were 
 made by them for further development of these 
 lands and favorable inducements offered to settlers 
 for this purpose. They caused a survey to be made 
 of the tract, dividing it into eighty lots of two hun- 
 dred and fifty acres each, and two of these lots were 
 set apart for ministerial and school purposes. They 
 also entered into an agreement with the purchasers, 
 that "as soon as twenty-five families were settled 
 within the limits of the said eighty lots, the proprie- 
 
C32 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 tors, as an encouragement to the settlement of relig- 
 ion among them, will advance and give the sum of 
 forty pounds towards building a meetinghouse." 
 
 First Skttlers. — Later these original lots were 
 sub-divided, and the first one of them sold was in 1717, 
 to Nathaniel Wood, containing one hundred acres, 
 and was situated near the Brookfield line, on the old 
 County Road. Up to 1725 but two other lots had 
 been sold to families who had located thereon, viz., 
 to Samuel Bemis and John Graton. The land of the 
 former adjoined that of Nathaniel Wood, while that 
 of the latter was situated in the southeast part of the 
 plat or near the "Styles reservoir," now so called. 
 
 The process of settling this half was a slow one, and 
 as late as 1740 it contained i)robably not more than one 
 hundred and fifty inhabitants. For more than twenty 
 years these sturdy pioneers struggled manfully against 
 poverty and want without complaint in regard to 
 their condition, but there was a growing feeling that 
 they had been neglected, on the part of the town au- 
 thorities in repeatedly refusing to grant them " roads 
 for their better accommodation." Both church and 
 school were located in the east half, and although they 
 contributed_by tax towards their support, yet, practi- 
 cally, they were deprived the benefit of them. The re- 
 cords show that when they asked that " roads might 
 be laid out, at the just expense of both parts of the 
 town, so that the inhabitants might get to meeting,'' 
 the request was not only refused, but was "regarded 
 as an injustice." The need of roads appeared to be a 
 constant source of grievance to these people, and up 
 to 1736 little or nothing had been done in this direc- 
 tion to relieve their pressing wants. Under these 
 circumstances the minister and highway tax had be- 
 come burdensome to them, and it is not surprising; 
 perhaps, that they should early seek some measure, or 
 measures, that would, sooner or later, relieve them 
 from such an embarrassing position. At this time the 
 town was about to settle a minister and provide for 
 his support; therefore a tax of one penny per acre was 
 laid upon all the lands of the proprietors and indi- 
 vidual settlers. This act was so unsatisfactory to the 
 people of the west half that they forwarded a petition 
 to the General Court, asking that they might be ex- 
 empt from paying this tax " unle-s their proportion 
 might be applied towards the support of preaching 
 among themselves." The House of Representatives 
 was inclined to grant the request, but the Council op- 
 posed the petition, alleging an "error in directing the 
 petition, &c.," which was in all probability a pretext 
 only, as upon this and other subsequent occasions 
 they too plainly indicated that they had little or no 
 sympathy in common with the people. The peti- 
 tioners had entertained strong hopes that this request 
 would be favorably considered by the proper author- 
 ities, and that, ere long, the difficulties in regard to 
 both meeting and minister would be obviated. In 
 this they were disappointed. But the dawn of a 
 brighter day aw dted them, for closely following this 
 
 event the proprietors came to their assistance with 
 pecuniary aid and a Mr. Cunningham donated them 
 land for a meeting-house and other ])urpo8es, which 
 in time was erected, and by these gifts they early came 
 into possession of a place of worship and minister. 
 
 Now that this institution had become a fixed fact 
 for this part of the town, and consequently a centre 
 around which a settlement might sooner or later de- 
 velop, it was not a surprise to the people of the "set- 
 tlers' part" that a division of the town should be seri- 
 ously agitated. Whatever might have been said by 
 the people of the west half about distance from the 
 church or school or bad or no roads, their objective 
 point was undoubtedly that they be "set off" into a 
 new town. The first move in this direction was in 
 1741, when a petition was presented to the town, in 
 town-meeting, asking that they be made a separate 
 and distinct town, and there seemed to be no objec- 
 tion to granting this request. Stimulated by this 
 success, a petition was now prepared and forwarded 
 to the General Court, asking that a legal division 
 might be had, and a bill favorable to the petitioners 
 passed both Houses, but when it came to the Governor 
 — Shirley — for his signature he refused it. This 
 action was disappointing to both sections, as each had 
 now come to feel that the interests of the whole 
 would be best subserved by a separation. With this 
 feeling now dominant, it is singular that so important 
 a matter should be allowed to rest, but for nearly 
 three years following there is no record showing to 
 the contrary, and the supposition is that no further 
 action was taken during this period. But early in 
 174.3 the subject was again agitated with renewed 
 enthusiasm. It was then decided that a committee 
 of both proprietors and settlers request of Gov- 
 ernor Shirley a personal interview "that they might 
 lay their case before him in a more friendly way," 
 and induce him, if possible, " to reconsider his recent 
 decision." But their efl^brts were fruitless, and Hij 
 Excellency could not be induced to change his for- 
 mer opinion, much less consent to any measure or 
 bill to form a new and distinct town. At this junct- 
 ure, in his judgment, it was not politic to do so. This 
 action of the Governor's towards these people was a 
 very unpopular one for hira, and did much to 
 strengthen the feeling of dislike that was taking root 
 in their hearts for royalty, whether in Governor or 
 subordinates. 
 
 It was thought that further effort looking towards 
 separation must be abandoned for a time until a new 
 expedient presented itself, which, if successful, might 
 be made an entering wedge in the near future for 
 more satisfactory results. It was that application be 
 made to the (ieneral Court to be created into a pre- 
 cinct, as this would give them an ecclesiastical gov- 
 ernment at least, independent of the east half. Ac- 
 cordingly, on the 31st day of May, 1744, Mr. James 
 Ormes was chosen to present a petition to this body, 
 representing " that the difficulties which moved him 
 
SPENCEK. 
 
 633 
 
 to apply, that they should be a distinct township, do 
 still subsist, and may in a great measure be removed 
 by their being made a precinct." In this they were 
 successful, and an act of incorporation, as such, was 
 granted the 18th of June following. 
 
 Precinct. — In compliance a warrant was issued, 
 calling a meeting of the " Freeholders and other In- 
 habitants of the Precinct, or Parish, Qualified by Law 
 to vote in Town affairs, which as yet has never been 
 had," and on the 10th of September, 1744, the follow- 
 ing precinct officers were chosen, viz.: Jonathan 
 Lamb, moderator ; John Stebbings, clerk ; Samuel 
 Bemis, John Newhall and James Willson, assessors; 
 David Adams, collector; David Allen, treasurer; 
 Samuel Bemis, John Cunningham, Jonathan Laml), 
 John Stebbings and James Willson, committee for 
 calling precinct meetings. From this date and until 
 April 12, 1753, all calls for parish meetings were dated 
 " Leicester West Parish," etc. 
 
 The advantage derived by this new order was to 
 give them the liberty of action in parish matters, as 
 they could now choose officers to regulate their church 
 affairs, but in all things else they were subject to the 
 town, as heretofore. 
 
 The perplexing question of better roads was yet a 
 matter of serious consideration, and five years after 
 the above proceedings an earnest appeal was made 
 to the selectmen "to lay out suitable roads for their 
 accommodation," and while this request was not now 
 considered unreasonable, inasmuch as the town had 
 expended considerable money for the same purpose in 
 the East half, yet they were not disposed to grant the 
 request. Further appeals to the town authorities 
 were regarded useless, but still believing their claims 
 to these improvements to be valid, they resolved to 
 take their case before the Court of Sessions for adju- 
 dication. They, therefore, petitioned this body, ask- 
 ing " that they cause certain roads to be laid out." 
 The selectmen were cited to appear and " show cause 
 why this request should not be granted," and the 
 town chose a committee of citizens to appear with 
 the selectmen in support of their position. The case, 
 however, did not reach the court, as before the day 
 appointed for a hearing a compromise had been 
 arranged between the parties, the result of which was 
 that before the close of the year eleven of the much- 
 needed roads were laid out and constructed. This was 
 very satisfactory, as the roads contributed largely to 
 the comfort and convenience of the West Parish, 
 but the feeling still existed that the differences be- 
 tween the two sections were again liable to arise 
 under the same regime, and that the proper remedy, 
 under the circumstances, would be found in a division 
 of the town. This view of the matter was now 
 entertained by the East Parish, and they not only 
 gave their consent to a dissolution, but expressed a 
 desire to unite with the West Parish and work har- 
 moniously together to accomplish that jiurpose. Ac- 
 cordingly, on the 22d of November, 1749, the follow- 
 
 ing petition was presented to Acting Governor 
 Phipps, viz.: 
 
 Petition to the Itonorable Spencer Pbipps, Lieut. Governor, by the 
 siiliacribere, a committee of the town of Leicester, stating that the in- 
 habitants of the westerly part of said town have built a meeting-house, 
 and settled a minister, and stating further, that about Eight years 
 ago, moved to tlie town of fjeiceeter to be set off and made a distinct 
 town, which was readily granted, whereupon application was made to 
 the court, about three years afterwards, for the same, but instead of 
 being made a town, was made a Precinct only, which was very griev- 
 ous to both, nor had the town any opportunity given them to offer any 
 reasons to the Honorable Court to the contrary, although they have 
 many to give, and one was that the west partcalled upon the select- 
 men of Leicester to lay out roads for them, upon the joint expense of 
 both parts of the town, so that the inhabitants of the west part might 
 get to meeting, Ac. They further state that when the hinds of the 
 easterly part were laid out, sufficient land was appropriated for roads, 
 but when the west part was divided, it was laid out into lots, and 
 no land left fur roads, and now the east part was called upon to be 
 at their proportion of the expense, which tliey considered unjust. 
 That the inhabitants of the west part preferred a complaint to the 
 court of sessions, for a committee to lay out roads for their accom- 
 modation. They therefore pray the Court to erect the west part of 
 Leicester into a distinct and separate town, &c. 
 
 Daniel Denny, 
 Steward Soi'thqate, 
 Joii.v Brown. 
 
 The matter was now pressed upon the General Court 
 by the people of both sections, and as a result, this 
 body, as it had done on two former occasions, passed 
 a bill in compliance with the request as set forth in 
 the petition, but again His Excellency vetoed it, 
 giving as his reasons for doing so, that he would not 
 consent to this or any other bill " unless provision be 
 made that the number of representatives be not 
 thereby increased, or a clause suspending the execu- 
 tion of the act until His Majesties pleasure shall be 
 known thereon, be inserted in the said act." This 
 shallow message exasperated the House, as the only 
 conclusion to be reached by them was, that their 
 combined judgment in this matter was entitled to lit- 
 tle or no weight by him, or that he had not manliness 
 enough to assert the authority vested in him until lie 
 should first learn "His Majesties pleasure" there- 
 upon. 
 
 This position of the Governor did not, however, 
 change the sentiment of the House in relation to the 
 equity of the prayer of the petitioners, and they at 
 once addressed a communication to him setting forth 
 their views in regard to the relations of His Majesty 
 to his subjects, also stating that " the number of 
 Representatives the town of Leicester, by charter and 
 laws of the Province, are entitled to is not enlarged 
 by this bill," and in closing, they " flatter themselves 
 that your Honor will give his consent.'' But His 
 Excellency was immovable, and this appeal had no 
 effect. This, and the previous experience of the 
 people in this direction, taught them that the House 
 of Representatives was the only branch of the govern- 
 ment that had a common feeling with them, and this 
 was accounted for because it was made up of the 
 people, and for the people, and they could better 
 appreciate their condition and necessities. Notwith- 
 standing this last attempt resulted in failure, they 
 
634 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 were not discouraged, as the cause for which they 
 were laboring was as vital to them now as ever, and 
 there was no good reason why they should, at this 
 time, retreat from the position taken. They did, 
 however, allow it to rest for tliree years, at the end of 
 which time it was renewed with their old-time energy- 
 A parish meeting was called March 6, 1753, and a 
 committee, consisting of Benjamin Johnson, Lieu- 
 tenant John White and Deacon John Worster, was 
 chosen to again petition the General Court to be in- 
 corporated as a separate town. The action of the 
 House of Representatives, on this occasion, was en- 
 dorsed by the Council, but again the result was a 
 failure for want of His Excellency's signature, 
 although an act was finally passed, which received 
 his consent, erecting the precinct into a separate and 
 distinct district, to be known as Spencer, " with all 
 the powers, privileges and immunities that towns in 
 the Province may enjoy, that of sending a Represen- 
 tative to the General Assembly only excepted," but 
 giving the said district " full liberty and right to join 
 with the town of Leicester in choosing a representa- 
 tive," they paying their proportional part of the ex- 
 pense of the same. This, then, was another step 
 secured towards the one great object and aim of these 
 people, yet it did not, by this act, dissolve entirely the 
 relations existing between Leicester and Spencer. 
 There were other districts in the province, similarly 
 situated, subject to the same restraints, etc., which re- 
 mained in force until 1775, at which time they were 
 removed. In 1780 tlie ''right" of representation was 
 guaranteed under the Constitution. 
 
 Town Origin. — The birth of the town then, really, 
 dates from this act, — although by it, it did not attain 
 the full dignity of a township, owing to the terms im- 
 posed. By this act one Thomas Steel, Esq., was "em- 
 powered to issue his warrant, directed to some princi- 
 pal of said district, requiring him to notify and warn 
 the inhabitants of said district to meet at such time and 
 place as shall be therein set forth, to choose all such 
 officers as shall be necessary to manage the affairs of 
 said district." In accordance with this authority, in 
 him vested, he issued his warrant to Captain Benjamin 
 Johnson, and a meeting for the above purpose was 
 called, at which the- following officers were elected, 
 as directed by the law, viz. : Captain Benjamin John- 
 son, moderator; Captain Benjamin Johnson, town 
 clerk ; Deacon John Worster, John Cunningham, 
 John Muzzy, Deacon James Willson and Captain 
 Benjamin Johnson, selectmen ; Captain Benjamin 
 Johnson, treasurer; Samuel Bemis and James Ormes, 
 constables ; the selectmen were voted assessors ; En- 
 sign John Stebbings, Samuel Garfield, John Prouty, 
 Caleb Bridges and Robert Griffin, highway surveyors 
 on the north side of the county road; Jacob Stod- 
 dard, Jonathan Lamb and David Adams, highway 
 surveyors on the south side of the county road ; 
 James Richardson, highway surveyor on the county 
 road ; Joshua Draper and Benjamin Woodard, hog- 
 
 reeves ; Deacon John Worster and Thomas Bridges, 
 fence-viewers; Israel Holton, sealer of leather ; Lieu- 
 tenant John White, sealer of weights and measures ; 
 John Draper and Jacob Stoddard, tythingmen. One 
 of the first acts passed by the district was to " allow 
 Lieut. John White the sum of £2 ISs. 4d. for his ser- 
 vices in going to the Grate and General Corte in 
 order to git us to be a District." 
 
 The town was never made such by any special act 
 of incorporation, but it became one, virtually, by an 
 act of August 23, 1775, which made all places, incor- 
 porated originally by the name of districts, "towns, 
 to every intent and purpose whatsoever." Agricul- 
 ture was the only occupation known to these people, 
 at this early period, and the cutting away of the for- 
 ests, sowing and gathering the fruits of the ground, 
 were the only sources of revenue with which to meet 
 the wants of the family and various taxes. The 
 plow, hoe and other like implements assisted largely 
 in supplying the scanty food, while the spinning- 
 wheel and loom, with industrious hands to guide 
 them, furnished the family clothing " fit for mill or 
 meeting." The district at this date, 1753, numbered 
 about five hundred inhabitants. 
 
 Location. — The town lies south of the centre of 
 the county, and about midway between the eastern 
 and western boundaries. On the north are the towns 
 of Oakham and Paxton, on the east Paxton and Lei- 
 cester, on the south Charlton, and on the west Brook- 
 field and North Brookfield. It is quite regular in 
 shape, forming nearly a parallelogram, being about 
 eight miles long by about four miles wide, and con- 
 taining thirty-two square miles, more or less, or ris- 
 ing twenty thousand acres. 
 
 Situation. — It is pleasantly situated upon the 
 "Great Post Road," running from Worcester to 
 Springfield, twelve miles from the former and thirty- 
 six miles from the latter. Its villages, aside from 
 the main or central one, are Hillsville, northwest; 
 Upper and Lower Wire Villages, northeast; and 
 South Spencer, southwest. 
 
 POMDS, Rkskrvoirs anp STREAMS. — It is fairly 
 well watered by ponds, reservoirs and small streams. 
 Among the latter, the principal one, known as 
 Seven Mile River, enters the town at its north bound- 
 ary, and, emerging from the Browning Pond, takes a 
 southwesterly course through the town. It is swollen 
 to a river of moderate dimensions before reaching 
 Podunk Pond, in the town of Brookfield, and thence 
 its waters pass into Long Island Sound, by way of 
 the Connecticut River. In addition to the water it re- 
 ceives from its main supply, it is fed by numerous 
 small brooks, and a principal tributary called Turkey 
 Hill Brook. 
 
 This stream enters the town at its northeast 
 corner, its source being Turkey Hill Pond, lying 
 in Paxton and Rutland. It runs in a southwesterly 
 course, and makes a junction with the Seven Mile 
 River near the old " Daniel AVniitteniore " place, so- 
 
SPENCEK. 
 
 635 
 
 called. A small stream which takes its rise in Shaw 
 Pond, Leicester, connects with the Turkey Hill 
 Brook near the main mill of the Spencer Wire Com- 
 pany, upon which stream the extensive works of this 
 company are situated, the same being about two and 
 a quarter miles northeast from the post-office. 
 
 Another small stream passes through the centre of 
 the village, and connects with the Seven Mile River 
 at the " Great Meadows," its source being Whitte- 
 raore, or Moose Pond. A tributary from the south is 
 Cranberry Meadow Brook, which rises in Cranberry 
 Meadow, and flows north, through " Howes Pond," 
 connecting with it a quarter of a mile north of the 
 South Spencer Station, on the Boston and Albany 
 Railroad. The streams, or brooks, in the southeast 
 part of the town iiow in this direction, and event- 
 ually reach the Blackstone River, which runs to Nar- 
 ragansett Bay. Although most of these streams are 
 unimportant, yet in "ye olden tyme " they furnished 
 the power for various small mills and factories lo- 
 cated upon them, for grinding grains, manufacturing 
 powder, wire, hoes, scythes, etc. 
 
 The principal body of water (natural pond) within 
 its borders is the Whittemore or Moose Pond. It is 
 situated in the centre of the township, and covers 
 about eighty acres of land, is very pure and wholesome 
 water, being fed almost entirely by springs, and yields 
 in the winter a harvest of excellent ice for summer 
 consumption. In winter, also, it is a fine sporting 
 field for persons of piscatorial habits, as it contains hard, 
 luscious pickerel, that sustain a wide reputation. 
 Brooks and Browning Ponds, lying on the north, are 
 quite large bodies of water, but they are principally 
 in the towns of Oakham and North Brookfield. There 
 are two large reservoirs — one the "Sugden," lying 
 wholly in Spencer, and situated near the Upper Wire 
 Village, and the other the "Styles," situated at the 
 southeast corner of the town, and lying one-half in 
 Spencer and one-half in Leicester. Cranberry Meadow 
 and Burntcoat Ponds cover over a considerable terri- 
 tory, the former lying between Spencer and Charlton, 
 and the latter three-fourths in Leicester. The other 
 ponds, or small reservoirs, contain water enough to 
 make them an important auxiliary to steam, and are 
 made fairly remunerative when used in this con- 
 nection. 
 
 Soil. — The soil, when properly cultivated, yields 
 abundant crops of grass, grains, potatoes, &c., and 
 compares favorably with the average farming lands 
 of the county. 
 
 Surface. — The surface is very irregular, but not 
 abrupt, is diversified by hills and valleys, some of the 
 hills forming the highest points of land between 
 Springfield and Worcester, on the line of the Boston 
 & Albany Railroad, and are very symmetrical in form. 
 They overlook a large extent of country to the north, 
 west and south, and from the summit of some of them 
 the eye takes in an extended sweep of country, dotted 
 with houses, ponds, streams, valleys, other hills and 
 
 distant spires, in neighboring towns, all combining to 
 form a scene not to be surpassed in the country. 
 
 Geological. — The geological formation of the 
 town consist? mostly of gneiss rock; mica and chlorite 
 slate are found, and the rock is generally unfit for 
 building purposes. The highest ledges retain a hori- 
 zontal position, while in the low river bottoms they 
 are tilted about one-third, showing that the disturbing 
 force has been a sinking, rather than an uplifting one. 
 Trap prevails to some extent in the north part; the 
 boulders correspond with the native ledges, and 
 scratches of glaciers are found. 
 
 The Village. — The village spreads out over a very 
 uneven surface. The original streets are crooked and 
 narrow, but in the more modern portions they are 
 laid out with more regularity, wider and more con- 
 venient for travel and business. 
 
 Railroads. — The railroad accommodations are 
 limited to one line, viz. — the Boston and Albany, 
 which is located two and one-quarter miles from the 
 business centre, the station being at South Spencer. 
 This was a long distance to transport the large number 
 of passengers and amount of freight laid down at this 
 depot, and numerous coaches and heavy teams were 
 constantly employed for this purpose. In 1870 a route 
 was surveyed from the Boston and Albany Railroad at 
 South Spencer to the central part of the village, and 
 in 1872, at a town-meeting, the town was called upon 
 to subscribe to the capital stock in a railroad to con- 
 nect these two points ; but at this meeting it was voted 
 " to pass over the article." Various surveys were now 
 made, covering this and other routes, but the matter 
 was not brought before the town again until April 7, 
 1877, when the article was again passed over. Several 
 more meetings were held for this purpose, but with 
 like results, until, at a meeting April 3, 1878, the town 
 voted to subscribe to two hundred and fifty shares 
 (twenty-five thousand dollars) of the capital stock in 
 said road, which action caused the road to be forthwith 
 constructed, greatly to the relief of the increasing 
 traffic and to the convenience and comfort of the 
 traveling public. 
 
 Meeting-Houses. — CongregaHonalista. — The Jint 
 care of the settlers here, as elsewhere, was to arrange 
 for such shelter as would meet the wants of their fami- 
 lies ; then, as they invariably carried .their religion 
 with them, it became their next duty to provide for a 
 metting-house and minister, that their spiritual wants 
 might be properly cared for. April 2, 1739, Samuel 
 Bemis and John Stebbiugs were chosen a committee 
 by the settlers of the west half to proceed to Boston 
 for the purpose of meeting the proprietors, then and 
 there, "to come into some arrangement about the 
 building of a meeting-house and having the gospel 
 preached to them." At the meeting held for the pur- 
 pose it was voted " to lay a tax of three pence per 
 acre on their lands the following year, and two pence 
 per acre for the next two years, to assist the settlers 
 in building a good, substantial meeting-house, forty- 
 
636 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 five foot in length and thirty-five foot in width, and 
 towards the minister's support." As a further assur- 
 ance that the undertaking should be a success, 
 Nathaniel Cunningham, of Cambridge, donated to 
 them by deed, February 26, 1740, two acres of land 
 " for the accommodation of a meeting-house, a train- 
 ing-field and such other public uses as the town shall 
 direct, forever." In all probability they were about 
 erecting this house in the year 1743, although the re- 
 cords do not indicate that such was the case, as on 
 the 30th of November of that year it is recorded that 
 the proprietors held a meeting at which a report of 
 the parties who contracted for the building of the 
 same was considered by them. That the house was 
 occupied when in a very crude condition, the re- 
 cords, further on, give conclusive evidence. It was 
 covered with rough, unplaned boards, having a 
 ground floor and loose flooring for the galleries, the 
 inner walls unfinished, the interior lighted by a few 
 small windows, the glass set in leaden sash. Yet. 
 notwithstanding it was a rude and uninviting struc- 
 ture, it afforded the inhabitants shelter from the sun 
 and storm, and furnished them an altar around which 
 they could gather for religious worship and instruction. 
 
 It became necessary now to make some arrange- 
 ments for seats, or pews, and on the 7th of Novem- 
 ber, 1744, a meeting of the inhabitants was called, 
 "to see if they would come into any method in order 
 to build the body of seets," and also " to see what 
 method they will come into to dispose of the pews." 
 The " body of seets " was located in the centre of the 
 house, on either side of the centre aisle. The wall- 
 seats, on the west side of the house, were for the 
 elderly men without pews and those on the east side 
 for the elderly women without pews. The galleries 
 were for the younger people and the sexes were 
 separated in the same manner as below. At the last 
 meeting a " comity " was chosen to build the "body 
 of seets" and to " mark out. Dignify and set a prize 
 on the pew spots." This work having been com- 
 pleted, the following plan was adopted for disposing 
 of the "spots," viz. : "The man that shall be highest 
 in valuation of real-estate shall have the first choice, 
 and the next in succession until the pews are all 
 taken up." According to this plan Samuel Bemis 
 was entitled to the first choice, and it was voted that 
 " he have the Pew Spot on the Rite hand side of the 
 Coming in of the South Doore, prize £5 Os. Orf. ; Left. 
 Jonathan Lamb shall have the Pew Spot on the easte 
 end of the polpet ajoining thereunto, prize £4 Os. Od." 
 And so on until twelve spots had been assigned and 
 located. The sum of two pounds was the lowest 
 price paid. 
 
 One year later the sura of £25 was voted " to defray 
 the charges of building a polpet. Deacon's sect, body 
 of seets and ministerial pew." For nearly five years 
 the "doors" had been without proper fastenings, and 
 on the 28th of March, 1748, a committee of three, viz. : 
 Lieutenant White, Deacon Worster and Daniel 
 
 Knapp, was chosen " to procure a Lock and Key 
 for the meeting-house Doore, at the cost of the 
 Parish." 
 
 From this time until March 2, 1767, the subject of 
 finishing the building had Ijeen discussed and voted 
 upon at nearl)' every district meeting held, and small 
 sums of money appropriated to finish or improve some 
 part of the same, and at a meeting held this day it 
 was voted to raise the sum of £50, "to finish the 
 meeting-house decently." This sum, however, was 
 never raised, but four years later, or at a meeting held 
 February 13, 1771, it was decided to build a new 
 house, the size of which should be fifty-six feet in 
 length and forty-seven in width, " and upon the spot 
 where the old one now stands." After the usual pre- 
 liminaries had been arranged and details decided upon, 
 as far as possible, the contract was awarded to Daniel 
 Baldwin, " to build it in a proper manner," for the 
 sum of seven hundred pounds, he taking the old 
 building as part pay. As he declined to take the 
 responsibility of raising the new one, the selectmen 
 were m.ade a committee to attend to it, with authority 
 to expend an amount which had been appropriated 
 for that purpose, and in their report to the town they 
 certify that it was expended for " Liquor, ropes and 
 other things." The house contained sixty-eight pews, 
 forty-six being located on the floor and twenty -two in 
 the galleries, and the same system was adopted for 
 disposing of them as in the previous house. The 
 appraised value of these pews was fixed at five hundred 
 pounds. In 1801 a tower and cupola were added to 
 the house, and three hundred dollars was voted for 
 that purpose. This improvement suggested a bell, 
 and the sum of $426.87 was secured by private sub- 
 scription for one, and in town-meeting it was voted 
 " that the names of the generous subscribers be entered 
 upon the town records." 
 
 Up to 1821 no means had been provided for warm- 
 ing the meeting-house, but this year it was decided 
 to introduce stoves, " under the inspection of the 
 selectmen." For two years their experience with 
 this " innovation " was not wholly satisfactory, be- 
 cause of the propensity of these stoves to smoke, and 
 a committee of three was accordingly appointed " to 
 take into consideration the subject of stove-pipe, or 
 funnel, in the meeting-house ... to remedy their 
 smoking." This committee attended to their duty 
 and recommended alterations " at the outlet by carry- 
 ing the funnels out at the east and west windows." 
 
 In 1838 this meeting-house was repaired by turning 
 a quarter around and fronting it to the south, with 
 new inside finish, new pews, etc., making it to con- 
 form, .as nearly as possible, " to the meeting-house 
 recently fitted up in Paxton." It was completed and 
 dedicated on the 14th of November of this year. 
 May 1, 1843, during a high wind, the spire of this 
 church was blown oft', and passing down through the 
 roof, damaged the ceiling and interior to some extent. 
 On the 1st of January, 1862, it was entirely destroyed 
 
SPENCER. 
 
 G37 
 
 by fire, and from this period, until a new house was 
 erected, religious services were held in the Town 
 Hall. Preparations were at once made to rebuild, 
 and on the 8th of April, 18t)3, the new edifice was 
 dedicated. 
 
 On the ground floor of the new building was the 
 vestry, and on the second floor the audience room. 
 In 1881 this vestry was enlarged, a church parlor aud 
 kitchen were fitted up for the convenience of church 
 and society gatherings and other parochial purposes. 
 In 1885 it was generally felt that this building had 
 become inadequate to the growth of the church and 
 society, and it was proposed to enlarge the audience 
 room and change the entire arrangement, providing 
 the alterations could be done without expense to the 
 society. Individuals responded generously by sub- 
 scriptions to carry out the plans suggested, and an 
 addition of twenty feet was made to the north end of 
 the building. The organ and singers' seats were 
 placed in the rear of the pulpit, the pews were re- 
 arranged, the walls beautifie<l by fresco decorations, 
 and gas, public water and steam-heating apparatus 
 were introduced. It was re-dedicated December 22d 
 of this year. These alterations transformed the 
 building into an attractive edifice both inside and 
 out, and by these changes the proportion of the whole 
 structure was greatly improved. The front and 
 steeple are of a mixed order of architecture, bold in 
 outline and projection, and from base to pinnacle the 
 symmetry is well preserved. 
 
 The late Isaac Prouty, while living, expressed a 
 desire that the church building might, sooner or later, 
 be remodeled, and that he would subscribe the sum 
 of five thousand dollars towards the payment of the 
 same. The work now having been completed, his 
 heirs, in accordance with his wish, presented this 
 amount to the subscription fund, with a request that 
 it be received as a " memorial of him.'' 
 
 Singing. — From the days of our forefathers, singing 
 has been considered an exercise in the service of the 
 church, next in importance to the " preaching of the 
 Word," and in its rendering was regarded by them as 
 (/evotional. If, during the last half of the nineteenth 
 century it has become emotional, it certainly is not 
 the fault of the forefathers. 
 
 In the early days the deaconing of the hymn or 
 psalm was a necessary custom, as but few, joining in 
 the exercise of song, possessed the hymn or psalm- 
 books; consequently, the service was of a purely con- 
 gregational nature. In 1782 an attempt was made to 
 place singing seats in the gallery of the meeting- 
 house, " that the singers may sit together," but just 
 what time they were allowed to "sit and sing togeth- 
 er " is not recorded. The chorister, in those days, 
 held that j>osition by the united vote of church ami 
 congregation, and the first to occupy that position was 
 Dr. Ormes, in 177U. The next was John Muzzy, Jr., 
 in 1775, and, in 1782, Lieutenant Jonas Muzzy, with 
 Mr. Oliver Watson as assistant. 
 
 The first hymn-book that came into general use was 
 the " Watts' Psalms and Hymns," adopted in 1769, 
 after an animated controversy of ten years or more, 
 and it remained in use until 1862. It was exchanged 
 for the "Sabbath Hymn-Book," which was used until 
 1885, when the " Laudes Domini " took its place. 
 
 The first instrument introduced into the choir was 
 the bass viol in 1829, and was played by O. S. Worth- 
 ington and others, and the next was the double bass, 
 played by William G. Muz^y. Then followed the 
 violin, flute and other instruments, and, later on, the 
 reed and pipe-organ. In 1863 the latter, a two-bank 
 organ with twenty-eight stops, was purchased of Wil- 
 liam A. Johnson, of Westfield, Mass., the maker of it, 
 and, in 1887, at the remodeling of the church, it was 
 taken down by G. H. Ryder & Co., of Boston, and 
 enlarged by the addition of five new stops, and other- 
 wise improved in power and gpneral appearance. The 
 singing, up to and at the present time, is by a volun- 
 teer choir. 
 
 Universalis/a. — In 1808 the citizens of Spencer were 
 asked to remonstrate against certain towns (including 
 Spencer) being incorporated into a religious society to 
 be called the "Universal Society;" but in town- 
 meeting they voted "to take no action relating to 
 the subject." Some of the inhabitants were, how- 
 ever, agitating the advisability of a separation from 
 the established church, but no decided move in this 
 direction was taken until 1820. This year David 
 Adams gave notice that he had become a member of 
 the " Second ITniversalist Society in Brookfield and 
 Charlton," and before the close of 1821 forty-three 
 persons had withdrawn to join this and a Baptist 
 Society about to be formed in this town. This year, 
 also, the town and parish had so far become sepa- 
 rate and distinct bodies, as to cause the making aud 
 collecting of the ministerial tax to be done by the 
 Congregational Society. 
 
 In 1830 a Universalist Society was incorporated 
 with ten members, and in 1833 a meeting-house was 
 erected, in which services were held until 1840. The 
 society, from this time, gradually decreased in num- 
 bers, until it ceased to exist, and the house and 
 church property were disposed of. 
 
 This building stood upon the west corner of Main 
 and Wall Streets, and twenty years after it was aban- 
 doned for church purposes it was converted into a 
 boot-factory. For many years it retained its original 
 outward appearance, until, finally, such additions 
 were made to it, that it entirely lost its identity. 
 From about 1875 occasional meetings of this denom- 
 ination were held in the town hall, but in 1881 the 
 society was reorganized under the general statute of 
 this State, and at a meeting on the 26th of October of 
 this year they adopted a cou'ititution and by-laws 
 and voted "to purchase land and build a church." 
 This edifice was erected in 1882 and dedicated Feb- 
 ruary 20, 1883, with Rev. F. A. Bisbee as pastor. 
 
 Externally, this is an attractive brick structure 
 
638 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, 3IASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 while internally it is very complete in its modern 
 arrangements, which consist of a commodious audi- 
 ence-room, chapel and church parlors upon the 
 ground floor. Upon the basement floor is a spacious 
 room for entertainments and church gatherings, with 
 a kitchen conveniently connected and abundantly 
 supplied with all the conveniences required in this 
 department. 
 
 Mefkndht. — In 184(1 a few families, representing the 
 Methodist faith, assembled themselves together and 
 held public religious meetings in the audience-room 
 of the Universalist meeting-house. In 1841 a society 
 was organized in conformity with the rules of this 
 denomination, and made use of the town hall for 
 holding meetings for nearly six years. In 1847, to 
 accommodate their increasing numbers, they pur- 
 chased land and erected a very sub-stantial church 
 building with belfry and spire. It contained a vestry 
 upon the first floor and audience-room upon the sec- 
 ond. In 1872-73 the house was remodeled by mak- 
 ing additions upon either end, repainting and fresco- 
 ing both audience-room and vestry and adding parlors, 
 kitchen and other ante-rooms. It has a large mem- 
 bership. 
 
 Baptists. — The formation of the Baptist Society 
 January 30, 1810, resulted from a division of the Bap- 
 tist Society in Liecester, which took place in 1818. 
 Their meeting-house was erected in the northeast part 
 of the town (called North Spencer) in 1820. There 
 was preaching at this house, at intervals, up to 1840, 
 but their membership diminished so rapidly after this 
 date that stated services were wholly abandoned. In 
 1878 the society was reorganized with twenty-one 
 members, holding services in a small hall in the town- 
 house at first and later in a private hall fitted up for the 
 purpose, until in 1885 a new brick church building 
 was erected. The size of the audience-room, 39 x 49 
 feet, with a seating capacity of 330; the vestry, 
 39 X 40 feet; parlor, 17 x 20; and kitchen, 12 x 17. 
 The ceremony of the laying of the corner-stone was 
 held on the 7th of September, 1885, and on the 21st 
 of June, 1887, the church was formally dedicated. 
 
 St. Mary's (Boman Catholic). — In 1845 a few scat- 
 tering families of this faith worshipped at rare in- 
 tervals, in .the houses of private individuals. In 
 1851 this, with several other parishes, was placed un- 
 der the charge of a clergyman, and in 1853 the parish 
 had grown numerically sufiicient to warrant the 
 building of a church, and one was completed this 
 year. It was a handsome frame building, with tall 
 spire and bell. In 1855 the parish was attached to an 
 out-mission to Webster, and so remained until 1857, 
 when it was placed under the charge of the Jesuit 
 Fathers, resident of the Holy Cross College, Worces- 
 ter. This year the Catholic population numbered 
 less than one-fifth the inhabitants of the town, but 
 thirty years later those who affiliated with this 
 church numbered about five-eighths of the whole. 
 In .1871 they were given a resident pastor, in the 
 
 person of Rev. Julius Casson. He died in July, 
 1879, and was succeeded by Rev. Thos. D. Beaven, 
 and in 1883 Rev. Bernard S. Conaty came as assis- 
 tant pastor. In November, 1888, Father Beaven was 
 assigned a charge at Holyoke, Mass., and a few 
 weeks later Father Conaty was transferred to Spring- 
 field, Mass. In 1883 they began the building of a 
 new brick church edifice, and dedicated it in 1887, 
 as the Church of the Holy Rosary. The general 
 style is cruciform, and outwardly it is a stately and 
 beautiful exemplar of church architecture. The 
 nave is one hundred and forty-five feet in length, 
 and the transept eighty-eight feet, and the interior 
 decorations are a high order of ecclesiastical art. 
 The windows are a prominent feature in these dec- 
 orations, and the fifteen, in the chancel and aisles, 
 represent the Fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary. The 
 two large transept windows, thirty by twelve feet, 
 are fine works of art. In 1886 the growth of the 
 church occasioned the separation of the English and 
 French-speaking portions of the parish, and the Old 
 St. Mary's was set apart for the latter, under the 
 charge of Rev. C. R. Veins, pastor, and Rev. J. A. 
 Manceau as assistant. In December, 1888, Rev. G. 
 R. Dolan was transferred from Springfield, Mass., to 
 the charge of the new church. 
 
 jMiiiistc7-s. — The fact that the inhabitants of the 
 west half could not easily enjoy the privileges of the 
 sanctuary had an important bearing upon their 
 early eflforts in securing for themselves a place of 
 worship and a gospel teacher. About the time the 
 frame of the first meeting-house was erected, the 
 Rev. Joshua Eaton began preaching as a candidate 
 for minister, to be settled over them, and on the 17th 
 of May, 1744, a church was formed and a covenant 
 subscribed to, between himself as pastor and certain 
 of the inhabitants. Shortly after this compact he 
 received an invitation from the church and people 
 " to become our Gospel Minister," which was ac- 
 cepted by him, and on the 7th of November following 
 he was duly ordained as such. The following pastors 
 represented their respective churches at this service, 
 viz.. Rev. Mr. Prentice, of Grafton ; Rev. Mr. Plall, of 
 Sutton ; Rev. Mr. Cheney, of Brookfield ; Rev. Mr. 
 Goddard, of Leicester ; Rev. Mr. Webb, of Uxbridge, 
 and Rev. Mr. White, of Hardwick. This was then 
 designated as the " Second Church of Christ in Lei- 
 cester." The terms of settlement gave to the minister 
 "all the land-tax, an additional sum by subscription 
 and £1.50, old tenor" (equal to $66.67), as salary, and 
 this sum was to be increased by £5 each year until it 
 reached £200 annually. As the currency depreciated 
 this sum was increased, until in 1766 it was made 
 about equal to $244, where it remained until his 
 death. 
 
 Mr. Eaton was a native of Watertown and a gradu- 
 ate of Harvard University in 1735. After two years 
 of law study he practiced at the bar about five 
 years, then began the study of theology and fitted 
 
2ra 
 
SPENCER. 
 
 639 
 
 himself for the ministry. He remained in charge of 
 this parish until his death, which occurred April 12, 
 1772. " He was greatly beloved by his people, 
 tender and sympathetic in his nature, plain and 
 practical in all his preaching," and although the 
 profession of law presented more worldly attractions, 
 yet he felt that the ministry was his calling and that 
 he would not " return to the practice of the law, 
 with its tumult, dissipation and snares that attend 
 court, on any consideration." The parish was now 
 obliged to resort to candidates, and after six Sabbaths' 
 trial, the Kev. Joseph Pope, of Pomfret, Conn., was 
 invited to occupy the pulpit with a view to settle- 
 ment. His manner and preaching soon won the 
 hearts of the people and they heartily concurred with 
 the church in calling him to become their pastor, 
 and at a meeting, February 15, 1778, the district so 
 expressed themselves. They agreed that his settle- 
 ment should be the sum of £133 6.?. 6rf., lawful money, 
 and that they woulil pay one-half at the end of the 
 first year, and the balance at the close of the second 
 year, with a stated salary of £67 (lf244) annually, "so 
 long as he shall continue in that office in this place," 
 and his ordination took place the 20th of October 
 following. A committee was chosen " to provide 
 entertainment for the Council, Gentlemen of Liberal 
 Education and Mr. Pope's relatives and friends,'' but 
 Dr. William Frink, a parishidner, relieved the com- 
 mittee of that duty, as the following note ex- 
 plains : 
 
 Gentlemen Freeholders of Spemer^ Oreelhtg — You are welcome to the 
 entertainment which the council had at my house on the 20th clay of 
 
 Oct^ last. 
 
 I am your honorahU* servant, 
 
 William Fkink. 
 
 A vote of thanks was presented to him, by the in- 
 habitants, for " so great a favor " 
 
 Mr. Pope's pastorate was one of kindness and 
 brotherly love for all his people, and during the long 
 and wearisome years of the Revolution the attach- 
 ment between pastor and people never abated, but it 
 continued warm and abiding until he was separated 
 from them by death. Whether or not it was the cus- 
 tom of these people that the public meeting should 
 be opened with prayer, the first and only record of 
 that exercise w.is at an annual meeting held March 
 5, 1781, when Mr. Pope was sent for "to open the 
 town-meeting with prayer." 
 
 Mr. Pope married Miss Anna Hammond, of New- 
 ton, who survived her husband thirty-three years, 
 living to the great age of one hundred and four years, 
 six months and twenty-eight days, " Honored and 
 beloved by all, cheerful in her old age, and a beauti- 
 ful illustration of that perfect peace vouchsafed to 
 those whose souls are stayed on God." 
 
 As a scholar Mr. Pope was more than a peer of the 
 profession of those days. He enjoyed the confidence 
 and esteem of all within the limit of his acquaint- 
 ance, and after a faithful service of forty-six years, as 
 pastor, his health failed him, and it was the unani- 
 
 mous wish of the people that a colleague be settled 
 with him. The Rev. Stephen Crosby, of Thompson, 
 Conn., came to preach, as a candidate to fill this 
 position, and at the expiration of ten Sabbaths he re- 
 ceived a unanimous call to become the junior pastor, 
 and accepted the same. His salary was fixed at six 
 hundred and fifty dollars per year, "as long as he 
 should remain in that office, and should regularly 
 supply the pulpit in this place." Notwithstanding 
 the unanimity in which the call was made, there ap- 
 pears to have arisen a difl'erence of opinion in regard 
 to the construction of the terms of settlement, which 
 caused some unfriendly feelings. However, the ma- 
 jority sustained Mr. Crosby in his version of it, and 
 on June 111, 1819, he was duly ordained. 
 
 Although there was no outbreak to disturb the har- 
 mony between pastor and people during the follow- 
 ing four years, yet it was apparent that the majority 
 were feeling not a little disturbed at the persistent 
 and selfish manner in which he insisted upon his in- 
 terpretation of the contract with the parish. For two 
 years a spirited correspondence passed between the 
 minister and parish ; committees were chosen, request- 
 ing " Mr. Crosby to alter the contract between him 
 and the people ;" votes were taken upon propositions 
 suggested by him, which were generally unfavorable 
 to his view of the question ; yet be protested against 
 dissolving the compact. But on the 3(Hh of May, 
 1825, a council was convened to consider the situation, 
 and they were unanimous in their opinion that his 
 pastorate should cease, and he was accordingly dis- 
 missed. 
 
 Mr. Crosby received his education at Brown Uni- 
 versity, Rhode Island, and Union College, Schenec- 
 tady, N. Y., and graduated in 1817. He studied 
 theology under Doctor Knott, president of the latter 
 college. 
 
 Nearly a year now passed without any stated sup- 
 ply in the parish, but during this time the Rev. Levi 
 Packarti, of North Bridgewater, Mass., had occupied 
 the pulpit as candidate for that place. Be was so 
 well liked by both church and people that a call was 
 extended to him April 3, 182(5, to settle with them as 
 their minister. The terms proposed by the church 
 and parish were, " that the contract should be 
 dissolved, after six months' notice, by either party, 
 and a salary of five hundred and fifty dollars per 
 annum.'' With a slight modification in them, 
 which was agreeable to the parish, Mr. Pack- 
 ard accepted. The change in the conditions was, 
 "that the salary should be four hundred and seventy- 
 five dollars per annum and a respectable dwelling- 
 house for himself and family during his continuance 
 with the society as minister." Arrangements were at 
 once made tor his ordination, which took place June 
 14, 1826. Previous to this, on the 18th of May, of 
 this year, a lot had been selected by a committee of 
 the town and a vote passed to build a parsonage. 
 When completed this dwelling cost two thousand 
 
640 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 dollars, and was the same building and premises 
 owned and occupied by the late Isaac Prouty. On 
 the 3d of May, 1847, Mr. Packard purchased this 
 property of the town. 
 
 He was a man of more than ordinary ability ; a kind 
 neighbor and citizen. He was ambitious to see the 
 society over which he had charge prosper in increas- 
 ing numbers and devotion to the Master. Whenever 
 the times pressed heavily upon the parish he was 
 quick to comprehend the situation and liberally re- 
 mitted portions of his salary, and this considerate 
 generosity was duly appreciated. 
 
 Being of the "Old School," he was stern in his 
 conviction of duty as he understood it, and perhaps 
 was judged too harshly for the bold stand he took in 
 sustaining it. On account of a conflict of opinion 
 between the principles which he maintained and 
 more modern ones, entertained by the younger mem- 
 bers of both church and parish, on the 3d of Sep- 
 tember, 1853, he asked that he might be dismissed 
 from the pastorate. He was a graduate of Brown 
 University in 1821, and completed his theological 
 education with Rev. Joseph Ide, of Medway, Mass. 
 His pastorate continued over this people twenty-seven 
 years. 
 
 The Rev. Stephen G. Dodd, of Milford, Conn., sup- 
 plied the pulpit after it was vacated by Mr. Packard, 
 and in due time received a call from the church, in 
 \yhi(h the parish concurred, to become their pastor. 
 With his salary, a parsonage was to be furnished, 
 and, in case of dissatisfaction by either party, six 
 months' notice was necessary to terminate the rela- 
 tions. These terms and conditions being satisfactory 
 to the parties interested, he was installed August 23, 
 1854. 
 
 Mr. Dodd was not a brilliant man, in the common 
 acceptation of the term ; but his kindness of heart 
 and .sympathetic disposition won for hira the most 
 profound respect. Even in his temperament, gentle 
 in his manners and po.ssessing an unusual degree of 
 forbearance, he secured to him.self lasting friends, 
 both among his parishioners and the peo|)le of the 
 town. His services ended October 1, 1860, and he 
 was dismissed by Council June 5, 1861. His pastorate 
 extended over a term of six years. He was a grad- 
 uate of Princeton College, New Jersey. 
 
 A call was now extended to Rev. T. T. Waterman, 
 of West Killingly, Conn., to fill the vacancy caused 
 by this resiguation, and accepted by him. His terms 
 of settlement difl'ered from the preceding only that 
 three instead of six months' notice be given in case of 
 dissatisfaction. His installation took place imme- 
 diately following the ratification of the resignation of 
 Mr. Dodd, and by the same council. 
 
 Mr. Waterman was an older preacher than the 
 former pastor, and consequently came to the duties 
 incumbent upon him with ripe experience and a 
 thorough knowledge of the relations which should ex- 
 ist between pastor and people. He was enthusiastic 
 
 in his preaching, presenting his subject with ardor 
 and his prayers were fervent, with a flow of word and 
 soul which were, at times, eloquent. 
 
 In closing his labors he made no communication to 
 the church, resigning his office as pastor ; therefore 
 when his letter-missive was presented the council had 
 no action to take upon the matter. His ministry was 
 of short duration, and ended January 1, 1863. 
 
 December 8, 1862, the parish warrant contained an 
 article "to see what measures the society will take to 
 supply themselves with a minister after July 1, 18(J3." 
 The action upon this article gave the prudential 
 committee authority to confer with the Rev. James 
 Cruickshanks, of Chelsea, Mass., and " engage him, if 
 possible, to preach for the society for one year." He 
 was employed as supply for the above term. After 
 len months the church and parish united in a call to 
 him to become their settled minister, which he ac- 
 cepted, and January 13, 1864, he was regularly in- 
 stalled. 
 
 Mr. Cruickshanks was a preacher of superior abil- 
 ity ; his sermons were well grounded upon a sound 
 evangelical doctrine, and all his literary efforts bore 
 marks of culture and high scholarly attainments. He 
 remained in charge of his duties eight years, his re- 
 signation taking effect July 2, 1871. 
 
 He was followed by Rev. H. A. Shorey, of . 
 Camden, Me., who was installed September 6, 1873, 
 and dismissed January 1, 1877. His successor. Rev. 
 A. S. Walker, of Gloversville, N. Y., was installed 
 November 14, 1877, and remained in his charge ten 
 years, when he was dismissed, September 1, 1887. 
 The Rev. Erastus Blakslee, of Fair Haven, Conn., 
 followed, and after preaching three months was in- 
 stalled May 15, 1888. 
 
 The Revolution. — The military reputation of 
 .Spencer from the French and Indian Wars to the 
 closing of the late Rebellion has been one of patriot- 
 ism and courage, and the town has furnished liberally 
 of both men and means in all the conflicts for free- 
 dom. 
 
 Edmund Bemis and James Smith were in the great 
 expedition sent out under Sir William Pepperell, in 
 conjunction with Admiral Warren, for the capture of 
 Louisbourg in 1744, the former serving with some dis- 
 tinction. James Smith, Jr., was in a later service; 
 John Stebbings was captain in the regiment of Col. 
 Timothy Ruggles at Fort Edward in 1755 and 1756^ 
 where he died. In the same expedition Capt. Philip 
 Richardson and his lieutenant, John Wicker, were in 
 command of a company, and before the war closed, 
 which was substantially in 1762, the following persons 
 participated, viz.: Israel Richardson, Jonas Berais, 
 James Capen, William May, Josiah Robinson, Jr., 
 James Stebbings, Joseph Worster, Nathaniel Par- 
 menter, David Prouty and Daniel Hill. 
 
 Thus early in the history of the country the people 
 of Spencer were being trained in the art of war by 
 actual service, willingly fighting the battles for Eng- 
 
SPBNCEK. 
 
 6-tl 
 
 lish sovereignty. (At this period most of tlie people 
 supposed themselves loyal to the Kiug, and were 
 ready to shout, " God save King George I ") Scarcely 
 had the people recovered from the shock occasioned 
 by these frontier wars before they were called upon to 
 enter upon another contest, fraught with greater 
 hardships and more personal sacrifices. The British 
 ministry were begitining to press measures which 
 some of the leadinj;- spirits regarded as infringements 
 upon the liberties of the American people. A spirit 
 of resentment to these acts, born, perhaps, without 
 any ambitious design of dissolving connection with 
 Great Britain, in a few short years became universal, 
 and as a result the War of the Kevolution. 
 
 This town distinguished herself — not by sending 
 into the army illustrious men, for those she had not — 
 but by promptly furnishing her quota of the soldiers 
 called for and patiently bearing the heavy burdens 
 imposed by the war with as much patriotism and loy- 
 alty to the cause of freedom as the average American 
 community of those times. Chief among these bur- 
 dens was the payment of taxes necessary in the pros- 
 ecution of the war. These they met heroically ; but 
 the system of taxation early iustituted by the British 
 government against the colonies, of which these 
 people' were a part, was both obnoxious and oppress- 
 ive to them. "Taxation without representation" 
 they considered unjust, no matter how trifling the 
 tax, and objected to it as it involved a principle, and 
 many of the wisest Englishmen of that day regarded 
 their objections as reasonable. The people of Spencer 
 were by no means alone in this reasoning. The 
 Stamp Act of 1765 and later Revenue Acts were 
 particularly obnoxious, and Spencer was in full sym- 
 pathy with the town of Boston, which was first to 
 enter a protest against these and other like measures. 
 Circulars and pamphlets sent out from Boston fired 
 the hearts of the people and probably had much to 
 do in hastening the conflict which soon followed. 
 For seven years the people of Boston and immediate 
 vicinity were discussing the situation and attempting 
 to solve the problem involving their relations to the 
 mother country. Very early, however, those towns 
 more removed from the immediate effects of these 
 acts began to comprehend the design of Great Britain 
 towards the American people, and the eftect produced 
 by this literature upon them was very marked. 
 
 The towns of Leicester, Spencer and Paxton, being 
 united as a representative district, met in convention 
 January 1, 1773, " to consider these circular letters 
 concerning the state and rights of the Province," and 
 " spirited and patriotic resolutions," endorsing the 
 views of Boston, were adopted and instructions of the 
 same nature were prepared and ibi warded to their 
 representative in the General Court, Thomas Denny, 
 Esq., of Leicester, requesting that his course of action 
 be guided by the " spirit and letter of these instruc- 
 tions." For two years these towns acted jointly in 
 these deliberations, adopting patriotic measures, for- 
 41 
 
 mulating instructions to representatives or delegates 
 in convention or Congress and api)ointing Committeea 
 of Correspondence. 
 
 The British Government, from policy, had, up to 
 this time, abandoned some of the taxes upon imported 
 articles, but among those upon which a tax still 
 rested was tea, to give, as Lord North proudly said, 
 "the King an opportunity to try the question with 
 America." The opportunity soon presented itself, 
 and the result was the " Boston Tea Party " of Decem- 
 ber 16, 1775. 
 
 The people of Spencer were heartily in sympathy 
 with that movement, and on the 27th of December, at 
 a convention of the above-named towns, strong reso- 
 lutions were presented condemning the use of tea, 
 " while ladened with a tribute, contrary to our con- 
 sent," and declaring that " we will not use it in our 
 families." The women, too, acted as patriotically as 
 the men of the convention, and they declared "that 
 any of the sisters found using the destructive herb 
 should be treated with scorn and contempt." 
 
 The resolves of the Great Continental Congress, for 
 the non-importation of goods, wares and merchandise, 
 were also cordially endorsed by these towns, at a 
 convention held two days later, and the people of 
 Spencer found no difficulty in abstaining from the 
 use of such goods. The women, also, on this occa- 
 sion affirmed that the " home spun " should be suffi- 
 cient for the wants of themselves and their families 
 on all occasions. 
 
 At a meeting held December 15, 1774, the town 
 voted that sundry " Province assessments be paid to 
 Henry Gardner, Esq., of Stow, and not to Harrison 
 Gray, Province Treasurer," and they further added 
 that they would " defend the assessors or constables 
 from any damage of what kind or nature soever, that 
 may arise from conforming to the votes or orders of 
 this meeting." But the spirit of resistance to the real 
 or imaginary encroachments made upon them by the 
 British authorities was not confined to words or reso- 
 lutions. Long before the conflict between the colo- 
 nies and mother country began active measures had 
 been taken, and a stock of powder, bullets and flint 
 had been provided, and minute-men raised, that they 
 might be prepared for an emergency at a moment's 
 warning. 
 
 Under a warrant dated April 29, 1774, the town 
 voted to raise " Fifty efl'ective men, and that one 
 pound of powder and Bullets answerable, be delivered 
 out of the town's stock to each soldier," and any 
 amounts remaining in the treasury from unexpended 
 appropriations were also ordered to be used for 
 patriotic purposes. At the raising of the meeting- 
 house, in 1772, the sum of £1 6s. 6rf. was still in the 
 hands of the treasurer, and it was ordered that 
 £1 Os. 6d. be given to the Continental committee, and 
 six shillings be paid to Jeremiah Whittemore " for 
 bringing a Barr of Lead from Boston for Bullets." 
 
 A meeting had been called for the 24th of April, 
 
(U2 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS 
 
 1775, " to make provisions for the company of minute- 
 men in case of any special Imergency, such as pro- 
 viding Waggons and Drivers to carry their Baggage, 
 and support them before they can be otherwise sup- 
 plied." But before this meeting convened they were 
 called to '' march in the Defence of our Just Rights 
 and Liberties before the day came.'' The signal 
 lantern had been hung out from the belfry of the old 
 North Church, and messengers had brought the word 
 to this and other towns in all directions from Boston, 
 that "the war had begun, the British troops were 
 marching on Concord." Although this was not in the 
 days of the telegraph or telephone, yet the news of 
 this movement sped with a rapidity almost rivaling 
 these modern inventions, as on the afternoon of that 
 eventful day, April 19th, "Capt. Ebenezer Mason, 
 with a company ot fifty-six men, buckled on their 
 knapsacks, shouldered their muskets, and before the set 
 of sun were on the march for Cambridge." Tiie follow- 
 ing are the names of those composing this company, viz. : 
 Captain, Ebenezer Mason ; Lieutenant, Abijah Liver- 
 more ; Ensign, Jo.seph Livermore ; Sergeants, Benja- 
 min Bemis, Jr., William Green, William White and 
 Samuel Hall ; Corporals, Oliver Watson, Jonas Muzzy, 
 Asa Sprague and Jedulhan Green ; Drummer, James 
 Draper ; Fifer, Luther Prouty ; Privates, John Draper, 
 Jesse Bemis, Isaac Prouty, Nathaniel Wilson, Isaac 
 Livermore, Michael Hatch, Jonathan Rich, John 
 Waite, John Knapp, Joseph Grout, Benjamin Gleazen, 
 Joseph Wheat, Levi Thayer, Joshua Draper, Jr., 
 Elisha Whitney, Reuben Lamb, John Hatch, Amos 
 Whittemore, Wright Woodward, Samuel Bemis, Rand 
 White, Benjamin Sumner, John Woodward, Jr., Jonas 
 Lamb, Thomas Sprague, John Bemis, John Ball, 
 David Livermore, James Watson, Robert Watson, 
 Thomas Whittemore, Nathaniel F. Loring, David 
 Rice, Richard Huttice, Samuel Garfield, Jr., Nathaniel 
 Cunningham, John Lamb, Jr., Asa Whittemore, .John 
 Worster, Elijah Southgate, Knight .Sprague, David 
 Lamb and Timothy Capen. Of this company forty 
 enlisted, upon arriving at Cambridge, into the service 
 for eight months ifnder Captain Joel Green, with 
 David Prouty as his lieutenant. In Captain Seth 
 Washburn's company of Leicester, which left there 
 on the 17th of June for Boston, were nine men from 
 Spencer, viz. : Ensign Joseph Livermore, Corporal 
 Elijah Southgate, Privates Andrew Morgan, Jonas 
 Lamb, Peter Rice, Thomas Sprague, John Hatch, 
 Wright Woodward and Isaac Livermore. Those that 
 participated in the battle of Bunker Hill were Joseph 
 Livermore, Elijah Southgate, Jonas Lamb, Peter Rice, 
 Thomas Sprague and Isaac Livermore. In the unfor- 
 tunate expedition against Quebec, in 1775, were four 
 Spencer men, viz. : John Guilford, Daniel Ball, Benja- 
 min C. Ball and David Chamberlain. Although the 
 town had no officers of high rank, it will ever be proud 
 of those holding the minor offices, together with the 
 rank and file who served in the army of the Revolution. 
 REPRESENTATIVE.S. — On the 17th of June, 1775, 
 
 the town elected their first representative to the Great 
 and General Court, to be convened at Watertown on 
 the 19th, and Oliver Watson was selected for that 
 post of distinguished honor. He was re-elected in 
 1776. 
 
 Declaration of Independence. — In June of 
 this year a resolve of the General Court was forwarded 
 to the various towns in the Provfnce to ascertain the 
 minds of the inhabitants of said towns in regard to 
 declaring the Colonies independent. In response to 
 this resolution the town voted, emphatically, that 
 they "Do Fully, Freely and Solemnly engage, with 
 their Lives and Fortunes, to abide by and support 
 said Congress in all such measures as they shall think 
 proper to come into for the safety of the United 
 Colonies." 
 
 The Continental Congress, having no power to 
 manage trade, could not force Great Britain into a 
 trade treaty ; consequently the continued importation 
 of English goods caused consternation in the Colonies, 
 and balances, which were heavily against them, and 
 which must be settled in coin, were forwarded to 
 England by boxes and barrels. This caused Congress 
 to issue its paper money as a circulating medium, 
 and this act, together with the unfortunate condition 
 of the country, with the evils of the war pressing hard 
 upon them, added another and serious embarrassment. 
 The people of Spencer early took into consideration 
 the situation, and resolved to do what lay in their 
 power toward maintaining the value of the currency. 
 The first of a series of instructions to their Representa- 
 tive, Mr. Watson, was that " he use his influence in 
 the support and credit of the paper currency of this 
 Colony, and if any person or persons shall, by petition 
 or any other way, motion or move for the discredit of 
 said currency, that his or their names be published to 
 the world." On the 4th of July, 1776, the ever mem- 
 orable Declaration of Independence was signed, and 
 agreeable to orders of the Continental Congress it 
 stands recorded upon the town's records, " there to 
 remain a perpetual memorial thereof" 
 
 State Constitution. — The following October the 
 question was submitted to the town, " Whether they 
 will give their consent that the present house of 
 representatives, together with the council, shall 
 enact a Constitution and form of government for the 
 State of JIassachusetts Bay." A meeting was called 
 to consider this important question, and, upon pre- 
 sentation of the article, it passed in the negative, and 
 the following were their reasons for sustaining the 
 vote : " First — There being many of the members 
 of this town absent and in the army at this time, 
 therefore not in a proper capacity to consent. Sec- 
 ondly — We do not understand, by said hand-bill, that 
 after our perusal of s'' constitution, if not agreeable, 
 we have no liberty to make objections, and if made, no 
 encouragement of any alterations ; and, thirdly — As 
 circumstances, are at this day, we are of opinion a 
 form of government ought to be suspended for the 
 
SPENCER. 
 
 043 
 
 present.'' To frame a Constitution for a great State, 
 under these circumstances, they felt to be a matter 
 of grave import, and, in their judgment, the people 
 should be allowed more time for its consideration. 
 
 Prices of Commodities. — Prices of all commodi- 
 ties were high, a depreciated currency was the only 
 available money, and people were put to their wits' 
 ends to meet their obligations, and trade generally 
 was in a demoralized condition. Early in 1777 the 
 General Court sought to remedy one feature of this 
 evil, viz., the exceeding high prices, and an act to 
 prevent monopoly and oppression '' was passed by 
 that body. A committee for the purpose, together 
 with the selectmen of the towns and districts, wtre 
 required to fix prices upon agricultural laborand pro- 
 ducts ; also upon all goods, wares and merchandise 
 necessary to the support of the people, or in use in 
 the various trades. The following are some of the 
 prices " fixed " for the tow n of Spencer, viz. : "Farm- 
 ing labor not to exceed 3s. per day ; a day's work for 
 a yoke of oxen Is. 6rf. ; wheat 6s. per bushel ; corn 3s. ; 
 rye 4s.; beef 20^. per pound; shoes 3s. per pair; 
 meal of victuals 9(i. ; West India rum 8s. 2(/.' per gal- 
 lon ; New England rum 5s.; W. I. flip lid. per 
 mug; N. E. flip 9rf., etc." This scheme, however, 
 was not a success. 
 
 A Credit Measure. — During the years which im- 
 mediately followed the Revolution the people here, 
 as everywhere else among the colonies, were greatly 
 crippled financially, and it required the united wis- 
 dom and watchfulness of the General Court to de- 
 Tise means and measures for the best interests of the 
 people and for bolstering up the currency and credit 
 of the country. 
 
 Near the close of the year 1777 an act passed the 
 House and Council calling in the State's money or 
 bills of credit and putting the same on interest, which 
 act appeared to be an oppressive one, and the inhabit- 
 ants of this town instructed their representatives to 
 " use every effort in their power to procure a repeal of 
 the said act, as they considered it injurious to the 
 poorer sort of people." A still further objection was, 
 that " it would become payable about the same time 
 that a large amount of the Continental money would 
 be called in " The act, however, was not repealed, 
 and, at a meeting December 29th, they proceeded to 
 arrange for their proportion of the " called money," 
 and voted "that £991, 17s. be assessed upon the Polls, 
 Real and Personal, Estates of the inhabitants, for the 
 purpose of paying the town's proportion of Four 
 Hundred Thousand Pounds, which is now called in 
 by way of Loan." This assessment represented about 
 thirteen hundred dollars in hard money, and was a 
 burdensome tax for the people to meet at this time. 
 
 Articles of Confederation. — January 5^ 1778, 
 a meeting was called to hear read the "articles of 
 Confederation for a perpetual union between the 
 United States of America," and a committee was 
 chosen for the purpose of examining said articles. 
 
 This committee reported that " we find them to be, 
 according to our best judgment, a well-concerted plan 
 for the rule of government for the United States of 
 America," and without further comment it was voted 
 that "the representative be, and he is hereby directed 
 to give his consent in the General Court to authorize 
 the delegates of the State to ratify and confirm the 
 said articles of confederation." At a meeting called 
 May 4th, following, to hear the form of government 
 proposed for Massachusetts Bay, a committee was 
 chosen, consisting of Joshua Barton, Oliver Seagerand 
 Elijah Howe, to consider the same. Their report was 
 unfavorable, and, after a long debate, the question was 
 put, "whether, or not, the town would approve of the 
 Constitution," and it passed in the negative, one hun- 
 dred and two voting against it, and none voting for it. 
 They also sent to the General Court a remonstrance 
 against adopting the instrument, and, from the tone 
 of their "long debate," their reasons, in sustaining 
 their vote, were, in substance, that the fundamental 
 principles, in such a form of government, should 
 originate with the people, through their delegates in 
 convention for the purpose, as such a method was 
 more in harmony with the great principles that un- 
 derlie a free government, and eminently more demo- 
 cratic ; and then, that the doings of such a convention 
 be submitted to the people for their acceptance or 
 rejiction. 
 
 Aid to Soldiers and their Families.— AI- 
 I though at this time the people were absorbed in dis- 
 cussing matters of state, as they understood them, 
 they were not unmindful of the wants of the soldiers 
 in the field, or their dependants at home. At this 
 meeting aid was voted to their families, and a supply 
 of shoes, stockings and shirts was forwarded to the 
 soldiers in the camp or field. 
 
 Early in 1778 nine men enlisted into the army for 
 nine months, and each received, as bounty, a note of 
 thirty pounds, given by the selectmen, and on the 
 8th of June, of the same year, the town voted the 
 selectmen authority to draw the sum of two hundred 
 and ten pounds and interest from the treasury " to 
 pay the said notes when they shall become due." 
 
 In 1779 six soldiers were furnished to go to Rhode 
 Island, and eighty-four pounds in bounties was voted 
 them for this service, and at the same time sixty 
 pounds was voted to " provide for the families of the 
 soldiers who are in the public service.'' 
 
 Returned Tories. — The spirit of self-sacrifice 
 that actuated these people was a noble one, and dur- 
 ing the years of anxiety and hardship through which 
 they had already passed their deliberations were 
 marked by an earnest regard for the welfare of the 
 country and their posterity. Actuated by this ardent 
 love of country, they demanded that cowards in it 
 be disgraced or otherwise punished, and traitors to it 
 hanged. 
 
 It was the spontaneous overflow of this sentiment 
 that prompted a hearty response to the town of Bos- 
 
«i4 
 
 HISTORV OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 ton, by resolutions, in regard " to certain Inimical per- 
 sons Lately Returned into the State." .January 21, 
 1770, resolves were offered in town-meeting, the third 
 of which read as follows, viz. : 
 
 IieiioIve{1, Tlmt we will, to the utmost ut" our power, aid and assist the j 
 ciTil magistrate in tlie execution of all laws made fur the purpose of ex- 
 fludinjj all such hntefid creatures from among ns. 
 
 The persons referred to were Tories, or Loyalists, 
 as they styled themselves, who fled the country at the 
 commencement of the Revolution, but were now ap- 
 pearing again in Boston and other towns in the State, 
 and their presence was as obnoxious now as at the com- 
 mcncementof thetroubles with Great Britain, to which 
 country they preferred to give their allegiance. Al- 
 though their appearance again was so dista-teful, the 
 magnanimity of the people, after the conclusion of 
 peace, not only allowed their return to their homes, 
 but even invited it, and they freely forgave them the 
 heinous sin of disloyalty. 
 
 More Soldiers and E(}uaijzing Expense. — 
 During the year 1779 the energies of these people 
 were severely taxed in devising ways for furnishing 
 men to fill up the army, and raising money and 
 material for the support of the same. On the 21st of 
 June the sum of five thousand four hundred pounds 
 was voted to pay for the services of seven men hired 
 for the Continental Army, four for Rhode Lsland and 
 others for guard over prisoners in the barracks at Rut- 
 land. This year a committee was chosen " to see if 
 the burdens caused by the expense of the war'' could 
 be equalized, and each made to bear his proportion of 
 the cost; but after giving the matter careful considera- 
 tion, it was found "that it was very difficult to do 
 each person justice, and we omitted to proceed on 
 sd business." 
 
 Instructions to Representative. — On the 7th 
 of August following. Deacon John Muzzy was chosen 
 representative, and instructed "to have particular 
 regard for the United States, the Stale and his con- 
 stituency, to support the credit of the currency, and 
 not to give his consent to any act for making up the 
 sink of money between debtors and creditors, 
 either public or private, soldiers and officers of the 
 Continental Army excepted." 
 
 Prices Regulated. — August 17th, Major Asa 
 Baldwin was chosen delegate to a convention to be 
 held at Concord on the first Wednesday in October, 
 to take into consideration, among other matters, the 
 regulating of prices of the necessaries of life. The 
 following is a partial list of prices, established by the 
 convention, and they indicate the condition ef the 
 currency at that period, viz.: Corn, S14 per bushel 
 rye, $7 ; wheat, $27 ; oats, |6; hay, $5 per hundred; 
 labor, 19 per day ; beef, 92 cents per pound ; butter, 
 $1.83; cheese, 92 cents; men's shoes, $20 per pair; 
 stockings, $12, etc. 
 
 Condition of Money. — The condition of the 
 •finances was growing worse daily, and at the begin- 
 
 ning of 1780 one dollar in currency was valued at 
 about one-sixtieth of a hard dollar. This situation 
 pressed so heavily upon the people, that many were 
 obliged to ask an abatement of their taxes for this 
 and the past year. 
 
 The Constitution. — On the 27th of May, of this 
 year, they were called upon to consider a new Consti- 
 tution for the government of the Commonwealth, and 
 after earnest discussion, with the exception of one 
 article, the whole document received the unanimous 
 approval of the town. The exception was to article 
 two of the third section of chapter one, relating to 
 the House, of Representatives. In their judgment 
 the small plantation4 were deprived of representation, 
 and "they should be allowed to join two or more of 
 them together, in choosing one or more representa- 
 tives." This was, in substance, an amendment 
 unanimously agreed upon by them, and language 
 similar was, later on, made a part of the Constitution. 
 
 Governor. — In the autumn of this year the town 
 cast its first vote for Governor, and .John Hancock re- 
 ceived the whole number of votes cast, viz : sixty- 
 nine. The first representative under this new legime 
 was John Bisco, Esq. 
 
 During this and the two succeeding years the town 
 responded to the calls for more men for the army, 
 raised money for bounties and other purposes, cared 
 for the families of the soldiers and forwarded requisi- 
 tions of beef and other supplies to headquarters. The 
 appropriations for 1780, for war and kindred expenses, 
 were : July 11th, £19,000 to pay for services of six 
 and three-months' soldiers; October 12th, £48,-156 for 
 the same purpose ; £3,565 for horses purch.ased ; and 
 £12,000 for beef supplies, aggregating nearly £90,000, 
 or about $4,000 in coin. 
 
 Watchful.— In 1780 the General Court passed an 
 act for repealing, or "taking of the new emissions of 
 money," and the people of Spencer thought this to be 
 a " notorious Breach of y° Public faith and a grand 
 Reflection on y* Continental Congress," and they for- 
 warded a remonstrance and petition to that body, 
 asking for the immediate repeal of said act, request- 
 ing, at the same time, that the " vote be taken by yea 
 and nay, and published, that the good people of the 
 Commonwealth may have a Greater Opportunity to 
 Guard against Enemies of the Glorious cause of 
 America." They watched closely the doings of the 
 General Court, condemning that which seemed op- 
 pressive or unjust, and commending when they felt 
 that the people would be benefited thereby. 
 
 In 1781 they were passing through the severest 
 crisis of their existence, the heavy war debt causing 
 burdensome taxes, the resources of the country nearly 
 exhausted, and the Continental money almost worth- 
 less. Nothing could procure the men and materials 
 called for but hard money, and the town was in great 
 danger of having executions levied upon it for defi- 
 ciencies in men and beef. June 20th the sum of 
 £416 hard money was raised for supplies of men and 
 
SPENCER. 
 
 (545 
 
 beef, and a committee of three, viz. : John Bisco, 
 Lieutenant John Muzzy and Lieutenant John Wor- 
 ster, were chosen to procure the same. All transac- 
 tions were now made upon a hard money basis. 
 Spencer filled her last quota in March, 1782, the war 
 being now virtually over; still there were men in the 
 field to be cared for, as it was not yet considered safe 
 to disband the army. 
 
 Grievance. — The following five years was a pe- 
 riod full of grievances and, sad to relate, of mis- 
 guided judgment. In the winter of 1781-82 the 
 General Court passed the Valuation and Excise Acts, 
 and the town, upon their consideration, freely ex- 
 pressed their disapprobation of them in a remon- 
 strance as being "unjust and oppressive, and an In- 
 fringement on y" National Rights of mankind.'' That 
 part relating to the valuation they characterized as 
 "unjust and unreasonable as Nebuchadnezzar's de- 
 manding of his magicians an interpretation of his 
 untold Dream," and they demanded that both be re- 
 pealed. 
 
 April 9, 1782, a meeting was held at Worcester to 
 take into consideration " the many grievances of the 
 good people of this commonwealth," and Isaac Jenks 
 was sent as delegate from the town. On the 16th of 
 May following he was elected representative, and a 
 long list of instructions, suggested by the recent con- 
 vention, were given him, of which the following is 
 but a fractional part, viz. : " that it shall be unlawful 
 for the Creditor to sue, until the Debtor be notified ; 
 that all state securities, whether notes or certificates, 
 be made Lawful tenders ; that all goods or estates, 
 taken on execution, be appraised to the Creditor, &c., 
 &c." 
 
 In 1785 the people were in a most " Distressing and 
 Disagreeable" condition. No cash was to be had; 
 stock and produce, though they had it, would not 
 pay debts, unless sold at too great sacrifice, and they 
 asked the General Court to relieve them, by making 
 paper money pass equal to silver or gold, or real and 
 personal estates a tender in discharge of debts. But 
 this they could not do. The town was now deficient 
 in its taxes, executions had been served upon it for 
 their payment, and they were obliged to pawn their 
 State securities to satisfy these demands. These 
 securities were, however, subsequently redeemed. 
 
 On the 26th of June, 1786, a convention was called 
 at Leicester to see if means could be devised which 
 would bring " relief for grievances, done one way or 
 other, occasioned by. the scarcity of the Circulating 
 Medium," and John Sumner was chosen delegate. 
 
 Grievances were now, with common consent, the 
 order of the day ; but Spencer was not alone aff'ected 
 by this malady. Other towns and plantations in the 
 State bear record of the same disease, contracted un- 
 der the same infiuences. Business was at a stand- 
 still, while the State and Continental debts were 
 enormous, and the people were called upon, by way 
 of taxation, until their patience was well-nigh ex- 
 
 hausted. Property was seized for debt ; people were 
 thrown into jails, and great distress prevailed here 
 and throughout the Commonwealth. High salaries 
 of public officers, fees of lawyers and sherifi's and 
 costs of courts, when compared with their own scanty 
 means of subsistence, and, added to these, their own 
 jealousy towards those officials and courts, were, ac- 
 cording to their reasoning, sufficient grounds for 
 complaint, and for a resort to force, if need be. 
 Their animus was especially directed to the courts, 
 and they demanded that they be abolished, as " their 
 existence was a burdensome exjjense." This, and the 
 nursing of the feelings which led to it, were but the 
 wild vagaries of the communistic ideas, better known 
 to the present age than to the people of those times. 
 
 Shays' Reeelliox. — It was this condition of the 
 social atmosphere that led to the inglorious Shays' 
 Rebellion, which " began with high-sounding trumpets 
 at Worcester, about the 3d of December, 1786, and 
 vanished like a mist on the hills of Princeton," not 
 far from a month later. Some of the good people of 
 Spencer took part in this unfortunate fracas, among 
 whom were found commissioned officers of the militia. 
 At its close they were temporarily disqualified, and 
 ordered to renew their allegiance to the government, 
 which they humbly did. One Abijah Livermore and 
 six confederates broke into the town magazine and 
 took away the stock of powder, balls, etc., but soon 
 after the insurrection was stamped out, he, with three 
 others, made a written confession to the inhabitants 
 of Spencer, in which they " craved the assistance to 
 live to the Honor of the town and the Glory of God 
 in all our future conduct." 
 
 Henry Gale was one of the leaders in this revolt, 
 and after his capture was sentenced to death for high 
 treason. The people of Spencer interested themselves 
 in his behalf, and forwarded a petition to His Excel- 
 lency, Governor Hancock, asking that he might be 
 pardoned, " as he appears to be very Penitent and 
 Humble for his very wicked crime." He was brought 
 to the g:illows for execution, but was there reprieved 
 and afterwards pardoned. 
 
 Committees of Cokrespondence. — The Commit- 
 tees of Correspondence, during and after the war, 
 were: — in 1774, John Cunningham, Oliver Watson, 
 Asa Baldwin; in 1775, Oliver Watson, Moses Liver- 
 more, John Muzzy; in 1776 and 1777, Asa Baldwin, 
 Jeremiah Whittemore, Joshua Draper, David Prouty, 
 Knight Sprague, Benjamin Gleason ; in 1778, Joshua 
 Lamb, John Muzzy, Joshua Bemis, John Worster, 
 John Watson; in 1779, James Livermore, Benjamin 
 Gleason, John Worster, John Muzzy, Jacob Upham ; 
 1780, John Muzzy, Johnson Lynde, John Sumner, 
 Benjamin Bemis, Jonas Muzzy ; in 1781, John Sum- 
 ner, Jonas Muzzy, Johnson Lynde, Jeremiah Whitte- 
 more, Nathaniel T. Loring ; in 1782, Asa Baldwin, 
 Jeremiah Whittemore, Captain Ezz'kiel Newton; in 
 1788, James Hathaway, Jonas Muzzy, Isaac Morgan. 
 
 The Late Rebellion.— In the late Rebellion 
 
646 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 the military spirit of this town wjs aroused, as in 
 days of yore, and men and means were furnished 
 without stint or grudging, in the grand effort made 
 for the preservation of the Union. The echo of the 
 first gun fired on Sumter, and the clash of arms in 
 the streets of Baltimore, had scarcely died away be- 
 fore the heroic spirit of the people of Spencer 
 showed itself, with but one feeling of sentiment and 
 purpose, viz. : that the government should be sus- 
 tained at all hazards in this hour of her need. From 
 this moment until the closing scenes at Petersburg 
 the citizens never faltered in their duty to the Union 
 cause ; and the courage and bravery of the men 
 sent out were honorable' alike to the town as her 
 citizens and to themselves as soldier.^. Before the 
 first call of the President for seventy-five thousand 
 soldiers, men were volunteering into the service of 
 the government, and the .sound of the fife and dram 
 resounded through the streets, calling them — not to a 
 holiday festival, as was their wont, but to the stern 
 realities of a bloody war. 
 
 On the 2;)th of April, 1861, a town-meeting was 
 called, " to see what measures the town would take 
 to furnish outfits and uniforms for a company of 
 volunteers about to be organized for the service of 
 the government." At this meeting the selectmen 
 and assessors were made a " Committee of Safety," 
 and their duty was to "supervise, expend and lay 
 out such a sum of money, not exceeding ij.5000, as 
 may be necessary," paying the members of the com- 
 pany "seventy-five cents for each one-half day they 
 drill during the next thirty days." The.se men were 
 at first placed under the military instruction of Col. 
 Alonzo Temple, of Spencer, a militia officer of the 
 old school, but later on Capt. J. M. Studley, of 
 Worcester, became their drill-master, and their time 
 was now occupied in becoming familiar with the 
 manrouvres of the soldier in camp or field. When 
 the time for their service should arrive, the town 
 stipulated that they should be paid a further sum of 
 ten dollars per month, in addition to their govern- 
 ment pay. This company left town for camp at 
 Springfield, arriving there .June 20th, and on the 21st 
 were mustered into the service of the United Sta'es 
 for the term of three years. It numbered fifty-one 
 men, and formed parts of Companies F, G, H and 
 K, of the Tenth Massachusetts Regiment. 
 
 At the above-named meeting a committee of 
 eleven citizens was chosen for recruiting purposes, 
 and the ladies were invited to procure a flag for the 
 volunteer company. The Committee of Safety were 
 also ordered to '■ purchase a flag, to be erected on the 
 town-house." This committee, according to instruc- 
 tions, purchased the uniforms for the company in 
 training. For these, together with a flag and staff, 
 and the drilling of the volunteers, they expended the 
 sum of .12463.75. One of their important duties 
 was the care of the soldiers' families, and this they 
 attended to most carefully and conscientiously. 
 
 At a town-meeting held July 19th, measures were 
 discussed for offering bounties, and it was decideil to 
 pay the sum of $100 each " for thirty-two persons 
 who shall enlist into the service of the United States 
 at such a time as the committee of safety shall pre- 
 scribe," and a further sum of .f 50 each " to all who 
 remain in the service more than one year," and an 
 additional sum of |5 "to all who shall enlist to-day." 
 This number was the town's quota under the Presi- 
 dent's call. May 29, 1862, for 300,000 troops, to 
 serve for the term of three years, or until the end of 
 the war. On the 4th of August fellowing, another 
 call was issued for 300,000 men to serve for nine 
 months, and in response to this a town-meeting was 
 held, to make provisions for their quota under it, and 
 a bounty of SlOO was voted to each volunteer, to- 
 gether with aid to the families of nil such. 
 
 At an adjourned meeting, held September 11, 1862, 
 eleven persons were chosen to notify the enrolled mi- 
 litia to meet at the town-house for medical examina- 
 tion, preparatory to a draft, "if one is found neces- 
 sary." On the 17th of October, 1863, a call came 
 for 34 men more, and on the 25th of February fol- 
 lowing, an additional one for 25 men. In the mean- 
 time a draft had taken place, and by it 28 men were 
 secured, either by voluntary enlistment, furni-hing 
 substitutes or paying a commutation fee of $300. 
 This number was further increased by ten soldiers re- 
 enlisting and 49 new recruits, and the town now had 
 a surplus of 23 men, which could be applied on fu- 
 ture calls. August 20, 1864, a meeting was held to 
 arrange for 39 soldiers to fill the quota of the town, 
 under the last call of the President, and a bounty of 
 $125 was ottered to such as would enlist. December 
 24th the selectmen were authorized "to procure all 
 the soldiers that, in their judgment, they think the 
 town will need." April 26, 1866, the town refunded 
 the sura of $5955 to such of the enrolled militia as 
 had previously subscribed to the war expense ac- 
 count. 
 
 lilany of the soldiers, at the expiration of their 
 long or short terms of service, having a desire to 
 witness the closing scenes of this gigantic Rebellion, 
 re-enlisted "for the war," with an enthusiasm all 
 the more earnest for the hardships they had endured 
 or dangers encountered in behalf of the cau<e. 
 Spencer furnished 319 men for the war, which was a 
 surplus of 32 over and above all demands, among 
 whom, at its close, were eight commissioned officers. 
 
 The first regiment forwarded to the seat of war, in 
 which were Spencer soldiers, was the Tenth Massa- 
 chusetts, and they were engaged in the battles of 
 Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, Malvern Hill, Fredericks- 
 burg, Gettysburg, Rappahannock Station, Wilderness, 
 Spottsylvania Court-House, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, 
 &c. The Fifteenth Regiment contained five men 
 from Spencer, who went into camp June 28, 1861, and 
 were under fire the first time at Ball's Bluff, October 
 21, 1861. This body of troops went into the engage- 
 
SPENCER. 
 
 647 
 
 ment with six hundred and fifteen men and came out 
 with only three hundred and eleven fit for duty. The 
 Twenty-first contained twenty-six Spencer men, and 
 went into camp July 19, 1861, on the agricultural 
 grounds, Worcester, and they reached Annapolis, 
 Md., on the 29th of August following, and on the 
 6th of July, 1862, embarked in the Burnside expedi- 
 tion to North Carolina and took part in the battles of 
 Roanoke Island, having fifty-seven men killed and 
 wounded. In one year the regiment had lost one 
 hundred and thirty men, in killed, disabled by wounds, 
 prisoners and discharged. At the expiration of their 
 term of service all but twenty-four men re-enlisted 
 for a term of three years, and nearly all the Spencer 
 soldiers returned with there-enlisted. Besides Roan- 
 oke Island, they were engaged in the battles of 
 Newbern, Camden, second Bull Run, Chantilly, South 
 Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Wilderness 
 Spottsylvania and Petersburg. The Twenty-fifth, with 
 nine Spencer men, followed the Twenty-first on the 
 7th upon the same expedition, and their lo.ssat Roan- 
 oke Island was six killed and 42 wounded. It was 
 also in the engagements at Xewbern, Port Walthall 
 Station, Arrowsfield Church, Drury's Blufl, Cold 
 Harbor, Point of Rocks, &c. 
 
 The Thirty-fourth went into camp June 3, 1862, with 
 forty-three Spencer soldiers. Their first year's experi- 
 ence was garrison and picket duty in front of Washing- 
 ton. From the time of its first engagement it passed 
 through the battles of Newmarket, Piedmont, Lynch- 
 burg, Winchester, Fisher Hill, two battles at Cedar 
 Creek, Petersburg and Richmond. June 16, 1865, 
 the original members were mustered out of the service 
 and the remainder transferred to the 24th. The o7th 
 contained sixteen Spencer men and was raised in the 
 spring of 1864. It left the State in April and 
 "fought its way from the Wilderness to Hatcher's 
 Run, bearing a part in nearly every battle which 
 occurred between these two points." For three 
 months, following January 1, 1865, they were in the 
 lines before Petersburg, marching and fighting until 
 Lee's surrender. The (JOth was a one hundred days' 
 regiment, and in it were fifteen men from Spencer ; 
 also twenty-five men were distributed through the 1st, 
 2d, 3d, 4th and 5th Cavalry and ten men in the 2d 
 and nth Heavy Artillery. Spencer was also repre- 
 sented in the Ist, 9th, 12th, 19th, 24th, 28th, 36th, 
 •50th, 54th Massachusetts Regiments, the 154th New 
 York, the California Artillery and the navy. 
 
 Tablets erected in the town-house bear the follow- 
 ing names of those brave and true men who gave their 
 lives in defence of the liberties of their country, viz. : 
 Oscar R. Bemis, 10th Regiment, died in hospital at Bal- 
 timore, Md., August 22, 1862 ; Harry F. Adams, 21st 
 Regiment, died at home on a furlough, May 19, 1863 ; 
 Frederick A. Bemis, 21st Regiment, killed at Chan- 
 tilly, Va., September 1, 1862; Elbridge C. Barr, 21st 
 Regiment, killed at Fredericksburg, Va., December 13, 
 1802 ; Frank Bird, 57th Regiment, killed at Wilderness, 
 
 Va., May 6, 1864; Dwight Chickering,34th Regiment 
 killed at Snickers Ford, Va., July 18,1864; Henry 
 C. Chickering, 34th Regiment, lost from transport. 
 May 2, 1865 ; Isaiah Crosby, 10th Regiment, killed at 
 Malvern Hill, Va., July 1, 1862; Thomas Carney, 
 10th Regiment, died in hospital, Washington, D. C, 
 August 30, 1861 ; James Crook, 2d Heavy Artillery, 
 died at home on a furlough, April 25, 1865 ; Freeman 
 Davis, 15th Regiment, killed at Wilderness, Va., May 
 6, 1864; Louis Dana, 2l8t Regiment, killed at New- 
 bern, N. C, March 14,1862; Nathan S.Dickenson, 
 25th Regiment, died in hospital, Philadelphia, Pa., 
 August 18, 1864 ; Lucien Fogg, 10th Regiment, 
 killed at Wilderness, Va., May 12, 1864; William A. 
 Frink, 25lh Regiment, killed at Drury's Bluft', Va., May 
 1(), 1864 ; George Farrel, 5th Cavalry, died at Point 
 Lookout, Md., July 29, 1864; Joel W. Green, 1st 
 Cavalry, died at Potomac Creek, Va., January 22, 
 1863 1 David Green, 3d Cavalry, died in hospital, 
 Louisiana, July 28, 1864 ; Gardner M. Gage, 34th 
 Regiment, killed at Berryville, Va., October 18, 1863; 
 George W. Henry, 21st Regiment, killed at Roanoke 
 Island, N. C, February 8, 18(i2 ; Otis M. Hunter, 
 34th Regiment, killed at Harper's Ferry, Va., April 
 10, 1864; Leroy Haws, 34th Regiment, died on trans- 
 port, April 3,1865; Dennis Harrington, 25th Regi- 
 ment, died in hospital, New-bern, N. C, September 
 21, 1862; Sylvester D. Johnson, 10th Regiment, 
 killed at Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, 1862; Daniel 
 Kelly, 9th Regiment, died in hospital, Fairfax, Va., 
 October 20, 1862 ; Waldo H. Luther, 10th Regiment, 
 died at Newbern, N. C, October 23, 1864; Edward 
 A. Lamb, 60th Regiment, died at Indianapolis, Ind., 
 October 31, 18()4; Abraham Luchay, 57th Regiment, 
 killed at Wilderness, Va., May 6, 1864; James 
 Larkey, 21st Regiment, died at Arlington, Va., June 
 1, 1864; Alfred W. Midgely, 10th Regiment, died of 
 wounds. May 12, 1864 ; Joseph Mead, 21st Regiment, 
 died at Danville, N. C, January 15, 1865 ; George W. 
 Nason, 2d Heavy Artillery, died at Newbern, N. C, 
 April 15, 1865; Nelson Reno, 4th Cavalry, died at 
 Jacksonville, Fla., September 5, 1864 ; Samuel D. 
 Sargent, 21st Regiment, killed at Roanoke Island, N. 
 C, February 8, 1862 ; Jarius Sessions, 46th Regiment, 
 died at Newbern. March 10, 1865 ; Edmund Toomey, 
 10th Regiment, died at Harrison's Landing, Va., July 
 19, 1862; John M. Worthington, 10th Regiment, 
 killed at Winchester, Va. September 9, 1864; Horace 
 Wilson, 24th Regiment, died in hospital, Newbern, 
 N. C, April 26, 1862. 
 
 The whole amount of money expended by the town 
 on account of the war, exclusive of State aid, was 
 $27,101.70 ; for State aid, $23,529.92. 
 
 Schools. — The advantages for schooling in the 
 West Precinct of Leicester were very limited during 
 its early history as a precinct. Indeed, there were no 
 schools in this part of the town until 1748, when a 
 term of ten weeks was granted them, and three years 
 later another term of six weeks. In 1753 this pre- 
 
G4S 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 cinct contained a population of more than two hun- 
 dred people, and while they were paying taxes for 
 the support of schools in the East Precinct, yet they 
 were of little or no value to them, owing to the great 
 distance to travel and poor roads to reach them. In 
 1755, two years after being incorporated into a parish, 
 the sum of sixteen pounds was raised for schools, and 
 the annual appropriations for this purpose, up to 
 1775, averaged thirty pounds. There were, as yet, no 
 school-houses here, but for several years the question 
 of building one or more had been before the parish. 
 
 In 176G the town was divided into six school 
 "squadrons," three on the east and three on the west, 
 and it was voted that " schools be kept in such as the 
 inhabitants shall appoint," and private houses were 
 used for this purpose. Two years later, houses were 
 erected in some of these, but, as each was so sparsely 
 settled and embraced so much territory, schools kept 
 in them could not be made either practical or profit- 
 able. 
 
 In 1786 it was decided to reduce the size of the 
 " squadrons," making them ten in number, and a vote 
 was passed " to build houses in each," but the impov- 
 erished condition of the town at this time prevented 
 the carrying out of this vote, and they were not com- 
 menced until 1790. In 1792 two hundred pounds 
 were raised to finish school-housps already in process 
 of construction, and also to build more, and in 1795 
 an additional sum of four hundred pounds was voted 
 for the same object. The houses were now com- 
 pleted and the late divisions were now known as 
 wards or districts, and in 1810 were formally num- 
 bered from one to ten inclusive, and duly recorded. 
 
 In 1849 another district was added by a division of 
 Nos. 9 and 10 into three separate districts, and this 
 was recorded as 11. 
 
 The first School Committee chosen in the town was 
 in 1815, and the member? thereof were required to 
 visit the schools twice each year, to note the progress 
 of the various classes and their standing in reading, 
 spelling and pronouncing, also in writing, arithmetic 
 and English grammar, and "more especially their 
 decent and respectable behuvior both in and out of 
 school." It was also obligatory upon the committee 
 to instruct the scholars in their " duty as to piety and 
 morality." At the first visit of the committee they 
 required each scholar to write his or her name upon 
 a slip of paper, and the same again at the close, "that 
 by this test they might ascertain what proficiency the 
 pupil had made during the year." 
 
 The growth of the town from 1795 to 1837 did 
 not require extra school facilities, and annual appro- 
 priations ranging from five to eight hundred dollars 
 gave them a fair amount of schooling, both summer 
 and winter. 
 
 In 18.32 a school sustained by private subscription 
 was opened in the vestry belonging to the Congrega- 
 tional Church, in which the higher branches were 
 taught, and remained there until a room for school 
 
 purposes was fitted up on the first floor of the old 
 town-house building, where it was transferred and 
 the same grade continued until 18-57. In 1856, the 
 population having reached the required number 
 named in the school law making a high-school 
 obligatory, steps were now taken by the town to 
 comply with that law. Additional land adjoining 
 that upon which the vestry stood was given them by 
 William Pope, Esq., for a high-school building, and 
 " a large and commodious edifice, 60 x 40, two stories 
 high, with cupola and bell," was erected. The school 
 and ante-rooms were upon the first or ground floor, 
 and the second floor was used as a hall. Mr. Charles 
 E. Denny, a respected citizen of Spencer, bequeathed 
 the sum Of two thousand dollars towards the payment 
 of this building, and in appreciation of this generous 
 act the hall was thereafter to be known as " Denny 
 Hall." In 1888 this building was moved to the south 
 side of Main Street, near the Baptist Church, to be 
 used as a graded or grammar-school, to give place to 
 a new high-school building. 
 
 In the school year of 1865-66 fifteen schools were 
 maintained in the eleven districts. 
 
 The first important addition to the district schools 
 was in 1867, in District No. 9, when a substantial 
 brick building, three stories high, was erected, which 
 would accommodate three hundred scholars. The 
 rooms were spacious, well lighted and ventilated, and 
 it cost, when built, $22,000. In 1885 steam-heating 
 apparatus was added and in 1887 gas for lighting. 
 From 1865 to 1888 the population of the town tre- 
 bled in numbers, necessitating a continued enlarge- 
 ment of school buildings in many of the districts, 
 while within a radius of one-half mile from the centre 
 extraordinary facilities were required. Within the 
 latter limits six large brick structures have been built, 
 the last one completed in 18SS, which will accommo- 
 date two hundred and eighty scholars, and the aggre- 
 gate sittings in the six is sixteen hundred and twelve. 
 They are unique in architectural designs and con- 
 structed with great care in reference to sanitary 
 arrangements ; airy and well lighted and furnished 
 with all the modern improvements. 
 
 The High School building, built in 1888, is the gift 
 to the town of Spencer by David Prouty, Esq., a life- 
 long resident and honored citizen. The dimensions 
 of this building are eighty-five by ninety-two feet, two 
 stories high, with a basement. It is built of brick and- 
 stone, and the style of architecture, above the base- . 
 nient, is Romane:ique in type. Upon a front corner 
 is a tower eighty-three feet in height, and at its base 
 a corner stone, with the inscription: "David Prouty 
 High School." 
 
 The basement contains tvvo large play-rooms, a 
 laboratory and library room, heating apparatus, store- 
 rooms, etc. On the first floor is the principitl's office, 
 school and recitation rooms, and upon the u]iper floor 
 a large hall used for meetings and entertainments in 
 connection with class exercises. The cloak-rooms. 
 
SPENCER. 
 
 649 
 
 closets, hails and stairways are large and convenient. 
 This majiuiHcent gift was erected at a cost of forty- 
 five thousand dollars. 
 
 The appropriations for schools from 1753 to 1795 
 varied from £'20 to £50 annually ; from 1795 to 1850, 
 $.500 to S1600 ; in 1865, $3000 ; 1875, $11,000, and in 
 1887, $22,000. The number of scholars in 1840 was 
 324; in IStiO, 346; in 1880, 1521, and in 1887,2110. 
 In 1869 the town paid the sum of $95,000 for new 
 school buildings, and improving old ones, equipments 
 and supplies, and for teachers' .services and expenses 
 for maintaining the schools, the sum of $150,000. 
 
 The number of school-houses in 1888 were 15 ; the 
 number of rooms occupied, 34, and the number of 
 teachers employed, in all grades, 52. 
 
 This generous record is indicative of the steadily- 
 growing interest the inhabitants have manifested 
 over the intellectual training of the younjr. 
 
 Datid Prouty. — David Prouty was the fourth of 
 that name in direct descent from Richard Prouty, 
 who was a resident of Scituate, 5Iass., as early as 1667. 
 The first David in the line moved to Spencer early in 
 the eighteenth century, purchasing and settling upon 
 a lot north of the centre of what was, years after, 
 Spencer Township. He had a son David, born in 
 1739, who was conspicuous as a soldier in the war 
 with the French, a captain in the War of the Revolu- 
 tion, a major in the State militia and for many years 
 selectman and assessor of Spencer. He had a son 
 bearing his name, born in 1772, who also participated 
 in the honors of the town as selectman for many 
 years and Representative to the General Court ; and 
 he had a son of the same name, born October 13, 1813, 
 and is the suliject of this sketch. 
 
 Mr. Prouty was reared as a farmer and continued 
 in this occupation until he reached the age of twenty- 
 three years. The year following he left the farm and 
 entered the employ of Mrs. Hannah Hatch, widow 
 of the late Eli Hatch, manufacturer of wire, and in 
 1840 he purchased these works of her. This was his 
 first business venture, and he remained in it until 
 1846, when he disposed of the works to Liberty 
 Prouty, that he might take possession of the farm in- 
 herited by him from his father, who died in 1845. In 
 1850 he sold this farm and came to "the village" and 
 erected the dwelling-house he now occupies, moving 
 into it January 6, 1851. In 1852 he entered the 
 boot-firm of Charles E. Denny & Co., but in 1853 this 
 firm was dissolved, in consequence of the ill-health 
 of Mr. Denny, and in 1854 a second dissolution 
 occurred, by the death of John G. Prouty, a member 
 of it. John Boyden then became partner, under the 
 firm-name of Prouty & Boyden, until 1857, at which 
 time E. Jones & Co. took the interest of Mr. Boyden 
 in the concern, and the name of the firm was changed 
 to David Prouty & Co. In 1859 Isaac L. Prouty 
 bought out the interest of E. Jones & Co , but the 
 style of the firm remained the same, and in 1862 T. C. 
 Prouty was admitted to the partnership. 
 
 This business relation continued until 1876, when 
 Mr. Prouty retired from it and an active business 
 life. 
 
 There are qualities in the make-up of individuals, 
 which, if well balanced and blended, are a guarantee 
 to success. These Mr. Prouty possessed in a marked 
 degree, viz., prudence, good management and a sound 
 judgment; and they were in a great measure the 
 secret of his prosperity. 
 
 Being a man of quiet and unpretending habits, 
 whether in a social or more public way, unneces- 
 sary or outward demonstration or show was always 
 carefully avoided by him. He has represented 
 his fellow-citizens in the General Court, has held 
 many offices in the gift of the town, and in any, or all 
 of them, there has been no question raised as to his 
 faithfulness, honesty or capability. 
 
 In his business efforts he has been richly rewarded 
 with an ample fortune, and in his quiet way has made 
 it the source from which many charitable objects have 
 obtained pecuniary relief, and no worthy charity has 
 appealed to him in vain. He has merited and still re- 
 ceives the kindest remembrances of his fellow-citizens, 
 and they trust he may live long to enjoy the fruits of 
 his generous charities. 
 
 He married Caroline, daughter of Dr. Jonas Guil- 
 ford, of Spencer, Jan. 14, 1840. She died Nov. 14, 1863. 
 Dec. 16, 1867, he married Mrs. Sarah B., widow of the 
 late Charles E. Denny, sister of his former wife, and 
 she died January 3, 1873. By his first marriage he 
 had but one child, a son, Jonas Guilford Prouty, born 
 September 21, 1844, and he died at the age of nine- 
 teen years. Mr. Prouty was deeply afflicted by this 
 loss, as it not only destroyed in him bright hopes for 
 the future, but this death left him childless and alone. 
 Possibly it may have warmed his heart towards other 
 worthy young men, as he has been deeply interested 
 in a number of such, and they have reason to thank 
 him for material aid rendered them. The spontaneous 
 gift of the David Prouty High School Building was 
 a noble illustration of a desire to confer a lasting bene- 
 fit upon the young of this and future generations who 
 shall seek it for moral and mental improvement. 
 
 Roads. — The traveled ways of the early settlers 
 were the foot-path, which led from house to house, 
 and the bridle-path, which led to town. Later on, 
 these ways became roads, and at the present time, 
 after passing through the various changes of straight- 
 ening, widening and gr.iding, many of these " primi- 
 tive paths " constitute important highways in this 
 town. There is no record showing when the " Great 
 Post. Road" was laid, but it was a public traveled 
 way previous to 1726, as during that year the town — 
 Leicester — was " presented " at the Court of Quarter 
 Sessions for having no bridge across the " Seven Mile 
 River." If the road had not a recorded location at 
 that time, it must have had a little later on, as in 
 1728 the town was assessed the sum of £12 2s. 5d., it 
 being their proportion of the expense of locating it. 
 
650 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 After having been " presented " the second time at 
 the court for the same oftence, in 1729 they caused a 
 bridge to be built. In 1800, complaint having been 
 made by the attorney-general of the " badness of the 
 Great Post Road," an eft'ort was made to convert it 
 and the North County Roads into turnpikes, but the 
 town successfully remonstrated, by petition to the 
 General Court, against it. In 1807 this road was 
 altered and improved, by straightening easterly and 
 westerly, from the house of Amasa Becnis, near Wesc- 
 ville, now so called. Further alterations, in location, 
 east of this point had been suggested from time to 
 time, and the commissioners called upon to make 
 them, but as late as 1832 no important changes had 
 been made. This year, however, they ordered specific 
 repairs through "the village," and September 10th the 
 sum of eight hundred dollars was voted ''for repairs 
 near the houses of Joseph Mason and Walton Liver- 
 more." In 18")6 general alterations were made in the 
 road from Brookfield to Leicester lines, re-locating it 
 in places, widening, cutting and filling it in others, 
 and marking the boundaries by stone posts at each 
 angle along the whole line. The North and South 
 County Roads were located in 1756 and '57 respec- 
 tively. The Great Post Roatl was the busy one of 
 these three highways, as the principal business be- 
 tween the country towns and Boston centred upon it. 
 It was the main thoroughfare between Hartford and 
 . Worcester, and was the route over which the first line 
 of stage-coaches between these two points plied. This 
 line was established in 1783, and the trip was made 
 in four days. 
 
 Tavern.s. — Spencer was a famous stopping-place 
 for these coaches I'rom the days of the " three 
 taverns " in 1788 to the supplanting of them by rail- 
 roads. It was a relay station for change of horses 
 while its taverns furnished travelers with sub- 
 stantial food and drink, and it was not unusual 
 to see fifteen coaches congregated here at the noon 
 hour, and upon extra occasions, twenty-five. The 
 Centre was early designated as " Upper and Lower 
 Villages," the meeting-house being the nucleus of the 
 former, and the "three taverns" the latter. These 
 taverns, in 1788 the only three dwellings in the 
 lower village, were the " Jenks," which occupied the 
 site of the Massasoit Hotel ; the " Mason House, " be- 
 neath the "big elms'' near the boot factory of J. 
 Prouty & Co., and the "Livermore House," on the 
 site of the residence of J. W. Temple. In 1743, 
 Josiah Robinson built a small dwelling upon lot 
 No. 22, which was purchased in 1754 by one John 
 Flagg and kept by him as a public-house for seven 
 years. In 1775 Isaac Jenks became owner of the 
 property and the house was ever afterward known as 
 the " Jenks Tavern," and was the most famous of all the 
 inns in Spencer with the traveling public. A French 
 gentleman who chanced to spend a night under its 
 roof in 1788 spoke in high terms of the manner in 
 which it was kei)t in comparison with French taverns- 
 
 He said, " the chambers were neat, the beds good, the 
 sheets clean, the supper passable ; cider, tea, punch 
 and all for fourteen pence per head." Also, General 
 Washington passed the night here October 22, 1779, 
 and Mrs. Jenks, the hostess, was ever proud to refer 
 to the event, as her illustrious guest complimented 
 her at the breakfast-table by saying, " Madam, your 
 bread is very beautiful." 
 
 There were but two dwellings in the " Upper Vil- 
 lage " at this time, viz., the " Morse House," now 
 standing on the west corner of Main and May Streets, 
 and the " Pope Mansion." This latter, the oldest 
 dwelling standing in town, was built in 1745 for Rev. 
 Joshua Eaton ; and four years after the Rev. Joseph 
 Pope succeeded Mr. Eaton. The former occupied this 
 house with his bride. At his decease it came into 
 possession of his son, William Pope, Esq. ; then was 
 owned by Hon. William Upham, son-in-law of the 
 latter; and since his death, Mrs. Lucretia H., widow 
 of the late William Upham, has owned and occupied 
 the premises. 
 
 This building has been carefully preserved for 
 nearly a century and a half, and bids fair to pass far 
 into the twentieth century us a veuerabl-j land-mark 
 representing the birth of the " Leicester West Pre- 
 cinct." 
 
 Town Pound. — Upon a small piece of land, "five 
 or six rods square," at the west end of the meeting- 
 house, was located the town pound, stocks and 
 horse-block. The two latter " fixtures " did not 
 survive the eighteenth century. There is no record 
 showing at what date the pound was built ; but it 
 was undoubtedly of early origin, as in 1768 a new 
 one appeared to be necessary, the town voting then 
 to build "a new one with stone," and appropriated 
 £7 for the purpose. It would seem that they had 
 but little use for it, as in 1772, and again in 1790, 
 articles were in the warraut of these years, " to see if 
 the town would use the stone to underpin the meet- | 
 ing-house," or " to take the stone to fence the bury- ' 
 ing-ground." Previous to 1796 one or more attempts 
 were made to move it; but this year the ground upon 
 which it stood was wanted for horse-sheds, in con- 
 nection with the meeting-house, and it was voted 
 "to build a town pound on Jeremiah Whittemore's 
 land, at the corner of the town road where it turns to 
 Benjamin Gleason's, of the same bigness of the old 
 one, three sides of stone and one of wood." The 
 contract for building was awarded to Mr. Whitte- 
 niore for £11. This enclosure remained until 1877, 
 when the wall was taken down and the pound aban- 
 doned. 
 
 Post-office and Postmaster.^. — The first post- 
 oflSce established in town was on the Ist of October, 
 1810, and was kept in the "Jenks tavern." Isaac 
 Jenks and his son, Isaac, Jr., were postmasters until 
 December 15, 1825. At this date Charles Bcmis re- 
 ceived the appointment, and moved the otiice to the 
 tavem in the "Upper Village." Amasa Bemis, Jr., 
 
SPENCER. 
 
 651 
 
 was appointed postmaster August 12, 1828, and Na- 
 thaniel Wilson February 25, 1831. Eleazer B. Dra- 
 per became postmaster October 24, 1832, and he 
 removed the office to the first location. William 
 Bush, Jr., succeeded him September 22, 1845, and 
 after two years he moved the office to the store of Dr. 
 L. Bemis, now corner Main and Elm Streets, east 
 side. April 3, 1849, Dexter Bemis received the ap- 
 pointment. The next appointee was George H. Liv- 
 ermore, January 13, 1851, and he located the office at 
 "Union Building." The 3d of May, 1853, AVillard 
 Rice became postmaster, and he changed the location 
 to the ell part of the "Solomon Davis" house, corner 
 Main and Elm Streets, west side. May 23, 1845, 
 Luther Hill was appointed, and he removed the 
 office to the "Bemis Store." July 11, 1861, Eli J. 
 Whittemore was made postmaster, and it was again 
 taken to Union Building, where it has remained to 
 the present time. Horace A. Grant was postmaster 
 September 2ii, 1864, and Emerson Stern was ap- 
 pointed May 18, 1869, and no change has been made 
 since his appointment. 
 
 Cemeteries. — The first public burial-place in the 
 town was upon about one acre of land, donated by 
 Mr. Cunningham, and was the north part of the meet- 
 ing-house and training-field lot. In 1791, 1817 and 
 1857 one-half acre each year were added, making the 
 lot contain about three acres.. In 1872 afurtber addi- 
 tion was made, and at this time a trust fund was raised 
 by parties having an interest in the protection and 
 preservation of the family lots, monuments and other 
 stones that marked the burial spots. The sum sub- 
 scribed for this purpose was three thousand and 
 thirty-five dollars, and the town was made trustee of 
 the fund. New lots were located, concrete walks laid 
 out and from time to time appropriate monumental 
 and other work erected in memory of the departed. 
 
 The first person buried in the original lot was Eliz- 
 abeth Adams, in 1742. In 1759 John Stebbings and 
 others were given permission to erect tombs on the 
 burying-ground. In 1790 this lot was inclosed with 
 a "Good stone wall, with two Gates for to Pass and 
 Repass." In 1793 it was voted " to purchase a car- 
 riage to carry Corpse to the Graves," and in 1794 a 
 house was built for the hearse and a pall purchased. 
 This was the only burial-ground until 1845. On the 
 20th of May of this year B. H. Kinney, of Worcester, 
 purchased four acres of land lying partly on and 
 forming the west bank of the " Seven i\Iile River," 
 near the "Whittemore Bridge," so-called. He laid 
 this out into burial-lots, avenues, paths, etc , and 
 while it remained in his possession it was dedicated 
 with appropriate ceremonies as " Pine Grove Ceme- 
 tery." This lot lias been added to at two different 
 times, until it now contains about twenty-five acres. 
 It is owned by an association of proprietors belonging 
 to Spencer, and the spot selected for it shows ability 
 and taste to provide a home for the remains of loved 
 
 ones. It is superintended with excellent judgment 
 and care. 
 
 In 1864 the Catholics purchased three acres of land 
 for a cemetery lying on the west side of the great post 
 road, one mile west of the post-office. In 1868 they 
 bought thirteen acres upon the east side of the road 
 and opposite this lot, and subsequently, four and one- 
 half acres more were added. The new ground is 
 ! neatly laid out, with a circular drive around a cen- 
 tral mound, upon which is erected the Holy Cross. 
 They have considerable fine monumental work, and 
 are doing much each year to beautify the place. 
 
 Division of the CouuTy. — As early aa 1798 the 
 question of a division of Worcester County came be- 
 fore the town, but the people were as loyal to the old 
 county at this time as tliey had been to the country 
 during the late perilous times, and did not cast a sin- 
 gle vote in its favor. In 1828 another attempt at 
 separation was made by taking sixteen towns from 
 this county and four from Middlesex, and a petition 
 from parties interested was presented to the General 
 Couri, for that purpose. The vote of the town upon 
 the question was two in favor and eighty-five against. 
 A third time, in 1874, the people were requested to 
 vote for or against a division, and they were as 
 decided in their opposition to it as ever, and in- 
 structed their Representative " to oppose any legisla- 
 tion tending to make any change in the county." 
 
 Statistics. — The population in 1776 was 1042; in 
 1790, 1322; in 1800, 1432; in 1810, 14.53; in 1820, 
 1548 ; in 1830, 1618 ; in 1840, 1604 ; in 1850, 2243 ; in 
 1860, 2777; in 1865, 3026; in 1870, 3953; in 1875, 
 5451 ; in 1880, 7460 ; and in 1885, 8250. The number 
 of polls in 1800 was 285 ; in 1810, 301 ; in 1820, 347 ; 
 in 1830, 386 ; in 1840, 395 ; in 1850, 591 ; in 1860, 715 ; 
 in 1870, 940 ; in 1880, 1671 ; in 1888, 2039. In taking 
 the valuation, and assessing the taxes of the town 
 from 1753 to 1824, two lists were made and called the 
 "North Side List" and "South Side List," the great 
 post road being the dividing line. From the latter 
 date this division was abandoned, and but one list 
 made of the whole. The valuation in 1860 was 
 $1,286,333; in 1870, $2,121,210; in 1880, $3,048,520 ; 
 in 1888, $3,918,150. The number of houses in 1764 
 was 100 ; in 1850, 341 ; in 1860, 485 ; in 1875, 666 ; in 
 1885, 1003, and in 1888, 1088. 
 
 Connected with State (Jovernment. — The 
 following persons have been cimnected with the State 
 government, viz. : William Uphatn, Councilor in 
 1878-79. Senators: James Draper in 1831-32; Wil- 
 liam Upham in 1859; Luther Hill in 1867; Charles 
 P. Barton in 1883, and George P. Ladd in 1888. 
 Delegates to Constitutional Convention : John Bisco 
 in 1779; James Draper in 1820, and Jabez Green in 
 1853. Representatives to the General Court: Oliver 
 Watson in 1775-76-77-80; John Bisco in 1777-80- 
 81 ; John Muzzy in 1779 ; Isaac Jenks, 1728 to 1786 ; 
 James Hathaway, 1787 to 1794; Benjamin Drury, 1794 
 tol811; Jonas Muzzy, 1811-12 ; Phineas Jones, 1812 ; 
 
652 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 James Draper, 1813 to 1819, and 1828 to 1832, and 
 183G and 1837 ; William Bemis, 1820; Rufus Adams, 
 1823 and 1832 ; William Pope, 1827 ; Walton Liver- 
 more, 1831; David Prouty, 1833-34; Lewis Bemis, 
 1834-35 ; Amos Brown, 1835 ; Dennis Ward, 1836-37- 
 39-47-56; Walter Sibley, 1838; Eleazer B. Draper, 
 1839-40-41-45; Jonas Guilford, 1842; Jabez Green, 
 1843-44-50; Milton Boy den, 1848 : William Baldwin, 
 1851; Alonzo Temple, 1852 ; Alanson Prouty, 1853; 
 William Henshaw, 1854; William Upham in 1857- 
 72; John L. Bush, 1859; George L. Hobbs, 18C1 ; 
 Luther Hill, 1863-65-70-87-88 ; Dexter Ballard, 1867; 
 Erastus Jones, 1874 ; David Prouty, 1876 ; James 
 H. Ames, 1878; John W. Bigelow, 1880; Isaac L. 
 Prouty, 1881-82; Joseph W. Temple, 1884; James 
 Holmes, 1886. 
 
 Spencer, for several years after its incorporation, 
 elected a representative alone ; then a representative 
 district was formed of Leicester and Spencer. In 
 1866 the towns of Leicester, Spencer, Southbridge, 
 Charlton and Auburn formed a district, and in 1876 
 Southbridge, Spencer, Oxford and Charlton were 
 made a representative district. In 1887 the district 
 was again changed to Leicester and Spencer. 
 
 Physicians. — The physicians of Spencer, previous 
 to 1800, were James Ormes, from 1732, and later on, 
 Asa Burden, William Frink, Benjamin Drury and 
 Jonas Guilford. At the present time they are E. R. 
 Wheeler, E. W. Norwood, F. J. Sanborn, E. A. Mur- 
 dock. Marc Fontaine, Ishmael Verner and Eli Bar- 
 nard. 
 
 Hox. James Draper. — James Draper was born 
 February 26, 1778. He traces his ancestry to James 
 Draper, of Yorkshire, England, who was born in 
 1618, and came to this country " between 1640 and 
 1650,'' and located in Roxbury, Mass. .Tames, the 
 subject of this sketch, was a native of Spencer, as 
 were two generations of his ancestors, and after a 
 long and useful life he quietly passed away at the 
 great age of ninety years, eight months and one day. 
 His early life was devoted to the farm, but as this 
 occupation was not altogether congenial to his taste, 
 by close application to the limited educational ad- 
 vantages of the times, he fitted himself to perform 
 such duties as an adviser or magistrate was expected 
 to be familiar with in those days. With this qualifi- 
 cation, and possessed of a good degree of intelligence, 
 he very soon became a leading man in the town, and 
 in the various positions in which he served his towns- 
 men, acquired their confidence and established a high 
 reputation among them and throughout the county. 
 Although of an irascible nature, his kindness of heart 
 and sincerity of motive enabled his many friends not 
 only to overlook this characteristic, but to fully ap- 
 preciate his abundant good qualities and worth. 
 
 In 1810 he was appointed a justice of the peace 
 under Governor Gore's administration, and held the 
 office more than fifty years. He ably performed the 
 duties of it, whether called to act within the imme- 
 
 diate vicinity of Spencer, or, as was often the case, in 
 the more remote parts of the county. As a magis- 
 trate, his decisions or rulings were made after a con- 
 scientious consideration of the case in question, and J 
 by common consent it was admitted they were ren- \ 
 derod in a fair and impartial manner. He was re- 
 garded as good authority in matters of common law, 
 and was well qualified for writing deeds, wills, agree- 
 ments or other legal documents, and being a practical 
 surveyor, was particularly adapted for the work of con- 
 veyancing. He was county commissioner for several 
 years, was twelve times elected as representative to 
 the General Court, and twice to the State Senate. j 
 In 1820 he was delegate to the convention for making ' 
 or altering the Constitution and, at times, occupied 
 other positions of importance in the Commonwealth. < 
 In town artairs he was selectman, assessor, town clerk 1 
 and treasurer for many years. I 
 
 In his early life, when church and town were one i 
 and the same, he was prominent in the management 
 of the former and interested in whatever pertained 
 to it, and although a man of liberal spirit, he had a 
 strong sentiment of veneration for whatever was spir- 
 itual and sacred. He was a great lover of music, and 
 in his younger days taught singing-school in his na- J 
 tive town. He composed some music, and at his de- i 
 cease considerable in manuscript was found among 
 his effects. At the installation of Rev. S. G. Dodd 
 an anthem, written by iiim, was performed by the 
 choir, and was regarded as a very worthy produc- 
 tion. 
 
 In 1840 Mr. Draper completed a history of the 
 town of Spencer, relating to " facts, incidents and 
 events" recorded therein, with "brief notices and 
 genealogies of families,'' and three hundred copies of 
 it were published. In 1860 he revised this history 
 with "additions and improvements," to this latter 
 date. The genealogical department contains a list of 
 more than five hundred families, and the history, as 
 a whole^ is a work of considerable merit. 
 
 Mr. Draper married Lucy, daughter of Captain 
 Samuel Watson, of Leicester, January 6, 1805. She 
 died July 7, 1848. Their children were four daugh- 
 ters, all of whom lived to be married, but only one 
 survived the father. 
 
 Town-House.— From 1744 to 1838 all meetings for 
 the transaction of public business, of whatever nature, ' 
 were held in the meeting-house. At this latter date 
 objections were raised to the further use of this house 
 forthese jjurposes, and the subject of building a town- 
 house was, at the earliest moment, brought before the 
 town. 
 
 At a meeting previous to April 1, 1839, a commit- 
 tee was chosen to purchase a lot of land for a town- 
 house, and after consideration a lot four by five 
 rods, on the corner of what is now Main and 
 Maple Streets, the same being a part of the pres- 
 ent " Union block lot," was bargained for and pur- 
 chased. Then at a meeting, the above date, it was 
 
1 
 
SPENCER 
 
 (553 
 
 voted " that the town take measures to build a town- 
 house, or building for the purpose of transacting Pub- 
 lic town business." At a subsequent meeting, how- 
 ever, the purchase of this lot of "4x5 rods,'' and all 
 the business connected therewith, was reconsidered, 
 on account of strong opposition to the location, and 
 the lot upon which the present house stands was sub- 
 stituted. A building was at once contracted for, the 
 same to be " .50x40 feet, 2 stories high with cupola," 
 the first floor to be used for rooms for selectmen, 
 weights and measures and other town purposes, and 
 the second floor for a town hall. While this building 
 was in process of construction, town-meetings were 
 held at the taverns of Eleazer B. Draper and Dexter 
 Bemis. 
 
 In 1S59 a bell was purchase<l and hung in the cu- 
 pola, but in 1803 this became injured to such an ex- 
 tent that the selectmen were authorized to replace it 
 by a new one " to weigh not less than 1800 pounds." 
 
 In 1871 the town had increased in population to 
 such an extent that the old town-house was wholly 
 inadequate to the wants of the public, either in hall 
 facilities or rooms for the transaction of the town 
 business. Consequently, at a meeting called for the 
 purpose this year, it was voted to build a new town- 
 house,- " not less than 60, nor more than 80 feet 
 in width, and not less than 80, nor more than 100 
 feet in length, 3 stories high, with bell, clock and 
 memorial tablets." A committee of thirteen was 
 chosen to arrange the details and attend to the 
 building of the same. The old house was disposed 
 of, and a large brick structure erected on the spot 
 of the old one, containing rooms on the first floor 
 for the use of town officers, a lock-up and the Fire 
 Department; also waiting-rooms, a hall, reading and 
 library rooms. On the second floor is the main 
 hall, with a seating capacity for a thousand people, 
 and convenient ante-rooms, and the third is occupied 
 as a Masonic hall on the east side,'and on the west 
 a large hall for entertainments, with kitchen attached. 
 The cost of this building, with furniture, was §57,870. 
 
 Town Farm. — The question of purchasing a farm 
 upon which to maintain the town's poor was under 
 consideration by the town for several years previ- 
 ous to 1825. This year a committee was chosen, 
 with authority to negotiate for the Eleazer B. Dra- 
 per farm of ninety-six acres, and the Joseph Cheever 
 farm of sixty-six and a half acres, to be used uni- 
 tedly as a "town farm." After purchasing the farm 
 and furnishing equipments, making repairs, etc., 
 upon the same, the total cost was 16,142.61. On the 
 28th of March, 1826, " Rules and Regulations " for 
 the government of the inmates and the observance 
 of good order" were adopted and entered upon the 
 town records. In 1841 a new barn "72x38 feet with 
 16 foot posts" was built. Three years later, and 
 also in 1851, propositions were entertained in town- 
 meeting to dispose of the whole or a part of the 
 farm, and committees were chosen to effect a sale 
 
 accordingly, but without success. In this latter 
 year the sum of $600 was raised "to build a new 
 house and repair the old one.'' In 1871 the farm 
 barn was raised, turned one-half round and a cellar 
 excavated under the whole building, and in 1880 
 the house was enlarged by an addition of sixty by 
 thirty feet, two stories high. 
 
 The whole building at the present time contains 
 thirty-two rooms, and the halls, sleeping apartments 
 and waiting-rooms are well ventilated and warmed 
 by steam-heat. 
 
 The farm is pleasantly and healthfully located two 
 and a half miles north of the village, and is under a 
 good state of cultivation. The sunny exposure of the 
 " home " and farm buildings, together with an ex- 
 tended southern view, lend a charm to the spot, 
 whether viewed by inmate or visitor. It has been 
 the study of those in charge of this institution to 
 make it a cheerful and comfortable retreat for the 
 town's unfortunates, and their efforts have been at- 
 tended with marked success. 
 ! Fire Department.— Since first the need of better 
 protection against fire was felt the town has been gen- 
 erous and wise in adopting safeguards for preventing 
 or extinguishing fires. In 1830 dwellings and other 
 buildings in the immediate vicinity of the village had 
 become numerous enough to demand provisions for 
 their l)etter security against this element. At a meet- 
 ing held March 7th, of this year, this subject was dis- 
 cussed and an appropriation of one hundred dollars 
 was made towards the purchase of a fire-engine. This 
 machine was a primitive affair, operated by two hori- 
 zontal levers, requiring eight persons to "man the 
 breaks," and often five times this number, with buck- 
 ets in hand, to supply it with water. On the 26th of 
 the same month, a further sura of thirty-five dollars 
 was voted to purchase hose for this engine. A small 
 building was erected on what is now "Union Block" 
 lot, to house the new fire apparatus. This "tub en- 
 gine" proved of but little value, as the buildings in- 
 creased in number and size, but was the only appliance 
 for protection again.st fire for nearly twenty years. In 
 1840 the town voted the sum of five hundred dollars 
 to purchase a hand fire-engine and the committee, 
 chosen for the purpose, selected a " Hunneman ma- 
 chine," with hose-reel and five hundred feet of hose. 
 The small engine was now abandoned, the house dis- 
 posed of and a new one erected on the east side of the 
 town-house. A company of forty-five members was 
 organized, and this organization has been well main- 
 tained to the present time. In 1851 the first board of 
 fire wards was chosen, viz., Alonzo Temple, David 
 Prouty and Andrew J. Roberts. The fire companies 
 held their meetings in the new building until 1859, when 
 the town granted the department the use of a room in 
 the town-house building for business purposes. In 
 1871 a Hunneman steam fire-engine and hose-car- 
 riage was added at a cost of five thousand eight hun- 
 dred dollars; and in 1874 a hook-and-ladder truck. 
 
654 
 
 HISTORY OF WOKCESTER COUNTY. MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 fully equipped for service, provided. A large and 
 convenient room was now fitted up in the new town- 
 house for the storage of the fire apparatus and use of 
 the department. In 1882 a double tank fire-extin- 
 guisher was purchased, and in 1883-8-1 two new hose- 
 reels were added lo the equipments. 
 
 These additions necessitated a more abundant water 
 supply, and reservoirs were, from time to time, lo- 
 cated in convenient places for this purpose, at a cost 
 of more than ten thousand dollars. In 1882 the in- 
 troduction of public water-works added materially to 
 the efficiency of this department by the location of 
 eighty-eight hydrants exclusively for fire purposes. 
 The manual force aggregates eighty men. Although 
 an expensive necessity, the citizens have freely voted 
 money to sustain the Fire Department, and they fully 
 appreciate the perilous and responsible labors ren- 
 dered by the firemen. They have expended, since 
 1849, the sum of sixty-five thousand dollars for en- 
 gines, hose, equipments and services of men; and for 
 engine-houses a further sum of twenty-five thousand 
 dollars. 
 
 Water Works. — In 1882 steps were taken to pro- 
 cure a supply of pure water for the town, as it was 
 feared by medical experts and others that in the 
 thickly-settled portions of the village the water had 
 become contaminated to such an extent as to affect 
 the sanitary condition of the people in these locali- 
 ties. A supply by gravitation was essential, if possi- 
 ble, and "Shaw Pond," in Leicester, was found to be 
 the only body of water of sufficient altitude and 
 supply. The town took this, by charter from the 
 General Court, but subsequently transferred their 
 interest in it to Messrs. Goodhue & Birnie, of Spring- 
 field, Mass., and they constructed the works as a pri- 
 vate enterprise. In 1884 the town purchased them 
 of the owners for two hundred and forty thousand 
 dollars. The receipts for the six months ending 
 January 1, 1885, were $7,036.97 ; for the year ending 
 January 1, 1886, $14,171.38 ; 1887, $15,094.81 ; 1888, 
 $15,324.79. The whole number of miles of pipe laid 
 to January 1, 1888, was twelve and three-quarters, 
 and at this date the daily consumption, 153,000 
 gallons. 
 
 Library. — January 7, 1867, " about thirty young 
 people of both sexes," members of the High School, 
 met at the house of Emory Shumway and organ- 
 ized themselves into a society "for social and intel- 
 lectual improvement," and after the choice of offi- 
 cers proceeded to the further business of adopting a 
 constitution and by-laws. This society was to be 
 called the Young People's Library Association and 
 the object was to establish a High School Library. 
 As a prerequisite to membership one must be a mem- 
 ber of the High School and pay a fee as follows, viz : 
 " For a young gentleman twenty-five cents, and for 
 any lady twelve cents," and at each weekly meeting 
 a tax of five cents for the former and three cents for 
 the latter. These moneys were to be used as a fund 
 
 for the purchases of the library. One year later it 
 was voted to change the name to the " Spencer " 
 Library Association, and the constitution was altered 
 accordingly. April 21, 1858, by vote of this body, it 
 was made a " Public " Library, with a membership 
 fee of one dollar per year, half-yearly or quarterly in 
 the same proportion. The first installment of books 
 purchased was one hundred and ninety volumes, and 
 the first librarian John W. Bigelow. These books 
 were kept in an ante-room on the floor of the "Denny 
 Hall," but subsequently they were arranged in cases 
 in the hall. 
 
 About the year 1862 twenty-nine persons, princi- 
 pally farmers, organized themselves into a body, 
 called the Spencer Agricultural Library Association, 
 and purchased one hundred and ten volumes, relating 
 to farming interests, and these were kept in a case in 
 the store of Temple & Whittemore, they acting as 
 librarians. In 1864 it was thought best to merge this 
 into the Public Library, and, on the 30th of Novem- 
 ber the following proposition was submitted, at a 
 meeting of the members of both, viz.: " That the 
 members of the Agricultural Association have free 
 use of the Spencer library for the space of four years, 
 as an equivalent for its books." This arrangement 
 was accepted, and their books were transferred to the 
 cases of the latter. Until the year 1869 the funds for 
 the purchase of books were obtained from member- 
 ship fees and fines and the proceeds of " fairs," to 
 which the public gave generous support. 
 
 November 8, 1870, a proposition was made by the 
 Library Association to turn over to the town their 
 books, cases and other property, upon conditions that 
 the town should assume the indebedness of the a.sso- 
 ciation, and " keep the library in good condition." 
 This proposition was accepted, and from this date it 
 became the propeity of the town. At the next an- 
 nual meeting of the town it was voted that the money 
 known as the " Dog Fund " be expended for standard 
 books, to be added to the library, and their " use be 
 free to the town." This " fund" was annually 
 thereafter appropriated for the use of the library. In 
 1871 a spacious room was fitted up in the town-house, 
 to accommodate the large number of books already 
 accumulated, and, a few years later, further additions 
 to this room were made for the same purpose. In 
 1888 a public library building was erected for the use 
 of the library and a free public reading-room. This 
 beautiful building was the gift to the town of Mr. 
 Ilichard Sugden, a highly respected citizen. It is 
 of brick, with brown-stone trimmings and gran- 
 ite basement. The main room is thirty-two by sixty 
 feet. The front projection is eleven by thirty-nine 
 feet, and at one corner is an ornamental tower fifty- 
 two feet in height. The projection is used for an en- 
 trance hall, librarian's and delivery room. In the 
 rear of these is the library and reading-rooms, and 
 these rooms are essentially one, being separated by 
 a screen only. The shelves on the floor are arranged 
 
 I 
 
gf 
 
 18^ 
 
SPENCEK. 
 
 655 
 
 to accommodate from eight to ten thousand books, 
 while the galleries, which are reached by a spiral 
 stairway, furnish shelf-room for an additional twenty 
 thousand volumes. It is a substantial and enduring 
 edifice, and reflects great credit upon the generous 
 and noble-hearted giver. His portrait, in oil, occu- 
 pies a prominent place in the main room. This 
 building is called the " Richard Sugden Library." 
 It was completed at a cost of twenty-five thousand 
 dollars. The number of volumes in the library 
 January 1, 1887, was 6,272, and the number of books 
 taken out from March, 1887, to February, 1888, was 
 16,384. 
 
 Rich A Ki> Sugden. — Richard Sugden was born in 
 an obscure village near Bradford, England, March 26, 
 1815. His parents were of humble origin and circum- 
 stances, and he struggled hard, from boyhood to early 
 manhood, to overcome these embarrassing conditions 
 of birth. He gave his daily labor for his board alone, 
 while his scanty clothing was obtained from hours of 
 overwork, and it required weeks of such toil to pur- 
 chase a single garment even. Although he was 
 deprived of the privilege of an ordinary education, 
 yet in a small way he was able to gratify a longing for 
 books and the current literature of the day. There 
 were but two libraries in the neighborhood in which 
 he lived, one containing three volumes, viz. : the 
 Bible, Baxter's Saint's Rest and Bunyan's Pilgrim's 
 Progress; the other was the treasure of an old Welsh 
 cobbler,- consisting of about sixty volumes, carefully 
 secured in a box beside his bench. He became a 
 confidant of this man, and as a consequence was 
 privileged to take a book for perusal, once a week, 
 from this primitive library. His method for procuring 
 a newspaper was novel and business-like. Fourteen- 
 pence per copy was required to purchase one paper 
 each week, and he and six comrades formed a club at 
 a cost of two-pence each per week, and in this way 
 obtained the coveted prize. 
 
 This ardent love for literary information followed 
 him to manhood, and when the cares of business were 
 laid aside for the day, the book and paper were the 
 solace of his evening hour. Works of history and 
 autobiographies of self-made men were his favorite 
 reading, and now, in his riper years, when the cares 
 of business press less heavily upon him, he scans these 
 works, together with the popular magazines, as eagerly 
 as in his younger and more vigorous days. Blessed 
 with a retentive memory, and being an intelligent 
 reader, he possesses a fund of knowledge which 
 renders him an entertaining companion for social 
 conversation. 
 
 At twenty-eight years of age he embarked in an 
 emigrant ship for America, and, after a prosperous 
 voyage of twenty-seven days, landed in New York, 
 March 29, 1845. During the passage he formed the 
 acquaintance of a young Scotchman, whose brother 
 in America had sent him a small hand-book, descrip- 
 tive of the manufacturing towns in Massachusetts. 
 
 From this he learned that wire was manufactured in 
 Spencer and card clothing in Leicester. Wire- working 
 being his particular trade, he decided to make one of 
 these two points his first stopping-place. Reaching 
 the latter, he applied for, and obtained work of, 
 H. A. Denny, in a small wire-drawing mill in Cherry 
 Valley, Leicester. Two years later he and a fellow- 
 workman — Nathaniel Myrick — came to Spencer and 
 purchased the small wire-works owned by Roswell 
 Bisco. In 1850 they purchased the machinery of a 
 mill in Cherry Valley in which H. G. Henshaw 
 was interested, and moving it to Spencer, admitted 
 Mr. Henshaw to the firm. The business was expand- 
 iogquite rapidly, but the feeble health of Mr. Henshaw 
 made this a partnership of short duration. The firm 
 became Myrick & Sugden again, and so continued 
 until Mr. Myrick retired from it in 1870. Harry H., 
 son of Mr. Sugden, was now admitted, but in a few 
 years this firm was dissolved by his death. In 1876 
 Mr. Sugden purchased the large works of J. R. & J. 
 E. Prouty, in the " lower wire village," and converted 
 the combined business into an incorporation called 
 the Spencer Wire Company, of which he is president 
 and general manager. 
 
 From the time of entering upon his business life, 
 the characteristics of his younger days have been 
 steadily developed and strengthened by the experience 
 of years, until now, in a matured manhood, he is able 
 to enjoy, with satisfaction, their fruits. 
 
 At the age of seventy-three years he is still hale 
 and hearty, and though he has resigned the details of 
 the business to subordinates, he still gives his personal 
 attention to its general management. 
 
 Street Lamps. — Previous to 1872 the village was 
 partially lighted by street lamps, erected and cared 
 for mostly by private individuals. This year the 
 town voted " to light all the lamps at the expense of 
 the town," and this mode of street lighting continued, 
 with many additions to the number of lamps, until 
 1887. A three years' contract was made at this time 
 with the Spencer Gas Company, to light the streets 
 with electricity, and sixty electric lights were distrib- 
 uted through the various parts of the village. The 
 cost to the town for these lights was to be S.SJ cents 
 per evening for a single light. From 1872 to 1888 the 
 town expended the sum of $16,000 for street lamps 
 lighting and maintaining the same. 
 
 SuADE Trees. — Much interest has been taken by 
 the inhabitants of the older portion of the village in 
 setting out and preserving shade and ornamental 
 trees. The number of growing trees, of all sizes and 
 ages, add materially to the attractiveness of the streets 
 and general appearance of the village. Some of the 
 older ones are majestic. This is true of the three 
 " big elms " near the corner of Main and Mechanic 
 Streets. They were set out on the day the battle of 
 Bunker Hill was fought, and the " oldest inhabitant," 
 at the present time remembers that his father in- 
 formed him that while engaged in planting these 
 
056 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTKll COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 elms he distinctly heard the booming of the cannon 
 while the battle was in progress. In 1871-72 the 
 town appropriated one hundred and fifty dollars each 
 year " for setting out shade trees in the public 
 streets." 
 
 Societies. — The Ladies' Benevolent Society, con- 
 nected with the Congregational Church, is the old- 
 est social organization in town, dating from 1821. 
 But one of the original members survives, viz., Mrs. 
 Dennis Ward. The Si. Jean Baptiste is the largest 
 society .and contains a membership of five hundred 
 and sixty-two and has a relief fund of 110,000. The 
 other societies are the Masonic Lodge, chartered De- 
 cember 11, 1872; the Ancient Order of Hibernians, 
 organized 1872 ; Royal Arcanum, 1879 ; Home Circle, 
 Daughters of Rebecca, Association Mallet, Independ- 
 ent Order of Odd Fellows, F. A. Stearns' Post, No. 37 . 
 G. A. R. ; Institute Canadien-Francaise; Luthe"^ 
 Hill Camp, Sons of Veterans ; Sons of Temperance' 
 Fanciers' Club, Firemen's Relief Association, Wom- 
 an's Christian Temperance Union and Patrons of 
 Husbandry. This latter was organized February 11, 
 1875, with twenty charter members, but in April. 
 1877, it, like many other granges, gave up its organi- 
 zation. It was re-organized July 27, 1882, and, at the 
 present time, Parsiello Emerson is master. 
 
 Farmers' AND Mechanics' Association. — August 
 26, 1884, a few farmers, and others interested in agri- 
 culture, met at the town hall to consider the advisa- 
 bility of holding a " Fair and Cattle Show the coming 
 fall " and following this meeting several more were 
 held for a further exchange of opinion upon the pro- 
 ject. In the interim an interest developed sufficient 
 to cause an association to be formed and officered as 
 follows, viz.: George Wilson, president, and Thomas J. 
 Comins, secretary and treasurer, and the first fair and 
 exhibition was held October 1, 1S84. Meetings and fairs 
 were held annually thereafter and were attended with 
 such success as to encourage the members to apply 
 for a charter, that they might become a State institu- 
 tion. One was granted March 8, 1888, and by it they 
 became known as the "Spencer Farmers' and Mechan- 
 ics' Association." The following April Nathaniel 
 Myrick, a former resident of Spencer, donated to this 
 body property to the value of $2000, to be used toward 
 the purchase of a park and fitting up the same with a 
 racing course and buildings. Thirty acres of land 
 were bought, lying south of and adjoining the Pine 
 Grove Cemetery, and suitable luiildings were erected 
 for the accommodation of agricultural and live- 
 stock exhibits. A good one-half mile track was also 
 laid out and constructed for horse sports and other 
 exhibitions. 
 
 The cost of the land, buildings, track and other im- 
 provements was about eight thousand dollars. The 
 main building, forty by eighty-four feet, two stories 
 high, contains an exhibition-room upon the ground- 
 floor, the second being used as a dining-hall, and has 
 a seating capacity of three hundred and sixty 
 
 people. Rooms for a kitchen and steam cooking 
 apparatus are conveniently attached. The crockery 
 service, consisting of twelve hundred pieces, was also 
 a donation from Mr. Myrick, and upon each piece is 
 apju-opriately inscribed the giver's name. In appre- 
 ciation of these generous gifts, the grounds are called 
 "The Nathaniel Myrick Park." The premiums 
 paid at the fair held October 4 and 5, 1888, amounted 
 to eight hundred and seventy dollars, and the mem- 
 bership of that date was five hundred and sixty. The 
 officers during the year 1888 were Chas. N. Prouty, 
 president ; Thos. J. Comins, secretary ; I. L. Prouty, 
 treasurer, and John G. Avery, delegate to State Board. 
 Gas Works. — In 1886 the Spencer Gas Company 
 was chartered, with Luther Hill as president and 
 Edwin Evans as general manager. From July 1, 
 
 1887, to July 1, 1888, the works distributed eleven 
 million feet of gas, used for heating, lighting and 
 cooking purposes, and at the latter date had laid 
 twelve miles of gas-pipe. 
 
 Banks. — The Spencer Savings Bank was incorpor- 
 ated in 1871, with Wm. Upham, president, and Erastus 
 Jones, treasurer, and was kept at the office of E. 
 Jones & Co. until January 1, 1876, when it was 
 moved to the banking-rooms of the Spencer National 
 Bank. January 4, 1877, Mr. Jones became president 
 and W. L. Demond, treasurer. The latter resigned 
 the office in June, and Asa T. Jones was chosen in 
 his place, and October 1, 1886, C. T. Linley succeeded 
 Mr. Jones. The deposits January 1, 1875, were 
 $94,647; January 1, 1880, $221,462, and January 1, 
 
 1888, $470,266. 
 
 The Spencer National Bank was chartered in 1875 
 with a capital of one hundred and fifty thousand dol- 
 lars, with Erastus Jones as president ; W. L. Demond, 
 cashierandC.T.Linley,assistantcashier. Mr. Demond 
 resigned July 1, 1882, on account of ill health, and Mr. 
 Linley was appointed October 1, 1882, as his succes- 
 sor. The office for the transaction of business was first 
 opened in rooms in the I. Prouty & Co. boot factory, 
 but January 1, 1876, was moved into their new quar- 
 ters in " Bank Block." 
 
 Newspapers. — In 1872 Tlie Spencer Sun, a weekly 
 newspaper, was founded by Stillman B. Pratt, of Marl- 
 boro', Mass., and the concern was known as the " Sun 
 Publishing Company.'' January 1, 1873, Samuel 
 G. Ames became editor and proprietor, and April 27, 
 1875, he sold the paper and business to James Pickup, 
 who continued it until liis decease, June 20, 1887. It 
 was then purchased by H. M. Converse, the present 
 proprietor and manager. 
 
 October 10, 1885, the i§)c«ce7'5?irte<m was established 
 by A. H. Johnson, manager, and H.N. Carter, editor. 
 On account of failing health Mr. Johnson sold out the 
 business to Mr. Carter, and January 8, 1888, it was 
 merged into the Spencer Sun, and the paper was 
 known as the Sun-Bulkiin. It was, however, soon 
 changed to the original Spencer Sun heading. 
 
 Bakeries. — David Girouard esLablished in the fall 
 
SPENCER. 
 
 657 
 
 of 1873 a bread bakery in Spencer, situated upon Elm 
 Street, south of the railroad track. He has had several 
 partners in this establi^^hment from time to time, but, 
 at present, the business is carried on by the D. Girou- 
 ard Co. October 29, 1883, this concern started a 
 cracker bakeiy at the corner of Chestnut and Maple 
 Streets, and are now turning out about twenty-five 
 barrels of crackers daily, which they sell principally 
 to the New England trade. They also manufacture 
 pastry and small bread. This company was incorpo- 
 rated at the above date, and is composed of D. Girou- 
 ard, P. Berthiaume, D. Parent, A. Dufault, F. Collette 
 and A. Girouard. In June, 1879, B. C. Dustin opened 
 upon Wall Street a bakery for the manufacture of 
 plain and fancy bread, cake and pastry. In 1886 he 
 associated his son with him in the business, as B. C. 
 Dustin & Son, and in 1888 they enlarged their estab- 
 lishment and added the manufiictory of confectionery 
 to the works. Their trade is not confined to Spencer, 
 but extends to the Brookfields and Leicester. 
 
 Public Park. — The towu owns a beautiful park of 
 fourteen acres, situated upon the south shore of the 
 " Whittemore Pond." The tract is well-shaded by a 
 heavy growth of native pine trees, and the land slopes 
 gradually to the water's edge. It is encircled with a 
 broad, well-laid drive, and is a refreshing spot to 
 while away a pleasant hour, in vehicle or on foot, in 
 the heat of a summer's day, or after the labors of the 
 day have closed. The trees, with their cooling shade, 
 and the pond, across which can be had a charming 
 sail, make this an attractive resort for private lunch 
 parties or picnics. 
 
 This park was the generous gift of Judge Luther 
 Hill. Mr. Hill is a native of Spencer, and has been 
 a public man in the town since he was twenty-five 
 years of age. He was born November 22, 1825, and 
 in 1845 he was appointed postmaster, which office he 
 held eight years, was a deputy sheriff three years, and 
 has been a justice of the peace and quorum, notary 
 public and trial justice for many years. While hold- 
 ing the latter office, he has tried more than six thou- 
 sand criminal cases and, although not a lawyer by 
 profession, has never spared money or pains to become 
 well-posted in matters of law. He has held many 
 town offices, was chairman of the Board of Select- 
 men twelve years, and moderator of the town-meet- 
 ings thirty years. He has been actively prominent in 
 all public improvements, such as new streets, public 
 buildings, railroad, sewers, water and gas works. He 
 is president of the latter company. Mr. Hill is a man 
 of strong likes and dislikes, of temperate habits and 
 a Republican in politics. 
 
 Lawyers. — In 1813, Bradford Summer opened a 
 law office in Spencer, but remained a few weeks 
 only. Subsequently he became quite a prominent 
 and successful lawyer in Boston. John Davis, after- 
 wards Governor, was established here in 1815 for a 
 short time. He was succeeded by William S. An- 
 drews in 1816, and he by Daniel Knight in 1817. 
 42 
 
 Napoleon B. Smith was located here in 1852 and 
 William T. Harlow in 1854. The latter practiced his 
 profession until the breaking out of the late Eebel- 
 lion, when he was appointed captain of a company of 
 volunteers and he, with it, joined the 21st Mas-a- 
 chusetts Regiment. Soon after his return from the 
 war he was appointed assistant clerk of the Superior 
 Court for the county, which office he still holds. 
 Albert W. Curtis opened a law office in 1874 and is 
 in practice here at the present time. There are also 
 Lawyers Jerry R. Kane, D. J. Cowen and C. S. Dodge, 
 lu the early history of the towu John Bisco, Esq., 
 was a magistrate, and later on James Draper, Esq., and 
 for more than a quarter of a century Luther Hill, Esq., 
 has held that position. 
 
 Men of Note. — Spencer has produced but few 
 men that have become distinguished, socially, politic- 
 ally, or otherwise, outside our own State. The bent 
 and training of her sons has been decidedly of a 
 businci^s nature, and in this school they have become 
 business men that have given her, and themselves, an 
 honorable and extended record. She has, however, 
 sent out two men, whose genius as inventors has 
 been recognized and appreciated far and wide. 
 One made for himself a world-wide reputation. 
 
 William Howe, the inventor of the " truss wooden 
 bridge," was born in Spencer, May 12, 1803, and the 
 system designed and made practical by him was the 
 safest and most reliable of any in use in his day. It 
 was not confined to bridges alone, but was extensively 
 used in the construction of roofs to large buildings, 
 depots and other like structures. These wooden 
 bridges and other structures had their day, serving 
 their purpose admirably, and reflected great credit 
 upon the genius which conceived them, but are now 
 superseded by devices in iron, although the principle 
 of the "truss" is still retained. Mr. Howe early be- 
 came a resident of Springfield, where he died. 
 
 Elias Howe, Jr., nephew of William Howe, was 
 born in Spencer, July 9, 1819, and his invention has 
 not only made him eminently great throughout the 
 civilized world, but the principles embodied in the 
 sewing-machine conceived by him, live, at the pres- 
 ent time, without a rival. 
 
 His early years were passed upon the farm and in 
 the mill, and later on in machine shops at Lowell 
 and Boston. At twenty-five years of age he de- 
 veloped his invention and in 1845 completed his first 
 machine. For ten years he was involved in expen- 
 sive law-suits, but he eventually substantiated his 
 claims to the patents involved, and from this time 
 was able to enjoy the rich fruits of his genius. Be- 
 side the plaster bust of this inventor, the museum con- 
 tains an oil painting of the old home of the " Howe 
 family." 
 
 Museum. — Previous to 1874 certain individuals had 
 private collections of natural curiosities, historical 
 relics and sundry mementoes of the early history of 
 the town. At a town-meeting in March of that year, 
 
658 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 they asked the town to accept these collections and 
 hold them in trust for a public museum, which was 
 done, and a board of trustees was appointed to have 
 charge of them. They occupy an ante-room fitted up 
 for the purpose in the basement of the Library Build- 
 ing, and comprise a large collection of Indian relics 
 and many souvenirs of the Revolution and late Rebel" 
 lion, also a bust of Elias Howe, the inventor of sewing- 
 machine. 
 
 Infectious Diseases. — Excepting the years 1841, 
 1853 and 1874, the town has not been visited by any 
 sweeping contagious or other diseases that have given 
 the inhabitants real cause for alarm. In 1777, 1836 
 and 1849 small-pox prevailed to some extent, and re- 
 sulted in one death in each of these years. In 1853 
 the same disease appeared in the central part of the 
 village, causing some anxiety on the part of the 
 neighborhood and town authorities. There were 
 several cases of varioloid, with one case of small-pox 
 which resulted fatally. In 1874 this malady again re- 
 appeared, and 'for a time promised to be of a very 
 serious nature. The selectmen, however, took active 
 measures to prevent its spreading, by isolating the 
 cases that were past removal and establishing a " pest- 
 house " for new ones, or exposures. This building 
 was located two and one-half miles south of the Cen- 
 tre, and was owned by Ira E. Lackey. These vigorous 
 precautions were effectual, and the disease, with One 
 exception, was confined to this hospital. The sub- ' 
 jects were mostly from the French population, and 
 the six deaths re-vulting were persons of this nation- 
 ality. The town expended on account of this sick- 
 ness the sum of 13722.21. 
 
 In 1778, 1792, 1795 and 1802 dysentery and scarlet 
 fever prevailed, and several families were deeply af- 
 flicted, in the loss of children, by their ravages. In 
 the summer and fall of 1841 the former disease caused 
 consternation in the immediate vicinity ofthe village, 
 the fatality amounting to forty deaths, viz., thirty-two 
 children and eight adults. A protracted drouth of 
 four months was the attributed cause. October 
 1st a freezing storm of rain and snow set in, and from 
 this time no new cases appeared, and the old ones 
 were convalescent. 
 
 In 1860 the pleuro-pneumonia, so prevalent through- 
 out New England, received the closest attention of 
 the town authorities. The regulations ofthe General 
 Court " to prevent the spread of the cattle disease " 
 were strictly enforced by them. Some cattle were 
 killed, and hay, grain and other food was destroyed 
 by their order. 
 
 JosiAii Green. — It has been said that " Josiah 
 Green was the founder of the wholesale peg boot 
 manufacturing interests in this country," but whether 
 this be true or not, he certainly has a reasonable claim 
 to being one of the foremost in this branch of the boot 
 industry. He was born of humble parentage, in 
 the town of Leicester, August 9, 1792. His early 
 education was necessarily limited, as in the economy 
 
 of the family the children's time was an indispensable 
 factor in their support, and they could not take 
 advantage, even ofthe short allowance of the school- 
 ing in those days. The greater part of his early life 
 was occupied upon the farm, but in the fall of 1811 
 he and his elder brother undertook the manufacture 
 of sewed shoes as a business hazard. They began 
 with a capital of five dollars and forty cents, in the 
 house of John Hubbard, a near neighbor, and their 
 mother raised and spun the flax and made the thread 
 used in the manufacture of their work. The leather 
 used for the goods was the splits and remnants of card 
 leather, such as was used by the card manufacturers 
 of Leicester. This was taken to the leather dresser, 
 one Abel Chapman, of Leicester, oiled, blacked and 
 finished ready for use. Their product, during the 
 winter, was a "one-horse load," or about two hundred 
 and thirty pairs, and in early spring these were taken 
 to Boston by Josiah, to be disposed of. This was a 
 large amount of goods to be offered upon the market 
 at one time, and only one party, an auctioneer, was 
 found willing to undertake the sale of them. He 
 purchased six pairs at two dollars and thirty cents 
 per pair, with the privilege of the lot, if the venture 
 should prore a success. It was satisfactory, and he 
 took the balance. Receiving the money for them, 
 Mr. Green purchased leather to make up another lot, 
 and returned home. The second " load " was com- 
 pleted and sold with satisfactory results. In 1814 
 they made a " two-horse load," designed for the 
 Albany market, but these were sold to some army 
 speculators before reaching Albany, at two dollars and 
 twenty-seven cents per pair. Two years later tlie 
 broth«r3 found they had accumulated three thousand 
 dollar.s, and the elder proposed that they retire from 
 business and purchase, each, a farm. The partner- 
 ship was dissolved, and Nathaniel removed to Maine 
 and invested his money in land, but Josiah continued 
 in the manufacture of boots. This year, 1816, he 
 came to Spencer, and on the 4th of September, 
 married Tamer, daughter of Robert Watson, of Lei- 
 cester. He had just purchased the farm, which 
 was later on owned and occupied by the late Samuel 
 Adams, using one room in the dwelling-house as his 
 shop. This was his first year for making pegged 
 boots, and for a while all the pegs he used-were made 
 by himself, with the aid of a common shoe knife. The 
 plan of disposing of his goods now was a novel one. 
 It was to take them around the country in a one or 
 two-horse wagon, to sell or return when called for, 
 and on his next trip collect for what had been sold, 
 and if the arrangement had been mutually satis- 
 factory, they would assoj-t up the sizes of those unsold 
 and continue the relations. These "sale boots" were 
 denounced in the strongest terms by the village and 
 traveling shoemaker. October 13, 1820, his wife died, 
 and October 2, 1821, he married Sybil, daughter of 
 Deacon Reuben Underwood, of Spencer, and by this 
 marriage they reared a family of eight children. In 
 
Je^^U^a^y ^'~Y^-'zX^e-i^ 
 
SPENCEK. 
 
 659 
 
 1831 he purchased the homestead upon which he 
 resided until his death, December 28, 1876, and the 
 room in the old mansion now used as a parlor was 
 his work-shop until 1834. This year he built and 
 occupied a small factory opposite his dwelling, on the 
 Great Post Road. It was enlarged at two different 
 times to accommodate an increasing business. His 
 boots had a wide reputation and were extensively 
 known as "Green's boots." He was alone in his busi- 
 ness until 1852, when his son, Henry R., and son-in- 
 law, Emory Shumwaj', were admitted as partners. 
 The latter left the concern in 1856, and was succeeded 
 by Edward, Mr. Green's youngest son. He retired 
 from the firm in 1865, and his interest was purchased 
 by his brother, Jonas U. Green. In 1866 Mr. Green, 
 Sr., retired from the business, leaving his interest to 
 Josiah, Jr., who remained in the firm until his death, 
 in 1886. Jonas U. disposed of his interest in the con- 
 cern in 1877. In 1887 Henry R. retired, and since then 
 the business has been conducted by Charles H., son of 
 Henry R., and Austin F. Southwick, son-in-law of 
 Josiah, Jr. In 1874 a new factory, four stories high, 
 was erected connecting with the old one to the west 
 of it, and over the main entrance to the new building 
 is the old sign, " Josiah Green's, Boot Manufactory. 
 Established in 1812." 
 
 Mr. Green was emphatically a self-made man, and, 
 for the days in which he was in active business life, 
 possessed more than ordinary ability. As an old 
 school man he was among the foremost in his line of 
 trade, and noted lor vigor, indomitable perseverance 
 and an iron will. His careful and judicious manage- 
 ment enabled him to pass through the several notable 
 seasons of depression and disastrous failures in the 
 business community, commencing with 1837, pre- 
 pared at any time to meet all his liabilities with one 
 hundred cents on every dollar of his indebtedness. 
 For more than a half-century he was closely identified 
 with the business interests, growth and prosperity of 
 Spencer, and it was a source of gratification, in his 
 declining years, to feel that he had been instrumental 
 in bringing about such a grand result. "Learning 
 the trade" in those days meant a thorough knowledge 
 of the business in all its details, and many of his 
 workmen left his employ to engage in the business on 
 their own account. According to the laws of trade, 
 some were a success and some a failure, and of the 
 former class the most successful of his apprentices 
 were Charles E. Denny and Asa T. Jones. 
 
 Boots and Shoe.s. — The business upon which the 
 town has relied for its growth and support is the 
 manufacture of boots and shoes, although of late 
 years the business of the wire manufactories and also 
 the manufacture of woolen and satinet goods have 
 contributed largely towards the success of the town. 
 Prior to 1872 the manufacture of leather goods was 
 distinctively boots, but since that date shoes have 
 been added, until at the present time they occupy a 
 prominent position in this traffic. Charles Watson 
 
 was the first to commence in this business. He begao 
 in 1809, but his enterprise was not a success finan- 
 cially, and was therefore temporarily abandoned. 
 Josiah Green and his brother were the next to 
 venture in it, and for a full history of the rise and 
 progress of their undertaking, see biography of Josiah 
 Green. In 1820 Isaac Prouty began making boots as 
 a custom boot-maker, and the further history of the 
 firm of Isaac Prouty & Co. will be found under the 
 life sketches of Isaac Prouty and Charles N., his son. 
 From 1835 to 1842 several new firms started out in 
 the business, but the " hard times" of 1837 and other 
 causes, later, proved disastrous to them. In 1838 
 Charles E. Denny started the business in a small 
 building which stood west of and adjoining ihe prem- 
 ises of Horace A. Grout. 
 
 Mr. Denny afterwards built a boot-shop on the lot 
 now knowu as the " Guilford place," corner of Main 
 and Linden Streets. In 1850 this building was 
 moved to the present Cherry Street, between Maple 
 and Linden Streets, and converted into a dwelling. 
 He then built what is now a part of the David 
 Prouty factory, and this year he formed a partner- 
 ship with John G. Prouty, as Charles E. Denny & 
 Co. In 1852 David Prouty was admitted to the firm, 
 the style remaining the same. (See biography of 
 David Prouty for the continuation of the business in 
 this factory until Mr. Prouty retired from it, in 1876.) 
 From 1880 until the present time the business has 
 been carried on by Bemis & Allen. 
 
 In 1844 the firm of L. & 0. Warren occupied the 
 basement of the Universalist Church, corner of Main 
 and Wall Streets, on the site of the factory of E. E. 
 Kent & Co., for the manufacture of boots. Three 
 years later they disposed of this business to Jeremiah 
 Grout, J. L. Bush and G. F. Grout, who continued it 
 iu the same place until 1850. This firm then pur- 
 chased the carpenter-shop owned and occupied by 
 Temple & Livermore, for joiners' work, and also by 
 William Bush, Jr., for carriage-making and repair- 
 ing. This shop stood upon the site of the present 
 boot factory of Bacon, Kent & Co. After enlarging 
 the same, they moved their works into it. 
 
 In 1865 the Messrs. Grout retired from the busi- 
 ness and Mr. Bush continued alone for two years, 
 when H. A. Grout became a partner, under the firm- 
 name of Bush & Grout. December 21, 1875, this 
 building was destroyed by fire, but was rebuilt and 
 occupied by them until 1880, when they disposed of 
 the property to Prouty & Bacon, and this factory 
 has been occupied by the firm of Bacon, Kent & Co. 
 to the present time. 
 
 In 1850 Charles Watson, Jr., Dexter and Lorenzo 
 Bemis began the manufacture of boots in the base- 
 ment vacated by Grout, Bush & Co., and while there 
 they erected a boot-shop upon the site of the " Drury 
 factory," which, at that date, was the largest building 
 used for this purpose in the town. During 1857 this 
 firm dissolved, and in 1858 Charles & George Wat- 
 
660 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 ^■\ 
 
 son commenced the business again in the same fac- 
 tory, and continued it until 1864, when they dis- 
 solved partnership. Charles Watson remained alone 
 until 186(), at which time he retired on account of 
 failing health. 
 
 George Watson purchased the building erected by 
 Howland & Merritt in 1836 for a clothing manufac- 
 tory and af(erward3 used as a store, and made suita- 
 ble additions and changes for a boot factory. He 
 formed a partnership with J. Edward Bacon, and 
 they began the manufacture of boots here in 1865 as 
 George Watson & Co. Mr. Watson died in 1866, and 
 Mr. Bacon continued the business until 1867, when 
 he, in company with I. Rich Kent, of Calais, Vt., 
 purchased the property, and carried on the business 
 under the firm-name of Kent & Bacon until the de- 
 cease of Mr. Kent, in 1875. 
 
 In 1871, '72 and '73 this firm, in connection with 
 H. G. Lamb, of Charlton, Mass., manufactured 
 women's, misses' and children's shoes in a small build- 
 ing, next door (east) to this factory. In 1876 Mr. 
 Bacon entered the firm of Bush & Grout, under the 
 firm-name of J. E. Bacon & Co., and remained with 
 them one year. In 1878 he returned to his old fac- 
 tory, and took as a partner Van R. Kent, the style of 
 the firm being J. E. Bacon, and they continued in 
 business until 1881. This factory remained unoccu- 
 pied until 1885, when A. B. Bacon and Emory F. 
 Sibley formed a co-partnership and began the manu- 
 facture of boots in it. December 6, 1886, this build- 
 ing and contents were destroyed by tire, and was a 
 total loss. (For the rise and progress of the business 
 of Asa T. Jones and E. Jones & Co., see biography 
 of Erastus Jones.) 
 
 In 1850 a building was erected upon, or near the 
 site of B. C. Dustin & Son's bakery, Wall Street, by 
 Cheney Hatch, of Leicester, for a boot manufactory, 
 and was used for this purpose by William L. Powers 
 and George D. Hatch, under the firm-name of Pow- 
 ers & Hatch. After three years of unsuccessful labor, 
 they retired from the business. In 1857 George H. 
 Livermore and D. A. Drury formed a partnership, 
 known as Livermore & Drury, and commenced the 
 same business in this building. 
 
 In 1860 they purchased the Universalist Church 
 property, fitting it up into a boot factory, and moved 
 their works into it. They remained here, however, 
 but one year, closing up their business in 1861. 
 Manufacturing was carried on one year, in the Powers 
 & Hatch building, by Prouty, Bigelow & Co. 
 
 In 1867 D. A. Drury and Frank E. Dunton entered 
 into partnership under the style of D. A. Drury & 
 Co., and started the boot business in the factory of 
 the late Charles Watson, and this firm continued to 
 manufacture here until the building was destroyed 
 by fire, in 1874. Mr. Drury erected a new building, 
 and for six years following his partners were Christo- 
 pher Prince, Theodore Green and Walter Eldredge. 
 He enlarged the factory and works twice during this 
 
 time, and for the last two years of his manufacturing 
 he was alone in the business. The building was un- 
 occupied until 1886, when, during the labor troubles 
 of that year, a co-operative boot and shoe company 
 was organized and used it as their manufactory for 
 four months, after which they moved to smaller quar- 
 ters on Cherry Street, between Mechanics and Maple 
 Streets. In August, 1888, at a meeting of the stock- 
 holders it was voted to clo?e up the business and 
 " dispose of it to the best advantage." This year the 
 " Drury building" was purchased by Bacon & Sibley, 
 and this firm are carrying on the boot business in it 
 at the present time. 
 
 In 1867 Dexter Bullard, John Boyden and Isaac 
 Prouty & Co. became partners in the business, under 
 the firm-name of Bullard & Boyden, and they occu- 
 pied the factory built by the latter parties in 1856. 
 In 1869 J. W. Temple purchased the interest of Isaac 
 Prouty & Co., and the style of the firm was changed 
 to Bullard, Boyden & Co. In 1876 Mr. Boyden re- 
 tired and the concern became Bullard & Temple. 
 In 1883 Mr. Temple retired from the business and a 
 new firm was formed by Mr. Bullard, F. G. Mullet 
 and F. A. Rice, under the firm-name of D. Bnllard 
 & Co., and this concern continues the same at the 
 present time. 
 
 In 1863 the boot firm of Shumway, Temple & Co., 
 of Warren, Mass., moved their works to Spencer, and 
 into the Livermore & Drury factory, which had been 
 purchased by Mr. Shumway. This concern manufac- 
 tured here for two years, when Mr. Temple left the 
 firm. It was continued by E. Shumway & Son near- 
 ly two years longer, when the business was closed 
 up, and in 1868 the property was sold to Edward E. 
 Kent. Mr. Kent formed a business connection with 
 David Prouty & Co., under the style of Proutys & 
 Kent, and they carried on the manufacturing of 
 boots from 1868 to 1874, at which time the Proutys' 
 interest ceased and was purchased by Charles N. 
 Myriek, and the firm-name changed to E. E. Kent & 
 Co. Mr. Myriek remained a partner two years, when 
 he retired on account of ill health, since which time 
 Mr. Kent has been sole owner and proprietor. There 
 are, then, eight boot and shoe manufacturing estab- 
 lishments in the town at the present time. 
 
 In 1837 the value of leather goods made was 
 $106,496; in 1845, $93,100; in 1865, $835,800; in 
 1875, $2,185,000; in 1880, $2,.347,000; and in 1S8.'>, 
 $2,617,736. The total value of all the goods, df 
 whatever nature or kind, made in town in 1885 was 
 $3,627,467. 
 
 Number of Business Fiems. — The number of pri- 
 vate firms in Spencer in 1885 was eighty-three and 
 one corporation with a capital stock of $75,000. 
 The capital invested in these establishments, includ- 
 ing plant, was $1,580,794. 
 
 Isaac Peouty. — No family name in Spencer is so 
 common and none embraces so great a number of 
 people as that of Prouty. The family sprung from 
 
 i 
 
SPENCER. 
 
 661 
 
 one Richard Prouty, wlio resided in Scituate, Mass., in 
 1667. Isaac Prouty is the fourth generation from 
 Richard, and is the subject of this sketch. 
 
 He was born December 9, 1798, and was the founder 
 of the well-known boot manufactory of Isaac Prouty 
 & Co. In 1820 his occupation was making boots to 
 order, from measure, in a small room in his own 
 dwelling-house in North Spencer, so called. Little 
 by little his work increased until he found it necessary 
 to employ help to meet the demands of " the trade,'' 
 and soon was forced to build a small one and a half 
 story building in which he could extend the facilities 
 for manufacturing. This building, together with a 
 barn and other store-houses, subserved his purpose 
 until 1855. He had subsequently purchased the 
 homestead of Rev. Levi Packard in " the village," 
 and this year he caused a factory to be erected upon 
 the westerly part of this lot, and in 185G occupied it 
 for his business and the dwelling for his residence. 
 
 This factory, for those days, was a spacious one, 
 being thirty by sixty feet, with three stories and a 
 basement. The system and management was now 
 thoroughly reorganized, and a partnership formed 
 with two of his sons, Lewis W. and George P., under 
 the firm-name of Isaac Prouty & Co. With the aid of 
 machinery, which they now added, they were, in a 
 great measure, able to supplant hand labor most ad- 
 vantageously. 
 
 This was really the first aggressive step taken by 
 Mr. Prouty, looking towards an extension of business, 
 and the success which in the following six years at- 
 tended the undertaking proved the wisdom of it. His 
 aim was now to build up and develop a large manu- 
 facturing enterprise, and in this effort he was heartily 
 seconded by Lewis W., who had become superinten- 
 dent and business manager under his father's direc- 
 tion. 
 
 In 1862 it became necessary to increase the factory 
 capacity, and for this purpose they purchased the 
 " Mason property " and erected a building forty-two 
 by one hundred and four feet, five stories with base- 
 ment, adding an engine and boiler to run the works 
 by power. The old firm moved into this factory in 
 January, 1864, and Charles N., a younger son, was ad- 
 mitted to the firm, the firm-name remaining the same. 
 By these improvements and with the addition of valu- 
 able room and machinery adapted to power, the con- 
 cern made a radical change both in mode and facility 
 of doing business. Mr. Prouty was early convinced 
 that machinery was eventually to be an important 
 fiictor in cheapening the cost of manufactured goods, 
 and also in enabling the manufacturer to produce a 
 greater quantity in a given time, and he was foremost 
 to introduce such machines as promised good work 
 and quick results. He lived to see their enterprise 
 outgrow these accommodations and to plan for a fur- 
 ther enlargement of the factory of one hundred and 
 thirty by forty-two feet, with new engine, boilers, etc. 
 But while in the midst Jof these improvements he 
 
 was taken sick, and died after an illness of seven 
 days. Five days later his son, Lewis W., followed 
 him. 
 
 Mr. Prouty was noted as a careful and shrewd busi- 
 ness man, giving his individual attention to his entire 
 business, watching closely every detail, and scanning 
 as closely the economy of the various departments 
 in their use of stock and other materials. He 
 thoroughly believed in the old maxim, " economy is 
 wealth," and to practice it was one of the important 
 distinguishing features of his business life, and was 
 a strong corner-stone to that structure. Success, 
 which he in his life planned with much care. He 
 was one of the most unpretending of men, and to an 
 unfamiliar observer was indifferent to what was tran- 
 spiring around him, but in matters of business, or 
 socially, he was quick of hearing and keen of vision, 
 and it was a matter of trifling importance that escaped 
 either. His customs and habits were those of the 
 New Englander of an earlier date, and he per- 
 sistently ignored the conventionality of the people 
 during the latter days of his life. He clung tena- 
 ciously to the social and domestic habits formed in 
 early life, but in his business he was decidedly modern 
 and progressive. He was a tireless worker, and this 
 characteristic was prominent from the commence- 
 ment of his business enterprise. He died at the age 
 of seventy-three years, but remained vigorous and 
 attentive to the demands of business up to the begin- 
 ning of his last sickness. 
 
 Charles N. Prouty was born October 6, 1842, and 
 he remained at the homestead until he reached the 
 age of seventeen years. At this age he was em- 
 ployed as clerk in the country store of Grout, 
 Prouty & Co., and the experience gained there, in a 
 year's service, by contact with the people and mat- 
 ters pertaining to business, he regards as the first and 
 valuable step in his business education. From 
 eighteen to twenty years of age he attended school 
 at Wilbraham, Mass., and at the close of his last 
 school year returned home, and was admitted a part- 
 ner in the firm of Isaac Prouty & Co. Four years 
 previous to the death of his father and brother, early 
 in 1872, he acted as general superintendent of the 
 labor department of this manufactory, employing the 
 help and having the charge of the manufacturing in- 
 terests generally. 
 
 The death of these two business members of the 
 firm following so closely upon each other were 
 events of extraordinary importance to the surviving 
 members, and how to meet the situation and over- 
 come it was their first care and thought. Unex- 
 pected responsibilities, with new cares and burdens, 
 were suddenly thrust upon them, but they must, if 
 possible, show themselves equal to the emergency. 
 It is true that each had ably filled a position in the 
 prosecution of the business thus far, but to the 
 knowledge of the markets, for buying and selling, 
 the financial management and the relationship be- 
 
662 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 tween manufacturer and customer, they were strang- 
 ers, as these duties had been the exclusive preroga- 
 tive of father and brother, now gone. 
 
 They at once reorganized the concern, and it con- 
 sisted of George P., Charles N. and Jason AV., a 
 younger brother, and they still retained the old firm- 
 name of Isaac Prouty & Co. Each entered upon his 
 duties full of confidence and hope, and each took a 
 position in the management of the business where he 
 thought he could best promote the interests of the 
 concern. Many of the important details were as- 
 sumed by George P. and Jason W., while by common 
 consent the general management fell to the lot of 
 Charles N. Under the circumstances this was a 
 difficult task for him to perform, but as time passed 
 on, and he became more familiar with the new du- 
 ties, he gave evidence, by his management, that he 
 was abundantly able to assume the trust so suddenly 
 imposed upon him. 
 
 The business received a fresh impetus under this 
 new order, and in a short period of time it became 
 necessary to increase the facilities, by additions and 
 extensions, in both buildings and motive-power. 
 These have been made from time to time, until at 
 present the building contaihing the boot and shoe 
 departments measures 457 feet in lebglh by 42 
 feet in width, and is five stories high, with basement. 
 There are also two large brick store-houses, for 
 leather and manufactured -^goods, and still another 
 one of brick, used for [be manufacture * of boot and 
 shoe boxes, lasts, etc. ■ • ';•.■■'■. ^ . • 
 
 The main building 'is" divided inlo fire-proof s'ec- 
 tions, and the whole ■ establishment provided with 
 the latest improvements as safeguards against fire.. 
 It is lighted by the incandescent' electric light, and 
 the motive-power for the whole works is supplied by 
 a 250 horse-power engine, and four 100 horse-power 
 boilers. In 1872 this concern turned out 20,000 
 cases of boots, valued at $500,000, and in 1886 the 
 value of the boots and shoes combined was more 
 than $2,000,000. 
 
 Mr. Prouty married Jennie, daughter of Selby 
 Richardson, of Spencer, May 25, 1804. 
 
 Erastus Jones. — Erastus Jones was born Septem- 
 ber 11, 1825. His father. Dr. Asa Jones, was a native 
 of Charlton, Mass., where he studied medicine, and, 
 in 1811, began his practice in Spencer. Here he be- 
 came a physician of considerable note. Asa, his old- 
 est son, commenced the manufacture of boots in 
 Spencer in 1841, in the chambers of the " Livermore 
 House," corner of Main and North Streets. Four 
 years later he moved these works to his factory situ- 
 ated upon the site of the residence of AsaT. Jones, 
 son of the elder member of this firm. Erastus, the 
 younger son, and subject of this sketch, spent several 
 years in his brother's employ, learning the trade and 
 the details of the business. In 1846 he was made a 
 partner, under the firm-name of A. T. & E. Jones. 
 Although he had hardly attained his majority when 
 
 he took upon himself these duties and responsibilities, 
 yet his early business training and habits of industry 
 were an assurance of his future success. 
 
 This partnership continued until 1862, when Asa 
 T. retired from the business, and the style of the firm 
 was changed to E. Jones & Co., by the admission of 
 Hezekiah P. Starr as partner, and, in 1871, Frank E. 
 Dunton was admitted, without change in the firm- 
 name. In 1860 the rapid increase of business caused 
 a demand for more room, and the present factory of 
 E. Jones & Co. was erected. Several important addi- 
 tions have been made to this building from time to 
 time. January 1, 1886, Mr. Starr retired from the 
 concern. 
 
 Mr. Jones is a man of marked characteristics, in 
 both his business and private life, and his kind and 
 generous disposition, through long years of inter- 
 course, has endeared him to his business associ- 
 ates and numerous employes. They have found him 
 to be a man of few words, but yet enough to convey 
 an unmistakable meaning, although spoken in an un- 
 obtrusive way. He is quiet to a fault, if that be pos- 
 sible; nevertheless, there is an energy in this quiet- 
 ness which has made his business life a success, and 
 in a more private way has established for him a well- 
 merited reputation for shrewdness and sagacity. Be- 
 inga man of few words, subjects under his considera- 
 tion have always been carefully weighed and his 
 opinion given only after the most mature delibera- 
 tion. His honiur as a business man has never been 
 doubted, and, as a private citizen, he commands the 
 respect of all. ■ 
 
 He is president of the Spencer National Bank, and 
 for many years has been treasurer of the town.' He 
 • has been Representative to the General Court, and in 
 various' ways has occupied positions of honor and 
 trust. His life, from the beginning of his business 
 career, has been one of untiring industry, and, 
 with few exceptions, he has given it his daily care 
 and management. This fidelity has returned to him 
 a handsome fortune, from which many an honest, 
 needy object has found pecuniary relief. Subscriptions, 
 gifts and donations have been bestowed without num- 
 ber, although the public have had little or no knowl- 
 edge of these numerous benefactions. His motto 
 most emphatically is, — " Let not thy left hand know 
 what thy right hand doeth." 
 
 Mr. Jones was married to Mary I. Starr, of Thom- 
 aston. Me., June 5, 1850. 
 
 Cotton and Woolen Industries. — "Clearing 
 up " a spot to build a log-house or other rude struc- 
 ture for a place to live, then planting and gathering 
 in his crops was the Jirsf business of the pioneer; next 
 came the indispensable grist and saw-mills, and when 
 the housewife began the manufacture of "homespun," 
 the fulling-mill became a necessity also. The former 
 were located upon small streams in various parts of 
 the town, while the latter, two in number, were 
 
i 
 
 '^^:<'<L^Ct^t^ ^J-z^-T^z^.-C^ 
 
SPENCER. 
 
 6K3 
 
 situated at the foot of "Sumner Hill/' juwt below the 
 pre»ent (jriBt-mill of T. J. BeinJH. 
 
 The first record of these fulling-millh is in 1791, 
 although they were probably established at a much 
 earlier date. One, at a later date, was owned by 
 William Sumner and one by Willard Kice. This year 
 — 1791 — the property and industries of the t<jwn were 
 made returnable by law to the Secretary of State, and 
 was as follows, viz. : Whole number of dwellings and 
 other buildings, 186; 6 grist and (i saw mills, 2 
 fulling and all other mills and 1 pot and pearl-ash 
 works. 
 
 In 1811 the number of buildings remaine'l the 
 game, but one "Tan House" and one " other mill" 
 was added. This " other mill " was probably the one 
 built in 1810 and known as the "Green Factory," and 
 this was the first businessenterpriseof any magnitude 
 started in the town. This was built for the manufac- 
 ture of wwjien goods and was owned and operated for 
 several yearn by .labez Howe, Isaac .Jenks and Willard 
 Rice. In 182o this became the property of Willard 
 and Horace Rice, and was run as the Spencer Woolen 
 Company. From this period until 18H7, when it was 
 destroyed by fire, the ownership was fluctuating, but 
 it was owned and run principally by Reuben Whitte- 
 more, Amoi' Brown and Augustus Rider. 
 
 Ojnnected with this mill was another one standing 
 upon the site of the present " Upham and Sagendorph 
 Mill." This was originally a "trip-hammer" shop, 
 for the working of iron in some form, but was con- 
 Terted into a wvden-mill about the time the " upper" 
 one was built, and this was known as the " lower 
 mill." The pr'xluct of these two " four set" mill", 
 containing thirteen looms, for the year ending April 
 1, 18-37, was thirty-four thousand yards of woolen 
 '•''ith, valued at eighty-seven tbousaod dollare. 
 
 i he " upper " property lay in ruins until 1840, 
 ■Ktiea it was purchase^! by Alonzo Temple, and he 
 erected a sUme taat/irw upon it. In 1841 Silas Eld- 
 ridge bfjught this property and i'lTtatA a co-partner- 
 ship with hisbrother N'athaniel and William Henshaw 
 under the firm-name of Silas Eldridge & Oj., for the 
 manufacture of cotton cloth and satinet war[>s. 
 
 In 184o Xathaniel Eldridge left the firm, and in 
 1849 Silas Eldridge retired from it and active business. 
 The busineiiB was continued by Mr. Henshaw until 
 18-52, when the factory was again burncL In 18o7 
 Mr. Henshaw built a grain and griist'aiill in its plaice, 
 and he, together with Jame^ Capen an partner, 
 occupied the premises until 1870, when Mr. Henshaw 
 retired. The business on this property has remained 
 the same up to the present time, but with changes in 
 maoagerg and ownership. 
 
 In 184-3 Thomajs H. Shorey purchased the property 
 of the " lower mill" from Whittemore &, Brown, and 
 in 1844 he formed a partnership with*Henry J. Lyman 
 ' - the manufiicture of satinet goods, but in 184-5 Mr, 
 rev purchased the interest of the latt«T, and the 
 iivia diEMlved. In 1^46 this mill wag operated by 
 
 Baker, Sibley & Co. ; in 1847 and '48 by Baker & Bel- 
 lows, and from that time until I8l!0 by Mr. Shorey. 
 In 1860 and 1867 tbe work was carried on by I'eel & 
 Meyerg, and from 18*58 U) 1871 by Joseph Peel. 
 During these years the machinery wag employed in 
 tbe manufacture of satinets. It was now in a dilapi- 
 dated comiition, and standing until 187-0, became 
 almoHt a ruin. This year the privilege was purchasfs*! 
 by Upham & Sagendorph, and Uiey erected a three-get 
 mill upon tbe site for the manufacture of fine woolen 
 goods and fancy cassi meres. Jan. 1, 1880, Oe^rge I'. 
 
 I lyadd purchascl the inU^rest of Mr. Sagendorph in 
 this property, and it was run by I'pham & I^add until 
 • he partnership was dissolved by the death of the 
 
 ' former, since which time Mr. Ladd bag been proprie- 
 tor and g(jle manager. 
 
 ' A short distance below this mill, and gtanding upon 
 the game gtreara, was a partial ruin of one of the 
 earlier grigt-millg. In 18.32 a new building wag erected 
 near tbe old one by Am'/s Brown, and used as a grist 
 and flouring-mill until 1841, when the property wag 
 gold to Samuel O. lifted, of Brookfield, and chi verted 
 
 ' into a manufactory of wheeig and wheel nUtck. He 
 
 ! ma/le quite extensive improvement* on the pr«mise», 
 
 I by enlarging and repairs, for the better accowmo<la- 
 
 ' tion of his works. He cmtinuci this business until 
 
 ' 184-5, when it was close"! up, and in 184*; the privil<:^e 
 and property wag purchase'l by Henry J. Lyman. 
 The two original mills were moved away and used for 
 dwelling and store-house, and Mr. Lyman built a two- 
 get mill upon the old location, taking Mr. Upham a« a 
 partner in the business. For a further hisU^ry of thii 
 mill, gee biography of William Upham until his de- 
 cease, after which this property pagse*! intf* the hands 
 
 J of Mr. Ladd, and he ig carrying on the busiaets at the 
 
 , present time. 
 
 ! In 184'J Edward Smith, of North Brookfield, Ma»»., 
 formerly in the employ of Samuel d. R*ed, built what 
 was afterwards known a«the " Draper Mill," in which 
 he attempted the manufacture of cotUjn battg and 
 wicking in a very small way, but the business was not 
 a success. Thi» building wag then occupied by L. 
 J. Knowleg and Warren H. Sibley, under the firm- 
 
 ' name of Kuowles <Sc Sibley, and they carried on 
 the manufacture of cotton warps in it until 1849, 
 when they closed up their business here and 
 transferred their workg to Warren, Masg. In 18.5'^ 
 .Eli J. Whittemore leased it for a term of three 
 
 , years for a manufactory of carriage-wheeU and spokes, 
 and December 1-0, 18-52, the building wag considerably 
 damaged by fire. In 18-54 it wag again changed to a 
 galioet mill, and ag such was run one year by Wm. 
 Stanley and George C Holden. From 18-5-5 10 1868 
 Mr. Stanley was iatere-sted in the mill, operating it at 
 
 . times ID oonoection with Mr. Upham, and then again 
 on big own ajisoount. lo 1849 Mr. Upbau became 
 aceoclated with Hugh Kelley in this property, and 
 it was thereafter known as the Spencer W'xden 
 Company. At the death of Mr. Upham, Mr. Ladd 
 
664 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 took his interest in the business, and is carrying on 
 the worlis at the present time in connection with Mr. 
 Kelley. 
 
 When Nathaniel Eldridge left the concern of Silas 
 Eldridge & Co., in 1845, he went to what is now called 
 " Westville," made a water privilege, and built a mill 
 for the manufacture of satinet warps. He continued 
 in this mill until 1854, at which time he was obliged 
 to close up his affairs. This property, after remaining 
 idle for some time, was purcha.sed by W. G. Fay, G. 
 B, Dewing and John Gilman, of East Brookfield, and 
 this company manufactured denims and balmoral 
 skirts for a season, when Mr. Gilman bought the in- 
 terests of Fay and Dewing, changing the works to 
 denims and batting. In 1871 he sold the mill and 
 privilege to Upbam & Stanley, and they changed the 
 machinery for the manufacture of satinets. This rela- 
 tion between these parties remained until Mr. Upham's 
 death. These several mills contain eleven sets of 
 machinery and one hundred and one looms. They 
 are run under the direct management of Mr. Ladd, 
 he being the sole owner of the "Valley Mill," and 
 one-half owner in the remaining three. The produc- 
 tion aggregates one hundred thousand yards of fine 
 cassimeres per month. 
 
 Hon. William Upham. — William Upham was 
 born in Brimfield, Mass., February 27, 1825. His 
 parents were William and Nancy Smith Upham, and 
 the father died when William, Jr., was but two and 
 one-half years old. When four years of age, he was 
 taken by a kind friend of the family. Deacon Jacob 
 Bishop, with whom he lived, receiving the care and 
 love of a son, working on the farm and receiving the 
 benefit of the district school until sixteen years of 
 age. Later he attended school at Warren Academy, 
 and until twenty years of age he spent the fall and 
 winter months at school or in teaching. 
 
 He came to Spencer in 1845, and entered the em- 
 ploy of his brother-in-law, Henry J. Lyman, as a 
 common mill-hand. In 1846 he formed a co-part- 
 nership with Mr. Lyman, in the manufacture of 
 satinet goods in a small way. In 1853 he purchased 
 Mr. Lyman's interest in the business, and continued 
 it, enlarging the capacity of the mill from time to 
 time until 1S65. He then disposed of the property 
 and business to E. D. Thayer, of Worcester, to en- 
 gage in an enterprise in Boston ; but in 1868 he 
 returned to Spencer, and leased the mill but recently 
 sold, for a term of three years, at the expiration of 
 which he re-purchased it. This was known as the 
 "Valley Mill," and in 1874 George P. Ladd be- 
 came one-half owner in this property. For several 
 years Mr. Upham had more or less business connec- 
 tion with William Stanley in what was known 
 as the "Draper Mill;" but in 1868 he formed a part- 
 nership with Hugh Kelley in this mill, which 
 was thereafter known as the "Spencer Woolen Com- 
 pany." Two years later he associated himself again 
 with Mr. Stanley, and they purchased the " West- 
 
 ville" property, replacing the cotton with woolen 
 machinery, and commenced the manufacture of 
 woolen goods. In 1876 he entered into partner- 
 ship with Noah Sagendorph, and they erected the 
 mill known as the "Upham & Sagendorph Mill," 
 and their business relations continued uniil 1880, 
 when Mr. Sagendorph withdrew from the firm, and 
 was succeeded by Mr. Ladd. At the time of his 
 death Mr. Upham was the head and general manager 
 of these several mills. The product of the "one-set" 
 mill in 1845 was about five thousand yards of goods 
 per month, while in 1880, under his judicious manage- 
 ment, the production of the above mills reached a 
 total of one hundred thousand yards monthly. 
 
 Mr. Upham enjoyed the confidence of all who 
 knew him, and when the citizens honored him with 
 any office in their gift, they felt that the duties of 
 that position would be faithfully and conscientiously 
 performed. He was elected to town office in 1858, 
 and from that date he served the town in most of ita 
 important offices. Two years he represented this 
 district in the General Court, and one year was a 
 member of the Senate. He was elected to a seat in 
 the Executive Council, serving the first year with 
 Governor Alexander H. Rice, and the second with 
 Governor Thomas Talbot. He filled these positions 
 with credit to his constituency and honor to himself. 
 He always took a deep interest in the political affairs 
 of the town or Stale, and would never countenance 
 dishoTiorable means to reach a desired end. He 
 was fortunate in the position he occupied with his 
 employes, as he was scrupulously exact in his treat- 
 ment of them, never giving offense, but, on the con- 
 trary, manifesting at all times the kindest regard for 
 their welfare. This friendly interest, on his part, 
 was the natural overflow of a sympathetic nature, 
 and he easily won their confidence and affection. 
 As a citizen, he gave liberally of time and money to 
 such local enterprises or improvements as would pro- 
 mote the best interests of the town ; and as a neigh- 
 bor, his words of cheer and encouragement were not 
 without a potent influence. 
 
 His temperance principles and habits were formed 
 in early youth, and through all his life he was a con- 
 sistent and energetic worker in the cause. He was 
 thoroughly in sympathy with the principles of the 
 prohibitory liquor law and favored a rigid and impar- 
 tial enforcement of it. Being a member of the Con- 
 gregational Church, he took a deep and active inter- 
 est in its welfare, and gave generously towards its 
 support: His benevolence, in church or out, was a 
 distinguishing feature of his character. Mr. Upham 
 was a member of the Raymond California excursion- 
 ists who left the East in May, 1882, for San Francisco 
 and surroundings, and at a re-union of the party at 
 the Palace Hotel* on the eve of their departure for 
 home, June 13th, he was stricken with apoplexy and 
 died on the morning of the 14th, at the age of fifty- 
 seven years, three months and dseventeen days. Mr. 
 
^ / 
 
 l/v ^--^^-o^:--^=:^it-^>^-^^ 
 
SPENCER. 
 
 665 
 
 Uphara married Lucretia H., daughter of Wm. Pope, 
 Esq., of Spencer, June 28, 18.53. 
 
 Some years previou.s to 1825 (there is now no way 
 of fi.xing the precise date) a small mill for the manu- 
 facture of linseed oil was located a few rods below 
 the T. J. Bemis prist-mill. One Gardner Washburn 
 was accidentally killed while employed there, by being 
 "caught by a rope which was used in raising the 
 press-beam." In 18.3.3, or earlier, this property was 
 owned and occupied by Willard Kice, and he changed 
 the location of the works by removing the dam and 
 buildings farther "down stream," making what is 
 known as the privilege of the " Livermore Box Manu- 
 fitctory." Later on, this oil-mill was converted into 
 a woolen factory, with one set of machinery, and from 
 1837 to 1839 'the works were run ,by Chapin & 
 Prouty. Near the close of the latter year it was 
 partially destroyed by fire. 
 
 In 1841 Danforlh Burgees bought the property, 
 repaired the buildings, and fitted them for the manu- 
 facture of cotton wadding and batting, and, with the 
 excejition of the years 1846, '47 and '48, in which 
 Dexter and Lorenzo Bemis were partners with Mr. 
 Burgess, he owned and operated these works alone, 
 until 1851. In 1853 Winthrop Livermore started the 
 business of manufacturing boot, cloth and other 
 boxes at " Howe's Mills," two and a half miles south 
 from the post-ofEce, introducing machinery to do 
 the work usually performed by hand. He remained 
 here until 18G0, when he moved "to town," and be- 
 came owner of the above privilege, erecting new and 
 suitable buildings for the better accommodation of 
 his increasing works. He was identified with this 
 industry until his death, after which his son, Warren 
 J. succeeded to it. The latter continued to carry on 
 the business here until 1886, when he moved the 
 machinery in these works to a brick building on the 
 premises of Isaac Prouty & Co., and carries on the 
 business there at the present time. The old works 
 are unoccupied. The largest yearly production of 
 Mr. Livermore's works was 100,000 boxes, consuming 
 2,000,000 feet of lumber. 
 
 One of the first saw-mills erected in the town was 
 known as " Howe's Mill," and was situated two and 
 a half miles southerly from the village. The working 
 of lumber has been carried on there until the present 
 time. The location of the miU, however, has been 
 changed and also the ownership, but it has never 
 passed out of the possession of the Howe family. 
 Ebenezer Howe is the present owner and proprietor. 
 He has been engaged in the manufacture of cloth, 
 boot and shoe boxes for twenty-five years or more, 
 and has produced 30,000 annually, using nearly 
 750,000 feet of himber. 
 
 Manufacture of Leather. — Tanning and curry- 
 ing was an enterprise commenced in the early part of 
 the present century and carried on by Ebenezer 
 Mason. These works were located upon the site of 
 the " Hey wood block." Mr. Mason was succeeded by 
 
 Thomas Pierce, who occupied them from 1825 to 
 1832, then Pierce & Barnes from 1833 to 1834 and 
 Barnes & Muzzy in 1835. Following them, some 
 years later, was Joseph W. Morse and .Tosephus 
 Muzzy, under the firm-name of Morse & Muzzy. 
 Their shop was located at the corner of Lake and 
 Powers Streets, and was owned by the former. 
 They carried on the business here until the build- 
 ing was destroyed by fire, in 1858. In 1859 a new 
 one was erected, and the works were again operated 
 by Mr. Mor.se until his decease, in 1860. In 1802 
 Edward E. Kent leased the establishment for one 
 year, and in 1863 purchased it, carrying on the 
 same business until 1864, when he turned it into 
 a boot- factory. It was, after this date, operated 
 by Mr. Kent, then by Kent & R. S. Watson, and 
 lastly by Mr. Watson alone, until his death, in 
 1875. The building was then converted into a 
 tenement-house, and is now known as " Condrick's 
 block." 
 
 In 1851 Edward Proctor began currying rough 
 leather in a shop near his present residence, and 
 continued the business until 1868. In 1864 Isaac 
 Prouty & Co. erected a building for this enter- 
 prise on North Street, which was run about two 
 years, when it was closed up and the building 
 moved away and tliis was made into a dwelling. 
 
 In 1837, 800 hides were used, valued, when fin- 
 ished, at $3,000 ; in 1845, 2,000 hides, at S4,500 ; 
 and in 1865, 3,200 hides, valued at $19,000. 
 
 Boot and Shoe Heeh. — In 1865 a Mr. Rice started 
 a small business in the manufacture of heels for 
 women's, misses' and children's shoes. About this 
 time William A. Barr, of Spencer, made eight 
 dollars' worth of these goods, and taking them to Lynn 
 realized sixty' dollars for the lot. He returned home, 
 and on October 1st of this year bought Mr. Rice out 
 and continued the business, which, under his man- 
 agement, has proved to be a prosperous one. On 
 October 1, 1883, he took his son into partnership, 
 and the firm has been, since that date, William 
 A. Barr & Son. They have a manufactory now, 
 sixty by forty, three stories high, well eijuipped 
 with rollers, presses and all the latest improved 
 machinery, with steam-power for the business, and 
 employ fifty girls in the works. Their sales have 
 reached seventy thousand dollars annually. In 
 connection with this business they have oil ex- 
 tracting work-i, and the sales of "chip and naphtha 
 grease " have reached twelve thousand dollars annu- 
 ally. 
 
 Wire Works. — From a very small beginning, the 
 wire industry has grown to be an important enter- 
 prise in the town. At the commencement of the 
 War of 1812 with England, the importation of wire 
 ceased, and "Yankee ingenuity" was called into 
 requisition. The card-factories of Leicester prom- 
 ised to be a market for the article, and being 
 convenient and near at hand, the genius of some 
 
HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 of the citizens of Spencer was exercised with very 
 favorable results. The first experiment in this line 
 was by Windsor Hatch and Charles Wat«on, about 
 1812, at the house of Jacob Watson (later known 
 as the Warner Livermore house), and the wire was 
 drawn from two tubs by hand. This was a small 
 seed from which a larger plant was to spring in 
 the future. About this same date Elliot Prouty 
 began the business below what is now the " Sugden 
 lower mill," but it was not until 1820 that wire- 
 drawing became an industry, and then, only in a 
 small way. Mr. Russell Prouty commenced it this 
 year, in connection with his brother Elliot, and 
 they were followed by Foster & Eoswell Bisco, 
 and in 1847 Myrick & Sugden succeeded the Bisco's. 
 Below, on the same stream, was the small works 
 of Eli Hatch, in 1830, and in 1840 this mill passed 
 into the hands of David Prouty, and in 1840 he 
 sold the same to Liberty Prouty. Mr. Prouty's 
 sons, Jonas R. and Joel E., succeeded him, and 
 they built up a large and prosperous business 
 after a labor of about twenty years. 
 
 In 1876 this concern was consolidated with that of 
 Myrick & Sugden, and made a stock company, called 
 the Spencer Wire Company. In 1837 the total pro- 
 duct of four wire-mills was 1 9 tons, valued at !5!lO,000 ; 
 in 184-5 two wire-mills, 32,000 pounds, value $8000; 
 and in 1888 the product of the consolidation was 1200 
 tons, valued at .f lGit,000. 
 
 ■ ScYTHKS, Hoes and Cutlery. — Joel Wright 
 came to Spencer in 1809 and began the manufacture 
 of scythes, and in 1812 Ziba Eaton came to work 
 in his manufactory for him. The latter purchased 
 the works of Mr. Wright, continuing the scythe busi- 
 ness and, a little later on, adding hoes and cutlery. 
 These works were situated near the '' Wright hous»," 
 northeast from the "Upper Wire Village.'' Mr. 
 Wright soon after started the manufacture of hoes 
 and cutlery. Eli Putnam was early connected 
 with this business. These works were closed about 
 1S53. In 1837 eighteen hundred scythes were manu- 
 factured, valued at $1200, and in 184.5 two thousand 
 and forty scythes, at a value of $1530. In 1850 car- 
 riage-springs were manufactured in one of these 
 shops by Sibley & Belcher. 
 
 Powder. — The manufacture of powder was one of 
 the early industries of the town, and was first carried 
 on by Isaac & Lemuel Smith, from 1812 to 1815; by 
 the latter from 1815 to 1824; by Smith & Walton 
 Livermore from 1824 to 1831 ; and by Livermore & 
 Lewis Bemis to 1835. For two years Mr. Bemis car- 
 ried on the works alone, and from 1838 to 1851 his 
 partner in the business was Edward Hall, the firm 
 being Bemis & Hall. In 1837 there were manufac- 
 tured at the two mills 162,500 pounds of powder, val- 
 ued at $14,.500; in 1845 one mill produced 132,500 
 pounds, valued at $15,000; and in 18()5 the produc- 
 tion was valued at $12,500. But little, if anything, 
 was done at this business after this latter date. Du- 
 
 ring the year 1840 two mills blew up, killing three 
 persons, and in 1853 another explosion took place, in 
 which five men lost their lives. 
 
 Centennial. — The centennial of our national his- 
 tory was appropriately observed by a grand display 
 of various organizations in the town, on parade ; an 
 address by Hon. George H. Loring, and a public 
 dinner. 
 
 By-Laws. — Previous to 1875 by-laws had been 
 adopted by the town at various times, but on the 2d 
 of November of this year a full code, I'egulating the 
 town, was accepted in town-meeting, and on the 8th 
 following were approved by the Superior Court. Ad- 
 ditional ones were made and approved in 1887 con- 
 cerning dogs, and minor alterations were made in 
 them in 1881. 
 
 Salaries. — The number of salaried persons em- 
 ployed during the year ending June 3, 1885, was 
 nineteen, and the amount of salaries paid was 
 $16,969. 
 
 Wages. — The total amount of wages paid in 
 the business establishments for the year ending as 
 above was .$694,908, and the average number of days 
 of actual running time worked in sixty of them was 
 three hundred and seven. 
 
 Growth. — In the census of 1880 there were thir- 
 teen cities and towns in the State which presented 
 most striking instances of growth, independent of 
 annexation. Upon this list Spencer stood third, and 
 her rate of gain was eighty-eight and a fraction per 
 cent. 
 
 Old Customs. — One of the oldest customs of the 
 town was to allow the swine, horses and cattle of the 
 inhabitants " to run at large, yoked and ringed as the 
 law directs'' Strangers' cattle were charged two 
 shillings eighteen pence per head, and shtep one 
 shilling, "to run on the Common." 
 
 In 1757 it became a question how the voters should 
 be notified of the town-meetings, and it was decided 
 that "in the future they be warned by the constable 
 going from house to house;" and at a later meeting, 
 by vote of the town, they were allowed " to keep on 
 their hats while in meeting," if they pleased to 
 do so. 
 
 In 1759 the ministerial and school lands were sold, 
 the former bringing £100 14s. or $357.67, and the 
 latter £130 IGs. lOrf. or $436.14. On the 6th of May, 
 1822, the.-iC moneys were divided and loaned as fol- 
 lows, viz. : To Jerfmiah Watson, $183.00 ; to Nathan 
 White, $152.87; and, being the ministerial fund, these 
 amounts were made payable to the Congregational 
 Society. Of the school fund $113.33 was loaned to 
 Joseph Prouty ; $93 33 to E-tate of Elisha Prouty ; 
 $165.28 to Chark-s Watson, and $64.41 to John 
 Muzzy. 
 
 In 1794 the General Court ordered a survey of the 
 town to be made, and the work was let out to the 
 lowest bidder. John Sumner, being the lowest, was 
 made chief, at 5a. 6d. per day, and Levi and Zerub- 
 
NEW BRAINTREE. 
 
 667 
 
 abel Baldwin were assistants, at 2s. Sd. and 2s. 5d. 
 
 per day, respectively. In 1830 a second survey 
 was made by William Baldwin, under the same 
 authority. 
 
 Small Industrie.';. — Braiding palm leaf bats and 
 labor upon hand cards were about the only industries 
 that furnished employment for the women and chil- 
 dren in the early part of this century, by which they 
 were able to earn a little " spending money " for extra 
 occasions. Hand cards were manufactured in Leicester 
 from 1758, and until machinery superseded the nim- 
 ble fingers, the setting of card teeth by hand consti- 
 tuted the " small work " of many families in Spencer. 
 This was especially children's work, and no " time 
 off" could be had by either boy or girl until the 
 " stent " at card-setting had been performed. 
 
 Braiding the palm leaf was more of an indu.*try,and 
 was " farmed out " to the workers of straw in the fame 
 manner as were the cards. The number of palm leaf 
 hats manufactured in Spencer in 1837 was twenty- 
 nine thousand eight hundred, valued at seven thou- 
 sand dollars. 
 
 Old Landmarks. — Of the twenty-five buildings 
 (e.xclusive of barns) located upon the Great Post 
 Road between Brookfield and Leicester lines in 1800, 
 eight were standing in 1888, six of them but little, if 
 any, changed from their original appearance and con- 
 dition outwardly. These are the Pope Mansion, 
 Mason House, Emerson Shepherd's, Aaron Watson's, 
 Edward Proctor's and Israel Taft's. There are two off 
 of the great road, on Ash Street, viz., Alford Wilson's 
 and the old house of Thos. B. Clark. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXVI. 
 
 NEW BR.^INTREE. 
 BY GEORGE K. TUFTS. 
 
 Introductory. — New Braintree is nearly in shape 
 of an isosceles triangle, with sides of six miles and 
 base of nine, nearly in the centre of' the State, 
 bounded by Oakham and Barre on its northeast 
 side and Hirdwick, from which it is separated by 
 Ware River on its northwest side, and by Brookfield 
 and North Brookfield on its . base or south line. It 
 contains 191 square miles. The surface is uneven 
 and hilly. Its highest elevation is " Tufts Hill," in 
 the eastern part, 1179 feet above sea level. It 
 was made up of the territory of three towns — 
 " Braintree Grant," a tract of 6000 acres, lying be- 
 tween Rutland and Brookfield, designated by the 
 triangle C B A on the annexed plan ; all that part of 
 Lambstown (Hardwick) east of Ware River marked 
 DEB, and about 1200 acres from the north part 
 of Brookfield, south of line O M. That part, 400 
 acres north of Ware River, C D X, was annexed to 
 
 Hardwick in 1814. N is the common land, in the 
 centre of which the church stands. A, point of in- 
 tersection with Spencer, Oakham, North Brookfield ; 
 E, with Ware and Brookfield. A tract of 320 acres, 
 
 PLAK OF NEW BRAINTREE. 
 
 lying the whole length of line AM, and omitted by 
 error in original survey, was afterwards given to 
 John Quincy, Speaker of the House, and assigned to 
 New Braintree. 
 
 Before its settlement fires made in the woods had 
 destroyed almost its entire growth of wood and tim- 
 ber ; so it was feared there would not be a sufficient 
 supply for the settlers, but Whitney writes, 1796, 
 that " through their care and prudence there had, 
 within a few years, sprung up fine growths of wood." 
 At that time there were two hills of note — "Mo- 
 hawk," probably "Tufts" Hill, and "Rattlesnake's 
 Rocks," in the west part, a name that has passed 
 away with its occupants. A plain extends across 
 the west part, at the extreme south end of which, on 
 land of W. & E. Pepper, is the narrow pass referred 
 to by Capt. Wheeler in his " narrative," where, on 
 his way under Capt. Hutchinson, with twenty men, to 
 treat with Philip, August 2, 1675, he was surprised 
 by the Indians, and eleven killed or mortally wound- 
 ed. "Meminimisset was the name given by the 
 Indians to the low lands at the upper end of this 
 plain, once a hideous swamp." Here w.is formerly 
 an Indian town of considerable importance and a 
 military stronghold, the headquarters and chief 
 place of rendezvous of the Indians when Brookfield 
 was destroyed. Here Mrs. Howard, taken captive 
 at Lancaster in 1679, was brought' with two children, 
 and one died. On the hill rising east from the 
 plain is a small stone monument, resembling a 
 tomahawk, which tradition affirms marks its grave. 
 The town is well watered with springs and brooks. 
 At the base of Tufts Hill, on its north and west 
 sides, are the sources of the two brooks which, 
 afterwards meeting at "Webb's" Pond and flowing 
 snuthe.ist and west under the name of Sucker Brook> 
 supply the water " privileges " at Wait's Corner 
 and " Pepper's Mills," and empty inio Quaboag 
 Pond. The first saw-mill erected in Brookfield, in 
 1709, was in that part of it afterward set off and 
 
668 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 forming a part of New Braintree, and located just 
 above the bridge, east of '' Pepper's Pond." A com- 
 pany of nine, headed by Thomas Barnes, received 
 a grant of forty acres for their encouragement to 
 build the mill. This privilege was afterwards used 
 for a malt-mill. 
 
 Pepper's Mills were used as a blacksmith forge and 
 trip-hammer. The first mill erected by an inhabitant 
 of "Braintree Grant" was at ivhat is now "Webb's 
 Pond." Daniel Mathews, Jr., of Southboro', a mill- 
 wright, bought the privilege in 17-19, and erected a 
 .saw-mill soon after. His house was on site of present 
 residence of J. T. Webb. The general appearance of 
 the town is attractive. Whitney writes of it, " Excel- 
 lent for grass and good roads. Its homes are neat and 
 commodious." It has surely gained in these attrac- 
 tive features since 1795, and added, on miles of road, 
 lines of shade trees of maple, ash and elm. It has 
 many really fine residences, especially that of Mr. 
 Francis Shaw. The first road built in town was in 
 1730, from the "Old Furnace," by Pepper's Mills to 
 Brookfield. 
 
 The population was, in 1776, 798; 1790, 939; 1800, 
 875; 1810, 912; 1820, 888; 1830, 825; 1840, 752; 1850, 
 852; 1860,805; 1870,640; 1880, 610; 1885,558. Its 
 valuation 1776, — real, £3226; personal, £1435, includ- 
 ing 272 head of cattle and horses. Highest valuation, 
 1871, $590,430; number of heads of stock, 1.340. 
 
 Braintree Grant. — In 1666 the freeholders and 
 other inhabitants of Braintree, in town-meeting, passed 
 the following resolution: " Whereas, much of the best 
 and most available arable surface is held by non-resi- 
 dents and citizens of Boston as a matter of speculation 
 and by others in large farms, that it is a source of 
 great inconvenience to the permanent inhabitants of 
 the town, as they in their poverty are not able to pay 
 the high rents asked, nor the necessary expenses of 
 the town ; therefore. Resolved : To petition the 
 General Court for an additional grant of land." In 
 answer to this petition the court, in consideration of 
 the reasons therein expressed, judged meet to grant 
 'hem "sixe thousand acres of land in some place, 
 limited to one place, not prejudicing any plantation 
 or particular grant." In 1670 Braintree selected a 
 tract lying between Braintree and Plymouth, which 
 was not confirmed by the court. No further action 
 was taken until 1679, when Braintree again petitioned 
 the court that "since the Lord out of his rich grace 
 had made them lords of the heathen land" (referring 
 to their victory over Philii)) "they might have an op- 
 portunity to have ratified the former grant." In 
 answer to this petition, October, 1679, the court al- 
 lowed the petitioners "to lay out their sixe thousand 
 acres of land in any vacant place within the Court's 
 jurisdiction." Here the matter rested for thirty-four 
 years, until June, 1713, when Braintree chose a com- 
 mittee to ascertain if the former grant had "lapsed," 
 and if not, to find and lay out the six thousand acres 
 granted in 1666, and do what is needful to be done in 
 
 the space of one year and have for their work, if eSec- 
 tive, thirty pounds; otherwise nothing. 
 
 The treasurer was evidently never called upon to 
 pay the money, for in June, 1714, we find Colonel 
 Edmond Quincy, in behalf of Braintree, petitioning 
 the court for the api)ointmeni of a surveyor to lay out 
 the land. The petition was granted and a surveyor, 
 Samuel Jones, Jr., appointed. 
 
 December 17, 1715, in the House of Eepresentatives 
 it was ordered that " a Plot of six thousand acres of 
 land, lying in angle between Brookfield and Rutland, 
 be accepted, and land confirmed to Braintree as by 
 plan annexed, in fulfillment of original grant." This 
 six thousand acres was nearly in form of a right- 
 angled triangle, with right angle B at a point just 
 southeast of the present residence of Alfred Boyden ; 
 the upper acute angle C included the farm recently 
 occupied by Colonel Joseph Robinson in Hardwick. 
 The perpendicular B C of the triangle is identical 
 with the west line of our present common, while the 
 base A B extended to would be identical with the 
 present boundary between lands now owned by Mr. 
 J. B. Fobes and Mrs. S. W. Peckham. For twelve 
 years after the "Braintree Grant" was confirmed, it 
 was a constant source of contention in Braintree 
 town-meetings. A vote to sell it would be passed at 
 one meeting, only to be reconsidered and reversed at 
 the next, and sometimes the same meeting, and vice 
 versa. No rule of division of the land could be 
 agreed upon. A question arose as to the ownership, 
 whether it belonged to the town in its corporate capa- 
 city, or to its inhabitants in 1666 (the time of the 
 original grant) and their posterity, or the inhabitants 
 of 1715, when the grant was confirmed, and we find 
 the town on record at difterent times as in favor of 
 each of these views. Finally, in 1727, a vote was 
 passed that, to promote peace, the land be divided as 
 equally as possible between the two precincts of 
 Brainlree, to be henceforth managed, improved and 
 further divided or disposed of as each should decide, 
 from henceforth and forever. Here " Braintree Grant " 
 disappears from Braintree records, and does not again 
 reappear until 1749, when it appeals to the Gen- 
 eral Court, to be admitted into the sisterhood of 
 towns. 
 
 For some years portions of the " Grant " were used 
 for pasturing of stock during the summer season by 
 residents of Braintree, and hence came the title of 
 " Braintree Farms." It seems reasonable to suppose 
 that previous to 1738 it was extensively settled, as the 
 inhabitants in Lambstown, east of Ware River, peti- 
 tioned the General Court in that year to be annexed 
 to the " Grant" without success. 
 
 March 20, 1749, George Shaw, James Robinson, 
 John Wilson, James Thompson, Jona Cobleigh, John 
 Blair, Jacob Nichols, Jona. Higgins, William Baxter, 
 Edward Euggles, John Barr, Roger Sprague, Abram 
 Joslyn and Andrew Shaw (total, fourteen), all occu- 
 pants of Braintree Farms, with John Peacock, Joseph 
 
NEW BRAINTREE. 
 
 669 
 
 Little, Eleazer Warner, Beriah Hawes, James and 
 Edward Blair, David and James Woods, Matthew 
 Barr, Josiah Benet, Samuel Steele, David Ayres, 
 Phineas Warner, William Anderson, Israel Day, 
 Samuel Ware, Hugh Barnes and Wareham Warner 
 (total, eighteen), from Hardwick, east of Ware River, 
 and Joseph and Jacob Pepper, and Joseph Pepper, 
 Jr., Moses and Obed. Abbot, David and Solomon Gil- 
 bert, Joseph and Sarah Barnes, Thomas Hammond, 
 Eben. Spooner and Roger Haskell (twelve), from the 
 north part of Brookfield, met and chose their " well- 
 beloved and faithful " friend, James Thompson, to 
 convey their petition to the proprietors of the land 
 known as " Braintree Farms," that inasmuch as the 
 petitioners make a body large enough to support the 
 gospel, and were a long way off from any preaching, 
 and for the interest of said proprietors, they would 
 unite with them in a petition to the General Court to 
 be set off as a separate district. 
 
 May 31, 1749, James Thompson, in behalf of said 
 petitioners, memorialized the Governor, Council and 
 House that, being of sufhcient ability to make a town 
 or district, being of one mind and having obtained 
 the full consent of the non-resident proprietors, 
 humbly prayed their excellencies and honorables to 
 consider the premises and order therein as they 
 should deem best. 
 
 The names of the non-resident proprietors were, 
 Thomas Hovey, Nathan Goodell, John Weeks, 
 Joseph Tidd, Wm. Wheeler, Edmond Quincy, Wm. 
 Torrey, Thomas Cutler, .Joseph and Thomas Crosby, 
 Richard Faxon, Moses Belcher, David Rawson, Josiah 
 Ruggles, Samuel Paine and Eben Adams. 
 
 March 6, 1749, Hardwick in town-meeting op- 
 posed this petition, and August 11th chose an agent 
 to present their reasons for it to the General Court ; 
 but October Sth, of the same year, voted its " willing- 
 ness" to the annexation. In June, 1749, a counter- 
 petition, signed by James Craig, Samuel Crawford, 
 Alex. Bothel and others from the west wing of Rut- 
 land (now Oakham), and Adam Homes and Robert 
 Hunter, from Braintree Farms, was presented to the 
 court praying that inasmuch as the two tracts of land 
 aforesaid laid in a commodious form for a township, 
 being about five miles square, capable of a sufficient 
 number of settlements to support a minister, and 
 neither could ever be accommodated for public wor- 
 ship as it was or by annexation to any town, that 
 ihey might be set off as a separate township. On 
 both these petitions the court ordered the usual 
 notices served on all jjarties interested to appear at 
 its next sitting and show cause, if any existed, why 
 they should not be granted. The proprietors of Rut- 
 land warmly favored the plan. 
 
 In August following a committee, consisting of 
 James Minot and John Otis, with three others added 
 by the House in December, was appointed to take 
 the several petitions into consideration and report. 
 December 9th this committee reported that the west 
 
 wing of Rutland and Braintree Farms ought to be 
 set off with their inhabitants into a separate district, 
 with all powers then conferred upon towns except the 
 right of representation in the General Court. This 
 report the Council accepted and sent down to the 
 House for concurrence; but that body refused to con- 
 cur and ordered the several petitions and the report 
 upon them back to. the committee for further con- 
 sideration. January 3, 1750, the same committee 
 agiin reported to the Council that after another care- 
 ful review of the situation they saw no reason to 
 change their opinion, but reaffirm.ed their former one, 
 and further recommended that the petitioners for a 
 union of Braintree Farms and portions of Hardwick 
 and Brookfield be dismissed. This report was also 
 accepted by the Council and sent to the House for 
 concurrence, but the House again refused to concur 
 and referred the whole matter to the next General 
 Court To this the Council agreed. It is well to state 
 here that the religions preferences of the petitioners 
 had much to do with their choice of their future 
 townsmen ; those desiring a union of the west wing 
 with the Farms being Presbyterians, while the 
 petitioners for a union of the Farms with portions of 
 Brookfield and Hardwick were nearly all Congrega- 
 tionalists. 
 
 The latter party, defeated twice in the Council and 
 as many times victorious in the House now went to 
 work with renewed zeal and vigor. March 22, 1750, 
 they again sent a petition to the Council, desiring a 
 speedy answer by the sending of a committee to view 
 the lands designated unless it saw fit to grant the pe- 
 tition without such viewing. To this the Council re- 
 plied by the appointment, April 20th, of another 
 committee of which Samuel Watts was chairman and 
 who were instructed to repair to the land, view it and 
 report in following May. 
 
 To this committee the inhabitants of the Farms pre- 
 sented the following reasons against a union with 
 West Wing : let. The quality of the land in the West 
 Wing was so inferior to that in the Farms it could 
 not pay its share of the common expenses. 2d. They 
 hoped the Court would not impose upon their con- 
 sciences by forcing them to unite with a society dif- 
 fering so much in religious views; that the boast had 
 already been made by some of their neighbors of the 
 Wing that they would soon have a Presbyterian min- 
 ister over them. 3d. A union with a part of Hard- 
 wick was much more desirable, because they were 
 better able to pay common charges and were well- 
 agreed to unite. The inhabitants of Hardwick, east 
 of Ware River, informed the committee that, having 
 been annexed to Hardwick for want of a better place, 
 they were not essential to its support ; that in the lo- 
 cation of Hardwick meeting-house no regard was paid 
 to their interests, as it was understood they would at 
 some future time be annexed to the Farms. 
 
 At this juncture Brookfield, hitherto silent, inter- 
 posed a vigorous protest against any scheme, as it 
 
670 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 termed it, of its neighbors of the Farms to benefit 
 themselves at the expense of Brookfield, giving as a 
 reason fur tlie delay of its protest that it had never 
 been officially notified of the petitions. The full pro- 
 test of Brookfield, for which there is no space here, 
 gives credit to the adroitness of its author, and was 
 without doubt the cause of the subsequent action of 
 the Council, to whom it was referred. 
 
 The committee, appointed April 20th, reported 
 June 14th that the tract of land known as Braintree 
 Farms, that part of Hardwick east of Ware Eiver, 
 and seven families in Brookfield, with their estates, 
 viz. : Joseph Pepper, Moses Abbott, David and Jona. 
 Gilbert, Sarah Barnes, Eben. Spooner and Joseph Pep- 
 per, Jr., be erected into a distinct and separate pre- 
 cinct, and invested with all powers and privileges ac- 
 corded other precincts. The same day the Council 
 refused to accept this report, and ordered the petition- 
 ers to be dismissed and sent it to the House for con- 
 currence. The House refused to concur and oi'dered 
 that the report be and hereby is accepted, and then 
 sent it back to the Council for concurrence. The 
 Council referred it to the next General Court, but 
 after pigeon-holing it for three months, reconsidered 
 its action and ordered it accepted. Here the fight 
 ended. What reasons or persons, if any, influenced 
 the Council to decide uniformly against the popular 
 voice, as expressed in the petition and uniform action 
 of the House, is a matter of conjecture. It is noted in 
 this connection that all but eight of the origin.al pe- 
 titioners for a union of West Wing with the Farms 
 ■withdrew their request for that union three weeks be- 
 fore the report of the committee, recommending that 
 union, was made. 
 
 First Doings. — June 13, 1751, the court issued 
 the final order constituting the precinct and appoint' 
 ing Eleazer Warner to call the first meeting. Agreed 
 to by Council and signed by Lieutenant-Governor. 
 The powers conferred included all rights of towns ex- 
 cept that of representation in General Court. Nor did 
 the precinct become a town until 1776, when it be- 
 came so by a general law of the province. The name 
 of New Braintree was given to the precinct the next 
 April. A space of one hundred and ten years inter- 
 vened between the date of the original grant and its 
 incorporation. There were at this time forty-five 
 families in town. The first meeting for the choice of 
 officers was held March 13, 1751, at the house of David 
 Ayers (on the site of the present residence of Francis 
 Shaw). Officers chosen : Eleazer Warner, moderator ; 
 David Woods, town clerk ; Eleazer Warner, David 
 Gilburt and Cornelius Cannon, selectmen and asses- 
 sors ; James Woods, treasurer; James Thompson, 
 constable; James Blair, tything-man. Two of these 
 had already taken part in the organization of Hard- 
 wick, 1739 — Cannon as its first town clerk, and War 
 ner as chairman of its first Board of Selectmen. 
 
 Church Buildings. — At the next meeting, March 
 25th, voted " to find the centre of the tract of land al- 
 
 ready laid off in this district, and that it be the pre- 
 fix! spot for a meeting-house." This vote was re- 
 scinded at a later meeting, and a deed of another 
 piece of land for the meeting-house was accepted, but 
 no record exists of the deed or by whom given. Ten 
 pounds were appropriated for preaching, and a com- 
 mittee chosen "to procure a preacher as soon as con- 
 veniently he could be had." 
 
 October 4th the town finding it difficult, by reason of 
 smallness of its numbers and straitness of its circum- A 
 stances, to secure sufficient support for a minister, pe- ■ 
 titioned the General Court for authority to lay a tax of 
 twopence per acre on all lands, improved or otherwise, 
 in the district. The court granted them one-half the 
 gum asked for for three years. This tax amounted to J 
 fifty pounds, and was the sum annually paid the min- 5 
 ister for twenty-five years. The next step was the 
 erection of a meeting-house. A vote was passed in 
 November to procure the material the coming winter. 
 Robert Hunter was chairman of the building commit- j 
 tee. January 1, 1752, voted " To build a house 40 by I 
 50 feet and 20 feet between joints," "to be enclosed 
 and clay-boarded." The price of labor per day in 
 winter in its erection was one shilling fourpeuce. It 
 was not ready for occupany until July, 1753, and then 
 but little better than a barn. For fourteen years it 
 was minus lath and plaster. It faced the west on site 
 of present building, and for twenty years nothing was 
 erected to shield the worshippers, when the doors 
 were opened, from the cold blasts that swept thirty 
 miles in a straight line unimpeded. Our forefathers 
 must have valued highly Gospel privileges to sit four 
 hours each Sabbath in a room the natural tempera- 
 ture of which was at zero, with nothing but their own 
 breaths and a kw foot-stoves to warm them. In 1772 
 porches were added at the east and west ends. It is 
 said that one winter the cold was so intense that the 
 snow on the south side of the meeting-house roof 
 never melted a drop for six weeks in succession. For 
 a long time there was no belfry, and the bell hung by 
 itself on the Common. The house was colored a dingy 
 yellow. The fore-doors on the south side were double. 
 There was a single door at each end. The broad 
 aisle led directly from the fore-doors to the pulpit on 
 the north side and the deacons' seat in front. The main 
 floor, for a space of ten feet in from the walls on all 
 sides and ends, was assigned for the pew ground. 
 This was divided into twenty-one lots, appraised at 
 three to seven pounds each, old tenor, according to 
 its dignity (location), and assigned by a special com- 
 mittee, appointed by the town, to twenty-one free- ■ 
 holders, according to their ability to pay, age and in- ■ 
 fluence in the community. James Blair had the first 
 choice. The bounty money received from sale of 
 pew-ground was used to build a "decent" pulpit, 
 deacons' seat and a "suitable body of seats." In ad- 
 dition to the bounty, each purchaser of pew-ground 
 must build his own pew and ceil the walls against it. 
 The seats in the body of the house were plain benches 
 
NEW BRAINTREE. 
 
 671 
 
 occupied by the other members of the district, seated 
 annually by a special committee who were governed 
 in their duty by the same law as that which assigned 
 the pewground, viz.: the relative standing in the 
 community of the attendant. A feeling of uneasiness 
 arising in the pit that the pews had got their privil- 
 eges too cheap, an " indifferent committee was selected 
 from Brookfield and Hardwick to fix the bounty." 
 
 On the two ends and south side were galleries, the 
 west half occupied by men and the east half by women. 
 Young men must receive special permission to oc- 
 cupy these seats. Five shillings annually were allowed 
 the sexton, James Thompson, for sweeping the house 
 and shutting the doors. As the town grew in numbers 
 and wealth the pews encroached upon the pit, the pit 
 becoming better able to build pews. Every available 
 foot of ground on main floor and in galleries, and 
 even in the porches, was used for pews. From 1790 
 to 1800 the town had the largest population of any 
 time in its history, and the old house was not only 
 too small, but unsuited to the improved tastes and 
 pockets of the people. The erection of a pew house 
 was begun in 1800 and completed in 1802. The frame 
 is the same as that of the present structure. Henry 
 Penniman gave three hundred dollars to buy a new 
 bell, and his son, Henry, and son-in-law, Joseph 
 Bowman gave two hundred dollars to buy a new town 
 clock. In 1806 Henry Penniman, Jr., asked and ob- 
 tained leave of the town to place an organ in the new 
 church. The value of this addition in church wor- 
 ship seems not to have been appreciated by all, for 
 one deacon was heard to remark that he'd " rather 
 hear the filing of his old saw than that noise." In this 
 building no alterations were made until 1846, when 
 it was lowered six feet and entirely remodeled, with 
 town-hall and vestry below ; dedicated October 26, 
 1846, the fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of 
 Rev. John Flske, D.D. A new organ was bought at 
 a cost of eleven hundred dollars. In 1877 house re- 
 paired at a cost of six hundred dollars, of which three 
 hundred dollars was contributed by Edward Fiske, of 
 Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
 Although one of the first acts of the new district was 
 the selection of a committee to provide a preacher, 
 two years passed and none of the many candidates 
 beard were sufiiciently acceptable to be called. Dis- 
 couraged, the district appointed February 23, 1753, 
 a day of fasting and prayer for divine help, and in- 
 vited the neighboring ministers to take charge of the 
 services. In July, voted to hear Rev. Benjamin 
 Kuggles, of Middleton, on condition that he be dis- 
 missed from the pastorate he then held. In this they 
 were both shrewd and honorable. Mr. Kuggles came, 
 was liked, and invited to preach longer. Five of the 
 neighboring ministers were consulted as to the ad- 
 visability of settling him, and invited to preach a 
 lecture to the people Jan. 23d. Feb. 4th, a call was 
 extended to Mr. Ruggles. The settlement given him 
 was thirty pounds, and annual salary fifty pounds. 
 
 This call Mr. Ruggles accepted, " sensible in a meas- 
 ure of the difficulty of the calling, but relying upon 
 the sincerity and fidelity of the people." He was in- 
 stalled April 17, 1754. To the council installing him 
 was referred by the district a petition of several of its 
 members for the free use of the meeting-house two 
 Sabbaths yearly that the sacrament might be ad- 
 ministered in the Presbyterian way by one of their 
 order. The council decided that though w^illing to 
 promote union and communion between the sects, yet, 
 considering the circumstances and fearing the conse- 
 quences, they did not deem it wise to grant it. 
 
 Of Mr. Ruggles a successor writes that he was "a 
 man of average ability and sincere piety, and his re- 
 lations to the people were entirely harmonious and 
 productive of great blessing." To this end he con- 
 tributed more than his share. A letter from him to 
 the town, when the matter of a colleague and his pro- 
 portionate salary was under consideration, reveals 
 some of his trials and the spirit in which he bore 
 them. He writes "My salary has never been paid when 
 due. Not only for one year, but for the twenty years 
 I have been here it has been six and seven months 
 overdue, so that I have been straightened for money 
 to buy the necessaries of life, and often obliged to 
 borrow so small a sum as half a dollar of the Treasu- 
 rer (Dea. James Woods), who, out of his own money, 
 would give me a dollar, or if I asked one dollar he 
 would give me two. Every town around, altho' poorer 
 than this town, has paid their minister more. In 
 those days," he adds, " I kept these things much to 
 myself, careful that neither by word or deed it might 
 get abroad to the discredit of the town." His 
 name heads the long roll of the Brookfield Associa- 
 tion of Ministers, of which he was one of the original 
 five founders when it was organized, June 22, 1757. 
 Mr. Ruggles was sole mini.ster twenty-four years and 
 associate senior pastor six years, until his death, Jan- 
 uary 6, 1784. The whole period of his ministry was 
 fifty-nine years. 
 
 After a period of five months on probation, in July, 
 1778, Rev. Daniel Foster received a call from church 
 and town to become associate minister with Mr. Rug- 
 gles, with one thousand pounds settlement and sixty- 
 six pounds, thirteen shillings and four pence annual 
 salary, and thirty cords of wood eight feet long 
 at his door, the salary to be regulated by the follow- 
 ing standard, i. e., rye at four shillings and Indian 
 corn at two shillings eight pence per bushel. Mr. Foster 
 accepted the call, " relying upon their generosity as 
 to Temporals while he ministered to them in Spir- 
 ituals." October 28th was set apart for the ordina- 
 tion. Seventeen churches were invited. Committees 
 were chosen to carry the letters missive, to prop the 
 meeting-house and to keep the doors and reserved 
 seat^. In his examination by the council Mr. Foster 
 differed in a measure in his theological views from 
 the majority of its members, but it was finally voted 
 satisfactory and the ordination proceeded. He was 
 
672 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 born September 1, 1750; ordained October 28, 1778. 
 Januar)' 2S, 1779, married Miss Betsey Reed, of West- 
 ern. February 17, 1779, bought of Eev. Benjamin 
 Kuggles the premises now occupied by Mr. Frank 
 Gaffney for .12350. 
 
 His ministry continued until his death, September 
 1, 1795. Mr. Foster was a man of much personal 
 magnetism, especially popular with the young men, 
 who, at his decease, out of respect wore a badge of 
 mourning on their left arms for thirty days. He was 
 fluent and often extravagant in speech. A good din- 
 ner appeared to be more to his liljing than spiritual 
 penance. He was an unbeliever in creeds. Soon 
 after his settlement some of the church-members 
 avowed their belief in his denial of some of the funda- 
 mental truths of the Gospel and presented their 
 grievances at a church-meeting. The church sus- 
 tained its pastor. Several attempts, among them -an 
 appeal to the Association, were made to reconcile the 
 differences. In most cases they seem to have been 
 successful. One or two, however, joined the Baptists, 
 two absented themselves from church and rode every 
 Sabbath to Rutland for conscience' sake. 
 
 Rev. John Fiske, D. D., writes that he seems to 
 have overcome opposition and ultimately won the 
 affections of his people. His death was the occasion 
 for many popular expressions of grief; all the min- 
 isters in the association were invited. Tlie town paid 
 all the bills and had printed the funeral sermon. 
 After Mr. Foster's decease the town was without a 
 minister more than a year. August 15, 1796, a unan- 
 imous call from church and town was given Rev. 
 John Fiske, with a settlement of two hundred and 
 thirty pounds, and an annual salary of ninety-five 
 pounds. He was installed October 26th. Rev. Dr. 
 Lyman, of Hatfield, preached the sermon, afterwards 
 published. The installation services occupied two 
 days and closed with a ball on the evening of the 
 second day, in which all that could, joined. 
 
 Rev. John Fiske was born at Warwick, October 26, 
 1770. Fitted for college partly with his pastor and 
 partly with his brother, Moses ; graduated at Dart- 
 mouth, 1791 ; studied theology with Dr. Lyman, of 
 Hatfield ; licensed to preach and ordained to the 
 ministry at Hadley, May 6, 1794; labored for a sea- 
 son in Northern New York ; attacked with fever and 
 ague and returned to Massachusetts ; preached a 
 while at Milford and North Brookfield. Overtures 
 to settle at both places were made him, which he de- 
 clined; received degree of D.D. in 1844 from Am- 
 herst College, of which he was one of the founders 
 and long a trustee — published a spelling-book in 
 1807; "Fast Day Sermon," in 1812; "Dedicatory 
 and Semi-centennial discourse," in 1846; was chosen 
 first president of the Brookfield Auxiliary Foreign 
 Missionary Society 1824, and held that office twenty 
 years. During his ministry of fifty-eight years in 
 New Braintree he was called to one hundred and 
 twenty-one councils and attended one hundred and 
 
 fifteen. As Dr. Fiske's pastorate covered a period 
 of marked changes and great contrasts in not only 
 the social customs, but also the moral and religious 
 sentiments and practices of the people of this town 
 and all New England as well, a glimpse at the state 
 of society at the close of the eighteenth century 
 through his eyes may be of interest: "There were 
 really two classes of ministers as to theological doc- J 
 trines and the methods the gospel reveals whereby " 
 sinners are to obtain an interest in Christ, altho' no 
 division had taken place nor had it entered into any 
 one's heart to conceive of it. There was then no 
 Unitarian ism in this Association, but the character 
 of Christ was not frequently brought into view in 
 preaching. While some of the older ministers were 
 sound in the faith and preached the doctrines of 
 grace with consistency and earnestness, others had 
 become comparatively lax, and were disposed to 
 avoid in their preaching what they esteemed doubt- 
 ful points and things not well understood nor re- 
 ceived by the people. There were great objections to 
 metaphysical subtilties. The character of the preach- 
 ing was defective as to doctrine and pungency. The 
 great day of labor of the minister was the Sabbath. 
 It was expected of him that he deliver two sermons 
 on the Sabbath and administer the Sacrament of the 
 Lord's Supper once in two months, except in winter, 
 when it was the cause of much sufl'ering. No custom 
 existed of holding an evening or third service. He 
 was wont to exchange one-fourth to one-third of the 
 time and to go and come to the place of exchange 
 the same day — such arduous labors were generally 
 thought to require the sujtaining power of comfort- 
 ing cordials and the best dinner that could be pro- 
 vided between services and were always furnished 
 without grudge or measure. He was often called upon 
 to preach a service to an aged person unable to at- 
 tend church at his own home. On the records of the 
 Association, which he was expected to attend three 
 times yearly, no allusion was to be found to seasons 
 of prayer for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon 
 the churches, for no such seasons were held. Noth- 
 ing was said concerning the state of religion in them. 
 No question proposed for discussion was selected on 
 account of its relation to the spiritual condition of 
 the people, or aim at the conversion of sinners or 
 edification of believers. Formalism reigned. No 
 multiplied meetings or visitations; no efforts to pub- 
 lish the gospel at home or abroad or difluse knowl- 
 edge by lectures, conferences, Sabbath-schools, Bible 
 classes or anniversaries. 
 
 "Of the church it might be said 'Like people, like 
 priest.' If the minister did little, the church would 
 do less, and be less concerned for its own or others' 
 salvation. In some of the churches there had been 
 revivals of religion, but in most of them there never 
 had been any, nor were they expected, and in some 
 not desired. No efforts were made to obtain them, 
 —no weekly prayer-meeting. There were no young 
 
NEW BRAINTKEE. 
 
 673 
 
 people in the church by profession of faith. Their 
 membership was neither expected nor sought after. 
 It was held in the estimation of sober people that 
 when persons entered into family relations and be- 
 came parents, they should join the church and have 
 their children baptized, but in one-third of the 
 churcires the latter was performed and the former 
 neglc'ited. Religion among professors and others 
 alike was seldom a topic of conversation. There were 
 many social gatherings and festivities and much story- 
 telling, but little said or done to promote godliness. 
 There were some godly persons in church who were 
 waiting and praying for better times, but their num- 
 ber was so few that they found their cross too great 
 to venture forth against the strong current of public 
 sentiment. The people at large were apparently (but 
 only apparently) more religious than now. Every 
 person, except a few obstinate Baptists and occasion- 
 ally an emigrant from Rhode Island, all of whom were 
 looked upon as pestilent fellows, paid a tax in pro- 
 portion to his worth in support of the Congregational 
 ministry ; exemption from this tax was no more 
 thought of than exemption from support of Govern- 
 ment. Both were paid on same principle, viz. : from 
 necessity laid on them by the strong arm of the law. 
 There was one advantage in this custom. Every in- 
 habitant had a right to such services of his minister 
 as he might need. ' There was no stealing of preach- 
 ing or begging of prayers.' There was much ignor- 
 ance of the nature of personal religion. Infidelity 
 prevailed. Paine's ' Age of Reason ' was widely 
 circulated and had many believers. The Bible was 
 almost a proscribed book, but little read in families 
 by youth. Morals were much vitiated. There was 
 much lewdness in language and action ; much Sab- 
 bath-breaking. The great roads were filled with 
 teams on their way to and from market, and with 
 droves of cattle, sheep and swine. 
 
 ''AH classes of persons. Christians and sinners, high 
 and low, rich and poor, could meet on same platform 
 solar as drinking rum and brandy was concerned; 
 almost all men would drink, and multitudes to re- 
 pletion, on such occasions as town-meetings, rais- 
 ings, huskings, auctions and trainings. Especially 
 was indulgence thought to be not only allowable, 
 but praiseworthy, on the glorious Fourth of July. It 
 would have been looked upon as a most indecorous 
 thing in the year 1800 had a Christian funeral been 
 attended at which the mourners, bearers and other 
 friends were not comforted together in well-filled 
 tumblers of grog. It was a dark day for New Eng- 
 land churches. But at the beginning of the 19th 
 century light began to dawn out of darkness. Min- 
 isters began to talk and pray and preach dilFerently. 
 They appointed church-meetings for conference and 
 prayer, instituted Bible-classes and Sabbath-schools 
 for the young, preached the Gospel to the poor, and 
 interpreted literally the last command of Christ. 
 They found many supporters in the church, and 
 43 
 
 the result was not one, but repeated visitations of 
 the Holy Spirit upon pastors, churches and congre- 
 gations, that recalled the day of Pentecost.'' Dr. 
 Fiske was, from the first, fully in spirit and action 
 with these movements. As a result, from 1800 to 
 1821, with one exception, the church received yearly 
 accessions to its membership by profession of faith. 
 From 1809 to 1811, forty-five ; 1819 to 1821, one hun- 
 dred. In 1810 it was formally and publicly re-or- 
 ganized with articles of faith essentially the same as 
 in 1850. The later largest accessions during Dr. 
 Fiske's ministry were in 1826, thirty; 1831, twenty- 
 five ; 1845, forty-three. 
 
 1817, Sabbath-school was first organized. 
 
 The church was first gathered and formed (as by 
 memorandum of Deacon Jonathan Woods), April 
 18, 1754, date of the installation of Mr. Ruggles. 
 No records exist for forty-two years, except in 1778 
 and 1779. Since 1800 there has been from it a 
 constant emigration. Its membership, in 1800, was 
 fifty-eight ; 1888, seventy-three ; and teaching as 
 high as two hundred in the interval. Its deacons 
 have been William Witt, Samuel Ware, James 
 Woods, Jonathan Woods and Jonathan Gould chosen 
 previous to 1775 ; George Barr, between 1775 and 
 1800; Abijah Bigelow, 1805; James Woods, 1808; 
 Jacob Pepper and Samuel Warner, 1815 ; Phinehas 
 Warner, 1817 ; Francis Adams, 1828 ; Amasa Bige- 
 low, 1830 ; Welcome Newell, 18.30 ; Henry M. Dan- 
 iels, 1855; Elbridge Gleason and Moses Pollard, 
 1802; Dwight G. Barr, 1871. In 1819 a legacy of 
 one hundred dollars was left by Lieutenant Jonas 
 Newell to the church for the purchase of furniture 
 for the communion table. 
 
 Of Dr. Fiske, Rev. Mr. Hyde wrote : 
 
 It was especially true of him that he was youug when he was old and 
 lived until he died. In person, tali and well-proportioned, with large and 
 regular features and but slightly bended form, with eye still liright and 
 voice Btill strong and clear, with slow but solid footstep ; generally 
 reading, writing, singing or talking when he was not Tisiting or sleep- 
 ing, he seemed, when I firet knew him, at 83 years of age, to be about 
 as vigorous as he was venerable, — with a serene and intelligent counte- 
 nance, with mild and dignified manners, with an active and well-bal- 
 anced mind, — discriminating in .Judgment, skillful in management, 
 cautious and yet determined in action, in conversation at once inquisi- 
 tive and iustructive, deeply interested in the practical aflaire of men aud 
 with as deep an insight into their character and motives, he made his 
 presence to be felt by all around him, without ever attempting to exert 
 an influence or make an impression. Fixed in his opinions and ways, 
 but seldom arbitrary, strict in his principles, severe in his sense of pro- 
 priety without being sanctimonious, equable in temperament and yet 
 playful in feeling, generous in sympathy and uncommonly companion- 
 able to those who really knew him, siding always with a noble impulse 
 and a steady faith in favor of whatever seemed right or useful, ner- 
 vously sensitive to suflFering, timid and sometimes impatient, but always 
 submissive aud trustful, thoroughly republican in simplicity, truly 
 patriarchal in hospitality, he presented to my eye a rounded complete- 
 ness of character seldom found, except in those who have grown old 
 with a silent and natural growth without any special excitement or con- 
 straint, but in the quiet service of the Gospel. In the pulpit he 
 spoke not with enticing words nor impassionate appeal, but with ster- 
 ling good sense and with great appropriateness, particularly in prayer. 
 In all the councils of the Church, especially in diflicult cases, he was 
 emiuently wise and eflicieut. 
 
 He died, 1855, at eighty-five years of age and 
 sixty-first of his ministry. 
 
674 
 
 HISTORY OP WOKCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 May, 1853, a call was extended to Rev. James T. 
 H3'de to become associate pastor with Dr. Fiske ; 
 salary, eight hundred dollars. The call was unani- 
 mous by the church aud three to one in the society. 
 The call was accepted, and Mr. Hyde ordained 
 June 22d following. Mr. Hyde was a graduate of 
 Yale College, ranking second in his class. He was a 
 varied and accurate scholar, an able writer and 
 preacher of refined tastes. His natural gifts were of 
 a high order. Most of those opposed to calling Mr. 
 Hyde were men of extremely liberal views — two 
 or three Unitarian, or with Unitarian views, prom- 
 inent in society, to whom Mr. Hyde's strong 
 orthodoxy and forcible expression of it were dis- 
 tasteful. During the two years following his 
 settlement twenty withdrew from the society, many 
 of them large property-owners, part from dislike 
 of Mr. Hyde, part on account of the greatly 
 increased rate of taxation, and part through fear 
 of a still higher rate. The breach widened. That 
 spirit of bitterness which Dr. Fiske, in his com- 
 munication to the society on the eve of settling a 
 colleague, deprecated, had already sprung up. A few 
 determined that Mr. Hyde must go and a few deter- 
 mined that he should stay. Finally, the good sense 
 of the majority triumphed. The votes on the two 
 following resolutions, taken in June, 1855, indicate 
 the true state of affairs. The first resolution wan, 
 " That we, personally, without reference to the feel- 
 ings or acts of others, are satisfied with the ability 
 and faithfulness of our Pastor." Yeas, 26 ; nays, 2 ; 
 silent, 5. The 2d, " That it is expedient under exist- 
 ing circumstances that the pastoral relation be dis- 
 solved." Yeas, 19; Nays, 6.' August 13th the disso- 
 lution was effected. Notwithstanding his compara- 
 tively unsuccessful pastorate, which he attributed in 
 a measure to his own inexperience, he always retained 
 a strong affection for his first parish, remarking to the 
 writer that he would have been content to have lived 
 and died among this people. He died while Profes- 
 sor of Pastoral Theology in Chicago Seminary. It 
 was said of him that "no man in all the West would 
 be more missed. Another might fill his chair in the 
 seminary, but no man in all the land could be found 
 to touch the seminary at so many points or be so con- 
 spicuously useful in all that concerns the welfare of 
 the Churches." Rev. John H. Gurney received a 
 unanimous call to succeed Mr. Hyde, and was in- 
 stalled April 23,1856; salary, nine hundred dollars. 
 A resolution, "That the Church for a third service in 
 the Sabbath be free to other denominations when un- 
 occupied by the pastor," was lost by a majority of one. 
 Mr. Gurney possessed, in addition to other ministerial 
 qualifications, a strong mind, good common sense, a 
 fondness for agriculture and the highest capacities of 
 a citizen. His pastorate lasted thirteen years, during 
 
 f Fonrtcen persons voting yea on firet resolution also voteil yea on 
 second. 
 
 which there was one extensive revival. May 3, 1871, 
 Rev. John Djdge was installed. His pastorate was 
 terminated by his death, in June, 1872. He was 
 much esteemed and beloved. He was succeeded by 
 Rev. William B. Bond October 30th of same year, 
 whose pastorate continued seven years. Of him it 
 could be said, " he never preached a poor sermon." He 
 was the last settled pastor. Since then the church 
 has been supplied successively by Rev. William 
 Barrows, D.D., Rev. T. A. Merrill and Rev. U. W. 
 Small. 
 
 Education. — The support of schools has always 
 been liberal and hearty. In 1796 Whitney writes : 
 " The people in New Braintree are particularly atten- 
 tive to the education of their children and youth. 
 They have eight reputable school-houses, and in the 
 winter season as many in.structors ; two Latin grammar 
 masters, and in the summer they have generally two 
 or three masters and as many mistresses, and they 
 expend more annually in supporting schools than in 
 supporting their public teacher of piety, religion 
 and morality, though he is honorably maintained." 
 This interest was fostered and increased by Dr. Fiske, 
 who for fifty-five years held the active superintend- 
 ence of the schools, who exercised a sort of parental 
 care over them, and whose constant aim was to raise 
 the standard of qualifications among teachers. In 
 1845 and for several years previous, the amount rais^ed 
 per scholar exceeded that of any town or city in the 
 State, excepting Boston and six adjoining towns. In 
 the published address at the semi-centennial of the 
 Brcokfield Association, New Braintree is accredited 
 with having furnished to that date eighteen ministers 
 to the Congregational denomination, — two more than 
 any other town in the association. There have been 
 thirty-two liberally educated and professional men 
 from this town, of which the following is a list: 
 
 Levi Washburn, gradnated at Dartmoutli; died 1776. 
 
 Jonatluin Gould, graduated at Brown, 17SG ; died 1704 ; minister. 
 
 James Tufts, graduated at Brown, 17S'.I; minister. 
 
 Joseph Delano, graduated at Brown, 1790. 
 
 Edwards Whipple, graduated at Williams, 1801 ; minister. 
 
 Ijutlier Wilson, graduated at Williams, 1807 ; minister. 
 
 Thonuis I'ope, graduated at Harvard, 1800 ; lawyer. 
 
 Frederic Matthews, graduated at Harvard, 1816; Lawyer, 
 
 liUke B. Foster, graduated at Vermont University, 1811 ; minister. - 
 
 Henry H. Penniinan, graduated at Harvard, 1822; teacher. -_ 
 
 Charles Fames, gmduated at Harvard, 1831 ; Iftwyer. 
 
 Fredei ic C. Whipple, graduated at Union, 18^17 ; lawyer. 
 
 Waldo F. Converse, graduated at Wesleyan University, 18;ilt ; l:t\\} ■ 
 aud business. 
 
 Kli W. Harrington, graduated at Amherst, 18;j:i ; mimster. 
 
 Charles D. Bowman, graduated at Harvard, 1838 ; lawyer. 
 
 Wm. Peunimau, graduated at .Amherst. 
 
 Joseph Wjislibnrn, graduated at Vale, 1703 ; minister. 
 
 James Woods, graduated at Columbia, 1832 ; minister. 
 
 GustAvus Davis, D.D., minister. 
 
 Jesse A. Pennimau, graduated at Amherst, 1833-35; ininiBter aDd.j 
 physician. 
 
 Charles Delano, graduated at Amherst, 1840 ; lawyer. 
 
 Wm. Barrows, D.D., graduated at Amherst, 1840; minister. 
 
 Wni. Miller, graduatedat Amherst, 1842; minister. 
 
 Simon Barrows, graduated at Drtrtmouth,.1842 ; minister. 
 
 Lewis Barrows, grailnated at Waterville ; minister. ■ 
 
 David Burt, graduated at oberlin, 1848 ; minister. 
 
NEW BRAINTEEE. 
 
 675 
 
 George H. Gould, D.D., graduated at Amherst, 1850; minister. 
 
 Heury M. Daniels, graduated at Chicago Theological Seniinary, 1861 ; 
 minister. 
 
 Nathan Thompson, graduated at Amherst, 1801; minister and teacher. 
 
 Charles S. Brooks, graduated at Amherst, 18G3 ; minister. 
 
 George K. Tufts, graduated at Yale, lS(i3 ; husiness. 
 
 Henry Penniuiao, graduated at Andover Theological Seminary, 18^*2; 
 minister. 
 
 Kniorson Warner, physician. 
 
 James Tufls, born 1764, completed his theological 
 studies with Dr. Emmons, of Franklin, and ordained 
 November 4, 1794, over the Congregational Church at 
 Wardsboro', Vermont. His pastorate continued 
 forty -seven years, until his death. He was a minister 
 highly resjjected and venerated in the circles in which 
 he moved. 
 
 Luke B. Foster, born 1789, son of Rev. Daniel 
 Foster, second pastor of this church, had but oue 
 pastorate, at Rutland, commencing 1813, and con- 
 tinuing four yeais till his death, 1817. 
 
 Edwards Whipple, born 1778, was one of the three 
 most distinguished scholars in his class. He studied 
 theology and was installed at Charlton, January 25, 
 1804 ; remained there seventeen years ; dismissed 
 March, 1821 ; was then installed colleague pastor at 
 Shrewsbury, where he remained one year, until his 
 death, September 17, 1822. He was an able and 
 faithful piistor, a man of decided talents and undoubted 
 piety. 
 
 Luther Wilson, born 1783, son of Joseph and Sarah 
 Mathews Wilson, fitted for college at Leicester 
 Academy, entered Yale 1804, and Williams 1805 ; 
 became English preceptor at Leicester Academy 
 180G ; received his degree 1807. Made principal of 
 Leicester Academy a few years later, and filled that 
 position three and one-half years ; studied theology 
 with Rev. Zephauiah Swift Moore, D.D. ; settled over 
 First Congregational Church, Brooklyn, Connecticut 
 as colleague pastor with Rev. Josiah Whiting, D.D. , 
 June "9, 1813. During this ministry he changed his 
 theological views and became Unitarian ; resigned 
 his charge September, 1S17; in.^talled pastor First 
 Congregational Church, Petersham, June 23, 1819; 
 resigned his pastorate October 18, 1834 ; died Novem- 
 ber 20, 1864 ; married November, 30, 1806, Sally, 
 daughter of Abijah Bigelow, of New Braintree. 
 
 Thomas Pope commenced practice of law in Dud- 
 ley, where he married, raised a ftimily, lived and 
 died. 
 
 Frederic Matthews, son of Elisha Matthews, grad- 
 uated at Harvard Law School ; commenced practice of 
 Ills profession at Albany, N. Y. ; remained until his 
 death, about 1820. 
 
 Uustavus F. Davis, born in 1797, in Boston. At three 
 years of age his fiither died, and mother married 
 Adiu Ayres, who removed to New Braintree in 1812. 
 Young Davis went to Worcester to learn a trade ; was 
 converted, and became a Baptist, under the preaching 
 ■ if Elder William Bently ; began to preach at the age 
 . of seventeen in .Hampton, Conn.; at nineteen was 
 settled over the Baptist.Church at Preston, Conn.; -at 
 
 twenty-one became pastor of the church at South 
 Reading (now Wakefield), Mass.; removed to Hart- 
 ford in 1829, as pastor of the church there ; died in 
 Boston, while on a visit there, September, 1836. He 
 was never a graduate of any college or other institu- 
 tion; a self-educated man, but largely interested in 
 the cause of education ; a trustee of Trinity College, 
 and of the Connecticut Literary Institution ; received 
 the degree of D.D. from Wesleyan University, 1835. 
 
 Henry N. Penniman was for many years principal 
 of a boarding-school in New York, and afterwards in 
 business. 
 
 Waldo F. Converse began study of law in 1840 ; 
 commenced practice in Sandusky, Ohio, 1842; con- 
 tinued in practice until 1S50, afterwards engaged in 
 business ; is now president of Sandusky Machine 
 and Agricultural Works. 
 
 Simon Barrows, born 1811, studied theology at 
 Union Seminary, N. Y., engaged in various ways in 
 cause of education, then entered into the active and 
 hard duties of home missionary life beyond the Mis- 
 sissippi. Sometimes pastor of four churches, he has 
 carried the New England church and school system 
 into our border land. 
 
 Lewis Barrows, born 1813, has devoted hi^ whole 
 life to missionary work on the border. 
 
 William Barrows, born 1815, completed his theolog- 
 ical studies at Union Seminary, N. Y., 1843, and since 
 that has been variously in the Gospel ministry. There 
 is space for a few quotations from a sketch of him in 
 the " History of Reading,'' where he has resided since 
 1856: " Dr. Barrows comes of a type of family slowly 
 disappearing from New England. His early home 
 was a family of twelve; a farm of sixty acres and ob- 
 stinate for boy's culture; parental common sense; a 
 spindle; a loom; annual barrels of home beef and 
 pork; a few books well chosen; a district school well 
 attended without regard to weather and the Sabbath 
 uniformly divided between home and the Lord's house 
 3 miles away. The old-fashioned virtues, ideas and 
 knowledge ruled the home more than a dinner, new 
 jacket, or 2-story house. No winter snows were too 
 lively or deep for the ox-sled and aioad of neighbor- 
 hood children on the way to school, where the fire- 
 wood was 4 feet long and many of the boys 6. Nat- 
 urally, from such a home the boys entered college, yet 
 with pecuniary struggles. Garden roots were culti- 
 vated by day and Greek roots by night by the young- 
 est of the three in Phillips Academy. In theseminary 
 private teaching by the hour, theological polemics in 
 the seminary, classics in Brooklyn and five minute 
 lunches in Fulton Ferry were sandwiched together. 
 So every bill was paid and every borrowed dollar re- 
 turned. Ill health has hardly cost him a day from 
 the pulpit, perhaps because he has kindled so many 
 vacation camp-fires all the way from New Brunswick 
 to the head-waters of the Missouri and Columbia. Dr 
 Barrows has had tlii-ee pastorates and was for some 
 years secretary of the Congregational & Publishing 
 
67() 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Society and the Massachusetts Home Missionary So- 
 ciety. He has taken deep interest in western civiliza- 
 tion and Christianization, and with tliis in view has 
 made eleven tours over the border and published 
 'The General, or Twelve Nights in the Hunter's 
 Camp,' a true narrative of his brother William's life ; 
 'Oregon : The Struggle for Possession ;'' The United 
 States of Yesterday and To-morrow ;' also 'The Church 
 and Tier Children;' 'Purgatory, Doctrinally, Practi- 
 cally and Historically Considered;' 'The Indian Side 
 of the Indian Question.' " 
 
 William Miller graduated at Andover Theological 
 Seminary, 1845, and settled at Halifax, Vt. ; has been 
 in ministry forty-two years. 
 
 David Burt, born 1822, graduated at Andover Theo- 
 logical Seminary 1851 ; preached at Raymond, N. H., 
 1851-55, at Rutland 1856-58, and acting pastor at 
 Winona, Minn., 1858-66; engaged in work of Freed- 
 men's Bureau 1866-68; State Superintendent of 
 Schools in Minnesota (1875) until his death, 1881. 
 
 Eli W. Harrington, born 1804, graduated at Ando- 
 yer Theological Seminary 1836; pastor at Lunenburg 
 1836-47 ; Marion, N. H., 1848-50 ; Rochester, Mass., 
 1850-59; North Beverly 1860-67. Since that time 
 impaired health has interfered with continuous pas- 
 toral service. 
 
 Charles D. Bowman studied law at Harvard Law 
 School and practiced in Oxford, where he died. 
 
 James Woods was for many years a minister in San 
 Francisco and Sacramento, Cal., where he died. 
 
 Charles Delano, born 1820, called at his death, 1882, 
 the most distinguished member of the Hampshire 
 County bar. Member of Congress 1859-63, resident 
 of Northampton, a close student, a man of broad 
 culture, social, public-spirited, liberal, whose integrity 
 and conscientiousness were never questioned. 
 
 George H. Gould, born 1827, graduated Union 
 Seminary, 1853. For eleven years his impaired 
 health seriously interfered with the continuity of his 
 public ministry. Traveled in Europe four years 
 with John B. Gough;1862 and 1863 with Olivet 
 Church, Springfield ; 1864-70 with Centre Church, 
 Hartford, Conn. ; has since resided in Worcester and 
 been acting-pastor of both Piedmont and Union 
 Churches. What a few churches have lost by his 
 inability for continued pastoral service, the general 
 public has gained. 
 
 Henry M. Daniels, graduated Chicago Theological 
 Seminary, 1861 ; pastor First Congregational Church, 
 Winnebago, 111., 1861-75 ; home missionary at 
 Dallas, Texas, 1875-79; at Lebanon, Md., 1880-83 ; De 
 Luz, Cal., 1883-88. 
 
 Nathan Thompson, born 1837, graduated Andover 
 Theological Seminary, 1865 ; home missionary, at 
 Boulder, Col., 1865-75; acting-pastor at Roxborough 
 and South Acton, 1876-81 ; president of Board of 
 Trustees of Colorado University ; principal Lawrence 
 Academy, Groton, Mass., 1881-86; principal Elgin 
 
 Academy, Elgin, 111., 1886-88 ; author of two local 
 histories. 
 
 Chas. S. Brooks, born 1840, graduated Andover 
 Theological Seminary, 1869; pastor Congregational , 
 Church, Tyngsboro', 1869-72 ; church at South Deer- 
 field, 1873-77 ; Second Congregational Church, Put- 
 nam, Ct., 1877-87 ; installed pastor Rollstone Congre- 
 gational Church, Fitchburg, 1887. 
 
 Henry Penniman, graduated Andover Theo- 
 logical Seminary, ordained over First Church, East 
 Derry, N. H., 1884. 
 
 Willard Barrows, born in 1800, early in life left the 
 East for the Mississippi Valley, and was for many 
 years deputy-surveyor for Government of wild lands 
 in Missouri, Arkansas, and the territory comprising 
 the present States of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. 
 The first map of the latter he published from his own 
 field-notes, which, with his brief historical outline, 
 was afterwards published by the State in 1845. 
 Afterwards he wrote out the history of a part of 
 Iowa, published io " Annals of Iowa." In 1850 he 
 led a company of sixty men and one hundred and 
 twenty-five horses over the plains to California, in 
 the wild rush for gold, when he gained the title of 
 " General.'' In 1864, he made up a private party for 
 adventure into Montana and Idaho, 1600 miles and 
 160 days; and another the next year to the same 
 region, via the Missouri River, 3000 miles. Died 
 1868 — ending the career of a stirring frontier man, 
 honored, beloved and lamented. 
 
 Revolutionary Period. — On the first Monday 
 in June, 1773, in reply to a letter from " ye Inhabit- 
 ants of ye Town of Boston," the town voted, "That 
 the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of ye Town of 
 Boston hereby receive the hearty thanks of this 
 district for the vigilance, firmness and wisdom which 
 they have discovered at all times in support of ye 
 rights and liberties of the colony, and so heartily con- 
 cur with them in all their constitutional determina- 
 tions.'' March 7, 1774, a committee was chosen to 
 draw up something in reply to "ye Inhabitants of ye 
 Town of Boston" relative to the difliculties the Prov- 
 ince labors under. April 4th the following resolves 
 were reported, which being twice read and con- 
 sidered, were passed unanimously : 
 
 Ist. That we will, in conjunction with our Brethren in America, Risk 
 our Fortunes & even our Lives in defence of his Majesty Kinp George 
 the third, His Person, Crown and Dignity, and will also with j» 'same 
 Resolution as his free-born subjects in this country, to the utmost of our 
 Powei And Ability, Defend our Charter Rights that they may transmitted 
 Inviolate to the Latest Posterity. 
 
 2. Retohed that every British Subject in America has by our happy 
 constitution as well as by Nature, the sole Eight to dispose of his own 
 Property either by himself or by his Representative. 
 
 3. Resoheil that y° net of y« British Parliament Laying a Duty on Tea 
 Laniled in America payable here is a Tax whereby the Property of 
 Americans is taken from them without their consent. 
 
 Therefore Hemhuil, That we will not, either by ourselves or any for or 
 under us, b>iy or sell or use any of y East India Company Tea Imported 
 from Groat Brittain, or any other Tea with a Duty for raising a Revenue 
 thereon in America, which is affixed by acts of Parliament on the same. 
 Neither will we suffer any such Tea to be made up in our Families. 
 
NEW BRAINTEEE. 
 
 677 
 
 liesotut'd, that all such persons as shall purchase, sell or use such Tea 
 shall be for the future deemed unfriendly & Enemies to the happy Con- 
 stitution of this Country, 
 
 At the same time — 
 
 Voted Ninety-one Pounds to provide a Town's Stock of Towder & 
 Lead & Flints with. 
 
 August 25th Deacons James Woods and Samuel 
 Ware were appointed a committee to meet like com- 
 mittees from other towns in the county, "to consider 
 what measures they ought to come into at tliis critical, 
 difficult day," and a Committee of Correspondence 
 was chosen. September 2d Deacon James Woods 
 chosen a delegate to a Provincial Congres? to be 
 held in October; the town then chose officers for a 
 standing miUtia. November 7th a committee of 
 seven, chosen to inspect all tea-drinkers and post 
 their names. January 9, 1775, the town accepted 
 the proposal of the minute-men to serve without 
 pay, on condition that the other members of the dis- 
 trict provide themselves with arms and ammunition. 
 Same date a committee chosen to receive and for- 
 ward the donations to the poor of Boston, and a 
 committee chosen to see that the Provincial and 
 Continental resolves be strictly adhered to. 
 
 May 22, 177(3, "the Question being put whether 
 y" Town would willingly support y' General Congress 
 if it shall declare Independence. Passed unani- 
 mously in the affirmative." 
 
 February 17, 1777, Ephraim Woods chosen dele- 
 gate to a County Congress, to obtain a more equal 
 and just representation in the General Court for 
 smaller towns. 
 
 February 24th the Committee of Safety, to pre- 
 vent monopoly ajid oppression, fixed a uniform 
 j.rice of all produce and merchandise and all kinds 
 of labor. Following are a few of these prices : 
 
 " For men's labor in haying or reaping, 3 shillings 
 per day, & the same for Carpenters ; Blacksmiths for 
 plain shoeing, all round, 4 shillings ; with steel 
 corkings, 5 shillings. To Cordwainers, for making 
 good men or women's shoes Strong, 2 shillings 8 
 pence pr., exclusive of thread. 
 
 " Doctor's Fea for riding, 6 pence per mile & Busi- 
 ness in proportion. Good wheat, 6 sh. per bu.; Rye, 
 4 sh. ; Ind. corn, 8 sh. ; Oats, 1 sh. 8 Pence ; Fresh 
 Pork, 4 Pence lb. ; Grass-fed Beef, 2} Pence ; Stall- 
 fed do. 3J pence; N. B. Rum, 5 sh. per gall. ; Good 
 W. I. Flip, 10 pence per mug ; Horsekeeping at 
 Farmers, 1 sh. pr. night by hay, & 6 Pence bv grass. 
 One meal of victuals of the best, ten pence, other 
 victuals accordingly ; new-milk cheese, six pence per 
 lb. ; firkin butter, 8 pence lb. ; Beans, six shillings 
 bu. ; Potatoes, one shilling per bu. in fall, one & six 
 pence in spring; good yarn, men's stockings, 5 shill- 
 ings 4 Pence pair; mutton, four pence; veal, two 
 pence per lb. ; Home-made flour, twenty shillings 
 per cwt. ; Eng. Hay, 2 shillings cwt. ; hire of a horse, 
 2 Pence pr. mile ; maid labor in spring, 3 shillings 
 per week. Mch. 31 a bounty of 20 pounds w.as 
 
 offered soldiers who should enlist in the Continental 
 Army for 3 years, & a com. chosen to collect evidence 
 against all persons appearing enemical to this coun- 
 try. June 5, 1778, Voted that the town has no ob- 
 jection to articles of Confederation & perpetual 
 Union between the United States of America. But 
 the town refused, 54 to 4, May 19, & again May 31, 
 1780, to adopt the Constitution of the state of Mas- 
 sachusetts Bay, except on certain conditions, one of 
 which was a provision for a Judge of Probate & 
 Register of Deeds in each town in the county.'' 
 
 The total cost to the town of the war is unknown, 
 but the records from 1778 to '82 are replete with 
 votes for filling quota of men and horses, paying 
 bounties, monthly wages and furnishing clothing and 
 provisions to soldiers and their families. A com- 
 plete list of the members of the company of minute- 
 men from New Braintree that marched to Boston 
 April 19, 1775, may be found on the town records. 
 
 The town furnished sixty-seven men for three 
 years, nineteen men for six months, seventeen men 
 for nine months; thirty-eight men for three months, 
 and fifty men for a less period of service in the Revo- 
 lutionary War. 
 
 May, 1786, the town gave instructions to its Repre- 
 sentative to the General Court, Captain Artemas 
 Howe, setting forth the great extortion and oppression 
 practiced by the lawyers of the Commonwealth ; their 
 growing importance as a class in numbers, wealth 
 and grandeur, and the danger to civil liberty thereby; 
 the tardiness in obtaining justice in the courts and 
 the high fees of certain court officers; that instead of 
 the courts and juries being enlightened and assisted 
 in searching after and doing justice in the cases that 
 came before them by the gentlemen of the bar, they 
 were left by them more perplexed and embarrassed ; 
 and expressing the belief that our only hope of ex- 
 istence as a nation rested in the frugality, economy 
 and industry of the people. 
 
 Shays' Rebellion. — The views embodied in these 
 resolutions seem to have been held by the large mass 
 of the people of the State. Many were embittered 
 by the feeling that adequate compensation had never 
 been made the soldiers for their sacrifice in saving 
 the country, nor the widows and orphans of those 
 who were killed. That many in office who had re- 
 mained at home had enriched themselves at the ex- 
 pense of those who had gone to the war. The debtor 
 class was large. The war had demoralized the people. 
 The majority hoped for a remedy for many of the 
 existing evils through the constituted authorities and 
 the General Court, peacefully ; but a great many 
 were in favor of resorting to force for a redress of 
 their wrongs. Conventions were held in several 
 counties. September 25th a committee chosen by the 
 town recommended that for the peace of the town no 
 representative should be sent to the General Court 
 that year. This was the act of the minority, who 
 had no faith in legislation to attain their ends. At ^ 
 
678 
 
 HISTOKY OF WOKCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 subsequent meeting the conservatives rallifd and 
 voted to send its representative as usual and seek re- 
 dress in a lawful way. The trouble culminated in 
 what is known as " Shays' Rebellion." Twenty-three 
 from New Braintree joined Captain Shays, some of 
 them soldiers in the late war. A large body of in- 
 surgents collected at New Braintree. Their chief 
 acts were to obstruct the courts and prevent their 
 assembling. 
 
 Jan. 30, 1787, the town characterized the proceed- 
 ings of the " Regulators," as they termed themselves, 
 as illegal and irregular, and chose Rev. David Foster, 
 Benjamin Joslyn and Percival Hallf Esq., a commit- 
 tee to confer with General Lincoln and officers, and 
 Captain Shays and officers, for the purpose of effect- 
 ing a leconciliation. February 3d, voted to petition 
 the General Court for a general pardon of the insur- 
 gents, provided they laid down their arms and re- 
 turned to their allejiiance, and issue circular letters 
 to a number of towns in this and other counties to do 
 the same. February 5th, met and heard the report of 
 the conference with General Lincoln, including a 
 letter to the town, in which he advised them " to call 
 home, without delay, all the men then with Captain 
 Shays belonging to the town, and not to aflbrd any 
 aid, support or comfort to any of y "■ insergents." When 
 this letter was received, after being several times 
 read and considered, such a disagreement appeared 
 concerning the adoption of the course advised, that 
 the meeting adjourned without action. Captain Ar- 
 temas Howe was appointed major and commissioned 
 as aid-de-camp of General Warner, August 28, 1886, 
 in the campaign against the insurgents. The other 
 men from New Braintree, who were in the service of 
 the State and endured the sufferings and dangers of 
 the night-march from Hadley to Petersham, which 
 Minot styles " one of the most indefatigable marches 
 ever performed in America," which resulted in the 
 rout of the rebels, were: Sampson Whitherley, First 
 Lieutenant ; Wyman Hoit, Second Lieutenant: 
 Elisha Mathews, Sergeant ; John Doty, Corporal ; 
 John Thompson, Corporal; James Woods, Corporal; 
 Elijah Barnes, Robert Voaks, William Tidd, Percival 
 Hall, Isaac Denni, George Whetherell, James Wes- 
 ton, Privates: John Stevenson, Drummer; Samuel 
 Shaw, Sergeant ; Lemuel Kenned}-. 
 
 March 17, 1787, twenty-two took the oath of 
 allegiance. Some of the insurgents fled from the 
 State, and among them Capt. Francis Stone, who, if 
 not a citizen of the town at the time, was closely con- 
 nected with some of its families. Hence we find the 
 town, May 21st, instructing its representative to use 
 his utmost exertions for a general pardon of the in- 
 surgents, that the banished might return home. The 
 town further instructed him that " In all free govern- 
 ments that idea ought ever be kept in view that the 
 rulers and ministers of state are the honorable ser- 
 vants and not the haughty masters of the people ;" 
 tlfat he should use his influence to restrict the num- 
 
 ber of lawyers in the commonwealth to a small num- 
 ber of approved and upright character, to dismiss the 
 Courts of Common Pleas, sheriffs and deputy-sheriffs 
 of the county, empower the selectmen to do the busi- 
 ness of judge of probate and have the General Court 
 removed from Boston. 
 
 Miscellaneous. — June, 1790, the town adopted an 
 act to discourage unnecessary lawsuits, providing for a 
 committee of three discreet freeholders, to whom should 
 be submitted for settlement all demands whatsoever 
 held by one citizen against another. The fees of the 
 committee were two shillings each for each case. 
 Any person refusing to submit his claim to the com- 
 mittee for settlement should be deemed unfriendly to 
 the peace of the town and bad members of society, 
 and treated by the inhabitants with contempt and 
 neglect as to dealings and intercourse, save in the 
 bare offices of humanity, and should have no votes 
 for any town office for three years. 
 
 March 20, 1702, the town became security to 
 Maj. Joseph Bowman, Elias Hall, Moses Hamilton 
 and John Joslyn in a contract to support the entire 
 poor of the State for ten years. They in turn agreed 
 to collect all taxes during that time free of expense, 
 to take all kinds of produce in payment of taxes at a 
 generous price, and to purchase at a generous price 
 from said town all produce needed besides for the 
 support of said poor. They were authorized to i>ro- 
 cure immediately materials for and proceed to erect 
 suitable buildings for their accommodation. The 
 present residence of Wm. A. Felton was one of these 
 buildings. The town was opposed to the War of 
 1812. 
 
 July 2, 1812, voted to co-operate with the town of 
 Boston in using all constitutional means to avert it. 
 July 24th memorialized the President of the United 
 States disapproving of the war and abhorring an alli- 
 ance with France. 
 
 In 1818 stoves were first introduced into the meet- 
 ing-house at a cost of one hundred and seventy-five 
 dollars. 
 
 Previous to 1826 the support of the poor had been 
 put up at auction to the lowest bidder. In 1833 the 
 town i)urchased the Little farm and supported its 
 poor thereon. In 1835 rules were adopted for the 
 regulation of its pauper establishment. 
 
 March 20, 1843, Congregational parish organized 
 with a membership of seventy-nine. Until then re- 
 ligious institutions had been supported by a town 
 tax. 
 
 War OF Rebellion, 1861. — The first town-meet- 
 ing to act upon matters relating to the War of 
 the Rebellion was held May 7th, at which the select- 
 men were authorized to pay each volunteer belonging 
 to the town five dollars per month while in service, 
 in addition to regular pay, and four dollars per month 
 to his wife and two dollars to each child under twelve 
 years of age. 
 
 July 21, 18C2, voted to pay a bounty of one hundred 
 
 4 
 
NEW BKAINTKEE. 
 
 679 
 
 dollars to each volunteer who enlists for three years 
 and ten dollars additional to those who enlist within 
 one week. 
 
 August 2(ith, the bounty for three years' volunteers 
 was raised to two hundred dollars and the bounty tor 
 volunteers for nine months fixed at one hundred and 
 fifty dollars, which, November 4th, was raised to two 
 hundred dollars. 
 
 April 11, 18G4, voted a bounty of one hundred and 
 twenty-five dollars to volunteers for three years' ser- 
 vice, and this bounty was continued to be paid until 
 the end of the war. The town raised .$9000.55 for the 
 war and seventy-eight men — four beyond her quota — 
 two-thirds of the men subject to military duty and 
 one-tenth of her population. One only, Lieutenant 
 George Davis, was a commissioned ofiicer. The fol- 
 lowing are the names of the volunteers on town 
 records : 
 
 For Three years. — Nahum H. Ayres, John Birming- 
 ham, Henry H. Bush, Albert Barrett, Josiah C. Con- 
 verse, George Cooley, Daniel W. Dean, Carlton 
 DeLand, Kichard T. Davis, George A. Davis, Joseph 
 Goddard, Lyman A. Holmes, William Hunter, Wil- 
 liam Jerome, Harrison Lamb, Peter McCue, Henry 
 Mullett, David D. Pierce, Sidney Smith, Jr., Josiah 
 Tuly, Oramel F. Thresher, Charles Q. Wetherell, Al- 
 bert G. Wilder. 
 
 For Nine Months.- — Rufus Boyden, Loring S. B.ir- 
 low, Frank D. Brigham, Alfred D. Barr, Michael 
 Bowen, Benjamin Fagan, Theodore S. Pierce, Brig- 
 ham Pierce, Elijah T. Randall, Albert A. Thresher, 
 George Woods. The rest of the seventy-eight were 
 furnished from the surplus in other towns, this town 
 paying the bounties. 
 
 Business. — In 1791 Joseph Bowman, Jr., entered 
 into trade in foreign goods in a small one-storied 
 building, situated at the north end of the present line 
 of horse-sheds. In 1793 Henry Penniman, Jr., be- 
 came a partner with him and for twenty years the 
 firm of Bowman & Penniman was a household word 
 in many homes in towns in the west part of Worces- 
 ter and east part of Hampshire Counties. Mr. Penni- 
 man retired in 1813 and was succeeded by John 
 Wetherell. In 1824 Mr. Wetherell removed to Peters- 
 ham and Amory H. Bowman assumed the manage- 
 ment of the business, his father furnishing the capi- 
 tal. In 1835 he was succeeded by Benj. F. Hamilton, 
 who remained till 1840, when Edwin A. Read (who 
 had had charge of the currying business of Hiram 
 Wadsworlh, at Barre Plains), in coinpauy with Sam- 
 uel Wadsworth, took the place until 1850. The firm 
 was successively Read & Wadsworth, Read & Smith 
 and Read & Anderson. In 1850 Wm. Bowdoin com- 
 menced business and sold out in 1855 to Charles B. 
 Frost. In 1858 Abijah Eddy succeeded Mr. Frost and 
 remained until the spring of 1863, when a protective 
 union store was opened with Mr. Frost as agent. 
 In 1865 Mr. Frost bought out the stockholders and 
 
 December 1, 1886, sold out stock and store to George 
 K. Tufts, who now occupies it. 
 
 In 1812 Elisha Mathews, in company with Deacon 
 James Woods, induced by the high price of wooleu 
 goods incident upon the war, purchased a water 
 privilege and erected a mill one-fourth mile below 
 the saw-mill built by his father, Daniel, on the same 
 stream, and commenced the manufacture of woolen 
 cloths. Mr. Mathews was on his way to market with 
 his first load of cloths when peace was declared and 
 prices dropped. Deacon Woods soon sold out his 
 interest, and Mr. Mathews continued for some years, 
 but at a constant pecuniary loss. The enterprise 
 ruined him financially. In 1839 Isaac Hunter, Jr., 
 James Hunter and T. P. Anderson commenced the 
 manufacture of shoes under contract with Clark 
 Bates, of South Carolina, to furnish two thousand 
 pairs per month. In March, 1840, Anderson with- 
 drew and David Wetherell took his place. The en- 
 terprise was a failure through the rascality and 
 irresponsibility of the parties to whom the goods 
 were sold. The business, which was carried on in a 
 part of the store, closed in 1841. In 1848 a steam 
 mill was erected by a stock company. This was sold 
 to Joel Garfield, and then to Jos. P. Cheney, and 
 finally to James Penniman, and burned in 1853 ; re- 
 built in 1854 by a stock company and sold to Jos. M. 
 Green, Wm. A. Mixter, Moses Pollard, Henry A. 
 Hoyt and Hollis Tidd ; burnt in 1863. Henry A. 
 Delano made carriages and wagons from 1820-60, and 
 later Wm. T. Felton carried on the same kind of 
 business. 
 
 The pursuits of the inhabitants have been almost 
 wholly agricultural. Whitney writes of New Brain- 
 tree, 1796 : " For its bigness it exceeds any other town 
 in the county in fine grazing land, as is evinced by 
 the annual product of the dairy & Beef." Then the 
 product of beef far exceeded that of the dairy. An 
 inventory of that time shows that one man was taxed 
 for twenty-eight oxen ; several years after the same 
 farm maintained thirty cows. The increased profits 
 of the dairy over those of beef changed the business 
 from fatting cattle to making cheese, j\nd the labor 
 also from out-doors to in-doors. New Braintree 
 cheese had acquired an enviable reputation in Boston 
 as early as 1800, and many a dairy of cheese from 
 other towns passed through the hands of Bowman & 
 Penniman to be sold as New Braintree make. Pre- 
 vious to 1865 cheese was made in private dairies ; 
 during that year the New Braintree Cheese Manufac- 
 turing Company w.as organized, with a capital of 
 §4000, and erected and furnished a factory at a cost of 
 $11,000. The greatest quantity of milk received for 
 eight months was 3,021,000 lbs. The cheese factory 
 in 1886 became a creamery, and was then abandoned. 
 Making milk supplanted making cheese for Boston 
 market. In 1888 not one dairy in town made cheese 
 through the season, a thing that had not been before 
 for a century. 
 
G80 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 There has been but little manufacturing. Samuel 
 Harrington made, in a small way, shoe-shaves for 
 several years. 
 
 Besides the mills already referred to, there was a 
 grist-mill built by Solomon Mathews on the site of 
 the present residence of Mrs. li. F. Hamilton, on the 
 stream north of the road. 
 
 Physicians — Dr. Percival Hall was probably the 
 first physician in town and almost the only one for 
 thirty years. He commenced practice about 1760 ; 
 married a daughter of Deacon Samuel Ware, 1764; 
 removed to Boston 1793. One of his children, Bet- 
 sey, born February 29, 1780, died at the age of one 
 hundred and four years. He was a very popular 
 man, holding many town offices, and especially in 
 demand as chairman of committees to draw up in- 
 structions to Eepresentatives. His productions are 
 models in their clear, concise and comprehensive 
 statements of the points at issue, and would do 
 credit to any statesman of to-day. Dr. John Frink 
 practiced in 1786-87. In 1794 Dr. Benjamin Sever- 
 ance succeeded Dr. Hall, and continued until his 
 death, in 1832. During that time there were usually 
 two physicians. Dr. Thomas Fletcher, 1789-91 ; 
 Dr. John Blair, Jr., 1793-98; Dr. Increase Ma.- 
 thews, 1799; Dr. March, 1803; Dr. Fairfield, 1805; 
 Dr. John Field, 1810-15 ; Dr. Luther Spaulding. 
 1816-20; Dr. Thomas Boutelle, 1820-24; Dr. Daniel 
 McGregor, 1825-33; Dr. Oramel Martin, 1833-45; 
 Dr. Julius Miner, 1847-52; Dr. A. A. Kendall, 1852- 
 65 ; Dr. Saxton Martin, 1857-66. Since that time 
 there has been no resident physician. 
 
 " Dr. Martin was a Democrat in politics. When he 
 came, that party in town numbered four ; during his 
 stay it increased to thirty-five. He was thoroughly 
 Democratic (as that word was used then) in town, as 
 well as in State and national afi'airs, and believed that 
 the ability to govern existed in the many, not the 
 few ; accordingly, he labored in all town elections for 
 a more equal distribution of town offices." 
 
 The only resident lawyer there has ever been was 
 Hon. Charles Allen, who came here from Worcester 
 after being admitted to the bar in 1818; practiced 
 six years and then returned to Worcester. 
 
 Building. — A prominent feature of the Centre is 
 the long row of horse-sheds. Previous to 1816 there 
 were but three sheds to shelter the horses from heat, 
 cold and storm on the Sabbath, owned by Eli-sba Ma- 
 thews, Lieutenant Jonas Newell and Captain Abijah 
 Bigelow. These, with the old school-house, built in 
 1774, that replaced the first, built in 1760, " twenty 
 feet square with chimney in the middle,'' occupied 
 the present site of the store. In 1816 Joseph Bow- 
 man exchanged the land on which the sheds now 
 stand with the town for a portion of the land on 
 which the store is, and Bowman & Wetherell erected 
 the brick store, sixty by thirty feet and thirty feet 
 high, at a cost of thirty-five hundred dollars. The 
 same year a woodeu building, tweuty-seven by forty- 
 
 three feet, and two storied, was built five hundred 
 and fifty feet farther north, the lower part of which 
 was used for a school-room and the upper for a hall. 
 In 1865 the building was enlarged, the lower part 
 converted into a cheese factory and the hall retained. 
 In 1861, five school-houses were built; cost, $;5,000. 
 
 In 1837 the New Braintree Temperance House was 
 erected by a stock company (co.st, six thousand dol- 
 lars) to furnish a place of entertainment free from 
 the sale of intoxicating liquors, and for thirty years 
 it remained true to its name. It chauged owners 
 twice, and was burned in 1880. Much of the stock, 
 with a par value of one hundred dollars, sold at 
 eight dollars. 
 
 Miscellaneous. — In 1810 the town was visited 
 with the spotted fever, and two hundred and forty 
 dollars paid for attendance of physicians. In 1860 
 pleuro-pneumonia appeared among cattle ; two whole 
 herds were slaughtered and five hundred dollars paid 
 for relief of the owners. The greatest loss to the town, 
 and one which badly defaced the looks of the Cen- 
 tre, was by fire, in 1880 — one-third of an acre covered 
 with buildings being burned. The cheese factory. Tem- 
 perance House and Bigelow House were destroyed, 
 and but for the timely assistance of fire companies 
 from North and West Brookfield, the church and 
 other buildings must have shared the same fate. 
 Loss, fifteen thousand dollars. A new cheese factory 
 is on site of the old one. A reward of one thousand 
 dollars offered failed to find the incendiary. 
 
 March 7, 1832, the New Braintree Thief Detect- 
 ing Society was formed, with a membership of forty- 
 eight. It has been chiefly a social organization, 
 having observed for the last forty years, on the first 
 Wednesday in Junuary, nearly every anniversary of 
 its formation by a hot turkey supper. Sometimes the 
 attendance reaches one hundred-. For many years a 
 characteristic feature of society was the annual 
 temperance supper, instituted for the encouragement 
 of the Temperance House. It was thoroughly dem- 
 ocratic. Everybody was expected to attend and re- 
 spond to a toast. It was the occasion for much 
 badinage, wit and some eloquence. 
 
 The Free Public Library was founded in 1878 on a 
 gift of one hundred dollars by F. W. Delano, of Bos- 
 ton, and was sustained for a few years by private 
 contributions and the exertions of the Young Ladies' 
 Literary Society. In 1884 it became the property of 
 the town. It numbers eight hundred volumes, well 
 selected. 
 
 The Third Regiment State Militia, including, with 
 others, one company of militia from this town and 
 one comjmuy of grenadiers from New Braintree and 
 Oakham jointly, mustered every alternate year on 
 the parade-ground granted by Henry Penniman. 
 The commissioned colonels of the Third Regiment 
 from New Braintree were Samuel Mixter, Louis 
 Blackmer, Henry Penniman, Stejjheu Fay, Asa Barr, 
 Koswell Converse and Amory H. Bowman. 
 
NEW BRAINTREE. 
 
 681 
 
 In politics the Federalists, Wbigs and Republicans 
 have in succession usually been in a majority. Not- 
 able exceptions occurred in the reign of the Know- 
 nothing party and in the Presidential election in 
 1884, when Blaine and Cleveland polled the same 
 number of votes. The greater inequality was in 
 1803, when Gerry, the Democratic candidate for Gov- 
 ernor, received only one vote against eighty for 
 Strong, his opponent. There has been but little dis- 
 position for frequent changes in office. Men once 
 chosen to office, and proving themselves capable and 
 faithful therein, have received the continued support 
 of the people. 
 
 In 17% Whitney wrote of the people of New 
 Braintree, " They have the reputation of being good 
 husbandmen, frugal and industrious, and they live 
 much independent." This frugality and industry 
 brought most of them a competence and many 
 wealth. But this wealth was held in no miserly 
 spirit. They could beautify their own homes and 
 the Lord's house, erect and sustain a public house of 
 entertainment in the interests of temperance, give 
 liberally to promote education at home and abroad, 
 and in support of all benevolent objects. They were 
 liberal in appropriations for musical education. The 
 " independent " spirit referred to increased with the 
 increase of wealth and intelligence. There was a 
 just pride in the relative position the town held 
 among other towns and in the character of its men. 
 
 IxDiviDUALS. — Of the early settlers, Capt. Eleazer 
 Warner was already a veteran soldier. He was born 
 in 1686, and early entered the military service of his 
 country during the French and Indian Wars. At 
 twenty-seven, was an attendant of a commission sent 
 by Governor Dudley to Canada to redeem prisoners 
 in the hands of the French ; is on record, at forty, as 
 teacher of the first school taught in Brookfield. In 
 1822 he married Prudence, sister of Comfort Barnes, 
 who built the first house on Brookfield soil, that after- 
 ward became New Braintree, and located on the south 
 bank of Sucker Brook, opposite to the house of .Ton- 
 athan Nye ; removed 1730 to the place known after- 
 wards as the " Perez Cobb " place, near the North 
 Cemetery, a portion of which house he built. In the 
 " History of Hardwick" he is referred to as probably 
 the first settler in Hardwick, and his son, Wareham, 
 as the first white child born on New Braintree soil ; 
 his nephew, Joseph Barnes, was the second. His farm 
 included a part of the Indian fort before referred to. 
 
 Three brothers, active in the town's early history, 
 were David, James and Jonathan Woods, who came 
 from Marlboro' respectively in 1744, 1746 and 1752. 
 David was town clerk (1750-78) and assessor ; Jona- 
 than, second representative to General Court ; James, 
 moderator, treasurer, delegate to Provincial Congress 
 and first representative to General Court. Jacob 
 Pepper was at least fifty times moderator of town- 
 meetings. John Barr, who came from Ireland about 
 1730, became the owner of five hundred acres of land 
 
 in the southwestern part of the town, including a 
 large part of present School District No. 5. Corne- 
 lius Cannon came from Dartmouth in 1737, and set- 
 tled on present residence of Mr. Graves. John Pea- 
 cock, a native of Ireland, was a soldier in the French 
 and Indian War, and his son, John, Jr., an adjutant 
 in Col. Timothy Ruggles' regiment, 1757. Oliver 
 Cobleigh was also a soldier in that war. The Abbots, 
 Barneses, Gilberts and Cannons were all connected by 
 marriage, as well as the Peppers, Woods and Barrs. 
 Abraham Hunter, the father of all the Hunters ex- 
 cept Robert, came in 1753, having purchased a large 
 tract of land in the east part of Braintree grant, 
 which he divided among his sons and daughters. 
 Daniel Matthews, who erected the saw-mill in 1749 
 at Webb's Pond, married Huldah, sister of Gen. 
 Rufus Putnam. To him the general was apprenticed 
 at fifteen years of age. Mr. Matthews was a member 
 of Committee of Correspondence and an inspector of 
 tea-drinkers, 1774. Wm. Tufts came from Brook- 
 field in 1758, purchased land of Richard Faxon, an 
 original proprietor, and was for many years a mem- 
 ber of the School Committee. 
 
 Joseph Bowman came from Lexington about 1765. 
 He was an ensign of a company of fifty men from 
 this town who marched to Boston on the report of the 
 attack upon the company at Lexington on the 19th 
 of April, 1775. He soon after joined the army, and 
 commanded a battalion at the battle of Bennington 
 and other battles, which resulted in the capture of 
 Burgoyne. He was not only a leading man in New 
 Braintree, but his family, uniting the blood of the 
 Bowmans and Munroes of Lexington, became one of 
 the most influential in this part of Worcester County. 
 His daughters intermarried with the Delanos, Woods, 
 Matthews, Fields, Hoyts, &c., in the town. His son, 
 Hon. Joseph Boivman, born September 11, 1771, 
 entered mercantile business in his minority in New 
 Br lintree without capital or expectation of any. 
 His marriage with the sister of his partner, Col. 
 Henry Penniman, materially aided him, but he was 
 mainly indebted for his success to his untiring energy, 
 industry and perseverance, his sagacity, judgment 
 and unyielding integrity. He remained in trade 
 thirty-five years, and accumulated a large fortune. 
 He became the leading merchant in the region, and 
 his store the principal place of resort for surrounding 
 towns. For twenty-one years he was president of the 
 Hampshire Manufacturers' Bank at Ware. In politics 
 a Whig, but always reserving the right of individual 
 action, independent of party. Office sought him, not 
 he the office. He was elected representative to the 
 General Court in 1806 and thirteen times thereafter ; 
 Senator, 1828-29 ; member of Governor Lincoln's 
 Council in 1832-34. He was a liberal supporter of 
 religious and educational institutions. In private 
 life most agreeable, hospitable, courteous and even- 
 tempered. Few retain the confidence of the public 
 as long as he. He died January 30, 1852. 
 
682 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Henry Penniman came from Mendon, 1785, and 
 was for many years the largest landholder in value, 
 if not in acreage. His gifts to the town were, in 1795, 
 six acres of land for a training-field (value, $333.33), 
 east of Centre, and $300 for a new bell in 1800. His 
 son, Colonel Henry Penniman, and Joseph Bowman 
 gave a new town clock in 1802; was partner in 
 trade with Mr. Bowman 1793-1813; also gave an 
 organ for the church, and his family supplied it with 
 players for more than thirty years, one daughter 
 commencing at nine years of age. Colonel Penniman 
 was a trustee and a liberal donor to the funds of 
 Amherst College; was much in town affairs and twice 
 Representative, but declined more honors. 
 
 Lieutenant Samuel Mister came from Brookfield, 
 1775, and reared a large family, who became con- 
 nected by marriage with the Tidds, Popes and Greens. 
 His son, Honorable Samuel Mister, was in nearly 
 every town office, and settled estates, etc. ; Repre- 
 sentative, 1818-19; Senator, 1833-35; Councillor, 
 1837-38. A man of great native sagacity and in- 
 fluence. 
 
 The three brothers Tidd came from Lesington 
 (Ebenezer and Joseph, 1768), the former receiving by 
 his father a large portion of the farm formerly occu- 
 pied by Hollia Tidd, the latter the farm now occupied 
 by Mr. Mahan. Benjamin came in 1790, and located 
 where Frank Roch now lives. He was a member of 
 the company under Parker that took part in the 
 struggle at Lexington, April 19th, at Cambridge, 
 June 17th, and served Dorchester the following year. 
 Ebenezer, as well as his sou Hollis, were prominent 
 men ; the latter was an aid to General Crawford, 
 School Committee over thirty years ; Representative, 
 and filled other offices. The limited space allotted to 
 New Braintree in this history of the county forbids 
 mention, as they deserve, of many others equally 
 prominent and influential, such as Captain Benjamin 
 Joslyn, Gideon and Philip Delano (the latter a model 
 town clerk for thirty-four years), Elisha Mathews, 
 Colonel Roswell Converse (who, in compliance with 
 Dr. Fiske's wish, bought and fitted a parsonage, run- 
 ning the risk of returns for the investment), Josiah 
 Gleason, Amasa Bigelovv, James Bowdoin and scores 
 of others (not omitting the women), some of whose 
 names are on record and more not, all of whom con- 
 tributed equally, by private virtues as well as public 
 services, to make the town in a peculiar sense a 
 representative New England town. 
 
 Of the original settlers the following are, with one 
 or two exceptions, resident descendants : 
 
 David Woods. I Hon- Bouum Nye. 
 1 Mrs. Wm. Bowdoin. 
 
 James Woods. 
 
 John Barr 
 
 and 
 Jona. Woods 
 
 Mrs. D. G. Barr. 
 
 D. G. Barr. 
 
 t Moses Thompson. 
 James Thompson. I C. B. Thompson. 
 
 ' Miss E. A. Hoyt. 
 Eleazer Warner. ■! R. P. Warner. 
 
 ■{ 
 
 Wm. Anderson. ] Wm. E. Anderson. 
 Jacob Nichols. | H. L. Pollard. 
 
 Sam'l Harrington. 
 Abraham Hunter. 
 
 Wm. Tufts. 
 
 Adam Homes. 
 
 j Nath'l Harrington. 
 
 f John Hunter. 
 1 Mary Hunter. 
 r Hon. Washington Tufts, who, a life- 
 I long Democrat, was sent, 1875, to 
 , the State Senate from a Republican 
 
 district. 
 I Geo. K. Tufts. 
 I Mrs. C. Wilcox. 
 1 Mrs. D. Wetherill. 
 
 John Barr. ^ J. H. Barr. 
 
 George Woods, j Mrs. J. H. Barr. 
 Jona. Woods, i 
 
 and i Geo. D. Woods. 
 
 Jacob Pepper. ( 
 Joseph Pepper. ] All of that name. 
 
 Ebenezer Tidd. | Mrs. J. P. Gleason. 
 
 Benjamin Tidd. ] Mrs. Charles Burt. 
 
 H. A. Hoyt. 
 
 , „ Geo. K. Tufts. 
 
 Joseph Bowman. < ht- t-. a tt i 
 
 ' Miss E. A. Hoyt. 
 
 Mrs. H. M. Tufts. 
 
 T^ • 1 lu fi, I Mrs. H. M. Tufts. 
 
 Daniel Mathews. < ^, ^, ^ ^ 
 I Geo. K. Tufts. 
 
 Location. — So far as known, the original settlers 
 located themselves as follows, the second column 
 indicating present occupants of their farms, with due 
 allowance for additions and subtractions incidental 
 to a century and a half: 
 
 Former. Presunt. 
 
 JaiiiL'B Robinaou Col. Roijiusou Place, Hurdwick 
 
 Julin Wilson Tlioiiiaa Loring 
 
 James ThonilJaon Eat. M. H. Fay 
 
 Jotia, Cobleigh E. of Geo NeeiUiain 
 
 Julin Blair Joaitib Buali, near Pond 
 
 Jacob JJichola H. L. Pollard 
 
 John Barr .Tohn Cooney, where house was bnmed 
 
 Abram Joslyn Edwin Hoar 
 
 Joseph Little C. P. and H. I, Howard 
 
 Eleazer Warner L. Crawford, "Perez Cobb house" 
 
 BiTiali Hawee, DenniaHealey, on discontinued road to Ilardwick 
 
 Kdwanl Blair Jerry Mara 
 
 Bavid Woods Alfred Buyden 
 
 James Woods Horatio Sloore 
 
 John Barr J. E. Fobes, John Sibley, M. Greenwood, P. 
 
 Monahan. 
 
 Samuel .Steele Geo. P. Vaughn 
 
 George Wooda W. W. Gray 
 
 David Ayera Francis Shaw 
 
 Phinelias Wurner J. H. Thresher 
 
 Wm. Anderson Wm. E. Andereon 
 
^^c 
 
 ^;? 
 
NEW BRAINTREE. 
 
 683 
 
 Samuel Ware Geo. F. Snow 
 
 Warehani Warner John O'Brien 
 
 Juseph Pepper Wtn. A. and E. Pepper 
 
 Jacob Pepper J. E. Barr 
 
 Dloees Abbot Dwight Tyler 
 
 David and Jona. Gilburt M. Cota 
 
 Sarah Barnes John Cooney,,opp. side of brook 
 
 Ebenezer Spoouer M. D. PecUliaiii 
 
 Wui. Tufts John P.Day 
 
 Abraham Hunter J. P. Hunter, H. Moore, M, lago, J. D. 
 
 Frost and pt. by John Danbruskie 
 
 Adam Homes John Danbrusliie 
 
 Cornelius Cannon M. Graves 
 
 The cemetery in District No. 3 was given, in 1756, 
 to the town by Edward Blair. For many facts and 
 dates the writer is indebted to Mr. George D. Woods; 
 for some facts relative to that portion of ihe town for- 
 merly in Haidwick, to the " History of Hardwick" 
 to C. B. Tillingbast, acting State librarian, for his 
 uniform courtesy and assistance in furnishing access 
 to original documents. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 BENJAMIN F. HAMILTON. 
 
 Benjamin F. Hamilton, son of William and Rhoda 
 Hamilton, and a direct descendant in the fourth 
 generation of James Hamilton, father of Alexander 
 Hamilton, of Revolutionary fame, was born in Con- 
 way, February 18, 1809. He received a common- 
 school education in his native town. His was one of 
 the old families of the town, and the name Hamilton 
 was the name of the leading physician of Conway 
 for nearly a hundred years. During his minority he 
 engaged with his brother and uncle in the manufac- 
 ture of woolens. 
 
 To him much was intrusted of the buying, selling 
 and general management of the business. The de- 
 pression in American manufacturing in competition 
 with that of England after the declaration of peace 
 following the War of 1812 rendering the business 
 unproiitable, Mr. Hamilton went to Taunton as a 
 clerk. From Taunton, in 1829, when twenty years 
 of age, he came to Barre, in the employ of Harding, 
 Woods & Co., as a clerk and book-keeper in their 
 general store, remaining for six of the most receptive 
 years of his life in one of the best kind of schools 
 for the study of human nature that ever existed. 
 Mr. Woods endorsed his services with him in this 
 remark, that " He had been one of the most faithful, 
 accurate and honest clerks he ever had in his em- 
 ploy." While in Barre he married Catherine Wil- 
 son, who died December 16, 1837, and by whom he 
 had one child — Catherine — born December 11, 1837, 
 who also died. 
 
 In 1835 he purchased of Amory H. Bowman his 
 stock of goods in the old " Brick Store," and came 
 first to reside in New Braintree. Here he remained 
 until 1840, then removed to Petersham, where, in 
 company with Sampson Wetherell, he engaged in 
 
 the same kind of business. It was customary then 
 for country traders to purchase large quantities of 
 leaf, parcel it out among their customers to be 
 braided into hats, then buy the hats and pay for the 
 same from the store. The depression in the hat 
 business, and the consequent failure of many large 
 houses, caused the failure of many smaller firms, of 
 which Hamilton & Wetherell were one. Mr. Hamil- 
 ton returned to New Braintree, and spent the re- 
 mainder of his days in farming. 
 
 May 27, 18-H, he married Hannah D. Gleason, 
 daughter of Josiah Gleason, of New Braintree. 
 During his residence in New Braintree he was 
 closely identified with its interests, civil, parochial, 
 business and political, and was, for a longer or 
 shorter time, the official head of all of them. He 
 was thoroughly faithful to all these interests while in 
 his charge. 
 
 From 1863-68 he was a member of the Board of 
 Selectmen, one year its chairman. For the first fif- 
 teen years of its existence he was a director of the New 
 Braintree Cheese Manufacturing Company, and five 
 years its president. For eighteen years he was a 
 member of the Parish Committee, and much of the 
 time its chairman. It was a favorite saying of his 
 that " He had been a member of this Parish for a 
 longer consecutive time, and paid a parish tax a 
 greater number of years, than any other living mem- 
 ber, with perhaps one exception." In his theological 
 views he was diametrically opposed to the tenets 
 held by the various preachers, to whom he listened 
 nearly forty years, but in the practical af)plication of 
 religious truth he stood upon the broad ground, so 
 common to many men of all denominations, that 
 " Faith without works is dead also," — a doctrine that 
 an eminent divine once said would have classed the 
 Apostle James as a Unitarian had he lived in our 
 day. 
 
 Channing, the great apostle of Unitarianism, never 
 had a more devout admirer than Mr. Hamilton. 
 To say that he was always cool and deliberate in 
 judgment, or wise and temperate in action, would be 
 to say more than he would have said of himself. He 
 was always true to his convictions an I fearless in 
 their expression. He believed that truth was its 
 own greatest safeguard and its declaration better 
 than its suppression. 
 
 Besides, he never hit a man in the back ; his 
 blows were always in front, and whatever criticisms 
 he had to make were made in so open a manner that 
 the one criticised had ample opportunity to defend 
 himself. If he sometimes went to extremes, he 
 never did things by halves. If he was impulsive, he 
 was also generous. He was methodical in business, 
 paying close attention to details, enterprising and 
 public-spirited. He died August 28, 1884. 
 
684 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 J. p. GLEASON. 
 
 Josiah Parsons Gleason, son of Josiah and Mary 
 (Hitchcock) Gleason, was born in New Braiiitree, May 
 15, 1S22. His early education was mainly obtained in 
 the district-schools of his native town, supplemented 
 with a term or two each at Leicester Academy in 
 1835, at Phillips Academy, Andover, 1836, and at 
 Munson Academy and Hadley in 1839. In 1837 and 
 '38 he was clerk in the store of his brother-in-law, J. 
 S. Marsh, in Hardwick, Mass. He became the home 
 son and at the death of his father came into possession 
 of the "Homestead " of about 250 acres, situated on 
 the west slope of Fort Hill, overlooking the beautiful 
 valley of the Ware River, and one of the most pro- 
 ductive farms in New Braintree. 
 
 He was a member of the Board of Selectmen from 
 18(55 to 1884, excepting 1808, and several years its 
 chairman ; assessor from 1867-80. He was always 
 the scribe of both boards, and the entire transactions 
 of both during his membership are recorded in his 
 bold, legible handwriting. His public as well as 
 private affairs have always been conducted on busi- 
 ness principles, with promptness, accuracy, thorough- 
 ness and system. He has always advocated a liberal, 
 but never extravagant, expenditure of the public 
 funds, both for the general interests for which the 
 town provides, such as schools, etc., as well as for 
 special objects which the law does not make obligatory. 
 
 In politics he has always held it to be the right 
 of the individual to form his opinions and act in 
 accordance with his own convictions, independent of 
 the opinions or acts of others, although by so doing 
 he occupied a position oi>posed to the party to which 
 he nominally belonged. Hence he has found himself 
 at different times allied to both parties. In his early 
 life he was much in general society, but later a family 
 of wife and eiL'ht children furnished him with ample 
 opportunities for the play of h's social faculties, and 
 this devotion to home has been fully reciprocated 
 even after its younger members had grown to ma- 
 turity and made homes of their own. 
 
 He married, November 21, 1849, Mary Newton 
 Makepeace, born May 19, 1822 ; died September 16, 
 1855. His children by this marriage were : Josiah 
 Makepeace, born September 11, 1850, died March 
 2, 1852; Mary Parsons, born May 29, 1852 ; Robert 
 Rantoul, born September 7, 1855, died September 
 22, 1855; Albert Makepeace, born September 7, 18.55. 
 
 He married, February 24, 1859, Ellen Augusta Tidd, 
 daughter of Hollis Tidd, Esq., born April 30, 1831, 
 The children by this marriage are : Edward Hollis, 
 born February 4, 1860 ; Herbert Parsons, born Au- 
 gust 1, 1861; Alexander DeWitt, born March 1, 1863; 
 George Davis, born November 21, 1864 ; Ronald 
 Prentiss, born August 24, 1866 ; Alice Hamilton, born 
 October 15, 1870. 
 
 Albert Makepeace Gleason married, September 8, 
 1883, Elizabeth Aiken, of Greenfield. 
 
 Edward Hollis Gleason married. May 80, 1885, 
 
 Julia Hamilton, of Boston. Children: Ellen Harris, 
 born August 23, 18SG; Hollis Tidd, born April 13, 
 1888. 
 
 CHARLES EAMES. 
 
 Charles Eames was a native of New Braintree. 
 His mother was a descendant of the Ebenezer Tidd 
 who emigrated from Lexington to this place in 1768. 
 He was fitted for college when twelve years of age, 
 but did not enter till the next year. He graduated at 
 Harvard at the age of eighteen, the first scholar in a 
 class in which were Wendell Phillips and Motley, the 
 historian, with both of whom his friendship lasted 
 till his death. In early life he acquired fame by his 
 eloquence and rare oratorical powers. At the close of 
 Mr. Polk's administration he was appointed commis- 
 sioner to the Sandwich Islands, to make a commercial 
 treaty with that government, which he accomplished. 
 President Pierce appointed him Minister Resident at 
 Caraccas, Venezuela, with which government he also 
 negotiated a treaty. On his return from that country 
 he resumed the practice of law in Washington. 
 
 During the War of the Rebellion he was counsel 
 for the Navy Department and the captors in all the 
 prize cases, and for the Treasury Department in all 
 the cotton cases. It was in arguing before the 
 Supreme Court of the United States the great prize 
 case of the "Sir William Peel," in which William M. 
 Evarts was the opposing counsel, that he was stricken 
 down with the disease that terminated fatally in two 
 months. He rallied sufficiently in a month to appear 
 again in the Supreme Court as counsel for the navy 
 and the captors in the great prize case of the " Grey 
 JacKet," involving a million of dollars, which he 
 gained for the government, and that ended his pro- 
 fessional career. He died March 16, 1867, in his 
 fifty-fifth year. For many years his house was a great 
 centre of celebrities in politics, jurisprudence, letters, 
 art and society. Governor Andrew, in a notice of his 
 death which he wrote for a Boston newspaper, said : 
 " I think this tribute is due to a native of Massachu- 
 setts, the first scholar in his class at Cambridge, and 
 a lawyer who has won the leading reputation for his 
 mastery of the learning of Prize, and the various 
 other questions arising out of the War of the Rebel- 
 lion, involving, as they do under our special national 
 statutes, a great, difiicult and philosophical branch of 
 judicial study. 
 
 " Mr. Eames was the special counsel of the Treasury 
 Department in all the great cotton cases, in which he 
 has displayed alike ingenuity and native sagacity and 
 skill. 
 
 "Many of our Ma-sachusetts people will always re- 
 member the house of Mr. and Mrs. Eames as the most 
 hospitable, agreeable and attractive house in Wash- 
 ington. With great simplicity, but with every charm 
 of gracious and cordial manners, they received con- 
 stantly, informally, and for years. There all the be.-»t 
 and strongest men were to be seen, and though not 
 
f-''WWi 
 
 ^^^^-^^^^ 
 
^t,^t^'?^^V,_^£_Y^ 
 
'^^^^T-ti/x^'^-.it/ ^^^/T^T^-Z^-rTT.^ 
 
NEW BRAINTREE. 
 
 685 
 
 exclusive in a political sense in their friends, Mr. 
 Eames was still, while with Democratic antecedents, 
 warmly and faithfully loyal to the most advanced 
 ideas, both during and since our struggle with the 
 rebels. His employment professionally by the gov- 
 ernment in no sense seemed to compromise his thor- 
 ough and manly regard for the truth, as it naturally 
 lay in the mind of a man trained to tliink, and edu- 
 cated in the original ideas of Massachusetts. To his 
 birthplace, to his native Commonwealth, he was faith- 
 fully and warmly attached." 
 
 Ah International Episode. — "By a curious coinci- 
 dence, just as our attention is turned to Mr. Sandham's 
 notable painting of the 'Battle of Lexington,' I 
 have received a call to-day from a Scotch gentleman 
 who is the great-great-grandson of Major Pitcairn. 
 He was greatly interested in our Pitcairn pistols and 
 other relics, and spent several hours in looking about 
 town. To make the coincidence still more striking, 
 his wife, who accompanied him (an American ladyl, 
 is a descendant of Joseph Tidd, who lived in the old 
 Tidd homestead, which is still standing in Lexington, 
 and whose sons, Benjamin and John, were in Captain 
 Parker's company on the 19th of April, 1775. 
 
 " It is related by this John Tidd that, being one of 
 the last to leave the Common, he was pursued by the 
 British, struck down and robbed of his arms. At the 
 same time his cousin. Lieutenant William Tidd, re- 
 treating up Hancock St., was chased by a British 
 officer (supposed to be Pitcairn), who cried out, 'Stop 
 or you're a dead man.' The plucky lieutenant sprang 
 over a pair of bars, made a siand, took aim and fired 
 at his pursuer, who dodged the shot, wheeled about, 
 and hastened back to join his men. That a de- 
 scendant of this ' Britisher ' should, after one hundred 
 years, marry a descendant of this ' rebel,' and that 
 the two should to-day come with eagerness to see, for 
 the first time, the spot where their ancestors fought 
 against each other, is a fact as strange as anything in 
 fiction. Cupid has healed many a wound, but he was 
 more than usually adroit when he contrived that a 
 Pitcairn should at last marry a Tidd." 
 
 MOSES THOMPSON. 
 
 Moses Thompson, son of Nathan and grandson of 
 James Thompson, the first captain of militia in 
 town, whom, under the title of their "well-beloved 
 and faithful'' friend, the inhabitants of '' Braintree 
 Farms " selected from among their number to con- 
 vey their petition to the non-resident proprietors, and 
 secure their co-operation in their efforts to become 
 incorporated as a town, and who afterwards bore 
 the petition for incorporation to the General Court, 
 was born in the south room of the house now belong- 
 ing to the estate of M. H. Fay, formerly the resi- 
 dence of his grandfather. 
 
 November 21, 1807, when James Thompson first 
 came to reside here, there was only one standing 
 
 tree on the farm — a rock maple. The whole terri- 
 tory of the " Farms " had been burned over by the 
 Indians, to afford pasturage for deer. 
 
 Nathan, the father, died when Moses was seven 
 years old. He remained with his mother three years, 
 then went to live with Moses Felton, where he re- 
 mained four years, and afterward two years with 
 Joseph Bowman. His mother having bought the 
 farm now owned by Michael Boyle, on the road to 
 West Brookfield from Wait's Corner, Moses went to 
 live with her. 
 
 At twenty-two he bought of Baxter Ayres a farm 
 in North Brookfield, where he remained five years. 
 While there he married, June 29, 1830, Hannah 
 Bush, daughter of Josiah and Molly Bush, born 
 December 4, 1811, who has been a faithful and de- 
 voted wife and mother. They came to New Brain- 
 tree in 1831, and bought of Daniel Woods the home- 
 stead they now occupy. This farm Mr. Thompson has 
 about doubled in area since the original purchase. 
 Mr. Thompson is the only living original member of 
 the Congregational Parish, that has always retained 
 his connection with it. He was for many years its 
 treasurer and collector and a member of its commit- 
 tee annually chosen to manage its affairs. He held 
 the office of tovirn treasurer, with the exception of 
 two years, from 1858 to 1884, and for some years had 
 the sole management of its town farm, with its 
 occupants. He is conspicuous for the same traits 
 that created public confidence in his grandfather, and 
 his faithfulness, integrity and good sense have espe- 
 cially characterized his public and private dealings. 
 He likes trust and responsibility. He has always 
 been a constant attendant of divine worship (includ- 
 ing fast and thanksgiving days), and a constant and 
 liberal supporter of religious institutions, not from 
 impulse, but from principle, and equally liberal in 
 his support of schools. 
 
 He is peculiarly fond of his family and friends, of 
 visiting and receiving visits, and seldom is to be seen 
 riding unaccompanied by one or more of his grand- 
 children. He is a descendiint, through his moiher, 
 Molly Doty, of Edward Doty, who came over in the 
 "Mayflower" in 1620, "and was a party to the first 
 duel fought by Englishmen in New England." 
 
 His children are : Charles Bush, born September 
 20, 1834; Nathan, born August 26, 1837; Harriet 
 Delia, born November 6, 1841. 
 
 Of these, Charles married, January 23,1858, Eliza- 
 beth D. Fagan, born February 6, 1837. Their chil- 
 dren are: George Hilliard, born May 22, 1863; An- 
 nah Maria, born April 30, 1865, died April 13, 1877; 
 Frances Hunter, born May 21, 1867; Harry William, 
 born November 8, 1873, died April 8, 1877 ; Charles 
 Moses, born September 13, 1875, died April 6, 1877 ; 
 Ethel Garfield, born September 21, 1878 ; Gertrude 
 Elizabeth, born February 14, 1884. 
 
 Of these, George Hilliard married, December 10, 
 1887, Adelaide Wight, born June 28, 1863. They 
 
G8G 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 have one child — Georgia Elizabeth — born September 
 10, 1888. 
 
 Nathan (to whom further reference is made in list 
 of educated men) married, January 1, 1870, Mary E. 
 Dartt. Their children are: Clarence Dartt, born 
 February 14, 1871, died September 10, 1871 ; Mary 
 Florence, born January 3, 1873; Helen Morton, born 
 March 9, 1875. 
 
 Harriet Delia married, April 9, 1874, L. Kirke 
 Harlow, who died March 1.5, 1887. 
 
 CHAPTEB, LXXXVII. 
 
 LEICESTER. 
 
 BY REV. A. H. COOLIDGE. 
 SETTLEMENT. 
 
 Location — Indian Deed — Proprietors — Incorporation ~ Settlemml — Bardahips 
 — Snow Storm — TItomas Green— Strwj'jleB — Uiiriil Life — Houses — BlilU 
 — LovelVi Wai — Fortifii'd Houses — UiKonraxjements — Spencer "set 
 ojfy^^ also parts of Paxhn and Auburn — Cyclone. 
 
 The town of Leicester stands upon the ridge of the 
 water-shed of Central Massachusetts, one thousand and 
 seven feet above the sea level. Its waters flow east- 
 erly, through Lynde and Kettle Brooks, into the 
 Blackstone River; southerly, through French Eiver, 
 into the Quinebaug and Thames, and westerly from 
 Shaw Pond, through the Chicopee River, into the 
 Connecticut. Lynde Brook Reservoir, on the east, 
 is one of the sources of water supply for Worcester, 
 and Shaw Pond, on the we.st, is the source of the 
 supply for Spencer. Leicester is about forty-eight 
 miles from Boston. It is six miles west of Worcester 
 and five hundred feet above that city. Its location is 
 42° 14' 49" north latitude, and 71° 54' 47" west 
 longitude. 
 
 Its villages are the Centre, at first called Strawberry 
 Hill ; Cherry Valley, two miles east of the Centre, 
 generally so-called since 1820; Rochdale, at first 
 South Leicester, named Clappville, from Joshua 
 Clapp, who purchased the mill property in 1829, and 
 changed to Roiihdale in November, 1869; Greenville, 
 which about the middle of the present century began 
 to be so called from its founder. Captain Samuel 
 Green ; Manuville, two miles north of the Centre, 
 which was named after Mr. Billings Mann about the 
 year 1856 ; and Lakeside, which has come to be so 
 called within a few years. The northeast part of the 
 town is called " Mulberry Grove," the name being 
 first given in 1827 to the estate of Silas Earle, on 
 wbich he raised mulberry trees and produced silk 
 from the silk-worm. 
 
 At the time of its original purchase the township 
 of l^eicester was a part of the extended domain of the 
 Nipmuck tribe of Indians. The character of this tribe 
 
 had been greatly changed, and many of its members 
 had been converted to Christianity through the labors 
 of John Eliot and Daniel Gookin. Gookin, in his 
 " Historical Collections," mentions seven " new pray- 
 ing towns" among the Nipmuck Indians. One of these 
 was in Oxford and another was Pacachoag, in Wor- 
 cester and the southeastern border of Leicester. That 
 the Indians of Leicester had been brought under the 
 same influences is indicated by the fact that one of the 
 signers of the deed is styled '" deacon." Few Indian 
 relics have been found here, there are few Indian tra- 
 ditions, and there is little to indicate that the place 
 ever had a considerable native population, although 
 it was of sufficient importance to have a sachem. 
 
 The Massachusetts Colony, like the Plymouth, re- 
 cognized the claim of the aborigines to the land, and 
 secured it of them by fair purchase. The territory 
 embracing Leicester, Spencer, a pait of Paxton and 
 a small portion of Auburn was bought of the Indians 
 by nine gentlemen of Roxbury and vicinity, who be- 
 came the original "Associate Proprietors." The 
 sachem, Oraskaso, had recently died, and the deed is 
 signed by his heirs. The price paid for the laud was 
 fifteen pounds. New England money. 
 
 The deed is an interesting historical document. It 
 declares 
 
 TlKit the heii-8 of Oraskaso, Sachem of a place called Towtaid, situate 
 and lying near the new town of the English, called Worcester, with all 
 others which may, under them, belong nntu the same place aforesaid, 
 Towtaid, these heirs being two women, with their husbands, newly 
 married; which, being hy name called Philip Tray, with his wife, 
 Momokhue; and John Wampkson, with Waiwaynom, his wife, for 
 divers good causes ami considerations us thereunto moving ; and more 
 especially for and in consideration of the sum of fifteen pounds, current 
 money of New England to us in hand paid by Joshua Lamb, Na- 
 thaniel Page, Andrew Gardner, Benjamin Gamblin, Benjamin Tucker, 
 John Curtice, Richard Draper and Samuel Ruggles, with Half Brad- 
 hurst, of Ruxbury, in the county of Suffolk, in New England, the re- 
 ceipt of which we do fully acknowledge ourselves to be fully satisfied and 
 
 paid, have given a certain tract of land coutiiining, by estimation, 
 
 eight miles square, situate, lying and being near Worcester aforesaid, 
 abutting southerly, on the lands of Joseph Dudley, Esq., lately pur- 
 chased of the Indians ; and westerly, the most southernmost corner of a 
 little pond called I'aupakquamcock, then to a bill called Wakapukotow- 
 now, and from thence to a little hill called Mossonachud, and unto a 
 great hill, called Aspomsok ; and so then easterly, upon a line, until it 
 comes against Worcester bounds, and joins unto their bounds ; or how- 
 soever otherwise abutted and bounded, &c. 
 
 In witness whereof, the said Philip Tray and Momokhue, and John 
 Wampscou, Waiwaynow, being their wives, have hereunto set their 
 hands and seals, this twenty-seventh day of January, anno Domini^ one 
 thousand six hundred and eighty-six. 
 
 Signed, sealed and delivered, in presence of us : 
 
 Phillip Tuay X his mark. [Seal.] 
 Momokhue Tr-kt X her mark. [Seal ] 
 John Wamscon. [Seal.] 
 Waiwaynow Wamscon X her mark. [Seal.] 
 Wandwoasiag, X the deacon, his mark. [Seal.] 
 Jonas, his X wife's mark. [Seal.] 
 
 Tom Tray X his mark. 
 
 No.vAWANO X his mark. 
 
 Cai'T. Moogus X his mark. 
 
 Andrew Pitteme x his mark. 
 
 The deed was acknowledged before William Stough- 
 ton, " one of his Majesty's Council, of his territory 
 and dominions of New England," June 1, 1087. 
 
 Twenty-seven years afterward the number of proprie- 
 
LEICESTER. 
 
 687 
 
 tors was increased to twenty-two. They were men of 
 wealth and influence, and some of them were owners 
 of large tracts of laud in other towns of Central Massa- 
 chusetts. None of them ever settled in Leicester. 
 The purchase was a pecuniary investment, but was 
 also designed to encourage the speedy settlement of 
 the province. 
 
 The speculative venture was, however, for a long 
 time unremunerative, and Towtaid remained for 
 almost twenty seven years an unbroken wilderness. 
 The period was unpropitious for interior setilement, 
 and it was well that none was undertaken. Leicester 
 was thus saved from perils and horrors to which other 
 towns were subjected, while her primeval forests 
 waited in silence for more peaceful occupation. 
 Under the influence of the Christian religion, the 
 Nipmuck Indians had become a peaceable and 
 friendly people ; but upon the outbreak of King 
 Phillip's War, they became divided and broken. 
 That wily and powerful chief came among them, and 
 by persuasions and threats, and by the lorce of his 
 fiery eloquence, won a portion of them to his cause. 
 Many of them remained true to their English neigh- 
 bors ; but others followed their great leader. Their 
 savage instincts were reawakened, they took the war- 
 path, and brought disaster and ruin to the scattered 
 settlements. In this, and the successive French and 
 Indian Wars, all the earlier settlements of Central 
 Massachusetts were broken up. Worcester was twice 
 attacked, and the colonisls killed or driven out. 
 Lancaster was burned, and its people massacred. 
 Brookfield suffered the same fate; and the interesting 
 colony of Huguenots in Oxford, were attacked, and 
 forced to abandon their homes, their vineyards, their 
 church and the burial-place of their dead. 
 
 There was little encouragement in circumstances so 
 adverse to seek homes on the bleak hills of Leicester, 
 in the heart of the Indian territory. 
 
 After the close of the French war in 1713, measures 
 were taken to make the grant available. The original 
 deed was recorded March Sth, 1713-14. The title 
 bad been confirmed by the General Court, February 
 15th, with the usual conditions, that portions of the 
 land should be reserved for the Gospel ministry, and 
 for a school, and that within seven years fifty families 
 should settle themselves, with reasonable provision 
 for self-defence, on a part of the land. This was a 
 virtual, and indeed is the only, act of incorporation of 
 the town of Leicester. 
 
 The early English explorers found on Leicester 
 hill a luxuriant growth of strawberries, and therefore 
 gave the place the name of Strawberry Hill, which it 
 had hitherto retained. It now received the name of 
 Leicester, and was assigned to Middlesex County. 
 It was on the 23d day of the same month that 
 the number of proprietors was increased from nine 
 to twenty-two. At this meeting the proprietors 
 voted_ to offer one-half of the town to settlers, and 
 chose a couimiltee, consisting of Colonel William 
 
 Dudley, Captain Joshua Lamb, Captain Thomas 
 Howe and Captain Samuel Euggles, to determine 
 which half should be opened for settlement, and which 
 should be reserved for later and more advantageous 
 sale. They decided to offer for occupation the eastern 
 half. On the 14th day of Jlay the allotment was 
 made ; and the next day the committee came to 
 Leicester to locate the lots. In June the township 
 was, by order of the General Court, surveyed by John 
 Chandler, " to fix the bounds." 
 
 Fifty " house-lots," of from thirty to fifty acres each, 
 were laid out, and sold for one shilling an acre, with 
 " after rights " of one hundred acres for each ten acres 
 of " house-lot." Thus the purchaser secured a farm 
 of five hundred and fifty acres for fifty shillings. The 
 lots were to be settled in three years or forfeited for 
 the benefit of the public. One lot of forty acres was 
 to be reserved for the ministry, one of one hundred 
 acres for schools, and three lots of thirty acres each 
 for mills. 
 
 Special grants were also made of seven and a half 
 acres of "meadow," to each lot, for "feed." These 
 meadows were evidently regarded as of special v.alue ; 
 but the event has proved that the hilly ridges and 
 slopes are more productive. The cedar swamps were 
 left undivided. 
 
 The lots were numbered, and the purchasers drew 
 for choice. The first choice was drawn by John 
 Stebbins. He chose the lot on Strawberry Hill, on 
 which the house of Kev. Samuel May now stands. 
 Here the first house in town was probably built. 
 
 At a meeting of the proprietors, held July 23, 1722 
 a committee of the proprietors was appointed to con- 
 vey deeds to those who had complied with the terms 
 of purchase. The deed itself was not, however, ex- 
 ecuted till January 11, 1724, (O. S.), more than forty- 
 seven years after the purchase of the town. It was 
 recorded November 29, 1729. 
 
 The names of purchasers were John Stebbins, 
 Joseph Stebbins, James Wilson, Samuel Green, 
 Arthur Carey, Moses Stockbridge, Hezekiah Euss, 
 John Peters, William Brown, Thomas Hopkins, 
 Daniel Denny, John Smith, Ralph Earle, Nathaniel 
 Kanney, Samuel Stimpson, Benjamin Woodbridge 
 John Lynde, Josiah Winslow, Josiah Langdon, 
 Joshua Henshaw, Joseph Parsons, Nathaniel Rich- 
 ardson, John Menzies, Joseph Sargent, Daniel Liver- 
 more, James Southgate, Daniel Parker, William 
 Brown, Thomas Baker, Richard Southgate, William 
 Green, Samuel Prince, Dorothy Friar, Thomas Dexter, 
 William Kean, James Winslow, Stephen Winchester, 
 Paul Dudley, John King. 
 
 Thomas Baker and Joseph Parsons did not settle 
 in Leicester. 
 
 These men and their families, and those who had 
 already joined them, together with those who soon 
 afterward united their fortunes witii the infant colony, 
 were the founders of Leicester. Some of them were 
 men of superior quality. To the hardships and toils 
 
GS8 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 of these pioneer families, to their intellectual and 
 moral character and their Christian fortitude, the town 
 is largely indebted for its prosperity and its worthy 
 standing and honorable history. 
 
 The settlement of the place began soon after the 
 allotment was made. In a few instances the purchasers 
 engaged families to hold the lots for them, but others 
 took direct possession. 
 
 According to early traditions, the first inhabitants 
 found upon their arrival a solitary hermit, named 
 Arthur Carey, living on the hill which from him was 
 named Carey's Hill. Whitney, in his County History, 
 states that he " went thither and digged a cave in the 
 side of this hill, and lived there as a hermit many 
 years, while that part of the country was in its wilder- 
 ness state." What were his feelings wlien his solitude 
 was disturbed by the approach of civilization no one 
 now can tell, nor what had been the romance or the 
 tragedy of his life, nor why he had retired from the 
 world and buried himself in the lonely forest. 
 
 Leicester was then an unbroken wilderness. Wor- 
 cester was just beginning, for the third time, to be re- 
 settled. There was no settlement of whites, except 
 Brookfield, between Leicester and the Connecticut 
 River. Bears and wolves and wild-cats and moose 
 and other wild beasts roamed undisturbed in the 
 forests, and the place was infested with serpents. 
 The dams and curious homes of the beaver were long 
 afterward visible in the meadows. There were, as 
 late as 1740, pits for the capture of wolves ; and the 
 names "Moose Hill," "Raccoon Hill" and "Rattle- 
 snake Hill" are suggestive of realities familiar to the 
 early inhabitants, while " Bald Hill " stood peculiar 
 as a tract of land which had been already cleared. 
 
 The first town-meeting of which there is any record 
 was on March 6, 1721-22, although meetings had evi- 
 dently been held for two or three years previously. 
 A meeting-house had already been built. Judge John 
 Menzes^had served the town in the General Court the 
 year before, and was re-elected the two succeeding 
 years. He declined any remuneration for bis services, 
 "being fully satisfied and paid." The precedent thus 
 established was so popular that when, in 1724, a suc- 
 cessor was to be elected, it was voted that whoever 
 should be chosen "should be paid the same as Judge 
 Menzes and no other." Lieutenant Thomas Newhall 
 was then elected "to serve on the above conditions." 
 
 At the first recorded town-meeting Samuel Green 
 was chosen moderator, first selectman, first assessor 
 and grand juror. The town offices then were the same 
 as those now filled at town-meeting. Two tithing- 
 men were also elected to keep order in the meeting- 
 house. 
 
 At first the families were sheltered in rude log- 
 houses. The first impression which one of these 
 houses made upon the mind of a little child is indica- 
 tive of their outward aspect. Daniel Henshaw came 
 to Leicester about thirty-four years after its first set- 
 tlement to take possession of a house already built for 
 
 the family. The household goods had been moved 
 from Boston on an ox-cart. As the family approached 
 the house, by the narrow cart-path, the little daughter 
 exclaimed "Oh, father, this is Leicester jail, isn't it? " 
 In this household was a dog, named Hero, which came 
 with the family from Boston. There was then no 
 regular means of communication with the outside 
 world, and Hero was for several years the mail-carrier 
 of the family. Receiving verbal instructions as to his 
 destination, he hastened at a rapid pace to Boston, 
 with letters fastened to his neck, delivered them as 
 directed, and after rest and refreshment returned with 
 letters to the home friends. 
 
 In February and March of 1717, when there were 
 only a few families here, and these were provided with 
 hardly more than temporary shelters, the whole of 
 New England was visited with a series of snow storms 
 of almost unparalleled severity. For several weeks 
 no mails could reach Boston, and when they came 
 they were brought by men on snow-shoes. The low 
 houses were covered so that in some cases the chim- 
 neys could not be seen. Families for days were prison- 
 ers in their own houses, and first made their exit from 
 the atlic windows. Many domestic animals perished, 
 and some were said to have been rescued alive week.s 
 afterward. After the storm ceased, cattle could be seen 
 walking over drifts twelve feet deep, and feeding upon 
 twigs on the tops of trees. Such was the welcome of 
 these hills to the men and women who settled Lei- 
 cester. 
 
 It was not far from this time that Dr. Thomas Green, 
 then a boy of eighteen years, was left alone, in the 
 summer, in charge of his father's cattle. Attacked 
 with a fever, he sheltered himself under a shelving 
 rock, by the stream on which his father's mill after- 
 ward stood. Here, alone in the wilderness, his shrewd- 
 ness saved him. He tied one of the calves within 
 reach, and as the cow came to it, nourished himself 
 with her milk. In this distressing condition he re- 
 mained till found by passing land-owners, in the vicin- 
 ity. They hastened on to inform his friends. His 
 father at once came and removed him back to Mai- 
 den, on horseback — a four days' journey. 
 
 The progress of the settlement for many years was 
 slow. Its location was isolated, and the people, on 
 their scattered farms, must have been lonely in the 
 extreme. Expected and unexpected difficulties op- 
 posed their prosperity. The soil was hard and cold, 
 although in many parts rich and strong. They cut 
 down the forests and cleared the fields, they were busy 
 "breaking stubble," "ditching meddows," "split- 
 ting ye hills," and making roads. They struggled with 
 rocks, and winds, and snow, and sufl'ered from cold, 
 the degrees of which there were no thermometers to 
 mark. Portions of the town were infested with rat- 
 tlesnakes, and as now there were various enemies to 
 vegetation. A bounty of "Six Pence pr. hed"wa3 
 voted by the town " for killing Battel Snakes/' In 
 one year, nearly a quarter of a century after the incor- 
 
LEICESTER. 
 
 689 
 
 poration of the town, Benjamin Richardson received 
 eleven shillings as a bounty for killing twenty-eight 
 rattlesnakes ; and in 1740 the town paid in bounties 
 forty-one pounds and three pence "for killing rattle- 
 snakes, jays, red and gray squirrels, red-headed wood- 
 peckers, and black birds," and even then there were 
 " pits '' for the capture of wolves. 
 
 The life of the town in the last century was primi- 
 tive and rural. The cattle ran at large, and the office 
 of " hog rieVe " was no sinecure. In the town records 
 are voluminous minutes of the special marks which 
 each person adopted to distinguish his own cattle; 
 and of the horses, cows, hogs, " hiffers," " steares," 
 etc., which had " strayed " and were " taken up in 
 damiag." The question annually came up whether 
 " horses might go at large, being fettered and clogged 
 as the law directs," and whether "hoggs" .should "go 
 at large, yoked and ringed as the law directs." 
 
 Even the best of the houses were devoid of archi- 
 tectural attractions, and of the conveniences and com- 
 forts which we regard essential. They are described 
 as "small, low one-story buildings,"' with a "front 
 room and kitchen," and in some cases an added bed- 
 room. The hinges of the doors were of wood ; there 
 were no handles; and the wooden latch was raised by 
 a " latch string " passing through a hole to the out- 
 side. The fire in the immense fire-places served to 
 scorch one side, while the other was freezing. The 
 hard necessities of frontier aftbrded little opportunity 
 for adornment. 
 
 The people generally rode on horseback, the wo- 
 men often seated behind the men on pillions. In 
 1790 a lady, attended by her husband, rode from 
 Leicester to Vermont on horseback, holding a child 
 two years old in her arms. In 1733 there were four 
 chairs in town. Daniel Henshaw's family came to 
 Leicester in a chaise in 1748. In his account-book 
 that year and onwarrl there are charges for the use of 
 a "chair." The rate from Leicester to Boston or 
 Maiden was three pounds. There was not a "buggy 
 wagon " in town till 1810. Books were rare. Thomas 
 Earle was repairing watches in 1768 and later. In 
 Daniel Henshaw's account-book is a memorandum of 
 his verbal agreement to "take care," for a year " of 
 his watch when wanted, for one cord of wood.'' 
 Watches, clocks and looking-glasses, however, were 
 evidently rare. The hour-glass measured the hours, 
 and " dinner-time " was indicated by the shadow at 
 the " noon-mark " on the window-sill. 
 
 In 1722 the town voted that if Joseph Parsons would 
 build a "corn-mill it should not be taxed." The mi 11 was 
 soon afterward erected at the outlet of " Town Meadow," 
 where Sargent's brick factory now stands. The first 
 saw-mill was built by Captain Samuel Green, at Green- 
 ville. He also, in 1724, built a grist-mill on the same 
 stream, where Draper's grist-mill now stands. The 
 " Mill lot " of Thomas Richardson also came, prob- 
 ably, into his possession, so that he became the owner 
 of the original mill lots. The second saw-mill was 
 44 
 
 built by Richard Southgate, in Cherry Valley, on the 
 Auburn Road. William Earle had a grist-mill on 
 " Hasley Brook" before 1730. 
 
 There was a carpenter here in 1717, and a few years 
 later two other carpenters, a mason, a wheelwright 
 and a tailor. 
 
 There was plenty of land, and land which had 
 been secured at low rates. But, although the first 
 distribution was on equitable terms, the equality of 
 ownership did not long continue, and it came to 
 pass, in the buying and selling of " rights," that some 
 of the farms contained from twelve to fifteen hundred 
 acres. 
 
 Even that early period of labor and struggle was 
 not exempt from class distinctions and jealousies. 
 .Some of the families that came early to Leicester were 
 in those days regarded as rich. Some were well-edu- 
 cated and refined. Ooming'thus from Boston, w-hich had 
 been settled a hundred years, their style of dress and 
 their manners were doubtless somewhat in contrast 
 with those of some of their neighbors. Soon after the 
 family to which reference has already been made came 
 to town, the congregation, one Sunday, was startled 
 by the entrance of a man dressed in smallclothes, a 
 green calamanco coat and gold-laced hat, and with a 
 cavalry sword hanging at his side, which thumped 
 against the floor as he strode to his seat. When asked, 
 at the close of the service, the occasion of this re- 
 markable display, he said, " It is to let the Henshaws 
 know that there is a God in Israel." 
 
 In 1722, when there were hardly fifty families on 
 the scattered farms in the wilderness, the Indians of 
 Maine and Canada resumed hostilities. This war is 
 called " Lovell's War," from its most tragic incident, 
 " Lovell's fight," in which Colonel Lovell routed the 
 savages, but lost his own life on the shore of the 
 beautiful lake in Fryeburg, Maine, which bears his 
 name. 
 
 There were no general engagements in this region, 
 but the frontier towns were harassed and kept in fear 
 four years by roving bands of Indians, who lurked in 
 the woods waiting to shoot down or capture their un- 
 suspecting victims. The tidings that Worcester was 
 threatened, and that three men had been shot and 
 scalped in Rutland, naturally alarmed the people of 
 Leicester. Although there are no traditions of similar 
 attacks here, the marks of bullets in the fortified King 
 house remained for a century afterward. In a letter 
 to Lieutenant-Governor Dummer, Thomas Newhall 
 gives information that " a man reaping here, informs 
 us an Indian had got within seven rods of him, and, 
 looking up, he had a certain discovery of him ; and 
 stepping a few rods for his gun, he saw him no more, 
 but hastened home." 
 
 Draper, also, in his " History of Spencer," informs us 
 that " the earlier settlers of the town were frequently 
 alarmed and disturbed by small parties or individual 
 Indians prowling about the n'eighborhood, or through 
 the town." Indians were also said to have been seen 
 
690 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 in the woods southwest of Greenville; but they were 
 'deterred from making an attack by the fact of forti- 
 fied houses in that neighborhood. 
 
 In 1722 two Worcester men were sent to Leicester 
 as scouts. In the correspondence of those years 
 there are affecting references to the sad, anxious and 
 defenceless condition of the people. In an appeal 
 for help from Worcester, in 1724, to Colonel John 
 Chandler, of Woodstock, who had command of the 
 defensive forces in this vicinity, there is this signifi- 
 cant reference to Leicester : " As to Leicester, the 
 people there more need helj) from us than are able to 
 render us any." Colonel Chandler himself, in a let- 
 ter to Lieutenant-Governor Dummer, seconding the 
 request for protection, expresses his regret, in view 
 of the disappointment of " the poor people of Worces- 
 ter, Leicester," etc., in not receiving it, and pleads 
 for " consideration of the distressed circumstances of 
 the poor people of these towns." Soon after, twenty- 
 nine soldiers were posted in Leicester. 
 
 The next April the Lieutenant-Governor gave Col- 
 onel Chandler notice of the apjiroach of several par- 
 ties of Indians from Canada, and ordered him to 
 visit and warn the towns. The whole region was 
 soon thrown into consternation by tidings that two 
 companies of Indians were between them and "the 
 Warchusetts," and the citizens of Leicester applied 
 to the Lieutenant-Governor for speedy assistance of 
 soldiers to defend them. " Our number of inhabit- 
 ants," they write, " is very small, and several were 
 much discouraged ; it was so late last summer before 
 we had soldiers that we were exceedingly behind 
 with our business." That year the town was, by the 
 General Court, released from the payment of the 
 "Province tax" of seven pounds, on account, as the 
 people in their petition say, " of being a frontier," 
 and " being very much exposed and reduced to very 
 low circumstances by the late Indian war." 
 
 The house of the minister was, at the first, sur- 
 rounded by a "garrison" or stockade, and in 1726 
 this defense was, by vote of the town, repaired and 
 strengthened. There was also a garrison on the 
 place of Judge Menzes, the outlines of which, near 
 the Henshaw place, remained till the middle of the 
 present century. A hou.se at Mannville was also for- 
 tified. The house of John King, between Leicester 
 and Greenville, was made a fort. This house still 
 stands, a solitary relic of those early times. 
 
 After its early trials and struggles, the town seems 
 to have prospered generally as a farming community. 
 Some of the early inhabitants were men of means, as 
 well as of culture and standing, and other valuable 
 families came into town. The farms greatly increased 
 in value, and, with the building of better houses, the 
 removal of the forests and the laying out and im- 
 provement ©f roads, the prosperity and comfort of 
 the people were increased. Still, the growth of the 
 place vi'as slow, and there were repeated periods of 
 great trial and depression. After forty years, there 
 
 were less than one hundred families in the Eastern Pre- 
 cinct. At the time of the Declaration of Independ- 
 ence the population was ten hundred and seventy- 
 eight. There was no increase during the war. At 
 the opening of the present century the number was 
 eleven hundred and three. 
 
 During a considerable portion of the last century 
 the town, like other communities, suffered from the 
 depreciation of the currency, and losses I'rom State 
 loans and private banking enterprises. These diffi- 
 culties confronted the settlers almost at the first, and 
 were increased by the heavy demands made necessary 
 by successive wars; in the time of the Revolution 
 paper-money depreciated so rapidly that it became 
 necessary to rate its value every few weeks. It finally 
 became worthless. 
 
 Even in these circumstances money was counter- 
 feited, and in 1747 we find the town voting Mr. 
 William Green the sum of " 2 pounds towards the 
 counterfeit bill he took as town treasurer." 
 
 The danger oi' small-pox at times called for town 
 action. The question of establishing an inoculating 
 hospital was evidently a subject of controversy. It 
 was finally disposed of in 1777 (after being repeatedly 
 deferred) by a vote "that the physician provide a 
 hospital at his own cost, subject to the selectmen." 
 September 17, 1792, the town "voted to have small- 
 pox in town by inoculation." 
 
 At the March meeting in 1771 the town voted 
 " that a list presented by the selectmen of the names 
 of those persons who have come into town, and the 
 place where they came from since June 1, 1767, be 
 put on the town records, in order that posterity may 
 know when and from whence they came, and that the 
 selectmen be directed to present such a list at the 
 town-meeting in March for the future." Such a list 
 was presented every year; notices were recorded of 
 persons who came to town until the year 1780 ; and 
 as late as 179.S certificates were x'ecorded of persons 
 taken into houses and families. 
 
 On the afternoon of July 10, 1759, the town was 
 visited by a remarkable cyclone. Two numbers of 
 the Boston Post of that time are largely devoted to 
 the details. It struck the tavern-house of Mr. Sam- 
 uel Lynde, the last on the road to Spencer, passing 
 from southwest to northeast. The house was lifted a 
 considerable distance from its foundations, " and in 
 the space of two minutes tore all to pieces." Several 
 persons in the house were severely injured. " A little 
 girl, being also at the Door, was carritd by the Force 
 of the Wind upwards of 40 rods, and had an arm 
 broke." Four women were afterwards found in the 
 cellar, "but could give no account how they got 
 there." Articles from the house were found in Hol- 
 den, ten miles distant, and " a watch was taken up 
 above a mile from where the house stood." The 
 barn and farm buildings were " torn to pieces," and a 
 horse was killed. Trees were torn up by the roots, 
 and fences broken down. A negro " standing at the 
 
LEICESTER. 
 
 691 
 
 door of that House was carried near 10 Rods Distance 
 in the Air," and was so mucli injured that he died ; 
 and "a Pile of Boards ('tis said 7,000 Feet), being 
 near the house, was shivered to Splinters, and carried 
 to a great Distance, so that there was not Pieces 
 large enough to make a Coffin to bury the Negro in." 
 
 It is said that purchasers who drew lots on the 
 Connecticut Road, near what is now the line between 
 Leicester and Spencer, expected, as was natural, that 
 this would be the centre of the town, with all the 
 advantages of such a position. But favorable as that 
 locality might have been as the site of a village, the 
 basis of separation between the two parts was laid at 
 the beginning, when the eastern half was selected for 
 prior occupation. After disposing of the eastern 
 portion, the proprietors divided the western hall 
 among themselves, and the farms began slowly to be 
 taken up. Befoie 1725 there were only three families 
 in this part of the town. The two sections were so 
 far apart, and the circumstances of their early settle- 
 ment were so unlike that their interests were never 
 identical. There were differences with reference to 
 laying out roads and the adjustment of appropria- 
 tions ; and the western portion was not satisfied to be 
 without a minister, and desired to have the money 
 raised by them for the ministry used for a minister in 
 their jiarc of the town. They also wished to be ex- 
 empted from taxation for the schools, the advantage 
 of which they did not enjoy. In 1741 the inhabitants 
 petitioned to be " set off" as a town. The General 
 Court readily passed an act of incorporation, but it 
 was vetoed by (.Tovernor Shirley. 
 
 In 1744, July 18lh, they were incor|)orated as a 
 parish, and called ''The Westerly Parish of Leices- 
 ter." Five years later both precincts petitioned the 
 General Court "to erect the west pait of Leicester 
 into a distinct ami separate town." A bill of incor- 
 poration was passed, but it was vetoed by Lieutenant- 
 Governor Phipps, on the ground that it would in- 
 crease the number of representatives to the General 
 Court. The House protested against the arbitrary 
 action of the royal executive, but without effect. In 
 April, 1753, the precinct was made a district, with all 
 the prerogatives of a town except that of sending a 
 representative to the General Assembly. The bill 
 was signed iiy Lieutenant-Governor Spencer Phipps, 
 April 12, 1753, and his honor condescended to have 
 the town called after his own first name. In 1775, 
 upon the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, the 
 town assumed its right to send a representative to the 
 Assembly, and in 1780 the right was made constitu- 
 tional. 
 
 Upon the incorporation of Paxton, February, 1765, 
 a strip of land two miles in width was set off to that 
 town ; and when Ward (now Auburn) was incorpo- 
 rated, April 10, 1778, the town parted with a small 
 tract of land. 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXVIII. 
 
 LEICESTER— (Cb;///«?/ra'.) 
 
 FRENCH AND REVOI,UTION.\RY WARS. 
 
 Lficester in the French Wftra — Louisbowg — Ma&uicre of Fort H'tWian* Henry 
 — Quehec — Oitonel William Henslmw — Revolutionary War — Leading 
 Patriots — Town Meetinffs — "Instructions" — Committte of Correspon' 
 dence — " Minnte-men " proposed — Tea— Courts — Provincial Congress — 
 Ammunition Stored— lotb of April— Colonel William Kenshaw^s Orderly 
 Books — Bunker Hili — Peter Salem — Prorincial Congress — Suspected Per- 
 Sfins — War Expenses — Soldiers — Leicester Men in the Service. 
 
 French War.— The history of the connection of 
 Leicester with the wars of the last century shows how 
 true it is that the life of a little settlement in the 
 interior is identified in all its interests with the great 
 movements of society and of nations. The people of 
 Leicester had a somewhat prominent part in shaping, 
 as well as in determining, some of the great issues 
 which distinguished the last century. The convul- 
 sions of the old world, and the conflicts between the 
 old world and the new, were felt on the hills of Lei- 
 cester. While the jieople of the town were occupied 
 with their arduous labors, and were struggling with the 
 difficulties of a new country and of frontier life, they 
 also accepted their full share of the service, and the 
 burden of these exhausting wars in which the ener- 
 gies of the province were so largely engaged during 
 the middle portion of the century. 
 
 The colonies loyally and heartily supported the 
 mother country in the French wars from 1744 to 1763, 
 and accepted with enthusiasm the hardships and suf- 
 ferings of the several campaigns. They saw the perils 
 to which their own settlements were exposed by the 
 alliance of the French with the Indians, and compre- 
 hended, to some extent, the magnitude and importance 
 of the great struggle between England and France for 
 supremacy in America. "Our people," wrote Benja- 
 min Henshaw, of Connecticut, " are prodigiously spir- 
 ited to help in the work." 
 
 In the several ex|)editions and engagements of the 
 war of 1744 many Leicester men took part. The 
 earlier enlistment rolls are not to be round, and there- 
 fore the names of most of these men are unknown. 
 
 In 1745 the Legislature of Massachusetts planned 
 an expedition for the reduction of the fortress at 
 Louisbourg, on the island of Cape Breton. There are 
 no means of knowing to what extent Leicester re- 
 sponded to this call. Captain John Brown com- 
 manded a company in the expedition, and was present 
 at the surrender of the place. James Smith died in 
 the expedition. Other Leicester men shared in the 
 terrible hardships of the six weeks' investment of the 
 fortress. The next year a French fleet was sent to 
 recover the place, and to ravage the coast of New 
 England. The approach of this fleet caused great 
 alarm, and an attack on Boston was expected. In 
 September Captain Nathaniel Green, " in his Majesty's 
 service in Leicester," received and executed an order 
 
692 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 from Colonel Jolia Chandler for an immediate draft 
 of twenty-five men, with ammunition and provision 
 for fourteen days, to march for the defence of Boston. 
 The fleet, however, was scattered by a storm, a pesti- 
 lential fever broke out among the men, the whole ex- 
 pedition was given up, and the two admirals, in their 
 chagrin, took their own lives. In the winter of 1747 
 and 1748 men were sent to Colraine, and to Fort 
 Massachusetts, in Williamstown, for the protection of 
 that region against Indian attacks ; and others enlisted 
 in the " Canada expedition." 
 
 In the French and Indian War, which broke out in 
 1754, still larger demands were made upon the town 
 for soldiers. Leicester was represented by its sol- 
 diers, in the earlier campaigns of this war, under 
 General Winslow, and at Crown Point. In 1756 
 fifteen men enlisted in the expedition against Crown 
 Point. They were in the company of Captain John 
 Stebbins, son of the early settler by that name, but 
 then a resident of Spencer. In that year twenty 
 men from Leicester joined the army, only two ol 
 whom were conscrijjts. 
 
 Thomas Newhall had command of a company of 
 cavalry. Nathan Parsons, a native of Leicester, and 
 son of the first minister, was present at the surren- 
 der and the " Massacre of Fort William Henry," as 
 was also Knight Sprague, then a boy of 16 years. 
 Governor Washburn, in his history, gives in detail 
 Mr. Sprague's reminiscences of that terrible scene in 
 whinh men and women were the victims of the wild 
 and drunken fury of the savag&s. " Sprague es- 
 caped after being partially stripped, and made bis 
 way to Fort Edward. On the way he passed his 
 captain, who had been entirely stripped and many 
 women were in no better condition. The yells of the 
 savages, the groans of the wounded and dying, the 
 shrieks of the affrighted women and frantic soldiers, 
 and the dead who lay scattered around them, made 
 it a scene of unsurpassed horror. Fifteen of his own 
 company of fifty were killed soon after leaving the 
 fort." 
 
 In the final struggle of that war, in which Que- 
 bec was taken by (leneral Wolfe, and Canada was 
 wrested from the French, a large number of Leices- 
 ter men participated. The names of twenty-three 
 are given in Washburn's History. Dr. Thomas 
 Steele, of Leicester, was surgeon's mate in the same 
 campaign and there were probably other Leicester men. 
 It was at this time that Colonel William Henshaw 
 began his distinguished military career. He received 
 a commission as second lieutenant March 31, 1759, 
 in Colonel Timothy Rugglcs' regiment, in the com- 
 pany of Captain Jeduthan Baldwin, and served from 
 May 10th to November 28lh, in two campaigns. 
 
 He kept a diary of the daily experiences of these 
 months, which is now in the possession of his grand- 
 daughter, Miss Harriet E. Henshaw, of Leicester. 
 Marching orders were received on the 9th of May. 
 " The Carriages to be loaded by Day Break to Mor- 
 
 row Morning, and all the Troops that have passed 
 Muster to gett themselves ready to march to Morrow 
 Morning by Sunri,se." The troops were conveyed on 
 horseback and in carriages. It was a journey of 
 fourteen days through the forest and over " the 
 mountains." They passed through the " Land of 
 Contention," the disputed territory between the 
 States, and, at length reached Albany, where they 
 " drawed Tents and Provisions, and encamped on 
 the Hill 100 rods from Albany City." They were 
 stationed most of the time at Fort Edward and 
 Crown Point. 
 
 "In the month of .Tune," Lieutenant Henshaw 
 writes, " I was taken from the Provincials and did 
 duty in one of the British regiments under General 
 Amherst, which afforded me opporttmity of becoming 
 acquainted with discipline." The severity and in- 
 human cruelty of the British "discipline" are evinced 
 by such entries as the following: "Sentenced 200 
 lashes each ; " " Two R. I. men whipped, One 1000 
 lashes, the other 500 lashes.'' While he was at Fort 
 Edward, news was received of the taking of Ticon- 
 deroga, upon which the " other prisoners were par- 
 doned." Here, also, the news of the taking of Que- 
 bec was received. 
 
 The Revolutionary Wak. — In the preliminary 
 stages of the Revolutionary struggle the town of Lei- 
 cester acted a prominent and distinguished part. 
 There were men here of unusual ability. Some of 
 them were well educated, and many were trained for 
 military service in the French wars. Several of the 
 leading families were intimately associated with the 
 Revolutionary leaders in Boston. Hon. Joseph Allen 
 was a nephew of Samuel Adams. Adams, Warren, 
 Otis and Hancock often met at the house of Joshua 
 Henshaw, in Boston, before his removal to Leicester, 
 to discuss and mature their plans. Other leading 
 citizens were in the confidence of the Revolutionary 
 leaders. 
 
 There was then no mail service, but early and con- 
 fidential information was received by couriers on 
 horseback, respecting the movements of the English 
 and the plans of the patriots. 
 
 The records of the town show what a power the 
 town-meeting was, in which, as the revenue com- 
 missioners of Boston complained, " the lowest me-/ 
 chanics discussed the most important points of 
 government with the utmost freedom," and with what 
 effect it unified and voiced the spirit of the people. 
 
 During all the years of British aggression, of the 
 war, and the period which followed, in which the! 
 state and the federation were taking form, they came 
 together in these meetings, in " the first meeting- 
 house," and deliberated upon the great questions of 
 principle and policy involved in the Declaration of 
 Independence and the organization of government on 
 the basis of personal liberty. From these town- 
 meetings there issued manifestoes really statesmanlike 
 in their grasp and expression. 
 
LEICESTER. 
 
 693 
 
 The whole original township acted together until 
 1775. The people were truly loyal to the King until 
 they saw that war was inevitable. Some of them, the 
 Dennys, the Stebhingses, the tSouthgates and others, 
 came directly from England to Leicester. The town 
 had heartily responded in former wars to every call 
 of the mother country. They approved the " Protes- 
 tant succession" and were ready to hazard " their" 
 lives in defence of "the person, crown and dignity" 
 of the King; but they were equally ready to maintain 
 their own rights and to resist every encroachment 
 upon their own liberties at whatever cost. 
 
 Nearly ten years before the war began, the town, 
 with the districts of Spencer and Paxton, adopted 
 the practice of giving formal instruction.s to their 
 Representatives to the General Assembly, and, from 
 time to time, of passing resolutions representing 
 their opinions upon public aft'airs. 
 
 In October, 1765, having elected Capt. John Brown 
 Representative, they proceeded to give him formal 
 instructions in "this critical juncture." The Stamp 
 Act had been passed and was soon to be enforced, and 
 Courts of Admiralty had been ordereil for the trial 
 of otfenders without jury. The excitement occasioned 
 by these acts had been so great that a mob had, in 
 August, burnt the house of Lieut.-Gov. Hutchinson. 
 With these facts fresh in mind, the town and districts 
 gave extended and specific instructions to tlieir Rep- 
 resentative, in whose "ability and integrity" they 
 confided. They declared their ''inexpressible grief 
 and concern" in view of the " repeated taxes," and 
 especially the "Stamp Act," which tliey "had no 
 voice in Parliament in making;" and expressed their 
 alarm at the " unparalleled stretch given to admiralty 
 jurisdiction," " by which every man is liable to be 
 carried a thousand miles before a Court of Admi- 
 ralty," "tried without jury," "amerced," "'taxed 
 with costs," and, if unable to pay, " to die in pri,5on 
 in an unknown land, without friends to bury him." 
 They also expressed their disapproval of all "tumult- 
 uous ravages," and especially that " wherein our 
 Lieut.-Gov. suffered," and their surprise that he 
 should "charge the outrage to the province, thus 
 representing them as an ungrateful and disloyal 
 people." 
 
 In the summer of 1768 the colonies were aroused 
 by new acts of oppression. The General Assembly of 
 Massachusetts was dissolved by the Governor, and 
 not allowed to meet again while it refused to withdraw 
 an appeal to the other colonies. A sloop-of-war was 
 anchored in Boston harbor, and troops were ordered 
 to Boston to subdue the rebellious spirit of the peo- 
 ple. In consequence of these proceedings the citizens 
 of Boston called a conference of towns. Ninety-six 
 towns responded. The call was issued September 14th, 
 and five days afterward we find the citizens of Lei- 
 cester in "the first meeting-house," called together 
 hastily, and without due notice, to act upon the prop- 
 osition. The proceedings of this meeting were legal- 
 
 ized at the next March meeting, and thus recorded. 
 Capt. John Brown was chosen delegate to the con- 
 ference, " without any authority," and, in resolutions 
 which breathe the spirit of fervent loyalty to the King 
 and devotion to the English Constitution and the 
 Magna Charta, and which yet declare the "dissolu- 
 tion of the 'General Court' a real grievance," in- 
 structed "to give his advice and use his influence 
 that all rash measures be prevented, and every mild 
 one adopted that may be consistent with Englishmen 
 claiming their rights." The hour of rebellion had not 
 yet come, but it was rapidly approaching. 
 
 In January, 1770, a meeting was called to "see if 
 the town will come to any note or vote about the pur- 
 chasing of goods of those that import from Great 
 Britan, contrary to the agreement of the principal 
 merchants in Boston and most others on the conti- 
 nent." A vote of thanks was jiassed to those merchants 
 who were thus '.sacrificing their own interest for the 
 good of their country." The call for this meeting was 
 prepared by William Henshaw, and was signed by 
 twenty-eight persons. They asked the town to vote 
 that those who should offend by purchasing the pre- 
 scribed goods " shall be deemed enemies to America, 
 and as such shall be recorded in the town's book of 
 records," and the town appears to liave adopted the 
 [)roposal. 
 
 In May following, a military company of forty-six 
 men was formed for drill. The ne.xt year the town 
 bought one hundred pounds of |)owder, also bullets 
 and flints. 
 
 In 1772 Committees of Correspondence were organ- 
 ized under the leadership of Samuel Adams. They 
 proved to be one of the most efl'ective agencies in ad- 
 vancing the Revolutionary cause. Two years later, 
 Daniel Leonard, the Tory writer, pronounced them 
 " the foulest, subtlest and most venemous serpent ever 
 hatched from the egg of sedition. It is the source of 
 the rebellion. I saw the small seed when it was 
 planted; it was a grain of mustard. I have watched 
 the plant till it has become a great tree.'' They were 
 at first voluntary bodies, but were afterward recognized 
 by the Legislature. The date and manner of the ap- 
 pointment of the committee in Leicester are not 
 known. It was in existence and in correspondence 
 with the Boston committee in January of 1773, within 
 less than four months after the introduction of the 
 system. Later the committee was chosen annually by 
 the town. 
 
 Of the first committee William Henshaw was the 
 chairman and Thomas Denny, Joseph Henshaw, Rev. 
 Benjamin Conklin, Hezekiah Ward and Thomas New- 
 hall were members, together with William Green, 
 Samuel Green and Joseph Sargent, who were added 
 the same year. 
 
 A convention of the Committees of Safety in the 
 county assembled in Worcester in August, 1774. The 
 meeting was opened with prayer by Rev. Mr. Conklin, 
 of Leicester, and William Henshaw was made clerk. 
 
 k 
 
694 
 
 HISTOEY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Joseph Henshaw and Thomas Denny were also prom- 
 inent members. The Leicester and Worcester com- 
 mittees were appointed a committee for the county, to 
 conduct correspondence, and call a county congres- 
 sional convention. The convention was continued by 
 adjournment till May 31, 1775. 
 
 It was in accordance with the recommendation of 
 Col. William Henshaw in the convention, and upon 
 his motion, that the famed companies of "Minute- 
 Men" were organized, who in the emergency proved, 
 as he in his motion expressed it, "ready to act at a 
 minute's warning." He also presented the resolution 
 in response to which six thousand men came to Wor- 
 cester, armed and officered, and prevented the assem- 
 bling of the Inferior Court. At this time .Judge Steele, 
 of Leicester, was compelled, with other justices, to 
 sign an assurance that the court would stay proceed- 
 ings. He was also forced to make a written apology 
 for a letter of congratulation which he, with other 
 justices, had sent to Gov. Gage upon his assumption 
 of command at Boston. 
 
 Early in the year 1773 the town and districts again 
 met to instruct their representative, Mr. Thomas 
 Denny, and to pass resolutions. The meeting was 
 " full," and continued till a late hour. "The votes 
 were unanimous." These resolutions and instruc- 
 tions contain a brief but comprehensive statement of 
 the wrongs, and a declaration of the rights of the 
 province. They were still loyal to the crown, but 
 they resolve, " We have a right to all the liberties 
 and privileges of subjects born within the realm of 
 England; and we esteem and prize them so highly, 
 that we think it our duty to risk our lives and for- 
 tunes in defence thereof.'' Mr. Denny was re-elected 
 in May, and again instructed. 
 
 The patriots of Boston were greatly encouraged by 
 the response of the towns of the interior. Two 
 weeks after the instructions had been given to Mr. 
 Denny, the Boston Committee of Correspondence 
 wrote to the committee in Leicester, acknowledging 
 the receipt of a copy of the proceedings, and added, 
 " We think it must supprize our Oppressors to read 
 your very ingenious and sensible Resolves, and your 
 Instructions to your worthy Representative." 
 
 To this letter the committee replied .at length, 
 through Colonel Heushaw : " We have paid, and are 
 still willing to pay due obedience to laws, — made by 
 our own consent, — and lawful authority ; but he who 
 tamely submits to 'the tyrannical Edictsof the British 
 Piirliament and Ministry,' is unworthy even of the 
 name of ' an American.' " 
 
 In November, 1773, four days before the arrival in 
 Boston of the vessels loaded with tea, the Boston 
 committee, in a long letter on "that worst of plagues, 
 the detested tea," wrote to know the sense the 
 "towns have of the present gloomy situation of our 
 public affairs." To this the Leicester committee re- 
 plied in no doubtful terms, expressing obligation to 
 the committee in Boston for their " vigilance," and 
 
 for their " late proceedings and manly resolutions in 
 regard to the detestable tea sent here by the West 
 India Company," "and as you have reque-ited our 
 advice, we shall, as a committee, freely give it: and 
 that is to go on as you have begun, and on no ac- 
 count suffer it to be landed, or pay one farthing of 
 duty." This was two days before the tea was thrown 
 overboard. Joshua Henshaw is understood to have 
 been one of the " tea party." 
 
 On December 27 the town and districts responded. 
 They were loyal still to the crown, and ready to haz- 
 ard their lives in its defence, but they asserted their 
 provincial rights of property and person, denounced 
 the Stamp Act as " a usurpation of authority to which 
 no power on earth is entitled, and contrary to the 
 fundamental principles of our happy Constitution ;" 
 and promised to oppose, " at the hazard of their 
 lives and fortunes," any impositions unconstitution- 
 ally laid upon imported articles. 
 
 They also resolved "That we will not use any tea 
 in our families or suffer any to be consumed therein 
 while loaded with a tribute contrary to our consent, 
 and that whoever shall sell any of that destructive 
 herb shall be deemed by us inimical to the rights of 
 his country as endeavoring to counteract the designs 
 of those who are zealous for its true interests." They 
 enforced these proceedings by choosing a committee 
 of fourteen to " inspect any teas sold or used in the 
 towns and districts and report the names of offenders 
 at the annual meeting." 
 
 .The objection of the ])eople to " tb.at destructive 
 herb" was not to the tea nor to the tax, but to its im- 
 position by a government in which they had no rep- 
 resentation, and in 1781 we find the town voting to 
 license persons "to sell Bohea tea and other Indian 
 teas, according to the law of 1781," imposing " excise 
 duties.'' 
 
 One of the acts of the crown which awakened 
 special alarm, and against which the people indig- 
 nantly protested, was that which provided that the 
 judges of the Superior Court should be paid out of 
 the royal treasury. Chief Justice Oliver was the 
 only judge who accepted this provision, and the 
 House of Representatives took prompt measures for 
 his impeachment. Upon the meeting of the court 
 in Worcester in April, 1774, the grand jurors, instead 
 of coming forward to be sworn, presented a written 
 protest, refusing to serve if Justice Oliver was to sit 
 with the court. This protest was drawn up by Col. 
 Wm. Henshaw. "By his own confession," it 
 declares, " he stands convicted, in the minds of the 
 people, of a crime more heinous, in all probability, 
 than any that might come before him." The chief 
 justice, however, was not present, and the business ' 
 of the court proceeded without interruption. In a 
 subsequent letter to the court, a draft of which, as 
 well as the original protest, is in the possession of his ' 
 granddaughter, Col. Henshaw, after explanations and 
 the expression of satisfaction at the course of the 
 
LEICESTER. 
 
 695 
 
 judges, makes complaint of what he styles "a great 
 hardship," and at that early day recommends the 
 course which now universally prevails in the courts. 
 The complaint was of " having a foreman imposed 
 upon jurys by the Court, which we think ought to be 
 chosen by the Jurors." The reason given i.s that "the 
 Jurors who live in the vicinity are better acquainted 
 with the abilities of their neighbors than the judges 
 can be." " We hope," he writes, " that this error in 
 appointing a Foreman will be soon rectified, & the 
 power vested in the Jurys to choose their own foreman 
 by a fair Vote, which we think would be of vast 
 utility to the Public and for the facilitating business 
 & saving expense to the County." 
 
 The year 1774 was one of agitation and prepara- 
 tion. Repeated acts of oppression were effectually 
 e.xhausting the loyalty of the people to the mother 
 country, and the spirit of resistance was growing 
 more determined. Eighteen town-meetings were 
 held this year, and repeated instructions and resolu- 
 tions were voted, some of which rank with the ablest 
 and most eloquent manifestoes of that period. They 
 cover the wliole range of questions involved in the 
 struggle, and counsel the most determined resistance. 
 In May they protested again-st the Port Bill. In 
 July resolutions, prepared by a committee, were 
 adopted, which clearly, comprehensively and elo- 
 quently discuss the issues of the hour, and declare 
 the duty of citizens loyal, at the same time, to the 
 Province and to the rightful authority of the Crown. 
 It is a dignified and determined declaration of rights, 
 by the town of Leicester and the districts of Spencer 
 and Paxton assembled, "not tumultuously, riotously 
 or seditiously, but soberly and seriously, as men, as 
 citizens and as Christians, to take into our considera- 
 tion the present distressed state of our affairs." They 
 pledged themselves not to purchase goods imported 
 from England, and to have no dealings with those 
 who import such goods while the duty on tea is con- 
 tinued, unless " other measures of redress be recom- 
 mended by General Congress." They also urge the 
 people to " associate together, and discourse and in- 
 form themselves of their rights and privileges as 
 men, as members of society and the English Consti- 
 tution." 
 
 In September Thomas Denny was chosen Repre- 
 sentative to the Great and General Court, which, 
 driven from Boston, met the next month in Salem, 
 and instructed to be sworn only by an officer ap- 
 pointed under the charter, and to refuse to be sworn 
 by the Lieutenant-Governor. The Legislature was 
 prorogued by the Governor, and immediately re- 
 solved itself into a Provincial Convention or Con- 
 gress. 
 
 Mr. Denny was delegated to represent the town in 
 this " convention " at its meeting the next month in 
 Concord, — •" An assembly," as they suggest in their 
 instructions, " in which at this dark and difficult day, 
 perhaps the most important business will come be- 
 
 fore you that was ever transacted since the settle- 
 ment of North America." " Everything now con- 
 spires to prompt the full exertion of true policy, 
 valor and intrepidity." The instructions are under 
 ten "particulars." They urge, since " charters have 
 become bubbles," resistance to all compromise, and 
 " compliance with the advice of the Continental Con- 
 gress." They urge an " endeavor to have the militia 
 of the Province put on the most respectable footing, 
 and that every town be supplied with one or more 
 field pieces, properly mounted and furnished with 
 ammunition. A militia composed of the yeomanry 
 and proprietors of the country is its surest defence : 
 therefore we esteem it a matter of the last necessity 
 that they be properly disciplined and taught the arts 
 of war with all expedition, as we know not how soon 
 we may be called to action." 
 
 They demand restitution for the removal of arms 
 and ammunition from Boston and Cambridge, and for 
 loss and damage resulting from the blockade of 
 Boston. They urge the encouragement of arts and 
 manufactures, by granting premiums and prevent- 
 ing importation, recommend intercolonial corre- 
 spondence and the apprehension and trial of persons 
 " inimical to their country." 
 
 Mr. Denny died soon after the assembling of the 
 Congress, and Col. Joseph Henshaw was chosen his 
 successor. He was briefly instructed to promote with 
 all his influence "any plan for the common good, 
 generally adopted by the Congress," and urge upon 
 it "an immediate assumption of government." " Par- 
 ticular matters will no doubt turn up in the course of 
 the session, which, as we, your constituants, are not 
 now apprized of, so cannot particularly instruct." 
 This was January 9, 1775. 
 
 The anticipated "matters" were not far in the 
 future. When they did "turn uj)" they found the 
 people in this hot-bed of treason ready to convert 
 their resolutions into actions. The standing com- 
 pany of the town was under the command of Capt. 
 Thomas Newhall and Lieutenants Benjamin Richard- 
 son and Ebenezer Upham. An "independent com- 
 pany of volunteers," formed in 1770, had been re- 
 organized, with Seth Washburn as captain and Wil- 
 liam Watson and Nathaniel Harrod as lieutenants. 
 
 THe town had also made some provision for ammu- 
 nition. The minute-men had met weekly for drill, 
 under an officer of the regular army, whom they had 
 hired. 
 
 In February the Committee of Safety and Supplies of 
 the Provincial Congress decided to remove the powder 
 stored at Concord to Leicester ; also eight field-pieces, 
 shot, cartridges and two brass mortars, with bombs. 
 The letter of Joseph Henshaw to his brother, whom 
 he styles "Brother Billy," gives minute directions 
 with reference to the storing of the six or seven hogs- 
 heads of powder in the barns of Colonel Henshaw, 
 Major Denny, Captain Newhall and Captain Green. 
 It was afterward decided to distribute these stores in 
 
696 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 nine towns, of which Leicester was one. In all the 
 correspondence of these years the greatest secrecy was 
 observed. The letters were often without signature, 
 and often signed by fictitious names. 
 
 In March there were rumors of the movement of 
 the British forces, and Colonel Henshaw and Joseph 
 Allen walked to Worcester over the snow-drifts on 
 " rackets " to ascertain their truth. It is said that at 
 one time Mr. Allen had his knapsack and his trunk, 
 with his wedding suit, packed, not knowing whether 
 he should first be called to battle or to his marriage. 
 
 The scenes of the 19th of April, and indeed of the 
 period which immediately followed, are graphically 
 given by Governor Washburn in his history. Many 
 of them were told him by the actors themselves, who 
 have long been dead. 
 
 Early in the afternoon of the 19th of April an un- 
 known horseman rode rapidly through the village, 
 stopped long enough before the blacksmith's shop to 
 say, "The war has begun ; the regulars are marching 
 to Concord," and then hurried on to alarm the towns 
 beyond. " I saw," wrote Col. Wm. Henshaw, " the ex- 
 press that came from the town of Lexington, inform- 
 ing that the enemy had killed several men in that 
 town." The blacksmith, who was Captain Seth Wash- 
 burn, dropped a ploughshare on which he was work- 
 ing, rushed into the road and discharged his musket. 
 The members of the companies were called together 
 from all parts of the town. At four o'clock every 
 minute-man was on the common. They were uni- 
 formed, but they came with their Queen's arms, and 
 with their powder-horns and shot-pouches. Members 
 of their families and other friends were assembled to 
 render assistance and to bid them God speed.'' 
 
 Dr. Honeywood, an Englishman — the physican of 
 the place — had never till that hour had confidence in 
 the ability of the province to resist the power of Great 
 Britain, but when he saw that little company of reso- 
 lute, determined men, who had come at a moment's 
 warning, some of them leaving their plows in the fur- 
 rows, he said: "Such men as these will fight, and 
 what is more they won't be beat." 
 
 The pastor of the church. Rev. Benjamin Conklin, 
 himself a " high liberty man," was present, and before 
 the company started, as the men leaned upon their 
 muskets and all heads were uncovered, committed 
 them, in prayer, to the guidance and protection of the 
 God of battles. " Pray fi)r me and I will fight for 
 you," said the captain to his venerable mother, and 
 then gave the order, " Forward ! " 
 
 Within three hours after meeting on the Common, 
 the company marched. They halted in front of the 
 house of Nathan Sargent, in Cherry Valley, and Mr. 
 Sargent, to supply the need of the company, melted 
 down the leaden weights of the family clock, and dis- 
 tributed the bullets to the company. 
 
 There were forty-three men in the company. Cap- 
 tain Thomas N. Newhall, with the standing company 
 of the town, consisting of thirty-four men, marched a 
 
 little later. Companies from Spencer and other 
 western towns followed. The march of the companies 
 was rapid till they reached Marlborough, where 
 they heard of the retreat of the British. Lights 
 were burning in every window on the way through 
 the night. Regimental officers in town were equally 
 prompt in joining their commands. 
 
 A part of the company returned after a few weeks' 
 service. Others enlisted under Captain Washburn 
 for eight months. There were fifty-nine men in this 
 company, most of them from I^eicester. The embargo 
 of Boston and its occupation Ijy the regulars rendered 
 it necessary to call upon the towns to contribute for 
 the support of its poor. Thirty-six were apportioned 
 to Leicester. In May Leicester was also required to 
 furnish one barrel of powder and twelve muskets for 
 the use. of the province. 
 
 Colonel William Henshaw, who reached Cambridge 
 on the forenoon of the 20th, was a member of the 
 council of war, and, with Colonel (Jridley and Rich- 
 ard Devans, reconnoitred the heights of Cambridge 
 and Charlestown. The report of the committee is 
 signed by Colonel Henshaw, as chairman. It recom- 
 mended the fortification of Bunker Hill and the 
 construction of redoubts between C'liarlestown and 
 Cambridge. Colonel Prescott was detailed to exe- 
 cute this plan, but decided to fortify Breed's Hill, in 
 stead of Bunker Hill. On the 27th of .lune Colo- 
 nel Henshaw was commissioned adjutant-general 
 of the Provincial army, under (ieneral W. Ward. 
 Upon the arrival of Washington, he was, on the 3d 
 of July, superseded by (ieneral Gates, adjutant of the 
 American army. He was, however, persuaded to re- 
 main as assistant of General Gates. The Orderly 
 Books, in four volumes, covering the period from 
 April, 1775, to October, 1770, are in the possession of 
 his granddaughter, Miss Harriet E. Henshaw, of 
 Leicester, and are an invaluable treasure. The first 
 volume was published by the Massachusetts Historical 
 Society, as its centennial volume. It contains the 
 roster of the regiments, the " Parole " and " Counter- 
 sign " for each day, the " Officer of the day " and 
 " Field-oflicer" and the general orders from April 20, 
 1775, to Septemlier 2i3th of the same year. 
 
 On the day of the battle of Bunker Hill, Captain 
 Washburn's company, which formed a part of the 
 regiment of General Artemas Ward, in command of 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Ward, marched from 
 Cambridge, by way of Lechmere Point, and took posi- 
 tion at the rail-fence, "gallantly covering the retreat.'' 
 It was to them a thrilling hour. They saw the hur- 
 ried movement of the troops, they heard the beat of 
 drums, the roar of British artillery and " the cracking 
 of musketry over in Charlestown." Just before 
 marching. Captain Washburn addressed his company 
 in words of counsel and encouragement and com- 
 mitted them to God in a fervent prayer. " Some of 
 them often spoke," says Washburn in his history, " in 
 their old age, of the unfaltering confidence with 
 
LEICESTER. 
 
 C97 
 
 which, after this, they went through the experiences 
 of the day." On their way to Charlestown Neck, 
 they were met by a man on horseback, supposed to 
 be Dr. Benjamin Church, afterward proved to be a 
 traitor, who inquired of Lieutenant-Colonel Ward to 
 what point he was marching. He answered, '' To tlie 
 hill." "Have you not had counter-orders?" " I 
 have not." " You will have soon," he said, and com- 
 manded the regiment to lialt. Most of the regiment 
 therefore remained behind ; but Captain Washburn 
 stepped forward and said, "Those are Tory orders ; I 
 sha'n't obey them. Who will follow me ? " The en- 
 tire company followed the captain, and two other 
 companies with Ihem left the regiment and moved on 
 toward the scene of action, exposed to the shot of the 
 British fleet ; the captain gave any wlio might be 
 afraid the privilege of going back. Not a man of 
 that brave company left tlie ranks. "Then we'll all 
 go together," said the captain; and the whole com- 
 pany started on " double quick " and ascended the 
 hill. Charlestown was on fire and the enemy were 
 advancing on the redoubt. A ball lodged in the car- 
 touch-box of the capt.ain. The company for a time 
 fought at the rail-fence, but were soon obliged to re- 
 treat. Several of the company were wounded and borne 
 from the field under fire. One of the two strands 
 of Daniel Hubbard's cue was cut otl' close to his head 
 by a ball. Abner Livermore's canteen was shot away 
 and rolled toward the enemy. His brother Isaac ran 
 and secured it, saying, " I'll be darned if the regulars 
 shall have that rum." Samuel Sargent lost the con- 
 tents of his canteen, but saved the ball that pierced 
 it. Four balls passed through the captain's coat and 
 one through his wig. Israel Green, a native of Lei- 
 cester, had three sons in the battle, one of whom was 
 killed, the second died of wounds received, and a 
 third was killed in the battle of Monmouth. 
 
 Among the soldiers in this battle was Peter Salem, 
 a negro, and formerly a slave. He was a native of 
 Framingbam, and in Colonel Nixon's regiment. It 
 was the shot from his musket which killed Major 
 Pitcairn, just as he mounted the redoubt and shouted, 
 " The day is ours." After the war he came to Leices- 
 ter, where he remained until, in his old age and 
 poverty, be was taken to the poor-house in Framing- 
 ham, where he died. 
 
 In July of this year the inhabitants of Leicester, 
 having chosen Hezekiah Ward Representative to the 
 Provincial Congress, instructed him with reference to 
 his duties. " To this important now," they say, 
 " posterity will look back with joy and admiration, 
 secure in the enjoyment of their inestimable liber- 
 ties, or with keenest sensations of grief, while they 
 drag the galling chain of servitude." He was di- 
 rected to comply with the orders of the Continental 
 Congress, to oppose the accession to power of those who 
 had proved inimical to their country, or had failed to 
 give it their support, "waiting the tide of events;" 
 to watch " with jealous yet candid eye the disposition 
 
 and motions of the American army, always remem- 
 bering the importance of preserving the superiority 
 of the civil power over the military ;" to urge the 
 execution of the laws against immorality and vice ; 
 and to act for the interest of the cause in relation to 
 other specific matters. 
 
 In May, 1776, instructions were given to Setli 
 Washburn, as Representative to the General Court, 
 urging the utmost deliberation and caution in the 
 measures of the court for protection and organization. 
 At the same meeting it was " Voted by the inhabit- 
 ants then present, unanimously, That in case the 
 Honorable the Continental Congress should declare 
 these Colonies independent of Great Britain, they 
 would support said Congress in effectuating such a 
 measure at the risk of their lives and fortunes." 
 
 With this declaration this remarkable series of in- 
 structions and resolutions ends. They cover a period 
 of nearly eleven years previous to the Declaration of 
 Independence. There is hardly a question involved 
 in the controversy with the mother country, or the 
 policy of the colonies, which they do not discuss. In 
 clearness and breadth of view, in forethought and 
 wisdom, in felicity and eloquence of expression, and 
 in fervent, self-sacrificing, courageous, invincible pa- 
 triotism, they are hardly surpassed, even in the his- 
 toric productions of that period. Bancroft, in bis his- 
 tory, quotes from them, as illustrative of the spirit 
 of the time. 
 
 But the time for manifestoes had irow passed ; the 
 time for action had come. Henceforth the work of 
 the town, as its records also show, was enlisting sol- 
 diers, raising bounties, hiring soldiers, providing for 
 the purchase of ammunition and entrenchirrg tools, 
 and the pay for carting provisions, buying beef and 
 clothing for the army, aiding companies that had done 
 more than their share of service, authorizing the 
 selectmen " to supply the necessities of life to sol- 
 diers," abating the poll-taxes of soldiers, caring for 
 soldiers' wives, providing for families of officers and 
 soldiers and fixing the prices of commodities. There 
 was no authorized government and all difficulties 
 were settled by arbitration. 
 
 The people were also careful to guai'd themselves 
 against tr-eachery. Too many of the leaders of the 
 Revolutionary movements were here to render the 
 toleration of spies safe, and the people were too much 
 in earnest to bear patiently the opposition of men 
 "inimical" to the cause. In 1774 the selectmen, 
 through Colonel Henshaw, had informed at least one 
 suspected man that his " residedence " would be " pe- 
 culiarly disgirstful to the Inhabitants." " And as well- 
 wishers of the peace and order of the town, we think 
 it advisable that you move from hence as soon as may 
 be ; as the people, roused with the insults they have 
 already sustained, will, in all probability, pay you a 
 visit less respectful than the Intimation you now 
 receive." Three years later Colonel Henshaw was 
 instructed, by vote of the town, to " procure what 
 
698 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 evidence he may be able of the inimical Disposition 
 of any inhabitent of this town toward the United 
 States of America, which inhabitent may be so voted 
 to be, in the opinion of the town." One such man 
 was at that time voted, in the opinion of the town, 
 "inimically disposed." In July of the next year it 
 was " Voted that the selectmen be directed to prefer 
 a petition to General Court, that William Manning 
 and family may be removed from this town." 
 
 When the Declaration of Independence had been 
 adopted it was, in accordance with the direction of 
 the Council, copied on the town records. 
 
 These minutes are full of interest and instruction. 
 They show the true character of the people and the 
 power of their deliberation and united action. Lord 
 Germaine did not speak without provocation when 
 he said, "This is what comes of their wretched old 
 town-meetings." 
 
 According to a report made to the town in 1784, 
 the town paid in bounties, from 1775 to that time, 
 £9268 6«. (probably equivalent to about $11,000 in 
 coin) to 244 soldiers. It is estimated that the town 
 raised for the expenses of the war over $18,000, in 
 addition to State taxes. There were twenty-eight 
 requisitions upon the town for soldiers. These were 
 filled by more than 254 men. Beside these were the 
 men who marched on the 19th of April and at least 
 thirty who enlisted for three years in 1777 and 1778. 
 Some of these soldiers were veterans of the French 
 wars ; others were boys of sixteen years. 
 
 It is to be remembered that the population of the 
 town in 1776 was only 1078, and that it decreased 
 during the war. There were in Leicester in 1777 
 only 212 men over sixteen years of age, and the 
 names on the muster-roll were less than half the 
 number of enlistments and re enlistments in the 
 quotas of the town. The valuation of the town 
 seven years after the close of the war was only 
 $140,000. 
 
 In 1781 the town was divided into ten classes, 
 which were each to furnish their proportion of 
 soldiers upon requisition of the government. So ex- 
 haustive was the demand that it was necessary to 
 hire substitutes from other places to meet it. The 
 town was repeatedly under the necessity of electing 
 new selectmen and assessors, on account of the ab- 
 sence of the regular incumbents in the army. 
 Women worked in the fields, because all the male 
 members of their families were in the war, and 
 farmers sold their cattle to raise money for the pay- 
 ment of taxes. 
 
 The number of commissioned officers from Lei- 
 cester was large, in proportion to the size of the town. 
 Col. William Henshaw, to whom we have already 
 referred, was in command of a regiment in the battle 
 of Long Island. He was with a picket-guard which 
 was cut off from the main body by a superior force 
 of Hessians, and cut its way through with great gal- 
 lantry and little loss of life. 
 
 Col. Seth Washburn was fifty-two years old when 
 the war began. He was in the battle of Bunker Hill, 
 and afterward, though not in the army, was muster- 
 master for Worcester County and served the cause on 
 several important committees. 
 
 Col. Samuel Denny marched as lieutenant-colonel 
 with the minute-men, on the 19th of April, and 
 served as colonel during the early part of the war. 
 
 Dr. John Honeywood was surgeon and died in the 
 service at Fort Ticonderoga. 
 
 Dr. Israel Green was at Saratoga when Burgoyne 
 was taken. 
 
 Dr. Austin Flint enlisted, at the age of seventeen, 
 as a soldier and was present at the taking of Bur- 
 goyne. He was afterward surgeon. 
 
 Lieut.-Col. Joseph Henshaw marched with the 
 minute-men. He afterward served on important 
 committees, conferring with other States. 
 
 Capt. David Henshaw was in the service three 
 years. 
 
 Capt. John Southgate, Capt. William Todd and 
 Lieut. William Grossman were also in the service. 
 
 Lieut. Nathan Craig was at the battles of Bunker 
 Hill and Saratoga. 
 
 Lieutenant Joseph Washburn was at the battles of 
 Saratoga and Monmouth, and also at Valley Forge. 
 Captain Thomas Newhall was in command of the 
 standing company on the 19th of April, and was 
 muster-master for Worcester County. Captain John 
 Holden served through the war, and was present at the 
 storming of Stony Point. Captain .John Brown com- 
 manded a company in the French War, and was in 
 the battle of Bunker Hill as a sergeant. Rev. Benja- 
 min Conklin was probably a chaplain. 
 
 Joseph Bass, of the " water service," who resided 
 in Leicester after the war, was one of the heroes of 
 what Irving, in his "Life of Washington," calls the 
 " gallant little exploit " on the Hudson, the at- 
 tempted " destruction of the ships which had so long 
 been domineering over its waters," by means of fire- 
 ships. Washburn, in his history, gives an extended 
 narrative of the affair. Bass had charge of one of the 
 sloops, the " Polly," which was supplied with inflam- 
 mable materials, and which, under heavy fire of ar- 
 tillery, he fastened to the tender of one of the frig- 
 ates, setting it on fire and destroying it with most of 
 the men on board. Bass, with all his men, leaped 
 into the life-boat, and rowed away without injury. 
 The frigates escaped, but were prudently withdrawn 
 from so dangerous a locality. 
 
 Solomon Parsons was severely wounded in the bat- 
 tle of Monmouth. He was shot, his thigh was 
 broken, and afterwards, as he lay upon the ground, 
 he was robbed, stabbed and roughly dragged about 
 by the enemy, and narrowly escajjed being run over 
 by cavalry and artillery. He lay all the afternoon of 
 that terribly hot day, in the sun, until he was rescued 
 by Lieutenant Joseph Washburn. 
 
 These facta and figures give but a faint idea of the 
 
LEICESTER. 
 
 699 
 
 burdens and sufferings of the people in the gloomy 
 period of the Revolution, and the strain upon their 
 resources and fortitude. They did not flinch when 
 the time came to test the sincerity and value of their 
 resolutions. They well redeemed the pledge to main- 
 tain the cause of independence at " the risk of their 
 lives and fortunes." 
 
 I 
 
 CHAPTER LXXXIX. 
 
 LEICESTER— (aj«i'/««f-a'..) 
 
 stills OonstitHttvn : Oi>jecti"ii>', Adopiioii—Jeidomij of liujht»—Shaya' In- 
 surrection: Citnses, Convention, High reeling. Dispersion of the Iw 
 aurgents, C'nptnin Dnif, Oath of Allegiance — Vine for Nonltepresenta- 
 titni in the t','entr(il Court — Slavery in Leicester — ^^ Instructions^^ — 
 Jews ; Aaron Ijopez — liiveni Letter to Colonel Ilenshom. 
 
 Soon after the Declaration of Independence 
 measures were taken for the organization of a Con- 
 stitutional State Government. These movements 
 were, however, regarded premature and ill-advised. 
 In October, 1776, the town voted that the House of 
 Representatives of this State ought not to institute 
 any new form of government at present, and chose a 
 committee "to show the court why the town objects 
 to settling a new constitution.'' Some of these ob- 
 jections stated were that there was no provision for 
 amendment, that the town was not fully represented, 
 that they were not allowed a Representative, and 
 " that a number of the first principal inhabitants'' 
 were " in the service." The Constitution first formed 
 was rejected by the people. 
 
 In 1779 the town voted unanimously to send two 
 men — Seth Washburn and William Henshaw- — "to 
 frame a Constitution of Massachusetts." These gen- 
 tlemen were prominent in the conventi(m. The Con- 
 stitution was the next year approved by the town, 
 article by article, by a large majority. 
 
 Struggling against the oppression of the mother 
 country, the people were equally jealous of any en- 
 croachments upon their rights by the government 
 they were seeking to organize and establish. In their 
 various resolutions and other acts in the later years 
 of the last century there is evidence of their determi- 
 nation to secure a government " of the people, by the 
 people and for the people." They protested against 
 " monopolies.'' In 1777 they earnestly condemned 
 the act of the General Court, calling in bills of credit 
 .and sinking them in a loan, as "cruel and oppressive" 
 and " grinding the faces of the poor." In January 
 of the next year they raised twelve hundred pounds 
 and loaned to the State. In 1787 they instructed their 
 representative, Samuel Denny, to oppose the excessive 
 tax on farmers and on polls ; also to oppose high sal- 
 aries, as in present circumstances it was not well to 
 "support courtly dignity." They expressed them- 
 selves as opposed to the "support of commerce," so "as 
 
 to prevent their giving due encouragement to our own 
 manufactures.'' The location of the Legislature ap- 
 peals to have been a subject much agitated, and at 
 the same time the town declared " the setting of the 
 General Government in the town of Boston is* Mat- 
 ter which the Citizens of this Commonwealth are 
 not generally satisfied with," and advised that its re- 
 moval to some other place be tried by " experience." 
 
 The eight years' struggle of the Revolution had 
 hardly ended when the State was threatened with a 
 formidable civil war. It was the natural reaction 
 from the long-continued strain upon the endurance 
 of the people. They bad been taxed to their utmost 
 limit ; all interests had suft'ered ; the people were im- 
 poverished ; the currency had depreciated and finally 
 became valueless ; the State had no credit; the con- 
 dition of the Government and of the community was 
 one of bankruptcy ; and thousands of suits were 
 brought before the courts, and forced sales were nu- 
 merous. Some of the acts of the Legislature were 
 regarded as oppressive. General conventions were 
 held in the county to confer with reference to these 
 complaints. Two of these were in Leicester. The 
 presence of wise and loyal men like David Henshaw 
 and Col. Thomas Denny was a check upon rash 
 action. When at length the dissatisfaction developed 
 into insurrection, under the leadership of Daniel 
 Shays, the town withdrew its delegates. The excite- 
 ment was intense and the sentiments of the people 
 were divided, some sympathizing with the insurgents 
 and joining their ranks. As in the War of the Roses 
 the parties bad their distinctive badges, the insurgents 
 a green sprig and the supporters of the Government 
 a white fillet of paper. The Rev. Benjamin Conklin, 
 loyal to the nation and the commonwealth as in the 
 days of the Revolution, was repeatedly forced to leave 
 his home and hide himself to escape seizure by the 
 insurgents in the night. 
 
 The same loyal leadership and the same patient 
 devotion to the governmeut which were conspicuous 
 in the Revolution, held the town to a wise and patri- 
 otic course. Every man in town over twenty years 
 of age was by vote required to take an oath of allegi- 
 ance to the State, and the list of those who thus com- 
 plied was to be reported at town-meeting. 
 
 The excitement and peril of the rebellion culmi- 
 nated in Worcester, in December, 1786, in an attempt 
 of the insurgent army to prevent the opening of the 
 court. The house of Mr. Joseph Allen, then residing 
 in Worcester, was guarded by a sentinel, who opposed 
 him with a fixed bayonet to prevent him from going 
 to court. Seth Washburn seized the guard and 
 wrested his musket from him. Lincoln, in his "History 
 of Worcester," states that Justice Seth Washburn him - 
 self was also met by the guard, and that two friends 
 who " seized the gun presented to his breast "were 
 arrested and detained in custody. 
 
 On the memorable 8th of December, the day in 
 which Shays and his army retreated from Worcester 
 
 k 
 
roo 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 in a snow storm of such severity and cold so intense 
 that many of his men were overcome and some were 
 frozen to death, Luke Day, one of the insurgent 
 captains, reached Leicester with one hundi-ed and 
 fifty ii^n, but was prevented by tlie storm from join- 
 ing the main body at Worcester. Scant courtesy did 
 tlie rebels receive from the sturdy patriots of that day. 
 When this same Day, on his way from Worcester to 
 Springfield on a cold winter day, entered the house of 
 Nathan Sargent and made free to warm himself by 
 the fire and ostentatiously announced himself as Capt. 
 Day, he soon found himself, with hat and sword pre- 
 ceding him, floundering in the snow-drift outside. 
 Several Leicester men participated in the march 
 through drifting snow and were present on the 3d of 
 February when the insurgents, upon the approach of 
 the State forces to their rendezvous at Petersham, tied 
 without the liring of a gun, so completely discomfited 
 that, as Lincoln in his "History of Worcester" e.xpresses 
 it, " liad an army dropped from the clouds upon the 
 hill the consternation could not have been greater.'' 
 Dr. Austin Flint was one of the number, having, as 
 he said, volunteered "to help drive the Mobites out." 
 
 During all the later years of the century per.-ons 
 who engaged in trade or kept public-houses were re- 
 quired to take a stringent oath of allegiance to the 
 republic. 
 
 For many years the salaries of representatives to 
 the "Great and General Court" were paid by the 
 several towns. The town in 1789 was fined for not 
 sending a representative ; and in a memorial, an 
 ancient copy of which is before the writer, the town 
 petitioned to have the fine remitted. The memorial 
 bears date of May 10, 1790, and is strikingly illustra- 
 tive of the straits into which the people had been 
 placed. They were still in debt for money borrowed 
 to be loaned "to the Commonwealth " and for the 
 payment of " soldiers," and for the erection of a 
 " House of Public Worship," and they were " at a 
 greater expense than most towns for repairing their 
 roads owing to their hills being wet and rocky.'' 
 
 Slavery has never existed under the Constitution of 
 the Slate of Massachusetts. There were slaves in the 
 Province till the time of the Revolution, but the Con- 
 stitution adopted in 1780 declared the right of "all 
 men to enjoy aud defend their lives and liberties." 
 The number of slaves in Leicester was small; still 
 they were here ; Titus and Cain, and Ctesar, and 
 Quashi, and Prymus, and Ponipey, and Will, and 
 Pegg, and Jenny, and Dinah, and Prince, and Jethro 
 the last person buried in the burying-yard by the 
 church ; but they were treated as wards rather than 
 as slaves. They lived, and worked, and ate with the 
 families, in some cases were paid wages, and in re- 
 peated instances were set free. Mr. Ralph Earle not 
 only freed his slave Sharp, but also gave him in 1701) 
 a farm of thirty acres. But slavery, even in its mild- 
 est form, was discordant with the spirit of a freedom- 
 loving people. In 1773 th* town gave expression to 
 
 its views on the subject in instructions to its Repre- 
 sentative, Mr. Thomas Denny: "And as we have 
 the highest regard for (so as even to revere the 
 name of) liberty, we cannot behold but with the 
 greatest abhorrence any of our fellow-creatures in a 
 state of slavery." 
 
 An interesting episode in the history of the town 
 was the settlement here, in 1777, of a colony of Jews- 
 Mr. Aaron Lopez, who was carrying on an extensive 
 business in Newport, R. I., that year removed to Lei- 
 cester, Newport beiig then in the possession of British 
 troops; with him came several other Jewish families. 
 There were about seventy persons in all, twelve of 
 them being slaves. He built, on the part of the 
 present Common now owned ^y the Academy, a house 
 in the central room of which he " kept store," in 
 which, in the words of H. G. Henshaw, Esq., he 
 "carried on a successful trafic in Bohea and Gun- 
 powder teas, serges, calamancos,," and doubtless 
 a variety of other articles. Mr. Rivera had a store 
 on the site of the hotel. "They were too patriotic 
 to refuse in payment for their commodities Conti- 
 nental bills, the currency of the times ; but felt rather 
 scrupulous about holding such treacherous paper over 
 the Sabbath, and were careful to pass it off to the 
 farmers in exchange for neat stock or srain." They 
 were strict in the observance of Jewish law. They 
 carefully observed the seventh day, and also refrained 
 from business on Sunday. A child having incau- 
 tiously tasted of pork, at a neighbor's house, was 
 treated with an emetic, by way of purification. 
 
 Mr. Lopez wa.s a man of high character and stand- 
 ing, courteous and affable in manner, of extensive com- 
 mercial knowledge and strict integrity in business, 
 hospitable and benevolent. His style of living was 
 \ for those days elegant. His stock in trade at the 
 time of his death was valued at $12,000, and his 
 estate at .1100,000. Abraham Mendez and Jacob Reed 
 Rivera were other prominent members of the colony, 
 and carried on business, though on a smaller scale. 
 On the 20th of May, 1782, Mr. Lopez, while on his 
 way, in a sulky, to Providence, accompanied by his 
 family in a carriage, was drowned before their eyts at 
 Smithfield, R. 1., in Smith Pond, into which he had 
 driven to water his horse. At the close of the war 
 the company returned to Newport, followed by the re- 
 spect and regard of the people, with whom they had 
 found a hospitable and congenial home. After J 
 tlieir departure a friendly correspondence was main- 
 tained and probably an interchange of visits. One 
 of the letters remains. It was written by Mr. Rivera 
 to Col. Henshaw, in a clear and beautiful hand, and 
 the whole style and spirit of the letter are indicative 
 of the intelligence and high character of the writer, 
 i and of his appreciation of the friendship of the people 
 I of Leicester, and of the value of our national institu- 
 tions. " I am happy," he writes, " to find my country- 
 men (the Spanish nation) begin to divest themselves 
 from bigotry, ignorance and indolence, and adopt in 
 
LEICKSTER. 
 
 701 
 
 their room learning, liberty and liberality of senti- 
 ments in religious matters. That system, with prop- 
 per encouragements to arts and sciences, make no 
 (ioubt, will, in time, enable them to arrive to that 
 state of perfection that will class them with all othei 
 civilized and enlightened nations, and enrich thai 
 impoverished nation, and I am confident to say, 
 great advantages will derive to that nation in par- 
 ticular, and the whole world in general, from the 
 American Revolution." 
 
 CHAPTER XC. 
 
 LEICESTER— ia>«//««('rf). 
 
 ECCLESI.4STICAL. 
 
 'l'li€ Firet t'linrch: Fir^t Mcetiiig-Honse, Hev. Daviil P-u-goMS, Conlrorersij 
 ii'fih the Town, Iter. LUtrid Goddard, WliileJieM and Edward/:, Rev. Jonepli 
 ttirhertg. Iter. Ben.iauiiii 0>fiktin, Dr. Moore, Dr. Nelson, Later Pastors, 
 Second Meeting-No»se, Present Meettng-HotiKe, Church Ulasic, Bible 
 Itcadiiifj, Siindntf-School Parish. Friendjy^ Meeting: Origin, Mieling 
 House, Second House, Acis Sn-i/t, Intelligence, Anti-Hlaeery, Mulberrii 
 Grove School. Greenville Baptist Clntreh ; Clntreh in Sutton, Post^irf, 
 Dr. Thmnas Green, Other Poslors, Snndaii-Sehool, One Hundred nnd 
 Fi.ftieth Anniversary. Second Congregational Church : Organization. 
 Pastors, tlirisl Church, Itochdale, Methodist Episcopal Church, Chemj 
 Valley, Centre, Wesleyan Methodist Church, lioman Catholic Church, 
 St. Thomas^ Church, Cherry Valley. 
 
 First Congregational Church.— The records 
 of the First Congregational Church previous to thi 
 settlement of the Rev. Zephaniah Swift Moore, in 
 1798, are lost, with the exception of a few detached 
 pages. The exact date of organization is unknown. 
 The town was incorporated in 1714, and the farms 
 purchased by the settlers began to be occupied soon 
 afterward. It is not probable that church privileges 
 in .some form, and church organization were long 
 neglected. A meeting-house had been built in 1719. 
 It stood on the Common, nearly in front of the 
 present church. It was a small and very plain, 
 rude structure. It had a door in front and one on 
 each end. It was clap-boarded, but not painted. l! 
 was without a porch, belfry, gallery or pews. The 
 windows were small and lighted with diamond-shaped 
 glass. It was sealed to " the great girt," but prob- 
 ably not overhead. Like all the churches of the time, 
 it was without heating apparatus of any kind. Later, 
 individuals built in it their own pews on the "pew 
 ground" or "pew spots." There were comfortless 
 " body " seats, the women sitting on the west side and 
 the men on the east. Galleries were added about 
 1728. Repairs and modifications were made from 
 time to time, by the addition of pews, placing seats 
 in the galleries, adding in 1743 twelve feet on the 
 back side, putting on a new " ruff," moving the pulpit 
 to the back side, re-coveriug the house with " the old 
 clap-boards taken off the back side," putting up steps, 
 and in 1754 a sounding-board. lu this house the peo- 
 
 ple from all parts of the town came together to wor- 
 ship God. In it they held their town-meetings and 
 all other public gatherings, and it was here that they 
 earnestly, courageously, eloquently and with states- 
 mandike ability and forethought enunciated the prin- 
 ciples of liberty on which our republic was founded. 
 
 The first town action with reference to the settle- 
 ment of a pastor appears to have been taken Novem- 
 ber 28, 1720, when it was voted that Mr. David Par- 
 sons be our Gospel minister. Two days later a call 
 was sent him by a committee. In this letter they 
 write, " Rev'd Sir, we with one heart and consent 
 Do call and Invite you to be our Jlinister in the 
 Work of the (inspel amongst us, if you see Cause to 
 accept and see your way clear to remove; but alas if 
 we reflect back upon ourselves, we can't but see we 
 are utterly unworthy of so great a Blessing; but if you 
 have such a Blessing to bestow on us, as we hope you 
 will be, we desire forever to praise his name for his 
 (xoodness to us ward.' He was to " have the forty- 
 acre lot next the Meeting House," and "rights," "as 
 other forty-acre lots," and a salary of sixty pounds, 
 and sixty pounds settlement. As he hesitated to ac- 
 cept on these terms, thirty individuals agreed to add 
 to the amount, so that the salary should be seventy- 
 five pounds, and the settlement one hundred pounds. 
 
 Rev. David Parsons was born in Northampton in 
 1680, graduated from Harvard College in 1705, pastor 
 of the church in Maiden twelve years, where he had 
 a church quarrel and lawsuit with the town ; installed 
 at Leicester in 1721, dismissed March 6, 1735, and 
 died in Leicester, where he was buried October 12, 
 1743. Whitney, in his " History of Worcester County," 
 gives the date of his installation as, " by the best ac- 
 counts now to be had, September 15, 1721," but the 
 town records indicate that he was already pastor early 
 in the year. The town, " reduced to low circumstances 
 by reason of the Indian War," soon found it difficult 
 to comply with the conditions of settlement, and pe- 
 titioned the Legislature for aid, which was granted to 
 the amount of ten pounds. But the salary continued 
 to be in arrears and Mr. Parsons appealed to the Leg- 
 islature, and the town was notified to show cause. 
 This was the beginning of a quarrel which lasted for 
 sixteen years. Within six years the town, which had 
 regarded itself "unworthy of so great a blessing," 
 voted "that the town be willing that Mr. Parsons 
 should remove, and remain out of this town." The 
 town strenuously endeavored for years "to be relieved 
 from Mr. Parsons' bondage," but in those da\'S such 
 an endeavor was attended with insurmountable ditli- 
 culties. Memorials were made by the parties to the 
 Legislature, complaints to the Quarter Sessions and 
 appeals to the General Court. Those who were con- 
 scientiously opposed to Mr. Parsons were released by 
 act of the Legislature from his support upon six 
 months' notice, on condition of providing "an able 
 orthodox minister, generally to dispense the Word of 
 God among them," or attendance and taxation in 
 
702 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCBSTEE COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 some neighboring congregation. The ( leneral Court 
 passed an act releasing the town from Mr. Parsons' 
 support, but the act was vetoed by Governor Belcher. 
 "Six Worcester gentlemen came as mediators," but 
 were unsuccessful. There were dift'erences among the 
 people and changes of town action in relation to the 
 subject. Succes.sive councils were called, one of 
 which sat four days in Watertown, and adjourned to 
 Boston, where it was continued four days longer. The 
 result of this council reproves Mr. Parsons for "any 
 rashness in his words, and hastiness in his actions," 
 aud shows that he had been arbitrary, had called the 
 meetings of his opposers a " Mob," had assumed jiower 
 not belonging to "a pastor according to the constitu- 
 tion of these churches; " that he, with "rash and inju- 
 rious "expressions, had ordered the deacon "out of his 
 seat," and had recognized the minority, composed of 
 his friends, as the church, and I'eceived members into 
 the church without due authority. But they judged, 
 "as a former council did," that he liad been "shame- 
 fully treated with respect to his support," and de- 
 prived of his "just and full title to lands in Leicester." 
 The communion service had been withheld from his 
 use and that of the church. "They had opposed his 
 going into the ])ulpit on the Lord's Day," and "set 
 up another in opposition to him," and had withdrawn 
 from public worship to " private assembling.'' "The 
 like was never done in this land before." He was at 
 length dismissed by a mutual council. This contro- 
 versy with the town, however, continued and he pro- 
 vided that his grave should not be with that of his 
 people, but in his own grounds. The stone stood for 
 many years near the Paxton Road; it for a time was 
 lost, but at length was found in the house upon the 
 place, used as the Hoor of the oven. It has now found 
 a resting-place in the church building, together with 
 that of Mrs. Parsons. 
 
 More than a year intervened before the settlement 
 of the next pastor. In December a fast was ap- 
 pointed " in order to make choice of a minister." 
 The Rev. David Goddard was the choice of the peo- 
 ple. He was born in Framingham, September 2(), 
 1706; graduated at Harvard in 1731; ordained June 
 30, 1736; and died .January 19, 1754, at Framing- 
 ham of " the great sickness," in that region, of wliich 
 in the town of HoUiston, tifty-four out of a population 
 of four hundred died in six weeks. He was a man 
 of devoted i)iety, morbidly conscientious, sympa- 
 thized with the people in their tinancial straits, and 
 was in full sympathy with the great religious move- 
 ments of his time. In the afternoon of October 15, 
 1740, Rev. George Whitefield preached in Leicester, 
 and in January, 1742, Rev. Jonathan Edwards, of 
 Northampton, spent several weeks here in evangelis- 
 tic labor. In connection with this work there were 
 evidently some extravagances. Dr. Hall, of Sutton, 
 while preaching here, was disturbed by " a woman 
 somewhat troublesome," "frequent in fainting fits." 
 Mr. Parsons, however, like Mr. Edwards, was judi- 
 
 cious and cautious, and discountenanced all excesses ; 
 and his ministry was fruitful iu spiritual results. 
 
 The Eev. Joseph Roberts, the third pastor, was 
 born in Boston in 1720, and graduated from Harvard 
 College in 1741. He was ordained October 23, 1754. 
 His avaricious disposition soon occasioned dissatis- 
 faction, and he was dismissed by council, December 
 14, 1762. He removed to Weston, where he was an 
 active patriot, and was a member of the State Consti- 
 tutional Convention in 1779. Engaging in business, 
 he lost, and refusing to pay the debts of the company, 
 was in prison, as a debtor, three years. He became a 
 misanthrope and a miser, and lived like a beggar. 
 He died April 30,1811, at the age of ninety-one. 
 After hia death bags of money were found in his 
 house, the bags so rotten as to burst when lifted. 
 
 His successor was Rev. Benjamin Conklin, who 
 was born in Southold, L. I. ; graduated from Prince- 
 ton in 1755 and installed November 23, 1763. He 
 was dismissed, on account of failing health, June 80, 
 1794, and died iu Leicester, January 30, 1798. Dr. 
 Moore, in the church records, gives his age as sixty- 
 six years and six weeks. The inscription on his 
 grave-stone is, " aged 65 years." He was a promi- 
 nent adviser and actor in the Revolutionary struggle, 
 a member of the Committee of Correspondence, and 
 suppo.sed to have been at one time a chaplain in the 
 army. He was respected and beloved by his people, 
 and the record of his patriotism, in the sti'uggle with 
 England and in the Shays' insurrection, adds lustre 
 to the annals of the town. It is related of him that 
 when asked if he would preach in the pulpit of a 
 distinguished Unitarian minister, his answer was, 
 " Yes, I would preach on Mars Hill if I could get a 
 chance." 
 
 Rev. Zephaniah Swift Moore, D.D., was ordained 
 January 10, 1798. He was born in Palmer, Novem- 
 ber 20, 1770; graduated from Dartmouth College in 
 1793 ; and was dismissed October 8, 1811 ; made 
 prefessor of languages in Dai-tmouth College in 1811 ; 
 president of Williams College in 1815; and of Am- 
 herst in 1821. He left a permanent influence ui>on 
 the church and the town. He was a man of marked 
 intellectual power and literary culture. His style 
 was clear, simple and persuasive. When he was 
 called to Dartmouth College, his people regarded his 
 appointment as little less than robbery. When he 
 left town they accompanied him in carriages, and the 
 children stood, with uncovered heads, in long lines 
 on each side of the way while he passed. 
 
 Professor William Tyler, D.D., of Amherst Col- 
 lege, describes him as " a man of medium size, but 
 commanding presence, weighing some two hundred 
 and forty pounds, yet without any appearance of 
 obesity, neat in his dress, retaining the use of short 
 breeches and long hose, which were particularly be- 
 coming to his person. In his manners there was a 
 union of suavity with dignity, rare anywhere, espe- 
 cially in persons bred in the country, which marked 
 
LEICESTER. 
 
 703 
 
 him as a gentleman of the old school, one of nature's 
 noblemen, and which, while it attracted the love of 
 his pupils, invariably commanded also their respect." 
 Rev. Dr. Thomas Snell, of North Brookfiekl, in his 
 funeral sermon characterizes him as " by nature a 
 great man, by grace a good man, and by the provi- 
 dence of God a useful man, a correct thinker and a 
 lucid writer, a sound theologian, instructive preacher 
 and greatly beloved pastor, a wise counselor and 
 sympathizing friend, and a friend and father espe- 
 cially to all the youog men of the infant college in 
 which he was at the same time a winning teacher and 
 a firm presiding officer." 
 
 Rev. John Nelson, D.D., was the sixth pastor of 
 the church. He was born in Hopkinton, Mass., 
 May 9, 1786. He was graduated from Williams Col- 
 lege in 1807, and studied theology with Rev. Samuel 
 Austin, D.D., of Worcester. He remained pastor of 
 the church till his death, December 0, 1871, a period 
 of fifty-nine year.s, nine months and two days. 
 
 It is said that there were twelve hundred sleighs on 
 and around the Common on the day of ordinaticm, 
 and that there were three thousand people assembled, 
 only a portion of whom could, of course, enter the 
 church. It was during the ministry of Dr. Nelson 
 that the church had its principal growth, there being 
 at the time of his settlement only sixty-five mem- 
 bers. He was an interesting and animated preacher, 
 a favorite in the surrounding churches, and honored 
 and beloved by his own people. He received the 
 degree of D.D. from Williams College, in 1848, was 
 a trustee of th,tt college from 182(j to 18.'53, and of 
 Amherst College from 1889 to 1848. He was a trus- 
 tee of Leicester Academy from 1812 to his death, in 
 1871, and president fom 1884. He was for many 
 years a corporate member of the American Board of 
 Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He was chap- 
 lain of the local regiment of militia sixteen years 
 from 1812. He was often appointed to preach on 
 public occasions, and was per-ionally identified with 
 the great moral and religious movements of his time. 
 " Dr. Nelson descended from a strong, intelligent 
 and pious ancestry. He early became a Christian, 
 and united with the church. He was profoundly 
 reverential and consecrated in spirit. He was pre- 
 eminently judicious and considerate in action, and 
 singularly broad and catholic in bis moral and reli- 
 gious judgments. Forgetful of self, he was always 
 thoughtful of the happiness of others. Nurtured in 
 a genial and happy home, inured to labor and hard- 
 ship in his struggles for an education, brought while 
 in college into the atmosphere of a great religious 
 awakening and intense missionary zeal, and actively 
 associated with the great moral and religious move- 
 ments of his time, he was trained and fitted for the 
 ministry which he accomplished. His qualities 
 were of the enduring kind. He loved his people 
 and he loved his work. He was pastor of the church 
 for nearly sixty years, and his loving, pure and gen- 
 
 tle spirit won for him the lasting respect aud affec- 
 tion of his people, and of all who knew him." ' 
 
 The fiftieth anniversary of his settlement and 
 marriage was celebrated May 6, 18(52. His sermon 
 was from Job 82 : 7 : "I said days should speak ; and 
 multitude of years should teach wisdom." Governor 
 Washburn presided at the after-dinner exercises, and 
 addresses were made by several clergymen. Kev. 
 George Blagden, D.D., presided at the golden wed- 
 ding. The occasion was as interesting ai it was 
 rare. 
 
 In consequence of failing health it became neces- 
 sary for Dr. Nelson to have assistance in the pastoral 
 office, and on the 4th of March, 1851, the Rev. An- 
 drew C. Dennison was ordained, as his assistant. He 
 was born in Hampton, Conn., June 27, 1822 ; was 
 graduated from Yale College in 1847, and from Union 
 Theological Seminary in 1850. He was dismissed in 
 March, 185(3, and afterward settled at West Chester 
 and Portland, Conn. He is now pastor of the Con- 
 gregational Church in Middlefield, Conn. 
 
 Rev. Amos H. Coolidge, the present pastor of the 
 church, was born in Sherborn, Mass., August 17, 1827, 
 graduated from Amherst College in 1858 and from 
 Andover Theological Seminary in 1856. He was 
 ordained April 21, 1857. The day was made memor- 
 able by one of the most remarkable snow-storms of 
 modern times. Eighteen inches of snow fell, and the 
 furious winds blew it into drifts which made the 
 roads impassable. Only about one hundred persons 
 attended the services, and but a small fraction of the 
 council was present. The sermon was by Rev. Prof 
 Austin Phelps, D.D., of Andover Theological Semi- 
 nary. 
 
 The second meeting-house was built in 1784, a little 
 in the rear of the old site. The pulpit was in front oc- 
 tagonal. It had over it asounding-board, and just below, 
 the "deacons' seat." There were galleries on three 
 sides of the house, which, with the pulpit and dea- 
 cons' seat, were painted to resemble shaded marble. 
 The pews were square, and each seat was hung upon 
 hinges. In prayer-time they were turned up and 
 their united fall as the congregation resumed their 
 seats justified the fears of the Philadelphian, unused 
 to such an amen, in his movement to escape from the 
 house. A belfry and steeple were added afterward, 
 and in 1826 the building was moved back to the 
 location of the present church building. In 1829 the 
 interior was entirely renovated. A bell and a clock, 
 made by George Holbrook, of Brookfield, were placed 
 on it January 13, 1803. The bell was re-cast in 1810 
 and again in 1834, and about the year 1884 Joshua 
 Clapp, Esq., presented the town with a clock. The 
 first organ was jjurchased in 1827, the second in 1844 
 and the third in 1867. The house was first warmed 
 by fires about the year 1821. 
 
 The present meeting-house was dedicated Novem- 
 
 ' Proceedings of tUe Worcester Society of Antiquity, 1887. 
 
704 
 
 HISTOEY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 ber 13, 1867. In 1888 the interior was changed by 
 the removal of the organ-loft and galleries for tlie 
 choir to the rear of the pulpit. 
 
 For more than sixty years the singing was purely 
 congregational. The hymns were read by the deacon, 
 and then sung line by line by the congregation. In 
 1780 a choir, by permission, occupied the front seat 
 in the gallery. There was a short trial of sound be- 
 tween the deacon and the choir, in which the choir 
 gained the permanent advantage, not, however, with- 
 out greatly scandalizing some of the members, and 
 causing them to leave the house. 
 
 Bible-reading formed no part of the service here 
 in the last century'. The first Bible thus used was 
 published by Isaiah Thomas, and was presented to the 
 society by Col. William Henshaw. It was read for 
 the first time by Dr. Moore, May 4, 1800. The first 
 action with reference to "apian of Sunday-school" 
 was taken May 3, 1819, and at first the schools were 
 held in school-houses in different parts of the town. It 
 is believed that before the year 1887 there had been 
 but three regularly elected superintendent.s. The first 
 was Deacon Joshua Murdock. Deacon Christopher 
 C. Denny was elected in 1848, and Hon. Charles A. 
 Denny April (>, 18(52. He resigned after twenty-five 
 years' service. 
 
 The parish was at first identified with the town, and 
 its business transacted in the regular town-meeting 
 till 1794. After this time those voters who had not 
 withdrawn to other societies met after the regular 
 town-meeting, on the same day, until February 9, 
 1833, when "The First Parish of Leic-ester " was or- 
 ganized. 
 
 Friend.s' Meetin(t.' — Until about eighteen years 
 after the incorporation of Leicester the people of the 
 entire original township worshipped together on Straw- 
 berry Hill. A Society of Friends was then organized. 
 It belonged to the " Yearly Meeting of Friends for 
 New England," a body composed of several " Quarterly 
 Meetings," each made up of minor " Monthly Meet- 
 ings," which, in turn, embraced subordinate "Pre- 
 parative Meetings," containing one or more "Meetings 
 for Worship." The Meeting here was not only a 
 Meeting for Worship, but a Preparative Meeting. " The 
 Leicester Preparative Meeting" was at first a sub- 
 ordinate of the Smithfield, R. I., Monthly Meeting, 
 but after the division of that Meeting in 1783, it be- 
 came subordinate to the Uxbridge Monthly Meeting. 
 
 In 1732 Ralph Earle, his three sons— William, Rob- 
 ert and Benjamin — Thomas Smith, Daniel Hill, Na- 
 thaniel Potter and .loseph Potter declared themselves 
 to the clerk of the town to be Friends and asked, on 
 account of conscientious scruples, to be released from 
 
 1 For most of the facta relating to the "Friends' Meeting," the writer 
 is indebted to Dr. Pliny Earle. The history of tlie Bapti!*t Chiircli was 
 written by Rev. H. E. Estes, D.D., and that of the Second Unitarian 
 Church by Rev. S. May. The writer is indebted also to Rev. D. F. Mc- 
 Grath, the parish priest, for the facts relating to the Roman Catholic 
 Church. 
 
 paying " any part of the tax for the Seport of the min- 
 ister or ministers established by the Laws of the prov- 
 ince." At the Smithfield Monthly Meeting, held Jan- 
 uary 29, 1739, according to the records, "Friends at 
 Leicester make report to this meeting that they have 
 agreed upon a Place for Building a Meeting- House at 
 the Burying Place between Ralph Earle's and Na- 
 thaniel Potter's; and this meeting doth appoint Ben- 
 jamin Earle, Nathaniel Potter, Thoinas Smith and 
 John Wells, all of said Leicester, to take Deed of the 
 same; and Benjamin Earle, Thomas Smith and Na- 
 thaniel Potter are appointed to undertake for Build- 
 ing said House." The .same meeting afterward con- 
 tributed "four Pounds" toward its construction. The 
 lot on which the house was built was a part of the 
 farm which Robert Earle received from Ralph Earle, 
 his father, with a small tract from the farm of Na- 
 thaniel Potter, located by the brook, and added in 
 order that the horses of the worshippers, let loose to 
 feed during the service, might have water. The land 
 was conveyed to Samuel Thayer, of Mendon, Mass., 
 on the 13th of August, 1739, and by him to the per- 
 sons appointed by the Monthly Meeting on the 27th 
 of December of the same year. It was "to go entire 
 and without any division unto ye survivor asd sur- 
 vivors of them, and to the heirs and assigns of ye sur- 
 vivors or survivor of them forever." The U.xbridge 
 Monthly Meetings were held here three times in the 
 year, and for a time the Smithfield November Quar- 
 terly Meeting. Washburn describes the house built 
 at this time as "a low, one-story building, twenty by 
 twenty-two feet." It was sold, removed and converted 
 into a dwelling-house in 1791, and has since been 
 destroyed. 
 
 The second meeting-house was Ijuilt in 1791. It 
 remained many years after the meetings were dis- 
 continued. Its location was secluded and singularly 
 attractive. It was surrounded and shaded by ancient 
 forest trees, and stood amid the graves of the wor- 
 shippers of successive generations, some of them 
 buried without reference to family relationship, and 
 with graves marked simply by rough head-stones. It 
 was of two stories, the upper floor being upon three 
 sides a gallery, connected with the lower by an oblong 
 opening in the centre. On a part of the lower floor 
 were elevated seats for ministers, elders and over- 
 seers. The men were separated from the women by 
 a partition, the upper part of which was hung on 
 hinges so jls to open and form one audience-room. 
 The object of this partition was to separate the sexes 
 at the business meetings, the women as well as the 
 men holding a meeting of their own, the two 
 I being theoretically upon an equality. The house was 
 taken down about twelve years ago. 
 
 In 1826, according to Washburn's history, the so- 
 ciety had al)Out one hundred and twenty members. 
 This number was probably never exceeded. The last 
 minister of the Gospel, recognized by the Yearly 
 Meeting, who was a member of the Leicester Meeting, 
 
LEICESTEK. 
 
 705 
 
 was Avis Swift, wife of Josiah Keene. She resided 
 in Leicester from about 1812 to 1820. She was born 
 in Nantucliet, and was " a woman of much religious 
 experience, of superior intellectual powers and of a 
 large intelligence, and was greatly beloved by all who 
 had the privilege of her acquaintance." She after- 
 ward lived in Lynn, where she died. In consequence 
 of the removal of members from town, the society be- 
 came reduced in numbers and the meetings were dis- 
 continued in 1853. 
 
 The Quakers, as the Friends are generally called, 
 were averse to public life. They could not conscien- 
 tiously take or administer an oath, and they were 
 originally disposed to separate themselves as mucli 
 as practicable from " the world's people." This dis- 
 position diminished with the lapse of years. Dr. Pliny 
 Earle, to whom we are indebted for most of the facts 
 of this history, truthfully says that " during the first 
 quarter of the current century a no inconsiderable 
 part of the most intelligent and highly cultivated 
 society in the town was to be found among them.'' 
 Early in the last century they in theory and practice 
 renounced slavery. They were in this respect evidently 
 in harmony with the sentiment of the people of the 
 town, which found, as we have seen, an early and 
 emphatic public expression. The Friends, however, 
 were first to adopt the anti-slavery principle as one 
 of the canons of their organization, and remained 
 true to that principle in all the struggle. 
 
 In 1827, May 15th, a boarding and day school for 
 young ladies was opened at the house of Pliny Earle, 
 situated at the junction of Mulberry and Earle Streets, 
 and continued till 1839. It was known as the " Mul- 
 berry Grove School," and was taught by Sarah Earle 
 and her sisters Lucy and Eliza ; the farm-house near 
 being used for the recitation rooms. Sarah Earle was 
 principal till her marriage, in 1832, when she was suc- 
 ceeded by Eliza. The French language and painting 
 were taught; but it was professedly an English school, 
 and the instruction was characterized by great 
 thoroughness. The public examinations were in the 
 Friends' meeting-house. At one of them Governor 
 Emory Washburn, being present, remarked that he 
 had often heard of the excellence of the school, but 
 "the half had not been told." 
 
 Greexville Baptist Church. — Some of the first 
 settlers in Leicester were Baptists, and among them 
 Dr. Thomas Green. He was dismissed from the First 
 Baptist Church in Boston to aid in forming a church 
 in Sutton in 1785. At least eight other persons re- 
 siding in Leicester, — Thomai Richardson, Daniel 
 Penny, Elisha Nevers, Martha Green, Joshua Nichols 
 Abialhar Vinton, Bathsheba Nevers and Lydia Vin- 
 ton — had been baptized in Sutton and Leicester by a 
 Baptist minister, named John Converse, three years 
 before. On the 28th of September, 1737, Dr. Green 
 and Benjamin Marsh were ordained associate pastors 
 of the church in Sutton, "and September 28, 1738, 
 by mutual agreement, the brethren in Leicester be- 
 45 
 
 came a church by themselves, and Green their pas- 
 tor." ("Backus' History," vol. ii., page 31.) 
 
 Since its organization the pastors of the church 
 have been Thomas Green, 1738-73; Benjamin Fos- 
 ter, D.D., 1776-82; Isaac Beall, 1783-88; Nathan 
 Dana, 1794-97; Peter Rogers, 1803-13; Benjamin N. 
 Harris, 1827-30; John Green, 1830-40; Moses Har- 
 rington, 1840-49 ; L. O. Lovell, 1856-58 ; H. C. Estes, 
 1860-62 ; N. B. Cooke, 1862-68 ; L. Holmes, 1869-76 ; 
 J. Sawyer, 1876-77; J. W. Searle, 1877-81; A. W. 
 Spaulding, 1882-86 ; H. C. Estes, D.D., 1886. Dr. 
 Estes was graduated from Waterville College (now 
 Colby University) in 1847. 
 
 Dr. Thomas Green was a man of great ability, 
 prominence and influence. He was largely engaged 
 in business and remarkably successful. He was a 
 physician, eminent in his profession, with a prac- 
 tice that extended into neighboring States, and with 
 many medical students under his instruction. And 
 he was quite as distinguished and successful in his 
 work of the ministry. After his death it was said 
 of him in an English periodical that he had bap- 
 tized not less than one thousand persons. The Rev_ 
 Isaac Backus, the historian of the Baptists in New 
 England, visited him in 1756, held a meeting with 
 his people, and the next day wrote the following 
 words in his journal : "Oct. 19th. I can but admire 
 how the doctor is able to get along as he does, 
 having a great deal of farming business to manage, 
 multitudes of sick to take care of, several appren- 
 tices to instinct in the art of physic, and a church 
 to care for and watch over ; yet in the midst of all 
 he seems to keep religion uppermost — to have his 
 mind bent upon divine things — and to be very bold 
 in Christian conversation with all .sorts of people." 
 
 His successor. Dr. Foster, was ordained October 
 23, 1776. In January of that year he had married 
 Elizabeth, the youngest daughter of Dr. Green. He 
 was a graduate of Yale College, and distinguished 
 for his learning, faithfulness and successful work. 
 Under his ministry the church was much enlarged 
 and strengthened. He was the author of two learned 
 works published while he preached in Leicester, 
 and in recognition of the ability shown in another 
 work published later, he received the degree of 
 Doctor of Divinity from Brown University in 1792. 
 After having been pastor of the First Baptist 
 Church in New York ten years, he died there of 
 yellow fever in 1798, at the age of forty-eight years. 
 
 Under the ministry of the Rev. John Green the 
 church enjoyed much prosperity. In those ten 
 years the additions were ninety-six, and the mem- 
 bership was increased to eighty, the largest in its 
 history, though at one time in Dr. Forbes' minis- 
 try the number of members was seventy-six. The 
 membership is now fifty-four. 
 
 When the church has been without a settled min- 
 ister it has often had valuable stated supplies from 
 ministers living in Worcester or elsewhere: Nathan 
 
706 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Price, 1799; Ebenezer Burt, 1802-3; Benjamin M. 
 Hill, 1816-18; Luther Goddard, 1821; Ebenezer 
 Burt, 1824-25 ; Otis Converse, 1850-51 ; John F. Bur- 
 bank, 1852-53 ; N. Hervey, 1854-56. 
 
 Benjamin M. Hill was a distinguished man, not 
 yet ordained when he preached in Leicester, but 
 afterwards pastor in New Haven, Ct., and Troy, N.Y., 
 nearly twenty year.«, then corresponding secretary of 
 the American Baptist Home Mission Society twenty- 
 three years, and widely known and honored as the 
 Kev. Dr. Hill, who died in 1881. 
 
 In 1747 the church had a house of worship alreadv 
 built and occupied, which, with its grounds and the 
 cemetery adjoining, two acres in extent, was the gift 
 of Dr. Green, of whom, after his decease, the his- 
 torian, Isaac Backus, said, " He was the main support 
 of his society in temporals and spirituals all his 
 days." That house was repaired in 1779 at a cost of 
 three hundred and fifty pounds, and again it was re- 
 paired and enlarged in 1824 ; then, after it had been 
 occupied more than a hundred and ten years, it was 
 replaced by a new and atiractive house, with organ, 
 bell and clock, which was dedicated in 1860 and is 
 now occupied. 
 
 The Sunday-school was commenced in 1821. At 
 first it was held in the afternoon " after meetings." 
 For several years its numbers were few, sometimes 
 ten, sometimes twenty-five and, like most Sunday- 
 schools of that time, it was suspended during the 
 winter. But, in 1829 and 1830, it received a sudden 
 and surprising impulse. In ihe latter year its num- 
 ber of scholars was increased to eighty, and in 1834 
 it rose to one hundred and sixty. Since then the 
 school has numbered about one hundred — sometimes 
 more, sometimes less. 
 
 On Friday, tlie 28th of September, 1888, the one 
 hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the founding of 
 the church, commemorative services were held, in 
 which the Green family, descendants of the first 
 pastor, took part ; and an interesting feature of the 
 exercises was the presentation of a fine brass tablet, 
 which had been placed upon the wall by the H^ n. 
 Andrew H. Green, of New York, in memory ot his 
 distinguished ancestor. Dr. Thomas Green. 
 
 Second Congregational Society. — "In the au- 
 tumn and winter of 1832-33," says Washburn, in his 
 "History of Leicester," "several families in the town 
 formed a Unitarian Religious Society." In April, 
 
 1833, sixteen gentlemen — among whom were Waldo 
 Flint, Isaac Southgate, Joseph D. Sargent, John 
 Whittemore, Dwight Bisco, Lyman Waite, Silas 
 Gleason and Edward Flints — applied to be incorporated 
 as " The Second Congregational Society in Leicester," 
 and received incorporation on the 13th of said month. 
 From that time forward regular services of worship 
 were held in the old Town Hall, and in June, 
 
 1834, the society gave a unanimous call to Rev. 
 Samuel May, of Boston, to become their minister, 
 which he accepted. On the 12th of August following 
 
 their new meeting-house was dedicated, when Rev. 
 James Walker, of Charlestown, preached the sermon ; 
 and, on the following day, Mr. May was ordained by 
 an ecclesiastical council, of which Rev. Dr. Aaron 
 Bancroft, of Worcester, was moderator. The sermon 
 of ordination was by Rev. F. W. P. Greenwood, of 
 King's Chapel, Boston ; the ordaining prayer by Dr. 
 Bancroft; the charge by Rev. Dr. Charles Lowell, of 
 Boston, and the right hand of fellowship by Rev. 
 Samuel J. May, then of Brooklyn, Conn. A church 
 of twelve members had already been gathered. The 
 sermons of Rev. Messrs. Walker and Greenwood were 
 printed in a neat pamphlet. Mr. May continued 
 minister for twelve years, and in the summer of 1846 
 resigned the office. Since his time the changes in the 
 ministry have been many ; but the society has been 
 sustained by an honorable devotedness on the part of 
 its members, and the list of its ministers includes the 
 names of men of eminent ability. Those whose terms 
 were of two years or more duration were as follows : 
 Rev. Frederick Hinckley, 1847-48; Rev. James 
 Thompson, D.D., who had just closed a long and 
 prosperous ministry in Barre, 1849-51 ; Rev. Wm. 
 Coe, of Worcester, 1851-54; Rev. Joseph Angier, 
 of Milton, 1855 and 1856 ; Rev. F. Macintyre, of 
 Grafton, 1858-59; Rev. James Thurston, 1862-64; 
 Rev. J. J. Putnam, of Worcester, 1864-65. In 1866 
 considerable changes were made in the interior of the 
 meeting-house, on the completion of which Rev. 
 Everett Finley became minister, February, 1867, and 
 continued until his death, which occurred early in 
 1869. His body lies buried in Leicester, in Pine 
 Grove Cemetery. In July, 1869, Rev. David H. 
 Montgomery became minister, and so continued eight 
 years. Rev. S. B. Weston followed. During his 
 ministry a question arose as to the application of the 
 trust fund left to the society by Isaac Southgate, Esq., 
 which being, by mutual agreement, referred to arbi- 
 tration, it was decided unanimously that the fund was 
 not available in Mr. Weston's case. Mr. Weston 
 received the decision with honorable good feeling, 
 resigning his office in 1881. It was not until 1883 
 that the society were prepared to settle a minister; 
 but in September of that year Rev. Lewis G. Wilson 
 was ordained by an ecclesiastical council, of which 
 Rev. Dr. A. A. Livermore, of Meadville, Penn., was 
 moderator. Mr. Wilson continued two years. Rev. 
 Rodney F. Johonnot was ordained in September, 
 188G, and bis ministry continued until September, 
 1888. 
 
 Christ Chuech, Rochdale. — The fiftieth anni- 
 versary of Christ Church in Rochdale was celebrated 
 July 4, 1873. The sermon of the rector. Rev. B. P. 
 Cooley, preached on that occasion, gives the history 
 of the church to that date. " Divine service, accord- 
 ing to the Liturgy of the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church, was performed for the first time in Leicester, 
 Mass., and for the first time, it is believed, in Wor- 
 cester County, on the sixth day of July, 1823." The 
 
LEICESTER. 
 
 707 
 
 ^1 
 
 church owed its origin to Mrs. Ann Wilby, an Eng- 
 lish lady who came to Leicester in 1822. She was 
 buried under her pew in the church in 1820. Her 
 family, with that of Mr. James Anderton, were the 
 only Episcopalians in town. Services were for some 
 time held in the hall of Hezekiah Stone's tavern. 
 
 The church building was erected in 1824, first oc- 
 cupied on Easter Sunday, April 18, and consecrated 
 May 26 by Right Rev. Alexander V. GriswoUI, D.D. 
 Rev. Joseph Muenscher, D.D., became minister of 
 the parish March 14, 1824. He resigned the cure 
 March 10, 1827. He was also the village school- 
 teacher. He was born in Trovidence, R. I., Decem- 
 ber 21, 1798, and graduated from Brown University in 
 1821, and Andover Theological Seminary in 1825. 
 His marriage to Ruth, daughter of Joseph Wash- 
 burn, was the first solemnized in a church, according 
 to the Episcopal form, in Worcester County. Among 
 the positions afterwards held by him was that of Pro- 
 fessor of Sacred Literature, and later, Instructor in 
 Hebrew in the Episcopal Theological Seminary, 
 Gambier, Ohio. He was succeeded by Rev. Wil- 
 liam Horton, D.D. Rev. Lot Jones became rec- 
 tor in June, 1827. He was afterwards rector of the 
 Church of the Epiphany in New York. He died 
 in Philadelphia in 1865, while in attendance 
 upon the General Convention, in consequence of a 
 fall upon the steps of St. Luke's Church. Rev. C. 
 Millett became minister in 1833. He was afterwards 
 rector of the parish in Beloit, Wis. In August, 1834, 
 Rev. Henry Blackaller became rector. He resigned 
 in the spring of 1838. He died June 21, 1862, at the 
 ,ge of sixty-nine. Rev. Eleazer A. Greenleaf im- 
 mediately succeeded him, remaining one year. Rev. 
 John T. Sabine was minister one year, beginning in 
 
 1839. He died March 15, 1851, aged -shOji-wb*. Rev. 
 William Withington became minister in February, 
 
 1840, and remained one year. He was succeeded for 
 one year by Rev. Fernando C. Putnam. From 1842 
 to 1844 the church had no rector, but was under the 
 missionary charge of Rev. Orange Clark, D.D., who 
 also ministered to the churches in Hopkintou and 
 Montague. This was a period of great depression, 
 but the church was " saved from utter ruin by the 
 occasional missionary services of Dr. Clark and a few 
 staunch churchmen on the spot." Rev. James L. 
 Scott became minister in October, 1845, being or- 
 dained to the deaconate and priesthood here, after 
 acting as lay reader for nearly fourteen months. He 
 retired in April, 1849. Rev. J. Hill Rowse was rector 
 from June 10, 1849, until his death, July, 1870. Dur- 
 ing his absence of three years as chaplain in the 
 army. Rev. William B. Colburn and Rev. R. S. Paine 
 officiated. 
 
 Rev. B. F. Cooley, his successor, resigned October 
 1, 1875. Rev. S. R. Bailey followed in the autumn 
 of the same year, and retired October 1, 1879. Rev. 
 Thomas W. Nickerson came to the church February 
 8, 1880, and is still its minister, his rectorship being 
 
 the longest in the history of the church, with the ex- 
 ception of that of Rev. Mr. Rowse. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Rowse was chaplain in the Foster Gen- 
 eral Hospital, in Newbern, N. C. He was in that 
 city in September, 1864, when it was visited with 
 yellow fever. Says Captain J. W. Denny, then in 
 command of the Twenty-fifth Regiment, " We met 
 Chaplain Rowse, a faithful, earnest chaplain among 
 the soldiers; he looked worn out. He said he had 
 buried thirteen soldiers that forenoon, and as many 
 waited his oflices. We said to him, ' Chaplain, you 
 are not able to do this work ; you look worn out, and 
 ought to leave immediately in order to save your own 
 life.' ' No,' replied the chaplain, ' I am sick and 
 weary. Some one may be called upon to bury me 
 next, but I must not leave these soldiers; if I must 
 die, I will die at my post of duty."" He had the 
 fever, but recovered. 
 
 Methodist Episcopal Church.— In the fall of 
 1842 a series of meetings, continuing eight weeks, was 
 held in the town hall, under direction of Rev. Horace 
 Moulton, of Oxford. In these services he was assisted 
 by his wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Ann Moulton, a woman of 
 great religious fervor and zeal. 
 
 As the result of these efforts, a Methodist Episcopal 
 Church was organized October 15, 1844. The first 
 minister of this church was Rev. William C. Clark. 
 
 In 1845, in consequence of differences of opinion 
 with reference to the Episcopal mode of church 
 administration, and the duty of the church in relation 
 to slavery and temperance, the church was divided, 
 and a Wesleyan Methodist Church was organized. 
 The Methodist Episcopal Church then removed to 
 Cherry Valley, and a house of worship was erected 
 for it in 184b. The funds for building were sub- 
 scribed by persons of difl'erent denominations, who 
 recognized the need of religious services in Cherry 
 Valley, and the control of the church was committed 
 to trustees. It was stipulated in the compact that it 
 was to be " a house of religious worship for the use 
 of the ministers and members of, and the friends of, 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church in said Leicester, 
 according to the rules and discipline of said Church 
 in the United States of America, except the First 
 Calvinistic Congregational Church of said Leicester, 
 or the Episcopalians of Cherry Valley, shall wish 
 to occupy every other Sunday night for a third reli- 
 gious service, in which case they shall have the 
 right." 
 
 This house was burned in February, 1856, and re- 
 built by the trustees. 
 
 The appointments for the ministry of this church 
 have been — Revs. George Dunbar, J. T. Pettel, 
 George F. Pool, T. W. Lewis, D. Z. Kilgore, W. B. 
 Olds, Daniel Atkins, G. E. Chapman, J. W. P. Jor- 
 dan, Albert Gould, from 1859 to '60; W. F. La- 
 comb, from 1861 to '62, who enlisted as a member of 
 
 1 Wearing the Blue in th M isa. Vol. Inf., p. 298. 
 
708 
 
 qiSTOKY OF WOKCESTEK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 the Forty-second Kegiment; W. W. Colburn, from 
 1863 to '64; George Lewis, 1865; George F. Eaton, 
 1866 to '67; Charles H. Hanniford, 1868; Burtis 
 Judd, 1869; J. B. Treadwell, 1870 to '71 ; A; Cald- 
 well, 1872 ; N. Bemis, 1873 to '74; F. M. Miller, 1875 
 to '76; J. W. Fulton, 1877 to '79; W. A. Braman. 
 1880; W.N. Groome, 1881 to '82; W. E. Dwight, 
 1883 ; S. H. Noon, 1884 to '86 ; J. A. Mesler, 1887 to 
 '88. 
 
 In 1867 a Methodist Episcopal Church was formed 
 in the Centre, worshipping in theWesleyan Methodist 
 Church. This church continued to hold services and 
 receive ministers appointed by the Conference for a 
 few years, when it was merged in the Methodi.-it 
 Episcopal Church at Cherry Valley, the appointee of 
 that church preaching at the Centre Sunday after- 
 noons. The ministers have been Revs. Mr. Chase, 
 Frederick M. Miller, L. P. Causey, Samuel F. Fuller, 
 Eratus Burlingham and H. D. Weston. 
 
 Wesleyan Methodist Church. — After the sep- 
 aration in 1845, those who objected to the Episco- 
 pacy, and the position of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church on the subject of slavery and temperance, 
 organized themselves into a Wesleyan Methodist 
 Cliurch, March 1, 1845. The pastor, Rev. Wm. C. 
 Clark, remained with this church, and, indeed, was 
 the active agent in securing its organization. His 
 successors were Rev. Messrs. Christopher C. Mason 
 David Mason, Simeon E. Pike, J. A. Gibson, 
 Thomas Williams and Benjamin N. Bullock. 
 
 The house of worship on Pleasant Street was dedi- 
 cated July 15, 1846. The services were entirely sus- 
 pended in 1861. 
 
 Roman Catholic Church. — The first Roman 
 Catholic Church in town was St. Polycarp's, and was 
 erected in 1854, half a mile east of Strawberry Hill. 
 The cornerstone of the present church, St. Joseph's, 
 was laid on the same site, September 1, 1867, Rev. 
 Robert W. Brady, president of Holy Cross College, 
 officiating. The church was dedicated January 2, 
 1870, Right Rev. John J. Williams, present Arch- 
 bishop of Boston, officiating, The old church was 
 taken down and moved to Rochdale during 1869, 
 and was dedicated as St. Aloysius' Church. Novem- 
 ber 21st of the same year. Right Rev. John J. Wil- 
 liams officiating There was no resident pastor of 
 the parish until August 1, 1880. The two churches 
 were attended by the Jesuit Fathers from Holy 
 Cross College, Worcester, in the following order: 
 January, 1854, Rev. Peter Kroes ; August, 1856, Rev. 
 J. C. Moore, S. J. ; August, 1857, Rev. P. M. Jolehi, 
 S. J. ; January, 1858, Rev. Eugene Veterneli ; Octo- 
 ber, 1859, Rev. A. F. Ciampi, S. J.; August, 1861, 
 Rev. J. B. Galney, S. J.; January, 1864, Rev. J. B. 
 O'Hagan, S. J.; August, 1864, Rev. Charles Kelly, 
 S. J.; Auguit, 1867, Rev. P. V. McDermott, S. J.; 
 June, 1869, Rev. J, B. O'Hagan, S. J.; September, 
 1870, Rev. A. J. Ciampi, S. J.; January, 1871, Rev. 
 Albert Peters, S. J. ; August, 1872, Rev. W. F. Ham- 
 
 ilton, S.J. ; August, 1873, Rev. P. J. Blenkinsop, 8. J. 
 These clergymen were generally educated in Eu- 
 rope, as they were Jesuit Fathers and professors at 
 the college. Some of them were men of eminent 
 scholarship. 
 
 Rev. D. F. McGrath became the priest of the par- 
 ish August 1, 1880. He was born in Milford, Mass., 
 August 15, 1848 ; graduated from Holy Cross College 
 in 1870, and from Grand Seminary, in Montreal, in 
 1873. When he came to the parish it was incum- 
 bered with a debt of six thousand five hundred dol- 
 lars, which was increased to fourteen thou.sand five 
 hundred dollars in remodeling and repairing the 
 church, building a fine parsonage and by accompany- 
 ing expenses. This was the amount of indebtedness 
 January 1, 18S4. By February 1, 1888, this debt was 
 entirely paid, and all the parish property, including 
 eighteen acres of land, is held free of indebtedness. 
 
 According to a census taken in January, 1888, by 
 Father McGrath and his assistant. Father Kenney, 
 there were in town three hundred and twelve Roman 
 Catholic families, with a total of one thousand five 
 hundred and thirty-six persons attached to St. 
 Joseph's and St. Aloysius' Parishes. 
 
 St. Thomas Church.— In the year 1873 the Rev. 
 B. F. Cooley, rector of Christ Church, Rochdale, 
 commenced service in the Methodist Church in 
 Cherry Valley, on Sunday afternoons. These services 
 were continued for several years by him and his 
 successor. Rev. S. R. Bailey. The first service and 
 also later services on week-days were held in the 
 house of Mr. Cheney Barton, in which the Rev. H. 
 Blackaller had held .similar services more than thirty- 
 five years before. The church was afterward made a 
 mission of St. Matthew's Church, Worcester, which 
 relation its'ill holds, although it has been self-sup- 
 porting since 1886. 
 
 Rev. E. Osgood took charge, probably in the 
 autumn of 1878, and continued until early in the year 
 1881. The Rev. Julius Waterberry was in charge 
 from 1881 to 1882. He was a beautiful singer, a man 
 of culture, of wide information, and pleasing and 
 refined manners. He died in Boston, on Good Fri- 
 day, 1882, and his memory is cherished with affijction 
 by the members of his charge. It was while he was 
 connected with the church that " Shamrock Hall " 
 began to be used as the place of worship. 
 
 He was succeeded by Rev. H. Hague, the present 
 incumbent, who assumed charge on the first Sunday 
 of August, 1882. 
 
 The church was built in 1884, and consecrated 
 February 14, 1885, by Bishop W. R. Huntington, 
 D.D., of Grace Church, New York. Since that time 
 a pipe-organ has been placed in the church. The 
 church contains five memorial windows, one of them 
 in memory of Rev. Julius H. Waterberry. 
 
 The mission was first named "The House of 
 Prayer," but in 1884 it was changed to '• St. Thomas' 
 Church." 
 
LEICESTER. 
 
 709 
 
 CHAPTER XCI. 
 
 LEICESTER— (a)«//««^a'.) 
 
 SCHOOLS. 
 
 First Town Action — Schoolmastrrs — Schoiyl-lio^tset — Town Fined— District 
 Sfjstpm — Amount Raised for Schools— Districtti Abolished — High School — 
 Leicester Accidemt/ — Founding — Buildings — Teachers — Funds — Military 
 — Reorganizalion — Cent^nnitil Annicersarg. 
 
 Although in the original legislative title of the 
 town provision was made for school-houses, no action 
 appears to have been taken upon the subject till the 
 last day of the year 1731. It was then voted "to 
 choose a committee of three to provide a school- 
 master ; and that the said committee agree with a man 
 to keep school for three months, and no longer; and 
 that the school be kept in three parts of the town, so 
 as may be most for the conveniency of the inhabitants' 
 children going to school." The sum of $8.75 was 
 appropriated to meet the expense. He was to teach 
 the children to " reed and wright." His own educa- 
 tion, such as it was, must have been acquired with- 
 out much help from teachers, as he probably came to 
 town where there were no schools, when less than ten 
 years of age. This provision was for the whole of 
 Leicester and Spencer. The next year there was no 
 school, and the town was called to account before the 
 Quarter Sessions. The sum of .f 17.50 was appropriated 
 the next winter, and after a delay of nearly a year, the 
 same teacher was employed, and taught three months at 
 $3.75 per month in the house of Mr. Jonathan Sar- 
 gent, opposite the spot where the Catholic Church now 
 stands. The next winter Mr. Lynde taught in three 
 different places, one month in each place. " If the 
 town employed him any more, they was to come to 
 new tarms." 
 
 In 1736 the town "voted to build a school-house 
 sixteen feet in width, twenty feet in length and six 
 and a half feet between joynts; and that it be .set in 
 the north side of the meeting-house, about ten rods, 
 in the most convenientest place." It is described by 
 one who remembered it as " an old shell of a build- 
 ing." 
 
 The next school-house was built as early as 1G72, 
 where Sargent's brick factory now stands. Another 
 school-house in the centre was built in 1791. 
 
 In 1736 the town was again presented before the 
 Quarter Sessions for failing to provide a school, and 
 fined £-1 12s. The ne.xt year John Lynde taught 
 school one month and Jo-hua Nichols ten days. The 
 .school-house was probably built in 1738. Its cost was 
 $-1,784. Mr. Samuel Coolidge taught the school in 
 1739 six months, at SI. 32 per week. In 1742 the 
 school was taught by John Gibbons through the year, 
 in the four quarters of the town, "so as to have the 
 remote ends of the town have some benefit of the 
 same." In 1742 it was taught in six places by Mr. 
 Adam Bullard. The amount expended for schools 
 
 the next twenty years was on an average $133.33 per 
 year. In 1765 the town voted to raise £120 to build 
 five school-houses in the East, Southeast, Northwest, 
 and Northeast Districts. 
 
 The school-houses were all completed in 1767. The 
 amount assessed in each district was finally appropri- 
 ated to its own school-house. This was the beginning 
 of the "district system" in town, which continued 
 until April, 1869, when it was annulled in accordance 
 with the statute of the State. 
 
 " Schooling mistresses " were first employed in 1766. 
 In 1774 the number of districts was increased to nine, 
 and on April 15, 1776, the nine districts were officially 
 defined, and the different families assigned to their 
 respective districts, .and thus recorded. Notwith- 
 standing the heavy burdens of the Revolutionary 
 War, when a proposition wa.s made in town-meeting 
 to suspend the schools, it was promptly voted down. 
 A " town " or high school was organized in 1856, of 
 which Mr. C. S. Knight was the first teacher. For 
 several years it was migratory, being held one term 
 each year at the Centre Village, Clappville and Cherry 
 Valley. It was permanently located at the Centre in 
 1859. In 1867 an arrangement was made by which it 
 was combined with the Academy, and this union has 
 been continued to the present time, with the ex- 
 ception of four years, during which the Academy was 
 temporarily suspended. All the advantages of that 
 institution are now open to the children of the town 
 who are qualified to enter upon a high school course. 
 The annual amount raised by the town for schools 
 at the close of the last century was iJSOO. In 1850 it 
 was $1,200. The appropriation for 1888 was $7,500. 
 
 Leicester Academy. — Leicester Academy had its 
 origin in the intelligent forethought and unselfish 
 enterprise of its founders. Col. Ebenezer Crafts, of 
 Sturbridge, and Col. Jacob Davis, of Charlton. They 
 were imblic-spirited, patriotic men. They clearly saw 
 that Christian education was essential to the success 
 and perpetuity of those free institutions which had 
 been won at such a cost. There was no academy in 
 Central or Western Massachusetts, and the provision 
 for general education was exceedingly meagre. Col. 
 Crafts was a liberally educated man, graduated from 
 Yale College in 1759. He was an ardent patriot, and 
 marched to Cambridge at the first call to arms, with 
 a company of cavalry which he had already organized. 
 He also commanded a company of one hundred men 
 under Gen. Lincoln, for the suppression of the Shays' 
 Rebellion. After the close of the war he appeiws first 
 to have conceived the idea of establishing in Wor- 
 cester County a school for classical and English edu- 
 cation. He interested in the undertaking Col. Davis, 
 who had also been a soldier in the Revolution, and 
 was a man of wealth and broad public spirit. 
 
 While they were considering the matter circum- 
 stances directed their attention to Leicester as a de- 
 sirable location for such an institution. Upon the 
 departure of the Jews, the store of Mr. Lopez, with 
 
710 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 the land, was advertised for sale at auction as "a 
 large, commodious double mansion, and a noted place 
 for trade." There was one acre of land. It was, as 
 nearly as can be ascertained, upon the original lot 
 No. 1. It had been successively owned by John 
 Stebbins, Rev. Joseph Roberts, Rev. Benjamin Conk- 
 lin ; the western half by Benjamin Fosgate, who built 
 on it a small store about the year 1770; by Joseph 
 Allen and Henry Bass. In 1777 Mr. Lopez added to 
 the western half-acre a half-acre purchased of Mr. 
 Conklin, and built upon it "the splendid mansion" 
 now offered for sale. 
 
 Col. Crafts, watchful for opportunities to carry out 
 his purpose, was at the sale. While there he con- 
 ferred with his associates and decided to make the 
 purchase, and the place was "bid off" to them for 
 £515. It was deeded May 7, 1783, to Col. Crafts, Col. 
 Davis and Asa Sprague, of Spencer, who soon after- 
 ward transferred his interest to Col. Crafts. Col. 
 Crafts then addressed a petition to the Legislature for 
 an act of incorporation, stating that a "large and 
 commodious building, with about one acre of land," 
 had been secured " with intent and design to pro- 
 mote the public benefit in the education of youth, as 
 said buildings are exceedingly well calculated for an 
 academy." He asked for an act similar to that re- 
 lating to Andover, " whereby the same may be made 
 respectable ; whereby the advantages of education of 
 youth may be promoted ; whereby advantages may 
 arise not only to the individuals, but to the public in 
 general, and prove a blessing to our land of liberty." 
 
 The petition appropriately bears date of July 4, 
 1783. The petition was presented to the Legislature 
 by Col. Seth Washburn, February 7, 1784. Final 
 action was deferred until the sum of £1000 should be 
 raised for the academy in addition to the real estate. 
 There were then only one hundred and fifty families 
 in town, and a population of about a thousand. They 
 were impoverished by the war, but they came to the 
 rescue in a spirit of noble generosity ; and within 
 seven weeks more than the required amount was 
 raised, as stated in the Spy, " by the town of Leicester, 
 and a few gentlemen of that and this pl.ace." The 
 town appropriated £500 ; citizens of Leicester con- 
 tributed £367 ; and the amount was raised by Judge 
 Gill, of Princeton, and others to £1355. The act of 
 incorporation was passed March 23, 1784. It was 
 signed by John Hancock, Governor, and Samuel 
 Adams, President of the Senate. The property was 
 deeded to the trustees in May, 1784. 
 
 In May the trustees made provision for subscrip- 
 tions through the selectmen of the several towns of 
 the county for the institution. It "is devoutly 
 hoped," they say, " that it will not be suffered to 
 wither and decay, or, for want of nourishment, to be 
 removed to some more fertile soil." Clergymen were 
 also appealed to, and Rev. Joseph Buckingham, in 
 his Thanksgiving Sermon that year, made an appeal 
 for add. Isaiah Thomas interested himself at once 
 
 in the movement, and in November the Spy stated 
 that " there would soon be opened at Leicester an 
 Academy, for the purpose of promoting the sciences, 
 &c.," and "the people of this large county" weie 
 "urged to exert themselves to second the endeavors 
 of those gentlemen who have laid this generous and 
 laudable plan of another channel for public educa- 
 tion." 
 
 Dr. John Pierce, who came as assistant preceptor 
 in 1793, describes this '' mansion " as " an oblong, 
 barrack-looking building." The rooms were about 
 seven and a half feet in height. The southwest 
 " parlor " was the school-room of the principal pre- 
 ceptor, and the southeast that of the English pre- 
 ceptor. The central front room was used as a dining 
 and rhetorical hall, while the three rooms in the 
 rear were used by the stewards. The southwest 
 chamber was occupied by the two preceptors, who 
 sometimes took a visiting friend .is a third occupant 
 of their bed. The other chambers were for students, 
 who were at times crowded six and even eight in a 
 room. There was on the roof a small cupola, with a 
 bell, the gift of Mr. Thomas Stickney. 
 
 The meeting-house stood west of the academy. 
 In the rear were the grave-yard and the training- 
 field. 
 
 The first meeting of the trustees was held April 7, 
 1784. They moved in a body to the meeting-house, 
 where public services were held. The Rev. Mr. Con- 
 klin preached a sermon from Proverbs 11 : 25, and 
 the Rev. Thaddeus Maccarty offered prayer. The 
 trustees then partook of an "elegant repast," in 
 "Commons Hall." Hon. Moses Gill, of Princeton, 
 was elected president. Rev. Benjamin Conklin vice- 
 president. Rev. Joseph Pope (of Spencer) secretary, 
 Joseph Allen, Esq., treasurer, and Colonel Crafts 
 "steward and butler." Committees were chosen to 
 select teachers, and prepare to open the school " with 
 all convenient speed." 
 
 Benjamin Stone, a native of Shrewsbury, a grad- 
 uate of Harvard in 1776, was engaged as principal 
 precejjtor, at a salary of sixty pounds a year, after- 
 wards raised to eighty-five pounds. He left in 1787, 
 and was afterward preceptor of West ford Academy. 
 He died in Shrewsbury in 1832, at the age of seventy- 
 six. He was a well-qualified and faithful teacher, 
 and always retained a deep interest in the academy. 
 The school opened with three pupils, — Samuel C. 
 Crafts, son of the founder; Ephraim Allen, of Stur- 
 bridge ; and Samuel Swan, of Leicester, then six 
 years of age. They were all graduated afterward at 
 Harvard College. Mr. Crafts removed to Vermont, 
 was a member of the first Constitutional Convention 
 of that State, chief justice of the County Court, 
 Representative and Senator to Congress and Governor 
 of the State. 
 
 Mr. Allen became an eminent physician in Salem, 
 N. Y., and Mr. Swan was established as a lawyer in 
 Hubbardston. He was a valuable friend of the in- 
 
LEICESTER. 
 
 711 
 
 stitution, and a contributor to its funds. Eli Whit- 
 ney, of Westboro', inventor of the cotton-gin, en- 
 tered the school soon after. Such was the quality of 
 the first pupils in Leicester Academy. 
 
 The number rose to twenty before the- close of the 
 term. In the autumn term Thomas Payson was en- 
 gaged as English preceptor, and the number of pu- 
 pils was between seventy and eighty. 
 
 At the time of the next annual meeting of the 
 trustees, July 4, 1785, " the youth of that seminary 
 entertained a large and respectable audience with 
 specimens of their literary improvements." Dra- 
 matic entertainments continued for many years to 
 be given by the school, sometimes occupying the 
 morning, afternoon and evening. They were held in 
 the meeting house, which was crowded to its fullest 
 capacity, the people coming from all the surrounding 
 towns. On one of these occasions a Congregational 
 minister of the county played, behind the scenes, the 
 bass viol accompaniment to the " Scolding Wife." 
 " Colloquy," " Poem," " Dialogue," " Greek Oration," 
 " Farce," " Greek Dialogue," " Comedy," the entire 
 (Addison's) "Tragedy of Cato," " Latin Dialogue," 
 " Description of a Mighiy Good Man " and " Descrip- 
 tion of a Mighiy Good Woman" are among the parts 
 which appear on the programmes of these entertain- 
 ments. 
 
 The exhibitions, from time to time, were subjects of 
 action by the trustees, in the way of provision and 
 limitation. In 1796 provision was made for examin- 
 ation by the trustees. In 1840 the custom was intro- 
 duced of inviting some former member of the institu- 
 tion to deliver an address in connection with the 
 anniversary exercises. A statement of Dr. Pierce 
 illustrates the style and dignity of the instructors. 
 " According to the custom of the times, I then wore a 
 cocked, or three-cornered hat. My hair was queued 
 with a ribbon half-way down my back. I had silver 
 knee-buckles at my knees; my plated shoe-buckles 
 covered more than half my insteps." 
 
 The range of studies was very varied. Students 
 were fitted for college, while in the English depart- 
 ment the lowest common branches were taught. Dr. 
 James Jackson, English preceptor in 1796, says, " I 
 believe all my pupils had learned the alphabet before 
 I saw them. I taught spelling, reading, writing, 
 English grammar and arithmetic, and perhaps, to a 
 few of the pupils, some of the higher branches." The 
 charge for tuition was one shilling per week for the 
 classics, and nine pence for English branches. 
 
 The institution soon found itself embarras->ed in its 
 finances. The currency was depreciated. The Shays' 
 Rebellion " threatened the country with civil war. 
 The income of the funds was so reduced that it was 
 necessary to d'spense with the services of the principal 
 preceptor. The " large and elegant house '' soon proved 
 inadequate and uncomfortable, and came to be looked 
 upon, in the words of an early teacher, as "the old, rick- 
 ety, inconvenient Jewish house," of which theseats were 
 
 "old and crowded," and which was heated by an "old- 
 fashioned box-stove," so that "teachers and students " 
 were " infested and inflated with steam and smoke." 
 Measures were taken as early as 1786 to rebuild, but 
 there were no means, and the institution was forty 
 pounds in debt. It was a gloomy period in the his- 
 tory of the infant academy. In the general depres- 
 sion the school had become greatly reduced in num- 
 bers. In this emergency the town again showed its 
 intelligent appreciation of the value of the institution, 
 and, notwithstanding the embarrassed condition of its 
 own resources, appropriated fifty pounds toward the 
 salary of ihe preceptor, who received, in addition, the 
 amount of tuitions. 
 
 The trustees had already appealed to the churches 
 for funds ; they now turned to another source. It was 
 at a time before moralists aud Christian men had 
 come to understand the true character and demoral- 
 izing tendency of the lottery system. The trustees 
 obtained permission of the Legislature, and issued a 
 lottery " for the repairing Leicester Academy and 
 making additional buildings thereto." 
 
 The public were urged to purchase tickets on the 
 ground that " the Academy at Leicester is established 
 for promoting piety and virtue, and for the education 
 of youths, etc." Rev. Mr. Conklin was one of a com- 
 mittee to ask the General Court for an extension of 
 time and an increase of the amount from £600 to 
 £1200; S1419.22 was thus raised for the academy. In 
 1792 the Legislature made a grant of a town in Maine 
 to the academy, which, in a few years, added $9,200 
 to the funds of the institution. With the adoption of 
 the Federal Constitution confidence and prosperity 
 returned to the country, aud the academy felt the re- 
 action. In 1804 the funds had increased to §16,703.68. 
 
 After long delay and various changes of plan, the 
 new building was begun in 1805. A half-acre of land 
 east of the original lot had the year before been pur- 
 chased of Mr. Dall, of Boston, for seven hundred 
 dollars. Still further addition of land was made by 
 gift and later by purchase of Dr. Austin Flint. The 
 architect of the new building was Rand White, of 
 Leicester, who received as remuneration $9.84. 
 
 The corner-stone was laid on the 14th of May with 
 much ceremony. A procession, consisting of "Artif- 
 icers," the corner-stone drawn by seventeen horses, a 
 band of music, the president of the board, the build- 
 ing committee, and trustees, magistrates, selectmen of 
 Leicester, citizens and students of the academy moved 
 through the streets to the place, the stone was laid 
 by the master-builder and the object of the structure 
 was stated by the president, who offered prayer. 
 
 The procession then passed into the meeting-house, 
 where there were further exercises. The building 
 was ready for occupancy in January, 1806. It was of 
 three stories, with a cupola. It was dedicated on the 
 4lh of July, 1806. Again a procession was formed 
 on the Common, consisting of the band, students, 
 preceptors and trustees, and moved from the old to the 
 
n2 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 new building, where the structure was received by 
 the board, and the president. Dr. Sumner, delivered 
 an address. At the church, whitlier the procession 
 pxssed, prayer was offered by Dr. Sumner, and Dr. 
 Aaron Bancroft delivered an address on the " Import- 
 ance of Education." On both of the occasions de- 
 scribed. Dr. Sumner, witli great white wig and trian- 
 gular cocked hat, was a conspicuous figure. The cost 
 of the building was $9,054.36. It was built by the 
 "job" in a very unsatisfactory manner. The founda- 
 tions were not sufBciently firm and " settled," causing 
 the building to be "racked and injured." It was 
 hastily and unskillfully covered and finished, so that 
 "the winds and storms of heaven " had free access. 
 The subsequent expense and labor of repairs were 
 fruitless, and after twenty-six years it gave place to 
 the present structure. 
 
 Apparatus for the illustration of the sciences had 
 already been purchased, consisting of globes, a tele- 
 scope, microscope, electric machine, thermometer and 
 surveying instruments. 
 
 It was at first understood that the principal was re- 
 sponsible for the management of the school, but it is 
 evident that the two departments soon became quite 
 distinct. Dr. James Jackson, who was English pre- 
 ceptor in 1796 and 1797, says, "'The schools were 
 conducted quite independently of each other," and 
 that he believed that the principal "had no right to 
 control 'him.' Certainly, he never did." In 1821, 
 however, the trustees, to prevent all misunderstand- 
 ing, declared the principal preceptor the authoritative 
 head of both departments. The English teacher 
 presided over his own school-room, with power to 
 punish. One of the penalties was the imposition of 
 fines; this, however, was, by vote of the trustees in 
 1834, prohibited, and at the same time expulsion was 
 made subject to the approval of a committee of the 
 trustees. For many years corporal punishment was 
 resorted to in cases of discipline, and there are still 
 traditions of severe inflictions and even of struggles 
 in the school-room, and of guilty boys, in thoughtful 
 mood and with sad apprehensions, accompanying the 
 principal from the academy to the gloomy seclusion 
 of his own barn. 
 
 The funds of the academy after the erection of the 
 second school building in 1.S06 amounted to $8,992.21. 
 In 1814 Captain Thomas Newhall left a legacy of 
 $1,000, and $1,000 additional for the tuition of pupils 
 in town residing over a mile from the academy. 
 Small sums were afterward subscribed at different 
 times, and the State gave land in Paxton, which had 
 been held by an alien, and had "escheated" to the 
 Commonwealth, which was sold for $400. 
 
 In 1823 "sundry individuals in the town of Leices- 
 ter, procured by subscription a philosophical ap- 
 paratus, and presented it to the academy, cost over 
 $.500." That year the academy received its first con- 
 siderable legacy. Captain Israel Waters, of Charlton, 
 " was," in the language of Governor Washburn, " the 
 
 architect of his own fortune." He was born in Sutton. 
 A poor boy, lie pressed his way to wealth by his own 
 industr}', enterprise and determination. His business 
 was the manufacture of leather, in the northerly part 
 of Charlton. He made the academy his residuary 
 legatee, and established the Waters Fund, "for the 
 purpose of supporting an instructor, or instructors, of 
 the Congregational Calvinistic order " " in the town of 
 Leicester forever." The will provided, in case of the 
 removal of the school from town, that the trustees 
 in town should take the fund and u«e the interest 
 for maintaining a public school, called the Waters 
 School or Academy. If the time should come when 
 there would be no such trustees, the selectmen were 
 to fulfill the trust. The amount received from this 
 estate was something over $8,000. 
 
 In 1831 the academy received $4,686.36 and also 
 the avails of certain lands in Maine and Vermont 
 from the estate of Hon. Isaiah Thomas, the distin- 
 guished Revolutionary patriot, original publisher of 
 the Worcester Spy, and founder of the American 
 Antiquarian Society ; and the same year $250 by the 
 willofHon. NathanielMaccarty, of Worcester. In 1832 
 the value of the funds was $21,970 67. The building 
 of the new academy in 1834, with the other expenses, 
 reduced the amount, so that in 1844 it was only 
 $13,611.72. The next year Hon. Daniel Waldo, of 
 Worcester, for seventeen years a valuable member 
 of the board of trustees, left the academy the sum of 
 $6,000, to constitute the Waldo Fund, the interest of 
 which was to be used for the " payment for able in- 
 struction in the various branches of knowledge, etc' 
 
 It is, however, to James Smith, Esq., of Philadel- 
 phia, that the institution is most largely indebted for 
 its endowment. He was born in Rutland, January 
 20, 1788, came to Leicester in 1810 a pale-faced, poor 
 boy, all his worldly goods tied in a pocket handker- 
 chief. First a clerk in the store of Colonel Thomas 
 Denny, wliose daughter Maria he married in 1815, he 
 became his partner in the manufacture of card cloth- 
 ing. The foundations of liis wealth were laid in the 
 period of the last war with England. In 1826 he re- 
 moved to Philadelphia, where he continued the same 
 business. Some years ago, addressing the students of 
 the academy, he said : " I early in life formed this 
 determination, that I would be useful." That resolve 
 was the key-note of his life. 
 
 He helped many who were in straits. He took 
 especial pleasure in aiding young students, especially 
 those who were fitting themselves for Christian work. 
 He gave during his life, and in his will, liberal dona- 
 tions to viwious literary institutions. In 1852 he 
 gave to the academy $10,000, on condition that $5000 
 additional should be raised. The condition was com- 
 plied with. Honorable Stephen Salisbury and Joseph 
 A. Denny, Esq., contributing $1000 each, Thomas 
 Denny, Esq., of New York, J. Wiley Edmands, of 
 Newton, Ichabod Washburn, of Worcester, and John 
 A. Smith subscribing $600 each, and other Individ- 
 
LEICESTER. 
 
 713 
 
 iial sums varying from $100 to $5 each. In 1877 he 
 placerl in the hands of the trustees $15,000, to he 
 added to the amount already given, thus making the 
 Smith Fund §25,000. This fund became available in 
 1879, after his death. 
 
 Benjamin Stone was principal of the academy from 
 June, 1784, to October, 1787 ; Amos Crosby from 
 October, 1787, to July, 1788. He was a native of 
 Brookfield and graduated at Harvard in 1786 ; after- 
 ward a lawyer in Brookfield. He is described as ''a 
 man of great quickness and ready wit and with con- 
 vivial tastes and habits" which developed into dissi- 
 pation. Samuel Sumner, son of Dr. Sumner, of 
 Shrewsbury, was principal from October, 1788, to 
 July, 1790, a graduate of Dartmouth in 1786, after- 
 ward a clergyman. David Smith from July, 1790, to 
 May, 1792; a native of Ipswich, graduated from 
 Harvard 1790; afterward a clergyman. Ebenezer 
 Adams, after teaching one year in the English depart- 
 ment, was principal from May, 1792, to July, 1806; 
 born in Ipswich in 1765, graduated from Dartmouth 
 in 1791. He is represented as one of the ablest, most 
 beloved and most successful of the early principals of 
 the Academy. He passed with the institution through 
 its gloomy period of depression, into the dawn of its 
 returning prosperity, and did much to shape its future 
 character. From July, 1806, to October, 1807, Rev. 
 Zephaniah Swift Moore discharged the duties of prin- 
 cipal, while at the same time pastor of the church. 
 Simeon Colton was principal from October, 1807, to 
 February, 1809. Luther Willson from February, 1809, 
 to August, 1812; born in New Braintree ; graduated 
 from Williams in 1807. Josiah Clark from March, 
 1812, to August, 1818; born in Northampton 1785; 
 graduated from Williams in 1809; afterward pastor of 
 the church in Rutland and many years a trustee. 
 Bradford Sumner, one term, 1818 and 1819; graduated 
 from Brown in 1808. John Richardson, from Feb- 
 ruary, 1819, to August, 1833; born in Woburn, grad- 
 uated from Harvard in 1813. He is remembered as a 
 thorough disciplinarian, a good scholar and instructor. 
 Luther Wright, from August, 1833, to August, 1839 ; 
 born in East Hampton and graduated fromYalein 1822. 
 He was a man of great vigor, a good scholar and effec- 
 tive teacher. Under his administration the school 
 greatly increased in numbers. He was afterward prin- 
 cipal of the Williston Academy, Easthampton. 
 
 In 1832 the second academy building was sold for 
 four hundred dollars. The new building was erected 
 on the site of the old. Mr. Elias Carter was the 
 architect. It is of brick, three stories in height. It 
 was one hundred and two feet in length, the centre 
 forty-two feet by forty, and the wings thirty feet 
 square. The east wing has in part been occupied by 
 the principals and their families, and the west as a 
 boarding-house. The upper rooms were for the asso- 
 ciate preceptor and students. The building was 
 completed and finished in the winter of 1833, and on 
 the 25th of December was dedicated. 
 
 Addresses were made by Rev. George Allen on be- 
 half of the trustees, and Mr. Luther Wright, the 
 principal preceptor. The subject of Mr. Wright's 
 address was "Education." It was published, to- 
 gether with a " Brief Sketch of the History of Lei- 
 cester Academy," prepared under the direction of the 
 building committee. The cost of the'edifice was ten 
 thousand dollars. Mr. Wright was principal for six 
 years, with Mr. Joseph L. Partridge as assistant, and 
 also Miss Elizabeth Holmes during the last four 
 years. She was the first female teacher of the 
 academy and held the position twelve years. During 
 the period of Mr. Wright's administration the school 
 greatly increased in numbers. 
 
 Joseph L. Partridge followed as principal from 
 August, 1839, to November, 1845. In his time the 
 number of pupils reached one hundred and seventy- 
 five, which is believed to be the largest in its history. 
 He was born in Hatfield in 1804 and graduated from 
 Williams in 1828. He has been on the board of 
 trustees for fourteen years, and, residing in Brooklyn, 
 N. Y., is still, at the age of eighty-four, a regular at- 
 tendant upon its meetings and an active and valuable 
 member. 
 
 Josiah Clark, Jr., born in Leicester in 1814 and 
 graduated from Yale in 1823, was principal from 
 January, 1846, to January, 1849, when he became 
 principal of Williston Seminary. The academy at 
 this time held high rank as a fitting-school. " I am 
 sure," says Hon. W. W. Rice of Mr. Clark, in his 
 centennial address, " that he might have been the 
 great master, but Leicester let him go." " He was 
 an accomplished scholar, courteous in manner, but 
 decided in principle, with a clear head, a large heart 
 and a beautiful spirit." 
 
 The English department was also conducted with 
 marked ability for ten years, from 1834, by Luther 
 Haven. Burritt A. Smith was principal from July, 
 1849, to August, 1852. 
 
 From August, 1852, to June, 1860, Alvan Hyde 
 Washburn was principal. He was a man of high 
 character, excellent scholarship and refined taste. He 
 afterward became an Episcopal clergyman. He was 
 killed in the fearful railroad accident at Ashtabula, 
 Ohio, December 29, 1876, not a vestige remainiug to 
 mark his identity. 
 
 After the large increase of funds in 1852, extensive 
 alterations and improvements were made in the 
 building, at a cost of about forty-two hundred dollars. 
 The main building above the school-rooms was con- 
 verted into a large and attractive audience-room, and 
 named Smith Hall. 
 
 In this hall are hung portraits of benefactors and 
 trustees of the institution. The re-dedication took 
 place October 26, 1853. Hon. Thomas Kinnicutt 
 .'poke for the trustees, and Mr. Washburn, the prin- 
 cipal, delivered an address upon "Old and New 
 Methods," which was published. 
 
 The town in 1856 organized a high school under 
 
714 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 the requirements of the State law, and other schools 
 of the same nature were mulliplied in the vicinity. 
 As the number of pupils in the academy became 
 reduced, the school was closed at the end of the 
 summer term of 1860, and remained suspended till 
 January, 1862, when it was re-opened, with ten pu- 
 pils, under William B. Phillips, a graduate of Brown 
 University in 1856. In April the term opened with 
 forty pupils, and H. G. Merriam was engaged as 
 teacher in the English department. 
 
 Mr. Phillips left at the end of the year, and John 
 Avery had charge of the school one term. He was 
 born in Conway, and graduated from Amherst in 
 1861. He was an eminent linguist. Oriental scholar 
 and author, and afterward was professor in Iowa Col- 
 lege and Bowdoin College. 
 
 Henry G. Merriam, after teaching in the English 
 department a year, was made principal in May, 1863, 
 and resigned June, 1865. He was graduated from 
 Brown University in 1857. In 1862 the boys of the 
 school were organized into a military company, and 
 afterward into a battalion. Mr. Merriam, a thor- 
 ough disciplinarian and teacher, conducted the 
 school with ability and energy, and under his ad- 
 ministration the numbers increased to about one 
 hundred, and all the rooms for students were 
 crowded. It was in the time of the war, and the 
 military training met a popular need. Company, 
 battalion and skirmish drill became important feat- 
 ures in the daily exercise of the pupils and promi- 
 nent attractions in the public examinations. The 
 effect of this training appeared in the erect bearing 
 and grace of the " Leicester Cadets." They were 
 received with favor when they appeared in Worces- 
 ter on parade and drill. The government, on rec- 
 ommendation of the academy, readily gave commis- 
 sions to a number of young men, and they went 
 immediately into active service. In 1863 a proposi- 
 tion to make the school a State military academy 
 was taken into consideration ; and on the 2d day 
 of August a State Commission visited the school, and 
 expressed much gratification with the proficiency of 
 the military training. The Hon. Edward Everett 
 was chairman of the commission, and addressed the 
 pupils in his peculiarly felicitous and eloquent 
 manner. 
 
 George W. Waite, of the class of 1861 at Amherst, 
 was principal from August, 1865, to April, 1867, and 
 Wm. C. Peckham, class of 1807, Amherst, from June, 
 1867, to June, 1868. Darius P. Sackett, a graduate of 
 Yale 1866, was principal preceptor from August, 1868, 
 to March, 1871. His administration raised the school 
 to a high rank in discipline, scholarship and general 
 character, not far surpassed in the previous history of 
 theacademy. Heisnowprincipalof theSackett School, 
 in Oakland, Cal. Charles A. Wetmore succeeded him, 
 in March, 1871. He was born in Norwich, N. Y., 
 November 8, 1843, and graduated from Hamilton 
 College in 1869. He was an enthusiastic and inspir- 
 
 ing teacher, entirely devoted to his work, although a 
 great sufferer from asthma the last year of his life. 
 In the summer of 1874 he went to Jefferson, N. H., 
 for his health, where he died suddenly July 6th. 
 James 0. Averill, of the class of 1870, at Amherst, 
 was principal one year, from August, 1874, and D. 
 Newton Putney, three years, from August, 1875. 
 
 In 1867 the meeting-house of the First Church was 
 purchased and removed to its present position, in 
 the rear of the academy. The upper part was con- 
 verted into rooms for students and the lower into a 
 gymnasium. 
 
 In the summer of 1878 the school was again sus- 
 pended, in order that the funds might accumulate 
 sufficiently to warrant extensive repairs and better 
 provisions for its work. These improvements were 
 made at a cost of six thousand one hundred dollars. 
 The school-rooms were finished in ash ; the labora- 
 tory was reconstructed and fitted for practical use for 
 students in chemistry and zoology ; and a new, con- 
 venient and attractive hall was finished in the east 
 wing for cabinets and the department of physics. It 
 is named " Murdock Hall," in honor of Mr. Joseph 
 Murdock, at whose expense the work was done, and 
 who has furnished it with a telescope, sets of globes, 
 charts and other facilities and adornments. He has 
 also refinished the gymuasium. 
 
 In 1887 Dr. Pliny Earle presented to the academy 
 his valuable cabinet of shells and minerals, collected 
 in connection with his extensive travels in various 
 parts of the earth. It contains probably over twelve 
 thousand specimens, many of them rare and beauti- 
 ful. He also provided an appropriate case, and en- 
 dowed the cabinet with a fund of one thousand dol- 
 lars. 
 
 In 1888 Mr. J. Bradford Sargent, of Leicester, 
 fitted a room in the tower of the gymnasium as a 
 weather station, and furnished it at large expense 
 with a set of meteorological instruments, which for 
 delicacy and beauty are supposed not to be equaled. 
 
 In the fall of 1882 the academy was reopened 
 with Mr. Caleb A. Page, a native of Burlington, 
 Me., a graduate of Bowdoin College, in 1870, as 
 principal. He still retains the position. The 
 school is organized in three departments : The 
 classical and scientific four years' courses, and the 
 three years' business course. The number of pupils 
 hin been about eighty. Since the reorganization 
 many members have been prepared for difl'erent col- 
 leges, and for normal and technical schools; while 
 others have gone from the business department into 
 eligible mechanical and mercantile situations. 
 
 The centennial anniversary of the academy was 
 celebrated September 4, 1884. A large number of 
 the former members of the institution assembled in 
 the morning at the academy building — among them 
 Edmund J. Mills, of Sutton, a pupil in 1803, and theu 
 in the ninety-fifth year of his age. An address of 
 welcome was given by Rev. A. H. Coolidge, the 
 
LEICESTER. 
 
 715 
 
 president of the board of trustees. An historical 
 address was given by Hon. W. W. Rice, and a poem 
 by Rev. Thomas Hill, D.D. The company, to the 
 number of seven hundred, then took dinner in a Yale 
 tent on the Common. Rev. A. Huntington Clapp, 
 D.D., presided in a very felicitous manner. Among the 
 addresses were those of Lieutenant-Governor Oliver 
 Ames, A. L. Partridge, Esq., Dr. Thomas Hill, Prof. 
 F. A. March, Judge Asa French, John E. Russell, 
 Esq , Colonel Homer B. Sprague, Rev. M. B. Angler, 
 Rev. A. C. Dennison, Rev. J. L. Jenkins, Judge C. 
 C. Esty, Mr. Wm. B. Earle and Rev. Samuel May. 
 Dr. Pliny Earle read a short original poem, as did 
 also Captain J. Waldo Denny and Rev. A. C. Denni- 
 son. The occasion was one of rare interest and 
 pleasure. In the evening there was a delightful 
 reunion in the academy. An association of the Alumni 
 of Leicester Academy was organized, of which Hon. 
 Oliver Ames, now Governor of Massachusetts, was 
 president. The association has since then held an 
 annual reunion at the Leice.ster Hotel, in June. 
 
 The academy has numbered among its trustees such 
 men as Hon. Thomas Gill, Lieutenant-Governor of 
 Massachusetts ; Colonel Rufus Putnam, one of the 
 founders of the North West Territory ; Hon. Levi Lin- 
 coln, Attorney-General, United States ; Rev. Thaddeus 
 Maccarty, pastor of the old South Church, Worces- 
 ter ; Hon. Dvvight Foster, United States Senator; 
 Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D.D., pastor of the Second 
 Congregational Church, Worcester; Hon. Nathaniel 
 Paine, Hon. Aaron Tufts, Hon. Daniel Waldo, 
 Samuel M. Burnside, Esq., Hon. Levi Lincoln, 
 Governor of Massachusetts; Hon. Abijah Bigelow_ 
 Hon. Stephen Salisbury, Hon. Samuel Mixter, Ichabod 
 Washburn, Rev. Seth Sweetser, D.D., Hon. George 
 F. Hoar, United States Senator ; Hon. A. D. Foster^ 
 Rev. Horatio Bardwell, Judge Henry Chapin, Rev. 
 Samuel May, and many other prominent men of 
 Leicester, together with former teachers and pupils of 
 the academy elsewhere mentioned. Many of the 
 teachers of the academy afterward became distin- 
 guished in other positions. Among these are Rev. 
 John Pierce, D.D., for fifty-two years pastor of the 
 church in Brookline; Theodore Dehon, D.D., Bishop 
 of South Carolina; Dr. James Jackson, for many years 
 at the head of the medical profession in Boston ; Dr. 
 John Dixwell and Dr. George Shattuck, also eminent 
 physicians in Boston ; Hon. Timothy Fuller, father 
 of Margaret Fuller, Representative in Congress ; Rev. 
 John N. Putnam, the learned Professor of Greek in 
 Dartmouth College ; Prof Francis A. March, of 
 Lafayette College, Pennsylvania; William M. Poole, 
 the eminent librarian, author of "Poole's Index'' 
 and " Index of Periodicals " ; Hon. W. W. Rice, for 
 ten years member of the national House of Repre- 
 sentatives. 
 
 Only a few of the many pupils of the academy who 
 have become distinguished can be mentioned : Hon. 
 Samuel C. Crafts, Representative and Senator in Con- 
 
 gress and Governor of Vermont ; Eli Whitney, in- 
 ventor of the cotton-gin ; Hon. William L. Marcy, 
 Secretary of State, United States; Hon. Wm. Upham, 
 United States Senator from Vermont; Rev. Gardi- 
 ner Spring, D.D., New York ; Hon. John Davis, United 
 States Senator and Governor of Massachusetts ; Hon. 
 EbenezerLane, Chief Justice of Ohio; Colonel Thomas 
 A-ipinwall, United States consul at London; Hon. 
 David Henshaw, Secretary of the Navy ; Rev. George 
 Allen ; Hon. Charles Allen, Representative in Con- 
 gress and judge; Dr. Levi Hedge, professor in Har- 
 vard College ; Hon. Emery Washburn, Governor of 
 Massachusetts ; Rev. Thomas Hill, D.D., president 
 of Harvard University from 1862-68 ; Hon. Pliny Mer- 
 rick and Hon. Benjamin F. Thomas, judges of the 
 Supreme Court of Massachusetts ; Rev. A. H. Clapp 
 D.D., Judge Asa D. French, Hon. Oliver Ames, 
 Governor of Massachusetts. 
 
 CHAPTER XCII. 
 
 LEICESTER— (Cowi'/wHef/.) 
 
 BUSINESS. 
 
 Card Bvsmess — Woolen Manufacture — Boot and Shoe BusincBS — Tanning 
 and Currying Business — Leiceslt^ National and Savings Banlii — Miscel' 
 laneous Industries. 
 
 Card Business. — Leicester for many years con- 
 tinued to be a purely agricultural community, the 
 people dependent for a living upon the products of 
 their farms. In the latter part of the last century the 
 industry was introduced which became the distinctive 
 business of the town, and for a long time the principal 
 source of its prosperity and wealth. 
 
 In this enterprise Mr. Edmond Snow was the pio- 
 neer. He began the manufacture of hand-cards in 
 1885. 
 
 Pliny Earle commenced the same business in 1786. 
 In 1789 we find him receiving an order for card cloth- 
 ing from Alray & Brown, of Providence, R. I., and 
 with it a reference to the fact that he had already cov- 
 ered carding machines in Worcester. 
 
 Soon after this Samuel Slater came to this country, 
 and the next year, under the auspices of Almy & 
 Brown, began the manufacture of cotton goods by 
 machinery moved by water-power; and Mr. Earle 
 supplied him with the cards by which the cotton was 
 prepared, which was first spun in this way in the 
 United States. Hitherto, cards had been made in 
 "plain" form, but the filleting for Mr. Slater was set 
 diagonally or " twilled." The sheets were of calf-skin. 
 The holes were pricked by hand, with two needles fas- 
 tened into a handle. The teeth were cut and bent by 
 machinery and set by hand. The statement that one 
 hundred thousand holes were thus pricked probably 
 falls below the fact. About the year 1797 Mr. Earle 
 
716 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 invented a machine for pricking "twilled" cards, for 
 which, in 1803, he secured a patent. It was based upon 
 a principle previously unrecognized in American card 
 machinery, and was not only involved in all subsequent 
 pricking-machines, but is continued in Mr. Wliitte- 
 more's machine for pricking and setting^that wonder- 
 ful mechanism the credit for inventing which is so 
 largely due to Eleazer Smith, and of which John 
 Randolph, speaking on the extension of its patent, 
 said, " Yes, I would renew it to all eternity, for it is 
 the only machine which has a soul.'' In 1791 Mr. 
 Earle associated with himself his brothers Jonah and 
 Silas, in the firm of Pliny Earle & Brothers. They 
 were probably for some years the largest manufac- 
 turers of card-clothing in the country. From their 
 factory at Mulberry Grove, hand-cards were taken by 
 horse-teams even to Charleston, S. C. They manu- 
 factured machines for carding both cotton and wool, 
 and also had wool -carding mills in several towns in 
 Worcester County and Rhode Island, for the conve- 
 nience of the farmers. Pliny Earle died in 1832, and 
 the business was conducted in his name till 1849 by 
 his son, William B. Earle, who had had charge 
 of it from the year 1819. He devoted much of his 
 skill to the improvement of the card-setting machine, 
 and as an expert in that machinery is said to have 
 had no superior. In 1837 he received of the Massa- 
 chusetts Charitable Society in Boston, a silver medal 
 for one of his machines. 
 
 Silas Earle withdrew from the firm and carried on 
 the business independently, at the Marshall house, 
 on Marshall Street, from about 1806 till the time of 
 his death, in 1842. His machines were bought by 
 Timothy K. Earle, who then commenced the business, 
 but soon removed to Worcester. 
 
 Daniel Denny in 1792 made hand-cards on Denny 
 Hill. 
 
 Woodcock & Knight. — Wiuthrop Earle began the 
 machine-card business in 1812, in a building in the 
 rear of Col. Thomas Denny's factory, which stood 
 east of the Leicester Hotel. He died in 1807, and 
 John Woodcock continued the business in connection 
 with the widow until her marriage to Alpheus Smith, 
 1808, when Mr. Smith assumed her share. Mr. 
 Woodcock invented the machine for splitting leather 
 to a uniform thickness. 
 
 In 1811 the factory was moved west of the hotel, 
 and the next year was enlarged by Mr. Woodcock. 
 In 1812 James Smith joined the company, which 
 took the name of Woodcock & Smith. Mr. Wood- 
 cock retired in 1813, and the next year John A. and 
 Rufus Smith took his place, forming the firm of 
 James & John A. Smith & Co. Rufus Smith died in 
 1818. In 1825, October 18th, John Woodcock, Hiram 
 Knight and Emory Drewry became partners. In 
 1827 and 1828 they built the Brick Factory. Mr. 
 Drewry left the firm in 1829, and continued to manu- 
 facture cards on Pleasant Street, a mile from the vil- 
 lage. In 1836 they added to their business the manu- 
 
 facture of card-clothing in Philadelphia, with George 
 W. Morse as a partner, and continued it for about ten 
 years, as the firm of James Smith & Co., while carry- 
 ing on business in Leicester as Smith, Woodcock & 
 Knight. They removed to the Central Factory, north 
 of the Church, in 1846. In 1848 T. E. Woodcock 
 and Dexter Knight, .sons of the senior members, were 
 admitted to the firm, which took the title of Wood- 
 cock, Knight & Co. 
 
 In 1867 the fathers disposed of their interests to 
 their sons (T. E. Woodcock, Dexter, George M. and 
 James J. Knight). They dissolved in 1881 and sold 
 the building and machinery to the Card-Clothing 
 Association. The factory was much enlarged and 
 improved in 1866. 
 
 Capf. Isaac Sonthr/aie and Col. Henry Sargent, both 
 of them enterprising and public-spirited citizens of 
 .Leicester, began the manufacture of machine-cards in 
 1810, as the firm of Southgate & Sargent, in Colonel 
 Thos. Denny's house. Col. Sargent withdrew in 1812 
 and was in the same business till his death in 1829, 
 his I rother (Col. Jos. D.) being with him from 1814 
 to 1819. Capt. Southgate, in 1826, associated with 
 himself Joshua Lamb, Dwight Bisco, Joseph A. Denny 
 and Jolin Stone, as the firm of Isaac Southgate & Co., 
 manufacturing machine-cards in the building west of 
 the hotel. Mr. Stone died in 1827, Mr. Lamb retired 
 in 1831 and Capt. Southgate in 1843, when the name 
 was changed to Bisco & Denny. In 1828 they built 
 the Central Factory and in 1845 the present factory | 
 of Bisco & Denny. In 1857 Charles A. Denny and j 
 George Bisco joined the firm. Jos. A. Denny died in ■ 
 1875 and Deacon Bisco in 1882, when John W. Bisco ' 
 joined the firm. In 1857 a branch establishment was 
 opened at Manchester, N. H. _ 
 
 Colonel Joseph D.Sargent first made hand-cards at ^ 
 his home, on the road from Cherry Valley to Auburn, 
 beyond Denny Hill. After separating from his 
 brother in 1819, he continued to manufacture hand- 
 cards at the Brick Factory till his death, in 1849, but 
 sold the other part of the business to Lamb & 
 White, in 1836. Silas Jones, Nathan Ainsworth and 
 William Boggs were at different times his partners. 
 
 Josiali Q. Lamb and Alonzo l-TAi/emanufactured ma- 
 chine-cards in Sargent's brick factory from 1836 10 
 1846, when Mr. Lamb retired and Mr.White continued 
 thebusine-s at the same place until his death, in 1850. 
 Christopher C. Denny became associated with Mr. 
 White in 1846, in the firm of White & Denny. In 
 1868 Mr. Denny disposed of his interest to H. Ar- 
 thur White, and the firm of White & Son continued 
 business till 1888, when, H. A. White having pur- 
 chased the interest of the father, the concern was 
 consolidated with the " Decker & Bonitz Card Cloth- 
 ing Company," incorporated under the laws of M.issa- 
 chusetts, which also carries on an extensive business 
 in Philadelphia. Mr. White assumed the manage- 
 ment of the Leicester branch. This corporation pur- 
 chased the Central Factory, which they enlarged and 
 
c/' 
 
 /> 
 
LEICESTER. 
 
 717 
 
 renovated, and added new buildings for the accommo- 
 dation of their new power-plant, and the grinding of 
 cards under patents owned by the corporation, and 
 for additional facilities for their increasing business. 
 
 The firm of /. & J. BInrdock had its origin in 1840, 
 in that of Southgate & Murdock, composed of Sam- 
 uel Southgate, Jr., and Joshua Murdock, Jr. Mr. 
 Southgate retired in 1844, and Mr. Murdock con- 
 tinued the business alone until 1848, when his brother 
 Joseph joined him, and the firm-name of J. & J. 
 Murdock was adopted, which is still used. In 1858, 
 John N. Murdock came into the firm. In March, 
 1883, Joshua died, and, in the following June, Julius 
 O. Murdock was admitted, forming the present com- 
 pany. For the first eight years the business was 
 small. When the present firm was organized the 
 company had only thirteen machines. 
 
 In 18-57 they bought the business of Baylies Up- 
 ham, thus adding twenty machines to their plant that 
 year. Previous to 1864 the motive-power was horses 
 in a circular tread-mill. In that year steam was 
 substituted for the primitive horse-power. At the 
 present time they have one hundred and thirty-seven 
 machines, capable of producing more than one hun- 
 dred thousand feet of cards yearly, and their machine 
 card business is the largest in town. The business 
 has from the first been carried on at the same site. 
 J. & J. Murdock's factory was enlarged in 1856 by 
 the addition of sixty-six feet, and, in 1866, it was 
 further enlarged by what is now the main building, 
 thirty-five by one hundred and fifty feet. In 1868 a 
 new branch of the business was added, and machin- 
 ery put in for currying and finishing the leather for 
 cards, eighteen thousand sides yearly being finished 
 and used for this purpose, in addition to a considera- 
 ble quantity of cloth. 
 
 In the early part of the year 1888 a dynamo was 
 put in and the works lighted by electricity. 
 
 After leaving the firm of James & John A. Smith 
 & Co. in 1830, .lohn A. Smith began the manufacture 
 of card-clothing on the site of the present Wire Mill. 
 In 1844 he was succeeded by the firm of Southgate & 
 Smith, consisting of Samuel Southgate, Jr., and John 
 S. Smith. In 1859 Horace Waite, who had been 
 making hand-cards on the first floor of Waite's factory 
 while Southgate & Smith were using the upper floor, 
 succeeded Mr. Southgate, and the firm became Smith 
 & Waite. Mr. Smith retired in 1867, and the firm of 
 E. C. & L. M. Waite & Co. was organized. Mr. Horace 
 Waite died in 1871, Lucius M. retired in 1874, and 
 the business has since been continued by Edward C. 
 Waite. 
 
 Josephus Woodcock, Benjamin Conklin and Austin 
 Conklin, as the firm of Conklin, Woodcock & Co., 
 began the machine-card business on Pleasant Street 
 in 1828 ; dissolved in 1830, when Mr. Woodcock, with 
 his brother Lucius, formed the firm of J. & L. Wood- 
 cock. Danforth Kice was with them from 1831 to 
 1836, and William P. White from 1848 till his death, 
 
 'n 1881. Charles H. then took the interest of his 
 father, Josephus Woodcock; Henry Bisco joined the 
 company, and the business was continued in the name 
 of L. Woodcock & Co. until 1888, when it was given 
 up, and the machinery sold to the Card Clothing 
 Association. Mr. Lucius Woodcock died in 1887. 
 
 Baylies Upliam manufactured machine-cards from 
 1825 till 1857, when he sold to J. & J. Murdoch. 
 From 1825 till 1833 Samuel Hurd was in company 
 with him, and from 1849 to 18.55 Irving Sprague. 
 
 After leaving Mr. Upham, Mr. Hurd united with 
 James Trask in the manufacture of machine and 
 hand-cards, on the Trask place, on Mount Pleasant, 
 Mr. Trask died in 1848, and Mr. Hurd removed to the 
 rear of White & Denny's factory. In 1862 he sold to 
 L. S. Watson, but continued to make cards till 1866 
 on commission. William F. Holman manufactured 
 hand-cards from 1867 to 1873. 
 
 Claramon Hunt made cards on a foundation of 
 wood from 1868 to 1874 in White & Denny's factory, 
 and then sold to L. S. Watson & Co. 
 
 In 1842 John H. & William Whiltemore began the 
 manufacture of card-clothing in the building west of 
 the Friends' burying-ground, which William Earle 
 was at the same time using for making card-machines. 
 In 1845 they received their brother James. John H. 
 was killed on the Western Railroad in 1851, and the 
 firm assumed the name of W. & J. Whittemore. 
 James died in 1882. William F., his son, joined the 
 company in 1874. After making cards about a year 
 at Mannville, the Whittemores removed to the Centre 
 Village, and occupied, for a few years, the building 
 on Market Street in which is now Wheeler's meat- 
 market. They then built their factory, which was 
 much enlarged in 1883. 
 
 Cheney Hatch, first on Pleasant Street, then on 
 Main Street, made cards from 1823 to 1836, when he 
 sold to Alden Bisco, who soon sold to Henry A. 
 Denny, who, in 1849, took into partnership his sons 
 — Joseph Waldo and William S., — as the firm of 
 Henry A. Denny & Sons. In 1854 they sold to 
 White & Denny. 
 
 Henry A. Denny commenced making hand-cards 
 in 1823, with Emory Drury, as the firm of Drury 
 & Denny, on Pleasant Street, about a mile south of 
 Main Street, where Samuel D. Watson had before 
 carried on the same business two or three years. 
 They dissolved, and he continued alone, on the 
 corner of Main and Mechanic Streets. Afterward he 
 w.as associated with Reuben Merriam, until 1836, 
 when he purchased the factory hitherto used by 
 Mr. Hatch. 
 
 Cnl. Thomas Denny, with William Earle, made 
 hand-cards on Denny Hill. In 1802 he began the 
 manufacture of cards, hand and machine, on the 
 corner of Main and Market Streets, which he con- 
 ducted on an extensive scale till his death, in 1814. 
 He had in the same building the post-office and a 
 store. 
 
718 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Jonathan Earle manufactured cards on Mount 
 Pleasant from 1804 to 1813. 
 
 Alpheus Smith built a brick factory, afterward the 
 house of H. G. Henshaw, where he manufactured 
 card clothing from 1813 to 1823, and was succeeded 
 by his brother Horace. 
 
 James Stone made hand-cards from 1849 to 1853. 
 
 Roswdl Sprague built a store opposite the academy, 
 and in it manufactured cards. 
 
 Reuben Merriam, in the same house, made hand 
 and machine-cards, and built card-machines for 
 many years, from 1821, George W. Morse and Henry 
 A. Denny being at times his partners. 
 
 Capt. WUliani Sprague <& Sons were engaged in the 
 same business ; also Brigham Barton, Bernard Upham, 
 Samuel D. Watson, Aaron Morse, Guy S. Newton, 
 Timothy Earle, Samuel Southgate, William H. Scott, 
 Oliver Sylvester and others. 
 
 Joseph B. and Edward Sargent began the manu- 
 facture of hand cards at the " Brick Factory," May 
 1, 1854. (ieorge H. Sargent came into the firm 
 January ], 1859, at which time the well-known Sar- 
 gent Hardware Commission House was established, 
 in New York City. They carried on the hand-card 
 business in Leicester on a large scale, purchasiLg the 
 interest of several other firms. About the year 1868 
 they removed the business to Worcester, and in 1883 
 sold to L. S. Watson & Co. 
 
 L. S. Watson & Co. are the principal hand-card 
 manufacturers in the country. Like other interests 
 in town, this enterprise has gradually grown from a 
 very small beginning. Lory S. Watson came to 
 Leicester from Spencer in 1842, and in company with 
 Horace Waite bought one-half of Col. Joseph D. 
 Sargent's machinery. Waite & Watson made hand- 
 cards in the "Brick Factory" till 1845, when the 
 co-partnership was dissolved, each partner taking 
 one-half of the machines. At this lime Mr. Watson 
 had eight card-setting machines, which were dis- 
 tributed in different factories, in which he hired 
 power. The coarse cards were pricked at Mulberry 
 Grove by one of Silas Earle's pricking-machines, and 
 the teeth set by hand. About the year 1861 he 
 bought out Samuel Hurd and George Uphara. In 
 this year he built the present factory, and introduced 
 for power Ericson's hot-air engine. In 1865 he took 
 his son Edwin L. into partnership, under the title of 
 L. S. Watson & Co. The factory was enlarged in 
 1866, and steam-power was introduced. In 1878 the 
 building was again enlarged, and again in 1885. It 
 is in size one hundred feet by forty feet, and of four 
 stories, and there are also separate store-houses. In 
 1883 they bought the hand card machinery and 
 stock of Sargent Hardware Co., and for nearly two 
 years carried on a branch establishment in Worcester. 
 At present they have one hundred machines, and 
 manufacture about 14,000 dozen pairs of hand-cards 
 annually. In 1873 the company began the manu- 
 facture of wire heddles, which they have continued 
 
 as a separate department. The capacity of the wire 
 heddle machines is 100,000 daily. 
 
 The history of Leicester is closely identified with 
 the rise and development of card manufacture in 
 this country. At first the entire process was hand- 
 work. The holes were pricked by hand. The ma- 
 chine for pricking was then invented, and for many 
 years the setting of teeth by hand furnished employ- 
 ment for women and children in their homes through- 
 out this whole region. In this way they could, at 
 one time, earn fourteen cents a day. This continued 
 through the first quarter of the century, when the 
 card-pricking and setting machine began to come in- 
 to general use. 
 
 The use of power in the preparation of the leather 
 is of much more recent date. As we have seen, Mr. 
 John Woodcock invented the machine for splitting 
 leather, something like seventy-five years ago, and 
 the preparation of the leather by power has been 
 coming into use within the last twenty-five years. 
 Cloth also is now extensively used. 
 
 At first the machines were moved by hand. Dog- 
 power was then introduced, then horse-power. Thirty 
 years ago White & Denny's factory was the only 
 establishment in which steam-power was employed. 
 It is now used in all. Within two years the heavy 
 machines for grinding cards after they are set, has 
 been brought into general use in town. The busi- 
 ness now requires larger facilities and capital than 
 were necessary at an earlier period. There has been 
 a change in the number and magnitude of the manu- 
 facturing establishments. There are at present only 
 five card-clothing factories in town. Formerly many 
 men made hand-cards on a small scale. Now there 
 is only one firm in town engaged in this branch of 
 the business, and there are only three manufactories 
 of cotton and woolen hand cards in the country. 
 There were made in the year 1887 by all the card- 
 clothing manufacturers in the country 975,742 square 
 feet, valued at $1,219,677. Of these, 216,468 feet were 
 made in Leicester, valued at $270,585. 
 
 Woolen Manufacture. — Samuel Watson is en- 
 titled to the position of pioneer woolen manufacturer 
 in Leicester. During the War of 1812, or as Washburn 
 states, "previous to 1814 he enlarged his clothier's 
 shop," and began the weaving of woolen cloth upon 
 looms moved by hand. The mill was located on the 
 Auburn road near Main Street, on the privilege used 
 by Richard Southgate for his saw-mill, the second 
 erected in town. Alexander Parkman afterward 
 used it as a fulling-mill, and was followed by 
 Asabel Washburn. According to Washburn's his- 
 tory Mr. Watson leased the mill to James Anderton, 
 who had been bred a woolen manufacturer in Lan- 
 cashire, England, who disposed of his interest to 
 Thomas Bottomly, " who continued to carry on the 
 business there until 1825." The building was burnt 
 February 11, 1848. 
 
 Mr. Bottomly may truthfully be termed the found- 
 
a-t>{i^. 
 
LEICESTEK. 
 
 719 
 
 er of Cherry Valley as a manufacturing village. 
 When he came to Leicester there were, as nearly as 
 can be ascertained, only ten houses in what is now 
 the village. Most of the present residences were 
 built in his lifetime, and it was by him that the three 
 brick factories were erected. He was a native of 
 Yorkshire, England. He had worked in the factories 
 as a child, but was afterward a shepherd on the 
 moors, where he earned money with which to come 
 to America. He came to this country in 1819, land- 
 ing at Philadelphia, where he worked for a short 
 time, and then started on foot for Rochdale, where 
 was James Anderton, whom he had known in Eng- 
 land. He found himself without money before the 
 journey was completed, and always remembered with 
 special gratitude the kindness of a family in Connec- 
 ticut who entertained him over the Sabbath. He 
 worked in Rochdale for a time, and came to Cherry 
 Valley, and built what is now Olney's Mill in 1821, 
 and was running it as late as 1824. The cloth was 
 woven by hand in a building before used as a tan- 
 nery, where the post-othce now stands. 
 
 There was a saw-mill here at an early date owned 
 by Benjamin Studley. About the year 1765 the privi- 
 lege, with an acre of land, was bought by the " Forge^ 
 Partners," who erected a building for some kind of 
 iron-works. They, however, sold the property, which 
 was called the " Forge Acre," to Matthew Watson, 
 who had there a saw-mill till about the year 1S21, when 
 Thomas Bottomly built on it a woolen-factory of brick. 
 Such is the early history of this site, with a few varia- 
 tions, as given by Governor Washburn and also by 
 Joseph A. Denny, Esq., except that Washburn makes 
 1820 the date of building the mill, while Mr. Bottom- 
 ly's son Wright places it 1821. 
 
 There have been various transfers of the property 
 since that time. It passed from Thomas Bottomly to 
 the Bottomly Manufacturing Company June 1, 1827, 
 from them back to Thomas Bottomly November 10, 
 1846, from him to Samuel Bottomly March 10, 1849, 
 from him to George Hodges July 6th of the same 
 year, and December 21st one-half of Mr. Hodges' in- 
 terest to Benjamin A. Farnum. June 20, 1855, Samuel 
 L. Hodges came into possession of his father's inter- 
 est, and October 9, 1857, that of Mr. Farnum, making 
 him at this date the sole owner of the property. The 
 factory was partially destroyed by fire September 7, 
 1864; up to Mr. Hodges' time broadcloths of superior 
 grade were woven here. He introduced the manufic- 
 ture of flannels. By his energy and public spirit Mr. 
 Hodges did much to build up Cherry Valley. 
 
 In 1866, October 9th, the property was conveyed in 
 trust to George H. Gilbert, Jr., George Hodges and 
 Henry C. Weston, and by them to B. A. Farnum, 
 June 7, 1867, Mr. and Mrs. Hodges giving them a 
 quit-claim deed ihe same day. Frank C. Fiske came 
 into possession January 1, 1870. The mill was nearly 
 destroyed by fire June 3, 1874. Albert T. B. Ames 
 purchased it August 1, 1874, and at the same time made 
 
 a declaration of trust as to one-half of the property, 
 held for George W. Olney, who with him formed the 
 company of George W. Olney & Co. They rebuilt 
 and opened the mill in the au'umn of 1874, and con- 
 tinued to run it till February, 1876. George W. 
 Olney came into entire possession March 22, 1876, and 
 reopened the mill June 14, 1876, since which time he 
 has continued the manufacture of flannels. Two con- 
 siderable additions have since been made to the main 
 building — one in 1881, and the other in 1885. A store- 
 house and other buildings and several tenement- 
 houses have also been erected, and the general aspect 
 of that part of the village much improved. The 
 factory contains seven seta of cards, forty-six looms and 
 four thousand two hundred and forty spindles. Mr. 
 Olney is largely interested, also, in manufacturing 
 in Lisbon, Maine. 
 
 In 1821 James Anderton began the manufacture of 
 broadcloths and cassimeres in the south part of the 
 town, in a small wooden mill, built about this time, 
 by Thomas Scott, on the site of the present Lower 
 Rochdale Factory. The Leicester Manufacturing 
 Company was soon incorporated, and continued the 
 same business, being afterward united with the Saxon 
 Manufacturing Company, in Franiingham, as the 
 Saxon and Leicester Company. Mr. Joshua Clapp 
 bought the property in 1829 and continued the same 
 line of manufactures till 1840. For two or three years 
 little was done in the mill. It then came into the 
 hands of John Marland, of Andover, who sold it in 
 1845 to Barnes & Mansur, who added the manufac- 
 ture of flannels. The building was burned in 1846. 
 The same year Mr. Reuben S. Denny bought out Mr. 
 Mansur's interest, and, with Mr. Barnes, built a brick 
 factory on the same site, which was completed in 
 1847. Mr. Denny in 1850 bought out Mr. Barnes. 
 This factory was burned in 1851, and rebuilt in 1852. 
 Meantime, about the year 1844, a wooden building 
 had been erected on the site of the present Upper 
 Factory, where the manufacture of carpets was carried 
 on for a year with indifferent success This building 
 Mr. Denny bought while erecting his new factory, 
 and manufactured white flannels. It was burned in 
 1854, and the present brick building took its place. 
 
 In 1856 Ebenezer Dale, representing the firm of 
 Johnson, Sewall & Co., of Boston, came into possession 
 of both factories and a large property, real and per- 
 sonal, connected with them. In the two mills are 
 thirteen sets of machinery. Since 1859, first as the 
 Clappville Mills, then as the Rochdale Mills, they 
 have manufactured flannels and ladies' dress goods, 
 averaging for the last twenty years from one to one 
 and a half million yards. New and improved ma- 
 chinery has within a few years taken the place of the 
 old. E. G. Carlton has for thirty years been the agent 
 and manager, and the reputation of the products of 
 the Rochdale Mills is exceeded by few, if any, manu- 
 facturing establishments in the country. 
 
 In 1838 Amos S. Earle and Billings Mann, as the 
 
720 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 firm of Earle & Mann, began the manufacture of sat- 
 inets in the building near the corner of Mannville 
 and Earle Streets, at Mannville, in which Earle & 
 Bros, had made card-machines and Amos S. Earle 
 had afterward made hand-cards. Mr. Mann removed 
 from town in 1844. Nathan Daniels became Mr. 
 Earle's partner, and the firm of Earle & Daniels 
 built forty feet of the present mill. Mr. Daniels died 
 and the estate being solvent, it was bought by a syndi- 
 cate of creditors. 
 
 Meantime Mr. Mann had been engaged in the 
 same business in Holden with Albert Marshall. In 
 1853 Mann & Marshall purchased the property, en- 
 larged the mill and continued the manufacture of 
 satinets twenty-two years. They were heavy losers 
 in the Boston fire in 1875, and were obliged soon after 
 to suspend business. George and Billings Mann were 
 associated with them for about one year. In 1879 
 George and Billings Mann and John P. Stephen, 
 their brother-in-law, began business. They have en- 
 larged and improved the plant, built cottages for the 
 operative-) and conducted a prosperous business. 
 
 Cherry Valley Woolen- Mills. —\n\&Z6T\iOi. Bottomly 
 laid the foundations of the factory now run by the 
 Cherry Valley Woolen-Mills on the privilege early 
 occupied by Nathan Sargent as a grist-mill. In 1837 
 he began there the manufacture of broad-cloths. He 
 sold to Effingham L. Capron in 1845. 
 
 In 1859 the mill was owned by E. D. Thayer and 
 used by Mowry Lapham and James A. Smith, under the 
 firm-name of Lapham & Smith, until )862, when Mr. 
 Smith sold to Mr. Lapham and removed to Rhode 
 Island. 
 
 In 1863 the building was destroyed by fire, and 
 the privilege remained vacant till 1865, when George 
 N. and James A. Smith bought it and built a six-set 
 mill for the manufacture of fancy cassimeres. In 
 1868 George N. Smith sold his share to James A. In 
 1876 the factory was nearly destroyed by the " Flood." 
 Mr. Smith rebuilt in 1878 and leased to Eli Collier 
 and A. E. Smith. Collier & Smith dissolved in 1879, 
 and A. E. Smith continued the business until 1887, 
 when the mill was leased to the present "Cherry 
 Valley Woolen-Mills" Company. The property was 
 sold to F. T. Blackmer, Esq., of Worcester, in 1881, 
 and is now owned by his heirs. This mill now 
 maiuifactures ladies' dress and skirt goods. 
 
 Kettle Brook, which furnishes the water-power for 
 all the factories in Mannville, Lakeside, Cherry Val- 
 ley, Valley Falls and Jamesville, and which has repeat- 
 edly, in time of freshets, been the source of serious ap- 
 prehension through the valley, was originally only a 
 little stream winding in picturesque beauty through 
 meadows and forests, and leaping down the rocks 
 through narrow defiles. Says one who lived by it 
 " When I wa« a little girl. Kettle Brook was a small 
 stream of water, that I have waded across many 
 times." 
 
 Collier's i/t7/.— About the year 1835 L. G. Dickin- 
 
 son built the embankment north of Main Street, and 
 the dam south of the road, where Collier's mill stands. 
 To this place Mr. Dickinson moved his saw-mill, 
 which formerly was located where A. W. Darling & 
 Co.'s mill now is. This mill of Mr. Dickinson was 
 used as a saw-mill until 1844, when it was converted 
 into a satinet factory. The business was carried on 
 by Jonathan Earle. In the same building was the 
 cabinet shop of Silas A. Morse. It was burned to the 
 ground March 24, 1848, but afterwards rebuilt by 
 Mr. Dickinson, of lumber from an old church in 
 Charlton. It was leased to Baker & Bellows October 
 1, 1848. October 1, 1853, it was leased to Eli Collier. 
 It was burned January 5, 1866, but rebuilt the next 
 summer from the lumber of the Lower Tophet ma- 
 chine-shop and was leased to Collier. April 8, 1881, 
 it was sold to Collier & Butler. September 1, 1888, 
 Butler sold out to Collier. It has been a satinet-mill 
 since it was first changed from a saw mill. 
 
 Chapel Mill.—h\ the year 1836 or '37 John Waite 
 bought land of Samuel Waite, built a dam and canal 
 and erected a mill where the Chapel Mill now stands, 
 on Chapel Street, a few rods north of Main Street. 
 Here he made churns. It was afterwards a shuttle- 
 shop, it was used later, about 1844, by H. G. Hen- 
 shaw for drawing wire. It was here that Richard 
 Sugden, whose extensive wire business is one of the 
 important factors in the wealth of Spencer, first drew 
 wire in this country; both he and Mr. Myrick worked 
 for Mr. Henshaw. In 1849 Myrick and Sugden 
 bought the machinery of Mr. Henshaw and formed a 
 partnership under the name of Henshaw, Myrick & 
 Sugden, of Spencer. The partnership was dissolved 
 in 1854. 
 
 The Chapel Mill property was afterward owned by 
 N. R. Parkherst, and was sold by him to L. G. Dick- 
 inson, October, 1854. It has been occupied by John 
 Q. Adams, who used it for a shoddy-mill, and by 
 Bottomly & Fay, who made satinets there. 
 
 James Fay was in business there when it was 
 burned, March 7, 1865. The property was bought by 
 Samuel Chism, of Newton, and he rebuilt from the 
 lumber of the old Baptist Church in Greenville, thus 
 giving to the mill the name of Chapel Mill. It was 
 leased to H. G. Kitredge, who made satinets there for 
 two years, then to George A. Kimball and I. R. Bar- 
 bour, who occupied it until sold to William N. Pierce, 
 April 18, 1871. It was then leased to James A. Smith 
 & Co., who made satinets there until March 6, 1879. 
 May 5, 1879, it was leased to Collier & Butler for 
 three years and nine months, when A. E. Smith 
 bought the property and used it as a satinet-mill 
 until May 1, 1887. George N. Smith then leased it 
 and made satinets until June 15, 1887, when it was 
 burned. Collier & Butler bought the property, re- 
 built the mill and leased it to George N. Smith, who 
 now occupies it. 
 
 There are in 1889 ten woolen-mills in the town of 
 Leicester, and nine firms engaged in the manufacture 
 
LEICESTER. 
 
 721 
 
 of woolen cloth. The average annual value of the 
 products of these mills is about $1,286,000. 
 
 A. W. Darling & Co.— In 1827 Thomas Buttomly 
 built a dam upon Kettle Brook, on Chapel Street, 
 about half a mile from the corner of Main Street. 
 The pond formed thereby was considered a reservoir 
 for the privileges below until 1S47, when the present 
 Bottomly Mill was erected by Thomas Bottomly. 
 Previous to this, about 1833 or 1834, L. G. Dickenson 
 erected a saw-mill on the same privilege as the pres- 
 ent mill. In 1845, Mr. Bottomly opened a brick-yard 
 on this spot, and made the brick of which, in 1847, 
 he began the present Bottomly Mill. About the 
 same year he caused the Waite meadow to be over- 
 flowed ; this was the beginning of the Waite resers'oir ; 
 the property afterwards came into the hands of Booth 
 Bottomly. 
 
 In 1874 E. D. Thayer bought the property of the 
 trustees of the Bottomly estate, and has owned it 
 ever since. 
 
 Booth Bottomly began to manufacture here in 1855 
 or 1856, and continued until his death in 1868. Other 
 firms who have occupied the mill are R. L. Hawes 
 & Co., George Kimball & Co., for a short time ; E. D. 
 Thayer, for twenty years, Bramley Bottomly being 
 for some years associated with him. After 1870 or 
 1877 the Hopeville Company used the mill for a few 
 years, then E. D. Thayer, Jr., from 1884 to 1886, 
 when the firm of A. W. Darling & Co. assumed the 
 business. It is a four-set satinet-mill. 
 
 The Greenville Woolen- Factory was first built in 
 1871 by A. W. & J. D. Clark. It was of wood, 
 fifty feet square, and three stories high, with a brick 
 picker-house adjoining. The buildings were rented 
 to Joseph Peel, of Spencer, who began the manufac- 
 ture of woolen goods in the winter of 1872, and con- 
 tinued until January, 1877; since that time the 
 business has been carried on by J. D. Clark. The 
 mill was enlarged in 1880. 
 
 The Lakeside Mami/acttiri?ig Co. — In 1847, D. 
 Waldo Kent put up a saw-mill at Lakeside. In 1853 
 he built his planing-mill and box-factory. In this 
 building, in 1857, he set up the first circular saw-mill 
 introduced into this part of the State. In 186(; he 
 began the manufacture of shoddy, and, in 1880, of 
 satinets. The present factory was erected in 1883. 
 Since April, 1885, it has been running night and day. 
 The surroundings of the factory have been much 
 improved, and around it has sprung up a neat little 
 village. The business of the Lakeside Manufactur- 
 ing Company is carried on by P. G. & Daniel Kent. 
 The factory was first lighted by electricity in July, 
 1887. In 1885 they bought the Jamesville Mills, in 
 Worcester, and, with the two mills, they are said to 
 be the largest manufacturers of satinets in the 
 country. 
 
 77(6 Leicester Wire Company had its origin in 1871. 
 At this time Mr. Cyrus D. Howard, an experienced 
 workman, set up machines and began the drawing of 
 46 
 
 wire for cards in the building which had been used 
 by successive firms as a card manufactory, and later 
 as a box shop. Thomas Shaw was afterward associated 
 with him for a short time as the firm of Cyrus D. 
 Howard & Co. David Bemis went into company 
 with Howard in 1876, as the firm of Howard & 
 Bemis. In 1880 J. Bradford Sargent joined the firm, 
 which became Howard, Bemis & Co. Mr. Howard 
 retired in 1884, and the Leicester Wire Company was 
 organized. Harry E. Sargent came into the firm in 
 1885, and Mr. Bemis retired. Of this firm H. E. Sar- 
 gent is president, and J. B. Sargent treasurer. The 
 new buildings were erected in 1881, and engine-house 
 and boiler in 1883. The machinery is principally 
 employed in drawing card, reed and stone wire. 
 
 The iMkeside Woolen Mills put in a dynamo and 
 lighted their factory by electricity in July, 1887. Since 
 that time dynamos have been placed in the card 
 factories of J. & J. Murdock, and Decker, Bonitz & Co. 
 On December 10, 1887, an electric plant was estab- 
 lished at the Leicester Wire Company's works, by 
 which the other card factories are lighted, also the 
 Leicester Hotel, the stores in the centre, and several 
 private houses. 
 
 Charles W. Warren began the making of shoe-count- 
 ers in the house on the southwest corner of Main and 
 Rawson Streets about the year 1852, then moved to 
 the house on the lot between the bank and the post- 
 office about the year 1854, there manufacturing in- 
 soles. The buildings were burnt in 1862. In 1867 
 he built his house and factory on Pleasant Street. 
 The factory has been several times enlarged, and is 
 devoted to the manufacture of shoe-heels, employing 
 about forty persons. 
 
 Boots and Shoes. — The only shoe manufactory in 
 town is that of Horace & Warren Smith, on Mt. 
 Pleasant, begun in 1865. Among those who at dif- 
 ferent times have carried on the boot and shoe business 
 are Amasa Watson, Delphus Washburn, Baldwin Wat- 
 son, Cheney Hatch, Wm. F. Holman. 
 
 About the year 1849 several gentlemen formed a 
 company for the manufacture of boots, having in 
 mind the increase of business in town. The work 
 was at first carried on in the house on Market Street 
 in which is Wheeler's meat market, where there was 
 horse-power. After a few years it was removed to 
 Main Street, where now stands the house of E. D. 
 Waite. On the 26th of September, 1860, the building 
 was burnt. The company had met with heavy losses 
 in consequence of the failures of that period, and 
 after the fire the business was abandoned. 
 
 Leather. — The tanning and currying of leather 
 appears to have been a prominent industry in former 
 times. Elijah Warren had a tannery on the main 
 road, half a mile from the Spencer line, at a very 
 early date. He was succeeded by his son, Joseph. 
 Henry E. Warren afterward owned it, and had also a 
 tan-bouse north of Main Street, near the Spencer line. 
 It was burned in 1S4S. John Lynde, the early settler, 
 
HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSxiCHUSETTS. 
 
 also had a tannery in the north part of the town. 
 Jonathan Warren had a tanner)' on Pine Street, two 
 miles from the village, anil was succeeded by his sons 
 Jonathan and Elijah. It was burned in 1825. Lieut. 
 Jonas Stone built a tannery at the foot of Strawberry 
 Hill in 1790, where work was continued by different 
 persons for thirty or forty years, — among them 
 Thaddeus Upham, and E. H. & Georgo Bo wen. Mr. 
 Studley had a tannery in Cherry Valley, where the 
 poat-ofiice now stands. Aniasa Warren and Horace 
 and Baldwin A\'atson were tanners in the west part of 
 the town. 
 
 Leander Warren, when a young man, began the 
 currying business near the house of his lather, Joseph 
 Warren. In 1S45 he bought the place south of the 
 Centre School-house, where he carried on the business 
 till his death, in 1802, when he was succeeded by John 
 N. Grout. Since Mr. Grout's time there has been ro 
 currying done in town, except in connection with 
 Murdock's Card Manufactory. 
 
 A. Hankeij ct' Co., Manufacturers of Mad tine Knives. 
 — In 1798 Caleb Wall bought land of the Green family 
 and built above the present works of A, Haukey & 
 Co. a blacksmith shop, where he made scythes, carry- 
 ing on a large business. In 1830 Thomas Wall and 
 Nathan Harkness built on the present site of the 
 " Lower Shop," and carried on the business three or 
 four years, and were followed by Cadsey, Brown & 
 Draper. 
 
 In 1848 Hankey, Stiles & Co. purchased the prop- 
 erty and remodeled it for the manufacture of machine- 
 knives. The firm was Anthony Hankey, Francis 
 Stiles and H. C. Bishop. About 18.31 Mr. Haukey 
 went into the dredging business in Boston, where he 
 had invented a dredging-machine. The business 
 in Greenville was carried on by Stiles & Co. (F. Stiles 
 and F. W. Taylor) until a few years later, when Mr. 
 Hankey returned and managed the business under 
 the lirm-uame of Stiles & Co. This partnership was 
 dissolved July 14, 18(56. and in October of the same 
 year Stiles sold his entire interest to A. Hankey & Co. 
 J. E. Jones was admitted as a partner, but he only 
 remained a short time. The firm was A. Hankey 
 and George A. Corser. In February, 1877, Hankey 
 bought out Corser, and continued the business alone 
 until March, 1881, when J. X. Rogers was admitted 
 to the partnership under the old firm-name of A. 
 Hankey & Co., which continues to this date. 
 
 In 1881 a system of improvements was inaugurated. 
 The old buildings were torn down and new and larger 
 ones erected; new water-ways and new machinery 
 were added, and it is to-day the largest and most com- 
 plete shop in the world for the exclusive manufai'ture 
 
 of machine-knives. The products of this .shop go to 
 all parts of the world, in many instances direct to 
 Cuba, South America, Spain, Germany and China. 
 In 1887 a branch was started in Philadelphia. It is 
 an interesting fact that the first knives that were u.sed 
 on a planing-machine in this country were forged by 
 hand by Mr. Hankey in Boston, and also that the first 
 dies for cutting out paper collars were made at this 
 shop. 
 
 Leicester Natioxal Baxk. — "Leicester Bank" i 
 was chartered as a State bank March 4, 182(5, with a 
 capital of one hundred thousand dollars, which in 
 1853 was increased to one hundred and fifty thousand 
 dollars, and in 1854 to two hundred thousand dollars. 
 John Clapp was made president of the bank April 
 2(5, 182(5; N. P. Denny, October 4, 1830; Joshua 
 Clapp, October 3, 183(5 ; Waldo Flint, October 2, 1837 ; 
 Joseph A. Denny, October 1, 1838; Cheney Hatch, 
 October 2, 1843 ; Charles A. Denny, December 16, 
 1878. John A. Smith wiis appointed cashier May 26, . 
 1826; H. G. Henshaw, October 21, 1826; D. E. ' 
 Merriam, Decemlier 15, 1845 ; George H. Sprague, 
 May 20, 1885. The institution was made a national 
 bank March 21, 1865. 
 
 The first bank building was in connection with the 
 old town-house, built in 1826 by the town and the 
 bank. In 1853 the bank was removed to the brick 
 building east of Leicester Hotel. In 1871 the present 
 bank was completed and the business removed to it. 
 
 Leicester Savings Baxk. — The Leicester Savings 
 Bank was incorporated April 17, 1869. Cheney 
 Hatch was elected president May 5, 1869, and Lory 
 S. Watson, May 21, 1879. D. E. Merriam was the 
 first treasurer, appointed May 14, 1869, and was suc- 
 ceeded by the present incumbent, George H. Sprague, 
 May 24, 1885. The present amount of deposits is 
 three hundred and ninety-one thousand two hundred 
 and eighty dollars. 
 
 Miscellaxeous Ixdustkies. — There have been 
 several hatters. John Whittemore bound books 
 where the Whittemore Card Factory now stands. 
 Hori Brown had a printing-office on the west corner 
 of Main and Mechanic Streets, where he not only did 
 job-work, but printed books; among these was 
 "Scott's Lessons," printed in 1815. 
 
 At the foot of the hill, from 1823 to 1853, was the 
 grocery of Evi Chilson, especially prized by students 
 of the academy for the rare quality of its entertain- 
 ment for the inner man. It is remembered by them 
 after many other things are forgotten. 
 
 It would be impossible to mention all the different 
 kinds of business carried on at different times in town, 
 or to give the history of the many stores. 
 
LEICESTER. 
 
 723 
 
 CHAPTER X C 1 1 1. 
 
 hUICBSTER— (Continued.) 
 THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 Sirth Massachusetis Ifigliitfnt — ll'or Mcetiiign — Tweiily-ji/lli lieijiiiiettt — 
 Fifteenth, Tweulii-fii-M, Tlnitij-/ouyth, Foity-eecoiid — Action of thi 
 Town — Other Solfliers — Expenditures — Casualtien — Close of the War. 
 
 News ol' the attack on Fort Sumter reached Lei- 
 cester on Saturday, April 13, 18G1, and occasioned 
 the most intense excitement. Then first the people 
 comprehended the fact that the war had begun. 
 Young men at once declared their intention to re- 
 spond to the first call for soldiers, and men too old for 
 service avowed their readiness to make any sacrifice 
 required for the preservation of the Union. From 
 that day to the cluse of the war the town of Leicester 
 loyally and liberally accepted all the demands of the 
 government upon it for money and for men. The 
 call of President Lincoln for 75,000 volunteers met 
 here the same prompt answer which it received 
 throughout the loyal North. 
 
 Leicester had a special interest in the Sixth Massa- 
 chusetts Regiment, the first to march from the State 
 and to receive the baptism of blood. Its commander. 
 Col. Edward F. Jones, was a native of Leicester, as 
 was also Joseph Waldo Denny, lieutenant in the 
 Worcester Light Infantry. They had been pupils 
 together in Leicester Academy. There were other 
 Leicester men in the regiment. 
 
 There were sixteen Leicester men in the Third 
 Battalion of Rifles, which left Worcester on the 20th 
 of April. Their names were: Henry H. Bowman, 
 Bramley A. Bottomly, Michael Collins, John P. Crim- 
 mins, Jacob H. Gibson, George W. Hatch, John 
 Kirk, Joseph Laverty, Martin Leonard, Randall 
 H. Mann, John McDonald, John Moriarty, J. Daw- 
 son Robinson, Emerson Stone, Jesse S. Scott and 
 William B. White. Church Howe and Myron J. 
 Newton enlisted in the Sixth Regiment. 
 
 The battalion was stationed at Fort McHenry, and 
 returned on the 2d day of August, and was re- 
 ceived with great joy. Several of these men re- 
 enlisted, and their records are given in connection 
 with the regiments which they joined. The evening 
 before the departure of the Third Battalion for the 
 seat of war, news of the attack on the Sixth Regi- 
 ment had been received, and had deepened the agi- 
 tation. That day the national flag, before seldom 
 seen except on government buildings, and sometimes 
 on the Fourth of July, was thrown to the breeze on 
 the flag-staflf on the Common. The war was the all- 
 absorbing subject of thought, conversation, discourse 
 and prayer on the following day, which was the 
 Sabbath. 
 
 On Monday evening, April 22d, was held the first 
 of those memorable war meetings, which made the 
 
 town-hall a historic building, and in which the fer- 
 vent patriotism of the people of Leicester found 
 earnest and eloquent expression, as in the days of 
 the Revolution it had done in the old "First Meet- 
 ing-House." On the 2i3th forty or fifty of the young 
 men of the town commenced military drill in the 
 town-hall, under the instruction of John M. Studley, 
 of Worcester. A town -meeting was held the 4th of 
 May, and .I^SOO was rased and appropriated, and a 
 committee was authorized to borrow .f.5000 if neces- 
 sary. A bounty of $10 a month, in addition to 
 government pay, was offered to volunteers, and uni- 
 forms, guns and equipments were to be furnished if 
 necessary. The women were equally patriotic and 
 efficient. Their first meeting for work was in the 
 town-hall, May 18th, where, in response to notices 
 from the pulpit the day before, they assembled, to the 
 number of about sixty, and with four or five sewing- 
 machines and many busy hands, made garments for 
 the Third Battalion of Rifles. On the 15th, at ^ 
 o'clock on a pleasant May day, a beautiful flag was 
 raised over the Centre School-house, with music by 
 the band and addresses by the School Committee — 
 Dr. Pliny Earle, Dr. John Murdock and Rev. A. H. 
 Coolidge. Flags were also flying in diflerent parts of 
 the town. Says one, writing at the time, " The war 
 feeling seems to absorb every other thought, and the 
 subject of religion seems secondary to patriotism, 
 which now occupies the mind notonly of the private 
 individual, but the pulpit and the press." 
 
 There had not been for a generation such a revul- 
 sion of feeling as was occasioned in town by the ex- 
 aggerated tidings of the disaster of Bull Run. Men 
 turned pale, and abandoning all hope of easy victory, 
 nerved themselves for the long struggle, which was 
 not to be ended until many of our own citizens had 
 laid down their lives for tlieir country. 
 
 In the early autumn of ISdl the Twenty-fifth Mas- 
 sachusetts Regiment was formed, with a larger num- 
 ber of men from Leicester than any other three 
 years' regiment. In it were many representatives of 
 the families in town, and it was followed in all its 
 eventful and honorable career with the special so- 
 licitude and interest of the people. 
 
 The national fast, appointed by President Lin- 
 coln for September 26th, on account of the peri- 
 lous and gloomy condition of the country, was a 
 memorable occasion in Leicester. Services were 
 held in the First Church. The attendance was 
 large, and the congregation deeply affected. The re- 
 cruits for the Twenty-fifth Regiment were to leave 
 for camp that day, and this fact added to the impres- 
 siveness of the occasion. 
 
 In this regiment were Corp. Augustus Adams, in ten 
 engagements, taken prisoner at Drury's Bluff", died at 
 Florence, S. C; Charles M. Ball, arm broken at Cold 
 Harbor, killed at Petersburg; Corporal James Brady, 
 Edwin Y. Brown, William Carson, David B. Collier, 
 in six engagements; Isaac Creed, in eight engage- 
 
r24 
 
 HISTOKY OF WOKCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 ments, three wounds at Cold Harbor ; Otis Cutting, 
 wounded at Drury's Bluif ; William Eddy, wounded 
 at Petersburg ; William Fernley, taken prisoner at 
 Drury's BluH', died at Andersonville; Owen Finnegan, 
 in several engagements, wounded at Arrowfield 
 Church; Horace L. Fisk; James S. Foster, died at 
 Newbern ; Levander M. Gould, died at Newbern ; 
 James Gehegan, wounded at Arrowfield Church, in 
 ten engagements; John Galooly, died at Charlotte, 
 N. C; David Gotha, in seven engagements ; George 
 W. Gould, killed at Cold Harbor ; Edward R. Graton, 
 wounded at Roanoke Island and died of the wounds. 
 He was saved from instant death by his prayer-book, 
 the ball stopping at the verse, 
 
 Tbuu, gracious Lord, art luy defence, 
 On thee my liopes rely. 
 
 Braman Grout, in two battles ; George L. Grout, in 
 two battles ; Thomas Grooves, died at Newbern ; 
 William Henshaw, Patrick W. Hannagan, wounded 
 at Cold Harbor; Albert S. Hurd, killed at Cold Har- 
 bor, in most of the battles of the regiment ; George 
 E. Kent, wounded at Roanoke Island, died at New- 
 bern ; Hugh Kenney, in three engagements, wounded 
 at Arrowfield Church ; Peter Kenney, wounded at 
 Arrowfield Church and at Cold Harbor ; William H. 
 Kenney, killed at Cold Harbor ; Sergeant John Kirk, 
 in most of the battles of the regiment, taken prisoner 
 at Drury's Bluff; Eugene D. Lacount, wounded and 
 taken prisoner at Drury's Bluff; Michael Leonard, 
 wounded at Drury's Bluff; John McMannis, wounded 
 at Drury's Bluff; Corporal Randall Mann, killed at 
 the battle of Roanoke Island; John McLaughlin, in 
 ten battles, wounded at Cold Harbor; Lyman Moul- 
 ton, killed at Cold Harbor ; Ezra Reed, Albert Stock- 
 dale, wounded at Arrowfield Church and at Petersburg ; 
 First Sergeant Emerson Stone, lost an arm at Drury's 
 Bluff, passed as captain of United States Colored Ti'oops 
 just as the war came to an end ; Sergeant H. A. White, 
 wounded in the foot at Drury's Bluff, in the battles of 
 his regiment till his discharge in the summer of 1864. 
 The Twenty-fifth Regiment formed a part of the 
 Burnside Expedition in North Carolina, and remained 
 in that State till 1864, when it was united with the 
 Array of the James, serving in Virginia before Rich- 
 mond and Petersburg. After suttering severely and 
 becoming reduced to a mere skeleton, it returned to 
 North Carolina, and being recruited, participated in 
 the closing scenes of the war under General Sherman. 
 It will be noticed that the casualties of Leicester men 
 in this regiment were especially numerous at Cold 
 Harbor. Of the charge, in which the Twenty-fifth 
 Regiment bore the brunt, Gen. Horace Porter writes 
 in the Centuri/, of June, 1888 : " Perhaps the most 
 striking case of desperate and deliberate courage 
 which the history of modern warfare has furnished 
 was witnessed at Cold Harbor. The men had been 
 repeatedly repulsed in assaulting earthworks, had 
 each time lost heavily, and had become impressed 
 
 with the conviction that such attacks meant certain 
 death. One evening after a dangerous assault had 
 been ordered for daylight the next morning, I noticed 
 in passing along the line that many of the men had 
 taken ofl' their coats and seemed engaged in mending 
 rents in the back. Upon closer examination I found 
 that they were calmly writing their names and home 
 addresses on slips of paper and pinning these slips 
 upon th(i backs of their coats, so that their dead bodies 
 might be recognized upon the field and their fate 
 made known to their friends at home. Never was 
 there a more gallant assault than that made by those 
 men the next day, though their act of the night be- 
 fore bore painful proof that they had entered upon 
 their work without a hope of surviving. Such courage 
 is more than heroic, it is sublime." Of this charge 
 Gen. P. D. Bowles, who had command of the Con- 
 federate line, wrote, "The regiment that made this 
 gallant charge was the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts. 
 This we learned from the twenty-odd officers and men 
 who fell down among the dead and wounded at the 
 first fire. Not since the charge of the six hundred at 
 Balaklava has a more heroic act been performed." 
 
 During the summer the Fifteenth and Twenty- 
 first Massachusetts Regiments were enlisted. In the 
 Fifteenth were from Leicester, W. H. Bergen, Simeon 
 E. Ball, who died in the service at Poolesville, 
 Md.; Henry Carpenter, in all the engagements from 
 Ball's Blufl', in which the Fifteenth suffered so severely, 
 to Gettysburg, in both of which battles he was severely 
 wounded ; H. R. Dawson transferred to the Twentieth; 
 Chas. W. Clifford; the three Davis brothers. Freeman 
 wounded at Ball's Blufi', reinlisted in the Fifty-seventh 
 Regiment and killed in the battle of the Wilderness ; 
 William M. who returned from Libby prison and died; 
 Alfred W., who died from wounds at the battle of An- 
 tietam ; Charles A. Gleason, who was taken prisoner 
 at Antietam and again in the AVilderness, and who 
 was in Libby prison, Andersonville and Milan, where 
 he died; Charles H. Gough, killed at Ball's Blurt', the 
 first Leicester soldier who lost his life in the service ; 
 Maj. Church Howe, first in the Sixth Regimen t and then 
 in the Fifteenth, in thirteen battles; lieutenant quar- 
 termaster in the Fifteenth Regiment, provost mar- 
 shal at Harper's Ferry, and senior aide-de-camp to 
 Major-General Sedgwick; Peter McGee; Sergeant 
 John A. Richardson transferred to the Twentieth Reg- 
 iment ; Samuel Slater ; Corporal Charles W. Wood in 
 eighteen engagements, taken prisoner at Gettysburg 
 and again at Petersburg, confined at Andersonville, 
 Milan, Savannah, Albany and Thomasville. These 
 men were, with few exceptions, sharers in the hard- 
 ships, the battles and the sufferings of this historic 
 regiment. 
 
 In the Twenty-fir.st Regiment were James Bell, 
 who, in the battle of Chantilly, becomingseparated from 
 his regiment and finding himself surrounded by the 
 enemy, continued to fight single-handed and was shot. 
 Horatio N. Barrows in five battles, wounded at An- 
 
LEICESTER. 
 
 r25 
 
 tietam ; Edgar C. Felton, also in the Thirty -sixth and 
 Fifty-sixth ; Thomas Hurst, killed at Newbern ; John 
 Hopkins, transferred to the Thirty-sixth and to the 
 Fifty-sixth; James Lackey, also in the Thirty-sixth 
 and Fifty-sixth, died of wounds received in the Wil- 
 derness; Barney McNulty, also in the Thirty-sixth 
 and Fifty-sixth; Wm. McGrath, transferred to United 
 States Cavalry; Jesse S. Scott, musician, also in the 
 Fifty-seventh ; Frank H. Southwick, wounded at An- 
 tietam; Wm. W. Scott, afterward asst. quartermaster 
 at Chattanooga; Edgar Salisbury, wagoner. 
 
 John Graham was in the Signal Corps and also the 
 First Frontier Cavalry. Jerome Bottomly,artificerand 
 Andrew Crossley were in Co. C, Battalion United States 
 Engineers' Troops, enlisting in the autumn of 1861, 
 and serving three years. The company was recruited 
 by Captain (afterwards Major-General) James B. ,"\Ic- 
 Pherson, its first commander. They were engaged in 
 all the varied duties of military engineers, laying 
 out roads, fortifications and defences of various kinds, 
 and especially in building pontoon bridges, often in 
 the face of the enemy. They assisted in building 
 one across the Chickahominy and another over the 
 James, each two thousand feet in length. They 
 often acted as inftintry. The names of seventeen 
 battles of the Rebellion are inscribed on their colors. 
 
 In the summer of 1862 the Thirty-fourth Regiment 
 was organized. Leicester contributed to it the fol- 
 lowing men : Edwin N. Adams, transferred to the 
 Twenty-fourth Regiment ; Henry H. Bowman, first 
 in Third Battalion RiHes, in seven engagements ; 
 Alexander Benway, John A. Barr, Joseph R. Brooks, 
 Frederick S. Blodgett ; Corporal Henry Converse in 
 nine engagements ; Timothy P. Griffin, principal mu- 
 sician ; Edwin Holden in sixteen engagements, wound- 
 ed at Fisher's Hill ; Edwin Hoyle, wounded and a 
 prisoner six months at Andersonville; Lincoln L. 
 Johnson died at Harrisonburg, Va. ; Sergeant Alfred 
 James in eight engagements, wounded at Fisher's 
 Hill ; Franklin B. King, Lieut. Ira E. Lackey, Mat- 
 thew Malloy, Corporal Rufus H. Newton, in sixteen 
 battles, wounded at Winchester, and severely at 
 Petersburg; Frank Pollard, Michael Rice, in fifteen 
 engagements, wounded at Petersburg ; Corporal 
 James Rawdon, died of wounds; Lieutenant Walter 
 W. Scott in ten engagements ; John Shean, Henry 
 Southwick, Corporal Henry E. Williams, wounded in 
 the battle of Piedmont, a minie-ball passing through 
 the left arm, through the body, and lodging in the 
 right arm, captured and taken to Libby prison. 
 John Sherman, James Sherman, Owen Smith, 
 also as Leicester soldiers, Joseph P. Morse, from 
 Worcester, and Norris Morse, of Spencer. The regi- 
 ment left Worcester August 15, 1862. It served 
 principally in the Shenandoah Valley, under Gener- 
 als Sigel, Hunter and Sheridan, until March, 1865, 
 when it formed a part of the Army of the James 
 until the surrender of Richmond. Some of these 
 men were with Sheriden at the time of his famous 
 
 " ride." They participated in the various forced 
 marches, raids, skirmishes and battles of that heroic 
 commander, as well as in the later battles of the war. 
 The duties of the town officers during this and suc- 
 ceeding years were very arduous and perplexing. No 
 pains were spared to fill each new order for men. In 
 July, 1862, the town was called upon for forty-five 
 men as its quota of the three hundred thousand called 
 for by the President. In anticipation of the order a 
 meeting of the citizens was held in the Town Hall ou 
 the evening of the 14th day of July. It was a rainy 
 night, but the attendance was large, and stirring ad- 
 dresses were made by'the clergymen and several other 
 citizens of the town. It was voted expedient to pay 
 liberal bounties, and the selectmen were requested to 
 open a recruiting oflSce and call a legal meeting 
 forthwith. The next day a guarantee subscription of 
 81,000 for bounties was secured. On the 22d a com- 
 pany of thirty-two Spencer volunteers passed through 
 town, escorted by the Spencer and Leicester fire 
 companies and the Leicester Cornet Band. They 
 halted a few minutes before the cottage of the vener- 
 able Dr. Nelson, who briefly addressed them. The 
 town-meeting was held on the 26th of the same 
 month, and it was unanimously voted to pay a bounty 
 of $100 to all volunteers who had already enlisted or 
 who should enlist under this call ; that an additional 
 bounty of $50 be paid to all who should remain in the 
 service longer than one .vear ; and an extra bounty of 
 $25 to any who should enlist before the next Monday, 
 at 9 o'clock, P.M. The meeting was adjourned to the 
 evening, when patriotic addresses were made by 
 .several gentlemen. On the 28th a mass-meeting was 
 held, but the process of filling the quota was difficult 
 and slow. It was not completed when another call 
 was issued for three hundred thousand men, to serve 
 nine months. The town was ordered to furnish sixty 
 men. On the evening of the 18th of August another 
 war-meeting was held in the Town Hall. It was 
 large, and proved to be the most stirring and eventful 
 of those remarkable assemblies. John D. Cogswell, 
 chairman of the Board of Selectmen, presided. Ad- 
 dresses were made by various prominent citizens. 
 The chairman, in a few earnest words, urged all 
 who could to enlist at once, and then placed his own 
 name at the head of the list. Sixteen came forward 
 at once, in the words of the Worcester Spy, "amidst 
 the cheers and enthusiasm of the large number of 
 ladies and gentlemen, who remained to a late hour." 
 Among the number was the Rev. William F. Lacount, 
 pastor of the Methodist Church in Cherry Valley. 
 The quota was filled in a few days by volunteers. 
 "Among them," as was truthfully stated in the Spy . 
 " were the present and former chairmen of the Board 
 of Selectmen, and many of the enterprising young 
 men from the best families of the village. The in- 
 dustrious mechanic left a prosperous business, the 
 minister his people, the collegiate his college class, and 
 the husband and father the comforts and pleasures of 
 
726 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 home to unite in putting down speedilj' this wiclced 
 and savage rebellion." Before August 30th tifty had 
 volunteered, all but four of whom became members 
 of a company recruited from Spencer, North Brook- 
 field and Leicester, of which John D. Cogswell was 
 captain, and T. M. Duncan, of North Brookfield, and 
 Lyman A. Powers, of Spencer, lieutenants. On Sep- 
 tember 18 the company thus formed came together 
 in the Town Hall, where the Leicester ladies served 
 a collation, long remembered by these men in the 
 subsequent days of army rations. Addresses were 
 made by citizens and officers of the c(jmpany, which 
 was conveyed to its camp on the Agricultural Grounds 
 in Worcester, preceded by the band, and escorted by 
 the Union Fire Company. It was finally assigned, as 
 Company F, to the Forty-second Massachusetts Regi- 
 ment. They sailed on the ith of December under sealed 
 orders. After a long, stormy and perilous voyage, 
 they reached New Orleans the 29th of December, 
 where they served under General Banks. They were 
 in no battles, but were engaged in arduous guard and 
 picket duty. 
 
 They were mustered out of service August 20, 1863. 
 A public reception had been arranged for them on 
 their return, and tables were set in the Town Hall, 
 but they were so much worn by their hardships in 
 the malarial regions of New Orleans and so many 
 were ill that the purpose was abandoned. 
 
 In this regiment were thirty-eight men from Leices- 
 ter, — Albert M. Adams (who afterward enlisted in the 
 Second Iowa Cavalry ; was captured in Tennessee by 
 Hood's army December 17, IS'U, while on a charge; 
 taken on foot to Meridian, five hundred and ninety 
 miles, through mud, and over frozen ground, the last 
 half of the way barefoot ; thence in stock care to 
 Andersonville, thence to Macon, Ga., thence to Al- 
 bany, Ga., thence on foot to Thoniasville, Ga., thence 
 by rail to Baleluin, Fla., thence on foot to Jackson- 
 ville, " arriving under the Star Spangled Banner April 
 29, 18(55 "), George Adams, Sergeant Bramley A. 
 Bottomly, Corporal Charles B. Brown, Henry Bisco, 
 Moses Bagley, Captain John D. Cogswell, Albert 
 W. Cargell, Corporal James H. Croome, Clark K. 
 Denny, Lewis W. Gates, George D. Hatch, Edward 
 W. Hubbard, Henry E. Holbrook, William H. Haven, 
 Charles S. Knight, John Craft, Rev. William F. La- 
 count (pastor of Cherry Valley M. E. Church, who 
 acted a part of the time as chaplain and the rest as 
 hospital nurse), Franklin JI. Lamb (musician), Charles 
 M. Marsh, Horatio P. Marshall, Peter McArdle, 
 George Morgan, Albert S. Marsh, George Mann, 
 Thomas Nolan, jVIartin Procter, Thomas H. Robinson, 
 George M. Roberts (afterward lieutenant in the Six- 
 tieth Regiment), William C. Sprague, Charles Sander- 
 son, William .1. Sprague, Corporal George L. Stone, 
 Thomas S. Snow, Orderly Sergeant Josepli A. Titus, 
 (afterward lieutenant in the Sixtieth Regiment), 
 Charles H. Warren, Corporal Charles H. Woodcock, 
 Eli Wrigglesworth (also in the Twenty-ninth Regi- 
 
 ment), Albert M. Goulding, Warren E. Howard and 
 John F. Kibler (first in the Fifty-first Regiment), en- 
 listed in the Forty-second Regiment, in its second 
 term of service for one hundred days. 
 
 July 13, 1863, fifty-two men were drafted from Lei- 
 cester. Some of them paid the commutation fee of 
 three hundred dollars or furnished substitutes, while 
 others were, for various reasons, exempted, so that it 
 is believed that none of them entered the service. 
 This was a time of unusual excitement. The riots 
 in New York and threatening demonstrations in 
 other places encouraged resistance and awakened 
 apprehensions. Wliatever of disloyal feeling existed 
 in town then found expression in protests and the 
 encouragement of discontent. Information was re- 
 ceived of threats to gain possession of the enrollment 
 list, or burn the office where it was kept. The office 
 was consequently guarded several nights by armed 
 men, and the town, to some extent, patrolled. The 
 danger may have been exaggerated, but the facts 
 illustrate the feverish condition of the public mind at 
 this time. 
 
 In November, 1863, the Rev. Mr. Coolidge re- 
 ceived leave of absence from his church, and spent 
 about two months with the Army of the Potomac, in 
 the service of the Christian Commission. In all 
 the years of the war the women vied with the men in 
 loyal service. Every call for help met a prompt re- 
 sponse, and there were many meetings for sewing 
 and the ])reparation of hospital supplies, while the 
 children made " comfort bags," furnished with sew- 
 ing materials, for the convenience of the soldiers. In 
 all this work, Mrs. Billings Swan, whose great regret 
 was that she had not sons who were able to go to the 
 war, was a conspicuous leader. 
 
 Mrs. Nelson, wife of the senior pastor of the First 
 Congregational Church, although seventy-live years 
 of age, labored unremittingly, and encouraged others 
 to do the same. She knit one hundred pairs of 
 stockings for the soldiers, and enclosed a note in the 
 hundredth pair to the soldier who should receive it, 
 to which she received an answer. 
 
 On the 21st and 22d of February, 1865, a fair was 
 held in the Town Hall. Governor Emory Washburn 
 was president, and made an opening address. The 
 amount realized was $2636.07, which was equally di- 
 vided between the Sanitary and Christian Commis- 
 sions and the Freedmen's Aid Society. 
 
 In the Massachusetts Fifty-seveuih Regiment were 
 James Ackley, wounded at Spotsylvania, first serving 
 in the navy, under Admiral Farragut on the Mii^sis- 
 sippi River, at the capture of New Orleans ; William 
 H. Anthony, shot at the North Anna, and killed by 
 a charge of grape while being carried from the field ; 
 Freeman Davis, first in Fifteenth (wounded at 
 Bull's Bluff), killed in the Wilderness ; Oliver Gosler, 
 died of wounds near Petersburg; Phineas L. Hol- 
 brook, wounded at North Anna; Edward A. Hawes, 
 Emerson B. Lacount, musician ; Patrick H. Mann- 
 
LEICESTEK. 
 
 vllle, enlisted at fifteen years of age, killed at the 
 battle of North Anna ; Henry C. Maloney,died in the 
 service ; Joseph B. Winch, Sergeant Horace S. Pike, 
 wounded at Petersburg ; Jesse S. Scott, principal 
 musician ; Charles W. Gleason. 
 
 Hiram Streeter was also a member of this regiment. 
 When friends endeavored to dissuade him from leav- 
 ing his wife and young children, he said: "I have 
 decided that it is my duty to defend my country, if I 
 die in so doing.'' He enlisted, and after participating 
 in the battles of the Wilderness and North Anna, was 
 killed by a minie ball, before Petersburg, June 17, 
 1864. 
 
 In the Sixtieth Massachusetts Regiment, one hun- 
 dred days' men, stationed at Indianapolis, were 
 Corporal Alonzo W. Bond, Francis A. Bond, Aaron 
 T. Cutler, Lewis R. Dowse, William Graham, John 
 T. Gough, Lieutenant George R. Roberts, Lieutenant 
 Joseph A. Titus, Heury L. Watson and Alphonso 
 Woodcock. 
 
 In the Second Regiment was Edwards D. Farr, 
 wounded in the foot at Cedar Mountain, twenty-four 
 hours on the battle-field ; came from it on crutches 
 made with a pen-knife ; died of the wound in the 
 Massachusetts General Hospital, where he had suf- 
 fered amputation. In the Tenth were Silas Bercume, 
 wounded at Fair Oaks, re-enlisted in the First Con- 
 necticut Cavalry, taken prisoner at Ashland, in 
 Libby Prison, Andersonville, Savannah and Milan ; 
 James E. Bacon, William Conway, who died in the 
 service. In the Eleventh was George McDonald, 
 missing after battle in the Wilderne.ss. 
 
 In the Twelfth were the brothers Charles B. Fris- 
 bee (in fifteen battles, wounded at Antietam) and 
 Albert Frisbee (in all the engagements of the regi- 
 ment till taken prisoner at Gettysburg, in prison at 
 Belle Lsle, Libby and Andersonville, where he died. 
 Their brother, William, was in an Ohio regiment, 
 and was wounded in Georgia. Lovell P. Winch was 
 in the Thirteenth ; John Denny, in the Nineteenth; 
 Henry R. Dawson, in the Twentieth. John Lord was 
 in the Twenty-second, killed at the battle of Chicka- 
 hominy. Lieutenant John Minor was in the Twenty- 
 eighth ; also Jesse Pollard, who was wounded in the 
 second battle of Bull Run, and also at Secessionville, 
 S. C. Eli Wrigglesworth was in the Twenty-ninth. In 
 the Thirtieth were Sergt. Aaron Bowman (in all the 
 battles of the regiment till his death at Baton Rouge, 
 La.), Henry S. Thayer (who died at New Orleans), 
 and James H. Whitney (who died in Mississippi). 
 Captain Thomas Burt was in the Thirty-first ; also 
 in a Connecticut regiment ; assistant provost mar- 
 shal at New Orleans. Alexander H. Fairbanks and 
 George E. Sibley were in the Sixty-first, and James 
 H. Knight in the Sixty-second. 
 
 George Armitage was in the First Cavalry ; Henry 
 J. Biggs in the Second Cavalry, also John Trim, 
 Lewis Gosler, Dennis S. Quinn. In the Third Cav- 
 alry, John Crogan, Eugene Eschman ; in the Fourth 
 
 Cavalry, David Dawson, bugler; Thomas Doyle, first 
 in the Fifty-first Infantry, died of wounds at Magno- 
 lia, Florida; in the First Frontier Cavalry, Rodney 
 W. Greenleaf 
 
 In the Second Heavy Artillery, James Flannigan, 
 Andrew Stowe, who died at Andersonville, and 
 Charles L. Cummings, also in the Fifty-first Infantry; 
 in the Third Heavy Artillery, John Crogan. 
 
 Edward May, paymaster in the naval service. 
 Joseph Doran was also in the naval service. 
 
 In addition to those named are the following men 
 who enlisted in the quotas of other places — in what 
 regiments is not known : Dexter Austin, John Brooks, 
 Andrew Clark, John Darling, Charles Fay, Michael 
 Fritz, Patrick Henry, E. Hastings, James Morgan, 
 John L. O'Brien, Owen Rice and Hugh Hopkins. 
 
 In addition to those who enlisted from town were 
 men who were purchased as recruits from other places. 
 Some of these are known to have done good service ; 
 of others little is known. In the Second Heavy Artil- 
 lery were William Henry Harrison, James Lowell, 
 Edward McKay, John McDonald, Walter Stone. In 
 the Second Massachusetts Regiment were Richard 
 Lynch, John Mailer and Edward Shandley, In the 
 Veteran Reserve Corps, Oliver Santum and Corporal 
 Edward Kendall. In addition to these were Patrick 
 Dowd, of the Fifty -sixth ; Alexander H. Fairbanks, 
 of the Sixty-first ; Samuel Slater, of the Fifteenth 
 and Twentieth; James Scott, of the Fifty-eighth; 
 James Smith, of the Twenty-seventh ; Rodney W. 
 Greenlief, of the First Battalion, Frontier Cavalry, 
 William H. McGregor, also of First Battalion, Fron- 
 tier Cavalry, and Corporal George H. Lancaster, of 
 the Third Heavy Artillery. 
 
 The following is a list of the names of recruits pur- 
 chased by the town whose designation and history are 
 unknown : Wm. Adams, Lewis L. M. Arnold, Jas. 
 Barnes, Antoine Bownett, Jesse C'roslin, Mark Colman, 
 James Delany, Michael Demsey, John Doyle, Eliakim 
 H. Eaton, Jas. Edmanson, Joshua H. Eldridge, Jno. 
 F. Farrell, Henry Hastings, John F. Kenuiston (un- 
 assigned recruit), James Leary, John L. Labene, 
 William H. Leighton, Cornelius Leary, David G. 
 Lambert, John Lee, Albert L. Loud, John Lindsey, 
 Geo. S. Little, Wm..J.-Lord, Patrick Lynch, Edw. L. 
 Limmiuson, Stephen Lynch, John Lindsey, John 
 Mullen, James Miller, Shubal Mayo, John Mooset, 
 Sawney Nelson, William Ottevall, Owen Rice, Wm. 
 Reese, Owen Smith, Henry Stewart, Samuel Stewart, 
 Samuel Taylor, Edward Vaughn, George Varnum, 
 Charles Vose, Edward Cottey, George Donnelly, 
 Thomas Graves, Martin McBride, Oscar B. Phelps. 
 
 Eleven of the recruits are recorded as deserters. 
 Their names are omitted from the roll of honor. With 
 all the pains taken to make the list of soldiers com- 
 plete, there are doubtless inevitable omissions. 
 
 The highest rank to which a soldier attained in the 
 service is given in the lists. Some enlisted for other 
 towns. The number of battles in which a soldier 
 
728 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 was engaged is in some cases given; in others it is 
 unknown. 
 
 As nearly as can be ascertained, the town furnished 
 three hundred and twenty men for the war, of whom 
 two hundred and forty-eight were in three years' 
 regiments. Six were commissioned officers. Dr. John 
 N. Murdock and T. E. Woodcock furnished substi- 
 tutes. The military expenses of the town were $42,- 
 653.28, of which $12,383 were, however, for State aid. 
 A league of enrolled men was organized in the sum- 
 mer of 1864, which raised $4,400 for the purchase of 
 recruits, and $2,960 were raised by citizens not liable 
 to a draft. 
 
 Considerable sums were also raised for the Sani- 
 tary and Christian Commissions. Throughout the 
 entire war the women were untiring in their interest 
 and labors for the relief of the suffering soldiers. 
 
 The names of Leicester men are on the rolls of 
 twenty-eight Massachusetts regiments, and others en- 
 listed in other States and in the regular army. At 
 least thirty-three died in the service ; eleven were in 
 Rebel prisons, of whom seven died. The sons of 
 Leicester were in over a hundred battles. 
 
 The premature announcement of General Lee's 
 surrender occasioned such a thrill of joy as had not 
 been experienced since the close of the Revolutionary 
 War. The bells were rung, cannons were fired, and 
 responses were heard from surrounding town.'. News 
 of the actual surrender arrived on the morning of the 
 10th of April, and was followed by the firing of can- 
 non and the ringing of bells, and in the evening by 
 the playing of the band and a general illumination. 
 The terrible revulsion came on the loth, with the 
 tidings of the assassination of President Lincoln. 
 The feeling here, as elsewhere, was intense ; every 
 other interest was forgotten, business was suspended, 
 the bells were tolled during the afternoon, and 
 ministers laid aside their preparation for the next 
 day, unable on that memorable Sabbath to speak 
 uj5on any other theme thaa that which alone inter- 
 ested the people. On the day of the funeral the bells 
 were tolled and services, attended by people from all 
 parts of town, were held in the First Church. " It 
 was a large, sad audience." 
 
 During the morning service," on the 14th of May, 
 a message was brought to the church containing the 
 news of Jefferson Davis' capture, and the welcome 
 fact was announced from the pulpit. 
 
 CHAPTER XCIV. 
 
 LEICESTER— (a>«//««rt/.) 
 
 imiscei.lanb;ous. 
 
 Individuah <ind li'nidntces — PhyBiciatis— Lawyers— Items of Interest — Bury- 
 iii<l- Grounds— Vast- Offices — Fire Department — TuveJ'tis —Libraries — Clteiry 
 ]''dleif Flood — Histories — Celebrations. 
 
 Individuals asd Residences. — In a sketch so 
 brief as this there can be special mention of only a 
 few of the many persons who are worthy of such 
 notice. To some of these reference has been made 
 in other connections. 
 
 The Earle families generally resided in the north- 
 east part of the town, where they erected substantial 
 homes, some of which are still an ornament to that 
 neighborhood. They were so numerous that in 1812, 
 when Rev. Dr. Nelson visited the Northeast School 
 on examination day, he found that of the forty pupils 
 present, twenty-one were grandchildren of "Uncle 
 Robert " and "Aunt .Sarah " Earle. Ralph Earle, 
 the ancestor of the Leicester Earles, came to town in 
 1717 from Freetown, Mass. He became a large land- 
 owner and the head of a family, members of which, 
 in their different generations, have had more than a 
 local reputation. Among these, Ralph, his great- 
 grandson, takes special rank as an artist. He made 
 full-length portraits of Dr. Dwight, of Yale College, 
 and others in Connecticut, and portraits of "many 
 of the nobility and some of the royal family" of 
 England. For a time he was under the instruction 
 of Benjamin West in London, and he was made a 
 member of the Royal Academy in tliat city. He 
 painted the battle of Lexington and other battle- 
 scenes of the early period of the Revolution, which 
 were engraved. He has the distinction of being the 
 first historical painter of America. A landscape view 
 of Worcester, taken from Denny Hill, is now in the 
 possession of Deacon C. C. Denny. His brother, 
 James Earle, was also a painter of "considerable 
 eminence." He was married in London, but died in 
 Charleston, S. C, on a visit to America. Thomas 
 Earle, grandson of the Ralph who came to Leicester, 
 was a mechanic of remarkable skill. His home was 
 on Bald Hill, in Cherry Valley, opposite Olney's 
 factory. He jjlanted rows of sycamores in front of 
 his house on the day of the battle of Lexington, 
 three of wdiich are still standing. A musket of su- 
 perior quality and beautiful finish, which he made for 
 Col. William Henshaw, is preserved in good condition. 
 Gen. Washington so much admired it that he ordered 
 one like it for himself. Mr. Earle made the gun with 
 great care, and when it was completed he loaded and 
 primed it, placed it under water to the muzzle over 
 night, and in the morning discharged it at the first 
 pull of the trigger. He afterward shouldered it and 
 carried it on foot to General Washington in New 
 Y'ork. 
 
LEICESTER. 
 
 729 
 
 Thomas Earle, the son of Pliny, born in Leicester 
 and educated at the academy, was, in 1840, candidate 
 «f the Liberty party for Vice-President, with James 
 G. Birney. He was an able editor and an influen- 
 tial writer in opposition to slavery. His home was 
 in Philadelphia. He is described as " a man of pow- 
 erful intellect," " enlarged views," " of warm and 
 generous impulses," " a philanthropist whom oppres- 
 sion could not swerve ; a politician whom politics 
 could not corrupt ; 'and a Christian whom sect could 
 not circumscribe.' " Notices of other members of this 
 family will be found in the history of Worcester. 
 
 The Henshaw place, northeast of Henshaw Pond, 
 at iirst called Judge's Pond, was owned, and the 
 house first built, by Judge John Menzies, who came 
 from Ro.xburj'. in 1720. He was from Scotland, a 
 member of the Faculty of x'Vdvocates in Edinburgh, 
 and was appointed judge of the Court of Admiralty 
 of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. 
 He was the first reprejentative of the town to the 
 Oeneral Court. 
 
 The place was afterward owned by Judge Thomas 
 Steele, who has already been mentioned. After the 
 Revolutionary War it came into the Henshaw fam- 
 ily, where it has remained. Captain David Hen- 
 shaw purchased it in 1782. Still later it was the 
 home of Hon. David Henshaw. He was appointed 
 collector of the port of Boston, by President Andrew 
 Jackson, in 1829, and served with great credit to 
 himself and advantage to the department. He was 
 appointed Secretary of the Navy by President .John 
 Tyler, served for a short time, but his appointment 
 was not confirmed by the Senate, which was of the 
 opposite political party. 
 
 The mansion-house on Mount Pleasant was built 
 in 1772 by Joseph Henshaw, who also gave to the 
 hill its name.' He was a graduate of Harvard, in 
 1748. His connection with early Revolutionary 
 events has already been referred to. He was a man 
 of wealth, and loaned to the government, in its time 
 of need, at least a hundred thousand dollars. At this 
 house he took the mail from the courier, before the 
 establishment of a post-office here. In 1795 the place 
 came into the hands of James Swan, who fitted up 
 the house and grounds in a style of magnificence far 
 surpassing anything in this region. His wealth was 
 supposed to be immense. After a few years reverses 
 came upon him, he retired to France, and in 1830 re- 
 appears upon the opening of the Debtor's Prison, in 
 Paris, as one who was set free, after occupying the 
 same room thirty-two years and one day. 
 
 Daniel Denny, from whom descended all of that 
 name in town, came from Combs, Suffolk County, 
 England, to Boston in 1715, and removed to Leices- 
 ter in 1717. The prominent position of the members 
 of this family, in connection with town and national 
 affairs, has already been indicated. 
 
 • X'lt Lewis Allen, as Washburn states. 
 
 Deborah, the daughter of Daniel Denny, was the 
 wife of Rev. Thomas Prince, D.D., of the Old South 
 Church, Boston. Colonel Samuel Denny lived on 
 Moose Hill ; he was lieutenant-colonel of the minute- 
 men and colonel of the First Worcester County Regi- 
 ment, a member of the General Court, and of the 
 convention to ratify the National Constitution. 
 
 St. John Honeywood, son of Dr. John Honeywood, 
 graduated with high honors at Yale in 1782, was a 
 lawyer in Salem, N. Y., and one of the electors for 
 John Adams. He died at the age of thirty-four. 
 Says Washburn : " He gave early evidence of having 
 been endowed by nature with the eye of a painter and 
 the sensibility of a poet." A posthumous volume of 
 his poems was published in 1801. 
 
 Colonel Henry Sargent was one of the wealthy and 
 prominent men of the town honored with civil and 
 military office. Two of his sons were graduated from 
 Harvard College, and were physicians in Worcester. 
 Dr. Henry Sargent died in 1857. Dr. Jos. Sargent 
 died in 1888, after a long practice in the profession, in 
 which he held high rank. The Sargent family has 
 been one of standing in the town, and other members 
 are elsewhere noticed. 
 
 The Green family came from Maiden, and were at 
 one time the most numerous in town. Members of 
 this family have been already noticed in connection 
 with the early history of the town. The Southgate 
 family were from England, and have also been promi- 
 nenLly identified with the town's history. 
 
 The large residence east of the Common was built 
 by Joshua Clapp, the enterprising and generous 
 Clappville manufacturer. Mr. Denny, in his "Rem- 
 iniscences," says of him that he was " a decided and 
 active temperance man in the early days of the reform." 
 In 1S?S he bought the hotel in the Centre village, and 
 converted it into a temperance house. Mrs. Ellen E. 
 Flint afterward owned the Clapp place for many 
 years. She was a woman of strong character, benevo- 
 lent and public-spirited. She built the massive walls 
 which have given to the place the name of " Stonewall 
 Farm." The place, some time after her death, came 
 into the hands of Dr. Horace P. Wakefield, who 
 resided there several years. It was then purchased 
 by Hon. Samuel Winslow, mayor of Worcester, re- 
 modeled and much enlarged, and is now his summer 
 residence. 
 
 Phineas Bruce was elected to Congress in 180.S, but 
 never took his seat. 
 
 Hon. William Upham was educated at the acad- 
 emy; was district judge in Vermont and United 
 States Senator. 
 
 Hon. Nathan Allen was a member of the House of 
 Representatives ; also Hon. John E. Russell, elected 
 in 188G. 
 
 Three persons at least, in Leicester, have lived to a 
 remarkable age. Elihu Emerson was born in West- 
 field, Mass., .Inly 21, 1771. He resided for many 
 years with his daughter, Mrs. Dr. Edward Flint, 
 
730 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTEE COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 where he died October ?>l, 1873, at the age of one 
 hundred and two years, three months and ten days. 
 Ebenezer Dunbar was born March 29, 1777, in 
 Leicester, where he alwa)'.s resided. He died No- 
 vember 4, 1877, and was thus one hundred years, 
 seven months and six days old. 
 
 Mrs. Lydia Watson, the widow of Mr. Robert 
 Watson, is still living in her one hundred and third 
 year. She was born in Spencer, January 5, 1777. 
 
 Physicians. — The first physician in Leicester was 
 Dr. Thomas Green, already noticed as the first pastor 
 of the Baptist Church in Greenville. 
 
 Dr. riiny Lawton taught school in 1748 and 1749 
 and was then called " Doctor." He died, in 1761, of 
 small-pox, which he contracted while in the cour- 
 ageous discharge of his duty, and was buried in his 
 own field. 
 
 Dr. John Honeywood was in practice here in 1763. 
 He was an Englishman and his interest in the early 
 Revolutionary movements, and his death while serv- 
 ing in the American army, have been already noticed. 
 He was a well-educated and skillful physician. 
 
 Dr. Solomon Parsons taught school in 1751. He 
 was a son of Rev. David Parsons, born April 18, 1726, 
 and died March 20, 1807. His wife died the .same 
 year as Dr. Lawton, of small-pox, and he was under 
 the necessity of burying her alone, by night. He is 
 supposed to have been surgeon in the army in 1701. 
 Dr. Isaac Green, son of Di-. Thomas Green, was 
 born in 1741 and died in 1812. He was surgeon in 
 Col. Samuel Dpuny's regiment in 1777, and was at 
 Saratoga at the taking of Burgoyne. 
 
 Dr. Edward Ravvson was born in Mendon in 1754 
 and died in 1786. 
 
 Dr. Absalom Russell practiced here a few years 
 and was a surgeon in the Revolutionary army. 
 
 Dr. Robert Craige, Dr. Jeremiah Earned and Dr. 
 Thomas Hersey were in practice in town during the 
 last half of the last century, and also Dr. Thaddeus 
 Brown. 
 
 The mo.st eminent jihysician of ihe town, after Dr. 
 Thomas Green, was Dr. Austin Flint. He was born 
 in Shrewsbury, January, 1760; came to Leicester in 
 1783, and died August 20, 1850. He is characterized 
 by Governor Washburn as "an intelligent, well- 
 informed man, of strong will and indomitable cour- 
 age;" of "affable manners" and with a "rich fund 
 of anecdote and good sense." He entered the army 
 at the age of seventeen and his record in the Revolu- 
 tion and "Shays' Rebellion" has already been given 
 He was for twenty successive years moderator of 
 town-meeting, for fifteen years town clerk, for sixteen 
 years trustee of the academy, for about thirty years a 
 magistrate and for five years a Representative in the 
 Legislature. He not only practiced throughout the 
 town, but also in other towns. He kept a record of 
 the births at which he rendered professional aid. The 
 number is 1750. His wife (Elizabeth) was the 
 daughter of Col. Wm. Henshaw. 
 
 Dr. Edward Flint, his son, elsewhere noticed, be- 
 gan practice here in 1811. 
 
 Dr. Ames Walbridge came to Greenville about the 
 year 1830, and died there July 30, 1867, at the age of 
 seventy-five. 
 
 Dr. Jacob Holmes was a physician in Leicester 
 from 1834 to 1847. Rev. Isaac Worcester, M.D., who 
 married the daughter of Colonel Henry Sargent, was 
 for a short time in practice here, as were also Dr. C. D. 
 Whitcomb and Dr. James P. C. Cummings and Dr. 
 E. A. Daggett, who was followed by Dr. John P. 
 Scribner. Dr. George O. Warner came to Leicester 
 in 1S6() and remained until his death, November 12, 
 1885, at the age of forty-six. He gained a very ex- 
 tensive practice throughout the entire town and 
 region. He was for a short time an army surgeon. 
 He was kind and sympathetic and his death was 
 universally lamented. 
 
 The present physicians in the village are Dr. Fred. H. 
 GIHbrd, graduated from the Harvard Jledical School in 
 1874. Dr. Charles H.Warner graduated from the Har- 
 vard Medical School in 1870, and commenced practice 
 in Leicester in 1885 ; and Dr. Charles G. Stearns, 
 graduated from Amherst College in 1874 and from 
 the Harvard Medical School in 1881. He commenced 
 practice here in the winter of 1885. Dr. Leonard W. 
 Atkinson graduated from Boston University ^ledical 
 School in 1884, began practice in Cherry Valley in 
 1885. 
 
 Lawyers. — Christopher J. Lawton came to Lei- 
 cester, 1735; practiced until 1751. 
 
 Hon. Nathaniel Paine Denny graduated at Harvard, 
 1707; settled in Leicester in 1800; practiced for t\venty 
 years ; and represented the town in the Legislature 
 ten years. 
 
 Bradford Sumner, graduated at Brown University, 
 1808; came to Leicester, 1813 ; practiced until 1820. 
 
 David Brigham, graduated at Harvard, 1810; came 
 to Leicester in 1817 ; practiced a little more than two 
 years. 
 
 Daniel Knight, graduated at Brown University, 
 1813 ; came to Leicester, 1821. 
 
 Emory Washburn, graduated at Williams College 
 in 1817; practiced in Leicester from 1821-28. 
 
 Waldo Flint, graduated at Harvard in 1814 and 
 came to Leicester in 1828. He was afterward for 
 many years president of the Eagle Bank, Boston. 
 
 Silas Jones succeeded Mr. Flint, but only practiced 
 for a short time. 
 
 Henry Oliver Smith a native of Leicester, gradu- 
 ated at Amherst, 1863, and since 1866 has practiced 
 in Leicester. 
 
 Items of I^'TEREST. — A few items of interest 
 from Washburn's history and other sources are 
 added here. The first public conveyance for passen- 
 gers was the line of "stage-wagons" between Boston 
 and Hartford, opened October 20, 1783, by Levy Pease, 
 of Somers, Conn., and Reuben Sikes, of Hartford. 
 Before this the mails were carried on horseback. 
 
LEICESTER. 
 
 731 
 
 There are persons now living who remember to have 
 seen sixteen stage-coaches at one time around the 
 tavern on Leicester Hill. In the last century two 
 huge hor.se-blocks near the meeting-house and the 
 public stocks were conspicuous objects on the Com- 
 mon. The last " pillory " was built in 1763, for thir- 
 teen shillings, by Benjamin, Tucker. George Wash- 
 ington, on his journey to Boston in 1789, passed 
 through Leicester October 22d, and met a delegation 
 of gentlemen from Worcester on the line between the 
 two towns. Lafayettte, on the 3d of September, 1824, 
 passed through the south part of the town " attended 
 by a troop of horse and an escort of military officers, 
 citizens, etc." 
 
 Colonel Thomas Denny introduced the first piano 
 to the town about the year 1809. The second be- 
 longed to the daughter of Captain John Southgate a 
 few years later. The first carpet in town was woven 
 by Mrs. David Brya^nt early in the present century. 
 
 In the first quarter of the present century there was 
 in the Centre Village a literary association composed 
 of the younger women, which met from house to 
 house, and is represented to have had a brilliant suc- 
 cess. Some of the productions of its members found 
 a place in the Worcester Spij, among the " Blossoms of 
 Parnassus." " History,'' says Washburn, " can only 
 record the fact that it once existed, flourished many 
 years and disappeared." It has had, however, many 
 successors. 
 
 Buryinh-Groitxds. — The first burying-ground in 
 town was the church-yard back of the early meeting- 
 house, which was surrounded by a brush fence. It 
 dates back to 1714. The Greenville Cemetery was 
 opened about the year 1736 ; the Elliott Burying- 
 yard, in the north part of the town, in 1756. The 
 burying-ground of the Friends at Mannville was in 
 existence as early as 1739. The Rawson Brook Cem- 
 etery dates back to 175.), and the Cherry Valley 
 Cemetery was opened in 1816, and the Pine Grove in 
 1842. In these several burying-places have been 
 laid about 2800 bodies. The number of deaths in town 
 since 1800, recorded on the town books and elsewhere, 
 is 3469. In the first decade there are 98, in the sec- 
 ond, 150 ; in the third, 193 ; in the fourth, 265; in the 
 fifth, 324; in the sixth, 431 ; in the seventh, 474; in 
 the eighth, 552 ; from 1880 to 1883, 451. These facts 
 are from the record of C. C. Denny, Esq., who has 
 made a careful investigation and study of the subject. 
 
 Post-Office.s. — A post-office was established in 
 Leicester aliout 1798, and Ebenezer Adams, Esq., was 
 the first commissioned postmaster. He was succeeded 
 by Col. Thomas Denny, Col. Henry Sargent, John 
 Sargent (appointed April, 1829), Henry D. Hatch, 
 L. D. Thurston, the present incumbent appointed. 
 
 The post-office in Rochdale was established in 1824, 
 and Rev. Joseph Muenscher was the first postmaster. 
 
 The post-office in Cherry Valley was established in 
 1859, with Henry Tainter, postmaster. 
 
 Fire Department. — The date of procuring the 
 
 little engine upon which the town depended many 
 years for extinguishing fires is not known. A fire- 
 engine, called " LTnion No 2," was purchased in 1841, 
 partly by the town and partly by individual subscrip- 
 tions. It came to town April 20th. A steam fire- 
 engine was bought in 1869, and in 1886 it was re- 
 placed by the present steam-engine. In 1885 a 
 steamer was obtained for Cherry Valley, and chemi- 
 cal extinguishers for Rochdale and Greenville. 
 
 Taverns. — The first tavern was on the corner of 
 Main and Paxton Streets. It was occupied by Na- 
 thaniel Richardson in 1721, John Tyler 1746, John 
 Tyler, Jr., 1755, Seth Washburn 1756, then by John 
 Tyler, by Benjamin Tucker 1761, Edward Bond 1767- 
 It was then burnt and rebuilt, occupied by Elijah 
 Latbrop 1776, Peter Taft 1778, Reuben Swan 1781, 
 William Denny 1801, Aaron Morse 1810. 
 
 The second tavern was opposite the Catholic Church, 
 built by Jonathan Sargent as early as 1727. He was 
 succeeded by his son Phineas, and he in 1776 by 
 Nathan Waite. 
 
 James Smith had a tavern in the last house in Lei- 
 cester, on the road to Spencer, in 174<J. He was fol- 
 lowed by Samuel Lynde in 1755; the house was de- 
 stroyed by the hurricane in 1759. 
 
 Phineas Newhall built in 1776 a tavern on the lat- 
 nuck Road, where the last house in Leicester stands, 
 which was open for many years. 
 
 The first tavern on the site of Leicester Hotel, oppo- 
 site the Common, was built in 1776, by Nathan Waite. 
 Jacob Reed Rivera, the Jew, bought it for his store in 
 1777. Here a hotel has been kept by successive land" 
 lords to the present time. Among these was John 
 Hobert, who had charge of it from 1799 to 1817, and 
 gave to it a wide-spread reputation as an excellent 
 hostelry. In later years, notwithstanding the growth 
 of the temperance sentiment in town, this hotel con- 
 tinued to defy the public will. It at length became 
 so intolerable a nuisance that it was purchased by a 
 company of citizens and closed. In 1882 it was 
 burnt. In 1885 this company built the present 
 Leicester Hotel, which has since been kept by L. G. 
 Joslin, and has become a favorite resort for "summer 
 boarders." Duriug the Revolution Abner Dunbar 
 had a tavern on Mouut Pleasant (Benjamin Earle 
 place), and George Bruce about the beginning of 
 this century kept public-house on Mount Pleasant, in 
 the residence before occupied by Major James Swan. 
 
 Samuel Green had a tavern in Greenville. The 
 Rochdale Hotel was built by .Samuel Stone about 
 1810, and was first kept by Hezekiah Stone. 
 
 Libraries. — In 1793 provision was made for a 
 "Social Library," the "Proprietors" first meeting 
 December 10th. The fire-engine company established 
 a library in 1812. A "Second Social Library " was 
 commenced in 1829. These several libraries had 
 fallen into disuse, but in 1858, by the efibrts of the 
 writer, they were united, and removed to one of the 
 rooms of the Town House, and again opened for cir- 
 
T62 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 culation. This library, containing about eight hun- 
 dred and fifty volumes, was, in 1861, oftered to the 
 town, and at the town-meeting held March 4, 1861 
 was unanimously accepted. The library has grad- 
 ually increased, and in February, 1888, the number 
 of volumes was si.x thousand two hundred and twenty- 
 eight. There are branch libraries at Rochdale, Green- 
 ville and Cherry Valley, and the books are largely 
 used in all parts of the town. The library has 
 received donations of books from many individuals. 
 Among these should be especially mentioned Waldo 
 Flint, Esq., who gave to it nearly three hundred and 
 fifty volumes. Over five hundred volumes from his 
 own library came to it after his death. The library is 
 also indebted to the interest and liberality of Abraham 
 Firth, Esq. Mrs. E. H. Flint, Governor Washburn 
 and many others have been its generous friends. But 
 the library is most of all indebted to Rev. Samuel 
 May for his long-continued devotion and services. 
 He has taken upon himself as a free-will service the 
 arrangement and care of books, the preparation and 
 publishing of catalogues, and the general supervision 
 of the library. The management of the library is 
 committed to a Board of Directors consisting of five 
 members, one of whom is annually chosen to serve 
 five years. On the 18th and 14th days of January, 
 1873, the library was placed in the new " Memorial 
 Hall," an attractive room in the Town House. It 
 has already nearly outgrown these accommodations, 
 and waits the time when wealthy and generous friends 
 shall make provision for a library building. D. E. 
 Merriam, who died in 1888, left toward this object 
 $5,000. 
 
 Cherry Valley Flood.— On March 29tli, 1876, 
 the dam of Lynde Brook Reservoir, the water supply 
 of Worcester, gave signs of weakness. The water sur- 
 fiice of the lake is 1870 acres and there were in it at 
 the time 663,330,000 gallons of water. There had 
 been heavy rains. Four days before one of the series 
 of dams on the Kettle Brook, into which Lynde Brook 
 empties, gave way, occasioning great damage to roads 
 and bridges and flooding a part of Cherry Valley. 
 The water of Lynde Reservoir was at the time run- 
 ning over the flash-boards, twenty-seven inches higher 
 than the dam. A leakage at the lower waste-gate 
 house showed signs of increase, and this was the sig- 
 nal of danger. 
 
 Strenuous eftbrts were made through this and tlie 
 next day to save the dam, or at least hold it in place 
 till the waters could gradually escape. Loads of 
 earth and stone and large trees were thrown in above 
 the dam. Meanwhile the alarm was given to families 
 along the stream. Dwelling-houses were deserted, 
 mill property was removed to the hill-sides and 
 crowds of people stood upon the banks awaiting the 
 result. The dam stood through the day and night 
 and through the ne.xt day, and it was hoped that the 
 calamity might be averted. All through the night 
 and the ne.Kt dav the anxious watch continued. At 
 
 about ten minutes before six, in the afternoon of 
 Thursday, March 30th, a little stream of water broke 
 out above the lower gate-house. The alarm was given ; 
 the dam was cleared of men and teams. The stream 
 enlarged each second, earth and stones were thrown 
 up, the bank of the dam caved in, the stone wall stood 
 for a minute and then §ave way, and the reservoir 
 poured its contents into the channel below. The 
 scene is described by many who witnessed it as grand 
 beyond description. The water came rushing and 
 roaring down the course of the brook, tearing out a 
 gorge a hundred feet in width and carrying the solid 
 masonry far down the stream. Those who were in 
 Cherry Valley could hear the grating of the rocks 
 ground together by the force of the waters. As it 
 passed down the ravine its appearance was grandly 
 beautiful. The water, nearly fifty feet in height, 
 came surging, seething, rolling on, lashed into foam, 
 a white feathery vapor rising above it. When it 
 reached the street it tore away the bridge and road- 
 way and then spread out over the meadow, converting 
 the lower parts of the village into a sea, and then at 
 Smith's dam was forced through the narrow passage. 
 It passed through the centre of Mr. Olney's house, 
 leaving the walls standing. The barn and carriage- 
 house were separated and then floated out gracefully 
 on the water, only to be wrecked when they reached 
 the rocks below. Several tenement houses were de- 
 stroyed. The flood tore away most of Smith's factory, 
 annihilated Bottomly's mill and carried away the rear 
 of the several factories along the stream and the dams ; 
 it wrenched away the boiler of Ashworth & .Jones' 
 mill and deposited it half a mile below, and swept 
 away the engine and boiler of Smith's mill so that 
 they were never found. At the corner of the James- 
 ville Road and Main Street it struck the bank, and be- 
 came a whirlpool as it turned southerly to Jamesville, 
 where it was divided. A part of the flood followed 
 the stream, inflicting damage upon the dam and fac- 
 tory. The other part followed the Boston & Albany 
 Railroad for nearly two miles, gullying out the track 
 and destroying the double arch bridge. The scene 
 after the flood was one of wild desolation, the fields 
 and meadows being covered with boulders and the 
 ilibris. The spot was visited by thousands of people 
 during the next few days, some of them coming from 
 a distance. The estimated number on one day was 
 thirty thousand. 
 
 HisTOKiKs. — Leicester is unusually rich in annal- 
 ists and historians. First among these is Governor 
 Emory Washburn, to whose "Topographical and His- 
 torical Sketches of the Town of Leicester," published 
 June, 1826, in the Worcester Magazine and Historical 
 Journal, his " Brief Sketch of the History of Leices- 
 ter Academy," published in 1855, his several addresses 
 on anniversary occasions, and his " History of Leices- 
 ter," published in 1860, the town is indebted for the 
 collection and preservation of the facts of its early 
 history. In the preparation of his history he was 
 
'^^kJ^^ly^^ (^ 
 
LEICESTER. 
 
 733 
 
 more largely than is generally known indebted to 
 Jos. A. Denny, Esq., who gathered much of this 
 information, and whose " Reminiscences of Leices- 
 ter," published about fourteen years ago in the 
 Worcedtr Spy, whose history of the schools, published 
 in the School Report of 1849, whose various compila- 
 tions from the Town Records, whose identification of 
 locations, and whose personal journal, covering a 
 period of eighteen years, including that of the Civil 
 War, entitle him to the distinction of the annalist of 
 Leicester. Miss Harriet E. Henshaw in 1776 pub- 
 lished "Reminiscences of Colonel William Henshaw," 
 which are rich in interesting and curious information 
 relating to the Revolutionary period. Not only local, 
 but other historians are indebted to her rich stores of 
 ancient manuscripts, including the Orderh' Books of 
 Colonel William Henshaw, Adjutant-General of the 
 Provincial Army, containing the official records of 
 the Revolutionary army during the first year of the 
 war, letters of the Committee of Correspondence, and 
 other documents of inestimable historical value. 
 Draper's "History of Spencer" and Whitney's "His- 
 tory of Worcester County" are also sources from 
 which light is also thrown upon the early history of 
 the town. The academy has also had its historians. 
 A brief but valuable sketch was published in 1829 in 
 connection with Principal Preceptor Luther Wright's 
 address. Rev. S. May, in the " Proceedings of the 
 Worcester Society of Antiquity," 1882, has a paper 
 on the academy. Governor Washburn's history, and 
 the address of Hon. W. W. Rice at the centennial 
 anniversary of the institution, are both of them the 
 result of much careful research. The historical ser- 
 mon of Rev. I>. F. Cooley, at the fiftieth anniversary 
 of Christ Church, Rochdale, and " The Religious 
 History of the First Congregational Church in 
 Leicester," by Rev. A. H. Coolidge, have also been 
 published. To these sources of information is to be 
 added the historical sermon of Rev. Hiram Estes, 
 D.D., at the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of 
 the Baptist Church in Greenville. The manuscript 
 journal of Ruth Henshaw, reaching back into the 
 last century, gives an insight into the life of the early 
 times, and serves to verify some of the facts and dates 
 of history. The letters of Grace Denny, of England, 
 published in the " Genealogy of the Denny Family," 
 prepared by C. C. Denny, Esq., are of special interest, 
 referring as they do to the situation of the place soon 
 after its settlement. 
 
 Celebrations. — In addition to celebrations in town 
 which have been noticed in other connections, are 
 others of an interesting character. The four towns, 
 Leicester, Spencer, Paxton and Auburn, which wholly 
 or in part were embraced in the original township, 
 united in celebration on the 4th of July, 1849, in the 
 grove, on Grove Street. Hon. Samuel Draper, of 
 Spencer, presided. More than two thousand persons 
 were present. The citizens of Spencer, preceded by 
 the fire company, were escorted into the village. 
 
 under the direction of Henry A. Denny as chief mar- 
 shal, by the Leicester Fire Company, with the North- 
 bridge Band. Four Revolutionary soldiers were 
 honored guests. The address was by Hon. Emory 
 Washburn, and is a valuable contribution to the 
 Revolutionary historj' of the towns. Rev. Dr. Nelson 
 was chaplain. Among the after-dinner addresses was 
 that of Hon. Joseph Sprague, ex-mayor of Brooklyn, 
 N. Y. 
 
 The 4th of July, 1871, was chosen as the date of 
 celebrating the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary 
 of the organization of the town by the several towns 
 of the original township. The exercises were in a 
 large tent on the Common. Rev. S. May, in behalf 
 of the Committee of Arrangements, introduced the 
 exercises of the morning, which consisted of music 
 by the Worcester Band, singing, prayer by the chap- 
 lain, Rev. A. H. Coolidge, and a learned and eloquent 
 historical address by Governor Emory Washburn. 
 About eight hundred sons and daughters of Leicester 
 sat down at the tables, Capt. J. D. Cogswell as mar- 
 shal having charge of the arrangements. Jos. A. 
 Denny, Esq., as president of the day, introduced the 
 after-dinner exercises. Dr. J. N. Murdock acting as 
 toast-master. Addresses were made by Hon. Waldo 
 Flint, Abraham Firth, Esq., Hon. Edward Earle, Gen. 
 E. T. Jones, Hon. N. Sargent and others. 
 
 In 1876 the towns again united and celebrated the 
 centennial of the Declaration of Independence. The 
 morning exercises were in the town hall, and Rev. S. 
 May was president of the day. John E. Russell, Esq., 
 delivered an eloquent address. The singing was un- 
 der the direction of Mr. Thomas S. Livermore, and 
 the music by the Leicester Cornet Band. The com- 
 pany then moved in procession, under Capt. J. D. 
 Cogswell as marshal, to Sargent's Grove, where after- 
 dinner addresses were made by the several clergymen, 
 teachers of the academy and others. 
 
 The principal addresses on all these occasions have 
 been published, and are invaluable sources of import- 
 ant and interesting local and general history. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 DR. EDWARD FLINT.' 
 
 Dr. Edward Flint behmged to a family of physi- 
 cians. His grandfather. Dr. Edward Flint, of Shrews- 
 bury, was the physician of that town during a long 
 life. His father, Dr. Austin Flint, born in Shrews- 
 bury, established himself in Leicester in 1783, at the 
 close of the War of the Revolution, in which he had 
 been an army surgeon, lived here a long and honored 
 life, professionally eminent, and died at over ninety 
 years of age. His elder brother was Dr. Joseph H. 
 
 'By Rev. Samuel May. 
 
734 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Flint, of Noriliam|)toii and Springfield, wliose son 
 Austin became distinguislied in New York, Ijotli in 
 practice and as a medical aullior; and who left a son, 
 also named Austin, as successor to his labors and hon- 
 ors. Dr. John Flint, of Boston, was a cousin, and 
 studied medicine with him. And his only son, John 
 Sj'denham Flint, was a physician for some ibrty years 
 in R<ixbury, held in the highest esteem there, an<l 
 died in April, ISST. 
 
 Dr. Edward Flint, second son of Dr. Austin and 
 Elizabeth (Henshaw) Flint, of Leicester, was born 
 November 7, 1789. He studied medicine with his 
 father, and established himself in its practice in Lei- 
 cester in ISIL Six years later he was married to 
 Harriet, eldest daughter of Klihu Emerson, Esq., of 
 Norwich, Vt. Soon after marriage he built the house 
 in the centre of the town which he occupied during 
 life, and where his widow now resides in her ninety- 
 first year. Dr. Flint died May 30, 1880, being, like 
 his father, a few months over ninety years of age. 
 Three children was born to them — Charlotte Emerson, 
 Sally, and John Sydenham. The daughters were 
 very excellent and attractive young women, but they 
 both died in early womanhood. Their loss severely 
 tried Dr. Flint's faith and firmness; but no murmur 
 escaped him. Seven years after his own death, his 
 only son died, as already stated, and the mother is 
 now left childless, but is ministered to, in her aire and 
 many infirmities, with unsurpassed devotedne.ss. 
 
 Dr. Flint succeeded to his father's large practice, 
 which extended beyond the town limits. He gave his 
 life, in the strictest sense, to his profession, and to 
 those who needed his services, making no discrimina- 
 tion among those who were able and those who were 
 not able to pay him for that service. It was a life 
 uneventful, but steadily laborious, and attended with 
 frequent exposures. A physician has peculiar oppor- 
 tunity to render charitable service, and Dr. Flint had 
 his full share of such experience; and as he had a 
 great repugnance to pressing the collection of debts 
 due him, it followed that an unusual amount of such 
 indebtedness was never paid. A recent writer in a 
 Health Journal says : " It is safe to say that but few 
 physicians in general practice manage to collect more 
 than one-half of their bills," and enlarges upon the 
 wrong thus done. Cases of destitution will always 
 occur, and our physicians may be safely trusted not 
 to forget them ; but it should cease to be thought 
 allowable for others to use a doctor's time and ser- 
 vices .without compensation. Attempts, on various 
 grounds, were made to introduce other physicians to 
 the town, but the general respect and confidence of 
 Leicester people were never withdrawn from Dr. 
 Flint. Washburn, in his " History of Leicester," says 
 of him: "The rank and position which Dr. Flint 
 sustains in the community have been the natural re- 
 sult of the many years of honorable and successful 
 pursuit of the jirofession of his choice." 
 
 He was a life-long friend of temperance. When 
 
 his house was built — which was before the day of tem- 
 perance societies — he induced the workmen to give up 
 the customary strong drink, and he I'uriiished them 
 hot coffee in its place, which Mrs. Flint daily made 
 for them. He never permitted wine or strong drinks 
 to be i)laced on his table, nor offered to visitors, and 
 never used them himself. He told the present writer 
 that be had an early lesson on the subject, in seeing 
 his father always pass the mug or glass untasted, as it 
 went the rounds among the neighbors collected at 
 some public place. His horses and his dogs were 
 more than his servants : they were his friends and he 
 was theirs. He had a quaint humor, with a somewhat 
 rough manner, in both respects resembling his father. 
 When a boy he one day brought from the post-office 
 to his father a small packet; his father, on opening it, 
 said, " Here, Ned, take off your jacket," which being 
 done, the father rolled up the boy's sleeve, and with 
 no further notice made an incision in his arm and in- 
 serted some vaccine matter, and thus, as he always 
 claimed, he became, with little previous notice, the 
 first subject of vaccination in the town of Leicester. 
 
 IIKX. .lOSHUA .MURDOC'K.' 
 
 The older readers of this history will be glad to rec- 
 ognize in the accompanying engraving the likeness 
 of Dea. .Toshua Murdock. He was the son of William 
 and Achsah Murdock, and was born in Westminster, 
 Mass., October 28, 1780. He served a regular appren- 
 ticeship as cabinet-maker to Artemas Woodward, of 
 Medfield, Mass. He was united in marriage with 
 Clarissa Hartshorn, of Medfield, June 3, 180C, and 
 soon removed to West BoN'lston, and, with his brother 
 Artemas, began the business of cabinet-making. In 
 1811 he came to Leicester and purchased the place 
 still owned by the family. His cabinet shop was 
 east of the house. Here he carried on the business 
 for many years, employing a number of hands. He 
 was in every sense a master-workman. The products 
 of his skill were at once thorough and elegant, and 
 many highly valued and beautiful specimens are still 
 retained in various families in the vicinity. 
 
 In 183:!, and again in 1834, the town expressed its 
 appreciation of him by electing him to the House of 
 Representatives in the Legislature of the State. He 
 was for many years treasurer of the First Parish, first 
 elected when the affairs of the parish were managed 
 by the town, through the selectmen. He was also 
 trustee of the invested funds of the church and 
 parish to the time of his death. He was made deacon 
 of the church January 7, 1817, and retained the office 
 through life. He was the first superintendent of the 
 Sunday-school, and held that oflice, as nearly as can 
 be ascertained, more than twenty-five years. 
 
 In April, 1812, he with his wife united with the 
 First Congregational Church — the first persons to make 
 
 I B.y A. H. Coolidgo. 
 
i 
 
 f w 
 
 ^i'-^^^T-'Z^ -£> ,^-'^^^^«^7'^>^iit^^Z>^ 
 
LEICE8TEK. 
 
 735 
 
 n public profession of faitli after the settlement of Dr. 
 Nelson, the month before. He possessed a singularly 
 even and benign spirit, sweetened by genuine piety. He 
 was always very modest and retiring, yet he cheerfully 
 accepted the cares and responsibilities of liis otfice in 
 the church, and was always heard with interest and 
 pleasure in the several meetinfi;s of the church. The 
 writer remembers him with the deepest respect and 
 tenderness as one of the truest, most helpful and syra- 
 I)athetic of his friends in the first years of his min- 
 istry. 
 
 He died suddenly, in his shop, December 30, 1859. 
 A memorial sermon was preached by the junior pastor, 
 January 8, 1860, from Prov. 20: 6—" Most men will 
 jiroclaim everyone his own goodness ; but a faithful 
 man who can find?" 
 
 JOSEPH A. DENMY, ES(J.' 
 
 Jcseph Addison Denny was the grandson of Daniel 
 Denny, who settled in Leicester in the spring of 1717. 
 He was one of the twelve children of Joseph Denny. 
 His mother, Phd'be Denny, was the daughter of Col. 
 William Henshaw. 
 
 He was born May 13, 1804, and passed his early 
 childhood in the house on Main Street now owned 
 by tlie family of the late John Loring. His mother 
 died when he was eleven years old. About two years 
 later he left home and was a clerk in the store of H. 
 G. Henshaw, Esq., in New Worcester, for two or three 
 years. He then returned home, and attended school 
 at Leicester Academy for several terms. About the 
 year 1823 he was engaged as a clerk in the store of 
 James & John A. Smith, in a building west of the 
 Leicester Hotel. There he remained until 1826, when 
 he commenced the manufacture of card-clothing, 
 which he continued until lS'"i7. 
 
 He was a diligent and intelligent student, and pro- 
 ductious of his pen at this period, which are still pre- 
 served, indicate unusual thoughtfulness as well as lit- 
 erary taste. He early formed the determination of 
 making his life a success in the truest sense. He even 
 gave up the games and other amusements in which 
 many of the young were absorbed, that he might se- 
 cure his evenings for useful reading. When he reached 
 the age of twenty-one years he wrote a series of reso- 
 lutions for " future guidance.'' These resolutions are 
 indicative of his early purpose, as well as of his later 
 character. Among them are the resolutions to abstain 
 from the use of " ardent spirits," gambling and pro- 
 fane language. The platform of business principles 
 which he then adopted is worthy of the consideration 
 of the young, and is given in his own words: "Resolved, 
 That if frugality and application to business will en- 
 sure me a competency of wealth, I will never be poor. 
 That, while I have my health, I will never spend 
 faster than I earn, and on the contrary, while I have 
 a sufficiency, 1 will never deny myself the conveni- 
 
 ■ Bv Kov. .\. H. CiJuliilgct. 
 
 ences of life fa- the purpose of hoarding up treasure. 
 That, while I am prospered in business, I will never 
 refuse charity, where I think it my duty to extend it. 
 And should I ever accumulate property, may I have 
 the satisfaction of reflecting that it was not obtained 
 by oppressing the poor, unfair dealing or any other 
 dishonorable means, and may a bountiful Providence 
 prosper my undertakings." 
 
 In the year 1826 he entered the firm of Isaac 
 Southgate & Co., which, as has already been stated, 
 developed into that of Bisco & Denny. It was in 
 the beginning a small enterprise. The pricking and 
 tooth-forming machines were moved by hand, and 
 the cards sent out to be set by women and children. 
 The business increased gradually, and prospered so 
 that by careful attention to its details he secured a 
 competence. 
 
 He was also largely interested in the establish- 
 ment of the Leicester Boot Company. He was a 
 prominent director and valued adviser in the State 
 Mutual Life Assurance, and the Merchants' and 
 Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Companies in Wor- 
 cester, from the date of their organization to the 
 time of his death. He was a director and for a 
 time the president of the Leicester Bank. He was 
 assistant assessor in the Internal Revenue Depart- 
 ment during and after the war. He served the town 
 as selectman and School Committee, and from 
 March, 1850, to the time of his death, in 1875, was 
 town clerk. He was, in 1857, elected to the House 
 of Representatives in the Legislature of the State. 
 His services for the academy, to whose interest he 
 was earnestly devoted, were invaluable. He was a 
 trustee from August 20, 1834, and treasurer from 
 May 11, 1853, till his death, in 1875. He gave to 
 this institution his personal services, and contributed 
 liberally to its funds ; and it was through his influ- 
 ence that most of its present endowment was se- 
 cured. With many of the former pupils of this in- 
 stitution the thought of Leicester Academy and 
 Joseph A. Denny are inseparable. His portrait has 
 a jilace with the founders and benefactors of the 
 academy in Smith Hall. Mr. Denny was a man of 
 literary tastes, and spent much time in reading, thus 
 familiarizing himself with history and the best lit- 
 erature. 
 
 He at different times traveled in various parts of 
 the country, and had a comprehensive appreciation 
 alike of its resources and its need. He took special 
 pains to familiarize himself with statute law. He 
 wrote legal documents, and had charge of pecuniary 
 trusts, and settled estates. He wrote many wills, and 
 often, by wise suggestion, impressed upon men in the 
 disposal of their property the importance of making 
 liberal provision for their wives, a consideration 
 which is too often found overlooked. Although 
 never admitted to the bar, he was still a legal ad- 
 viser, consulted by people of his own and neighbor- 
 ing towns. This service was to a large extent gra- 
 
73G 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 tuitous. He was pre-eminently the friend and helper 
 of widows and orphans, and of the pool. Men and 
 women of all classes and ditierent nationalities re- 
 sorted to him for counsel and help. They came to 
 him with their quarrels, their business perplexities, 
 their financial troubles, their plans and enterprises 
 and their sorrows ; and found in him an attentive 
 listener, a sound adviser, a generous helper and a 
 sympathizing friend. He was, perhaps, more than 
 any other person, familiar with the locations and his- 
 tory of Leicester and the lives of its former in- 
 habitants; and to him, more largely than is gener- 
 ally known. Gov. Emory Washburn was indebted for 
 the materials of his excellent history of the town. 
 His manuscript notes, his " Reminiscences of Leices- 
 ter," published in the fVorcester Spy, and his journal 
 which is a record of passing events, are of great his- 
 torical value. He may be truthfully termed the an- 
 nalist of Leicester. 
 
 In 1874 he made a tour of Europe, which was a 
 source of great profit and enjoyment to so intelligent 
 and appreciative an observer. He was especially 
 interested in visiting the home of his ancestors and 
 his relatives in England. 
 
 He united with the First Congregational Church 
 in July, 1827, and through life was one of its devoted 
 and helpful members and a constant attendant upon 
 all its services. He was, for many years and at the 
 time of his death, a teacher in the Sunday-school. 
 He was interested in the great missionary enter- 
 prises, both home and foreign, and contributed liber- 
 ally to them. He set apart at the beginning of each 
 year a certain portion of his income for benevolent 
 objects, :ind regarded one-tenth of a successful busi- 
 ness man's )irofits as too little to be thus employed. 
 He was interested in young men who were struggling 
 for an education, and gave liberal aid to those who 
 were preparing for the ministry. He had a large 
 circle of friends, and was widely known. He mar- 
 ried, April 30, 1829, Mary Davis, the daughter of 
 Major Joel Davis, of Rutland, Mass., who survives him. 
 They had two children, — Mary Elizabeth, the wife of 
 Deacon Lyman D. Thurston, and Hon. Charles Ad- 
 dison Denny. He built the house in which he so 
 long resided in 1837. He had all the qualities 
 which made home and social life delightful. He 
 was fond of children, and his conversation was in- 
 structive and entertaining. He died February 25, 
 1875, of pneumonia, after a few days' illness. It was 
 said of him at his funeral, which was largely attended 
 in the First Congregational Church : " He under- 
 stood better than most men the truth that while men 
 die, institutions and influences live, and was largely 
 endowed with that rare, unselfish wisdom which qual- 
 ifies one to build the foundations of the public wel- 
 fare deep and enduring. The effects of this purpose, 
 which, to a large extent, dictated the policy of his 
 life, will be more fully understood and acknowledged 
 in the future than they can be now, and his name 
 
 will go down to posterity as one of the benefactors of 
 the town." 
 
 He kept from .January 1, 1857, to September, 
 1874,a personal journal, which is of great value as a 
 record also of local and public events in one of the 
 most eventful periods of our national history. A few 
 days before his death he completed a transfer to this 
 journal of the diary of his European travels, and for- 
 mally concluded the series of entries with these sig- 
 nificant words: "And here I will close this daily 
 journal of my own private matters, which I have 
 kept for almost eighteen years, intending it princi- 
 pally as a business memoranda. It has often been 
 useful to me as a reference; but as I have fewer 
 business transactions, and have just recorded the 
 history of one of the most important transactions of 
 my life — a voyage to Europe — I will here close my 
 record, blessing God for his care and protection, not 
 only during this voyage, but a long life, now reach- 
 ing more than three-score years and ten." 
 
 UWIGHT BISCO.^ 
 
 Dwight Bisco, who was for sixty years one of 
 the leading citizens and business men of Leicester, 
 was born in Spencer April 27, 1799, one of several 
 sons of Jacob Bisco. Upon his father's farm he 
 lived and worked until twenty-two years of age, 
 when, with a silver dollar as his only money capital, 
 he came to Leicester, and engaged in the employ- 
 ment of Cheney Hatch, one of the card-clothing 
 manufacturers, — a business of which Leicester then 
 had almost a monopoly. Bringing with him good 
 character, intelligence, habits of industry and self- 
 control, and not afraid of work, he steadily acquired 
 skill in this intricate and difiicult manufacture. 
 
 In 1S2() he associated himself as partner with Isaac 
 Southgate, Joshua Lamb, John Stone and Joseph A. 
 Denny, another house in the same business. In 1843 
 Mr. Denny and he bought the interest of the other 
 partners, and continued the business, under the name 
 of Bisco & Denny, until Mr. Denny's death, in 1875. 
 It was then passed on by Mr. Bisco into the hands of 
 his sons and of Mr. Denny's only son, he continuing 
 to occupy himself in the factory until February, 1882, 
 when he entirely withdrew, being then in his eighty- 
 third year. 
 
 In middle life he had invested the chief part of his 
 savings in the Leicester Boot Company. It was un- 
 fortunate, and was brought to an end by the burning 
 of the company's buildings and stock, September 25, 
 1860, inflicting on him a total loss of all he had paid 
 in. With a quiet courage he applied himself again 
 to business, as closely as in his youth, and was en- 
 abled to make good his loss, and to present to his 
 eight children, at the Thanksgiving dinner-table, five 
 hundred dollars each. 
 
 1 B.v lie 
 
 ainuel Miiy. 
 
^/U2fk/' ^L<i o^ 
 
,^^'^'~?g<»'?'^ 
 
LEICESTEK. 
 
 737 
 
 His marriage with Ruth Woodcock (daughter of 
 John Woodcock, Sr., and sister of John, Josephua 
 and Lucius, of the following generation), in 1826, 
 
 I founded a family life of great happiness and unity 
 for more than fifty years. When they celebrated 
 their golden wedding, January 8, 1876, " we saw 
 them," said Rev. Mr. Coolidge, " standing together, 
 a spectacle rarely witnessed, an unbroken family," — 
 parents, children and grandchildren, — a circle which 
 death had then never entered. But in September of 
 that year Mrs. Bisco died, with little warning ; and 
 Mr. Bisco suffered the severest loss which could pos- 
 sibly happen to him. He had become very deaf, and 
 her loss was the more severe. Their children, who 
 are all living, are Emily A., Charles D., George, John 
 W., William, Henry, and Frederick A. ; all married 
 but William. Mr. Bisco died December 7, 1882. 
 
 He was repeatedly a selectman of the town ; a di- 
 rector of the Leicester Bank eleven years ; treasurer 
 
 . of the Pine Grove Cemetery Company forty years ; 
 
 I treasurer of the Unitarian Congregational Society as 
 long, and a deacon of that church. He was a mem- 
 ber of the State Legislature in 1847 and '48. In a 
 notice of him in the Christian Register, Mr. Abraham 
 Firth wrote of "his marked faithfulness in all these 
 relations, and in every sphere of life in which lie 
 
 f moved. He was always found on the side of virtue, 
 and of political and spiritual freedom. Brought up 
 under the teaching of Calvinism, it never satisfied 
 him." 
 
 One who was long in daily business association 
 with him wrote, in the Worcester Spy, " he was 
 known among his associates as an honest, upright 
 man, of superior sense and judgment." His pastor, 
 during his later years, wrote of him, " I have never 
 known a truer man, nor one of greater strength of 
 
 I character." His first minister, at the funeral ser- 
 vices, paid a warm tribute to his character and life. 
 " No man in Leicester," said a fellow-citizen, " has a 
 better record than Dwight Bisco." A memorial book 
 of Mr. and Mrs. Bisco has been printed. 
 
 CAPTAIN HIEAM KNIGHT.' 
 
 Captain Hiram Knight was one of the successful 
 business men of Leicester, who, beginning life with- 
 out pecuniary advantages, have secured fur them- 
 selves a handsome property. His father, Silas Knight, 
 was a wheelwright, and in very moderate circum- 
 stances. He was a Revolutionary soldier and pen- 
 sioner. He lived to the venerable age of eighty-five 
 years and five months. His mother was seventy-si.\ 
 years and si.x months old at the time of her death. 
 Her maiden name was Martha Goodnow. 
 
 Hiram Knight was born in Oakham, August 22, 
 1793. When about twenty-one years of age he came 
 to Leicester for employment. He was married by 
 
 1 By Rev. A.. H. Coolidge. 
 
 Rev. John Nelson, D.D., April 28, 1818, to Olive 
 Barnes. Her mother was Betsy, the daughter of 
 William Green, who was born in Leicester in 1743, 
 and was the son of William and Rebeckah Green. 
 Their first home was on Main Street, in the house 
 afterward occupied by the Leicester Boot Company. 
 The ne.xt year he removed to the academy, of which 
 he was steward from 1819 to 1822. In 1823 he pur- 
 cha.sed the old " Green Tavern," on the corner of 
 Main and Paxton Streets. Here for about two years 
 he resided, engaged during the time in the occupa- 
 tions of butchering, tavern-keeping and for a time 
 was associated with Reuben Merriam in card-making 
 and a store. In 1825 he became a member of the firm 
 of James & John A. Smith & Co., who built and 
 occupied the factory where the Wire Mill now stands; 
 and also the brick factory above and the boarding- 
 house. The history of this company, which was 
 afterward the firm of Smith, Woodcock & Knight, 
 and later of Woodcock, Knight & Co., is given 
 elsewhere. Mr. and Mrs. Knight kept the board- 
 ing-houses for this firm till about the year 1832, 
 when the family came back to the Green tavern. Mr. 
 Knight w-as in the card business till 1867, when he 
 transferred his interest to his sons. He, with John 
 Woodcock and George Morse, was in partnership with 
 James Smith & Co. at the formation of that house in 
 Philadelphia in 1836, and retained his interest for a 
 number of years. 
 
 The lower factory of his firm was to a considerable 
 extent built under his supervision. He superintended 
 the building of the Brick Factory and the boarding- 
 house. He also had general charge of the building 
 of the brick school-house on Pleasant Street. His 
 own residence, on the site of the old tavern, and now 
 occupied by his son Dexter, was erected in 1843. 
 
 Mr. Knight had agricultural tastes, and at one time 
 had considerable land, which he cultivated and im- 
 proved. He was an active member of the Worcester 
 Agricultural Society. 
 
 He was one of the directors of the Leicester Na- 
 tional Bank from 1850 to 1874. Between the years 
 1836 and 1844 he served the town in the various 
 ofl[ices of moderator of town-meetings, selectman and 
 assessor, etc. He was appointed justice of the peace 
 by Governor Boutwell. He was one of the early 
 members of the Second Congregational Society, Uni- 
 tarian. In politics he was a Democrat, but reserved 
 the right of independent thought and action. He 
 was a member of the State Constitutional Conven- 
 tion in 1853. In early life he was somewhat active 
 in military affairs, and was captain of the local mili- 
 tary company. 
 
 Captain Knight was engaged in the manufacture 
 of card-clothing in the period of the rapid develop- 
 ment of that industry, when inventive genius was 
 perfecting the wonderful machine for card-setting, of 
 which a gentleman once said, after admiringly 
 watching its almost human movements : " Why ! it 
 
738 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 thinks!" He had not been trained to tlie business, 
 but was a natural mechanic, inventive and ingen- 
 ious ; and though not forward in asserting his claims, 
 made many valuable improvements in the machinery 
 for card-making. According to the testimony of his 
 partner, Mr. John Wo.odcock, he made the iirst 
 card clothing set by machinery in Leicester. 
 
 Captain Knight vi'as a man of sound judgment, 
 self-reliant, and of strict business integrity. He gave 
 close attention to his business and was successful. 
 He was wise and cautious in his investments, and 
 became one of the wealthy men of the town. For 
 his success he was largely indebted to his wife. She 
 was a woman of domestic tastes, and devoted herself 
 untiringly and efficiently to the varied duties of the 
 household, acting her part with true womanly fidelity 
 and fortitude in all the varied experiences of the 
 family, in prosperity and in trial and sorrow. She 
 was married at the age of seventeen years. 
 
 They had eleven children, seven of whom died 
 young ; the three older at the ages of nine, ten and 
 twelve years respectively. Their daughter Susan 
 died in 1856, at the age of twenty-five. She is re- 
 membered as an excellent scholar, retiring in man- 
 ners, and loved by all her associates. Three sons 
 survive— Dexter, James J. and George M. 
 
 Captain Knight died May 6, 1875, at the age of 
 eighty-one yeara and eight months. His wife sur- 
 vived him about four years, and died April 19, 1879, 
 at the age of seventy-eight years. 
 
 REV. SAMUEL MAY. 
 
 Eev. Samuel May, the first minister of the Second 
 Congregational (Unitarian) Church and Society, and 
 who continued such for twelve years, was born in 
 Boston, April 11, 1810, oldest son of Samuel and Mary 
 (Goddard) May. Four years a pupil of Deacon 
 Samuel Greele, afterwards for three years at the Pub- 
 lic Latin School of Boston, and one year at the Bound 
 Hill School, Northampton, he was graduated at Har- 
 vard College in 1829. 
 
 After spending nearly a year in study with his 
 cousin, Rev. Samuel J. May, at Brooklyn, Ct., he 
 entered the Cambridge Divinity School in the fall of 
 1830, and was graduated there in 1833. The society 
 at Leicester was then young, having been incorpor- 
 ated in April, 1833, and holding its meetings in the 
 old Town Hall. Mr. May spent six or seven weeks 
 in their service that autumn, then left to fulfill some 
 other engagements, and returned in March, 1834, to 
 begin a second engagement. That spring he receiveil 
 and accepted the society's call to be their minister, 
 and was ordained as such August 13th, the services 
 being held in the society's new church, which had 
 been dedicated the evening previous, when the late 
 Rev. Dr. James Walker, then of Charlestown, preached 
 the very impressive discourse, afterwards so widely 
 circulated by the American Unitarian Association, 
 
 entitled, " Faith, Regeneration, Atonement," showing 
 these to be successive periods and steps of the reli- 
 gious life. 
 
 Mr. May's ministry was one of fair success. Rela- 
 tions of good will and friendship were formed, which 
 continued far beyond the terra of his ministerial con- 
 nection, and to the close of life of his parishioners in 
 nearly every instance. Entire harmony of feeling exist- 
 ed between them, except with regard to one question, 
 viz. : that of slavery in the United States, and whether 
 a Christian minister should or should not take part in 
 the eflbrt to bring that condition of slavery to an end. 
 Mr. May regarding it his duty to take such part, and 
 to seek to induce his hearers to do the same, several 
 persons were so much dissatisfied as to withdraw 
 themselves from the society. One or more others who 
 remained being similarly dissatisfied, Mr. May de- 
 cided to resign his ofiice rather than be a cause of di- 
 vision, and the connection was closed in the summer 
 of 1846. 
 
 Mr. May has continued to have his residence at 
 Leicester to the present time. In 1835 he was married 
 to Sarah Russell, third daughter of Nathaniel P. Rus- 
 sell, of Boston. Their children, all born in Leicester, 
 and still living, are Adeline, Edward, Joseph Russell, 
 and Elizabeth Goddard. The daughters reside with 
 their parents. Edward is a pay director of the 
 United States Navy, and Joseph R. is in commercial 
 life in Boston. Edward married, in 1871, Mary Mig- 
 not Blodgett, of Boston. They have four children. 
 
 Soon after resigning his position at Leicester, Mr. 
 May was minister of the First Ecclesiastical Society, 
 Brooklyn, Ct., until June, 1847. Then he became the 
 general agent of the Massachusetts Anti-slavery So- 
 ciety. He held this place, with the exception of 
 about a year and a half of impaired health, for 
 eighteen years, and until 1865, the time when, by 
 amendment of the Constitution, slavery in the United 
 States ceased to exist. He was also, for several 
 years, corresponding secretary of the American Anti- 
 slavery Society. 
 
 From 1841 to 1865 Mr. May refused to take any 
 political action under the United States Constitution 
 because of its recognition and support of slavery — 
 refused, that is, to vote for officers who must take 
 an oath to support the Constitution. When the 
 Constitution was amended he resumed the exercise 
 of the citizen's duties. At the outbreak of the War 
 of the Rebellion, in 1861, he gave such aid as be 
 could to the cause of the Union,- and to its armies 
 in the field, speaking and acting publicly. 
 
 He early took a decided stand against the use of 
 intoxicating drinks ; was a member of town, county 
 and State societies formed to promote total abstinence 
 from their use ; and joined with others to establish 
 the Leicester Hotel as a house in which no such 
 drinks should be sold. 
 
 Mr. May served upon the town School Committee, 
 at two diflerent periods, for twenty-one years. He was 
 
.,.^" 
 
 ...i>" 
 
 /-^^i-^,^ (yp^t^-^(-^ ' 
 
LEICESTER. 
 
 739 
 
 chosen one of the directors of the town's public 
 library at its establishment, in 1861, and still con- 
 tinues as such, having served nearly twenty-eight 
 years. In 1874 he was elected a trustee of Leices- 
 ter Academy. In 1875 he was a member of the 
 State Legislature, representing, with Mr. Pliny 
 Litchfield, of Southbridge, the district formed of the 
 towns of Leicester, Spencer, Charlton, Southbridge 
 and Auburn. As House chairman of the Committee 
 on Federal Relations, he took an active part in the 
 State's commemoration of the one hundredth anni- 
 versaries of the battles of Lexington, Concord and 
 Bunker Hill. At the town's celebration of the cen- 
 tennial of American Independence, July 4, 1876, 
 Mr. May was chairman of the town's committee. 
 He edited the pamphlet which records in full that 
 day's doings in Leicester. 
 
 He is a member of the American Social Science 
 Association, of the Worcester Society of Antiquityi 
 and of the Bostonian Society. He was chosen secre- 
 tary of the Class of 1829, Harvard College, at the time 
 of graduating, and has held the office to the present 
 time. He aided in the compilation of the large 
 pamphlet which records the one hundredth anniver- 
 sary of the foundation of Leicester Ac/demy, and the 
 proceedings of that occasion, September 4, 1884. 
 
 PLINY EARLE, A.M., M.D.' 
 
 Dr. Pliny Earle was the fourth son of Pliny Earle, 
 the great-grandson of Ralph Earle, who came to 
 Leicester in 1717. His mother was the daughter of 
 William Buffum, of Suithfield, R. I. He was born 
 December 31, 1809, and his childhood was passed in 
 the home of his father at Mulberry Grove. He was 
 a pupil in Leicester Academy, and afterwards in the 
 Friends' School, in Providence, R. I., where he was a 
 teacher in the winter of 1828-29, and also from 1831 
 to 1835, when he was made principal. 
 
 He pursued the study of medicine, first with Dr. 
 Usher Parsons, of Providence, and afterwards at the 
 University of Pennsylvania, from which he was 
 graduated with the degree of M.D. in 1837. The 
 next two years were spent in Europe ; one in the 
 medical school and the hospitals of Paris, and 
 the other in a tour of professional and general 
 observation, " in which he visited various insti- 
 tutions for the insane, from England to Turkey.'' 
 The results of these observations were published in 
 1840, in a pamphlet entitled " A, Visit to Thirteen 
 Asylums for the Insane in Europe." He had an 
 office in Philadelphia for a short time, but in the 
 spring of 1840 became resident physician of the 
 Friends' Asylum for the Insane, near Frankford, now 
 a part of Philadelphia. In 1844 he was appointed 
 medical superintendent of the Bloomingdale Asylum 
 for the Insane, in New York City. In 1849 he made 
 
 1 By Rov. A. H. Coolidge. 
 
 another tour in Europe, visiting thirty-four institu- 
 tions for the insane in England, Belgium, France and 
 the Germanic countries, and, upon his return, pub- 
 lished his book upon " Institutions for the Insane in 
 Prussia, Austria, and Germany." In 1853 he was 
 elected a visiting physician of the New York City 
 Lunatic Asylum, on Blackwell's Island. 
 
 In 1855 he returned to Leicester for rest and the 
 confirmation of his health, and passed several years 
 on the homestead of his grandfather, Robert Earle 
 near Mulberry Grove (now called " Earle Ridge") 
 During this time, however, he spent the winters of 
 1862-63 and 1863-64 in the care of the insane soldiers 
 of the army and navy, at the Government Hospital 
 for the Insane near Washington, D. C, of which his 
 former pupil. Dr. Charles H. Nichols, was superin- 
 tendent. He also wrote for the medical periodicals, 
 and acted as an expert in the trials of several impor- 
 tant cases involving the question of insanity before 
 the legal tribunals of Massachusetts and the adjoin- 
 ing States. 
 
 It was in these years of comparative rest that he 
 rendered the town essential service as a member of 
 the School Committee. In this relation the writer, 
 together with Dr. J. N. Murdock, was associated with 
 him. In this period the public schools were subjected 
 to a thorough reorganization, and new and more prac- 
 tical methods of instruction were introduced. In 
 these services Dr. Earle exhibited the same executive 
 force, the same mastery of details, the same practical 
 wisdom, the same contempt of shams and ability to 
 puncture them, and the same personal integrity and 
 demand for strict uprightness and fidelity in those 
 who were under his supervision, which characterized 
 his administration of the institution in Northampton, 
 of which he was afterward the head. In one respect 
 he was in advance of the time. He came early to 
 appreciate the importance of objective illustration, 
 and the practical application of school instruction. 
 He required pupils to use books only as instructors, 
 and to know things and not mere words. 
 
 Without seeking the position, he was appointed 
 superintendent of the State Lunatic Hospital at 
 Northampton, Mass., July 2, 1864, and held the office 
 twenty-one years and three months, resigning it Octo- 
 ber 1, 1885. He made that hospital in many respects 
 a model institution for the insane ; and its trustees, in 
 the resolutions passed at the time of their acceptance 
 of his resignation, expressed as follows not only their 
 own conviction, but the general judgment with refer- 
 ence to the value of his administration : " In its man- 
 agement he has combined the highest professional 
 skill and acquirement with rare executive ability. 
 By his patient attention to details, by his wisdom and 
 firmness, his absolute fidelity to duty and devotion to 
 the interests of the hospital, he has rendered invalua- 
 ble service to the institution, and to the community 
 which it serves." They alsT express the hope that 
 " he will continue to make his home in the institution, 
 
740 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 that they may continue to profit by his counsels ; and 
 they will provide that his rooms shall always be open 
 and ready for his use." This offer Mr. Earle accepted, 
 although his summers have been spent at Mulberry 
 Grove. 
 
 The Northampton Hospital had been erected in 
 opposition to a widely prevalent opinion that it was 
 not, and never could be, needed, — an opinion which 
 delayed its construction, made the obtaining of appro- 
 priations very difficult, and finally compelled the 
 trustees to put it in operation in a very incomplete 
 condition, internally. The Civil War had tended to 
 restrict the price of board for public patients to a very 
 low limit, and in 1864, when Dr. Earle took charge of 
 it, it had never paid its current expenses. He imme- 
 diately addressed himself to the task of making it 
 not only a first-class curative institution, but a self- 
 supporting one as well. He purchased supplies at 
 wholesale and in open market. He reorganized and 
 reduced to a very complete system all the departments 
 — domestic, economical, financial and medical — with 
 checks and counter-checks for the detection of loss, 
 or of waste by carelessness, as well as for the exposure 
 of unfaithfulness in the discharge of duty toward the 
 patients, or in other respects. The so-called "moral 
 treatment " of the patients was amplified, made more 
 diversified, and extended over a greater portion of the 
 year than in any other American hospital. 
 
 The pecuniary results of this system were the pay- 
 ment of current expenses in the second year, and, 
 during the whole period of Dr. Earle"s service, the 
 purchase of land at a cost of over twenty-five thou- 
 sand dollars ; the payment for all ordinary repairs, 
 and over one hundred and seventy-three thousand 
 dollars for buildings and other improvements, and an 
 increase in cash assets and provisions and supplies of 
 over forty-three thousand dollars, all of which became, 
 of course, the property of the State, without any 
 assistance from the State. The results as productive 
 of an improved curative institution, being less tangi- 
 ble, cannot well be illustrated, but, as reflected in 
 current public opinion, they were equally succets- 
 ful. 
 
 The importance of occupation for the insane was 
 early recognized by Dr. Earle, and it has nowhere in 
 New England been practically applied to a greater 
 extent than at Northampton. As early as 1870 it 
 was. estimated that not less than two-thirds of the 
 manual labor necessary to the running of the hos- 
 pital was performed by patients. 
 
 Believing that a large part of the excessive cost of 
 such hospitals as that at Danvers adds nothing to the 
 curative capability of the institutions. Dr. Earle con- 
 demned such expenditure as unwise political econ- 
 omy, ostentatious charity and gross injustice to the 
 payer of taxes. 
 
 Dr. Earle has been instrumental in introducing im- 
 portant changes in the treatment of the insane. In 
 18-15 he established a school for the patients in the 
 
 men's department of the Bloomingdale Asylum, and 
 this was continued for two years. As early as 1840, 
 while in the Frankford Asylum, he gave illustrated 
 lectures (jn physics to the inmates. " This was the 
 first known attempt to address an audience of the 
 insane in any discourse other than a sermon, and has 
 led to that system of entertainments for the patients 
 now considered indispensable in a first-class hospital." 
 At Northampton he gave a great variety of lectures, 
 upon miscellaneous subjects. One course of six lec- 
 tures was upon diseases of the brain, which are ac- 
 companied with mental disorder. The average number 
 of patients who attended them was two hundred and 
 fifty-six. " This is the first time," he says in his 
 annual report, "that an audience of insane persons 
 ever listened to a discourse on their own malady." 
 His observation of the effect on the audience was not 
 unlike that of other preachers. If the listeners were 
 slow to take the application to themselves, they were 
 quite ready to appropriate it " to their neighbors." 
 He also secured lectures and entertainments from 
 other sources, and provided amusements in which the 
 inmates participated. 
 
 Dr. Earle is the author of many papers upon in- 
 sanity and other subjects, which have been published 
 in the Journal of Insanity, the American Journal of 
 the Medical Sciences, etc. Some of these have been 
 issued in pamphlet form. He anticipated by many 
 years the valuable treatise of Dr. B. Jay Jeffries, in 
 a paper on "The Inability to Distinguish Colors." 
 His twenty-two reports of the Northampton Hospital 
 are classics in the literature of mental disease. By 
 a combination of causes the public, so far as they 
 knew or cared about the subject, had come to the 
 belief that from seventy-five to ninety per cent, of 
 the insane can be cured at the hospital. Dr. Earle 
 became convinced of the erroneousness of this belief, 
 and was the first hospital superintendent who com- 
 bated it. His researches upon the subject extended 
 over a series of years, were embodied in his annual 
 reports, and at length in 1887 collected and published 
 by the J. B. Lippincott Company, in a book entitled 
 "The Curability of Insanity." 
 
 The doctor showed that one cause of the false opinion 
 in regard to curability was the reporting of repeated 
 recoveries of the same person, in paroxysmal insanity. 
 One patient was reported cured six times in one year, 
 another seven times, a third sixteen times in three 
 years, and a fourth forty-six times in the course of 
 her life, and she finally died a raving maniac in one 
 of the hospitals. Judging from the results of the 
 doctor's researches, not one-third of the persons ad- 
 mitted to the Massachusetts insane hospitals have 
 been permanently cured. 
 
 Of his work on The Curability of Insanity a re- 
 viewer writes: "This book may mark an epoch in 
 the literature of insanity, since it has changed the 
 whole front of that literature, and set in motion in- 
 vestigating forces which will carry out its main doc- 
 
o:J h^xA^oL^ 
 
 i-^^^oCocJZy 
 
LEICESTER. 
 
 741 
 
 trinp into many useful details, upon wbicli the veteran 
 author has not dwelt." 
 
 He wrote the article on insanity in the United 
 States Census of 18(30, and about ninety articles of 
 reviews and bibligraphieal notices of insane hospital 
 reports and other publications on mental dis- 
 orders, which appeared in the American Journal of 
 Medical Science between the years 1841 and 1870. 
 
 In a third visit to Europe, in 1871, he visited forty- 
 six institutions for the insane in Ireland, Austria, 
 Italy and intervening countries. His several foreign 
 tours gave him opportunity to form the acquaintance 
 and enjoy the hospitality of many professional, 
 pliilanthropic and literary people; he was well ac- 
 quainted with Elizabeth Frye, knew the poet, Sam- 
 uel Rogers, and, at their own homes and tables, 
 met socially the Howitts and Charles Dickens. 
 He also cheri^hes pleasant memories of American 
 missionaries in the Levant fifty years ago ; of Rev. 
 Jonas King and other missionaries in Athens; 
 Cephas Pasco, at Patrass ; Simeon Calhoun and 
 David Temple, of Smyrna; Wm. Goodell, Rev. Mr. 
 Shauffler and Henry A. Homes, at Constantinople. 
 He received kind attentions from all of them, and the 
 home hospitality of several. 
 
 Dr. Earle was one of the original members and 
 founders of the American Medical Association, the 
 Association of Medical Superintendents of American 
 Institutions for the Insane, the New York Academy 
 of Medicine, and the New England Psychological 
 Society, of which last-mentioned association he was 
 the first president. He was also president, in the official 
 year 1884-85, of the Association of Superintendents. 
 Besides holding a membership of various medical so- 
 cieties, he is a member of the American Philosophi- 
 cal Society ; fellow of the New York College of Phy- 
 sicians and Surgeons; corresponding member of the 
 New York Medico-Legal Society and the Med- 
 ical Society of Athens, Greece, and honorary mem- 
 ber of the British Medico-Psychological Association. 
 In 1853 he delivered an adjunct course of lectures on 
 " Mental Diseases " at the College of Physicians and 
 Surgeons in New York City, and in 186.3 he was ap- 
 pointed Professor of Materia Medica and Psychologic 
 Medicine in the Berkshire Medical Institute at Pitts- 
 field, Mass. Insanity had never before been included 
 among the required subjects of instruction in any full 
 professorship at any one of the American medical 
 schools. After the delivery of one course of lectures 
 the doctor resigned his professorship, as he had been 
 called to the superintendency of the Northampton 
 Hospital. 
 
 In his specialty Dr. Earle is recognized as an author- 
 ity. " He was one of the medical experts summoned 
 to the trial of Charles J. Guiteau, for the murder of 
 President Garfield. After an attendance of one week 
 his health gave way, and he was obliged to leave; but 
 he approved, and still approves, the verdict which 
 held the prisoner responsible for the homicide." 
 
 In 1888 he published alarge volume on the geneal- 
 ogy of the Earle family, a work of great labor, and a 
 model of its class. From this book many of the dates 
 and material facts of this biography are taken. Dr. 
 Earle still holds his birthright membership in the 
 Society of Friends. 
 
 Dr. Earle's generous and valuable gift to the acad- 
 emy in which he pursued his early studies has been 
 elsewhere noticed. He has never wavered in his at- 
 tachment to Leicester, and its people claim him as 
 one of her honored sons. It is their hope that the 
 day may yet be long deferred when it will be suitable 
 to pronounce his eulogy, and give full expression to 
 the general respect and regard in which he is held in 
 his native town. 
 
 JOSHUA MUEDOCIC' 
 
 Joshua Murdock, the principal founder of the ex- 
 tensive card-clothing establishment of J. & J. Mur- 
 dock, was the son of Deacon Joshua Murdock. He 
 was born in Leicester, October 3, 1815; educated in 
 the town schools, in Leicester Academy and Amherst 
 Academy. At the age of sixteen years he engaged 
 himself to the firm of Smith, Woodcock & Knight, 
 serving a regular apprenticeship of nearly five years, 
 and remaining with them till 1838, when he entered 
 the employ of James Smith & Co., of Philadelphia. 
 In 1840 he returned to Leicester and commenced the 
 card-clothing business with Samuel Southgate, Jr. 
 As has already been stated, alter the retirement of 
 Mr. Southgate in 1844, Mr. Murdock continued in 
 business alone till 1848, when his brother Joseph, who 
 had been engaged in trade at the South, returned and 
 associated himself with him under the firm name of 
 J. & J. Murdock. He lived to see the gradual 
 growth ef the enterprise from the small beginning and 
 to witness and enjoy its great prosperity. Mr. Mur- 
 dock was for several years a selectman of the town, 
 also a director of the National Bank and a trustee of 
 tlie Savings Bank. Under the district system he was 
 for many years the prudential committee of the centre 
 schools. He discharged the duties of this oifice with 
 exceptional wisdom and efficiency, and to him the 
 marked excellence and improvement of the village 
 schools at that period are largely due. He united 
 with the First Congregational Church in Philadelphia 
 in 1840 and removed hi^ relation to the First Church 
 in Leicester in 1842. He was always interested in 
 the welfare of the church and society, and was a lib- 
 eral contributor for the support of its ordinances. He 
 was wise and cautious in judgment, and was identified 
 with all the public enterprises of the place. He was 
 so extremely modest and retiring, he shrank so instinc- 
 tively from all obtrusion upon the public, and from 
 the expression of his views, and especially his feelings, 
 that he was fully known only to the few who were 
 placed in intimate relations with him. He was in- 
 
 »By Eev. A. H. Coolidge. 
 
742 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 telligent, sound in judgment, a man of deep and 
 kindly feelings and positive decision of character, but 
 always reticent. 
 
 Mr. Murdock was first married in Philadelphia, 
 by Kev. Albert Barnes, D.D., June 16, 1842, to Ange- 
 lina Maull. He was married by Rev. John Nelson, 
 D.D., to his second wife, Julia Trask, the daughter 
 of Samuel Hurd, of Leicester, January 10, 1849. 
 Their only child, Caroline, is the wife of Alexander 
 De Witt, of Worcester. 
 
 EDM'AED SARGENT.' 
 
 Jonathan Sargent, from whom theSargents in town 
 descend, came to Leicester as early as the year 1728 
 from Maiden, Mass. Among his descendants have 
 been many men of more than ordinary standing and 
 influence. To some of these we have already referred. 
 
 Col. Joseph D. Sargent, the father of Edward Sar- 
 gent, was one of the most enterprising and successful 
 business men in the town, and one of its most public- 
 spirited and highly honored cilizens. His three sons 
 — Jos. Bradford, George H. and Edward Sargent — 
 have been associated in extensive business interests 
 in Leicester and elsewhere. 
 
 Edward Sargent, the subject of this sketch, was 
 born in Leicester, March 25, 1832. He was the son of 
 Joseph D. and Mindwell (Jones) Sargent. He re- 
 ceived his education in the Leicester schools and the 
 Academy. He, wilh his brother Joseph B., as has 
 been before stated, began the manufacture of hand- 
 cards, at the " Brick Factory," on the 1st of May, 1854. 
 On the first day of the year 1859 they received their 
 brother, George H., into the firm, and at the same time 
 organized the Sargent Hardware Commission House 
 in New York City. Mr. Sargent was connected with 
 this company through life. They built extensive 
 works for the manufacture of hardware in New Haven, 
 and have becorue the largest hardware concern in the 
 country. While the company were manufacturing 
 cards in Worcester, Mr. Sargent spent several winters 
 there. Aside from this he passed his life in Leicester, 
 and was one of its wealthy and valued citizens. He 
 was a selectman of the town. He was interested in 
 everything that related to the welfare of the plaoe, 
 and contributed liberally both money and personal 
 supervision to all public improvements. He was at 
 diflerent times nominated as a candidate for the State 
 Legislature, and, though not belonging to the winning 
 party, he had the habit of running invariably beyond 
 his ticket, in his own town, in which he was a general 
 favorite. In the time of the Civil War he was an ar- 
 dent patriot, and freely contributed to all its demands. 
 
 In 1864 Mr. Sargent completed the building of his 
 elegant residence, opposite the attractive sheet of 
 water on what was originally the " Town Meadow," 
 where the beavers built their houses and dams, and 
 through which ran " Rawsou Brook," but which has 
 
 1 By Rev. A. H. Coolidge. 
 
 long been called, after his name, " Sargent's Pond." 
 This house is now the home of his son, J. B. Sargent. 
 At the same time Mr. Sargent built his handsome 
 stable for his horses. He was a good horseman, and, 
 especially in the earlier years of his life, very fond of 
 the horse and of driving. He regarded time as too 
 valuable to be wasted in making distances on the road. 
 
 He was married, February 9, 1858, by Rev. A. H. 
 Coolidge, to Adelaide Sophia, the daughter of Austin 
 F. and Sophia (Hatch) Conklin. She was a woman 
 of amiable and cheerful spirit and superior intelli- 
 gence and worth. After twenty-five years of married 
 life she died on the 11th day of February, 1881. They 
 had three children, — Joseph Bradford, Winthrop 
 (who died in childhood) and Harry E. 
 
 Mr. Sargent was much affected by the death of his 
 wife, to wh ira he was devotedly attached, and survived 
 her less than two years. He died January 3, 1883. 
 
 BILLINGS MANN.^ 
 
 The village of Mannville received its name from 
 Mr. Billings Mann, to whom it is largely indebted. 
 He, with Mr. Albert Marshall, carried on the manu- 
 facture of woolen cloth, in the first of the series of 
 factories on Kettle Brook, on the corner of Earle and 
 Mannville Ssreets. Around this mill there has grad- 
 ually grown the little village that bears his name. 
 
 Mr. Marshall, a worthy and highly-esteemed citizen 
 of the town, is still living, at an advanced age. 
 
 Mr. Mann was born in Worcester in 1797. He was 
 the son of Joseph and Mehitable (Billings) Mann. 
 His father was a clothier, and he worked with him 
 dressing cloth. He thus became familiar with the 
 details of his subsequent business. His education 
 was that of the common school. On the 21st of July, 
 1822, he married Jemima, the daughter of Eliot and 
 Jemima Wight, of Bellingham, Mass., by whom he 
 had one daughter, who was married to Maj. Theron 
 E. Hall. The same year, at the age of twenty-five, he 
 began the manufacture of woolen cloth in Fitchburg. 
 In 1828 he removed from Fitchburg to Worcester, 
 and engaged in manufacturing with Mr. Gunn. 
 In 1837 he was in the business in West Rutland. The 
 next year, 1838, he first came to Leicester, and, as 
 has been elsewhere stated, was associated with Mr. 
 Amos Earle in the manufacture of satinets. In 1844 
 he associated himself with his brother-in law, Mr. 
 Albert Marshall, in the same business, in Holden, as 
 the firm of Mann & Marshall. Here he remained 
 till 1853, when, with Mr. Marshall, he came to Lei- 
 cester. They purchased the mill property and com- 
 menced the manufacture of satinets, as elsewhere 
 stated. 
 
 Mr. Mann's home, to the time of his death, was on 
 the corner of Earle and Mulberry Streets, the place 
 which Ralph Earle had occupied in 1717. 
 
 -By Rev. A. H. Ccolidgo. 
 
tr c^ 
 
try^y-i-o 
 
LEICESTER. 
 
 743 
 
 His first wife died July 21, 1822, and on the 2l6t 
 of July, 1828, he married Harriet L., the daughter of 
 Josiah Daniel, of Dedham, by whom he had seven 
 daughters and three sons, two of whom, George and 
 Billings, are successors in the business. Mrs. Mann 
 was a woman of rare excellence and beauty of char- 
 acter. She presided over her large household with 
 queenly dignity and grace, and of her, with full 
 truth, it could be said, " Her children rise up and call 
 her blei^sed." She died February 20, 1878. Her ill- 
 ness was protracted and her sufferings intense, but 
 she endured them with a truly Christian spirit of 
 resignation and cheerfulness. 
 
 For twenty-two years Mann & Marshall carried on 
 a prosperous business, but after the "Boston fire," in 
 which they were heavy losers, they were forced to 
 abandon the enterprise, which ihey did in 1878. 
 
 Mr. Mann was a business man of strict integrity, 
 and the aD'airs of the company, in prosperity and 
 adversity alike, were conducted on the highest prin- 
 ciples of business honor. He was genial and kind, 
 and his home at Mulberry Grove was one of generous 
 hospitality. He died December 2, 1879, and his fu- 
 neral at the First Congregational Church was largely 
 attended. He was a member of the order of Knights 
 Templar, and he was buried with Masonic honors. 
 
 ALONZO WHITE. 1 
 
 Alonzo White was born in Almond, Allegany 
 County, N. Y., May 6, 1808. His father was a native 
 of Spencer, Mass., and had emigrated to New York 
 three months before. This was then " The West." 
 Almond had all the characteristics of a new country. 
 There were no. school-houses, no church buildings, 
 and few of the conveniences and comforts of older 
 settled communities. The girls of the family rode 
 on horse-back thirty miles to purchase their gowns ; 
 and the parish of the Presbyterian minister extended 
 from Rochester to the Pennsylvania line. 
 
 Mr. White was born, and lived when a boy, in a 
 log-house. He worked upon the farm until he was 
 twenty years of age. He then determined to seek 
 his fortune elsewhere, and first went on foot to Dan- 
 ville, twenty miles distant, where he earned the 
 money for his proposed journey by carting wood, 
 spending his extra time in making brooms. In the 
 fall of 1828 he came to Spencer, where his uncle re- 
 sided, and worked on the farm. In February of the 
 next year he came to Leicester, and commenced his 
 apprenticeship as a card-maker with Reubeu Mer- 
 riam & Co. There was then no card-setting machine 
 in the establishment, although the newly-invented 
 machine was coming gradually into use. The holes 
 and the teeth were made by machines and the teeth 
 set by hand. The next year card-setting machines 
 made by Mr. Merriam were introduced. 
 
 I By Rev. A. H. Coolidge. 
 
 After remaining with Mr. Merriam a year, Mr. 
 White was engaged at one hundred dollars per year 
 by Colonel Joseph D. Sargent, who was then making 
 cards on the Auburn Road, in Cherry Valley. The 
 machines were moved by dog-power. Upon Mr. 
 Sargent's removal to the Brick Factory, Mr. White 
 came with him, and was in his employ seven years. 
 In 18.36 he, with his partners, bought out Colonel 
 Sargent, and commenced business as the firm of Lamb 
 & White. Colonel Sargent highly valued the services 
 of Mr. White, and expressed his appreciation in a 
 substantial manner. He expressed his confidence 
 in him at this time by furnishing him the capital for 
 the new enterprise. Mr. White's subsequent business 
 career is given in the notice of the firm of White & 
 Denny, and White & Son. 
 
 Mr. White has served the town in the offices of 
 selectman, assessor, etc. He was the contractor for the 
 new town-house. For a short time he was a director 
 of the bank. He united with the First Congrega- 
 tional Church in September, 1831. 
 
 In 1834, April 10th, he married Elizabeth Lincoln 
 the daughter of Aden Davis, of Oakham, Mass., by 
 whom he has had six children, four of whom, two 
 sons and two daughters, are living. He has been to 
 them a generous parent, and to the community and 
 the church a free and generous helper. 
 
 He built his house on the corner of Main and 
 Grove Streets, in 1848. Here he, with his wife, with 
 whom he has been united for almost filty-five years, 
 still reside, in the enjoyment of the fruits of their 
 industry and enterprise, and the society of their 
 friends. He has the satisfaction of seeing his chil- 
 dren and his grandchildren all settled in good homes 
 of their own in Leicester. 
 
 SALEM LIVEKMOEE.' 
 
 John Livermore, ancestor of all the Livermores 
 pro))ably in the United States, embarked at Ipswich, 
 Old England, for New England, in April, 1634, then 
 twenty-eight years old, in the ship "Francis," John 
 Cutting master. He was admitted freeman of the 
 Massachusetts Colony May 6, 1635. On the list of 
 freemen his name was written Leathermore, and in 
 other old documents and records sometimes Lether- 
 more and Lithermore. He was a potter by trade. 
 He was many years selectman, and filled other of- 
 fices of trust and honor in Watertown, where he 
 first settled and la»t resided, he being, for about 
 eleven years, from 1639 to 1650, a resident of New 
 Haven, Conn., after which he returned to Water- 
 town, Mass., where he died, April 14, 1684, aged 
 seventy-eight, and his wife, Grace, died there in 
 June, 1691. He was probably son of Peter and 
 Marabella (Wysback) Livermore, of Little Thurloe, 
 Suffolk County, England, about seven miles north- 
 
 2 By Caleb A. Wall. 
 
1U 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 west of Clare. On his removal from Watertown to 
 Connecticut he was made a freeman of that colony, 
 October 29, 1G40, and he sold out his estate in New 
 Haven May 7, 1650, and went back to Water- 
 town. Four of his nine children — Samuel', Daniel- 
 and two daughters — were baptized in New Haven, 
 and his oldest child, Hannah'^, who married John 
 Coolidge, Jr., was born in England in 1633, the 
 others in America. His four h child, and oldest 
 son, John- Livermore, Jr., born in 1640, settled 
 on an estate of fifty-two acres, called the " Cowpen 
 Farm," in Weston, near the border of Sudbury, 
 which estate was given him by the father. 
 
 This John^ Livermore, Jr., who was a lieutenant in 
 the military, had in Weston, by his first wife, Han- 
 nah, who was mother of all his children, five sons and 
 four daughters, born between 1668 and 1690, of whom 
 the fifth child and third son was DanieP Livermore, 
 born in Weston June 8, 1677, ensign, an original pro- 
 prietor and settler in Leicester before 1720, on lot 
 No. 29, which included what has since been called 
 Livermore Hill. This DanieP Livermore died March 
 26, 1726, aged forty-nine, and by his wife, Mehitabel, 
 afterwards wife of John Parmenter, of Sudbury, had 
 five sons and three daughters, born between 1707 and 
 1726, as follows : 
 
 1. Daniel*, Jr., born in Weston June 16, 1707, by 
 wife, Mary, had in Weston three sons and three 
 daughters, born between 1734 and 1748 ;' 2. Jonas* 
 born in Weston May 13, 1710, married, October, 1735, 
 Elizabeth Rice, of Sudbury, and settled near the foot 
 of Livermore Hill, in Leicester, on. the east side of 
 the road running north and south through his father's 
 lot, No. 29, where Jonas* died in 1773, and his wife died 
 in 1790~parent8, in Leicester, of five sons and three 
 daughters ; 3. Mehitabel*, born March 13, 1713, mar- 
 ried. May 14, 1736, Eliakim Rice, an early settler in 
 Worcester, son of Elisha Rice, who was brother of 
 Jonas, Gershom, James, Ephraim, Thomas and Jo- 
 siah Rice, original proprietors and settlers in Worces- 
 ter (see Caleb A. Wall's "Reminiscences of Worces- 
 ter," pages 40 to 43); 4. Sarah*, born March 7, 1717 ; 
 5. Isaac*, born May 11, 1720, resided on the west side 
 of the road, opposite his brother Jonas, near the foot 
 of Livermore Hill, where, by his wife, Dorothy, he 
 had four sons and two daughters; 6. Hannah*, .born 
 April 16, 1723 ; 7. Abraham*, born November 9, 1724, 
 died of scarlet fever September 4, 1742 ; 8. Nathan*, 
 born March 26, 1726, married. May 7, 1755, Lucy 
 Bent, of Sudbury. 
 
 The above-named Ensign Daniel ' Livermore's 
 sister Hannah'', born in Weston, September 27, 1670, 
 married, February 22, 1689, the above named Eph- 
 raim Rice, then of Sudbury, who was an original 
 proprietor of Worcester, where his children settled, 
 near his brothers, on Sagatabscott Hill. 
 
 Jonas* and Elizabeth (Rice) Livermore had in 
 Leicester these eight children : 
 
 1. Jonas^ Jr., born February 28, 1736, carpenter 
 
 and farmer, married November 10, 1761, Sarah, 
 daughter of Hezekiah and Sarah (Green) Ward, and 
 resided in the south part of Leicester, near Au- 
 burn, where Jonas' son, Salem Livermore, afterwards 
 lived, and where Jonas* died, January 31, 1825, aged 
 eighty-nine, and his wife, Sarah, died Sept. 10, 1832, 
 aged ninety-four, parents often children ; 2. Micah% 
 born in 1738, settled in Oxford ; 3. Mary \ born 1743, 
 married Thomas Scott and resided on the estate in 
 Auburn, near Leicester, where his father, John Scott, 
 had lived, and where Thomas' son, David Scott, Sr., 
 afterwards lived ; 4. David", born 1745, married, in 
 1770, for his first wife Anna Hey wood, of Holden, and 
 settled on the south part of lot No. 59, in Spencer, 
 where they had seven children, and he died there De- 
 cember 13, 1818, and she died June 12, 1794, his 
 second wife being her sister, Mrs. Mary Osborne, of 
 Holden, who died January 5, 1842, aged eighty, by 
 whom he had three children, one of them, Melinda, 
 wife of the late Benjamin H. Brewer, of Worcester ; 
 
 5. Elizabeth, twin, born 1745, married Samuel Tucker, 
 Jr., of Leicester; 6. Elisha, born 1751; 7. Beulah, 
 born 1753, married Levi Dunton ; 8. Lydia, born 
 1755, married Asa, son of David Prouty, of Spencer, 
 and had there Aaron, Asa, Jr., Persis, Jonas and Joel 
 Prouty, born between 1776 and 1784, of whom Persis 
 was wife of Eli Mussy, son of John Mussy, Jr., of 
 Spencer. 
 
 Jonas* and Sarah (Ward) Livermore had in Lei- 
 oeiter these nine children ; 
 
 1. Hannah, born May 13, 1762, died August 24, 
 1767 ; 2. Jonas", born April 13, 1764, died unmarried, 
 at Leicester, April 20, 1790 ; 3. Sally, born June 28, 
 1766, died unmarried, February 17, 1833 ; 4. Patty, 
 born October 22, 1768, married in 1791 Captain 
 Samuel Upham, Jr., of Leicester, and removed soon 
 after 1800 to Randolph, Vt., where he died in 1848, 
 aged eighty-seven, the oldest of their three children 
 being the late Hon. Wm. Upham, Senator in Con- 
 gress from Vermont, from 1843 till his decease, 
 January 14, 1853, in Washington, aged sixty-one ; 
 
 6. Salem, born September 26, 1770, married, first, 
 Nancy Walker, who died March 2, 1838, and he 
 married, second, Ruth Livermore, and resided on his 
 father's estate in the south part of Leicester near 
 Auburn, where he died April 20, 1858, father of nine 
 children, all by his first wife; 6. Bathsbeba, born 
 July 23, 1772, married John Page, and settled in 
 Cambridge, Vt. ; 7. Louisa, born April 27, 1774, died 
 December, 1800, married Abner Gale; 8. Daniel, 
 born June 10, 1776, married May 29, 1801, Betsy, 
 born in 1777, daughter of Thomas Parker, of Leices- 
 ter, and resided on theestateof his grandfather, Jonas 
 Livermore, Sr., near the foot of Livermore Hill, 
 where Daniel Livermore died August 31, 1869, aged 
 ninety-three, and his wife, Betsy, died November 2, 
 1846, parents of Jonas Livermore, of Camden, N. J., 
 Rev. Daniel Parker Livermore, of Melrose, Mass., 
 Diantha, wife of Daniel Henshaw, Mary, wife of 
 
t 
 
 "%~^""^^^~<^ 
 
 ^^£c^r 
 
 ^t^ 
 
CHARLTON. 
 
 745 
 
 David McFarland, late of Worcester, and Eliza, resid- 
 ing with her brother, Rev. Daniel P., in Melrose ; 9. 
 Rebecca, born November 13, 1778, married Lebbeua 
 Turner, from Bennington, Vt., and had in Leicester, 
 Stillman, now deceased, Jerusha, now iu Spencer- 
 town, N. Y., Caroline, wife of Dexter Converse, and 
 Roxana, wife of Thomas Wall, all now deceased. 
 
 Salem'' and Nancy (Walker) Livermore had in 
 Leicester these nine children : 
 
 1. Mary, born August 25, 1795; died September 6, 
 1841 ; married Jonathan Warren, and had, in Lei- 
 cester, Jonas L. Warren, formerly railroad station 
 agent at Rochdale ; now in Shirley. 
 
 2. Sarah, born August 31, 1797 ; died May 1, 1827 ; 
 married, August 10, 1823, Samuel Bottomly (his first 
 wife), and had a daughter, Sarah, who married a 
 Schofiekl. 
 
 3. Nancy, born October 13, 1800 ; died December 
 27, 1875; married, first, Moses Rockwood, of Grafton, 
 and had John, Angeline and David Rockwood; 
 married, second, February, 1837, Stephen Adams, 
 and had in Paxton, Maria, June and Aaron Adams. 
 
 4. Hannah, born May 21, lb04; died July 29, 
 1836 ; married, January 9, 1828, Samuel Bottomly, 
 and had, in Cherry Valley, Cornelia, Sarah, Levinah 
 and Nancy Bottomly. 
 
 5. Thomas, born September 7, 1805; died young. 
 
 6. Salem, Jr., born April 23, 1809; died in Roch- 
 dale Village March 4, 1865 ; married, November 26, 
 1833, Roxa Darling, their only child being their son, 
 Thomas Salem Livermore, born July 22, 1836 ; mar- 
 ried, September 26, 1871, Mary Symons, daughter of 
 John H. and Sarah (Crossley) Symons, of Rochdale, 
 and owns and occupies the homestead erected by his 
 father in Rochdale Village, nearly opposite the rail- 
 road depot. 
 
 7. Seraph, twin of Salem, Jr., born April 23, 1809; 
 married James Hollingsworth, and died April 4, 
 1832. 
 
 8. Tamason, born May 28, 1812 ; married Liberty 
 Beers, and died February 8, 1840. 
 
 9. Moses, born March 11, 1815; died June 20, 
 1854; resided on his grandfather's old place, near 
 Auburn. 
 
 Rev. Daniel P. Livermore, son of DanieP and 
 Betsy (Packer) Livermore, of Leicester, is a Uni- 
 versalist clergyman in Melrose, ordained in 1841. 
 He married. May 6, 1845, Mary, daughter of Timo- 
 thy and Zebiah Vose (Ashton) Rice, of Boston ; since 
 that time distinguished as an eloquent lecturer and 
 speaker on temperance, women's rights and other 
 reforms. Their iwo surviving children are: Mary 
 Elizabeth and Henrietta W., the latter wife of John 
 Oscar Norris, master of East Boston High School. 
 
 Dexter and Caroline (Livermore) Converse resided 
 in Leicester, near Charlton, where they had a family 
 of twelve children, among their sons being Edmund, 
 Harrison and Lebbeus T. Converse, of Worcester. 
 
 Salem' Livermore, Jr., like his father and grand- 
 47 J 
 
 father before him, was a carpenter, as well as a thrifty 
 and industrious farmer and operator in real estate, in 
 which kinds of business Salem, Jr., is well repre- 
 sented by his son, Thomas S. Livermore, who suc- 
 ceeded to and improves upon the five hundred acres 
 of land in Leicester, Oxford and Auburn, including 
 the homestead at Rochdale Village, on which he re- 
 sides with his mother. Jonas ^ Livermore, Jr., was 
 originally a Baptist, one of the pillars of the old 
 Greenville Church; his son, Salem, Sr., was a Uni- 
 versalist, as well as the latter's brother Daniel, and 
 Salem, Jr., was a member of the Episcopal Church 
 at Rochdale. 
 
 Thomas S. Livermore has a specialty in the 
 musical line, having officiated in a choir since he 
 was fourteen years of age, and for the past few years 
 he has been chorister and organist of the Unitarian 
 Church at Leicester. 
 
 CHAPTER XCV. 
 
 CHARLTON. 
 
 BY HON. RUFUS B. DODGE. 
 
 The town of Charlton is situated in the south- 
 westerly part of the county, about thirteen miles from 
 Worcester, and may with good reason be called one 
 of the " hill towns." The surface is very uneven, and 
 it has within its litnita the highest land in the south 
 part of the county. The Boston and Albany Railroad 
 runs through the north part of the town, and the 
 highest point on that road is a short distance east 
 of Ch.arlton Depot. The highest land in the town 
 is the summit of the hill called Little Mugget, 
 a short distance southeast of the depot. The large 
 hill east of Charlton Centre, known as Mugget, and 
 formerly called Mashey Mugget, affords a better view 
 of the surrounding country, and has for that reason, 
 perhaps, been considered by many higher land. 
 There are several other hills in the town nearly as 
 high as the ones mentioned, and a number of broad, 
 deep valleys. About three-fourths of the present 
 territory of the town was formerly a part of Oxford, 
 and was set off from that town in 1755. The re- 
 mainder was a part of a tract of land adjoining the 
 town of Oxford on the north, said to contain ten 
 thousand acres, of which no persons had obtained a 
 grant, and that had not been included in any of the 
 adjoining towns when incorporated and called the 
 "Country Gore." About seven thousand acres of this 
 tract was annexed to Charlton in 1757. The part 
 taken from Oxford contained about twenty-three 
 thousand five hundred acres. In 1788 ab ut three 
 hundred acres, and in 1807 about forty acres were 
 taken from the southeast corner of the town and set to 
 Oxford. In 1792 a small tract of land was taken from 
 
746 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 the southwest corner of the town and set to Stur- 
 bridge; and in 1816 about three thousand acres were 
 taken from the same part of the town to form a part 
 of the town of Southbridge. On this latter tract was 
 valuable water-power afforded by the Quinebaug 
 Eiver. No alterations have since been made in the 
 to^vn lines, although in 1831 an attempt was made to 
 have a larg6 tract from the east part set to Oxford. 
 The project met with strong opposition from a large 
 majority of the inhabitants of the town and was de- 
 feated. According to a survey made since the last 
 tract was set off the town now contains a little over 
 twenty-seven thousand acres, and is exceeded by few, 
 if any, of the towns of the county in area of terri- 
 tory. 
 
 It has been said that the soil of the part taken from 
 Oxford was considered as inferior in quality, and for 
 that reason did not attract settlers, but the manner in 
 which the land was held accounts sufficiently for its 
 tardy settlement. 
 
 All the land formerly belonging to Oxford had been 
 granted in 1683 to Daniel Cox and others. About 
 twelve thousand acres on the east part of the grant 
 was allotted to settlers and called the village; the 
 remainder was reserved by the proprietors. In 1788 
 Daniel Cox and Robert Thompson, of London, Joseph 
 Dudley, of Roxbury, William Stoughton, of Dor- 
 chester, John Blackwell, of Boston, and Thomas 
 Freake, of Hanningtou, England, were the owners of 
 all the grant lying west of what was called ihe village 
 line. In that year a survey and division of the land 
 was made. According to this survey, the tract con- 
 tained thirty thousand acres. By the terms of the 
 deed of partition, Joseph Dudley took six thousand 
 acres on the south side of tract, extending from the 
 village line on the east to Sturbridge on the west. 
 John Blackwell took an equal quantity of land north 
 of and adjoining Dudley's lot. William Stoughton 
 took a like quantity of land north of Blackwell's. 
 North of Stoughton's land Blackwell took a second 
 lot of about seventeen hundred acres. North of Black- 
 well's second lot Daniel Cox took about twenty-six 
 hundred acres. North of the lot taken by Cox, Thomas 
 Freake took about seventeen hundred acres. Robert 
 Thompson had the remaining lot, which contained six 
 thousand acres, and lay between Freake's lot and the 
 " Country Gore." When Dudley was incorporated, in 
 1731, the six thousand acre tract of Joseph Dudley 
 was included in that town. All the other tracts, with 
 the exception of a strip of each, one mile wide, bor- 
 dering on the village line, were taken from Oxford to 
 form the district of Charlton. Mary Wolcott, of 
 Salem, became the owner of the Freake land, and in 
 1730 sold it to Edward Kitchen, of the same place, 
 who caused the land to be divided into one hundred 
 acre lots, and soon commenced disposing of his land 
 to settlers. In October, 1733, Ebenezer Mclntire, of 
 Lynn, and Obadiah Mclntire, of Salem, each pur- 
 chased one of these lots, and they were probably the 
 
 first settlers of the town. Daniel Mclntire and Eleazer 
 Mclntire both purchased land of Kitchen soon after- 
 wards. The two tracts of land that Blackwell had by 
 the division were sold by his heirs, in 1720, to Captain 
 Peter Papillion, of Boston. In 1727 they were divided 
 into lots of suitable size to sell to settlers, and in 1738 
 were divided, by commissioners appointed for the 
 purpose, among the heirs of Papillion. In 1735 
 Richard Dresser, of Thompson, bought one of the 
 lots, and was probably the first person to settle in the 
 south part of the town. The land purchased by 
 Richard Dresser was part of the well-known Dresser 
 Hill farm. His brother, John Dresser, soon afterward 
 bought land lying west of Richard's. Isaiah Blood, 
 Richard Blood and Nathaniel Blood, from Belling- 
 ham, at about the same time purchased land, on which 
 they settled, lying south of Dresser Hill. 
 
 In 1750 probably thirty families were in the west- 
 erly part of Oxford, and two-thirds of that number 
 had settled in the Gore. In that year a petition was 
 presented to the General Court, signed by seventeen 
 of the inhabitants of the westerly part of Oxford and 
 by nine of the inhabitants of the Gore, requesting "to 
 be erected into a separate township." The petitioners 
 met with opposition and were defeated. The inhab- 
 itants of the easterly part of Oxford, as appears by a 
 vote passed in town-meeting, were willing the west- 
 erly part should be set off by a line one mile farther 
 west than the line insisted upon by the petitioners. 
 
 In 1754, William Alton and thirty-six other inhab- 
 itants of the west part of Oxford presented a petition 
 to the Governor, Council and House of Representa- 
 tives setting forth the difficulties under which they 
 labored on account of the distance they lived from 
 a place of public worship and by reason of be- 
 ing taxed for schools from which they received but 
 little benefit, and from other causes stated in the 
 petition. "They therefore prayed that his Excel- 
 lency and the Honorable Court would be pleased to 
 take their distressed circumstances under their wise 
 consideration and erect them into a town or district, 
 or otherwise relieve them as in their wisdom they 
 should think best." A committee reported in favor 
 of the petitioners and an act for making a district of 
 that part of Oxford lying west of a line running 
 parallel to and one mile west of the village line, and 
 that part of the Gore lying north of the part of Oxford 
 to be set off; but the act as finally passed included 
 no part of the Gore in the district. The act passed 
 January 10, 1755, and was as follows : 
 
 " Be it enacted by the Governor and Council and 
 House of Representatives that the inhabitants with 
 their lands on the westerly part of Oxfurd, beginning 
 on the south side of Oxford, one mile west of the 
 village line, so-called, thence running north parallel 
 with said village line to Oxford north line, be and 
 hereby is set off and erected into a separate district 
 by the name of Charlton, and that said district be 
 invested with all the privileges, poweis and immuni- 
 
CHARLTON. 
 
 747 
 
 tie3 that towns in this province do or may enjoy, that 
 of sending a representative to the General Assembly 
 only excepted, and that the inhabitants of said dis- 
 trict shall have full power and right from time to 
 time to join with said town of Oxford in the choice 
 of a representative or representatives, who may be 
 chosen either in the town or district in which choice 
 they shall enjoy all the privileges which by law they 
 would have been entitled to if this act had not been 
 made." 
 
 By virtue of a warrant from Moses Marcy, of Stur- 
 bridge, issued by order of the General Court to John 
 Dresser, a principal inhabitant of the district, " the 
 freeholders and other inhabitants " were warned to 
 meet at the house of Ebenezer Mclntire on the 12tli 
 day of March, 1755, to choose such town officers as the 
 law required, and to see if the district would let swine 
 run at large. At this meeting Richard Dresser was 
 chosen clerk ; William Alton, treasurer ; Richard 
 Dresser, Lieutenant Obadiah Mclntire, Jonathan 
 Ballard, John Dresser and Ebenezer Mclntire, select- 
 men ; Samuel Streeter, tything-man ; Isaiah Blood, 
 constable; Ebenezer Mclntire, clerk of the market; 
 Ebenezer Lamb and Edward Chamberlain, fence- 
 viewers; Nathaniel Blood, Nathaniel French and 
 Nathaniel Mclntire, surveyors of highways. Hog- 
 reeves, deer-reeves and a brander of horses were also 
 chosen, but no assessors. The name of the moderator 
 wai not recorded. On the 24th of May, as recorded, 
 the selectmen of the town of Oxford and the select- 
 men of Charlton, with William Young, surveyor, and 
 Captain Elisha Moore and John Nichols, chainmen, 
 mutually agreed upon and sworn, run the dividing 
 line between .said Oxford and Charlton. On the 27tli 
 day of March of the same year, the second district- 
 meeting was held, at which eight pounds, lawful 
 money, was voted for schooling, and six pounds thir- 
 teen shillings and four pence for necessary charges. 
 In April following it was voted " that the centre of 
 the district should be the place to build a meeting- 
 house upon, if a convenient place, and if not, the 
 nearest convenient place to the centre should be the 
 place to build upon." At the same meeting it was 
 voted that the schools should be kept in two places — 
 one on the north side, the other on the south side of 
 the district. At this time there were no inhabitants 
 of the district living farther north than the north line 
 of the Kitchen land, which ran just north of the house 
 now owned by Wm. S. Wakefield, at Charlton Centre- 
 Between the Kitchen land and the Gore lay the 
 Thompson land, on which there were no inhabitants. 
 This land had been divided in 1749 amongst the de- 
 visees of Joseph Thompson, but at the time the dis- 
 trict of Charlton was established none of the land had 
 been purchased by settlers, and, in 1760, when a tax 
 of two-pence per acre was granted by the General 
 Court on the lands of the non-resident proprietors 
 toward paying for building the meeting-house, sixty 
 acres of the land were sold to pay the tax on three 
 
 thousand five hundred and seventy-seven acres, still 
 owned by non-residents. 
 
 The Stoughton land, in 1718, was purchased by 
 Samuel Brown, of Salem, and was afterwards owned 
 by his son, William Brown. Elizabeth Danforth, Sam- 
 uel Danforth, Elijah Dunbar and others became 
 part owners, but no division was made nor any part 
 of the land disposed of to settlers until after the 
 right and interest of William Brown had been con- 
 fiscated by the General Court in 1782. An agent 
 was appointed to ascertain the right and interest of 
 said Brown and to make and execute division deeds, 
 so that the Commonwealth as well as the other pro- 
 prietors might hold their several rights in severalty. 
 A division of the laud was made and the part taken 
 by the Commonwealth was sold at auction in 1785 
 by a committee chosen by the General Court, Caleb 
 Aramidown, of Charlton, being one of the commit- 
 tee. Ebenezer Davis bought eight hundred acres of 
 the confiscated land, Jacob Davis three hundred acres, 
 Ebenezer Crafts three hundred acres; James Wolcott, 
 Erasmus Babbitt and others were also purchasers. 
 After this time the lauds of the Danforths, Dunbar 
 and others were gradually disposed of. 
 
 The land of Daniel Cox descended to his heirs, and 
 was surveyed and divided into lots in 1751. Before 
 this time some of the land had been sold for taxes, 
 but no sales appear to have been made by the heirs 
 for many years afterward. Most of the land was 
 taken pos-session of and improved, and finally the 
 occupants claimed ownership and refused to give up 
 the lands. A suit-at-law, lasting several years, 
 finally settled the matter in favor of the heirs, 
 and the lands were sold by an agent or attorney. 
 
 In December, 1755, Edward Chamberlain and Na- 
 thaniel French were chosen a committee to provide 
 preaching, and in January, 1756, a grant of seven 
 pounds for the support of the Gospel was made. In 
 June ^following the district voted seven pounds to 
 provide a stock of powder, bullets and flints, and also 
 voted that the schools should be kept in three places, 
 but refused to allow any part of the money granted 
 for schools to be laid out for hiring a school-dame in 
 summer, as petitioned for by some of the inhabitants. 
 March 14, 1757, it was voted that the district's stock 
 of ammunition should be kept at Richard Dresser's, 
 and, from a list reported by the selectmen, selected 
 the names of such as they judged most suitable to 
 serve as jurors. The persons selected were Obadiah 
 Mclntire, Nathaniel Blood, John Dresser, Eleazer 
 Mclntire, Samuel Streeter, Ebenezer Twiss, Isaiah 
 Blood, John Stevens, Ebenezer Foskett, Joseph Twiss 
 and Ebenezer Chamberlain. As soon as the district 
 was organized the work of building a place of public 
 worship and of providing schools was undertaken, 
 but beyond deciding that the centre of the district 
 should be the place to build a meeting-house upon and 
 making slight provisions for schools nothing was accom- 
 plished. Timber for a meeting-house had been pre- 
 
748 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 pared before the separation from Oxford. The war- 
 rant for a meeting to be held December 8, 1755, con- 
 tained an article as follows: "To see if the district 
 will agree to build a meeting-house, and if so, to 
 agree upon ihe bigness to build the same;" and also 
 the following: " To see if the district will choose a 
 committee to take care of the timber that was hewed 
 some time ago for a meeting-house, as also to provide 
 materials for the same as may be thought most con- 
 venient if the district agree to build a meeting-house." 
 At the meeting held under this warrant it was voted 
 to take no action on the*e articles ; and at a nieeting 
 held February 7, 1757, it was voted to raise no money 
 either for schools or for the support of the Gospel, 
 for the reason probably that it was expected that the 
 petition that had been presented to the General 
 Court for the annexation of the Gore would be 
 granted. The inhabitants of the district had become 
 satisfied that they were not in a condition to carry on 
 the afl'airsof a town or district, and, judging from the 
 tenor of their petitition, did not consider their situa- 
 tion had been improved by their separation from the 
 town of Oxford. The district had voted, January 1, 
 1756, not to accept the, Gore or join in a petition that 
 it might be added to the district. A different spirit 
 soon prevailed. 
 
 The petition was as follows: 
 
 To the Governor, Council and House of Representatives in General Court 
 assembled at Boston^ January, 1Y56 ; 
 
 TtiB petition of tlie snljscribers inliabitantB of Charlton and a place 
 called the Gore Humbly shows, That the inhabitants of Charlton are 
 now very sensible that it is wholly impracticable if not impossible for 
 them to carry on the affairs of a district or in any measure support the 
 charge necessarily arising fron' setting the Gospel amongst them. That 
 the inliabitauts of the Gore are so situated that they can't be laid to any 
 town with the least advantage and are so small as not to be tit for a dis- 
 trict by themselves, but if they were added to Charlton they would make 
 a good town or district and be able to support public charges. And as 
 they lie very bandy to be laid to Charlton, they humbly pray that the 
 land called the Gore with the inhabitants thereof lying westward of a 
 line extending from the northeast corner of Charlton, northerly the 
 same course as the east line of Charlton till it meets the south bounds of 
 old Leicester, be added to tfio district of Charlton, there to do duty and 
 enjoy privileges as other inhabitants of said district do enjoy. And as 
 in duty bound will ever pray, etc. 
 
 The petition was signed by Solomon Harwood and 
 thirty-three others of the district of Charlton and by 
 Jonathan Wheelock and twelve others of the Gore. 
 John Chandler and twelve other non-resident owners 
 of real estate joined in a request that the petition 
 might be granted. June 8, 1756, the answer of Jon- 
 athan Tucker, Nathaniel Jones and others was read 
 with the petition, and the matter referred to the next 
 fall session and further notices ordered. June 3, 1757, 
 a committee having considered the matter, reported 
 that the petition ought to be granted. "The report 
 was read and accepted, and ordered that the inhabi- 
 tants of the said Gore and the land within the bounds 
 petitioned for, be, and hereby are, annexed to the dis- 
 trict of Charlton and made part thereof, to do duty 
 and enjoy privileges as the other inhabitants of said 
 district do or by law ought to enjoy." The territory 
 
 added to the district was about six miles in length and 
 one mile in width on the east line and nearly three 
 miles in width on the west line. All the " North 
 Side " village, except the few houses on the road to 
 Charlton Centre .south of the school-house, is on the 
 Gore territory. The number of persons taxed in the 
 district of Charlton in 1756, as shown by the tax-list 
 for that year, was fifty three, and they were : William 
 Alton, Richard Blood, Isaiah Blood, Nathaniel Blood, 
 Jonathan Ballard, John Ballard, Edward Chamber- 
 lain, Joseph Clemence, Jonathan Clemence, Philip 
 Clemence, Philip Clemence, Jr., Richard Dresser, 
 John Dresser, John Davidson, William Coburn, Lem- 
 uel Edwards, Ebenezer Foskett, Nathaniel French, 
 Benjamin Hobbs, Solomon Harwood, Adam Johnson, 
 Ebenezer Lamb, James Lamb, Ob.idiah Mclntire, 
 Ebenezer Mclntire, Eleazer Mclntire, Eleazer Mc- 
 lntire, Jr., Daniel Mclntire, Thomas Mclntire, Thomas 
 Mclniire, Jr., Nathan Mclntire, Joseph Mclntire, 
 Philip Mclntire, Ezra Mclntire, Noah Mclntire, d 
 Zebulon Mclntire, Robert Mclntire, Nathan Moore, ' 
 John Oaks, Jacob Parker, Elisha Putney, George 
 Pike, Paul Rich, Samuel Rogers, Obadiah Sabin, 
 Samuel Streeter, Samuel Streeter, Jr., Samuel Scott, 
 John Stevens, Ebenezer Twiss, Josei)h Twiss, Joseph 
 Twiss, Jr., John Warfield. 
 
 The number of persons' living on the Gore land that 
 were assessed a tax the spring afttr it was set to 
 Charlton was thirty-nine. They were: Joseph Bald- 
 win, James Blanchard, David Brown, William Cum- 
 mins, John Convers, Nathaniel Dewey, Nathan 
 Dennis, Samuel Eustis, Nathaniel Eustis, Philip Gage, 
 Aaron Gleason, Ebenezer Hammond, Jonas Ham- 
 mond, David Hammond, Nathaniel Jones, Henry 
 Merritt, Ephraim Morey, Joseph Parker, Thomas 
 Parker, Thomas Parker, Jr., Malachi Partridge, Wil- 
 liam Parker, Nehemiah Stone, Jonathan Tucker, 
 William Tucker, John Thompson, Ebenezer White, 
 Josiah White, Daniel Weld, Job Weld, Noah Weld, 
 Daniel Williams, Benjamin Ward, Uriah Ward, Jona- 
 than Wheelock, Paul Wheelock, David Wheelock, 
 Peter Sleeman and Jonathan Upham. Of the persons 
 above named who were prominent in public affairs, 
 and whose names appear frequently on the records, 
 Jonathan Tucker, Daniel Williams and the Welds 
 were from Roxbury, Nehemiah Stone and the Ham- 
 monds from Newlon, the Wheelocks from Mendon, 
 and the Wards from Roxbury. 
 
 A committee was chosen by the General Court in 
 1719 to sell the Gore land, and it was divided into lots 
 of three hundred acres, but, so far as the records show, 
 no person living on the land at the time it was annexed 
 to Charlton became an owner prior to 1735. In that 
 year Jonathan Tucker, of Roxbury, deeded to his son 
 Jonathan one-half of three hundred acres in the Gore, 
 and the same year Jonathan Wheelock bought one 
 hundred and fifty acres, and they were probably the 
 first settlers in the north part of the town. The 
 Hammonds bought land adjoining Tucker's on the 
 
CHARLTON. 
 
 749 
 
 west in 1739, and Nehemiah Stone became the owner 
 of land in 1746 that was afterwards owned by his son 
 Nchemiali, and by his grandson, Nehemiah B. Stone. 
 Although Charlton, after the Gore was added, con- 
 tained a larger population than many of the towns in 
 the State, it remained a district, without the right of 
 sending a Representative to the General Court, until 
 a law v/as enacted in 1775, making all districts in the 
 Coniniunwealth towns. 
 
 With the addition of population and resources 
 secured by the addition of territory, the inhabitants 
 considered themselves in a condition to carry on suc- 
 cessfully public affairs. Accordingly, July 28, 1757, a 
 meeting was held, and the district voted ten pounds, 
 lawful money, for the support of the Gospel, and 
 thirteen pounds six shillings and eight f^nce for 
 the support of schools. Ebenezer Mclntire, Jonas 
 Hammond and Isaiah Blood were chosen a committee 
 to provide preaching, and Ebenezer White, Ebenezer 
 Hammond, John Stevens, Eleazer Mclntire and 
 Nathaniel Blood, School Committee. The district also 
 voted " to build a meeting-house at the centre of the 
 district, if a convenient place; if not, at the nearest 
 convenient place .thereto." The district before the 
 Gore was annexed had passed a similar vote, but the 
 large addition of territory made it necessary to select 
 a new location, but failing to agree as to where the 
 centre of the district was or the nearest convenient 
 place thereto, at a meeting held November 22, 1707, 
 a committee was chosen, consisting of Dea. Thomas 
 Wheeler, of Worcester, Samuel Chandler, Esq., of 
 Woodstock, and Col. Hezekiah Sabin, of Thompson, 
 "to state a place for a meeting-house." The di^-trict 
 voted to pay Richard Dresser six shillings eight pence 
 for entertaining the committee, but refused to accept 
 the " place stated." An article in the warrant for a 
 meeting held January 16, 1758, was as follows: "To 
 see it the inhabitants of the district will vote that the 
 meeting-house shall stand at a stake that is set up 
 north of Ehenezer Mclutire's house, and if not, to see 
 if the inhabitants of the district will agree in sending 
 to the General Court for a committee to find the 
 centre of the district, and to state the place for the 
 meeting-house." At this meeting it was voted "to 
 build the meeting-house at the stake a little north of 
 Ebenezer Mclntire's house." ' It has been stated 
 that a committee from the General Court staked out a 
 place for the meeting-hOuse ; but if the district records 
 are to be depended on, the statement is incorrect. 
 As recorded, the vote for accepting the place was six- 
 teen to nine. Ebenezer Mclntire gave the district an 
 acre of land, but it was stated in the deed that it was 
 for the use of said district " for the meeting-house to 
 
 ' Ebenezer Mclntire owned all the land on Charlton Hill, on which 
 the Centre Village stands, and he and his sons and their families were 
 the only residents until 1775. His house was on the west side of the 
 road that runs on the east side of the Common, and probabl.v a little 
 farther south thun the house where George F. Cnmmins now lives, and 
 stood on land that now is part of the Common. 
 
 stand upon and for a training-field, and for no other 
 uses." This piece of land, as described in the deed 
 was twenty rods long and eight rods wide, and 
 bounded easterly by the road. For many years it has 
 not been used for either of the purposes specified. 
 The first meeting for the choice of district officers 
 after the Gore was annexed was held March 20, 1758. 
 At this meeting Jonathan Tucker, Richard Dresser, 
 Jonas Hammond, Isaiah Blood and Ebenezer Mcln- 
 tire were chosen selectmen ; Richard Dresser, clerk, 
 and Jonathan Wheelock, treasurer. 
 
 At the same meeting it was voted to build a meet- 
 ing-house fifty feet long and forty feet wide and to 
 cover the whole with shingles. One hundred pounds 
 was granted toward the expense of building and Na- 
 thaniel Blood, Isaiah Blood, Jonathan Upham, Jona- 
 than Ballard and Ebenezer Hammond were chosen a. 
 meeting-house committee for the year and were 
 authorized " to set a price upon materials and upon 
 labor and to choose a master workman to set up the 
 frame." In July, 1759, it was voted " to let out the 
 framing of our meeting-house by the great," and for 
 twenty-six pounds, thirteen shillings and four pence, 
 Jonathan Upham undertook "to set up the frame and 
 assist in raising the same." In September following 
 the district voted "to provide victuals and drink for 
 the raising of the meeting-house and other necessa- 
 ^ries," and a committee was chosen to see that provis- 
 ions were suitably prepared. In March preceding 
 forty pounds had been voted toward defraying the 
 charges of building. In 1760, upon the petition of 
 Jonathan Tucker and other residents of the dis- 
 trict, a tax of two pence per acre for one year on 
 land of non-resident proprietors was granted by the 
 General Court " in order lo enable the inhabitants to 
 finish the meeting-house." Nearly nineteen thousand 
 acres of land in the district was at this time owned 
 by non-resident proprietors, as the tax authorized 
 amounted to one hundred and fifty-three pounds, 
 fourteen shillings and eight pence. Although not 
 completed, the house was in a condition to be used as 
 a place of public worship by January, 1761. A meet- 
 ing of the inhabitants for district business was held in 
 it January 6th. There had been expended upon it, 
 as reported by a committee, two hundred and eighty- 
 two pounds, five shillings, three pence and two fai th- 
 ings. In February following twenty pounds was voted 
 "toward finishing the meeting-house." Before the 
 district was incorporated some of the inhabitants had 
 attended public worship at Dudley and a part at Stur- 
 bridge. Afterward money had been voted from time 
 to time for the support of the Gospel and meetings 
 had been held probably at the house of Ebenezer 
 Mclntire, where all meetings for the transaction of 
 district business were held until the meeting-house 
 was in a condition to be used. May 26, 1761, the dis- 
 trict voted to concur with the church - in giving Rev. 
 
 2 The members of the church were : Richard Blood, Jonathan Up- 
 
750 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Caleb Curtis a call to settle in the ministry, and voted 
 to give him one hundred and thirty-three pounds, six 
 shillings and eight pence as settlement, and sixty 
 pounds salary, i-o long as he should supply the pulpit. 
 Mr. Curtis accepted the call and was ordained Octo- 
 ber 15, 1761. 
 
 In 1762 the district voted to put pillars under the 
 gallery beams and to build seats from alley to alley, 
 and appropriations were made from time to time to 
 pay expenses. In 1766 a petition was presented to 
 the General Court for a tax on the land of non-resi- 
 dent proprietors towards finishing the meeting- 
 house, but no tax was granted. 
 
 In 1772 the district voted to give Jacob Davis 
 £163 12s. to finish the inside of the meeting-house, 
 "the work to be done as well and complete in all re- 
 spects as the work was done in the meeting-house at 
 Oxford and to be completed in eighteen months." It 
 appears that the work was compleied according to 
 the agreement, and in September, 1773, a committee 
 was chosen " to Dignifie all the pews in the meeting- 
 house." The business of this committee, judging by 
 their report, which was accepted, was to number and 
 appraise the pews. It was voted "that the man who 
 paid the highest tax on real estate towards the meet- 
 ing-house should have his first choice, paying the 
 appraisal and so on by succession until all were dis- 
 posed of." By this arrangement the choice fell to 
 tax-payers in the following order: Jacob Davis, 
 Ebenezer Hammond, Jonas Hammond, Paul Wheel- 
 ock, Nehemiah Stone, Ebenezer Mclntire, Nathaniel 
 Blood, Jonathan Tucker, John Stevens, David 
 Wheelock, Nathaniel Goodell, David Hammond, 
 Daniel Weld, Ebenezer Foskett, Henry Merritt, Wil- 
 liam Tucker, John Nichols, Jonathan Mower, John 
 Edwards, Benjamin Marsh, Benjamin Alton, James 
 Blanchard, John Marble, Jona'han Ballard, Edmund 
 Bemis, Joseph Parker, Ebenezer White, Jr., John 
 Farley. As one pew was reserved for the use of the 
 ministry, it appears there were twenty-nine pews in 
 the house at this time. Besides the pews there were 
 seats in the house for the use of persons who were 
 not pew-owners. 
 
 In 1788 it was voted to take up three of the body 
 seats and sell at auction the room for pew ground. 
 In 1790 Daniel Williams was granted leave to put a 
 pew in the west end of the men's body seats. In 
 1793 General John Spurr paid £6 2s. for pew ground. 
 In 1775, as has been stated, the district of Charlton, 
 by an act of the General Court, was made a town. 
 March 11, 1776, the church voted to dismiss Rev. 
 
 ham, Timothy Barton, Joaiah Towne, Jonathan Ballanl, Jonathan 
 Mower, Jonas Hammond, Nehemiah Stone, Ebenezer Lamb, Elisha 
 Putney, Nathanial Blood, John Farlee, Joaiah Robinson, Samuel Baker, 
 Ebenezer Hammond, John Edwards, John Coburn, Aaron Gleason, 
 Samuel Chamberlain, Jooathau Dennis, James Blanchard, Johanah 
 Blood, Ruth Blood, Lucy Chamberlain, Elizabeth Hammond, Esther 
 Hammond, Mehitable Dennis, Susanna Towne, Eunice Gleason, Eliza- 
 beth Baker, Martha Upbam, Deborah Coburn, Alice Ballard, Hepsibeb 
 Barton. 
 
 Caleb Curtis, according to his request. The town, at 
 a meeting held March 25th, voted not to concur with 
 the church, but in July following voted in favor of 
 dismissal. October 29th an ecclesiastical council, 
 after considering the reasons of Mr. Curtis for asking 
 a dismission and finding that at his desire, the church 
 and the town had voted to dismiss him, the council 
 approved of what had been done and accordingly 
 declared Mr. Curtis dismissed. Mr. Curtis, like 
 many other clergymen of the time, owned a farm.' 
 After his dismissal he continued to live on his farm 
 until his decease, in 1802, at the age of seventy-five 
 years. He was active in public aflairs and was 
 chosen a delegate to the Provincial Congress in 1775 
 and a representative to the General Court in 1787. 
 
 The tgwa continued to support ministers of the 
 standing order until 1782. In that year the warrant 
 contained an article, as follows: "To see if the town 
 will vote to support for the future the public teacher, 
 or teachers, of piety, religion and morality of said 
 town by taxation or by free contribution." On this 
 article the vote was, " for taxation, 55 ; for free con- 
 tribution, 106." After this time no money was raised 
 by the town for the support of preaching. A congre- 
 gational society was incorporated in 1784. The act 
 of incorporation was amended in 1786, and in 1798 
 the amended act was repealed, and an act passed, 
 incorporating Israel Waters, Salem Town, John 
 Spurr, Jonas Ward and others a religious society, by 
 the name of " The Proprietors of the New Congre- 
 gational Centre Meeting-house in Charlton." A meet- 
 ing-house was built for the society by Deacon Jonas 
 Ward, which was probably raised about the 1st of 
 June, 1798, as May 24th the society chose three stew- 
 ards, " to provide such drink as they should think 
 necessary for raising day," and three " to deal out the 
 drink," and voted " that the carpenters on raising- 
 day should inform the stewards what time to refresh." 
 The house was dedicated November 26, 1799. It was 
 very large, having one hundred pews on the lower floori 
 and fifty in the gallery, and stood where the Univer- 
 salist meeting-house now stands. The pews were 
 divided amongst the proprietors by lot.' 
 
 After Mr. Curtis was dismissed there was no settled 
 minister until January, 1783, when Rev. Archibald 
 Campbell was installed, and remained until April, 
 1793, after which time there was n6 settled pastor for 
 about four years. In 1797 Rev. Erastus Learned was 
 ordained ; he was dismissed in 1802. In November, 
 1803, Rev. Edwards Whipple accepted a call from the 
 church and society at a salary of four hundred dollars 
 a year. He was ordained January 25, 1804, and 
 remained until February 20, 1821. 
 
 The successor of Mr. Whipple was Rev. Thomas 
 
 ^ The farm is now owned by Reuben S. Eastman. 
 
 - The tirst meeting-house was sold, in 18o:i, to Levi Davis for three 
 hundred and fifty dollars, one-half of which was paid to the pew ownersi 
 the other half to the town. The house was taken down and the mate 
 rials used for a barn on the farm now owned by Moses D. Woodbury. 
 
 1 
 
CHARLTON. 
 
 751 
 
 Kioh, whose term of service ended in 1825. A major- 
 ity of the proprietors had become dissenters from the 
 Calviiiistic Congregationalist doctrine, and, by an 
 arrangement with the minority, became the owners 
 of tlie meeting-house. In October, 1820, the minor- 
 ity and other residents of the town organized a society 
 and took the name of " The First Calvinistic Con- 
 gregational Society of Charlton." Meetings were 
 held in the hall of William S. Weld (afterwards 
 called " Craig's Hall ") until a meeting-house was 
 built. The house was commenced in 1826, and com- 
 pleted in time to be dedicated June 5, 1827. The 
 same day Rev. John Wilder, who had been invited 
 by the church and society to become their pastor, was 
 installed. Mr. Wilder remained until February, 
 1833. Since that time the pastors have been — Eev. 
 William H. Whittemore, from June, 1833, to Septem- 
 ber, 1836 ; Rev. Isaac R. Barbour, Irom August, 1836, 
 to June, 1839; Rev. George W. Underwood, from 
 June, 1840, to March, 1843 ; Rev. John Wilder, from 
 April, 1843, till his decease, in 1844; Rev. Alansou 
 Alvord, from February, 1845, to March, 1846; Rev. 
 Nelson Clarke, from June, 1846, to December, 1849; 
 Eev. John Haven, from April, 1850, to October, 1879; 
 Eev. Frank Jenkins, from .January, 1881, to July, 
 1882 ; Rev. Charles M. Pierce, from August, 1883, to 
 November, 1886. Rev. William Sewall, the present 
 pastor, was installed June 24, 1887. 
 
 In 1855 the meeting-house was remodeled and im- 
 proved. The society has an income from a fund of 
 about two thousand dollars, a bequest from Sally Wil- 
 lis, who died in 1887. 
 
 As early as 1757 there were people in Charlton who 
 held Baptist sentiments. In that year the following 
 certificate was tiled with the assessors : 
 
 Leicester, November 15, 1757. 
 This may Sertify all People to whom it may coDcern that Obadiah 
 ]>Iiickiutire, Seller., and Eleazer 3Iackintire, Sener., aud Ebenezer Twisa 
 and Solomon Ilarwood, all of Charlton, do Usnally and frequently at- 
 tend the annabaptis Meeting under the Pastoral care of Elder Thomas 
 Green and do Desire the Liberty the Law gives in Being Clear<i from 
 paying of Kates to those of other Way of thinking And Lickwise Elea- 
 zer Miickintire, .Tunr. 
 
 Test. Wee who are Chosen by the Church to Give Setiticates. 
 
 Elder Thomas Green, 
 Samuwili. Green, 
 Thomas HoUiMAN. 
 
 The same year Nathaniel Jones obtained a similar 
 certificate from the Baptist Church in Sutton. In 
 1761 twenty-three tax-payers in Charlton had filed 
 such certificates with the assessors and, in conse- 
 quence, were exempted from paying taxes for the 
 supp(nt of the standing order. In July, 1762, a Bap- 
 tist Church was formed at what is called the North 
 Side, composed of members from Charlton, Leicester 
 and Spencer. There is nothing in the society or 
 church records to show when the first meeting-house 
 was built, but, as in all warrants for district or town- 
 meetings prior to 1780, the inhabitants had been 
 warned to meet at the meeting-house in said Charlton, 
 and after that date at the Centre meeting-house, it 
 
 may reasonably be inferred that it was built in 1779. 
 The society, for a time, increased quite rapidly in 
 numbers, and, in 1793, a new house was built on 
 land given for the purpose by Captain Levi Davis. 
 
 The society voted to give to Elder David Rathbun 
 the old meeting-house for a dwelling-house, provided 
 he should settle with them, but at a subsequent 
 meeting this vote was reconsidered. And when the 
 new house was ready for use the old one was sold 
 to Moses Dodge.' 
 
 Elder Nathaniel Green, of Leicester, was the first 
 minister. He was ordained October 12, 1763, and 
 labored with the church aud society until his decease, 
 March 20, 1791. After the death of Elder Green the 
 pastors were Elder David Rathbun, from 1792 to 
 1795 ; Elder Charles Thompson, from December, 1802, 
 till his decease May 1, 1803 ; and Elder James 
 Boomer, from 1803 to 1834, when his health failed 
 and he was obliged to give up preaching. He died 
 February 24, 1837. He was the last minister of the 
 church and society. Soon after his decease letters 
 of dismission and recommendation to other churches 
 of the Baptist denomination were given the remain- 
 ing members.^ 
 
 Elder Boomer is remembered by the old residents 
 of the town as an earnest, efiective preacher, who la- 
 bored faithfully for the welfare of his parishioners. 
 He enjoyed the respect and confidence of his towns- 
 men, and was twice elected a representative to the 
 General Court. Several causes contributed to the 
 decline of the society. There were many removals 
 from town. Some were so situated that they could 
 more conveniently attend other churches of the de- 
 nomination, and with a considerable number there 
 was a change of religious sentiment. 
 
 It is said that a Methodist Church was organized 
 in the southwest part of the town in 1792, and that 
 circuit preachers served the society until 1810, after 
 which the society ceased to exist. Meetings were 
 held in the hall at Dresser Hill and in other places 
 in the south part of the town for a considerable num- 
 ber of years before a house of worship was built. 
 Some of the preachers were : Hezekiah Davis, 
 Stephen W. Hammond, Otis Perrin and Joseph S. El- 
 lis. In 1855, when it was decided to build a church at 
 Charlton City, a legal organization was eflTected, and 
 measures taken to carry out the project. The house 
 was completed in 1856. Since the organization of 
 the society the pastors have been as follows : William 
 B. Olds, 1855-56; Jarvis Wilson, part of 18-57; 
 Daniel Dorchester, 1858-59 ; C. H. Hanaford, 1860- 
 62; J. S. Thomas, 1862; John Noon, 1803; J. W. P. 
 Jordan, 1864; A. M. Osgood, 1865 ; D. K. Banister, 
 1866-68 ; N. A. Soule, 1869-71 ; N. F. Stevens, 1872 ; 
 
 1 The bouse was taken down and the materials used for a dwelling- 
 house on the farm now owned by George J. Dodge. 
 
 '- The last meeting-house after the dissolution of the society was taken 
 down aud removed to the easterly part of Leicester aud set up for a 
 factory. 
 
loz 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 J. J. AVoodbury, 1873-75; S. H. Noon, 1876; F. T. 
 George, 1877; G. W. H. Clarke, 1878 ; P. C. Sloper, 
 1879-80 ; W. A. Braman, 1881-83 ; G. O. Crosby, 
 1884-85; O. W. Adams, 1886, '87-88. 
 
 The society has an income from a liberal bequest 
 from Sally Willis, lately deceased. 
 
 After the division of the Congregational Society in 
 1825, the meeting-house was purchased by the town, 
 but was sold in 1826 to Dr. Dan Lamb, Samuel D. 
 Spurr, John Davis and others, and passed under the 
 control of the Unitarians. In 1827 a society and 
 church of that denomination was organized, of which 
 Rev. Edward Turner became the pastor. He was in- 
 stalled June 18, 1827, and remained until May, 1831. 
 He was the only pastor of the society, and soon after 
 his services ended the society ceased to exist. Many 
 of the members joined the Universalirtsin organizing 
 the First Union Society of Charlton. 
 
 A Universalist Society was formed in 1827, and 
 held meetings at the North Side. The preachers were 
 Rev. Massena B. Ballou, Rev. Gilman Noyes and 
 Rev. John Boyden. In 1838 a society was organized, 
 composed of Universalists and Unitarians, that took 
 the name of " The First Union Society of Charlton," 
 and voted to hold meetings at Charlton Centre. The 
 old meeting-house was purchased of the proprietors 
 and taken down, and a new house built on the spot 
 where the old one stood. The basement was built by 
 the town according to the terms of an agreement with 
 the society, and is used as a place for holding town- 
 meetings and for public uses. The house was com- 
 pleted and dedicated in December, 1839. lu 1851 
 the society took the name of " The First Universalist 
 Society of Charlton." Rev. Aurin Bugbee was pastor 
 of the society from 1838 to 1851. Since that time 
 the pastors have been Rev. M. E. Hawea, 1851-52 ; 
 Rev. Lyman Maynard, 1853; Rev. J. H. Willis, 
 1854-55. From 1855 to 1858 there was no regular 
 pastor ; the pulpit was supplied by Rev. Z. Baker and 
 others. In March, 1858, Rev. Lucius Holmes became 
 the pastor, and continued until March, 1863 ; Rev. 
 Clarence Fowler was pastor the remainder of 1863 and 
 1864; Rev. Edward Smiley, 1866-74; Rev. Anson 
 Titus, 1875-78; Rev. I. P. Quimby, 1879-83. In 
 1883 Rev, Lucius Holmes a second time became pas- 
 tor and still continues in that office. 
 
 Nehemiah B. Stone, who died in 1866, left by will 
 five thousand dollars to the society, the interest of 
 which was to be used for the support of preaching. 
 
 In 1858 a society was formed at Lelandville of peo- 
 ple of various religious beliefs. A meeting-house was 
 built and religious services held regularly on the Sab- 
 bath for several years. Rev. William B. Olds sup- 
 plied the pulpit most of the time. From some cause 
 interest in the meetings declined, religious services 
 were discontinued, and the meeting-house, after re- 
 maining unused for a considerable time, was sold and 
 removed, 
 
 About 1865 a Second Advent Society was formed in 
 
 the southeast p.irt of the town. A chapel was built in 
 which meetings have since been held. There has 
 been no permanent minister. The preaching has been 
 by clergymen of the denomination from other towns. 
 
 The Roman Catholics held meetings at Charlton 
 Depot for several years. In 1887 a building was pur- 
 chased at Charlton City in which their meetings are 
 now held. The church is under the care of Rev. 
 Father Donahoe, of Southbridge. 
 
 At the first meeting held in the district March 12, 
 1755, no money was appropriated for any purpose. 
 The second meeting was held the same month. An 
 article in the warrant for the second meeting was " To 
 make such grant or grants of money as the district 
 may think necessary for the district's use as for 
 schooling the children in the place or for other 
 things that may be thought needful." Eight pounds, 
 lawful money, was voted for schooling. At a meeting 
 held in April following it was voted that the schools 
 should be kept in two places, the one on the north 
 side, the other on the south side of the district. At 
 that time there were no inhabitants living farther 
 north than the Centre Village now extends. It is 
 probable that the school for the south part was on or 
 near Dresser Hill, in the neighborhood of the Bloods 
 and the Dressers. The school for the north part was 
 without doubt farther south than what is now Charl- 
 ton Centre. In 1756 it was voted that the schools 
 should be kept in three places, and that no part of the 
 money should be laid out for hiring a school-dame in 
 summer, as petitioned for by some of the inhabi- 
 tants who had small children. The Gore having 
 been annexed to the district in 1757, in July of 
 that year £13 6s. 8rf. was voted for schooling, and 
 Ebenezer White, Ebenezer Hammond, John Stevens, 
 Eleazer Mclntire and Nathaniel Blood were chosen 
 School Committee. It was voted that each part should 
 provide its own school-house and that the committee 
 should provide sch(ioling as each part should choose. 
 In 1760 the selectmen were chosen School Committee, 
 and the appropriation for schools was fifteen pounds. 
 In 1761 a committee was chosen " to state places for 
 school-houses in the several parts of the district." The 
 committee reported that they had agreed on six places, 
 three on the east side and three on the west side of 
 the district, and that the house for the soulhwe.st part 
 should stand where it was already built. Tbe report 
 was accepted. 
 
 For several years after this time the number of 
 schools was not increased, and the sum appropriated 
 for their support in any year did not exceed twenty 
 pounds. In 1767 the district was divided into eight 
 school wards, one of which was called the Middle 
 Ward, the school-house for which was to be at the 
 southwest corner of the burying-ground. Before this 
 time it does not appear that there had been a school 
 at the Centre. The district voted that each ward 
 should build its own school-house. In May, 1773, 
 Ebenezer Hammond, Jacob Davis and Isaiah Blood 
 
CHARLTON. 
 
 753 
 
 were chosen a committee to act in defence of the 
 town on an indictment for not keeping a grammar 
 school. As the population increased additional schools 
 were provided and the appropriations for their sup- 
 port were increased. 
 
 In 1780 there were ten school-wards in the town. 
 In 177S the sum voted for schools was one hundred 
 pounds. The currency had become of so little value 
 in 1780 that twenty-five hundred pounds wiis voted. 
 In 1781 the appropriation wa.s " 60 pounds in hard 
 money or current exchange." In 1786 a committee 
 was chosen " to regulate the schools for each ward 
 and to select a place for a school-house in each ward 
 where a school-house had not been built, the places 
 selected to be reported to the town for acceptance." 
 The committee were authorized to expend, under the 
 direction of the selectmen, the money that each ward 
 was entitled to receive. In 1788 the town granted 
 the petition of the " middle ward'' for leave to build a 
 school-house with the share of money raised for 
 schooling belonging to said ward. The same privilege 
 was granted the " east ward" the year following. In 
 1795 three additional school-wards were made and 
 the sum of two hundred pounds was voted for provid- 
 ing schooling. A few years later two more school- 
 wards were made and fifteen schools were supported 
 until 1836, when the number was reduced to thirteen 
 by uniting two at the Centre and two in the northeast 
 part of the town. 
 
 As for many years each ward or district provided 
 its own school-house and the money raised for schools 
 was divided amongst the several wards, in proportion 
 to the amount of tax paid by the inhabitants of each, 
 the wards or districts really provided the schooling. 
 In 1854 a more equitable method of dividing the 
 money was adopted, a portion of the money raised 
 for school purposes being divided equally among the 
 districts. In 1869 the town voted to abolish the 
 school-district system and since that time has owned 
 the school-hou.ses. A sufficient number of schools to 
 accommodate all the school-children of the town are 
 maintained thirty weeks each year. For several 
 years the number of schools has varied from eleven 
 to thirteen. The annual expense for their support is 
 about .$3800. 
 
 The No. 3 School District h.as a fund of $1000, a 
 bequest by Jesse Smith, who died in 1835. The inter- 
 est of this fund is used for the benefit of the school 
 in the district. 
 
 The No. 2 District has a fund of the same amount, 
 the bequest of Nehemiah B. Stone, the income from 
 which is used in like manner. 
 
 Capt. Julius E. Tucker, who died in 1873, left a 
 legacy of $1000 to the town, the interest of which 
 will, according to the terms of his will, be mainly 
 used for school purposes. 
 
 In 1860 a Library Association was formed for the 
 purpose of establishing a library. The undertaking 
 proved quite successful and a good collection of books 
 48 
 
 was secured. In order that its use might be enjoyed 
 by the public generally, in 1882 it was made over to 
 the town for a Free Public Library, on condition that 
 an annual appropriation should be made for the pur- 
 chase of books and for necessary expenses. Since 
 that time the town has annually appropriated $200 
 for its benefit. April 1, 1888, the library contained 
 1168 volumes for circulation and 365 books of refer- 
 ence. In the future, in addition to the appropria- 
 tions made by the toyrn, the library will have the in- 
 come from a fund of .$500, bequeathed by Mrs. Eme- 
 line Munroe, said income to be expended for the 
 purchase of books. 
 
 Pauperism was rare in the early history of the 
 town. Occasional aid was rendered persons in indi- 
 gent circumstances. In 1766 Nathan Mclntire was 
 paid two shillings two pence '' for a pare of mittens 
 and footing; 2 pear of stockings for James Butler." 
 Other small amounts were paid from time to time. 
 In 1773 Dr. William Ware was allowed twelve shil- 
 lings three pence for doctoring the poor. Some 
 families were warned to leave the town to prevent 
 their acquiring a settlement. In 1766 it was voted 
 "to allow Solomon Harwood, for warning out three 
 families, by vertu of a warrant from the selectmen, 
 fore shillings." Several times the town voted to build 
 a work-house, but the votes were never carried into 
 effect, and for a considerable time homes were found 
 for paupers with such persons as were willing, for a 
 stipulated price, to undertake the support of one or 
 more of them for the year. Later they were " auc- 
 tioned off to the lowest bidder." In 1836 a farm of 
 two hundred acres was purchased, on which, since 
 that time, the unfortunate poor of the town, in sick- 
 ness and in health, have been comfortably provided 
 for. In 1864 a new house was built on the farm, at a 
 cost of $6125. 
 
 According to tradition, the first place of burial was 
 on the southwest corner of the farm of Obadiah Mc- 
 lntire, which is now owned by David 0. Horn. The 
 land is now covered by a growth of wood of consid- 
 erable size, but the rough, unlettered stones, set to 
 mark the graves, can readily be found. In 1762 it 
 was voted " to lay out a burying-ground as near our 
 meeting-house as the land will admit of, if the land 
 maybe had." In 17G3 it was voted "to accept an 
 acre of land, a little south of Ebenezer Mclntire's 
 barn, for a burying-ground for y° district to bury 
 theijr dead." 
 
 A little later a burial-place was provided at the 
 north part of the town, called the North Side Bury- 
 ing-ground, and another in the south part, called the 
 Dresser Hill Burying-ground. All these lots have 
 been enlarged, and are still used as burial-places. 
 Any family or person in town has had the privilege 
 of selecting any unappropriated lot when needed, 
 but no person has been allowed to select a lot until 
 wanted. The town has an income from a legacy of 
 five hundred dollars from Thomas J. Spurr, and also 
 
r54 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 from a legacy of two hundred dollars from Mrs. Ruth 
 Twiss, which, according to the terms of the bequests, 
 are used mainly for the improvement of the Centre 
 Buryiug-grouud. 
 
 In the war of the Revolution Charlton bore its 
 share of burdens resolutely. There was no failure 
 in furnishing the quotas of men required. Liberal 
 bounties were paid the soldiers who served in the 
 army, and they were, as far as possible, supplied by 
 the town with clothing and blankets, and their fami- 
 lies were provided for during their absence. A meet- 
 ing was held August 19, 1773, to take into considera- 
 tion a letter from the Committee of Correspondence 
 of Boston. A committee was chosen, consisting of 
 Deacon Jonas Hammond, Captain Richard Dresser 
 and Captain Nathaniel Blood, " to draw up resolves 
 relating to the unconstitutional burdens laid on the 
 province." The report of the committee was as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 Geiillemen, — We Lave taken into Beriou6 consideration the pamphlet 
 Bent us from Boston, wlierein the rights and privileges of this province 
 are clearly stated, and the iut'ringonients made thereon justly pointed out. 
 "We return uur sincere thanks to the town of Boston for the vigilance and 
 'firmness in support of the country, which has heen very conspicuous 
 in that metropolis, and will heartily join in all such meaaures as may 
 appear moat conducive to the restoration of our invaluable privileges 
 from the hand of oppression. 
 
 The report of the committee was approved, and 
 Jonas Hammond, Richard Dresser, Nathaniel Blood, 
 Ebenezer Hammond, Stephen Fay, John Dresser 
 and Ebenezer Foskett were chosen a Committee of 
 Correspondence. 
 
 September 12, 1774, it was voted to provide one 
 hundred and fifty pounds of powder, three hundred 
 pounds of lead and fifty dozen flints, and eighteen 
 pounds, lawful money, was voted to pay for the same. 
 Ezra Mclntire, constable, was instructed to make no 
 return of jurors, according to the late order. October 
 16, 1774, Captain Jonathan Tucker was chosen dele- 
 gate to attend the Provincial Congress to be held at 
 Concord the second Tuesday of the month. At the 
 same meeting it was voted to furnish the regular 
 troops with no implements, labor, etc. December 
 22d the constables were directed to pay what prov- 
 ince money they had collected, or might collect, to 
 Henry Gardner, of Stow, for the use of the province, 
 agreeable to the advice of the Provincial Congress. 
 January 9, 1775, Captain Jonathan Tucker was 
 chosen delegate to attend the Provincial Congress to 
 be held at Cambridge the 1st day of P'ebruary follow- 
 ing. And at the same meeting Captain Samuel Curtis, 
 Captain Richard Dresser, Lieutenant William Tuck- 
 er, Ezra Mclntire and Ebenezer Foskett were chosen 
 a committee to see that the directions of the Conti- 
 nental and Provincial Congresses were strictly ad- 
 hered to. It was also voted to aid and assist and 
 protect the constables in collecting the province tax. 
 March 6th it was voted " to make the men in the dis- 
 trict some allowance for disciplining themselves." 
 May 22, 1776, Rev. Caleb Curtis was chosen a dele- 
 
 gate to attend the Provincial Congress to be held at 
 Watertown. March 4, 1776, Nathaniel Jones, Eben- 
 ezer Foskett and Thomas Parker were chosen a Com- 
 mittee of Correspondence, Inspection and Safety, 
 and in June following Ezra Mclntire and Caleb Am- 
 midown were added to the committee. At the meet- 
 ing in March Daniel Streeter was allowed one pound 
 and eight shillings for carrying blankets to the army. 
 June 17, 1776, the town voted to support the Conti- 
 nental Congress in declaring independence of Great 
 Britain. 
 
 March 18, 1777, the town voted to give their men 
 who should enlist into the Continental service for the 
 term of three years, or during the war, the sum of 
 twenty pounds each, in addition to the bounty given 
 by the Continental Congress and the State, and that 
 the money for the purpose should be raised by a gen- 
 eral assessment, in order that all the inhabitants and 
 estates should pay an equal proportion in defending 
 civil and religious privileges. This vote was passed 
 in accordance with the recommendation of a commit- 
 tee chosen to devise means to raise the quota of men 
 required of the town as speedily as possible. 
 
 June 9, 1777, Lieutenant John Edwards was chosen 
 " to procure and lay before the court the evidence 
 that might be had of the inimical disposition of any 
 inhabitant of the town towards this or any of the 
 United States who might be charged by the freehold- 
 ers, or other inhabitants, with being a person whose 
 residence in the State was dangerous to the public peace 
 and safety." 
 
 By a vote of the town, the names of Obadiah Mcln- 
 tire, Eleazer Mclntire, Eleazer Mclntire, Jr., and 
 Jesse Mclntire were placed on the list of suspected 
 persons. It is not known that any evidence was ever 
 procured and laid before the court tending to prove 
 that the residence of either in the State was danger- _ 
 ous to the public peace and safety. ■ 
 
 January 20, 1778, it was voted to raise by tax the 
 sum of eight hundred and eighty-nine pounds seven 
 shillings and six pence, and to pay said sum into the 
 treasury of the State by the 1st day of the next 
 April, agreeable to an act of the General Court. 
 
 February 2, 1778, Captain Richard Dresser, Lieu- 
 tenant Ebenezer Hammond and Daniel Williams 
 were chosen a committe to receive subscriptions for 
 the Continental soldiers enlisted for the town, and to 
 convey to them, as soon as possible, such things as 
 should be subscribed. 
 
 March 2, 1778, Nathaniel Jones, Ebenezer Foskett, 
 Caleb Ammidown, Ezra Mclntire and John Dresser 
 were chosen a Committee of Correspondence, Inspec- 
 tion and Safety, and Ebenezer Hammond, Nathaniel 
 Blood and Nathaniel Goodell were chosen to provide 
 for the families of the men from the town enlisted into 
 the Continental army for three years, or during the 
 war. April 2, 1778, Peter Sleeman, Reuben Davis 
 and Benjamin Alton were chosen a committee to pro- 
 vide shirts, stockings and shoes for the town's quota 
 
 J 
 
CHARLTON. 
 
 •755 
 
 of men in the array, and to appraise said articles ac- 
 cording to their quality. The committee valued the 
 articles collected by them at one hundred and ninety- 
 six pounds six shillings, and the town voted two hun- 
 dred ])0unds to pay for the same. 
 
 March 1, 1779, John Dresser, John Edwards and 
 Caleb Ammidown were chosen a Committee of Cor- 
 respondence, etc., and Isaiah Blood, David Wheelock 
 and Stephen Fay a committee to provide for the fami- 
 lies of soldiers. In September following the town 
 voted to raise nine hundred pounds to enable the 
 committee to provide for said families. 
 
 March C, 1780, Stephen Fay, David Hammond and 
 Ezra Mclntire were chosen to provide for the families 
 of the Continental soldiers. 
 
 June 29th, the same year, the town voted six hun- 
 dred and fifty pounds, old lawful money, to pay their 
 soldiers for six months' service, and July 4th voted to 
 pay such men as should enlist for three months forty 
 shillings per month each, " to be paid in capital, arti- 
 cles of produce, or money equivalent thereto." 
 
 October 9, 1780, the town voted to raise three hun- 
 dred and fifty pounds of the new or late emission, or 
 other money equivalent thereto, to procure the town's 
 proportion of beef, and Salem Town and David Rich 
 were chosen to procure said beef, and in December 
 following seven hundred pounds were voted for a like 
 purpose, and a committee chosen to procure the beef. 
 June 3, 1781, it was voted to furnish each soldier 
 that should enlist from the town for three years, or 
 during the war, with forty hard dollars, or other 
 money equivalent thereto. 
 
 July Kith, voted to give the men raised to go to 
 Rliode Island forty shillings per month, and the men 
 raised to go to headquarters for three mouths fifty 
 shillings per month, and it was voted to raise three hun- 
 dred and thirty pounds in silver and gold to provide 
 the town's quota of beef, and Salem Town was chosen 
 to purchase the beef. The pay-rolls, descriptive lists 
 and other papers in the oflice of the Secretary of State, 
 at Boston, contain the names of two hundred and fifty 
 different soldiers from Charlton who were in service 
 in the army. Of this number forty-one were in 
 Colonel Larned's regiment at Roxbury from April, 
 1775, till December 26th following, and twenty-eight 
 were in Colonel William Campbell's regiment for a 
 shorter period. In December, 1775, thirty men were 
 raised to reinforce the army. In 1776 forty men en- 
 listed for one year. In March, 1777, forty-eight men 
 were raised to complete the quota of the town. In 
 August of the same year one-fourth of the militia 
 (thirty-six men) were marched to Rhode Island under 
 command of Captain Abijah Lamb. 
 
 There were enlistments of men for three years, or 
 during the war, in 1780, and twenty-four men were 
 drafted. Other drafts from the militia were made of 
 men for short terms of service. 
 
 Jacob Davis, Reuben Davis, John Nichols, Samuel 
 Curtis, and Abijah Lamb each held a captain's com- 
 
 mission in the service, and Jonathan Tucker, William 
 Tucker, David Rich and Robert Kelley were lieuten- 
 ants. 
 
 According to a return made by the selectmen in 
 1788, in compliance with a resolve of the General 
 Court, the town paid in bounties to soldiers who 
 served in the war a sum equal to seven thousand nine 
 hundred and twelve pounds silver money. 
 
 In May, 1782, the town voted to instruct their rep- 
 resentative " to adhere strictly to the whole of the 
 resolves and recommendations of the late county 
 convention, held at Worcester, for the removal of 
 divers grievances, which the good people of the com- 
 monwealth labored under, and to take prudential 
 care relative to the impost act, so-called, and also to 
 use his best endeavor that there might be a more 
 equal mode of taxation come into in the common- 
 wealth, so that the laborer might not bear more than 
 his just proportion of taxes." In 1783, and again in 
 178-t, the representative was given similar instruc- 
 tions. A town-meeting was held August 10, 1786j 
 to take into consideration a letter from the commit- 
 tee of the convention held at Leicester June 26th.. 
 Caleb Curtis and Caleb Ammidown were chosen dele- 
 gates to attend a convention to be held at Sutton, 
 August 15th. The people of the town were earnest 
 in their efforts to secure a removal of the grievances 
 complained of, and there is no doubt that the men 
 who organized the "Shays' Rebellion" had the 
 sympathy of many of the prominent men of the 
 town. Rev. Caleb Curtis, who had been a delegate 
 to the conventions held, and who was arrested and 
 held in custody for a short time for alleged encour- 
 agement of armed resistance of the State govern- 
 ment, was elected a representative to the General 
 Court in 1787. 
 
 In July, 1787, the town voted that " the se- 
 lectmen, in the name and behalf of the town, should 
 petition the Governor and Council to grant a full and 
 free pardon to Capt. Henry Gale, of Princeton, who 
 had been convicted of treason for his participation 
 in the Rebellion, if it could be done consistent with 
 the honor and dignity of the Government." 
 
 Interest was taken in the War of 1812, and pay in 
 addition to what was received from government was 
 voted men in service. 
 
 At a town-meeting held September 14, 1812, the 
 following article was acted on ; " To see what sum of 
 money the town will raise to pay each non-commis- 
 sioned ofticer and private soldier per month who has 
 been, or may be, drafted or detached from the mili- 
 tia of the commonwealth, who is a resident of Charl- 
 ton while the present war with Great Britain contin- 
 ues, provided they perform the duties of the field." 
 
 It was voted " to allow seven dollars per month in 
 addition toVhe common pay to the militia that have 
 been draftee or that may be drafted in future to 
 serve in the present war with Great Britain and her 
 dependencies." 
 
ibti 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Dr. Ebenezer Borden, Dr. Dan Lamb, John Brown 
 and John Spurr, Jr., were chosen a committee to take 
 into consideration the measures of government. A 
 Committee of Safety was also chosen. 
 
 No action was taken by the town in regard to the 
 war with Mexico. 
 
 During the War of the Rebellion the town was ever 
 ready to respond to any call and to furnish men to fill 
 any quota assigned it. 
 
 At a town-meeting held May 9, 1861, the sum of 
 ten thousand dollars was appropriated for raising a 
 military company and for aid to the families of those 
 who entered the service. Volunteers were to be paid 
 one dollar per day for time spent in preparatory drill 
 and ten dollai's per month in addition to government 
 pay while in service, to commence when they left town. 
 And one dollar and fifty cents per week was to be 
 paid to the wife of any volunteer or to his family, and 
 fifty cents per week to each child under twelve years 
 of age. If any volunteer was killed, his pay was to be 
 continued during the time his company was in the 
 service. If the town failed to raise a company, volun- 
 teers might join other companies on the same condi- 
 tions, and any resident of the town who had joined a 
 company of any other town and did not receive pay 
 from said town was to be paid the same as persons 
 joining a company of the town. R. B. Dodge, Erastus 
 Winslow, Dexter Blood and Judson Mclntire were 
 chosen a committee to take charge of the funds and to 
 make payments. It was also voted to furnish such 
 uniforms, equipments, etc., as the State did not provide. 
 
 July 28, 1862, the town voted to pay each volunteer 
 one hundred and ten dollars when mustered into the 
 United States service. R. B. Dodge, Levi Hammond 
 and Jonas Bemis were chosen a committee to aid the 
 selectmen in obtaining recruits. August 2d, voted to 
 pay one hundred and fifty dollars to volunteers and 
 forty dollars to all who had previously enlisted, in 
 addition to what they had previously been paid. 
 
 At a meeting held August 20, 1862, "to see what 
 action the town would take relative to the call of the 
 President for 300,000 additional volunteers for nine 
 months," it was voted to pay each volunteer one hun- 
 dred dollars when mustered into service, and that the 
 first five to enlist should be a committee to assist the 
 selectmen in procuring enlistments. In accordance 
 with this vote, Rufus N. Mofiit, Henry G. Lamb, 
 Salem A. Spurr, Daniel S. Robbing and John A. 
 Ward became the committee. The sum of four thou- 
 sand dollars was appropriated to pay the bounties. 
 
 August 29th it was voted that the town clerk should 
 make a record of all the soldiers that had enlisted or 
 should enlist from the town, with the company and 
 regiment of each, the time when mustered into service 
 and term of enlistment. 
 
 September 24th, voted to pay the bounty to the wife 
 or family of any volunteer who should go inio camp 
 and die before being mustered into service. 
 
 At a meeting held December 15, 1862, "to see what 
 
 measures the town would take relative to furnishing 
 their quota of men," it was voted to pay two hundred 
 and fifty dollars to volunteers who should enlist for 
 three years, and four thousand dollars was appropriated 
 to meet such payments. 
 
 January 15, 1864, the town voted to pay one hun- 
 dred and fifty dollars for each volunteer to fill its 
 quota under any call issued prior to March, 1865. 
 
 The following is from "A History of Massachusetts 
 in the Civil War," by William Schouler: " Charlton 
 furnished two hundred and thirteen men for the war, 
 which was a surplus of eighteen over and above all 
 demands. One was a commissioned officer. The 
 whole amount of money appropriated and expended 
 by the town on account of the war, exclusive of the 
 State aid, was twenty -two thousand dollars. The 
 amount of money raised and expended by the town 
 during the war for State aid to soldiers' families and 
 repaid by the Commonwealth was as follows: In 
 1861, $221.94; in 1862, $2455.99 ; in 1863, $4115.53; 
 in 1864, $3153.22; in 1865, $1800. Total amount, 
 $11,746.68. Population in 1860, 2047; in 1865, 1925. 
 Valuation in 1860, $872,454 ; in 1865, $909,729. The 
 selectmen in 1861 were R. B. Dodge, Almon Samp- 
 son, Hiram Willis; in 1862, J. H. Hathaway, Eras- 
 tus Winslow, Alfred E. Fiske; in 1863, J. H. Hatha- 
 way, R. B. Dodge, Gilbert Rich ; in 1864, J. H. 
 Hathaway, A. H. Marble, Andrus March; in 1865, 
 J. H. Hathaway, Alfred E. Fiske, Reuben Rich. 
 The town clerk and town treasurer, during all the 
 years of the war, was Alfred E. Fi^ke. 
 
 J. H. Hathaway, who was chairman of the Board 
 of Selectmen for four years, was an efficient agent in 
 obtaining volunteers for the service. 
 
 Soldiers who were killed or who died from disease 
 contracted in the service : Seymour Adams, Heze- 
 kiahAldrich,ElishaW. Buxton, FrancisClarke, Alvan 
 B. Dugar, Henry W. Dunn, George P. Davis, Cornelius 
 Davis, Calvin J. Darling, Manson Gould, Patrick Gil- 
 lespie, Michael B. Hayes, William H. Kinney, George 
 Knight, Nelson Harris, Chauncy Harris, Van Buren 
 McKinstry, Harry March, Andrew Moore, Living- 
 ston Mower, Hartwell Newton, William O'Connell, 
 Elbridge S. Perry, Elliott H. Robbins, Wilson D. 
 Stone, Orman Stevens, Luther Spooner, Charles F. 
 Sanger, Samuel Tourtellotte, Albert L. Williams, 
 George W. Willard, Frederick E. Yeung, John A. 
 Young, Juan Young, Charles H. Waite, Herbert 
 Fuller, Henry S. Dealing. 
 
 William H. King, who enlisted as a private soldier 
 at the commencement of the war and continued in 
 service until its close, was commissioned captain be- 
 fore his services ended. 
 
 Dr. George H. Taft was a surgeon in the army in 
 1862. 
 
 Mills for grinding grain and for sawing lumber 
 were built at an early date. Before 1759 there was a 
 mill owned by Jonathan Ballard on the place after- 
 ward owned by Captain David Rich, and later by his 
 
CHARLTON. 
 
 T57 
 
 son, John H. Rich. Other mills were in use soon 
 after this time, and at a date not much later there were 
 several places where potash was made. 
 
 In 1790 Thaddeus Marble and Aaron Marble com- 
 menced the manufacture of scythes at the place now 
 called Millward. In 180i Aaron sold his interest to 
 Thaddeus, who continued the business alone. Aaron 
 afterwards with a son engaged in the same business 
 at the North Side. 
 
 At about the s.ame time William Smith had a shop 
 and manufactured scythes on the stream below what 
 is now called Lelandville, in the southeast part of the 
 town. The shop was afterward run by Joab May- 
 nard and perhaps others. 
 
 A tannery had been established at the North Side 
 before 1770 by Jonathan Wheelock. In that year 
 Wheelock sold to Ebenezer Davis. It was afterwards 
 owned by Israel Waters, who carried on the business 
 of tanning and currying to a considerable extent for 
 several years. It was afterwards owned and run by 
 Colonel Asa Bacon and by his sons, Berthier Bacon, 
 Alvin Bacon, and Fiske Bacon. 
 
 The business of distilling gin was quite extensively 
 carried on at the North Side for a considerable time. 
 Isaiah Rider and William P. Rider owned and run 
 the first distillery there. Aaron Marble and Charles 
 Marble commenced the business a little later, and 
 Abner Wheelock was the last in the business at the 
 place. 
 
 In 1828 Charles Preston and Stephen Bartlett 
 bought land and water-power in the southeast part of 
 the town and built a stone mill for the manufacture 
 of cotton thread. Before the mill was put in opera- 
 tion Preston became the sole owner, and for a time 
 carried on the business alone. Afcerward Asa Bald- 
 win and James Boutwell were associated with him in 
 business, which was continued until the decease of 
 Preston, in 1839. After the death of Preston the 
 property was purchased by Philip Potter, who con- 
 tinued the manufacture of thread until the mill was 
 destroyed by fire in 1849. It was never rebuilt. 
 
 For many years there was in the easterly part of 
 the town a mill where " home-made cloth," such as 
 used to be made in almost every house, was dressed or 
 finished. The last person who owned and run the 
 mill was Amos Williams. There was a mill at Charl- 
 ton City used for the same purpose owned by Henry 
 Puffer. The properly was at a later date purchased 
 by Caleb Torry, who built a mill for the manufacture 
 of woolen goods. In 1848 Michael Coogan bought 
 the mill and run it until 1856, when Andrus March 
 purchased the property and leased it to Baker & Bot- 
 tomly, who run the mill about three years, mak- 
 ing a cheap grade of satinets. In 18G0 Baker and 
 March entered into partnership and run the mill 
 about six years, when Baker withdrew from the firm. 
 March continued the business alone until 1875, and 
 then rented the mill to Edward Akers and Nathan 
 Norris, who manufactured a grade of goods that 
 
 could be sold at a low price and afford the manufac- 
 turers a profit. In 1878 Mr. Akers withdrew from the 
 firm. Mr. Norris purchased the mill and continued 
 the business alone until the mill was burned in 1885. 
 He rebuilt the mill and commenced manufacturing 
 again, but continued in the business but a short time. 
 
 In 1877 Mr Akers purchased the Thayer privilege 
 on the stream above the March Mill and built a fac- 
 tory with a capacity for two sets of machinery, and 
 when the firm of Akers & Norris was dissolved, in 
 1878, he commenced business alone. In 1882 Fred. S. 
 Taylor was taken as a partner in the business. The 
 firm commenced making a better grade of goods, the 
 buildings were enlarged and the machinery increased. 
 Substantial picker and store-houses have been erected 
 on the Berry privilege below. Eighty hands are em- 
 ployed. The monthly pay-roll is two thousand dol- 
 lars, and forty thousand yards of satinet are manu- 
 factured monthly. 
 
 In the spring of 1888 Akers & Taylor and William 
 B. Carpenter purchased the Norris Mill and com- 
 menced business under the firm-name of the Cady 
 Brook Manufacturing Company, making the same 
 kind of goods that are made by Akers & Taylor. 
 Thirty-five hands are employed, and thirty thousand 
 yards of cloth made monthly. In 1880 M. D. Aldrich 
 fitted up a mill for the manufacture of satinets a short 
 distance west of the city. In 1882 the mill was leased 
 to Nathaniel Taft and J. O. Copp. In 1880 Taft 
 withdrew from the firm, since wliich time Copp has 
 continued the business alone. His business aftbrds 
 employment to forty hands, and twenty-eight thou- 
 sand yards of satinets are made monthly. 
 
 Joel A. Chapman,, at Charlton City, runs a satinet- 
 mill, employing twelve hands and making twelve 
 thousand yards of cloth monthly. 
 
 George Pike commenced the manufacture of satinet 
 at Millward in 1887. He runs one set of machinery 
 and makes about twelve thousand yards of cloth 
 monthly, employing twelve hands. 
 
 About 1815 Harvey Dresser, a young man of great 
 enterprise and capacity for business, engaged exten- 
 sively in the manufacture of furniture, carriages, har- 
 nesses and farming implements on Dresser Hill. He 
 continued the business until his death in 1835. 
 
 In 1843, John P. & Samuel J. Leland commenced 
 the manufacture of augers and bits in the southeast 
 part of the town, at the place since called Leland- 
 ville. They continued in this business until 1861, 
 when they engaged in making ramrods for the gov- 
 ernment. This government contract lasted about 
 three years, in which time they manufactured three 
 hundred thousand ramrods. While the Lelands were 
 in business, quite a village was built up. In 1865 
 they sold their shops and buildings to Henry H. 
 Stevens, at that time the owner of the Dudley Linen 
 Works. For several years some part of the work 
 connected with his business was done in the shops, 
 but of late no use has been made of them. 
 
758 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 I 
 
 Granite of good quality for working is abundant on 
 "Rockey Hill," in the southeast part of the town. 
 Before 1800, Rufus Wakefield and Sylvanus Wake- 
 field com menced working the quarries. Since that 
 time the business has been continued and has been 
 carried on by Gibbs Dodge, Joseph Woodbury, Hor- 
 ace Lamson and others. At the present time, W. Y. 
 Woodbury, J. L. Woodbury and Horace L. Lamson, 
 who carry on business under the firm-name of W^ood- 
 bury Bros. & Co., are the only persons working the 
 quarries. Their business affords employment to 
 about twenty men. 
 
 George Marsh engaged in the manufacture of car- 
 riages at Charlton City, about 1831. At a later date, 
 Horace P. Hicks carried on the same business there. 
 
 The sash and blind business has been carried on to 
 a considerable extent, first by Harvey Forbush in 
 the west part of the town, later by Charles Taft at 
 Charlton City, and still later by Knight & Rich at 
 the same place. 
 
 Charles E. Morse commenced the manufacture of 
 boots and shoes at the place that has since been 
 called Morseville about 1850. He built large shops 
 for his business, and dwelling-houses for the use of 
 the help employed. The business was carried on 
 quite extensively until the shops were destroyed by 
 fire in 1884. For several years Rufus Dodge was 
 associated in business with Mr. Morse. At a later 
 date Andrew Partridge was a partner in the business. 
 After he retired, C. E. Morse, Jr., and William C. 
 Haven were members of the firm of C. E. Morse & 
 Co. 
 
 Jonas L. Rice was engaged in manufacturing 
 shoes at the North Side from ,1850 till 1861, doing 
 considerable business. 
 
 In 1853 a company was formed at the North Side 
 for the manufacture of boots and shoes, called the 
 Charlton Boot and Shoe Company, of which Berthier 
 Bacon was agent. The business was continued until 
 1855, when the company was dissolved. 
 
 The manufacture of boxes for boots, shoes, cloth 
 and other merchandise has been an important busi- 
 ness for a number of years, affording employment to 
 a considerable number of men and a market for a 
 large amount of lumber. Zina Grover, Henry C. 
 Putniim, George Pike and William H. Young have 
 been engaged in the business. Henry C. Putnam 
 commenced in 1863, and is the only person in town 
 now doing any considerable amount of business. He 
 employs about twenty-five men and uses two million 
 feet of lumber yearly. 
 
 In 1867 Emory S. Southwick built a large shop at 
 Charlton Depot, in which he manufactured boots and 
 shoes for several years, doing quite an extensive busi- 
 ness. In 1871 the shop was destroyed by fire and 
 was never rebuilt. 
 
 In 1875 H. G. Lamb and A. N. Lamb commenced 
 the manufacture of shoes at Charlton Depot. In 1880 
 A. N. Lamb retired and Charles Damon became a 
 
 partner in the business, and remained until 1884, 
 when he retired. In 1885 A. N. Lamb and William 
 H. Lamb were admitted as partners in the business, 
 which is still continued. The business affords em- 
 ployment to about thirty hands and about two hun- 
 dred pairs of shoes of fine quality are made daily. 
 
 In 1865 the manufacture of wire was commenced by 
 Ira Berry on Cady Brook, below Charlton City. In 
 1868 George C. Prouty entered into partnership with 
 Berry and continued with him until 1871, when the 
 partnership was terminated. Berry continued the 
 business but a short time after the withdrawal of 
 Prouty. In 1871 Prouty built the wire-mill at Charl- 
 ton City, and commenced business alone. He has 
 built neat, substantial dwellings for the use of help 
 employed. About one hundred and sixty tons of fine 
 card-wire is made yearly. 
 
 Although several men of enterprise and capacity for 
 managing business successfully have engaged in man- 
 ufacturing enterprises within the last few years, and 
 have contributed essentially to the prosperity of the 
 town, agriculture is the principal business of the in- 
 habitants. The soil is of average fertility and there 
 are some excellent farms owned and cultivated by en- 
 terprising, progressive farmers, who contribute large- 
 ly to the annual exhibitions of the agricultural socie- 
 ties held at Worcester, Sturbridge, Oxford, Spencer 
 and other places more remote. The town has been 
 noted for its fine cattle, especially for its large, well- 
 trained oxen, and although horses have, to a consider- 
 able extent, taken the place of oxen for farm-work, 
 there are still some farmers that rpar and train oxen 
 that compete successfully with any found at fairs. 
 
 According to the statistical tables of agricultural 
 products and property, prepared by Carroll D. Wrighti 
 Charlton ranks fourth among the towns of Worcester 
 County in the value of agricultural products. 
 
 Daniel H. Tucker is the owner of the three hundred 
 acres of land which was owned by his great-grand- 
 father, Jonathan Tucker. The one hundred and fifty 
 acres of land which was the farm of Ebenezer Ham- 
 mond is now owned by his great-grandson, Henry 
 Hammond. Edward D. Blood is the owner of the 
 farm on which his ancestor, Richard Blood, settled. 
 The land bought by Ebenezer Foskett in 1739, and 
 on which he lived, is now the property of his great- 
 grandson, Dan Foskett, and Edwin Phillips owns 
 the farm on which his great-grandfather, Jonathan 
 Dennis, settled. No other farm in the town is now 
 owned by a descendant of the first occupant. 
 
 Representatives to the General Court have been as 
 follows: Isaiah Blood, 1775; Jacob Davis, 1776; 
 Jacob Davis, Caleb Ammidown, Isaiah Blood, 1777; 
 Caleb Ammidown, 1778-79 ; Jacob Davis, 1780 ; Ebe- 
 nezer Davis, 1782 ; Caleb Ammidown, 1783 ; Ebenezer 
 Davis, 1784; Caleb Ammidown, 1786 ; Samuel Robin- 
 son, Caleb Curtis, 1787 ; Samuel Robinson, 1788 ; Ebe- 
 ezer Davis, 1789 ; Salem Town, 1790-91-92-93 ; Caleb 
 Ammidown, 1794; Salem Town, 1795; Ebenezer Da- 
 
 I 
 
CHARLTON. 
 
 759 
 
 vis, 1796 : Salem Town, 1797 ; Ebenezer Davis, 1798; 
 Salem Town, 1799; Levi Davis, 1800; Salem Town, 
 1801-2-3-4; Gen. John Spurr, 1805; Gen. John 
 Spurr, Samuel Robinson, 1806-7 ; Gen. John Spurr, 
 Dr. James Wolcott, 1808 ; Gen. John Spurr, Thad- 
 deus Marble, 1809 ; Gen. John Spurr, Thaddeus Mar- 
 ble, Ephraim Willard, 1810-11; Thaddeus Marble, 
 Ephraim Willard, Wm. P. Rider, 1812; Gen. John 
 Spurr, Isaiah Rider, 1813; Gen. John Spurr, Wm. 
 P. Rider, 1814; Gen. John Spurr, Isaiah Rider, 1815; 
 Ephraim Willard, Isaiah Rider, 1816-17-18-19; Sam- 
 uel Hall, 1821-22; James Boomer, 1823; John Spurr, 
 1824; James Boomer, 1826; Samuel D. Spurr, 1828; 
 Samuel D. Spurr, John Hill, Jr., 1829 ; John Hill, 
 Jr., Issachar Comins, 1830 ; Jonathan Wiuslow, 1831; 
 Ebenezer White, Issachar Comins, 1832 ; Ebenezer 
 White, Rufus Mixer, 1833 ; Rul'us Mi.Ker, Paul Rich, 
 1834 ; Paul Rich, Jonas Tucker, 1835 ; Jonas Tucker, 
 William P. Marble, 1836 ; William P. Marble, Amasa 
 Stone, 1837 ; Amasa Stone, Moses Williams, 1838 ; 
 Moses Williams, Aaron Marble, Alpheus White, 1839 ; 
 Aaron Marble, Alpheus White, Simeon Lamb, 1840 ; 
 John P. Marble, 1841-42 ; William B. Boomer, 1843- 
 44 ; William Marble, 1845-46 ; Simeon Lamb, 1848 ; 
 Nehemiah B. Stone, 1849 ; Luther Litchfield, 1851- 
 62 ; Levi Hammond, 1853-54; Alfred Mower, 1855; 
 Mason Marble, 1856 ; Rufus B. Dodge, 1857 ; Aaron 
 H. Marble, 1858 ; Gilbert Rich, 1860 ; Dexter Blood 
 1862; Henry Clark, 1864; Albert C. Willard, 18G6 ; 
 J. H. Hathaway, 1868 ; Alfred E. Fiske, 1871 ; Moses 
 D. Woodbury, 1873 ; Andrus March, 1876 ; George 
 D.Woodbury, 1879 ; Dr. George H. Taft, 1882 ; Henry 
 G. Lamb, 1885. 
 
 In 1857 Charlton wasjoined with Sturbridge to make 
 a representative district. In 1866 the towns of Au- 
 burn, Charlton, Leicester, Spencer and Southbridge 
 were formed into a representative district. In 1876 
 Oxford, Southbridge, Charlton and Spencer were 
 made a district. In 1886 Charlton, Dudley and South- 
 bridge were united, the three towns being entitled to 
 but one representative. 
 
 The men prominent in public affairs until the close 
 of the Revolution have been mentioned. They were 
 mainly men who were among the first settlers. Quite 
 a number who became large land-owners acquired 
 considerable wealth. Ebenezer Davis, a man of 
 sound judgment, prudent and exact in all his business 
 operations, a large dealer in real estate and other prop- 
 erty, left at his decease a larger estate than was ever 
 acquired by any other man in the town. The late 
 Hon. Emory Washburn, who was for several years 
 Governor of the State, was his grandson, as was also the 
 late Ebenezer D. Ammidown, of Southbridge. Jacob 
 Davis, a brother of Ebenezer, was a man of remark- 
 able enterprise, who dealt largely in real estate. He 
 was one of the founders of Leicester Academy, and 
 aided liberally in its establishment. Gen. Salem Town, 
 Sr., was long in the public service. He was a rep- 
 resentative to the General Court eleven years, several 
 
 times a member of the State Senate, and one of the 
 committee in 1807 to locate the Worcester and Stafford 
 Turnpike, to assess the land damages, and to superin- 
 tend the building of the road. He held other offices 
 of trust and responsibility. His son, the late Gen. 
 Salem Town, had command of a regiment of militia 
 called out by the Governor in 1814, and stationed at 
 South Boston. He was State Senator in 1821, '22 and 
 56, being in the latter year the oldest member. Caleb 
 Ammidown, who was a resident of that part of the 
 town which was taken after his decease to form part 
 of the town of Southbridge, was five years a represen- 
 tative to the General Court. He did much business 
 as a land surveyor and conveyancer, and was one of 
 the agents of the State for selling confiscated lands. 
 
 Gen. John Spurr, one of the " Boston Tea Party," 
 was a prominent, influential man, and represented the 
 town in the General Court ten years. Major John 
 Spurr, a son of Gen. Spurr, was active in public af- 
 fairs, much interested in political matters, and an 
 efficient worker in the party to which he belonged. 
 Isaiah Rider and William P. Rider were men of note 
 and enterprise. Rufus Mixer and William P. Marble 
 were men of prominence, well versed in the laws re- 
 lating to town and Probate matters, and were careful, 
 competent conveyancers and did much business in the 
 settlement of estates. 
 
 Mention may properly be made of Amasa Stone, a 
 man of great enterprise and business ability, who ac- 
 cumulated a large fortune in railroad business and 
 other important enterprises ; Daniel Phillips, one of 
 the pioneers in the express business, in which he was 
 eminently successful ; Moses D. Phillips, a brother 
 of Daniel, and enterprising bookseller and publisher, 
 and who was the head of the firm of Phillips, Samp- 
 son & Co., the founders of the Atlantic Monthly ; Li- 
 nus B. Comins, a capable, successful man of business, 
 who represented his district in Congress several terms, 
 and Albern N. Towne, a noted railroad manager, who 
 were natives of the town, as were Samuel D. Spurr, 
 Dwight Woodbury, John P. Marble, Jerome Marble, 
 Salem T. Russell, Daniel Stevens and Charles P. 
 Stevens, all sagacious, capable business men. 
 
 Franklin Gale, who was a lawyer of distinction in 
 Columbus, Ohio, and for many years a judge of a 
 State Court ; Turner Ellis, who was a lawyer of emi- 
 nence in Indiana; Stephen P. Twiss, who was for 
 sever.al years judge of the United States Territorial 
 Court in Utah ; Dr. W. T. G. Morton, generally re- 
 garded as the discoverer of the use of ether as an an- 
 aesthetic in surgical operations; Rev. Julius H.Ward, 
 a writer of distinction ; Rev. Caleb Blood, Rev. Ebe- 
 nezer Lamson, Rev. David R. Lamson, Rev. Darius 
 Gore and Rev. Lewis W. Hicks, clergymen of ability, 
 and Joseph Whipple, a graduate of West Point, and 
 who died in service in Mexico, were also natives of 
 Charlton. 
 
 ' The town has been represented in the State Senate 
 by General Salem Town, Sr., General Salem Town, 
 
V60 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Jr., Major John Spurr, Rev. Aurin Bugbee and Rufus 
 B. Dodge. 
 
 Jacob Davia, General Salem Town, Sr.,and Samuel 
 Lamb were delegates to the convention to form the 
 State Constitution in 1779. Major John Spurr was a 
 member of the Constitutional Convention of 1820, and 
 William P. Marble was delegate to the Convention of 
 1853. 
 
 District and Toavn Clekks. — Richard Dresser, 
 the first clerk, held the office eleven years; Nehemiah 
 Stone, the second, served fourteen years and was treas- 
 urer seventeen years. Samuel Lamb, Dr. Ebenezer 
 H.Phillips, Dr. Dan Lamb, Leonard Towne, Julius 
 E. Tucker, Luther Litchfield and Alfred E. Fiske, 
 each held the office many years ; the latter was clerk 
 thirty years and treasurer twenty years. 
 
 The early physicians of the town were William 
 Ware, Abel Waters, Ebenezer H. Phillips, James 
 Wolcott and Ebenezer Borden. Later there were 
 Dan Lamb, Charles M. Fay, Isaac Porter, Henry H. 
 Darling, Albert Potter, George H. Taft and L. D. 
 Fuller. Others have been in town for a short time. 
 The only physician at the present time is Dr. George 
 H. Taft. 
 
 There have been four lawyers in the town— Eras- 
 mus Babbitt, Liberty Bates, William Stednian and 
 John Davis. Since the death of John Davis, in 1840, 
 the inhabitants have been obliged to go out of town 
 for legal advice. 
 
 The population in 1765 was 739; in 1776, 1310; in 
 1820, 2,134. After 1820 the census showed but little 
 variation until 1840 ; since that date there has been a 
 gradual falling oflF in numbers. In 1885 the popula- 
 tion was 1,823. Number of families, 471. Number 
 of dwelling-houses, 459. Assessor's valuation 1888: 
 real estate, $758,760; personal, $155,710. Number of 
 polls, 512. 
 
 CHAPTER XCVI. 
 
 LUNENBURG. 
 
 BY EZR.\ S. STEARNS, A.M. 
 
 Location — Ponds and Drainage — Original Grants — Settlements — Incorpora- 
 tion — Proprietary AJinirB — Itoads — The Totvn Divided — Personal No- 
 tices. 
 
 Lunenburg, situated in the northeast part of the 
 county of Worcester, is bounded on the north by 
 Townsend, on the east by Shirley, on the south by 
 Lancaster and Leominster, and on the west by Fitch- 
 burg and Ashby. The adjoining towns, Ashby, 
 Townsend and Shirley, are in the county of Middle- 
 sex. The centre of the town is twenty-four miles 
 north from Worcester, forty-tliree miles northwesterly 
 from Boston, and is in latitude 42° 35' 30'' and in 
 longitude 71° 43' 30" west from Greenwich. By the 
 
 survey of Cyrus Kilburn, in 1831, the town contained 
 an area of seventeen thousand four hundred and 
 ninety-four acres, and by the estimate of the assessors, 
 exclusive of water, fifteen thousand nine hundred 
 and forty acres. Within the town are five natural 
 ponds and three of them bear names of Indian ori- 
 gin. The one situated near there-entrant angle in the 
 line of Leominster contains ninety-five acres, and its 
 name has experienced many orthographical changes. 
 In the proceedings of the Colonial Legislature, in 
 1713, it is written Unkachewalwick, and, ten years 
 later, Francis Fullam, in the records of the commit- 
 tee of the General Court, writes Unkechewalom, and 
 about the same time comes Edward Hartwell, who 
 wrestles with the name, and leaves upon the records 
 Uncachawalonk, while Rev. Peter Whitney, in the 
 " History of Worcester County " (1793), in writing 
 Unkeshewalom nearly repeats the record of Francis 
 Fullam, which has been the prevailing orthography of 
 modern times. Wilder's "History of Leominster" 
 (1853), dodges the issue and abbreviates the word 
 into Chualoom, and frequently of late, when the 
 name is expressed in vocal terms, only the last two 
 syllables are employed. At best the old Indian name 
 is not like the one loved and described by the Elder 
 Weller as "an easy word to spell," and it is not 
 wholly imaginative to say that in the olden times, 
 when a new settler in these parts began to wrinkle 
 his face and twist his mouth and utter a volley of 
 hard and guttural sounds, his hearers knew he was 
 not cursing, but only trying to tell them where he 
 causht a string of fish. 
 
 Massapog Pond, of sixty-two acres, also near the 
 Leominster line, is one mile and nearly one-fourth 
 southeasterly and receives the overflow from Unkeche- - 
 walom. In 1713, in the records of the General Courtj I 
 this word is written Masshapauge, and in Ma.shaporg 
 the same sounds are preserved by the records of Na- 
 than Heywood and Edward Hartwell, but from the 
 earliest mention to the present time it has been spelled 
 with considerable uniformity. From an early survey 
 of a small marsh on the north, in 1750, a marsh near 
 the pond is described as " not land nor water and 
 partly both." The overflowing stream bears northerly, 
 easterly and southerly, receiving tributaries on either 
 hand, and empties into the Cataconameg, in the south- 
 east part of the town, about one hundred rods from 
 the line of Shirley. By Francis Fullam the name of 
 the third pond is written Cataconamog, by Rev. Peter 
 Whitney, Catatoonamog, and by Rev. Henry Chandler, 
 in the " History of Shirley," Catecunemaug. The 
 stream from this pond, having gathered the drainage 
 of more than one-half the town, flows through Shirley 
 and empties into the Nashua River. A little more than 
 one mile east from the centre of the town is Lane's 
 Pond, and nearly an equal distance south of that is 
 Dead Pond. Neither of them exceeds five or six acres 
 in area. They are not mentioned in the early records 
 and it is not known when they were first discovered. 
 
LUNENBURG. 
 
 761 
 
 The northern part of the town is drained by Mulpus 
 Brooli. The course of this stream is easterly and 
 nearly parallel to the line of Townsend. It flows 
 through Shirley and empties into the Nashua. Pearl 
 Hill Brook, in the west part, flowing into Fitchburg, 
 and Baker's Brook, flowing through the southwest 
 corner, drain small areas in this town. 
 
 At the time the territory constituting the town of 
 Lunenburg was severed from the wilderness and fell 
 into the possession and under the control of its 
 grantees, the locality was well known to the dwellers 
 in the older towns. Lancaster on the south and Gro- 
 ton, including Shirley, on the east, had been settled 
 many years. The echoes from the activities of those 
 hardy pioneers and the presence of many scouting 
 parties of white men, explorers and hunters within 
 the confines constitute the first and the unwritten 
 chapter of the history of the town. The earliest offi- 
 cial act immediately appertaining to the soil of Lunen- 
 burg, of which any record appears, is a grant of two 
 hundred and four acres to Nathaniel Walker, June 6, 
 1GG3. The limits of this chapter will exclude details. 
 It was surveyed in October, 166G, and the title was 
 confirmed by the General Court, May 27, 1668. This 
 tract of land was situated near the present line of 
 Shirley. It was subsequently owned by Ephraim Sav- 
 age, and November 5, 1714, it was purchased by Jamej 
 Kibby, of Heading. 
 
 In May, 1G72, a grant of one hundred and fifty 
 acres was made to Frances Adams, wife of James 
 Adams, which was located in the east part of this 
 town, and also was purchased by Mr. Kibby. A 
 further account of these two early grants within the 
 town of Lunenburg will be employed in explanation 
 of later and more important events. In 1GG4 the 
 General Court granted two thousand acres to the town 
 of Woburn. The title was suffered to lapse, but was 
 renewed in 1716. In May, 1717, this extensive grant 
 was surveyed by Captain Joseph Burnap, of Reading, 
 assisted by Edward Hartwell, then of Lancaster. It 
 was located south of the centre of the town. Begin- 
 ning at a point in Leominster line about mid-way 
 between Unkechewalom and Massapog Ponds, the 
 boundary line extended easterly almost one mile, 
 thence northerly a little more than two miles, thence 
 westerly one mile and one-half and then southerly to 
 a point in Leominster line about two hundred rods 
 west of the angle at Unkechewalom Pond. The north 
 line of this grant was about one-half mile south and 
 nearly parallel to a section of the old Northfield road. 
 It included the pond and an important section of the 
 town, but it remained unimproved until many settlers 
 were located around it. In 1717 one thousand acres 
 were granted to the town of Dorchester. It was 
 immediately surveyed and located west of and adjoin- 
 ing Woburn Farm. Its western boundaries were near 
 Fitchburg. Such were the conditions when the grant 
 of the township was made. The region for many 
 years had borne the name of Turkey Hills, and the 
 
 ponds and the rivers were known by their present 
 Indian names. The major act was not deferred. On 
 the 7th of December, 1719, the General Court, in one 
 act, granted " two new towns on the west side of 
 Groton west line." William Taylor, Samuel Thaxter, 
 Francis Fullam, John Shepley and Benjamin Whitte- 
 more, then members of the General Court, were 
 selected to conduct a survey of the grants, to allot the 
 same and to admit the grantees. The grant appears 
 in Torrey's "Fitchburg" and in Sawtelle's "Town- 
 send," but many interesting details of the early pro- 
 ceedings remain unpublished. Three of the com- 
 mittee, Fullam, Shepley and Whittemore, with Samuel 
 Jones, surveyor, and four chain-men, began the survey 
 of the boundary lines of the two townships December 
 22, 1719, and completed the work in eight days. In 
 April following, in connection with another com- 
 mittee, they established the west line of Groton, or 
 the east line of the new towns. Continuing a work 
 well and seasonably begun, the committee, all being 
 present, met at Concord May 11, 1720, and proceeded 
 to admit settlers or grantees, or, in the language of the 
 record of their proceedings, "to allott & grant out y' 
 Lands contained in Each of y" Two Townships." By 
 the committee the townships were styled North Town 
 and South Town. The former at that time included 
 Townsend and a part of Ashby, and the latter em- 
 braced the present towns of Lunenburg, Fitchburg 
 and a part of Ashby. This statement, however, should 
 be qualified with a mention of tl'.e fact that the north 
 line of Townsend and the west line of Lunenburg 
 (now Fitchburg) were subsequently amended. At this 
 meeting eighty proprietors were admitted. This 
 number was subsequently increased, but never ex- 
 ceeded ninety. In October, 1720, a house-lot was 
 surveyed for each proprietor and for the two minis- 
 terial rights, but the school and college lands were not 
 defined until a later day. The remainder, and much 
 the greater part, of the township was owned in common 
 by the proprietors, and mainly distributed among them 
 from time to time in second, third and fourth division 
 lots. During the years that intervened between these 
 proceedings and the act of incorporation the affairs 
 of the township were conducted by the committee 
 appointed by the General Court, and frequent meet- 
 ings were held at the inn of Jonathan Hubbard, in 
 Concord, and at the houses of Samuel Page and of 
 Josiah Willard, in this town. Meanwhile the settle- 
 ment slowly increa.sed. The early settlers were exposed 
 to constant danger, and their hardships were many. 
 The following petition, now published for the first 
 time, represents that there were nine families here in 
 1725. It was one of the first papers sent out from 
 Lunenburg, and it presents a vivid picture of an infant 
 settlement on the exposed frontiers. It is superscribed 
 " to Honor'" Wiliam Dummer, Esgur, Boston." 
 
 To the Honorhl Lnt. Govner: 
 
 Sir, — We desire with thanks to acltuowlerlg your Honours care of us 
 as well in time past as this presant spring in sending Colo. Buckuiaster 
 
762 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 to Be what postur of defence we war in & in fiirder desiring to Isnow 
 our Afuyi-8 wliicli we eliould be glad to enform your Honour oftener of 
 had we opertunity. we have liere this spring 9 fanielis posted in 5 
 garisons wliich are all wiling to stand their ground if they can ; they 
 have the liberty if 2 garisons will come together to haue the solders be- 
 longing to each garisouwith them for ther suport. Our manner of 
 eniproving tlie solders has been by scouting & sumtinies garding men at 
 ther woork, sumtinies 2 or :J days together in the woods, but wee think 
 it more for our safety to scout round the town so as to cum in the same 
 day for the strengthing onr garisons at night & when our men gos out 
 to woork they must have a gard or expose themselves & we must leave 
 sume in our garisons or else they are exposed so that we canot keep a 
 icout always out except we Ixave more solders. We have made no dis- 
 covrey of the enemy yet among us, hut live in dayly expectation of 
 them ; but knowing they [Indians] are in the hands of god who is abel 
 to restrain them to whos name we desire to give the praise of our pre- 
 Barvatiou the year past &. in whos name we desire still to trust with 
 dependance on your Honour's protection, a means under god of presar- 
 vation ; if your Honour shall think it needfull to make any ailition to 
 our number of solders we leve it to your Honour's wise concedration & 
 remain your Honour's most humbel servants. 
 
 JOSIAH WiLLXRD. 
 PUIUP GOODRIDQE. 
 
 Turkey Hils, May y« 10 : 1725. 
 
 Continuiag their trust in God and Governor Dura- 
 rner and measuring their faith by the number of the 
 soldiers, the settlement was prospered during the 
 ensuing summer. In March of the following year, at 
 a meeting of the committee held at Concord, it was 
 recorded: "The Information ye Settlers then Gave 
 ye Comm"° Was that there was 26 Houses Raised 
 and Ten of them Settled and Inhabited." Concern- 
 ing the actual number of residents in the town during 
 the next few years the records present no accurate 
 information, and omitting for the present particular 
 mention of those known to be residing here, there 
 remains ample evidence that the infant settlement 
 made continued progress in population and improve- 
 ments. With each year a few families arrived and 
 new openings were made in the forest and in the ris- 
 ing smoke above the clearings they saw the assurance 
 of an enlarged community and the promise of increas- 
 ing harvests. 
 
 The town was incorporated August 1, 1728. The 
 name of Lunenburg was suggested by one of the titles 
 of George II., who had recently succeeded to the Brit- 
 ish throne. By this proceeding South Town was sup- 
 planted by a more sonorous term, and while Turkey 
 Hills was perpetuated in the local vocabulary, the 
 term no longer designated a community. Compared 
 with the history of many towns, Lunenburg was incor- 
 porated at an early stage in the progress of the settle- 
 ment. The reason of a successful petition for incor- 
 poration is probably found in the fact that within the 
 settlement and among the petitioners were a few men 
 of influence and character whose solicitation was 
 potent with the Governor and the General Court. The 
 cause which led the petitioners to desire an early act 
 of incorporation is not concealed. From the first the 
 affairs of the propriety had been ordered and con- 
 trolled by the committee to whose proceedings fre- 
 quent mention has been made. Their authority over 
 the municipal and proprietary affairs of the settlement 
 was absolute and in them was vested all power of leg- 
 
 islation in the concerns of the settlement. Therefore, 
 when the committee, in the autumn of 1727, ordered 
 the proprietors to build a meeting-house, stated the 
 dimensions and dictated its location, the issue was 
 boldly met, and in the act of incorporation the author- 
 ity of the committee was dissolved. The proprietors 
 considered apart from the town owned in common all 
 the undivided land in the township. They were 
 either the original grantees or their successors, and 
 their number could not exceed the number of grantees 
 admitted by the committee, and generally the number 
 was less, because a few owned more than a single 
 right. The proprietors were not necessarily residents 
 of the town and only a part of the original grantees 
 ever lived here, but within a few years nearly all 
 the non-resident owners sold their rights to men liv- 
 ing In this town. The proceedings of the proprietors 
 constitute an important chapter in the annals of 
 Lunenburg and FItchburg. First they re-surveyed 
 all the lots that had been distributed by the commit- 
 tee and entered the title to each lot in a large record- 
 book, which was the height of the art of book-making 
 In those times and is now In an excellent state of 
 preservation. Then they gave the five members of 
 the committee collectively one thousand acres of land 
 in compensation for their services. This tract was 
 subsequently located in the southwest corner of Fitch- 
 burg, bounding four hundred rods on the line of Leo- 
 minster and four hundred on the line of Westminster, 
 the other sides being parallel to these. That the com- 
 mittee had left the affairs of the proprietors at loose 
 ends Is seen in the following proceedings. 
 
 By an adjustment of town lines a considerable 
 tract was severed from Lunenburg, or what was 
 supposed to be, and added to Lancaster new grant 
 (now Leominster). Several house-lots had been 
 located by the committee within this area, and to 
 the unfortunate owners the proprietors gave an 
 equivalent from the undivided land within the town. 
 Then, to compensate themselves, they applied to the 
 great fountain of land supply. The General Court 
 granted their petition October 2, 1728, as appears In 
 an extract from tbe court records : " A petition of 
 Josiah Willard and Hilklah Boynton, agents for the 
 town of Lunenburg, praying that the said town may 
 be allowed an equivalent for two thousand nine hun- 
 dred and twenty acres of land lately taken out of said 
 town and added to Lancaster new grant, etc." 
 
 October 2, 1728, " In the House of Representatives 
 read and ordered that the town of Lunenburg have 
 liberty by a Surveyour and Chainmen on Oath to lay 
 out two thousand nine hundred and twenty acres of 
 land on the west side of said town and contiguous 
 thereto by a parallel line to their west line through- 
 out, for an equiv.aleiit for the land taken from said 
 town for and within Lancaster new grant." 
 
 A portion of this addition is now in Ashby, but 
 enough remains to constitute a considerable part of 
 the area of Fitchburg. On account of this proceed- 
 
LUNENBURG. 
 
 Y63 
 
 ing the township of Ashburnham was subsequently 
 located nearly a mile further west than otherwise 
 would have been the case. 
 
 In a former account of the grant and survey of the 
 Walker and the Adams farms it was stated that they 
 fell into the possession of James Kibby, of Reading, 
 several years before the grant and settlement of the 
 town. Soon after acquiring possession of these grants 
 Mr. Kibby became insane and for several years no 
 reference to the owner or to the grants is found. In 
 the mean time, unconscious of the existence of any 
 prior rights, the committee had overrun the obscured 
 boundaries and had completely absorbed both grants 
 in the distribution of land in that portion of the town. 
 Soon after the incorporation of the town Zachariah 
 Fitch, the guardian of Mr. Kibby, demanded posses- 
 sion of the two tracts of land owned by his ward. To 
 protect the titles of the new owners who were in 
 possession, the proprietors compromised with the 
 guardian by giving him one hundred and two pounds 
 and a grant of three hundred acres in the southwest 
 part of the town. This land, known for many years 
 as the Fitch farm, was next north of the committee 
 faim of cne thousand acres, and was bounded on the 
 west by the west line of Fitchburg and on the south 
 by a line four hundred rods from and parallel to the 
 Leominster line. It was subsequently purchased by 
 William and Joseph Downe. In this proceeding, in 
 addition to money paid, the proprietors had suffered 
 the loss of three hundred acres and again sought in- 
 demnity of the General Court. The appeal was not 
 in vain. A grant of four hundred acres was immediate- 
 ly made, which in two parts was located on the east 
 bank of the Connecticut River. This land was subse- 
 quently deeded to Josiah Willard and Edward 
 Hartwell in consideration of the money paid the 
 guardian of James Kibby. By the conditions of the 
 grant of the township two hundred and fifty acres 
 each was reserved for the benefit of Harvard College 
 and for schools. In 1729 the proprietors gave 
 Harvard College two hundred and fifty and forty-one 
 hundredths acres which was located in the northeast 
 part of the town, adjacent to Townsend, but did not 
 extend east to the line of Shirley. In 1774 the 
 college sold the lot to Joseph Bellows for one hundred 
 and twenty pounds. One hundred and sixty-nine 
 acres of the school lot was located in 1764 on the 
 easterly side of Pearl Hill. In 1764 a part of this lot 
 fell in the limits of Fitchburg. The remainder of the 
 school lands was located by a vote of the proprietors 
 " at a place called Tofiet swamp " now in the south 
 part of Fitchburg. For ministerial lands the pro- 
 prietors laid out four lots. The town, apart from the 
 proprietors, assumed control of the school and minis- 
 terial lands, and near the close of the past century 
 disposed of them in small parcels. 
 
 Torrey, in his admirable sketch of Fitchburg and 
 Lunei\burg, expresses surprise that with a grant of 
 six miles square, the proprietors managed to secure a 
 
 township so large. The General Court expressed an 
 equal surprise one hundred years earlier, and ordered 
 them to make a new measurement and report. What 
 was subsequently done is briefly told in the Court 
 records : 
 
 November 28, 1729. A petition of Josiah Willard, Esq., and others, a 
 committee of the town of Lunenburg, in the county of Middlesex, 
 showing th.at the inhabitants have been at the charge of a new and 
 more exact survey of the said Town and find thereby that they have 
 Four thousand and one hundred and ninety-seven acres of Land within 
 the limits of their Township above the original grant of six miles 
 square, and forasmuch as they have been at great expense and Difficulty 
 in their settlement by reason of the War; Therefore praying that the 
 plan of said Town may be accepted and confirmed notwithetandiug the 
 said overmeasure. 
 
 In the House of Representatives read and ordered that the said plan 
 be accepted and that the land therein delineated and described be and 
 hereby is confirmed to the Grantees of Lunenburg, their Heirs and 
 Assigns, provided it exceed not the contents set forth and does not inter- 
 fere with any former grant. 
 
 In Coimcil read & approved. 
 
 Consented to 
 
 Wm. Dummer, 
 
 In this measurement no account was made of three 
 thousand acres in the Woburn and Dorchester grants. 
 They were included in the municipality ; but they 
 were no part of the six miles square granted the pro- 
 prietors. The ponds also were excluded. By the 
 surveys of 1830 and 1831 Fitchburg has an area of 
 17,879 acres; Lunenburg, of 17,494 acres; and esti- 
 mating the area donated to Ashby at 1627 acres, the 
 amount is 37,000 acres. Then to six miles square 
 add the confession of the proprietors and the two 
 independent grants, — the amount is 30,237 acres. 
 Compared with other ancient surveys, the excess is 
 not unusual. Not that acres then were larger than 
 now, but that the practice of the time was liberal, 
 and the methods of measurement not as exact. In 
 the early surveys there was also an intentional allow- 
 ance for uneven ground and generally one rod in 
 fifty for what the early surveyors styled "swag of y° 
 chain." 
 
 The proprietors continued an organization over 
 one hundred years and as long as any undivided 
 land remained in Lunenburg, Fitchburg or a defined 
 portion of Ashby. At a meeting in May, 1833, they 
 adjourned to meet the next May at the house of Dr. 
 Aaron Bard, and there the record ends. They re- 
 ceived the grant from the General Court in commu- 
 nity, and sold or donated It to individuals, and in 
 their proceedings is vested the title to all the real 
 estate within the original township. Except to re- 
 ceive the school and ministerial lands, the town, as 
 an organization, had no part in these proceedings. 
 In two or three instances the proprietors sought the 
 friendly offices and the superior influence of the 
 town, which, through a kinship of interest, was in- 
 variably granted. In this manner a few votes rela- 
 ting to matters purely proprietary appear in the 
 early records of the town. 
 
 On the day following the act of incorporation the 
 General Court adopted an order instructing Captain 
 Josiah Willard to call the first town-meeting. Im- 
 
764 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 mediately the inhabitants of Lunenburg were duly 
 warned to meet at the house of Ensign Jonathan 
 Willard. This house was on the Lancaster Road 
 and not far east of the Woburn grant. The first 
 election ever made in this town called Captain Josiah 
 Willard in parliamentary terms to the chair, but 
 more probably he sat upon a block or stood through- 
 out the meeting. The selectmen were: Lieutenant 
 James Colburn, Captain Josiah Willard, Mr. Hilkiah 
 Boynton, Mr. Ephraim Peirce and Mr. Samuel Page. 
 Lieutenant Edward Hartwell was town treasurer, and 
 for minor town officers choice was made of Isaac 
 Farnsworth, Noah Dodge, Joshua Hutchins, Jona- 
 than Willard, Nathan Heywood, Eleazer Houghton, 
 Samuel Johnson, James Jewell, John Fisk, Jeremiah 
 Norcross, Jacob Stiles and Jonathan Whitney. Isaac 
 Farnsworth, who was the town clerk the first nine 
 years of the town's history, made a record of the 
 meeting and probably was chosen at this time, but either 
 through modesty or carelessness he made no record of 
 his first elt'ctiou. The record of the meeting pre- 
 serves the names of many who were residents of Lun- 
 enburg in 1728. Others who are known to be resi- 
 dents at this time are: Rev. Andrew Gardner, Philip 
 Goodridge, D.avid Peirce, David Gould, Moses Gould, 
 Benoni Boynton, Jonas Gillson, Daniel Austin, John 
 Grout and the sons of Samuel Pa?e and Philip Good- 
 ridge. The town increased rapidly during the years 
 immediately ensuing, introducing many new names, 
 but quite nearly all who were here at the date of in- 
 corporation are included in the foregoing list. The 
 Hecond town-meeting, to raise money to meet public 
 charges and to direct the building of the first meet- 
 ing-house, was convened in September. The next 
 meeting assembled in January, 1729. " It was voted 
 and chose Capt. Josiah Willard Agent for y" Town of 
 Lunenburg aforesaid to Join with Such other men as 
 y' several neighboring towns shall appoint to Con- 
 sider what may be best in order to divide y° Cofinty 
 of Middlesex into two Counties." This proposition 
 was met in 1731 by the incorporation of Worcester 
 County. Excepting Woodstock, Conn., which, for 
 some years, was considered a part of the county and 
 State, Lunenburg in the order of age was the thir- 
 teenth and youngejt town in the new county. 
 
 Omitting mention of many roads extending from 
 house to house within the town, one of the earliest 
 exploits of the town was to make a road or amend the 
 existing bridle-path, from Lunenburg Centre to the 
 line of Lancaster. In 1743 a road was cut to the 
 west line of the town " for the accommodation of 
 Dorchester Can.ada (Ashburnham), Ipswich Canada 
 (Winchendon) and the towns above us." In 1745 
 the town voted that the men living in Captain Hart- 
 well's company build a bridge over the North Branch 
 "in the way that goes to David Goodridge's," and 
 another bridge over the North Branch " in the way 
 that goes to David Page's." The first place was at or 
 near the bridge at South Fitchburg, and the other at 
 
 the bridge on Laurel Street, in Fitchburg. At the 
 same time the men residing in Captain Willard's 
 company were directed to " build a bridge over Mul- 
 lepus, in the way by or near Hezekiah Wetherbee's, 
 and a bridge over said Mullepus in the way that goes 
 to Townsend below Widow White's Mill." Subse- 
 quently, money was r.aised at short intervals for re- 
 pairing and building bridges at these points, but after 
 the Indian wars the militia was not again detailed to 
 do the work. The town refused to build a short piece 
 of road for the accommodation of John Scott, and on 
 his petition the court appointed a committee, who re- 
 ported in 1754 that, '' having viewed the said road, 
 have laid out y'' same to y" great satisfaction of Mr. 
 John Scott and the owners of the land the road goes 
 through, who freely gave their land for the road." 
 This was a short and unimportant piece of road 
 wholly within Fitchburg, and is described in the 
 court records as " beginning at the land of said 
 John Scott and running northeast on John Bridge's 
 land, described by marked tree'", then on land of Mr. 
 Mead, then on land of Joseph Eaton, then on land 
 of Joseph SpoflTord to the road that comes from 
 Isaac Gibson's." The presumption that it was a 
 thoroughfare from Lunenburg Centre to the house 
 of Mr. Scott is not sustained by the record. 
 
 In the building of the Northfield road the town 
 did not participate, yet this ancient road receives 
 frequent mention in the records. In 1733 a town- 
 ship bounding on Northfield was granted to Josiah 
 Willard and his associates, many of whom were re- 
 sidents of Lunenburg. The early name of the 
 grant was Earlington and Arlington (now Winches- 
 ter, N. H.), and the road became known both as the 
 Northfield and the Earlington road. It was con- 
 ditioned in the grant of the township that the 
 grantees within two years " clear and make a con- 
 venient travelling Road, twelve feet wide, from Lun- 
 enburg to Northfield, and build a house for receiv- 
 ing & Entertaining travellers on said Road, about 
 midway between Northfield & Lunenburg afores''. — 
 And for the Encouragement of a Sutable Family 
 to settle in s"* House, It is resolved that there 
 shall be granted to him that shall Dwell in s* 
 House for the space of seven years from the Grant 
 one hundred and fifty acres of land." 
 
 Many residents of Lunenburg, of Townsend, and 
 of " the lower towns " were employed, and the road 
 was nearly or quite completed in the summer of 1733. 
 There yet are many traditions handed down through 
 several generations from ancestors who, in perpetual 
 fear of the Indians, were engaged in this enterprise. 
 The farm of one hundred and fifty acres on which 
 was the house of entertainment was surveyed by 
 Nathan Heywood, and located not far from where the 
 west line of Winchendon was subsequently estab- 
 lished. The survey was made October 7, 1733. In 
 the autumn of 1734 Benjamin Bellows, Hilkiah 
 Boynton and Moses Willard, a committee of the 
 
LUNENBUKG. 
 
 765 
 
 grantees of Arlington, petitioned the General Court 
 for another traci of land on which to build another 
 house of entertainment at a convenient point on the 
 line of the road. This petition sets forth that the 
 road from Lunenburg to Northfield is forty-two miles; 
 that about twenty-four miles from Lunenburg there 
 " is a house of entertainment set up to the great ease 
 and comfort of persons travelling that road, and your 
 petitioners, apprehending it would greatly accommo- 
 date Travellers, more especially in the winter season, 
 to have another House of Entertainment between 
 Lunenburg and that already set up." The General 
 Court promptly granted four hundred and fifty acres, 
 which was surveyed by David Farrar and located on 
 the line of the road in the northwest part of Ash- 
 burnham. In 1735 a house was built, and for a few 
 years a family occupied it. The Enos Jones farm is 
 a part of this grant. After the obliterating influences 
 of one hundred and fifty years, an attempt to accu- 
 rately trace this ancient thoroughfare cannot be 
 wholly successful. The ready voice of tradition offers 
 too many .suggestions, and frequently points out roads 
 that are known to have been built subsequently, and 
 for other purposes. At several points the location is 
 well-established by contemporaneous ricords. The 
 old Northfield Eoad began at a point more than a 
 mile southeast of the centre of Lunenburg, and 
 probably on and using the Lancaster Road, it con- 
 tinued past the Old or South Cemetery, and bearing 
 northerly as far as the North Cemetery, and near that 
 point making an angle, its course was nearly due west 
 to near the present line of Fitchburg; then, possibly 
 to avoid the rivers beyond, it bore north, and passed 
 where John Fitch was subsequently captured, now 
 the residence of Paul Gates, in Ashby ; thence it bore 
 we-terly, and from the west line of Lunenburg, now 
 in Ashby, to the east line of Northfield, it was cut 
 through a wilderness of unappropriated land. The 
 survey of an ancient grant in Ashburnham locates 
 the road in its continued course at a point not far 
 from where the present road from Rindge to Fitch- 
 burg crosses the line between Ashburnham and 
 Ashby. Then passing north of the North Branch of 
 the Nashua and the South Branch of Miller's Rivers, 
 its course, by the farm (formerly) of Enos Jones in 
 Ashburnham, and near Spring Village in Winchen- 
 don, is established by early records. 
 
 In ] 757 an effort to divide the town was inaugurated. 
 The eastern section was first settled, and continued 
 to be the most populous. Here was the meeting- 
 house, the pound and the stocks. Here was the re- 
 pository of the records and of the standard weights 
 and measures, and, in fact, the seat of government. 
 The situation clearly demanded that in the event of 
 a division by a north and south line, the western 
 portion must be created into a new town. In har- 
 mony with these conditions the issue was made. 
 While the incorporation of a town was solely within 
 the province of the General Court, the petitioners 
 
 desired to fortify their solicitations by the consent 
 and approval of the whole town. For a few years 
 public sentiment was divided by the proposed geo- 
 graphical line of division, and the larger number of 
 voters in the eastern section denied the early petitions 
 for a new town. The etfbrt was continually renewed 
 and vigorously prosecuted, until in January, 1764, 
 the consent of a majority of the whole town was 
 obtained, and a line of division substantially the 
 present town line was agreed upon. 
 
 Immediately the inhabitants of the proposed town 
 instructed John Fitch, Amos Kimball, Samuel Hunt, 
 Ephraim Whitney and Jonathan Wood, who had 
 been prominent in this affair, to obtain from the 
 General Court an act of incorporation. Their mission 
 was eminently successful, and Fitchburg, including 
 more than one-half the area of the original township, 
 was incorporated February 3, 1 /64. 
 
 The limits of this sketch, excluding voluminous 
 material and many interesting events and incidents 
 in the early history of the town, has forbidden a fre- 
 quent repetition of the names of committees and 
 many other prominent characters ; but no apprecia- 
 tive chapter of the early annals of Lunenburg can 
 fail to associate the actors with the events, and to 
 give some account of the early residents of the town. 
 
 Of the committee of the General Court prominent 
 in the early proceedings, Hon. William Tailer was a 
 member of the Council, and the remaining four were 
 members of the House of Representatives. Hon. 
 William Tailer was boi^i March 10, 1677. He lived 
 in Dorchester, where he died March 1, 1732. He 
 was prominent in the early Indian Wars. In 1712 
 he was chosen commander of the "Ancient and 
 Honorable Artillery." He visited England, and re- 
 turned with a commission as Lieutenant-Governor, 
 and subsequently he was acting Governor of the 
 Province. The name is here written "Tailer" to 
 correspond with the usage of his time. Samuel 
 Thaxter was of Hingham, and a son of Samuel and 
 Elizabeth (Jacobs) Thaxter. He was a colonel, a 
 magistrate, and from 1716 to 1719 a delegate or member 
 of the House of Representatives. He died previous 
 to 17-11. 
 
 Francis Fullam was a magistrate and an influential 
 citizen of Watertown. He was a member of the 
 House of Representatives 1717-24, and a selectman 
 of Watertown many years. At the incorporation of 
 Weston his homestead fell in that town, where he 
 died subsequent to 1752. He was the cltrk of the 
 committee and his clear, ornate penmanship is pre- 
 served. He wrote his name as here given, but in 
 many records it is Fulham. Francis Fullam, who 
 was residing in Fitchburg at the date of incorpora- 
 tion, was his grandson. 
 
 John Shepley was a son of Thomas, and was born 
 in Charlestowu. He settled in Groton, where he 
 died September 4, 1736. He was a prominent citizen 
 and a member of the House of Representatives many 
 
TGG 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 years. Thia name in early records is written Shippie, 
 Shiple and Sheple. 
 
 Benjamin Wtiittemore, the fifth member of the 
 committee, was born in Charlestown, September 1, 
 1669. He was a son of John and Mary (Upham) 
 Whittemore, of Charlestown and of Cambridge. 
 Benjamin settled in Concord, where he became an 
 active citizen, a selectman and a Representative sev- 
 eral years. He died September 8, 1734. At the 
 meetings of the committee Mr. Tailer was sometimes 
 absent. The others, almost without exception, were 
 present. 
 
 Samuel Page, tlie first settler in Lunenburg, was 
 born in Groton, June 4, 1672. He was a son of John 
 and Faith (Dunster) Page. In 1719, when the com- 
 mittee surveyed the township, they found him resid- 
 ing on the province land and were entertained at his 
 house. This Selkirk of the wilderness began a clear- 
 ing on the Marshall place in 1718 or a year or two 
 previously, and when discovered by the committee 
 his family consisted of a wife Martha and seven chil- 
 dren, the youngest an infant of ten months. Five 
 other children were born in this town. In the ad- 
 mission of grantees, he and his son Joseph became 
 original proprietors of the town. He was a select- 
 man, 1728 and 1731; collector, 1732; and School Com- 
 mittee, 1738. The first pound was at his homestead, 
 and he was chosen pound-keeper. He died September 
 7, 1747. In sketches of the man and in tradition he 
 is styled " Governor " Page, in recognition, perhaps, 
 of the fact, that while his family constituted the pop- 
 ulation of the locality he was the chief executive offi- 
 cer of the domain, but there is no evidence that the 
 title was employed during his life. Very probably, 
 it is one of the pleasant fictions of tradition. 
 
 Josiah Willard, whose active career would fill a 
 volume, was a son of Henry and Dorcas (Cutler) Wil- 
 lard. He was born in Lancaster, 1695. He removed 
 to Lunenburg, 1723 or the following year, and was 
 foremost in the affairs of the settlement. He was a 
 captain on the frontiers and subsequently was a colo- 
 nel and for a season was commandant at Fort Dum- 
 mer. In 1733 he obtained, with others, many of them 
 residents of this town, the grant of a township adja- 
 cent to Northfield (now Winchester), N. H., and thither 
 he removed, probably in 1737. During the remainder 
 of his life his active energies .and achievements are 
 conspicuous in the annals of New Hampshire. He 
 died December 8, 1750. The following lines are 
 copied from a journal announcing his death : " He 
 was a gentleman of superior natural powers, of a 
 pleasant, happy and agreeable temper of mind, a 
 faithful Iriend, one that paid singular regard to min- 
 isters of the Gospel, a kind husband and tender 
 parent. His death is a great loss to the public and 
 particularly on the western frontiers." 
 
 Edward Hartweli, son of John and Elizabeth 
 (Wright) Hartweli, was born in Concord May 25, 
 1681. In early life he lived a few years in Lancaster, 
 
 where he was a sergeant in the Indian wars in 1722, 
 and a lieutenant a year or two later. He was in 
 Lancaster in the spring of 1725, but in August of 
 that year he wrote the Governor of the Province that 
 he had removed to Turkey Hills, where he had built 
 a house and made improvements upon his land. 
 He closed the letter with an assurance that at his 
 new home he was " in a good capacity to serve his 
 King and country." He was one of the grantees of 
 the town, and probably he had been engaged in clear- 
 ing land and building a house during a part of the 
 years 1721-24. He settled on the Lancaster Road, 
 over three miles from the centre of the town. 
 
 He was a man of great size and physical strength 
 and power of endurance. Possessing an equally 
 strong mind, energy and force of character, he con- 
 tinually exercised a commanding influence over the 
 rising fortunes of the settlement. In the troublous 
 times on the frontiers he was much employed in the 
 service, and rose to the rank of major. He was a 
 deacon of the church, selectman, town treasurer, 
 School Committee and frequently was elected to im- 
 portant committees and to other office in town affairs. 
 He was a Representative many years, serving in this 
 capacity at eighty-five years of age. 
 
 From an early date he was a magistrate, and in 
 1750 he was appointed judge of the Court of Com- 
 mon Pleas, succeeding Judge Joseph Dwight, and 
 was continued on the bench until a reorganization of 
 the court, in 1762. In addition to these accumulat- 
 ing trusts and responsibilities, it is a surprise that a 
 single life-time afforded opportunity for his well-man- 
 aged private affairs and many other active employ- 
 ments. With Colonel Willard and Colonel Benja- 
 min Bellows, he was a manager of the Northfield 
 Road, and was a grantee of several townships. 
 Among the proprietors of Dorchester Canada (Ash- 
 burnham) he was a controlling spirit from 1736 to 
 '44, serving on nearly every committee, and was one 
 of the men who cut a road from the Lunenburg 
 line to the centre of the town. For many years he 
 was the clerk of the proprietors of Lunenburg, and 
 recorde4 the original title to every lot of land in the 
 township, except a small area of undivided land, 
 which remained unsold at the time his successor was 
 chosen. He died February 17, 1785, " as full of piety 
 as of days." He lives in every page of the early 
 records, and there is found his only monument. He 
 rests in an unknown grave. 
 
 Isaac Farnsworth, son of Benjamin and Mary 
 (Prescott) Farnsworth, was born in Groton July 4, 
 1701. He settled near the centre of the town in 
 1724. At this time his home was enlivened with a 
 wife and one child. Six children were born in this 
 town. He was an influential man, and was the first 
 town clerk, serving nine years. He wrote a fair 
 hand, and had more regard for the laws of orthogra- 
 phy than many of his associates. About 1740 the JM 
 family returned to Groton. ^ 
 
LUNENBURG. 
 
 767 
 
 Widow Jane Boynton came to this town in 1724 or 
 '25, bringing witli her the memory of a deceased hus- 
 band and lourteeQ living children. She did much to 
 advance the settlement. She and her family came 
 from Rowley, and, owing to the number of her 
 grown-up sons, they settled in several places. One 
 of her daughters became the wife of John Grout, a 
 useful citizen, the owner of house-lot No. 83. and a 
 selectman several years. Another daughter married 
 Zachariah Whitney, who died in this town, 1781. 
 
 David Page, a son of Samuel, who settled in the 
 western part of the town, and often said to be the 
 first settler in Fitchburg, married a daughter of this 
 numerous family. Mrs. Boynton, the mother, died 
 in 1761, aged only a few days less than one hundred 
 years. Benoni Boynton, probably the eldest son, set- 
 tled nearly a mile north of the North Cemetery. He 
 married in Rowley, and lived a few years in Groton 
 before he came to Lunenburg. His name is fre- 
 quently met in the early records. He died Decem- 
 ber 30, 1758. 
 
 Hilkiah Boynton, another son, was much employed 
 in town affairs, and was connected with some of the 
 land speculations of his time. He died November 
 16, 1745. 
 
 Philip Goodridge, born in Newbury in 1668 or '69, 
 settled here about 1724, and died January 16, 1729. 
 On his tomb-stone is engraved " The first man in- 
 terred here." His descendants to the present day 
 have been numerous in this town, and are found 
 throughout New England. This name is frequently 
 written Goodrich. They have been distinguished by 
 industry, ability and character. 
 
 Benjamin Goodridge, eldest son of Philip, was 
 born in Newbury February 3, 1701. He lived in the 
 southwest part of the town, and was a most active 
 and influential man, and prominent in both proprie- 
 tary and town ati'airs. The number of his elections 
 to office is without a parallel in the history of the 
 town. He was a selectman thirty years, town clerk 
 twenty-two years, and constable, collector, member 
 of School Committee and a magistrate several years, 
 and a captain in the French and Indian War. He 
 died April 19, 1773. 
 
 Samuel Johnson, son of Edward and Esther (Gard- 
 ner) Johnson, was born in Woburn, February 21, 
 1692. He was an influential man in the afl'airs of the 
 settlement, the first deacon of the church, a town of- 
 ficer many years, and by occupation an inn-holder. He 
 accumulated a good estate and was one of the pro- 
 prietors of several townships in New Hampshire. 
 
 Nathan Heywood, son of John and Sarah Hey- 
 wood, was born in Concord, September 24, 1698. He 
 was a noted surveyor, and his name is attached to the 
 surveys of many townships. He was one of the first 
 settlers of the town, living at No. 175 on the Kilburn 
 map. He was a town officer, a lieutenant and a deputy- 
 sheriff. He was living here at the beginning of the 
 present century, but there is no record of his death. 
 
 Thomas Prentice, born in Lancaster, 1710, a son of 
 Rev. John Prentice, was a man of ability, and while 
 he remained here he was evidently popular and re- 
 spected. About 1750 he returned to Lancaster, and 
 subsequently removed to Newton. His mother, by a 
 former marriage, was the mother of Rev. Andrew 
 Gardner, the first minister of Lunenburg. 
 
 Ephraim Wetherbee early settled in this town. He 
 was a captain, a town ofiicer and actively engaged in 
 land speculations. His name appears in the lists of 
 grantees of townships in New Hampshire. He died in 
 Boston, November 7, 1745. 
 
 Benjamin Bellows, son of John and Mary (Wood) 
 Bellows, born 1677, married, 1704, the widowed 
 mother of Col. Josiah Willard. They resided in Lan- 
 caster (now Harvard), where their four children were 
 born. In 1728, or immediately following, the family 
 removed to this town. He settled in the centre of the 
 town, on the estate known as the Dr. King place, and 
 in a i'evi years he owned many acres of land in this 
 town. One daughter married Moses Gould, another 
 married Fairbanks Moore, and the youngest became 
 the wife of Ephraim Wetherbee. He died 1743 ; his 
 widow died September 8, 1747. 
 
 Col. Benjamin Bellows, only son of Benjamin, wag 
 born in Lancaster, May 26, 1712, and removed to 
 Walpole, N. H., 1752, where he died, July 10, 1777. 
 From the time of his majority until he removed from 
 this town he was the recipient of many honors, and 
 in the conduct of public affairs he was associated with 
 Col. Josiah Willard, Major Edward Hartwell, Ben- 
 jamin Goodridge, Esq., and other worthies of the 
 town, and among them all, except in years, he found 
 no superiors. He was a surveyor, a farmer and was 
 earnestly enlisted in the land speculations which were 
 rife in those times. His subsequent career in Wal- 
 pole and the eminent public services of many of his 
 descendants enliven the annals of New Hamjishire. 
 
 CHAPTER XCVIL 
 
 LUNENBURG— (Co;; ;■/«;/«/. ) 
 
 Indian Alarvt£ — The French and Indian Wars — Capture of John Fitch — 
 The Bevululion—Tlie War of the llelcllion. 
 
 From the time a number of men, sufficient to 
 attract the vigilant attention of the colonial govern- 
 ment, had gathered in the settlement until the decla- 
 ration of peace in 1763 the town was almost contin- 
 uously represented in the military service. In addition 
 to stated service in the wars of the period, rumors of 
 the presence of Indians at a near or remote point, and 
 the frequent necessity of scouting through the un- 
 settled country to the north and the west were con- 
 tinually calling the hardy settlers to arms. In seasons 
 of more imminent danger the men at work in the fields 
 weie attended by an equal number of soldiers, and 
 
708 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS 
 
 sometimes the harvests of the town were garnered by 
 armed men going in a body from fleld to field. Many 
 of the military rolls are not preserved, and the history 
 of much of this desultory service cannot be recalled. 
 The military affairs were directed by the government, 
 and ignoring the agency of towns, it made demands 
 upon the able-bodied men of the province at large. 
 For this reason the local records furnish very little 
 information of an important feature of the history of 
 the time. Beginning with the French and Indian 
 Wars, many of the rolls are preserved in the archives 
 of the State, and these contain the names of many 
 Lunenburg men. In a record of deaths is found the 
 name of one of the sons of the first settler of Lunen- 
 burg, who was a soldier in the unfortunate expedition 
 under Admiral Vernon to the West Indies : " John 
 Page, the son of M' Samuel Page, of Lunenburg, Dyed 
 at Jamaica, Being there in y'^ Spanish Expedition, 
 December y° twenty-ninth A. D. 1740, as they hear.'' 
 
 It is certain there were several Lunenburg men in 
 Col. Samuel Willard's regiment, who participated in 
 the capture of Louisbourg in the summer of 1745; 
 among these was Jonathan Hubbard, who was recom- 
 mended for promotion and who subsequently was a 
 major. He lived in Lunenburg from 1732 to 1756. 
 He was a deacon, a town officer and a mest influen- 
 tial citizen. Immediately after the capture of John 
 Fitch, Capt. Jonathan Willard, of this town, was or- 
 dered by Col. Samuel Willard to scout through the 
 " upper towns." The following Lunenburg men were 
 in this service July and August, 1748: Jonathan Wil- 
 lard, captain ; Timothy Bancroft, Thomas Brown, John 
 Dunsmoor, Isaac Gib.son, David Goodridge, Nehemiah 
 Gould, Samuel Johnson, Amos Kimball, Ebenezer 
 Kimball, Ephraim Kimball, Jonathan Page, Samuel 
 Poole, William Porter, Thomas Stearns, Samuel Stow, 
 Jonathan Wood, Paul Wetherbee, Ezekiel Wyman 
 and Zachary Wyman. This John Dunsmoor subse- 
 quently was a noted physician in this town. Jonathan 
 Wood was a captain in the Eevolution, and several 
 of these men were then residing in the west part of 
 the town, now Fitchburg. Between 1736 and 1744 
 a considerable number of families had settled in New 
 Ipswich, Rindge, Ashburnham and Winchendon. 
 Their presence on the border lent a feeling of com- 
 parative security to the dwellers of Lunenburg, who 
 for a season were protected from the dangers of the 
 extreme frontier. 
 
 In 1744 the younger towns were deserted and 
 again Lunenburg assumed her former position on the 
 border. For the defence of the undeserted frontier a 
 series of block-houses or garrisons on the exterior 
 llne< of Townsend, Lunenburg and Westminster were 
 built, and here a line of defence was drawn. Soldiers 
 under the pay of the province were detailed for the 
 support of the garrisons. In 1748 a company of 
 forty-seven men, under command of Captain Edward 
 Hartwell, was raised for this service, and, while under 
 one command, were distributed along the border of 
 
 the defended towns. Ten of this company were 
 assigned to the block-houses in Townsend, ten to 
 Lunenburg, fifteen to Westminster and three to Leo- 
 minster. The remaining nine was a staif of inspec- 
 tion, comprising the officers and a body-guard. For- 
 tunately, the official roll is preserved : Edward Hart- 
 well, captain ; John Stevens, lieutenant ; John Hol- 
 den, sergeant ; James Johnson, clerk ; Joseph Baker, 
 Timothy Hall, Fairbanks Moore, Jr., corporals; Ab- 
 ner Holden, William Bemis, Jonathan Farnsworth, 
 Elias Stone, Ephraim Dutton, Simon Farnsworth, 
 Ebenezer Hadley, John Thomson, Elisha Pratt, 
 Ebenezer Wood, Jonathan Pett, Zaccheus Blodget, 
 Samuel Wood, Joseph Jennings, Stephen Farns- 
 worth, John Nichols, Nehemiah Wood, Benoni Boyn- 
 ton, Benoni Boynton, Jr., Jos<iph Platts, Nicholas 
 Dyke, Abel Platts, William Smith, James Preston, 
 Ephraim Stevens, Joshua Benjamin, John Rumrill, 
 Nehemiah Holden, Oliver Barrett, William Gilford, 
 James King, William Graham, Jonathan White, 
 Joseph Wheelock, Thomas Wilder, Thomas Stearns, 
 David Dunster, Joseph Holden, Jr., Stephen Holden, 
 Eli-sha Bigelow. Of these, thirty enlisted in April, 
 two in May, the eight last named June 24th and the 
 rest in June, July and August. In the column of 
 expiration of service Zaccheus Blodget and Joseph 
 Jennings are marked " .luly 5 ;" five were discharged 
 at different date>( and the remainder were mustered 
 out the middle of October. A minute upon the mus- 
 ter-roll announces that the five last named were 
 added to the Westminster detail, making fifteen -in 
 all, and that Jonathan White, Joseph Wheelock and 
 Thomas Wilder were stationed in Leominster. 
 
 Notwithstanding these measures of precaution, on 
 the morning of the 5th of July the Indians made a 
 sudden attack upon one of these fortified places. 
 The one selected by the enemy was the most northern 
 of the garrisons upon the line of Lunenburg, which 
 stood where Paul Gates now resides in the present 
 town of Ashby. 
 
 The house was on the Northfield road, seven miles 
 from Lunenburg Centre, and was owned and occu- 
 pied by John Fitch, whose family consisted of a wife 
 and five children. The ages of the children were: 
 Catharine, thirteen years; John, eleven years ; Paul, 
 six years and six months ; Jacob, four years; and Su- 
 sannah, sixteen months. Four soldiers were stationed 
 at this house or garrison, but, on the day of the as- 
 sault, only Zaccheus Blodgett and Joseph Jennings 
 were present. The story of the capture has been 
 told many times, and generally with the Surdody em- 
 bellishment. Admitting that Surdody is a good name 
 for an Indian, it remains very probable that the In- 
 dians made an attack at the most exposed and soli- 
 tary point in the line of defense, and if they came 
 in the last stages of their march over the Northfield 
 road, they were led directly to the point of attack. 
 Previous to the moment of the assault no considera- 
 ble number of the Indians had been discovered at 
 
 \ 
 
LUNENBURG. 
 
 769 
 
 any point in tlie line, while during the following 
 flays they were found in several localities in this im- 
 mediate vicinity. Mr. Fitch, in a petition to the 
 General Court December 10, 1749, says he had no 
 neighbors within three and one-half miles to join 
 with him in fortifying his house, " yet divers of the 
 inhabitantsof Lunenburg, knowing the great security 
 that a garrison at his plape might be, urged him to 
 build one and assisted him iu it." After making 
 known that four soldiers were stationed at his garri- 
 son, in 1748, he proceeds in modest terms to give a 
 narrative of the eventful day: "And on the fifth of 
 July in the same year, by reason of bodily infirmity, 
 there were but two soldiers with him, although others 
 with tlie scouts were to come in that day. On that 
 day, before noon and before the scouts came, the In- 
 dian enemy appeared and shot down one soldier upon 
 being discovered and immediately drove him [John 
 Fitch] and the other soldier into the garrison. And 
 after besieging the same about one hour and a half, 
 they killed the other soldier through the port-hole in 
 the fl inker. Then your petitioner was left alone 
 with his wife and five children and soon after he sur- 
 rendered." The Indians burned the house, killed 
 an ox and conducted the family to Canada. It has 
 been stated that the family were ransomed by " friends 
 in Bradford, where he formerly resided." It has not 
 been shown that Mr. Fitch ever lived in Bradford, 
 and the fact is he was returned by the French with 
 others at the suspension of hostilities. In company 
 with five French officers and other prisoners, he ar- 
 rived in New York, by the way of Albany, September 
 23, 1748, not yet three months after his capture. 
 When the complete exchange of prisoners was made 
 ii not known, and the feeble health of his wife might 
 have delayed his progress home. She died in Provi- 
 dence, R. I., December 24, 1748. The capture was 
 probably made and the house was in flames about 
 noon, yet it is current tradition that no resident of the 
 town was informed of the event until the following 
 day. This is improbable. It is certain, however, 
 that Captain Hartwell called his company together 
 and that an alarm and great excitement pervaded 
 the town. On the 8th of July, 1748, the inhabitants 
 of Lunenburg and Leominster joined a petition to 
 Governor Shirley setting forth that the Indians " very 
 lately have beeu among us," and earnestly praying 
 for an additional number of soldiers. Four days later 
 the commissioned officers and selectmen of Lunen- 
 burg forward a similar petition announcing that the 
 family of John Fitch was captured and two soldiers 
 killed on the oth instant, and that on the 7th instant 
 the Indians " discovered themselves in a bold, in- 
 sulting manner three miles further into town than 
 was the garrison which they had destroyed, where 
 they chased and shot at one of the inhabitants, who 
 narrowly escaped their hands." They further state 
 that three days the people were rallied by alarms and 
 hurried into the woods after the enemy. It was ' 
 49 
 
 David Goodridge who was the hero of this exploit, 
 and the scene was within the limits of Fitchburg. 
 Mr. Goodridge subsequently was a lieutenant in one 
 of the Crown Point expeditions. 
 
 Joseph Jennings, one of the soldiers slain at the 
 Fitch garrison, was a drafted man from Western 
 (now Warren). He was an apprentice to Samuel Bliss, 
 and when he came to Lunenburg he brought Mr. 
 Bliss' gun, which fell into the hands of the Indians — 
 perhaps the hands of Surdody. Mr. Bliss sent a com- 
 munication to Governor Shirley alleging that the gun 
 was worth ten pounds, and beside, that he had lost 
 the time of his apprentice, and made it apparent that 
 all in all he was neither blissful nor satisfied. The 
 government was tender and compassionate, and while 
 there appeared to be no spare men on hand, they sent 
 him a new gun. 
 
 Zaccheus Blodget was probably from Dracut. 
 Oliver Blodget was residing there in 1749 and gave 
 an order for the wages due his deceased brother, " who 
 was killed by the Indians last year." 
 
 John Fitch was born in the part of Billerica now 
 in Bedford, February 12, 1707-8. His father, Samuel 
 Fitch (a son of Samuel, grandson of Dea. Zachary 
 Fitch, of Reading), married Elizabeth Walker and 
 settled on a part of the Winthrop grant in Billerica, 
 which he inherited from his maternal grandfather. 
 Job Lane. John was the sixth of nine children. He 
 was a second cousin of Zachariah Fitch, who was the 
 guardian of James Kibby. Joseph Fitch, the father 
 of the wife of William Downe, was a brother of Zach- 
 ariah. John Fitch came to Lunenburg a few years 
 after the date of incorporation. He married Susannah 
 Gates, a daughter of Simon and Hannah (Benjamin) 
 Gates, of Stow, and in 1735 he purchased a part of an 
 original house-lot, No. 66, adjoining the lot of Eph- 
 raim Pierce, about two miles south of the centre of 
 the town (near No. 188 on the Kilburn map). Here 
 he lived until 1739, when he bought of Ephraim 
 Wetherbee one hundred and twenty acres " at a place 
 called Rendevous in Lunenburg and adjoining Town- 
 send." This land, now in Ashby, is the homestead 
 of Paul Gates. Subsequently he bought a consider- 
 able adjoining land. Upon his return from captivity 
 he built a house on or very near the site of the gar- 
 rison, and there resided over twenty years. He mar- 
 ried, February 14, 1750-1, Elizabeth (Bowers) Peirce, 
 widow of David Peirce, ef Lunenburg. About this 
 date he received a substantial legacy from the estate 
 of Simon Gates, the father of his first wife. By the 
 division of Lunenburg in 1764 his homestead became 
 a part of Fitchburg, and in 1767 it was included in 
 the new town of Ashby. Occupying the same house, 
 he was a citizen of three towns within a short space 
 of time. He was the chairman of the committee to 
 procure an act dividing Lunenburg and creating a 
 new town, and in his honor the name of Fitchburg 
 was bestowed. In his estate he was prospered, and 
 for several years was one of the few names on the tax- 
 
i70 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Iist8 assessed for mouey at interest. He was moderator 
 of the first town-meeting in Asliby, a constable and a 
 member of the first Board of Selectmen. He became 
 engaged in land speculation, and deeds of land bought 
 or sold by him are very numerous in the registry of 
 Worcester County and Cheshire and Hillsborough 
 Counties in New Hampshire. In 1772 he removed 
 from Ashby to Rindge, N. H., where he lived until 
 1779, when he removed to Harvard. In 1780 he re- 
 moved to Jaflrey, N. H. His wife was living in 1774. 
 She probably died in Rindge or in Harvard. Alone 
 and aged, and for some cause in poverty, the closing 
 and fading scene of an active, eventful and useful life 
 only remains. In 1785 he returned to Ashby, and 
 finding a home in the family of a relative, he was sup- 
 j)orted in part by the town. He died April 8, 1795, 
 aged eighty-seven years. 
 
 Succeeding these stirring times, a truce was main- 
 tained a few years between England and France, and 
 until 1755 very few men from this town are found in 
 the service. 
 
 In Col. Willard's regiment (a part of the expedition 
 to Crown Point) was a company commanded by Capt. 
 Samuel Hunt, containing twenty-four men from this 
 town, eight from Townsend, four from Leominster 
 and ten from other places. These men were in the 
 service from August 11, 1755, to January 1, 1756. 
 The names of the Lunenburg men are as follows: 
 Samuel Hunt, captain ; Samuel Poole, ensign ; Jona- 
 than Bradstreet, sergeant ; Gilbert Thornton, ser- 
 geant ; Samuel Hutchins, corporal ; Samuel Stow, 
 Timothy Bancroft, Archelaua Mcintosh, Phinehas 
 Divol, Thomas Wetherbee, Stephen Foster, Timothy 
 Darnell, Ephraim Peirce, Nathaniel Carlton, Jona- 
 than Stevens, Moses Spofford, Scripture Frost, 
 Thomas Stearns, Thomas Rand, Bezaleel Wood, Wil- 
 liam Chadwick, Eliphalet Goodridge, Jewett Boyn- 
 ton and Thomas Holt. 
 
 In another company, but serving a longer time, 
 were Patrick Delany, Pearson Eaton, John Scott and 
 Thomas Jewett. 
 
 An undated roll in the Crown Point service, and 
 probably a part of this expedition, bears the names 
 of Ebenezer Hart, Nathaniel Page, Silas Button, 
 Abijah Wetherbee, Jonathan Wetherbee, John Mar- 
 tin, Solomon Bigelow, Samuel Cummings, Jr., Reu- 
 ben Wyman, Simon Smith, John Henderson and 
 William Kimball. The last named was a servant or 
 an apprentice of George Kimball, who enlisted under 
 a name borrowed of his master. 
 
 Among the rolls of the following year a company 
 commanded by Cai)t. James Reed, containing thirty- 
 eight men, was in Col. Ruggles' regiment at Fort Ed- 
 ward. The roll is valuable, containing the name, 
 age, birth-place, residence and occupation of each 
 man. 
 
 The names of the Lunenburg men are Thomas 
 Brown, ensign; John Harriman, sergeant; John 
 Moffet, clerk ; Samuel Hutchins, corporal ; Nehe- 
 
 miah Bowers, Timothy Darling, Joseph Gilson, Ma- 
 nassah Litch, Joseph Platts, Joseph Reed, Robert 
 Spear, John Scott, Bradstreet Spofford, Reuben 
 Smith, Benjamin Scott, Jonas Tarbell, Michael 
 Wood, Phinehas Wheelock, William Holt. In this 
 company Philip Goodridge was lieutenant, but he 
 was sick and not with the company when the forego- 
 ing pay-roll was made up. John Harriman died in 
 the service. On the roll two others are reported dead 
 who are known to have returned. 
 
 In 1757 Jonathan Page, William Jones and Moses 
 Spofford were in the service, and a part of the time 
 were stationed at Castle William. 
 
 On the rolls of 1759 are many I^unenburg names. 
 These men were also in the Crown Point service, and 
 omitting names who are found in the preceding roll, 
 there remain David Pierce, David Carlile, Moses Page, 
 Patrick Delany, Jonathan Peabody, Moses Eitter, Jr., 
 Moses Platts, Dean Carlton, Zephaniah Buss, Simeon 
 Burnham, Samuel iQibson, Samuel Parker, Nathaniel 
 Page, Jr., Samuel Hammond, Josiah Dodge, Jr., Da- 
 vid Chaplin, Jr., Benjamin Gould, Richard Fowler, 
 John White, Patrick White and John Wyman. Jidin 
 Wyman died in the service. During the years 1760 
 and 1761, and in the final and successful effort for the 
 conquest of Canada, a martial record is continued. 
 Among the names of new recruits appear the names 
 of William Kendall, Samuel Hutchins, Moses Platts, 
 Samuel Hilton and Nathan Platts, and in the com- 
 pany of Captain Aaron Brown, of Littleton, were 
 John Martin, sergeant, Jonathan Boynton, Samuel 
 Downe, Timothy Parker, John Simonds, Ezekiel 
 Simonds, William Simonds and Simon Smith; also in 
 the company of Captain Beaman, of Lancaster, 
 Joseph Reed and Samuel Wyman are reported among 
 " the invalids brought home from the westward." 
 Other men in this company were Daniel Carlile, Pat- 
 rick Delany, Joseph Gilson, John Hogg, Aaron 
 Hodgkins, Jonathan Page, Samuel Peabody, Daniel 
 Ritter, Ebenezer Wyman, Reuben Wyman, Oliver 
 Powers. About this time John Spear and Silas Wy- 
 man died in the service. Five Lunenburg men in 
 1761 were in the company of Captain Aaron Willard: 
 Jeremiah Stiles, drummer, John Hill, William Hen- 
 derson, Joshua Page and Israel Wyman. These ex- 
 tended lists do not contain the names of all the resi- 
 dents of Lunenburg who were in the service, yet the 
 most of them have never appeared in print before. 
 With limited space at command, in some instances 
 only one enlistment is given of those who entered the 
 service again the succeeding year. It will be found 
 that many of the persons named were subsequently 
 rtsidents of other towns, but they lived in Lunenburg 
 at the time the service was performed. 
 
 The Revolutionary history of Lunenburg should 
 include a series of patriotic resolutions which 
 were debated and adopted during the mouths of active 
 thought and excitement immediately preceding an 
 open declaration of hostilities, and which, with the 
 
LUNENBUEG. 
 
 771 
 
 space at command, cannot be quoted. They cover 
 several pages of the records and are clearly expressive 
 of a sentiment and purpose that animated and sus- 
 tained the patriots of Lunenburg through the trials 
 and sacrifices of the war. Two companies of twenty- 
 seven men each, exclusive of officers, were organized 
 October 25, 1774. In the choice of officers all males 
 over sixteen years of age were allowed to vote. The 
 town approved of the selection made by the men as 
 follows: George Kimball, captain ; David Wood, first 
 lieutenant ; Jonathan Peirce, second lieutenant, and 
 Benjamin Redington, ensign of the first company. 
 Abijah Stearns, captain ; Jared Smith, first lieuten 
 ant; Moses Ritter, second lieutenant, and Phineas 
 Hutchins, ensign of the second company. The 
 terms first and second did not have an ordinal signifi- 
 cance. A geographical line divided the town in two 
 parts and a company was organized in each section. 
 On the 18th day of April the minute-men were 
 called out for drill and a practice in the manual of 
 arms. After a dinner, provided by the officers, they 
 were marched to the meeting-house, where a sermon 
 was delivered by Rev. Zibdiel Adams, from the text: 
 "Though a host should encamp against me, my 
 heart shall not fear." — Psalm xxvii. 3. 
 
 The spring of 1775 was unusually warm and for- 
 ward. On the morning of the 19th of April, 
 the farmers of Lunenburg were sowing grain and 
 plowing their fields. On the preceding day they had 
 learned from their chosen commanders the discipline 
 and from their esteemed pastor the duties of the sol- 
 dier. In arm and mind the rustic toilers became the 
 patriot soldiers. As they toiled on the war had be- 
 gun, yet they knew it not. The swift messages of the 
 morning were not long delayed. Some time in the 
 forenoon, tradition says at nine o'clock, the alarm 
 was fired in this town. 
 
 A full company from Lunenburg marched for Con- 
 cord — tradition says so early that they reached Con- 
 cord and beyond that evening, but the muster-roll 
 would indicate that they proceeded with more prep- 
 aration and deliberation : 
 
 '• A Muster Roll of a company or party of men that 
 marched from Lunenburg on y"^ 20"" of April, 1775, 
 for the Defense of the Colony against the ministerial 
 troops under the Command of George Kimball, Cap' 
 of a company in Lunenburg, who marched in Conse- 
 quence of an alarm made the lO"" of April, 1775. 
 George Kimball, captain ; David Wood, first lieu- 
 tenant; Samuel Kimball, second lieutenant; Boman 
 Brown, sergeant; John Searle, do.; Benj. Darling, 
 do.; Samuel Farrar, do.; Samuel Hutchinson, cor- 
 poral ; Samuel Hilton, do.; Daniel Holt, do.; Bar- 
 nabas Wood, do.; David Chaplin, drummer; Silas 
 Gibson, John Wood, Abijah Page, Nathan Johnson, 
 Isaac Bailey, Andrew Mitchell, Edward Richards, 
 Moses Sanderson, Charles Gilchrist, Pearson Eaton, 
 John McCarty, Benj. Redington, William Prentice, 
 Jacob Stile-', Solomon Hovey, Eli Dodge, Zebulon 
 
 Wallis, Moses Ritter, Thomas Simonds, David Hough- 
 ton, Jonathan Peirce, Obediah Walker, William Gil- 
 christ, Jacob Sanderson, John Dole, Nehemiah Lane, 
 Nathaniel Hastings, Joseph Hartwell, Joshua Reed, 
 Benjamin Goodridge, Asa Carlton, Amos Page, 
 Thomas Wetherbee, Thaddeus Cummings, Phinehas 
 Divol, Benoni Wallis, George Henry, John Little, 
 John Campbell, Joseph Foster, Caleb Taylor, Jere- 
 miah Willard, Curwin Wallis, William Goodridge, 
 Samuel Johnson, Joseph Priest, Nathan Chapman, 
 Seth Harrington." Here are sixty names, and beside 
 some who hastened forward independent of organiza- 
 tion, there were two officers and five men from this 
 town in the Leominster company, as follows : Joseph 
 Bellows and Thomas Harkness, lieutenants ; Noah 
 Dodge, Phinehas Carter, Israel Wyman, Richard 
 Fowler and Jonathan Martin. 
 
 From the men and companies thus gathered at 
 Cambridge and from new recruits constantly arriving 
 an army for the siege of Boston was organized. A 
 full company, composed of Lunenburg and Fitch- 
 burg men, were in Colonel Asa Whitcomb's regi- 
 ment a part of the time at least and remained in the 
 service at Boston until the close of the year. The 
 roll is as follows : John Fuller, of Lunenburg, cap- 
 tain; Ebenezer Bridge, of Fitchburg, lieutenant; 
 Jared Smith, of Lunenburg, lieutenant. 
 
 Hen from Lunenburg : — Josiah Hartwell, Samuel 
 Farrer, Samuel Litch, Ephraim Martin, John Well- 
 man, John Wason, John Hill, Jonathan Taylor, 
 Eleazer Priest, Adonijah (or Darius) Houghton, Sol- 
 omon Boynton, Manassah Divol, Timothy Carlton, 
 Francis Henry, Sewell Dodge, Benjamin Walker, 
 Jonas Hazeltine, David Wetherbee, Joseph Foster, 
 Jeremiah Willard, William Goodridge, Caleb Taylor, 
 Thomas Hazeltine, Cheever Fowler, Henry Cockman, 
 Samuel Johnson, Curwin Wallis, Joseph Priest, 
 Nathan Chapman, Ephraim Holden, Stephen Wy- 
 man, Abraham Carlton, Abijah Goodridge, James 
 Carter, William Ritter, William Alexander. 
 
 Men from Fitchburg: — Jonathan Hunt, Edward 
 Hartwell, Thomas Gary, Joseph Gilson, Ebenezer 
 Harrington, Joseph Policy, Eleazer Priest, Nathaniel 
 Gibson, William Bean, Ebenezer Policy, Samuel 
 Downe, Jonathan Gibson, Daniel Harris, Stephen 
 Bailey, Joseph Farwell, Thomas Platts, Roger Bige- 
 low, John Goodridge, Clark Bancroft, Stephen Ful- 
 ler, Aaron Hodgkins, Thomas Kimball, also John 
 Taylor, of Hillsborough; Thomas Ball, of Concord ; 
 and Charles Raley, residence not stated on the roll. 
 
 In the same service and in Colonel Doolittle's reg- 
 iment Captain Jo iah Stearns, of Lunenburg, com- 
 manded a company of sixty-one men. In this com- 
 pany William Thurlo, of Fitchburg, was lieutenant 
 and the following were Lunenburg men : John Searle, 
 Joi-ihua Martin, John Hall, Jacob Stewart, Barnaby 
 Wood, Joseph Chaplin, Benjamin Bailey, John 
 Brown, William Clark, Levi Dodge, James Darling, 
 Pearson Eaton, Asa Jones, John MoB'at, William 
 
772 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Prentiss, Thomas Peirce, John Ritter, John Stearns 
 (died in the service), Joseph Siraonds, Moses Sander- 
 son, Aaron Taylor, Seth Wyman, William Wyman, 
 Joab Wetherbee; also five from Fitchburg and thirty 
 from other places. 
 
 There were other men from this town in the ser- 
 vice during the summer and autumn of this year. 
 The residence is stated upon the original rolls and 
 there is no room for doubt concerning the identity of 
 the men. While the following list increases the 
 number of Lunenburg men who served in the siege 
 of Boston, it is not presumed to include everyone: 
 Elnathan Sawtell, Timothy Darling, Joshua Good- 
 ridge, Samuel Priest, Kichard Gilchrist, Elijah Gould, 
 Nathan Pushee, Joshua Reed, Peter Davis, Abraham 
 Ireland, Abner Mitchell, William Hennessey, Joseph 
 Chaplin, Joseph Chaplin, Jr., Thomas Hovey, Isaac 
 Baily and Zebulon Willis. The last named probably 
 is the same person as Zebulon Wallis in the roll of 
 minute-men. 
 
 On the 23d of May, 1775, Dr. John Taylor was 
 elected a Representative to the Assembly, which con- 
 vened at Watertown on the 19th of July. 
 
 1776. — At the annual election of town officers in 
 March a Committee of Correspondence, Inspection 
 and Safety was chosen. They were: William Stearns, 
 Abijah Stearns, George Kimball, Benjamin Reding- 
 ton, Joseph Hartwell, Joaiah Stearns and Daniel 
 Gardner. From this time town-meetings were no 
 longer called " In His Majesty's Name," but " in the 
 name of the government and the people of Massa- 
 chusetts Bay," they found a greeting more congenial 
 to a sentiment of independence. By a vote of the 
 town Stephen Gorham was allowed " to take earth 
 Irom undtr the meeting-house for to make saltpeter.'' 
 During the remaining years of the war the inhabit- 
 ants often assembled in town-meeting and the rec- 
 ords furnish abundant evidence of a continued and 
 patriotic effort in raising men to renew the decimated 
 ranks of the army and in meeting the increasing 
 burdens of taxation. The enlistments in 1776 were 
 many and the rolls, to a considerable extent, repeat 
 the names of the preceding year. A partial list of 
 the soldiers for a longer or shorter period during the 
 succeeding years include: William Pope, Aaron 
 Buss, John Fuller, George Kimball, David Carlisle 
 and Joshua Martin, who were captains in the service, 
 and also the following lieutenants: Thomas Hark- 
 ness, Jared Smith, David Wood, Jonathan Peirce, 
 Benjamin Redington, Moses Ritter, Phinehas Hutch- 
 ins and John Little. A partial list of soldiers not 
 yet named are: Thomas Wetherbee, Zephaniah Wood, 
 Abraham Lowe, Thomas Hill, David Wallis, Benoni 
 Wallis, John Buss, George Landers, Benjamin Stew- 
 art, Abijah Wetherbee, Ebenezer Wallis, Jonathan 
 Messer, William Lowe, Ephraim Wetherbee, Daniel 
 Wetherbee, Nathaniel Ha'^tings, Isaac Wetherbee, 
 Calvin Graves and George Martin ; Peter Bathrick, 
 Abraham Carlton, Jr., .Tames Carter, William Gil- 
 
 christ and Charles Gilchrist, who died in the ser- 
 vice. 
 
 Col. Abijah Stearns was prominent in military 
 affairs during the Revolution, and during a residence 
 of many years in this town he was an active citizen 
 and a worthy man. He was the youngest brother of 
 Rev. David and Dea. William Stearns, of this tpvvn, 
 and was born in Watertown, December 19, 1724. He 
 came here as early as 1751, living at the centre of the 
 town. He was often elected to office and during the 
 war he commanded a regiment in two or more cam- 
 paigns. He died November 6, 1783. 
 
 Col. Joseph Bellows, a son of Col. Benjamin, the 
 founder of Walpole, N. H., and a brother of Gen. 
 Benjamin Bellows, was born in this town June 6, 
 1744. After the family removed to Walpole he re- 
 turned in early manhood to this town. He was a 
 captain in the Revolution and commissioned lieutenant 
 colonel of the militia by Governor Hancock. He 
 was a man of influence and popular among his towns- 
 men. Being bondsman for some failing contractors, 
 his property was attached and his pride was humili- 
 ated in the loss of the paternal acres. Feeble health 
 and discouragement unfitted him for active life, and 
 from 1784 until his death. May 13, 1817, he lived near 
 his relatives in Walpole. 
 
 Hon. Josiah Stearns, another of our Revolutionary 
 worthies, was the son of Thomas and Abigail (Reed) 
 Stearns. He was born in Littleton, July IS, 1747, 
 and removed to this town several years before the 
 Revolution. He commanded a company of minute- 
 men and was a captain in the siege of Boston. He 
 waM a selectman fifteen years, treasurer nine years 
 and a School Committee, collector and town clerk, as 
 well as a deacon and a magistrate. He was a repre- 
 sentative four years, and in 1792 he was chosen to the 
 Senate to fill a vacancy occasioned by the death of 
 Hon. Abel Wilder, of Winchendon, and was subse- 
 quently elected. He was a member of the Governor's 
 Council, 1797 to 1799. He died April 7, 1822. 
 
 Dr. John Dunsmoor, who was a surgeon in the 
 army, was a native of Scotland, where he was born in 
 1720. He was a physician of skill and ability and 
 occupied a prominent position among the profession. 
 Apparently he enjoyed the esteem of his townsmen 
 and he was many times nominated on committees, but 
 he generally declined to serve and probably tbund 
 full employment in his calling. After a practice of 
 many years in this town, he died November 22, 1794. 
 
 Dr. John Taylor was a man of brilliant qualities. 
 He was a controlling spirit in the town and a leader 
 in the colony. He was born 1734 and probably in 
 Townsend. Preceding Dr. Dunsmoor, he was the first 
 physician of note in this town. Finding active em- 
 ployment in his other business and in public affairs, it 
 is probable that he was not engaged in active practice 
 many years after the arrival of Dr. Dunsmoor. He 
 was frequently chosen to town office, and was twice 
 elected from this town to the Provincial Congress 
 
LUNENBURG. 
 
 and excepting General Ward, his name appears upon 
 the journals more frequently than that of any of his 
 associates. At the session which convened at Cam- 
 bridge, February 1, 1775, it was through his influence, 
 as stated by his colleagues, that an adjournment to 
 Concord was accomplished. He was named on the 
 most important committees, being associated with 
 Colonel Prescott, Governor Brooks and Vice-President 
 Gerry. He was a brilliant debater, and in all the de- 
 liberations of the convention he displayed an ability 
 of thought and expression that permitted few super- 
 iors. He was a member of the committee which drafted 
 the spirited reply to the proclamation of General 
 Gage extending a promise of pardon to all except 
 Samuel Adams and John Hancock, and also one of 
 the commission that took the historic depositions con- 
 cerning the afiray at Lexington and Concord, which 
 were sent to Dr. Franklin, then in England. Preced- 
 ing and in the midst of this loyal and brilliant ser- 
 vice Dr. Taylor, however successful in his professional 
 treatment of his fellow-men, did not subdue in him- 
 self a deep-seated fever for land speculations, and 
 omitting mention of many transactions of considera- 
 ble magnitude, in 1774 he bought a tract of land in 
 Maine containing thirty-four thousand five hundred 
 and sixty acres, now the town of Union. He em- 
 ployed many men to clear and improve the land, and 
 by frequent visits he personally directed the work. 
 During the Revolution he removed from this town 
 and in 1780 he was residing in Pomfret, Conn. Sub- 
 sequently he removed to Douglas, and was a delegate 
 from that town to the convention of 1788, which rati- 
 fied the Federal Constitution. From the printed 
 proceedings it is ^nown that he opposed the Constitu- 
 tion and made a vigorous objection to several articles. 
 Following the announcement of the final vote, stand- 
 ing one hundred and eighty-seven to one hundred and 
 sixty-eight, he said that " while he had uniformly op- 
 posed the Constitution, he would now go home and 
 infuse a spirit of love for the measure and harmony 
 among the people." ' The closing years of Kis life 
 were neither prosperous nor peaceful. About 1780 he 
 sold his township in Maine, and in this and other 
 business transactions he met accumulating troubles 
 and became involved in vexatious and endless litiga- 
 tion. Several times he was committed to jail, and for 
 a season, at least, his courage was undaunted. He 
 died at Dudley from an overdose of laudanum April 
 27, 1794. 
 
 General James Reed, who was a captain in the 
 French and Indian Wars, and whose name appears in 
 the early part of this chapter, was a resident of this 
 town several years. He was a son of Joseph and 
 Sarah (Rice) Reed, and was born in Woburn, 1723. 
 He came from Brookfield to Lunenburg, 1751, and 
 lived a part of the time at or near the centre of the 
 town. (Jn the earliest military roll on which his name 
 is found he is described by occupation a " Taylor." 
 Subsequently he was a licensed inn-holder, and in 
 
 April, 1758, the selectmen petition foi' a license to 
 Joshua Hufchins " in place of Captain James Reed, 
 who is now going into His Majesty's service." In 
 1756 he was a captain in Colonel Ruggles' regiment. 
 He held the same rank in two or more subsequent 
 campaigns. He w^as a selectman of Lunenburg, 
 1763 and 1764, being elected the last time in March, 
 and a full month after the incorporation of Fitch- 
 burg, and in a conveyance of land executed March 
 4, 1765, he is called James Reed, of Lunenburg. 
 These records are not propitious to a current tradi- 
 tion that during these years he was living at the site 
 of the City Hall in Fitchburg. He removed to Fitz- 
 william, N. H., before the close of the year 1765. In 
 June, 1775, he was appointed colonel of a New 
 Hampshire regiment, and the following year was 
 named by Congress a brigadier-general. In an ill- 
 ne.ss, at Cr.iwn Point, he lost his eye-sight and was 
 retired from active service soon after his promotion. 
 He subsequently resided in Keene and in Fitzwil- 
 liam, N. H., several years, and later he removed to 
 Fitchburg, where he died February 13, 1807. 
 
 Lunenburg, in the War of the Rebellion, was in 
 full sympathy with the unexampled patriotism that 
 pervaded the loyal States. The ardor and zeal of 
 April, 1861, the ready response of the volunteers to 
 the call of the President, the voice of loyalty upon 
 the street and in public meetings and many general 
 features of a patriotic record require no assertion. 
 It would be a thankless task and a useless offering to 
 summon the record in support of such a measure of 
 good works, the summary of which will crowd the 
 limits of this chapter. On the morning of April 22, 
 1861, a flag was raised on Mount Pleasant by Micah 
 W. Boutwell, Andrew Riley and Albert S. Marshall, 
 and another, later in the day, between the Congrega- 
 tional and Unitarian Churches. Within a few days 
 thirty-eight flags were displayed within the town. 
 Attending the second flag-raising a public meeting 
 was organized, with Cyrus Kilburn chairman and 
 George A. Cunningham secretary, and a series of 
 resolutions, after several speeches, were adopted. 
 Other meetings, both informal and oflicial, followed, 
 and in the proceedings appear the names of Nathaniel 
 F. Cunningham, Daniel Putnam, Cyrus Kilburn, 
 Thomas Billings, George A. Cunningham, James 
 Putnam, Frederic M. Marston, Lemuel Pitts, Daniel 
 Liwe, Otis P. Abercrombie, John Howard, Merrick 
 Wetherbee, William Baker, 'Ephraim Jones, Charles 
 A. Goodrich and other citizens of the town. Five 
 men enlisted for three months, as follows : Charles 
 Kilburn, John E. Lyons, George H. Stall, Ansel W. 
 Stall and Russell O. Houghton. 
 
 Seventy-six enlisted upon the early calls of the 
 President for three years' men. They were : Joseph 
 C. Riley, Alfred Billings, Amos Billings, Charles C. 
 Walker, Charles D. Litchfield, William F. Harris, 
 Thomas Larghee, George L. Curtis, Henry L. Bur- 
 nell, B. Frank Clark, Henry O. Adams, Francis A. 
 
HISTORY OF WOECESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Hildreth, Joseph H. Pearson, William S. Boynton, 
 William Hodgman, Amos N. Gleason, Isaac Newton, 
 Jr., Roswell G. Adams, Marcus M. Spaulding, Charles 
 Kilburn, Henry P. Kilburn, John E. Lyons, Charles 
 B. Longley, James M. Hildreth, Peter Smith, 
 Charles E. Oliver, Ansel W. Stall, William B. Stall, 
 George V. Ball, Samuel Hartwell, Noah F. Winn, 
 John A. Gilchrist, Calvin D. Sanderson, Alonzo 
 Whiting, George Hudson, George A. Lancey, Luther 
 A. Lancey, Gilbert Cook, Kussell O. Houghton, 
 Dana P. Spaulding, James D. Fairbanks, William H. 
 Boynton, George S. Smith, William D. Perrin, Al- 
 bert W. Haynes, George H. Haynes, Henry Sander- 
 son, William R. Graves, J. Frank Boynton, Charles 
 Albert Harris, Hiram W. Longley, Joseph L Proc- 
 tor, Albert Houghton, David Morrill, John Catin, 
 Richard H. Wyeth, Joseph R. Graves, Foster E. L. 
 Beal, George H. Mclntire, Leonard O. Bruce, Gard- 
 ner Vaughan, George H. Merrill, Eli S. Lancey, 
 Lemuel Pitts, .Tr., George S. Pitt<, Charles H. Neal, 
 Orlando Holman, Ezekiel G. Bailey, James H. 
 Smith, David N. Kilburn, Charles E. Marshall, Al- 
 vin Seidelinger, William H. Wyeth, James L. Litch- 
 field, Charles D. Page, John F. Butters. 
 
 On the call of August 4, 1862, for three hundred 
 thou.sand men for nine months', twenty men volun- 
 teered : Henry P. Kilburn, Forester M. Jewett, George 
 A. Howard, Levi Parker, George E. Brown, Clark Dut- 
 ton, Henry H. Whitney, Frederic J. Lawrence, Ben- 
 jamin F. Marshall, Samuel Wallis, Franklin O. 
 Cady, Oliver F. Brown, Edward E.Carr, Levi, W. 
 Goodrich, George W. Conant, Merrill B. Carlton, 
 Andrew J. Green, Jesse A. Sargent, George H. Stall, 
 Noble Fiske. 
 
 Thirty-three re-enlisted veterans and new recruits 
 were credited upon the early calls of 1864 : Alfred 
 Billings, Charles C. Walker,. Charles D. Litchfield, 
 George L. Curtis, John E. Lyons, James M. Hil- 
 dreth, George V. Ball, Samuel Hartwell, Luther A. 
 Lancey, Gilbert Cook, Dana P. Spaulding, James D. 
 Fairbanks, William D. Perrin, J. Franklin Boynton, 
 Albert Houghton, Joseph R. Graves, Charles H. 
 Neal, Orlando Holman, William H. Wyeth, John F. 
 Butters, Charles E. Oliver, Richard H. Wyeth, Eli S. 
 Lancey, who were veterans. The following were 
 new recruits: Edward C. Goodrich, Richard F. 
 Burton, Thomas Billings, Josiah S. Houghton, John 
 Snow, Albert Stall, Edward P. Hadley, George N. 
 Burrage and Drs. C. C.-Topliff and E. C. Merriam, 
 who were commissioned assistant surgeons. 
 
 Seven volunteered in response to the call of July 
 5, 1864. There were also twenty hired recruits, 
 whose names are not included in this record. The 
 volunteers were : John J. Ramsdell, Charles Boyn- 
 ton, Martin Sanderson, George C. Jewett, Albert L. 
 Heywood, William R. Neal, Jesse A. Sargent. The 
 whole number of credits upon the several ijuotas, in- 
 cluding re-enlistments and hired recruits, is one 
 hundred and sixty-one, and the number of residents 
 
 included in this record is one hundred and two. Of 
 these, thirty died in the service or immediately after 
 their return, from wounds or from disease contracted 
 in the service; fourteen survived wounds, and fifty- 
 eight were discharged at expiration of term of ser- 
 vice without wounds or serious disability. 
 
 CHAPTER XCVIII. 
 
 LUNENBURG— ( Continued. ) 
 
 ECCI,ESIASTICAI< HISTORY — SCHOOL,S — THE CUNNING- 
 H.\M P.tPERS. 
 
 To build a meeting-house and settle a minister 
 were among the first duties of a New England settle- 
 ment. The requisites were a hill on which to set the 
 primitive house of worship and a learned orthodox 
 minister. Generally a hill and a minister of a suita- 
 ble elevation were selected with rare unanimity. In 
 these proceedings the dutiful pleasure of the settle- 
 ment was enjoined by the General Court and incor- 
 porated in the grant of the several townships. In ac- 
 cepting the grant of Turkey Hills the settlers were 
 " obliged to build a good, convenient house for the 
 worship of God within the term of four years.'' The 
 conditions of the grant for several years remained un- 
 fulfilled. This failure, on the part of the proprietors, 
 did not pass unnoticed. In November, 1727, the com- 
 mittee of the General Court, who had continued to 
 exerrise a certain supervision of the settlementi 
 ordered that " The Proprietors shall forthwith pro- 
 ceed to the erection of a meeting-house, to be not less 
 than forty-five feet in length and thirty-five in 
 breadth." Immediately succeeding this action of the 
 committee of the General Court, and before there was 
 an opportunity to enforce the command, the proprie- 
 tors secured an act of incorporation. By this pro- 
 cedure the resident proprietors and settlers of Tur- 
 key Hills became the independent inhabitants of the 
 town of Lunenburg. Liberated from the conditions 
 of the grant, and from the authority of the committee 
 of the General Court, our worthy ancestors proceeded 
 at once to perform voluntarily that which they had 
 neglected to do when enjoined. 
 
 September 24, 1728, not yet two months after the 
 date of incorporation, the town voted "Two Hundred 
 Pounds Money for y" building and finishing of a 
 meeting-house in said town, so far as it will do or an- 
 swer therefor." The site of the first meeting was 
 where the orthodox church now stands. Concerning 
 the progress and manner of building this primitive 
 structure the records are silent until early in the year 
 1731, when money was raised and a committee ap- 
 pointed ''to build a pulpit and as many seats as there 
 is convenient room for." In accordance with a recog- 
 nized custom of the time, it was not intended by this 
 
LUNENBURG. 
 
 775 
 
 sweeping vote to build " seats " in front of the pulpit 
 and through the central part of the floor. This space 
 was reserved for more dignified structures, denomi- 
 nated pews, which were constructed at the expense of 
 the individual, and located by a conimiltee according 
 to the wealth and dignity of the I'uiure occupant. 
 Possibly through fear that their committee would not 
 mauifest a proper regard for the dignity of their min- 
 ister, our worthies took primary action in this particu- 
 lar. It was ordered in town-meeting that the" min- 
 isterial pew be located adjoining to y" foot of y" Pulpit- 
 stairs, at y" Right hand of y'" Pulpit." In the same 
 spirit, they next promptly granted a request, and 
 courteously recognized the dignity of Mr. Gardner, 
 their former pastor, who still remained a resident of 
 the town. For his accommodation it was ordered that 
 there be reserved " a Place in y" meeting-house at y' 
 Eight hand of y'= Great Doors to build a Pew." These 
 proceedings toward the building and completion of 
 the first meeting-house occupied the space of four 
 years, and while they were in progress it is reasona- 
 bly certain that the edifice had been occupied for 
 public worship from and after the summer of 1729. 
 
 The names of the early and occasional preachers in 
 the settlement are not known. The first settled min- 
 ister was Rev. Andrew Gardner, who was installed 
 over the church then organized, May 15, 1728. This 
 date is over two months previous to the act of incor- 
 poration and a year or more before the building of the 
 meeting-house. By the terms of the grant of the 
 township, Mr. Gardner, at his settlement, came into 
 possession of one right of land, which he subsequently 
 sold, and enjoyed the benefit, if any, of the use of the 
 ministerial lands, and in addition he was promised 
 twenty pounds as a settlement and a salary of eighty 
 pounds. Of the character of the ministry of Mr. 
 Gardner and the causes which led to an early dismis- 
 sal, little is known. The records are silent. Torrey's 
 '• History of Fitchburg and Lunenburg," written after 
 one hundred years had obscured the facts and weak- 
 ened the voice of tradition, says : 
 
 Tlie reasons of his dismission, so fur afi I have been able to learn 
 them, appear to be these: — He was not a man of that grave and sober 
 demeanor, wliich the people of his time thought essential to the sacred- 
 ness of his othce. He was apt to indulge in a levity of niaODer ou the 
 Sabbath which was not in keeping with the solemnity of the day. He 
 hail also quite a predilection for hunting, and, it is said, wild turkeys and 
 other game, even on the Sabbath, sometimes bore evidence of his skill as 
 a uiarksmaD. For the truth of these reports I cannot vouch. 
 
 This estimate of Mr. Gardner has been frequently 
 quoted, and sometimes with the omission of the last 
 sentence, which qualifies and mitigates the severity of 
 the whole. One important fact demands attention. 
 The first reference to any dissatisfaction found in the 
 records appears in the letter of Mr. Gardner, asking 
 a dismissal, and while he admits the existence of con- 
 siderable indifference on the part of the people, he 
 boldly assumes the initiative in reference to a dissolu- 
 tion of the pastoral relation. The letter bears date of 
 September 18, 1730. It should be read in connection 
 
 with the fact that the town, only three mouths pre- 
 viously, had voted him his annual salary, without any 
 espres.sed hesitation or qualification. 
 
 To the Brethren of the Church of Christ in Lunenburg : 
 
 Beloved Brethren: — I cannot but think, from what I have heard 
 and also from what I have observed of the transactions and behaviour of 
 tliis people, relating to me and my affairs, that there is not that affection 
 borne towards me that there should be from a people to their Gospel 
 minister; or that there is where a people are likely to profit under their 
 minister. The consideration whereof has been very grievous and dis- 
 couraging to me, and, therefore, think it best to separate. I do, there- 
 fore, propose a separation. And if effectual care betaken that my dues 
 be hoTiesfly paid me, the first settled minister's lot with its appurtenan- 
 ces put upon record and attested, and a sufficient pew at the right band 
 of going in at the great doors of the meetiug-house, — I shall be free to 
 be dismissed from my pastoral relation, office and obligation to you, as 
 soon as it can regularly be performed. 
 
 From your loving pastor, wlio wisheth you the Divine direction and 
 blessing and desires your prayers for the same to him. 
 
 Andrew Gardner, Pastor. 
 
 In the event the conduct of the pastor had grieved 
 the faithful and either the church or the parish de- 
 sired a separation, no recorded action appears until 
 February 7, 1732, or nearly a year and a half after the 
 suggestive letter of Mr. Gardner. 
 
 At this time the town in its capacity as a parish 
 " voted and granted to Rev. Andrew Gardner a 
 dismission from his pastoral or ministerial office, 
 according to his request." At the same meeting 
 the selectmen were instructed to pay Mr. Gardner 
 whatever was his due. Possibly the money was raised 
 with difficulty, but it was not paid until the follow- 
 ing October. The sum paid at this time was three 
 hundred and ninety-four pounds, twelve shilling.^ and 
 three pence, which included twenty pounds due him 
 for a settlement and the amount of his salary from 
 the beginning. It was the first money the poor man 
 had received from the aggrieved inhabitants of Lun- 
 enburg. If it is true, as alleged by Torrey, that he 
 was frequently in pursuit of wild turkeys and other 
 game, it is probable that hunger taught him " skill 
 as a marksman," and "that he was oftener compelled 
 by necessity than enticed by a love of the chase. 
 However, the full sum was paid, and the church took 
 the necessary action for the dismissal of their early 
 pastor Xovember 3, 1732. 
 
 Rev. Andrew Gardner, the first minister of Lunen- 
 burg, was born in Brookline, 1694. He was a son of 
 Rev. Andrew Gardner, the third minister of Lancas- 
 ter, who began his ministerial labor in that town, 
 1701, and previous to an installation he was accident- 
 ally killed during an Indian alarm in October, 1704. 
 His widow, Mary, however, became the wife of Rev. 
 John Prentice, the fourth minister of Lancaster. A 
 daughter of this marriage was the wife of Rev. Job 
 Gushing, of Shrewsbury, and the mother of Rev. 
 John Gushing, D.D., of Ashburnham. Rev. Andrew 
 Gardner, Jr., was graduated at Harvard University, 
 1712, and was ordained the first minister of Worcester 
 in the autumn of 1719, and was dismissed October 31, 
 1722. After preaching in Rutland, and possibly in 
 other places, he was settled over the church in Lunen- 
 
776 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 burg, as heretofore stated, from May 16, 1728, to 
 November 3, 1732. While a resident of this towu he 
 built a house near Clark Hill, where Martin Johnson 
 resides, which was considerably in advance of the 
 dwellings of his time, and which, with its quaint 
 windows and after-years of dilapidation, is remembered 
 by many still living. After his dismissal he remained 
 a few years in this town, and was at times employed 
 by the town as " Grammar Scliool Master," the school 
 being held at his house. In addition to the land 
 granted the first settled minister, he acquired many 
 acres by purchase and apparently maintained close 
 business relations with Benjamin Bellows, Josiah 
 Willard, Edward Hartwell, and his half-brother, 
 Thomas Prentice. He was one of the grantees of 
 Charlcstown, N. H., under the Massachusetts charter, 
 which subsequently was vacated. In 1737 he removed 
 to Earlington or Arlington, now Winchester, N. H., 
 where he was a prominent citizen, receiving frequent 
 and honorable mention in the records. Occasionally 
 he was employed as chaplain at Fort Dummer, where 
 he met many of his early associates from Lancaster 
 and Lunenburg. About 1746 he removed to Charles- 
 town, N. H. In 1761 his name was first in the list 
 of the grantees of Bath, N. H., and thither he removed 
 about 170.5, and became a controlling spirit in the 
 new settlement. He lived between the Central and 
 Upper Villages, and overlooking the scene of his 
 declining years Gardner Mountain perpetuates his 
 name and memory. He lived to an advanced age, 
 but a record of his death has not been found. 
 
 At a meeting assembled November 10, 1732, one 
 week after the dismissal of Mr. Gardner, the town 
 chose " Dea. Samuel Johnson, Dea. Ephraim Peirce 
 and Isaac Farnsworth a committee to provide a min- 
 ister, from time to time, to supply the town with 
 preaching." Kev. David Stearns was immediately 
 employed, and that the first impressions of the can-' 
 didate were not unfavorable is found in a record of a 
 meeting on the -Ith of the following month, when it 
 was ordered that the committee hire Mr. Stearns to 
 preach two months, after an existing engagement had 
 expired. The conditions attending the frontier settle- 
 ments at this time reminded them that ihe approach 
 of a winter season would defer the ordination until 
 another spring. A call was extended in February, 
 and the candidate was ordained April 18, 1733. The 
 pastorate of Mr. Stearns was the continued succession 
 of palmy days. The town increased in population, the 
 people were prosperous in temporal aflairs, and the 
 church, preserved from any serious contention, was in- 
 creased in membei'ship. The town voted him £300 as a 
 settlement, and a salary of £120 the first year and £5 
 added yearly, until itreached thesum of £110. In 1736, 
 and a few subsequent years, an additional sum was 
 voted to make good the depreciation of the currency 
 in which his salary was paid. At the close of twenty- 
 eight years of successful labor he died, March 9, 17G1. 
 
 Kev. David Stearns, a son of John and Abigail 
 
 (Fiske) Stearns, was born in Watertown December 
 24, 1709; graduated at Harvard University, 1728. He 
 married, April 7, 17.36, Ruth Hubbard, a daughter of 
 Major Jonathan and Rebecca (Brown) Hubbard, of 
 Lunenburg. She married (2d), November 9, 1768, 
 Rev. Aaron Whitney, of Petersham, who died Sep- 
 tember 8, 1779, and she died in Keene, N. H., at the 
 home of lier youngest daughter, November 1, 1788. 
 Rev. David Stearns was intimately connected with 
 many families of the town. He was a brother of 
 Colonel Abijah, Benjamin and William Stearns, and 
 the wives of Benjamin Bellows, Joshua Goodridge 
 and Samuel Johnson, Jr., were his sisters. His wife 
 was a sister of John and Jonathan Hubbard, Jr., and 
 of the wife of Colonel Josiah Willard. Mr. Stearns 
 lived north of and near the present Methodist Church, 
 where William Howard now resides. There is re- 
 maining evidence that he was a man of good ability, 
 a faithful and devoted minister, a i'riend of the people, 
 and laborious for the public good. It is the testimony 
 of Rev. Zabdiel Adams, who wrote with a full knowl- 
 edge of his life and character, that " he lived gi'eatly 
 beloved, and died no less lamented." 
 
 In 1736 the town " voted and granted all that Room 
 behind y" sects in y" Front Gallery in y° Meeting- 
 House in Lunenburg to Jonathan Wood, Samuel 
 Reed, Phinehas 0-good, Ezekiel Wyman, David 
 Page, Stephen Boynton, John Fitch, Jonathan Abbit 
 for to Build a Long Pew or Seet for themselves and 
 wives forever to set in." The vote savors of a pro- 
 tracted meeting, and in it and in other measures of a 
 similar character providing for an enlargement of its 
 seating capacity is read the doom of the first meet- 
 ing-house of Lunenburg, which already was too 
 small for the accommodation of the growing settle- 
 ment. The building of the second meeting-house 
 was a prolific subject of town legislation. No less than 
 forty-three votes concerning the location, manner of 
 building, appropriations and disposal of the pews were 
 passed and recorded within the space of three years, 
 and doubtless an equal or greater number of motions 
 were made and seriously debated that did not pass 
 and were not recorded. Omitting reference to many 
 votei that were reconsidered at a future meeting, the 
 narrative is abbreviated. May 22, 1749, the town 
 " voted that they will Build a new Meeting-House in 
 said Town," and May 25, 1752, it was ordered " that 
 they will meet in the new Meeting-House Next Sab- 
 bath day come fortnight to attend the public worship 
 there." It was finally determined that the building 
 should be located " in the end of the lane by the 
 school-house," which was within the limits of the 
 present Common and opposite the residence of the 
 late Sawyer Kimball. The necessary land was do- 
 nated in part by Benjamin Bellows, and the remainder 
 was purchased of Thomas Prentice. It was a spa- 
 cious house, sixty by forty-five feet, having porches 
 on the east, south and west, and containing forty- 
 eight pews on the floor and twenty-one in the galler- 
 
 I 
 
LUNENBURG. 
 
 n t 
 
 ies. The frame w;is raised in tlie summer of 1750, 
 and it was demolished in 1831, and many relies of 
 the second meeting-house in Lunenburg are still pre- 
 served. 
 
 Immediately after the decease of Mr. Stearns Rev. 
 Jo.siah Bridge, who was subsequently settled over the 
 church in E ist Sudbury (now Waylaud),was employed 
 a few SabbathE. He was succeeded by Rev. Samuel 
 Payson, a brother of Rev. John Payson, of Fitch- 
 burg. He was ordained September 8, 1762, and died 
 February 14, 1763. 
 
 The fourth pastor was Rev. Zabdiel Adams, who 
 was ordained September 5, 1761. He died in the 
 thirty-seventh year of a successful ministry March 1, 
 1801. Mr. Adams was born in Braintree(now Quincy), 
 Mas-f., November 5, 1739. He was a son of Ebenezer 
 and Ann (Boylston)Adams and a double cousin to 
 President John Adams, their fathers being brothers 
 and their mothers being sisters. He graduated at 
 Harvard University in 1759. He was a thoughtful 
 and impressive preacher, and among the clergy of his 
 time he was held in high esteem. At the inaugura- 
 tion of Governor John Hancock, in 1782, he preached 
 the first election sermon before the E.iecutive and 
 both branrhes of the Legislature. This discourse 
 was printed. He married, June 5, 171)5, Elizabeth, 
 daughter of Rev. David Stearns. Their descendants 
 are numerous and distinguished in many callings. 
 
 Succeeding a brief season of temporary supply 
 Rev. Timothy Flint was ordained October 6, 1802. 
 He was a son of William and Slariha (Kimball) 
 Flint and was born in Reading, Mass., June 17, 1780. 
 He graduated at Harvard University, 1800. At the 
 time of his ministry here and often at subsequent 
 periods he was in feeble health. At times there was 
 only one service on the Sabbath, and occasional evi- 
 dence of dissatisfaction is found in the records. He 
 was dismiss.ed June G, 1814. He removed from this 
 town to Alexandria, La., where he established a 
 young ladies' seminary and subsequently lived and 
 traveled extensively in the West until he returned 
 to his native town, where he died April 18, 1840. 
 Mr. Flint was the author of a geography and of sev- 
 eral standard works of fiction and once was editor of 
 the Knickerbocker 31agazine. He married in 1802 
 Abigail Hubbard, a sister of a later minister in this 
 town. 
 
 Soon after the dismissal of Mr. Flint a call was ex- 
 tended to Rev. David Damon, who was ordained with 
 the customary solemnities February 1, 1815. He was 
 born in Wayland, Mass., September 12, 1787, and was 
 graduated at Harvard College in the class with Hon. 
 Edward Everett, 1811. He was a man of great sim- 
 plicity of manner and an equal strength of character. 
 An earnest faithful minister, he secured the respect 
 and love of the church and the parish. He was dis- 
 missed at his request December 2, 1827. Subse- 
 quently he was settled at Amesbury and at West 
 Cambridge (now Arlington), Mass., where he died. 
 
 June 25, 1843. The greater part of the time covered 
 by the ministry of Mr. Damon was a memorable era 
 in the religious history of New England. The Trin- 
 itarian and the Unitarian were engaged in a hot dis- 
 pute and many churches were divided. Mr. Damon 
 was a Unitarian, yet his pacific nature invited no con- 
 tention, and finding a majority of his church and con- 
 gregation were not In full sympathy with him, he 
 withdrew before any serious d;scussion had begun. 
 The controversy and the establishment of two churches 
 was only deferred. In 1819 and during the peaceful 
 ministry of Mr. Damon the First Congregational 
 Parish was organized, and after ninety years of loyal 
 service the town was relieved from a further control 
 of parochial affairs. For several years the society 
 was vigorous and prosperous. In 1830 a new meeting- 
 house, sixty-four by fifty feet, was erected and was 
 dedicated December 25th of that year. The cost was 
 nearly three thousand dollars, which was fully met 
 from a sale of the pews. The land for its accommo- 
 dation was presented by Daniel Putnam, Esq., and a 
 bell was procured by subscription. The entrance, with 
 a recess and two imposing pillars, was at the east end, 
 and in all respects it was a fair expression of the archi- 
 tecture of the time. 
 
 Rev. Ebenezer Hubbard was the next minister. He 
 was installed December 10, 1828. Compared with the 
 closing scenes, the first three years of this ministry 
 were uneventful, yet in the records appear the mists of 
 a gathering cloud that soon obscured the horizon of 
 their former prosperity. In the rapid progress of 
 events, numerous personal differences developed into 
 open hostility, which, like an infection, spread through- 
 out the town. In the mean time the society suffered 
 in membership. Of one hundred and fifty-eight 
 members in 1831, only forlyitwo remained at the end 
 of two years. Apparently only the most pugnacious 
 remained, who found a lively exercise and an equal 
 combat in the fighting qualities and skilled parries of 
 their irritated pastor. 
 
 An acrimonious correspondence between the com- 
 mittee of the parish and the minister was succeeded 
 by ecclesiastical councils, lawsuits and arbitration. In 
 the mean time Mr. Hubbard continued to preach to a de- 
 creasing congregation, even after the society had voted 
 that they considered his relations with them terminated, 
 and that they would no longer pay his salary. After 
 the door of the meeting-house was locked he regularly 
 went to the steps on the Sabbath, displayed a sermon 
 and continued to demand his salary and damages for 
 the treatment he had received. A full account of this 
 unfortunate controversy, employing all the interest- 
 ing material at hand, would fill a volume. The end 
 was found in a compromise, in M.iy, 1834. Rev. 
 Ebenezer Hubbard, son of Rev. Ebenezer and Abi- 
 gail (Glover) Hubbard, was born in Marblehead, 
 Mass., November 12, 1783. He graduated (as did all 
 his predecessors in the ministry in Lunenburg) at 
 Harvard University, 1805. He read divinity in this 
 
HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUxNTV, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 town with Rev. Timothy Flint, was ordained over the 
 Second Church in Newbury, May 11, 18U9, and dis- 
 missed October 1(5, 1810. He was installed over the 
 church in Middletowu, November 27, 1816, and was 
 dismissed April 29, 1828. After his residence in this 
 town he was engaged in teaching and in farming in 
 Tennessee an J in Kentucky. He died from a disease 
 of the brain in an asylum near Nashville, Tenn., Sep- 
 tember 2, 1858. Immediately succeeding these 
 troublous times, and possibly hastened by them a 
 considerable number of those entertaining Trinitarian 
 proclivities organized an independent church and so- 
 ciety. Without action on their part, tbe Unitarians, 
 formerly in the minority, but including families of in- 
 fluence, remained in succession and continued to be 
 the First Parish of Lunenburg. The decade was an 
 era of temporary supply. Rev. Thomas H. Pons and 
 a score of others appear in the list of those who were 
 briefly employed. 
 
 May 12, 1847, Rev. William G. Babcock was in- 
 stalled, and was dismis^^ed at his own request, April 
 7, 1855. During the succeeding ten years Rev. James 
 Thurstun, Rev. Charles B. Josselyn, Rev. Jacob 
 Caldwell, Rev. William Farmer, who died in this 
 town June 24, 1862, and Rev. John B. Willard sup- 
 plied the desk, and their minislry completed a chap- 
 ter in the annals of Lunenburg, fragrant of the relig- 
 ion and suggestive of the customs of former genera- 
 tions. The clo-ing act was not long deferred. In 
 1867 the parish sold the meeting-house to the town, 
 when it was removed about seventy yards north of its 
 original site and remodeled into a spacious and con- 
 venient town-hall. 
 
 The Evangelical Congregational Church 
 was embodied June 10, 1835. The first pastor was 
 Rev. Thomas Bellows, born in Walpole, N. H., Sep- 
 tember 23, 1807, a son of Thomas and Eleanor (Fos- 
 ter) Bellows, and a grandson of Colonel Benjamin 
 Bellows, prominent in the early annals of this town. 
 He graduated at Dartmouth College, 1827, and pur- 
 sued a course of study at Andover and New Haven 
 Theological Seminaries. Succeeding a pastorate in 
 Greenfield, he began to preach in this town early in 
 1835, and through his etfurts a church was organ- 
 ized. On account of failing heahh he was not in- 
 stalled, and the following year he retired to a farm 
 in his native town. The society '".connected with this 
 church was organized in May, 1835. It purchased, 
 and for a season occupied, the meeting-house of the 
 First Parish. An influential minority of the old 
 society was dissatisfied with the disposal of the house, 
 and, after a few scenes of boisterous contention, the 
 sale was rescinded, and the meeting-house was re- 
 turned to the control of the First Parish. In the 
 autumn of 1843 the society was reorganized, and while 
 plans for building a new meeting-house were maturing, 
 services were held in the hall of a private house. 
 The present meeting-house «'as built on land purchased 
 of Daniel Putnam, E q., aad completed in 1844. 
 
 Early in 1837, and during the time in which ser- 
 vices were held in the old meetinghouse. Rev. Eli W. 
 Harrington began a successful ministry. He was 
 ordained April 26, 1837, and dismissed, at his request, 
 April 8, 1847. He vyas born in New Braintree, 
 November 28, 1804, and was a son of Nathaniel and 
 Nancy (Townsend) Harrington ; graduated Amherst 
 College, 1833; Andover Theological Seminary, 1836. 
 Subsequently he preached in Mason, N. H., Roches- 
 ter, N. Y., and in Beverly, Mass. He now resides in 
 Pepperell, Mass. The next pastor was Rev. Asaph 
 Bouielle, who was installed in the spring of 1848, 
 and remained tliree years. He was a son of Asaph 
 and Anna (Stearns) Boutelle, of Fitchburg, where he 
 was born October 7, 1804; graduated Amherst Col- 
 lege, 1828 ; Andover Theological Seminary, 1831. 
 Previous to his faithful ministry here he had 
 preached in Ohio sixteen years, and subsequently he 
 was fifteen years pastor of the church in Peacham, 
 Vt., where he died January 12, 1S66. 
 
 Mr. Boutt-lle was succeeded by Rev. Edwin R. 
 Hodgman, who was installed February 8, 1852. On 
 account of failing health he asked a dismissal, which 
 was approved by a council, March 26, 1855. He is a 
 .son of Buck ey and Betsey (Pratt) Hodgman, born in 
 Camden, Me., October 21, 1819; partial course at Am- 
 herst and a graduate of Dartmouth College, 1843 ; 
 Andover Theological Seminary, 1844. His next pas- 
 torate was in Lynnfield and later in Westford and 
 Townsend. He is the author of a " History of West- 
 ford." 
 
 Rev. William A. Mandell was installed January 2, 
 1856. In an eminent degree he enjoyed the merited 
 esteem of the parish and of the town. He was dis- 
 missed at his request November 16, 1865, and supplied 
 the pulpit until the close of the year. He is a son of 
 Daniel and Eliza (Patrick) Mandell and was born in 
 Hardwick, July 13, 1811 ; graduate Amherst College, 
 1838; Union Theological Seminary, 1841. He was 
 city missionary in Philadelphia, Pa., and pastor at 
 Dartmouth, Mass., from 1846 until he removed to this 
 town. Since 1868 he has re-ided without charge at 
 North Cambridge. Succeeding Mr. Mandell, the 
 desk was supplied by Rev. Alfred Goldsmith and 
 others about four years. Rev. William H. Dowden 
 was installed February 2, 1870, and was dismissed 
 February 22, 1875. He is a son of Thomas and 
 Eunice (Simons) Dowden and was born in Fairhaven, 
 January 15, 1836 ; graduate Andover Theological 
 Seminary, 1866. His earlier pastorates were in Pel- 
 ham and Carlisle and later he has supplied at East 
 Jaftrey, N. H., and Rowley. Mr. Dowden was suc- 
 ceeded by Rev. Walter Rice, who was installed in 
 May, 1875, and remained about five years. He is a 
 son of Silas and Almira (Corey) Rice, born in Ash- 
 burnham, December 25, 1836; graduate Beloit Col- 
 lege, 1862 ; Newton Theological Seminary, 1865 ; An- 
 dover Theological Semiuary, special course, 1874. He 
 has been a successful pastor in Brandon, Vt., since 
 
LUNENBUKG. 
 
 779 
 
 May, 1880. The past eight years has been an era of 
 temporary supply. 
 
 Methodist preachers have been stationed here, and 
 a society has been maintained since 180.3. The first 
 preacher was Kev. Joshua Crowell, who was followed 
 by the Revs. Thomas Rawling, Hezekiah Field, Wil- 
 liam Stevens, John Tinkham, Benjamin S. Hill, and 
 to the present time about seventy-five names in all. 
 The school-house in which the tervice was held 
 several years failed to accommodate the increasing 
 congregation. In 181.3, and during the ministry of 
 Rev. Barzillai Peirce, a native of this town, a meet- 
 ing-house was built upon a frame of a building pre- 
 sented by Jonathan Peirce. It was situated on the 
 old Northfield road, and beyond the North Cemetery. 
 Previously the building had been used for the storage 
 of bark, and after it had been dedicated to a more 
 sacred use it was called by the profane the " Lord's 
 Bark-house." Under the provisions of recent law a 
 society was organized in 1825. In 1829 the present 
 house was built on land purchased of Daniel Putnam, 
 Esq. It is recorded by George A. Cunningham, Esq., 
 that the frame was raised sixteen days after the first 
 tree was felled in the forest. It was dedicated May 1, 
 1830. In 1870 it was thoroughly repaired. There 
 were seasons of unusual religious interest — in 1821, 
 when a camp-meeting was held here ; in 1857, under 
 the ministry of Rev. John Goodwin ; and in 1871, 
 under the ministry of Rev. J. F. Bassett. With hope 
 and with courage this society has been continuously 
 maintained, and s-ometimes under embarrassments 
 that have overcome more populous organizations. In 
 1842 Josiah Litch, a native of this town, delivered a 
 series of discourses announcing the second advent of 
 Christ, and Rev. Samuel Heath, the Methodist min- 
 ister, embraced the faith. From the puljjit, with the 
 ardor of a new convert, he began to preach the doc- 
 trines of Millerism. Many of the congregation be- 
 came affected, and while he remained the steadfast 
 attended church elsewhere. The world, however, was 
 preserved, and with it the church in Lunenburg, but 
 it was a season of trial and anxiety to many. William 
 Harlow, in early life a sea-captain, and later a zealous 
 steward of the church, in reference to these events 
 has written : " The Millerite seceders from the Meth- 
 odist Church in Lunenburg, after having worked 
 themselves up to such a pitch as to believe they could 
 not be saved while they remained on board the old 
 ship ' Zion,' and thinking her unseaworthy, jumped 
 overboard at the risk of their spiritual lives, and de- 
 sired to have their names erased from the shipping 
 papers, but notwithstanding their fears, and the storms 
 of fanaticism, the old ship has weathered them all 
 and has since landed many souls in the broad bay of 
 Heaven, and has a full freight of others bound to the 
 same place." 
 
 Schools were established in this town at an early 
 date. From December 11, 1732, when it was "voted 
 that Col. Josiah Willard, Capt. Edward Hartwell 
 
 and Mr. Benjamin Gqodrldge be aCom"° to Provide a 
 School and School-Master for to teach children and 
 youth to read and write," down to the last annual ap- 
 propriation of .?1S50 for school purposes, the education 
 of the youth of the town has been a subject of earnest 
 legislation. In general features, the recorded history 
 is like that of other places and presents no feature 
 not common to the records of a New England town. 
 In March, 1733, Nathan Heywood, Benjamin Good- 
 ridge, Hilkiah Boynton and Josiah Willard, Jr., 
 were granted seven pounds and one shilling " for 
 keeping of school in said town." There is a tradi- 
 tion that Mr. Gardner, the early minister, was the 
 first school-master. It may be the truth, but his 
 name does not appear in the records as a school- 
 teacher until the following vote, December 31, 1733 : 
 " Voted and chose Mr. Andrew Gardner to be y" 
 School-Master to Keep y' School y" Term of Three 
 monf^is, and voted that y* School shall be Kept at 
 y"^ House of Mr. Gardner." The following year it 
 was ordered that three schools be held at the houses 
 of Lieut. James Colburn (near Clark Hill), Jonathan 
 Willard (a short distance southerly from the centre) 
 and Edward Hartwell, on Lancaster Road (about 
 three and one-half miles from the centre), and for 
 this purpose forty pounds was appropriated. In 
 1735 the selectmen were instructed to provide a 
 school " according to the best manner for the town's 
 .safety and interest," and the following year they were 
 instructed " to hire school-dames as they shall see 
 meet." A vote in 1739 directed that one school be 
 kept either in the house of Mr. Dowse, or of John 
 Jennison (at the <entie), and ano.her at the old 
 house of Ephraim Peirce. The house of Mr. Peirce 
 was nearly two mile-s south or southeasterly from the 
 centre of the town. When the first school-house was 
 built is not revealed. In 1740 the town voted to 
 build "two school-house.s," hut beyond this expres- 
 sion of a good resolution nothing was accomplished ; 
 but soon after there was a vote to build one school- 
 house, to be located near the meeting house. It was 
 built without delay, and probably in 1741. In 1783 
 five school-houses were built, and in the progress of 
 years the number has been increased to nine. Nearly 
 fifty years ago an academy was sustained several 
 years. The building was erected by Daniel Putnam, 
 Nathaniel F. Cunningham, Thomas Wiley and Dr. 
 Otis Abercrorabie. John R. Rollins was the first 
 and a very successful principal, and while a resident 
 .of this town was the town clerk several years. He 
 was succeeded by Rev. Jacob Caldwell, a native of 
 this town, William H. Boynton, James J. H. Gre- 
 gory, now of Marblehead ; Charles A. Goodrich, an 
 esteemed citizen of this town, and George E. Dun- 
 lap. In 1806 the academy building was sold and re- 
 moved to Fitchburg. The town has a valuable pub- 
 lic library, and one of its institutions is its Farmers' 
 Club, which was organized in 1848. 
 
 Several meritorious sketches and well-matured pa- 
 
r8o 
 
 HISTOIli' 01'^ WOKCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 pers relating to the early history of Lunenburg have 
 been printed. Upon the open records, easily accessi- 
 ble, a constant draft has been made by previous ex- 
 plorers. The quaint and curious and many striking 
 incidents in the records are familiar to the local read- 
 er, and are not here repeated. In the preparation of 
 this sketch the writer has been crowded out of the 
 accustomed paths of research, and has found the or- 
 dinary fountains drained by earlier and vigilant 
 gleaners of material. And while dates and certain 
 facts of necessity have been drawn from the original 
 and worn records, very much of the material incor- 
 porated into the narrative of the early grants — of the 
 proceedings of the proprietors, f)f the military record 
 of the past century and many incidents connected or 
 explanatory — have been drawn from the State archives 
 and from records which have escaped earlier notice. 
 Many facts in the earlier history of the town are 
 here printed for the first time. From an historical 
 standpoint, Lunenburg, the mother of towns and the 
 ancestral home of many families, occupies an 
 important position among the older towns of 
 Northern Massachusetts. For many years with the 
 line of defense on the outer side, Lunenburg was on 
 the border between the settlements and the wilderness. 
 Many, pursued by the mania of immigration, were 
 often temporarily delayed upon the borders within 
 this town, and a few years later, when the younger 
 and outer settlements for a season were abandoned, 
 the fugitives from danger found safety and a tempor- 
 ary home within the defences of this town. By fre- 
 quent intermarriage, these sojourning strangers became 
 allied to Lunenburg families, and at their departure, 
 were often attended by many to the manner born. 
 And, in addition to this accidental overflow from the 
 town and during the burning fever of immigration 
 that warmed the blood of the older towns, and which 
 was only briefly allayed by the French and Indian 
 War, there was a swelling tide of immigration from 
 Lunenburg to the growing settlements in New 
 Hampshire and elsewhere. In such numbers and in 
 such types of sturdy men did the living current flow, 
 that Winchester, Walpole and, in less degree, Charles- 
 town, in New Hampshire, were New Lunenburgs on 
 the border of the receding wilderness. In these 
 vigorous movements the blood of the mother-town 
 was widely disseminated. Two-thirds of the early 
 population of Kindge were descendants of the early 
 families of Lunenburg. It is impossible to find a 
 town within an extended radius or to name a State in. 
 the Union that does not contain many who trace 
 their ancestry through the records of Lunenburg. 
 For the pleasure and benefit of the multitude, the 
 genealogical records of the parent-families have not 
 been published. Continuous inquiries by interested 
 persons have been kindly answered by obliging town 
 clerks until the originsil records were defaced and re- 
 stored by new copies. In a comprehensive study and 
 arrangement of the genealogical records of the Lun- 
 
 enburg families, George A. Cunningham, Esq., was 
 laboriously engaged many years. In its scope, com- 
 pleteness and accuracy, his manuscript copy is not 
 excelled by any published woik of a similar charac- 
 ter. The vigor of an intelligent mind and the earn- 
 est labor of a life-time were exhausted in this treas- 
 ury of genealogical knowledge. Mr. Cunningham 
 also completed a manuscript history of the town. It 
 is a voluminous supplement to the Torrey sketch, 
 and quotes that work for the early history of the 
 town. The supplement is brought down to the time 
 when death stilkd his tireless pen. The names of 
 the soldiers in the War of Rebellion, enumerated in 
 this paper, are drawn from his work. To Mr. Wil- 
 liam E. Cunningham, through whose generous favor 
 the.'ie valuable manuscripts have been consulted, I 
 extend a grateful acknowledgment. 
 
 CHAPTER XCIX. 
 SHREWSBURY. 
 
 BY WimAM T. HARLOW. 
 EARLY LAND GRANTS. 
 
 Thk history of Shrewsbury properly begins with 
 certain land grants of the Great and General Court 
 of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England, located 
 within the territory of which the town was afterwanls 
 formed. These grants, called farms, named after 
 the grantees and five in number, were: (1) Daven- 
 port's Farm, 650 acres; (2) Haynes' Farm, other- 
 wise called Quinsigamond Farm, 3200 acres; (3) 
 Maiden Farm, 1000 acres ; (4) Rawson's Farm, 500 
 acres, and (5) Sewall's Farm, 1500 acres. But the 
 quantity of land in these grants was, in fact, greatly 
 in excess of the number of acres named, and the 
 aggregate was, doubtless, more than 10,000 acres, 
 
 1. The Davenport Farm, granted to Captain Rich- 
 ard Davenport, commander of Castle Island, in 
 Boston Harbor, in consideration of public services, 
 was laid out to him in the valley of the Nashua 
 River, in that part of Shrewsbury now West Boyls- 
 ton and BoyUton, and included very valuable mill- 
 sites, as well as the finest parcel of intervale land 
 lying in a body to be found in Massachusetts east of 
 Connecticut River. Its final confirmation to thegrautee 
 was May 28, 1659.' Capt. Davenport came to Salem 
 with Gov. Endicott in 1628, and after many years 
 of public service was killed by lightning (" tooke 
 away by ye solemne strooke of Thunder''), while 
 sleeping by his magazine, w-ith only the wainscot be- 
 tween him and the powder. His son Richard, with 
 his two sons, William and Nathaniel, came to 
 Shrewsbury about 1736 and settled upon this 
 grant.^ 
 
 1 Colony Records IV., Part I, 314 and .■572. 
 
 2 For rude p!ans, eeo Worcester Reg. Deeds, B. 3, p. 9.5. 
 
SHREWSBURY. 
 
 781 
 
 2. The grantees of the Haynes' Farm, who did not 
 themselves give their own name to their grant, but 
 called it by the more euphonious title gii'en by the 
 Indians to " ye Greate Pond that lyeth West Pointe 
 to ye sd farm," were the brothers John and Josiah 
 Haynes, of Sudbury, and their brother-in-law, 
 Nathaniel Treadway, of Watertown. The Haynes 
 brothers, with their sisters, Sufferance and Mary, were 
 the children of Walter Haynes, a Wiltshire linen- 
 weaver, who, with his wife E izabeth and children, 
 all under sixteen years, came in the good ship "Con- 
 fidence'' from England in 1038, and settled in Sud- 
 bury. This grjnt was originally made to Isaac John- 
 son in consideration of " £400 adventured by the said 
 Mr. Johnson in the comon stock of The Governor 
 and company of ye Massachusetts Bay in New Eng- 
 land," which, to begin with, was little else but an 
 incorporated trading company founded on the East 
 India plan. Johnson dying, this grant, as yet un- 
 located and accounted personal estate, came into the 
 possession of his executor, Increase Nowell. .John- 
 son and Nowell were both original patentees of the 
 colony charter of 1628 and had part wiih Winthrop 
 in importing it to New England. Nowell also dying 
 before location of the grant, his executor sold it to 
 John Haynes and his brother Josiah and their 
 brothers-in-law — Nathaniel Treadway, who mar- 
 ried their sister Sufferance and Thomas Noyes, who 
 married their other sister, Mary. It was finally laid 
 out to the Haynes brothers and Treadway (Noyes 
 having died), and confirmed by the General Court 
 May 27, 1664.' The southwest corner of Haynes' 
 Farm was at the going out of the Nipnapp River 
 from the southernmost end of Quinsigamond Ponds, 
 and both the islands there belonged to the farm and 
 so to the town of Shrewsbury to this day. Another 
 corner was where the town bound between North- 
 borough and Shrewsbury now stands, by the Great 
 Road near the house of Mr. William U. Maynard. The 
 northwest and southeast corners of the grant can- 
 not be fixed with exactness, but cannot have been 
 very remote from where the two school-houses, Nos. 
 3 and 5, now siand. The northern boundary curved 
 northward and crossed the Boylston road near where 
 Mr. Lowell Walker now lives, and thence passed on 
 to the Northborough line. I have been thus par- 
 ticular to trace the origin and show the location of 
 the Haynes Farm, because it was much the largest 
 of the five grants, because it was the owners of this 
 large tract of land that formed the nucleus of the 
 Marlborough colony that settled Shrewsbury, and be- 
 cause the facts are not well known. 
 
 3. One hundred of the one thousand acres of Maiden 
 Farm were in Worcester. Its southern boundary line 
 was three hundred and seventy rods long, and the 
 
 'Colony Records III. 189 and 435 ; IV., Part I. 295; IV., Part II. 
 7 and 8 and llj. See plan in Secretiiry's office, vol, — , Maps and 
 Plans. 
 
 southernmost point of West Boylston was the centre of 
 this line, and the line running northerly for about 
 two miles from this point, bet.ween the two towns of 
 Boylston and West Boylston, divided this farm into 
 two equal parts. Its northwest c.iruer is said in the 
 lay-out to be about a mile distant from the Davenport 
 Farm. The original grant to the town of Maiden, 
 made May 9, 1662, was on condition that "ye ministry 
 of Maulden do cause it to be bounded out and puc on 
 improvement wiihin three years next ensewing." 
 The location of the grant by metes and bounds was 
 duly made and confirmed within the time prescribed. 
 May 3, 1665, but the only improvements made were 
 marking forest trees, at the corners, with the letter M.^ 
 On this ground, want of improvements within three 
 years, the validity of the grant was disputed by the 
 proprietors of Shrewsbury, and their records contain 
 frequent references to this grant as the "pretended 
 Maiden Farm." In 1736 Rev. Joseph Emerson, of 
 Maiden, and minister of God's Word there, brought 
 suit in the Worcester Common Pleas against Ephraim 
 Wheeler and David Crosby, of Shrewsbury, for pos- 
 session of the nine hundred acres of this grant which 
 lay in Shrewsbury. This suit was defended by the 
 proprietors, by whose direction Wheeler and Crosby 
 had taken possession of the land, and Nahum Ward, 
 one of the proprietors, acted as their counsel in the 
 suit. On trial in the Common Pleas the verdict and 
 judgment were for the defendants, but Mr. Emerson 
 appealed and prevailed in the Superior Court, final 
 judgment for the plaintiff, October Term, 1736. But 
 the proprietors were not content, and the next year 
 Mr. Ward was sent to the Great and General Court to 
 re-open the question determined in the suit, and for 
 four years Mr. Ward continued to press petitions for 
 a new trial and for re-location of the grant, in vain. 
 Maiden Hill and Maiden Brook were both named 
 from this grant, though neither hill nor brook is in it. 
 From uncertainty about the location of the grant, it 
 may have been supposed or claimed that its location 
 was so as to include the brook and hill. 
 
 4. Secretary Edward Rawson received from time to 
 time grants of several parcels of land to eke out his 
 pitiful salary, and among the rest a rectangle of five 
 hundred acres lying between Marlboro', Lancaster 
 and Worcester, about half a mile north of Haynes' 
 Farm, and Deacon John Haynes located it for him. 
 It was one mile (three hundred and twenty rods) long 
 by two hundred and fifty rods wide. Rawsoii's Hill, 
 called in the grant by its Inilian name of Ashant's 
 Hill, was in it and Cold Harbor Brook ran through it. 
 Some years before this grant to him the secretary had 
 spent some money to no profit in experiments with 
 saltpetre or something he thought was saltpetre, and 
 the General Court, to encourage such patriotic experi- 
 menting and compensate him for his los<es thereabout, 
 granted him five hundred acre-s of land " near Pequot,'' 
 
 = Col. Rec. IV. Pt. II. 45 and 148. 
 
HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 but afterwards gave him thirty pounds instead oi" the 
 land. As no consideration is expressly named in the 
 grant which was located in Shrewsbury, and the quan- 
 tity is the same, it is probable tiiat this grant was a 
 renewal of the other, modified so that it might be 
 "layd out in any free place not prejudicing a planta- 
 tion." The lay-out and confirmation of this grant 
 was May 13, 1(386.' 
 
 5. Sewall's Farm lay on the westerly side of Shrews- 
 bury, with a narrow strip between it and Worcester 
 line. Its south boundary line was a little south of 
 the Great Road, its southwest corner near the head 
 Quinsigamond Pond. Its given dimensions were seven 
 hundred and eighty rods long, south to north, and 
 three hundred and forty rods wide, east to west, or not 
 quite two miles and one-half long by a little more 
 than a mile wide — extending from its south line, be- 
 fore mentioned, beyond and including Grass Pond, 
 (once so-called, but for three generations last past 
 known as Sewall's Pond), in Boylston. It was bounded 
 for a considerable distance on its west side by Maiden 
 Farm, and also for a less distance on the east by 
 Haynes' Farm, and so connected the two. It had on 
 it two mill-sites, — one a little below Sewall's Pond, 
 where Banister's Mills were built, and the other, now 
 unoccupied, but much the better water-power of the 
 two, near the house of Mr. Frederick E. Abbott, where 
 once stood Harlow's Mills, burned nearly forty years 
 ago. Sewall's Hill, as well as Sewall's Pond, is within 
 the farm limits, and both took their name from the 
 grantee, Samuel Sewall, chief justice of the old Su- 
 perior Court of Judicature, one of the judges who 
 tried the Salem witches and the only one of them 
 that is known to have repented thereof; author of 
 Sewall's Diary, etc. 
 
 The south part of Sewall's Farm — one thousand 
 acres — was laid out and confirmed November 20, 
 1695, to James Russell, sometime colony treasurer, to 
 whom the grant (originally made to Deputy-Governor 
 Francis Willoughby, in consideration of public ser- 
 vice) came, unlocated, by descent from his father, 
 Richard Russell, also sometime colony treasurer, who 
 had bought it of the Deputy-Governor. Chief Jus- 
 tice Sewall's title to this part of his farm in Shrews- 
 bury was by purchase of Treasurer James Russell. 
 His title to the north part — five hundred acres — was 
 in right of his wife, who was the only daughter of 
 Miutmaster John Hull, who "by minting made a 
 mint of money " for himself, as well as for the colony, 
 and became the richest man of New England. Hannah 
 Hull married Samuel Sewall long before he was chief 
 justice, or hung the witches, or had made much pro- 
 gress in his famous diary, or was famous for anything, 
 and brought her husband a marriage-portion of 
 £30,000, all duly counted out to him on the wedding- 
 day in "pine-tree" shillings, fresh from her father's 
 
 ' Col. Bcc. V. 41.'-,, 418 ; III. :78. 
 
 mint.' This grant, which had come to Madam Han. 
 nah Hull Sewall through her father, in some way 
 that I have not yet been able to trace, was CDnfirmed 
 to her and her husband, May 27, 1696. A rude plan 
 of Sewall's Farm may be seen in the Worcester Reg- 
 istry of Deeds,^with a deed, dated June 1, 1732, of a 
 moiety thereof from William Pepperell, of Kiltery, 
 et ux. et ah. to Nahum Ward, of Shrewsbury. 
 This was thirteen years before the famed exploit of 
 Louisbourg, and the thrifty trader of Kittery was then 
 only a hero in posse, and tenant, in common with 
 others, of fifteen hundred acres of real estate in 
 Shrewsbury, in right of his wife, who was Mary 
 Huist, and one of Chief Ju.stiee Sewall's three 
 granddaughters, and so coparcener of the real estate 
 aforesaid. This plan was made, as appears from the 
 deed, from a survey made in November, 1714, by David 
 Haynes, youngest son of Deacon John, of Sudbury, 
 and one may read in the Sewall Diary the following 
 entry, under date " 1714, 8' 6. Mr. David Hayns 
 dines with us. . . . Gave him the Bounds of Quanssi- 
 camon Farms, that he may review and refresh them." 
 Whereby one may note that the Indians' name for 
 Long Pond (whatever may be the Indians' spelling of 
 it) was once applied to Sewall's Farm, as well as to 
 Haynes'. Probably it was to distinguish the two 
 that at a later period they were called after their 
 respective grantees.^ 
 
 CHAPTER C. 
 
 SHREWSBURY— (a)«//;/?/^n'.) 
 the; m.^rlborough men and when some of them 
 
 SETTI,ED. 
 
 It will aid to a better understanding both of what 
 precedes and what is to follow to give a brief account 
 of the road through Shrewsbury anciently called the 
 Connecticut Road, — in later times the Country Road, 
 the Stage Road, Post Road and Great Road. The 
 original road from Massachusetts Bay to the Con- 
 
 ^So HutchiDSon i. 1G5, to which tradition adds that the bride, being 
 set io tlie scalt-s, exiictly balanced the silver pine-trees. Blerely suggest- 
 ing to the reader that a pine-tree shilling's prescribed weight was Ihreo 
 pennyweights, Troy, I leave bini to compute "exactly" what was Mrs. 
 Sewall's weight on her wedding-day. 
 
 3 Book 3, page 91. 
 
 *Since the above was in the hands of the publishers, I have discov- 
 ered, under date of June 20, 171.'5, another gl'ant of si-vteen hundred and 
 eighty-three acres to the heirs of John Haynes, lying in the southerly 
 part of Shrewsbury and adjoining "Haynes' Old Farm " on the south 
 side. Tins is what is ciUed in the I'roprietors' Records "RobUins' 
 Farm," so named from .Toseph Robbins, a " Praying Indian" of Ilassani- 
 misco, whose title Deacon Haynes in his life-time had bought, of 
 which title this grant was a contirmation. See Court Records, 1715, 
 and Maps and Plans, Vol. 5, page 3, Secretary of State's oflice. See also 
 a plan of the original grant to the Shrewsbury Proprietors, vol. 16, 
 paso 518, on which this grant, under the name of " Haynes' Indian 
 Farm," is laid down. 
 
SHREWSBURY. 
 
 783 
 
 necticut River did not pass through Shrewsbury at 
 all, but to the south of it. It was merely the old 
 trail of the Indiana. The new Connecticut Road was 
 laid out by Major John Pynchon, whose father Wil- 
 liam had founded a town at either end of it.' The 
 " worshipful " major's authority was an order of the 
 General Court, under date March 30, 1G83, in these 
 word.s : 
 
 "Whereas the way to Kornecticut, now used, being very hazardous 
 to travelers hy reason of one deepe river that is passed fower or tive 
 times over, wliicli may be avoided, it is referred t > Major Pynchon to 
 order ye said way to be layd out & well marked. He having hyred 
 two injins to gu de him in tlie way for filty rfhillinge, it is ordered that 
 the Treasurer pay them the same in country pay towards effecting this 
 workc."- 
 
 The principal change of the old way consisted in 
 passing north instead of south of Quinsigumond 
 Pond, and so through Shrewsbury. Departing from 
 the old way, it passed northerly of Little Chauncey 
 Poud in Northborough into Shrewsbury exactly where 
 the Great Road enters the town to-day, and thence 
 through the town to the head of Quinsigamond Pond, 
 on substantially the same line as the present road. 
 But in 1726 it was re-located by a jury sent out by 
 the Middlesex Court of Sessions, whose accepted 
 return, so far as relates to the re-location in Shrews- 
 bury, is as follows (what immediately precedes re- 
 lates to the way in Worcester): "And thence in 
 Shrewsbury, keeping the old nay, crossing the Brook, 
 running into Long Pond, and so keeping the old way 
 south of Gershom Wheelock's house, and between 
 the house and barn of Daniel How, & so still keep- 
 ing the old road till it comes out of the woodland 
 east of said How's, on the edge of the Great Rocky 
 Plain, and so keeping very nigh a straight line a lit- 
 tle south of Mr. Cu^hing's house, on the east side of 
 the aforesaid Plain, and then in the old way till it 
 come to Capt. Keyes' fenced land, and so crossing a 
 small corner of said Keyes' fenced ground, and then 
 in the old way running between said Keyes' house 
 and barn, and so keeping the old road south of 
 Widow Blair's, and so to the Westborough ' line in 
 the old road, passing between Daniel Barnes' house 
 and barn," etc. 
 
 That is to say, the re-located road crossed the town 
 line in exactly the same place where the old road 
 crossed it, nor has there been any change had, either 
 in the road or the town line from that time (1726) to 
 this day, and the town bound by the road here stands 
 precisely where it was established in 1717 by the 
 viewing committee's report " at a heap of stones, 
 called Warner's Corner, which is the most easterly 
 corner of Haynes' Farm by the Country Road." 
 Daniel Barnes occupied the sixteenth house-lot of ihe 
 proprietors' records, " bounded easterly by the town 
 line, northerly by Haines' old Farm . . . and" {the 
 
 1 Eoxbury and Springfield. 
 
 2 Colony Records, V. 394. 
 
 3 Now Northborough. 
 
 lot) " lyeth where Mr. Warner formerly improved." 
 This is the place where Mr. William U. Maynard 
 now lives, and is without doubt the earliest place in 
 Shrewsbury occupied by a white man.* 
 
 Whoever Mr. Warner may have been, and whatever 
 may have become of him, certain it is that he had no 
 title to the land " where he formerly improved." His 
 corner makes a very noticeable and unexplained jog 
 into the boundaries of Haynes' Farm laid out in 1664, 
 and he was probably some daring pioneer who was 
 either driven out or perished during King Philip's 
 War. Widow Mary Blair, mentioned also in the re- 
 location of 1726, lived with her children on the place 
 where Mr. Samuel Johnson now lives. It was house- 
 lot No. 12, " situated near where Warner formerly im- 
 proved, bounded northerly on Haines' old Farm, east- 
 erly by the 16th House-Lot,'"' etc. The widow's 
 hu.-ibaud, William Blair, died shortly after coming to 
 Shrewsbury, and the Barnes and Blair families both 
 certainly here in 1726, not long afterwards returned 
 to Marlb(jrough. 
 
 The germ of the movement for settlement of Shrews- 
 bury is described in a deed of pv.rtitiou' of Haynes' 
 Farm, dated April, 1717, which, after reciting the 
 "orderly" meeting of the owners, twenty-three ia 
 number, heirs and purchasers of the rights of Deacon 
 John Haynes, Lieutenant Josiah Haynes and Mr. 
 Nathaniel Treadway,all deceased, the appointment of 
 a committee to go with John Brigham, surveyor, and 
 divide the farm into three parcels ready to draw lots, 
 and a second meeting of said owners December 10, 
 1716, at David How's house in Sudbury, then sets out 
 the committee's report that they had divided the farm 
 by east and west lines into three parts or squadrons — 
 whereupon, lots being drawn, the North Squadron 
 fell to the heirs and purchasers of the right of Deacon 
 John Haynes, the South Squadron to the heirs of 
 Lieutenant Joshua Haynes and the Middle Squadron 
 to the heirs and purchasers of the right of Mr. 
 Nathaniel Treadway. Of the twenty-three signers of 
 this deed, the following or their children settled in 
 Shrewsbury : John Keyes, Joseph Noyes, Moses New- 
 ton, Daniel How, Elias Keye-", Samuel Wheelock, 
 Thomas Hapguod, Edward Goddard and William 
 Taylor. 
 
 Samuel Wheelock's sou Gershom is reputed to 
 have been the firot permanent settler of Shrew'sbury, 
 and the place where he settled was on the share of his 
 lather in Haynes' Farm — on the north side of the 
 Great Road, between where Mr. Levi Prentice and 
 Mr. William Fitzgerald now live. Tradition represents 
 
 4 Distinguished also by a recent archwulogical iind of much interest. 
 Ditching in his meadow in 1884 Mr. Maynard came upon the fossil 
 molai-8 of a mastodon, and the next year, in the margin of the ditch, 
 which it was known was to be explored by the amateurs of the Worces- 
 ter Natural History Society was found a human skull, doubtless the 
 plant of a practical joker, of which not only the amateurs, but a learned 
 professor of Harvard became eager victims. 
 
 6 " Cambridge Registry," Book 29, page 44. 
 
78i 
 
 HISTOllY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 him as sleeping aloft in his cabin during the winter 
 nights of 1716-17, and drawing up his ladder after 
 him, " whistled an air did he," doubtless to keep up 
 his courage. How long he continued to live there 
 I have not ascertained, but certain it is that he was 
 .still there in 172(5, as appears from the re-location of 
 the Great Road at that time. In 1720 his father gave 
 him a deed of this lot, and February 10, 1729, house- 
 lot No. 26, which '' lyeth near the west bounds of 
 Hains' old Farm," was in possession of Samuel 
 Wheelock.' Gershom Wheelock, the first settler, who 
 had both a son and a grandson of the same name, was 
 commonly called in his life-time Captain Wheelock, 
 from his militia rank, and his father was called the 
 deacon from his office in the church, of which he was 
 one of the founders. Deacon Wheelock was a mem- 
 ber of the first Board of Selectmen and a very active 
 man in church and town affairs for many years. 
 
 Mr. Gushing, mentioned in the re-location, is 
 Rev. Job Gushing, who and whose place of abode 
 will be further noticed later. 
 
 John Keyes, whose house, barn and fenced land is 
 referred to in the re-location of 1726, son of Elias 
 Keyes, of Sudbury, and grandson of Robert Keyes, of 
 Watertown, who came from England in 1633, had his 
 share of Haynes' Farm assigned to him on the south 
 side of the Great Road, nearly opposite where the cur- 
 rier's shop stands in the Lower Village. In 1723 he 
 built a new house a few rods east of the rude and 
 primitive cabin that he first lived in, but before it 
 was finished both houses were burnt in the night and 
 Mr. Keyes' three sons and two apprentices of Ebene- 
 zer Bragg, the carpenter, who was building the new 
 house, perished in the flames. Mr. Bragg, aUo sleep- 
 ing in the same hou e, barely escaped. The old 
 house was also burned, but the inmates, Mr. Keyes 
 and wife and four daughters, were awakened by Mr. 
 Bragg just in time to flee out of it. 
 
 John Keyes held commissions as captain and ma- 
 jor in the militia, and is traditionally known as the 
 famous Major John Keyes. He is not to be con- 
 founded with Deacon John, his cousin, who settled 
 in the North Parish. In 1726 he evidently had 
 built another house, as the relocated Great Road 
 passed between it and his barn. A very active and 
 energetic man, member of the first and many subse- 
 quent Boards of Selectmen. He bouglit a moiety of 
 Sewall's Farm, and thus became tenant in common 
 with Nahum Ward, who was his uncle, of that large 
 tract of land. 
 
 Elias Keyes, who was the cousin of famous Major 
 John, had his share of the farm assigned him near 
 
 » Ward, pp. 20 and £6fi-2fi8, and Fee the deacon's deed of 1720 to his 
 son in " Worcester Registry," Book 23, page 214. Mr. Ward is very 
 wide of the fiict in supposing tliis deed to relate to lioiieelot No. 2G of 
 the proprietoi's' records, and in supposing this lot (26) to he the place 
 where Erastus Wheelock, greatrgreat-grandB(}n of the tirst deacuD, now 
 lives. 
 
 his cousin's, but, in 1741, with his family, joined an- 
 other colony that swarmed out of the Marlborough 
 hive and followed the star of empire on its westward 
 way to New Marlborough, in far-off Berkshire. The 
 surname of Keyes is now extinct in Shrewsbury. 
 But the Flaggs, of Boylston, are descendants of 
 famous Major John, by his daughter Hannah, who 
 married Gtrshom Flagg. 
 
 Daniel Noyes, of Sudbury, who settled on the 
 South Squadron of Haynes' Farm, was descended 
 both from Ensign Thomas Noyes and Lieutenant 
 John Haynes. He was the son of Joseph, who 
 signed the partition deed. His grandfather, also 
 named Joseph, was the son of Ensign Thomas, and 
 his grandmother was Ruth Haynes, daughter of Lieu- 
 tenant Joshua. 
 
 Neither of the Newtons, Moses nor Thomas, set- 
 tled in Shrewsbury. They sold their shares in 
 Haynes' Farm to Nahum Ward, who was their 
 cousin, but their children came to Shrewsbury at an 
 early day and settled here. Elisha Newton, son of 
 Moses, was grandfather of the late Calvin Newton, 
 of this town, and settled on the place, part of Sewall's 
 Farm, where Peter Gamache now lives, where also 
 Mr. Newton (Calvin), whose three sons, still living in 
 this town, were all born there, lived and died. Eli- 
 sha Newton's brother, Aaron, also settled in the 
 North Parish (Boylston), and .so also did Thomas 
 Newton, son of Thomas, who signed the partition 
 deed. 
 
 Nahum Ward, who bought the Newtons' share of 
 Haynes' Farm, though not one of the twenty-three 
 owners in 1717, was one of the first comers here and 
 his purchase, a large tract, lay on the south side of 
 the road opposite the Cummon, extending thence both 
 easterly and westerly. His great-grandson, author of 
 a history of Shrewsbury, supposes he was here before 
 1718, and living near the Jonas Stone house (now 
 owned by Mr. Frederick Stone, of Boston), but Wil- 
 liam Taylor at that time owned the land where that 
 house stands, and Mr. Ward owned no land nearer 
 than the south side of the Great Road. Mr. Ward 
 was colonel of a militia regiment in the Provincial 
 Line, and chairman of the first and member of many 
 subsequent Boards of Selectmen ; many times repre- 
 sentative to the General Court, and a justice of the 
 Worcester County Court of Common Pleas, 1746-62. 
 He was admitted to the Worcester bar in 1731, but I 
 have not found a case of his acting as coun.-el except 
 in tbe Maiden suit elsewhere mentioned. He was 
 father of General Artemas Ward and ancestor of all 
 who ever bore the ^Va^d name in Shrewsbury. Wil- 
 liam Ward, who came from York, England, to Sud- 
 bury, about 1640, was his grandfather. The Ne«tons, 
 of Shrewsbury, also are descended from William 
 Ward. 
 
 Daniel How settled on the North Squadron, and 
 kept a tavern on the Great Road, where the Shrews- 
 
SHREWSBUKY. 
 
 r85 
 
 bury Poor-House formerly stood, on land now belong- 
 ing to Mr. George H. Harlow. He was son of Josiah 
 How, of Marlborough, and grandson of John How, 
 who came from England and settled in Sudbury in 
 1G3S, or earlier, and on his mother's side he was grand- 
 son of Deacon John Haynes, one of the original grant- 
 ees of Haynes' Farm. His mother, whose maiden-name 
 was Mary Haynes, was in 1713 owner of a share of 
 the " farm at Quinsigamond," and under the name 
 and addition of Mary Prescott, of Lancaster, conveyed 
 it to " her true and well beloved son, David How, 
 of Marlborough." The North Squadron, by lot, 
 ^ as we have seen, fell to the heirs and purchasers of the 
 right of Deacon John. In explanation of his mother's 
 name and addition, it should be added that her first 
 husband, Josiah How, Daniel's father, dying young, 
 she afterwards married John Prescott, of Lancaster, 
 son of the famous blacksmith, miller and Indian 
 fighter, who was the first settler and founder of the 
 first town in the county of Worcester. Daniel How 
 was the first town treasurer, and held the office several 
 years, and he was many years a member of the select- 
 men, and let the reader note the re-location, in 1726, 
 of the Great Road between his house and barn as 
 showing where he lived and kept tavern, and also 
 where the road then was. From his militia office he 
 usually went by the name of Captain How. 
 
 Thomas Hapgood was great grandson of Nathaniel 
 Treadway, one of the original grantees of Haynes' 
 Farm, to whose heirs fell the Middle Squadron, and 
 he settled in Shrewsbury and built his house near 
 where Mr. Albert, Clai)p now lives, and Mr. Clapp's 
 farm is part of Thomas Hapgood's share of the Mid- 
 dle Squadron. He was son of Thomas Hapgood, of 
 Marlborough, who lived to see his great-great-grand- 
 children, and had three hundred and thirteen de- 
 scendants living at his death, and his (the said 
 Thomas, of Shrewsbury) grandfather was Shadrach 
 Hapgood, of Sudbury, who married Treadway's 
 daughter Elizibeth, and was killed in the Indian 
 fight at Brookfield, in 1675. Thomas Hapgood's 
 name is twice signed to the partition deed with a cross 
 — once for himself and again as attorney for another. 
 He was a militia captain, and commonly called Cap- 
 tain Hapgood, town treasurer ten years and often a 
 selectman. His three sisters, Mary,' Elizabeth and 
 Hepzibah, who were, of course, of the same descent 
 with him, married and settled in Shrewsbury. 
 
 Edward Goddard, who married the said Hepzibah 
 Hapgood, was born in Watertown, where his father 
 and grandfather — both also named Edward — lived, 
 and where the latter, who married Elizabeth Miles 
 and came with her from England about 1650, first 
 settled. He settled in the North Squadron, on the 
 place which Edward Howe now owns, and built the 
 house in which Mr. Howe still lives, and which, under 
 its modernized exterior, I suppose, retains the frame 
 
 1 Mary Hapgood was the first wife of .John Wheeler. 
 
 5<l 
 
 of the oldest house in Shrewsbury. The Goddard farm 
 extended to and was bounded on the northernmost 
 boundary line of Haynes' Farm. Mr. Goddard, who 
 is distinguished from most of the other new-comers 
 to Shrewsbury by having no military title, was an 
 active man in church and town, held the office of 
 selectman and other town officers, and was a man 
 of considerable means- 
 
 William Taylor, who married Captain Hapgood's 
 other sister, Elizabeth, was also a man of considerable 
 means for his day, but did not wholly escape, like his 
 brother-in-law, militia honors. His name in town 
 and church-records, I believe, has the uniform prefix 
 of sergeant. He settled on a lot of the North Squad- 
 ron, adjoining Goddard's, being the place where Mr. 
 Charles A. Holman now lives, and where the late 
 Amasa Howe, great-grandson of Taylor, lived ; where 
 lived also Amasa's father, Nathan, and his grand- 
 father, also named Nathan, who was son of Captain 
 Daniel How, and married Sergeant Taylor's daugh- 
 ter, Hepzibah. The house which William Taylor 
 built was taken down by Amasa Howe in 1849. The 
 Taylor farm or share which he had in the North 
 Squadron extended south to the Great Koad, and in- 
 cluded the site of the house in which his great-great- 
 grandson, Thomas Harlow, now lives, and all the 
 other land to and including the Common and the 
 site of the Sumner house. The Great Koad was sub- 
 stantially on the line between the North and Middle 
 Squadrons, and this was Taylor's south line. The 
 name Taylor as a surname died in Shrewsbury with 
 the first comer, but his descendants, by six daughters, 
 are very numerous. His father and grandfather both 
 lived in Marlborough, and were both named William 
 Taylor. He was many years a selectman of Shrews- 
 bury. 
 
 CHAPTER CI. 
 
 SHREWSBURY— ( Continued.) 
 
 GRAXT OF TOWNSHIP — L.\Y-OUT OF LOTS — INCORPORA- 
 TION — ORIGIN OF THE N.\ME OF THE TOWN. 
 
 In colony and provincial records and early deeds 
 recorded at Cambridge and Worcester one meets 
 frequent reference to a tract of land, larger than any 
 •existing town of this Commonwealth, as " lying 
 between Marlborough, Worcester and Lancaster,'' or 
 " joyning ye west side of Marlborough town bounds," 
 or "lying east pointe to Quonsigamon Ponds," or 
 as " Quonsiccamon Farms," or a " meete place for a 
 plantation near Quansiggamog," the Indian name in 
 our times uniformly written Quinsigamond, one to 
 two hundred years ago, being differently spelt almost 
 every time it was written, and being applied to the 
 vicinity of Long Pond as well as to the pond itself — 
 much oftener, too, as it were quite easy to show, to the 
 
786 
 
 HISTORY OF WOKCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 east side, notwithstanding the complacent appropria- 
 tion of it by our neighbors of Worcester, than to the 
 west aide of the pond. The question why formation 
 of this large tract of land into a town was delayed till 
 after all the other territory in the vicinity was formed 
 into towns has been often asked, but the answer is 
 not far to seek, and in truth has been already given. 
 The choicest portions of it had been already granted, 
 and in the language of the report of a viewing com- 
 mittee sent out to find a meet place for a plantation 
 at Quinsigamond, it had been " spoiled by the grant- 
 ing (if farms." 
 
 After the death of the original grantees of the 
 Haynes' Farm, several of their heirs sold their rights 
 or shares therein, and in 1716 the owners of it, twenty- 
 three in number, living mostly in Marlborough, but 
 some of them in Sudbury and other towns, with a 
 view to division and settlement of their three thousand 
 two hundred acres at Quinsigamond, caused it to be 
 surveyed and divided uj). Their surveyor was John 
 Brigham, of Marlborough, who was the grantee of a 
 large " farm " in the West Parish of that town, and 
 was at that very time pushing a scheme for setting 
 off that parish as a new town, to be called West- 
 borough, and the owners of the Haynes' Farm em- 
 ployed Mr. Brigham to draw up and present to the 
 General Court a petition for the grant of the whole of 
 the large tract between Marlborough and Worcester 
 as a township. This petition, which was signed by 
 John Brigham himself and thirty others, is said to 
 have been lost, and it is not known who all of the 
 petitioners were nor exactly what they asked for, but 
 it was referred, together with another petition of 
 which also John Brigham was the first signer, for in- 
 corporation of his new town of Westborough, to the 
 same viewing committee, who reported favorably on 
 both petitions. But it is easy to see that Mr. Brig- 
 ham and his committee, of which John Chandler, of 
 Woodstock, was chairman, and to which the reference 
 of both these petitions was of course no accident, were 
 looking mainly to the interest of the new town and 
 less to those of the new township. A good slice 
 from the latter — to wit, a strip between the former 
 boundary of Marlborough and Haynes' Farm— was 
 added to the former by the committee, who thought 
 that the petitioners for the township were competent 
 members and likely to make a speedy settlement, and 
 that the slice proposed to be taken would not so 
 disadvantage the township but that it might make a 
 good town — that is to say, if the owners of all the five 
 farms at Quinsigamond would make common cause 
 with the petitioners, there would be plenty of land 
 left after parting with the slice in question. 
 
 November 2, 1717, the General Court accepted the 
 committee's report and " ordered that the tract of 
 land protracted and described, together with the farms 
 heretofore granted to particular persons contained in 
 the plot, be made a township, excepting" the slice 
 referred to, and appointed a committee to lay out the 
 
 whole of said lands (except the lands before granted) 
 to persons most likely to advance settlement of the 
 place, who were to pay not exceeding twelve pence 
 per acre to the use of the Province and the com- 
 mittee's charge for laying out. 
 
 The committee, of which Jonathan Remington was 
 chairman, laid out forty-five lots of about seventy 
 acres each, with a fifty-acre right to each, by which I 
 understand a right in the settler to have fifty acres 
 more in the undivided lands, and also laid out for 
 each lot about six acres of valuable meadow often 
 quite remote from the lot. The " valuable meadow " 
 was swamp land, and is at the present day less highly 
 valued than it once was. And the proprietors, 
 March 28, 1722, granted " the committy to settle the 
 town" fifteen hundred acres for laying out the lots. 
 The Committee's Farm, so-called, was a parcel of 
 good land in the northwest corner of the township, 
 called the Leg, on the Stillwater River, now a part of 
 Sterling. Many persons have been misleil by Ward's 
 "History of Shrewsbury " into sujiposing that it was 
 upon the lots laid out by the Remington committee 
 that all the first-comers to Shrewsbury settled, and 
 such appears to have been the belief of Mr. Ward 
 himself. The number of the proprietors in 1718, as 
 appears from the apportionnientof a tax, was forty-five, 
 and a lot was laid out for each one, and a few of the 
 men to whom lots were assigned no doubt settled up- 
 on them personally. But it was upon the Haynes' 
 Farm, which covered all the land on both sides of the 
 Great road, extending southerly beyond where the 
 Worcester turnpike was afterwards laid, that most of 
 the new-comers from Marlborough settled. The lots 
 numbered one to sixteen, were laid out on a strip of 
 land extending along the south and east boundary 
 lines of the town — that is between Haynes' Farm and 
 the town of Grafton on the south, and the towns of 
 Westborough and Northborough on the east — and if 
 one will carefully examine the description of these 
 lots, as taken by Mr. Ward from the proprietors' 
 book, he will find frequent recurrence to the " town 
 lines" and "Haines' Old Farm" as boundaries. Lots 
 Nos. 17, 18 and 19 lay east of Rawson's Farm, whose 
 locality has been before given, and Nos. 21, 22 (which 
 was the minister's lot) and 23 lay between Haynes' 
 Farm and Rawson's Farm, and the description of all 
 these lots refer to these so-called "farms" as boun- 
 daries. The other lots are more diflBcult to locate 
 with exactness. Most of them were in that part of 
 Shrewsbury now Boylston and West Boylston. No. 
 24 is " bounded westerly by Judge Sewall's Farm ;" 
 No. 20 " lyeth near the west bounds of Haines' Old 
 Farm ;" No. 30 " Lyeth near the North End of Dav- 
 enport's Farm;" Nos. 31, 32 and 34 are bounded by 
 the " pretended Maiden Farm," etc., etc. Mr. Ward 
 has copied these descriptions containing these refer- 
 ences to the farms without inquiry as to what or where 
 they were. 
 
 Ten years after the township grant the town of 
 
SHREWSBURY. 
 
 787 
 
 Shrewsbury was incorporated — not by a formal act, 
 but by an order upon application of the inhabitants 
 for incorporation dated December 19, 1727. Mr. Ward 
 thinks it was so called from the English town of that 
 name, whence may have come the ancestors of some 
 of the proprietors. Before Saxon scholars gave the 
 true etymology of the name it was said to mean the 
 borough of shrews, which may be either a kind of 
 moles or a kind of wives. The Saxons, who took the 
 English town in the fifth century, derisively changed 
 its Welsh name to Scrobbes-Byrig (scrub town), of 
 which the name Shrewsbury is a euphonious corrup- 
 tion. But there is neither evidence nor reason for 
 supposing any of the proprietors' ancestors came from 
 the English Shrewsbury. Like many other towns, 
 probably Shrewsbury took its name from a prominent 
 man of the time when it was in want of one. Our 
 neighbor on the south is well known to have been 
 named from the Duke of Grafton, damned to everlast- 
 ing fame in the letters of Junius. Charles Talbot, 
 titular Earl of Shrewsbury by birth, was one of the 
 Seven who signed the declaration inviting over the 
 Prince of Orange on the abdication of James II., and 
 became Secretary of State to King William, with title 
 of Duke of Shrewsbury. On account of his winning 
 manners Talbot is said to have been named by William 
 of Orange King of Hearts, and habitually called by 
 this pleasant title by the whole royal court. Under 
 Queen Anne he held the offices of First Lord Cham- 
 berlain and Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and finally 
 with her dying breath the Queen gave him the staff 
 of Lord High Treasurer, that a sure hand might hold 
 the helm of state at her death and safely transmit the 
 Protestant succession. As soon as the Queen had 
 drawn her last breath Charles Talbot, Duke of 
 Shrewsbury, August 14, 1714, proclaimed George 
 Lewis, Elector of Hanover, King of England and 
 Ireland. The Duke died 1718, between which time 
 and Queen Anne's death our town was settling, and 
 as a child born in some historical crisis is named from 
 a prominent actor in it, so the town of Shrewsbury 
 took its name from the statesman who, notwithstand- 
 ing public apprehension of the Pretender, had safely 
 transmitted the English crown in the Protestant line. 
 But if the same partiality for Indian names had ex- 
 isted in early times as now, probably Shrewsbury and 
 Grafton would have continued to be called Quinsiga- 
 moud and Hassanimisco to this day. 
 
 CHAPTER CII. 
 
 SHREWSBURY— ( Con tin tied. ) 
 
 THE MEETING-HOUSE LOT AND THE HOUSES THAT 
 WERE BUILT THEREON — THE P.\RISH FUND — ITS 
 ORIGIN AND GROWTH. 
 
 October 27, 1719, the proprietors of Shrewsbury 
 voted " that the meeting-house be on Rocky Plain, 
 
 near the Pines, and if the said spot cannot be obtained 
 on reasonable terms, that then the meeting-house be 
 set on Meeting-House Hill," whereby it appears that 
 the hill laid down on maps and known to this day as 
 Meeting-house Hill was so called as early as two 
 years and a half after the first comers were here — 
 doubtless because public opinion had designated this 
 hill as the site of the house of worship that was to be. 
 It belonged to the proprietors — which Rocky Plain 
 did not — and it was nearer to the centre of the town- 
 ship. Rocky Plain was part of Haynes' Farm and 
 the portion of it which the proprietors wanted be- 
 longed to one of their number, William Taylor. Its 
 name. Rocky Pine Plain, indicates the boulders and 
 forest trees that the pioneers had to deal with. On the 
 4th of May, 1721, the very month when the first meet- 
 ing-house in Shrewsbury was built, William Taylor 
 conveyed to the proprietors, of whom he was one and 
 retaining an equal right therein with any one single 
 proprietor, fifteen acres of land situate on Rocky 
 Plain and lying within the bounds of a fiirm pur- 
 chased by him of one of the heirs of John Haynes, 
 bounded westerly by land of John I'.alcom, northerly 
 by land of Edward Goddard, southerly by the [squad- 
 ron line and every other way by the remaining paits 
 of said Taylor's own land. The squadron line here 
 was the Connecticut Road, then so called. In making 
 this conveyance Sergeant Taylor was actuated mainly 
 by public spirit, though no doubt he expected advan- 
 tages from having the meeting-house, which was sure 
 to be the village centre, near where he had settled. 
 On the 20th of May, sixteen days after his conveyance 
 to them, the proprietors granted to him in satisfaction 
 of his fifteen acres "5 acres and 24 rods of land on 
 Pine Plain, westerly of Haynes' Farm on the south 
 side of the country road," remote from the centre and 
 of trifling value — a mere make-weight or nominal 
 quid pro quo granted from some supposed legal neces- 
 sity for a consideration. This fifteen acres, called 
 "the common," beside the church site, the land 
 around it and the graveyard, contained several other 
 parcels, some of which were sold by the proprie- 
 tors and some of which were appropriated without 
 sale. The lot on which the Sumner house stands, and 
 which was the southwest corner of the original Com- 
 mon, was sold in 1754 to Artemas Ward, who after- 
 ward sold it to Dr. Joseph Sumner. The house where 
 Mr. A. J. Gibson lives, where formerly stood the old 
 Crosby house, occupies the southeast corner. Both 
 the Town House and the High School house are on 
 the Taylor grant. Nor can any record of any convey- 
 ance or grant of the proprietors be found of the sites 
 of these public buildings. The site of the Andrews 
 house and the field in rear of it are entirely within 
 the old Common limits; so also is a part of the site of 
 the Jonas Stone house, but the sites of these two 
 houses and the fielil were sold by the proprietors, as 
 by their records appears.' 
 
 1 More than forty years ago Nathan Howe t'Ointed out to two of his 
 
788 
 
 HIciTOKY OF WOECESTER COUiNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Under date May 13, 1766, the day of raising the 
 second ineeting-house of the First Parish, Dr. Sum- 
 ner has a memorandum of the fact, accompanied with 
 a note, that "The first meeting-house iu Shrewsbury 
 was Erected in ye niounth of May, 1721." The site 
 of tlie first meeling-house, according to tradition, was 
 ji little northerly and easterly of where the present 
 liouse now stands. lis dimensions, given in the pro- 
 prietors' records, were " 40 feet in length by 32 in 
 brcadtli, 14 feet stud." And the proprietors voted, 
 June 22, 1720, to lay an assessment of five pounds on 
 each, — aggregate of forty-two proprietors, two hun- 
 dred and ten pounds. Tliis house had neitiier stee- 
 ple nor bell. The first sermon ever preached in 
 Shrewsbury was by Rev. Robert Breck, of Marlbor- 
 ough, June 15, 1720, and the record of the meeting 
 of the proprietors, when the assessment before re- 
 ferred to was voted, contains also the proprietors' vote 
 ti» apply to Mr. Brecl^ for the notes of his sermon, in 
 order to have them printed.' 
 
 For forty-five years (1721-60) the first meeting- 
 house served its original purpose, but during the last 
 five years or more there had been a growing feeling 
 
 grandeoiis tile comers and boundaries of tbe Taylor grsmt, and told 
 tbeiii tbut they were pointed out to bim wlien a boy by bis grandtatber 
 Taylor. These grandsons were then scliool-hoys, of the age of seven 
 teeu years, studying surveyiug in tbe Shrewsbury High School, and one 
 of them, a youth of rare promise and mathematical capacity, surveyed 
 and plotted tbe old Common .as bis great-great-grandfatlier originally 
 granted it, and bis plot lies before me on my desk while I write. His 
 field notes are " Began at S.W. corner on the road and ran east 31 rods, 
 N. 4° W. 721^ rods, .S. 7U° W. 4:iU rods, S. 17° E. (ISH rods, to where 
 we began, — area, 16 acres, 42 rods." Tbe other boy was the writer, who 
 alone, of all William Taylor's descendants, has the honor to bear bis 
 name. His cousin, who made tbe survey, and whose name was Nathan 
 Howe, so called after his grandfather, untimely died at the age of twen- 
 ty-one years of a malignant typhus, I have recently di-covered in the 
 files of tbe Supreme Judicial Court, October Term, IS 12, at Worcester, 
 Fitut Parish iu Siirewsbury rs. Daniel STuitb, a carefully made plan of 
 the " MeetingHouse lands," by Henry Snow, for the use of the court 
 on trial of that case, showing all the roads, buildings, hoi'se-sheds, tombs 
 and fences, and tbe site of tbe meeting-house as it was in 1832, and I am 
 both gratified and surprised at tbe almost exact coincidence of tbe sur- 
 vey of this accurate and painstaking surveyor with that of my youthful 
 cousin, 
 
 A history of Shrewsbury ought not to omit some notice of tbe famous 
 lawsuit of the parish with Daniel Smith, and I must crowd in some- 
 where a brief account of it, — bore perhaps as well as anywhere. In 
 1S31) Daniel Suiitb, who was a grandson of William Taylor, claimed 
 title to the Common as his heir, plowed it up and sowed it with rye, 
 whereupon the parish brought an action of trespass against bim. Of 
 course Taylor himself bad no title after his conveyance to the pro- 
 prietors, except as one of them, and even this title, since the proprietors 
 were a corporation, did not descend to Taylor's heirs; and, even if 
 Taylor h.ad never conveyed tbe Common at all, Smith would have had 
 no other title than as one of Taylor's many descendants. But tbe 
 proprietors were all dead, and their quasi-corporate organization w.os 
 extiuct. And tbey had never, either personally or corporately, con- 
 veyed the t'ommon to either the town or the parish, nor to anybody. 
 In the action brought against bim by tbe parish. Smith's lawyers, Re- 
 joyce Newton and Levi Lincoln, finding be had no title to stand on, 
 boldly challenged tbe title of tbe parish. But the Court held that the 
 pai-isb was tbe legal successor of the proprietors to at least so much of 
 tbe Common as bad been actually used for parochial imrposes, and, 
 being in actual possession, could maintaiu its action against a stranger. 
 Tbe case is a leading authority upon parish law, 14 Pick., 2H7. 
 
 • The sermon was printed, and a single copy of it still survives, in 
 iiossesaion of Mr. George Sumner, of Worcester. 
 
 that a new house of worship was needed. The town 
 had grown, and, notwithstanding it had been divided 
 into two parishes, the old house was too small. The 
 building of the second meeting-house was long de- 
 bated at town-meetings. Finally resolved upon, in 
 the spring of 1766, it w.ts commenced in earnest and 
 speedily completed. It was not jobbed off to the 
 lowest bidder, but built by a building committee, who 
 employed Daniel Heminway, of Shrewsbury, the 
 famous meeting-house builder, who built the Old 
 South, in Worcester, and many other meeting-houses 
 and public buildings, to frame it. The committee 
 was instructed, by vote of the town, in employing 
 labor and in purchase of materials, to give the prefer- 
 ence to inhabitants of the town. All the carpenters 
 of Shrewsbury worked upon the meetinghouse. All 
 the lumber grew in Shrewsbury woods, and was sawn 
 in Shrewsbury mills. All the nails were made by 
 Shrewsbury blacksmiths. The record of a town- 
 meeting immediately preceding the meeting-house 
 raising reveals the muuicipal estimate of the magni- 
 tude of the undertaking. The question whether the 
 town would procure a ginn to raise the meeting- 
 house with was debated, and "determined in ye nega- 
 tive." But the committee were directed to procure a 
 lot of new spike poles; also " voted that ye committy 
 provide Drinks & Provisions," and " voted to com- 
 mence the raising at six o'clock in the morning." 
 And lest ye committee should mistake their instruc- 
 tion-', and also probably to encourage a good attend- 
 ance and make everybody stay till the last rafter was 
 in place and the last pin driven home, it was fur- 
 ther " voted to provide a Good Supper, and to send 
 to Boston for a Barrel of Rhum." 
 
 The new house was fifcy-flve feet in length by 
 forty-three in breadth, and had entrances on the east 
 and west ends and on the south side. Like its prede- 
 cessor, it had neither steeple nor bell. If one take a 
 lantern and go up into the attic and look at the enor- 
 mous plates and roof-timbers, resting where they 
 were raised by the new spike-poles one hundred and 
 twenty-two years ago, he cannot but wonder how 
 they were ever got there with the use of no other 
 machinery.- The original site where the house was 
 raised, and stood till 1834, was about fifty feet south 
 of its present location, and its longest dimension was 
 east and west. Many hands make quick work, and 
 jnst two months after the raising Dr. Sumner says, 
 "July 16, 1766, Being Lord's day, we met ye first 
 time in the New House, upon wh. occasion I 
 Preached from Genesis 28 chapter & ye 17 verse." 
 
 In 1807 the porch on the wast end of the meeting- 
 house was replaced by a steeple with a belfry and dials 
 
 2 Unless "rum done it ?" Itwasattbis raising that Artemas Ward, 
 whose active drilling of his regiment directly after passage of the Stamp 
 Act bad come to the ear of Royal Goveruor Bernard, received the revo- 
 cation of bis commission as colonel. The reply which the reduced offi- 
 cer sent the Governor that he bad been twice honored is worthy of in- 
 scription on his monument — where it is. 
 
8HREWSBUEY. 
 
 789 
 
 for a clock. The bell, for which the money was raised 
 by subscription, was not hung until next year. The 
 clock was added still later. Why the steeple was 
 built OQ the west end, thereby giving the building the 
 appearance of facing Dr. Sumner's back-yard, it is 
 difficult to say ; but so it was and so it stood until 
 1834, when the house was swung quarter round so as 
 to face the south and moved to its present site, raised 
 up so as to construct a vestry underneath and re- 
 modeled. Its porches were taken off so as to conform, 
 outside and inside, to the then prevailing style of 
 church architecture. 
 
 In ISul Jonah Howe and eight others were incor- 
 porated as trustees of a fund for the support of a Con- 
 gregaiional minister in the town of Shrewsbury, by an 
 act of the General Court passed February 18th of that 
 year. The act recites the former appropriation of cer- 
 tain securities and moneys, amounting to niue hundred 
 and twenty dollars, by the town, and the recent sub- 
 scription of 1^2,243 for support of the minister, limits 
 the fund to a maximum of eight thousand dollars, the 
 interest of which only is to be applied to the minis- 
 ter's salary, provides for an annual meeting of trustees 
 in April, each year, to elect a treasurer and clerk and 
 fill vacancies in trustees, and makes the trustees re- 
 sponsible to the town. If the interest should ever 
 amount to more than enough to pay the salary of the 
 minister, it was to be applied to the schools of the 
 town. Dr. Sumner has left a memorandum that 
 shows the origin of the fund : 
 
 April, 1792. — According to a vote of ttie town of Shrewsliiiry, tlie 
 hinder seats in the meeting-house was taken up, and six pews built, 
 which sold fur about £1-10, which is to remain as a fund, the interest of 
 which to be appropriated for support of the Gospel. 
 
 Sundry contributious have, from time to time, been 
 made by difterent persons to this fund, and the amount 
 of it is now more than double the maximum prescribed 
 in the original act. By chapter TiO, Acts of 186(5, its 
 name was changed to a " Fund for the Support of a 
 Congregational Minister in the First Congregational 
 Parish and Religious Society in the Town of Shrews- 
 bury," and the limitation of the original act to eight 
 thousand dollars was raised to twenty thousand dollars, 
 and the trustees are made accountable to the parish, 
 instead of the town. Jonathan H. Nelson, who died 
 in 1872, gave this fund a legacy of five thousand dol- 
 lars, the largest contribution given by any donor at 
 any one time, but less than the aggregate sums given 
 by Amasa Howe, who in his lifetime (1869) gave 
 eighteen hundred dollars, and who, dying in 1883, was 
 found by his will, made in 1872, to have given a legacy 
 of twenty-two hundred dollars to this fund, and also 
 by a codicil made in 1882 another legacy of two thou- 
 sand dollars,' making a total of six thousand dollars. 
 
 1 The writer, who was the testator's nephew and one of his executors, 
 being consulted by his uncle about tliis legacy, advised him against it. 
 Ilia reply, characteristic wf the whole life uf the man— then eighty-eight 
 years old— will interest all who knew him : "I want the same kind of 
 preaching kept up in Shrewsbury after I am dead and gone that there 
 
 And Thomas Rice, who died May 29, 1888, has left a 
 legacy of one thousand dollars in trust with the trus- 
 tees of this fund, one-half of the interest of which is 
 to be applied by the trustees to the care of the testa- 
 tor's lot and monument in the cemetery, and the other 
 half to be applied to the payment of the salary of the 
 minister of the Congregational parish. I am unable 
 to give the amounts of any other donations or the 
 names of the donors. The present total of the fund 
 is about eighteen thousand dollars and its income 
 about nine hundred dollars. 
 
 CHAPTER CIII. 
 
 SHREWSBURY— (a)////««ri/.) 
 
 THE FIRST PARISH .\ND ITS MINISTERS : GUSHING, 
 SUMXER, INGERSOLI,, WHIPPLE, GEORGE ALLEN, 
 AVERELL, WILLIAMS, MCGINLEY, DYER, SCUDDER, 
 FRANK H. ALLEN. 
 
 The three years within which Shrewsbury was 
 required to have at least forty families and an ortho- 
 dox minister began to run November 2, 1717. The 
 forty fiimilies were here in due season, but the first 
 minister. Rev. Job Cushing, was not settled till Dec- 
 ember 4, 1723, — more than six years after the time 
 began to run. It would seem from the church records 
 that the church was organized and a covenant 
 adopted at Mr. Cushing's ordination. Let us note in 
 pas^ing that this covenant does not contain any credi) 
 — unless the following be regarded as such : 
 
 " We resolve to make the blessed Scriptures our 
 platform, whereby we may discern the blessed miml 
 of Christ and not the new-framed inventions of men," 
 — a favorite form of words with those who did not wi.sli 
 either to commit themselves to dogmatic theology 
 nor to repel others from uniting with them by an 
 iron-clad creed. This liberal covenant, probably 
 drawn up by Mr. Cushing himself, closely resembles 
 that of many of the early churches of New England, 
 commencing with the earliest, whose platform, 
 brought in the " Mayflower'' and landed in 1620 on 
 Plymouth Rock, remains unchanged in any clause or 
 letter, the creed of the liberal First Church of Plym- 
 outh, to this day. 
 
 It does not appear that at Mr. Cushing's ordination 
 or afterwards any question was raised as to his being 
 an "orthodox minister," within the meaning of those 
 words in the act of the General Court, but tradition 
 is that some of the brethren suspected him of favor- 
 ing the Arminian heresy. During his ministry 
 only one controversy arose of which any memory 
 has reached our times. This was not theological. 
 
 always haa been, no matter how many rum-sellers and Roman Catholics 
 come into the town." And he brought his aged fist down upon the table 
 at which we were sitting with a vigor that silenced all further advice 
 of that kind. 
 
790 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 One Simon Goddard, who came to Shrewsbury in 
 1731, from Framingham, with the aid of his two 
 brothers, who were here before him, and five or six 
 others, whom he converted to his views, kept Mr. 
 Gushing and the whole church in hot water for 
 more than ten years about ruling elders. According 
 to Brother Goddard, it was indispensable that every 
 Christian church should have two elders to rule both 
 it and the minister, and he wrote to Mr. Gushing 
 and the church long letters about it and talked about 
 it till one wonders at the long-suffering patience 
 of pastor and people with such a crank and such a 
 bore as he was. This contemptible controversy 
 finally resulted in an ecclesiastical council, but what 
 was the "result" of the council was unknown at the 
 time and has never been discovered to this day. 
 
 Rev. Job Gushing, whose father and grandfather 
 were both named Matthew Gushing, and the latter of 
 whom came from Norfolk, England, in 1088, was 
 born at Hinghara, July 19, 1(394, and graduated at 
 Harvard College in 1714. He was a farmer as well 
 as minister, and at the moment of his death he was 
 at work in his field binding sheaves of grain, where, 
 without sickness or premonition, he fell dead. The 
 minister's lot, No. 22, laid out on Meeting-house Hill 
 when it was expected that the meeting house would 
 be built there, being found after it was builton Rocky 
 Plain too remote for the minister to live on, Mr. 
 Gushing bought twenty acres and one hundred and 
 fifteen rods of William Taylor, adjoining on the east 
 side the meeting-house lot or Common, and built his 
 house where Mrs. Arunah Harlow now lives. Mr. 
 Gushing also bought of Nahum Ward fifty-six acres 
 and seventy-one rods on the south side of the road 
 opposite his house.' What with these purchases and 
 his lot (No. 22), " made up the full of ninety acres," 
 and second and third division lands received "in 
 right of his lot " he became in time the owner of 
 considerable real estate, which he cleared and tilled 
 as well as any of the other original farmers of Shrews- 
 bury. A portion of Mr. Cnshing's land on both 
 sides of the Great Road, together with a moiety of 
 Jordan's Pond laid out to him as second division 
 land " equal," say the records, " to six acres of valu- 
 able meadow," has descended to his great-grandson, 
 Mr. .losiah G. Stone, and still remains in his posses- 
 sion. At the time of Mr. Cnshing's settlement in 
 Shrewsbury he was twenty-nine years old, and at his 
 death, which occurred August 0, 17G0, he was sixty- 
 six. 
 
 In the interval between the decease of Mr. Gushing 
 and settlement of his successor, the church covenant 
 was re-enforced by the addition of the Calvinistic 
 tenets. After the words in the extract before given, 
 " new-framed inventions of men," were added the 
 following, " And yet we are of the jtidgment that the 
 whole of the well-known Westminster Gatechism, as 
 
 ' Mi.l.llesex Registry of Ueeits, Book 2.'>, Pages 123-124. 
 
 explained by Calvinistic divines, contains a just 
 summary of Ghristian doctrine as revealed in God's 
 Holy Word," and after the name of Christ was 
 in.^erted the words, " whom we believe to be God, 
 equal with the Father and the Holy Ghost." Among 
 the minority who protested and voted against these 
 additions to the fair original, as incongruous therewith 
 as patch of sow's ear upon silk purse, I note the name 
 of Colonel Job Gushing, true t& the teachings of his 
 sainted father. 
 
 Before settling or even calling another minister, 
 being jealous not only of ruling elders, but of the 
 minister as well, the church voted not to settle any 
 minister with power to negative its vote. At the same 
 meeting when this vote was passed the church ex- 
 tended a call to Rev. Joseph Sumner as pastor, and 
 his ordination took place June 23, 1762. For want 
 of room in the old meeting-house, and because it was 
 not considered safe to crowd the old house with a 
 large audience, the ordination services were conducted 
 in the open air on a platform erected on the Common. 
 Rev. Joseph Sumner was born at Pomfret, Conn.,i 
 June 30, 1740, being son of Deacon Samuel Sumner, 
 of that town, and graduated at Yale College in 1759. 
 The degree of D.D., was conferred on him by Harvard 
 College in 1814, and shortly afterwards by Columbia 
 College, S. G. Like his predecessor, he was a man of 
 liberal views and tolerant practice, and if all the minis- 
 ters of New England had been like them, no division 
 of the churches on the basis of mere theological dogma 
 would have ever taken place. During Dr. Sumner's 
 time the Calvinistic additions to the covenant were 
 erased by vote of the church — doubtless through his 
 influence. He was a man of great authority with his 
 people, and of great personal dignity and weight of 
 character. Of colossal stature — six feet four inches 
 in height — he presented a most imposing presence. 
 To the last he wore the costume of the la^it century : 
 knee-breeches, silver buckles, cocked hat, white wig 
 and all. A child was once so awe-stricken at sight of 
 Dr. Sumner, as to run away and tell his mother that 
 he had seen God. A characteristic story is told of 
 him and Dr. Samuel Austin, of the First Worcester 
 Parish. In a conversation at the house of the former, 
 in Shrewsbury, where the latter had made a call. Dr. 
 Sumner said, " I was brought up in the orthodox faith, 
 and have always lived in it, and I expect to die in it." 
 "•But," said Dr. Austin, "you clipped off its corners." 
 " Yes," was Dr. Sumner's reply, "and they need clip- 
 ping more." Let me add another story characteristic 
 of Dr. Austin as well as Dr. Sumner. At a meeting 
 of the Worcester Ministerial Association Dr. Austin 
 and Dr. Aaron Bancroft, pastors respectively of the 
 First and Second Parishes in Worcester, were both 
 proposed for membership. Dr. Austin having been 
 admitted without objection, he vehemently opposed 
 the admission of Dr. Bancroft, and a majority of the 
 association voted against it, whereupon Dr. Sumner 
 arose, and declaring that he would not belong to such 
 
SHREWSBURY. 
 
 791 
 
 an illiberal body, withdrew from the association, and 
 it never met again. 
 
 It was during Dr. Sumner's time that division of 
 Congregational Churches into Trinitarian and Unita- 
 rian took place. In the last years of his ministry he 
 had repeatedly suggested to his people the expediency 
 of selecting a colleague pastor, and January 18, 1820, 
 the church chose Rev. Samuel B. Ingersoll as col- 
 league to Dr. Summer, and the parish concurring, the 
 ordination took place June 14, 1820. This ordination 
 being a sort of milestone in the history of the Con- 
 gregational schism then in progress, I must give a 
 brief account of it. Of the fifteen ministers who 
 formed the ordaining council, five — namely : Dr. Aaron 
 Bancroft, of Worcester ; Rev. John Miles, of Grafton ; 
 Rev. Ward Cotton, of Boylston ; Dr. Joseph Allen, 
 of Northborough ; and Rev. William Nash, of West 
 Boylston — were Unitarians. At the examination of 
 the candidate it appeared that he was a pronounced 
 Calvinist. To his ordination on this account the 
 Unitarian members of the council made no objection, 
 but asked if he would fellowship with Unitarians. 
 Mr. Ingersoll's reply was " I would not trust a Unita- 
 rian in my pulpit one hour." This was explicit 
 enough for Dr. Bancroft, who arose and was followed 
 by all the Unitarian members of the council, pastors 
 and lay delegates, nine in number, down the long 
 aisle out of the meeting-house. A majority of the 
 council was still left, and the ordination proceeded. 
 Such is the account of this ordination given to the 
 writer nearly forty years ago by Dr. Eleazer T. Fitch, 
 professor of divinity in Yale College, who was a mem- 
 ber of the council. 
 
 Jlr. Ingersoll, after his ordination, preached but 
 one Sunday, and died of consumption, November 14, 
 1820, at Beverly, where he was born in 1787. He 
 graduated at Yale College in 1817, and was thirty 
 years old at the time. He was at his death thirty- 
 three. Before going to college he had been a sailor 
 and shipwrecked at sea. It is said that as he lay float- 
 ing and perishing on a piece of wreck in mid-ocean 
 he heard a call to go and preach the gospel, and an- 
 swered it with a solemn vow that if he were saved 
 from perishing then he would obey the call. A fu- 
 neral service was held simultaneously at Beverly and 
 at Shrewsbury. " I preached and Dr. Bancroft and 
 Mr. Cotton prayed." Such is Dr. Sumner's brief en- 
 try in the church records. I wonder if prayer or 
 sermon contained any allusion to the drama played 
 within the same walls only five months before. 
 This ordination of Mr. Ingersoll was followed by 
 important consequences both in Shrewsbury and else- 
 where. In Shrewsbury, as we shall see later, a portion 
 of the parish withdrew and formed a new S(jciety. Dr- 
 Sumner was greatly annoyed at what had taken place- 
 Doubtless he had hoped, by bringing together the 
 clergy of the vicinity who were of opposing views, 
 to do something towards healing the schism that was 
 dividingand weakeningthe chuichesof New England. 
 
 After Mr. Ingersoll'* death Rev. Edwards Whipple 
 was settled as a colleague to Dr. Sumner. He had 
 previously been ordained and settled in Charlton, 
 and dismissed at his own request. His installation 
 took place September 20, 1821. He died September 
 17, 1822, of a fever after a sickness of only seven 
 days, aged forty-four years. He was born in West- 
 borough, November, 1778, graduated at Williams 
 College in 1801, and studied his profession with 
 the famous Dr. Nathaniel Emmons, of Franklin. 
 Dr. Sumner continued in his ministry in Shrewsbury 
 till his death, which occurred December 9, ]824, a 
 period of more than sixty-two years, being at the 
 time of his death nearly eighty five years old. His 
 funeral sermon was preached by his life-long friend, 
 Dr. Bancroft, pursuant to an understanding between 
 them that whichever might die first, the other should 
 preach his funeral sermon. 
 
 But before Dr. Sumner's death still another col- 
 league to him had been settled in Shrewsbury. Rev. 
 George Allen was ordained here November 19, 1823. 
 He was the son of Hon. Joseph Allen, born at Wor- 
 cester, February 11, 1792, and graduated at Yale Col- 
 lege in 1813. He remained in his pastorate at Shrews- 
 bury till June 18, 1840, when he was dismissed by ad- 
 vice of an ecclesiastical council. For sixteen of the sev- 
 enteen years of his life here Mr. Allen's relations with 
 his church and parish were exceptionally pleasant and 
 amicable. At his funeral said Rev. Dr. Buckingham, 
 of Springfield, formerly settled in MiUbury : "Years 
 ago, when Mr. Allen was pastor of the church at 
 Shrewsbury, we" (meaning the clergy of the vicinity) 
 "remember to have thought that parsonage an ideal 
 one. Looking off from that hill-top with his wife and 
 chi dr^n about him and a large and intelligent con- 
 gregation listening to him, it seemed as if such love 
 and influence and happiness ought to satisfy any mor- 
 tal. They did satisfy him so long as he was permitted 
 to enjoy them." But in the seventeenth year of his 
 ministry there arose in Shrewsbury one of the most 
 implacable minister quarrels in the history of New 
 England. It had its origin in a scandal about Mr. 
 Allen's family, of which want of space, if no other 
 reason, would forbid detail here. Indignantly deny- 
 ing the truth of the scandalous stories in circulation, 
 Mr. Allen in the pulpit and out of it castigated their 
 circulators with a severity of language such as few 
 men can equal and none ever exceeded, and his un- 
 sparing denunciations of all who had talked about his 
 family, which included probably the entire inhabit- 
 ants of the town, had the efl'ect to estrange many of 
 his warmest friends and to cause them to become dis- 
 afiected. In a few months the disaflected party grew, 
 so as to number full one-half the parish, "signed off," 
 hired a preacher and a hall and had religious services 
 on Sundays by themselves. It was a bitter feud, caus- 
 ing enmity between old friends and near neighbors, 
 and finally resulted in an ecclesiastical council, before 
 which the opposition to Mr. Allen, under leadership 
 
r92 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 of Mr. Henry Dana Ward, laid charges against him. 
 The council fully vindicated Mr. Allen from all in- 
 tentional wrong and recommended him to the con- 
 fidence of the churches; but, on account of the wide- 
 spread disaffection which had impaired, if not entirely 
 destroyed, his usefulness in Shrewsbury, they advised 
 his dismissal with payment of full salary for the cur- 
 rent year. These proceedings were directly followed 
 by a slander suit brought by Mr. Allen against Mr. 
 Ward. At the trial of this suit in the Supreme Court 
 at Worcester, April term, 1841, the town of Shrews- 
 bury turned out and packed the court-house. Nor 
 was interest limited to the town. No trial at Wor- 
 cester, for years, had excited such general interest. 
 Verdict for plaintiff', damages $700, which, at the time, 
 was regarded as heavy and exemplary. 
 
 Eev. George Allen was unquestionably the ablest 
 man whom Shrewsbury can boast to have ever had 
 fbr a citizen. After his dismissal he returned to 
 Worcester and lived there till his death, which oc- 
 curred March 31, 1883. His age was ninety-one 
 years. He had long survived his wife and children, 
 of whom he once had four, two of whom had died 
 within a year and a half before his dismissal at 
 Shrewsbury, and one of whom was the subject of the 
 scandal before referred to. For about thirty years 
 Mr. Allen was chaplain of the State Lunatic Hospital 
 at Worcester. A man of great learning and accurate 
 scholarship, and holding the pen of a ready writer, he 
 became in Worcester a public and influential man. 
 He was interested in and performed efficient service 
 in all the reformatory movements of the times. In 
 the anti-Masonic movement which followed the 
 murder of Morgan in Western New York, where he 
 preached a few years before he came to Shrewsbury, 
 he took an active and prominent part. He was one 
 of the earliest and most pronounced anti-slavery men, 
 and on formation of the Free-Soil parly in 1848 he gave 
 valuable aid to his brother, who, more than any other 
 ' man, must be regarded as founder of that party. 
 Though maintaining his connection from first to last 
 with the Orthodox Congregational Church, he was a 
 man of extremely liberal views, and had the honor to 
 have his orthodoxy challenged many times in his 
 life. Before settlement in Shrewsbury he was reject- 
 ed by an ordaining council at Aurora, N. Y., where 
 he had received a call, for " unsoundness on original 
 sin.'' All his life he publicly repudiated the West- 
 minster Catechism, and in 1865 at Plymouth, where 
 the National Council of his denomination met, in 
 eloquert words he solemnly protested against its re- 
 affirmation as being too sectarian for the catholic 
 spirit of the Pilgrim Fathers, over whose ashes they 
 had met, and too narrow to comprehend the breadth 
 of their principles of religious freedom. 
 
 Mr. Allen's successor in the ministry at Shrewsbury 
 was Rtv. James Averill, who was born at Griswold, 
 Conn., May 2'.\ 1815. He graduated at Amherst College 
 in the class of 1837, studied his profusion at the Yale 
 
 Theological School and was ordained over the church 
 and parish in Shrewsbury, June 22, 1841. He was 
 dismissed at his own request November 15, 1848. 
 Mr. Averill died in 1863 in the service of his country, 
 chaplain of a Connecticut regiment. 
 
 Rev. Nathan Witter Williams was the successor ot 
 Mr. Averill. He was the son of Rev. Joseph Williams, 
 and born at Providence, R. I., March 12, 1816; gradu- 
 ated at Yale College in 1842; studied theology with 
 Rev. Albert Barnes, of Philadelphia; was ordained at 
 Shrewsbury, February 28, 1849, and dismissed at his 
 own request April 27, 1858. After Mr. Williams' dis- 
 missal he was elected Representative from Shrewsbury 
 to the General Court and served as a member of that 
 body in the session of 1859. 
 
 The next minister of the Congregational Church 
 and Parish iu Shrewsbury was Rev. William A. Mc- 
 Ginley, who was ordained June 2, 1859, and dis- 
 missed by his request July 27, 1865. He was an ac- 
 complished scholar and eloquent preacher. He had 
 originally selected the law for his profession and had 
 read a year or more for admission to the bar before he 
 studied divinity. He is now settled in Portsmouth, 
 N. H. 
 
 Rev. Ebenezer Porter Dyer was the successor of 
 Mr. McGinley. He was born at Abington, August 
 15, 1813, graduated at Brown University in the class 
 of 1833, studied divinity at Andover and was first set- 
 tled and ordained at Stowe, where he began preaching 
 in 1835, and where he remained till 1846. Installed 
 atHingham in 1848, he remained there till 1864. He 
 was again installed here November 7, 1867, and re- 
 signed his pastorate June 19, 1877. Beginning at 
 Stowe in his youth, afterwards at several other places, 
 Boston, Winter Hill, Somerville and elsewhere, he 
 performed missionary labor, founding, it is said, by 
 his direct efforts, three churches, and indirectly cans- j 
 ing to be founded three others. He was author of \ 
 several books, among others a metrical version of 
 " Pilgrim's Progress," published by Lee & Shepard, 
 Boston, iu 1869, while he was in Shrewsbury. He died 1 
 at Abington, August 22, 1883, aged seventy years. 
 
 Rev. John L. Scudder, who succeeded Mr. Dyer, 
 
 was born in 1855, in India, where his father. Dr.. 
 
 Scudder was a missionary of the American Board. 
 He graduated at Y'ale College in 1874, and pursued 
 his professional studies at Union Theidogical Semi- 
 nary. Ordained here December 26, 1877, he remained 
 till March, 1882, when he requested a dismissal and 
 went to accept a call to Minneapolis. He is now set- 
 tled at Jersey City. 
 
 The successor of Mr. Scudder was Rev. Frank H. 
 Allen, a graduate of Amherst College in the class of 
 1874, and a classmate of his predecessor at Union 
 Theological Seminary. He was ordained here Octo- 
 ber 25, 1882, and resigned his office as pastor August 
 23, 1888, to accept a call to Milwaukee. 
 
SHKEWSBUKY. 
 
 793 
 
 CHAPTER CIV. 
 SHREWSBURY— (ro«/;««fa'.) 
 
 THE SECOND PARISH — THE BAPTIST, UNIVERSALIST 
 
 AND METHODIST SOCIETIES — THE ROMAN 
 
 CATHOLICS. 
 
 From December 17, 1742, to November 1, 1786, 
 there were two parishes in Shrewsbury, and the sep- 
 arate history of both is part of the history of the 
 town. Both were territorial, and included all the 
 inhabitants, — nolentes vnlenfes. The South or First 
 Parish was identical with the present town of Shrews- 
 bury. The North or Second Parish included most 
 of Boylston and West B.iylston and all of the original 
 town not within the limits of the South. The church 
 in the North Parish was organized October 6, 1743, 
 Rev. Job Gushing and his deacons going over to 
 "assist y'' Bretheren in the north part to gather a 
 church." A meeting-house was built, and Rev. 
 Ebenezer Morse was ordained in the same month 
 (October) of the same year. The house was of the 
 rudest and cheapest pattern, and at the ordination 
 had neither floor, door nor window. It was com- 
 pleted later by voluntary contributions of labor and 
 materials, and the interior being apportioned off into 
 spaces for pews, each one built him a pew to suit 
 himself. Mr. Morse was a man of varied learning 
 and superior capacity, graduate of Harvard College 
 1737, and master of all the learned i)rofes5ions, — law 
 and medicine as well as divinity. He was a native 
 of Medfield, born March 2, 1718, and twenty-flve 
 years old at his settlement in Shrewsbury. The rela- 
 tions of pastor and people appear to have been mu- 
 tually satisfactory till the popular dissatisfaction 
 about taxation of the Colonies, in which Mr. Morse 
 did not participate, being a pronounced loyalist from 
 first to last. The trouble between him and his par- 
 ish be^an in 1770, and culminated in 1775. Of the 
 action of the town in regard to Mr. Morse, an ac- 
 count will be given elsewhere. The parish, June 12, 
 1775, voted (thirty -seven yeas to twelve nays) " to 
 dissolve the pastoral office of Rev. Ebenezer Morse." 
 November 10, 1775, six minister.-^, being pi'esent at- 
 tending a day of fasting and prayer, recommended 
 dismissal of Mr. Morse, and the parish voted to dis- 
 miss him "agreeably to y'^ advice of the Council." 
 Of course, these proceedings were irregular and revo- 
 lutionary ; but they were sustained by an irresistible 
 public opinion, and Mr. Morse submitted under pro- 
 test. He continued to live in the Second Pari^h and 
 in the town of Boylston after it was incorporated as 
 such to the end of his life, making a livelihood prac- 
 ticing medicine and fitting boys fur college. It has 
 been said derisively of Mr. Morse that he continued 
 to style himself "settled minister of God's word in 
 Boylston" as long as he lived, and ofien so signed 
 
 marriage certificates. But nothing is clearer than 
 that, according to law and congregational theory, he 
 had a right to so style himself and so sign his name. 
 In 1775 the parish appointed a committee " to notify 
 Mr. Morse of his dismissal and to see that he do not 
 enter the desk any more." He died at Boylston in 
 1802, aged eighty-three years. 
 
 Before incorporation of the Second Parish as the 
 town of Boylston, two other ministers were called in 
 that parish, — Rev. Jesse Reed and Rev. Eleazer 
 Fairbank, and the latter was settled there March 27, 
 1777. He was born in Preston, Conn., graduated at 
 Brown University, and was dismissed at Boylston at 
 his own request, April 22, 1793; afterwards settled 
 at Wilmington, Vt., and again dismissed. He re- 
 moved to Palmyra, N. Y., where he died in 1821. 
 
 The founder of the Baptist Society in Shrewsbury 
 was Luther Goddard, grandson of Edward, the pro- 
 prietor. Simon Goddard, who so troubled the peace 
 of good Mr. Gushing about ruling elders, was a brother 
 of Edward and so great uncle of Luther. The latter, 
 called captain from his rank in the militia, later in 
 life called also Elder Goddard, from his powerful gift 
 as a Baptist exhorter, was by trade a watchmaker and 
 carried on his trade with thrift and profit, first at 
 Shrewsbury and later at Worcester. I mention his 
 kinship to Simon on account of his marked resem- 
 blance to him. What with speaking in meeting and 
 endless letter-writing, Simon had kept church and 
 pastor in hot water upwards of ten years, and now 
 fifty years afterwards Mr. Cushing's successor hath a 
 like trouble. Captain Luther also can speak in meet- 
 ing, likewise he can write letters, and he did both. 
 He could not find in the blessed Scriptures either 
 precept or example for baptism of infants, and he 
 talked about it in meeting and out of meeting, and 
 wrote long letters to the church and pastor about it, 
 subscribing himself "your poor unworthy Brother, L. 
 Goddard." This began before, and reached a climax 
 in 1808, when Capt. Goddard was baptized by imnier- * 
 sion and organized himself into a Baptist Church. He 
 even requested by letter Dr. Sumner to allow him the 
 use of his meeting-house for such organizing, &c. 
 Mild Dr. Sumner's reply, lately printed,' is the most 
 remarkable instance of mildness on record, and is 
 witty as well as mild. He could not see the neces- 
 sitv or propriety in the use of the meeting-house 
 when there was no place within two miles where 
 baptism by immersion could be administered. 
 
 After his baptism Capt. Goddard wrote another let- 
 ter to Joseph Sumner, pastor, wishing him "to pointe 
 out some way for him to leave the church in this 
 town and joyn to another of a different denomina- 
 tion." And shortly afterwards he wrote another let- 
 ter of great length to the church, to which the church 
 by a committee replied that Mr. Goddard's connec- 
 
 1 Slemoriala of Rev. Joseph Sumner, D.D., printed for private distribu- 
 tion by his grandson, George Sumner, of Worcester. 
 
794 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 tion with it was dissolved by his own act. From this 
 time Elder Guddurd preached in Shrewsbury and 
 elsewhere as occa-ion offered. In 1813 a society of 
 thirty-three members, called the Shrewsbury and 
 Boylston Baptist Society, was formally organized, and 
 the next year built a house of God. And there Elder 
 Goddard often exercised his gifts, but no regular 
 preacher was employed till 1818, when Rev. Elias 
 McGregor)' was ordained over the church and society, 
 and remained its minister till 1821, after which no 
 other was ever regularly settled over it. Rev. Samuel 
 W. Vilas was hired to supply the Baptist pulpit, and 
 did so for about two years, when July 15, 1823, he 
 died. About this time Elder Goddard removed to 
 Worcester, and the Boylston Baptists withdrew and 
 organized a society of their own. 
 
 The Shrewsbury Baptists, however, kept up 
 their organization and continued to hold services at 
 their house for several years with more or less regu- 
 larity, but had no regular minister. The Baptist 
 clergy of the vicinity, who regarded the church here, 
 as a sort of missionary outpost in the midst of the 
 Gentiles, frequently came here and preached. This 
 continued till 1835, when the church and society were 
 formally dissolved. The Baptist house of worship is 
 still standing, though so altered as to be no longer 
 recognizable. It stands where it was built, on the 
 Worcester Road, and is now owned and occupied by 
 Mr. George G. Dowe as a dwelling-house. 
 
 I have before referred to the ordination of Rev. 
 Samuel B. Ingersoll as a milestone in the history of 
 the Congregational schism. And now we run against 
 this stone again, April 11, 1821, a religious society 
 was formed in Shrewsbury under the name of the First 
 Restoration Society. One of the main factors that 
 contributed to the formation of this society was the 
 avowal of extreme Calvinistic opinions by Mr. Inger- 
 soll, and his refusal to exchange with the neighboring 
 clergy of more liberal views. Among the solid men 
 who formed this society were the Knowltons, Dr. Seth 
 and his brothers, Asa and Joseph Hastings, who were 
 sons of Deacon William, and grandsons of Deacon 
 Ezekiel Knowlton, and had been brought up on the 
 Westminster Catechism. Dr. Knowlton was chairman 
 of most committees and boards of officers of the new 
 society during his life. Full one-half of the members 
 of this society were re-idents of other towns. The 
 Universalist Society in Worcester was not formed till 
 twenty years later, and the Shrewsbury society had 
 among its members several strong men from Worcester, 
 among others Mr. Joseph Pratt and Mr. David Sar- 
 gent, the latter of whom was one of the deacons of 
 the Restoration Church. The other deacon was Joseph 
 H. Knowlton, before named. There were also several 
 members who lived in Sutton, more still who lived in 
 Grafton, and a few who lived in Boylston. The first 
 business committee of the society were Dr. Seth Knowl- 
 ton, Captain Thomas Harrington, Sr., Gershom Fiagg, 
 of Boy Iston, Abner Slowe, Jr., of ( irafton. Captain Silas 
 
 Allen, Jr., Lyman Howe and John Richardson. The 
 cliurch building was located at the junction of the 
 Grafton Road with the Worcester Turnpike, as a 
 central point of a rather scattered parish. 
 
 This society was organized under the statute of 1811, 
 whicli guaranteed most of the advantages of incorpo- 
 ration to societies so organized, and made them, as 
 was afterwards held by the Supreme Court, (^iiasi 
 corporations. The house of worship, begun in 1822, 
 was completed and publicly dedicated to " Our Father 
 which is in Heaven,'' June 17, 1823, at which time 
 also was installed Rev. Jacob Wood, who served as 
 minister of this society till 1829. For the next ten 
 years there was no settled minister. Rev. Thomas J. 
 Greenwood, who was settled in Marlborough, for about 
 three years supplied the pulpit here on alternate 
 Sundays, preaching also in his own pulpit in a similar 
 way. During this period, 1829-39, several other min- 
 isters, for longer or shorter terms, were employed, but 
 I have not been able to ascertain even their names. 
 In the spring of 1839 Rev. Jacob Baker was ordained 
 over this society, and preached regularly for three 
 years. After 1843 the society had no settled minister 
 nor regular preaching. There were, however, occa- 
 sional services in the church till about 1864. In 1868 
 the few surviving members met and voted to sell their 
 house and dissolve the society. 
 
 If organization of the First Restoration Society had 
 been delayed till after the death of Mr. Ingersoll, it 
 probably would never have been organized at all, and 
 if Dr. Knowlton and others, who withdrew from the 
 Congregational Society, had remained in it, there can 
 be little doubt that that society would have taken the 
 Unitarian insteadof Trinitarian sideof the schism that 
 was then taking place. The fate of the First Resto- 
 ration Society in Shrewsbury is substantially the same 
 as that of all the other Universalist Societies of the 
 smaller towns. The one idea of the Universalists, 
 seemingly an inadequate foundation for a separate 
 denomination, has unquestionably permeated and 
 leavened the whole lump of religious thought of the 
 p-esent age, and though in Shrewsbury and elsewhere 
 the dogma of wretched doom for all but an elect few 
 of our race may still linger in creeds, not even heathen 
 congregations will tolerate its preaching. When 
 the American missionary for whose outfit Shrewsbury 
 Christians have contributed, goes to far India's coral 
 strand to bear the lamp of life to men benighted, he 
 has to graft the infernal tenet of his written creed 
 with the scion of future probation — a version of resto- 
 ration heresy taken from Buddha himself And 
 straightway all Andover takes up the cudgels to 
 champion the Light of Asia. Shade of John Calvin! 
 methinks the smell of a burning Andover professor 
 would be scarcely less grateful to thy nostrils than was 
 that of Servetus himself. 
 
 In the spring of 1845 a Methodist preacher and 
 temperance lecturer, held some religious meetings, 
 interspersed with a temperance lecture or two, at 
 
SHEEWSBUKY. 
 
 795 
 
 School-house No. 5, in the western part of Shrews- 
 bury, which were attended by Alonzo Stiles and 
 Amasa Hyde, both members of the Congregational 
 Church in Shrewsbury. Mr. Hyde, who lived to be 
 known to the younger as well as the older of the 
 three generations of living men, has recently died, 
 at an advanced age. He was an excellent man 
 and a leading member of the Methodist Church for 
 many years. Mr. Stiles died nearly forty years ago 
 while crossing the Isthmus of Panama on his way to 
 California. He had formerly been an intemperate 
 man and was at variance with the church of which 
 he was a member on the score of temperance. He 
 objected to and remonstrated against the use of intoxi- 
 cating liquors in the comnmniou service because it 
 excited his appetite and tempted him to return to his 
 former habit of intemperance. It was a common 
 zeal for temperance that first brought Mr. Stiles in con- 
 tact with the preacher and lecturer aforesaid — whose 
 name I am unable to give — which contact resulted in 
 the school-house meetings, where a Methodist class 
 was formed, of which Mr. Stiles and Mr. Hyde were 
 both members. Then and there was planted the 
 grain of mustard seed out of which grew the fair tree 
 of Methodism in Shrewsbury. 
 
 In the fall of the same year came from Holliston 
 Rev. (rardner Rice, a Methodist clergyman, to teach 
 a high school in Shrewsbury. He was a graduate of 
 Wesley an University, and taught school in Shrewsbury 
 for many years, and more than one generation of 
 children bless the memory of Master Rice. Directly 
 on coming to town Mr. Rice took charge of the 
 Methodist movement, which before had lacked guid- 
 ing and organizing leadership, and preached Sundays 
 in a hall in the Haven tavern, which stood where the 
 Town House now stands; in the spring of 1846 the 
 Methodist Society was formally organized and con- 
 nected with the Worcester Conference, and Rev. John 
 W. Wheeler came to Shrewsbury under a regular 
 assignment to duty here according to Methodist 
 usage, and held services Sundays at the tavern hall 
 till completion of the Methodist house of worship. 
 The building of this house was said by an irreverent 
 jester to have been the greatest instance of some- 
 thing made out of nothing since the Creator made the 
 world. Neither jester nor laughers at his jest knew 
 the history of the Methodist Church. True it was, 
 none of the original Methodists in Shrewsbury were 
 rich men, nor had a single one of them any visible 
 treasure laid up where moth and rust doth corrupt. 
 But what the Methodists did in Shrewsbury is only 
 a single instance of what the denomination has done 
 all over the United States. Everywhere it has 
 organized its churches and built its houses of worship 
 in very literal imitation of the way the Creator is 
 commonly supposed to have made the world. 
 
 It was during building of the Methodist Church 
 (1847-48) or immediately afterwards that Rev. Jeffer- 
 son Hascall, presiding elder of the Worcester Con- 
 
 ference, whose discerning eye saw a field here white 
 for the harvest, moved into town and thrust in his 
 sickle. Under his labors there was a great revival of 
 religion, and over one hundred persons professed 
 conversion. Mr. Hascall was born in Thompson, Ct., 
 November 6, 1807, and died at Medford November 6, 
 1887. He graduated at Wilbraham Academy about 
 1829, and immediately entered upon the ministry. 
 He lived in Shrewsbury about twenty years in all, 
 and most of the time was in the presiding eldership. 
 He was a man of great ability, energy and influence, 
 a powerful preacher of his faith and a public-spirited 
 citizen of the town. Interested in and favoring edu- 
 cation and all public improvements, and an earnest 
 advocate of a vigorous prosecution of the war to sup- 
 press the slaveholders' rebellion, he was universally 
 respected and beloved by the people of the town. I 
 should be glad to add here some brief separate men- 
 tion of each of the Methodist pastors who have min- 
 istered to the church in Shrewsbury, and regret my 
 inability to do so. According to the itinerant usage 
 of the denomination, only ministering here for two 
 years or less each, they have come and gone, and after 
 considerable unsatisfactory inquiry I reluctantly 
 abandon my purpose to notice them separately and 
 merely subjoin a li.st of their names with times ot 
 service : 
 
 Rev. D. K. Banister 
 
 1848-49, '5Y-68 
 
 Rev. David Slinman 185U-61 
 
 Rev. Wm. K. BagDall 1852-53 
 
 Rev. Win. Gordon 1854-56 
 
 Rev. H. P. Satclnvell 1S59-G0 
 
 Rev. Wm. W. Colburn 1861-62 
 
 Rev. .Toseph W. Lewis 1863-61 
 
 Rev. rlias. T. Jobnson 1865-66 
 
 Rev, John Peterson 1867-68 
 
 Rev. Wm. MerriH 1869-70 
 
 Rev. Jeffereon Hascall 1871 
 
 Rev. Edwin Chase 1872 
 
 Rev. A. Caldwell 1873-74 
 
 Rev. S. H. Noon 1875 
 
 Rev. W. JI. Huljbard 187G-78 
 
 Rev. A. W. Adams 1879 
 
 Rev. W. Wignall 1880-81 
 
 Rev, W. S. Jaggar 1882-84 
 
 Rev. F. T. Geovge 1885-86 
 
 Rev. r. B. Graves 1887 
 
 Rev. O. C. Poland 1888 
 
 January 16, 1872, the Catholics of Shrewsbury 
 bought three-eighths of an acre of land lor three 
 hundred and fifty dollars and built a church thereon. 
 The deed of this parcel of land runs "to Patrick T. 
 O'Reilly, of Springfield, To Have and To Hold the 
 same to him, the said O'Reill}', his heirs and assigns, 
 to their own use and behoof forever." ' Patrick T. 
 O'Reilly, of Springfield, is a Right Reverend Bishop 
 of the Holy Roman Catholic Church, and his diocese 
 includes the town of Shrewsbury. Nor does his ten- 
 ure of the church property in this town difTer at all 
 from that of all other property of the Catholic 
 Church in his diocese. He is tenant in fee simple ot 
 it all. The local (?) pastor of the Catholic flock here, 
 as well as the Right Reverend Bishop, is a non-resi- 
 dent of this town. 
 
 If the reader be not content with this history of the 
 Catholic Church in Shrewsbury, and shall attempt to 
 pursue it farther, I hope he may be more successful in 
 his inquiries than I have been. 
 
 1 Worcester's Registry of Deeds, Book 892, page 266. 
 
796 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNT VT, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 CHAPTER CV. 
 
 SHREWSBURY— (ro«/'/««a/.) 
 
 THE FRENCH WARS, THE REVOLUTION, THE WAR OF 
 l8l2 AND THE MEXICAN WAR. 
 
 Ok the two wars between England and France for 
 possession of Canada (1744-63) the first was called by 
 our fathers the Old War and the second the Last War. 
 Only very meagre materials exist for showing the part 
 taken by the people of Shrewsbury in these wars. 
 That Artemas Ward, as lieutenant-colonel, Marshall 
 Newton, as lieutenant, Nathan Howe, as ensign, and 
 Dr. Edward Flint, as surgeon, all of .Shrew.sbury, 
 served in expeditions to Canada in the last war is 
 well known, but this implies much more. If there 
 were officers to command there were soldiers to fol- 
 low and obey. Doubtless from Shrewsbury there 
 accompanied these officers the number of non-commis- 
 sioned officers and privates appropriate to their rank. 
 Colonel William Williams, whose diary and letters 
 are quoted by Parkman, was commander of the regi- 
 ment in which Lieutenant-Colonel Ward and Lieu- 
 tenant Newton served. This regiment was in the dis- 
 astrous campaign of the incompetent Abercrombie 
 against Ticonderoga. Published extracts of a journal 
 kept by Lieutenant-Colonel Ward fully bear out all 
 that has ever been said or written of the disorder of 
 the march, the lack of discipline of the army, the 
 confusion of the battle and the folly of the retreat. 
 
 Dr, Edward Flint was chief chirurgeon of the regi- 
 ment of Colonel Timothy Ruggles, which served in 
 the expedition of 1758 against Crown Point. Ensign 
 Nathan Howe, who was a brother-in-law of Dr. Flint, 
 served in the campaign of 1756 at Lake George, and 
 with bis regiment a.'sisted in building the ill-fated 
 Fort William Henry, which the brave Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Jlonro, a Scotch veteran, was forced to sur- 
 render to the French, who, after the surrender, aban- 
 doned their prisoners to be pillaged, tortured, mur- 
 dered and eaten by their Indian allies. John Wheeler, 
 of Shrewsbury, who was one of the prisoners, sur- 
 vived the massacre and returned home. Ensign Howe 
 had been sent home before the siege and capture with 
 a detachment of sick and wounded men. The town 
 records of Shrewsbury show that the town granted 
 him £5 16«. 9^'/. on account of his sickness. At the 
 same time, and for like cause, to William Howe, 
 brother of Ensign Nathan, an allowance was made by 
 the town of £6 6d.; also to Ephraim Smith, on account 
 of the sickness of liis son Aaron, £3 -is. -id., and to 
 widow Sarah Smith for medical attendance of her late 
 husband, Joshua Smith, upon sundry sick soldiers, 
 £1 14s. 8(/. Caleb Parker, a youthful soldier from 
 this town, of only sixteen years, was killed in this 
 campaign. 
 
 One soldier at least from Shrewsbury went on the 
 
 romantic expedition in the old war against the Fort- 
 ress of Louisbourg, on Cape Breton Island, built by 
 the grand monarch of France to commemorate his 
 grandeur in America, as well as to guard one of the 
 avenues to New France, besieged and taken in forty- 
 nine days by raw levies of New England fishermen 
 and farmers, under command of General William 
 Pepperell, a Piscataqua trader, who had never had 
 before the least experience in war — one of the most 
 amazing exploits in all the annals of time. From the 
 volunteering of the soldiers to surrender of the fortress 
 the campaign has all " the cloud and glamour of ro- 
 mance,'' and was called a crusade. While CTOvernor 
 Shirley was mustering his battalions like another 
 Peter the Hermit, the eloquent Whitefield went up 
 and down the land preaching the Holy War. 
 
 Nil desperandum, Christo d^lce. 
 
 The heart of New England took fire and sent the 
 flower of its youth, only sons not excepted, to assault 
 the Dunkirk of America, garrisoned by the veterans 
 of France. Away with the crusaders went Jonah 
 Taylor, of Shrewsbury, only son of his father, Wil- 
 liam, and his mother, Elizabeth, only brother of nine 
 sisters, and fell mortally wounded in the first assault 
 upon the King's Bastion. He died on Cape Breton 
 September 23, 1745. 
 
 The first overt act of Shrewsbury in the Revolu- 
 tionary War was to send delegates to the first Provin- 
 cial Congress, holden at Concord October 11, 1774. 
 Artemas Ward had been chosen Representative from 
 Shrewsbury to the General Court, which Governor 
 Gage had ordered to meet at Salem October 5th. 
 The Governor countermanded his order, but the 
 Representatives met at Salem all the same and ad- 
 journed to Concord. Phineas Hey wood was chosen by 
 Shrewsbury as a delegate to go with the Representa- 
 tive-elect to the Congress at Concord. The recom- 
 mendations of this Congress to the towns were forth- 
 with carried into effect by the inhabitants of Shrews- 
 bury. 1. They organized three companies of militia, 
 one in the North Parish, Captain Asa Beaman, and 
 two in the South Parish, Captain Job Gushing and 
 Captain Asa Brigham. 2. They voted not to pay 
 taxes to Mr. Treasurer Harrison Gray, but to Henry 
 Gardner, of Stow, whom Congress had de.-ignated as 
 its new Receiver-General. 3. They adopted the non- 
 consumption agreement as to India teas and appointtd 
 an inspection committee of fifteen, five to be a quorum, 
 whose duty it was to be to find out all such persons 
 as sell or consume so extravagant and unnecessary an 
 article of luxury and post their names in some public 
 place. The town also chose a committee of five to 
 examine Rev. Ebenezer Morse, minister of the Second 
 Parish, William Crawford and three others, all 
 members of that parish, "as being suspected of 
 Toryism." At an adjourned meeting the committee 
 reported favorably as to the three others, but as to 
 Rev. Ebenezer Morse, they said it appeared to them 
 that he was not so friendly to the common cause as 
 
SHREWSBUKY. 
 
 797 
 
 they could wish, and as to William Crawford, it ap- 
 peared to the committee that he was wholly unfriendly 
 and inclined rather to take up arnn for the King. Mr. 
 Morse came before the town to answer fur himself. 
 He had prayed with much fervor in his pulpit for the 
 King and royal family, and this was well known be- 
 fore to all the town. He now, in open town-meeting, 
 declared himself a loyalist and reproved his fellow- 
 townsmen for disloyalty. The town thereupon di- 
 rected the committee to take away the arms, ammu- 
 nition and warlike implements of both Mr. Morse 
 and Crawford, and voted that said Morse do not pass 
 over the lines of the Second Parish on any occasion 
 whatever without a permit, and that said Crawford 
 remain within the bounds of his own land except 
 on Sabbath-days, and then not go out of his parish 
 without a permit. There is nothing in the town 
 records, nor has anything come down to our time by 
 tradition to indicate that any other inhabitants of 
 Shrewsbury were ever " suspected of Toryism," and it 
 was doubtless due to Rev. Ebenezer Morse, of the Sec- 
 ond Parish, who was a strong man and had previously 
 posiessed the entire confidence of his people, that 
 there was any opposition in any part of the town to 
 the prevailing spirit of resistance to the British 
 Crown. 
 
 In the time of the Revolution, regiments in Massa- 
 chusetts were territorial — so many towns to a regi- 
 ment. The county of Worcester was divided into 
 seven regiments, and Shrewsbury, Grafton, North- 
 borough, Westborough and Southborough were the 
 Sixth Worcester Regiment, Jonathan Ward, of South- 
 borough, colonel. Artemas Ward, of Shrewsbury, 
 formerly colonel of this regiment, was elected by the 
 first Provincial Congress, of which he was a member, 
 with two others, to organize and command the mili- 
 tia, and the next Congress issued to him a commission 
 as commander-in-chief of all the forces of Massachu- 
 setts and the other colonies, and shortly afterwards he 
 was appointed by the Continental Congress major- 
 general and commander-in-chief. Meantime the war 
 had begun, and Captain Job Cushing, of Shrewsbury, 
 had marched with his company to Lexington. About 
 ten o'clock in the forenoon of April 19, 1775, passed 
 like a flash through Shrewsbury a white horse, bloody 
 with spurring and dripping with sweat, bearing a 
 post-rider shouting as he rode : " To arms ! to arms ! 
 the war has begun ! '" I have often heard my grand- 
 father, Nath an H owe, the younger of that name, tell 
 the story. He was then a boy fourteen years old, 
 at work in the field with his father plowing, the team 
 being a pair of oxen and a horse. His fiither, Ensign 
 Howe, of the last war, now lieutenant of Captain 
 Cushing's company, immediately detached from the 
 team and mounted his horse and set off to rally the 
 company. 
 
 There was hurrying to and fro and mounting in hot 
 haste. The younger Nathan wanted dreadfully to go, 
 too, and cried because his father would not let him. 
 
 Of course the company, like many others as remote, 
 did not arrive in time to take part in the fight. Im- 
 mediately after the Lexington alarm the principal 
 occupation of able-bodied men in the province of 
 Massachusetts Bay was organizing and drilling, and 
 belbre the battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775, a 
 large body of troops was at Cambridge, under com- 
 mand of General Artemas Ward, of Shrewsbury. 
 Captain Ezra Beaman and Captain Job Cushing, with 
 three companies from Shrewsbury, were both there. 
 
 Who commanded at Bunker Hill ? There was 
 General Artemas Ward over at Cambridge, comman- 
 der-in-chief — such was his sonorous title-^but this 
 was before his commission by the Continental Con- 
 gress, and all his authority was subordinate to that of 
 the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, nine in num- 
 ber, who occupied the same headquarters with him,' 
 and " planned the battle." And there was Putnam, 
 and Prescott, and Warren, and Pomeroy and Stark, 
 each fighting the British on his own hook, and with 
 very little regard to what others were doing. Plainly 
 there was nobody in command — in the sense of giving 
 direction to the battle as a whole — that is, to compare 
 small things with large, as Meade and Lee commanded 
 their respective forces at Gettysburg. If only there 
 had been somebody in command — some competent 
 body — wbo had ordered over from Cambridge Cap- 
 tain Beaman and Captain Cushing, with their com- 
 panies, and put them where they could do the most 
 good, the author of this history might have had some- 
 thing to say about the men of Shrewsbury at Bunker 
 Hill. The reason why re-enforcements were not sent 
 over from Cambridge is not far to seek. The Com- 
 mittee of Safety made a mistake in supposing the at- 
 tack of the British at Charlestown was a mere feint, 
 and held fast where they were, expecting that the 
 real attack would be directly made at Cambridge. In 
 his " History of Shrewsbury" Mr. Andrew H. Ward 
 — evidently in defence of his ancestor from criticism 
 — gives a prolix and not very satisfactory explanation, 
 of which the substance seems to be that General 
 Ward's order-book shows that Colonel Jonathan 
 Wai'd, with his regiment, was sent over by way of 
 Lechmere's Point to Charlestown during the battle. 
 For some reason it never reached its destination. 
 Captain Aaron Smith, of Shrewsbury, whom we met 
 in the last war returning home sick from Crown 
 Point, whom also we shall shortly meet again, and 
 who, on the 17th of June, 1775, was a private in Cap- 
 tain Cushing's company, and ran away without orders 
 from Cambridge over to Charlestown, and alone, of 
 all the Shrewsbury men, actually fought at Bunker 
 Hill, fighting on his own hook, as every body else did, 
 is given as authority for the statement that Colonel 
 Ward, on his march, was met and halted by Dr. Ben- 
 jamin Church, a member of the Committee of Safety, 
 who afterwards turned out to be a traitor. 
 
 1 The IioUBe in our timea known as the birth-place of the poet HolmeB. 
 
798 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 General Washington arrived at Cambridge July 2, 
 1775, having been promoted over General Ward, and 
 took command of the American army — about twenty 
 thousand men. General Ward continued in the ser- 
 vice as a subaltern under Washington till the evacua- 
 tion of Boston by the British, May 17, 1776, when he 
 resigned. The position of the British in Boston had 
 become untenable by Washington's occupation of 
 Dorchester Heights. Here Nathan Howe, of Shrews- 
 bury, commanding a company, performed a service of 
 great value, of great hardship also, working nights 
 and in the cold rains of the spring months of 1776, 
 throwing up fortifications on the heights, and con- 
 tracted a severe cold that gradually developed into 
 pulmonary disease and finally resulted in his death. 
 In the latter part of the year 1777 he came home 
 to die, but directly sent his son and namesake, 
 then sixteen years old, to serve as a private in his 
 regiment. 
 
 The cause of General Artemas Ward's resignation was 
 a painful disorder,' which rendered all active exercise, 
 particularly horseback-riding, an excruciating torture. 
 At the request of Washington, who, after ihe evacua- 
 tion of Boston by the British, went with the greater part 
 of the army to New York, General Ward remained in 
 command of the Eastern Department till DecemberSl, 
 1777, when his resignation was accepted by Congress. 
 Notwithstanding the superhuman pinnacle now occu- 
 pied by Washington in public esteem, certain it is 
 that in his life-time he was quite human and not at 
 all reticent in his correspondence of unworthy reflec- 
 tions upon the personal courage of the officer over 
 whom, for reasons of public policy, he had been pro- 
 moted, and between whom and himself he was obvi- 
 ously conscious of popular comparison. Some time 
 afterwards, when Washington was President and 
 Ward was a member of Congress, then sitting in New 
 York, the latter having obtained one of Washington's 
 letters containing offensive allusions to him, proceeded 
 to the President's house and asked him if he was the 
 author of the letter. Washington looked at it for 
 Bome time without making any reply. While he was 
 still looking at it. Ward impatiently said, " I should 
 think the man that was base enough to write that 
 would be base enough to deny it," and abruptly turn- 
 ing on his heel, left the house.^ 
 
 Job Gushing, of Shrewsbury, was promoted from 
 rank to rank in the Sixth Regiment till he became its 
 colonel. This regiment was from time to time re- 
 cruited partly from the towns where it was originally 
 formed and partly elsewhere. I think most of the 
 Shrewsbury soldiers served in this regiment. After 
 
 the success of Burgoyne at Ticonderoga public alarm 
 was at the highest pitch, and Colonel Gushing went 
 with his regiment to reinforce General Schuyler and 
 took part in the battles of Bennington, August 16th, 
 and Saratoga, October 16, 1777, when Burgoyne sur- 
 rendered to General Gates, who had superseded Gen- 
 eral Schuyler in command. Ezra Beaman, of Shrews- 
 bury, was also present at Burgoyne's surrender (but 
 in what rank I am unable to say), and probably also 
 at Bennington. Colonel Job Gushing, of Shrews- 
 bury, and his regiment were a part of the body of 
 troops that General Benedict Arnold undertook to 
 betray to Sir Henry Clinton at West Point. The 
 materials for giving details of the service of Shrews- 
 bury men in the Revolutionary War are as meagre as 
 for the French Wars. Before the Government gave 
 pensions, besides the many who had died or been 
 killed in the service, many more had doubtless died 
 in the course of nature. A list of pensioners, pre- 
 pared by Nathan Howe, who for many years acted as 
 agent for his comrades in the army in obtaining jjen- 
 sions, contains exactly forty names. Of course, it is a 
 mere remnant of the whole number who were in the 
 Continental service from Shrewsbury. ■! 
 
 In the time of President Madison, when occurred 
 the War of 1812, a large majority of the people of 
 Shrewsbury were of the Federal party, and wholly 
 disapproved of the war, and I cannot find that the 
 town or any citizen thereof in any manner partici- 
 pated therein. 
 
 And the Mexican War was generally considered 
 morally wrong by the people of the town, always very 
 radical in their opposition to slavery. Not a single 
 citizen of Shrewsbury volunteered to go to Mexico, 
 and I think the views of Mr. Hosea Biglow as to the 
 Mexican War and its recruiting service, then newly 
 l^riuted for him in the Boston Courier, were exactly 
 coincident with those of the whole town. 
 
 1 Gravel. 
 
 2 Thisstory, having been preserved only by tradition, and having passed 
 for now fonr generations of men from one to another, has come to have 
 slightly differing versions. The one above given is taken from "Kemi- 
 niscences of Uev. George Allen, by F. P. Bice, 1883." Another, differing 
 in some details, may be seen in " Drake's Historic Mansions and Fields 
 of Middlesex," page 260. 
 
 CHAPTER CVI. 
 
 SHREWSBURY— (ro«//«;^fa'.) 
 
 SHOWING THE PART WHICH SHREWSBURY TOOK IN 
 THE SHAYS' REBEI.I.ION. 
 
 Daniel Shay.s had a strong following in Shrews- 
 bury — in numbers. The regulators, as the Shays' men 
 were called, controlled the action of the town with ir- 
 resistible majorities ; but its two most eminent citizens. 
 Gen. Artemas Ward and Col. Job Gushing, were con- 
 spicuous by pronounced opposition, and had entered on 
 the town-records, where one may read it to- day, their 
 protest against the insurrectionary proceedings of the 
 town adopted at a town-meeting in 1786. Wisdom may 
 have been with the minority, but the men who took 
 up arms with Shays were not unprincipled and aban- 
 
SHREWSBURY. 
 
 799 
 
 cloned wretches of the criminal class, and it was not 
 for nothing that they took up arms. Shays himself, 
 as well as Ward and Cashing, was a veteran of the 
 Eevolutionary War, and so also were every one of his 
 captains, so far as I have been able to ascertain. Adam 
 Wheeler, of Hubbardston, who in Shays' absence 
 acted in this county as commander of the regulators, 
 was a captain of the Continental Line and deacon of 
 the Congregational Church in Hubbardston. He was 
 born in Shrewsbury and was the great-great-grandson 
 of the famous Captain Thomas Wheeler, of the Indian 
 fight at Brookfield in 1675, and the great-grandson of 
 Thomas Wheeler, the younger, also a hero of the same 
 fight, who, himself severely wounded there, rescued his 
 more severely wounded father from the Indians, who 
 were about to dispatch him, threw him upon the horse 
 of the slain Shadrach Hapgood, and with his father 
 escaped by flight. Captain Wheeler, of the Shays' 
 Rebellion, was also on his mother's side a great- 
 grandson of the slain Shadrach, four of whose de- 
 scendants settled in Shrewsbury.' 
 
 The leader of the Shrewsbury regulators was a 
 brother-in-law of Wheeler, having married his sister, 
 and a veteran whom we first met as a boy serving his 
 apprenticeship as a soldier in the French War, and 
 who fought for the independence of his coun(;ry from 
 Lexington to Yorktown — Captain Aaron Smith, and 
 the company which he raised for Shays in Shrews- 
 bury were his foriiier companions-in-arms. They 
 were the identical men who rallied to Lexington and 
 Bunker Hill, Bennington and Saratoga. Their pur- 
 pose was not to overthrow the government, but merely 
 to restrain the courts temporarily from entering up 
 judgments and issuing executions. The people of 
 Shrewsbury were very poor. They had spent their 
 little all for country. Acting under the advice of 
 Governor Bowdoin and influenced by speculating Bos- 
 ton lobbyists, the General Court had laid an enormous 
 tax with a view to pay oft' the public debt. Most of the 
 public creditors were holders of State securities or 
 soldiers' certificates purchased at less than twelve per 
 cent, of their face value. Claims against the bank- 
 rupt citizens of the town were in the hands of lawyers 
 and deputy-sheriff's, who held them under contracts 
 for large percentages if collected. In the year 1784 
 and 1785 about four thousand suits were entered in 
 the courts at Worcester. Lawyers' offices were 
 thronged with suitors, and the neighborhood of them 
 presented the appearance of a public fair. Real and 
 personal property was sold on execution at ruinous 
 prices, nobody having money to buy with at sales. 
 And the jails were crowded with debtors. Only twelve 
 years before exactly the same thing had been done at 
 Worcester — with universal approval — which the regu- 
 lators now attempted. In 1774 about five thousand 
 men, mostly armed, had assembled at Worcester to 
 prevent and did prevent the sitting of the courts, and 
 
 ' See page 786, 
 
 no courts were held for two years. This thtn recent 
 precedent suggested to the distressed people ol Shrews- 
 bury the means of relief from their distresses. 
 
 The first demonstration of the insurgents at Wor- 
 cester, in September, was successful in preventing 
 the sitting of the courts. It was upon this occasion 
 that General Artemas Ward, of Shrewsbury, then 
 chief justice of both the Courts of Sessions and Com- 
 mon Pleas, performed the act which will go to pos- 
 terity as the crowning act of his life. Wheeler's 
 company, which had marched into Worcester on 
 Monday afternoon, September 4, 1786, the day before 
 the courts were to sit, took up quarters in the court- 
 house Mcjnday night, so as to be sure to be in possession 
 when the judges should arrive next morning. Smith's 
 company marched in from Shrewsbury early Tuesday 
 morning, and was deployed and posted as sentries on 
 Court Hill and around the court-house. An im- 
 mense crowd of people had assembled thereabouts. 
 Approaching the court-house, the judges were chal- 
 lenged by an armed sentry at the foot of Court Hill. 
 At the order of his old commander, now chief jus- 
 tice, the sentry recovered his musket, presented arms, 
 and the judges proceeded past him to the court- 
 house. There, upon the broad step at the south en- 
 trance, stood Captain Wheeler and Captain Smith, 
 with drawn swords in their hands, and five soldiers 
 with fixed bayonets. Right well did Artemas Ward 
 know the men he had to deal with. Smith was his 
 near neighbor, and lived on the opposite side to him 
 of the Great Road through Shrewsbury. Wheeler, 
 who was about Ward's age (nearly sixty years), had 
 been his schoolmate in youth, and had formerly been 
 a member of the same church. In his younger days, 
 as a militia captain. Ward had drilled, in left foot ■ 
 and shoulder arms on Shrewsbury Common, the very 
 men now in array against him. Smith and Wheeler 
 had both served under Ward at Cambridge and at 
 the siege of Boston, and long after his retirement as 
 mpjor-general he knew that they had, in humbler 
 rank, endured the hardships of the Revolutionary 
 War like good soldiers to its very close, and had been 
 paid off in Continental paper. And he knew, too, 
 that they were both poor, deeply involved in debt 
 and harassed with suits. 
 
 Proceeding to mount the court-house steps, the 
 further progress of the judges was, by order of Cap- 
 tain Wheeler, ariested by the soldiers, who brought 
 their bayonets to bear directly on the chief justice's 
 breast, so that their points even penetrated his 
 clothes. After a parley, the officers consented to al- 
 low him lo mount the steps and address the crowd. 
 Though Artemas Ward, of Shrewsbury, had been 
 much in public life, he was a man usually of slow 
 and hesitating speech, had rarely taken part in de- 
 bates and had never been accounted an orator. He 
 was a graduate of Harvard College, but, though a 
 judge, he was not a lawyer by profe.-sion. As soon 
 as he had looked his audience in the face there 
 
800 
 
 HISTOKY OF WOKOESTKR COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 seems to have come over him a sort of inspiration, 
 and, with great fluency, fervor and eloquence, he 
 forthwith proceeded to reason witli the i)eople, whose 
 grievances he did not deny upon their mistaken 
 metliod of relief. The newspaper man was not there 
 to report, nor had the speaker in his pocket an extem- 
 poraneous manuscript to privately send to the press, 
 and only by tradition has anj' word of what he said 
 survived the more than hundred years since the 
 event; but more than anything he did say or could 
 say — more than anything the greatest of orators 
 could have said — was the dauntless courage and dig- 
 nity of his conduct as a magistrate,' of which to 
 find a historical parallel you will have to make a far 
 research — reminding one of Horace's " Just and deter- 
 mined man, unshaken in his firmness either by wrath 
 of citizens commanding wrongful things or by ty- 
 rant's frown or raging seas or thunder-bolt of Jove, 
 whom the ruins of a crumbling world would strike 
 undismayed.'' — Carmina, III. 3. But Captain Wheel- 
 er was as unshaken as his old commander, and con- 
 tinued firm in his determination that the judges 
 should not enter the court-house, and they did not. 
 At the conclusion of the chief justice's speech, which 
 had been interrupted by cries "Adjourn without 
 day," the judges retired to the United States Arms, 
 opened court there and adjourned. 
 
 In the last week of November following, Shrews- 
 bury became the rendezvous of all the insurrection- 
 ary forces. 
 
 Rub a dub dub, Rub a dub dub, 
 Tbe Bojprs are coming to town. 
 
 And what with the drumming and fifing, marching 
 and countermarching, tented fields and the ear-split- 
 ting fife of morning reveille breaking slumber, you 
 would have thought it a garrison town. Col. Cush- 
 ing, chairman of the selectmen, had prudently re- 
 moved the town's stock of gunpowder from the pow- 
 der-house and concealed it. The regulators sur- 
 rounded and searched his house, but found neither 
 powder nor selectman. The purpose of this as- 
 sembling of the Shays' men was to prevent the sit- 
 ting of the courts at Worcester on the first Monday of 
 December, and both courts were adjourned to Janu- 
 ary the 23d. The crisis and climax of the rebellion 
 was a week of unprecedented snow-storms ; without 
 blankets, rations, quarters or money, in the public 
 highways of Worcester, in the dead of winter, with 
 the snow three feet deep under foot and more falling, 
 what could the Shays' men do but disperse? It was 
 the weather and the elements that put down the 
 Shays' Rebellion, and not the distracted and ineffi- 
 cient Gov. Bowdoin and his militia, who, before the 
 dispersement of his followers at Worcester, had 
 
 1 McMafiters says be cursed and swore, but an examination of the 
 authorities he cites only shows that in his parley with Captain Wheel- 
 er, before he mounted the steps and commenced his speech to the people, 
 the judge said he did not care a damn for their bayonets. Hist. People 
 of the U. S., Vol. I., p. 307. 
 
 shown their heels to Daniel Shays every time ihey 
 caught ?o much as a glimj)se of him. 
 
 The Governor crowed lustily over his victory, ar- 
 rested great numbers of the rebels and had fourteen 
 of them convicted of treason and sentenced to 
 death. But the Shays men shortly had their in- 
 nings — at the spring election of 1787, when Gov. 
 Bowdoin and his party were overwhelmingly de- 
 feated by the popular vote. In the previous year 
 James Bowdoin had received a large majority of the 
 votes of Shrewsbury ; this year his votes in that town 
 bore the exact ratio of one to five to those for John 
 Hancock, who, after taking his seat as Governor, par- 
 doned all his predecessor's convicts. 
 
 Aaron Smith, of Shrewsbury, like Shays himself, 
 and many of the more prominent of the rebels, 
 went into exile in unknown parts — somewhere out 
 of Massachusetts, doubtless — till alter passage of the 
 amnesty act, when he returned, and spent the re- 
 mainder of his days (not a few) in Shrewsbury. He 
 died May 9, 1825, aged eighty-nine years, and to his 
 last expiring breath gloried in the part he took with 
 Daniel Shays. Less than a year before his death he 
 walked to Worcester to meet his old commander, the 
 Marquis Lafayette, who immediately recognized and 
 greeted him with kisses and embraces, bringing tears 
 into the eyes of all who witnessed the fraternal salu- 
 tation. None of the regulators that I ever heard of 
 ever took the attitude of repentant rebels. Within 
 the recollection of the writer a considerable number 
 of them were still living, among the rest his grand- 
 father Howe, who was no more ashamed of his part 
 in the Shays Rebellion than he was of his part in 
 the Revolutionary War, and God forbid that his 
 grandson should oft'er apologies for him and his com- 
 rades or tell their story otherwise than he told it 
 himself. 
 
 CHAPTER CVII. 
 
 SHREWSBURY— (ro«//««£'a'.) 
 
 THE SL.WEHOLDERS' REBEI,I,ION. 
 
 The news of Sumter taken came to Shrewsbury 
 Saturday, April 12, 1861. Before the people of this 
 town will feel such another shock as this news gave 
 them, generations will come and go. Somehow or 
 other the people of this town, until they heard this 
 news, "had never really believed that the slaveholders 
 actually meant war. When, on the morning of the 
 19th of April, 1775, the post-rider |ust from Lexing- 
 ton Common, on his foaming steed, dashed through 
 Shrew.sbury and rallied her minute-men to arms, it 
 was just what everybody expected, — just what the min- 
 ute-men were for. But when the news of Sumter 
 came to town there were no minute-men listening for 
 rallying cry to arms. Nevertheless, as soon as the 
 
SHKEWSBURY. 
 
 801 
 
 news was duly authenticated, the people of Shrews- 
 bury were just as resolved on what to do as their 
 fathers had been eighty-six years before. And such 
 a perfectly unanimous determination as there was ! 
 When one looked in his neighbor's face he saw^ fight 
 in his eye before he had time to speak. And Shrews- 
 bury, in tills respect, probably did not much differ 
 from other towns. But there is an aspect in which 
 this town seems to me quite unique — different from 
 other towns. In all the other towns that I know of, 
 somebody, taking advantage of the war spirit so sud- 
 denly awakened, started round with an enlistment 
 paper to raise a company and be captain of it. Here 
 patriotic spirit was wholly unalloyed with any taint 
 of self-seeking or personal ambition. Plenty of vol- 
 unteers there were already to enlist as soon as they 
 could find out how to do it and meet somebody will- 
 ing to be an officer and take command of them. 
 
 May 2, 1861, was held in Shrewsbury a war-meet- 
 ing, first of many. At this and subsequent meetings 
 held during the four years of the war, money was ap- 
 propriated to pay volunteers for drilling, to pay for 
 uniforms, to support the families of volunteers, to pay 
 bounties, to bring home the bodies of deceased 
 soldiers, to refund money contributed by citizens for 
 bounties, and for like purposes to the amount of about 
 twenty-lwo thousand dollars. According to the 
 "Record of our Soldiers," kept by the town clerk of 
 Shrewsbury, pursuant to an act of the General Court 
 of 1863 (ch. 65), this town furnished one hundred and 
 forty-seven volunteers. No man was drafted in 
 Shrewsbury during the war, the quotas demanded of 
 the town being filled even before they were demanded, 
 and at the close of the war it was found that the town 
 had furnished twenty men above its requirement. 
 The one hundred and forty-seven volunteers of 
 Shrewsbury enlisted, a few in this regiment and a few 
 in that, the earliest in the Thirteenth Massachusetts. 
 They and their deeds are credited to companies raised 
 in other towns and cities, largely to so-called Worces- 
 ter companies, and the services of our soldiers reflect 
 honor on our neighbors of Worcester and other 
 places. 
 
 If the Shrewsbury volunteers had organized them- 
 selves into two companies and named six of their 
 members for commissions as line oflicers, and one or 
 two more for field or staff commissions, and insisted 
 that they would only enter a regiment with these or- 
 ganizations and commissions, they would have done 
 just what others did, and would have been gladly re- 
 ceived and their requirements granted. Our soldiers 
 might not have accomplished any more towards put- 
 ting down the Rebellion then they did, and the town 
 of Shrewsbury might not be entitled to any more 
 credit or honor on their account than it now is. But 
 what with the exploits of these companies, and their 
 officers, and their promotions, and their record in 
 published reports, letters and official documents, the 
 writer of this history would have found better mate- 
 51 
 
 rial for making a good showing for Shrewsbury in the 
 war than he now can. 
 
 The early officers of the volunteers were mostly 
 taken from the militia. Shrewsbury had no militia 
 company. In 1861, as was natural, a little knowledge 
 of the tactics, such as militia officers were supposed 
 to have, was immensely overestimated. If one could 
 say "Shoulder armsl" with the militia accent, he was 
 accepted as a proper commander to lead a thousand 
 men to an assault upon artillery. It was doubtless 
 from an overestimate of the mystery of the tactics 
 that none of the Shrewsbury volunteers sought posi- 
 tions as officers.' The writer himself, being a native 
 of Shrewsbury, and though not, in 1861, a resident of 
 the town, having inborn in him much of the native 
 modesty of Shrewsbury men, declined a commission 
 as captain. On entering the service in a lower rank, 
 finding the army full of brigadiers not fit for second 
 lieutenants, he plainly saw that he had been too 
 modest. The real difference between the officers and 
 men of the volunteer army of the War of the Rebel- 
 lion was far less than has been commonly supposed. 
 In 1861 two major-generals were wanted from Massa- 
 chusetts, and two noted politicians, both Presidential 
 aspirants, were appointed. They had both figured in 
 the militia, and practiced the militia accent for the 
 manual of arms at the dress parade of militia mus- 
 ters. Such was their preparation to cope with Lee 
 and Jackson. When the President was looking for 
 two men to trust with the fate of his country and the 
 lives of his countrymen, he had much better have 
 looked over those one hundred and forty-seven men 
 from Shrewsbury and made his selection from them 
 than to have looked where and selected what he did. 
 I don't believe that Lee would have bottled one of 
 them up with a great army at Bermuda Hundred, nor 
 that Stonewall would have caught another napping 
 and sent him skedaddling, pell-mell, helter-skelter, 
 head over heels, panic-stricken, out of the Shenan- 
 doah Valley, nor that one would have been the hero 
 of both Big Bethel and Fort Fisher, nor that the 
 other would have both planned and executed the Red 
 River campaign. 
 
 Twenty-nine soldiers of Shrewsbury gave their 
 lives for their country in the War of the Rebellion, 
 to whose memory the town has erected an enduring 
 monument, with their names inscribed thereon, on 
 the Common fronting close upon the public thorough- 
 fare. 
 
 Several natives of Shrewsbury were officers of-rank 
 in the War of the Rebellion, and their services for 
 their country reflect lustre on their native town, 
 though their residence was elsewhere. 
 
 Calvin E. Pratt, of New York, who is the son of 
 
 1 Since this statement, which was based upon examination of the pub- 
 lislted rolls of Massachusetts Volunteers, was in priut I have learned 
 that Will am E. Shaw, of Shrewsbury, served as a second lieutenant in 
 the First North Carolina Volunteers, otherwise called the Thirty-sixth 
 United States Colored Troops, Colonel Edward Beecher. ■ 
 
802 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Mr. Edward A. Pratt, late of this town, was born 
 here in 1827. A practicing lawyer in the city of Kew 
 York in 1861, he laid aside his practice to recruit a 
 regiment and had it all ready for muster in June. 
 As colonel of this regiment, which was the Thirty- 
 first New York Volunteers, he was commissioned June 
 20th to rank as of May 21st. With his command he 
 took part in the first battle of Bull Run ; with it also 
 he served in the Peninsula campaign of 18G2and par- 
 ticipated in the Seven Days' Fight before Richmond. 
 At the battle of Gaines' Mills he was severely wound- 
 ed. He was promoted brigadier-general September 
 13, 1862. General Pratt studied law in Worcester in 
 the office of the late Judge Henry Chapin, was ad- 
 mitted to the bar in this county in 1853 and practiced 
 his profession in Worcester till about a year before 
 the war, when he removed to New York city. He 
 has been for many years and still is a justice of the 
 Supreme Court of the State of New York. 
 
 John Baker Wyman, of Chicago, 111., son of the late 
 Seth Wyman, of Shrewsbury, was born here Novem- 
 ber 18, 1816. He had been engaged in railroad busi- 
 ness for several years and was, at the breaking out of 
 the Rebellion, superintendent of the Illinois Central 
 Railway Company. With the Chicago Light Guard, a 
 military organization of which he was commander, as 
 the nucleus, in the spring of 1861 he recruited the 
 Thirteenth Illinois Infantry and was mustered into 
 the United States service with that regiment as its 
 colonel May 24th of that year. After a series of the 
 most gallant and meritorious services he was killed at 
 the siege of Vicksburg. 
 
 Charles Edward Hapgood, born in Shrewsbury, 
 December 11, 1830, and son of Captain Joab Hap- 
 good, was at the breaking out of the war engaged in 
 mercantile business at Amherst, N. H. He recruited 
 a company for the Fifth New Hampshire Volunteers, 
 and was mustered into service with it October 12, 1861. 
 He served with his regiment till October 14, 1 864, when, 
 on account of severe wounds, he resigned, having been 
 promoted lieutenant-colonel, December 14, 1862, and 
 colonel July 3, 1864. The Fifth New Hampshire was 
 one of the famous regiments of the army of the Poto- 
 mac and did distinguished service. Its first com- 
 mander, Colonel Cross, was killed at Gettysburg July 
 1, 1864. 
 
 Dr. Henry Putnam Stearns, son of the late Asa 
 Stearns, and born in Shrewsbury in 1827, entered the 
 service of the United States April 18, 1861, as surgeon 
 of the First Connecticut volunteers, a three months 
 regiment, and was mustered out August 1st of the same 
 year, when he was appointed surgeon of volunteers 
 and ordered to report to General Grant in the Depart- 
 ment of the West. The next spring he was assigned 
 to duty as Medical Director of the Right Wing of the 
 Array of the Tennessee, was afterwards Inspector of 
 Army Hospitals at St. Louis, also medical director of 
 the general hospitals of the Northern Army of the 
 Mississippi. He was afterwards in the same position 
 
 at Nashville, Tenn., where he remained till the close 
 of war when (August, 1865,) he was mustered out of 
 service with rank of brevet lieutenant-colonel. Dr. 
 Stearns graduated at Yale College in the class 
 of 1853, studied his profession in the medical schools 
 of Harvard and Yale, and also at Edinburg, Scotland, 
 and received his degree as M.D. at Yale in 1855; 
 practiced medicine in Marlborough, Mass., till 1860 
 when he removed to Hartford, Conn., where, with the 
 exception of the period he was in the United States 
 service, he practiced till January, 1874, when he wax 
 appointed superintendent of the Hartford Retreat for 
 the Insane, which position he still holds. He has also 
 been lecturer on insanity in the medical department 
 of Yale College since 1877. 
 
 Charles Grosvenor Ward, who was the son of the 
 venerable Thomas W. Ward, Esq., and born in Shrews- 
 bury December 30, 1829; was mustered into the ser- 
 vice of the LTnited States September 2, 1861, as second 
 lieutenant in the Twenty-fourth Massachusetts Vol- 
 unteers, the favorite regiment of the city of Boston, 
 where he had resided for some years previous. He 
 was promoted first lieutenant June 27, 1863, and as- 
 signed to duty as adjutant of his regiment. After 
 participating unharmed in sixteen of the great battles 
 of the war and without having ever received any pro- 
 motions at all commensurate with his long and meri- 
 torious service, he was killed in the battle of Drury's 
 Bluff May 11, 1864. His name is on the soldiers' 
 monument. 
 
 All the above, except Colonel Wyman, were about 
 the writer's age and companions of his youth, and 
 he takes pride in this opportunity for brief memorial 
 here of their honorable and patriotic services. He 
 will leave to others to recount his own humble eflbrts 
 to save his country. He cannot claim to reflect 
 honor upon his native town by high rank or great 
 exploits, and it would be presumptuous to name him- 
 self in a list of natives of Shrewsbury who performed 
 distinguished service.' 
 
 CHAPTER CVIII. 
 
 SHREWSBURY— (a'»//«?/(?fl'.) 
 
 AGRICUI,TURE— THE STAGE BUSINESS — THE T.A.NNING 
 AND CURRYING BUSINESS. 
 
 Agriculture hasalwaysbeen the leading industry 
 of the people of Shrewsbury. According to tradi- 
 tion, or, perhaps, it were better to say according to 
 the btst information that can be obtained from liv- 
 ing men as to what their grandfathers told them, 
 
 1 Major Harlow recruited a company in 1861, in Spencer, Mass., 
 where lie was then practicing law, for the Twenty-first MasBachnsettfl 
 Volunteers, with which he was mustered into the United States ser- 
 vice, and participated with that regiment in its engagements at Roa- 
 noke Island, New Berne, Camden Court House, second Bull Run, 
 Chantilly, South Mountain, .\ntietam, and Fredericksburg.— Editor. 
 
SHREWSBURY. 
 
 803 
 
 which covers a period of more than one hundred 
 years, most of the lauds now in use for pasture and 
 tillage was cleared of wood before the Revolu- 
 tionary War and then used for pasture and 
 tillage. In the earliest times all meadows whicli, 
 without improvement or any kind of tilling, pro- 
 duced grass, though of the coarsest quality, were con- 
 sidered " valuable," and farmers often bad a few acres 
 of " valuable meadow '' quite remote from their 
 farms. These meadows, to begin with, were generally 
 free from wood, or, at any rate, from large trees, and 
 the quantity of natural meadow was much increa.sed 
 and a much better kind of hay produced by bringing 
 water whenever it could be done, by ditches upon 
 uplands. Down until within the memory of living 
 men, farm products in Shrewsbury were chiefly con- 
 sumed within the town. Families were large and 
 home consumption was large. Nor was there any 
 market t > buy or sell in, nor much money in farmers' 
 pockets to trade with. But early in the present cen- 
 tury it was discovered by Shrewsbury farmers that, 
 there was a market in Boston for butter, cheese, eggs, 
 chickens, veal and pork, and for beef on the hoof in 
 Brighton, and a class of middle men called drovers 
 and market men, began to pass and repass back and 
 forth from Shrewsbury and the market. From this 
 time farming began to improve. Farmers were not 
 so absolutely destitute of money. There were better 
 tools, better methods of farming, better cattle and 
 better crops, and with industry and economy it was 
 possible for the Shrewsbury farmer to rise a little 
 above the chill penury of the beginners. Rye, oats, 
 Indian-corn and hay were the chief crops. Apple- 
 trees were planted at the very outset, and, before 
 1776, nearly every farm had its orchard, and if good 
 fruit was not abundant, there was no lack of cider. 
 About 1820 market-wagons began to run regularly 
 every week from Shrewsbury to Boston, and return- 
 ing they hauled for the storekeepers the groceries 
 and dry-goods that they dealt in. This continued till 
 about 1845, when it was found that the town of 
 Worcester was a belter market than Boston as well 
 as much nearer, and everybody could be his own 
 market-man, and so put in his own pocket the com- 
 missions on sales. Before the use of coal became 
 common in Worcester, the Shrewsbury farmer had 
 a near and growing market for wood as fuel, and be- 
 fore the great forests of Canada and the.we=t were 
 connected by rail with the east, the demand of Wor- 
 cester ior Shrewsbury lumber was beyond the supply. 
 But times in recent years, with the Shrewsbury 
 farmer have greatly changed, and there is but one 
 farm product in respect to which he is not obliged 
 to compete with producers of remote States. On ac- 
 ciunt of its quickly perishable nature, milk, which 
 is in demand the year round, is in no danger of re- 
 mote competition. It is to-day the chief product 
 that goes to market from Shrewsbury farms. Except 
 milk, and possibly apples, of which in alternate 
 
 years the orchards of Shrewsbury produce a large 
 quantity and of famous quality, I do not suppose 
 there is any other farm product of sufficient amount 
 to supply more than the home market. 
 
 In recent years the salable value of farm lands in 
 Shrewsbury has been steadily diminishing, and, in 
 fact, they cannot be sold at all. Nobody will buy 
 and many want to sell. There is not, probably, a 
 farm in the town that would sell for enough to pay the 
 cost of the buildings and fences standing on it. The 
 reasons are not far to seek. " To diversify industry " 
 the manufactures of Massachusetts have been so fa- 
 vored at the expense of agriculture that the natives of 
 Shrewsbury have been enticed away from the homes 
 and occupations of their fathers to enter shops. The 
 " home markets " which the cities and manufactur- 
 ing centres of the State are reputed to furnish, are 
 flooded with the farm products of other States, and 
 the Shrewsbury farmer has to p.ay tribute not only to 
 other occupations for every article of clothing he 
 wears and every tool that he uses, but even for farm 
 products CO farmers of sunnier climes and more fer- 
 tile soils than his own living within his own country. 
 Not a pound of sugar or rice can he buy without 
 paying the fiivored growers of these necessities of 
 life double pricts. Protection /or everybody else's 
 products and free trade against his have ground the 
 Shrewsbury farmer like upper and nether millstones, 
 and no wonder he wants to sell his farm and no 
 wonder nobody wants to buy it. 
 
 In 1800 was formed in Shrewsbury a Farmers' Club, 
 for the purpose of promoting the best methods of 
 farming. The club holds occasional meetings in the 
 winter season for discujsion of agricultural topics, and 
 its annual cattle shows, held in October, have become 
 lamous and the favorite resoit of the people of neigh- 
 boring towns. In 181.5 was formed in Shrewsbury a 
 like association, called the Agricultural Associates of 
 Shrewsbury, and the next year another, with the 
 name of the Agricultural Associates of Worcester, 
 was formed in Worcester. In 1818 the two societies 
 were merged in a county society and incorporated 
 under the name of the Worcester Agricultural Society, 
 which directly took and has ever since maintained a 
 prominent position in the esteem, not only of the 
 farmers, but of all the people of Worcester County of 
 whatever occupation. 
 
 Of other branches of business, such as the manu- 
 facture of guns, of watches and of boots and shoes, 
 which, to some extent never large, was formerly car- 
 ried on here, the limits of this work do not admit of 
 more specific mention. But I cannot omit some brief 
 account of the famous stage business, whose founder 
 and manager lived here, and with Shrewsbury as his 
 headquarters, carried it on to places far remote ; nor 
 of the tanning and currying business which, begun 
 here in an humble way more than a century ago, has 
 grown to a very extensive business. 
 
 Captain Levi Pease, the founder of stage business 
 
804 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 in this country, moved from Boston to Shrewsbury in 
 1793. He was a son of Nathauiel Pease, born at 
 Enfield, Conn., in 1739, and was by trade a black- 
 smith. His father was a sailor, and reported to have 
 been lost at sea. His mother married a second 
 husband, named Parsons, after which her first hus- 
 band returned. After one glance at the situation 
 Nathaniel Pease went off to sea, and was never 
 heard of at Enfield again. Levi's title as captain 
 was earned in the Continental line. At the begin- 
 ning of the Revolutionary War he was living at 
 Blandford, Mass. He served with General Thomas 
 in Canada, and later with General Wordsworth in 
 the Commissary Department, — often employed in 
 perilous enterprises, to bear dispatches and obtain 
 supplies, — a resolute and tireless man, up early and 
 down late. After the war he kept a tavern for some 
 years at Somers, Conn. Afterwards he kept the 
 Lamb in Boston, whence he removed to Shrewsbury, 
 where he bought the tavern stand of Major John 
 Farrar. 
 
 But more than ten years before Captain Pease 
 came here, he had projected and was running a stage 
 line from Boston to Hartford. Farrar's Tavern in 
 Shrewsbury had been from the beginning a night stop- 
 ping-place on the line, and after becoming familiar 
 with his route, he selected it as the best point from 
 which to operate his business. He took into partnership 
 with him a young native of Somers named Reuben 
 Sykes, who was also a blacksmith. No man of capi- 
 tal would invest a dollar with Pease and Sykes in 
 their visionary stage line. Said a solid man of Bos- 
 ton to Captain Pease : " The time may come when a 
 stage line to Hartford will pay, but not in your day." 
 The partners commenced business with an outfit of 
 eight horses and " two convenient wagons," and 
 their first trip was performed October 20, 1783. 
 Pease drove one wagon from the Lamb, Tavern in 
 Boston at six o'clock Monday morning, and reached 
 Hartford on Thursday ; and Sykes drove the other, 
 leaving Hartford at the same time, and arriving also 
 in Boston in four days. Two of the night stopping- 
 places were Farrar's, in Shrewsbury, and Pease's, in 
 Somers. The other — when Tuesday night they met — 
 was at Rice's, in Brookfield. And they ran in fair 
 weather and in foul, in mud and in snow, passengers 
 or no passengers, punctual as the stars in their 
 courses. In two years this stage line was a great 
 success, and was extended to New York. In 1786 
 Pease and Sykes established a line of stages from 
 Portsmouth to Savannah, and carried the mails. 
 They also had, for several years, an exclusive con- 
 tract with the government to carry the malls for all 
 New England, re-letting to numerous others, who 
 on branch lines collected and distributed the mails. 
 It was Pease and Sykes that made punctual as the 
 mail a proverb. 
 
 Captain Pease learned his punctuality in one les- 
 son, and his teacher was George Washington, who. 
 
 when he was at Cambridge in 1776, wanted to buy a 
 pair of horses, and made an appointment with Pease, 
 who had a pair of horses to sell. Pease was a few 
 minutes too late for the appointment, and Washing- 
 ton did not wait for him. It was the last time Levi 
 Pease ever got left. 
 
 The founder of stage lines was also the first pro- 
 jector of turnpikes. Of all the many companies 
 chartered in Massachusetts about the beginning of 
 this century to build turnpikes, it was the First Blas- 
 sachusetts Turnpike Corporation whose charter (1796) 
 was to Levi Pease and his associates, authorizing 
 them to build a turnpike through Palmer and West- 
 ern.' He put in his earnings and savings, and made 
 a good road where there was a very bad one; but the 
 turnpike never paid, and in consequence of his in- 
 vestments in its stock Captain Pease died a poor 
 man. But he lived and ran his stages many years. 
 His death took place in Shrewsbury January 28, 
 1824, and his age was eighty-four years. His honor 
 and integrity, which were as famous as his punc- 
 tuality, were inborn, and therein Washington him- 
 self could have taught him nothing. Often in the 
 army, often in his business as tavern-keeper and 
 stage-driver trusted with uncounted money, the trust 
 was sacredly inviolate. 
 
 For many years four stages a day, two going east 
 and two going west, passed through Shrewsbury on 
 the Great Road. In 1806 the Worcester Turnpike 
 Association was chartered to build a turnpike from 
 Worcester to Roxbury. Its course was as straight as 
 possible, and ran through the south part of Shrews- 
 bury. After its completion in 1808, four stages — two 
 each way also — ran daily on the turnpike. Another 
 turnpike, having Shrewsbury for one of its termini, 
 and Amherst for the other — the Sixth Massachusetts 
 — sometimes called the Holden Turnpike — was built 
 in 1800. A line of stages also ran daily on this turn- 
 pike. Both of these turnpikes were abandoned many 
 years ago by the corporations that built them, and 
 were laid out by the county commissioners as high- 
 ways. 
 
 Col. Nymphas Pratt, whose father, Capt. Seth Pratt, 
 was the founder of the tanning and currying business 
 in Shrewsbury, was born April 5, 1786, in the old 
 house owned by Henry Harlow, standing near the 
 brick house in which he lives. The tannery was on 
 the south side of the road opposite the houses, and 
 was sold in 1796 with the old house then comjiara- 
 tively new, and about twenty-two acres of land, by 
 Capt. Pratt to the writer's grandfather, Thomas Har- 
 low, who came from Duxbury, when he was twenty-one 
 years old, to buy it, and paid $1000 for it. Here was 
 the place where, and Seth Pratt was the man by whom 
 the tanning business was begun in Shrewsbury. After 
 sale of his tannery he moved to Barre, dammed the 
 Ware River, built woolen-mills and founded the vil- 
 
 1 Chnnged to Wiirren. 
 
SHREWSBURY. 
 
 805 
 
 lage of Barre Plains. Deacon Thomas Harlow, who 
 was a farmer as well as tanner, carried on the tannery 
 for nearly fifty years in connection with his farm, 
 which he bought piece by piece of his neighbors. 
 
 Col. Pratt, Capt. Seth's son (military titles both de- 
 rived from militia commissions), about the year 1810 
 built a new tannery in the Loner Village in Shrews- 
 bury, where the business or the currying branch of it 
 has been continued to tlie present day. Here Col. 
 Pratt did the business, both tanning and currying, till 
 from a small beginning it grew into a very large and 
 prosperous one, and the owner of it became a man of 
 great influence and was accounted to possess immense 
 wealth. People said he was worth one hundred thou- 
 sand dollars, which sounded bigger than a million 
 does now. Col. Pratt was one of the principal foun- 
 ders of the Citizens' Bank in Worcester, incorporated 
 in 1836 with a capital stock of $250,000, and was its 
 first president. In 1839 he failed in business and this 
 bank, which had discounted a large amount of his 
 paper, was a heavy loser. But the failure of Col. 
 Pratt was due cot so much to his own business as a 
 tanner and currier as to his courageous and honorable 
 though rash attempt to sustain through such a financial 
 crisis as that of 1837-40, the firm of S. H. Allen & Co., 
 of which the partners were his son, William Pratt, 
 who was a lawyer and lived in Worcester, and his 
 son-in-law, Simon Hapgood Allen, who was the active 
 manager of the firm business and lived in Shrews- 
 bury. The business of this firm, which was formed 
 in 1833 and carried on at the brick store in the Lower 
 Village in Shrewsbury, was mainly the manufacture 
 of ready-made clothing. Mr. Allen may be said to 
 have been the founder of the ready-made clothing 
 business. The firm employed a large force of tailors, 
 who cut out the garments, which were taken home and 
 sewed by women at their houses. Many of the sales 
 of the firm were on credit at places far remote — in the 
 South and West. In such a crisis as that of 1837 no 
 wonder the firm failed. If Col. Pratt had allowed 
 this firm to go down into its inevitable bankruptcy, 
 probably he might have saved himself and his own 
 proper business. 
 
 Upon the winding up of Col. Pratt's affairs in 
 bankruptcy, Lucius H. Allen, who was his foreman, 
 bought of his assignees the tanning business, and 
 continued to carry it on till 1862, and Jonathan H. 
 Nelson and Thomas Rice, who had learned the trade 
 of curriers in Col. Pratt's shop, took the currying 
 business. With no capital except their trade to be- 
 gin business with, by industry, laboring untiringly 
 with their own hands they, by degrees, built up a 
 very large and profitable business. In 1862 Mr. 
 Allen, who had also done a large and profitable busi- 
 ness, sold out to Nelson & Rice his tannery. Dur- 
 ing the war the business of this firm became enor- 
 mous and its profits immense — many times exceed- 
 ing anything that Col. Pratt had ever done or 
 dreamed of. Mr. Nelson died in 1872, leaving a 
 
 large estate, and his partner, Mr. Rice, has recently 
 died, leaving, doubtless, a much larger. The busi- 
 ness is still carried on by Mr. Charles O. Green, who, 
 after the death of Mr. Nelson, was associated with 
 Mr. Rice as partner. Col. Pratt, Mr. Allen, Mr. 
 Nelson and Mr. Rice were all men of public spirit, 
 and deeply interested in all that concerned the town 
 of Shrewsbury and the Congregational parish ; and 
 they were, all of them, honored with the public 
 trusts of selectmen and representatives to the Gen- 
 eral Court. Mr. Rice was also, in 1869, a member 
 of the Massachusetts Senate, and, having been for 
 many years a director of the First National Bank of 
 Worcester and president of the Northborough Na- . 
 tioual Bank, he had an extensive acquaintance 
 among business men. 
 
 CHAPTER CIX. 
 
 SHREWSBURY— (ro«//««ca'.) 
 
 THE MEDICAL PROFESSION — GRADUATES OF COL- 
 LEGES — PUBLIC EDUCATION. 
 
 The first physician in Shrewsbury was Dr. Joshua 
 Smith, 1719-56, who practiced here from about 1840 
 till his death. He held the offices of town clerk, 
 selectman and assessor for several years, and speci- 
 mens of his elegant chirography are preserved in 
 the town archives. But he set the example, followed 
 by so many of his successors, of cavilling at sound 
 doctrine, and Deacon Isaac Stone laid a complaint 
 before the brethren of the church " that y° sd. 
 Smith was defective in y" fundamental article of 
 original sin." And therefore a committee of three 
 Orthodox divines was appointed to discourse with 
 him. Now, Dr. Smith was son-in-law of Rev. John 
 Prentice, of Lancaster, and brother-in-law of Rev. 
 Job Cushing, of Shrewsbury, and I strongly suspect 
 that the ecclesiastical discipline of Dr. Smith was 
 aimed less at him than at his kindred by marriage, 
 whose defectiveness upon the Calvinistic fundamen- 
 tals Deacon Stone did not choose to directly attack. 
 All the same, to argue original sin against three 
 learned divines all at once was nuts for " ye sd. 
 Smith,'' who according to tradition, unhorsed his 
 antagonists as completely as he had his neighbor, 
 the deacon. 
 
 Dr. Zachariah Harvey, who lived in "Shrewsbury 
 Leg," now a part of Sterling, pi'acticed here from about 
 1740 to 1750, when he removed to Princeton, and was 
 directly chosen there moderator, clerk, selectman, 
 assessor and delegate to the General Court. He is 
 said to have been the introducer of the Harvey apple. 
 
 Dr. Edward Flint, 1733-1818, came here from Con- 
 cord about 1756, shortly after Dr. Smith's death. 
 Besides his service in the French War, elsewhere 
 mentioned, he also served as an army surgeon in the 
 
806 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Revolutionary War. He was a famous doctor, had a 
 large practice, and lived where Mr. George H. Harlow 
 and his wife, who is Dr. Flint's grand-daughter, now 
 lives. He was several years town clerk and one of the 
 selectmen. His son. Dr. Austin Flint, 1700-1850, born 
 here, practiced in Leicester many years and rose to 
 eminence in his profession. At the age of seventeen 
 years he enlisted iu the Revolutionary War, marched 
 to Bennington and served till the close of the war. 
 Dr. John Flint, 1779-1809, another son of Dr. Edward 
 and a native of this town, practiced in Petersham. 
 
 Of Rev. Ebenezer Morse's practice as a physician 
 mention has already been made. His son, Dr. Elia- 
 'kim Morse, 1759-1840, also practiced in the North 
 Parish. 
 
 Dr. Amariah Bigelow, born here 1757, also practiced 
 in the North Parish. 
 
 Dr. Samuel Crosby, born here 1732, lived on " Boston 
 Hill," in the southeast part of the town, and practiced 
 here till the Revolutionary War, when he entered the 
 Continental service as an army surgeon. After the 
 war he removed to Winchendon. 
 
 Dr. Paul Dean came here from Franklin about 1790 
 with his father. Captain Ebenezer Dean, who settled 
 in the southeast part of the town on the place after- 
 wards known as the Balch Dean Place, so called after 
 Captain Ebenezer's nephew, who lived and died there 
 within the memory of the present generation. Here 
 in 1792, when the small-pox appeared in town, Dr. 
 Dean opened a hospital, where people resorted to be 
 inoculated and treated for that malady. He was a 
 musician, taught singing-schools and led the church 
 choir. After practicing here some years he went South 
 and never returned. 
 
 Dr. Silas Wheelock, 1769-1817, came here from 
 Northbridge about 1800, and practiced till his death. 
 He lived on the place now owned by Mr. Lewis E. 
 Colton, whose wife was Dr. Wheelock's grand-daugh- 
 ter. He had the reputation of a skillful physician 
 and surgeon. 
 
 Dr. Seth Knowlton, 1781-1832, a native of Shrews- 
 bury whom we have seen leading the heretical revolt 
 of 1821, practiced here about thirty years. He was a 
 man of strong intellect and great influence in the 
 town, and he was noted as much for his positive opin- 
 ions and his ability to maintain them against all op- 
 posers as he was for his skill as a surgeon and physi- 
 cian. He built and lived in the house where his suc- 
 cessor. Dr. Adolphus Brigham, afterwards lived. 
 
 Dr. William Workman (Harvard College, 1825), 
 came to Shrewsbury about 1826, and continued in 
 practice here till about 1830, when he removed to 
 Worcester, where he became eminent in his profession 
 and had a large practice. 
 
 Dr. Azor R. Phelps practiced here from about 1835, 
 to 1843, when he died. He lived in the house now 
 owned by Mr. Lcander Ware, and was proprietor'of 
 Phelps' Arcanum, once a famous panacea. 
 
 Dr. Adolphus Brigham came here from Marl- 
 
 borough in 1827, lived in the house built by Dr. 
 Knowlton, on Grafton Street, and succeeded to his 
 practice. He was, in his time, "the Doctor of Shrews- 
 bury," and his practice extended to adjoining towns. 
 A good man, and well skilled, both as a surgeon and 
 physician, he had the respect and confidence of all 
 who knew him, and died much lamented. 
 
 Dr. Alonzo Smith came here from Vermont about 
 1834. In 1837 be returned to Vermont and died there. 
 
 Dr. John Heard came here in 1847, and remained 
 about a year. 
 
 Dr. Joel B. Fay came from Northbridge about 1850, 
 and practiced here till his death, in 1860. He lived 
 in the house now the congregational parsonage. 
 
 Dr. Dean Towne practiced here from about 1840 to 
 18.'i0, when he removed to Worcester. 
 
 Dr. Frederick A. Jewett, who moved from Alding- 
 ton to this town in 1859, practiced here till 1870, 
 whep he removed to Grafton. 
 
 Dr. John T. Wetherbee, a native of Marlborough, 
 came here from California in 1860, and continued in 
 practice till 1863, when he entered the United States 
 naval service as acting assistant surgeon. He died 
 after a brief term of service on board the United 
 States ship "Currier," in the Gulf of Mexico, and his 
 name is on the Soldiers' Monument. 
 
 Dr. Emerson Warner practiced here from 1863 to 
 1865, when he removed to Worcester, where he still 
 lives and has a large practice. 
 
 Dr. Franklin Whiting Brigham, born here in 1841, 
 and son of Dr. Adolphus, studied his profession at 
 Harvard Medical School, and, after serving two years 
 as acting assistant surgeon in the United States navy, 
 settled here in 1865, and remains in practice. He 
 lives in the same house, built by Calvin R. Stone, 
 where his'predecessor. Dr. Warner, lived. 
 
 Dr. Jeremiah C. Foster, who was an army surgeon 
 in the United States volunteer service during the 
 Rebellion, settled here in 1867. In 1873 he removed 
 to Barre, and died there. 
 
 Dr. J. C. Coburn came here in 1878 and remained 
 till 1880, when he removed to Brooklyn, Conn. 
 
 Dr. George L. Tobey practiced here from 1879 to 
 1880, when he removed to Lancaster. 
 
 Dr. Charles Sumner Pratt, a native of Shrewsbury, 
 and son of the late Nathan Pratt, Jr., opened an 
 ofl3ce here in 1879 in the "Old Store Block," and re- 
 mains in ijractice. He is a graduate of the Medical 
 Department of Michigan University. 
 
 The following natives of Shrewsbury have been 
 graduates of colleges : 
 
 Rev. Jacob Gushing, 1730-1809 (Harvard College, 
 1748), son of Rev. Job Gushing, was settled in Wal- 
 tham. In 1807 Harvard conferred on him the degree 
 of D.D. 
 
 Rev. John Gushing, 1737-1823 (Harvard College, 
 1764), another son of Rev. Job Gushing, was settled 
 in Ashburnham. He also received (1822) the degree 
 of D.D. from Harvard. 
 
SHRBWSBUKY. 
 
 807 
 
 Eev. Lemuel Hedge, 1734-77 (Harvard College, 
 1759), son of Elisha Hedge, who came to this town 
 from Boston about 1730, and built a mill-dam and 
 grist-mill, called in later times Harlow's Mills, after a 
 successive owner, and removed to Hardvvick in 1738, 
 was settled in Warwick. He was the father of Pro- 
 fessor Levi Hedge, over thirty years an instructor in 
 Harvard College, and grandfather of the eminent Rev. 
 Dr. Frederick H. Hedge, of Cambridge. 
 
 Eev. Nehemiah Parker, 1742-18U1 (Harvard Col- 
 lege, 1763), sou of Stephen Parker, who came here 
 from Roxbury in 1740 or sooner, was the first settled 
 minister in Hubbardston. 
 
 Rev. Isaac Stone, 1748-1837 (Harvard College, 
 1770), son of Deacon Jonas Stone, was settled in 
 Douglas. 
 
 Rev. Frederick Parker, 1762-1802 (Harvard Col- 
 lege, 1784), son of Amos Parker, who removed from 
 Lexington to this town about 1763, was settled in 
 Canterbury, N. H., where, in the midst of his ser- 
 vices as minister on a Sunday, he fell dead in his 
 pulpit. 
 
 Rev. Aaron Crosby, 1744-1824 (Harvard College, 
 1770), son of Samuel Crosby, who lived on " Boston 
 Hill," and was one of the first comers to Shrewsbury, 
 was settled in Dummerston, Vt. Before his settle- 
 ment there he had spent several years as a missionary 
 among the Indians. 
 
 Rev. Otis Crosby, 176G-95 (Dartmouth College, 
 178G), nephew of the preceding and son of Dr. Sam- 
 uel Crosby, was called to settle at (Jloucester, Me., 
 but died before ordination. 
 
 Rev. Samuel Sumner, 1765-1836 (Dartmouth Col- 
 lege, 1786), son of Rei?. Dr. Joseph Sumner, was first 
 settled in Southborough, and afterwards at Bakers- 
 field, Vt. 
 
 Professor Benjamin Stone, 1756-1832 (Harvard Col- 
 lege, 1776), son of Jasper Stone, was the first precep- 
 tor of Leicester Academy, subsequently also of West- 
 ford Academy. Later in life he returned to this 
 town, and died here. 
 
 Colonel Benjamin Heywood, 1746-1816 (Harvard 
 College, 1775), son of Phineas Heywood, who came 
 here from Concord about 1739, and lived in the 
 northwest corner of Shrewsbury, where some of his 
 descendants still live, served through the Revolu- 
 tionary War, in all ranks from captain to colonel, 
 and was a justice of the Worcester County Court of 
 Common Pleas, 1802-11. He was father of the late 
 Dr. Benjamin F. Heywood, of Worcester. 
 
 Rev. Wilkes Allen, 1775-1845 (Harvard College, 
 1801), son of Elnathan Allen, was settled 1803 at 
 Chelmsford, and dismissed, at his request, 1832 ; 
 after which he removed to Andover, and died there. 
 
 Xithan Goddard, 1746-1795 (Harvard College, 
 1770), son of Benjamin Goddard, was a lawyer, and 
 practiced his profession in Shrewsbury, Newbury, 
 Vt., and Framingham. 
 
 Hon. Calvin Goddard, 1768-1842 (Dartmouth Col- 
 
 lege, 1786), — and so classmate of Rev. Samuel Sum- 
 ner and Rev. Otis Crosby, before mentioned, — was 
 son of Daniel and grandson of Edward Goddard, 
 went from this town to Connecticut to practice his 
 profession, the law; settled first at Plainfield, but 
 afterwards removed to Norwich, where he rose to 
 eminence at the bar and in public office. He was 
 seventeen years mayor of Norwich and twice (1801 
 and 1803) elected to Congress. And he was chosen 
 by the Connecticut Legislature, and served as a dele- 
 gate to the Hartford Convention, 1814. In 1815 he 
 was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court. In 1818 
 resigned his office as judge to resume practice of the 
 law. 
 
 General Arteraas Ward, 1727-1800 (Harvard Col- 
 lege, 1748), was son of Colonel Nahum Ward. Be- 
 sides the high civil and military offices which he 
 held (to which reference has been made elsewhere), 
 he received from his fellow-townsmen almost every 
 mark of trust and honor they had to bestow. He 
 was sixteen times elected Representative to the Gen- 
 eral Court. In the year of the Shays' Rebellion, 
 being defeated as a candidate for Representative by 
 Captain Isaac Harrington, an ardent Shays' man, 
 General Ward ever afterwards refused to be a candi- 
 date for any office in Shrewsbury, but he was next 
 year and twice afterwards elected to Congress. 
 
 Hon. Artemas Ward, 1762-1746 (Harvard College, 
 1783), son of General Artemas, commenced practice 
 of law in 1785 at Weston, but afterward removed to 
 Charlestown, and while there was several times 
 elected a member of the Governor's Council. He 
 next removed to Boston, and was thence elected to 
 Congress. In 1820, on organization of the Court of 
 Common Pleas as a State Court, he was appointed 
 chief justice, and held the office till 1839, when he 
 resigned it. 
 
 Henry D. Ward, 1768-1817 (Harvard College, 1791), 
 another son of Gen. Arteraas, settled in practice of 
 the law at Charleston, S. C. He died at Middletown, 
 Conn. 
 
 Andrew H. Ward, 1784-1857 (Harvard College, 
 1808), grandson of Gen. Artemas and son of Thomas 
 W. Ward, who was about twenty years sheriff of 
 Worcester County, practiced law at Shrewsbury from 
 1811 to 1829, when he removed to Boston. He after- 
 ward removed to Newton and died there. In 1826 
 he published in the Worcester Magazine a, '^History 
 of Shrewsbury." But this is not the work commonly 
 known as Ward's History, which, published in 1847 
 by Mr. Ward, is chiefly valuable for its family 
 register. 
 
 Rev. Henry Dana Ward, 1797-1885 (Harvard Col- 
 lege, 1816), was another son of Sheriff Ward. After 
 his graduation he remained some time at Cambridge 
 as scholar of the house, but was not settled as a min- 
 ister till 1845, when he was ordained over the Epis- 
 copal Church in Portsmouth, Va. It was he whom 
 we met before in connection with the dismissal of 
 
808 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Rev. George Allen and the law-suit that followed it. 
 Mr. Ward was buried with his ancestors in the family 
 lot in this town. 
 
 David Brighham, 1786-1843 (Harvard College, 
 1810), son of David Brigham, Sr., was a lawyer and 
 practiced in New Braintree, Leicester, Greenfield, 
 Shrewsbury and Fitchburg. From the latter place 
 he removed to Iowa and died there. 
 
 David T. Brigham, 1806-69 (Amherst College, 1828), 
 son of Edmund T. Brigham and nephew of the pre- 
 ceding, practiced law in Worcester a short time. He 
 removed to St. Louis, Mo., and thence removed to 
 Keokuk, Iowa, where he died. 
 
 Jubal Harrington,1803-77 (Brown University, 1825), 
 son of Fortunatus Harrington, practiced law in Wor- 
 cester. He was an ardent partisan of President 
 Jackson, who appointed him postmaster of Worcester. 
 He left Worcester in the phrase of the times " between 
 two days," and was next heard of in Texas. He died 
 in Columbia, Cal. 
 
 William Pratt, 1806-39 (Brown University, 1825), 
 son of Col. Nymphas Pratt, commenced the practice of 
 law in Shrewsbury. In 1835 he removed to Worces- 
 ter and formed a professional connection with Judge 
 Pliny Merrick. 
 
 Francis Dean, 1804-85 (Brown University, 1826), 
 80n of Francis Dean, Sr., commenced the practice of 
 the law at Southborough in 1830. He afterwards re- 
 moved to Uxbridge, and again to Worcester, where 
 he died. 
 
 Rev. William Addison Houghton (Yale College, 
 1840), came here in his youth from Berlin, and went 
 to college from this town. He was first ordained and 
 settled at Northborough. He afterwards was installed 
 at Berlin, where he still resides. 
 
 Samuel B. Ingersoll Goddard, born here in 1821 
 (Amherst College, 1840), son of Perley Goddard, was 
 admitted to the bar in 1848, and has practiced law in 
 Worcester ever since. 
 
 William Taylor Harlow, born here in 1828, son of 
 Gideon Harlow (Yale College, 1851), has practiced 
 law ' at Spencer, Red Bluff, Cal., and Worcester; was 
 in the United States Volunteer service, 1861-63; an 
 officer of the United States Internal Revenue about 
 eight years, and since 1877 has held the ofiice of as- 
 sistant clerk of the courts for the county of Wor- 
 cester. 
 
 For notice of Dr. Henry P. Stearns (Yale College, 
 185;!), see page 802. 
 
 Rev. Edward Henry Pratt, 1826-78 (Amherst Col- 
 lege, 1853), son of Nathan Pratt, Jr., began to preach 
 at East Woodstock, Conn., and was ordained there in 
 1857. In 1867 he was appointed secretary of The Con- 
 necticut Temperance Union , and devoted the remainder 
 of his life with unsparing self-sacrifice to the cause of 
 temperance. He was brother of Dr. Charles S. Pratt of 
 
 iWitli sucli favor of Iiis jealous mistress as she is wont to bestow on 
 her Toturies who per intervaUa iiUerQite alia pui'suc her. 
 
 this town ; brother also of Rev. George Harlow Pratt, 
 now of Barnstable, born here in 1839, who left Amherst 
 College in 1862, when he was a student in the Sopho- 
 more Class, to enter the United States service,' and 
 who was first settled in the ministry in the town of 
 Harvard ; brother also of William G. Pratt, of 
 New Haven, editor of the iVcw Haven Journal and 
 Courier. 
 
 Rev. Franklin Charles Flint, 1836-76 (Tuft's College, 
 1861), son of Henry H. Flint, was first settled in the 
 ministry at Chatham, next at Sbuthbridge, and again 
 at Attleborough, where he died. 
 
 Rev. Benjamin Angier Dean, born here in 1840 
 (Amherst College, 1862), son of James Dean, after 
 spending several years on the Western frontier in the 
 Home Missionary service, is now preaching at San- 
 bornton, N. H. 
 
 Mollis W. Cobb, 18.56 (Yale College, 1878), son of 
 Albert Cobb, lives in Shrewsbury, but keeps an office 
 and practices his profession as a lawyer at Worcester. 
 He is one of the special Justices of the Central Dis- 
 trict Court of Worcester. 
 
 Florence H. Reed, daughter of Le Roy S. Reed, grad- 
 uated at Wellesley College in 1885, and died in 1887, 
 at Pasadena, Cal., where she had gone in vain pur- 
 suit of health. 
 
 Michael Edward Kelley, son of Kelley, gradu- 
 ated at Harvard College 1888. 
 
 Thomas Rice, son of Aaron B. Rice, graduated, 
 1888, at the Massachusetts Agricultural College. 
 
 In recent ycjirs the number of college graduates 
 has been less than in former times. Without at- 
 tempting to enumerate all the reasons therefor, prob- 
 ably the greatly improved opportunities afforded by 
 the excellent schools of the town for education may 
 be one, and doubtless the higher requirement of 
 American Colleges for admission is another. In the 
 day of Rev. Job Cushing there was no Shrewsbury 
 High School where he could send his sons to be fitted 
 for college, and probably Jacob and John, who both 
 bore off the honors of Harvard, were prepared for 
 admission by their father. 
 
 The original grant to the Shrewsbury proprietors 
 provided for a lot for the school as well as one for 
 the ministry, but the school lot, No. 20, laid out at 
 Rocky Pond, was a worthless parcel of land which 
 nobody wanted, and appears to have been assigned 
 to the school for that very reason. And truth to 
 tell, there can be little doubt that our fathers of the 
 first generation, here in their poverty, and with 
 many burdens resting heavily upon them, did dis- 
 charge their duties as regards public education in 
 rather a perfunctory way — not that they underrated 
 the value of education to their children. Other 
 parents, as well as Mr. Cushing, probably instructed 
 their own children at home, and if they could not, 
 like him, teach the classical tongues, they were mas- 
 
 * In 1872 Amherst gave him the honorary degree of A.M. 
 
SHREWSBURY. 
 
 809 
 
 ters of the three Rs., and competent to transmit to 
 posterity, reading, writing and aritlimetic. 
 
 In the second generation, about the time of parti- 
 tion of the town into two parishes, the whole town 
 was districted — divided into squadrons, as the dis- 
 tricts were at first called, and public schools have 
 ever since been maintained. For more than one 
 hundred years, with only slight interruptions, a sum- 
 mer term for the younger children was kept by a 
 female teacher, and a winter term for the older ones 
 by a " master." These terms varied in duration 
 from six weeks or less, to ten or more. Down until 
 within the memory of people still living, young men 
 and women frequently attended the winter term 
 after they were twenty-one years old. It required an 
 able man to keep a winter school in Shrewsbury in 
 the olden time, and many a man who might have 
 made a good mayor of a city or Governor of a State, 
 failed in the attempt. A successful teacher bore the 
 title of Master for life. The last bearer of the title 
 in this town. Master Nathan Pratt, reputed to have 
 been a model school teacher, both as regards govern- 
 ment and instruction, died in 1847, in his eighty- 
 eighth year. He was grandfather of Rev. Edward 
 H. Pratt and his brothers before-mentioned. I well 
 remember him — a venerable man of very benevolent 
 aspect, much interested in and very kind to chil- 
 dren. 
 
 But in later days the schools of Shrewsbury have 
 undergone considerable changes. The common schools 
 are now taught entirely by female teachers, and with 
 necessary vacations, are kept throughout the year. 
 In respect to appropriations for its schools, to rate of 
 wages paid its teachers and regularity of its scholars' 
 attendance, Shrewsbury ranks high among the 
 towns of the State in the reports of the secretary of 
 the Board of Education. For more than thirty 
 years the town has supported a High School, though 
 not required by law so to do, having never had even 
 the minimum number of families (live hundred), upon 
 which the legal obligation of towns to support such 
 a school rests. In 1883 the town built a handsome 
 and commodious building for its High School. The 
 only fund or source of income which the town has 
 for support of its schools other than an annual tax, 
 is a legacy of one thousand dollars, given by the 
 late Amasa Howe. The "dog fund," so-called, 
 which cannot legally be used for other than for edu- 
 cational purposes, has been for many years applied 
 by a vote of the town to a town library, which con- 
 tains about one thousand two hundred volumes, and 
 is an important educational force in Shrewsbury. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAI.. 
 
 JONATHAN H. NELSON. 
 
 Jonathan H. Nelson, son of Captain Jonathan Nel- 
 son, was born in Shrewsbury April 26, 1812. He 
 
 died May 20, 1872, aged sixty years and twenty-four 
 days. In person he was square built, thick set, with 
 black hair and eyes, of full face and of firm and elas- 
 tic step. From early years he was a lad of industry, 
 of perseverance and high resolve. Fortified against 
 manifold dangers and temptations by the counsel and 
 care of one of the best of mothers, he began his life 
 as an apprentice at the tanner's trade. He and his 
 late partner, the Hon. Thomas Rice, were fellow-ap- 
 prentices in the establishment of Colonel Nymphas 
 Pratt, whose counsels and example proved of great 
 value to their riper years. 
 
 Working more than the hours required, each of 
 these young men accumulated a few hundred dollars. 
 By diligence, industrj', economy, prudence, persever- 
 ance and strict attention to business, these young 
 men won the respect and confidence of the commu- 
 nity. Mr. Nelson and his partner became at length 
 the proprietori of the establishment in which they 
 had been apprentices together, under the firm name 
 of Nelson & Rice. 
 
 Endowed with remarkable energ}' and business 
 tact, vigorous health and strong constitution, and de- 
 voting himself to personal labor daily, as many hours 
 as required of any of their employees, prosperity 
 crowned the establishment. 
 
 Mr. Nelson was a man of truthfulness, of sterling 
 integrity and every way reliable as a manuAxcturer 
 and a man. Having no children, and being strictly 
 temperate and prudent in his habit-, his means 
 increased, his business expanded, and from time to 
 time the manufactory was enlarged. From the com- 
 mencement of the copartnership of the firm, in 1839, 
 his wealth continued to increase, till, several years 
 before his death, he was acknowledged to be the 
 wealthiest man in Shrewsbury. 
 
 It is highly creditable to the firm of which he was 
 the senior partner, that they had been associated in 
 business for a period of forty-two years in all, with 
 the utmost harmony. It is true, when, in 1839, their 
 late copartnership was formed, they entered on a 
 business already established. It is true, as already 
 stated in public, that the business experience and ju- 
 dicious counsel and advice of Colonel Pratt were to 
 them of inestimable value. On some men these 
 would have been lost. 
 
 Something more, however, than the wisdom and 
 counsel of the sagest adviser was requisite to enable 
 these men to carry on successfully a business so ex- 
 tensive as to require, in various stations and services, 
 the daily employment of one hundred and twenty-five 
 men, and yet to maintain such promptnfss in the 
 payment of all bills, that no bill, during the whole 
 copartnership, was ever presented at their office a 
 second time. Yet such, we learn, are the facts. 
 
 With all his devotion to business, Mr. Nelson was 
 eminently a social, genial, condescending man. He 
 was liberal and humane, accommodating, benevolent 
 and kind. He was a constant attendant on the Sab- 
 
810 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 bath services of the sauctiiary, a liberal supporter of 
 the Gospel and a generous contributor to the vari- 
 ous objects presented for benevolent or charitable 
 aid. 
 
 He made the following public bequests : To the 
 Congregational Society, in Shrewsbury, $5000 ; Mas- 
 sachusetts Bible Society, $2000 ; Home Missionary 
 Society, $2000; Society for the Promotion of Colle- 
 giate Theological Education at the West, $1000; 
 American Missionary Association, New York, $1000. 
 
 HON. THOMAS RICE 
 
 was born in Marlboro', Mass., and came to thi^ town 
 when a young man and served as an apprentice to 
 Colonel Pratt, who carried on the business of tanner 
 and currier. Colonel Pratt failed in 18-39, and Mr. L. 
 H. Allen purchased of the assignees the tanning de- 
 partment of the business, and about the same time 
 Mr. Rice, in company with Jonathan H. Nelson, 
 bought out the currying department. For a period of 
 twenty years Mr. Rice and Mr. Nelson carried on a 
 fine growing business, and during the war it increased 
 largely. After the death of Mr. Nelson, in 1872, Mr. 
 Charles O. Green, for several years book-keeper of 
 the concern, was admitted as a partner; the firm-name 
 being Thomas Rice & Co., Mr. Rice remaining head 
 of the firm until his death, which occurred May 29, 
 1888. Mr. Rice was always a public-spirited man ; 
 his town honored him with many oflices of trust — 
 such as selectman, representative — and he was a mem- 
 ber of the State Senate in 1869. For more than half 
 a century the interests of the town were his interests. 
 His time, his money, his counsel were always available 
 for the advancement of the public good. Progress in 
 every direction, education, morality and religion 
 found in him an earnest and steadfast sujjporter. Of 
 a genial disposition he was ever on the watch to do 
 a kindly act or speak a helpful word. He was tor 
 many years a director in the Northboro' Bank and the 
 First National Bank of Worcester, and president of 
 the former at the time of his death; also a director in 
 many other well-known financial institutions. 
 
 As his business and wealth increased he grew in 
 popularity. He built a fine residence where be dis- 
 pensed a generous hospitality. 
 
 Mr. Rice was twice married: for his first wife Caro- 
 line P. daughter of Liberty Allen, of this town; for 
 his second wife he married Ellen A. Lawrence, daugh- 
 ter of the late David B. Lawrence, of Brimfield, Mass. 
 By this union there are two children — Edwin L. and 
 Edith A. 
 
 CHAPTER ex. 
 
 GARDNER. 
 
 BY REV. WHLIAM .S. HE\^VOOD. 
 
 SITUATION, TOPOGEAPHY, SETTLEMENT, INCORPORA- 
 TION, ETC. 
 
 The town of Gardner, which has recently (1885) 
 completed the first century of its corporate existence 
 and duly celebrated the memorable event with appro- 
 priate exercises and festivities, is one of the most en- 
 terprising and prosperous of all those in the county 
 whose annals these pages record. Taking its place 
 in the retinue of Massachusetts municipalities soon 
 after the struggle for American independence, it was 
 characterized at the outset by the spirit that gave 
 birth to the rising republic, and, under the influence 
 of the same spirit, has kept abreast of the advancing 
 civilization of the land down to the present day. 
 During the earlier part of its career, its growth in 
 wealth, population and social standing, in indus- 
 trial, commercial and political importance, though 
 slow and uneventful, was yet sturdy and healthful. 
 But in later years new life and greatly increased 
 vigor have entered into and stimulated its various 
 interests and activities, resulting in a rapid and 
 notable development of its resources, and a highly 
 honorable and gratifying progress in every depart- 
 ment of responsibility and effort within its borders. 
 Its advance for the last decade has been truly remark- 
 able in many aspects of it, and reflects great credit 
 upon those of every class and degree who have in any 
 way contributed to it. Hardly to be reckoned, at this 
 time, as one of the foremost towns of Worcester 
 County in those things which appear to advantage in 
 statistical tables, it yet is excelled, even if it is 
 equaled, by few in general thrift, in durable pros- 
 perity, in the tokens of comfort and happiness that 
 abound on every hand, in the neatness, order and 
 security of its homes, in the harmonious relations 
 which characterize industrial and social life, in means 
 and opportunities of intellectual, moral and religious 
 culture, in public spirit, in the integrity, honor, virtue 
 and happiness of all classes of its population. To 
 sketch the history of such a town, to enter into 
 the details of its genesis and growth, to search out 
 the hidden springs of its unfolding and ever-rising 
 life — to take account of the industry, the self-reliance, 
 the persevering zeal, the unfaltering courage, the 
 high resolve and all the worthy, grand qualities of 
 mind and heart and character to which the existence 
 and prosperous fortunes of such a town bear witness 
 and of which it is the organic and living product and 
 representative, — is a task fruitful not only of instruc- 
 tion, but of satisfaction and delight. To a task like 
 this, the considerate attention of whomsoever it may 
 concern is herein invited. 
 
GARDNER. 
 
 811 
 
 The town of Gardner is situated in the northerly 
 part of the county of Worcester, and belongs to what 
 may be termed the second range or tier of townships, 
 counting from the extreme limits of the county in 
 that direction — the line separating the States of New 
 Hampshire and Massachusetts. It is bounded on the 
 north by Winchendon and Ashburnham, on the east 
 by Ashburnham and \Ve.->tminster, on the south by 
 Westminster, Hubbardston and Templelon, and on 
 the west by Hubbardston, Templetoii and Winchen- 
 don ; or, in a simpler way, northwest by Winchendon, 
 northeast by Ashburnham, southeast by AVestminster, 
 and southwest by Hubbardston and Templeton. The 
 latitude of its Town Hall is 42° 35' north and the 
 longitude 71° 59i' west from Greenwich, or G° Y east 
 from Washington. Its distance from Boston, in a 
 W. N. W. direction, by direct line, is not far from 52 
 miles, and 65 miles by the Fitchburg Railroad ; and 
 from Worcester, in a N. N. W. direction, it is about 
 23 miles by direct line, and 26 miles by railroad. It 
 includes within its boundaries an area of about 
 14,000 acres, or 21 J square miles, of which some 180 
 acres are covered by its several natural lakes and 
 ponds, and probably a larger number by artificial 
 bodies of water. Its highest altitude above the level 
 of the sea (Reservoir Hill) is estimated at 1204 feet, 
 and its lowest (where Otter River crosses its western 
 boundary) at 890 feet. 
 
 Glancing at the natural or physical characteristics 
 of the town, it is to be noted that the surface of its 
 territory is uneven and considerably diversified. 
 Between its lowest and highest points of elevation 
 above sea-level, measuring over 400 feet, an almost 
 unlimited variety of hill and dale, meadow and up- 
 land, lake, river and streamlet, is to be found. At 
 the present day, after more than a hundred years of 
 change and improvement that have transpired since 
 the primeval wilderness prevailed in all the region 
 round about, the town, with its existing proportion 
 of forest and field ; with its well-tilled farms and 
 accordant farm-houses and out-buildings; with its 
 several villages, neat and orderly ; with its many 
 clustering or scattered homes, and the gardens or 
 orchards thereto belonging, some of them costly and 
 elegant, few of them weather-worn, dilapidated and 
 unsightly ; with its manifold manufactories, the hives 
 of productive and remunerative industry ; with all 
 the evidences of competency, thrift and contentment 
 that greet the eye of the observer, presents, from any 
 one of the commanding heights within its borders, a 
 scene of unusual beauty and attractiveness. From 
 such a point of vision, one may journey long and far 
 to look upon a more picturesque and lovely sight 
 than there reveals itself to the eye and mind, turn 
 him whichsoever way he may. All about, near at 
 hand and reaching to the utmost borders of the town 
 and far beyond, are there pictures of surpassing 
 beauty and enchantment ; while in the distance, at 
 the northwest and southeast, rise in silent majesty, 
 
 cleaving the sky and lending grandeur and glory to 
 the view, Mouadnock and Wachusett, 
 
 " Those mountains tliat like giants stand, 
 To sentinel enchanted land." 
 
 Hills. — The natural scenery of the town of Gard- 
 ner is characterized by that constant and continuous 
 variety of surface which relieves it of all tiresome 
 monotony and renders it especially attractive and 
 delightful. Scattered over all the length and breadth 
 of its territory are there considerable elevations of 
 laud, which contribute largely to the beauty of the 
 view and satisfy the demands of the artistic sense. 
 The highest of these rise to an altitude of several 
 hundred feet above the general level, not by abrupt 
 and broken ascents, but by gradual slopes, making 
 them capable of culture and even available for resi- 
 dential uses to the very summit. Indeed, some of 
 them are already dotted with dwellings in every part 
 and others are likely to become so at an early day. 
 These hills took their names originally from their 
 owners or from persons living near them, though in 
 many instances those names have in later years been 
 changed, either by change of ownership or by some 
 other circumstance connected with their history. 
 Their respective altitudes have been ascertained by a 
 series of calculations made under the supervision of 
 Mr. Aaron Greenwood, a skillful and accurate sur- 
 veyor of the place, who assumed as the ba^ia of such 
 calculations the correctness of the figures indicating 
 the elevation of the railroad at given points along the 
 line as fixed by its chief engineer. A few of the 
 more prominent of these natural formations are 
 deemed worthy of mention. 
 
 Glazier Hill is the highest eminence in the town, 
 rising to an altitude of one thousand two hundred 
 and ninety-four feet above sea level and overlooking 
 all the more thickly populated portions of its terri- 
 tory. It stands a little to the northeast of the Cen- 
 tral Village, now almost within its borders, the growth 
 of the place within the last few years having caused 
 the erection of dwellings far up its westerly and 
 southerly sides. Its summit is now occupied by the 
 distributing reservoir of the Gardner Water Com- 
 pany, from which fact it is sometimes called " Reser- 
 voir Hill." 
 
 Bickford Hill or Parker Hill, as it is more recently 
 designated, because owned and occupied for many 
 years by the late Dr. David Parker, is located half a 
 mile southeast of the one just spoken of, in full view 
 from the town Common and quite near the junction 
 of Elm and Temple Streets. It is one thousand two 
 hundred and seventy-seven feet in height, and, like 
 Glazier Hill, commands a fine view of the several 
 villages of the town. It has no buildings upon it 
 and is used for tillage and grazing purposes. 
 
 Howe Hill, rising one thousand two hundred and 
 fifty-six feet above tide-water, is about a mile north 
 of the Common on the easterly side of Kelton Street, 
 
812 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 in the miJst of a district wholly rural and sparsely 
 populated. 
 
 Barber Hill, one thousand two hundred and thirty- 
 nine feet high, is in the southeast part of the town, a 
 little north of the residence of the late Thomas Green- 
 wood. On its easterly slope, one of the earliest set- 
 tlers of the place — Mr. David Nichols, from Read- 
 ing— located, clearing up and cultivating what proved 
 to be one of the best farms in the vicinity. 
 
 Temple Hill stands a short distance southeast of 
 Bickford or Parker Hill, and is one thousand two 
 hundred and twenty-four feet high, while Ray and 
 Gates Hills, in the easterly parts of the town, rise re- 
 spectively to an altitude of one thousand twoliundred 
 and seventeen and one thousand two hundred and 
 fifteen feet. Near the summit of the first of these 
 two are a farm-house and out-buildings, long the 
 residence of Mr. Asa Ray, and a sort of beacon or 
 landmark to a wide region round about. 
 
 Peabody Hill, originally known as Pork Hill, and 
 for a long time as Lynde Hill, from Mr. Wm.S. Lynde, 
 its owner for many years, occupies what is now 
 almost the centre of the more northerly part of the 
 thickly-settled portions of the town. It is one thou- 
 sand one hundred and seventy-six feet above the 
 level of the sea, and is for the most part covered 
 with commodious and tasteful private residences, 
 which have sprung up with marvelous rapidity during 
 the past feyv years. 
 
 Besides these more noticeable and commanding 
 bights, there are Greenwood Hill, in the southwesterly 
 part of Gardner, at the rear of the house of Mr. Ed- 
 ward Greenwood, one thousand one huudred and 
 Bevcnty feet in altitude; Kendall Hill, on the 
 western borders of the South village, originally 
 named Jackson Hill, after Capt. Elisha Jackson, one 
 of the first settlers and one of the most notable and 
 influential of the early citizens of the town, who lo- 
 cated on its southerly side near the top, 1130 feet above 
 sea-level ; Prospect Hill, on the southern side of the 
 same village, formerly known as Wrighfs Hill, tak- 
 ing its name from Mr. Joseph Wright, who came 
 from Sterling and settled upon it, 1129 feet high. 
 Attention is called also to the B. F. Kendall Hill, in 
 the south section of the town, now being used for 
 dwellings ; Cooledge and Bearaan Hills, in the north 
 part; Martin and Brooks Hills, in the west, and Ban- 
 croft Hill, near to Crystal Lake, on the southwest, 
 the easterly side of which was taken up and settled 
 upon by Mr. Jonathan Bancroft, whose name it has 
 perpetuated to this day. 
 
 Lakes and Ponds. — There are in Gardner but 
 few natural bodies of water — those " eyes of the land- 
 scape," as Goethe is reputed to have called them — 
 though there are numerous artificial ones, which give 
 variety and charm to the scenery. Of the former, 
 the one lying to the northwe..t of the Common is 
 largest and most worthy of notice. In the early rec- 
 ords it was called Wells' Pond, though for what rea- 
 
 son has not been asce''tained. For a long time it was 
 known simply as Gardner Pond. A few years ago, 
 however, it was christened Crystal Lake by vote of 
 the town — a name peculiarly appropriate and signifi- 
 cant on account of the purity and clearness of its 
 waters and the mirror-like tranquillity of their surface. 
 Its greatest length is not far from a mile, while its ex- 
 treme width scarcely exceeds half a mile, giving it an 
 estimated area of one hundred and fifty-two acres. 
 It is variously bordered with cultured fields, untamed 
 pastures and groves of maple, oak and pine, sloping 
 gently down to where its murmuring ripples kiss the 
 solid earth, giving it a setting which makes of it a 
 picture of exceeding loveliness and of bewitching 
 charm to every lover of nature and of nature's fairest 
 scenes. The modern cemetery, which is located upon 
 its westerly side, with its granite and marble monu- 
 ments, its exquisitely chiseled memorials of departed 
 loved and honored ones, glittering in the sunlight, 
 while, in a certain way, subduing and chastening the 
 scene, yet, on the whole, gives it a more tender and 
 sacred interest and significance. This lake, so acces- 
 sible from all directions, is in the summer-time a 
 somewhat favorite resort for the diseii)les of Isaac 
 Walton residing in the vicinity, its waters having 
 been originally well-stored with various kinds of na- 
 tive fish, and more recently stocked with those of 
 foreign extraction ; and for country swains and dam- 
 sels or others fond of boating in one or another of its 
 various forms. In the winter its icy surface attracts 
 those who enjoy the pleasant and health-imparting 
 exercise of out-door skating, and the airs of the neigh- 
 borhood are often, on sunny days and moonlit 
 nights, made vocal with the merry voices of converse, 
 laughter and song, breathing forth from those who 
 relieve the tiresome round of study, toil and care, or 
 fill th*^ fleeting hours with s])orts and pleasures which, 
 while they exhilarate and thrill both body and mind, 
 giving added zest to life, yet leave nesting behind. 
 A delightful grove on the western margin, made at- 
 tractive by the hand both of nature and of man, hav- 
 ing been cleared of all rocks and underbrush and fitted 
 up with numerous devices and appliances for the con- 
 venience and gratification of pleasure-seekers, and 
 moreover being readily reached by railroad as well as 
 by private conveyance, has become within a few years 
 a frequent rendezvous for Sabbath-school, Grand 
 Army and other parties, seeking rest and recreation 
 amid the beauty and glory of the material world. With 
 its pleasing surroundings and multiform attractions 
 of a various sort, this lake merits the encomium given 
 it by the local historian, when he characterizes it as 
 "tlie pride of Gardner, ' a thing of beauty and a joy 
 forever." " 
 
 In the southwest part of the town is another nat- 
 ural body of water called sometimes Widow Wood's 
 Pond and sometimes Kendall's Pond, from persons 
 living near at difl'erent dates, but its location and 
 surroundings are such as to give it little attractive- 
 
GARDNEK. 
 
 813 
 
 ness or interest except to sportsmen who sometimes 
 are well repaid for tempting with well-baited hook 
 and line the finny denizen of its waters. In days 
 gone by it was deemed good fishing-ground, but in 
 later years it has lost its reputation in that respect. 
 Its surface measures about twenty-two acres, and lies 
 scarcely above the level of Otter River, near by, into 
 which its contents flow by a sluggish stream. 
 
 In the same general locality, and not far away, is 
 Snake Pond, crossed by the Templeton line, only a 
 few acres of which are in Gardner. It is much like 
 the last named in its general features, thoughmore in- 
 accessible by reason of the low, marshy grounds 
 which surround it. 
 
 Quag Pond, in the easterly section of the town, is 
 one of the sources of Pew Brook, and covers an area 
 of about an acre. It is set in a bed of moss of vary- 
 ing width, but many feet in depth, resting upon a 
 substratum of soft mud. 
 
 Of the artificial bodies of water mention will be 
 made in connection with the manufacturing interests 
 of the town to which they are tributary as conserva- 
 tories of power for mechanical purposes. They are at 
 present few in number in comparison with what have 
 existed in days gone by. Several mill privileges in 
 the outlying districts having been abandoned, the 
 ponds, whence their motive-power was derived, have 
 disappeared, while tliose formed successively by the 
 stream flowing out of Crystal Lake, and used to run 
 the several shops along the valley, have, since the es- 
 tablishment of the Public Water-works, been almost 
 wholly given up, the need they served being now bup- 
 plied by the introduction of steam-power. 
 
 Streams. — The situation of Gardner at the very 
 summit of the highlands which divide the water- 
 basin of the Merrimac River on the east from that of 
 the Connecticut on the west, forbids the existence of 
 water-courses within its borders, of any considerable 
 size or importance. The only one that rises in any 
 sense to the dignity of a river is that which enters its 
 territory at the southwesterly side from Templeton, 
 and flowing by a serpentine course in a general north- 
 westerly direction some four or five miles, forming the 
 greater part of that distance the boundary of the town, 
 passes thence onward through the north part of Tem- 
 pleton into Winchendou, where it falls into Miller's 
 River, a branch of the Connecticut. This stream 
 bears the name of Otter River, presumably from the 
 fact that the otter once inhabited its waters. Its de- 
 scent through the town is very slight, and its move- 
 ment consequently sluggish, except that in the last 
 part of its course there is sufficient fall to enable it to 
 be utilized by two or three manufacturing establish- 
 ments located on the Templeton side. 
 
 Aside from Otter River the streams of Gardner are 
 quite insignificant. And yet they have been an im- 
 portant factor in the development of the industries of 
 the town and in the promotion of its prosperity. In a 
 certain way they have made the town what it is to- 
 
 day. They not only furnished power for the produc- 
 tion of lumber for building purposes in the earlier 
 stages of its history, but they supplied an essential 
 need of the same sort in the evolution of its leading 
 manufacturing interests at a period when, but for 
 such supply, that interest would have been compelled 
 to seek other localities in order to obtain the mean* 
 and facilities necessary to its growth and perfecting. 
 As an intermediate link between hand or foot power — 
 the power of human muscle — and steam-power in the 
 making of chairs, the principal and distinguishing 
 product of the town, and the one which has given it 
 reputation, prestige and success, the comparatively 
 convenient and inexpensive power furnished by these 
 small streams was not simply useful, but indispensa- 
 ble. But for this, so far as human vision can see, the 
 fortunes of the town would have been entirely 
 changed, its thrift and growth coming to an early and 
 perpetual end. 
 
 Chiefest of these small but most valuable water 
 courses was Pond Brook, so-called, the outlet of 
 Crystal Lake, flowing into Otter River, scarcely 
 two miles from its source. The relation of this little 
 stream to the business interests of the community and 
 the growth of the place cannot be over-estimated. 
 Though its former channel is now essentially dry, the 
 waters which otherwise would fill it being diverted to 
 important uses in other directions, yet, historically, it 
 has been a stream of the highest importance and of 
 incalculable value. 
 
 Scarcely less worthy of notice and commendation 
 is the stream flowing through the village of South 
 Gardner, sometimes called Gardner Brook. In some 
 respects, it stands at the head of the list of water- 
 courses in the town. It began to serve the need of 
 the public at an earlier day than any other, and 
 more than any other at this date contributes to the 
 business interest and prosperity of the town, as it 
 promises to do for years and generations to come. It 
 enters Gardner near the southern corner, from West- 
 minster, and flowing northwesterly through the vil- 
 lage, thence southwesterly a distance of two and one- 
 half or three miles in all, increased in volume and iu 
 value by several tributaries on the way, it finally 
 falls into Otter River, near the line of Templeton. 
 Nine manufacturing establishments are in ojieration 
 along its course, the motive-power of which is de- 
 rived mostly from its waters. 
 
 Pew Brook is formed by several streamlets in the 
 easterly part of the town, some of which come from 
 Westminster, and running southwest and west, emp- 
 ties into Gardner Brook, near the eastern extremity 
 of South (xardner Village, below the lumber-mills of 
 Lewis A. Wright & Co. It furnishes power for one 
 chair-factory. 
 
 Foster Brook rises in the easterly central portion 
 of the town, and flowing southerly and westerly, dis- 
 charges its waters into the South Gardner stream, 
 just above where the Worcester Railroad croi-ses it. 
 
814 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Kneeland Brook has several sources in the north- 
 erly district, and by a southwesterly course finds an 
 outlet in Otter River, near where the Fitchburg 
 Railroad goes over it. Formerly several mills were 
 run by power from th'n brook, but only one at the 
 present time. 
 
 Wilder Brook is a branch of the last named, and 
 is located to the west of it. 
 
 Bailey Brook, still farther west, rises in Winchen- 
 don, add flowing southwesterly, empties into Otter 
 River, just above where that stream passes beyond 
 the limits of the town. 
 
 Several small streams in the northeast part of the 
 town constitute the head-waters of one branch of 
 the Nashua River, flowing northwesterly through the 
 so-called Nashua Reservoir into Ashburnham, and 
 two or three others in a more easterly direction flow 
 into Westminster. On two of these streams, one in 
 the northeast and one in the east, mills formerly 
 stood, but both have passed away. 
 
 Soil. — The geological basis of the territory of 
 Gardner, like that of most of the towns of the coun- 
 ty, is ferruginous gneiss, an azoic formation which, 
 according to Dr. Hitchcock, antedates all other de- 
 posits on the face of the globe. Gneiss is a some- 
 what demoralized form of granite, combining quartz, 
 feldspar and mica in varying proportions, and tend- 
 ing to stratification. Into this combination, in the 
 case before us, a tincture or element of iron enters, 
 which gives it a rusty appearance, and renders it 
 easy of oxidation and consequent decomposition. 
 These primordial deposits occasionally come to the 
 surface in ledges and broken rock, as they are also 
 sometimes unearthed by excivation, as in the con- 
 struction of the railroads through the town. Upon 
 them, in the order of geologic progress from untold 
 ages past, there rest strata of secondary and tertiary 
 formations composed of sand, pebbles and clay, the 
 latter of which is to be found in exceptional 
 quantities in the south part of the town, where 
 it has been utilized to a very considerable and 
 profitalDle extent, as will hereafter appear. Still later 
 in the order of nature are there drift and alluvial 
 stores brought from foreign localities by ice or water 
 or other means, which, mingling with the decomposed 
 products of older periods and of later vegetable 
 growths go'iig on from the beginning, constitute what 
 is called the loam or soil, of which the surface of the 
 earth in this instance is composed, and in which are 
 to be found the various chemical elements that give 
 it native fertility and luxuriance and render it under 
 proper culture capable of serving, by its productive- 
 ness, the needs of all animal life, and of ministering 
 in manifold ways to human comfort and happiness. 
 
 The town of Gardner, considered with reference to 
 the nature and quality of its soil, cannot be regarded 
 as particularly adapted to purposes of agriculture. 
 Occupying a position upon the very crest of the 
 range of hills which separate two of the great water- 
 
 systems of the State, its lands sloping and its waters 
 running both east and west, it is constantly losing, by 
 the operation of nature's forces, many of those ele- 
 ments which serve the husbandman's need as fertiliz- 
 ing agents in the earth he cultivates ; while for the 
 same reason it is subject to bleak and chilly winds, 
 which tend to diminish the productiveness of its 
 fields and to retard and jeopardize the growth and 
 ripening of whatever may be planted or sown in 
 them. Naturally, therefore, the land is gravelly, cold 
 and sterile, and, next to the production of wood and 
 timber, is better adapted to grazing purposes than to 
 the cultivation of fruit and cereal crops. There are, 
 moreover, scattered through the town numerous cold, 
 marshy swamp lands, saturated with sour waters, and 
 produi ing a sort of wiry grass which is neither palata- 
 ble nor nutritious, and of little value in any respect. 
 
 Neverthele.-s, there are portions of the territory of 
 the town which, by long and faithful husbandry, have 
 been made to yield abundant returns for the labor 
 expended upon them. On the slopes of some of the 
 hills and in the intervening valleys the soil is deep 
 and pliable and strong, and only needs thorough cul- 
 ture to make it produce satisfactory harvests. There 
 are, indeed, a goodly number of fine farms in the out- 
 lying districts, whose commodious, well-kept build- 
 ings, broad fields of grass and grain, large herds and 
 flocks, bespeak not only enterprise, good habits and 
 general thrift, but competency and independence. 
 Besides these, every householder almost and every 
 owner of a little homestead has his or her garden or 
 plot of land devoted to the growth of both the larger 
 and smaller fruits, different kinds of edible vegetables 
 and usually also to a pleasing variety of flowers and 
 foliage plants, whicli speaks well for the kindly char- 
 acter of the soil and of what may come from it by 
 proper care and nursing — by that sort of management 
 which usually distinguishes a yeoman of New Eng- 
 land. 
 
 Climate. — The climate of Gardner, situated high 
 above the level of the sea and far awaj' from the 
 modifying influence of oceanic breezes and currents, 
 is exceedingly inconstant and often disagreeable, 
 being subject to sudden changes and great extremes 
 of heat and cold, which determine to a large extent 
 the annual fall of rain and snow, and also the general 
 dryness and humidity of the atmosphere, with its at- 
 tendant sanitary qual.ties, tendencies and effects. 
 The winters are long and severe, characterized as 
 they are by high winds and heavy storms, which 
 cause a large accumulation of snow and ice and 
 seriously try the powers of endurance in the human 
 constitution. But the phy.-ical conditions and cir- 
 cutiistances which subject the place to many of the 
 harsher moods of the winter-time have their compen- 
 sation in the fresh, cool breezes of the summer sea- 
 son, which moderate the otherwise excessive heat, 
 and make that part of the year more invigorating 
 and agreeable. On the whole, the geographical situa- 
 
GARDxNER. 
 
 815 
 
 tion of the town and its climatic conditions are favor- 
 able to both bodily and mental health and energy, 
 indirectly, too, of moral soundness and force of char- 
 acter. As a result, the town is an unusually healthful 
 one, and cases of pulmonary or malarial diseases are 
 of rare occurrence among its native-born population. 
 So that among the factors which have entered into 
 the problem of the growth and prosperity of Gard- 
 ner, the influence of its climate is not to be over- 
 looked or underestimated. 
 
 " While tropic aire may tropic needs supply, 
 Brave Bouls are nurtured 'neatb a sterner sky." 
 
 Flora. — Of the one hundred and fifty thousand 
 species of plants distributed over the surface of the 
 globe, only a very small proportion can be indigenous 
 to so limited an area as the territory of such a town 
 as Gardner. And what are found within its borders 
 are so like what grow throughout the county that 
 even to name them would be needless repetition. It 
 is not known that, in the matter of forest or fruit- 
 trees, of berry-producing or flowering shrubs or 
 plants of any sort, Gardner has a single specimen 
 which would distinguish it from other towns in the 
 vicinity, though of each and all of these it has a 
 proportionate supply. Enough of wood and timber 
 lots still remain to give pleasing variety to the land- 
 scape, to impart salubrity to the air, to soften the 
 fierceness of wintry blasts and break the violence of 
 summer tempests, and to aid in keeping up the sup- 
 ply of nature's water-fountains, to which the exist- 
 ence of forests so largely contribute, while shrubs 
 of many a kind and name cover many an untilled 
 acre more or less densely, and wild flowers of rich 
 and varied hues in great diversity lend grace and 
 beauty in all directions to the view. Moreover, the 
 introduction of a libeial supply of exotics, especially 
 in the departments of fruit trees and flowering plants, 
 as witnessed in the orchards, gardtns and conserva- 
 tories so often seen, has enlarged and enriched very 
 materially this feature of the natural history of the 
 town. 
 
 Fauna.— There is little to be said of the represen- 
 tatives of the animal kingdom, either native or im- 
 ported, in addition to what may appear elsewhere in 
 the pages of this work. The same kinds of wild ani- 
 mals originally prevailed here as in other parts of the 
 county, only a few of the smaller and more prolific 
 of which continue to this day, to vex the fields and 
 gardens of the husbandmen or tempt the hunter 
 through the still existing woods. Of the game birds 
 scarcely one save the partridge remains, though the 
 same winged songsters of the grove and field still 
 make the air vocal with their melody in the spring 
 and early summer m cheered and blessed the solitary 
 way of the early settlers in these then wilderness re- 
 treats. Various other wild bird;-, with less of music 
 in their voices, are found at the proper season in 
 plentiful numbers, some of them hardly to be de- 
 sired by reason of their mischievous habits in respecj 
 
 to the early sown or planted grain and corn. Most 
 of these are migratory in their mode of life, coming 
 and going with the warmer portions of the year, 
 though a few remain the twelve-month through, 
 fearless alike of winter's cold and of summer's heat. 
 Of the finny tribes, dwellers in the waters of the 
 town, the original stock siill prevails to some extent, 
 though in considerably diminished numbers. The 
 handsome trout still glides up and down the gurgling 
 brook, finding rest only in its most secluded places, 
 where it would s-eem to hide away from the ardent 
 fisherman, or, if pursuing, he seeks his wily victim, 
 tantalizes him with the rareness of a bite. The 
 pride of the olden time in this respect — the pickerel 
 — and its companion residents of the ponds bearing 
 various names, which served the fathers and mothers 
 so well in place of flesh and fowl less easily obtained, 
 have been much reduced in these later days, partly 
 because of the greater search for them and partly by 
 reason of the introduction of foreign fish, some of 
 which appear to be the natural born enemies of the 
 native denizens of our New England waters, making 
 war upon them and pursuing them with disastrous 
 results, sometimes even to extinction. The experi- 
 ment of bringing in these new tenanis of our inland 
 lakes and ponds, though greatly commended a few 
 years ago by certain classes of pisciculturists as of im- 
 mense advantage to the fish-loving public, may be 
 regarded, when judged by the test of experience, as 
 of doubtful utility, even if it be not brought into 
 utter condemnation. At any rate, the promises made 
 in its behalf have rarely, if ever, been satisfactorily 
 fulfilled. To let well enough alone is sometimes the 
 highest wisdom. 
 
 Early History.— Having made a somewhat de- 
 tailed presentation of the natural features of the 
 town of Gardner, it now seems proper to take up the 
 thread of its history as a distinct body corporate, pos- 
 sessing and exercising municipal right-, powers and 
 privilegts under the jurisdiction and sovereignty of 
 the Commonwealth of Massacht setts. In doing so, 
 it is not needful to go back of the movement initiatid 
 for the purpose of securing the formation and legal 
 existence of the new township any further than to 
 set forth the conditions and circumstances under 
 which that movement was inaugurated and the pre- 
 vailing reasons therefor. 
 
 Oric/i/i.— Unlike most of theoldertownsof Worcester 
 County, Gardner was not carved out of the primeval 
 forest nor did its territorial possessions come from any 
 of the unappropriated lands of the Province or state 
 of Massachusetts, but from contiguous portions of the 
 four neighboring towns. Of these Westminster con- 
 tributed, in round numbers, six thousand acres; 4sh- 
 burnham, twenty-eight hundred acres; Winchendon, 
 forty-five hundred acres ; and Templeton, seven hun- 
 dred acres, making in the aggregate the fourteen 
 thousand acres already given as the extent of the 
 town's surface. The early history of those several 
 
816 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 towns is therefore in part the history of Gardner pre- 
 vious to its incorporation, for the essential facts and 
 incidents of which the reader is referred to the 
 sketches of those towns respectively on other pages 
 of this work, only a few of the more important of 
 them being mentioned in this connection. The 
 townships named were first occupied by the present 
 race of inhabitants at a date sufficiently indicated by 
 the year 1740. As they gradually increased in popu- 
 lation, portions of thoni far removed from their estab- 
 lished centres, their area being very large, were in 
 due time taken up and appropriated to purposes of 
 permanent residence. 
 
 As this process of extension and settlement went 
 on, it came to pass at length that about sixty fami- 
 lies were established within the limits of what sub- 
 sequently was assigned to the town of Gardner. Sep- 
 arated by long distances from the majority of their 
 fellow-citizens and also from the recognized seat of 
 public activity in their respective municipalities, the 
 heads of these families began after a time to feel that 
 it would be for their common convenience, interest 
 and general welfare to sever the connection which 
 had hitherto existed between them and their colleague 
 townsmen, and unite in the formation of a new 
 township more compact, so far as they were them- 
 selves concerned, than those to which they belonged, 
 the so-called centre of which — where the meeting- 
 house should be built, where trade should be set up, 
 where public business should be transacted and pub- 
 lic gatherings of whatever sort held — would be nearer 
 at hand and the recognized duties of which, as a cor- 
 porate body, could be more easily and readily per- 
 formed. 
 
 The desirableness of a change like that outlined, 
 by reason of the many advantages which would na- 
 turally accrue to all parties concerned, became very 
 soon so apparent and so urgent that as early as 1781 
 a movement was started looking to its consummation. 
 It does not appear, however, that any united and mu- 
 tually concurrent action in relation to the subject 
 was taken until the year 1784 or 1785, when the sev- 
 eral towns liable to dismemberment were petitioned 
 by the portionof their inhabitants favorably interested 
 for leave to be set off with iheir families and estates, 
 in order that they might join with others in neighbor- 
 ing towns, similarly situated and similarly minded, in 
 the formation of a new town. The prayer of the pe- 
 titioners seemed so reasonable to their fellow-citizens 
 that, with very little opposition or delay, indeed, with 
 remarkable unanimity and cordiality, it was in every 
 instance granted. Ashburnham led oti'in avote favor- 
 ing the measure and granting the request passed Sep- 
 tember 3, 1774; Tcmpleton i'ollowed in a vote to the 
 same efl^ect April 6, 1775 ; Winchendon May 16th, and 
 Westminster May 17th of the same year. The gen- 
 erous and honorable spirit which animated the sev- 
 eral towns involved in this movement is duly repre- 
 sented in a report of a committee of the town of 
 
 Winchendon, to which the subject was referred, where- 
 in the following passage occurs : "Considering the 
 situation of the petitioners, we think it reasonable a 
 part of said town should be set otl' when those towns 
 concerned have determined the respective bounda- 
 ries of the district to be so formed as that the same 
 may be properly accommodated." The report was 
 duly " accepted and adopted." 
 
 The consent of the towns having been obtained as 
 stated, a petition signed by Mr. John Glazier, then of 
 Westminster and about thirty others, was sent to the 
 Legislature of the State at what was called its May 
 Session, in 1785, praying that certain specified por- 
 tions of the towns of Winchendon, Ashburnham, 
 Westminster and Templeton, with the inhabitants 
 thereof and their estates, might be set oft" from those 
 towns respectively and erected into a new township 
 bearing the name of Gardner. An appropriate map 
 indicating the changes proposed accompanied the 
 petition, and is still preserved among the State 
 archives at Boston, though the petition itself is no- 
 where to be found. The result of this appeal to the 
 Legislature is clearly attested by its action, which 
 culminated, on the 27th of June, in the passage of an 
 " Act of Incorporation," of which the following, with 
 the omission of the boundary lines, is a copy : 
 
 An act for erecting tlie westerly part of Westminster, the southwest- 
 erly part of ABliburuliain, tlie southeasterly part of Winchendon and the 
 easterly part of Templeton in the county of Worcester, into a town by 
 the name of Gardner. 
 
 Wfiereas, the inhabitants of tlie westerly part of the town of West- 
 minster, the southwesterly part of th« town of Ashburnham, the south- • 
 easterly part of the town of Winchendon and the easterly part of the 
 town of Templeton in the county of Worcester, have represented to 
 this court the ditficulties they labor under in their present situation and 
 request that they nuiy be incorporated into a separate town, and it ap- 
 pearing to this court proper to comply with tlieir request : 
 
 Be U enacted by the Senate and House of RepresniUdwes in General Court 
 assembled and by the authority of the same: That the westerly part of the 
 town of Westjninster, southwesterly part of the town of Ashburnham, 
 southeasterly part of the town of Winchendon and easterly part of tlie 
 town of Templeton in the county of Worcester (bounds omitted) be, and 
 they hereby are, erected into a town by the name of Gardner, and the 
 inhabitants thereof hereby are invested with all the powers, privileges 
 and immunities which the inhabitants of other towns within this Com- 
 monwealth do or may enjoy. 
 
 And be it fiirther enacted : That where the lots that are now settled 
 are cut by the above lines, every owner of such lot shall be holden to 
 pay taxes for the whole of such lot to the town in which his house 
 now stands. Froi-ided, 7tevertlieless, If any owner of such lot shall return 
 a certificate into the secretary's office within six muntlis after the pass- 
 ing of this act, expressing his desire to belong with his said lot to the 
 other town, such lot and the owner thereof shall forever afterwards be 
 holden to pay taxes to the other town accordingly. 
 
 And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid: That the inhabit- 
 ants of the said town shall pay their proportion of all taxes already 
 granted to be raised in the several towns from which they were respec- 
 tively taken. 
 
 And be it further enacted : That Nicliohis Dyke, Esq., be, and hereby 
 is, empowered to issue his warrant directed to some principal inhabitant, 
 requiring him to warn and give notice to the inhabitants of the said 
 town to assemble and meet at some suitable time and place in said town 
 to choose all such otlicei-s as towns by law are required to choose at their 
 annual town-meeting in tlie month of March. 
 
 SiMi'EL Phillips, Ju., Prest. of the Senate. 
 Nathaniel Gorham, Speaker of the House. 
 
 Approved by the Governor, 
 James Bowdoin. 
 
GARDNER. 
 
 817 
 
 Agreeably to the provision contained in the last 
 clause of the above enactment, Nicholas Dyke, of 
 Westminster, a justice of the peace, did, on the 3d 
 day of August following, issue his warrant in proper 
 form to Mr. Peter Goodale. one of the inhabitants of 
 the town of Gardner, requiring him 
 
 to warn aU the iniiabitants of said town to meet at the house of Mr. John 
 Glazier in said town, on Monday, ihe fiflet-nth day of Angnst present, at 
 nine o'cloclc forenoon, to act on tlie following; articles, viz.: 
 
 ]3i. To choose a moderator to govern said meeting. 
 
 2"^. To choose all town officers as the law directs at annual March 
 meetings. 
 
 3^. To know the mind of the town whether they will grant money to 
 defray town charges. 
 
 4'1». To see what method the town will come into to collect taxes or to 
 transact any matter or business as they think necessary. 
 
 Pursuant to the requirements of this warrant, the 
 inliabitants of Gardner came together and were called 
 to order for the transaction of business by Justice 
 Dyke, who was present. 
 
 Captain Eli>ha Jackson was chosen moderator of 
 the meeting, and tlie following-named gentlemen were 
 elected as the first officers of the town, respectively: 
 Clerk, Seth Heywood; Selectmen, Elisha Jackson, 
 Samuel Stone, John White, Simon Gates, John 
 Glazier, who were instructed to act as assessors ; 
 Treasurer, Seth Heywood; Collector, Elijah Wilder, 
 who agreed to collect the taxes for four ponce on the 
 pound and give satisfactory bonds lor the faithful dis- 
 charge of his duty. Subordinate officers were chosen 
 in due form, and the oath of office, where required, 
 was administered by Esquire Dyke. No other busi- 
 ness was done and the meeting dissolved. 
 
 The town of Gardner was now legally organized 
 agreeably to the provisions of its act of incorporation, 
 and had entered upon its career as one of those 
 primary little republics which go to make up the 
 good old Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Before 
 proceeding to sketch the details of that career, how- 
 ever, it seems to be desirable to dwell somewhat at 
 length upon the conditions and circumstances at- 
 tending the town's birth and its first starting into life. 
 
 It may be of some interest and importance, both 
 to the general public and to the present inhabitants 
 ofthetown, to have indicated those portions of the 
 territory which were taken from the towns con- 
 tributing thereto, and where the Ijoundary lines of 
 such towns originally ran. The northwesterly line of 
 Westminster formerly extended from the present 
 northeast corner of Gardner, nearly a mile southeast 
 of Ashburnham Junction, in a southwesterly direction, 
 crossing Glazier Hill just south of the reservoir, 
 thence in a direct course through the central village, 
 cutting tlie town-house lot into two nearly equal 
 parts, and so along the southerly bounds of Lynde 
 Street straight on to the westerly corner of Gardner 
 near the old hotel below East Templeton, which was, 
 in theold time, the westerly cornerof Westminster. All 
 the territory south of that line originally belonged to 
 that town. The line between Ashburnham and Win- 
 chendon, running straight from the northward along 
 52 
 
 Stone Street, passed between Green Street and 
 Crystal Lake, and met the Westminster boundary a 
 little east of the junction of School and Lynde Streets. 
 The lands to the eastward of this line were from Ash- 
 burnham, those to the westward from Winchendon. 
 Those derived from Templeton lay west of a line ex- 
 tending from a point in the original Westminster 
 boundary near where the railroad crosses it, north- 
 westerly till it met the present northernmost bound- 
 ary between Gardner and Templeton, of which it 
 was the continuation. It will thus be seen that the 
 lirst meeting-bouse site, (now occupied by the First 
 Congregational Church), the old burying-ground and 
 the publie common were on the Ashburnham territory, 
 together with the north part of the central village, 
 while Crystal Lake and the north part of West 
 Gardner are on that coming from Winchendon. All 
 iif South Gardner village, the principal railroad sta- 
 tions and the southern part of the other villages are 
 on territory originally belonging to Westminster. 
 
 At whose suggestion or by whose means the name 
 Gardner was given to the town cannot be ascertained, 
 but it was in honor of one of the most gallant and 
 heroic patriots of ante-Revolutionary times, who fell 
 a martyr to his counlry's liberties at the battle of 
 Runker Hill. Thomas Gardner was sun of Richard 
 of Cambridge and a descendant of the fourth genera- 
 tion from Thomas of Roxbury, the first of the name 
 in the country, who died in 1633. He was born in 
 1724, and early in life began to display those traits of 
 character which in later years won for him the con- 
 fidence and high regard of his fellow-citizens and 
 qualified him for the important part he was to play 
 in the stirring events of his time. He was of strong 
 mind, of great practical judgment and unusual ex- 
 ecutive ability, a natural adviser of men and leader 
 in public atl'airs. He was called to fill imjwrtant 
 civil offices in his native town, and entering military 
 life, rose rapidly to a station of honor and command. 
 As colonel of the First Middlesex Regiment he was 
 at the battle of Lexington, but did no eff'ectual ser- 
 vice by reason of the unsoldierly conduct of his men. 
 Greatly chagrined thereat, he resolved to retrieve 
 himself from disgrace at the first opportunity. En- 
 listing in a regiment of the Continental Army, he 
 was commissioned colonel June 2, 1775. On the 
 morning of June 17th he was ordered from his 
 station on Prospect Hill to Charlestown Neck as a 
 reserve in the expected battle, and about noon ad- 
 vanced to Bunker Hill, where, by command of Gen. 
 Putnam, he with his men was engaged in throwing 
 up earthworks for the protection of the patriot forces 
 in case they should be driven from their intrench- 
 inents in front of the enemy. Twice had the British 
 made attack and twice had they been repulsed with 
 great slaughter. On the third advance, tlie ammuni- 
 tion of the Colonial troops giving out. Gen. Putnam 
 rode in hot haste back to Col. Gardner and ordered 
 him to the scene of conflict. Obeying, he bur- 
 
818 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 ried forward, but before reaching the place of action 
 was struck by a musket-ball which felled him to the 
 earth. Being raised from the ground, he shouted to 
 his men, "Conquer or die," and was carried from the 
 field. He lingered till July 3d, the day when Wash- 
 ington took command of the army, one of whose first 
 orders, issued the following day, was: "Col. Gardner 
 is to be buried to-morrow at three o'clock p.m., 
 with the military honors due to so brave and gallant 
 an officer, who fought, bled and died in the cause of 
 his country and of mankind." Such was the man 
 whose name the town of Gardner perpetuates. May 
 her children k«ephis memory green to many genera- 
 tions by emulating his spirit of self-forgetting, patri- 
 otic devotion to the ])rinciples of civil and religious 
 liberty and to the inborn rights of man. 
 
 It is to be regretted that no complete list of the 
 families resident in the town at the date of its incor- 
 poration is to be found among the generally well-pre- 
 served records of the time. But by referring to the 
 histories and records of the several towns, from which 
 its territory was taken previous to that period, and 
 to the books of the town clerk of Gardner, relating to 
 what transpired immediately after, a table of such 
 resident families has been prepared, which may be 
 regarded as substantially correct. As nothing of the 
 kind has ever been put in print before, it is herewith 
 presented in full, to wit : 
 
 Adanie, John. 
 Bacon, .loeepli. 
 Baker, George. 
 Baker, .lohn. 
 Baldwin, Josiah. 
 Bancroft, Jonathan. 
 Beard, Andrew. 
 Bickford, William. 
 Bolton, Ebenezor. 
 Boyden, Joaejth. 
 Brown, Jonathan. 
 Childs, Daniel, 
 Clark, Benjamin. 
 Clark, Joseph. 
 Comee, David. 
 Uouant, Josiah. 
 Cooledgo, James. 
 Eaton, Ebenezer. 
 Eaton, John. 
 Eaton, Jonathan. 
 Edgell, .Sainue!. 
 Fairbanks, Levi. 
 Fisher, Gideon. 
 Fisher, William 
 Foster, David. 
 Foster, Samuel. 
 Gates, Simon. 
 Glazier, John. 
 Goodale, Peter. 
 Ooss, William 
 
 Graves, . 
 
 Green, Inrael. 
 Green, Nathan. 
 Greenwood, .lunathan. 
 Hadley, Joseph. 
 Haynes, Reuben. 
 Heywood, Setli. 
 Hill, Asa. 
 Hill, Bezaleel. 
 liill, Jesse. 
 Hill, Maverick. 
 
 Hill, Moses. 
 Holland, Josejih. 
 Howe, Ebenezer. 
 .lacksou, Caleb. 
 Jackson, Elisha. 
 Kelton, Edward. 
 Kelton, Samuel. 
 Kendall, Benjamin. 
 Keyes, Ebenezer. 
 Kneeland, Timothy. 
 Matthews, Jolin. 
 Merriam, Nathan. 
 Moore, Ezra. 
 Nichols, David. 
 
 Parker, . 
 
 Partridge, Jabez. 
 Payson, Joseph. 
 Perley, Allen. 
 Pratt, Ephraim. 
 Priest, Joseph. 
 
 Priest, . 
 
 Putnam, John. 
 
 Rice, . 
 
 Richardson, Jonas. 
 Sanderson, Samuel. 
 
 Samson, . 
 
 .Sawyer, Jude. 
 Simonds, Elijah. 
 Stone, Samuel. 
 Temple, Ephraim. 
 Upton, Oliver. 
 Wlieelor, Joel. 
 Wheeler, Jo-tiah. 
 Whitcoinb, .Jonathan. 
 Whitcomb, Jonathan P. 
 White, John. 
 Whitney, .foshna. 
 Wilder, Elijah. 
 Wilder, Josiah. 
 Wood, Elijah. 
 Wright, Joseph. 
 
 The above, with rare exceptions, are old New Eng- 
 land names, and suggest those substantial and exalted 
 
 qualities of mind and heart and character which dis- 
 tinguished the founders of New England and that 
 great class of people in the mother country whence 
 they sprang, of whom the eminent and brilliant Lord 
 Macaulay said they were "the most remarkable, per- 
 haps, the world ever produced." By a study of those 
 names through their ancestral lines the interested in- 
 quirer will notice how directly the town of Gardner 
 stands connected in the order of historical continuity 
 with the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay settlements, 
 and how closely related were her early citizens to the 
 Pilgrim and Puritan immigrants to these shores. Such 
 a study will show, moreover, how naturally it occur- 
 red that what are recognized and honored as New 
 England ideas and principles characterized the earlier 
 life of Gardner and helped to shape, in a large degree, 
 its whole subsequent history. The distinctive type 
 of civilization which was brought from beyond the 
 sea in the " Mayflower " and " Isabella " was the type 
 that presided like a good genius over the birth of all 
 the older settlements of this whole region of country, 
 finding expression alike in the character and habits 
 of the people at large and in the social, civil, educa- 
 tional and religious institutions they established and 
 sought to make jjerpettial. The town of Gardner was 
 no exception to the general rule in this regard. In 
 its mo.st striking features, in what is most creditable 
 and honorable in its career, it is but the outgrowth of 
 the influences that prevailed at the beginning of its 
 existence, the product of the seed sown by the hands 
 of those brave, devoted men and women who first 
 cleared the forests, tilled the fields, built the homes, 
 and lighted the altar-fires within its borders. 
 
 In portraying the earlier history of the town, for 
 the purpose of bringing into notice some of the prom- 
 inent characteristics of its original inhabitants, 
 together with the difficulties which they encountered 
 at the outset, it is proper to call attention to the lim- 
 ited resources then available for the varied uses of 
 life. What goes by the general name of property, or 
 material posse.ssions, consisted almost wholly of real- 
 estate farm stock and the implements and utensils 
 required for domestic and agricultural purposes, with 
 a few tools and appliances for the simpler and more 
 indispensable forms of mechanical handicraft. Very 
 little money, of any sort, was in circulation, and what 
 there was, being in the shape of Continental or ( 'olo- 
 nial .scrip, was of uncertain value at the best and 
 often wholly worthless. Government bonds, railroad 
 stocks and other securities were not in those days at 
 the command of the sturdy pioneers, whose available 
 funds were chiffly the bones and sinews of their phy- 
 sical systems, subject to the control of a resolute and 
 unconquerable will. It was at times impossible for 
 them to obtain sufficient current funds with which to 
 pay their taxes, and the town was frequently placed 
 under the necessity of receiving various farm pro- 
 ducts as an equivalent therefor, the price of which 
 was determined by public vote. Butter .seems to have 
 
GARDNER. 
 
 819 
 
 been the most common substitute for money, probably 
 beciUise it was most convenient to handle and most 
 sure of a ready market. The precise form of the 
 town's action in this matter sliows the then existing 
 condition of things and also what a wise economy 
 required in the management of public affairs. Under 
 date of June 6, 1787, it was voted "that the collector 
 take butter of the persons that are in hi,s rate.s, pro- 
 vided that they bring the butter by the first of July 
 next, at seven pence per pound, and the collector to 
 provide firkins to put said butter in and to deliver 
 butter to the committee that are to provide nails for 
 the meeting-house when called for. It is expected 
 that the collector put the butter into firkins, well 
 salted, and the butter to be good butter." The pro- 
 vision in this vote for having the butter received for 
 taxes delivered to the committee who were to procure 
 nails for the meeting house, then in process of erec- 
 tion, indicates the extent to which what was called 
 " barter," the exchange of one article of traffic for 
 another, entered into the commercial transactions of 
 those days when money was scarce and of doubtful 
 worth — a practice which, in country towns especially, 
 continued until within the memory of persons now 
 living. 
 
 No data are known to exist by which to determine 
 the actual amount of property in Gardner at the time 
 of incorporation. The tax-lists of that day are not to 
 be found, and whatever statistics may have been pre- 
 pared, if there were any, have disappeared. The 
 earliest available authority relating to this point is 
 the general United States tax-lists made up in the 
 year 1798 by order of the Federal Government, repre- 
 senting the assessments laid upon the entire country 
 for the purpo.se of meeting the demands upon tlie na- 
 tional treasury. From a copy of those lists preserved 
 in tlie library of the New England Historic-Genea- 
 logical Society, Boston, interesting and trustworthy 
 particulars have been gleaned, some of which in a 
 condensed form are herewith submitted. 
 
 At the date named, 1798, there were one hundred 
 and fifty-five tax-paying residents in tlie town own- 
 ing or occupying real estate, the appraised value of 
 whose property in the aggregate was about $124,000, 
 or a trifle over $800 each. Seven persons were worth 
 $22,759 or an average of $3,251, ranging as follows: 
 Elisha Jackson, .$(5,105; William Bickford, $4,710; 
 James Cooledge, $2,634; Ebenezer Howe, $2,538; 
 Seth Hey wood, $2,325 ; Simon Gates, $2,274 ; William 
 Whitney, $2,171. Forty-three persons had between 
 $1000 and $2000 each, aggregating $57,979. The re- 
 maining $43,456 was distributed among one hundred 
 and five persons, giving each one about .$415. Sev- 
 eral lots whose owners were unknown were valued at 
 $186. The actual taxable property of the town, which 
 excluded all public buildings and common lands, and 
 also the estate of Rev. Jonathan Osgood, was $124,380. 
 No one was taxed for money on hand or at interest, 
 nor for plate or securities of any kind. Of the one 
 
 hundred and fifty-five tax-payers in 1798 there were, 
 as far as can be ascertained, thirty-five not liv- 
 ing in town, whose aggregate property was $6,283, 
 which would make the actual amount of taxable 
 property held by residents, exclusive of Rev. Mr. Os- 
 good, $118,097. 
 
 Of the citizens of Gardner at tlie date named, forty- 
 nine with their families occupied dwellings, each of 
 which, with a lot of one-quarter of an acre, was valued 
 at more than $100, or at an average of $260. William 
 Bickford owned the best one, doubtless the brick 
 dwelling now standing at the South Village, which 
 was appraised at $920. Other houses ranged as fol- 
 lows: Elisha Jackson's, built two years before, $720; 
 James Cooledge's, $550; Jonathan Bancroft, Seth 
 Hey wood and Ezra Moore, $.500 each ; Joel Matthews 
 and Joseph Simonds lived in dwellings taxed for $10 
 each. One hundred and six dwellings, the whole 
 number then standing in the town and deemed of suf- 
 ficient value to be taxed, were appraised at $16,099, an 
 average of $151.87. There were probably a few other 
 rude structures occupied at the time, but of no ratable 
 worth. 
 
 The largest landholder in town in 1798 was Wil- 
 liam Whitney, who had three hundred and sixty- 
 eight acres. He was followed by Elisha Jackson 
 with three hundred and sixty-four acres ; Wm. Bick- 
 ford, three hundred and twelve acres ; Josiah Wilder 
 and James Cooledge, two hundred and fifty acres 
 each. Thirty-four persons had between one and two 
 hundred acres each. Twelve thousand two hundred 
 and twenty acres of land, exclusive of house-lots, 
 were taxed for $104,595, or for less than nine 
 dollars per acre, the average valuation of land in the 
 town generally. The estimated value of land in the 
 village at that date may be learned from the fact that 
 Jonatiian Prescott, the first merchant in the place, 
 residing on the site occupied for many years by the 
 late Francis Richardson, Esq., was taxed for three 
 hundred and forty-one dollars on an acre and a half 
 of land, presumably attached to his house-lot, or at 
 the rate of two hundred and twenty-seven dollars per 
 acre. 
 
 Taking now the appraisal of the property in Gard- 
 ner in 1798, thirteen years after it was incorporated, 
 and making due allowance for the probable increase 
 of population and wealth, it can be easily seen, with- 
 out attempting to give the precise figures, with what 
 meagre pecuniary capital the original inhabitants of 
 the town began their municipal life. Their brain 
 and muscle were, in large degree, their capital — their 
 principal stock in trade and pledge of ultimate suc- 
 cess. Their enterprise and perseverance, their reso- 
 lute purpose and readiness to labor and endure, 
 
 " The itdoraitable will and courage uever to submit or yield ; " 
 
 these qualities, under the circumstances, gave them 
 strength of character and a sort of moral persistence 
 and invincibleness which were full of promise for the 
 
820 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 years ahead, which made an impress upon the public 
 mind and lieart, and became a force in the community 
 not yet exhausted or overcome, the augury still of 
 prosperous fortunes and happy destinies. 
 
 In what has thus far been offered to the reader as 
 the opening chapter of this historical sketch of the 
 town of Gardner, he will find a sufficiently detailed 
 presentation of its situation, topography, settlement 
 and incorporation, together with a brief portraiture 
 of its early inhabitants and of the conditions and 
 circumstances under which they started out in their 
 municipal career. He will also find an account of 
 the first town-meeting, at which the town, as a cor- 
 porate body, was legally organized, its officers chosen, 
 and its complex machinery made ready for active 
 service. The line of historic development and pro- 
 gress will be taken up at that point in subsequent 
 chapters and traced down to the present day by a 
 separate consideration of several leading public in- 
 terests in such order as may seem most convenient 
 and appropriate. 
 
 CHAPTER CXI. 
 
 GA'RDN'B'R.—iCoii/iiiued.) 
 
 TOWN AND COUNTY ROADS — FIFTH MASSACHUSKTT.S 
 TURNPIKE — RAII^WAYS. 
 
 Previou.s to the time of the incorporation of Gard- 
 ner two county roads had been laid across its territory — 
 one as early as 17.'>4, extending from Lancaster to 
 Quopoage (Athol), and the other in 17.'>9 from Win- 
 chendon to Worcester. The first of these crossed the 
 town-line about half a mile east of the Lewis A. 
 Wright Inniber-mill, and followed essentially the line 
 of High, South Main and Kendall Streets to the junc- 
 tion of the latter with Broadway, thence by a varying 
 course, still partially traceable, not far at any point 
 from the present highway, to the Templeton boundary. 
 This was the principal thoroughfare through the place 
 from Boston and other lower towns westward for nearly 
 half a century, or until the construction of the Fifth 
 Massachusetts Turnpike in 1799 or 1800. The other 
 road, built by order of the county authorities, entered 
 the limits of the town near where Chapel Street now 
 strikes them, half a mile east of Ray Hill, and followed 
 the course of said street for the most part till it reached 
 what is now Pearl Street, thence cutting across the in- 
 tervening country in a northwesterly direction to 
 Winchendon Street, and continuing along that street 
 past the present town-farm buildings to Winchendon 
 line. In addition to these, the several towns from 
 which the territory of Gardner was received had 
 caused a few highways to be made for the convenience 
 of the inhabitants in getting to and from the centres 
 of those towns respectively, and for freer communica- 
 tion with each other, but they were little more or 
 better than cart-paths through the wilderness, quite 
 
 unlike the well-graded streets of the present day. 
 Aside from these, there were, no doubt, such other 
 ways opened in different localities as might serve the 
 temporary necessities of the settlers, without any 
 formal survey or regard to permanent use. 
 
 About the time of the incorporation of the town a 
 third county road was laid and ordered- to be built 
 from Royalston to Gardner. As far as can be ascer- 
 tained, it rau along the line of Clark Street from the 
 northwest till it reached the Jonathan Bancroft place, 
 continuing thence, as seems probable, down the val- 
 ley of the Crystal Lake outlet in a southerly direction, 
 and along the general course of Mechanic Street to 
 the Lancaster and Athol Road (now Broadway). The 
 location of this road was not satisfactory to the people 
 of Gardner, especially to those living at or near what 
 had been fixed upon as the centre of the town. Hence 
 at the second town-meeting, held September C, 17Sr), 
 it was, pursuant to an article in the warrant calling 
 the same, " Voted, that it is the opinion of the town 
 that the county road ought to go through the centre 
 of the town," and a petition, in accordance with that 
 vote, was prepared and ordered to be sent " to the 
 Court of Quarter Sessions now sitting in Worcester," 
 stating that the road " as it is now laid will not con- 
 vene this town nor the public so well as if it was laid 
 through the centre of the town," and praying that it 
 might extend from near Jonathan Bancroft's "through 
 our centre and come into the county road that leads 
 from Winchendon to Westminster Meeting-house," 
 near Josiah Wheeler's, or where it will best serve the 
 public. The court seemed to accede to the request 
 of the petition and changed the location of the road 
 accordingly. It ran substantially from the original 
 Bancroft place along the course of what are now Park, 
 Central, Pearl and Smith Streets to Chapel Street, 
 near the present residence of Asa F. Smith, and was 
 known, for many years, as the Westminster and 
 Royalston Road. 
 
 No other action appears to have been taken by the 
 town in the matter of roads during that year except to 
 vote, November 7th, to have them, when laid out, 
 three rods wide, and then a week later to reconsider 
 that vote and fix their width at two and a half rods. 
 At the annual meeting in March, 178(5, however, the 
 subject of highways was taken up in earnest. The 
 selectmen, who evidently had not been idle since 
 their appointment to oflice, reported in detail the lay- 
 ing out of thirteen highways in different parts of the 
 town, all of which were accepted and ordered to be 
 built at an adjourned meeting held the following 
 week. At the same meeting sixty pounds (about two 
 hundred dollars) were voted for mending and making 
 highways " this present year." By this action the in- 
 habitants of the town were, for the most part, brought 
 into ready communication with each other, with 
 the Center, and with those larger thoroughfares by 
 which access could be had to the neighboring 
 towns to Worcester, the county seat, and to Boston, 
 
GARDNER. 
 
 821 
 
 ^ the capital of the Commonwealth. Thus early in the 
 f town's history were laid the first meshes of that com- 
 plex net-work of streets and highways which after- 
 wards spread over its whole territory, and which has 
 been extended from time to time down to the present 
 ■ day, as the demands of busine.ss or the comfort and con- 
 venience of the people at large might seem to require. 
 An interesting circumstance connected with the lo- 
 cating of roads in the early days of the town may be 
 referred to at this point, not for its own sake alone, 
 but because it illustrates somewhat the limited finan- 
 cial resources of the town at the time, the motives 
 oftentimes influencing men in their action upon ques- 
 tions of public policy and the peculiar notions then 
 entertained of what the public good would call for in 
 coming years. In view of what has transpired since 
 that date, the account of it is pleasant and suggestive 
 reading. In the year 1793 some alterations were 
 made in the County Road, running through the south 
 part of the town, the principal of which was the 
 straightening of it from near the head of Sawyer 
 Street to a point near the present hotel site. By this 
 change, travel would be diverted from the hilly, cir- 
 cuitous route past the Capt. Jackson place to the di- 
 rect and comparatively level course across the low- 
 lands south of the Bickford Mill, where the turnpike 
 was afterward located. The new i)art running across 
 the meadow was difficult and costly to build, which 
 fact somewhat embarrassed the town, and it moreover 
 was calculated to affect unfavorably the custom of the 
 tavern at the summit of the hill by taking the ])rinci- 
 pal part of the travel away from it. 
 
 Although the road had been so far completed as 
 to be opened for use, yet the town voted, March 2"), 
 1794, to ask for its discontinuance or re-location 
 elsewhere. A petition corresponding to that vote 
 was prepared and ordered to be sent to the County 
 Court. In urging the discontinuance of the piece of 
 road ill question, which was the result aimed at, the 
 petitioners represented that it had been laid " to the 
 great damage of the town and individuals in said 
 town, and we cannot see that the traveler can receive 
 any real advantage by the same, and a great number 
 of them seem to choose the old road, rather than the 
 new one, as it is a good road and has been travelled 
 upwards of forty years," etc. " It will also be of 
 great damage on account of having mills being put 
 up at the lower end of the meadow [where the Bent 
 Brothers' chair-factory now is], which we shall stand 
 in great need of, for the mill at the upper end of the 
 meadow [on the site of the shop of James Sawyer] 
 in some seasons cannot grind for one-half of the 
 town, now it is small, and when we come to have 
 three times our [present] number, and lands cleared 
 up, which will much shorten the water, it will 
 make a wide odds, and we shall have to travel five, 
 six, seven and eight miles for grinding, which will be 
 a very great grievance; it also takes it [travel] 
 from a public-house that has been occupied for that 
 
 service upwards of twenty years, and of late has 
 been at great expense for buildings to serve the 
 public ; and as we have three county roads through 
 this little town, and almost all our roads are new 
 and very bad to make, and but a little while since 
 our incorporation, and have had a meeting-house to 
 build, and of late a minister to settle, and have 
 school-houses to build, before we can reap any great 
 advantage by schooling. We, therefore, pray your 
 iionors to take our case into your wise consideration 
 and discontinue the new laid road, . . . and to 
 keep the old road as it is now travelled, which is but 
 two tallies further than the new one, which, had 
 there been a full bench, we cannot think would have 
 been accepted." Nevertheless, the County Court did 
 not see good reason for reversing their previous ac- 
 tion, but re-affirmed it, and the road was in due time 
 finished to the satisfaction of that body. Almost a 
 hundred years of experience in the use of this piece 
 of highway, whose value at the outset was so stoutly 
 questioned, have vindicated the action of the parties 
 in authority in this matter beyond all doubt or per- 
 adventure. Few roads in all the town have rendered 
 more important service to the general public, or con- 
 tributed more to the convenience and needs of the 
 community. 
 
 Space will not permit a detailed statement con- 
 cerning the different highways and streets that have 
 been constructed since the opening of the present 
 century. They have multiplied with the growth of 
 the town until they number, at this present date, 
 over one hundred, without taking into account 
 numerous alleys and by-ways, opened for public or 
 private convenience. 
 
 In 1870 the town instituted measures for causing 
 the different roads and streets throughout its territory 
 to be designated by name, which resulted in the ac- 
 complishment of the end sought before the expira- 
 tion of the year, and in directing the selectmen " to 
 cause sign-boards to be put up at the termini of each 
 street in town," which was accordingly done. More 
 recently considerable has been brought to pass in the 
 way of having side-walks laid along the more fre- 
 quented streets of the different villages, partly by 
 public and partly by private funds, the town for sev- 
 eral years appropriating a thousand dollars or more 
 for that purpose. These are of great convenience to 
 pedestrians, while the carriage-ways generally, not 
 only at the business centres, but in the suburbs, are 
 kept in excellent repair, rendering them suitable 
 both for the heavier kinds of transportation and for 
 the ordinary purposes of journeying or pleasure -driv- 
 ing. The annual expenditure of the town for high- 
 ways and bridges is about seven thousand five hun- 
 dred dollars. 
 
 The Fifth Massachusetts Turnpike.— To- 
 wards the close of the last century the custom of 
 forming private companies for the construction of 
 important thoroughfares arose in the State of Massa- 
 
822 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 chusetts, and prevailed quite extensively for a score 
 or more of years, or until public roads became so 
 common and so good that the others failed of neces- 
 sary support, and so had to be abandoned or trans- 
 ferred to public management. 
 
 These companies operated under an act of incor- 
 poration received from the Legislature of the Com- 
 monwealth, which act fixed for them the location of 
 their roads, and gave them power to establish tax or 
 toll-houses at given distances along their routes, 
 whereat to demand and receive tribute, affixed rates, 
 of the traveling and teaming public for the construction 
 and maintenance of the same. Such roads received 
 the general name of turnpikes from the turning-bar 
 or gate, set up at the toll-houses to stop those desir- 
 ing to pass until the stipulated fee was paid. 
 
 Among those receiving a charter at the date named 
 or thereabouts was what was called the Fifth Massa- 
 chusetts Turnpike, its name indicating the place it 
 occu]iied in the series, running through the South 
 Village of Gardner. Its eastern terminus was Jonas 
 Kendall's tavern, Leominster, whence it extended 
 "through Westminster, Gardner, Templeton, Phil- 
 lipston, Athol, Orange and Warwick, to Capt. Elisha 
 Hunt's, in Northfield," with a branch "from Athol, 
 through Montague, to Calvin Munn's tavern, Green- 
 field." 
 
 The corporation, under whose auspices this road 
 was built, was composed of gentlemen of influence 
 and property along the line, who obtained authority 
 in the matter by an act of the Legislature passed 
 March 1, 1799. It provided for the construction of a 
 road " four rods wide, the path to be travelled not 
 less than eighteen feet wide in any place," and for 
 " the erection of five turnpike gates convenient for 
 collecting the toll." One of these gates was located 
 in Gardner, near the line of Westminster, but 
 changed afterward to the Elijah Foster place, and 
 finally to South Gardner Village. This road was a 
 great improvement on what had previously existed, 
 being very straight and well-graded, and for many 
 years it formed the principal thoroughfare from Brat- 
 tleboro', Greenfield and Albany to Boston, the amount 
 of passenger and freight traffic over it being very 
 large. This corporation continued till 1832, when it 
 transferred its franchise to the county of Worcester, 
 and dissolved. 
 
 Railways. — As time went on, the common high- 
 way and the old means of travel and transportation 
 became insufficient to meet the increasing demands of 
 business and trade, in this section of country as else- 
 where. The railway system came in to supply the 
 existing and growing need. It had been tried in 
 different localities with satisfactory results. Several 
 lines in the State were in successful operation. The 
 " Fitchburg Road" had been chartered, and was 
 approaching completion, when the project was started 
 looking to its extension westward to the valley of the 
 Connecticut. It took form, with Brattleboro' for a 
 
 terminus in that direction, under the name of the 
 Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad, and was duly 
 chartered March 15, 1844, though it was not built and 
 opened for through traflSc till 1850, 
 
 This road, so far as Gardner is concerned, has a 
 unique and interesting history. The prime mover in 
 its behalf was Hon. Alvah Crocker, a prominent 
 citizen of Fitchburg, largely associated with the 
 industrial development of that place, somewhat known 
 to the general public, and afterward a member of 
 Congress from his Representative District. To him, 
 no doubt, its construction at the time was due. Thor- 
 oughly interested in the enterprise, he enlisted some 
 of his responsible fellow-townsmen as co-workers 
 with him, and visited most of the towns along the 
 proposed route, holding public meetings and inter- 
 viewing leading citizens for the purpose of calling 
 attention to the matter, awakening interest and secur- 
 ing at last subscriptions to the capital stock required. 
 All this was done under the assumption that the road 
 was to go through the towns where encouragement 
 was solicited, to their very great advantage, and that 
 the route was entirely feasible and suitable to the end 
 in view. Gardner, which was at that time beginning 
 to be animated with new life, and to give promise ot 
 future growth and prosperity, was strongly appealed 
 to on the grounds named, and responded liberally. 
 Of course, this was done with the full understanding 
 and expectation that the road would run through 
 Gardner in such a way that it would greatly benefit 
 the rapidly-growing manufacturing interest of the 
 communily by furnishing more convenient as well as 
 greatly increased facilities for transportation. It was 
 greatly to the surprise and indignation of those more 
 immediately concerned, therefore, to learn, some time 
 after they had pledged their co-operation, that ]Mr. 
 Crocker and others acting with him were laying plans 
 to have the road laid through Winchendon instead of 
 Gardner, thereby depriving the latter place of the 
 chief benefit hoped for and promised by its construc- 
 tion. So determined were the parties interested in 
 these plans of turning the road away from Gardner, 
 that before the Legislature of the State was called 
 upon to grant an act of incorporation authorizing the 
 building of the same, they had caused to be located 
 and graded at their own expense what was called the 
 eleventh section, lying between Ashburnham Junction 
 and Winchendon village, apparently for the purpose 
 of influencing the members of the General Court in 
 their behalf. But they were doomed to disappoint- 
 ment. By the intervention of influential gentlemen 
 in Gardner and Templeton, for Templeton was also to 
 be cut off from railroad facilities by the devices 
 referred to, the original bill for the chartering of the 
 road, drawn in accordance with the wishes of Mr. 
 Crocker and his friends, was so far amended as to 
 locate it "through the north part of the town of 
 Gardner to Otter River, thence down Otter River to 
 the village of Baldwinsville, in the north part of 
 
GAKDNEK. 
 
 823 
 
 Templeton." Mr. Crocker, dissatisfied with this 
 result, petitioned to have Baldwinsville taken out of 
 the charter, and appealed to the County Commis- 
 sioners, who had authority to act in the matter, to 
 change the location of the road in accordance with 
 his wishes. The citizens of Gardner were now thor- 
 oughly aroused to a sense of the danger that threat- 
 ened them, and at a town-meeting held July 22, 1845, 
 chose Levi Heywood, Samuel S. Howe and Edwin E. 
 Glazier a committee to contest the appeal of Mr. 
 Crocker before the commissioners, and to oppose the 
 proposed alteration of the charter before the General 
 Court, with power to employ counsel if deemed 
 necessary. This committee, acting in hearty co- 
 operation with gentlemen representing Templeton in 
 the matter, succeeded in thwarting the designs of their 
 opponents, and in preventing a change of the charter 
 in the interest of those opponents. Finding them- 
 selves defeated, the managers of the corporation, with 
 Mr. Crocker at their head, resolved to secture by 
 indirect means what they had lost in open and fair 
 fight. They asked for and obtained an extension of 
 the time for building the road, apparently with the 
 hope that sometliing might transpire, or that some 
 new way might be found, whereby their cherished 
 purpose might be realized. But such hope, if it existed, 
 proved delusive. 
 
 A proposition for a branch road to Gardner from 
 Ashburnham was rejected with emphatic protest, and 
 an accompanying declaration, that if a brancli could 
 be laid to Gardner, the main line could as well go 
 there. And on the basis of the survey for the branch 
 road, the Gardner committee and their allies con- 
 vinced the Legislature of 1846 that their claim for the 
 main line was reasonable and right, which resulted in 
 the passage of an act on the l(!th of April, re-locating 
 the road in accordance with their wishes as follows: 
 " Commencing at some convenient point in Westmin- 
 ster westward of Whitman's Village, or in Gardner, 
 or in Ashburnham, and thence through the town of 
 Gardner to the valley of Otter River, and thence, by 
 such a line as shall be found most feasible, through 
 Templeton to a point in their chartered line between 
 Gibson's mill and the village of South Koyalston." 
 This was substantially where the road now runs and 
 where the interest and convenience of the community 
 are well served. But, although signally defeated by 
 the skill, energy and tireless vigilance of those whom 
 the town appointed to care for its interests in the 
 affair and secure justice to the town and to those in- 
 dividuals who in good faith had, under the original 
 representations, subscribed to the funds of the corpo- 
 ration, yet it would seem as if even then the opposi- 
 tion did not entirely abandon their former purpose of 
 running the main road through Winchendon and of 
 making the Gardner line ultimately a subordinate 
 branch. No other supposition has been suggested to 
 account for the adoption of what the author of the 
 " History of Gardner " calls " that bewildering 
 
 anomaly in railroad traveling " — the reversal of the 
 engine and the turning of the seats of the passengers 
 at South Ashburnham, which was in vogue for many 
 years. The change in that regard enabling the trains 
 to run by direct movement there as elsewhere, settles 
 finally and forever the question of the permanent 
 location of the road, and secures to Gardner for all 
 time to come, no doubt, those railroad facilities east- 
 ward and westward which it not only needed, but was 
 justly entitled to by every consideration of equity and 
 the public welfare. 
 
 This railroad beyond all question has contributed 
 largely to the development of the resources of the 
 town and to the building up of its various manufac- 
 turing establishments, as the town in turn has done 
 much by its rapidly increasing traffic to promote the 
 prosperity of the road. The advantages derived from 
 it have been greatly increased since it came into the 
 hands of the " Fitchburg" corporation, and its ser- 
 vice in every department is constantly becoming more 
 effective and satisfactory. The recent abolition of 
 several grade-crossings in the town has conduced to 
 the common safety in a way which might be wisely 
 applied to other places of danger, especially in the 
 more densely populated localities. A spur-track up 
 the valley of the Crystal Lake stream, built in 1881, 
 adds materially to the convenience and value of the 
 manufactories which line the route. In the construc- 
 tion of this spur, the interested parties were at the 
 expense of the grading, while the railroad company 
 laid the rails and furnished the rolling-stock. Under 
 the present management of the road increased facili- 
 ties and accommodations are supplied to meet the re- 
 quirements of the business public and to minister to 
 the comfort of travelers. A new Union Station, 
 already in contemplation, will be another step in the 
 right direction, and will secure the appreciation and 
 grateful approval of the public. 
 
 But, although the construction of the Vermont and 
 Massachusetts Railroad was of great service to the 
 town of Gardner, yet it did not meet all the demands 
 of the community in the matter of convenient and 
 rapid transportation. An outlet southward became, 
 after a while, an important consideration, not only 
 for the advantage it would be to the business interests 
 of the place, but as opening easy and ready commu- 
 nication with Worcester, the shire-town of the county, 
 with which its people were somewhat intimately as- 
 sociated in many ways and becoming more and more 
 so every passing year. 
 
 To satisfy this growing want, some of the leading 
 citizens of Gardner united with those of other towns 
 along the route in petitioning for a new railroad, to 
 be called the Boston, Barre and Gardner Road. 
 Some time previous to this movement, in April, 1847, 
 a charter had been granted for a road from Worcester 
 to Barre, to be called the Worcester and Barre Rail- 
 road. It provided for a main line between the ter- 
 mini named and for a branch therefrom to some 
 
824 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 convenient point on the Vermont and Massachusetts 
 Kailioad in Gardner. The following year the name 
 was changed to the Boston, Barre and Gardner Rail- 
 road. For good reasons nothing was done towards 
 building this road for twenty years, the time for its 
 construction being extended at different dates and 
 some changes in its location made by special legisla- 
 tive enactment. 
 
 At length, in July, 1869, certain Worcester gentle- 
 men, liecoming deeply interested in the undertaking, 
 authority was obtained from the General Court for 
 the city of Worcester and towns along the line of the 
 road to take stock in it, which gave new heart to its 
 friends and new impetus toward its construction. Wor- 
 cester subscribed liberally, as did Gardner and other 
 towns, and private capitalists also helped in a similar 
 way. By this action success was assured to the road, 
 and measures were at once taken to carry the desires ol 
 those concerned in it into effect. Hence, on the 15tb 
 of the following September, the directors of the cor- 
 poration voted to put that portion of the road lying 
 between Worcester and Gardner under contract for 
 construction at the earliest possible date, and two 
 months later, terms were concluded with Messrs. Cook 
 &Co., of Canada, in accordance therewith. Work was 
 at once begun and pushed forward with energy and zeal 
 under the general supervision of the efficient presi- 
 dent, Colonel Ivers Phillips, of Worcester. On the 
 26th of April following, that gentleman drove the 
 first spike in the laying of the rails at Gardner, and 
 on the 4th of July of the same year (1870), an excur- 
 sion train from Worcester to Gardner passed over 
 the road, though it was not until several weeks after- 
 ward that it was formally opened for regular traffic. 
 It proved to be of great convenience and value to the 
 town, but, like roads similarly situ.ated elsewhere, was 
 obliged to struggle on by varying fortunes for many 
 years, on account of financial limitations and other 
 unpropitious circumstances. 
 
 Meanwhile the fact that immense quantities of lum- 
 ber for manufacturing pnrjtoses were brought into 
 town from the still extensive forest regions of New 
 Hampshire, Vermont and Canada, created a need for 
 better raeansof transportation in that direction, which 
 the public recognized more and more, as the indus- 
 trial interests of the community increased. Conse- 
 quently a project was started in 1868 or '69 — even be- 
 fore the opening of the Worcester road — looking to 
 the extension of tliat road to Winchendon, which 
 would give the facilities required. In furtherance of 
 that project, a petition was forwarded to the General 
 Court asking for such an extension under the name 
 of the Gardner & Winchendon Railroad. Inasmuch 
 as the enterprising citizens of the two towns interested 
 had already pledged funds for the building of the 
 road, it was confidently anticipated that a charter, in 
 response to the prayer of the petitioners, would be 
 granted without delay. But much to the surprise, 
 annoyance and indignation of all interested parties, a 
 
 vast amount of opposition to the enterprise was de- 
 veloped, in which the Vermont and Ma.ssachusetts, 
 the Boston, Clinton and Fitchburg, the Nashua and 
 Worcester and the Worcester and Providence Cor- 
 porations were notably active, using all possible 
 monetary and other influence to prevent the accom- 
 plishment of the object desired. This opposition 
 prevailed temporarily, necessitating a vigorous fight 
 of three years' duration, when, as in the case of the 
 Vermont and Mass.achusetts road twenty years before, 
 Gardner conquered and the act of incorporation 
 asked for was granted by the Legislature in February, 
 1872. In due time the location of the road was fixed 
 and a contract for its construction was made with Mr. 
 B. N. Farren, of Greenfield, who began work upon it 
 in December following. In less than a year the last 
 rail connecting the Boston, Barre & Gardner road 
 with the Cheshire was laid, and on Thanksgiving Day, 
 November 27, 1873, a train from Worcester, convey- 
 ing the officers of the corporation and the mayor and 
 other gentlemen of that city to Winchendon, arrived 
 therein season for a substantial dinner at the Ameri- 
 can House. The road was opened for regular busi- 
 ness two mouths afterward, February 2, 1874. Thu«, 
 in spite of all opposition, was consummated an under- 
 taking which was of vast importance, both to the 
 Boston, Barre & Gardner Railroad corporation and to 
 the industrial pro.^perity of Gardner for all time to 
 come. The road as completed was made especially 
 conducive to the town's welfare, by furnishing the 
 leading manufactory of the place with direct facdities 
 for transportation, and, by laying spurs of track, for 
 the accommodation of other establishments. Strug- 
 gling on for a series of years under difficulties already 
 referred to, it was at length delivered from its many 
 embarrassments by an arrangement with the Fitch- 
 burg corporation, according to the terms of which its 
 entire management was tranferred to that body, which 
 had previously secured control of the Vermont and 
 Massachusetts road, so that at the present time all 
 the railroad interests of Gardner are under the man- 
 agement of the Fitchburg Company, in which the 
 citizens of the town are well represented. The present 
 railroad system of the place, reaching out to the four 
 cardinal points of the compass, and furnishing ready 
 and easy communication with all parts of the country, 
 and with all the markets of the world, seems to 
 meet the essential needs of the people at large, and is 
 highly satisfactory. A common station for both 
 roads at the point of crossing, commodious and attrac- 
 tive, suited to the size of the town, the extent of busi- 
 ness done and the style of public and private buildings 
 in the place is an already existing need, and one 
 which will undoubtedly be met at an early day. 
 
GARDNER. 
 
 825 
 
 CHAPTER CXII. 
 
 GARDNER— (Co«//««fn'.) 
 
 INDUSTRIAI, INTERESTS. 
 
 At the outset the inhabitants of Gardner were, by 
 the very necessities of the case, tillers of the soil. 
 Indeed, one of the leading objects in locating upon 
 its territory was to obtain a livelihood — an adequate 
 supply of the necessaries of life for themselves and 
 their households. And this was to be done by none 
 of the modern methods of the industrial and business 
 world, but by making levies, in good, primitive fash- 
 ion, upon the products of the earth, to be obtained 
 by earnest, honest and persevering work. It was 
 each man's business, after making a clearing in the 
 wilderness, and providing some sort of shelter for 
 himself and his dependents, to break the sod and 
 plant the seed of hoped-for harvests. So it was the 
 town entered upon its career, beginning at the bottom 
 and building up by slow but sure processes to larger 
 and to better things. 
 
 Most of these early settlers, in addition to their 
 knowledge of agriculture, which was, of course, 
 crude and limited, knew something of the use of 
 such tools as were employed in the more essential 
 trades, and were able to build their own rude dwel- 
 lings, the cabin or log-house, and also whatever other 
 structures they might need, together with many of 
 the implements of husbandry. Time and necessity 
 developed latent skill in various kinds of useful 
 handicraft ; and some there were who, to their acquire- 
 ments and toil as husbandmen, added, for their own 
 and their neighbors' benefit, some special trade or 
 branch of industry. Joseph Bacon, for instance, was a 
 leading carpenter, and Andrew Beard and Timothy 
 Kneeland pursued to some extent the same useful 
 avocation. Seth Heywood, David Nichols and Jude 
 Sawyer were blacksmiths; Jonathan Bancroft was a 
 shoemaker, and no doubt " whipped the cat," as did 
 others of that craft since that day. Gideon Fisher 
 had the reputation of being '' a mighty hunter,'' 
 though to what profit to himself or others does not 
 appear ; and John Glazier, Jonathan Greenwood and 
 Captain Elisha Jackson each kept an " ordinary," or 
 public-house. Moreover, the first minister of the 
 town. Rev. Jonathan Osgood, was a tanner by trade, 
 though he probably never pursued that calling after 
 coming to Gardner, except in a metaphorical sense. 
 Albeit, like many another clergyman of days gone by, 
 he was something of a farmer, and, moreover, a phy- 
 sician of acknowledged ability — withal, a man of 
 many gifts. 
 
 For full fifty years farming was the principal occu- 
 pation of the people of Gardner. Fathers trained 
 their sons to the arts of the husbandman, and the sons, 
 true to their training, succeeded to their father's calling 
 and estate, each man's landed property usually going 
 
 to his children. Mothers trained their daughters to 
 be farmers' wives, and farmers' wives they usually be- 
 came. By this honorable and honest vocation two 
 generations of the first settlers of the town not only 
 gained an adequate livelihood, but secured for them- 
 selves a competency, with provision, with rare excep- 
 tions, for misfortune and advancing years. Though 
 the soil cannot be regarded as specially favorable to 
 agricultural pursuits, yet it has always yielded fair re- 
 turns for wise investments made, supplying many a 
 household with the more substantial necessaries of 
 life from the beginning and furnishing something for 
 the growing home and outside markets with the flight 
 of time. And while the farming interest of the town 
 has relatively declined during the last half-century, 
 yet it still, under the shadow of the more prosperous 
 and imposing manufacturing and commercial activi- 
 ties, maintains a respectable place in the catalogue of 
 industries, some of the more substantial and thrifty citi- 
 zens being followers of the plow and keepers of flocks 
 and herds. The demand which the constantly in- 
 creasing population engaged in various kinds of 
 manufacturing makes upon the tiller of the soil for all 
 sorts of fresh produce is an ever-present stimulus to 
 the farmer, and that he is by no means indifferent to 
 it is sufficiently attested by the improvements con- 
 tinually going on in his department of the general 
 industrial hive. To show what is being accomplished 
 in his behalf, a few quotations are made from the last 
 census reports sent to the Secretary of State, accord- 
 ing to the requirements of the statutes of the Com- 
 monwealth. They relate to the year 1885, and are as 
 follows, to wit: Number of farm-houses in Gardner 
 72 ; number of farm barns, 77 ; other farm buildings, 
 27. Estimated value of property invested in farming, 
 S!378,948. Valuation of land devoted to farming, 
 $223,618; of buildings, $102,670; of tools and ma- 
 chinery, .$13,893; of domestic animals, $33,499; of 
 fruit trees, $5,268. Value of agricultural productions 
 for the year, $92,476. Eighty-nine farms are owned 
 by the men who work them and one is hired. The 
 whole number of men engaged in farming is one 
 hundred and eighty-five. 
 
 Coopering. — A considerable number of the people 
 in Gardner at an early day supplemented their farm- 
 ing operations by the manufacture of tubs, barrels, 
 pails and other kinds of wooden-ware of the same 
 general sort, engaging in such work in the winter- 
 time and at other seasons of the year when the weather 
 was unsuitable for out door laboi'. After awhile this 
 came to be in some instances the leading or perhaps 
 the sole occupation, the call for such goods increasing 
 as the town and country round about became more 
 densely settled and householders more able to supply 
 themselves with these conveniences of domestic life, 
 or as the demands of the general market multiplied. 
 Among those who carried on a considerable business 
 in this line of production fifty or seventy-five years 
 ago were Liberty Partridge, George Baker, Alvin 
 
826 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Greenwood, Robert Powers, Benjamin Kendall, Lewis 
 Glazier, Smyrna Glazier, John Dyer, Hubbard Duns- 
 ter, Walter Greenwood and others. The work was 
 all performed by manual labor without the aid of any 
 machinery, save only perhaps some very .simple kinds 
 that could be propelled by hand or foot-power. With 
 the invention of mechanical devices, by which the 
 same kind of goods could be produced much more 
 easily and rapidly by water or other power, first 
 introduced some siity years ago, this sort of craft 
 fell into disuse, and "coopering," as it was termed, 
 existed only as a memery of bygone days. 
 
 Potash-Making. — In clearing up the lands of the 
 new settlements of this region of country considerable 
 quantities of wood, which otherwise would have been 
 of no account, were utilized and made a source of 
 income by the manufacture of potash, lor which there 
 seems to have been a considerable demand at the 
 time. A shop in which this article of commerce was 
 produced once stood upon ground now covered by the 
 extensive chair factory of the late S. K. Pierce & Co., 
 owned and probably carried on by the William Bick- 
 fords — father and son — who had large tracts of the 
 primitive forest in their possession. A similar estab- 
 lishment also occujiied the site of the First National 
 Bank. By whom this was conducted has not been 
 definitely ascertained, but it seems likely to have 
 been built and owned by John Glazier, who resided 
 in the house which is now the dwelling of William 
 Austin, and who was a large land-holder in his day. 
 Tliere were, without doubt, others in the early times, 
 but no memorials of them have been found. 
 
 Tanneries.— About the beginning of the present 
 century there was a tan-yard located on the flat 
 land directly below the lumber-mill of Lewis A. 
 Wright & Co., owned by John and Isaac Nichols, 
 sons of David Nichols, one of the first settlers on 
 the Gardner territory. It passed from their hands 
 into that of their brother, Asa, who sold it in 1811 
 to Joseph Sweetser, of Watertown, and he, in turn, 
 to George Scott. Mr. Scott was the last one engaged 
 in the business in that locality, and is reinembered by 
 the older inhabitants. A tannery once existed di- 
 rectly below the old Bickford Milir(now James Saw- 
 yer's), the vats of which could be recognized not 
 many years since, but by whom it was run has not 
 been ascertained. At a more recent date a Mr. 
 Blaney carried on the same business on the west side 
 of Green Street, just above the Elijah Brick place, 
 the location of the vats being still plainly marked 
 and readily recognized. 
 
 Nail-Makins. — In the year 1808 Abram G. Park- 
 er, of Westminster, and Francis Hill and David 
 Perley, of Gardner, formed a co-partnership for the 
 purpose of manufacturing nails and doing other 
 kinds of iron work. They purchased the mill privi- 
 lege now occupied by Wright & Read, built a dam 
 and erected a factory, in which they placed machin- 
 ery suited to their purpose, carrying on the business 
 
 for several years. After some changes in the man- 
 agement, the property was disposed of, and the 
 building was converted into a fulling and carding- 
 niill, as will presently appear. Allusion has already 
 been made to several blacksmiths in town during the 
 first years of its history. It is proper to note the 
 fact that at that period the making of nails was an 
 important department of that trade, little or no ma- 
 chinery having been introduced or invented even for 
 the jjroduction of that highly useful article. 
 
 The Manufacture of Cloth. — A very impor- 
 tant industry of the first half-century of the history 
 of Gardner, and one deserving a place in this re- 
 view, was the production of cloth for domestic uses 
 and to meet to a limited extent such demands as 
 might come from the neighborhood and the com- 
 munity at large. Most of the goods from which the 
 clothing (if both men and women, as well as chil- 
 dren, was cut, were not only home spun, but home- 
 woven, as the garments themselves were home-made. 
 The farmers, as a rule, kept sheep, and grew their 
 own wool, at least enough for the needs of the 
 family, which was in time carded, spun and woven 
 by members of the household, and made ready for 
 any service to which it might be devoted. The card- 
 boards, the spinning-wheel and the loom were as es- 
 sential articles of household furniture and imple- 
 ments of household use as were the plough, the hoe 
 and the scythe for the proper equipment of the farm 
 and tillage of the soil. And the wives and daugh- 
 ters were as familiar with the former and as skillful 
 in operating them as were the fathers and sons the 
 latter. Little time for idle hands, either within or 
 without the dwelling, was there in those days, when 
 the grandparents of the present generation were do- 
 ing their best to keep the wolf Irom the door, to pro- 
 vide shelter, food and raiment for themselves and 
 their children, and to guarantee themselves and 
 theirs against any and every contingency of coming 
 need, — laying in that way the foundations of a pros- 
 perity for their town, in which those coming after 
 them to their latest posterity might rejoice. 
 
 Fulling and Cardinu-Mills. — After the aban- 
 donment of the iron-works mentioned above, the 
 building in which they were carried on was fitted up 
 with machinery for cleansing and finishing the cloth 
 produced in the homes round about, giving it, by 
 what was termed the process of "ftilling," greater 
 compactness of texture, which rendered it more ser- 
 viceable and more pleasing to the eye. After a time 
 also a machine for carding wool was introduced, which 
 greatly facilitated the process and relieved the house- 
 hold of a large amount of difficult and tiresome work. 
 This mill was run until about the year 1829 by Colonel 
 Ephraini Williams, who then disposed of his interest 
 in it, and the building was converted into a .shop for 
 the manufacture of pine furniture, as will be duly set 
 forth hereafter. In 1822 John Merriam having pur- 
 chased the Caleb Jackson farm, lying on both sides of 
 
GARDNER. 
 
 827 
 
 what is Winter Street, with the adjacent mill privi- 
 lege, now utilized by S. Bent, Bros. & Co., erected a mill 
 for fulling purjioses, which he afterwards enlarged 
 sufficiently to enable him to jjut in a carding-ma- 
 chine to run in connection with the other business. 
 The mill was used for the purposes indicated for about 
 a dozen years, when Mr. Merriam left town. In 18S6 
 it was purchased by Sullivan Sawin and has been de- 
 voted to the manufacture of chairs from that date. 
 
 Cakd-Board Makixu. — The business of getting 
 out boards to which cards were applied for purposes 
 of hand-carding was carried on to quite an extent for 
 a time in the history of the town. A shop devoted to 
 this use belonging to .fosiah Wilder, Jr., situated on 
 the Knowlton j)lace, in the north part of the town, 
 was destroyed by fire in 1813. One Aaron Conant 
 had a manufactory in the east part of the town. And 
 as an adjunct to this industry Joseph Wright was 
 engaged for awhile in getting out handles for such 
 boards. The articles produced were readily disposed 
 of at Leicester, where they were finished and made 
 ready for the market. 
 
 Pine Furniture. — The building standing on the 
 site now occupied bv Wright & Reed's chair factory, 
 and used for many years as a fulling and clothing 
 shop, was afterwards bought by Daniel J. Goodspeed, 
 who began the manufacture of toilet tables and wash- 
 stands, with other articlej of pine furniture. In 1846 
 the factory was burned, but immediately rebuilt and 
 work resumed. Afterward Mr. Goodspeed left this lo- 
 cality and engaged in chair-making at the Henry 
 Whitney Mill, the site of which is now occupied by 
 the Howe Bros.' grist-mill, where he, some years 
 later, was again burned out. Meanwhile a Mr. Baker 
 associated with himself Lewis H. Bradford and the 
 making of pine furniture was continued at the old 
 stand, the firm bearing the name of Bradford & 
 Baker. They went on for a few years, when the busi- 
 ness was given up altogether. 
 
 Tubs and Pails. — One of the oldest existing in- 
 dustries of the town, and one which has been prose- 
 cuted with the fewest changes of any sort, is the 
 manufacture of tubs and pails, now going on under 
 the direction of Alfred Wyman, step-son of the late 
 Amasa Bancroft, by whom it was represented for 
 more than a half a century. It was established 
 about the year 1832 by R. Heywood Sawin and his 
 brother-in-law, John Damon, who had been previ- 
 ously engaged in getting out chair stock and in chair- 
 making at the old Joshua Whitney Mill site, known 
 in later years as the Pail Factory. A saw-mill was 
 erected at this spot soon after the town was incorpo- 
 rated, or possibly before, by Mr. Whitney, who settled 
 near by in 1778, or thereabouts, and who owned con- 
 siderable land in the vicinity. From Joshua \V^hit- 
 ney it passed into the bauds of his son Joseph, who, 
 in the year 1822 or 1823, sold it to his brother-in-law, 
 Luke Sawin. In 1824, Luke sold to his kinsman, 
 Sullivan Sawin, of Westminster, who in the year 1820 
 
 disposed of one-third of it to his son, Reuben Hey- 
 wood Sawin, and one-third to his son-in-law, John Da- 
 mon, retaining the remainder to himself. An addition 
 w:is soon after put up, circular saws and turning lathes 
 were introduced, and a large business was done in get- 
 ting out chair stock, the rapidly increasing manufac- 
 ture of chairs in the vicinity creating a great demand 
 for that kind of production. A few years later, about 
 1831, anew shop was erected and chair-making was 
 introduced, carried on in part by Sullivan Sawin, Jr., 
 and also by the before-mentioned parties under the 
 firm-name of " Sawin & Damon." But the then 
 recent invention of machinery for the turning of pails 
 and kindred ware, together with the abundance of tim- 
 ber near at hand suitable for the manufacture of such 
 goods, induced the latter to go into that business, and 
 they accordingly did so, associating with themselves 
 Jonas Child, Moses Wood and a Mr. Vail, the last 
 two of whom were located in Providence, and at- 
 tended to the selling of what was made as part of the 
 business of a general furniture house which they had 
 established. This arrangement continued till 1836, 
 when Sawin & Damon, having purchased a large 
 tract of timber land in Fitzwilliam and erected a 
 mill upon it, desired to dispose of their Gardner in- 
 terests that they might devote themselves exclusively 
 to the new enterprise in which they had enlisted. 
 It was finally decided to dispose of the entire pail 
 manufacturing business, which had been carried 
 on under the style of the Gardner Pail Factory Co., 
 and this was accordingly done. The purchasing 
 parties were Amasa Bancroft, .Tared Taylor, Frederick 
 Parker and Joel Baker, the firm being known by the 
 name of Taylor, Bancroft & Co. In 1840, Mr. Ban- 
 croft bought out his partners and continued the busi- 
 ness alone for twenty-five years, when he associated 
 with himself his son-in-law, John C. Bryant, who 
 remained with Mr. Bancroft till his death in 1882, 
 the name of the partnership being Amasa Bancroft & 
 Co. About a year after tlie death of Mr. Bryant, Mr. 
 Bancroft received his step-son, Alfred Wyman, as as- 
 sociate in the business under the former name, and this 
 relation continued till the decease of the original mem- 
 ber of the firm early in 1888, who had the reputation 
 of being the oide.st tub and pail manufacturer in the 
 country. The busine.ss has always been carefully 
 managed, without any effort to increase it to gigantic 
 proportions, and has been attended with satisfactory 
 results. For many years it has employed an aver- 
 age of eighteen men, and has turned out, annually, 
 goods amounting to the value of about $25,000. 
 
 THE MANUFACTURE OP CHAIRS. 
 
 The leading industry of Gardner, overshadowing all 
 others and contributing more than all others to the 
 prosperity and wealth of the town, is chair manufac- 
 turing. It is this which distinguishes it above all other 
 towns in the county, and has given it a name and an 
 honorable fame far and wide throughout the length and 
 
828 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 breadth of the laud, and even in foreign realms. iSo 
 important a factor in the development of the material, 
 social and civil interests of the community, in shaping 
 its fortunes and determining its history, deserves a 
 somewhat detailed and careful statement of its growth 
 from humble and unpretending beginnings through 
 the various stages of expansion and progress up to 
 the grand and imposing proportions which it has, at 
 the present writing, attained. And to such a state- 
 ment the attention of the reader is hereby invited. 
 
 It is generally understood and believed that the 
 father and founder of the chair-making business in 
 Gardner was James M. Comee, son of David Comee, 
 who came from Lexington some ten or twelve years 
 before the incorporation of the town, and settled near 
 the junction of Pearl and Chapel Streets, in the east 
 part. David was the son of David, who was the son 
 of John Comee, the first of the family in the country, 
 as is supposed, a resident of " Cambridge Farms," 
 afterwards Lexington, at the time of its organization 
 as a precinct in 1693. He is said to have served in 
 the battles of Lexington, Bunker Hill and Benning- 
 ton. He married (1) Christiana Maltman, also of 
 Lexington, by whom he had seven children ; and (2) 
 Hannah Maltman, the mother of eight more. Of 
 these fifteen children James M. was the second, 
 born April 18, 1777. He married Sarah Putnam, and 
 located at the top of the hill on what is now Pearl 
 Street about the year 1800, upon the estate now owned 
 and improved by Webster Gates, who married his 
 grand-daughter, Mary F. Jaquith. In the year 1805, 
 so far as can be learned, he began the making of 
 chairs, in a very small way, in one of the rooms of 
 his dwelling-house, doing most of the work at the 
 outset with his own hands. Finding the business 
 profitable, Mr. Comee soon called in some of the 
 lads or young men of the neighborhood to assist him 
 as apprentices. Among those thus employed at an 
 early date were Enoch, Elijah and Jonas Brick, while, 
 later on, were Isaac Jaquith, Elijah Putnam, Luke 
 Fairbanks, Joseph Jackson and others. Several of 
 these men afterwards started the same business on 
 their own account and prosecuted it for a longer or 
 shorter term of years, more or less successfully. 
 
 The chairs first made by Mr. Comee were undoubt- 
 edly constructed wholly of wood, the seats being of 
 solid plank, either in one ])iece or in several pieces, 
 firmly glued together. Rocking-chairs constituted a 
 considerable portion of the goods produced ; some 
 having a seat entirely flat, except, it may have been 
 hollowed out somewhat with an adze; and others, 
 more easy and tasteful, having what was called the 
 raised seat. Not many years transpired, however, 
 before a new style of seat came into vogue, known as 
 the flay seat, which proved to be very acceptable and 
 salable, and which was in good demand for a quarter 
 of a century, or until superseded by the more modern 
 and more artistic rattan or cane-seat. This seat was 
 manufactured from a plant often found in this 
 
 locality, growing in marshy places and along the 
 borders of sluggish streams, known to botanists as a 
 form of the genus Typha Latifolia, and to people at 
 large as the cat-tail flag. Being of a tough, fibrous 
 nature, with considerable thickness of structure and 
 of sufficient length, it was well adapted to the use 
 designated. The leaves were wound around the four 
 sides of a seat-frame, and, when carefully twisted and 
 woven by a skillful hand in four compartments, whose 
 intertwining lines converged from the corners to a 
 common centre, presented a neat and attractive ap- 
 pearance. It was much more pleasing to the eye and 
 more comfortable than the hard, stiti" wooden seat 
 which it largely supplanted, and was deemed a 
 decided improvement upon it in many respects. 
 Few, if any, chairs of this sort are now made, though 
 specimens of them may be found in the dwellings of 
 most of the older New England families. 
 
 In the early period of chair manufacture, the work 
 was done mostly by hand, even to the getting out of 
 the stock, only a small turning-lathe, propelled by 
 foot-power, being used for preparing the round stufl". 
 What machinery was used was very simple and the 
 tools were very few, so that the need of other than 
 the force resident in the human muscle had not then 
 been made manifest. Hence, for some years, chairs 
 were made in the simple, slow, laborious way desig- 
 nated. The industry was in the elementary, forma- 
 tive period of its development, feeling its way along 
 towards better methods and a well-assured success. 
 An advance was made and a positive advantage 
 gained when horse-power was introduced to facilitate 
 the turning of stock and the doing of some of the 
 more tiresome parts of the work, for which some 
 simple mechanical apparatus had been invented. 
 
 The chairs made by Mr. Comee were, for many 
 years, taken to Worceste*-, Lowell, Springfield and 
 Boston, with teams of one or more horses, driven by 
 himself or by persons in his employ, who sold them 
 in small quantities, as opportunity ofi'ered, — some- 
 times even disposing of them from house to house, 
 in the more sparsely-settled towns. In such a small 
 way did ISIr. Comee begin this important manufac- 
 ture, and by such unpretending methods did he 
 prosecute the work by which he earned for himself a 
 name long to be remembered in his native town and 
 wherever the business he did so much to make a 
 permanent interest in the community is pursued. 
 
 Probably the first of Mr. Comee's apprentices to 
 establish a business on his own account, and carry it 
 on successfully for a long series of years, becoming 
 thereby the second permanent chair-maker in Gard- 
 ner, was Elijah Brick. He went to his trade in 
 180(5, when fourteen years of age, and served in good 
 old-fashioned style till he was twenty-one. Continu- 
 ing with Mr. Comee as journeyman for a year, he 
 bought, in 1814, a place half a mile north of the 
 Common, on which he settled, built a small shop and 
 commenced the making of flag-seat chairs. He em- 
 
GARDNER. 
 
 S2n 
 
 ployed his brother Enoch to assist him about the 
 wood-work", and female help to make the seats. 
 Later on, Benjamin Howe was in his service, and 
 others, afterward, as his business increased. For 
 many years he marketed his goods himself, carting 
 them, with his own team, to Boston, Salem, Provi- 
 dence and elsewhere. About 1840 he extended his 
 operations and commenced making cane-seat chairs, 
 which had then become somewhat popular, and were 
 rapidly rising into favor, with the trade and with 
 the general public. 
 
 During the ten years following the date of Mr. 
 Brick's setting up the making of chairs there were 
 other persons who did the same thing, but their un- 
 dertakings were small or of very brief continuance, 
 and did but little towards building up the manufac- 
 ture into a permanent and commanding position in 
 the place. Among these was Jonas Brick, who be- 
 gan in a shop near the Wright saw-mill in 1818, the 
 first of the trade, so far as is known, in the south 
 part of the town. He was in business, however, 
 but a short time, and at an early date left the town. 
 
 The chair-making era of Gardner history may be 
 divided into two parts : the first covering a period of 
 about twenty-five or thirty years, the second of fifty- 
 flveor si.xty years. The former passed over or gave way 
 to the latter with the introduction of machinery into 
 chair-shops, to be run by water or other power, and 
 also with the introduction of the use of rattan as an 
 important element or constituent part of the material 
 for the production of chairs. The transition from 
 one to the other of these divisions may be regarded as 
 having taken place substantially between the years 
 1830 and 1835, during which period the germs of 
 most of the existing large chair establishments were 
 first planted and began their process of growth and 
 development, as will hereafter appear. 
 
 Recofrnizing the distinctive characteristics of the 
 chair-manufacturing industry which marked the 
 change alluded to, and looking over the list of those 
 who were active and instrumental in bringing that 
 result to pass, it is eminently just and proper to make 
 special mention of the part taken in the matter by 
 Mr. Elijah Putnam. Disappointed, as no doubt he 
 was, in many of his plans and expectations, and not 
 to be counted among the successful manufacturers of 
 the town, he yet was, for a long series of years, con- 
 nected with the chair business, and perhaps contrib- 
 uted as much, in his way, to the development of this 
 branch of production and to the new departure 
 which ushered in the better day of chair-making, as 
 any other individual. Fertile iu inventive resources, 
 he yet was not gifted with that practical judgment 
 and executive ability which were needful to use 
 those resources to the best advantage, and make 
 them productive of the most profitable and .satisfac- 
 tory results. J^ull of new ideas in regard to the 
 manufacture of chairs, and abounding in designs and 
 devices of a mechanical nature, he lacked the power 
 
 of embodying his ideas in a feasible working system, 
 and of applying his contrivances in an effectual way 
 to the attainment of the ends proposed. Nevertheless, 
 he rendered e.ssenti.il service to his calling and to Ihe 
 community by his suggestions, by his hints at im- 
 provements or his imperfect conceptions of tools and 
 machines, which he could not of himself work out 
 to successful issues, but which others, of a more prac- 
 tical turn of mind, getting possession of, could easily 
 put to efficient and remunerative service. And it is 
 believed that some of the more valuable kinds of 
 chair-making machinery and various improvements 
 in the business, which first came into use and ren- 
 dered important aid in advancing to its present com- 
 manding position the chief industrial interest of the 
 town, originated in the prolific brain of this man, 
 who, himself derived but little pecuniary advantage 
 from them, but to whom credit for them in due de- 
 gree should be assigned, even though others were in- 
 strumental in giving form to the ideas and principles 
 involved, and in putting them into successful opera- 
 tion. 
 
 Mr. Putnam wa.s one of the apprenticed workmen 
 of James M. Comee. After closing his apprentice- 
 ship and perhaps working as journeyman for a time, 
 he married, and settled upon the estate opposite the 
 Common, where Charles Scollay now resides, going 
 into business for himself about the year 1825. He 
 possibly began in one of the rooms of his dwelling- 
 house, but soon erected a shop in which to carry on 
 his trade. He employed numerous workmen as time 
 went on, some of the oldest and best known chair- 
 makers of the town having served more or less under 
 him. The usual foot-lathe was the only machinery 
 he had at the beginning; but following the bent of 
 his genius, he afterwards made use of a steam-engine 
 of his own invention, which, however, did n<it prove 
 a success. He then constructed and put up a wind- 
 mill, as some still living remember, but this also failed 
 to serve the purpose intended and was removed. He 
 finally introduced horse-power, which supplied his 
 needs till 1838, when he bought the mill jirivilege, 
 now occupied by John A. Dunn, of William S. 
 Lynde, built a dam and removed his shop thither, 
 continuing the business for seven years, when he 
 sold out to Cowee, Collester & Co., from whose hands 
 the property passed, after several changes, to its pres- 
 ent ownership. Mr. Putnam also carried on business 
 awhile on the site to which Conant, Ball & Co. have 
 recently removed, but his shop was burned in 1839 
 and the privilege was transferred after a time to L. 
 H. Sawin, tlie predecessor of those now in possession 
 of it. 
 
 To Mr. Putnam, moreover, belongs, with but little 
 doubt, whatever credit is due for the introduction of 
 the cane-seat to the chair manufacturing fraternity of 
 Gardner and for making the rattan business an im- 
 portant branch of the predominating industry of the 
 community. It was, so far as can be ascertained by 
 
830 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTEE COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 extensive and painstaking inquiry, under his auspices 
 that the first cane-seating was done in the town ; it 
 was by his agency that imported rattan was first 
 brought to the place, split, shaven and made fit for 
 use; and it was under his management and in his 
 name that cane-seat chairs were first actually pro- 
 duced here and put upon the market, as will be more 
 fully set forth in subsequent pages. 
 
 Recurring once more to the date at which Mr. Put- 
 nam began his career and when several others also 
 were looking to the same calling as a means of liveli- 
 hood and of worldly prosperity, it may be stated that 
 the increased and increasing demand for chair stock 
 occasioned thereby suggested the use of water-power, 
 of which there was considerable not yet improved in 
 town, as an easily available agency for meeting that 
 demand. Mr. Ezra Baker seemed to be the first to 
 turn the suggestion to practical account and appre- 
 ciate the opportunity offered for a new and promising 
 industrial pursuit. A plan of action presented itself 
 to him, which he very soon proceeded to carry into 
 effect. He purchased a small mill privilege on Knee- 
 land Brook, situated half a mile northwest of the 
 northern extremity of Crystal Lake, constructed a 
 dam, erected a shop and put in one or more lathes for 
 the turning of posts and stretchers and other parts of 
 chair material. At that time the timber used was 
 bought of the farmers round-about, who prepared it 
 for the lathe by cutting it the required length, split- 
 ting it and taking off the corners, as it was not then 
 deemed possible to turn a square stick. The circular- 
 saw had not come into use. But its day was at hand, 
 and it was not long before Mr. Baker purchased one, 
 put it into his shop and prepared his own lumber for 
 the lathe. This was the first saw of the kind in 
 town. In 1828, the business of Mr. Baker increas- 
 ing on his hands, he purchased the Fairbanks grist- 
 mill, afterwards sold to Elijah Putnam as stated, 
 and transferred his machinery there, where he oper- 
 ated for several years. Previous to this change on the 
 part of Mr. Baker, Asa Parley erected a shop of con- 
 siderable size on the same stream, near where Clark 
 Street crosses it, and fitted it up for the same kind of 
 work. It was not long after this that 8awiii & 
 Damon engaged in the same business at the Pail 
 Factory site, and about the .same time Merrick Wal- 
 lace, who married the daughter of Ezra Baker, bought 
 of Deacon Fairbanks the small privilege above his 
 grist-mill, where the main factory of Heywood 
 Bros. & Co. now is located, built a shop and went 
 into the business of getting out chair-stuff there. 
 Similar enterj)rises were started elsewhere in town 
 and went on with a varying success, until the demand 
 was more than met, or until chair-makers came to sec 
 that it was for their advantage to prepare their own 
 material, when the work of getting out stock as a sep- 
 arate and independent calling was given up and be- 
 came an integral part of the general business of chair 
 manufacture. This was another feature of the transi- 
 
 tion from the earlier to the later period of the chair- 
 making era — from the old to the new system of ways, 
 means and methods of chair production. 
 
 A sketch of the existing chair establishments ot 
 Gardner, such as is proposed, will involve a still fur- 
 ther consideration of the change alluded to, since 
 some of them date back to the time when it occurred, 
 and since some of their founders were more or Ics 
 active in bringing it about. But before going on to pre- 
 sent such a sketch, it seems proper to submit as briefly as 
 may be an account of the introduction and use of rat- 
 tan as an important adjunct or component part of the 
 manufacture in its more modern aspects and achieve- 
 ments. Constituting as it does a distinct branch of 
 the general industry under notice, and possessing 
 characteristics peculiar to itself, it may be considered 
 under the specific name of 
 
 The Rattan Bu.sinesis. — Rattan is a species of 
 the palm tree bearing the scientific name of Calamus 
 Rotai^g and a product of the forests of the East In- 
 dian Islands, especially of Sumatra and Borneo, and 
 of the Malayan Peninsula. It is a slender ])lant, 
 scarcely ever exceeding an inch in diameter and of 
 great length. It is sometimes supported by the larger 
 trees among which it grows and sometimes runs along 
 the ground forming a tangled web, through which it 
 is impossible to pass. The peculiarities which render 
 it valuable for a great variety of uses, and which give 
 it commercial importance, are its remarkable flexi- 
 bility and strength, its extreme length combined with 
 uniformity of size, its capability of being split into 
 small strips and the hard,silicious glazing with which 
 it is coated. It is gathered by the natives of the 
 region where it is produced, and prepared for ship- 
 ping at very little expense, and then sent to different 
 parts of the world. The eastern nations of Asia have 
 for a long time known its value and have used it in 
 making various articles of furniture, baskets, sievesi 
 mats, and even hats and shoes. Large quantities of it 
 are employed in China as bands for tea-chests, to se- 
 cure them against the perils of transportation. It 
 was probably in this way that it first became known 
 to Western Europe and to America, where its proper- 
 ties are now so well understood, and where it is al the 
 present day so largely utilized in the production of 
 many kinds of house furnishing goods, children's car- 
 riages, and numerous styles of fancy articles ; also for 
 decorative purposes, being easily made to assume 
 unique and newly-devised forms, pleasing to the eye 
 and taste. Its adaptability to an indefinite but ever- 
 increasing number of uses has given it in these later 
 years a wide distribution and an unbounded popu- 
 larity throughout the civilized world. 
 
 At what date rattan was first used as a part of chair 
 construction in this country has not been determined, 
 nor in what locality, nor by whom it was thus origi- 
 nally employed on these shores. It was first brought 
 to the notice of the people of Gardner and vicinity 
 in that connection about the year 1830, at which time 
 
GAKDNER. 
 
 831 
 
 chair-seats were being made of it in or near the City 
 of New York, whence they were sent in different 
 directions and put into chairs by those already en- 
 gaged in chair manufacturing. It does not appear 
 that any of tlie trade in Gardner made use of any of 
 these New York seats in their business previous to 
 the date at which what are called cane-seats were 
 actually produced within its borders, though it is 
 quite certain that they were purchased and used to 
 some extent in neighboring towns about that time. 
 The work of putting the rattan, or cane as it was more 
 familiarly called, into these New York seats was done 
 in part, at least, by the inmates of the penitentiary ol 
 the State of Connecticut, and it was by that avenue 
 that the "seating" of chairs and the making of cane- 
 seat chairs first found its way into this town. 
 
 It was in the year 1832 or 1833 that .Tohn Cowee, an 
 employe'' of Mr. Elijah Putnam, visited the Connec- 
 ticut State Prison, and, by going through the depart- 
 ment wliere the inmates were engaged in "seating'' 
 chairs and carefully watching their movements, ob- 
 tained an idea of the way in which the work was done. 
 Whether he did this on his own motion, or at the 
 .suggestion of Mr. Putnam, is not known. After leav- 
 ing the prison he purchased a seat and also some cane 
 made ready for use and returned home, bringing the 
 articles with him. Going to the shop of Mr. Putnam, 
 he carefully took the cane from the seat, studying the 
 process closely, and then went to work with the pre- 
 pared cane, putting the seat in again and so producing 
 the first scat of the kind that was actually " seated" 
 in town. This point gained, it was not difficult to go 
 on to tlie construction of a cane-seat chair in all its 
 parts from beginning to end. And this Jlr. Putnam 
 proceeded at once to do. Making the frames by facili- 
 ties easily obtained, he engaged women to come to 
 his house, where they were taught the mystery of 
 seating, and where they were employed for a time in 
 doing that part of the work, one of the rooms of his 
 dwelling being devoted to that use. These seats he 
 put into chairs which, when finished, were sold with 
 other articles of his production, and the caneseat 
 chair business was fairly inaugurated in the commun- 
 ity where it was in after-years to attain undreamed-of 
 proportions and achieve a most wonderful success. 
 The " -seating " continued to be done on Mr. Putnam's 
 premises until it was found that the demand for the 
 chairs could not be met unless the seafs could 
 be produced more rapidly than was possible in 
 that small way, when the practice of " putting 
 out" seating was inaugurated — that is, of distributing 
 the frames and cane in families in the neighborhood, 
 by the members of which the interweaving process 
 was carried on. As the cane-seat chair grew in pop- 
 ular favor and the business of manufacturing it in- 
 creased, this work of "seating" was enlarged propor- 
 tionally, expanding and extending itself until it 
 became an important industry on its own account, 
 affording employment to the inmates of hundreds and 
 
 thousands of homes in the region round-about and 
 contributing, as a source of income, largely to the 
 comfort, prosperity and happiness of multitudes of 
 people. 
 
 To begin with, the cane put into the seats was 0I3- 
 tained from outside, probably from New York, pre- 
 pared for use. Very soon, however, in 1833, Mr. 
 Warren Sargent, from Dummerston, Vt., and a little 
 later his brother, John R. Sargent, came to the place 
 and went to work getting out cane, as it was termed, 
 in Mr. Putnam's shop, and, most likely, under his 
 auspices, where they carried on business for a time, 
 inducting others into it and establishing it upon a 
 permanent basis. Leaving town after a few years, 
 they were succeeded by Benjamin H. Rugg, a skillful 
 and successful cane-worker, for a long while at the 
 Heywood shop and at his own residence on Green 
 Street ; Robert G. Reed, who worked first at Mr. Put- 
 nam's and afterward at James M. Comee's; Edmond 
 Newton, at South Gardner ; Asher Shattuck, who was 
 first employed at Putnam's in 1838 and, after serving 
 at several places, finally in the cane department at 
 the Heywood establishment in the West Vill.-ige, and 
 perhaps others. Probably Mr. Shattuck is the oldest 
 living cane-worker in Gardner, and the one who has 
 been longest connected witli that special industry. 
 
 For twenty years or more the work of getting out 
 cane was done by hand. It was a slow, difficult, 
 laborious process, requiring care, skill and quickness 
 of motion for its successful prosecution. Numerous 
 steps intervened between the taking of the material 
 in hand by the worker and the leaving it ready for 
 the hand of the seater. It was received, as it is now, 
 just as it was shipped from its native shores, just as it 
 was taken from its native forests, indeed, except that 
 the leaves crowning its top and the spines grown at 
 its several joints had been removed, after which it 
 had been put into bundles of one liundred stalks each, 
 about sixteen feet long, doubled in the middle and 
 compactly tied together. The first thing done with it 
 was to straighten it, so that it could be easily handled 
 and conveniently worked. Each stalk was then 
 passed through the hand from end to end and every 
 joint was taken off or pared down witii a common 
 'knife, so as not to interfere with the further working 
 of it, or with the drawing in of the strands when 
 woven by the usual method into a seat. This was 
 termed cleaning the cane. When this was accom- 
 plished the act of sjilitting or slabbing took place, 
 which consisted, in the case of the smaller rods or 
 stalks, in quartering them from end to end, and when 
 they were larger, in taking off from the several sides 
 enough to make two strands, with the exception of 
 the last one. perhaps, which would sometimes make 
 but one. This was also 'done with a common knife 
 and required special care and skill to prevent waste. 
 Eacli strip thus produced was afterwards ploughed or 
 passed under a sharp-edged tool, shaped like the 
 letter V, being held in place by proper appliances, 
 
832 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 whicli would cut away most of the core or woody 
 portion of the strip, and at the same time so nearly 
 split it into two equal parts as that they could be 
 readily separated. Each of these parts was then 
 drawn between two properly adjusted cutters, which 
 reduced it to a uniform width and was termed g.auging 
 the cane. It was afterward planed or brought to a 
 uniform thickness by passing it over another cutter 
 set into a block of wood, likening it to the carpenter's 
 tool from which this step of the process derived its 
 name. This concluded the mechanical part of the 
 work. The cane thus prepared was then parceled 
 out into lots of one thousand feet in length in the 
 aggregate, neatly tied in bunches of convenient size, 
 and after being sufficiently bleached, was deemed 
 ready for use. In this, the original method of getting 
 out cane, each part of the work was distinct and 
 separate from all others, and the power employed was 
 that resident in the bones and sinews of the work- 
 men, small pincers being used for holding the strands 
 in the drawing processes and whenever the fingers 
 could not conveniently and successfully serve the 
 end desired. 
 
 But this slow method was destined to be superseded. 
 The invention of machinery and the use of water or 
 other power for the purpose of preparing rattan for 
 the various kinds of service to which it was applied, 
 was only a question of time, and the time came many 
 years ago. In the year 1849, Mr. Sullivan Sawyer, 
 then of Templeton, but now of Fitchburg, secured 
 letters patent on a machine " for splitting and dress- 
 ing rattan," and also on one for cutting rattan, in 
 18.51. These are the first inventions connected with 
 the luisiness mentioned in the reports of the Patent 
 OHice of the United States, but for ten years fi'om the 
 date of the first of these they averaged one annually. 
 A third patent was issued to Mr. Sawyer for a cane" 
 working machine in 1854, and a fourth in 1855. In 
 1852 one was granted to Joseph Sawyer, of Royal- 
 ston, and another in 1854, as also one in the same year 
 to Mr. A. M. Sawyer, Templeton. In 1855 Mr. U. C. 
 Reed, of Philadelphia, was similarly honored ; also 
 Mr. C. C. Hull, of Charlestown. In 1858, George S. 
 Colburn, then of South Reading, but for many years 
 a resident of Gardner, and the manager of the cane 
 department of the Heywood Manufactory until a 
 recent date, took out his first patent for a rattan- 
 machine, as he has also received several since that 
 period. Some of these machines were of only exper- 
 imental service, not standing the test of practical 
 use ; but they were helps to that more perfect system 
 of mechanisms and devices by which cane is now 
 prepared for the muliiform uses to which it is applied. 
 As a matter of fact, out of these several inventions 
 there were evolved two or three machines, differing 
 from each other in some respect.s, which were put to 
 effectual use, and for a time supplied very largely 
 the needs of the cane-seat chair-making public. At 
 what date these went into successful operation it is 
 
 difficult to determine. Indeed, Ihey were being ex- 
 perimented with and improved for several years, and 
 turned out much imperfect work before they gave 
 reasonable satisfaction, a result which was achieved 
 about the year 1858 or, it may be, a little earlier ; but 
 it was not far from that time that the problem of 
 getting out cane by machinery was regarded as .solved, 
 and tbat a new era had opened to that branch of 
 business. For some years succeeding that period 
 but little cane was worked in Gardner, that which 
 was consumed in the town being prepared for the 
 most part at Boston or Fitchburg, where large com- 
 panies, organized for the purpose, had control of 
 that department of the chair-making industry, and 
 supplied the demand existing in this vicinity. Later 
 on, however, arrangements were entered into by the 
 partiesconcerned, under which the business of getting 
 out caue was resumed in this place about the year 
 1875, where it has been continued under diflx'rent and 
 varying auspices to the present time. Numerous 
 improvements have been made in cane-working 
 machinery as the business has gone on, and many 
 new inventions have been brought forward, some of 
 which have proved valueless, while others have been . 
 of great service. Of these (produced mostly in the 
 shops where the work is carried on) but few have 
 been protected by United States patents, and so do 
 not appear in any i)ublic record. One of the most 
 important of these later machines, however, it may 
 be stated, was the fruit of the practical sagacity of 
 Mr. George S. Colburn, for which he received letters 
 in recognition of its originality and merit from the 
 United States Patent Office, bearing date November 
 18, 1879. It is substantially the machine now in 
 operation in the only cane-producing establishment 
 in Gardner, one of the largest in the world, and one 
 from which all the cane used in the vicinity is now 
 received, though it has been subjected since it was 
 tir.-it started to sundry modifications and improve 
 ments, whereby its work is rendered more perfect 
 and satisfactory. 
 
 But not only have there been great improvements 
 in the methods of getting out cane or of preparing it 
 for use, but also in the ways and means of working it 
 after it is so prepared, as well as in the styles or forms 
 it is made to assume, when it is finally adjusted and 
 finished for the market. Originally the only seat 
 produced was what has been called the Chinese 
 pattern, whether because it was devised in China and 
 brought thence to this country or not is not known, 
 but probably for that reason. It consisted in arrang- 
 ing the strands of cane passing from one side to ihe 
 other of the frame and from front to back, in pairs, 
 crossing each other at right angles ; each strand so 
 interwoven with the others as that it passed first above 
 and then below one running transversely, in regular 
 order, all being attached to the frame by putting 
 them in their proper place through holes made for the 
 purpose. These pairs were adjusted according to the 
 
GARDNER. 
 
 833 
 
 distance between the holes, usually about half au inch 
 apart, causing square openings of a corresponding 
 measurement to be made. Through these openings 
 other strands were interwoven diagonally in two 
 directions, thus cutting off their corners and making 
 them octagonal in form. This produced a firm, 
 substantial piece of werk, which when well executed 
 was strong, durable and pleasing to the eye. A bind- 
 ing around the edge covering the holes in the frame 
 gave it proper finish. This style of seat was the 
 only one made for many years, and the same pattern 
 of weaving was put into backs when cane-back chairs 
 came into vogue. The work in it was always per- 
 formed by hand, an adroit use of the fingers being 
 necessary to a rapid execution of the diflercnt inter- 
 lacing processes. This is the kind of seating substan- 
 tially which was distributed far and wide throughout 
 the community and furnished remunerative employ- 
 ment to a multitude of families for a long series of 
 years. After a time some variations from it were 
 introduced, gratifying to the popular taste, but not 
 changing materially the character or method of the 
 work. 
 
 It can be at once seen that seating according to this 
 method was at best but a slow process, and so one 
 not likely to satisfy the demands of this hurrying, 
 fast-driving age. Seats must be made at a more 
 rapid rate than was possible under the old, long-pre- 
 vailing system. To meet the exigencies of the trade 
 and of the times, a loom for weaving cane into a 
 continuous web by the use of power was invented — 
 the production of the mechanical skill of Mr. Gard- 
 ner A. Watkins, formerly of Proctorsville, Vt., but 
 at the time and since a resident of Gardner, whose 
 ingenuity in this department of manufacture was re- 
 peatedly recognized and honored by the United States 
 Patent Office during the years 18G7-G9. Other looms 
 have been invented by other parties since that period, 
 and numerous improvements have been made upon 
 the original designs. The product of the looms first 
 brought into use and run to much profit was what 
 may be termed the solid web, similar to that of the 
 simpler kinds of woolen and cotton cloth. It made 
 a strong, durable seat, but had no artistic merits, and 
 hence, was not suited to the higher, nicer grades of 
 goods. Changes have been going on. New appli- 
 ances have been added and difl'erent patterns of web- 
 bing have been devised, but everything thus I'ar 
 brought out as the result of the introduction of the 
 loom has been open to the same objection. No inven- 
 tion for weaving cane, so far as is known, has yet been 
 able to make the Chinese seat pattern or anything 
 nearly equal to it in artistic excellence and attractive- 
 ness. Yet a loom, or a device, has been invented by 
 the USB of which the production of that precise iiattern 
 has been greatly liicilitated. It admits of such an 
 arrangement of certain jjarts of its mechanism as that 
 the several pairs of transverse strands which enter 
 into the constru tion of the ordinary seat, constitu- 
 53 
 
 ting what is often termed warping and checking, can 
 be woven together in proper form to receive the 
 oblique or diagonal strands. Moreover, au ingen- 
 ious contrivance has been devised, by the use of 
 which these diagonal strands can be interwoven with 
 wonderful ease and dispatch. It consists of a large 
 needle, long enough to reach in an oblique direction 
 from one side to the other of a web of cane prepared 
 as just stated, having a revolving point whicli works 
 its wa}' through the pr.)per openings by the turning 
 of a small crank on the part of the operator, carry- 
 ing with it as it advances a single strand of cane 
 which it leaves in its rightful place, when it is it-elf 
 withdrawn. By the use of these two inventions in 
 connection with each other, the work of making 
 seats of the original Chinese pattern at an immense 
 saving of both time and labor is accomplished, and 
 their introduction is likely to affect very seriously the 
 old practice of hand-seating, even if it does not 
 eventually bring it to an end. Moreover, that prac- 
 tice is threatened in another direction. There is a 
 machine in process of construction, pas-^ing through 
 its experimental stages, and promising success, 
 which, while it may not produce the Chinese pattern 
 exactly, will fabricate something .so much like it that 
 the casual observer would scarcely notice the differ- 
 ence, and hence can readily be substituted for it in 
 many if not in all the nicer kinds of cane-chair 
 manufacture. A.nd, besides, this machine, when per- 
 fected according to the plan of those engaged in de- 
 veloping it, as it is quite likely to be, will do not one 
 style of weaving alone, but an indefinite variety of 
 styles in form and figure, by simply changing some 
 of its constituent parts relatively to each other, or 
 some of its multiform and intricate movements. In 
 view of what has already been accomplished and 
 will probably soon be accomplished, the whole mat- 
 ter of making even the better classes of cane-seats is 
 very likely to undergo entire reconstruction at an 
 early day. 
 
 The invention of the loom, whereby a continuous 
 web of the woven cane was rendered possible, neces- 
 sitated the designing of some method of splicing the 
 strands in some sure and effectual way. This neces- 
 sity was met by Mr. Watkins, in the evolution of a 
 machine or series of machines, about the year 1870, 
 by the operation of which, in proper order, the ends 
 of strands proposed to be united could be scarfed so 
 as to exactly match each other, and then, the cor- 
 responding scarfed parts being duly chareed with ce- 
 ment, be brought together and subjected to pressure 
 in such a way as to cause them to adhere firmly with- 
 out perceptibly enlarging the size of the strand at the 
 point of juncture. The several devices by which this 
 result is secured are exceedingly ingenious, and re- 
 flect much credit upon the inventor. The work is 
 done so thoroughly and neatly that an inexpert eye 
 will scarcely detect the place where the splicing is 
 done, even in the strand, and much less when in the 
 
834 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 finished articles of productioD. Another method of 
 gplieing, evincing considerable inventive skill, which 
 has been widely employed, is that of brin;;ing the 
 squared ends of the strands to be united together in 
 line, and then bending about the two a little band or 
 clasp of thin metal with serrated edges, which, when 
 pressed closely into the substance of the cane, holds 
 the parts securely together. This, though much 
 used, does not make so neat a piece of work as the 
 other method, and is nbt likely to be so durable or 
 satisfactory to the chair-using public. 
 
 The use of the loom-woven seat, or of a seat made 
 independently of the frame to which it was to be fi- 
 nally attached, also made it necessary to originate 
 some plan of effecting that attachment, instead of the 
 old one of passing the strands through holes bored 
 for the purpose, which had to be abandoned. Two 
 new ones have been employed with fairly satisfactory 
 results. One of these is to turn the edges of the 
 seat, cut to a proper size, down inside the frame and 
 fastening them by a thin strip of wood on each side, 
 firmly kept in place by screws. When carefully ad- 
 justed, these strips would hold the seat securely, as in 
 a vise, and being underneath, would not be seen to 
 disadvantage. Another plan is that of making a 
 groove or channel continuously on the four sides of 
 the frame, then cutting the web or seat exactly large 
 enough to have its edges pressed into this groove 
 without protruding on the outer side, and made se- 
 cure by a stri|) of wood or spline prepared for the 
 purpose, and forced into place after a suitable appli- 
 cation of glue, to render everything firm and sure. 
 A contrivance for beading the spline, and also for 
 embossing the frame around it, operating in connec- 
 tion wiih the other processes, gives the whole a neat 
 finish when completed. Every part of this work is 
 done by machinery, the fruit of the inventive faculty 
 of different persons, some of it being very inge- 
 nious, complex and heavy and of immense power. 
 It is capable of being worked with such rapidity that, 
 operating in connection with the loom continuously, 
 only four minutes are required to make an entire 
 seat, reckoning from the time when the cane is in 
 the strand ready to be woven, to the time when the 
 work is completed ready to be put into the chair for 
 the market. 
 
 It is a noteworthy fact in this matter of the u^e of 
 rattan as an element of chair and other manufacture, 
 that a much larger portion of it is now made service- 
 able than was formerly the case. For a long time 
 after it was introduced it was believed that only the 
 external parts were of any practical value, which 
 must be put into the goods in such a way as that the 
 wear would come altogether upon the smooth, silicated 
 surface. It has been found, however, that what 
 remained after the outer portions are removed may 
 be utilized in a great variety of ways. And much of 
 the reed and rattan work of the present day, so pleas- 
 ing to the taste and so deservedly popular in the form 
 
 of chairs and other furniture, children's carriages, 
 ba.-kets, etc., is composed of these portions once 
 dtemed of no account and consigned to the flames. 
 These same portions are also split into strands and, 
 after being properly dressed and made smooth, are 
 put into seats and other parts of the chair, just as 
 those strands are which have the silicated surface. 
 Goods thus fabricated have a presentable appearance, 
 are durable and acceptable to the trade. In the ways 
 indicated, almost the entire substance of the rattan is 
 now turned to some profitable account, the actual 
 was.te being exceedingly small. 
 
 Before proceeding to give an account of the several 
 chair manufacturing establishments of Gardner, the 
 history of which will present further details touching 
 the development of this interesting and important 
 industry, it seems desirable to offer a few general 
 observations upon the business under notice. And it 
 may be remarked, to begin with, that the practice of 
 using labor-saving machinery, which was first resorted 
 to fifty-five or sixty years ago, and which was one of 
 the principal features of the change from the old to the 
 new methods of production, has become essentially 
 universal. Invention has kept pace with the ever- 
 growing demand for goods and with the multiplication 
 of styles, supplying every department of manufacture 
 with mechanical devices suited to the ends it was 
 designed to secure. Space will not admit of a descrip- 
 tion of any of these devices, even of the most wonder- 
 ful and valuable of them, nor yet of the simplest 
 statement of the special use to which they are respec- 
 tively put. It must suffice to say that they are multi- 
 tudinous in variety, ingenious in design, thorough and 
 complete in construction, wonderful in operation and 
 in the execution of their appropriate work, many of 
 them seeminglygifted with almost human instinct and 
 practical sagacity. So completely do they supply the 
 needs of the chair manufacturer, that nearly all of 
 what is termed hand-work — that is, work done by 
 human strength — is that of feeding the machines and 
 of putting the different parts together afier they have 
 been prepared as indicated. 
 
 It seems needful also to state that much of the 
 work of getting out stock, by which is meant cutting 
 it from the original stick or log, and making it ready 
 for the machine which shall put it into its final 
 shape, is done in or near the lumber regions of New 
 Hampshire, Vermont and Canada, or of more west- 
 ern localities, what is thus prepared being sent in 
 bulk to the factories for further manipulation and 
 use. Tracts of wood-land are sometimes owned by 
 the manufacturers themselves, as are also the mills 
 employed in connection with them, so that the entire 
 process, or series of processes, required in the pro- 
 duction of chairs, from the time of the felling of the 
 tree whence comes the material that enters into 
 their construction to the time when they are finally 
 put upon the market, is under one and the same gen- 
 eral management. But usually the stock is brought 
 
GARDNER. 
 
 835 
 
 to the factories " in the rough," having been pur- 
 chased of parties who make a distinct business of 
 preparing it and supplying the demand which exists 
 for it in that form. 
 
 Manufacturers usually finish their own goods, — that 
 is, they not only put them into proper shape as com- 
 plete articles of furniture, but they paint and var- 
 nish them and make them ready for final use in the 
 dwelling of the consumer. It is not unfrequently 
 the case, however, that in putting chairs together, 
 they are left unglued; so that, after they have been fin- 
 ished, they may be taken to pieces and closely boxed 
 for convenience of transportation to distant places, 
 where they may be " set up " and made ready for 
 sale. Sometimes, too, they are shipped "in the 
 wood," without having been put together or painted 
 at all, to be completed and put upon the market at 
 the place to which they may be consigned. All the 
 larger chair establishments at this day have a repair 
 department, well equipped with the fi.\tures and 
 appurtenances of a machine-shop, in which not only 
 is the necessary repairing done, but new machines, 
 or parts of machines, constructed, and where any 
 new invention brought out in any establishment 
 may be put into proper form, tested, experimented 
 with and, if proved to be of practical value, made 
 ready for service. 
 
 It is now in order to present as briefly as may be a 
 sketch of the several establishments which are in 
 successful operation in the town, and which, with 
 their antecedents, to be incidentally noticed, may be 
 regarded as fairly representing the industry under con- 
 sideration during the more memorable part of its ex- 
 istence. They will be introduced substantially in the 
 order of their historic and commercial importance. 
 
 Heywood Bros. & Co. — The history of this firm 
 and of the business which it represents runs back 
 more than half a century, to the early days of chair- 
 making, and of those other activitie.s in the commu- 
 nity which have been closely related to it. During 
 all this period the family name has been identified 
 with this industry, and has occupied a prominent 
 place in everything pertaining to its expansion and 
 prosperity. As early as 1826 Walter Heywood, third 
 son of Benjamin Heywood, whose father was one of 
 the first residents of the town, having then but re- 
 cently attained his majority, began the work of making 
 chairs in a little shop standing in the yard attached 
 to his father's house, which occupied the site of the 
 present Town Hall building. At this date his older 
 brothers, Levi and Benjamin Franklin, were engaged 
 in running an old-fashioned country store nearby, al- 
 though it is probable that both of them worked more 
 or less at chairs in the way of learning the trade. Not 
 long after, a new shop was erected by Walter on the 
 spot where now stands the dwellingof Asher Shattuck, 
 at the corner of Central Street and Woodland Avenue, 
 in which the business was carried on till 1834, when 
 it was burned. Meanwhile, Mr. Heywood associated 
 
 with himself his brothers B. F. and William, younger 
 than himself, also Moses Wood, of Gardner, and James 
 W. Gates, of Boston, and in May, 1831, bought the 
 privilege and shop of Merrick Wallace, where the 
 principal factory of the present firm stands, and at 
 once enlarged the facilities so as to accommodate them 
 to their plans of increasing business. About the same 
 time Levi Heywood, who, with his brother Benjamin 
 F., had previously given up the store, went to Boston, 
 where he opened a warehouse for the sale of chairs on 
 his own account. In 1835 he returned to town and 
 entered the firm just referred to, which was operating 
 under the name of B. F. Heywood & Co. In 1887 
 the partnership was dissolved, the business being as- 
 sumed by the Heywood Brothers, residing in town. 
 A few years later Levi Heywood, who seemed to be 
 more enterprising and progressive than his associates, 
 especially in regard to the introduction of machinery, 
 bought out their interest and went on for a while sole 
 owner and manager of the concern. Subsequently, 
 about the year 1844, he formed a co-partnership with 
 Moses Wood, then of Providence, a member of the 
 original firm, and his youngest brother, Seth, the firm 
 name being Heywood & Wood. This arrangement 
 went on till 1847, when Mr. Wood retired and Calvin 
 Heywood, son of Levi, and Henry C. Hill, for some 
 years manager of the painting department of the es- 
 tablishment, came in to fill the vacant place; the style 
 of the new partnership being Levi Heywood & Co. 
 Four years after this the firm resolved itself into a 
 joint stock association, to which employes were ad- 
 mitted upon subscription to the invested capital, con- 
 stituting what was known as the Heywood Chair 
 Manufacturing Company. This new plan continued 
 in operation for about ten years. In 18(51 the shops 
 of the company were consumed by fire, when the joint 
 stock experiment was abandoned. 
 
 As a result of the burning of the shops and the 
 consequent relinquishment of the joint stock experi- 
 ment, a new firm was formed the following year, con- 
 sisting of Levi and Seth Heywood, Charles Hey- 
 wood, son of Levi, and Henry C. Hill, assuming the 
 style of Heywood Brothers & Co., which has been 
 retained to the present time. Early in 1868 Charles 
 Heywood and Henry C. Hill withdrew from the con- 
 cern, and Henry and George Heywood, sons of Seth, 
 entered it. Subsequently, Alvin M. Greenwood, son- 
 in-law of Levi Heywood, was admitted, and still 
 later, Amos Morrill, who married the daughter of 
 Benjamin F. Heywood, long before deceased. In 
 1876 Charles Heywood re-entered the partnership, and 
 remained in it till his death, in June, 1882. Before 
 the year expired, his father, Levi Heywood, who had 
 been connected with the establishment half a cen- 
 tury, and to whose insight, energy, business ability 
 and untiring persistency its success was chiefly due, 
 as was in large degree the industrial prosperity of the 
 whole town, also passed away. Seth soon retired, 
 disposing of his interest to his sons, while Mr. Mor- 
 
836 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 rill bought Charles' share and part of that of Levi, 
 which reduced the firm to four members at the open- 
 ing of 1883, each having an equal interest under the 
 re-adjustment. Four years later George, son of Seth 
 Heywood, left, and George H., son of Henry, pur- 
 chased an interest and become a partner with the 
 remaining members, the charge of the Boston ware- 
 house, then recently opened, being assigned to him. 
 During the present year (1888) an interest in the 
 business has been purchased by Calvin H. Hill, a 
 clerk in the Gardner office, and also by John H. 
 Welch, of the New York house. The firm at this 
 writing consists of Henry Heywood, Amos Morrill, 
 Alvin M. Greenwood, George H. Heywood, Calvin 
 H. Hill and John H. Welch, and retains the name 
 of Heywood Brothers & Co., which has distinguished 
 it for twenty-seven years and by which it is known and 
 honored throughout the land, and in realms beyond 
 the sea. 
 
 This company confined itself to the production of 
 the line of goods usual in chair manufactories till the 
 year 1874, when they started the business of making 
 reed and rattan chairs and furniture, as a branch of 
 their regular work. This department has proved a 
 valuable adjunct to the establishment, having in- 
 creased in extent and in variety of style and work- 
 manship from the beginning, incorporating with it a 
 few years since the making of children's carriages in 
 every conceivable diversity of design and elegance, 
 and attaining at length wonderful proportions and 
 unexpected importance. It is carried on in a build- 
 ing three hundred feel long, sixty feet wide and four 
 stories high, well supplied with machinery, run by a 
 Corliss eogine of eighty horse-power. The firm have 
 had a large establishment for the manufacture of the 
 same kind of goods in San Francisco for some year.^, 
 and this very season have erected a building for the 
 same purpose in Chicago, three hundred and sixty 
 feet long, fifty feet wide and four stories high, in 
 which some four or five hundred hands are to be 
 employed. 
 
 The bu^iness done by this immense establishment 
 in the town of Gardner for the year ending August 
 31, 1888, was upwards of $700,000, while its entire 
 business for that period exceeded two and a half mil- 
 lion dollars. Employment is given in the Gardner 
 shops to about thirteen hundred persons, whose 
 monthly pay-roll is not far from fifty thousand dol- 
 lars, or six hundred thousand dollars per year. The 
 extent of floorage in these shops is three hundred 
 and forty thousand square feet, or a little less than 
 eight acres. The several engines used to run the 
 works amount, in the aggregate, to three hundred and 
 twenty horse-power, while the boilers are capable of 
 producing five hundred and sixty horse-power. The 
 concern, including all its departments, is undoubtedly 
 the largest of its kind in the couniry, and probably 
 in the world. 
 
 Philander Derby & Co. — The site occupied by 
 
 the extensive manufactory of this enterprising and 
 prosperous firm experienced varying fortunes during 
 the first half of its history. It was originally pur- 
 chased of William S. Lynde, in November, 1834, by 
 Benjamin F. Heywood & Company, who built a dam 
 and erected a saw-mill for the purpose of getting out 
 lumber for use, probably in their chair factory already 
 in operation on the stream above. The building was 
 afterwards enlarged, furnished with machinery and 
 used in part for the manufacture of chairs. At a later 
 date it was sold to Martin Dunster, who removed to 
 it the business of making boxes and various articles 
 of wooden-ware which he had previously carried on 
 in a shop located on what is now Broadway, near 
 Otter River. A portion of it was let to Colonel Eph- 
 raim Williams, who established there a machine shop 
 for making repairs and doing incidental iron work. 
 In 1844 the whole establishment was destroyed by fire, 
 and the property was purchased by several gentle- 
 men, the principal of whom were John Edgell and the 
 late Charles W. Bush, who, under the name of Edgell, 
 Bush & Company, rebuilt and began the manufacture 
 of boxes, chairs, settees and house-finishing material. 
 After running a few years, they sold to Nichols & 
 Baker, who used the premises for a grist-mill and for 
 carrying on a general flour and grain business. That 
 being given up, the estate was bought at auction, in 
 1863, by Philander Derby and Augustus Knowlton, 
 who had been making chairs at the present shop of A. 
 & H. C. Knowlton & Company, under the firm-name of 
 Derby & Knowlton. They fitted it up as a chair factory 
 and run it in connection with their other estab!i>h- 
 nient. Two years liter, Henry C. Knowlton, brother 
 of Augustus, entered the firm, and the name was 
 changed to Derby, Knowlton & Company. Under 
 this management business increased rapidly, neces- 
 sitating new buildings and new machinery, which 
 were snpjilic d from time to time as the case required. 
 In 1868 Mr. Derby and the Knowlton brothers sep- 
 arated, the former retaining this shop and continuing 
 business on his own account for eleven years, when he 
 received, as partners with himself, his son, Arthur P. 
 Derby, and his sons-in-law Gec^rge Hodgman and 
 George W. Cann, who have gone on together to the 
 present, time under the style of Pbilander Derby & 
 Company. From small beginnings this establishment, 
 under the' general supervision of the senior member 
 of the firm, who has displayed great enterprise, busi- 
 ness sagacity and untiring persistence in the pursuit 
 of purposed end-', aided latterly by his younger asso- 
 ciates, has grown to immense jiroportions, enlarging 
 its facilities from year to year, and increasing its pro- 
 duction until it holds a place second only in import- 
 ance to that of any other concern in town. The firm 
 has warehouses in Boston and New York, and a half- 
 interest in a house in Chicago, one of 'the largest of 
 its kind in the great West. The amount of business 
 done in Gardner the last year was about two hundred 
 and fifty thousand dollars, which employed from one 
 
GARDNER. 
 
 837 
 
 hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and fifty 
 men, while the entire business of the firm has reached 
 in the aggregate nearly a million dollars a year. The 
 commodious shops of the company are filled with a 
 good supply of the best machinery used in the man- 
 ufiiclure of chairs, some of the most ingenious and 
 serviceable portions of which were devised, con- 
 structed and perfected oq the premises, especially 
 those pertaining to the rattan department, which is 
 an interesting and important feature of the estab- 
 lishment. 
 
 S. K. Pierce & Co. — The extensive manufactory 
 with which the familiar name of S. K. Pierce, recently 
 deceased, was identified for more than forty year.-i, 
 occupies the site where long ago stood the old 
 potash works belonging to the estate of Captain Wm. 
 Bickford, a large land-holder of his time in the vil- 
 lage of South Gardner. It was purchased about the 
 year 1830 by Stephen Taylor, SLproU-gf, it is said, of 
 the Pierce family, who had been doing a small chair- 
 making business for a brief period in the fulling-mill 
 of John Merriam, located on the site of the present 
 establishment of S. Bent & Bros. He fitted it up for 
 a chair-shop, and began the manufacture under the 
 old system, all the work being done by hand. The 
 business soon outgrew its narrow accommodations, 
 when the old building was removed and a new, more 
 commodious and more convenient one took its place. 
 A dam was built across thestream near by and water- 
 power was introduced, with which to run the simple 
 forms of machinery that were put in. Here Mr. 
 Taylor, by industry, economy and careful manage- 
 ment, built up a large and prosperous business, ren- 
 dering it necessary for him to secure additional facili- 
 ties in order that he might meet the increasing de- 
 mand for his goods — a demand created by the excel- 
 lent quality of his work and by the reputation he had 
 acquired for integrity, trustworthiness and honor in 
 all his dealings with his fellow-men. Desiring at 
 length to relinquish business, he sold out to Mr. S. 
 K. Pierce, who had learned the trade of making 
 chairs when a youth, and who, after working at difier- 
 ent places, had entered the employ of Mr. Taylor a 
 year before. Mr. Pierce formed a partnership with 
 his brother, Jonas Pierce, and the two went on to- 
 gether for three years, when the relation was termi- 
 nated by limitation. During that period a one-story 
 building, sixty feet by thirty, served the purposes of 
 the firm, in which eight men were employed, besides 
 the proprietors, who themselves performed their regu- 
 lar day's labor with the others. The chairs produced, 
 which met with ready sales, were carried to Boston 
 by the then existing methods of transportation, a 
 single team of two horses doing all the work at first, 
 though at the end of the three years of partnership the 
 business had grown so much as to require two teams 
 of four horses each to meet its requirements in that 
 regard. After continuing alone for some time Mr. 
 Pierce associated with himself Philander Derby, one 
 
 of his workmen, who remained a partner only two 
 years, when Mr. Pierce assumed once more the sole 
 control of afliiirs, going on prosperously as before. 
 With the rapid growth of business, additions were 
 made as seemed desirable to the shop included in the 
 original purchase, until in 1858 it was deemed wise 
 to begin a thorough readjustment of the entire estab- 
 lishment, with its fixtures and appurtenances. Accord- 
 ingly, someof the old buildings were removed to make 
 room for the first part of the present spacious struct- 
 ure, whose full proportions and complete equipment 
 were reached nine or ten years afterward. Since that 
 time additional buildings have been erected for work- 
 shops or store-houses as the interests of the business 
 required. The main factory, as it now stands, is 
 ninety feet long.by forty-five wide, four stories high 
 above the basement, with an addition of the same 
 height fifty-six by thirty feet. Numerous other 
 buildingi devoted to purposes incident to the business 
 added to this, complete the outfit in the respect under 
 notice of this great concern. The mechanical equip- 
 ment now in use is of the most approved kinds and 
 patterns, and is operated by a water-wheel of forty- 
 five horse-power, with an accompanying steam-engine 
 for supplementary purposes of seventy-five horse- 
 power. Over a hundred men are employed in this 
 establishment, and a business is done amounting to 
 about 1175,000 annually. Some six years ago Mr. 
 Pierce associated with himself his son. Prank J. 
 Pierce, who had grown up in the manufacture and 
 was well acquainted with its details, and who was 
 therefore qualified to share with his father the 
 responsibility of its management. By a sad fatality 
 the senior member of the firm was stricken with 
 pneumonia in the latter part of the winter of 1887-88, 
 and died after an illness of only five days. Arrange- 
 ments have been made between the several parties 
 financially interested in this establishment, whereby 
 it is now going on as hitherto, under the name of S. K. 
 Pierce & Son, Mr. Frank J. Pierce being manager. 
 
 John A. Dunn. — The business of chair-making 
 was commenced on the location where now stands the 
 large and bu.sy factory of John A. Dunn, in 1838, 
 when Elijah Putnam bought the water privilege of 
 Win. S. Lynde, and, having constructed a dam, moved 
 his shop there, and supplying it with machinery, put 
 himself and his men to work. Seven years after, Mr. 
 Putnam sold out to Thorley Collester, Ruel G. Cowee 
 and Benjamin H. Rugg, who continued the business 
 under the firm-name of Cowee, Collester & Co. for a 
 short time, when Maro Collester and Edward Stevens 
 purchased Mr. Cowee's interest, and the style was 
 changed to Collester, Rugg & Co. At a later day Maro 
 Collester and EdwardStevens retired, and Franklin and 
 George Eaton took their p'aces, when the firm-name 
 was again changed to Collester, Rugg & Eaton. 
 When Mr. Collester died, in 18G2, Mr. Rugg and 
 George Eaton left, and Nathaniel Holmes became 
 associated with Franklin Eaton, forming the comjiany 
 
838 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 of Eaton & Holmes. Later John A. Dunn was ad- 
 mitted to the firm, which then toob the name of 
 Eaton, Holme.'* & Co. In 1875 Mr. Holmes sold his 
 interest to Isaac J. Dunn, brother of John A., and the 
 firm-name became J. A. & I. J. Dunn, under which 
 business was carried on till 1886, when John A. 
 bought his brother's share and has since conducted 
 the enterprise on his own behalf. Up to the year 
 1859 or 1860 the machinery of the factory was run 
 wholly by water-power, at which date, a large addi- 
 tion having been made, a twenty- five horse-power 
 tteam-engiiie was put in for supplementary purposes. 
 In 1870 Eaton & Dunn exchanged this for one of one 
 hundred horse-power, which is still in use. In 1877 
 another considerable enlargement was made to the es- 
 tablishment. The business has been increasing rapidly 
 in later years and promises well for the future. The 
 amount done advanced from one hundred and forty 
 thousand dollars in 1SS5 to one hundred and seventy- 
 five thousand dollars in 1887, and the extent of shop- 
 room at the present date is twice what it was ten 
 years ago, while the facilities for doing work have 
 been multiplied proportionally. A great advantage 
 was gained to ibis establishment and to others in the 
 vicinity in 1881, when a spur of the Fitchburg Rail- 
 road wa.1 laid, furnishing greatly-improved and much- 
 needed conveniences for the transportation of stock 
 and manufactured goods. 
 
 Samuel Bent Bros. & Co.— This is one of the 
 more recently formed chair manufacturing firms of 
 the town, and one which, by inherent energy, close 
 attention to business and personal integrity and honor 
 on the part of those concerned in its management, 
 has attained a well-merited success. The privilege 
 on Mill Street which it occupies was first improved 
 by John Merriam in 1822, who used it for the purpose 
 of carding wool and fulling cloth. In 1836 he sold it 
 to Sullivan Sawin, who had recently left the pail 
 factory and settled near by, and it was fitted up for 
 chair-making, the business being carried on by his 
 son, Sullivan Sawin, Jr., in a small way for a few 
 years. Sullivan, Jr., was succeeded by his brother, 
 John, who improved the premises, increased the 
 business and continued it for about twenty-five years. 
 Besides some of the cheaper grades of wood-seat 
 chairs and stools, he manufactured what were called 
 office-chairs, which had a large run for a time. For 
 many years he made a specialty of school furniture, 
 both chairs and desks, which he sold to William G. 
 Shattuck, of Boston, a large dealer in that kind of 
 goods, and which through him were scattered far and 
 wide throughout the country. He also made large 
 quantities of children's chairs of different patterns 
 and sizes, employing some six or eight men in his 
 business. About the year 1860 he retired, and was suc- 
 ceeded by his brother-in-law, A. Allen Bent, who had 
 been many years in his service, and who run the estab- 
 lishment with satisfactory results until 1869, when he 
 disposed of the property to his younger brother, 
 
 Charles, then just returned from California. Mr. A. 
 A. Bent made a specially of children's chairs, but he 
 also turned out bent work, some styles of which, 
 designed by hims-elf, proved very popular, and are 
 still jiroduced and put upon the market. Mr. Charles 
 Bent at once associated with himself his brothers, 
 Samuel and Eoderic L., under the name of Samuel 
 Bent & Bros., and the firm started out on its prosperous 
 career. They soon found it necessary to enlarge their 
 accommodations, and improve in many ways their 
 facilities for business, an experience repeated several 
 times during their history. The old buildings have 
 been removed and new ones, adapted to the growing 
 wants of the manufacture, have taken their places. 
 Their main shop is one hundred and twenty feet long 
 by forty wide, two stories high with a commodious, 
 well-lighted basement in which the heavier work is 
 done. There is also a building one hundred and sixty 
 feet long by forty wide, two stories high, which is used 
 for a paint-shop and store- house, and in which is the 
 ofiice of the firm. A large barn has recently been 
 erected for the convenience of the business. In 1880 
 a spur track was laid to the factory from the B. B. & 
 G. Railroad, greatly improving the shi])ping facilities 
 — the firm doing the grading at an expense of $-1000 
 and the corporation laying the rails and furnishing 
 the rolling-stock. Besides the common style and 
 grade of goods produced by this enterprising concern, 
 they supply the market with a large number and 
 variety of children's toy chairs, mostly of fanciful 
 design, for which there has in recent years been a 
 great demand. Besides an excellent water-power, 
 which is rendered doubly valuable by reason of the 
 South Gardner Reservoir, elsewhere described, the 
 establishment is provided with a fifty horse-power 
 steam-engine for heating purposes, and for supple- 
 menting the water-wheel if necessary. About one 
 hundred men are employed, and an annual business 
 is done of $150,000. Mr. Samuel Bent, the senior 
 member of the company, died in 1883, his son, Charles 
 Leslie Bent, succeeding him in the firm, the style of 
 which was changed to S. Bent Bros. & Co. 
 
 CoNANT & Bush. — This company consists of Chas. 
 W. Conant, formerly member of the firm of Conant, 
 Ball & Co., and C. Webster Bush, the present clerk 
 of the town. In 1875, Mr. Conant, having withdrawn 
 from active participation in the business with which 
 he had been connected for some years, took the lead 
 iu establishing the enterprise of which he is now the 
 head, for the purpose of manufacturing reed and rat- 
 tan chairs, getting out cane and doing other kin- 
 dred work. The firm c immenced operations in 1883, 
 in the building known as the "Alley Paint-Shop," 
 near the railroad stations, which they had purchased, 
 fitted up and furnished with new and improved ma- 
 chinery suited to their special line of production, in- 
 cluding a steam-engine for the supply of needed 
 power. The venture proved successful, the firm ris- 
 ing rapidly to a creditable and commanding position, 
 
GARDNER. 
 
 839 
 
 having produced the first year over a thousand bales 
 of cane prepared for use, besides what they did in the 
 chair-making department of their establishment. 
 Two or three years later they entered into an arrange- 
 ment with other cane-workers, whereby they engaged 
 to suspend for a time that line of work, and have since 
 confined themselves strictly to the manufacture of 
 reed and rattan chairs in a manifold variety of useful 
 and ornamental forms. They have recently purchased 
 the "Carney Building," standing near the "Kendall 
 Crossing," on South Main Street, and have fitted it up 
 for the manufacture of all kinds of children's rattan 
 carriages, which will hereafter hold a prominent place 
 in their establishment. They have been employing, 
 on an average, about a hundred men, and doing a 
 business of $140,000 a year, which, by the enlarge- 
 ment referred to, will be considerably increased in the 
 immediate future. With ample accommodations and 
 all needful appliances for turning out work, the pros- 
 perity of this firm, managing theit affairs with char- 
 acteristic enterprise and sagacity, is assured beyond 
 all peradventure. 
 
 CoSANT, Ball & Co. — In or about the year 1852 
 Aaron B. Jackson and Aaron L. Greenwood purchased 
 the water privilege which for many years had been 
 utilized by the father of the former for running a 
 grist-mill, with lands adjoining, located on the north 
 side of Broadway, three-fourths of a mile west of the 
 Sjuth Gardner post-office, upon which they erected a 
 factory for making various styles of cane-seat and back 
 chairs. Here they started and carried on business till 
 1857 or 1858, when they sold out to Abner and Leander 
 White, who continued the same under the name of 
 A. White & Co. The leading member of this firm, 
 Abner White, had been engaged in chair-making for 
 many years in Gardner and elsewhere, and occupied, 
 for a time, a notable place in that industry, though 
 he seems to have been a wandering, rather than a 
 fixed star in the brightening galaxy of chair manufac- 
 turers. In the year 1802, John R. Conant, who had 
 been previously associated with Mr. White, entered 
 the firm, from which, a year later, Mr. Leander White 
 retired, Charles W. Conant, brother of John R., suc- 
 ceeding him. Mr. Abner White withdrew in 1866) 
 and the business went on under the management and 
 name of Conant Brothers for two years, when Carlos 
 E. Ball, who had charge of the Boston department 
 established some time before, entered the partnership, 
 the name being changed to ('onant. Bill & Co., which 
 itstill bears. Seven years later Charles W.Conant retired 
 from active membership in the concern for the purpose 
 of inaugurating a new undertaking, though he re- 
 mained a silent partner till 1884, when he severed hit 
 connection with it altogether. Additions were made 
 to the shop and fixtures from time to time as the require- 
 ments of the growing business dictated. Beginningwith 
 the use of water-power alone, a gradual change to steam 
 was made, resulting in its exclusive use in 1882, when 
 the Gardner Water- Works were established and the 
 
 control of the stream issuing from Crystal Lake, on 
 which this factory was located, passed into the haudi 
 of the corporation having charge of those works, by 
 act of the Legislature. Early in the year 1888, the 
 firm bought out the stand occupied by L. H. Sawia 
 fora generation, to which the business has been trans- 
 ferred with reasonable expectation of railroad facili- 
 ties not hitherto enjoyed, and of an increased produc- 
 tion of goods. The buildings recently taken posses- 
 sion of are undergoing renovation, enlargement and a 
 general improvement, as are all the accessories of 
 the establishment. The works are operated by an 
 engine of forty horse-power attached to a boiler of 
 twice that capacity. The production of this firm has 
 hitherto been restricted to a fine class of goods, mostly 
 of mahogany, cherry and black walnut stock; but a 
 decline in the popularity of the hitter of these woods 
 has necessitated somewhat of a change in the material 
 used, though not in the quality or style of the work, 
 which has been distinguished for excellence and good 
 taste wherever it has been known. The business of 
 the firm has nearly doubled in ten years, amounting 
 now to about §100,000 annually, and furnishing em- 
 ployment to forty men. Within a few weeks the 
 main factory, so lately vacated by this concern, has 
 been destroyed by fire. 
 
 L. H. Sawist & Co — In this connection it seenn 
 proper to mention the immediate predecessors of the 
 last-named company as now located, even though 
 their name has disappeared from the list of those en- 
 gaged in the distinguishing industry of the town. The 
 senior member of the firm of L. H. Sawin & Co. is 
 one of the oldest practical chair-makers in town, and 
 has been identified with the business as workman and 
 as manager for more than half a century. When but 
 eighteen years of age, Levi Heywood Sawin learned 
 the trade of making chairs under Messrs. Amasa Ban- 
 croft and Frederick Parker, who carried on a small 
 business in an insignificant shop on Elm Street. He 
 went thence to the Heywood factory, where he re- 
 mained for fifteen years, when, in 1851, he purchased 
 the shop and privilege, just below, of Ezra Baker, to 
 whose hands it had reverted after the occupancy of it 
 by Mr. Elijah Putnam. It had been used for some 
 years previous to Mr. Sawin's purchase by the firm of 
 Levi Heywood & Company for getting out stock. It 
 was immediately put in order for the manufacture of 
 chairs, and the business was carried on in a small 
 way for four years, when, larger and better accommo- 
 dations being needed, Mr. Sawin removed the old 
 building and erected a new and more commodious 
 one, the beginning of the spacious establishment now 
 occupying the site. The work increasing, Mr. Sawin, 
 in 1861, received as a partner Mason J. Osgood, con- 
 stituting the firm of Sawin & Osgood, which continued 
 till 1869, when Mr. Osgood withdrew, giving place to 
 Reuben H. Twitchell, son-in-law of Mr. Sawin, and 
 Edward H. Sawin, his son, thus forming the new firm 
 of L. H. Sawin & Co., which conliaued till the ter- 
 
8i0 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 mination of business, as heretofore stated, and the con- 
 sequent dissolution of the partnership. An enhirge- 
 ment of the factory was made in 1865, bringing it to 
 its prtsent size of one hundred and twenty by forty 
 feet, to which later subordinate additions were afiixed 
 for necessity or convenience' sake. As in all the 
 shops on the Crystal Lake stream, water-power was 
 originally used as the motor, but was gradually 
 superseded by steam-power, which has alone been 
 used in later years. For some years thirty-five or 
 forty men were employed here, producing goods to 
 the value of fifty thousand dollars annually. 
 
 A. & H. C. KxoWLTON & Co. — The establishment 
 of this prosperous and reliable firm is located on North 
 Main Street, forming one of the series of chair factor- 
 ies deriving power originally from the Crystal Lake 
 outlet, which has now become practically extinct. It 
 was started in 1848 by Abner AVbite, who, having ob- 
 tained possession of the site, purchased the old Cool- 
 edge house, in the northwest part of the town,and moved 
 it thither, fitting it up with machinery suited to chair- 
 making purposes. Going on alone for two years, he 
 took as a partner his brother Leander, whose share was 
 purchased later on by Philander Derby, and the busi- 
 ness continued under the name of White & Derby till 
 1857, when Mr. Derby became sole owner and man- 
 ager. In 18G1 Augustus Knowlton became associated 
 with Mr. Derby under the name of Derby & Knowl- 
 ton. Two years later Henry C. Knowlton, brother of 
 Augustus, entered the firm, the name being changed 
 to Derby, Knowlton & Co. In 1868, Mr. Derby and 
 the Knowltons, who had been operating the present 
 Derby factory for half a dozen years, separated, the 
 latter retaining the site which they still occupy and 
 conducting business under the name of A. & H. C. 
 Knowlton. In 1881, Alec. E. Knowlton, son of H. C, 
 entered the firm, the name being changed to A. & H. C. 
 Knowlton & Co. A large addition was made to the 
 original shop in 1857, and still another in 1881, ex- 
 tending it to its present capacity. The main factory 
 is one hundred feet by thirty, a part of it three stories 
 high, with a basement. Attached to this is a two- 
 story extension and store-houses, afibrding ample ac- 
 commodations for the business. The machinery, with 
 which the factory is fully equipped, is of the best 
 known to the trade, and is run by an engine of ninetj-- 
 six horse-power. Both cane and wood-seat chairs are 
 produced, of a grade and quality of material and work- 
 manship that give them a high standing wherever 
 known. The firui has a branch house in Philadel- 
 phia and also in Los Angeles, Cal. Fifty or sixty 
 men are employed in Gardner, and the sales in 1887 
 amounted to eighty-five thousand dollars. The firm 
 has an honorable reputation iu the business commun- 
 ity. 
 
 EpHR.iiM Wright & Co. — This firm manufac- 
 tures the standard kinds of cane-seat chairs, and 
 gives constant employment to about thirty men. It 
 occupies a site first improved about the year 1845, by 
 
 Abner White, a man with a seeming genius for start- 
 ing new enterprises, who moved to it a two-story 
 house from Green Street, which he furnished with 
 suitable machinery, and associating others with liim, 
 went on with the manufacture of chairs until about 
 1853, when he sold to Ephraim Wright, who had 
 been doing a small business previously at South 
 Gardner, and his son William, the two being associ- 
 ated under the name of E. Wright & Co., by which 
 the firm is still known. Subsequently another son, 
 Edwin L. Wright, was received into the partnership, 
 who is the present head of the establishment. The 
 father died in 186G, and the two sons went on to- 
 gether till 1882, when William also deceased, leaving 
 his interest in the business to his widow, who still 
 retains it. In 1871 the present main factory was 
 erected, one hundred and twenty-five feet long by 
 forty feet wide, three stories high in part and partly 
 two. All requisite out-buildings are attached. Ade- 
 quate power for the machinery of the concern is 
 supplied by a steam-engine, all of the most approved 
 kin<l. Without ambition for display or for startling 
 results of any sort, the management of this enter- 
 prise is content to move on in the even tenor of its 
 way, maintaining a well-earned prosperity and an 
 honorable reputation for fair dealing and the produc- 
 tion of an excellent quality of goods for the market. 
 The annual business done is about fifty thousand dol- 
 lars. 
 
 Wright & Read. — The senior member of this firm, 
 David Wright, is believed to be the oldest living chair- 
 maker in Gardner, with the exception of S.imuel S. 
 Howe, who exceeds him in connection with the trade 
 by about two years. He began service with Elijah 
 Putnam in 1826, and afterward worked for Horatio N. 
 Bolton in the old Bickford potash-shop and for others 
 till about 1836, when he entered a co-partnership with 
 the late Calvin S. Greenwood, thus establishing the 
 firm of CTreenwood & Wright, so well known in former 
 days. This firm conducted business under varying 
 auspices at the privilege now utilized by the C. S. 
 Greenwood's Sons and elsewhere for many years, pur- 
 chasing the present Wright & Read location, which 
 they had previously rented about the year 1858 of 
 Marcius L. Gates, who had bought the property after 
 the relinquishment of the manufacture of pine furni- 
 ture in it by Bradford & Baker. Upon the dissolution 
 of the firm of Greenwood & Wright a few years later, 
 and the consequent division of property, Mr. Wright 
 received the shop and fixtures under notice. Asso- 
 ciating with him John M. Moore, the manufacture 
 went on under the name of Wright & Moore. A 
 disastrous fire in 1866 destroyed the shops with their 
 contents, but they were at once rebuilt substantially 
 as they now are and made ready for occupancy. In 
 1872 Charles F. Read, the son-in-law of Mr. Wright, 
 took an interest in the business, and the firm-name 
 was changed to Wright, Moore & Co. Five years 
 after, Mr. Moore withdrew, and the business was con- 
 
I 
 
 GARDNEE. 
 
 841 
 
 tinued by the others, taking the name, still borne, of 
 AVright & Rend. The e.-tablishmeiit imludes a capa- 
 cious, well-lurnirhed factory, partly four and partly 
 three storie-f high, a two-story paint-shop and other 
 needful buildings adjacent thereto. This firm pro- 
 duces many kinds of bent work, facilities for bending 
 constituting a part of their equipment. Dining, 
 library and otfice chairs, with both fixed and rotary 
 seats, are found among its goods; also children's 
 chairs of different patterns and styles of finish. 
 Forty hands are employed, with a yearly production 
 of about fifty thousand dollars. The works are run 
 by water-power, which has the benefit of the series of 
 reservoirs above, while a steam-engine used for heat- 
 ing purposes could be called into service as a motor 
 if needed. Mr. Wright has practically retired from 
 the management of the business, although he retains 
 an interest in it, his good name contributing still to 
 its prosperity and success. 
 
 C. S. Greenwood's Sons. — This firm, consisting 
 of Charles H. and Frederick M. Greenwood, occupy 
 the site in the easterly part of South Gardner Village, 
 opposite the Baptist Church, where Albert Bickford, 
 in the early days of chair-making, built a dam on 
 land belonging to his father's estate, erected a shop 
 and fitted it up with sawn and lathes for the prepara- 
 tion of chair stock. Mr. Bickford carried on this 
 business for some years, when Greenwood & Wright, 
 who had associated together for the manufacture of 
 chairs, purchased the property and, having supplied 
 the requisite facilities, commenced operations there. 
 They went on, for about twenty years, increasing 
 their accommodations to meet the demands of their 
 growing business by enlarging their shops, by rent- 
 ing additional room in the vicinity, and ultimately 
 by the purchase of the premises referred to above, 
 mw owned by Wright & Read. About the year 1857 
 the partnership was merged into and succeeded by 
 the Sauth Gardner Manufacturing Company, a joint- 
 stock corporation, in which the employc-j and others 
 were privileged (o hold shares and participate in 
 whatever results might be realized. Not proving sat- 
 isfactory, this experiment was abandoned at the e.\- 
 ])iralion of a year and a half, the several enterprises^ 
 combined in it resolving themselves into their pre- 
 vious conditions under their old names. Soon after. 
 Greenwood & Wright dissolved partnership and di- 
 vided the properly, the original stand being assigned 
 to Mr. Greenwood. He continued the business, asso- 
 ciating with himself about this time William Hogan, 
 who subsequently died, by which event Mr. Greenwood 
 became sole owner and manager, going on by himself 
 till his death, in 1873. He was succeeded by his 
 sons, named at the head of this sketch, who continue 
 to this day. 
 
 The large, though somewhat inconvenient, shops of 
 the firm were burned on the day following the town's 
 Centennial Celebration, in June, 1885, but a building 
 better adapted to the special needs of the establish- 
 
 ment was immediately erected and filled with im- 
 proved machinery, so that work can go on with 
 greater efficiency than before. About twenty men 
 are employed, and business is mostly done under con- 
 tract. Fancy chairs of various patterns are a spe- 
 cialty, and much is done in the way of producing, 
 upon order, new styles of goods, which are in great 
 demand. 
 
 Greenwood Bros. & Co. — The site upon which 
 this firm is located has been in possession of the same 
 family for four successive generations. It was in- 
 cluded in the original purchase of the great-grand- 
 father of the present proprietors, Jonathan Green- 
 wood, who came from Sherburne to Gardner about 
 the time of its incorporation. He located at first on 
 the old County Road from Lancaster to Athol, — the 
 first thoroughfare through the town, — some twenty or 
 thirty rods ?outh\vest of the present mill-site, where 
 he lived till the opening of the Fifth Massachusetts 
 Turnpike, in 1800. He then erected the large two- 
 story house now standing on the premises, opened a 
 hotel which he kept during the remainder of his life. 
 He died in 1821 and was succeeded by his son, Walter, 
 who was a cooper by trade, carrying on business in a 
 little shop near by, and having as an associate for a 
 time one Jonas Childs. Thiit business failing, Mr. 
 Greenwood converted his cooper-shop into a chair- 
 shop, and began making chairs in 1827, with a single 
 man, Joseph Maynard, to help him. The new busi- 
 ness proving profitable, he built, in 1834, a dam 
 across Pew Brook, which flowed in the rear of his 
 house, erected a shop in which he put a few simple 
 kinds of machinery to be operated by water-power, 
 for carrying on the work. For some years he did 
 quite a large business with flag-seats, but later used 
 cane-seats, preparing the cane on his own premises. 
 He continued in the manufacture until his death, in 
 1861, when his son, Thomas, followed him in the 
 same line of production. In 1870 the shop was con- 
 siderably enlarged and an improved water-wheel was 
 put in, greatly augmenting the available power. A 
 large store-house was built in 1882, adding increased 
 accommodations to the establishment. 
 
 Thomas Greenwood died early in the year 1888, but 
 the business is going on in the same lines pursued by 
 him under the direction of hi-< two sons, Charles W. 
 and Marcus J. Greenwood, who, with their mother, 
 constitute the firm whose name appears at the head 
 of this sketch. Cane rocking-chairs are a specialty 
 among the goods produced. The lack of railroad 
 facilities is a hindrance to the highest success of this 
 enterprise, though it is otherwise well-equipped for 
 bu>iness, has a good market secured and a reputation 
 for honest and honorable work, all of which gives the 
 young men upon whom the burden of management 
 has fallen, an excellent opportunity to attain for 
 themselves an enviable reputation and a successful 
 career. They employ some twelve or fifteen hands 
 and p.oduce an excellent quality of goods. 
 
842 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 James Sawyer. — Mr. Sawyer, whose place of 
 business is on Travers Street, near its junction with 
 South Main Street, occupies the oldest improved mill 
 privilege in the town. It was first used in or before 
 the year 1770, when Mr. Bickford, from Beading, came 
 to the place, then Westminster, and, purchasing a 
 large tract of land in the vicinity on which was this 
 site, proceeded to erect a saw and grist-mill for the 
 convenience of the new settlement. In this double 
 capacity it served for many years, under the manage- 
 ment of the builder and his son, Captain William 
 Bickford, of later memory. In 1829 the property, 
 still consisting of a saw and grist-mill, with the privi- 
 lege and rights thereto belonging, was sold to Elijah 
 Travers, who, after a time, added to his original pur- 
 chase a shop for the manufacture of chairs, in which 
 his sons carried on business under different auspices 
 for many years. After their decease the property 
 passed through the hands of Stearns & Whittemore 
 to those of James Sawyer, who has since been en- 
 gaged there in making cane-seat chair frames, doing 
 a small but prosperous business in that department 
 of the general trtide. 
 
 Lumber Manufactuke.— In the early days of the 
 history of Gardner tliere were six saw-mills erected 
 in different localities upon its territory, for the tup- 
 ply of the new and growing community with lumber 
 for building purposes. These were severally the 
 Bickford Mill, which stood where James Sawyer's 
 shop now is, owned by William Bickford ; one where 
 the Lewis A. Wright & Co.'s works now are, on High 
 Street, owned by Jonathan Greenwood ; one at the 
 Pail Factory, owned by Joshua Whitney ; one on 
 Kneeland Brook, near Parker Street, where the Dr. 
 Parker Mill now stands, owned by Simon Stone ; one 
 on Bailey Brook, near the junction of West and 
 Bridge Streets, and one on Wilder Brook, north of 
 Clark Street, the ownership of the last two being un- 
 known. Subsequently one was built in the northeast 
 part of the town, near the present homestead of 
 Ebenezer Ballou, and at a still later date one in the 
 east part, on a stream running into Westminster, near 
 where it is crossed by the railroad. The products of 
 these mills found, for the most part, a ready home 
 market, little being done in the way of exportation. 
 After a time, the original growth of wood being cut 
 off, some of these mills were abandoned altogether, 
 while others were converted into shops for the getting 
 out of chair stock or the making of chairs. Two 
 only have remained true to their original purpose 
 through all the passing years. One of these — the 
 Simon Stone Mill — was for a long time run by the 
 late Dr. David Parker, or by agents to whom he re- 
 linquished the business in the latter part of his life, 
 some eight or ten men being employed in getting out 
 about twelve thousand dollars' worth of lumber an- 
 nually. 
 
 The other establishment of this kind, and the only 
 one, practically, in operation, is that of Lewis A. 
 
 Wright & Co., on High Street, occupying the site of 
 the original Jonathan Greenwood Mill. Near the 
 beginning of the present century, Mr. Greenwood 
 sold to Joseph Wright, then recently from Sterling, 
 whose descendants have retained possession of the 
 privilege to the present day. It passed first to Jo- 
 seph's sons — Joseph and Nathaniel — the latter of 
 whom had charge of it for many years. Upon his 
 death the property came into the hands of his son, 
 Marcus A. Wright, who associated with himself Da- 
 vid A. Wright and Calvin S. Greenwood, under the 
 firm-name of Marcus A. Wright & Co., and continued 
 business till 1S57, when the whole thing was united 
 with other interests in the formation of the South 
 Gardner Manufacturing Company. Upon the aban- 
 donment of that undertaking, the mill, fixtures and 
 appurtenances reverted to their former condition and 
 management. In 1877 Mr. Marcus A. Wright bought 
 out his partners and went on alone till his death, in 
 1883. He was succeeded by his son, Lewis A. Wright, 
 a young man just coming to maturity, under whose 
 charge the business has been greatly enlarged and 
 abundantly prospered. The enterprise bears the 
 name of Lewis A. Wright & Co., the mother of the 
 present manager having an interest in it. In addi- 
 tion to the manufacture of lumber the firm deals 
 largely in the product of other localities — -in Michi- 
 gan and Canada pine, black walnut and a good as- 
 sortment of the harder woods. During the present 
 year this department has been greatly enlarged by 
 the purchase of the extensive concern of George E. 
 Utley & Co., wholesale and retail lumber dealers, lo- 
 cated at the junction of North Main and Mechanic 
 Streets, near the railroad, which will add very much 
 to the convenience both of the firm and of their cus- 
 tomers, it being the design to make this hereafter the 
 chief depot for the sale of goods. The business of 
 this establishment has doubled within the last ten 
 years, and the present outlook is better than ever be- 
 fore. 
 
 Children's Carriages, Chairs and Toys. — In 
 the year 1868, Levi Warren bought the premises on 
 Mill Street, where this industry is now carried on, of 
 Mr. Henry Whitney, building a dam and erecting a 
 shop for the purpose of getting out chair-backs. 
 Prosecuting this kind of work for awhile, he afterward 
 converted the building into a factory for the manu- 
 facture of toys. Subsequently he received as a part- 
 ner John Lovewell, who at the expiration of three 
 years purchased his interest and became sole pro- 
 prietor and manager of the business. Not succeeding 
 in the enterprise, Levi B. Ramsdell, one of Mr. Love- 
 well's creditors, bought the property in 1877, and, 
 associating with himself G. C. Goodell, under the style 
 of Ramsdell & Goodell, continued the business for 
 two or three years, when Mr. Ramsdell became sole 
 proprietor by purchase, and has s-ince gone on by 
 himself. The business has increased rapidly under 
 Mr. Ramsdell's management, a large trade having 
 
GARDNER. 
 
 843 
 
 been built up, extending throughout the United 
 States and even to England, necessitating an addition 
 to the shop and greater facilities generally. Unfor- 
 tunately, a destructive fire in April, 1887, resulted in 
 a complete loss of buildings and their equipment. 
 With commendable enterprise and zeal, the proprietor 
 immediately rebuilt his establishment, supplied it 
 with new and improved machinery, and is going on 
 prosperously as before. The South Gardner stream 
 furnishes power for running the works. Employment 
 is given to thirty-five or forty men, who turn out 
 goods to the value of forty thousand dollars annually. 
 
 Eave Troughs, Pumps, Ladders, Etc. — In the 
 year 1874 Charles O. Stone, with his brother E. A. 
 Stone, came to Gardner from Hubbardston, where 
 they had been associated in business for two years, 
 and, after erecting what is known as the Carney Build- 
 ing, at Kendall's Crossing, set up there their former line 
 of manufacture. At the e.xpiration of five years C. O. 
 Stone sold his interest to his brother, who was sole 
 owner for a time, when Charles bought the whole and 
 has been going on by himself to the present time. 
 
 In 1882 Mr. Stone disposed of his building on 
 South Main Street, and erected a new one on Chestnut 
 Street, where he is now located. Without power till 
 1885, he then put in an engine, and introduced ma- 
 chinery suited to the manufacture of his own goods, 
 many kinds of which he had previously procured 
 ready-made. He also added to his original business 
 that of getting out house- finishing stuff for carpen- 
 ters' use. A Weymouth lathe and other facilities 
 for variety-turning were put in a year later. Mr. 
 Stone has recently sold the house-finish and turning 
 department to A. Priest & Son, who conduct it on 
 their own account, while he confines himself solely 
 to his original line of work. His trade has increased 
 one hundred per cent, during the past five years. A 
 branch shop is maintained at Fitchburg, though all 
 the manufacturing is done at Gardner. Sales are 
 generally made in the region round-about, teams 
 being upon the road for the distribution of goods 
 through the greater part of the year. 
 
 Chair Machinery. — As has already been sug- 
 gested, the larger factories for the production 
 of chairs have a machine-shop attached thereto for 
 doing their own repair-work, and, in some instances, 
 for making their own machines. Of these no note 
 needs to be specially taken in this review. There is, 
 beside these, one establishment devoted exclusively 
 to the manufacture of chair machinery and appli- 
 ances pertaining to such machinery — the only one 
 of the kind, it is claimed, in the country. It was 
 founded in the year 187G, when Levi G. McKnight, 
 from Connecticut, came to Gardner and, associating 
 with himself a Mr. Carter, leased shop-room of P. 
 Derby & Co., and began business in the line under 
 notice. At the end of two years they moved to the 
 Foundry, where the business was carried on two 
 yeare more, Mr. Carter meanwhile leaving the firm. 
 
 In 1880 another change was made to a building be- 
 longing to A. & H. C. Knowlton, Mr. McKnight 
 taking another partner, the style of the firm being L. 
 G. McKnight & Co. During that year the present 
 spacious accommodations were provided, and at its 
 close were occupied. They consist of a main build- 
 ing, fifty feet by forty, two stories high, with a base- 
 ment for storage purposes. A fifteen horse-power 
 engine, with a twenty-five horse-power boiler, drives 
 the machinery. Twenty-five men are employed and 
 goods are sent all over this country, and also to Can- 
 ada and some of the countries of Europe. Seventy- 
 five machines, designed particularly for the making 
 of chairs, are produced, many of them the fruit of 
 Mr. McKnight's own inventive skill, who has the 
 reputation of being a superior mechanic and a trust- 
 worthy and honorable business man. . 
 
 Iron Ca.stings. — The Heywood Foundry Co. was 
 established in 1876, and prepared for business by 
 erecting, off Chestnut Street, below Cross Street, near 
 the railroad track, a brick building fifty feet square, 
 two stories high, with a moulding-room attached, 
 eighty feet by fifty, and furnishing the whole with 
 fixtures and conveniences for making all kinds of 
 iron castings. The furnace is of ample dimensions, 
 and a steam-engine of thirty-five horse-power runs 
 the works. Three tons of iron are melted per day, 
 and the business amounts to about .'S-10,000 per year. 
 Thirty men ai'e employed. The firm, as now consti- 
 tuted, consists of Alvin M. Greenwood and Jonas K. 
 Davis, Mr. Davis being the active manager of the 
 establishment. As germane to their special work, 
 the firm were interested for some years in the manu- 
 facture of a cooking-range, which had an extensive 
 sale. They are now making what is called the Royal 
 Steam Heater, of which they have the entire control. 
 It is said to serve an excellent purpose and is being 
 introduced quite largely, in town and elsewhere. 
 
 Oil-Stoves, Lamps, Etc. — This industry was 
 started in 1884 by an incorporated body of gentle- 
 men, of which Calvin H.Hill was president; Wil- 
 liam H. Wilder, treasurer, and Charles A. Fletcher, 
 business manager ; with a capital of $10,000. At the 
 expiration of three years, Mr. Fletcher having sold 
 out his interest, Messrs. Hill and Wilder, with Alvin 
 M. Greenwood, formed a partnership, and have since 
 carried on the business. The chief work done is the 
 manufacture of oil-stoves of a special pattern (of 
 which they are the exclusive owners), and lamps 
 corresponding thereto, adapted to healing purposes. 
 They claim to produce an article superior to all others 
 of a similar kind, with none of their defects. The 
 businet-s has had a remarkable growth, and is in an 
 exceedingly prosperous condition, the demand for 
 goods but recently put upon the market, exceeding 
 the ability to supply them. Beginning four years 
 ago, with a single workman, in a small room in the 
 Foundry Building, they now employ forty hands, and 
 occupy an entire factory, built and equipped for 
 
844 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 their own use in 1887. It is located in the rear of 
 the foundry, and has unsurpassed railroad facilities. 
 Every part of the articles produced is made in the 
 establishment. Work is done mostly on orders 
 received through special agencies at Baltimore, Chi- 
 cago, Atlanta, Ga., and other large cities. A consid- 
 erable export trade has also been secured. 
 
 Tin-Ware Manufacture. — The establishment 
 representing this industry is a lineal descendant of 
 the little shop started in Templeton in 1825 by John 
 Boynton, whose success in the business enabled 
 him to found by bequest that excellent institution 
 at Worcester — the " Worcester County Technical 
 Institute." Mr. Boynton late in life associated 
 with himself David Whitcomb (having had other 
 partners previously), under the name of Boynton 
 & Whitcomb. They were followed in the business 
 by Colonel Henry and William Smith, brothers, who 
 had charge of it till 1870, when, the former having 
 retired, the latter formed a partnership with Andrew 
 H. Jaquith, the senior member of the present firm. 
 In 1877 the business was transferred to Gardner, the 
 interest of Mr. Smith passing into the hands of 
 Charles F. Kichardson. Buildings suited to the 
 manufacture had been erected on North Main Street, 
 near the railroad stations, which were destroyed by 
 fire in 1883, when the more spacious and convenient 
 ones, now occupied, took their place. For five years 
 the present company, bearing the firm-name of Ja- 
 quith & Richardson, restricted themselves to the old 
 line of production, the making of tinware and cor- 
 responding goods, but in 1882 a stove and furnace 
 department was established, whereby the field of 
 ojieration was materially enlarged, and the enterprise 
 greatly benefited. The efforts of the proprietors have 
 been duly rewarded by a healthful increase of busi- 
 ness, including a large traffic in paper-stock, the 
 whole amounting annually to about $50,000. They 
 have one of the largest and best appointed ware- 
 houses in the county, and are continually introducing 
 new features to their trade, which inure alike to their 
 own advantage and that of their patrons. 
 
 Harness-Making. — This branch of handicraft was 
 started in a small way in 1869 by George K. Godfrey, 
 who, by close attention to business, excellence of 
 work, promptness and reliability in the fulfillment of 
 contracts and gentlemanly demeanor, has built it up 
 to its present proportions and condition of thrift and 
 prosperity. It is located in the Bank Building at the 
 Central Village, where may be found not only a fine 
 array of the proprietor's own manufactured articles 
 but an extensive assortment of kindred goods, such as 
 trunks, valises, carriage robes, whips, &c., and where 
 there are ample facilities for carrying on the work. 
 The production is largely custom made, though con- 
 siderable supplies are furnished the general trade. 
 The goods are regarded as of superior quality in respect 
 to both stock and workmanship, and the Godfrey 
 harness, the work of which is performed by hand, has 
 
 attained an enviable reputation throughout New 
 England. Some twenty or twenty-five men are em- 
 ployed, who turn out twelve or fifteen thousand har- 
 nesses a year, besides considerable corresponding 
 work. 
 
 Photo-Mechanical Printing.— Warren P. Allen 
 is the oldest photographer in Gardner. He came to 
 town in 1864, from Keene, N. H., with a traveling car 
 fitted up for making pictures, and located at the South 
 Village, where he remained several years. He then 
 opened rooms in Market Block, on Chestnut Street, 
 ne;ir Central, in which he practiced his art eleven 
 years, and gained for himself a wide reputation as a 
 faithful and skilKul workman. When the Lithotype 
 Publishing Company, mentioned below, was first or- 
 ganized, in 1879, Mr. Allen connected himself with it 
 for a time, helping to give it a start and to put its 
 work before the community. Afterwards he com- 
 menced at the West VHlage what he denominates 
 photo-mechanical printing, an invention partly his 
 own, where he remained three years, developing and 
 improving his specialty and getting his art recognized 
 and appreciated by the general public. The demand 
 for his style of pictures increasing, lie outgrew his ac- 
 commodations and sought the larger and better ones 
 in the building of Howe Bros., on Chestnut Street, 
 near North Main, where he noAV is. He does his own 
 work mostly, and his productions are deservedly pop- 
 ular. Excellent specimens of what he can do are to 
 be found in the views he has furnished for illustrated 
 sketches of Bellows Falls, Vt., Holyoke, Mass., 
 Elgin, III., Wellesley and Princeton Colleges, &c., 
 the character, standing and high culture of his pa- 
 trons attesting to the artistic excellence and thorough- 
 ness of what he gives in his line to the world. 
 
 Lithotype Publishing. — In the year 1879 Mr. 
 A. G. Bushnell, who since 1869 had been connected 
 with the Gardiur News as editor and general man- 
 ager, becoming interested in a new style of producing 
 pictures, associated with himself Mr. W. H. Cowee, 
 Charles Hey wood, and perhaps others, and started 
 what is called the lithotype publishing busine^s. Be- 
 fore getting fairly established. Mr. Heywood, an im- 
 portant member of the partnership, died, causing a 
 partial suspension of the work for awhile, although 
 Mr. Cowee assumed the care of it and continued it on 
 his own responsibility for several years. In 1886 new 
 interest in the enterprise was awakened, and a cor- 
 poration was constituted called the Lithotype Print- 
 ing and Publishing Company, with a capital of ten 
 thousand dollars, of which Charles D. Burrage was 
 president, W. H. Cowee, secretary, and Herbert S. 
 Stratton, treasurer and manager. The following 
 year the capital was increased to twenty-five thousand 
 dollars, the business going on as before. In 1888 a 
 private company, consisting of Burrage & Stratton, 
 bought out the corporation and arc now going on 
 under the name of the Lithotype Publishing Com- 
 pany, prosperously and promisingly. Twenty-five lith- 
 
GARDNER. 
 
 845 
 
 otype presses are in use, and fifty-five or sixty persons, 
 mostly young women, are employed in the large, well- 
 Curnished establishment on Green Street. The work 
 now done amounts to sixty or seventy thousand dol- 
 lars a year, and is of excellent quality, growing con- 
 tinually in popular favor. Much attention is given 
 to furnishing illustrations for fami!_v and town his- 
 tories, sketi-hes of interesting localities, popular re- 
 sorts, manufacturing centres, educational institutions 
 and .similar kinds of delineation for which there is a 
 constantly increasing call. The company has re- 
 cently purchased an engraving establishment in New 
 York City, which is running in connection with the 
 Gardner house, under the care of Mr. A. G. Bushnell, 
 agent. 
 
 Silver- Ware. — One of the later industries now 
 in operation in Gardner is that of the manufacture of 
 the more substantial and serviceable articles of 
 silver-ware, which was started in the year 1887 by 
 Frank W. Smith, who came from Concord, N. H. 
 where he had previously been engaged in the same 
 business. A commodious brick building three stories 
 high, with a basement, was erected on Chestnut Street 
 near the corner of Walnut, and thoroughly furnished 
 with the most modern machinery and appliances for 
 carrying on the work. Only skillful hands are em- 
 ployed, of whom there are forty-five in number, in- 
 cluding several women, and only solid sterling silver 
 goods are produced. This is a valuable acquisition 
 to the mauutacturing interests of the town, having 
 the promise of a prosperous future before it, and 
 destined to shine with a lustre distinctively its 
 own, varied, enriched and beautified at times with 
 golden hues. 
 
 Buick-MakIjSTG. — A large section of territory in 
 the southern part of the town has an aluminous or 
 clayey subsoil unusually free from foreign substances 
 and lying in many places quite near the surface of 
 the ground, which renders the manufacture of brick 
 at numerous points comparatively easy of accomplish- 
 ment. At what particular date, or in what locality, 
 this business was first started here has not been as- 
 certained. But it is understood by the older inhabit- 
 ants that the material of which the Bickford house 
 in South Gardner was built, shortly after the town's 
 incorporation, was obtained on the premises and 
 moulded and burned theie ready for final use. Abel 
 Jackson at an early day made brick near by where 
 the yards and factory of George N. Dyer are now 
 located, some tokens of which are still to be seen. 
 And the present stand of Abijah Hinds has been 
 devoted to this industry for a long term of years. 
 For two generations or more the only brick made in 
 town were the product of this establishment, the 
 father of the present proprietor carrying on the 
 business in his day. The demand of the com- 
 munity could then be met by this one concern, and 
 there was no necessity for another yard. With the 
 growth of the place and the increasing tendency to 
 
 put up brick buildings, even the home market was 
 greater than Mr. Hinds, with all his facilities, which 
 he had multiplied as time went on, could supply. 
 And so Mr. H. N. Dyer, an old brick-maker of 
 Templeton, seeing the opportunity, came to town, 
 purchased the property where his son, George N. 
 Dyer, now carries on the business, and there, near 
 the site of the old Jackson yard, started anew. He 
 soon gave way to his son, who has been highly pros- 
 pered, his trade increasing from year to year, necessi- 
 tating a constant increase of productive power. He 
 has made the present year one and a half million 
 bricks, for most of whiih he finds a ready sale 
 within the limits of the town. For several years he 
 produced a fine quality of pressed brick, the clay on 
 his grounds being suited to that kind of goods, 
 but at present he deems it more profitable to limit 
 his production to the more common grades. Both 
 Mr. Dyer and Mr. Hinds employ steam-power to run 
 their machinery, which is of the latest and best 
 pattern, and their iiicilities for speedy and etlicient 
 work are excellent and unsurpassed in all the region 
 round-about. Mr. Hinds turns out about seven 
 hundred and fifty thousand bricks a year, making 
 the entire production of the town two and a quarter 
 millions. 
 
 Carriages and Sleighs.— The principal estab- 
 lishment fur the manufacture of carriages and other 
 vehicles is located in South Gardner village, near the 
 railroad crossing, and is conducted by Lyman Sawin 
 and his son, Wm. O. Sawin. The senior member of 
 the firm came to Gardner from Ashburnham more 
 than thirty years ago, and entering into partnership 
 with Amasa Lovewell, carried on the general black- 
 smithing business for a dozen years, when he sold out 
 and went to Ashby. After an absence of a year or 
 two he returned, and having erected the buildings 
 since occupied by him started anew, combining the 
 wheelwright business with his former trade. The 
 call for his work increasing, he took his son into com- 
 pany with him and subsequently consolidated his 
 business with that of Albert Barron, who had for 
 some years made carriages in a portion of his shop, 
 assuming the style of the South Gardner Carriage 
 Company. Besides common carriages, the firm made 
 a specialty of heavy team wagons and gained a repu- 
 tation for thorough and substantial work. They also 
 manufactured open and top buggies and sleighs of 
 various patterns. The carriage business declining 
 somewhat, more attention latterly has been given to 
 repairs, other work being done chiefly upon orders. 
 Half a dozen men find employment in the establish- 
 ment. A similar enterpri.se of some years' standing 
 has recently been re-organized, bearing the name of 
 the Chestnut Street Carriage Manufactory, in which 
 James D. Gay and others are interested, and Town- 
 send L. Bennett, Ko. 10 Cross Street, does something 
 incidentally in the same line of manufacture. 
 
 Graik and Flouring-Mills. — The need of the 
 
846 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 early settlers of Gardner in respect to the grinding of 
 corn and otlier cereals for domestic use was originally 
 met by the putting in a set of stones in connection 
 with facilities for sawing lumber by William Bickford 
 as early as 1770 or 1775; and a few years later a 
 gristmill was built in tlie north part of the town 
 near the school-house on the site, probably, which 
 was afterwards occupied by the Cowee Brothers as a 
 chair factory. More recently an extensive business 
 has been done in the same direction by T. Augustus 
 and Marshall M. Howe, under the name of Howe 
 Brothers, who succeeded by purchase the late Charles 
 W. Bush in the nianutaeture of meal and flour at the 
 factory on Mill Street near Sawyer. This privilege 
 had a varied and somewhat unfortunate his'.ory dur- 
 ing the earlier years of its occupancy. In or about 
 the year 1824, Luke Sawin and Dr. David Parker, 
 then a new resident of the town, bought the Abel 
 Jackson farm, which covered a large tract of land in 
 the vicinity, including the site under notice. Mr. 
 Sawin soon built a dam and erected a shop, which he 
 fitted up for the purpose of getting out chair stock. 
 The business went on but a sliort time, the shop being 
 burned. Henry Whitney then purchased the privi- 
 lege and lands adjoining, erecting a saw-mill upon it, 
 which was also destroyed by fire in 1834. The mill 
 was immediately rebuilt and run a few years as be- 
 fore, when it was sold to Daniel J. Goodspeed, who 
 converted it into a factory for the making of chairs, 
 having enlarged the facilities by putting up an ad- 
 diliojial building to suit bi.s needs. In 1852 a third 
 fire destroyed the buildings and their contents. 
 Charles Travers bought the premises and put up a new 
 chair-shop, which was run by himself for awhile and 
 then sold to Charles Britton, from Westmoreland, N. 
 H., who, being a carpenter, used it for getting out 
 moldings, trimmings and stock in general for his 
 trade. It afterward passed into the hands of Calvin 
 Conant, who reconverted it into a chair-shop for his 
 own use. Subsequently it came into the pos-ession 
 of Charles W. Bush, who removed the old machinery 
 and fitted it up as a meal and flour-producing mill, in 
 which capacity it has remained till now. Howe 
 Brothers, the present proprietors, have occupied it 
 for eighteen years, doing a large and gi'owing busi- 
 ness, amounting at this time to an annual value of 
 $60,000. 
 
 RiiADY-MADE Clothing. — The Monadnock Cloth- 
 ing House may be regarded as the representative of 
 one of the important industries of the place, inasmuch 
 as the goods in which it deals are to a large extent 
 manufactured on the premises. Its stock embraces 
 every style, grade and quality requisite for the wear 
 of men, boys and even children. The establishment 
 was founded by E. Ballard and A. A. .Terould in 1809, 
 it being the first ready-made clothing store in town. 
 Passing through some changes, it came into the hands 
 of Mr. Samuel Despeaux, a veteran in the trade, in 
 1880, who gave it the name it now bears. It has one 
 
 of the largest and best appointed sales-rooms in this 
 section of the State, carrying a heavy stock and doing 
 an extensive business. There are several other ready- 
 made clothing stores in town, besides some half-dozen 
 merchant tailors, so that the needs of the public in 
 this regard are abundantly supplied. 
 
 Marble-Cutting. — Mr. T. J. Staff'ord, an expe- 
 rienced marble-worker, came from Cambridge in 1870 
 and commenced the marble-cutting business in Mar- 
 ket Block near tlie head of Chestnut Street. Building 
 up a resi>ectable and satisfactory trade, he, after sev- 
 eral changes, located in the shop erected for his 
 use toward the lower end of the same street, where he 
 now is. Numerous tomb-stones and monumental 
 pieces of various design and styles of finish in the 
 burial-places of the town and vicinity testify to the 
 artistic excellence and superior quality of his work. 
 Messrs. John E. Partridge & Co., located near the 
 railroad station, and .loseph C. Sargent, 105 Chestnut 
 Street, are engaged in the same line of business. 
 
 Contractors and Builders. -Milton M. Favor, 
 a native of Bennington, N. H., came to Gardner in 
 1867, and after working awhile for Heywood Bros. & 
 Co., started business on his own account. He has had 
 a large patronage, having erected, since locating in 
 the place, over five hundred buildings in this and ad- 
 jacent towns, or about twenty-five a year. He em- 
 ploys a force of from sixty to seventy-fi ve men, accord- 
 ing to the season and demand for work. In the same 
 business are John E. Hosmer, Wm. N. Moore, Cyrus 
 F. Boutelle, Michael J. Ryan, George B. Hager, Jo- 
 seph J. Gale & Son, Silas Holt and Thomas Wheeler. 
 
 Printing and Publishing. — The first printing- 
 office was opened in Gardner in the year 1868, when 
 A. G. Bushnell, formerly of Templeton, took posses- 
 sion of one room in the third story of the bank 
 building, where he was engaged in doing job work 
 till the following spring, when, his business having 
 increased sufficiently to warrant it, he employed an 
 assistant. About that time the project of starting a 
 local weekly paper was agitated, resulting in the 
 organization of an enterprise for the purpose of car- 
 rying that project into effect. Charles Heywood asso- 
 ciated himself with Mr. Bushnell under thefirm-uame 
 of A. G. Bushnell & Co., and a prospectus for a paper 
 was immediately issued. Satisfactory patronage be- 
 ing promised, the first number of the Gardner News 
 was published July 3, 1869. The original subscrip- 
 tion price was two dollars a year, but the patronage 
 increasing, it was soon reduced to one dollar and fifty 
 cents. The size of the paper, to begin with, was 
 twenty-two by thirty-two inches folio, containing 
 twenty-four columns of matter, or six columns to a 
 page, but has been much enlarged since. Though 
 chiefly a local journal, it yet contains much general 
 news, and has correspondents in all the neighboring 
 towns, thus representing a wide constituency and secur- 
 ing a circulation far beyond the limits of Gardner. It 
 claims to be independent in religion and politics. 
 
GARDNEK. 
 
 847 
 
 fearless in expressing honest convictions upon ques- 
 tions of private and public morality, and especially 
 desirous of promoting the welfare and prosperity of 
 the town. It has always been a bright, wide-awake 
 publication, displaying more than average editorial 
 ability and maintaining a creditable standing among 
 its contemporaries. Upon the death of Charles Hey- 
 wood, in 1882, Mr. Bushnell became sole proprietor, 
 as he had been sole manager from the inception of 
 the undertaking. In 1885 he sold the whole estab- 
 lishment, including the paper, to Asa E. Stratton, of 
 Fitchburg, who now has its several departments in 
 charge, conducting the business on the .same general 
 lines as before. The circulation of the Neim is twen- 
 ty-one hundred. The business of job printing has 
 increased from year to year, making frequent addi- 
 tions of materials and machinery necessary as well 
 as new accessions of room, so that the entire floor of 
 the third story of the bank building is required for 
 the use of the establishment, which now commands 
 the service of from twelve to fifteen employes. 
 
 In the year 1880 Mr. E. J. Fuller, from AVinchen- 
 don, started a second paper in town, called the 
 Gardner Record, having his headquarters in Stevens' 
 Block, West Village. In the fall of 1883 the office 
 was removed to the building of Howe Brothers, near 
 the depot. The following June Mr. Fuller sold to 
 Charles Adams and Daniel Rowe, when the name of 
 the sheet was changed to the Worcester County Demo- 
 crat, in order that its title might indicate the politics 
 which the new proprietors designed to have repre- 
 sented in its columns. Struggling on for two years 
 under much difficulty, the experiment of a daily is- 
 sue was tried for a few weeks in the hope, apparently, 
 of retrieving its falling fortunes, but it had practi- 
 cally the opposite eifect, and late in 1886 yielded to 
 the inevitable, and ceased to be. At the end of 
 about three months R. W. and C. A. J. Waterman, 
 of Athol, purchased the stock and fixtures of the of- 
 fice, removed them to Opera-House Block, Pine 
 Street, near Lynde, and commenced the publication 
 of the Gardner Journal under the firn'-name of 
 Waterman & Son. The first number was issued 
 April 12, 1887, and was favorably received by the 
 public, obtaining at the start a respectable list of 
 subscribers, which has increased since, until at the 
 expiration of twenty months they number seventeen 
 hundred and fifty. The paper is independent in 
 spirit and purpose, and aims to be a general news 
 sheet as well as a medium of local intelligence, 
 seeking to maintain and promote the general welfare 
 by fair dealing and an honest expression of opinion 
 upon all matters pertaining thereto. A good busi- 
 ness at job printing has been built up in connection 
 with the publication of the Journal, the whole giv- 
 ing employment to nine persons. 
 
 Mercantile Interests. — A few general state- 
 ments in regard to what may be called the mercan- 
 tile affairs of Gardner will no doubt serve the speci- 
 
 fic purpose of the present volume and satisfy the de- 
 sire of those who may read it. The first merchant 
 in the place was Mr. Jonathan Prescott, from Lan- 
 caster, son-in-law of John Glazier, who located on 
 the east side of Green Street, opposite the Common, 
 where the residence of the late Francis Richardson, 
 Esq., now stands. His was the only store in town for 
 many years, and even down to a date within the 
 memory of large numbers now living, a single old- 
 fashioned country store supplied all the needs of the 
 Central village and a large section around it, reaching 
 in some directions into neighboring towns. A store 
 was opened in South Gardner early in this century, 
 or perhaps shortly before its opening, and for several 
 decades this and the one at the Centre were amply 
 sufficient to meet all the existing needs of the com- 
 munity in this respect. But to-day the shop-keepers 
 of the place are numbered by scores, if not by hun- 
 dreds. Certain sections of the different villagts are 
 almost wholly given up to traffic of one sort or an- 
 other, and one in them need not go far to find, with 
 rare exceptions, whatever may be desired in the line 
 of merchandise for personal, domestic or more gen- 
 eral use. Dry-goods merchants, grocers, clothiers, 
 furniture and crockery dealers, druggists, jewelers, 
 traders in hirdware, paper-hangings, gentlemen's and 
 ladies' furnishing goods, cutlery, stoves and furnaces, 
 sewing-machines, stationery, meat, flour, grain, 
 farm produce and venders of all sorts of siuall wares, 
 confectionery, fruit and peanuts — all these have a 
 place in this busy town, and stand ready to serve the 
 public need. 
 
 Before leaving the manufacturing interests of Gard- 
 ner altogether, it is desirable that a statement be 
 made respecting an important adjunct to that portion 
 of them located in the southern part of the town, to 
 which reference has been several times made in the 
 foregoing pages, to wit: — The South Gardner Reser- 
 voir. This body of water covers an area of about one 
 hundred and eighty acres, of which nearly three- 
 fourths are in this town, the remainder in Westmin- 
 ster. Up to a comparatively recent date the owners 
 of what is known as the Wright Mill were allowed to 
 flow the broad expanse of meadow-laud which the 
 dam was high enough to cover, only through the later 
 autumn, winter and early spring months, so as in no 
 wise to lessen or damage the grass grown thereon. As 
 a consequence, a large amount of water would pass 
 by that and other privileges on the stream below when 
 the pond was drawn down to its summer level, with 
 advantage to no one, while, later in the season, a 
 scarcity of water would compel the stopping of the 
 machinery at all of those privileges for weeks, or per- 
 haps months, before the autumn rains came on. It 
 was evident to practical men that, if the amount of 
 water which thus ran wholly to waste could be held 
 in some way for use when needed, the mills, so often 
 idle in the drj^er parts of the year, could, with rare 
 
848 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 exceptions, be kept in operation the twelvemonth 
 through. It was for Mr. David Wright, who was 
 eager for improvement, and who had sagacity to dis- 
 cover chances for improvement, to turn tliis thought 
 to practical account. He set himself about interest- 
 ing his co-manufacturers on the stream with him in 
 a project for a reservoir for the purpose indicated. 
 The dam mentioned, as it was and had been for years, 
 was capable of holding an immense body of reserve 
 water, and, by raising it a i'esv feet, which could be 
 easily done, the quantity could be greatly augmented. 
 The rai.sing of the dam would involve some expense, 
 and the using it for [jermanent flowage would involve 
 still more, since it would necessitate the payment of 
 heavy damages to the proprietors of the meadows 
 above, or the purchase of those meadows. Mr. Wright, 
 therefore, when the subject had been sufficiently dis- 
 cussed, circulated a paper and secured subscriptions 
 enough to buy the lands in question, which put the 
 matter on a permanent basis. Previous to the con- 
 summation of this scheme, however, a canal had been 
 cut from the Walter Greenwood mi!l-pond to the pro- 
 posed reservoir, in order ihat whatever surplus 
 water existed there might be diverted i'rom its natural 
 course, and held in reserve with the other, to the ex- 
 tent of the capacity of the new pond. And so tho 
 plan of Mr. Wright was carried out to the fullest ex- 
 tent, and all the advantages to be gained from it were 
 secured. The expense of keeping the reservoir-dam 
 in repair is met by occasional assessments upon the 
 owners of the privileges benetited by it. 
 
 Nor was this all. The owners of certain mill-sites 
 on the stream, desirous of gaining still other benefits 
 of the same sort, bought two dams, and the meadows 
 flowed by them, situated above the reservoir itself, 
 while, still later, S. K. Pierce & Co. purchased a third 
 one, — the Minot Meadow, so-called, — and dam there- 
 unto belonging, which now constitutes a part of his 
 estate. So that, in fact, there is a series of four reser- 
 voirs on the upper part of the stream, eaoh one of 
 which contributes directly to the value of every mill- 
 property below, and indirectly to the prosperity of 
 the whole town. 
 
 CHAPTER CXIII. 
 
 GARDNER— (ro«//«?;frf.) 
 
 EDUCATION — SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES. 
 
 At an early day in the hi.itory of the Pilgrim settle- 
 ment at Plymouth the subject of education became a 
 matter of general interest and the question of the 
 public instruction of children and youth entered very 
 soon into the deliberations that pcrlaiiied to the i)er- 
 manent policy of the colony. And the Puritan found- 
 ers of Massachusetts, animated by the same spirit, 
 soon after acquiring a foothold on these shores, made 
 
 provision for the establishing of schools of different 
 grades to the end, as they .said, "that learning may 
 not be buried in the graves of our fathers.' So, under 
 a wise inspiration and guidance, the founders of New 
 England built the school-liouse beside the church, 
 making education and religion, inttlli^'enceand piety, 
 co-ordinate factors in the new civilization they pro- 
 posed to establish on this virgin soil — living forces to 
 energize, direct and give character to its advancing 
 life. True to their noble descent, the founders of 
 Gardner did the same thing. At the first annual 
 meeting, held March 7, 178G, action was taken which 
 resulted in the division of the town into four district', 
 or squadrons, as they were called, in each of which a 
 school was soon after established. These were re- 
 spectively in the parts of the territory corresponding 
 to the four cardinal points of the compass and were 
 designated accordingly. One-half of the money ap- 
 propriated for schools, which was thirty pounds, was 
 to be divided equally between the four squadrons, 
 and the other half according to the number of scholars 
 in each between four and twenty-one years of age. 
 The complex duty of providing a place for the schools, 
 of selecting and employing teachers and of caring for 
 and expending the money was assigned to four per- 
 sons, one in each squadron respectively. The names 
 of this first School Committee were William Bickford, 
 David Foster, Ebenezer Howe and Jo^iah Wheeler. 
 There was but one school-house in the town, which 
 was built by Westminster some years before, " on Mr. 
 Biikford's land on the County road, or the road lead- 
 ing to Mr. Timothy Howard's (Hey wood's) house, 
 where the major part of the squadron sh.all appoint." 
 It actually stood on the site of the house built and 
 formerly occu])ied by Amos B. Minott on South Main 
 Street. It is likely that this building was used by the 
 South Squadron for some years, although in 1791 it 
 was declared to be " so old and shattered that it is 
 not fit to keep school in." It would seem by this 
 record, and by the absence of any record regarding 
 the erection of school-houses previous to this date, 
 that the schools in other squadrons were held for 
 some years in private dwellings. At the annual town- 
 meeting in 1795 it was voted to build four school- 
 houses, but the appropriation of four hundred and 
 fifty pounds to pay for the same was not made till 
 April, 1796. In March, 1797, the town voted to pro- 
 vide a chair and table for each house, so that it may 
 be presumed that about this time Gardner was fully 
 and satisfactorily equipped with the institutions and 
 accompanying facilities for public education. The 
 school-houses were indeed small, incommodious and 
 unpainted, but they served the needs of the time and 
 were important helps to the laying the foundations 
 of that more complete system of common-SL'hool in- 
 struction, with its large array of instninientalities and 
 appliances, which now exists — a blessing unspeakable 
 to the entire community and an honor to the town. 
 In 1802 an article was inserted in the warrant calling 
 
GARDNER. 
 
 849 
 
 the regular March meeting, " to see if the town will 
 choose a committee to see what repairs, if any, the 
 school-houses need and paint them Spanish brown 
 and lye." The town voted " to pass over the article," 
 though it has an inherent interest to the present gen- 
 eration, since it shows what was used in those impe- 
 cunious days as a substitute for oil in the preparation 
 of paint. In 1807 an attempt was made to increase 
 the number of school districts by certain individuals 
 asking the town " to build a school-house in tlie mid- 
 dle of the town or otherwise give the petitioners and 
 others the privilege of building on the Common." 
 The town decided to do neither of the things desired. 
 The same request was made at several times after- 
 ward with the same result, though it appears from the 
 records that a school building had been erected at the 
 place designated about the year 1814, probably by 
 private funds, for the special accommodation of the 
 families living near. In 1809 the citizeas evinced 
 their sense of the need of more careful supervision of 
 the schools as well as an interest in their prosperity, 
 by choosing "a committee of four men to inspect the 
 schools " " at the opening and closing of said schools 
 the year ensuing." This was the inauguration of a 
 new policy in that regard. 
 
 With the growth of the town came the demand for 
 increased school accommodations. So far as the 
 records show, the original plan of having four dis- 
 tricts continued in operation till 1818, although, as a 
 matter of fact, the people of those districts living 
 near to the central village had for several years been 
 privileged to draw their portion of the school-money 
 and spend it in support of a teacher in the private 
 school house referred to above. But in the year men- 
 tioned, the desirableness of new districting the town 
 became so apparent that a committee was chosen for 
 the purpose of putting the matter in proper shape for 
 final action. This committee reported in favor of 
 making six districts agreeably to an accompanying 
 detailed plan, which provided for a district in the 
 east, the southeast, the southwest, the northwest, the 
 north and the central portions of the territory, each 
 in its order, and under the name designated by its 
 locality. These six districts included in the aggre- 
 gate one hundred and fifty-three families, — the east 
 one containing thirty ; the southeast and southwest, 
 twenty-seven each, and the remaining three twenty- 
 three each. Each district was to build its own house 
 and to locate it, if those concerned could agree upon 
 a spot; otherwise the town should do it. This division 
 continued for over half a century, or until the aboli- 
 tion of the district system according to public statute, 
 in 1869. 
 
 Different rules prevailed at different times in regard 
 to the division of the public-school money among the 
 several districts. What the policy was at the begin- 
 ning has beea stated, — that is, one-half equally be- 
 tween the districts and one-half according to the 
 number of children between the ages of four and 
 54 
 
 twenty-one. In 1820 the town voted that "the 
 school money be divided according to the number of 
 families that shall be in each district on the first of 
 May next." This method prevailed till 1837, when 
 it was decided to divide one-third of the money ac- 
 cording to the number of scholars in the res[iective 
 districts of the ages named before, the remainder 
 equally between the districts. 
 
 In 1840 the rule was so far changed as to have the 
 children numbered between four and sixteen years of 
 age. In 1844 one-half was divided equally between 
 the districts and one-half according to the number of 
 pupils, which proportion was changed in 1850 to one- 
 fourth and three-fourths respectively, and in 1854 to 
 one-third and two-thirds respectively. In the same 
 year the " Annual Report of the School Committee " 
 was first printed and circulated among the families of 
 the town. 
 
 The changes in the appropriations for educational 
 purposes can be indicated only in a general way. 
 The fir-it sum voted was thirty pounds, or about a 
 hundred dollars in United States currency. Up 
 to the year 1800 the annual amount averaged thirty- 
 five pounds, or one hundred and seventeen dollars. 
 In that year it was two hundred dallars. It rose in 
 1806 to three hundred dollars, where it remained 
 many years. In 1817 it was three hundred and thirty 
 dollars ; in 1818 four hundred. The same figures 
 prevailed till 1832, when they were increased to four 
 hundred and fifty dollars, and in 1833 to six hundred. 
 They rose to seven hundred in 1840 ; to eight hun- 
 dred in 1847; to nine hundred in 1849; and to one 
 thousand in 1852. From that time on, with the 
 growth of the town and the increase of its inhabitants, 
 the increase of school appropriations was rapid, reach- 
 ing two thousand dollars in 1859 and 18G0, but falling 
 off somewhat during the four years of the Rebellion. 
 After that period it went up again more rapidly than 
 before. It was thirty-five hundred in 1867, forty-five 
 hundred in 1871 and five thousand in 1873. In 1875 
 it had risen to six thousand five hundred dollars, and 
 in 1878 to seven thousand dollars. Since that date 
 the increase has been very rapid, reaching, in the 
 year 1888, the generous sum of fifteen thousand dol- 
 lars, which sufficiently indicates the degree of inter- 
 est the citizens take in the public schools and the 
 value at which they estimate the American system of 
 popular education as related to the welfare of the 
 community and to the strength, perpetuity and glory 
 of the republic. Besides the High School, which has 
 one principal and two assistants, there are twenty- 
 four schools of the lower grades, each supplied with 
 competent instructors and all in prosperous con- 
 dition. 
 
 At the time of the abolition of the old district sys- 
 tem, in 1869, there were six school-houses taken by the 
 town, whose appraised value was $19,758, of which 
 that on School Street, built ten years before, was esti- 
 mated at $10,666 ; the one in the Southeast District 
 
850 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 at $2,550 ; and the one in the Southwest, on Broad- 
 way, at $'5,150. In 1878 a house ibr two schools was 
 erected on West Street, at a cost of about $5,000, 
 which has recently been enlarged to double that ca- 
 pacity at an additional expense of $3,500. Within a 
 few years, also, a two-room wooden building has been 
 put up on Park Street (Little Canada) at a cost of 
 $3,600; a brick house with four rooms, on Pleasant 
 Street, costing 110,000, and a very fine brick edifice, 
 on Prospect Street, South Gardner, with all modern 
 conveniences, costing about $15,000. Whole school 
 property valued at $69,000. 
 
 Gakdnek High School. — For some years previous 
 to 1856 a growing interest in the establishment of a 
 High School had existed among the more intelligent 
 and thoughtful people of the town, but it was not till 
 that date that such interest assumed a definite form 
 and crystallized into a practical effort to accomplish 
 the contem])lated result. But the time had now come 
 when the statutes of the Commonwealth required such 
 a school, and the matter was brought up in a meeting 
 held February 5th, and referred to a committee of 
 seven persons, who subsequently reported adversely to 
 the proposition. The town accepted the report, and 
 the subject rested for ten years. On the 2d of April, 
 1866, " Voted, on motion of Allen Folger, that a High 
 School be established in town, according to law, and 
 that the Selectmen and Superintending School Com- 
 mittee be a committee to carry into effect this vote." 
 Pursuant to this action a High School was opened the 
 following autumn in the old school-house of the Cen- 
 tral District, which had been vacated upon the occu- 
 pancy of a new building a few years before. This 
 house furnished the best accommodations that could 
 readily be obtained at the time, but it ere long be- 
 came apparent that a more commodious and better 
 arranged one, as well as one more centrally located, 
 was needed, and in 1872 the town took definite action 
 looking to the supply of the need. The subject was 
 referred to a committee of three persons, who reported 
 unanimously that " after examining the building now 
 occupied by our High School, they were of the opin- 
 ion that the accommodations and conveniences which 
 it affords are not what the best interests of such a 
 school demand." " Its location is also unsatisfactory 
 to a large portion of those now sending children to 
 the school, and to others who would send if its loca- 
 tion was more central." They therefore recommended 
 a new building to be placed on a lot selected by them 
 lying on Chestnut Street, below the " Atherton 
 House," so called, in the Heywood pasture. They 
 also conveyed to the town the gratifying intelligence 
 that after deciding upon this location they consulted 
 with the owner, Mr. Levi Heywood, in regard to the 
 terms upon which it could be obtained, who gener- 
 ously proposed to donate it to the town, if it should 
 be accepted for the purpose specified. The report was 
 accepted, and steps were immediately taken to carry 
 its recommendations into effect. As a result, the 
 
 proper deeds transferring the site finally fixed 
 upon from Mr. Heywood to the town were passed, 
 plans for a building were secured and the present 
 neat, commodious and attractive structure was built 
 under the direct superintendence of Francis Kichard- 
 son, Esq., since deceased, and made ready for occu- 
 pancy December 21, 1874. It is a substantial brick 
 edifice, with foundations of Fitchburg granite and 
 brown sand-stone trimmings. The main partis forty- 
 six by seventy feet with a front projection and porch 
 seventeen by twenty-two feet, the whole being two 
 stories high and surmounted by a tower rising to an 
 altitude of ninety feet. It has three front entrances, 
 reached through open porches and leading into spa- 
 cious halls. Its internal arrangement, including a 
 commodious basement with cemented floors, is such 
 as to serve well the uses for which it was designed, 
 and the grounds outside are ample and well graded. 
 The entire structure with its furnishings and surround- 
 ings, cost twenty-two thousand dollars, and is an or- 
 nament and an honor to the town. The citizens are 
 to be congratulated upon having so admirable a High 
 School building, and upon the excellent standing the 
 school has maintained since its establishment. 
 
 Public Libraries — The South Gardner Social 
 Library. — Some time about the year 1840 a number 
 of ladies and gentlemen in the south part of the 
 town became interested in a movement for furnishing 
 themselves and the neighborhood a higher and more 
 extensive range of reading than had hitherto been 
 enjoyed. Enlisting a goodly number of their friends 
 and fellow-citizeus in the matter, they secured the 
 formation of a society bearing the name of the South 
 Gardner Social Library Association, with a constitu- 
 tion and by-laws duly providing for the orderly gov- 
 ernment and administration of its affairs. It was a 
 joint stock company, each member being required to 
 pay two dollars on every share subscribed for, to be 
 devoted exclusively to the purchase of books, for the 
 purpose of founding a library ; all other expenses to 
 be met by equal assessment on the shares in propor- 
 tion to the amount thereof. This institution started 
 out under favorable auspices, and for many years was 
 liberally patronized and successfully maintained, 
 deriving support from levies made upon the stock, 
 from annual fees for drawing books and the contribu- 
 tions of friends. In 1852 the association received a 
 bequest of one hundred dollars from the estate of 
 Abijah M. Severy, who died some years before, and 
 in the following year it began to receive an annual 
 income of about twenty-five dollars from a fund created 
 by the same generous donor. This has continued 
 year by year to the present time and of late has been 
 the principal source of supplies for the purchase of 
 new books, the fees of members, the number of which 
 has become greatly reduced, and of book-drawers 
 being little more than sufficient to meet current ex- 
 penses. The multiplication of libraries connected 
 with the Sunday-schools of the town, the increased 
 
GARDNEK. 
 
 851 
 
 facilities fjr getting reading matter from other quar- 
 ters, and more recently the opening of the large and 
 attractive library and reading room at the Central 
 Village, have had a tendency to diminish interest in 
 this institution and to weaken its suj^port. It has 
 upon its shelves about twelve hundred volumes, to 
 which additions are made from time to time as the 
 condition of its finances will allow. 
 
 Some years ago a public library was started at the 
 centre of the town, which contained many valuable 
 books and was well patronized for a time, but no 
 records of it have been found and none of the details 
 of its history can be given. The public lost interest 
 in it, and as a result it gradually fell into decay and 
 finally disappeared. 
 
 The Levi Heijwood Memorial Library Association. — 
 A few years before the death of the late Levi Hey- 
 wood, he became personally interested in thequestion 
 of a Public Library and instituted some measures 
 with a view of making that interest felt and of turn- 
 ing it to some practicable account. In order to call 
 attention to the matter, he caused a lecture to be given 
 in town upon the value and importance of such insti- 
 tutions by Hon. Theodore C. Bates, of North Brook- 
 field, at which many influential citizens were present. 
 As a result of this lecture and of the impression it 
 made upon the hearers, a paper providing for contribu- 
 tions to a fund for the establishment of a library was 
 circulated and money was pledged to the amount of 
 about three thousand dollars for the realization of the 
 object proposed, whereupon a petition was presented 
 to the town for a vote authorizing the erection of a 
 building for the proper housing of the contemplated 
 library, "to be located within sixty rods of the Town 
 Hall." The town, probably on account of the desig- 
 nated location, refused to grant the request. This 
 action put the whole matter at rest for the time being, 
 and nothing further was done about it till after the 
 decease of Mr. Heywood in 1882. 
 
 A year or two subsequent to that event. Rev. Law- 
 rence Phelps, then pastor of the First Congregational 
 Church and Society of the town, revived the subject 
 and brought it once more before the public. By per- 
 sonal influence and efl^ort, aided by the co-operation 
 of other interested parlies, he secured the formation 
 of an association which took the name of the Gardner 
 Library Club, afterward changed to the Gardner Li- 
 brary Association, under which title it was chartered 
 by the Massachusetts Legislature, June 19, 1884. The 
 name of the corporation sufficiently indicated the 
 object it was designed to promote. Under its auspices 
 papers for subscriptions were again circulated, and 
 pledges amounting to seven hundred dollars were 
 obtained for the specific purpose of purchasing books 
 and creating a nucleus of an institution, such as was 
 hoped for at an early day. But as yet no place had 
 been found in which to locate this germ of a library 
 yet to be, and something must be done in that direc- 
 
 tion before proceeding further in regard to purchasing 
 books. 
 
 Happily for the undertaking and for all concerned, 
 while the question of a library building was under 
 serious, if not anxious, consideration, Mr. Calvin 
 Heywood and Mrs. Helen R. Greenwood, the only 
 surviving children of Mr. Levi Heywood, recalling 
 their father's interest in the matter of a Public Li- 
 brary, and desiring to honor his name and memory, 
 proposed, without solicitation, to erect or cause to be 
 erected, a library building, at a cost of not less than 
 $25,000, to be presented to the corporation, when 
 completed and made ready for use, on condition that 
 that body should take the name of the Levi Heywood 
 Memorial Library Association, and provide for the 
 running expenses and general proper maintenance of 
 the institution, — the building to be called "The Levi 
 Heywood Memorial Building." The corporation 
 voted to accept the generous offer on the terms speci- 
 fied, and work on the building began at an early day, 
 and was carried on to completion as rapidly as 
 possible. 
 
 Meanwhile the corporation was busily engaged in 
 carrying out their plans as best they could with the 
 means in hand, and in preparing for the occupancy 
 of the building when it was ready for use. The 
 money subscribed for books was expended. An old 
 library, belonging to the Young Men's Christian Asso- 
 ciation, consisting of about two hundred volumes, was 
 donated to the association, as was also a circulating 
 library of James Emerson, M.D., numbering about 
 one hundred volumes — making a collection of eight 
 hundred books, which were properly arranged, cata- 
 logued and offered to the public in February, 1885, in 
 the drug-store of Dr. Emerson, under the Town Hall. 
 The association also qualified itself for receiving the 
 title-deed of the property to be conveyed to it, by a 
 new act of the Legislature, passed April 14, 1887, 
 authorizing the change of name required by the do- 
 nors, and granting power to hold real estate to the 
 value of $80,000. 
 
 Before the completion of the library building 
 Mrs. Fanny B. Heywood, widow of the late Charles 
 Heywood, son of Levi, and her children, Mrs. H. S. 
 Stratton, Mrs. Charles D. Burrage and Charles Hey- 
 wood, came forward of their own free will and gener- 
 ously offered to supply an appropriate room in it, to 
 be called the Charles Heywood Memorial Reading 
 Room, with a good variety of magazines, papers and 
 current literature of the day and to make adequate 
 provision for the continued support and renewal of 
 the same: thus greatly enlarging the field of the 
 association's influence and much augmenting its 
 power for good as an educating and elevating force 
 in the community. Moreover, for the perpetual 
 maintenance and increased usefulness of the library 
 itself, Mrs. Helen R. Greenwood, since the death of 
 her last surviving brother, and her husband, Alvin 
 M. Greenwood, have laid the public under renewed 
 
852 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 obligations by creating an endowment fund of $25,000, 
 the income of which is to inure, year by year, to the 
 benefit of the iiistilulioD. In addition to the means 
 thus put at the disposal of the Library Association, 
 the town for the past two years has voted it the 
 amount of the dog-tax, about $440 per year, (which 
 will, it is hoped, be continued in time to come), and 
 numerous donations of books, pamphlets and 
 public documents from different sources have been 
 received. 
 
 The Levi H eywood Memorial Library Building 
 was completed, lurnished and made ready for occu- 
 pancy early in 1886, and on Thursday, the 4th day 
 of February of that year, was formally dedicated to 
 the important uses for which it was erected, an ad- 
 dress appropriate to the cccasion being delivered by 
 Mr. S. S. Green, the accomplished and widely-hon- 
 ored librarian at the Public Library in Worcester. 
 Since that date both the library and the reading- 
 room have been open to the public— the former on 
 Wednesday and Saturday afternoons and evenings 
 from two o'clock to six, and from seven to nine; the 
 latter every afternoon and evening during the week, 
 except Sundays, at the same hours. The number of 
 volumes in the library is now about twenty-six 
 hundred, seven hundred and nineteen having been 
 added during the present year. The whole number 
 of books loaned in 1887 was 11,404. Two hundred 
 and thirty-six new names were added to the roll of 
 subscribers during the same period. Miss Nellie S. 
 Osgood has had charge of the institution from the 
 beginning, performing the duties of her position 
 with credit to herself and to the satisfaction of all 
 concerned. The officers of the Levi Heywood 
 Memorial Library Association are: Rev. Lawrence 
 Phelps, president; Charles D. Burrage, secretary; 
 Volney W. Howe, treasurer; Herbert S. Stratton, 
 James Emerson, M.D., vice-presidents ; Eev. Lawrence 
 Phelps, Alvin M. Greenwood, Martha W. Burrage, 
 Helen R. Heywood, Helen R. Greenwood, Laura A. 
 Heywood, James Emerson, M.D., Sarah L. Conant, 
 Geo. W. Cann, Herbert S. Stratton, Mrs. Franklin 
 Eaton and Charles D. Burrage, directors. 
 
 The library building is located in what is called 
 the Central Village, directly east of the First Na- 
 tional Bank, and is a neat and pleasing soecimen of 
 the Romanesque style of architecture, with enough 
 original variations to give it a character distinctively 
 its own. It is fifty by seventy-eight feet in size, one 
 story in height, with large gables on the south and 
 east sides fronting spacious rooms on the second 
 floor. Its foundations, which rise five feet above the 
 sidewalk, are of faced granite, and are crowned with 
 a fine-cut water table. It is built of pressed brick, 
 with brown-stone and terra-cotta trimmings. In the 
 upper part of the front gable is a triangular panel of 
 terracotta, bearing the name "Levi Heywood," 
 while underneath, on a brown-stone frieze, are the 
 words ''Memorial Building." Below this are three 
 
 large double windows, arched and flanked with deco- 
 rated pilasters, giving ample light to the interior. In 
 front is a massive open porch, nine by sixteen feet, 
 floored with variegated tiles, and entered on either 
 hand by broad circling granite steps. This porch 
 has a large brown-stone arch in front with smaller 
 ones at the sides, all supported by polished granite 
 columns of a reddish hue, which rest on solid bases, 
 and all surmounted by a terra-cotta cornice and bal- 
 ustrade. 
 
 Ou ornamented spandrels above the main arch 
 are the figures 1885, indicating the date of the erec- 
 tion of the structure. The entrance opens into a 
 spacious waiting-hall, fourteen by twenty-eight feet 
 in size, and twelve feet high. On the right is the 
 directors' room, fifteen by twenty feet, and on the 
 left the reading-room, twenty by twenty-five feet in 
 size. Back of the reading-room is a large reference- 
 room, and, correspondingly, on the other side are 
 there a librarian's room, lavatory and a stairway to 
 the second floor, where there are a parlor, ten by 
 twenty feet in size, and a hall, measuring twenty-four 
 by thirty-six feet. In the rear of the waiting-room, 
 below, and occupying the entire back part of the 
 building, is the book-room, thirty-eight feet long by 
 twenty-five feet wide, in a semi-circular form, having 
 a height of eighteen feet, which will allow a gallery 
 and additional shelving when needed. Alcoves ra- 
 diating from a common centre, but not extending to 
 the walls, aflTord the necessary conveniences for 
 books. This room is sufficiently lighted both from 
 the sides and from above as the other rooms are from 
 the sides, and all are finished in excellent manner 
 and handsomely decorated. The basement is divided 
 into various apartments, having cemented floors, and 
 devoted to such uses as convenience requires. The 
 whole building is heated by indirect steam radiation 
 and lighted at night by gas, — both generated in a 
 basement room, set apart for that particular service. 
 The architects of the structure were Messrs. Fuller 
 & Delano, of Worcester, whose skill and efficiency in 
 their distinctive profession this piece of work abun- 
 dantly attests. It is unquestionably the most chaste 
 and elegant specimen of architecture in town, a beau- 
 tiful memorial, not only of one of its leading citizens 
 for half a century, but of the wise generosity of its 
 donors. 
 
 CHAPTER CXIV. 
 
 GARDNER— (G?«//««i'a'.) 
 
 RELIGION, HOUSES OF WORSHIP, PARISHES, ETC. 
 
 " It concerneth New England always to remem- 
 ber," said the pious old minister of Salem, John 
 Higginson, " that these are a plantation religious and 
 not a plantation of trade." And this she did remem- 
 
GARDNER. 
 
 853 
 
 ber through all her earlier history, to her own eadur- 
 ing honor and glory and to the welfare and happiness 
 of many generations, over whose fortunes and destiny 
 she exercised, unconsciously to herself, magic and 
 mighty influence. And so it was that the founders of 
 the town of Gardner, sons and daughters of New 
 England, true to their ancestral heritage, regarded 
 well at the outset the moral and spiritual interests of 
 the people at large and took active measures to have 
 them properly guarded and promoted. One of the 
 first things done by the new town as a corporate body 
 was to provide a place for the public worship of God 
 and a minister to serve at the altar of religion. A site 
 for a meeting-house, with a burying-ground and Com- 
 mon or train ing-field adjoining, according to the cus- 
 tom of the time, had been selected midway between 
 the extremes of population, so as to accommodate the 
 largest possible number of people, probably by mutual 
 arrangement of those most interested, and at a Jegal 
 meeting held on the 7th of November, 1785, four 
 months after the act of incorporation was granted, 
 steps were taken to secure the same to the perpetual 
 use of the town by proper title deed. That site was 
 very near the spot where the present church of the 
 First Congregational Parish stands — the burying- 
 ground in the rear and the Common in front substan- 
 tially as they are to-day. At the same meeting Jo- 
 seph Bacon, John White, Captain Kelton, Moses Hill 
 and David Foster were chosen a committee " to draw 
 a plan of a meeting-house and to see what stuft'it will 
 take; " and Simon Gates, Elisha Jackson and Captain 
 Kelton a committee to hire preaching. It was also 
 voted " To hire four days' preaching." At an ad- 
 journment of this meeting a week later, the commit- 
 tee on a meeting-house reported, whereupon it was 
 voted " to build a meeting-house, forty feet wide and 
 sixty-five feet long, with three porches," the size of 
 which was afterwards modified to forty-five feet by 
 sixty, with two porches. The material for the con- 
 struction of said house was divided into more than a 
 hundred lots, according to a schedule still preserved, 
 and let out by auction to the lowest bidder. The 
 work of providing material for and laying the under- 
 pinning was divided into ten lots and let out in thesame 
 way. The material was to be delivered before April 1, 
 1787, and the underpinning was to be completed June 
 20, 1787. The responsibility of erecting and finishing 
 the building to the extent of framing and covering it, 
 setting the glass, painting the outside, laying the 
 lower floor and making the inside doors was com- 
 mitted to Joseph Bacon, the leading carpenter in the 
 place, who was to do it for £172 10«., "he assisting 
 with his hands in raising " it. On the 27th of June, 
 1787, the frame was ready to be put up, and that part 
 of the work is supposed to have been done on that 
 day. It was a great occasion. Help from neighbor- 
 ing towns had been sought and was on the ground in 
 due season. A crowd of spectators gathered to wit- 
 ness the proceedings, which began early in the morn- 
 
 ing and continued lill sundown. With commendable 
 forethought, authority was given Joseph Bacon by 
 the town to keep the Common so far clear of specta- 
 tors as that they should not interfere with the raising 
 of the house. With equal forethought, a committee 
 was appointed to furnish food and drink for the work- 
 men and instructed, with prudent hospitality, "to give 
 the spectators one drink." An accident, whereby a 
 Mr. Day, of Winchendon, and a Mr. Gregory, of 
 Templeton, came near losing their lives by the falling 
 of a stick of timber, marred somewhat the harmonies 
 of the day and gave it a tinge of sadness. Neverthe - 
 le;s, the frame was up, strong and sure, bsfore night, 
 its pitiih-pine sills twelve inches square and posts of 
 oak of equal size and other timbers in proportion , in- 
 cluding two hundred oak braces, giving it a sol idity 
 and power of endurance which might defy storm and 
 tempest, if not time itself. 
 
 But the building, though raised and soon after en- 
 closed and covered, and so made available for public 
 uses, was not completed according to the original plans 
 for several years. Work in the way of finishing it 
 and making it comfortable was done upon it as the 
 means of meeting the expense involved would allow. 
 To raise money, the pews, seventy-one in number, 
 were sold in 1788, long before they were put in, a 
 method of dealing in "futures" not unknown to 
 the modern commercial world. At that date, in- 
 deed, the galleries were not built, nor the floors 
 wholly laid, nor the doors and windows cased, nor 
 the lathing and plastering done. There was ihe 
 shell of a building and nothing more. At length, 
 in January, 1789, the town closed a contract with 
 Lieutenant Foster to finish it, "as Westminster Meet- 
 ing-house is finished," by the 1st of November, 1790, 
 for £199,10s., all the material to be furnished as he 
 needed it. Under this arrangement, the house was 
 finally completed, though not to the satisfaction and 
 acceptance of the town, till the summer of 1791, four 
 years after the frame was erected. It was a plain, 
 unpretending structure, scarcely larger than a moder- 
 ate-sized chapel of these days, painted stone-color, 
 with green doors and white trimmings, quite unlike 
 the elaborate, complex, highly decorated, fully-equip- 
 ped piece of ecclesiastical architecture which no w 
 stands in its place. 
 
 During these years of the building of the meeting- 
 house, preaching had been maintained the greater 
 part of the time, for awhile in private houses, but 
 afterward in the unfinished building, seats and 
 pulpit being improvised in true primitive style. 
 Four days' preaching were provided for at first, then 
 three months, then a year. There is no record of 
 any action of the town in regard to the employment 
 of a minister during the year 1787. Whether this 
 was an omission of the clerk, or whether the citizens 
 felt obliged to economize in this particular on ac- 
 count of straitened circumstances, is left to conject- 
 ure. If the latter, the experiment was never tried 
 
854 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 afterward, no year having transpired since in the 
 town, and but very few Sundays, when the voice of 
 the preacher has not been heard, when public prayer 
 and praise have not been offered to God. 
 
 A place of worship having been provided, even 
 though it was as yet unfinished and in a crude con- 
 dition, some one must be found to preside at its altar 
 and lead in its service as the permanent minister of 
 the town. A church had been formally organized 
 February 1, 1786, but under what auspices or by 
 who.se agency, no one can tell. And who were the 
 first preachers in the place — "the transient supply " 
 — has not been ascertained. But after a time, Mr. 
 Frederick Parker seemed to commend himself to the 
 people as a suitable man to fill the responsible position, 
 and received from the church a formal call " to settle 
 in the work of the Gospel ministry in this place." 
 Tile town, at a meeting held May 11, 1789, concurred. 
 The terms of the proposed contract were : " for the 
 settlement £150, to be paid in neat stock at the 
 market-price, and for the salary, £60 a year for five 
 years, and £66 afterwards; one-half to be paid in 
 produce from the farm, viz. : beef, pork, grain, butter, 
 cheese at the market-price ; also twenty cords of hard 
 wood yearly, cord-wood length, delivered at his 
 dwelling-house." Mr. Parker seems not to have been 
 I'eady to accept the invitation on the terms proposed. 
 The call was renewed the next year with the same 
 result, and that ended all negotiations with Mr. 
 Parker. 
 
 The town in appropriating money for preaching the 
 following year, 1791, instructed the committee on 
 pulpit supply, in terms indicating a wise caution 
 worthy of emulation in later times, " to hire some 
 person of good character for four Sabbaths." The 
 person of good character very soon appeared, and 
 proved so satisfactory that he received an invitation 
 to settle from the church in the usual order, which 
 was ratified by the town, July 21st, the same year. The 
 acceptable candidate vvas Jonathan Osgood, a native 
 of Andover, Mass., and a graduate of Yale College in 
 the class of 1789. The terms upon which the call of 
 Mr. Osgood was offered, were, " £160 for his settlement 
 and £75 annual salary," to which was subsequently 
 added " twenty cords of hard wood, to be delivered at 
 his dwelling-house, beginning three years after his 
 settlement." On those conditions Mr. Osgood accepted 
 the invitation in a letter dated September 21, 1791, 
 which is preserved in the town records, with the pro- 
 viso that "if at any future period, as you increase in 
 wealth, I should stand in need, I trust you will be 
 ready to afford me relief," adding significantly, "I 
 shall depend that you punctually fulfill the proposals 
 you have made." Mr. Osgood was duly ordained and 
 installed as minister of the town of Gardner, October 
 19, 1791, the five neighboring churches, together with 
 the two churches in Andover, the second church in 
 Boxford, the church in Littleton and the church in 
 Bolton, ten in all, with their pastors, being invited to 
 
 representation in the council called to aid in his 
 settlement. Mr. Osgood was a "cure" ofbodiesaswell 
 as of souls, and served in both capacities with such 
 skill and efficiency as to secure the confidence, esteem 
 and cordial support of the people of the town and 
 community at large. For over thirty years he filled 
 the two positions of minister and physician, his labors 
 ending with his life, May 21, 1822. 
 
 For two years the town was without a minister, at 
 the expiration of which period Mr. Sumner Lincoln, 
 a native of Warren, and a graduate of Yale College, 
 in the class of 1822, having studied theology at New 
 Haven, and qualified himself for the profession, was 
 invited to the vacant place with the offer of "a salary 
 of five hundred dollars and a pew in the meeting- 
 house." Mr. Lincoln accepted the call and was regu- 
 larly ordained and installed as pastor of the First 
 Church in Gardner June 16, 1824. Mr. Lincoln was 
 settled as minister of the whole town, according to the 
 old custom, and served in that capacity for about three 
 years, when the secular and religious interests of the 
 inhabitants were separated, the town yielding all its 
 hitherto exercised rights in ecclesiastical affairs to 
 the newly-formed religious society called the First 
 Parish of Gardner, which became the lineal successor 
 of the town in such matters. Under this new regime 
 things went on as before Until 1830, when the contro- 
 versy between the Unitarian and Trinitarian branches 
 of the Congregational denomination, which had been 
 going on elsewhere in the State for several years, 
 reached the place and became so decided and marked 
 in its expression as to cause a division among the 
 members of the church and parfsh, which resulted in 
 a separation of the two opposing parties and the for- 
 mation of a new religious organization, representing 
 the views of those who withdrew from the previously 
 existing body. The turning-point of this matter was 
 the vote of the parish, dismissing Eev. Mr. Lincoln, 
 who had assumed the Trinitarian position in the dis- 
 cussion, thereby committing itself fairly and unmis- 
 takably to a strictly Unitarian position. In accord- 
 ance with the now declared views of the parish — the 
 dissenting members having severed their connection 
 with it — the Rev. Jonathan Farr, a minister of pro- 
 nounced Unitarian views, was settled December 9, 
 1830, by a council composed wholly of ministers and 
 delegates in full theological sympathy with himself. 
 He was dismissed, after a pastorate of two and a half 
 years, in July, 1833. His successor was Eev. Curtis 
 Cutler, a native of Lexington, and a graduate of Har- 
 vard College and Divinity School, who was settled 
 October 30, 1833. This relation was dissolved in 1839, 
 when Rev. George W. Stacey took charge of the pul- 
 pit. He remained but a year or two and was followed 
 by Rev. William H. Fish, who was the last acting 
 minister of the First Church and Parish of Gardner 
 in its distinctively Unitarian character and fellowship. 
 
 At the close of the ministry of Rev. Mr. Fish, 
 the society and all its interests fell into a state of 
 
GARDNER. 
 
 855 
 
 suspended animation, whicli continued for several 
 years, no minister being employed and none of the 
 functions of a church being exercised, when, in 1846, 
 the house of worship having been remodeled and 
 made convenient and suitable for religious services, 
 the question of a resumption of the public exercises 
 of religion within its walls arose, awakening consid- 
 erable interest and feeling in the community. This 
 question involved another of deeper import, to wit: 
 Under what auspices, theologically considered, shall 
 the re-constructed edifice be opened ? In other words, 
 Shall the old lines of religious opinion and affiliation 
 be taken up and followed out, or shall a new de- 
 parture be made, ignoring the history of the sjciety 
 for the past sixteen years and starting out indepen- 
 dently of all previous professions, declarations and 
 alliances? It was finally decided by those who had 
 been chiefly instrumenlal in re-constructing the 
 meeting-house, and who had the larger pecuniary 
 interest in it, that thenceforth the parish should act 
 in sympathy with the more popular branch of the 
 Congregational body, and maintain ecclesiastical re- 
 lations with the so-called Orthodox Churches of the 
 general community, retaining its old name and all 
 the prestige, historical and ecclesiastical, properly 
 belonging to it. 
 
 In accordance with that decision, overtures were 
 made to the Evangelical Congregational Society, un- 
 der which name those withdrawing from the First 
 Parish in 1830 had organized and were legally 
 known, for a union of the two bodies, which were 
 favorably received, but which finally failed, by rea- 
 son of the inability of the two parties to agree upon 
 the conditions of the proposed intermarriage. Where- 
 upon a call was extended to Rev. Mr. Banister to 
 become the pastor, which was so far accepted as that 
 he acted in that capacity for about a year, when Rev. 
 John C. Paine, a native of Ashfield, succeeded him, 
 being formally installed in office January 12, 1848. 
 Mr, Paine proved to be a man of ripe cultui-e, of 
 pleasing manners and a popular preacher. After 
 sixteen years of service he left, in May, 1864, and in 
 the following October Rev. Wm. D. Herrick, a gradu- 
 ate of Amherst College in 1857, who had studied 
 theology at Andover, and been settled four years at 
 Redding, Cnnn., was installed in his place. Rev. 
 Julius H. Seelye; D.D., president of Amherst Col- 
 lege, preaching the sermon. He remained four 
 years, when the union of the two societies, attempted 
 twenty years before, was consummated, and he was 
 dismissed, agreeably to the terms of the consolida- 
 tion of the two distinct organizations and the 
 churches connected with them referred to. The Ar- 
 ticles of Faith and Covenant of the Evangelical Church 
 were to be retained, while the names of the religious 
 and secular departments, under the new arrangement, 
 were to be the First Congregational Church and the 
 First Parish in Gardner, respectively. 
 
 Thus it came to pass that, after t\fenty years, dur- 
 
 ing which time there had existed two churches in 
 town nominally of one form of theological doctrine 
 and both struggling for existence, their houses of wor- 
 ship only a few rods apart, yet with more or less of 
 alienation, if not bitterness of feeling, between the 
 members of them, not altogether becoming those who 
 the same faith profess and " the same Lord obey," these 
 separate religious bodies came together, their two lives 
 blending in one common life thenceforth as time went 
 on. If, at the time of the union there was not, as the 
 historian of Gardner intimates, that spirit of cordiality 
 and co-operation between all the parties concerned 
 that could be desired, yet since then, we are assured, 
 "the old lines of separation have become less dis- 
 tinct," a growing harmony is displacing former un- 
 friendliness or distrust, and there seems to be a dis- 
 position prevailing more and more to "keep the 
 unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace." 
 
 Under the new dispensation a call was extended to 
 Rev. William Belden to become the pastor of the 
 united Church and Society, which was accepted by 
 him, and he was installed January 22, 1868. His 
 pastorate was brief, being terminated by his dis- 
 mission, March 22, 1869. August 25th, the same 
 year. Rev. John E. Wheeler, a native of Amherst, 
 N. H., and a graduate of Amherst College, was clothed 
 with the honors and assigned the duties of the same 
 office. He remained but about three years, closing 
 his labors early in July, 1872. The parish was with- 
 out a minister for nearly two years, several attempts 
 to obtain one proving ineffectual. At length, on the 
 15th of May, 1874, the parish united with the church 
 in extending a call to Rev. AVm. D. Herrick, pastor 
 of the First Parish and Church at the time of the 
 consolidation seven years before, who, although he 
 had declined a similar one made a few months pre- 
 viously, finally accepted. Mr. Herrick was installed 
 the second time in Gardner, June 11, 1874, and en- 
 tered at once upon an active and useful career in the 
 church and community. After two or three years' 
 service, however, his health began to give way, and 
 he was obliged to curtail his labors and, after a time, 
 to suspend them for a season altogether, in the hope 
 that he might find complete restoration of his depleted 
 energies and be able to resume his ministerial work 
 with his old-time vigor and promise of success. But 
 he only partially recovered, and on taking up his pro- 
 fessional duties again found himself unequal to the 
 task of performing them to his own satisfaction, and 
 seeing no prospect of entire recovery, deemed it due 
 to his people as well as to himself to profler his resig- 
 nation. It was reluctantly accepted, and he closed 
 his labors not long afterward. During his ministry 
 he prepared, under directions from the town, an 
 elaborate and detailed history of Gardner from the 
 date of its incorporation, including a genealogical 
 record of many of the principal families, which was 
 published in a large volume of five hundred and 
 thirty-five pages, in 1878. 
 
856 
 
 HISTORY OP WOKCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS, 
 
 During the same period the parish greatly improved 
 its property and facilities for prosecuting the various 
 departments of ministerial, church and parish work. 
 In 1875 it erected a commodious and attractive par- 
 sonage, with stable and other conveniences attached, 
 at an expense of about six thousand dollars. Early 
 in the year 1878 the project of a new house of wor- 
 ship was started, which resulted in the completion, 
 the year following, of the present spacious, well-ar- 
 ranged and well-equipped, imposing edifice, located 
 at the head of the Common, very near, if not on the 
 exact site, where the original town meeting-house 
 was built. Until this was ready for occupancy, the 
 church and society, subsequent to the union of the 
 two parishes in 1867, had worshipped in the sanctuary 
 of the Evangelical Congregational Parish, which 
 stood on the east side of Green Street, fronting the 
 Common. The present edifice is one of the finest 
 pieces of church architecture in the northern part of 
 Worcester County. It is of Gothic style, with steep, 
 slated roof, and covers an area of sixty-four feet 
 front, which is the width of the structure, and a 
 length of one hundred and eighteen feet, having, at 
 the southeast corner, a tower one hundred and twenty- 
 five feet high, in which is a clock with four dials. 
 The material is principally brick, with underpinning 
 and steps of light-colored granite and brown sand- 
 stone trimmings. The building is lighted by stained- 
 glass set in lead sashes, a large rose window adorning 
 the front part. It has convenient entrances in front 
 and at the sides, the latter leading to the main au- 
 dience-room and to the chapel in the rear. There 
 are six hundred sittings in the auditorium, all facing 
 the preacher's platform and desk, at the right of 
 which is the choir and organ-loft, and at the left a 
 pastor's room. Nearer the walls there are ample 
 passage-ways to the other parts of the building, 
 where there are on the lower floor a spacious lecture- 
 room, an infant classroom, library room and parlor, 
 with a stairway to the second floor, where may be 
 found a dining-room, kitchen, lavatory and all the 
 modern improvements and conveniences. The whole 
 is warmed by hot water and steam and lighted by 
 electricity. The cost of the building, including or- 
 gan and furnishings, was thirty thousand dollars, 
 which amount was raised by the persevering efforts of 
 Mrs. Henry Heywood and Mrs. Alvin M.Greenwood- 
 The present pastor is Rev. Lawrence Phelps, who has 
 served the church and society about five years. 
 Everything betokens prosperity and usefulness. 
 
 The Evangelical Congregational Church 
 AND Society. — As the history of the religious enter- 
 prise represented by this name is so closely inter- 
 linked with that of the First Parish and Church, it is 
 noticed next to it in this review, although, chrono- 
 logically considered, it would be assigned a later 
 place in the list of the religious organizations of 
 Gardner. The members of the First Parish who, as 
 has been said, withdrew on account of marked theo- 
 
 logical differences in the year 1830, were legally or- 
 ganized on the 25th of June, the same year, under the 
 title given at the head of this paragraph. A consti- 
 tution was drawn up, approved and signed by forty- 
 one male members, who were thus qualified for the 
 transaction of business. Steps were at once taken to- 
 ward the erection of a meeting-house, which was ac- 
 cordingly built and dedicated June 16, 1831. The 
 church connected with this parish was instituted 
 agreeably to Congregational usages August 11, 1830. 
 Rev. Mr. Lincoln, who had been minister of the old 
 church and society, withdrew with the seceding mem- 
 bers and by previous arrangement was at once chosen 
 minister of the new body. The same council which 
 was called to formally dismiss him in ecclesiastical 
 order from his former pastorate installed him in the 
 later one the same day, August 11, 1830. In addition 
 to the regular salary of four hundred dollars in money 
 voted Mr. Lincoln for his services, he was granted 
 " his choice of all the pews in the house for his use." 
 He remained pastor of this church and society until 
 February 23, 1842, when the relation was dissolved. 
 Mr. Lincoln is still living in the enjoyment of a fair 
 degree of bodily and mental vigor, his heart warm as 
 ever towards all generous and noble things, at the 
 advanced age of eighty-nine years. Although at the 
 time of the division in the First Parish of Gardner 
 he sympathized with and became the minister of the 
 Trinitarian party, he yet subsequently entered the 
 fellowship of the Unitarian denomination and has 
 been for a long time one of its most devoted and 
 honored clergymen. 
 
 The several pastors of the Evangelical Congrega- 
 tional Church and Society succeeding Mr. Lincoln 
 were. Rev. AVm. B. Stone, settled February 23, 1842, 
 and dismissed in August, 1850 ; Rev. D. C. Frost, 
 who served as acting-pastor about two years ; Bev. 
 Abijah Stowell the same for five years ; Rev. J. W. 
 Healey, who was installed December 3, 1857, and was 
 dismissed July 11, 1859; Rev. Samuel J. Austin, in- 
 stalled December 8, 1859, and dismissed in May, 1864. 
 Subsequenfto this date there was no regular minister 
 for about two years. Several persons had been 
 favored with an invitation to the vacant place, but de- 
 clined. At length Mr. George F. Stanton, of Lowell, 
 a recent graduate of Bangor Theological Seminary, 
 accepted a call extended to him, and was ordained to 
 the work of the ministry and installed pastor of the 
 church under notice, June 6, 1866, the sermon being 
 preached by Rev. E. D. Foster, D.D., of Lowell. In 
 the following May he retired in order to facilitate the 
 union of this church and society with those repre- 
 sented by the First Parish, which was at that date 
 accomplished. Thus, after an existence of thirty- 
 seven years, this body was reunited to the lineal de- 
 scendant of that from which it seceded, the changed 
 theological attitude of the latter making this step 
 possible without offence to the distinctive religious 
 convictions of the members of either party. 
 
GARDNER. 
 
 857 
 
 It is a fact worthy of record and remembrance, that 
 this Evangelical Church and Society, besides repre- 
 senting its own characteristic form of Christian faith, 
 and doing the work incumbent upon it in its religious 
 capacity, was, from the beginning, earnestly devoted 
 to the reform movements of the age, maintaining a 
 consistent and unequivocal position in their behalf, 
 and displaying unusual fidelity, zeal and courage in 
 the support and furtherance of the cause of temper- 
 ance and of the abolition of American slavery. 
 
 The first meeting-house of this parish, built in 1831, 
 was remodeled in 184(5, and finally supplanted by a 
 new one, more favorably located and better suited to 
 existing needs, which was dedicated May 8, 1856. 
 This house was used by the parly erecting it until the 
 union spoken of was eflected, and by the consolidated 
 churches until the occupancy of their present place 
 of worship. 
 
 The First Baptist Society and Church. — In 
 the year 1827 a few individuals living in the village 
 of South Gardner and vicinity, desirousof having bet- 
 ter religious privileges than they had previously en- 
 joyed, inaugurated measures for the formation of a new 
 society in that part of the town. In a brief time the 
 object aimed at was accomplished, the organization 
 taking the name of The Baptist Society of Gardner, 
 as an indication of the religious convictions and pref- 
 erences of its members, who were encouraged in their 
 eflbrts by the sympathy and co-operation of the Bap- 
 tist Church and Society in Templeton. The original 
 membership consisted of ten persons, among whom 
 Messrs. Sullivan Jackson and George Scott occupied 
 the most prominent position. The immediate object 
 of the association was to raise money for the purpose 
 of sustaining a meeting and supporting the preaching 
 of the Gospel in South Gardner village. To more 
 effectually promote this object, an auxiliary associa- 
 tion, called the Parochial Society, which is still con- 
 nected with the church, was legally instituted Janu- 
 ary 30, 1828, for the management of the business in- 
 terests of the enterprise. Moneys were raised, and 
 regular religious services were opened at once in the 
 house of Mr. Jackson, and continued for several years. 
 Other activities of church life were established, among 
 them a Sabbath-school, which consisted, to begin 
 with, of fourteen members. The movement, once 
 fairly started, attracted public attention and increased 
 in numbers and importance. The need of a house of 
 public worship was soon recognized, and steps were 
 taken to provide one. Money was raised and a build- 
 ing was erected in 1833, at a cost of three thousand 
 dollars, which amply met the wants of the society for 
 many years, and was used as first constructed, with 
 slight improvements, till 1872, when it was much en- 
 larged and greatly improved in many ways, at an 
 expense of over seven thousand dollars. The 
 audience-room \*a3 entirely remodeled and newly 
 furnished, and a commodious vestry with ante-rooms 
 in the basement, was fitted up. A new and graceful 
 
 spire supplanted the former inartistic cupola or bel- 
 fry, in which was placed an excellent clock for the 
 convenience of the neighborhood. Ten years later, in 
 1882, a good pipe-organ was introduced and other im- 
 provements made, at an aggregate cost of three thou- 
 sand dollars. At present the edifice is exteriorly neat 
 and attractive, and also well-furnished and equipped 
 within, rendering it admirably adapted to the uses of 
 a living Christian body of believers. 
 
 The church connected with this society was estab- 
 lished in the year 1830, when twenty-three members 
 of the Baptist Church in Templeton, who resided in 
 Gardner, withdrew from that organization by mutual 
 consent and in the spirit of brotherly love, for the 
 purpose of having church privileges nearer at hand, 
 and of exerting a greater influence for good upon the 
 public mind and heart. An ecclesiastical council 
 convened at the house of Sullivan Jackson on the 
 loth of November of that year, under whose author- 
 ity the First Baptist Church in Gardner was organ- 
 ized, Mr. Jackson being chosen the first deacon. Its 
 present deacons are Marcius A. Gates and Elmer L. 
 Lovewell. The total number received into the church 
 from the beginning is five hundred and forty, the 
 present merabershi|) being one hundred and ninety- 
 five. 
 
 Fifteen pastors have served this church and society 
 during the fifty-eight years since they were organized, 
 the Kev. Robert F. Tolman being the present incum- 
 bent of that office. In addition to the Sabbath-school, 
 whose fourteen original members have increased 
 to three hundred and ninety-six, there are, as auxil- 
 iary agencies for interesting and benefiting those who 
 may be reached and helped to the better life, and espe- 
 cially the children and youth, " The Band of Hope," 
 " The Cheerful Workers," " The Young Ladies' Mis- 
 sion Circle " and " The Society of Christian Endeavor." 
 It is proper to add that legacies left by Abijah M. 
 Severy, Mrs. Susannah Stone and Mrs. Rebecca Green- 
 wood, the benefits of which are now being shared by 
 this church, are fully appreciated as assisting very 
 substantially in maintaining " the preaching of a 
 Gospel of Salvation, of Anti-Slavery, of Temptrance 
 and of Peace." 
 
 Church of the Sacred Heart. — Who the pioneer 
 Catholics were, or when they settled in Gardner, is 
 involved in mystery. The most reliable information 
 dates their coming in the year 1845. For many years 
 they were few in number, and it was not till 1856 that 
 the first Catholic service held in town took place 
 in a grove west of Baker's Lane, Rev. Edward Turpin, 
 of Fitchburg, officiating. Subsequently Mass was 
 celebrated from time to time in private houses by 
 |)riests from neighboring parishes. At length Bishop 
 Fitzgerald, seeing the need of a clergyman to minis- 
 ter to the steadily increasing Catholic population of 
 the northern part of Worcester County, sent feather 
 Bannon to make his residence at Otter River, giving 
 him jurisdiction over all the outlying districts north 
 
858 
 
 HISTOKY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 of Worcester and west of Fitchburg. Thither the Cath- 
 olic people of Gardner went to attend divine worship 
 until they became sufficiently numerous to warrant a 
 separate service for themselves, when the town hall 
 was secured for that purpose and used at stated inter- 
 vals. Meantime the Catholic population grew apace, 
 with which came a demand for more clergymen. 
 Therefore, in 1872, Winchendon, Gardner and Ash- 
 burnham were set off as a new parish, and Rev. D. C. 
 Moran was appointed to administer its affairs, with 
 headquarters at Winchendon. Father Moran was a 
 man of great executive ability, and threw himself at 
 once into the woik of building up the spiritual inter- 
 ests of his people, and of putting the affairs of the 
 parish into good working order. One of his first cares 
 was to provide a suitable place of worship for his 
 people in Gardner, who were adding to their numbers 
 daily. He caused funds to be raised, selected and pur- 
 chased a lot an Cross Street, and secured plans from 
 Architect James Murphy, of Providence, R. I. In 
 1874 ground was broken, and before the end of the 
 following year a handsome wooden structure of 
 Gothic style, capable of seating six hundred people, 
 was reared and dedicated to the service of God under 
 the title of the " Sacred Heart of Jesus." Its total 
 cost was about $26,000, and it was, at the time, the 
 finest church edifice in town, a monument of which 
 both pa.stor and people might be proud. 
 
 Gardner continued as a mission of Winchendon till 
 1880, when it was deemed able to maintain a resident 
 pastor, and Rev. M. J. Murphy was placed in charge. 
 Father Murphy soon became a great favorite. He 
 took an active part in everything calculated to pro- 
 mote the best interests of the town, being a member 
 of the School Board several years. He directed his 
 efforts at the outset to a thorough organization of the 
 parish, in order that his labors for the spiritual wel- 
 fare of the people might be more efl'ective, and the 
 beautiful ritual of the Catholic Church be carried 
 out in all its splendor. Sodalities, literary and tem- 
 perance societies were established, so that the old 
 and young of both sexes might benefit by their good 
 influence. 
 
 The erection of a parochial residence next claimed 
 his attention. Funds were collected, and the present 
 substantial and commodious house was completed. 
 The grounds about the church were graded at the 
 same time, and concrete walks were put in. Much 
 praise is due Father Murphy for the good taste dis- 
 played in the laying out and care of the grounds, 
 which made the site one of the most attractive spots 
 in town. Not long after, the French Canadians, who 
 had formed a large portion of the growing congrega- 
 tion, wishing to have a clergyman of their own na- 
 tionality, who could speak their own language and 
 enter more fully into their feelings and sympathies, 
 expressed themselves to that effect. Their desire 
 was favorably considered, and in 1884 they with- 
 drew, organized a church by themselves, and had a 
 
 pastor installed over them. The Sacred Heart 
 Church went on enjoying an era of prosperity, when, 
 lo! on the evening of May 28, 1887, flames were 
 seen to issue from the church edifice, and in one 
 short hour it was in ruins. Soon after this, Father 
 Murphy was transferred to another field of labor, 
 and Rev. J. F. McDermott was intrusted with the 
 work of rebuilding the church. On assuming his 
 duties, the scene of desolation which met his view 
 might have disheartened a less intrepid spirit ; but 
 nothing daunted, he threw all his energy into the 
 task before him. Infusing into his people soniething 
 of his own hope and confidence, they met his appeals 
 for funds with a liberal response, while willing 
 hands volunteered to clear away the dSris and make 
 ready for a new structure. Architect P. W. Ford, of 
 Boston, furnished plans therefor on the old lines, 
 with a slight addition to the rear, which will not only 
 improve the outward appearance of the building, but 
 give a hundred more sittings in the main audito- 
 rium. Work was soon begun, and pushed forward 
 with such vigor that the congregation were enabled, 
 in the following January, to occupy a handsomely, 
 finished basement, which has since served an a place 
 of worship. The superstructure will be completed in 
 the near future, and will surpass its predecessor both 
 in beauty and design. Thus it will be seen that the 
 Catholic Church has made wonderful progress in 
 Gardner since the sowing of the little mustard-seed 
 in 1845, which has grown to include in 1888 nearly 
 half the population, numbering now about thirty- 
 eight hundred souls, and destined, under favorable 
 conditions, to keep abreast of the general advance of 
 the town in years to come. 
 
 The Universallst Church. — In the year 1864, 
 Rev. Jacob Baker, State missionary of the Univer- 
 salist denomination, began holding religious services 
 in Gardner, at which he preached with earnestness 
 and emphasis the distinctive doctrines of the body rep- 
 resented by him. Those doctrines met with a hearty 
 response in certain directions, and an effort was very 
 soon made to bring together those who were in sym- 
 pathy with them, and to provide for the regular and 
 permanent advocacy of them in the community. On 
 the 4th of June a society was organized pursuant to 
 that effort, and a constitution was adopted for the 
 orderly government of its affairs. One of its first acts 
 was the api)ointment of a parish committee, who were 
 subsequently instructed to secure, if possible, the ser- 
 vices of Mr. Baker for half the time during the ensuing 
 year. This purpose was carried out, and Mr. Baker's 
 labors continued till the spring of 1867. Considerable 
 interest having been awakened in the movement 
 among the people of the town, and the society having 
 increased its membershipproportionally.itwas deemed 
 advisable, for the good of those concerned and to help 
 on the cause, that a permanent minister be employed, 
 and the Rev. Harrison Closson was called to that of- 
 fice with the understanding that he was to serve the 
 
GARDNER. 
 
 859 
 
 Gardner Society on alternate Sundays, the others be- 
 ing at his disposal to devote to the more general work 
 of his profession, as opportunity oflTered. This plan 
 was carried out for a year, when the financial con- 
 dition of the society had so much improved as to war- 
 rant the engagement of Mr. Closson for the whole 
 time. Soon after this was done, the minister, who was 
 possessed of much religious fervor and zeal, was in- 
 strumental in establishing a church in connection 
 with the society in accordance with New England 
 usage, which was organized April 23, 1868, and pub- 
 licly recognized with appropriate solemnities on the 
 first Sunday in June following. This body was called 
 " The Church of the Unity and Restoration," adopt- 
 ing a "Covenant'' which embodied in a general way 
 the principles of the Universalist branch of the Chris- 
 tian church. 
 
 A year later, Mr. Closson, who had been thus far 
 employed annually as the incumbent of the minis- 
 terial office, was installed as pastor of the church and 
 congregation according to Universalist custom, the 
 Rev. A. A. Miner, D. D., of Boston, preaching the 
 sermon. Under the ministry of Mr. Closson the 
 movement was greatly prospered for a time, though 
 later there was some decline of interest occasioned 
 by differences which grew out of the matter of a place 
 of worship. Services had been held for several years 
 in what was called "the bell meeting-house," which 
 was the former house of the First Parish. But the 
 time had come for a change, as was recognized 
 by all. The old house must be repaired where it was, 
 or moved to a new site and refitted, or a new house 
 must be built. Failing of an agreement upon any 
 one of these propositions, disaflection arose and the 
 organization became much weakened. Mr. Closson 
 left in 1871 and for three years there was no regular 
 religious service. But at length new interest arose, 
 and measures were taken to build a church edifice. 
 Funds were raised to that end. Mr. Wm. S. Lynde, 
 an influeutial member of the parish, gave an eligible 
 site at the corner of Cross and Maple Streets and one 
 thousand dollars in money, which revived the hearts 
 of all engaged in the enterprise. The house was 
 erected and dedicated on the 26th of May, 1874. 
 Soon after. Rev. Royal T. Sawyer became pastor and 
 remained three years. He was an earnest, able 
 preacher and a faithful worker in and out of the pul- 
 pit, and the church and society grew and prospered. 
 Rev. Ephraim A. Reed was his successor, who ren- 
 dered good service to his people for about two 
 years, when he left and was followed by Rev. Mr. 
 Barber, who gave way to Rev. James Taylor, a 
 devoted minister and an excellent man, honoring 
 his calling and sharing the esteem and confidence of 
 the public. He took charge of the pastorate in 1884 
 and remained about three years. Rev. H. W. Smith 
 is the present pastor, who is laboring with energy and 
 ability for the people of his charge and the building 
 up of the " larger hope " in the hearts and lives of 
 
 men. The pari-h has a pleasant place of worship, 
 commodious and convenient, an efficient Sunday- 
 school and various healthful activities tor the prose- 
 cution of its own distinctive work and for the promo- 
 tion of " peace and good-will among men." 
 
 The Methodist Episcopal Church. — According 
 to the records of the town clerk of Gardner, there 
 were disciples of John Wesley and adherents of the 
 so-called Methodist form of religious doctrine within 
 its borders at an early period of its history. In the 
 year 1797 Philip Wager, elder of a Methodist Society 
 in Ashburnham, certified to the fact that Samuel 
 Stone, of Gardner, "attended public worship" with 
 that society and "contributed to the support of its 
 ministry," which, under the provisions of a recently 
 enacted law of the State, absolved him from the duty 
 of paying a " ministerial tax " in his own town. In 
 the following year a similar certificate was filed in 
 reference to Mr. Simon Stone, also a resident of Gard- 
 ner. It would seem, furthermore, from the same 
 records, that in the year 1800 there actually existed 
 in town a society of the same persuasion, of which 
 one Henry Eames was public teacher, and Ebenezer 
 Richardson and Samuel Sione were a standing com- 
 mittee. Further than this, touching this organiza- 
 tion, nothing has come to light, and it is probable 
 that it had but an ephemeral being, of which no ac- 
 count has been preserved. 
 
 During the first quarter of the present century a 
 growing interest in the doctrines of Methodism pre- 
 vailed in the north part of Worcester County, and 
 what was called a "circuit" of preaching stations 
 was established, extending through about a dozen 
 towns, of which Gardner was one. It was known as 
 the Ashburnham Circuit, that town having an estab- 
 lished church, as others had not, and being the cen- 
 tre of operations. 
 
 In the year 1826 Rev. John E. Risley was the 
 preacher of this circuit and Rev. John Lindsay pre- 
 siding elder of the district under the auspices of 
 which its activities were carried on. It is under- 
 stood that about that date, religious services were 
 held from time to time in the town, though so far as 
 is known no attempt was made to found a church. 
 Occasionally a preaching service would be held in a 
 school-house or private re-idence by some itinerant, 
 temporarily in the place, zealous in broadcasting the 
 seed-grain of the Methodist faith. Finally, the town 
 having grown considerably, and evincing signs of 
 increasing prosperity. Rev. Wm. P. Blackraer, 
 preacher in charge at East Templeton, seeing, as he 
 thought, an opportunity for instituting a church rep- 
 resenting his own conception of Christian truth, early 
 in 1869 conducted a few meetings in the lower town 
 hall. A good interest was awakened and a stated 
 preacher was asked for, of the proper authorities, to 
 enter aud occupy the newly-opened field. In re- 
 sponse to the request, the New England Conference, 
 which met at Lowell, March 24, 1869, appointed Mr. 
 
860 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS 
 
 Blackmer to take charge of the work already promis- 
 ingly begun. He at once commenced his labors and 
 prosecuted them with such success as that in July of 
 the same year the Rev. Loranus Crowell, presiding 
 elder of the Worcester District, formally organized a 
 church with a membership of eighteen and aSunday- 
 school of fifty persons, thus forming the nucleus of 
 what has grown to be a large, active, useful branch of 
 the religious brotherhood of Gardner. 
 
 In April, 1870, Rev. W. M, Hubbard was appointed 
 to succeed Mr. Blackmer. During his administra- 
 tion of affairs a chapel was erected upon a site on 
 West Street, donated for the purpose by Mr. Lewis 
 H. Graham, which was dedicated September 14, 1870. 
 Rev. Daniel Atkins followed Mr. Hubbard, who, at 
 the end of a two years' pastorate, in 1875, reported 
 ninety-nine members of the church and thirteen pro- 
 bationers. Rev. Seth C. Carey became pastor in 
 1875. The growth of the movement had been so 
 great that larger accommodations for public worship 
 and other departments of the general work were 
 needed, and measures were started to meet the exist- 
 ing demand in that regard. A lot on Chestnut Street 
 was procured, ground was broken September 20, 1876, 
 a new edifice with a seating capacity for six hundred 
 persons was built and dedicated August 9, 1877, 
 Bishop R. S. Foster, of Boston, preaching the sermon. 
 The cost of the building, with its various appoint- 
 ments for the use of a living, active body of Christian 
 believers, was less than thirteen thousand dollars. 
 At the close of Mr. Carey's ministry the church had 
 one hundred and twenty-three members and thirty- 
 four probationers. Revs. W. D. Bridge, W. P. Ray, 
 J. H. Tworabley and M. H. A. Evans have succes- 
 sively had charge of the field since Mr. Carey's re- 
 tirement. Rev. E. P. King is the present pastor. 
 Under wise and energetic administration all the in- 
 terests of the church are well cared for and effectively 
 promoted. 
 
 St. Paul's Episcopal Chuech. — The Episcopal 
 services in Gardner are yet held under the auspicej 
 of the Missionary Society of the Diocese of Ma8.sa- 
 chusetts. There is, therefore, no organized parish. 
 The first service ever held here was conducted by the 
 Rev. J. S. Beers, the Diocesan Missionary of this 
 State, on December 10, 1882, in the Lower Town Hall. 
 After said service, the Holy Communion was cele- 
 brated at the house of David Parker, M.D. The 
 following persons beside the Missionary partook : Dr. 
 Parker, Mrs. L. D. Rose, Miss Kate Skein and Miss 
 Sarah Muzzy (now Mrs. H. P. Upham). 
 
 The work was put into the form of an organized 
 mission February 9, 1883, at a meeting in the Town 
 Hall, presided over by Rev. W. R. Huntington, D.D., 
 then of All Saints' Parish, Worcester, but now rector 
 of Grace Church, New York City. The mission was 
 named St. Paul's by the suggestion of Mr. Wm. 
 Briggs, a gentleman interested in the movement, who 
 so named it after St. Paul's, New Castle-on-the-Tyne, 
 
 England, v/here his father is buried. At its organiza- 
 tion an Executive Committee were chosen, as follows : 
 David Parker, M.D., Mr. Briggs, Jlrs. Geo. A. Ellis, 
 George W. Black, J. W. Jefts, James H. Rose and 
 Miss Kate Skein. Dr. Parker was elected senior 
 warden ; Wra. Briggs, treasurer, and Mrs. G. A. Ellis, 
 secretary. From February 9, 1883, services were led 
 by different clergymen and lay-readers until July 
 16th, when the Rev. John C. Hewlett took charge by 
 appointment of the Massachusetts Diocesan Mission- 
 ary Board. After a time Mr. J. W. Jefts and Miss 
 Skein resigned by reason of removal from town, and 
 Messrs. M. Shumway and Frederick Conant were 
 chosen to fill the vacancies. May 25, 1883, Miss Sarah 
 Muzzy was added to the Executive Committee. 
 
 In the month of July, 1883, a Sunday-school was 
 organized with the Rev. J. C. Hewlett, superinten- 
 dent; Mr. Wm. Briggs, treasurer, and Mr. W. B. 
 Ellis, librarian. Soon Mr. Ellis resigned, and Mr. 
 Frank Allen succeeded him. The first person bap- 
 tized was Mrs. Mary A. Van Benthuysen, by the Rev. 
 J. S. Beers, in the Town Hall, April 15, 1883. The 
 first confirmation service was held April 16, 1883, by 
 the Rt. Rev. B. H. Paddock, D.D. Dr. David Parker 
 and Mrs. Mary A. Van Benthuysen were then con- 
 firmed. 
 
 The Rev. J. C. Hewlett was in charge for about one 
 year. He was followed July 22, 188-t, by the Rev. 
 Thomas A. Hyde. During the pastorateof the latter the 
 chapel on North Main Street, now occupied, was built. 
 He continued in charge about one and three-fourths 
 years. May 1, 1886, Rev. J. S. Lemon was appointed 
 to follow the Rev. Mr. Hyde. The first marriage in 
 town, by an Episcopal clergyman, was that of Mr. E. 
 J. Rose and Miss Libbie E. Jacob, November 21, 1883, 
 by Rev. J. C. Hewlett. 
 
 Tlie first serious loss met by the parish was the 
 death of the senior warden, David Parker, M.D., May 
 8, 1886. The origin of the mission was largely due to 
 his efforts, and was the realization of hopes indulged 
 for over sixty years. He lived, however, only a short 
 time to enjoy the services of his choice. . The next se- 
 rious loss of the parish was the death of the general 
 Diocesan Missionary, the Rev. J. S. Beers. At present, 
 the Executive Committee consists of Messrs. William 
 Briggs, G. W. Black, Frederick Conant, Alfred Wy- 
 man, Herbert Morse, George Glazier and Mrs. George 
 A. Ellis. The Sunday-School superintendent is the 
 pastor; the assistant superintendent and treasurer, 
 Mr. Briggs; the secretary, Alexander Hamilton ; the 
 librarian, William Kennedy. The organist and 
 choir-leader is Mrs. A. A. Williams. The treasurer 
 of the mission is Mr. G. W. Black. The parish has a 
 pleasant place of worship worth more than six thou- 
 sand dollars. There are about fifty communicants, 
 Rev. J. S. Lemon still filling the office of pastor. With 
 the exception of the French congregation, St. Paul's 
 is the only church in West Gardner. 
 
 The Unitarian Church.— For more than forty 
 
GAKDNER. 
 
 861 
 
 years after the close of the labors of Rev. AVilliam H. 
 Fish as minister of the First Parish there was no dis- 
 tinctive Unitarian preaching in the town. At length, 
 on the 27th of January, 188-1, the Rev. A. C. Nicker- 
 son, pastor of the First Church and Society in Tem- 
 pleton, to test the question of the existence in the 
 community of sympathy with that form of Christian 
 faith, held a service in the Lower Town Hall, the 
 birth-place of several religious enterprises, with an 
 attendance of thirty-five persons. A good degree of 
 interest was manifested on the occasion and more was 
 developed afterward, so that two months later, March 
 27th, a legal organization of a society was effected, the 
 necessary papers having been drawn up and receiving 
 many signatures. At a later date the tirst permanent 
 officers were elected, as follows: Webster Cowec 
 moderator; Edgar V. Reynolds, cleik ; Edwin A. 
 Colby, M.D., treasurer; Orange F. Smith, collector; 
 Orange F. Smith, Jonas R. Davis and Julian P. 
 Dunn, parish committee. Before the expiration of 
 the year, steps were taken in reference to a site for a 
 church edifice which resulted in the purchase of a lot 
 in the Central Village, at the corner of Elm and 
 Cherry Streets, on which a house of worship was sub- 
 sequently built. 
 
 From the time of the first meeting in January, 1884, 
 until April, 188G,the movement was in charge of Rev. 
 Mr. Nickerson, who supplied preaching regularly; 
 the service being held in the afternoon for his accom- 
 modation. Upon his removal from Templeton, at the 
 date named, it was deemed wise to have a resident 
 pastor, who should devote his entire time to building 
 up the enterprise and establishing it upon a perma- 
 nent basis. After hearing several candidates the so- 
 ciety, on the 19th of July, by a unanimous vote, in- 
 structed the Executive Committee " to extend a call 
 to the Rev. Wm. C. Litchfield, of Berlin, to become 
 our Pastor." The committee acted according to in- 
 structions, and the call was accepted. The regular 
 labors of Mr. Litchfield began on the first Sunday in 
 August, and on the 28th of October he was duly in- 
 stalled as the first pastor of the Unitarian Society of 
 Gardner, Rev. Austin S. Garver, of Worcester, 
 preaching the sermon. 
 
 The need of the society for a house of worship be- 
 coming more and more imperative, the effort to se- 
 cure one was renewed and charged with fresh vigor 
 and zeal. The necessary funds were soon pledged 
 and the project was urged forward with commendable 
 rapidity. On the 7th of May, 1887, ground was 
 broken on the lot already bought, and on the even- 
 ing of January 25, 1888, the building, which, with 
 the exception of the basement, was finished and fur- 
 nished suitably for church purposes, was dedicated 
 with appropriate exercises, the sermon being deliv- 
 ered by Rev. Minot J. Savage, of Boston. It is a 
 substantial structure, eighty feet by forty in measure- 
 ment, built of brick with granite trimmings and hav- 
 ing a circular tower of ample height at one of the 
 
 front corners, through which entrance is gained to 
 the main auditorium and parlor adjoining. These, 
 when opened as they may be to form one audience- 
 room, will accommodate three hundred persons, con- 
 stituting, with the furnishings and adornings, a neat, 
 convenient and attractive place of religious service. 
 The basement when completed will have pleasant, 
 well-arranged and appropriate rooms for Sunday- 
 school and other purposes. The society is slowly 
 gaining in numbers, in public confidence, in efficiency 
 of administration, in power of usefulness and in 
 promise of future growth and prosperity. The con- 
 gregation has more than doubled during the last two 
 years; the Sunday-school, with a proportionate in- 
 crease, is well organized and doing good service, and 
 other activities are in successful operation. On the 
 1st of April, 1888, one hundred families were 
 connected with the various departments of the insti- 
 tution. 
 
 The French Catholic Church.— Some twenty- 
 five or thirty years ago the first installment of 
 French Canadians came to Gardner seeking employ- 
 ment and a chance to better their worldly fortunes. 
 The success attending their search induced others to 
 follow them, and others still in constantly increasing 
 ratio, until at the present time this element of the 
 population numbers about eighteen hundred souls. 
 At first, and for many years, these people contem- 
 plated only a temporary sojourn here, as was the case 
 in other places, — one long enough to acquire a com- 
 petency or what was deemed such, then going back 
 to their native boroughs to enjoy it. But latterly 
 they are more disposed to a permanent residence in 
 their new homes, and a desire and purpose of becom- 
 ing part and parcel of the community in which they 
 dwell and of the American people, by naturalization 
 and other processes of afliliation and coalescence, 
 have become widely prevalent and are shaping their 
 lives to new issues, in all social and civil respects. 
 
 These new-comers, by inheritance, education and 
 conviction are, generally speaking. Catholics, and 
 strongly committed to the faith and polity of the 
 Papal Hierarchy. Very naturally, they at first at- 
 tached themselves to the movement which ripened 
 into the " Church of the Sacred Heart," becoming 
 members with others of that church when it was fi- 
 nally established and domiciliated in the community. 
 This relation continued till 1884, when, the congre- 
 gation having greatly outgrown the accommodations 
 of the church building, and the French members 
 feeling that they were able to maintain a church of 
 their own, which should have a minister of their 
 own nationality, a separation of the two distinct 
 elements of the church was effected, with the ap- 
 proval of all parties concerned, and the French 
 Catholic Church was organized, the Rev. F. X. Soly 
 being installed as pastor in November, 1884. The 
 new parish first worshipped in the skating-rink, but 
 soon built the structure now iu use on Nichols 
 
862 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Street, which is designed to serve its needs until a 
 more commodious and substantial edifice can be 
 erected, in the near future. In this building, which, 
 with the grounds, cost about eight thousand dollars, 
 besides the main auditorium, with a seating capacity 
 for five hundred persons, there are rooms for a pas- 
 tor's residence, schools, social and society meetings, 
 etc., etc. After two years of faithful service, Father 
 Soly, on account of failing health, resigned his pas- 
 torate, and was succeeded by the Rev. C. E. Bru- 
 uault, the present incumbent. Under his wise and 
 prudent management the parish has flourished, and 
 grown to be the leading one in town in respect to 
 numbers. Various activities have been instituted 
 for purposes of charity, and to promote the material, 
 intellectual and moral welfare of the people, among 
 which are St. John the Baptiste's Society, for mutual 
 help, a temperance society for men and also one for 
 buys, a literary club, a club for naturalization purposes, 
 the League of the Sacred Heart, St. Ann's Society 
 for married women and a Society of the Immaculate 
 Conception for girls. Two day-schools are in opera- 
 tion, haviijg both French and English teachers, over 
 which Father Brunault exercises a watchful super- 
 vision. 
 
 CHAPTER CXV. 
 
 GAKVU^EK— {Con/ iiuied.) 
 
 RELATIONS TO THE STATE AND NATION. 
 
 The spirit of patriotism and of loyalty to those 
 principles of civil and religious liberty which are 
 embodied in the Declaration of Independence, and 
 which underlie both the Commonwealth of Massachu- 
 setts and the American Republic, has from the begin- 
 ning animated the hearts and actuated the lives of 
 the sons and daughters of this representative New 
 England town. If at any time it has seemed to slum- 
 ber or grow cold, it would, on occasion, revive again, 
 and burn and glow with renewed ardor and zeal, 
 ready to meet bravely any emergency, to stand fast 
 in any lot, and to endure any hardship or sacrifice 
 for liberty's sake, to vindicate the honor of the old 
 Bay State or to save the imperiled country. 
 
 Gardner was not incorporated until after the sign- 
 ing of the treaty of 1783, whereby the English col- 
 onies in America were acknowledged and declared by 
 the mother country to be free and independent,— until 
 the thunders of the Revolution had died away upon 
 the air. Nevertheless, a goodly number of its early 
 citizens had taken part in the great struggle, and had 
 shared, with those better known to fame, the honors 
 and rewards with which a h.ird-won but glorious vic- 
 tory had been crowned. Thirty-five of the early 
 ciiizens of the town are known to have been connected 
 with the Continental Army in one capacity or another. 
 
 or to have contributed by personal service in some 
 difterent form to the mighty achievement which broke 
 forever the bonds of colonial allegiance to despotic 
 power, and it is more than probable that several 
 others whose names are not found on any existing 
 records belonged to the same triumphant patriotic 
 category. The list of Revolutionary soldiers, as 
 derived from trustworthy authorities, is as follown : 
 
 Baker, George. 
 Baker, John. 
 Baldwin, Josiah. 
 Beard, Andrew. 
 BicUford, William. 
 Bolton, Ebenezer. 
 Clark, Josepli. 
 Coniee, David. 
 Katon, Jolin. 
 Fairbanks, Levi. 
 Foster, David. 
 Foster, Samuel. 
 Glazier, John. 
 Goodale, Peter. 
 Greenwood, Aaron. 
 Greenwood, Jonathan. 
 Haynes, Reuben, 
 Heywood, Setb. 
 
 Hill, Jesse. 
 Hill, Moses. 
 Holland, Joseph. 
 Howe, Ebenezer. 
 Jackson, Elisha, 
 Kelton. Samuel. 
 Kemp, John, 
 Kneeland, Timothy, 
 Matthews, John. 
 Siinonds, Elijah, 
 Simonds, Joseph. 
 Stone, Samuel. 
 Wheeler, Josiah. 
 White, John, 
 Whitney, Joshua. 
 Whitney, William. 
 Wood, Elijah. 
 
 Several of these were commissioned officers, though 
 it does not appear that any of them ro.'*e to a higher 
 position than that of captain. Elisha Jackson had 
 command of a company of minute-men raised by 
 order of the Provincial Congress, and with those 
 under him hurried away to Cambridge on receiving 
 tidings of the battles of Lexington and Concord, 
 April 19, 1775. William Bickford and Josiah Wheeler 
 had been soldiers in the French and Indian Wars. 
 Ebenezer Bolton and David Foster were at the battle 
 of Bunker Hill, the latter helping to carry the body 
 of General .Joseph Warren from the field. Jonathan 
 Bancroft, Benjamin Eaton, Reuben Haynes and 
 Samuel Stone were at the taking of Burgoyne at 
 Saratoga, October 17, 1777, the most important of all 
 the victories of the seven years' contest. 
 
 It was about a year after the incorporation of the 
 town that the general feelino; of unrest and disquiet- 
 ude in the central and western parts of Massachusetts 
 arose, which ripened later into that episode in post-Revo- 
 lutionary history denominated "Shays' Rebellion.'' 
 The citizens of Gardner at the outset sympathized 
 very fully with the prevailing dissatisfaction caused by 
 excessive taxation, a depreciated currency, and other 
 conditions of political and social life consequent 
 upon a long and costly war, which, combined with 
 the poverty of the masses of the people, made the 
 public burdens " heavy indeed, and grievous to 
 be borne." They therefore, with commendable 
 heartiness and dispatch, responded to a call for a 
 convention, to be held at Paxton on the 26lh of the 
 following November, for the purpose of consulting 
 upon the existing grievances, and of finding some 
 way of relief from the disabilities and burdens to 
 which all classes of the population were subject, and 
 at a legal town-meeting chose Captain Samuel Kelton 
 
GAKDNER. 
 
 863 
 
 as delegate thereto, and instructed him in regard to 
 his action at its sittings. It cannot be learned from 
 the records that the delegate made any report of his 
 mission, or of the doings of the convention, or that 
 the town took any further action in the matter. It is 
 but reasonable to suppose that the citizens, seeing to 
 what extremes the master-spirits of that and kindred 
 gatherings were inclined to go, and that there was 
 violence and treason in the movement as it was man- 
 ipulated, could not find it in their hearts to have 
 anything more to do with it. Their sense of justice 
 and of patriotic duty would not allow them, probably, 
 to be parties to the bloody designs of the leading 
 agitators, and so quietly allowed the whole subject to 
 go by default, so far as they were concerned. By this 
 course they fortunately escaped becoming involved 
 10 any extent in those measures which led speedily 
 on to open insurrection or mad defiance of the State 
 government, and which came to their tragic culmina- 
 tion at Springfield on the 25th of the following Janu- 
 ary, 1787, when five of the insurgents were killed by 
 the United States troops stationed there, in an insane 
 attempt to capture the arsenal of the Federal Govern- 
 ment, and its military stores. The repulse of the 
 assaulting party on that occasion virtually put an end 
 to the whole wicked and foolhatdy aflfair. 
 
 Although the town, in its corporate capacity, ap- 
 pears to have been absolved from all complicity with 
 the rebellion, yet there were several individuals who 
 were so far implicated as to be required to go before 
 a justice of the peace, take and subscribe to aa oath 
 of allegiance to the State and National governments, 
 and deliver up such fire-arms as might be in their 
 possession. Certificates from magistrates attesting to 
 the fact that at least three persons conformed to that 
 requirement, and so may be judged guilty of some 
 act of disloyalty in connection with the revolt, were 
 received by the town clerk in the spring of 1787, and 
 were copied in full into the records. The impartial 
 historian, looking through the vista of more than a 
 hundred years, sees some justification for the discon- 
 tent which prevailed during the critical period under 
 notice, even while pronouncing emphatic condemna- 
 tion upon those violent, blood-thirsty spirits, who 
 would not only have sacrificed human life to an 
 indefinite extent to gain their ends, but imperiled all 
 those precious interests which the recently-closed 
 Kevolutionai-y War had been waged to secure. 
 
 The year 179-t was a year of great discontent and ex- 
 citement throughout the entire country. There were 
 various causes for this unfortunate state of the public 
 mind. The trouble with the Indians of the great 
 Northwest, the so-called Whiskey Insurrection in 
 Pennsylvania, which at one time assumed threatening 
 proportions and called for the intervention of the gen- 
 eral g )vernmeut, the complications growing out of 
 the conduct of the minister of the new French Re- 
 public, and, perhaps, most of all, the growing feeling 
 that England was not fulfilling the terms of the 
 
 Treaty of 1783 honestly and in good faith, arousing 
 in many quarters a disposition to let loose upon her 
 again the dogs of war — all these things served to un- 
 settle the public mind and to jeopardize the public 
 welfare. The wisdom and statesmanship of President 
 Washington were taxed to the utmost to avert 
 threatening ills and guide the Ship of State safely 
 through the troubled waters to serener and safer seas. 
 Pending eftbrts to secure by peaceful means and in 
 quiet ways assumed-to-be-invaded rights, to allay 
 popular disquietude and to promote public order and 
 tranquillity, he deemed it wise and prudent to put the 
 country in a state of defence and to prepare it for 
 whatever emergency might arise. Measures were in- 
 stituted to that end. State governments rallied to 
 the support of the National authority, and seconded 
 its methods and plans of action. The Common- 
 wealth of Massachusetts issued a call to all the towns 
 to raise certain quotas of men, who should be ready 
 at the shortest notice for any service to which they 
 might be called. Gardner responded with loyal good 
 will. In town-meeting it was voted " to give a bounty 
 of twenty shillings to men who should enlist, when 
 they were called into service, and to make up their 
 wages to ten dollars per month." A military com- 
 pany was formed, with William Bickford captain, 
 which was kept under drill till the crisis was passed 
 and the statute requiring its formation repealed. 
 
 Upon the issuing of the proclamation of war 
 against Great Britain, in 1812, by President Madison, 
 the people of Gardner were evidently largely in sym- 
 pathy with the so-called Federal Party of the country, 
 the members of which were disposed to regard the ac- 
 tion of the Chief Magistrate with disfavor, and to 
 look upon the conflict which such action was designed 
 to inaugurate as not only unnecessary and unjustifia- 
 ble on general principles of national polity, but as 
 hostile to the best interests of the Kepublic. Under 
 this prepossession, they were moved to join with their 
 fellow citizens of other towns and localities in creating 
 a movement or state of public sentiment which 
 should have a tendency to terminate hostilities even 
 before they had fairly opened, and avert the calami- 
 ties which it was claimed by the Federalists would 
 inevitably result from a continuance of the struggle. 
 They accordingly sent Eev. Jonathan Osgood a dele- 
 gate to a convention held at Worcester on the 12th 
 day of August, only a few weeks after war was de- 
 clared " to consult upon the alarming condition of 
 our country " and " to petition the President of the 
 United States to bring about a speedy and honorable 
 peace with Great Britain. ' 
 
 But the efforts of the opponents of the war were 
 without avail. The national administration was 
 fully committed to its declared policy, and was not to 
 be dissuaded from its purpose to urge it forward with 
 all possible vigor and efficiency. Seeing that there 
 was no alternative in the matter, and deeming the 
 cordial support of the regularly constituted govern- 
 
864 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTEE COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 ment a token of loyalty to the nation, the citizens of 
 Gardner, or at least a reputable proportion of them, 
 responded to the call for enlistments in the public 
 service. A company of militia was organized under 
 the name of the Gardner Light Infantry, which was 
 soon ordered to repair to South Boston for Ihe de- 
 fence of the metropolis of New England against any 
 possible attacks from British cruisers that were look- 
 ing for vulnerable points all along the Atlantic coast, 
 and there it remained on duty until the cessation of 
 hostilities, early in 1815. The ofiicers of this com- 
 pany were: Ephraim Williams, captain; Samuel 
 Sawin, lieutenant; Joel Cowee, ensign; Ebenezer 
 Bolton, Charles Hoar, Benjamin Stone and Reuben 
 Wheeler, sergeants. The organization was main- 
 tained for some twenty years, but, fortunately, there 
 was no occasion for its being called again to swell the 
 ranks of horrid war. 
 
 But there are duties which the patriotic citizen 
 owes his country in times of peace as well as when 
 commotion fills the air, and armed foes threaten the 
 public welfare and the nation's life. And these the 
 people of Gardner discharged with more or less of 
 constancy and fidelity, according to personal convic- 
 tion or party preference, for nearly half a century, 
 little apprehending the fiery ordeal through which 
 they were to be called to pass. But it came never- 
 theless, and they rose to meet it with wonderful una- 
 nimity and alacrity, — with characteristic and praise- 
 worthy loyalty and zeal. When the mutterings of se- 
 cession first arose, after the election of Abraham Lin- 
 coln to the Presidency of the United States in the 
 autumn of 1860, and when, in the following April, 
 by the firing upon Fort Sumter, open and armed 
 rebellion against both the constituted authority of 
 the nation and the Republic itself in the interest and 
 for the perpetuation of chattel slavery was inaugu- 
 rated, they girded the loins of their strength about 
 them, and, in the name of outraged justice and an 
 insulted flag, they rallied to the support of the Fed- 
 eral Government, and furnished men and means to 
 repel the domestic invader and suppress the unwar- 
 ranted and traitorous revolt. 
 
 On the 30th of April, in response to the proclama- 
 tion of the President declaring the existence of an 
 armed rebellion in the slave holding States, and call- 
 ing for seventy-five thousand volunteers to meet the 
 rising foe and overthrow the conspiracy, a special 
 town-meeting was held for the purpose of taking 
 appropriate action in the way of meeting the de- 
 mands of the crisis. At that meeting it was unani- 
 mously 
 
 Voted, That the Belectmen be and hereby are authorized to purchase, 
 at the expense of the town, clothing or uniforms (suitable for wear in 
 actual service) sufli-ictit for the members of a volunteer militia com- 
 pany, which may be raised by enlistment of the citizens or inhabitants 
 of the town, and be organized agreeably to the laws of the Common. 
 wealth, on or before the first day of June next. Provided, that said 
 company shall pledge themselves to enter the service of the Common- 
 wealth of Massachusetts, or of the government of the United States, to 
 
 defend and sustain said government against the traitors and rebels, 
 which now or may hereafter threaten its destruction, if called -for by 
 the proper authority or authorities for that purpose at any time within 
 one year from the date of the organization of said company. Also pro- 
 vided that, if an entire company cannot be raised in the town of Gard- 
 ner, the selectmen are hereby authorized to furnish uniforms or cloth- 
 ing, as aforesaid, to such citizens or inhabitants of said town as shall 
 enter the service of their country for the purpose aforesaid. 
 
 Voted, That the selectmen pay to the order of the several members 
 of a militia company, which may be raised from the citizens of the 
 town, or to the order of their families in their absence, the sum of one 
 dollar per day, payable monthly, for three months from the commence- 
 ment of actual service. 
 
 The same spirit which is manifeated in these initial 
 votes of the town was displayed throughout the entire 
 four years of the war, prompting corresponding action 
 from time to time as the exigencies of the country 
 required. In illustration of this fact, a few instances 
 of what was done, and a few only, are here referred 
 to. On the 23d of July it was " Voted, that the 
 selectmen be and hereby are authorized to offer a 
 bounty of one hundred dollars (in addition to the 
 bounty now offered by government) for each and 
 every volunteer who may enlist into the service of the 
 United States on or before the fifteenth of August 
 next as a part of the quota of forty men to be fur- 
 nished by the town of Gardner under the late requi- 
 sition of the Governor of Massachusetts, and that 
 the sum of $4,200 be and hereby is appropriated by 
 said town for the purpose of carrying the same into 
 effect." A month later the same bounty was again 
 voted, and the sum of six thousand dollars was 
 appropriated accordingly. By vote of the town 
 passed June 27, 1863, the selectmen were authorized 
 to draw on the treasurer at their discretion for funds 
 to render "the necessary aid to the families of those 
 who have been or may be engaged in the military 
 service of the United States." On the 4th of April, 
 1864, one hundred and twenty-five dollars was voted 
 to " each recruit under the recent call of the Presi- 
 dent." Similar votes were passed at several success- 
 ive dates during the remaining period of the conflict. 
 
 According to a carefully prepared list of the num- 
 ber of men sent by the town to aid in the suppression 
 of the slave-holders' rebellion, there were two hun- 
 dred and ninety -one in all, of whom one hundred and 
 eighty-five, including half a dozen re-enlistments, 
 were citizens or residents, the others being engaged 
 from outside to fill the required quotas. Of those 
 belonging to the place, seven were slain in battle, 
 three died of wounds, seventeen were victims of vari- 
 ous diseases incident to the fortunes of war, while a 
 number of others, returning home, sunk slowly into 
 their graves as the result of ailments contracted 
 while connected with the army ; others, yet living, 
 have been sufferers from maladies or disabilities in- 
 curred in the same way. 
 
 It has been estimated that the whole amount of 
 money expended by the people of Gardner during 
 the four years of the war, for the purpose of prose- 
 cuting it and carrying it to a successful issue in the 
 
GARDNER. 
 
 865 
 
 complete suppression of the Rebellion, was sixty-two 
 thousand two hundred and sixty-niue dollars, accord- 
 ing to the following itemized statement: 
 
 Raised and paid out by tho town U23,052 
 
 Vuluutary subscriptions 13,344 
 
 State aid paid soldiers or families 17,363 
 
 Paid for twenty-five substitutes 7,500 
 
 Sent to soldiers by Soldiers' Aid Society 1,000 
 
 Making a total of. 562,209 
 
 This sura, according to the census of 1860, would 
 be nearly twenty-four dollars to each man, woman 
 and child in the town, or at the rate of almost six 
 dollars a year, which may be regarded as the actual 
 annual cost of the Rebellion to every inhabitant 
 during its continuance. Aside from this vast expend- 
 iture, there has been paid what is called State Aid, 
 which comes primarily and substantially from the 
 citizens of Gardner, being included in the State tax. 
 The amount of this at first was twenty -three hundred 
 and twelve dollars, but has been reduced to about 
 six hundred dollars a year. And this payment is to 
 continue, though in constantly diminishing figures, 
 as time goes on, indefinitely, or until the last man in 
 Gardner who heard and answered his country's call 
 during those years of her distress and threatened over- 
 throw, 1861-65, shall have passed beyond the realm 
 of all earthly conflicts and of all mortal needs, when 
 it may be said of him : 
 
 " He sleeps his last sleep, he has fought his last battle. 
 No sound shall awake him to glory again." 
 
 Since the close of the war the citizens of Gardner 
 have been content and happy in following the pur- 
 suits and fulfilling the obligations of their common 
 every-day-life, in guarding and fostering their domes- 
 tic and social interests, in providing for the general 
 needs of the community, in giving encouragement to 
 both private and public morality and piety, in pro- 
 moting the growth and prosperity of the town, all of 
 which things sustain definite relations to the national 
 welfare, and in discharging the more quiet but highly 
 iniportant duties of good citizenship in the spirit of 
 true loyalty to those principles and institutions of 
 civil and religious liberty which the republic prop- 
 erly regarded represents and was founded to maintain 
 and perpetuate. Their patriotism, though it may not 
 display and report itself in those more open and strik- 
 ing forms assumed in the time of the great uprising, 
 is nevertheless, as may be believed and hoped, burn- 
 ing, a steady, never-dying flame, within their breasts, 
 ready as of yore to respond to any call of the country 
 for brave defenders in the hourof peril, should it come 
 again, and for true and noble men and women al- 
 ways and forever, in whom alone, with the favor of 
 God, is to be found its assurance of permanent pros- 
 perity and of unfading glory. 
 
 55 
 
 CHAPTER CXVI. 
 GARDNER -{Continued.) 
 
 MISCEI,I.ANEOUS TOPICS. 
 
 Gardner Water Works. — With the rapid growth 
 of Gardner and the accompanying multiplication of 
 wooden buildings in the more thickly populated dis- 
 tricts, the need of some effective system of public 
 water works, both as a protection in case of fire and 
 as a means of domestic supply, became apparent to 
 many of its leading citizens. After agitating somewhat 
 the subject of providing for this need, a public meet- 
 ing in the interest of the project was held March 10, 
 1880, at which S. L. Wiley, of Greenfield, president 
 of the Wiley Construction Company, who was familiar 
 with such enterprises and who had looked the ground 
 over to some extent with a view to practical results, 
 was present and made a statement in regard to the 
 feasibility of the thing proposed and the probable cost, 
 both of the works and the water as it might be fur- 
 nished to consumers. His representation made so 
 favorable an impression upon those who heard it that 
 a town-meeting was called on the 28th of April, when, 
 after considering the subject at some length, a com- 
 mitee was chosen "to contract with any Company or 
 Corporation for sixty or more hydrants for a term of 
 year-i for the use of the town, and to authorize such 
 Company or Corporation to lay water-pipes along or 
 across any highway and make necessary excavations 
 for the same." This committee, after due inquiry and 
 deliberation, closed a contract with the Wiley Con- 
 struction Company in the autumn of the same year, 
 and in the following June the work of laying the 
 mains was commenced and carried forward to com- 
 pletion four or five months afterward. During the 
 succeeding winter, the reservoir on Glazier Hill was 
 constructed, as was also the pumping-station at the 
 southeast corner of Crystal Lake. At an adjourned 
 annual town -meeting in 18S2 the committee reported 
 their doin»;8 with the agreement made with the Con- 
 sti'uc'.ion Company, which was as follows: "The 
 Company are to put in sixty hydrants according to 
 accompanying plans, and furnish water for extin- 
 guishing tires for twenty years, at the rate of sixty 
 dollars for each and every hydrant per year, the town 
 to have the privilege of putting in new hydrants at 
 its own expense on lines of pipe already laid, without 
 additional cost. If new lines of pipe are laid, the 
 Company will put in new hydrants on the same terms 
 as the original ones were furnished. All hydrants to 
 be accepted by the town and warranted to be kept in 
 good working order. The Company to supply all 
 public buildings, fountains and watering-troughs, 
 without cost to the town, and all private parties at 
 rates not to exceed those established in the town of 
 Athol. The control of the hydrants to be in the 
 hands of the Chief Engineer of the Fire Department. 
 
866 
 
 HISTOKY OF WOllCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 At the end of twenty years the Coinpaiiy agrees to 
 sell to the town at a price determincil by three disin- 
 terested appraisers." This agreement was ratified by 
 the town. 
 
 On the lOlh of April, 18S2, the Gardner Water 
 Company was incorporate<l by act of the Legislature, 
 and given the privilege of taking water from Crystal 
 Lake, with the additional " right of eminent do- 
 main." The capital stock of the company was $100,- 
 000. S. L. Wiley was chosen president, and Volney 
 W, Howe secretary and treasurer. The water was 
 first let into the mains May 4th, and a trial of the hy- 
 drants took place May 1], 1882. Everything proving 
 saiisfactory, the Gardner Water Company bought of 
 the Wiley Construction Company all its interest in 
 the undertaking, assuming all its stipulated obliga- 
 tions to the town. The cost of the works, to the pres- 
 ent time, has been about $80,000. More than sixteen 
 miles of .street pipes have been laid, witli seventy-four 
 hydrants and six public watering-troughs attached. 
 About one-third of the families in the town are ac- 
 commodated by the works. School-liouses and en- 
 gine-houses, as well as other public buildings, re- 
 ceive water free. About three hundred thousand 
 gallons are used per day. The reservoir will contain 
 live million gallons, and is supplied from Crystal 
 Lake, the water of which is of superior quality and 
 practically inexhaustible, by two compound, duplex, 
 condensing pumping engines, made by the Deane 
 Steam Pump Company, of Holyoke, which are capa- 
 ble of pumping four million gallons per day. Henry 
 W. Conant is the present skillful and efficient super- 
 intendent of the works, and the officers of the com- 
 pany at thi.'i date are C. H. Green, of Northfield, 
 president ; Volney W. Howe, secretary and treasurer. 
 
 Fire Department. — Few towns anywhere are bet- 
 ter furnished with facilities for extinguishing fires than 
 Gardner, and its immunity, in late years, from the de- 
 vouring flame is worthy of note. Since the construction 
 of the water-works, with more than seventy hydrants 
 distributed through the densely-peopled sections of the 
 town, it has been, under the efficient direction of the 
 chief engineer of the Fire Department, comparatively 
 easy to control a conflngration whenever one has 
 broken out, and to prevent seriously disastrous re- 
 sults. The pressure in the mains is sufficient, at al- 
 most any point— except in close proximity to the 
 reservoir — to throw water over the highest buildings, 
 and the protection is therefore as perfect as possible 
 from that source. The town has also four hand- 
 engines, which are kept in good order and may be 
 called into requisition in localities lying beyond the 
 reach of the hydrants. Besides these, there are four 
 hose-carriages and two hook-and-ladder trucks, for 
 each of which there is a company of twenty men, with 
 an ample amount of hose and other equipments 
 equally complete. A patent life-saving apparatus is 
 provided for cases of extreme danger. Two engine- 
 houses, for the proper protection and care of the ap- 
 
 paratus, are located in different parts of the town — one 
 in South Gardner, built in 1880, for the erection of 
 which $4,000 were appropriated, and one in the West 
 Village, erected in 1883, at a cost of $5,000. There 
 are also supplementary stations in the Town Hall 
 building and at the depot. The department is 
 thoroughly manned and under good discii)linc, and 
 can be called into service at any point by a system of 
 well-arranged signals at the shortest possible notice. 
 The officers of the department for 1888 are : Chief 
 Engineer, Charles N. Edgell ; Assistant Engineers, 
 Benjamin T. Joslin, Dexter Gleason, Theodore W. 
 Learned, Frank P. Cowan. 
 
 Stkeet Lighting. — It is but a few years since 
 anything like a systematic method was attempted in 
 the way of illuminating the streets of the different 
 villages of the town by night. The records of the 
 clerk show that small sums were voted to parties wlio 
 should maintain street lamps in localities approved 
 by the selectmen. More recently a gas company has 
 been formed, under whose t-uperintendence pipes 
 have been laid, posts erected and lights kept burning 
 along the more frequented thoroughfares. The com- 
 pany was incorporated in the year 1888 with a 
 capital of fifty thousand dollars, the officers being C. 
 H. North, president; J. L. Robinson, treasurer ; T. 
 King, secretary. The works and office are on Logan 
 Street, with Charles A. Roebuck in charge as manager. 
 Not to be behind the times in the matter of lighting 
 streets, halls, ^hnps, stores and even private dwelling-", 
 the Gardner Electric Light Company was also incor- 
 porated in the year 1888, with Koderic L. Bent, pres- 
 ident, and Charles F. Richardson, secretary and treas- 
 urer. The capital is $15,000. AVorks have 
 already been erected on Park Street, near Crystal 
 Lake, illuminating stat'ons have been established 
 and practical operations have been begun and are 
 now going on. The machinery employed consists of 
 one arc dynamo, capable of supporting fifty lights, 
 and an incandescent dynamo with a, capacity of five 
 hundred lights. The demand for the latter light is 
 already so great thataseconddynamowill probably be 
 put in at an early day. The machinery and ajipliances 
 are from the manufactory of the Thomson-Houston 
 Company, Boston. Mr. J. W. Thurber is the elec- 
 trician and manager of the concern. 
 
 Public Buildings and Halls.— The principal 
 public building in the place, besides the churches and 
 school-houses, is the Town Hall Building, located in 
 the Central Village, at what was formerly the very 
 heart of the community. It is a wooden structure, 
 built originally in ISGO at an expense of twenty-one 
 thousand dollars. It is two stories high, with spa- 
 cious basement and high pitched roof relieved by 
 dormer windows. Its exterior walls are broken by 
 buttresses which are surmounted by well-proportioned 
 rootlets and pinnacles. The main hall is on the sec- 
 ond floor, occupying with its various accompanying 
 side-rooms the entire area, above which is a commo- 
 
GARDNER. 
 
 867 
 
 dious, well- lighted aj^artnieiitusedasa Masonic lodge- 
 ruom. There is a small hall on the lower floor which 
 is Used as a District Cuurl-room aud for smaller gath- 
 erings, also the central post-office and several stores. 
 The edifice was greatly eulaiged aud improved in 
 1883, at an additional cost of twenty thousand dol- 
 lars. The seating capacity of the principal hall is 
 now twelve hundred. It is not only well adapted to 
 ordinary gatherings, but is provided with an ample 
 stage, sets of scenery aud other conveniences for 
 dram .< tic representations. 
 
 Citizens' Hall is a spacious apartment on the second 
 floor of the engine-house in South Gardner. In order 
 to meet the need of some place for public gatherings 
 in that part of the town, the residents of the neigh- 
 borhood supplemented the appropriation made in 
 1881 for better accommodations for the Fire Depart- 
 ment in that locality by voluntai-y contributions to 
 the extent of about !?30(J0, thus securing an addi- 
 tional story to the structure proposed to be built, and 
 the conveniences they desired. The hall is easily 
 accessible and serves a most excellent purpose as a 
 place for holding lectures, social parties and enter- 
 tainments of whatsoever kind. 
 
 Besides these more public places of assembly, 
 there are several belonging to or occupied by difler- 
 ent social and benevolent associations or orders — 
 such as the Grand Army Hall, near the railroad sta- 
 tions ; Odd Fellows' Hall, in West Gardner; and the 
 Knights of Pythias Hall, in the Bank Building; 
 Good Templars" Hall, on Chestnut Street; Unity 
 Hall, near the Universalist Church; and still others 
 owned by private p-irties, like Hager's Hall and 
 Garland's Hall, in West Gardner. 
 
 Hotels. — The first hotels in the town were kept 
 by John Glazier, on the spot and in the house where 
 Wni. Austin now resides; Capt. Elisba Jackson, on 
 Kendall Street, near the summit of the hill; and 
 Jonathan Greenwood, oti High Street, near Minott. 
 In these several localities was furnished entertain- 
 ment for man and beast after the fa-hiou of those 
 primeval times. Numerous taverns or public-houses 
 of varying grades, during the more than a century 
 intervening, have accommodated the travelers and 
 other people with food, drink and lodging, at other 
 points within the town limits, of which no record has 
 been sought. At present there is no lack of such 
 establishments in the community for the benefit of 
 either the transient or the jjermanent guest. The 
 most spacious and imposing of them all is the Wind- 
 sor House, in the Central Village, owned by a syndi- 
 cate of Gardner gentlemen and kept by 'Colby & 
 Hartwell, who have recently taken the place of the 
 former landlord, Mr. W. H. Barnes. The building 
 was put up in 1882, on the site of the old " Central 
 House," for many years neither an ornament nor an 
 honor to the town in any sense, nor a blessing to the 
 community. It is constructed of brick, with granite 
 and brown-stone trimmings, having a frontage of 
 
 eighty-three feet on Green Street, where is the main 
 entrance, and of eighty-eight feet on Pearl Street. It 
 is three stories above the basement, which is high and 
 commodious and is arranged and fitted up with ample 
 facilities for mercantile purposes. The superstruc- 
 ture contains nearly one hundred rooms, well-appor- 
 tioned and elegantly furnished, and is provided with 
 steam-heat, gas, electric bells and all the appoint- 
 ments of a first-class establishment. 
 
 The South Gardner Hotel is the oldest stand of the 
 kind in town. It is located on the line of the first 
 county road that was laid through the place aud of 
 the Fifth Massachusetts Turnpike, and was probably 
 erected and opened as a public-house about the time 
 of the construction of that important thoroughfare in 
 1800. It has been greatly improved within a few 
 years and adapted to the requirements of the present 
 time. 
 
 The Gardner House is more favorably located to 
 accommodate the traveling public than any other in 
 the town, being directly opposite the Fitchhurg Rail- 
 road Station and central to several important business 
 interests. It was first opened in 1881 by Mr. L. H. 
 Hoi ton, of the South Gardner Hotel, who died not 
 long after, leaving the property to his widow. She 
 had charge of it for about two years and then sold it 
 to Mr. Frank Rafl^erty, of Claremont, N. H., who en- 
 larged the building and made it more convenient and 
 attractive to guests. It is heated with steam and well- 
 supplied with modern improvements. 
 
 Richards" House, on Parker Street, near Vernon, 
 formerly the Methodist Chapel, is a pleasant aud com- 
 modious place of public entertainment, dispensing a 
 free and generous hospitality to its guests and ofl'ering 
 special inducements to commercial travelers, by whom 
 it is liberally patronized. 
 
 Citizens' House, on Parker Street, near West, pre- 
 sents a pleading and somewhat imposing external ap- 
 pearance, being three stories high above the base- 
 ment, with a double piazza on three sides and other 
 corresponding architectural features. It contains forty- 
 five rooms, besides a large hall, is heated by sieain 
 and is furnished with due regard to both comfort aud 
 beauty. The proprietor is Agnes Jacques, who is also 
 manager. 
 
 The American House, the Crystal Lake Hotel and 
 the Montreal House are hostelries of smaller propor- 
 tionsand of less note, yet claiming their share of favor 
 and patronage from the general public. • 
 
 Elegant Residences. — Gardner is honored and 
 adorned with a goodly number of beautiful aud ornate 
 private buildings — the homes of the better-conditioned 
 class of its citizens, who, by the skill, care and good taste 
 displayed in their dwellings and grounds, contribute 
 not only to the general attractiveness of the place, but 
 to the pleasure and happiness of all lovers of fair and 
 comely things. Some of these, it is said, excel in 
 architectural proportions, in artistic appointments, in 
 chasteness and delicacy of ornamentation, in richness 
 
868 
 
 HISTORY OP WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 of color and perfection of fiuish, anything elsewhere 
 in ihe county outside of the city of Worcester, while 
 others, less elaborate, costly and perfect, are yet mod- 
 els of refined taste and elegance iu the line of art 
 which they represent. Among these as worthy of 
 special mention are the residences of Messrs. George 
 and Henrj' Heywood, Alvin M. Greenwood, Philan- 
 der Derby, Mrs. Fannie B. Heywood and Mrs. Ellen 
 L. Pierce, while those of Seth Heywood, Roderic L. 
 Bent, John A. Dunn, Charles D. Burrage, John D. 
 Edgell and others are exceedingly pleasant and at- 
 tractive. 
 
 The Centennial Celebration. — On the 27th 
 of January, 1885, it being the year on which the town 
 would complete a full century of its corporate exist- 
 ence, it was voted, at a legal meeting of its citizens, 
 to celebrate the event with observances and exercises 
 appropriate to so important and interesting an occa- 
 sion, and the matter of providing ways and means for 
 carrying this vote into efl'ect was entrusted to the 
 charge of the selectmen. On the 2d of March, follow- 
 ing, at the annual town-meeting, a large committee 
 of citizens was chosen to advise and co-operate with 
 the selectmen in arranging the details of the celebra- 
 tion and in making due provif^ion for the proper exe- 
 cution of whatever plans might be adopted in relation 
 theieto. These parties addressed themselves to the 
 duty assigned them with praiseworthy promptness, 
 fidelity and zeal. The work in hand was wisely 
 divided into numerous departments representing dis- 
 tinct and important interest?, and the proper sub- 
 committees were chosen to have these departments 
 in charge, so that nothing should be neglected or 
 omitted which might be deemed necessary to make 
 the proposed demonstration a grand success. Fifteen 
 hundred dollars had been appropriated by the town 
 to defray whatever expenses might be incurred, and 
 private contributions increased the sum to an extent 
 that left the Committee of Arrangements great liberty 
 in the adoption of measures suited to the ends they 
 were appointed to ])romote and secure. The result of 
 their labors furnished ample evidence of the wisdom 
 and efficiency of their management. 
 
 The exact day of the proposed anniversary was the 
 27th of June, and that was the time fixed upon for 
 the event to take ])lace, preparations for which being 
 made accordingly. But as it had been deemed advis- 
 able to unveil and dedicate the newly-erected sol- 
 diers' monument on the same day as a prominent and 
 attractive feature of the occasion, it was decided, in 
 order to have time for carrying out the full [)rogramme, 
 which was considerably lengthened by this arrange- 
 ment, that the oration and the more formal exercises 
 accompanying it should be given in the town hall on 
 the evening of the preceding day, June 20th. The 
 hall was elaborately and splendidly decorated and at 
 an early hour was filled with an intelligent, earnest 
 and expectant audience. The Honorable John M. 
 Moore, one of Gardner's best known and most respected 
 
 citizens, presided, calling the vast assemblage to 
 order and conducting the proceedings according to 
 the following 
 
 PROGBAMUE. 
 
 Opening Addrvss Hon. .Tobn M. Moore. 
 
 j*ra>'er Rev. Liiwrence Plielps. 
 
 SoiiK of Welcome Centennial Glee Club, 
 
 Address of Welcome John D. Kdgell. 
 
 Centennial Hymn Glee Club. 
 
 Oration Rev. Wni. S. Heywood. 
 
 Poeni Hon. John M. Moore. 
 
 Closing Song Glee Club. 
 
 The following day was ushered in by a reveille at 
 sunrise from the camp of Battery B, Massachusetts 
 Artillery, located just outside the Central Village, 
 and responding bugle-calls from the neighboring hill- 
 tops, followed by a salute of a hundred guns, the 
 ringing of bells and the blowing of steam-whistlei. 
 People were early astir, and as the morning advanced, 
 crowds gathered from the adjoining towns and all the 
 region round-about. The streets put on a holiday 
 appearance, public and private buildings were pro- 
 fusely decorated with the national colors, an indefinite 
 number and variety of tasteful designs, emblematic 
 figures, mottoes and words of welcome and rejoicing. 
 The Governor of the Commonwealth, His Excellency 
 George D. Robinson and suite, with other distin- 
 guished guests, arrived about ten o'clock, being re- 
 ceived with an appropriate salute, when the pro- 
 cession formed, and passing through the principal 
 streets of the different villages of the town, end- 
 ed its march at length at the immense tent in the 
 rear of the residence of Charles W. Conant, where 
 an excellent dinner was spread and enjoyed, and 
 where the post-prandial exercises were held. On its 
 way the procession halted at the square where the 
 soldiers' monument stood, and where services appro- 
 priate to the unveiling and dedication of that tribute 
 to patriotic virtue took place. The procession was 
 nearly a mile long and moved to the strains of mar- 
 tial music floating from several well-trained bands 
 through the air, lending exhilaration and enchant- 
 ment to the scene. 
 
 After the dinner was over the president of the day 
 assumed his proper place, and invited the Rev. James 
 Taylor to offer prayer. He then introduced Geo. W. 
 Cann, Esq., who was to serve as toast-ma-ter, and call 
 out the speakers whom a large and eager audience was 
 waiting to hear. "OurCommonwealth" was responded 
 to by Governor Robinson in his usual happy style. 
 Other well-selected sentiments opened the way for 
 Col. W. S. B. Hopkins, of Worcester ; Hon. J. Q. A. 
 Brackett, Speaker of the House of Representatives ; 
 Hon. C- C. Coffin, the "Carleton" of the Boston 
 Jovrnal; Philander Derby, an honored citizen of 
 Gardner; Rev. W. D. Herrick, of Amherst; Rev. 
 Wm. S. Heywood. of Boston, the orator of the day ; 
 Harvey B. Whitney, of New Jersey, a native of the 
 town ; Rev. Increase S. Lincoln, of Wilton, N. H., 
 the second minister of Gardner, who had just passed 
 the eighty-sixth year of his age, and Charles F. 
 
GARDNER. 
 
 869 
 
 Reed. The president closed the exercises witli a few 
 well-chosen words. A dress par.ade on the Common 
 by the local and visiting militia terminated the day's 
 proceedings, and a grand illumination in the even- 
 ing with fire-works, and concerts by Reeve's Band, 
 of Providence, and the Fitchburg Band brought to a 
 fitting end the celebration of the one hundredth 
 anniversary of the incorporation of the town of 
 Gardner. 
 
 The Soldiers' Monumext.— Sometime in the 
 year 1882 a committee consisting of John D. Edgell, 
 Charles F. Reed and J. Warren Spring was chosen 
 by the town to act with the selectmen in considering 
 the matter of erecting some suitable testimonial in 
 honor of the brave men of Gardner who, in the time 
 of the great Rebellion, "died that the Republic 
 might live." On the 3d of JIarch, 1884, that com- 
 mittee reported in favor of such action, and $5000 
 was appropriated for the purpose designated. Subse- 
 quently the parties to whom the responsibility of 
 carrying the project into execution was assigned 
 made a contract with the Smith Granite Co., of 
 Westerly, R. I., for the erection of a monument of a 
 certain specified design and height, at a cost of $5000, 
 to be completed before the 27th of June, 1885, which 
 action was communicated to the town at its annual 
 meeting that year. The conditions of the contract 
 were iulfiUed, and the ceremony of unveiling and 
 dedicating the beautiful granite structure constituted, 
 as before stated, a prominent part of the proceedings 
 of Centennial Day. The exercises consisted of a 
 prayer by Rev. F. B. Sleeper, a poem written for the 
 occasion by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, and read by 
 Comrade John D. Edgel!, a statement of the Monu- 
 ment Committee by Ezra O-sgood, chairman, and an 
 address by Captain John F. Ashley, interspersed with 
 appropriate songs and martial music. They enlisted 
 the attention of a large auditory, and were received with 
 manifest favor and enthusiasm. The monument is made 
 of Westerly stone and is of fitting design, of excellent 
 proportions, well-executed and finely finished. It con- 
 sists of a square shaft resting on a pedestal having a 
 solid base with substantial foundations, the whole 
 being surmounted by a color-bearer in bronze, sup- 
 porting a flag. Appropriate symbolic illustrations and 
 inscriptions are cut upon its different sides, together 
 with the names of the principal battles in which sol- 
 diers from the town were engaged. On the south or 
 principal front, at the foot of the pedestal, in large, 
 raised letters, is the word " Gardner," and beneath 
 in three lines, " To her brave sons, who foughl'for the 
 Union in the War of tlie Rebellion, 1861-1865." 
 
 Military Affair.s. — Mention has already been 
 made of the volunteer military companies formed in 
 response to calls of the United States Government in 
 the troublous times of 1797 and thereafter, and upon the 
 declaration of war with Great Britain in 1812, or in 
 consequence thereof. For nearly twenty years after 
 the disbanding of the latter of these there seems to 
 
 have been no organization of the kind in town, 
 although the military spirit was somewhat rife iu the 
 general community, and military companies were 
 popular in many localities. In 184-1 one was formed, 
 however, with James Cooledge 2d as captain, and 
 David Kendall, Joseph Wood and Hiram Wood as 
 lieutenants, which bore the name of the Gardner Greys. 
 But it did not meet with general favor from the 
 public ; interest in it soon began to decline and it had 
 but a brief existence. People began to think the 
 time had come when men should " beat their swords 
 into plough-shares and their spears into pruning- 
 hooks and learn war no more." But the Rebellion of 
 18G1 dispelled that illusion, and the citizens of Gard- 
 ner rose to meet the exigency thrust upon them in a 
 spirit becoming the sons of Revolutionary sires, as has 
 been duly narrated in another chapter. The Rebellion 
 over, the military spirit did not altogether pass away 
 with it. Kept alive by memories of battle scenes and 
 valorous deeds, or awakened by other influences, 
 that spirit came to the surface again and put on an 
 outward form of existence in 1884, when, on the 20th 
 of May, the " Hey wood Guards " was chartered agree- 
 ably to the statutes of the State, and assigned a place 
 in the volunteer militia of the Commonwealth, aa 
 Company F, Second Regiment, with Solon T. Cham- 
 berlain captain, and Charles N. Edgell first lieutenant, 
 who are still in command. In the same year the 
 town appropriated five thousand dollars to build an 
 armory for the new company, and chose a committee 
 to superintend the work, which was completed in a 
 few months. The building is a fairly good-sized one 
 of some architectural pretensions, and stands on Elm 
 Street near the railroad stations. The company is 
 under good drill and maintains a respectable standing 
 among its compatriot organizations. 
 
 The Town Poor. — Like most towns of the early 
 times, Gardner availed itself of the privilege accorded 
 it by the public statutes of "warning out" persons 
 and families coming to settle within its borders with- 
 out the consent of the authorities, whereby it was 
 relieved of the responsibility of supporting them 
 should they ever come to want. As a rule, most new- 
 comers were thus treated, among whom may be found 
 those who proved to be in after-years some of the 
 most thrifty and honored citizens of the pl.ace. As 
 to persons legally subject to the public charge, the 
 policy generally prevailing years ago of letting them out 
 to the lowest bidder to be cared for and supported, was 
 at first adopted. The first case of this kind recorded 
 is that of Oliver Upton and wife, with their children, 
 early in 1789. Those having them were "to provide 
 victuals and drink convenient for them and to take 
 care of them." An effort was made the same year to 
 have the town buy a farm with suitable buildings, and 
 use it for the proper sustenance and shelter of those 
 who had or might become public charges. But it did 
 not succeed, and nothing was done in that direction 
 for many years. The original policy of letting to the 
 
870 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 lowest bidder was continued as time went on until, 
 out of considerations of kindness and humanity, the 
 matter of proviiling lor the poor was Icit to the discre- 
 tion of the selectmen. This course was pursued till 
 1849, when the Abram Stone place, in the northwest 
 part of the town, wa? purchased, and, with its build- 
 ings, put in order for the proper care and maintenance 
 of the unfortunate cla^*s under notice. Since that 
 time thtxse desio;ned to bo benefited by such an 
 establishment have been accommodated there. The 
 farm contains two hundred and eighty-three acres, 
 having a due proportion of wood, pasture and tillage 
 lands, all in good condition. The house is large, 
 convenient and, though old, is well suited to the pur- 
 poses for which it is used. A new barn, seventy-two 
 feet by forty, superseded the old one in 1872 at an 
 expense of three thousand dollars. The present 
 annual appropriation for the support of the \moT is 
 six thousand dollars. 
 
 PiiiLANTHnoPY AND REFORM. — The people of 
 Gardner have never been iiidifFercnt to the great 
 hunianilary movements which more tluin ever before 
 in the history of the world have characterized the 
 century now drawing to its close. A long list of 
 benevolent and reformatory activities to be found in 
 the annals of the town proves this. It has already 
 been said that the E\'angelical Congregational Church 
 and Society from the beginning maintained an open, 
 unqualified, consistent testimony against the evils of 
 society and in favor of all enterprises calculated to 
 elevate and improve mankind. No doubt this fact 
 did much to mold public sentiment and create an 
 interest in the community in all good causes and in 
 all ])liilanthropic endeavors. But outside of that 
 communion, there was a respectable number of those 
 who, out of their own best convictions and emotions, 
 were devoted to the welfare of their fellow-men, and 
 counted it a duty and a joy to do what they could for 
 the advancement of truth and righteousness in the 
 world. The great temperance relbrjn has had from 
 its very lieginning friends and champions ready to do 
 ■what they could to destroy one of the greatest evils 
 that ever afflicted human society, to overcome one of 
 the greatest of the foes of God and man. Soon after 
 the question of temperance began to be agitated, in 
 1829, the Gardner Temperance Society was formed, 
 with Rev. I. S. Lincoln as president, and later, to 
 meet the new demands laid upon those who would do 
 effectual service in this behalf— demands created 
 by the increased light which had been thrown 
 upon the nature and injurious effects of all kinds 
 of intoxicating beverages^" The Washington Total 
 Abstinence Society " was organized with Dr. David 
 Parker as chairman and Thomas E. Glazier as 
 secretary. At a still more recent date have "The 
 Sons of Temperance" and the "Good Templars'' 
 kept their respective ''Limps of Temper.mce" 
 trimmed and burning, the rays of which might illu- 
 mine some darkened mind or guide some lone wan- 
 
 derer into paths of sjfety and of peace. Aside from 
 these outside and special activities, the several 
 churches of the town have combined more or less of 
 temperance influence and effort with their other work 
 in these later years, and maintained a Gospel broad 
 ennugh to include the principles of temperance 
 among the " good tidings of great joy for all people." 
 The cause, so far as it assumes organic form, is at 
 juesent represented by a Lodge of Good Templars, a 
 Prohibitory Club, two branches of the Women's 
 Christian Temperance Union, and perhaps other as- 
 sociations of which no report has come to hand. 
 
 As with the cau^e of temperance, so was it, in ils 
 d.ay, with the question of anti-slavery. In the irre- 
 pressible conflict between liberty and tyranny which 
 antedated the Rebellion by more than a generation 
 and prepared the way for the triumph of the right in 
 that bloody strife— a conflict which " tried men's 
 souls'' as few things in American history ever did be- 
 fore, or ever will again— -the friends of the oppressed, 
 the friends of impartial liberty were not a few, and 
 they stood strong and fearless fir the right, coming up 
 " to the help of the Lord against the mighty." And 
 in the same spirit have other reforms and good causes, 
 unpopular, perhaps but having the interests of jus- 
 tice and humanity in them, been fiistered, upheld and 
 advanced by men and women of this goodly town. 
 
 Social and Benevolent Oeganizations.— Un- 
 der this head are included those associations which, 
 while partaking largely of the same spirit as the 
 enterprises or causes just referred to, are more private 
 in their nature and characler and more restricted in 
 the sphere of their activity and influence. Of these, so 
 popular at the present day and so numerous in the 
 community at large, Gardner has its full share. 
 Little more can be done than to catalogue them in 
 these pages wiihout a detailed account of their ob- 
 jects, methods of operation, officers or present degree 
 of prosperity and success. They are mentioned in a 
 miscellaneous way with little regard to their relative 
 importance or any other principle of orderly suc- 
 cession as follows: D. G. Farragut Post No. 116, G. 
 A. R.; Women's Relief Corps; Sons of Veterans ; 
 Hope Lodge of Free and Acccpteil Mas )ns ; William 
 Ellison Lodge, No. 185, Independent Order of Odd 
 Fellows; Gardner Encampment, I. O. O. F. ; Gard- 
 ner Lodge, Knights of Honor, No. 1582; Gardner 
 Lodge, American Order of Uniied Workmen ; Achil- 
 les Lodge, Knights of Pythias, No. 48; Narragansett 
 Tribe, Improved Order of Red Men, No. 48; Puritan 
 Council, Royal Arcanum, No. JOIS; American Order 
 of Hibernians, No. 0; American Legion of Honor; 
 Crystal Lodge, Knights and Ladies of Honor, No. 
 1072; Gardner Cummandery, No. 347; United Order 
 of the Golden Cross, Charles Sumner Camp, No. 37, 
 Massachusetts Division Sons of Veterans, and others, 
 perhaps, of which no record has been obtained. 
 
 The town is also honored with a Rifle Club, and a 
 Knockabout Wheel Club, both duly organized and 
 
GARDNER. 
 
 871 
 
 equipped for service in their respective spheres of ac- 
 tivity. No attempt is made to enumerate the many 
 societies organized, under many different names, in 
 connection with the several churches of Gardner, as 
 agencies for aiding in the efficient prosecution of the 
 recognized work of the church. 
 
 Banks. — The First National Bank of Gardner was 
 establislied early in 186.5, receiving its charter on the 
 2.5th day of February, with a capital of one hundred 
 thousand dollars, derived mostly from the citizens 
 of the town. Mr. Amasa Bancroft was chosen first 
 president and Mr. John D. Elgell, first cashier. In 
 1875 its capital was increased to one hundred and 
 fifty tlinusand dollars, the amount of it at the 
 present time. Marcli 27, 1S7G, Mr. Volney W. Howe 
 was appointed assistant cashier. In 1872, Mr. Ban- 
 croft retired from the presidency and Mr. Charles 
 Heywood was chosen his successor. At tlie death of 
 Mr. Heywood, in 1882, Mr. John D. Edgell was pro- 
 moted to the vacant position and Mr. V. W. Howe 
 was made principal cashier. These persons serve in 
 the places indicated at the present day. This bank 
 has been under wise and prudent management from 
 tlie beginning, building up for it an excellent reputa- 
 tion and securing for it the confidence and support of 
 the business conmiunity. It has a surplus of thirty 
 thousand dollars. 
 
 Tlie Gardner Savings Bank was established in 1808 
 and duly incorpor.ited for the transaction of business 
 under the laws of the Commonwealth. Charles Hey- 
 wood was the first president and John E>. Edgell, 
 treasurer. This in-titution has been of great value 
 to the financial interests of Ihe town, especially those 
 of the middling classes, by whom it is largely patron- 
 ized. It has had a fortunate experience and may be 
 regarded as thoroughly sound and trustworthy. Its 
 present president is Mr. Franklin Eaton and Mr. J. 
 D. Edgell is still the treasurer. The amount of its 
 deposits to date is one million and thirty-eight thou- 
 sand dollars and its guarantee fund is thirty-eight 
 thousand dollars. 
 
 Posr-OFFICES. — The first office for the reception 
 and distribution of mail matter established in town 
 was located in the village of South Gardner, that be- 
 ing on the great line of travel between Boston and 
 the towns lying westward in the Connecticut Val- 
 ley. Mr. Clement Jewett was the first postmaster. 
 His successor was Moses Wood, who, having liusiness 
 interests at the Centre, moved the office there. The 
 people of the south part of the town were much dis- 
 satisfied, and petitioned the department at Washing- 
 ton f )r a new office. Their petition was granted, and 
 Abijah 51. Severy was given the charge of it. He 
 was succeeded by Lewis H. Bradford, Samuel S. 
 Howe and S. W. A. Stevens, who received the ap- 
 pointment about the year 18-54. At the central office 
 Mr. Wood was probably succeeded by Levi Heywood, 
 C. Webster Bush and Miss Sarah E. Kichardsan, who 
 has filled the position since 1873, to the entire satis- 
 
 fiiction of all interested and concerned. An office 
 was established in the West Village some years 
 since ; it is now in charge of Mr. Albert A. Upton. 
 
 Cemetpiries. — There are four of these cities of the 
 dead within the liicits of the town — the old burying- 
 ground in the rear of the First Congregational 
 Church, lying lietween Green, Heywood and Wood- 
 land Streets, w-hich was laid out about the time of 
 the incorporation, and in which sleep the remains of 
 nearly three generations of the earlier inhabitants; 
 Green Bower Cemetery, off Union Street, South 
 Gardnei» which is in control of an as-ociation or- 
 ganized in 1849, though it had been used previously 
 to some extent for burials; Cry.stal Lake Cemetery, 
 purchased " for a cemetery for the use of the town " 
 in 1858, and occupying a beautiful site on the west 
 side of the lake which gives it its name; and St. 
 John's (Catholic) Cemetery, off West Street. 
 
 Police — The Police Department of the town con- 
 sists of fourteen men, at the head of whom is Mr. 
 Henry Carney, with headquarters in the basement of 
 the Town Hall building. 
 
 Physiciaks. — The first medical practitioner was 
 Joseph Boyden, who came to town early in its history 
 from Sturbridge, married the daughter of Seth Hey- 
 wood, followed his profession until about the time of 
 the settlement of Rev. Jonathan O-sgood in 1791, 
 when he left for Tamworth, N. H., where he spent 
 the remainder of his days. He is said to have been 
 a man of superior ability and of wide reputation. 
 Dr. Boyden was succeeded by Mr. Osgood, who was 
 not only a minister, but a physician of acknowledged 
 skill, serving in that capacity for more than thirty 
 years with a good degree of success and to the satis- 
 faction of his patrons. The third physician of the 
 town was Dr. Howard, whose stay was brief and of 
 whom nothing further is known. In 1822 Horace 
 Parker, M.D., from Westford, began the pr.actice of 
 his profession in the place and continued till his 
 health failed in 1829, when he returned to his old 
 home, resigning his place to his brother David, who 
 had studied with him and who had already practiced 
 somewhat in the community. Dr. David Parker 
 came to Gardner well-qualified for the duties of his 
 calling and cordially endorsed by the highest medical 
 authority in the Commonwealth. He early evinced 
 unu-ual skill in the treatment of disease and endeared 
 himself to the people of the town and vicinity, both 
 by his success as a physician and by his kindness and 
 sympathy in times of sickness, anxiety and bereave- 
 ment. Had he given himself wholly to his chosen 
 work he would have risen to a high and commanding 
 position in the medical world. For nearly sixty 
 years he lived in Gardner, was familiar w-ith its 
 afl'airs and with the great mass of its people, attending 
 to the duties of his profession almost to the last, and 
 passing away at the advanced age of more than four- 
 score years in the spring of 1886. Others of the 
 profession in town have been : Drs. Carpenter, Jew- 
 
872 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 ett, Harriman, Warner, Whittier, Sanborn and Saw- 
 yer, Sr. The present physicians are: Drs. R. F. 
 Andrews, C. H. Bailey, E. A. Colby, J. E. Gallagher, 
 G. W. Garland, J. R. Greenleaf, H. P. Grise, F. E. 
 
 Hale, Waldo Mason, — Mulligan, J. H. Pilardy. 
 
 F. S. Riopelle, E. A. Sawyer, W. A. Smith, G. B. 
 Underwood. 
 
 Attorneys.— Among the first men who practiced 
 law in Gardner were C. H. B. Snow, Esq. and C. W. 
 Carter, Esq. Mr. Snow died many years ago, and Mr. 
 Carter is still in the profession at Leominster. The 
 present lawyers are Charles D. Burrage, Thatcher B- 
 Dunn, Ephraim D. Howe, Edward P. Pierce and 
 James A. Stiles. 
 
 Population, Etc.— The population of the town, 
 indicating its growth from the beginning, is given as 
 copied from statistical tables preserved in the office of 
 the State Secretary, at Boston, to wit : 1785, about 
 300; 1790, 531 ; 1800, 667; 1810, 815; 1820, 911; 18.80, 
 1023; 1810, 1200; 1850, 1533; 1855, 2183 ; 1860, 2666! 
 1865, 2553; 1870, 3333; 1875, 3730; 1880, 4988; 1885, 
 7283. 
 
 Of the 7283 inhabitants in 1885, there were native 
 males, 2650; females, 2630; foreign males, 1067; 
 females, 891; mulatto males, 35; females 10. This 
 population was distributed in 1673 families, who occu- 
 pied 1148 dwellings. 
 
 According to the assessor's estimates for the last 
 year (1888) the property of the town is as follows : 
 
 Tota! vnhie of personal estate.. 
 Total value of real estate 
 
 $1,000,070 
 2,SS:!,47U 
 
 Whole valuation.. 
 
 From the same authority it appears that on the 
 1st day of May the last year there were in town : 
 horses, 732 ; cows, 511 ; sheep, 45; other neat cattle, 
 139; swine, 119; dwelling-houses, 1251 J; land assessed, 
 12,558.44 acres; number of tax-payers, 2,955; num- 
 ber of poll.**, 2,635 ; amount of money to be raised by 
 taxation in 1888, $71,313.29. 
 
 The public property of the town of Gardner in the 
 year 1888, as reported to the Tax Commissioner of the 
 Commonwealth, Alanson W. Beard, was follows : 
 
 School-houses 865,000 
 
 Townhouse 30,0ilD 
 
 Armory 3,0OD 
 
 AInisfaouse — real and personal property 0,000 
 
 Eighty-four shares in Fitchburg Bank 7,300 
 
 Fire apparatus C,000 
 
 Engine-houses 12,000 
 
 Other assets (cash on hand) , 10,000 
 
 Cemeteries 6,000 
 
 Public grounds .5,000 
 
 Total $152, SCO 
 
 The liabilities of the town are : 
 
 Funded debt $100,000 
 
 Temporary loan 8,000 
 
 Trust funds 405 
 
 Total $U4,4->5 
 
 The present town officers are : Clerk and Treasurer, 
 
 C. Webster Bush ; Selectmen, Charles Bancroft, Web- 
 ster Cowee, G. N. Dyer; Assessors, R. P. Adams, 
 Marcus Whitney, Thomas F. Carney; Overseers of 
 the Poor, Charles Elton, Charles Whitney, Jos. D. 
 Frinney ; Collector of Taxes, Edwin H. Cady ; School 
 Committee, Dr. E. A. Sawyer, Mrs. Clara Howe, J. 
 M. Moore. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL. 
 
 LEVI HEYWOOD. 
 
 Prominent among the business-men and inventors 
 of this his native town stands the name of Levi Hey- 
 wood, a sketch of whose ancestors' lives and inventive 
 genius we here give. In connection with each of the 
 varied industries which have made New England the 
 work-shop of the country, there is in almost every case 
 some single name, that of a pioneer, or especially 
 successful manufacturer, which is at once suggested 
 when the industry is named. In this relation to the 
 chair manufivcture stands the name of Heywood. 
 The various families of this name, widely dissemi- 
 nated through Middlesex and Worcester Counties, 
 are all of them, it is believed, descended from John 
 Heywood, who, prior to 1650, came from England 
 and settled in Concord, Mass. His son, well and 
 widely known as Deacon John Heywood, was a man 
 of large influence both in civil and in ecclesiastical 
 affairs. One of his sons, Phineas, born in Concord in 
 1707, removed in 1739 to Shrewsbury, Masg. He was 
 selectman, a Representative in the Provincial Con- 
 gres.s, a member of the Committee of Correspondence 
 in 1774-75, and a man of large influence in public 
 affairs. His son Benjamin, born in 1746, was com- 
 missioned, in 1776, a captain and paymaster in the 
 army, and served through the war. He was present 
 at the surrender of Gen. Burgoyne. From 1802 to 
 1811 he was one of the judges of the Court of Com- 
 mon Pleas, and for many years was one of the most 
 eminent citizens of Worcester County. His older 
 brother, Seth, born in Concord in 1738, was carried 
 with his father's family to Shrewsbury, and in 1762 
 was married to Martha Temple, of that town. He 
 soon after moved to Sterling, and served as lieutenant 
 in the Army of the Revolution, purchasing a farm 
 within the limits of what is now Gardner. He was 
 living there at the time of the incorporation of the 
 town in 1785, and, in connection with John Glazier, 
 was one of the petitioners and chief promoters of that 
 act, and was the first town clerk. His son Benjamin, 
 born in Gardner in 1773, married Mary Whitney. 
 He inherited his father's farm. He was for many 
 years the town treasurer. His children were Levi, 
 Benjamin F., Walter, William, Seth and Charles. 
 He died in 1849, in his seventy-seventh year. 
 
 Levi Heywood was born in Gardner, December 10, 
 1800. His early advantages for education were only 
 those of the common schools of that day, with the 
 
GARDNER 
 
 873 
 
 afklition of two terms at the academy in New Salem, 
 Mass. He taught school for two terms, in 1820-21- 
 22. In the spring of the latter year he went to 
 Rochester, N. Y., and was employed for about one 
 year in slone-work by contract. Returning in 1823 
 to Gardner, he entered into partnership with his 
 brother Benjamin, in the business of a country store. 
 In 182G he commenced, in Gardner, the manufacture 
 of wood-seated chairs. In 1831 he went to Boston, 
 and opened a store for the sale of chairs, in wliich 
 business he continued till 1S36. 
 
 He also, in connection with W. R. Games and his 
 brother William, under the firm-name of Heywood 
 & Carnes, started a mill for sawing veneers from 
 mahogany, etc., in Charlestown. This mill was burned 
 in 1835. He then returned to Gardner, and entered 
 into partnership with his brother Walter, who with 
 others had been for some years engaged in the manu- 
 facture of chairs on part of the premises now occupied 
 by Heywood Bros. & Co. The veneer-mill in Charles- 
 town was rebuilt, and Mr. Heywood retained his 
 interest in it until 1849. The business of the new 
 firm in Gardner was conducted with success, the 
 manufacturebeingmainly by hand, the only machinery 
 being the ordinary turning-lathes and circular-saws, 
 which were operated by water-power, obtained from 
 the pond now known as Crystal Lake. 
 
 In 1841 it occurred to Levi Heywood that machinery 
 specially adapted to the various processes of manu- 
 facture might be introduced to advantage. His 
 brother, of a more conservative disposition, hesitated 
 to leave the well-worn paths in which they were 
 achieving reasonable success. This difference of 
 opinion led to a dissolution of the partnership, Levi 
 purchasing his brother's interest. He at once gave 
 his thoughts and labor to the devising and constructing 
 of special machinery, as well as to the introduction 
 of different kinds of wood-working machinery, which 
 were already in use for other purposes, and were also 
 adapted to his purpose. In the successful carrying- 
 out of this idea he inaugurated a new era in the chair 
 manufacture, and herein manifested nnich enterprise, 
 together with the fertility of resource, mechanical 
 skill and inventiveness, and the purpose to introduce 
 constantly new and valuable features, both in methods 
 of manufacture and in style of product, which have 
 always characterized him, and have been large 
 elements of his success. 
 
 As an instance of his originality in the matter of 
 mechanical devices, it may be said that as early as 
 1835 he conceived the idea of the band-saw, now 
 universally adopted as one of the most valuable tools 
 in wood-work. The idea was not original with him 
 though, nor really novel, for as early as 1808 Wm. 
 Newberry, of London, England, had conceived the 
 same idea, and made a crude model of a band sawing 
 machine, but did nothing more with it. So thoroughly 
 were its advantages anticipated by Mr. Heywood, that 
 he consulted with B. D. Whitney, of Winchendon, 
 
 and with Charles Griffiths, of Boston, as to the feasi- 
 bility of constructing a machine of this kind. Both 
 of these gentlemen, experts in such matters, agreed 
 that with the quality of saw-blades then made, or any 
 known methods of uniting them, so as to make an 
 endless band, the idea could not be successfully carried 
 out. As is well known, M. Perin, of Paris, France, 
 has since that time accomplished what Mr. Heywood 
 so many years before conceived to be both desirable 
 and feasible. 
 
 In 1844 he took into partnership General Moses 
 Wood, then of Providence, R. I., and his brother 
 Seth, the style of the firm being Heywood & Wood. 
 This partnership continued till July 1, 1849. At 
 that time General Wood retired from the firm, and 
 Messrs. Calvin Heywood and Henry C. Hill were 
 admitted, the style of the firm being changed to 
 L. Heywood & Co. Mr. Heywood, in addition to his 
 business relations as the head of the firm of Hey- 
 wood Bros. e*c Co., in 1847 formed a partnership with 
 Hon. W. B. Washburn, of Greenfield, Mass., in the 
 manufacture of chairs and wooden-ware, at Erving, 
 Mass., the style of the firm being Messrs. Washburn 
 & Heywood. At this point it is proper to refer to the 
 inventions of Mr. Heywood, which have been mostly 
 to meet the demands of his own business, and have 
 largely contributed to its success. Among them may 
 be named one for wood chair-seat, one for tilting 
 chair, three for machines for splitting, shaving and 
 otherwise manipulating rattan, and four for machin- 
 ery for bending wood. Of the merits of his wood- 
 bending process it may be proper to introduce the 
 testimony of M. Fr. Thonet, of Vienna, Austria, the 
 head of the largest chair manufacturing firm in the 
 world, employing some five thousand operatives. 
 After visiting the factories of Messrs. Heywood, he 
 wrote : " I must tell you candidly that you have got 
 the best machinery for bending wood that I ever saw, 
 and I will say that I have seen and experimented a 
 great deal in the bending of wood." The Heywood 
 patents have been combined with those of John C. 
 Morris, of Cincinnati, Ohio, on which the patents of 
 Blanchard have, after protracted litigation, been de- 
 cided to be infringements. The combined patents 
 owned by the Morris & Heywood Wood-Bending Co. 
 it is believed cover the really effective methods for 
 bending wood. 
 
 Mr. Heywood represented the tow'n in the conven- 
 tion for revising the Constitution of the Slate in the 
 year 1853, and in the lower branch of the Legislature 
 in 1871. He was a director in the Gardner National 
 Bank, and a trustee of the Gardner Savings Bank 
 from the organization of those institutions ; an at- 
 tendant of the Congregational Church in Gardner, 
 and a liberal contributor to its support. He was 
 largely interested in educational matters, and made 
 liberal donations of land and otherwise to the town 
 in this direction. He was respected in the highest 
 degree for his personal integrity and excellence of 
 
874 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 character, and his example wag for good to the large 
 number of his employ(;j, and to ihe community in 
 which he was long regarded as the most influential 
 citizen. He died July 21, 18S2. 
 
 CHARLES HEYWOOD. 
 
 The subject of this sketch, Mr. Charles Heywood, 
 was the second son of Levi and Martha (Wright) 
 Heywood, and was born during the temporary resi- 
 dence of his parents in Boston, on the 12th day of 
 November, 1831. At an early age, having received 
 a good elementary education in the public schools 
 and at the Fitchburg Academy, he entered the office 
 of E. D. Brigham & Co., commission merchants on 
 Long Wharf, when he was subjected to a thorough 
 training in mercantile affairs, which, in addition to 
 liis native abilities and previous acquirements, admir- 
 ably fitted him for his subsequent career in life. 
 When nineteen years old he went into the counting- 
 room of the rising establishment of which his father 
 was the founder and head, and in which he himself 
 was to become an important factor in later years. 
 There he applied himself not only to the clerical 
 duties pertaining to his position, but to the study and 
 mastery of the details and practical workings of the 
 great industry with which he was brought in contact, 
 and of the means and agencies by which that industry 
 could be carried forward to larger issues and a grander 
 achievement than had as yet been attained or con- 
 ceived of as possible for it. He thus became amply 
 qualilied for membership in the firm of Heywood 
 Bros. & Co., to which he was admitted a few years 
 later, and for a responsible place in its multiform 
 activities. For a while he had charge of the Boston 
 department of the establishment, having his re-^idence 
 at Winchester, a few miles out of the city. In 1866 
 he returned to Gardner, where he was brought into 
 more immediate relation to the processes of manu- 
 facture and to the development and growth of the 
 business, and when he assumed a more direct re- 
 sponsibility in the control of the company's affairs. 
 In 1868 he wilhrew from the firm, but returned to it 
 six years later and remained in its active service until 
 compelled to desist by failing health, which resulted 
 in his death June 24, 1882. By his removal from 
 the scene of liis earthly labors, Gardner lost one of 
 its first citizens, and one of the best representatives 
 of its important interests and prosperous fortunes. 
 
 It is difficult to justly estimate such a man as 
 Charley Heywood, to set in proper array his many 
 estimable qualities, and to give him that complete 
 and symmetrical portraiture which will reproduce 
 him, as he was, to tlie reader's eye and mind. Only 
 a few hints to this end will be attempted in this 
 delineation. As a man of business, quick to grasp 
 business problems and efficient in executing business 
 demands, he was, by common consent, pre-eminent. 
 Nature seemed to have made him, under the eye of a 
 
 wise Providence, for business pursuits and achieve- 
 ments, endowing him with a keen, clear insight in 
 that direction and a discriminating, practical judg- 
 ment which, acting with such spontaneity and pre- 
 cision, was akin to genius, if not genius itself. An 
 eminent citizen of a neighboring town, well qualified 
 to judge in such matters, declared him to be " the 
 ablest financier in the northern part of Worcester 
 County." 
 
 But he was more than a business man by far — a 
 man of affairs was he in a large sense, built altera 
 generous pattern, to serve many u:?eg, and to answer 
 numerous ends in life. He was a many-sided man. Of 
 versatile gifts, of wide sympathies, of broad views, of 
 comi)rehenaive purposes and aims, of a liberal spirit, 
 he w.as restricted to one line of effort, to no narrow 
 field of desire or endeavor. Nothing relating to the 
 public good or to the prosperity and welfare of the cora- 
 numily was foreign to him or failed to enlist his 
 interest and active support. His ability, his manly 
 character, his disinterested spirit were recognized by 
 his fellow-citizens, who were swift to acknowledge 
 them and ready to honor them by suitable tokens of 
 confidence and appreciative regard. At ditferent 
 periods he held by election and appointment the re- 
 sponsible offices of selectman, School Committee and 
 town treasurer. When in Winchester in 1861 he 
 was chosen Representative to the General Court, and 
 again in 1868 in the district of which Gardner formed 
 a part, though he was a jirononnced Democrat, while 
 the district was decidedly Republican — his well- 
 known ability, combined with his >ound judgment 
 and fair-mindedness, securing for him the cordial 
 support of many of his political opponents. As a 
 Democrat, he was repeatedly nominated for Congress- 
 man and State Senator. At the organization of the 
 Gardner Savings Bank in 1868 lie was elected 
 president, and in 1872 was called to the presidency 
 of the Fir.-t Nalional Bank upon the retirement of 
 Amasa Bancroft, a position which he held till his 
 decease. He took an active part in the long struggle 
 to secure the construction of the Boston, Barre and 
 Gardner Railroad and contributed very largely of his 
 personal effort and pecuniary means to that result, 
 In recognition of his services the corporation made 
 him, for many years, one of its vice-presidents and 
 finally its president. An ardent admirer of the 
 princij)les, ritual and objects of the Masonic order, 
 he was greatly interested and chiefly instruuienlal in 
 the founding of Hope Lodge in Gardner, of which he 
 wai made first IMaster. Devoted to the mystic rites, 
 he was held in high esteem by his associates, and rose 
 by regular gradation to the thirty-second degree in 
 the ascending series of honors conferred under the 
 jurisdiction of the order. 
 
 Whatever he deemed a benefit to the community 
 and town received his cordial encouragement and 
 support. His name was identified tor twenty years 
 with almost every public improvejnent that was made. 
 
(S^.^//iy 
 
^^.£^- -m^'Tj-G-s/^ 
 
GARDNER. 
 
 875 
 
 He was the prime mover in ihe project for establish- 
 ing a system of water worlcs. He toolj part in tl)e 
 preliminary proceedings relating to the founding of a 
 Public Library. He furnished means wherewith to 
 start a printing-ofTice and a local paper in the place. 
 The lithotype business, which has risen to consider- 
 able import;ince and given the town a notoriety in 
 circles which did not know of it before, was inaugurated 
 mainly through his inilnence and by his help. Mr. 
 Heywoodhad great interest in and sympathy for young 
 men, and often aided such as manifested a laudable 
 ambition to make a successful start in a business 
 career and (ill an honorable place in life by his 
 counsel and pecuniary means. He was liberal to 
 benevolent and charitable movements and objects, 
 and the deserving poor and unfortunate were often 
 relieved and cheered by his unostentatious acts of 
 kindne-s and good-will. He was a faithlul friend to 
 the needy and suffering, and will long be held by 
 such in grateful remembrance. A friend also to 
 religion and to religious institutions, he contributed 
 liberally to the activities connected with the First 
 Congregational Church and Society, whose inHuence 
 in the community he deemed most salutary and 
 indispensable. Deeply interested in the erection of 
 the church edifice which now graces the head of the 
 Common, he was made chairman of the building 
 committee, and to his inflnence and efforts its 
 e.xistence was largely due. Not narrow and exclusive, 
 but broad and tolerant in his religious views and 
 sympathies, he respected those who honestly differed 
 from him in opinion, and often, by his contributions, 
 aided other churches than his own in their early 
 struggles to get a foot-hold in the community in order 
 to do some earnest Christian work for God and num. 
 The high regard in which Mr. Heywood was held, 
 not only by the people of his own town, but by the 
 general community, as a businessman, a high-minded 
 citizen and a public benefactor, was abundantly 
 attested at his obsequies, when a vast multitude from 
 all the region round, and from far-away places, 
 gathered in the spacious church he had done s^o much 
 to rear, to express by their presence the sense of los 
 which filled their hearts, and to pay respectful and 
 appropriate honors to his name and memory. 
 
 SETH HEYWOOD. 
 
 Seth Heywood was the youngest of the five sons of 
 Benjamin and Mary (Whitney) Heywood who lived 
 to grow up to maturity, all of whom were intimately 
 connected with the chair-making industry in Gardner 
 and elsewhere, and most of whom gained a creditable 
 reputation for business enterprise and efficiency 
 through their manufactured goods, distributed far and 
 wide in this and other countries of the globe. He 
 was born November 12, 1812, and spent the first 
 twenty years of his life upon his fiither's farm, which 
 then comprised a large portion of the territory now 
 
 covered by the central village of the town. Having 
 shared the educational advantages which the public 
 schools offered him in his youth, he went to work, 
 before attaining his majority, for his older brothers, 
 then engaged in business under the style of B. F- 
 Heywood & Co., and with the enterprise long identi- 
 fied with the family name he has been connected to 
 the present day — first as workman for several years, 
 then as partner in the management from 1845 to 1882, 
 and finally as confidential adviser and friend. He is 
 the only surviving member of the original firm of 
 Heywood Brothers & Co., reorganized and put upon 
 permanent footing in 18(51. Less aggressive and ven- 
 turesome than his brother Levi, with whom he was so 
 long and so intimately associated, he yet has not only 
 witnessed the growth of the gigantic establishment to 
 which he has been attached from its very inception, 
 but, in his more quiet, unobtrusive way, by his influ- 
 ence and counsel, as well as by his pecuniary means 
 and more active eflbrts, has done his full share, no 
 doubt, to promote its development and wonderful suc- 
 cess. Fortunately, when he desired to lay aside the 
 responsibilities pertaining to the management of the 
 still growing business, he had sons trained under his 
 own care to something of his own wi?e and prudent 
 methods, whose ability and efficiency had been thor- 
 oughly tested, to whom he could resign the weighty 
 interests he had helped to guard and conserve in the 
 assurance that they would not sufi'er detriment by the 
 change. 
 
 Extremely modest and unassuming, Mr. Heywood 
 has not only shrunk from everything that might seem 
 to partake of the spirit of self-seeking or desire for 
 popular favor, but also from taking positions of public 
 trust which he was in every way well qualified to fill, 
 and to which his fellow-citizens would gladly have 
 called him had he consented to yield to their wishes. 
 He has, however, been induced to accept the office of 
 treasurer of the town, a position which he held for 
 several years, discharging its duties with scrupulous 
 fidelity and care. He was sent to the General Court 
 in 18G0, his political opponents confiding in his good 
 judgment, integrity and interest in the public welfare, 
 helping to secure to him whatever honors a seat in 
 the lower branch of the Legislature might be able to 
 confer upon him. He has been officially connected 
 with the management of the National and Savings 
 Banks of Gardner, as director and trustee respectively, 
 from the time they were instituted to the present day, 
 and to his financial ability and conservative spirit is 
 due, in proportionate dfgree, their acknowdedged 
 strength and their good standing in the financial 
 world. 
 
 He is also a member of Hope Lodge of Free and 
 Accepted Masons, and is in good repute as a brother 
 of the mystic tie. Public-spirited and liberally- 
 minded, kind and charitable, he is ready to do his 
 part in all movements and enterprises in which the 
 good of the people at large and the prosperity of the 
 
876 
 
 HISTOKY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 town are involved. He is a Trinitarian Congrega- 
 tionali.st by religious association, though of the more 
 liberal type, and has always been a generous patron 
 of the First Congregational Church and Society. As 
 a man and a citizen he is above reproach and without 
 guile. Of agreeable, though retiring manners, reti 
 cent, but cheerful in disposition and countenance, 
 eminently just in his dealings with all men, of incor- 
 ruptible probity and honor unstained, no man in the 
 community and town is more sincerely respected 
 than he, and no one is deemed more worthy of trust. 
 
 HENRY C. HILL. 
 
 The subject of this sketch, Mr. Henry C. Hill, was 
 the son of Bernard and Sarah More Hill, of New- 
 port, E. I., where he was born November 8, 1821. 
 Of his boyhood and early youth little has been 
 learned. While yet but a lad he was employed in 
 the paint shop of Levi Heywood & Co., at Boston, 
 whence he was transferred in the year 1841, before 
 attaining his majority, to the same department of the 
 same firm in Gardner, where, by his fidelity and skill 
 and manifest devotion to his employers' interests, he 
 soon rose to ihe position of fnreman. Proving an 
 efficient manager and displaying general business 
 capacity, and, moreover, having shown himself to be 
 a man of sterling principle and undoubted honor, he 
 was deemed so i ssential a factor in the development 
 and s.uccessful issue of the important industry with 
 which he was connected, that in 1847 he was admitted 
 as an active member of the firm, with which he re- 
 mained through its several changes and under its 
 varying names for twenty-one years, retiring with a 
 satisfactory fortune in 1868. After severing bis old 
 business relations he led a more quiet life, attending 
 to, some less onerous but responsible public trusts 
 which he had assumed, answering the calls that 
 naturally came to him in a community whose inter- 
 ests and well-being he desired to foster and promote, 
 enjoying the society of his friends and the hallowed 
 intimacies of his own household until his death, 
 which occurred on the 13th day of February, 1878. 
 
 Mr. Hill was a man of generous, noble nature, 
 commending himself not only to his business asso- 
 ciates and others with whom he met in a business 
 way by his practical wisdom, financial ability, trust- 
 worthy judgment and downright honesty of purpose, 
 but also to the general public by those more general 
 qualities of character which go to make up a com- 
 plete manhood, and which are calculated to secure 
 the confidence and regard of all classes of people. 
 As a consequence and proof of this, he was called to 
 fill numerous positions of responsibility and trust, 
 the duties of which he discharged with such fidelity 
 and care, with such cheerfulness and courtesy, as to 
 constantly gain to himself new friends or to rivet 
 more closely friendships formed before. For two 
 years he served the town on the Board of Selectmen, 
 and was an influential adviser in regard to many 
 
 matters of public interest and concern. Upon the 
 retirement of Mr. Charles Heywood from the presi- 
 dency of the Gardner Savings Bank, in 1876, Mr. 
 Hill was chosen to fill the vacant place, in which he 
 served with highly creditable faithfulness and sagacity 
 until his failing health obliged him to desist. He 
 was for some years director of the First National 
 Bank of Gardner, and to his valuable and highly ap- 
 preciated services to that institution his associates 
 furnished ample testimony in the resolutions passed 
 by them at the time of his death. Interested in the 
 principles and ritual of the Masonic fraternity, he 
 assisted in the founding of Hope Lodge as one of the 
 charter members, and served as its second Master to 
 the acceptance of his brothers of the craft. He was 
 also a member of the Jerusalem Encampment of 
 Knights Templar of Fitchbnrg, and of the Worcester 
 County Commandery. Politically attached to the 
 principles and policy of the Democratic party, he 
 was repeatedly honored, under its auspices, with the 
 candidacy for Congress in his Representative dis- 
 trict and for both houses of the State Legislature. 
 
 Interested in public aflairs, he kept himself well- 
 informed upon what was going on about him to the 
 last. The prosperity and welfare of his adopted 
 town he had much at heart, and contributed liberally 
 to what he deemed conducive thereto. He cultivated 
 literary tastes, and collected in his own home a con- 
 siderable library of well-selected standard woi'ks, 
 which he found to be a great source of comfort and 
 satisfaction when failing health obliged him to with- 
 draw from more active life. His habits and inclina- 
 tions were largely domestic. He took great delight 
 in making his home cheerful, pleasant, attractive, 
 happy, and sought his chief enjoyment in the bosom 
 of his family. His kind, thoughtful, constant effort 
 in this direction and behalf fill that home, now that 
 he has left it, with tender, touching, sacred memories. 
 
 Mr. Hill was not formally connected with any 
 church, but he held the Christian faith in sincere re- 
 spect, and honored Christian institutions by his per- 
 sonal influence, encouragement and liberal pecuniary 
 support. He was a regular attendant upon the public 
 religious services of the First Parish of the town, and 
 one of the last acts of his life was to give two thou- 
 sand dollars to aid in the erection of its present 
 beautiful and commodious house of worship. Unas- 
 suming in manner and in spirit, he abhorred shams 
 and pretenses, and delighted in what is substantial 
 and real, whether relating to articles of manufacture 
 or to personal character, and sought to illustrate in 
 himself the genuineness he professed to believe in 
 and admire. 
 
 PHILANDER DERBY. 
 
 The second largest chair manufacturing establish- 
 ment in the town of Gardner is that of which Mr. 
 Philander Derby is the acknowledged head, and to 
 which he, above all others, has imparted life, energy 
 
i 
 
^^ 
 
 \ 
 
 ^ %- ^NS^^ ^\^^ . p ^. ^^^ V| 
 
 v^ 
 
I 
 

GARDNER. 
 
 877 
 
 and indeed all the essential elements of its phenom- 
 enal success. The career of this man is in many 
 respects a remarkable one, full of interest, full of 
 instruction, full of encouragement to all humble, 
 honest workers in any and every field of human 
 effort and achievement. Its more salient and sugges- 
 tive features are herein brought to the reader's 
 notice. 
 
 Philander Derby was born in the town of Somerset, 
 Windham Co., Vt., June 18, 1816. He was the son of 
 Levi and Sally (Stratton) Derby, of the same place, 
 graudson.of Nathan and of Abigail (Pierce) Derby, of 
 Westminster, and great-grandson of Andrew Derby, 
 one of the early settlers of the last-named town, and 
 for many years clerk of the proprietors, previous to its 
 incorporation. He worked upon the home farm till 
 he was twenty-one years of age, when he left the 
 familiar fields and hills behind him and went forth to 
 seek his fortune. Coming to Massachusetts to visit rel- 
 atives and friends, and to find, if 2)ossible, some favor- 
 able opening for himself, he after a little time made 
 an engagement with Phelps & Spoffbrd, of Sutton, to 
 work in and about their factory, doing such incidental 
 and odd jobs as might be a-signed to him in tte 
 interest of his employers. There he remained two 
 years and then went back to his old home and made 
 an arrangement with his father to take the farm, with 
 a view of settling upon it and devoting himself 
 thereafter to the primitive calling of tijling the soil.. 
 At the e.xpiration of three years, however, he changed 
 his plans, gave up the place and again turned his 
 steps to Massachusetts. He went to Terapleton, 
 entered the chair-shop of Mr. Windsor White, in 
 whose employ he continued two years. Having mas- 
 tered the trade of making chairs, as he thought, and 
 feeling himself competent to carry on business for 
 himself, he removed to Jamaica, Vt., not far from his 
 native town, and there, in the midst of a lumber 
 region, where material could be easily obt.'iined, he 
 began manufacturing on his own account. Not suc- 
 ceeding to his satisfaction, he sold out his investment 
 and the third time took his way to the old Bay State. 
 Coming to Gardner — the place of all others for the 
 chair business — he made an engagement with Ruge, 
 Collester & Co. as a workman, at the termination of 
 which he was employed by S. K. Pierce, with whom 
 he afterward entered into partnership, which contin- 
 ued but a short time. At its dissolution, Mr. Derby, 
 thrown out of a place, tried two or three kinds of 
 business, but, finding nothing that suited him, seized 
 upon the opportunity offered him to purchase a half- 
 interest in the chair manufactory owned and managed 
 by Abner White, located at the site now occupied by 
 A. & H. C. Knowlton & Co. Not long afterwaid he 
 bought out his parlner and continued the business 
 by himself for several years, covering the period of 
 great financial depression in 1857 and reaching to the 
 time of the breaking out of the war iu 1861, when 
 the whole land was filled with uncertainty and alarm 
 
 and all business interests and enterprises were 
 seriously disturbed and imperiled. It was a time of 
 trial to Mr. Derby, just fairly started in the chair 
 manufacture, with the burden of heavy responsi- 
 bilities resting upon him. But he nerved himself to 
 meet the crisis iu a manly way. By various expe- 
 dients requiring hard work, sagacity and a resolute 
 will, he succeeded in going through the ordeal with- 
 out serious harm, meeting his obligations as they 
 matured, saving his business, maintaining his credit 
 and his honor unimpeached and firmly established 
 before the world. Taking a fresh start, he has gone on 
 from that time to the present in a career of excep- 
 tional prosperity, as detailed in one of the chapters 
 preceding these sketches. 
 
 The success of Mr. Derby is due chiefly to himself 
 rather than to any fortuitous circumstances or outside 
 aid — to his untiring industry, his determined purpose, 
 his unfaltering perseverance, which no discourage- 
 ments could check, no obstacles deter and no dark 
 forebodings overcome. These native endowments, 
 acting along the lines and according to the conditions 
 of business prosperity, have given him the victory 
 ■and .crowned, him , wiih well-earned and durable 
 honors. It is, however, a matter of simple jusiice to 
 note the fact that he has had in his wife a valuable 
 helper throughout his business caret r. Her faith 
 and courage have reinforced and fortified his energies 
 in some crf''ihis more trying experiences, while in the 
 practical management of his afJaiis her cool judg- 
 ment and clear-seeing sagacity have often rendered 
 him essential service. 
 
 Mr. Derby, though closely confined to the build- 
 ing up and developing bis business interests, has not 
 been disposed to ignore his relations to the general 
 public nor to be indifferent to matters pertaining to 
 the welfare of the community. He has been ready 
 and happy to do his full share in supporting the 
 institutions of society, to contribute to benevolent 
 and charitable objects and to help in any enterprise 
 which he deemed promotive of the good order, real 
 prosperity and enduring welfare of the community. 
 Declining all invitations to public office, he has yet 
 consented to serve for some years as director of the 
 National Bank and as trustee of the Savings Bank in 
 his own town. A man of principle and honor, he 
 shares the confidence and regard of his fellow-citi- 
 zens ; a friend of temperance, he commends the 
 cause by both precept and and example. A Republi- 
 can in politics, he is true to his convictions, but holds 
 no one in disesteem for honestly differing from him 
 in relation to matters of public policy. An Orthodox 
 Congregationalist in religion, he is tolerant of all 
 faiths and seeks to honor his Christian profession by 
 a Christian life. 
 
 SYLVESTER K. PIERCE. 
 
 One of the most active, enterprising, successful 
 business men of the town of Gardner was he whose 
 
878 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 name stands at the head of this biographical sketch. 
 Mr. Pierce was the son of Jonas and Achsah (Hayncs) 
 Pierce, of We.stiiiinster, where he was born April 11, 
 1820. He was a descendant in the seventli genera- 
 tion of Anthonj' Pierce, who came to lliis conntry 
 from England about the year 1G30, settled in Water- 
 town, Mass., and was made a freeman there Septem- 
 ber 3, 1034, becoming the common ancestor of a large 
 posterity, whose representatives are scattered all over 
 the United States. When Sylvester K. Pierce was 
 but three years of age his father died, leaving him and 
 several other children to the care and training of a 
 mother who, with limited resources, struggled hard to 
 provide for her dependent ones the means of subsist- 
 ence, and to fit them for the duties and responsibili- 
 ties of maturer liie. At tlie age of eleven he was sent 
 to reside with a sister, who had married a farmer of 
 his native town, where it was thought he could be 
 better cared for than at home, and where he remained 
 three years, going thence to spend another year with 
 another sister similarly situated in Ashburnham. At 
 the expiration of that period, when fifteen years old, 
 he came to Gardner and engaged in the service of 
 Elijah Putnam as apprentice to the trade of chair- 
 making, under an arrangement by the terms of which 
 he was to remain two years, and receive, besides his 
 trade, board and schooling, the sum of $120 in money. 
 After this he was for five years employed as journey- 
 man in Ashby and Ashburnham, when he returned 
 to Gardner and entered upon that career of business 
 and financial prosperity which is sufficiently indicated 
 in its appropriate place in the preceding historical 
 sketch of the town of his adoption. That active and 
 successful career was brought to a sudden termination 
 by his decease January 28, 1888. A man of large 
 frame and of robust constitution, he had enjoyed 
 general good health until, having contracted a violent 
 cold which in its early stages took the form of typhoid 
 pneumonia, he came to his death five days afterward. 
 Like many another successful manufacturer and 
 prominent citizen of Gardner, Mr. Pierce was a good 
 example of a self-made man. Starting out in life 
 from humljle conditions, deprived of a father's pro- 
 tection and guidance when but a child, put to manual 
 labor at an early age, compelled by necessity to forego 
 many of the comforts and delights so acceptable to 
 youth and so desirable at all times, and to endure 
 many privations and hardships, dispossessed of advan- 
 tages and opportunities so helpful to the development 
 of a self-reliant and well-balanced character, he yet, 
 by his own energy, ambition, industry, sleepless vigi- 
 lance and unfaltering perseverance in the pursuit of 
 business ends according to business principles and 
 methods, built up from inconsiderable beginnings one 
 of the largest and most substantial manufacturing 
 enterprises of the town in which he lived, and became 
 one of the most active, prominent and influential, as 
 he was one of the most wealthy, of its citizens. 'For 
 a generation he was the leading man in the industrial 
 
 interests of the community where he resided, and the 
 renewed life and increasing prosperity of the villiige 
 of South Gardner during these later years are largely 
 due to his ellorts and inlliience. The enlargement of 
 his business as the years have gone by called in 
 workmen with their families from abroad, conducing 
 to the material growth of that part of the town, as 
 well as to its social, educational and religious ad- 
 vancement and importance. The immense establish- 
 ment with wdiich his name is especially identified is 
 the most prominent feature of the neighborhood, 
 while his residence opposite, with its imposing front 
 of fine architectural design and stately proportions 
 generally, arrests the attention of every passer-by. A 
 furniture and carpet store erected by him, and put in 
 operation in 1869, has attracted patronage from a wide 
 circle of surrounding country, and his farming opera- 
 tions, carried on as a sort of pastime or recreation 
 supplementary to the more onerous duties of his regu- 
 lar business, have won the recognilion of connoisseurs 
 in that department of human activity. 
 
 Politically Mr. Pierce belonged to the Republican 
 party, but, while loyal to its principles and devoted 
 to its interests, never aspired to leadership in its 
 councils or to any office at its disposal. He hasi 
 however, been called to, and has filled acceptably, 
 important positions in financial enterprises both in 
 his own and other towns, his business sagacity and 
 integrity securing to him the confidence of those 
 having important trusts in charge. He was for many 
 years a director of the Wachusett Bank, Fitchburg, 
 and of the First National Bank, Gardner; also a 
 trustee of the Gardner Savings Bank, and of the 
 People's Savings Bank, Worcester. To him have been 
 assigned, from time to time, important interests in 
 the mnnagenient of town aflairs. He was a member 
 of the First Congregational Church and Society in the 
 town, serving for many years on the board of man- 
 agement connected therewith, and taking an active 
 interest in all matters pertaining to church activity 
 and usefulness. A kind husband, an affectionate 
 and devoted father, an enterprising and honored citi- 
 zen, his sudden removal from the midst of his earthly 
 labors, while " his eye was not yet dim nor his manly 
 force abated," was a loss to his family and to the com- 
 munity widely felt and deeply lamented. 
 
 EDWARD J. SAWYER, M.D. 
 
 Edward Julius Sawyer, son of Rev. Pember and 
 Laura Sawyer, was born in West Haven, Rutland 
 County, Vt., August 3, 1829, and died at Gardner, 
 Mass., May 10, 1883. He received his early education 
 at New London, N. H., and Chester Academy, Vt., 
 where were laid the foundations of that broader and 
 more thorough culture which characterized his ma- 
 turer life. 
 
 Choosing the profession of medicine for a calling, 
 he studied with Dr. Lowell, of Chester, and attended 
 
C^c^^^^^^-^^^-tCc j'u<^i-'t-^ ^ao<^yf^i-^ 
 

GARDNER. 
 
 879 
 
 lectures at the Medical College in Castleton, in the 
 S-irae Slate, from whicli iustiuition lie grailiiatcd with 
 the honors of a degree in June, 1853. He soon alt, r 
 began the prai.-tice of his profession at Acworlh, N. 
 H.; hut, at the expiration of five years, desiring a 
 larger field and better opportunities, he removed to 
 Gardner, Mass., where he found an opening and a 
 sphere of activity more congenial to his tastes and 
 belter suited to his ability and power of useiulness. 
 Entering into his work here with earnestness and 
 zeal, he soon gained the confidence of the community 
 and secured a good practice, which grew year by year 
 till his decease. 
 
 Dr. Sawyer was well qualified for the duties of his 
 profession and fully equipped for every department 
 of service in it. Thorough in his diagnc sis and 
 skillful in his treatment of disease, of deliberate 
 judgment and high character, he was often called 
 upon to act as professional consultant in difficult 
 cases, where he proved himself as acceptable and 
 trustworthy as he did in the more regular duties of a 
 family physician. 
 
 In the sick-room he was cheerful, sympathetic and 
 encouraging, his presence and personal influence 
 contributing to the benefit of his patients as well as 
 his prescriptions. There was to him a sacredness in 
 his work which called into exercise all his best 
 powers, and to those committed to his professional 
 care he gave unwearied and conscientious attention. 
 
 But Dr. Sawyer commended himself to the confi- 
 dence and esteem of the general public not only by 
 his professional ability and success, but by his manly 
 qualities, his courteous manners and consistent 
 Christian life. He was a pleasant companion, a 
 faithful friend, a public-spirited, honorable and hon- 
 ored citizen. Well read in the current literature of 
 the times, familiar with passing events, of broad 
 sympathies and generous culture, and withal a ready, 
 entertaining speaker, he was often called upon to 
 address public gatherings ou important occasions, 
 which he was able to do with ease and eloquence and 
 to the edification and delight of his hearers. 
 
 Dr. Sawyer was one of the founders of the Worces- 
 ter North District Medical Society, and for two years 
 its president. He was also a member of the Mjissa- 
 chusetts Medical Society and of the American Medi- 
 cal Congress. During the war he was appointed 
 examining physician by Governor Andrew, a position 
 which he filled with credit to himself and acceptably 
 to all. 
 
 Politically he was a Democrat of the "old school," 
 and as such received the nomination of his party as 
 a candidate for important offices in both the State and 
 National Legislatures. But he was not guilty of 
 "offensive partisanship," and so commanded the 
 respe:t of his political opponents and received a 
 commission of justice of the peace at three different 
 times from a Republican Governor. 
 
 As a member of the Masonic order he was held in 
 
 high regard by his brethren, and was honored with 
 repeated tokens of their confidence and favor. He 
 was a charter member of II(ii)e Lodge, and ibr many 
 years occupied in it the high and responsible position 
 of Master. He received all the usual degrees of the 
 order attainable in this country, and was well versed 
 in its ritual and mysteries. In recognition of his 
 ability and worth as "a just and upright Mason," he 
 was appointed Deputy Grand Master for the Masonic 
 district in which he resided. 
 
 In religion Dr. Sawyer was an Orthodox Congrega- 
 tionalist of the modern type, and a member of the 
 First Church of Gardner ; one who proved the sin- 
 cerity and intelligence of his Christian profession by 
 the purity and uprightness of his character and life. 
 He served the God he believed in and adored by 
 serving well his fellow-men. 
 
 As an indication of the high place which Dr. Saw- 
 yer had gained in the esteem of those most intimately 
 associated with him, the testimonials given below are 
 respectfully submitted. The first is from the record 
 of the actiiin taken by his Masonic associates with 
 regard to his death, and the second from remarks 
 made by Dr. J. P. Lynde, of Athol, President of the 
 Worcester North Medical Society, in view of the same 
 event, which were adopted as expressing the senti- 
 ments of the members, and ordered to be placed upon 
 the records of their association, as a fitting tribute to 
 his memory : 
 
 WiiERFAS, The intimate relntiuns so long held by the deceased with 
 the nieiiiliers uf Hope Lud^c as their Blaster and otherwise render it 
 proper and desirable that they should recurd their appreciation of Ilia 
 many virtues and eminent services for the good of Masonry, whether 
 as Utaster of Hope Lodge, or as District Deputy Grand Master, or in 
 humbler positions, &c. ; therefore, 
 
 Ecsoh-ed, That we extend to the family of the deceased our heartfelt 
 sympathy in this their great affliction, and jissure tlieni that his memory 
 will ever be treasured by us as an incentive to noble and right endeavor. 
 
 Reaohed, That with profound sorrow and regret we mourn the loss 
 of our brother, consoled ouly by the trust and confidence that what is 
 our loss is his gain. John D. Edueli., Secretary. 
 
 As jv physician he was pnidont, intelligent, sUillful and successful. In 
 his intercourse with his patrons ho was kind, courteous, urbane, self- 
 denying, and was held by thcni in high esteem, and had to a great 
 degree their confidence and love. ... As a citizen and as a man 
 among men, he was respected by his neighbors and all who shared his 
 society. . . . lie had reached the meridian of life and was rapidly 
 growing in usefulness and iulluence. . . . We shall remember his 
 manly form, his dignified presence, his cheerful greetings, liis work and 
 worth among us for twenty-five years past, and we will cherish his 
 memory with alfectionato respect, and sympathize with his family in 
 ttieir bereavement. Charles II. ItlCE, Secretary. 
 
 CALVIN 8. GEEEIsnVOOD. 
 
 Calvin S. Greenwood was born in Gardner, May 
 18, 1810, and died there August 25, 1873, having 
 scarcely passed the summit of an active, useful, 
 honorable life. He was the son of Alvin and Mary 
 (Childs) Greenwood, and the grandson of Jonathan 
 Greenwood, one of the early settlers of the town, 
 whose grcat-grandl'atlier was Thonuis Greenwood, a 
 resident of Newton, Mass., in 1667, and probably the 
 first of the name in this country. He shared the 
 
880 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 meagre educational advantages proffered him in his 
 boyhood and youth, and early in life learned the trade 
 which was then just beginning to present some signs 
 of its future prominence in the community, and of 
 which he was destined to become, in after-years, an 
 efficient promoter and a worthy representative. In 
 1837 he went into company with Mr. David Wright, 
 and, the two having purchased the privilege now 
 occupied by his sons with its appurtenances, and 
 made the requisite changes and improvements, began 
 the manufacture of chairs under the name of Green- 
 wood & Wright — a firm long and favorably known 
 in the vicinity and among business men. Mr. 
 Greenwood was connected with the industry carried 
 on at this stand, either as co-partner with others or 
 as sole proprietor and manager, until his deatli, a 
 period of thirty-six years, evincing more than usual 
 native business capacity, which was improved by 
 experience, and which crowned his efforts and 
 endeavors with a well-darned and reputable success. 
 
 Mr. Greenwood was an earnest, enterprising man, 
 doing with his might what his bands ibundto do, and 
 entering into whatever project secured his confidence 
 and co-operation with unfaltering purpose and perse- 
 vering zeal. He accomjilished much in the way of 
 advancing the material interests and industrial pros- 
 perity of the village of South Gardner, not only by 
 developing and extending the special enterprise with 
 which his name was identified, but by encouraging 
 undertakings outside of his own particular field of 
 activity even to the extent of furnishing at times 
 personal credit and financial support, when those 
 undertakings were entered upon with an honest pur- 
 pose and were calculated to enhance the common 
 welfare. Indeed, whatever seemed to him conducive 
 to the real prosperity and happines.s of the com- 
 munity, was sure to receive sympathy from him and 
 such substantial aid as he could render it. 
 
 But he was not only public-spirited in the general 
 sense indicated, he was in every way large-minded 
 and large-hearted, of generous impulses and disin- 
 terested aims, desirous of making the world better 
 and happier by his being in it. He had something 
 of an "enthusiasm for humanity" dwelling and 
 burning in his breast, causing him to be actively 
 interested in moral and social reforms, in philan- 
 thropic movements, in charitable objects, — in every- 
 thing that had in its keeping the permanent good of 
 his fellow-men, which he deemed consonant with the 
 honor and glory of God. He was a decided, out- 
 spoken anti-slavery man in the early days of that 
 cause, when to be such was to subject one oftentimes 
 to obloquy, scorn and open denunciation — a brave 
 sjldier he was in the " irrepressible conflict " which 
 was raging ibr twenty years or more before the strife 
 at arms, summoning to service the horrid enginery 
 of war, was inaugurated in the land; and which, 
 while it no doubt hastened the ciisis, also determined 
 its final issue in the victory of Freedom and the Re- 
 
 public over their misguided and murderous foes. 
 And when the outbreak came and treason struck at 
 the nation's life in order that the slave-power might 
 reign perpetual in the nation's councils, he, grasping 
 the meaning of the fight and the mighty interests at 
 stake, took an active and influential part in rousing 
 the patriotic ardor of his fellow-citizens, and in secur- 
 ing that action of the town which proved its loyalty 
 in the time of the country's need, and contributed in 
 due degree to the triumph of the riglit, wherein 
 was included the proclamation of " liberty through 
 all the land to all the inhabitants thereof." Mr. 
 Greenwood was, moreover, a strong and tireless friend 
 of temperance, adopting, as of vital importance in 
 advancing the interests of that cause, the principles 
 of total abstinence demonstrating, the sincerity of his 
 faith by his personal habits in his daily life. Other 
 reforms received the smiles of his approving favor 
 and every good word and work found in him an 
 advocate and helper. To him came the blessing 
 pronounced upon those that consider the poor, and he 
 distributed his benefactions liberally, but quietly, 
 among such according to his means. 
 
 He received undoubted assurances of the confidence 
 and appreciative regard of his fellow-townsmen, in 
 that he was repeatedly called to the service of the 
 public in positions requiring sound judgment, im- 
 partial justice, unimpeachable integrity and an un- 
 selfish regard for the good of the community. He 
 tilled acceptably positions of grave responsibility in 
 the adminstration of town affiiirs and in the financial 
 institutions of which he was an associate member. 
 He also represented the town in the Massachusetts 
 Legislature of 1869. He possessed qualities of mind 
 and character, which, supplemented by a kind spirit, 
 an enthusiastic manner and a pleasing address, 
 gave him wide and salutary influence wherever he 
 was known. 
 
 An ardent Republican in his political convictions 
 and associations, he was truly democratic in feeling 
 and according to the principles of the Declaration of 
 Independence. Of reverent and devout spirit and of 
 Christian principles and faith, he entered the fellow- 
 ship of the Evangelical Congregational Church of 
 Gardner, and was earnestly devoted to its interests 
 and prosperity. But he was not dogmatic nor sec- 
 tarian, but gave a broad interpretation to the teaching 
 of the Gospel, and was happy to recognize and con- 
 fess the presence and power of the Spirit of God 
 wherever the fruits of that Spirit were found. He 
 was unusually domestic in his habits and tastes, 
 delighting in his home, affectionate and happy in all 
 his relations with those near to him there, to whom 
 he was most dear, and by whom he is held in tender 
 and sacred remembrance. Moreover, he was one of 
 the most genial, approachable and affable of men, al- 
 ways courteous and kind, and withal of cheerful, 
 sunny countenance, making him an agreeable com- 
 panion as well as a choice friend. To him, as to few 
 
7 7 et,.-£^~e^ 
 
 Cy^O-, 
 
 y/-~ 
 
GARDNER. 
 
 881 
 
 beside might be appropriately applied the significant 
 and highly honorable title of a Christian gentleman. 
 
 AMASA. BANCROFT. 
 
 The subject of this notice, whose name appears 
 above, was the son of Smyrna and Sarah (Whitney) 
 Bancroft, and grandson of Jonathan and Sarah (Case) 
 Bancroft, who were among the earliest settlers upon 
 the territory now included within the boundaries of 
 Gardner. He was a descendant of Lieut. Thomas 
 Bancroft, who was born in England in 1622, and, 
 coming to New England in his opening manhood, 
 settled in Lynn for a short time, but before the year 
 1648 was permanently located at Reading, Mass., 
 where he became the common ancestor of a large 
 posterity bearing his own and other names, among 
 whom are those who have attained distinction and 
 high honor, not only in this but in foreign lands. 
 
 Amasa Bancroft was born March 16, 1812, on the 
 place situated three-fourths of a mile northwest of 
 the Common, first occupied and improved by his 
 grandfather some years before the incorporation of 
 the town. His boyhood and youth were spent in the 
 manner that was usual with farmers' sons in this 
 section of the country half a century or more ago. 
 In the routine of his daily tasks, and under the 
 responsibilities laid upon him, there were developed 
 in him those habits of industry, prudence and general 
 thriftiness, and that self-reliant spirit, so essential to 
 a strong and reliable character, which, in after-years, 
 served him so well in the various positions and rela- 
 tions in life he was called upon to fill. Arriving at 
 mature age, he did not go out to seek his fortune in 
 larger communities, where there was greater promise 
 of promotion and worldly success, but remained in 
 his native town, content to enter upon whatever 
 career of usefulness might open to him there. The 
 business of chair-m.iking was at that time just be- 
 coming established in the community, and beginning 
 to display some indications of what it was destined to 
 be in the future, and he spent three years in learning 
 the trade. This accomplished, he formed a partner- 
 ship with Frederick Parker, and the two carried on 
 the manufacture for a year in a small shop standing 
 near the present residence of Mr. Henry Lawrence. 
 They then associated with themselves Messrs. Jared 
 Taylor and Joel Baker, forming a company which 
 bore the name of Taylor, Bancroft & Co., and bought 
 the so-called " Pail Factory " property, in the south 
 part of the town, of Sawin & Damon, who had 
 started the making of pails, buckets and kindred 
 wooden-ware by machinery not long before, fur the 
 purpose of continuing the production of the same line 
 of goods. This they did fur four years, or till 1840, 
 when Mr. Bancroft purchased his partners' interest, 
 and went on from that time, as represented heretofore, 
 till his death, which occurred January 25, 1888, when 
 lie is said to have been the oldest pail and tub manu- 
 facturer in the United States. 
 56 
 
 Mr. Bancroft was a man in whom the town of 
 Gardner might take a just and laudable pride. Born 
 within its borders, trained in one of its homes, edu- 
 cated in its schools and churches, aiding in the de- 
 velopment of its industrial prosperity, and extending 
 sympathy and support to whatever might promote its 
 intellectual, social, moral and religious interests, he 
 merited, as he received, the esteem and confidence of 
 his fellow-citizens, and of all classes of the commun- 
 ity. He was repeatedly called to fill places of respon- 
 sibility and trust, and discharged the duti&s of those 
 positions with conscientious fidelity, and to the satis- 
 faction of all concerned. He was a member of the 
 Board of Selectmen for five years; he was the first 
 president of the First National Bank, an office which 
 he held for seven years ; and he was trustee of the 
 Savings Bank from its establishment in 1865 to the 
 lime of his death. 
 
 Endowed by nature with a good mental and moral 
 constitution, Mr. Bancroft made it the foundation of 
 an upright, useful, exemplary life. Among other 
 native gifts, he was the possessor of an unusually 
 mu.sical voice, combined with a quick ear and deli- 
 cate taste for the concord of sweet sounds. These 
 capabilities, improved by such culture as he could 
 command, made him a favorite in musical circles 
 wherever he was known. With pleasing address, and 
 power of imparting whatever musical knowledge he 
 had acquired, he was for many years an acceptable 
 and efficient teacher of singing-schools in the neigh- 
 borhood round about, and a respected leader of the 
 choir of the church to which he belonged for forty 
 years. His singing was with power and effect. His 
 early pastor in characterizing it said, " He sang from 
 his own heart into other hearts." 
 
 A man of cheerful disposition, humane feelings, 
 tender sympathies and generous impulses, every good 
 work found in Mr. Bancroft a helper, and every 
 phil.anthropic cause a' friend. He was considerate of 
 the men in his employ, of the unfortunate and worthy 
 poor, and his benefactions to such were many, but 
 scrupulously kept from the public eye. He shrank 
 from whatever might seem like notoriety or love of 
 display, and many of his donations to objects he held 
 most dear were not only unknown to the world, but 
 to those nearest to him in life. 
 
 In his home he was genial, affectionate, kind and 
 helpful, making life there sunny and glad by his 
 presence. His immediate relatives were very dear to 
 him, and upon them he lavished the wealth of his 
 tender, manly heart. He dispensed a liberal hospi- 
 tality, and his friends were always met at his door 
 with a warm and earnest welcome. 
 
 Mr. Bancroft was a man of strong religious convic- 
 tions and of deep religious feeling. A Congrega- 
 tionalist of the Evangelical school, he was sincerely 
 devoted to his church, and to the doctrines for which 
 it stood. But with him religion was not simply a 
 form of belief, but also a mode of life. He accepted 
 
882 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 the Christian faith as the basis and inspiring source 
 of a Christian character, and liis daily walk and con- 
 versation before God and men testified to the sincerity 
 of his convictions, to the purity of his motives, and 
 to the exalted quality of his purposes and aims. 
 When he passed away the church lost a conscientious 
 and faithful devotee, his native town a worthy son 
 and citizen, and the world a high-minded, honorable 
 man. 
 
 GEORGE S. COLBTJEN. 
 
 The student of local history who has carefully 
 followed the pages of these volumes has not failed to 
 be impressed with the record of mechanical devices 
 produced and perfected by the men of Worcester 
 County. To their inventive genius is due the thanks 
 of all our citizens, for they primarily, have produced 
 the whirling wheels of the mill and factory to sing of 
 comfortable homes and good table for the operatives 
 there employed. 
 
 The manufacture of chairs, which forms by far the 
 largest part of our industry, has materially changed 
 during the past quarter of a century, and prominent 
 among the names of the men who have by their brain 
 invented and developed machinery for this particular 
 branch of our industry is that of George S. Colburn> 
 the subject of this sketch, who was born in Leomin- 
 ster, May 5, 1820. His father, Simeon Colburn, died 
 when the boy was but three months old, leaving his 
 widow in straitened circumstances, and as soon as 
 the boy was sufficiently large to " do chores " he was 
 bent to live with an uncle in Cambridge, where he 
 remained working for his board two years. Then he 
 went to live with Deacon Joseph Dickenson in 
 Swansea, N. H., with whom he remained until his 
 seventeenth year, working early and late on the rocky 
 farm nine months in the year, attending the district 
 school the other three, and acquiring the branches 
 then taught therein. 
 
 A taste for mechanics developed itself early in Mr. 
 Colburn's life, and in boyhood he was wont to arrange 
 and adjust small mechanical devices. At the age of 
 seventeen he apprenticed himself with Mr. James 
 Clark, of Boyalston. to learn the shoe-maker's trade, 
 remaining four years, receiving his board and 
 $2.00 for his labor, out of which he had to clothe 
 himself. At the age of twenty-four he went 
 to work in a furniture shop. Here he was 
 impressed with the lack of machinery for the 
 treament of cane, and began to study and experiment 
 upon machinery for doing this work. He was so 
 successful that he gave his whole attention to the 
 manufacture of this class of machinery and to the 
 manipulation of cane. 
 
 In 1857 he went to Wakefield to assist Mr. Cyrus 
 Wakefield in the development of the " Wakefield 
 Rattan Co.," one of the most important industries of 
 that whole section. Here he remained until, his 
 
 health breaking down, he was obliged to go out of 
 doors and so purchased a small farm, .^fter about a 
 year he recovered, and in 1875 came to Gardner to 
 assist Messrs. Heywood & Co. in the development of 
 that part of their extensive plant relating to the 
 treatment of cane. He remained with them several 
 years, and haviog acquired a competency, he retired 
 from active business, and with his wife, who was Mi.ss 
 Frances R. Sawyer, of Royalston, and whom he 
 married in 1843, he occupies a charming home in 
 the west village , conscious of having performed life's 
 allotted tasks uncomplainingly and faithfully. 
 
 8. W. A. STEVENS. 
 
 Simeon W. A. Stevens, the oldest merchant in 
 Garduer and the postmaster in the South Village for 
 thirty-five years, was the son of Abel and Sally 
 (Spaulding) Stevens of Westford, Mass., where he was 
 born July 27, 1818, and where he lived until he was 
 about eleven years of age. At that time, his father 
 having died, he came to Gardner and worked as office 
 and errand boy for his brother, Abel Stevens, who was 
 then running the South Gardner Hotel. At the expi- 
 ration of two years he returned to Westford, his 
 mother still residing there, remaining nearly the same 
 length of time employed in helping one of the towns- 
 people about his farm and in supplementing his pre- 
 vious district school education by a few terms' tuition 
 at the widely-known Westford Acadeniy. He then, 
 being fifteen years old, came again to Gardner, went 
 into the chair-shop, learned the trade of making 
 chairs and worked as a journeyman till he was twenty- 
 one. His health having become somewhat impaired 
 by continuous in-door employment, he left the shop 
 and engaged in driving team for Mr. Stephen Taylor, 
 by whom he had previously been employed at his 
 trade. He continued in this service two years, going 
 tKen to Leominster and running a team on his own 
 account from that place to Boston. This continued 
 till the opening of the Fitchburg Railroad four years 
 later put an end to that method of transportation. 
 Returning once more to Gardner, he carried on the 
 same business for several years, having David Kendall 
 for a partner a portion of the time, and serving the 
 general public even after the railroad was built through 
 the place, by carting goods to and from the depots at 
 both ends of the line. 
 
 On the 1st of January, 1850, Mr. Lewis H. Brad- 
 ford, who had for some years been engaged in the mis- 
 cellaneous merchandise traffic in South Gardner, being 
 about to remove to Fitchburg, formed a partnership 
 with Mr. Stevens and William Hogan, to whom he 
 committed the care of the store previously occupied 
 by him. A few years later, Stevens and Hogan 
 bought Mr. Bradford's interest and went on in their 
 own behalf. When the South Gardner Manufacturing 
 Company was formed, they merged their special busi- 
 ness in the general undertaking, which aimed to ab- 
 
882 
 
 HISTOKY OF WOECESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 the Christian faith as the basis and inspiring source 
 of a Christian character, and his daily walli and con- 
 versation before God and men testified to the sincerity 
 of his convictions, to the purity of his motives, and 
 to the exalted quality of his purposes and aims. 
 When he passed away the church lost a conscientious 
 and faithful devotee, his native town a worthy son 
 and citizen, and the world a high-minded, honorable 
 man. 
 
 GEORGE S. COLBDRN. 
 
 The student of local history who has carefully 
 followed the pages of these volumes has not failed to 
 be impressed with the record of mechanical devices 
 produced and perfected by the men of Worcester 
 County. To their inventive genius is due the thanks 
 of all our citizens, for they primarily, have produced 
 the whirling wheels of the mill and factory to sing of 
 comfortable homes and good table for the operatives 
 there employed. 
 
 The manufacture of chairs, which forms by far the 
 largest part of our industry, has materially changed 
 during the past quarter of a century, and prominent 
 among the names of the men who have by their brain 
 invented and developed machinery for this particular 
 branch of our industry is that of George S. Colburn» 
 the subject of this sketch, who was born in Leomin- 
 ster, May 5, 1820. His father, Simeon Colburn, died 
 when the boy was but three months old, leaving his 
 widow in straitened circumstances, and as soon as 
 the boy was sufficiently large to " do chores " he was 
 sent to live with an uncle in Cambridge, where he 
 remained working for his board two years. Then he 
 went to live with Deacon Joseph Dickenson in 
 Swansea, N. H., with whom he remained until his 
 seventeenth year, working early and late on the rocky 
 farm nine months in the year, attending the district 
 school the other three, and acquiring the branches 
 then taught therein. 
 
 A taste for mechanics developed itself early in Mr. 
 Colburn's life, and in boyhood he was wont to arrange 
 and adjust small mechanical devices. At the age of 
 seventeen he apprenticed himself with Mr. James 
 Clark, of Boyalston. to leara the shoe-maker's trade, 
 remaining four years, receiving his board and 
 $2.00 for his labor, out of which he had to clothe 
 himself. At the age of twenty-four he went 
 to work in a furniture shop. Here he was 
 impressed with the lack of machinery for the 
 treament of cane, and began to study and experiment 
 upon machinery for doing this work. He was so 
 successful that he gave his whole attention to the 
 manufacture of this class of machinery and to the 
 manipulation of cane. 
 
 In 1857 he went to Wakefield to a.ssist Mr. Cyrus 
 Wakefield in the development of the " Wakefield 
 Rattan Co.," one of the most important industries of 
 that whole section. Here he remained until, his 
 
 health breaking down, he was obliged to go out of 
 doors and so purchased a small farm, ^fter about a 
 year he recovered, and in 1875 came to Gardner to 
 assist Messrs. Heywood & Co. in the development of 
 that part of their extensive plant relating to the 
 treatment of cane. He remained with them several 
 years, and having acquired a competency, he retired 
 from active business, and with his wife, who was Miss 
 Frances R. Sawyer, of Royalston, and whom he 
 married in 1843, he occupies a charming home in 
 the west village , conscious of having performed life's 
 allotted tasks uncomplainingly and faithfully. 
 
 S. W. A. STEVENS. 
 
 Simeon W. A. Stevens, the oldest merchant in 
 Gardner and the postmaster in the South Village for 
 thirty-five years, was the son of Abel and Sally 
 (Spaulding) Stevens of Westford, Mass., where he was 
 born July 27, 1818, and where he lived until he was 
 about eleven years of age. At that time, his father 
 having died, he came to Gardner and worked as office 
 and errand boy for his brother, Abel Stevens, who was 
 then running the South Gardner Hotel. At the expi- 
 ration of two years he returned to Westford, his 
 mother still residing there, remaining nearly the same 
 length of time employed in helping one of the towns- 
 people about his farm and in supplementing his pre- 
 vious district school education by a few terms' tuition 
 at the widely-known Westford Academy. He then, 
 being fifteen years old, came again to Gardner, went 
 into the chair-shop, learned the trade of making 
 chairs and worked as a journeyman till he was twenty- 
 one. His health having become somewhat impaired 
 by continuous in-door employment, he left the shop 
 and engaged in driving team for Mr. Stephen Taylor, 
 by whom he had previously been employed at his 
 trade. He continued in this service two years, going 
 tlien to Leominster and running a team on his own 
 account from that place to Boston. This continued 
 till the opening of the Fitchburg Railroad four years 
 later put an end to that method of transportation. 
 Returning once more to Gardner, he carried on the 
 same business for several years, having David Kendall 
 for a partner a portion of the time, and serving the 
 general publiceven after the railroad was built through 
 the place, by carting goods to and from the depots at 
 both ends of the line. 
 
 On the 1st of January, 1850, Mr. Lewis H. Brad- 
 ford, who had for some years been engaged in the mis- 
 cellaneous merchandise traffic in South Gardner, being 
 about to remove to Fitchburg, formed a partnership 
 with Mr. Stevens and William Hogan, to whom he 
 committed the care of the store previously occupied 
 by him. A few years later, Stevens and Hogan 
 bought Mr. Bradford's interest and went on in their 
 own behalf. When the South Gardner Manufacturing 
 Company was formed, they merged their special busi- 
 ness in the general undertaking, which aimed to ab- 
 
,^. 
 
 '^iy>7^ 
 
GARDNEK. 
 
 883 
 
 sorb and control nearly all the industrial activities in 
 that part of the town. While the new experiment 
 was going on and proving its incapacity, Mr. Stevens 
 turned his attention for a while to the manufacture of 
 chairs at the stand now occupied by Wright & Read. 
 But not succeeding to his satisfaction, and the joint 
 stock enterprise failing to meet the expectations of its 
 friends and coming to an end, he, in the readjustment 
 of afi'airs, took the store and its contents, and associat- 
 ing with himself Mr. George Greenwood, went on as 
 before under the name of S. W. A. Stevens & Co. 
 Ten years after, in 1868, Mr. Stevens by purchase be- 
 came sole proprietor of the establishment. In 187G 
 he received as partner his son Ambrose, and the two 
 have been in company since, the firm-name being S. 
 W. A. Stevens & Son. They do the same kind of 
 miscellaneous business that has always been transacted 
 where they are located, after the manner of an old- 
 fashioned country store. 
 
 According to the above review it appears that at 
 the opening of the present year (1889), Mr. Stevens 
 has been in trade at the same stand tor a period of 
 thirty-nine years, with the exception of the brief in- 
 terval alluded to (and even then he was indirectly 
 connected with it), and has fairly earned the title of 
 tlie veteran merchant of Gardner. By close attention 
 to his business interests and careful management, 
 combined witli his gentlemanly manners and evident 
 disposition to accommodate and please, he has gained 
 for himself a widely-extended patronage, and achieved 
 what may be regarded as an honorable success in life 
 and a good standing among his business associates, 
 and elsewhere. In addition to the personal qualities 
 mentioned, he is characterized by a sense of justice, 
 and a purpose to deal fairly and Iionorably with all 
 men, that are calculated to inspire and secure that 
 confidence and respectful esteem in the community 
 where he has lived for nearly sixty years, which he 
 seems fortunate enough to share to a very high degree. 
 The fiiet that he has held the oflice of postmaster for 
 more than a generation, having been first appointed 
 to the position under the administration of Franklin 
 Pierce in 1854, through all the vicissitudes of political 
 life, and especially through six successive terms of 
 the supremacy of his political opponents, he being an 
 outspoken and well-known Democrat, and without any 
 special effort on the part of himself or his friends, is 
 an enviable testimonial to his kindness, courtesy and 
 readiness to oblige, as well as to the honest, equitable 
 and impartial manner in which he has discharged the 
 duties of the station he has been called upon to fill. 
 His ability, fidelity and trustworthiness in other di- 
 rections have been recognized by his fellow-citizens 
 and publicly acknowledged, in that they have chosen 
 him selectman at different times, and assessor, and 
 appointed him on committees to which important 
 public interests have been referred. He was one of 
 the first directors of the National Bank in Gardner, 
 and has been a trustee of the Savings BAnk from the 
 
 beginning. He is a member, and has been for some 
 years the treasurer, of the Baptist Society, to the ac- 
 tivities connected with which he has long been a 
 cheerful and liberal contributor. He is also president 
 of the Green Bower Cemetery Association. 
 
 The career of such a man as Mr. Stevens is full of 
 lessons of wisdom and practical utility for all classes 
 and conditions of people, and especially for those 
 who, having come to, or are approaching mature 
 years, are soon to enter upon the more active duties 
 and labors of life. It indicates to every aspiring, 
 right-minded youth the direction in which true suc- 
 cess lies, and the genera! conditions upon which a 
 good standing in the world, the esteem of those whose 
 esteem is worth having, usefulness, honor and happi- 
 ness may be gained. It presents an example which 
 furnishes instruction and encouragement for such and 
 is commended to them as worthy of study and emula- 
 tion. 
 
 JOHN EDGELL. 
 
 William Edgell, first of Woburn and afterward of 
 Lexington, a tinman by trade, who married Elizabeth 
 Norman, of Marblehead, about the year 1720 and died 
 before 1734, leaving four sons, was, so far as is known, 
 the common ancestor of the family in New England. 
 The name was probably Edgehill at the outset, as it 
 so appears in some of the earlier records, and, if so, 
 was very likely derived from Edgehill in the mother 
 country, a locality whence the emigrant may have 
 come to these shores, and in which his ancestors may 
 have for a long time resided. The youngest of the 
 sons referred to, also called William, was an early 
 settler in Westminster, where he purchased lands in 
 1750, on which he soon after located, becoming a 
 prominent man and an infiuential citizen in local and 
 public affairs. Among the children of this second 
 William was a third William, who married Thankful 
 Puffer, of which union John Edgell, the subject of 
 this notice, was born October 15, 1804. 
 
 The first years of John Edgell's life were spent 
 upon the farm of his father, but before arriving at his 
 majority he learned the trade of shoemaking, which 
 he followed for a time, going from house to house with 
 his kit of tools, after the fashion of those days, and 
 stopping where his services were required long enough 
 to supply the existing family needs in that particular 
 — a practice fiimiliarly termed "whipping the cat." 
 He subsequently learned to make chairs, and was en- 
 gaged in that business for many years under different 
 auspices in his own and neighboring towns. An im- 
 portant change occurred in his life when, in 183(5, he 
 removed from Westminster to Gardner, just in season 
 to take advantage of the tide, then beginning to rise, 
 which was to bear the little town of a thousand peo- 
 ple on to prosperous fortunes and an undreamed-of 
 success. He resumed there his former calling, pursu- 
 ing it for some years by himself in a shop attached to 
 
884 
 
 HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 his dwelling-house, and attending personally to the 
 transporting and selling of his own goods, and after- 
 ward for a time, with the late Charles W. Bush and 
 others for partners, in the oldest of the buildings now 
 composing the large establishment of Philander Derby 
 & Co., some other kinds of work being connected with 
 that of manufacturing chairs. 
 
 Long before this, however, he had been running a 
 weekly coach to Worcester, going on Tuesdays and 
 returning on Wednesdays, for the accommodation of 
 travelers, the distribution of Worcester papers to pa- 
 trons along the route and the transaction of a general 
 carrying and express business in the interest of the 
 public. This was but incidental and subsidiary to his 
 regular vocation. As more rapid means of transit 
 and more frequent intercourse between the towns 
 through which he passed were established, his patron- 
 age decline<l and his coach line was eventually given 
 up. But his ex]ierience in this direction opened the 
 way to the more satisfactory employment of his later 
 years. His miscellaneous business at the county-seat 
 brought him into contact with gentlemen representing 
 some of the more important interests located there, 
 with which he afterwards became permanently identi- 
 fied. This was especially the case with reference to 
 the matters of fire insurance, of settling estates and 
 of conveyancing, to each and all of which he has de- 
 voted himself as a means of livelihood and of profit 
 for the last thirty or more years. He was the first 
 regular underwriter in Gardner, and for a long time 
 was without a competitor. No one probably in the 
 vicinity did as much conveyancing for a generation as 
 he, and no one in that northwest part of Worcester 
 County has probably taken so many cases to the Pro- 
 bate Court and carried them through satisfactorily as 
 he has done. In actual knowledge upon all these im- 
 portant matters, and in ability to transact business re- 
 lating to them, he has rarely been equaled, perhaps 
 never excelled. In all these matters, too, and espe- 
 cially in the settlement of estates, — a department in 
 which he has had much to do with people in the hum- 
 bler walks of life, — there has been such confidence in 
 his knovvle<lge, ability, impartial judgment, conscien- 
 tious regard for what is just and right, and disposition 
 to make reasonable charges for services rendered, as 
 that the humblest and those least skilled in business 
 of any sort would entrust their monetary affairs, some- 
 times their all, to him, as to a tried and devoted 
 friend, assured that their interests would be guarded 
 and promoted with scrupulous watchfulness and care. 
 
 Aside from the duties devolving upon him in the 
 lines of activity indicated, Mr. Edgell has been called 
 upon by his fellow-citizens to fill almost every office 
 at tlii'ir disposal. To his eff'orts and influence the 
 founding of both the National and Savings Banks in 
 Gardner was largely due. Of the former he has been 
 one of the directors irom the beginning, as he has 
 lieen one of the trustees of the latter, and its president 
 for three years after the decease of Francis Richard- 
 
 son, Esq. He has always been on the investment 
 committeee of the Savings Bank, a position to which 
 he brought qualities fitting him pre-eminently for the 
 efiicient discharge of the responsible duties it required . 
 No man for a generation has been better acquainted 
 with landed i)roperty and every kind of real estate in 
 Gardner and vicinity than he, and the judgment of no 
 one in regard to such property has been more earn- 
 estly sought for or more implicitly trusted. 
 
 Mr. Edgell is a man of decided opinions ujjon ques- 
 tions of both private virtue and of public ))olicy, and 
 is open and frank in the expression of them. But 
 his recognized kindness of heart, sincerity of purpose 
 and high character generally have prevented personal 
 alienation or distrust on that account. Naturally 
 modest and retiring, he yet shirks no duty when laid 
 upon him and evades no responsibility when once as- 
 sumed or made known. He has much of the spirit of 
 a reformer, and has given aid and encouragement to 
 the great moral movements of the age. He called 
 himself an Abolitionist when the name was a re- 
 proach ; he has been for long years in precept and 
 practice a friend and promoter of the temperance 
 cause, and other needful and important changes in 
 personal and social life he has advocated and main- 
 tained. Originally a Whig in politics, his sympathy 
 with the anti-slavery cause inclined him, after a while, 
 to withdraw from the support of that party and to 
 look for the rising of a political movement which 
 .should stand boldly against the usurpations of the 
 slave power, inscribing upon its banner " Liberty " as 
 well as " Independence." He was consequently ready 
 with his sympathy and support for the Free-Soil party 
 in 1848, and even more so for the advent or formation 
 of the Republican party in 18.')6, to the principles, 
 interests and fortunes of which he has ever been 
 warmly and conscientiously attached. Elected to the 
 Lower House of the Legislature of Massachusetts in 
 1850 and 18r)l by the sufl'rages of his neighbors and 
 friends, he counts it an honor to have belonged to 
 that company of the faithful who, after a hotly-con- 
 tested struggle extending through twenty-six succes- 
 sive ballotings, at length succeeded in sending that 
 noble son of the good old Commonwealth, Charles 
 Sumner, for the first time to the Senate of the United 
 States, where for more than twenty years he rendered 
 valiant service for his country and for liberty. 
 
 Though not of late years connected with any great 
 industry or popular organization which would give 
 him influence in the community, yet few men have 
 exerted greater power for good than he or done more 
 for the prosperity and enduring welfare of the town 
 of his adoption. Withdrawn somewhat from active 
 business and from open participation in public affairs 
 by reason of his advanced age, lie nevertheless still 
 retains in a marked degree the full possession and use 
 of his intellectiuil and moral faculties, and his coun- 
 sel and guidance are still much sought for and heided 
 in the practical concerns of life. 
 
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